Disclaimer – no I am not JK Rowling, so these characters do not belong to me – yada yada etc etc
I hope you all like this chapter, and sorry for the huge delay in posting. Uni has been difficult these past few weeks, but due to a timetable rearrangement I might actually have spare time for doing something other than sleeping. Anyway, back to Harry and Draco. Enjoy!
Chapter 13
Harry exchanged a grim look with Draco and turned to follow him.
"Ah-" Harry looked up to see Dumbledore looking surprised. "I was referring to Mr. Potter, only."
"He's - he's kind of involved, Sir." Draco said softly, staring at the floor.
"Why am I not surprised?" Ron sneered.
"Hush, Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore said, frowning at Harry and then Draco. "Very well then. To my office."
Harry grimaced as Draco shot a terrified glance at him then lowered his eyes to the ground. He could practically feel the hostility radiating off Ron, so hate-filled was the glare he was bestowing on 'Malfoy'.
He supposed he couldn't blame him. Harry knew what sort of thoughts Ron and Hermione must have had passing through their minds. They probably thought the real Harry had been abducted and replaced by a Death Eater, with Malfoy as an accomplice.
The walk up to the Headmaster's office seemed to last a century, and by time they had reached the gargoyle and the revolving staircase, Harry had crescent shaped imprints on his arms from where his nails had been.
The Headmaster motioned for them to follow him in, and Harry and Draco immediately took up standing positions in front of a bookshelf by the wall, whilst Ron and Hermione positioned themselves opposite them, beside the Headmaster's desk.
Snape pulled the office door closed with a click.
"What have you done with Harry?!" Ron said immediately, shaking Hermione off and charging at Draco.
"Stop!" Harry said desperately just as Professor Snape conjured a Shield Charm to impede Ron's progress. "I'm Harry! It's me!"
An abrupt silence fell over the room. Ron came to a standstill midway between the two groups.
"What?" Hermione said, her eyes whizzing between Harry and Draco.
"If we can all calm down and take a seat," Dumbledore said, his eyes fixed on Harry, "I think I would like to hear this story myself."
"You're - you -" Ron scoffed.
"Mr. Weasley, if you do not sit down you can leave." Snape snapped, and Ron moved back and fell into a seat, glaring. Harry and Draco remained standing.
"Well, Mr-" Dumbledore paused as he spoke into the lull " - Potter?".
Harry took a breath.
"This summer … things started happening to me. My body was - changing. My hair was going lighter, my eyes changed colour - everything just felt different. At first I didn't care, because it wasn't that noticeable, but then it started to speed up. Then I got a letter from Lucius Malfoy."
Dumbledore, who had been watching Harry's face closely as he talked, sat up a little straighter and motioned for Harry to continue when he paused.
"I got one too." Draco said quietly. "The same things had been happening to me. My eyesight was going bad…I thought I was ill. When I got the letter, I thought it was a birthday message."
Both boys hesitated, glancing at each other. Neither wanted to reveal the contents of their letters to each other.
"What letter?" Hermione asked.
"My father," Draco said dully.
"Excuse me?" Ron butted in.
"Harry's parents are dead," Hermione said to no one in particular.
"Ha! I knew -!" Ron started triumphantly.
"Mr. Weasley, if I have to silence you once more you will leave this office!" Snape hissed.
There was a silence in the room for a moment until Dumbledore inclined his head towards Draco and he Draco started talking again.
"Lucius Malfoy. I am Draco Malfoy," the boy in Harry's body said, through gritted teeth. "We've been like this since the summer. My father said he was the one who switched our bodies and he'd Obliviated himself. He said I wasn't his real son, and he couldn't live with knowing he was bringing up someone else's child, a half-blood."
"He told me to find Draco and - er - take back my birth rite." Harry added. "He said - he said -"
"He'd swapped us as babies," Draco said, his voice chilly. "He was trying to protect his real son from one of the Dark Lord's rituals, but he went after Potter - me – first, anyway."
"It was Draco who killed Voldemort." Harry said, his voice breaking. "Lucius gave up, thinking he was dead, but by time he found out that Draco was alive and had been sent to live with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, he couldn't get to him - I mean me."
"You expect us to believe that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy have swapped bodies?" Snape said, dryly.
"We met at the platform," Draco said, hurriedly, "and then we talked on the train. We both wanted to keep it secret, so we swapped clothes and trunks-"
"I don't care if you believe me," Harry said to the floor, "but please don't tell Sirius, he'll hate me."
"Forget Sirius,"Draco snapped. "If my parents find out their son is Harry Potter I might as well be dead!"
There was a ringing silence in the office and Harry finally dared to look up, his eyes roving hungrily over Ron, Hermione and Professor Dumbledore for some kind of acceptance.
Hermione's mouth hung open slightly as her eyes darted from person to person, finally settling on the Headmaster.
"Professor Dumbledore, this isn't true, is it?"
"Of course it isn't." Ron's voice was sure, his jaw set. "Even if it was possible, Harry would never keep something like that from us!"
"I'm - I'm really sorry-" Harry mumbled. "I thought -"
"Shut it you - you - imposter!" Ron snarled. "As if I'd believe you!"
"Professor?" Hermione said faintly.
"You have to believe us!" Harry said, beginning to panic. He even glanced over at Snape for help, such was his desperation, but the Potions Master only continued to watch the scene play out with narrowed eyes and folded arms.
Draco could see the doubt in the faces of Potter's cronies, and Snape only gave him an impassive stare. Straightening himself up, he addressed Dumbledore.
"Headmaster, surely there's some way we can prove we're telling the truth. We'll consent to Veritaserum." Draco exchanged a glance with Harry, who nodded eagerly.
The Headmaster was watching the two of them carefully.
"I must admit," Dumbledore said slowly, his eyes fixed on Draco in Harry's body "that I am finding this story hard to believe. It's plain to me that you are not Harry and that Draco is not Mr. Malfoy. That you are each other is the other side of implausible. And yet. . ." He turned his gaze onto the real Harry, who stared into those bright blue eyes, trying to convey that yes, he was telling the truth.
Please believe me!
". . . yet I believe you." the Headmaster finished.
"WHAT!" Ron exclaimed, turning to the Headmaster in outrage as Harry and Draco let out identical sighs of relief. Hermione slumped against a bookshelf, looking at Harry - the real Harry - as if she had never seen him before.
"Harry. . ." she whispered. "You-"
"Headmaster," Snape said tightly, "as much as I have faith in your infallible perception, I trust you are going to do more than take their word for this ill-advised excuse for a teen soap opera?"
"Of course," Dumbledore said, suddenly brisk. "Boys, I must ask you to step forward." He got to his feet, raising his wand.
"What are you going to do?" Draco said, uneasily.
"I am going to check your magical signatures."
"But -" Harry said, exchanging a confused glance with Draco, "we've swapped bodies. Our magical signatures have swapped over, too. I get owls addressed to Draco, and he gets owls addressed to me."
"But then how did Dobby -?" Draco wondered aloud.
"I believe house-elf magic works differently to wizard magic." Dumbledore said, beckoning them forward again. "It is tightly wound to their duties and the master they belong to. I think Dobby would have recognized someone who was once his master, no matter what. But in any case, if what you say is true, then your magical signatures would not have changed. Your post would start being delivered to each other because your names had reverted to what they had been before."
"Oh." Harry said, feeling stupid. "But why do you want to check our-" he stopped, understanding.
"He doesn't believe us." Draco supplied, flatly.
"No. I believe you think you have swapped bodies." Dumbledore said, gazing down at them with a thoughtful expression. "Perhaps it is even true. But this test will allow me to confirm that you haven't been affected by some kind of enchantment to meddle with your thoughts, - as well as to make sure you're not simply other wizards altogether who just happen to be extremely skilled liars."
"All right then." Harry said, coming forward. Draco followed after some hesitation.
The Headmaster pressed his wand to Harry's forehead and muttered something musical sounding under his breath. For a moment, nothing happened, but then Harry saw a sort of silver mist gather around him - yet it was gone before he could have a good look.
"As I remember," Dumbledore said, looking Harry in the eye, carefully, "you are Harry Potter."
Harry couldn't bear to look over at his friends and winced when he heard a muffled sob. I lied to them…they'll never forgive me.
"I am unable to detect any spells on your mind," Dumbledore said slowly after staring at Harry very hard.
"So . . . so does that mean this is real?" Ron's voice came, sounding strained.- Whether from anger or misery, it was hard to tell, but Harry knew which one he'd put his money on. "There's no way to turn them back?"
"I am not sure." Dumbledore said, still studying Harry, who was trying not to blush or fidget.
"Father said there was no point whatsoever in wasting time trying to change us back." Draco said.
"Of course he'd say that!" Hermione said scornfully. "He wouldn't want you to find a cure!"
"A cure?" Harry said as he stared at the floor, his voice sounding odd even to himself. "This is who I am!"
He could almost sense a scathing retort from Ron, but Snape spoke first.
"I may be able to think of a potion. Taking into account that there should be no enchantment on them any longer, if I treated the situation as if I were trying to create a permanent body swap from scratch-"
"That's Dark Magic!" Hermione said, her expression shocked.
"No shit." Draco muttered so that only Harry could hear.
"It is worth thinking about in such a dire situation. - Not all Dark Magic can only be used for Dark purposes." Dumbledore said, and Hermione blushed. "Now, Mr. Malfoy, if indeed you are Mr. Malfoy, it's your turn." He moved over to Draco, who swallowed nervously as the wand was pressed to his own forehead.
Harry watched, fascinated, as he had missed seeing his own magical signature.
Like Harry's, Draco's signature only showed for a moment, but Harry was sure he would never forget it. It floated in a mist around him, in a gold champagne, almost silvery white-coloured haze. Within it hovered things that Harry could only describe as complicated patterns in shades of muted blue, grey and once or twice a deep, rich gold. The patterns were almost invisible, and most of them were neat and ordered. They hovered, trembling and vibrating like someone had knitted clouds and water together with fresh air. There were curls and loops, swirls, and square, angular lines cutting through at odd, unexpected - yet delightful - places, all interwoven, but at the same time spiraling off into their own waves of motion.
It was a continuous expression of movement, of meaning - but somehow all the pieces moved against each other despite how they interlocked. It was Draco's magic, and although it was of many different kinds and moods, it was all Draco, and that's what made it a single entity despite all the inner conflictions.
When Dumbledore lowered his wand, the images disappeared abruptly, and Harry blinked rapidly while Dumbledore gave a pensive frown.
"Well?" Draco asked impatiently.
The Headmaster smiled slowly, raising a hand to stroke his beard as he made his way behind his desk.
"I'm very certain that you are Draco Malfoy. The question is - what to do next?"
Draco stared at the old man, emerald eyes narrowed. "Next?"
"Yes," Dumbledore said, smiling at Harry and Draco cheerily, as if this were all a grand charade. "It does pose a puzzle now, doesn't it?"
"Excuse me Professor," Hermione said from behind Draco, "but what's going on?"
Dumbledore rummaged in his desk drawer for a moment, before coming up with a bag of Sherbet Lemons. He offered them around, to unanimous incredulous stares, before taking one himself and settling back into his seat.
"It seems," Dumbledore said, "that I am forced to concur that the boys are correct. I have Harry Potter in Draco Malfoy's body with Harry Potter's magical signature and Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter's body with Draco Malfoy's signature."
"Right," Harry said, confused. "So, like you said, we have only changed our names, not our magic."
"Well, yes." Dumbledore said, thoughtfully. "So, it seems that the situation with Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort has suddenly become rather worryingly unclear."
Silence reigned in the office for what seemed like the tenth time.
"Can it be fixed by any obvious means?" Snape spoke up suddenly from the shadows. "If," he added sourly, "this charade is to be believed, I have an idea of a potion - but the theory is rather contradictory…"
"It would depend. I take it that Dark Magic was used for the swap," Dumbledore said, frowning, and Harry and Draco nodded.
"Well then, we need to decide on action."
"Action in what way, precisely?" Draco said, his voice cold. "I thought the Dark Lord was dead?"
"If Voldemort were to turn out to be not so dead after all - and I suspect rather strongly that that is, in fact, the case - then I would have to dig out an old Prophecy. One that said Harry Potter would be the one to vanquish the Dark Lord - Lord Voldemort, that is."
"What?" Harry said, unnerved.
"The Prophecy did not specifically say it would be Potter," Snape cut in. "Albus, are you sure it's wise to speak of this now?" He gave a pointed glance at Ron and Hermione, then a hard stare at Draco and Harry.
"I am certain that Harry and Draco are telling the truth," Dumbledore said calmly, "and if that is so, then it only follows that Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley would find out in mere moments after I had excused Harry - one or both of them - from my office."
"The Prophecy referred to a child 'born as the seventh month dies'. If the babies were switched over, that would make the child Harry Potter - who has, up until recently, been known as Draco Malfoy."
"I can't do it." Draco said, his voice rather high-pitched.
"Why - why didn't you tell me, sir?" Harry said, shaken. "What else did the Prophecy say?"
"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley," Professor Dumbledore said, closing his eyes briefly. "I need you to leave my office so that I may speak with Harry and Draco in private."
...ooo000ooo…
Harry felt as if he was choking.
This could not be happening, yet Professor Dumbledore was gazing at them so sadly.
"You see…" the Headmaster said, "I have been training Harry - the one I thought was Harry Potter - for his meeting with Voldemort since his first year."
"What?" Draco said, and Harry's heart went cold very suddenly.
"Little tests," Dumbledore said softly. "All supervised, in case the worst should happen. This year was perhaps the most risky."
"What are you talking about?" Harry said, his voice cracking.
"I knew someone would try to put your name in for the Tournament," Dumbledore said, not meeting Harry's eye. Up until now, I have allowed events to roll on as if I didn't know about them - Professor Quirrel in your first year, the Basilisk in -"
"But people could have died!" Draco cut in, sounding horrified.
"No." Professor Dumbledore shook his head. "I knew what was roaming the school. And I placed precautions in every conceivable way. Thanks to a rather inventive potion of Professors Snape's, the eyes of every student were charmed with a thin layer of glass between them and the outside world, so that they would only be Petrified, as well as a charm to cause the urge to never look round corners without something in front of their eyes…"
"But - the risks -" Draco said, aghast.
"Ginny!" Harry breathed."You let all that happen to Ginny!"
"I didn't know why the attacks were happening until it was too late. I had no idea a student had been possessed, but I thought it was an opportunity Harry needed for his skill and confidence to flourish."
"But - but -" Harry felt a black hole open up inside of him. He couldn't process thought. After all this time, he'd thought of Dumbledore as some kind of omniscient, but ultimately good person who he looked up to above all else. . .
"Let it suffice to say," Dumbledore said, suddenly stern, "that I knew that, no matter what, the time would come when Harry would have to face Lord Voldemort. And the safety of life in the Wizarding World as we know it aside, I knew who I would want to survive that battle. I had to prepare you in whatever way possible, Harry, to make sure you would live when this battle inevitably came your way."
"You could have told me the truth!" Harry choked.
"I planned to tell you in your fifth year." Dumbledore said.
Harry stared at the Headmaster, dead eyed.
"I made the decisions I thought I had to, Harry." Dumbledore said, meeting his gaze sadly. "I never claimed to be perfect. It is not fair to you, it never was, but I made the best choices I believe I could have, given what options I had. If there was a way to spare you from this, I would have taken that path."
"Well, I don't intend to listen to a phony prophecy, anyway." Draco asserted loftily, though his voice was shaking.
"Not listening to it won't make it cease to exist." Dumbledore sighed. "You could, actually, dodge it for quite some time, but in the end, it will come true, in one way or another."
"Well, if I defeat him in 'one way or another', then why bother training?" Draco countered.
"Because of the other side of the affair. The Prophecy specifically says 'neither can live whilst while the other survives'. If you don't kill him, it is inevitable that the opposite will happen."
To Draco's white face, Dumbledore said softly, "You are effectively trapped by destiny as I found out to my despair fourteen years ago."
"Your despair!" Harry spat suddenly. "Your-"
"I knew, Harry, that I would be the one burdened with having to break the news to you. It was my burden to grow to care for you, then break your heart, yet attempt to prevent you from turning into something worse than Lord Voldemort."
"Worse?" Draco asked.
"I am all too aware of the anger you feel right now, Harry. There's a chance that you could rebel against me so badly that you become your own Dark Lord, with time. I don't believe it of you - I don't want to - but I know only too well the risks of this sort of situation."
"You - you don't know me at all then!" Harry said, suddenly filled with hopelessness. Was this it? Was he to become the villain whilst Draco took his place? "I would never - you can't-"
Harry felt a cold hand on his arm and shut his mouth, staring fixedly at the floor.
"What are you going to do with us?" Draco sked. His voice was calm as he rested his hand on Harry's.
Dumbledore pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "As it is, there is one course which I think would be best," Dumbledore said so quietly that the two boys had to strain to hear, as if he were thinking alone. "It seems Draco must destroy Voldemort, yet it is Harry who I have been training. Therefore," he looked up and Harry looked away to avoid his eyes. "Harry, though I know it might seem that it's no longer your responsibility, I would ask that you help Draco to train, and when the time comes, for the two of you to face Voldemort together."
Harry heard Draco swallow and allowed himself a gruff bark of laughter.
"You - you just ask me, as if you haven't used me like a tool!" Harry choked
"Potter," Draco muttered, "let's just take the information and think about it later."
Harry stiffened. He wants me to do it just because he's too scared to face Voldemort alone.
Of course he is! A voice of reason spoke somewhere in the depths of his mind. Who wouldn't be?
"I'm so glad," Harry seethed, still staring at the floo, "that even though - all of this - has happened -" I am not going to cry in front of them, "that you still have a use for me."
Harry knocked Draco's hand away from him and walked to the door only to find that it was locked.
"Harry-" Draco said.
"Open the door," Harry said with forced calmness.
"Harry, I-" Dumbledore started.
"OPEN THE GOD-DAMNED DOOR!" Harry screamed so loudly that he almost had to hold in a cough afterwards, instead taking deep ragged breaths into the petrified silence of the room. For a moment, he thought he'd have to say it again, but he'd barely began to take another breath when Snape, rather than Dumbledore, twitched his wand and the door clicked.
He wrenched the door open and took the stairs at a run, barely hearing Dumbledore say something admonishing to Snape.
Please review if you liked this, because I'm likely to update sooner, and I want to reach the end of this fic and find out what happens as much as you do!
Big thanks to SunseticMonster for her beta work – I've learnt more about commas and full stops from her than from six years of high school English classes! Check out her fic Darkest Hour Before Dawn, because if you liked this you'll love it!