Summary: Draco is a Healer, Harry is an Auror. When an accident sends Harry to St Mungo's and into Draco's care they begin to wonder if things can ever go back to the way they were. HarryxDraco slash.

Rating: M

Warnings: Creepy!Draco

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or settings that you recognise; they belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros. I am not making any money from this story.

A/N: Well, guys, I can't thank you enough for the lovely reviews you're all giving me. It really makes my day seeing a full inbox! I've noticed that a lot of people add me to their favourites list but don't review – come on, just tell me what you think. I need reviews for motivation! Anyway, I am off to Tenerife (which is one of the Canary Islands for anyone who lives too far away to holiday in Europe!) tomorrow (YAY!) and won't be back for a week so I'm updating early. Please review, I want at least ten new ones by the time I come home! It'll give me something to think about during the four hours on the plane... x

Chapter Three: The Power of Darkness

It was the day of the hospital fundraiser and Ginny hadn't spoken to Harry all week. He bought her flowers and a box of Honeydukes finest chocolates but she complained that they would make her fat. He took her to Diagon Alley and treated her to new dress robes for the fundraiser but she hadn't given him a word of thanks. He bought her a beautiful emerald and diamond necklace but even that hadn't made the blindest bit of difference. He didn't have a clue as to what to do next.

When he'd stumbled in through the front door the previous weekend she had given him a look of sheer disgust before stomping up the stairs. He began to follow her but was knocked off his feet by a rolled-up duvet being hurled at him from the top of the stairs. He had shakily gotten to his feet but was promptly knocked over again as two pillows hit him square in the face, one after the other.

"You can sleep on the couch," she had spat, before turning on her heel and disappearing from view.

Harry rubbed his eyes wearily, staring blankly at the paperwork in front of him. He had been trying to write up his report for over an hour but, so far, had come up with nothing. He hadn't been sleeping well and, though she had allowed him to return to their bed, the tension between himself and Ginny was starting to take its toll. He tried hard to keep acting normal but she was giving him nothing in return and it felt like he was constantly running at a brick wall. He wasn't sure how much more he could take; something had to give. There was a knock at the door and he looked up to see the grinning face of Ron Weasley.

"You alright, mate?" Ron asked, taking a seat across from Harry. "You look stressed."

"I'm fine," Harry lied. "Just tired. This report for Kingsley isn't any closer to being finished either."

"Tell me about it. I've just been to see him and he says that we can leave at five as long as we get it done over the weekend."

"Is Hermione still bouncing at the thought of meeting all the hospital donors then?" Harry laughed, remembering his friend's face when he had given her the tickets.

"Mate, she hasn't been able to sit still all week," Ron grinned. "She's desperate to rub shoulders with all the hospital bigwigs. She's hoping to get some recognition for her potions work."

"And so she should!" said Harry, and Ron beamed. Hermione had spent the last two years developing potions to help long-term illnesses such as restoring normal brain function to those whose minds had been addled with magic. She had drawn inspiration from the story of Frank and Alice Longbottom, Neville's parents.

Ron got to his feet and dusted off his robes. "Five o'clock, remember? Not a minute later. We'll be at your house for seven and then we can all just Apparate from there, okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Harry replied, nodding. "I'll see you then."

-x-

At quarter to seven, Ginny was pacing back and forth in their bedroom, wearing only her underwear. Harry was fully dressed in his brand new robes and his hair was almost behaving for the first time in his life. He looked at his watch.

"Ginny, you really need to get ready now. Ron and Hermione will be here any minute."

"I still don't understand why I need to go to this thing. If you've been invited because you gave money to the hospital then that's your business. I'm still annoyed with you and I don't see why I should do you a favour."

Harry bit his lip. He hadn't told anyone the real reason that they had been invited. He knew that his new-found friendship with Malfoy would raise questions that he wasn't sure he was ready to answer so he had simply told them that he had donated money to the new wing of the hospital. He decided to end this ridiculous situation and closed the space between them.

"Harry, stop it," she snapped as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Get off me!"

"No, this is ridiculous. I did something stupid but you are being really childish about it," he said, feeling her stiffen. "I'm sorry that I upset you but you have to let it go. Please. I want you to come with me tonight."

A few moments passed before she allowed herself to relax into the hug. He tightened the embrace and kissed the top of her shoulder. "Please, Ginny," he whispered against her neck and she nodded against his chest.

"I'm sorry I've been so horrible lately," she replied quietly. She leaned up to kiss him gently, her lips soft against his. He ran his fingers down her bare back, relishing in the feeling of her soft, pale skin. It had been so long since he had touched her and, no matter how bad things were between them, he had to admit that he missed it. He loved her sweet, flowery scent and her long, red hair, like silk flowing through his fingers. He wasn't willing to accept the possibility that the fire in their relationship had gone out. He was married to his best friend and they had a beautifully simple, comfortable routine. He had no reason to look for anything more – after everything that had happened in his life, it was nice to have some stability. Harry caught sight of the clock above Ginny's head.

"Shit, you need to get dressed!"

"Putting clothes on is the last thing on my mind," she purred, running a finger across his chest and looking up at him through long lashes. He laughed, shaking his head.

"Oh no, you can't do this to me just now. We have to go in ten minutes," he gently steered her towards the bed, where her new robes were laid out. "You put those on and I'll wait downstairs."

She pouted but did as he asked. He was halfway down the stairs when he heard a knock at the front door. "Ginny, that's them here. You need to hurry up!"

He took the last few stairs two at a time and pulled back the latch on the door. It swung open to reveal Ron and Hermione, huddled against the bitter wind in thick winter cloaks.

"Come on, mate, we're freezing our arses off out here!" said Ron, rubbing his hands together.

"I think what he means is: can we come in please?" said Hermione, looking reproachfully at her boyfriend.

Harry laughed and stood to one side, allowing his friends to make their way into the living room. "Ginny's just getting ready now."

"Leave it to her, eh? I wouldn't be surprised if she was late for her own funeral," Ron joked, shaking his head.

Hermione threw Ron a distasteful look before turned her attention to Harry. "Do you know which board members are going to be at this dinner tonight?"

"No, I have no idea," he shrugged, "I think Neville and Luna are going though, they both do a lot for the hospital."

Ten minutes passed before Ginny appeared in the doorway. "Are we going then?"

"About bloody time," Ron huffed, getting to his feet. They stepped into the hall and he wrapped Hermione's cloak around her before reaching for his own. "You'll need to wrap up warm; it's freezing out there." he warned.

"This had better be good," Ginny muttered under her breath as she opened the front door and eyed the icy ground warily before walking down into the garden. The others followed suit and with a brief glance around to make sure that there was no-one in sight, they each turned on the spot and vanished with a loud crack.

A few moments of almost unbearable discomfort passed and Harry reappeared, though he was no longer in London, that was for sure. Instead of ugly, oppressive buildings and noisy traffic they were surrounded by rolling hills, rugged scenery and huge forests. The sky was completely clear and the air was fresh; Harry inhaled deeply, gazing up at the many stars scattered across the velvety sky. A large manor was situated at the bottom of the grounds and the four friends began to make their way down the path towards it.

"This place is huge!" said Ron, his mouth gaping as he looked around.

"It's vulgar," said Ginny, obviously working hard to disguise how much she liked it, "I don't know why some people feel the need to brag about their wealth like this."

"I don't know, Gin, I wouldn't say no to a house like that if it was offered," replied Harry, smirking.

Hermione laughed. "I have to agree with you there, this place is amazing!"

Finally reaching the huge oak doors at the front of the house, they were greeted by two house elves, who bowed and promptly took their cloaks. Ushering them inside, the small creatures showed them to the dining area and they took their seats at one of the round tables.

My whole house could fit in this room, thought Harry as he picked up his name tag and pinned it to his chest. He looked across the table to see that Neville and Luna would be sitting with them, along with another couple that Harry didn't know. The room was slowly filling up and he could tell by the looks on everyone's faces that they were just as impressed as he had been by the grandeur of the house. By the time everyone was seated and the trays of free champagne had been ferried around the hall, it was almost eight o'clock and Harry was beginning to get restless. Just as he checked his watch, a large, older wizard took centre stage at the front of the hall and cleared his throat importantly. Pointing his wand at his throat, he muttered sonorus, and pulled a piece of parchment from the inside of his dress robes. Great, Harry thought to himself, this is going to a long night...

-x-

Harry gazed around at the crowds of people scattered throughout the enormous room. After dinner it had been announced that there would be an open bar and a chance to mingle with the hospital board members.

"I had no idea that you would be here tonight, Potter," Kingsley Shacklebolt was saying, clapping Harry on the shoulder. "I'm assuming that this is the emergency that Weasley spoke of when he came to me this afternoon?"

The Minister gave a hearty laugh as Harry looked sheepishly at the floor. "It's alright, Harry, it's for a good cause. Just make sure that you have that report on my desk on Monday morning!" He laughed again before turning and making his way over to where Andromeda Tonks stood with Teddy. Harry smiled as the young boy caught sight of him and began tugging on his grandmother's sleeve. Shaking him off impatiently, she nodded towards Harry and the child ran towards him at a speed that caused the surrounding groups to jump out of the way, looking alarmed. Bending to pick him up, Harry groaned and quickly righted the youngster, laughing wheezily.

"You're too heavy for that now!"

"You do it to Daniel," Teddy pouted, his hair changing from blue to green.

"Don't be like that," Harry ruffled his hair. "Danny's only little – you're almost six!"

The boy's face changed instantly and his eyes shone with excitement. "Nana said that she'll buy me a broom for my birthday!"

"Did she really?" Harry knew that there was no way in Hell that Andromeda would agree to buy him a broom but he humoured him. "Which one is she buying you?"

"The same as yours!"

Harry laughed and Teddy's face broke into a grin. "Do you want to see what I found?"

He extended his hand and Harry took it, allowing his Godson to lead him to the back of the room and out the doors. Hurrying through the vast entrance hall, he was dragged through a door and suddenly found himself in a tiny room, filled with Quidditch memorabilia.

"How did you find this place?" Harry leaned in to examine a photo of an old Quidditch team, the players of which were smiling and waving up at him. "Did your Gran know that you were gone?"

"I said that Neville was taking me to the toilet," Teddy replied, a mischievous grin on his face. He pulled Harry's sleeve. "I want to go exploring!"

"That's probably not a good idea," came a voice from the doorway. "Even I get lost in here sometimes."

Harry looked up to see Draco leaning casually against the doorframe, a glass of champagne in his hand. Teddy gawped up at the man, a look of terror on his face. Malfoy blinked in surprise as the youngster's mop of hair suddenly turned platinum blond but otherwise showed no sign that anything was out of the ordinary.

"Uncle Harry," he hissed, side-stepping behind his Godfather so that he was hidden from view.

"It's okay, you're not in trouble," Harry said, reaching behind him and patting the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "He didn't touch anything," he said to Malfoy and the blond nodded.

"That's okay, it was my father's collection anyway," he replied. "I doubt he'll be coming back to collect it any time soon."

"This is your house?" Harry asked, surprised. "I thought..."

"We usually reside in the manor in Wiltshire but it's not nearly big enough to host an event of this size," he explained. "This is our estate in the north of Scotland. The weather is pretty unreliable up here but the surrounding countryside more than makes up for it."

"I noticed," Harry agreed and Draco shook his head.

"No you didn't," he said shortly. "Not properly. The difference between here and the English countryside is amazing. It's so rugged and angry looking. All the plants, the grass, everything here is rougher and wilder. There's heather and thistles growing everywhere and you can just walk and walk and never see a single person."

"A bit like London then," Harry joked, causing a smirk to appear on the other man's face.

"I'd give anything to live up here," he mused, taking a sip of champagne.

"Why can't you?" the brunette enquired, cocking his head.

"Because my mother needs me," Draco replied, not looking up.

There was an awkward pause. Draco took another swig before he spoke again.

"Did you know it never gets properly dark in Scotland? It's something to do with being so close to the North Pole," he said absently, his eyes still focusing on the floor.

Harry looked at him, unsure of what to say next. "Well, I appreciate the trivia, Malfoy, but I'd better be getting Teddy back to his Gran," he placed a hand on the small boy's back and began to lead him from the room. He stopped at the door, expecting Malfoy to step out of the way and allow them to pass him but the Slytherin showed no sign of moving.

"Darkness is a powerful thing, Potter," he said, his eyes fixed on Harry's. For a split second, the Gryffindor felt an irresistible pull towards the other man. He felt as though he could melt under that intense, silver gaze and it took all his strength to snap himself out of it. Shaking his head, he looked uneasily up at the blond and stepped around him, Teddy following him closely.

"Don't underestimate the power it has over your thoughts. Things that you never thought possible can suddenly seem incredibly inviting under cover of darkness."

Harry walked away from Malfoy then and didn't look back but he couldn't deny that his words were having a profound effect. It seemed that the harder he tried to rid his head of Malfoy's drawling voice, the more the darkness pressed in all around him and he felt himself slipping away. He couldn't shake the feeling of unease that seemed to have formed a tight knot in the pit of his stomach and, handing Teddy over to Andromeda, he made his way over to Ginny, hoping against hope that she could make everything okay again. She looked surprised as he pulled her into a tight embrace but quickly relaxed into it.

"I love you," he whispered, pulling her closer. "Let's get out of here."

Making their excuses, they quickly left the party and ran out into the garden, their cloaks forgotten. Kissing her urgently, Harry wrapped his arms around his wife and together they disappeared, neither one of them noticing the silhouette of Draco Malfoy watching them from the entrance hall, his eyes narrowed shrewdly.

-x-

A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews so far guys, you're a great audience! I thank you for your continued patience while I develop Harry and Draco's relationship - it's getting there, I promise! As I said at the beginning, I'm in Playa De Las Americas until the 19th June so my next update won't be until at least the 20th. Chocolate Harry and Dracos to all who review! x