DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of its characters. I also do not make any money from this.

WARNINGS: Yaoi (male x male), Yuri (female x female), adult topics, sexual reference, possible sex, swearing and violence

PAIRINGS I know of so far: (pairings will be added as they are mentioned in chapters)

Ron x Hermoine, Harry x Draco mentioned, Saito (OC) x Draco, Blaise x Cho, Neville x Ginny

This has not yet been Beta'd.

A/N: AU! This is set five years after the defeat of Voldemort (I'm sticking to the wand duel cliché between Voldemort and Harry here), and Dumbledore still dies in the same way, albeit this Harry is more inclined to forgive and understand why Draco did what he did (or rather didn't do). Not everything will be according to the original plot line to suite my own plot, and its AU. For certain reasons, you will have to find all this out during the story...unless I suddenly realise it won't be further mentioned, but you need to know it anyway.

'text' is thought previous

"text" talking

XxHushHushxX: Alakai drags you into his shadow, so you yourself and everyone around can't see what's happening around them. I hope that's a better explanation? I wanted to have a one on one fight between the two sides :p

Hidden Element

Chapter 42: Team complete

Elementals:

Ice and Void – Draco Malfoy

Fire – Pansy Parkinson

Earth – Blaise Zabini

Nature – Cho Chang

Light – Cherrie Everdeen (OC)

The Forgotten:

Electricity – Saito Blackstar (OC)

Animal – Carsly Hendricks (OC)

Shadow – Alakai Petrovski (OC)

Water - Yasmin DiAngelo

Wind - Miya Hendricks (OC)

Run.

Run.

Run!

She ducked behind a corner, hand against her chest, heart thumping loudly in fright, only long enough to calm her breathing down before she ran down the narrow stairs of an alleyway. With knees slightly bent as if it would reduce sound, she went down a small brick passage that seemed to make her claustrophobic although she'd never been afraid of small spaces in her life.

It was night. One of those dark nights where the street lights seemed dimmer than normal, where the air seemed cooler against feverish skin. She couldn't risk turning on a light, couldn't stop long enough to perform a warming charm.

Hood tightly clenched around her pale fist, she sniffed slightly from both cold and fear as she glanced left and right before rushing out of the alley and across the street into a park. Dangerous, yes, but there were bushes to hide in, and the park was massive, it was better to travel through instead of around.

A branch snagged the bottom of her cloak, which she had to pull at to get loose, all the while glancing around her frantically. She was too young for this! Too inexperienced! She wanted her brother, her parents!

This was out of control! When had her life taken such a drastic turn? She laughed bitterly in her head. She saw no mirth in the situation she had graciously been placed. Had they really thought she could go through this alone? What good would this stupid phone give her? Talking would only give her away, and even then, would they get there fast enough? No. Would HE get there fast enough?

Who was she kidding, she really had no right to complain…

She winced when she thought of how clearly she'd told them she could handle herself and that she'd only arrive when the time was right, even when they had tried to convince her otherwise… hah! What better time was there than the present? She was only being chased by a couple of death eaters who had invaded her 'safe' house. No biggie. Right?

She strayed from the slightly paved path and stuck close to the bushes, crouching low and moving slow. She squinted into the darkness to make sure there were no sticks in the way, nothing that would give her away. Although she had seen no one, they could have had the same idea as her, keep low and scout. No, they were hunting whilst she was fleeing.

'How brave' she huffed internally.

Her breathing wouldn't calm, her heart wouldn't stop pounding. She felt warm and her jaw sore from where her teeth clenched. Every sound seemed to echo in her ears, every glint of light from a lamp scared her into thinking she'd been found.

Was she even creeping in the right direction? Perhaps she was going in circles without realising. This was the first time she had been in here!

'Avis!' She jerked slightly at the whispered voice, her heart almost stopping at the thought of them being that close, yet the slight shriek came from the dozens of birds that were suddenly everywhere. She jumped to the side to get out of the way of the pecking birds, yet found herself doe eyed in front of two death eaters.

It seemed like slow motion, she turned and ran as fast as her feet could take her. She had never been fast, yet she was good at turning corners. She kept a zig zag pattern in thought as she kept running forwards, hoping to evade spells she could see the colour of in the corner of her eyes.

Her legs flew from under her suddenly, hot and burning, she cried in surprise.

Run.

Run!

But her legs wouldn't work, wouldn't move when she tried to push up off the ground. She felt liquid forming somewhere, a sliver of something travelling down her leg. She didn't want to look, instead moving her eyes up defiantly to gaze at the two that stood before her, showing her glinting white teeth in the form of a smile standing out from the darkness of their hoods.

Her tongue dipped out to lick a dry lip, her legs flipped to the right side, both hands holding her upper body from the left side. They were shaking so hard she almost thought they might buckle and leave her stranded on her back.

One twirled his or her wand in the air tauntingly before slowly raising it up into the air.

A breeze cooled her skin, her face growing numb from coldness. Had it really been this cold outside?

There was a moment of terror where the sudden thought of being close to death drifted upon her. Yet a sudden cough and bout of almost nausea brought her eyes to the floor. Blood….she was bleeding. Yet when she squinted , the moons rays caught a crystalline drop of something on the stray grass.

It hadn't rained…

The temperature had defiantly dropped…she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

' Don't get your hopes up, don't get your hopes up.'

There was a woosh sound, a heavy breeze, someone running past, or apparition perhaps, because the park she had run into was suddenly alive with a multitude of spells. She couldn't bring herself to open her eyes, she couldn't even if she tried. Her legs felt wet and sticky, and no matter how hard she tried, her lungs didn't want to cooperate with her.

The sound of attack lulled her into unconsciousness.

How many times was he going to have to sit next to a bed and feel this incredible guilt? How many times would someone be hurt by the very ideal he used to support?

They were still out there. Death Eaters, he had seen them before. It meant someone was keeping Voldemort alive. Someone was building an army again for that very same purpose of constructing a new type of world.

Would they never get away from it? Even when dead Voldemort was still causing problems.

He picked up the cloth from the bowl and twisted it to make sure most of the water was gone before placing it on her forehead. Her blonde hair was matted from sweat, her breathing rasping. Her cheeks were stained red from exhaustion, fever and cold.

How long had she been running? The black bags under her eyes plainly showed it had been for a while.

Draco bit his lip sharply. Was he an idiot? He should have thought of calling her more often, should have made sure she took the right precautions. Should have stayed at her house just to make sure she'd be alright at the very least! She was younger by a long shot, she knew less spells, and wasn't of age to apparate. Had she been on foot?

"It's not your fault. You know that much, don't you?" A warm hand squeezed his shoulder softly before Cho moved to the other side of the bed.

"I should have placed her under a charm. Should have made sure she was safe."

"We made sure not to visit each other before the time was right, made sure not to share information just in case. She agreed. She's stubborn, she knew what was out there and even then she begged us not to stay, that she could handle things by herself and get here her own way."

"Of course she would, she was a lot younger then and still it seems, stupidly thought we knew everything and that's why she could handle the rest. You don't get it Cho!" She smiled somewhat sadly. There was lingering regret in her eyes too.

"I do understand. She's so young, and we left her to fend for herself. I'm so proud she made it this far, not like I thought she couldn't handle herself. She can be a spitfire when she wants to be."

"When she's used to you! She shies away from strangers."

"Like a good girl." Cherrie croaked softly. She kept her eyes closed, yet she moved her arms from out of the bed and searched for the cool hand she had become accustomed to reaching for in times of need.

"A very good girl." He moved his chair closer almost automatically, and smiled as he saw Cho lean closer on the same instinct.

"I would have been angry if you kept tabs just because I was younger, even now when I know better I feel the same, and I could see you knew that too, so don't feel sad now. I couldn't call you in time without giving away my position. I'm sorry." Cherrie moaned. She felt incredibly stupid and humiliated as she lay there injured on the bed.

"Never be sorry!" She opened one eye slowly and smiled softly at Cho before shifting her head to glance at Draco.

"Thank you for being there in my time of need. I knew you would be."

Draco stared at her for a while, upon which she opened the other eye to gaze at him in confusion.

"I didn't save you." He admitted stiffly.

"But you were there. I felt it. I was so sure it was you!"

He couldn't help but wince at the sudden reminder of his loss, but forced on a smile that grew more genuine as he said his next sentence.

"No, it wasn't me. But all the same, I'm happy you're here with us again. I'll introduce him to you again later when you get better. You didn't really talk much apart from the whole war thing. Ok?"

'Again?' She thought to herself momentarily before agreeing slowly. Turning her head to the other side once more, a glow radiating about her as she let out a joyous laugh at finding Cho there beside her.

"I'll leave you girls to talk. Call me, if you need help?"

"Always." She whispered happily, before a stream of sentences seemed to slip out directed at the other female.

He stood, happy at the thought of having her back by their side. He had been worried, but his own life had swept him away from thought of how she'd been faring.

"Is she ok?"

Had Harry always just popped up like that?

"Yes." Harry pushed the door open he had been leaning against, and cocked with his head for him to come inside.

Although he felt like saying no, his body had immediately responded by following.

"Calm down." Harry whispered in his ear as he walked past, and he couldn't help but shiver at the cool breath against his neck.

"Hermoine and I worked on a potion the moment we found her. We were able to heal the deep lacerations across her legs. She managed to keep it from going too far, so she should be fine."

"And you?" Draco looked up startled from where he'd been staring at the window and cocked his head slightly to the side. What a stupid question to ask, how was he involved in this mess?

"Am I?"

"Yes and no." He almost rolled his eyes at the answer. Of course it was going to be one of the two. There was something in his voice, however, that led him to keep staring at the brunette. Draco kept the eye contact, although he was suddenly starting to feel like Harry was something more than….him.

"How do you know?"

He inhaled sharply through his nose. A cool touch that used to be warm rested on his heart. It felt penetrating, the Ice seeping through, trying to flood his senses, calling to him. The air around him seemed to change. The steady frost felt right.

"I know you." Harry smiled softly at him, his eyes taking on a soft sheen before he moved back to the door.

"Rest a bit before you come back down, there will be a lot of questions waiting for you." Harry closed the door behind him, warmth wafting through the room once again as his presence moved down the hall.

Damnit!

His head was racing, and he sat down on the bed clumsily, glad that Harry wasn't there to see.

He knew that look all too well, once upon a time at the beginning of 'them' when there had been no doubt between them.

He knew exactly what it meant, and as he lay down on the bed, Harrys bed, he finally let himself think about what it all meant, and what he'd have to do.