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, swearing, sexual scenes and violence
PAIRINGS I know of so far: (pairings will be added as they are mentioned in chapters)
Ron x Hermoine, Blaise x Cho, Neville x Ginny, Saito x Draco (past), Harry x Draco, Pansy x Yasmin
This has not been Beta'd.
'text' is thought
"text" is talking
/text/ is talking over the phone
Hidden Element
Chapter 55: Survivors
Elementals:
Ice and Void – Draco Malfoy
Fire – Pansy Parkinson (injured)
Earth – Blaise Zabini
Nature – Cho Chang (injured)
Light – Cherrie Everdeen (OC) (injured)
The Forgotten:
Electricity – Saito Blackstar (OC) (unknown)
Animal – Carsly Hendricks (OC) (dead)
Shadow – Alakai Petrovski (OC) (dead)
Water - Yasmin DiAngelo (unknown)
Wind - Miya Hendricks (OC) (hospitalised)
"Morning!" Harry greeted happily, making his way to the toaster. He placed three into the four slot toaster. Everyone greeted back, a mixed reaction of equally optimistic and two mumbles. Odd. Ron and Ginny were normally never grumpy when they had just woken up. His thoughts were put on hold as Draco entered, throwing a soft smile at Harrys direction and joining him next to the stove.
"Right. What is wrong?" Hermoine caved first. She had also noted the difference in their behavior.
"We have kinda bad news."
"Kinda? Ron, its epic!" Ginny chided.
"You're just happy that dad actually told us rather than hiding it." He sighed.
"So are you, which makes you feel all the more worse when you have to tell the news. I get you." He nodded briefly, then jumped slightly as Hermoine kicked him under the table.
"Right. The news. Well…it seems like Miyas gone missing. They cant find her anywhere."
"Shit!" Blaise cursed. Cho hit him in the arm.
"Dammit!"
"That's not any better, Blaise!" she growled. Though internally, she was cursing up a storm.
"Excuse us." She smiled, and pulled Blaise up and out the kitchen. Draco caught Blaises slight flick of the hand for him to follow.
"I'll be right back, ok?" He kissed Harry briefly before following. He had guessed right when he went to their bedroom.
"We shouldn't have gone!" he could hear her voice shout as he opened the door. They went instantly quiet until he closed the door behind them.
"How were we supposed to know she'd do that?"
"You don't think it's our fault?" Cho bit her bottom lip. Draco coughed to catch their attention.
"We went to visit her last night!" Blaise blurted out.
"So much for Slytherins being sneaky!"
"He's my best friend! And he happens to be light! So I can tell him."
"You better be a on the light side too!"
"Will you two stop!" Draco shouted. "Why on earth did you go visit Miya last night?"
"For the new Meadow Falls."
"What?"
"It's the new name we came up with for the school." Cho sighed.
"Right, I know, but again, what does this have to do with Miya?"
"We asked her to join." Cho smiled sheepishly.
"Right. In the middle of the night?"
"You're not going to ask us why?" Cho asked hesitantly.
"No. I like the idea. You know you probably freaked her out more than anything. What kind of enemy comes into your room in the middle of the night and tells you about a new school they'd like you to join?" He almost laughed at the thought.
"So its our fault then." Blaise placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "I just wanted to make up for what I did! She's a kid! How can you turn her over to Aurors?"
"Yo know technically she killed a lot of people without thinking about it." Draco stated.
"But does she know what she did was wrong?"
"No." Draco answered quickly. This got a raised eyebrow from Blaise.
"She grew up around Voldemort, calls him Tom. The guy was her father figure. Add in the sister unlucky enough to be part carnivore, you get one messed up home."
"What do we do?" Cho sighed.
"I think you're right. The school will help. She won't like it though, not one bit." He glanced to the side in thought.
"Right. Leave it to me. Tell Harry I'm sorry I can't make it for breakfast."
"Where are you going?" Cho asked softly only to have Blaise stop her, letting Draco slip out the door.
"He probably knows where she is. He's probably already making a plan."
"Will it work?"
"Not sure, you never know with Draco, its either epic or a major flop. But when he's thinking seriously, he's stubborn, and an absolute slytherin to the core."
He was rushing down the path, breath coming in rasps. He hadn't wanted to apparate too close, but he had ended up further than he intended. He needed to get their quick. Miya was by no means stupid. Escaping meant people wanting to recapture. She wouldn't stay in place too long.
He grabbed his phone from his pocket, pressing three on quick dial.
/Hello?/
"Hey. It's me."
/We said we wouldn't talk for a while./
"I need you to come to my place."
/Your place at Harrys, or real home?/
"Real home." It felt strange calling the manor home. He hadn't really lived there in what seemed an eternity. He felt more like a guest, having entered but not allowed to meet its occupants.
/You ok?/
"It's Miya."
/You know what happened to her?/
"She was in the hospital. Cho refused to kill her."
/That's good, right?/
"Yeah. I hope. I need your help."
/You think she's at yours?/
"It's a hunch."
/You sound out of breath./
"I'm running and you know it. You're making fun of how unfit I am again!"
/Yup, you know it! What can I do though?/
"Bring her with you."
/You sure?/
"She'll help."
/Give us a few minutes to get there./
With that, the phone went dead, and Draco pocketed it just in time to enter through the gates. Thought the front door, up the stairs. He knew exactly where she'd be. In the usual spot. Thinking spot. Throwing the door open, he instantly had his arms full.
"Draco! I knew it! I knew it! You'd find me!" She grinned happily. Moving backwards to lt him enter. She was still wearing light blue pajamas that the hospital had issued her.
"Are you alright?" He genuinely cared. Of all the elementals that had used his house as a refuge, he related more to this one. Miya. With her unfortunate circumstances and upbringing.
"I'm fine, I guess. It hurts…a lot. But not as much as when it happened."
"That's good." He sighed in relief.
"Draco…"
"I need you to listen Miya." He interrupted her before the tears could start. He knelt onto one knee before her, holding both her hands in his.
"It's never easy. In fact its harder than anything ever will be. I can't make it better for you, although I really want to. I wish there was a way." He licked his lips as her eyes widened slightly.
"It will never be the same. It will be tough, and hard, and it hurts, so much, but that means that you loved, that you were loved, that you had a special bond. There's nothing wrong with feeling this way. Nothing wrong with wanting to cry, throw things around the room."
"Had?" she whispered softly, biting her bottom lip.
"You know, don't you? You're being so brave about it. You feel it, your linked, theres no way around it. You know what that feeling is, and you know why it wont stop hurting. You really want me to say it?"
"Please." He gasped for breath, a small tear slipping from the side of her eye.
"She can't help you anymore. Carsly's gone." He wrapped his arms around her as er legs buckled, finding herself on her knees.
"It's ok. It's ok. Let it out." He whispered as she clung to him, one racking sob after the other.
"Carsly! Carsly!" She cried into his arms. Draco had never been good with situations like these. It had taken him what seemed forever to finally say he didn't believe his family, even longer to realise they had grown apart. He never knew what to do when Pansy came back with a broken heart from a guy she had slept with, had taken him a long time to admit he loved Harry Potter, let alone tell hm that.
He knew what to say because he had felt it when his father had died. When his mother had died. Felt it when he had left home behind. It was gut wrenching, and even though they had felt disappointed till their dying breaths, they had been family.
Hesitantly, he let a hand stroke through her messy hair, combing through it with his fingers.
"You ok, kid?" Draco glanced to the side to see a sad smile on Yasmins face. Pansy right behind her in the corridor.
"Yasmin!" Miya cried harder. "Carsly!" She couldn't finish the sentence.
"It's ok. Come here." Miya instantly latched onto the bluenette, who cooed and hummed at her, rocking her slightly. Pansy stood next to Draco.
"What now?"
"They want to enroll her in the school."
"The order?"
"Blaise and Cho." Pansy sighed.
"They think they can teach her right and wrong?"
"I suppose."
"You know she's too old for that? She knows the difference already. You can't change how she wants to be." Draco glanced at her, a blank expression on his face.
"No, don't give me that. You decided to get close to her in the first place. What do you plan to do?"
"Save her."
"And how do you plan to do that?"
"It was either Yasmin or the school."
"You're forgetting that I live with Yasmin. You think she'd really be able to change with me in the picture?"
"We need to convince her." Draco stated.
"Do you want to live?" Yasmin hummed at Miya, who nodded her head instantly. What had been to her hurt so badly. She couldn't imagine what death would feel like.
"You want to go to prison? Driven insane?" Miya hiccuped and then pushed back slightly, frown on her face.
"What? No!"
"That's what they want Miya." Yasmin smiled softly. "You're like me now."
"Yas.."
"I'm hiding. I don't like it, but I'm alive, and I'm with someone I care for."
"But she.."
"Never came anywhere near anyone but me. You know that, right? You saw." Miya nodded. Yasmin lifted Miyas chin up using er thumb, and smiled at her softly.
"You know you have other choices. That school, it will hide you. No one will ever know where you are. No one will ever think to look." Miya sniffed
"If you're good, I mean." Miya winced at the words. "You can be, right?"
"Do I realy not know whats right and wrong?" she asked softly.
"No one can say for sure. But this life, it can give you friends, a home, it'll make you happy."
"But they..!"
"I know. I know, Miya. They did. But you're forgetting one thing." Miya leaned her head to the side in curiosity.
"You have Draco." Miyas head snapped up towards him, and he smiled at her.
"I'll be there for you. When you need me, I will come running. If its you." Miya sniffed once more, keeping her eyes on his.
"You'll be there?"
"Of course I will. You're family, aren't you?" Miya broke down in tears once more.
"Draco!" she cried, hanging onto Yasmin once more.
"Always." Draco stated. "Without doubt, without question."
"if your good and go to school that is." Yasmin chimed in.
"Promise?" Draco smirked.
"I promise."
There wasn't much time to think of anything else. The next few weeks flowed by in a hurry, crammed with things they needed to do.
They had their talk with the order. Explained their history with Dumbledore, their actions till now. They even had to explain the battle. Draco said they had all died, and each of the elementals had agreed, that Miya had also killed herself in the manor, afraid to be alone and in the hands of her enemy. They hadn't talked about it really, there was no time, but Harry knew that not all of them had died.
They had been busy building Meadow falls with the help of the order of the ashes. One bigger than the previous, better than before. They had enrolled students already, and after four weeks of building it, finally opened it.
They had all moved out of the den. Luna had gone back home, Ginny and Neville had found a place of their own, as had Draco and Harry. A small, cosy cottage like both of them had wanted, with Asher in tow. The black Labrador was all over Draco when he had been retrieved, and Harry couldn't help but love the cuddly thing. There was suddenly time to relax.
Draco was on the balcony, staring out at the night sky. He couldn't help but think where his life had made that astral shift from the path he had been on when he was younger. He wondered who he would have been had he not changed sides, maybe even if he hadn't been born with his powers.
Strong arms grabbed him from behind.
"You're thinking too much again." Harry whispered before leaning his head on the blondes shoulder.
"There's much to think about."
"They're not all dead, are they?"
"No."
"You sure that's a good idea?" Arms wrapped tighter around his waist. Draco brushed his hands over Harrys arms.
"I'll never know. But it couldn't end any different."
"How many are alive?"
"Just two." Draco breathed harshly.
"Is…." He didn't want to finish the sentence. He would understand if Draco hadn't, but some part of him hoped Draco hadn't gotten too attached to the man.
"No. Miya and Yasmin." Pale hands gripped Harrys tightly.
"Yasmin is staying with Pansy."
"I thought they were rivals." Harry sniggered.
"Are you blind? They're in love you idiot." Harry paused, blinking. Thinking back on it, wasn't that how he and Draco had started? He couldn't help but let out belting laughter. Draco produced a smile of his own, unaware that he had been thinking the same thing.
"And Miya?"
"At Meadow falls. Learning. She's doing good, though se still has far to go mentally and emotionally." Harry swiveled Draco around to face him. His face suddenly very serious.
"You have to tell me sometime Draco. It wont just do you good, but me as well. Its driving me crazy. What happened?" Draco trailed two fingers across two lips, smiling at the soothing feeling.
"Ok."