I had a pretty decent reception for the last chapter. I expected plenty of people to be confused. What about the wards? What's going on with Xander? Why is Harry acting like a minion? What's going on?

Lol

Don't worry this chapter will answer most of those questions and I might answer all of them if I feel like it. enjoy!

"talking"

"thinking"

Chapter 24

Harry POV

Harry ran back to his house as fast as he could. His heart beat painfully in his chest and it ached every breathe he took. He had been exercising regularly with Xander, but he still wasn't in top condition yet.

He opened the door and collapsed into his house. The door shut behind him automatically. It was too quiet and his harsh breaths echoed inside the house. His heart slowed down to a normal pace and he stood up slowly, painfully only to fall yet again. A strangled sob rang through the air.

Harry curled into himself as tight as he could. He brought his arms into his chest, hugging himself as pain rippled through him. It wasn't physical pain, but emotional. He felt as if his heart had been torn from his chest and crushed in front of him.

And it was all because of Xander.

No.

It was because of himself. He had done this to himself. He had blindingly trusted Xander and had nothing to show for it, but pain.

"Xander."

Tears began to slide down Harry's face coming faster and faster. He took in short, choking breaths as he gave into the pain.

When Dracula had come for him the night before Harry had been afraid, as he should be. He had wanted nothing more than to find a stake and ram it through the vampire's heart. It wasn't anything personal, it was survival. He knew Dracula was dangerous and despite what the girls and Giles believed the vampire was going to become a problem real soon. Then Xander had showed up and held Harry close and calmed him. Told him everything was going to be okay.

In hindsight Harry should have realized that something was wrong that moment. Before that Xander's views of Dracula had matched his own and he would not have made such a radical change without a reason and most importantly without informing Harry. But he hadn't questioned Xander's actions until it was too late. Dracula had bitten him.

The moment he had woken up he should have broken the control that Dracula had over him. He should have broken that bond, but he hadn't. He looked to Xander again ignoring the fact that Xander had partially done this to him. It seemed like Xander was willing so Harry was willing. He would follow Xander into hell without hesitation.

That was another mistake.

He gained nothing by giving up his freewill. He thought for a brief moment while they had kissed that he had been awarded Xander. That Xander had finally decided that he wanted to be with him forever. He was wrong. Completely fucking wrong.

Xander had kissed him and held him close and the next logical step was to admit their affections. Instead he had been sent into the room with Dracula. Dracula had touched him.

Bile rose in Harry's throat. He barely made it to the downstairs bathroom before he threw up. His hands gripped the sides of the toilet as his stomach tried to empty itself. Tears that he hadn't realized were gone returned with a vengeance.

Despite the abuse by his relatives and his less than safe school years at Hogwarts nobody had ever touched Harry against his will. Nobody had ever trapped him into a corner where his only choices were giving up his body or death. Those were his only choices with Dracula really. If he had resisted than Dracula would have known that he was not fully under his control. He would have been killed. Only his sense of self preservation kept him from fighting the man and to just remain still.

His throat screamed in pain as his stomach began to rebel violently again. When it seemed like it had finished he sat back on his heels and leaned his forehead against the toilet seat. He ignored how completely unsanitary it was.

What hurt the most was Xander's reaction. Xander had come into the room and barely glanced at Harry. He saw what Dracula had been doing. He saw where the vampire's hands were. He saw.

And he didn't care. Not one bit.

Harry wanted to deny it. He wanted to so fucking badly, but he couldn't. He could feel Xander's almost apathy at the situation through their bond with Dracula. The only thing Xander had felt was slight amusement.

He thought it was funny.

He thought Harry about to get raped was funny.

Funny.

Harry had no more tears to cry.

Trusting Xander had to be the biggest mistake Harry had ever made. Was Harry always like this? Was he always like this? Were they always like this? Had Harry always blindingly followed Xander? Was Xander always playing with his emotions?

He didn't know. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. It was easier to believe that the answer to all of those questions was yes. It would be so easy to blame himself for being weak and to hate Xander for playing with his heart. Yet, he couldn't. He couldn't believe that these last few weeks were lies. It all just seemed so real and he would have known if Xander wasn't being truthful with him. Nobody could fake such intense emotion.

So what was he missing?

"Avoid looking directly into his eyes. If he catches your eyes he may be able to roll your mind. This ability of his will give him complete control over you. You will be nothing more than a slave." Giles voice rang through his head.

Oh god. How could he be so stupid? How could he have ignored that? How could he have not seen all of the signs?

Xander had been under Dracula's control since leaving the Magic Box and Harry had fallen into his trap. Xander was a slave. He was too far under Dracula's control to want to be freed. He was helpless and Harry had only helped him fall further under Dracula's control. Harry banged his head against the toilet seat and only felt marginally better.

"I need to free Xander." And afterward maybe, just maybe they could sit down and talk this thing out. Harry needed to know what was Xander and what was Dracula. He would never be able to look at Xander again if this was the real him actually felt.

Harry sat down all the way on the floor and began to plan.

"It would be so simple to just free myself right now, but if I do Dracula would know. I just need to keep my personal feeling hidden which should be easy with the help of occulmency. It's probably too late to warn Buffy about Dracula's plans and I can't free Xander tonight or Dracula would probably just take the opportunity to turn Buffy. What can I do?" Harry frowned.

"Okay, what do I know?" Harry paused.

"I know that Xander, myself and Buffy will all be under Dracula's control by the end of tonight. I know where Dracula is staying and I know that he plans on having Xander bring her to him tomorrow," Harry scowled at the short time window he was given, "I know that the others don't have a clue as to what's going on."

Harry grinned suddenly at the thought of the other Scoobies. He had the perfect plan in mind. The timing needed to be perfect. All he needed to do was-

-bang bang bang-

Harry jumped and froze. Xander was here.

He scrambled off of the floor and quickly splashed water on his face, getting rid of the tears. He bit his lip as he stood in front of the door. Taking a deep breath he opened the door and faced the brown haired boy. He forced a smile on his lips.

"Xander, I was wondering when you would get here."

The other boy grinned at him as if Dracula had not- Harry cut off the thought quickly. He couldn't think about that right now. It was too dangerous. Xander was dangerous.

"Hey Harry, I was wondering if," Xander tried to step through the door and hissed as his leg began to burn. He looked at the doorway in shock. It was giving off a soft blue glow. It wouldn't let him through.

Harry had never been more relieved in his life.

"What the heck?"

"I think it's the wards. They can probably sense Dracula through you." Harry looked at the doorway thoughtfully, if only he could put up such a powerful ward at Xander's house. The warding he did at Xander's house was only strong enough to stop average demons or vampires from going through. Nothing as strong as Dracula, though.

"Then how'd you get in?" Xander asked scowling at the doorway.

Harry thought quickly, it could be that Harry still maintained most of his free will but he couldn't say that.

"I think that it recognizes me as the owner of the house. I felt a slight resistance as I walked through and I don't think its going to let you through even if I asked."

Xander frowned, "Then why don't you come to my house today? We always sleep together…er…I mean in the same room." Xander blushed and Harry desperately wanted to believe that this was his Xander. He looked away, reinforcing his occulmency shields, pushing his feelings for Xander into the background.

He turned back to the other boy and smiled sadly.

"Sorry, I still need to look up the herbs for the girls. The book has a spell on it that's powered by the magic in the basement. If I take it out of the room the book will fall apart. Remember the other book I tried to take to the magic shop last week?"

This actually hadn't been a lie. Harry had really tried to take a book out of the house last week and show it to Giles. He hadn't wanted to bring Giles to the book; he didn't want them to know about his 'special' house. He had planned on telling him that he had found it in a side shop somewhere. However, the book turned to dust halfway down the street and Harry mourned the loss.

Xander sighed. "Okay, I'll miss you tonight. See you tomorrow."

Harry nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Harry shut the door and walked into one of the guest rooms numbly. He couldn't sleep in his room. It smelled like Xander and his will was already weak. He curled up in the covers on the cold bed.

He would free Xander tomorrow and they would talk, but he needed to ask himself some questions first before he spoke to Xander.

After what had happened with the Dursley's and Hogwarts Harry had treasured his freedom.

So why had he given it away so easily?

This chapter was longer than I thought. Guh. It was fun to write though and didn't take as long as the last two chapters did. I hope you guys enjoy it. tell your friends about my fic! I count views not reviews.