Prison gates won't open up for me

On these hands and knees I'm crawlin'

Oh, I reach for you

Well I'm terrified of these four walls

These iron bars can hold my soul in

All I need is you

Come please, I'm callin'

And oh I scream for you

Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'

-Nickelback

And just as Ginny's mouth opened to scream the unforgivable, Harry heard Draco's voice scream something as well. Ginny's curse hurtled towards him, bright and green like a warped bolt of lightning. Then there was a blinding flash of white light. Harry cried out, pressing his eyes shut and turning his head to the side. There was a loud explosion just over his left shoulder, and suddenly he was falling. He hit the ground hard, his knees crashing painfully into the unforgiving stone.

Then, everything was silent.

Harry opened his eyes, his breath coming in shallow, ragged pants. Dust plumed all around him like a dense fog, masking the room in shades of grey and brown. Every muscle in his body quivered as his nails scraped against the stone beneath him. Was he…alive? He blinked several times and looked back over his shoulder Just above where he'd been bound, there was a jagged circle of cracked stone. The spell had missed? But then…had Draco saved him? Had Draco…

With a sudden gasp of realization, Harry leapt to his feet. But he fumbled as he scrambled across the room, coughing as dust filled his lungs. It was so thick that he could barely see. Adrenaline raced through his veins as he looked around frantically.

And then he saw them, and his heart slammed to a stop.

Ginny and Draco's bodies lay lumped on the ground only a few feet away from each other, both of them still as death. Their mouths hung open, and faintly, Harry could see a tiny ball of pale light rising from each of their parted lips.

"No," Harry breathed, rushing to Draco's side and falling to his knees. Hot tears blurred his vision as he stared down at Draco's lifeless body, and at the open grey eyes that saw nothing. Harry's hands trembled violently, hovering just over the pale light above Draco's mouth. "Draco…no. No no no. What have you done?" He'd only seen a soul once, when he was thirteen years old, but the image had been imprinted on his mind like a brand. It looked so fragile, like a flickering star about to fade into a black sky.

]

The moon shone weakly through the window, its cold, muted glow making the light of Draco's soul seem all the more delicate. Slowly, Harry cupped his hands around it, kindling it like a flame ready to blow out. He could feel heat coming from it, soft pulsing waves of magic tickling his palms. And he could feel Draco in it too, somehow. It was the same feeling he got when he knew someone was standing just behind him, but he wasn't able to turn to look. Without thinking, Harry closed his hands together.

Harry's fingers just barely graced the surface of the small light when all of a sudden his stomach lurched and he was hurtled forward.

His feet hit hard ground before he even knew he was falling. Surprisingly enough, though, his legs held firm. In fact, he felt better than he had in days. Harry blinked and straightened, looking around confusedly. The room around him was different than the round room he'd just been in. He was standing in the center of a long barren hall, lit by a pallid light that streamed down through the windows along its sides But the light seemed strange…unnatural—it had a certain thick quality to it, like a still mist. Then, his eyes caught hold of something, a flash of silver in the dim distance. There was a figure standing at the far end of the room, grasping the handles of the tall double oaken doors that consumed the wall.

"Draco?"

With a flinch, Draco turned, and their eyes locked. One of his pale hands remained tightly wrapped around the door-handle. "Harry," Draco said with a peculiar frown. "Why is it that I'm not surprised to see you?"

Harry began walking towards him. "Where are we? What's going on?"

The sound of Draco's breathless laugh echoed down the hall. "You really are hopeless, you know that?"

"Draco…" Harry continued forward, more slowly now.

"Did I or did I not tell you to follow my instructions?"

They were only a few feet from each other now, and Harry's nerves were quivering with something foul in the air. He couldn't feel anything, not the heat of the summer air, or the weight of his own feet pressed against the stone floor. "Are we…" he couldn't help the slight tremor in his voice, "are we inside your soul?"

Draco laughed once more, but there was something brittle in it this time. "There's no pulling the wool over your eyes is there, Potter. Now if we're done playing twenty questions, you really should be leaving."

Harry chanced another step forward. His mind was whirling. "What did you do?"

The air took on a sudden electric charge as Draco's face creased with anger. "None of that matters now! You need to get out of here!"

"Not without you! I'm not—"

"I will not allow your stubbornness to make my sacrifice mean nothing!" Draco yelled, his whole body shaking and the crests of his cheeks flooding with a deep red. The entire world seemed to tremble around them, blurring suddenly before jerking back into focus.

Harry staggered back. "Sacrifice?" He stared at Draco, and the silence around him seemed to press in. Then something seemed to click in his mind. "You—you killed yourself to save me?"

"No. I separated Ginny's soul from her body, and was consequently killed in the process. Now, go!"

"Draco…"

"No! I said get. Out."

Harry shook his head, taking a desperate step forward. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not going anywhere without you!"

"I'm not leaving!"

A heavy feeling sank into the pit of Harry's stomach. "Why not?" he asked, knowing already that he didn't want the answer.

"Because Tom and I aren't bound by our bodies like the two of you were bound in your Unbreakable Vow, we are bound by our souls! If I come back then Ginny comes back, and Tom will come right along with her!"

"No. No, no, no! I'm not going to leave you here!" Harry moved forward again.

"You don't have a choice!" Draco seethed, recoiling back against the door, his hand still gripping the doorknob. "If you want to save Ginny, you have to leave! Now!"

"Save Ginny?" The world beneath Harry's feet rocked. "But how—"

"Tom has her, but you can kill him once and for all. You can bring her back!"

Harry's brow furrowed. "And what about you?

"What about me?" Draco was starting to sound annoyed now, like he was talking to an incredibly dense child. "I told you—I can't go back first."

"So after then? I save Ginny, then I come back and save you?

"No! No, you stupid imbecile!" Draco shouted. "There isn't enough time to save us both! She's dying right now while you're sitting here wasting your breath prattling on with me!"

The realization only took a moment to hit. "That's…" Harry swallowed. "Draco you can't do that. I can't leave you here knowing you're going to die! I can't have that kind of blood on my hands!"

"Well you're going to have to! It's either her blood or mine, and I'm not going with you!"

"Draco," Harry closed the final distance between them. "I can't leave you here…you know why, and I can't just…" His words fell off as a lump lodged itself in his throat. He raised his hands, wanting to pull Draco to him, but something held him back—he didn't want to touch Draco not knowing whether or not he would be able to feel him in his hands. "I love you," he whispered.

Those grey eyes seemed so close now, and they were brighter than he'd ever seen them, like he'd been seeing a sun through clouds all this time, and now the clouds had been swept away and the star was blazing with all its uncontained fury. "You would never have loved me if I hadn't come to you that day on the train, and I would never have come to you if it weren't for her. You don't love me, Harry…you love something that was never even supposed to exist." His voice grew soft, and distant. "I've made my choices, knowingly and willingly, and don't you dare think I haven't. I've lied, and manipulated, and cheated, and killed—I can't allow you to take away the one good thing I've done."

Anguish pressed on Harry's chest like a weight. "Draco," his eyes flickered up, then back down again, "…what's behind those doors?" But he already knew, because he'd been in a place like this before, only for him it had looked like King's Cross Station.

Draco turned to look up at them thoughtfully, the ghost of a smile curling on the edges of his lips. "My father," he said, turning back to Harry once more. "He's calling me."

Tears spilled over Harry's cheeks before he'd even realized they'd formed. "Draco…please…"

Draco hushed him, raising his free hand to cup Harry's cheek. But Harry couldn't feel the touch—the only thing he could feel was a light prickling, like static electricity. "Close your eyes, Harry." Harry did. "You're not really here. You're sitting beside me. You can feel the ground beneath your legs."

There was a sudden jerk in Harry's chest. In a panic, he tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't. "No! Draco!"

"You can feel the fabric of your clothes against your skin."

There was another jerk, sharper this time.

"You can feel that your eyes are closed," Draco's voice was nothing more than a distant whisper. "Now, open them."

Harry's eyes flew open. Air rushed into his lungs as his vision spun, like he'd been holding his breath for too long. A heavy pain pulled at his shoulders and crushed in on his chest. He felt weak, and slow, but in a very different way from before, like the blood in his veins was thick like lead and weighing him down. Barely coherent enough to acknowledge the reality around him, Harry reached into his pocket, digging out the parchment that Draco had left there. He opened in a fury, trying to keep his hands steady enough to read the words written there.

Harry's brows came together as his eyes dragged across the paper—he'd seen this before. It was a page torn out of a book, with some of Draco's clean-cut writing lining the margins. The heading of the page read, The Dementor's Peck. It was the same spell Draco had mentioned that day in the Library—the one that could remove a soul from a body, and for all intents and purposes…kill it. Harry's pulse quickened. Draco had told him that he and Ginny were bound—that if Ginny were to be cursed, he would be cursed as well. So that meant, when Draco had shot this spell at Ginny, he had known that it would kill them both.

Hot tears welled in his eyes. But he reined the emotion in tight. He had to remain calm. He had to read what Draco had written.

Harry, if you're reading this it means I'm dead…or at least very close to dying. Morbid I know, but this is no time for jokes. You must my instructions quickly. You don't have much time.

All right, Harry thought, one step at a time. Stay calm. One step at a time.

Firstly, take my wand.

Harry reached over, trying not to think about how Draco's skin was paler than normal as he grabbed the wand from his limp left hand.

Secondly, there should be a knife in my breast pocket. Take that as well.

Biting his lip, Harry reached into Draco's pocket. He had to close his eyes, unable to handle that blank grey gaze without feeling a lurch of nausea twist his stomach. The tip of a blade slide across his fingers, and gingerly he pulled the knife from its holding. The blade was soft cream color, and the silver handle was unnaturally cold to the touch. With a jolt, Harry realized what it was—it was the basilisk fang that Draco had gotten from the Chamber of Secrets.

Thirdly, you must check to see if Ginny still has the Elder Wand.

With a shaky breath, Harry crawled over to Ginny, not realizing until now how much his muscles ached. Her midnight eyes were glazed with the same blank dead fog, and her mouth was lit with the soft glow of the soul that floated just above her lips. Swallowing against the bile that surged up his throat, Harry turned his eyes to her wand hand. But there was nothing there. Heart leaping, Harry surged forward, grabbing Ginny's hand and turning it over. Her fingers and palm were blackened with ash.

Harry looked around, thinking that it maybe she had dropped it when she'd fallen. It couldn't have gone far. But he didn't see it anywhere.

Mind whirling, Harry read on.

If it's not there, don't panic.

Harry snarled. Okay, screw this one step at a time bullshit.

If it's not there, there's a good chance it's been destroyed. Don't be an idiot and think I'm going to explain why, there's no time for that. Now pay attention, Potter! You can't screw this next part up—no amount of stupid Gryffindor luck is going to save you if you blow this.

Now, the spell will have been enough to broken your vow with Ginny, but it will not have broken her bond with me or her bond with Tom. You're going to have to touch Ginny's soul, and when you do it's going to take you somewhere. I have no clue where, but where ever it is, Tom will be there waiting for you. You will not be able to use magic there, do you understand? A soul is the main source of our magic, and in there, there will be no vessel to channel it through. If you hold my knife when you touch her soul, it should stay with you when you go in. Take the knife in with you, and kill him. Don't hesitate, Potter, no matter what your self-righteous little conscience tells you. If you kill him, then Ginny's soul will be set free.

Once Tom is dead, all you have to do to come back is think about where you are. Remember how the ground feels beneath you, and how the knife fits in your hand etcetera, and you'll come back. The trip may weaken you, but you should be fine to perform the spell to put Ginny's soul back and wake her up.

Corpuscorporis Reverto.

That's the spell. Call her with your magic, and she'll find you. Know that you will not have time to save both of us. Trust me…save her.

I love you, Harry.

And that was all there was. Harry turned the parchment over and back again, but there was nothing else.

Harry looked down at Ginny's body, then at Draco's, and back again. He knew he could use this spell to bring Draco back. With just a wave of his wand and a few words, he would be able to see Draco's eyes light up again. But then, Ginny would come back too, and he would be right back where he'd started. Sure, he would have the upper hand because he had a wand, but he didn't know the first thing about how to overcome a possession.

He stared down at Ginny's face, mapping out the freckles that spanned her nose and cheeks. She didn't deserve this. Even if he wasn't in love with her anymore, that didn't give him the right to choose Draco over her. Draco had known what he was doing when he'd cast the spell—he'd known the consequences. Ginny hadn't…and she was trapped somewhere deep in the darkness, waiting for him to save her like he always had. Like he always would. Draco had been right—there was no other choice here.

Harry's heart felt like a sinking weight as he gripped the knife tightly in his right hand, and gently set Draco's wand down at his side. His mind was made up, but he wasn't going to let that be the end of it. He didn't care what the note had said—he would get back in time to save Draco. He had to.

With one last determined breath, Harry reached out and touched Ginny's soul.

The lurch in his stomach was different than before, harder. He was pitched down, falling into a great pit of blackness, until suddenly the ground leapt up at him. His feet hit with a strange metallic clang.

Blinking, Harry steadied himself and looked around, trying not to pay attention to the fact that he couldn't feel the temperature anymore. He could, however, still feel the grip of the knife in his hand, and that at least was reassuring.

The silence that surrounded him was broken only by the tinkling sound of water droplets falling into scattered puddles. As his eyes began adjusting to the darkness he noticed that he was standing in a very large pipe—a pipe that he happened to have stood in before. With a startled breath he realized: he was in the Chamber of Secrets.

A high-pitched scream shattered the stillness like glass.

In an instant, Harry was running, his feet flying across the ground faster than he'd ever remembered. He flung himself around the one corner that stood between him and the last hall that led into the chamber. The stone snakes stared down at him with sharp eyes as he ran past, Draco's knife clutched tightly in his fist.

Then he saw them, at the end of the corridor, right in the center of the great, open room. Harry slowed to a walk. Ginny's body lay flat on the ground, her limbs stretched out and held to the floor with heavy metal chains. She was paler than death. And there, kneeling beside her body, was Tom,

From where Harry stood he could only see Tom's back as he hunched over Ginny's still form, as if to protect it from something Harry couldn't see. Then, suddenly, Tom's shoulders stiffened. He turned slowly, his eyes locking with Harry's

Harry knew that Tom's face was one he would never forget. The handsome pale skin pulled tight over high cheekbones, the jet-black hair, and the dark eyes that seemed to pull at the very fabric of Harry's soul. They flashed red for but an instant before fading back to black, and Harry felt a small twist in his stomach—his body's response to a pain he knew he should feel.

"What have you done?" Tom's voice shook with anger. The Slytherin Heir made to stand, but faltered and fell back to his knees. That only seemed to make him angrier.

Harry was still moving forward. He knew he should be afraid, but for some reason he wasn't.

Tom raised his wand—the Elder Wand—pointing it straight at Harry's chest. "Tell me why we're here!" Tom yelled, his face growing even paler in his rage. "Answer me!"

"You can't order me around anymore. Our bond has been broken." An emotion, black and angry, slithered through him then. "This is where you should've died, Tom." Harry could feel the knife like a weight in his hand, "This time, I'm going to make sure I finish the job."

"I killed you!"

Harry sneered. "You missed."

"But, how…I—" Tom's eyes flickered as the realization dawned. "Draco. That gormless little rodent—he did this." His voice had dropped to a low, rumbling whisper, and something about it made Harry wish that he was yelling again. Tom's dark brows pulled together, and Harry was close enough to see the vein that throbbed in his forehead. Tom's grip on his wand tightened. "You're going to take me out of here."

Glaring, Harry stopped. The Elder Wand was barely an arm's length away now, and his eyes dropped down to it briefly before returning to the cold dark stare. "Let Ginny go."

"I'll kill you, boy!"

"Let Ginny go!" Harry growled. "I'm not going to ask you again!"

Then something in Tom seemed to snap—Harry saw it in his face—his manic rage breaking past his control like water boiling over. The chamber began to tremble, the metal pipes around them ringing like great bells as Tom's knuckles went white. "Never!" Tom's snarl sent a sharp thrill of panic racing down Harry's spine. "Avada Kedavra!"

Nothing happened. The world went suddenly still.

Tom blinked, his expression falling in a horrified, blank shock. "What is this?" he gaped. "Have you turned me into a muggle?" He made it sound like a fate worse than death.

"You would think that." In a sudden charge, Harry's hand whipped forward, ripping the Elder Wand from Tom's hand with a seekers grace and speed. "This wand won't work for you anymore. It won't work for anyone." He threw it to the side and Tom's eyes followed, watching as it disintegrated into a whirling cloud of ash. The dust plumed out like smoke, lingering for only a moment before it drifted to the ground with barely a whispering sound. "The wand must always have a master."

The Slytherin heir fell to his knees, his gaze still locked on what had once been the most powerful weapon in all the world. For a moment he almost looked like he was just a sixteen-year-old boy, pure and unmarred by the scars of his future. "This is soul magic," his whisper was like a haunting chill. It made the hackles on the back of Harry's neck rise. "He separated Ginny's soul from her body, thus killing me and making himself the master of the wand, but in killing me, he killed himself and left the wand without a master…the stupid fool." Tom looked over at Harry then, and seemed to notice the knife for the first time. A small sort of smile stretched his thin lips. "You mean to kill me the barbaric way then?"

Harry nodded, his shoulders set and tense.

Tom quirked a dark brow. "My my, would that make me your first?" With a mocking smirk, Tom tilted his head to the side, bearing his bare white throat so that it was plainly open for Harry to see. "Oh I can see that you're gagging for it. You want to see what it feels like. I've done a lot of things to hurt you, haven't I, Harry?"

"I have somewhere I need to be." He could tell Tom was trying to lure him into something. So why was he hesitating?

"Oh," Tom nodded knowingly, "that's right. Draco's out there dying while you're in here with me. So why don't you get it over and done with then? It would be so easy," he purred, his eyes flashing with ardently, "plunging that dagger into my neck and feeling my blood wash over your hands. Don't you want to know what it feels like, Harry?"

Harry stood silent, the knife clutched tightly in his trembling hand. Why couldn't he move? Those dark eyes imprisoned him there, holding him in some sort of trance. While Tom's tongue hissed and tempted him with blood, his eyes mocked him, as if they knew that he wouldn't take the bait.

"Don't you want to know?"

Why couldn't he move?

"You're scared aren't you." Tom made it obvious that it was a statement rather than a question.

"I'm not," Harry insisted through gritted teeth.

"You know," Tom boy heckled, "you'll kill him too, if you kill me." Tom licked his lips. "Draco, I mean."

Everything seemed to slow and Harry felt his breath catch in his throat. No. No, killing Tom would destroy their bond, not kill Draco along with it. Right? Harry shook the question from his head. "You're trying to trick me and it won't work. His body and his soul are separated now. You can't hurt him anymore."

"Care to test that theory, boy?"

Harry didn't move.

Tom laughed, and Harry swore he could hear Ginny in the sound. "I had forgotten," his hand clenched at his side, "what a spineless Gryffindor you are." Suddenly Tom's hand shot forward, and a handful of dust flew straight into Harry's eyes.

Harry yelled, jumping back as Tom sprang for him, a jagged rock clutched in his thin pale hand. Pain and blood bloomed across Harry's chest as Tom's rock sliced through his shirt to cut his skin. Apparently pain was one thing he could feel here. Then, something hit him hard across the chest, sending him reeling backwards. He grabbed for Tom's robes, pulling them both the ground. In a tangle of limbs, they fell. Tom's body slammed against his, and Harry heard a breathless gasp in his ear like a gust of wind on a dead night.

Then Harry felt something hot and wet spill over his hand. The blade of Draco's knife was buried to the hilt in Tom's ribcage.

With a shuddering gasp, Harry pushed Tom off of him, his hand jerking back from the hilt of the dagger like it had just burned him. He scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his arm, even as he felt the world shifting around him.

"Harry!" he could hear Ginny's voice yelling in the distance.

But the only thing he could do was look at Tom—lying on his back, blood pooling around his wound like spilt ink. He gazed back at Harry with dark laughing eyes, "Well…now I guess you know…what it feels like." Tom coughed, and there was the sickening sound of blood bubbling in his throat, and then his chest deflated, and he didn't move again.

"Harry!" Ginny was suddenly at his side, shaking him. "Harry! Come on! You have to get back!"

Panic rose like bile in his throat. He clenched his fist, feeling his fingers slide wetly against his palm. But no…he was still holding the knife, and the ground was hard beneath his legs.

The chamber shook, rocks as big as cars falling and shattering the stone ground.

"Harry, please!" Ginny yelled.

Harry pressed his eyes shut. He was still in the round room, and the knife was still in his hand. And Draco was still there, waiting for him.

Air filled Harry's lungs, real and painful, and even before Harry opened his eyes he knew he was back. Blackness swirled across his vision as he stared down at Ginny's body and the soul that still flickered faintly over her lips. Mechanically he dropped the knife and picked up Draco's wand. He held it out, pointing at Ginny and concentrating with all his might even as the world spun. He tried to ignore that his hand was still red with blood.

"Corpuscorporis Reverto!" Harry held Draco's wand steady as a white light formed at the tip of it, flashing bright before fading again. Nothing happened.

Come on, Ginny, damn it! "Corpuscorporis Reverto!" Harry yelled again, the same white light forming at the end of his wand. Ginny! "Corpuscorporis Reverto!"

There was the sudden sound of a gasp. Light flashed in Ginny's eyes, and all of a sudden she was looking at him. Her head turned towards him, ever so slowly. "Harry?"

But Harry was already crawling away, back towards Draco's body. Every limb in his body screamed with agony, and his chest felt like it was being ripped open from the inside out. Darkness called to him, beckoning him to fall into the safe black. But he couldn't. Not yet.

He reached Draco's side. His eyes were still wide and empty, and his mouth still hung open, but there was no longer a soul. No. All the air in Harry's lungs seemed to leave him at once. Tom had been lying! He'd been lying!

Harry's heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to break from his chest. He raised Draco's wand. "Corpuscorporis Reverto!" The wand lit and faded in a flash. "Draco! Don't you dare do this to me! Corpuscorporis Reverto!" Draco's gaze still stared up, blank and dead. "Corpuscorporis Reverto! Wake up, Draco! Corpuscorporis Reverto! Corpuscorporis Reverto! Dammit, WAKE UP!"

White stars danced across Harry's vision, as his head swooned. He could hear other voices now, echoing in the distance.

"Corpuscorporis Reverto! Corpuscorporis Reverto! Corpuscorporis Reverto!" Harry cried, as everything inside him started to crumble. Tears streamed down his face, and in a sudden rage, Harry threw the wand aside and fisted Draco's robes. He pulled Draco up, shaking him hard. "Stop it! Stop it! I know you're there, now wake up! Corpuscorporis Reverto!"

"Harry!" Hermione's face was suddenly in front of him, her hand gripping his shoulder hard. Harry jerked away from her, glaring up at her before realizing that her eyes were no longer misted. "Harry!" she looked down at Draco's lifeless body and back up at Harry again, her eyes shining. "Come on! We have to get out of here!"

"I'm not leaving him, Hermione!"

"He's dead, Harry!"

"HE'S NOT DEAD!" Harry thundered, so forcefully he felt his whole body seize.

Hermione's hand left him. "Harry…"

"Go get help."

"I—"

"Go!"

She left him and Harry turned back to Draco, every inch of him shaking. He stared down at the face he knew so well, finding now that he didn't know it at all. Where was the ethereal glow that always shone through his skin? Where was faint pink coloring that always dusted his cheeks? Where was the playful smirk that always pulled at his lips, and the cheeky drawling voice that had somehow wound itself around Harry's heart? And where were those eyes that could see so deeply into him they seemed to touch Harry's very soul? They couldn't be gone.

"Draco…" Tears fell onto Draco's cheeks like drops of rain. "Please don't leave me. Merlin, please don't. I need you." Harry lowered Draco back to the ground and lowered himself with him, pressing their foreheads together.

"Please, Draco. Please." His voice was nothing more than a whisper now. He couldn't keep the darkness away anymore. "I can't go on without you. Please. I love you." Harry pressed his lips to Draco's, feeling the cold skin bite into him like shards of ice.

Harry pressed his eyes shut, "Please, Draco, come back. Please…don't leave me."

"Corpuscorporis Reverto," the words spilled over Harry's lips, just as he fell into the deep black, feeling something hot burning in his pocket.