Abandoned Innocence

Chapter 5: Wait and Bleed

You haven't learned a thing
I haven't changed a thing
The flesh was in my bones
The pain is always free

I've felt the air rise up in me
Kneel down and clear the stone of leaves
I wander out where you can see
Inside my shell I wait and bleed

Dumbledore watched as the dot labelled 'Harry Potter' entered the castle. It went to the boys' toilet before finally retreating to the dormitories.

Harry Potter wasn't the only one with a special map, how else would Dumbledore be able to appear where he was least expected. His map not only covered Hogwarts but the grounds surrounding it, including the Forbidden Forest and its inhabitants. Though Dumbledore didn't like interfering with people's private matters, the map was more of a safety precaution and besides it had been there since the institution was founded.

Dumbledore knew that just using Legilimency on Harry wouldn't work so he had to lure him into his office and elicit the strongest emotions from him. And that could only have been achieved if Harry was shown something that would inflame him more than anything else - his parents' death.

It had worked well enough even at the cost of losing Harry's trust.

"That can be worked out later on."

"What can be, Dumbledore?"

"Ah, Severus! You're the first to arrive," said Dumbledore. "Take a seat and have some tea."

But Severus Snape opted to stand by the window looking out at the Quidditch Pitch. He stared out in the darkness while seeing nothing at all. His thoughts were too preoccupied with other matters such as the alarming symptoms of Draco Malfoy. Severus closed his eyes and concentrated hard on blocking his thoughts, some things were better not contemplated in front of others. Though he was a master at Occlumency, Dumbledore was a greater one at Legilimency.

"Is there something on your mind that you wish to share, Severus?" Dumbledore said in his observant tone.

Before he could answer, the door to the headmaster's door opened and Minerva McGonagall entered. Severus had never been gladder to see his rival head of house.

"The rest are on their way," McGonagall said. "What I don't understand is, Professor, shouldn't the other members of the Order be here as well?"

"Not just yet, Minerva."

"So is it what you had expected?" she frowned.

"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore sighed as he sat in his chair. The three waited for the rest of the senior member of staff to arrive. When they had sat in a circle, Dumbledore gestured to Snape. "My strength is not what it used to be in my youth, Severus. Would you please bring the basin to the middle?"

Severus moved without a word, though he did wonder why Dumbledore didn't just use a levitation charm to move the basin. As if hearing his thought, which Severus hoped he couldn't, Dumbledore started explaining his reasoning.

"It's pure magic we are dealing with. Another source can interfere with the one we got from Harry."

When everything was set, Dumbledore bent towards the large basin flowing with clear liquid. It was just like a pensieve only bigger. With a flick from his wand, all the lights went out and the headmaster made some circles over the basin until it was the only source of illumination in the room. He motioned to the audience of the room to move closer.

Images started to form in the liquid. Dumbledore was the first one to plunge his head in the liquid and the rest soon followed.

The staff of Hogwarts found themselves in what seemed like a cemetery. Dumbledore vaguely wondered if it was the same one where Voldemort had finally gained power over the grave of his deceased father.

"Look," someone said in the group and pointed towards a large mausoleum. An angel made out of concrete, which seemed corroded by years of neglect guarded the crypt.

"Keep a distance," Dumbledore said as he moved towards the figure huddled underneath the angel.

"But nothing can hurt us here. It's just a memory, is it not?" McGonagall asked.

"It's memories that leave the most painful of scars."

They silently moved as one, their wands drawn out and ready. The only sound in the eerie graveyard was now the whimpers of the figure a couple of feet away from them.

A collective gasp ran through the group as they saw Harry lying on his back covered in blood.

"Harry!"

"Remus, no." Dumbledore caught him in time. "Remember, what you see here has already happened. Nothing can be changed but if we interfere now we could lose the source."

So they watched in silent horror at the scene unfolding in front of them. Harry was lying on his back, his glasses and other belongings nowhere in sight. Harry was hissing; his wrists trapped him to the ground. It seemed vines were growing and binding around him. When inspected closely, it wasn't roots at all something akin to snakes and Harry was speaking in Parseltongue to them.

The vines slithered over him; they entered through his eyes and came out again through his mouth while more blood poured through the wounds. Harry's mouth was open in a silent scream. The sight was truly horrendous.

He was bleeding from every place imaginable and the blood seemed to be sucked by the snakes or whatever the green vines were. Soon his body started glowing a blinding white as he was momentarily lifted off the ground, then he was thrown back with a sickening crunch.

For a moment it seemed that he was dead but then the vines or snakes started pouring something in his wounds and the gashes started disappearing. He was completely covered with them until nothing of him could be seen but the moving vines trapping him, but then his hand protruded through the green layer and he tore at them until he was free.

Though his clothes were torn and shredded there didn't seem to be a single mark on him. He flexed his muscles and studied his hands then he flicked his wrists in a beckoning motion and his wand flew in his hands.

"Interesting," he whispered.

In a flash, Dumbledore and the rest of them found themselves in his office. For an eternal moment, no one said anything.

"What was that?" Remus finally broke the silence.

"Magic of Elements. It seems that the Mother has given him sanctuary," Professor Sprout explained, her round face looked pale and her eyes wide. "But the Mother doesn't do anything for gratis. She asks for a price. Not an easy one I can tell you that."

"But what could Potter have that is so much of worth that the Mother would give him such power?" Snape asked.

"It's his magic, his aura. It's unblemished, what we call pure. The Mother searched through him and sought out the truth before she offered anything," Flitwick said in his squeaky voice.

"No, it must be more than that. I clearly remember when Tom Riddle had tried to play with the magic of the elements." Dumbledore said while stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"What are you thinking?" McGonagall asked as she studied the headmaster.

"When Harry was lured into the Ministry by Voldemort, I remember it was much more than that. There was a specific power residing in the Department of Mysteries, a door locked at all time. Power worse than death, more complex than even what the most learned of our kind could comprehend."

"The Gate to the Kingdom Beyond," Flitwick gasped, jumping from his seat and starting to pace while waving his hands in agitation. "But that cannot be, Albus. No one knows about the Power in the Hollow. It cannot be contained. Harry will be consumed by it, as many have been before him."

"Yes, but one person we know found a way around it. Voldemort could not defeat the Power. It's been there since eternity but the Power can destroy him only if it can seek out a potential candidate."

"Potter," Snape said.

"Exactly."

"Albus, strong the boy may be but he has nowhere near enough strength within him to tame the Power," McGonagall said.

"No, but what we saw tonight was nothing more than an act of initiation. The Power gave Harry a choice. It had claimed Harry the moment the scar had appeared on his forehead; don't forget that Voldemort detests the Power and it saw that. The Power realized Voldemort's weakness - Harry. And it grasped on to that little boy. Growing in him, it deceived even us who closely watched The-Boy-Who-Lived. Even I only saw the true nature behind Harry's luck that fateful night at the Ministry. Harry is strong, very strong."

"So are you saying that Harry will become another Dark Lord?" Remus frowned.

"The Power only seeks to destroy Voldemort, that is it's main purpose. For that it needs Harry, but if or should I say when the task is accomplished, that same Power can take over Harry. We must be wary of it, now that we know of its true intent." Dumbledore regarded each and every one of them gravely. "We must not let Harry suspect anything or else the Power will be aware of our interference in its course. What we saw and discussed tonight stays in this room. The Power is pure, unadulterated but people have attempted to misuse it and for that it's a great danger."

"What about You-Know-Who?" Snape asked.

"Oh, he felt the Power the moment he tried to possess Harry's body."

"Does that mean we can win the war?"

"That depends on Harry. We shall see if The-Boy-Who-Lived shall triumph again," Dumbledore said. He got up and removed the basin with a spell. "It's late and we shall all need our strength in due time."

They all got up and left one by one after bidding goodnight to the headmaster of Hogwarts. Snape was the first one to leave.

Severus Snape already had more important issues to be getting along with and now the Potter boy had gone and gotten himself into deeper mess. He's just like his father, both don't know when to quit, Snape thought. Though he knew he was completely disregarding the fact that it wasn't Potter's fault that the Power had chosen him.

He was very tired. The Dark Lord still had to summon him yet and Severus couldn't help but dread the moment when it would finally arrive. He rubbed his forehead, trying to ward off the headache that was threatening to erupt. He wished he could just go to sleep for a week but he had to plan his lessons before he could finally turn in for the night.

Severus came towards his private chambers and was about to utter the password when the sapphire talisman around his neck started to vibrate. With it went a thousand alarming bells in his head as he ran down towards the dungeons. He was glad that it was hours after curfew. He didn't want any student to see him running like his life depended on it. After all he had a reputation to hold.

He gave the password to the armour guarding the entrance to the Slytherin common room and raced up the stairs leading to the sixth year boys' dormitory.

"Move out of the way," He snarled as he pushed the other boys that were crowding Draco Malfoy's bed. A sense of relief went round the boys in the room as they saw their head of house.

Draco Malfoy's bare chest was glistening with sweat and his face was screwed up in pain. His body was arched off the bed but his wrists were firmly placed on the dark green covers of his bed as if someone was holding him down. There were deep cuts on his wrists and blood was flowing in copious amounts.

"Did you try to wake him up?" Snape glanced at Blaise.

"We've tried everything for the past half hour but the cuts kept on increasing," he replied.

"And you call me now?" Snape asked angrily as he summoned some cotton strips to try and stop the blood flow.

"We didn't think you'd be awake."

"Next time, don't think," Snape said through clenched teeth as the white strips of cotton turned scarlet. He looked around at the other boys in the room. "All of you point your wands at him and together we'll say 'Ennervate', got that?" They nodded and Theodore Nott went to retrieve his wand from his bedside table.

"Ennervate!"

With a jerk Draco's eyes flew open and he took a huge gulp of breath. Snape knelt down beside him and watched as the cuts on his wrists started healing automatically until there was nothing left but fading red marks.

"Ceremony," Draco gasped. "Water, I need water." Blaise handed him a glass from his bedside table and Draco swallowed it in one go.

"Feel better?" Snape asked softly. Usually no one would expect him to show any tenderness towards anyone but when it came to Slytherins, they were like his own children.

"I still can't get the taste of blood out of my mouth." He made a face and then looked at the relieved faces around him. "I'm not dead, guys." He rolled his eyes.

"With the amount of blood you lost, it would seem so," Blaise commented.

Draco looked down at his sheets to see what Blaise was referring to, and if he wasn't bound by the Malfoy code that said never show any weakness he probably would have shrieked. Draco closed his eyes and forced down the rising threat of nausea.

"I repeat: I'm not dead," he said before performing a cleaning spell and turning away, indicating that any or all discussions were over. Though Draco pretended, sleep was far away from him even as the first light of dawn entered the dormitory from the high dungeon windows.

~*~

"Gathe' roun', folks." Hagrid's voice boomed over them. It was the first class of the day and many were trying to wake themselves up, which didn't really prove to be a problem since Hagrid's voice could raise even the dead. "Gotta s'rprise fer yeh." He rubbed his beard proudly.

The morbid anticipation in the air was suffocating as the students waited for whatever monstrosity Hagrid had brought this time to torment them with. Though the Gryffindors tried to show their full support to the half giant, it was hard to feel sympathetic when hungry carnivores were chewing upon you.

"Now I know wotcha thinkin' but this time I gotta real beauty 'ere." Hagrid grinned from beneath his beard. "We got a guest wiv us, so be nice, yeh lot."

"Hope this guest doesn't have a large appetite for school children." Ron whispered to Harry who found himself sniggering.

"Now why would you think that, Ron?" a familiar voice asked from behind them. Ron tensed for a moment and his eyes went wide. He spun around in a flash.

"Charlie!" he shouted and threw his arms around his brother.

"Nice to see you too, little bro." The second oldest Weasley grinned. "Hello there Hermione, Harry."

He shook hands with both of them. When it came to Harry, the smile disappeared from Charlie's face and Harry knew what he was going to say next but he wasn't prepared to listen. Charlie understood and just patted his shoulder and gave him a warm smile of understanding. Harry was grateful for that.

"There yeh are, Charlie. Gotta crowd t'day we 'ave," Hagrid said as Charlie made his way towards the front of the class, and then he turned to address the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. "This 'ere is Charlie Weasley, best dragon tamer from Romania."

"Great, more Weasleys as if there weren't enough of them in this school already. It should be illegal to breed so much." The sarcastic drawl came from the crowd; it wasn't loud but audible enough for everyone to hear it.

Harry grasped Ron's arm quickly as he seemed to get ready to launch himself at Malfoy.

"Got your brother to fight your battles, have you, Weasel?" Draco looked straight at Harry as he said it; somehow the insult wasn't thrown as much at Ron as it was to provoke Harry.

"Another crack about my family, Malfoy and then yes, you would have Ron's big brother to deal with." Charlie said in a threatening voice. It sounded quite strange to hear these words from him, as Harry had never seen him angry.

Malfoy just stared back at Charlie defiantly but there was something different in his eyes, something strangely familiar. It hit Harry like a ton of bricks when he realised that Malfoy was smiling at Charlie, well his face remained as passive as ever but his eyes were gleaming mischievously and though Harry could only see the back of Charlie's head, he knew that Charlie had winked back before turning around.

"Right," Hagrid said louder than necessary. "Sorry 'bout that. Now fer yer surprise. Follow me. Don' worry, s'not far."

The crowd reluctantly followed Hagrid as he led them to the edge of the forest. Suddenly they heard a loud roar. Some girls shrieked and some students just stopped.

"It's tied, nuffin ter worry 'bout." Hagrid said cheerfully.

"The thing, whatever it is shouldn't have to be tied if it's nothing to worry about," Ron said while shuddering with fear.

"Don't worry guys, there's nothing to be afraid of," Charlie assured them.

"When Hagrid is concerned, there's always something to be afraid of. I just hope he hasn't done something foolish like last year that will cost him his job," Hermione said in her worried tone.

"Well this time is different because - " he was interrupted by loud screams and the rest of their class running back towards them. "That's my call."

He ran towards the forest. Harry wondered what the commotion was about. Sure Hagrid had exposed them to some nasty things in the past but it was never something that people ran away from. I bet it's Malfoy's fault, Harry thought angrily, he probably made this fuss because he thought a falling leaf tried to attack his hair - Harry's train of thought was broken when he felt something fly over him.

He looked up to see a giant bird just brushing the tips of the long trees in the forbidden forest. All he could see of the creature was its scale-covered stomach that glistened now and again.

"Hey Malfoy, catch." Harry turned around and saw Charlie throw a sort of rope, or was it a whip towards Malfoy who caught it in one hand and ran towards the bird, which could now be identified as a huge dragon. "Steady Malfoy, steady."

As soon as the dragon swooped down, Draco had slipped the rope around one of its great talons and as it flew higher, he swung himself until he was straddling its back.

"I missed you, baby." Draco leaned towards the dragon's ear and whispered; in turn a loud breath of flame rewarded him. Draco laughed as the dragon slowly came to land on the ground where Charlie Weasley was already waiting for them with a huge grin on his face.

Harry watched this scene with narrowed eyes, trying to figure out what was going on. He could literally feel Ron seething beside him. Charlie was speaking to Malfoy now and handed him a scroll from one of his pockets, which the blonde accepted.

"Bloody show-off," Ron spat. "Well I'll show him."

With that Ron started approaching the dragon, which was now nuzzling Malfoy's shoulder, none too cautiously. Before Harry could stop him, he had already gained close proximity to the dragon. Sensing someone lingering by, the dragon raised its head and at locating Ron's offensive posture, it let out a loud roar of fire.

"Zara, no!" Malfoy shouted and the dragon retreated obediently at the exact moment when Charlie managed to tackle his brother to the ground, out of harm's way.

The rest of the class had gathered around the incident while Harry and Hermione were trying to get close to Ron, who was nursing his hand. At closer inspection, it was nothing but a minor burn.

Draco was whispering soothing words in the dragon's ear, how much it actually understood him was anyone's guess. But by the rapidly calming breath of the dragon, it understood far more than anyone else would have thought. With a sudden spur of anger, Draco turned around to give Ron a piece of his mind.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Draco shouted, his eyes narrow slits of mercury. "You could have seriously injured her."

"Injured her?" Ron stared incredulously at the blonde before his expression turned that of righteous anger "She nearly cooked me alive."

"Pity it was just 'nearly'. Would have done this world a favour, getting rid of you," Draco sneered. "You should be thankful I stopped her before your already useless carcass resembled nothing but a pile of ash."

"Why you..." Ron stated.

"Enough!" Charlie shouted. "Ron, what the hell were you thinking?"

"Me? Aren't you going to say anything to ferret-face?"

Charlie stopped Draco from attacking Ron at that comment.

"No, I'm not going to say anything to Draco," he emphasized. "How could you so carelessly approach a dragon so dangerous without any means of protection?"

"Well Malfoy did it," Ron replied stubbornly.

"Maybe because Malfoy owns the dragon."

Loud gasps went around the whole crowd. Actually it was just the Gryffindors that were surprised by that information, because it seemed like the Slytherins already knew.

"And you should be grateful that he allowed Zara here, a very rare form of French Flame Eater to assist you in this term's Care of Magical Creatures' assignment."

"Whose side are you on anyways?" Ron asked indignantly, hurt at being humiliated by his very own brother in front of the Slytherins who were not trying very hard to hide their amusement.

"I'm not taking sides, Ron," Charlie sighed. "Okay everyone, class dismissed. I think that's enough excitement for today."

Hagrid who had being watching the events with growing apprehension cleared his throat loudly. "So yeah, I want err...yeah I want yer ter read up on dragons." He finally managed and felt quite proud of himself for dissipating the tension in the air. He didn't know how wrong he was.

The class quickly started to make their way towards the castle and their next lesson. Ron was ranting on about the unfairness of it all and how he was going to write to his mum about today's incident. Personally Harry thought that Ron exaggerated a lot sometimes and well, in a way it was his fault that he approached the dragon in the first place but he wasn't about to tell that to his hotheaded friend.

" - I mean it's Malfoy for Merlin's sake! Did you see how he was being all nice to him and sucking up to him?" Ron fumed and Hermione nodded with him sympathetically though in her mind she was going over her Charms essay to see if she had left out anything.

"Look guys, you go ahead. I need to do something." Harry quickly jogged away from them before they could protest.

He had to go and talk to Malfoy about tonight's Defence Association meeting, what with Ron's temper at the moment he didn't think it would be wise to try and communicate with Malfoy in front of him especially since he wasn't aware of the blonde's presence at tonight's meeting. Hermione had persuaded him to hold a meeting tonight since more people than last year had apparently been inquiring about it.

The Slytherins had lingered back, mostly because Charlie had to speak to Malfoy for some reason. He had to agree with Ron, things did look suspicious but he trusted his instincts about Charlie Weasley, unlike Ron who jumped to conclusions first and thought later. The small group of Slytherins were making their way towards the castle as well when Harry approached them.

"So are you going to do that...mmmpphh...." Malfoy had slapped his hand over Goyle's mouth.

"How many times have I told you not to discuss these things outside?" Malfoy hissed before another Slytherin whose name Harry did not recall poked him in the ribs. Malfoy's head shot up and narrowed at the sight of Harry.

"Malfoy."

"What do you want, Potter?" Malfoy asked.

"What I want is for you to disappear off the face of this earth but not all of us are fortunate enough to have our wishes granted." Harry replied sweetly.

"Maybe not, but the removal of your pathetic existence from the face of this earth, now that can be arranged." The Slytherin who had alerted Malfoy of Harry's presence earlier replied back just as sweetly.

"I'd like to see you try."

Before the Slytherin could take on Harry's challenge, Malfoy had placed a gentle yet firm hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "Blaise, don't." then he turned towards Harry, a scowl of annoyance firmly on place.

"Potter, I understand that you're frustrated with life, with your pitiable friends and with everything in general. So if you do need to add meaning to your life by having verbal spars with me and wasting my time then do book an appointment first. I have things to do." With that Malfoy sidestepped him and as he brushed past Harry, he felt something being slipped into his pocket. He raised his eyebrow at the galleon that he took out from his pocket. "I think the Weasel would appreciate this more, Potter."

"When this turns hot, come towards the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. The first meeting of the Defence Association is being held tonight." Harry turned around and started walking at a brisk pace without waiting for an answer.

Harry knew that having arguments with Malfoy was just going around in circles with no end in sight so he did his headache a favour and just barely stopped himself from retorting. Besides he was fully aware that his lack of response annoyed Malfoy more than the opposite as he was sure it made the other boy feel insignificant and not worthy of Harry's time.

With a smirk plastered to his face, Harry entered the Charms classroom, knowing that he was late but Professor Flitwick was a softie and he planned to take advantage of that.

~*~

Draco stood in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Obviously he had not wanted to come, though the prospect of spending more time with Harry Potter, serving Argus Filch, and bearing Hagrid's annoying presence in the Forbidden Forest was more than enough to make him tolerate some stupid fan club. Funny how he had come to this place so many times and never even suspected that there was a secret room here, until last year that is.

Of course Boy Wonder should know, after all he is Dumbledore's faithful pet, Draco sneered at the thought. He looked around the tapestry but could not see anyone here; well he was half an hour late. The fake galleon Potter had given him had said eight o' clock but he had other things to do; besides he liked making a dramatic entrance. Only if he could find it that is.

He heard footsteps approaching him and realized he wasn't the only one fashionably late as he saw Potter jog towards him.

"Lost your way, Potter?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought if I took long enough, I might be able to avoid you." he shrugged. "Guess I was wrong."

"If your brain hasn't stopped functioning due to prolonged exposure to the Weasel, Potter, I think you can recall that spending my evening with incompetent Mudbloods isn't an idealistic scenario." Draco's eyes flashed angrily.

Harry's hand was already on his wand but he was trying to decide what hex to use. The only thing that stopped him was the thought of what the consequences would be when Dumbledore came across Malfoy's distorted body.

"Let's get this over with," Harry muttered.

Draco gave a satisfactory smirk before following Harry inside a door, which to Draco's annoyance had just appeared out of nowhere.

As expected, the rest of the DA members were already present. There was also a noticeable amount of increase in people since the last time the DA had met. Everyone went quiet as Draco Malfoy appeared from behind Harry.

"What is he doing here?" Ron asked angrily, already his face going through impressive shades of red.

Harry hadn't told Ron about his conversation with Dumbledore the other night, so therefore he hadn't explained to his friend that Malfoy would be joining them. Well no time like the present, Harry thought.

"He's here on Dumbledore's orders," Harry said. "Shall we begin then?"

But that wasn't the explanation Ron was looking for as he seemed to be on the verge of explosion, and Malfoy was certainly not helping the situation by throwing that infuriating smirk in Ron's direction.

Hermione tried to calm him by placing her hand on his shoulder but he shrugged her off while staring daggers at the smirking blonde.

"Harry, have you forgotten already that it was him who busted our meeting last year? You can't trust this filthy Death-Eater-in-training," Ron said through clenched teeth.

"Death Eater in training? Your assumptions of me are getting a bit outdated don't you think?" Draco drawled. "After all how do you know I'm still in training?"

"The bloody bastard just admitted it, Harry."

"And this bloody bastard doesn't really mind admitting it either, Weasel. Do you want to see the new tattoo I got?" Draco asked before he started rolling up his left sleeve. Before his forearm could be revealed, he found himself being yanked outside the room. He flashed another smirk before the door shut in his face and he found himself painfully pushed against the stonewall.

"What was that about?" Harry hissed.

"What was what about?" Draco asked innocently.

Harry was past accepting all the rubbish the Slytherin was throwing at him. He grabbed him by the collar and pressed him harder against the wall.

All amusement left Draco's face as it contorted into suppressed rage. He grabbed Harry's wrists and slowly extracted his fingers from his robes. Draco brushed the front of his robes to smooth out any creases. His face was a picture of composure but when his eyes locked with furious green ones, it was clear that Draco was anything but calm.

"If you can't accept the truth, Potter, don't go around looking for it," Draco said with narrowed eyes. Harry opened his mouth to retort but Draco beat him to it. "Go back to your disciples before they think I've done something unpleasant to you."

"This isn't over, Malfoy," Harry said before turning away.

"Oh but I think it is."

...to be continued...