Hope

Part Nine: Sorry

Harry's POV

When morning comes, you wake finding Draco gone and for a minute it hurts that once more you are alone. The light in the dorm means that your dorm mates have let you sleep in, which you are grateful for and you lie there remembering the night before. A delicious joy bubbles inside you and you stretch luxuriously, relishing the pull of muscles, before wrapping your arms across your chest and hugging yourself.

From the window comes a tapping and you look across to see a school owl trying to get your attention. It has a letter attached to its foot and you jump up to open the window and retrieve the parchment. When you open it you smile because it's from Draco. You read it a number of times so that the words are memorised. You think that the day cannot get much better than this and with a huge ball of happiness jumping around inside you trying to get out somehow, you head for the showers, a grin on your face a mile wide.

It's while you are standing under the hot spray of water from the jets in the shower that a noise disturbs you. You're not sure what time it is but from the lack of students you've seen, you assume that they must all be in class, and so the noise makes you curious. As you wrap a towel around yourself and enter the bathroom proper, you see Zabini standing at the basins. He's holding a soap dish in one hand and his wand with the other. There is a look of superior smugness on his face and you are too shocked that he's intruded into Gryffindor territory at all, to actually wonder what he wants.

In the end you don't get time to ask. You're standing in the bathroom, wandless and with no glasses on, and Zabini throws the soap dish at you muttering a spell and pointing his wand at it. As a reflex you catch the dish, knowing in a sickening second that you've made possibly a fatal mistake. There is a nauseating drop in your stomach and the last thing you see is Zabini laughing at you, as he disappears from your twirling blurred vision.

When you stop, you fall to the floor with the suddenness, and you hear the laughter from all around you. In dread, you know that your worst nightmare has finally come true and you will have to face Voldemort, almost blind and wandless. You are also alone and no one on earth knows where you are and they have no way of finding you.

A cold cruel laugh echoes around the room and those present fall silent. You squint at where the laugh came from and see Voldemort, yes, see him, there is only one like him and you could never mistake him for anyone else. He tells you that he thinks it funny that the hope of the Wizarding world is in a heap on the floor almost naked as the day he was born. You draw yourself up and stand with some dignity, though this only makes them laugh more.

There had been no time to clear your mind before being whisked away by the portkey and no time to work your up defenses, so when Voldemort probes your mind, you are defenseless and cannot stop him finding your emotions for Draco. He laughs and tells you that it is so cute, but you know he's not serious. Just for kicks he pulls Lucius from the crowd and makes him sit through your last memory of you and Draco together as well. Lucius turns green and then red in anger, looking like he was about to explode.

You can tell that Lucius wants to kill you, but you think that he'll have to wait in line, because you're pretty sure that Voldemort wants you. And he does, because the Cruciatus curse hits you unprepared and you double over in the agony of a thousand knives plunging into you at once. You have no idea of time, but when he releases you from the curse, you are weak and trembling, glad that you had not eaten or you would have lost that.

Having weakened you, Voldemort grips your chin with his bony fingers and breathes his rancid breath all over your face. He tells you that he has plans for young Draco. He is such a pretty boy and Voldemort has a weakness for blondes. He then tells you in excruciating detail how he will bind him and torture him to erase all memories of you from his mind, so that when he comes to serve his Lord, he will obey his every command and have no thought for the dead Boy Who Lived.

The rage is building again. You know this and you can feel this. It seems like a lifetime ago that you lost control, was it only yesterday? You fight to hold on, but the sick words that Voldemort is spewing resound and feed your anger and fear. You are enraged that he would even think of touching Draco and you remember your vow to him to always protect him and never let anything hurt him. You're starting to tremble and really, you're thankful that none of these Death Eaters were at the battle yesterday, because it means that you have the element of surprise. You look shakily around the room and you see maybe forty Death Eaters in a room that is lined with large candles in sconces on the walls.

Dear Harry,

The coming end of a beautiful day,

Heralds a light shining on my way,

As your breathing intensifies, Voldemort laughs at your reaction and continues telling you in detail how he wants to fuck your boyfriend, use him, damage him, shred him under his fingers and...

You've had enough and the candles explode and the room vibrates. The Death Eaters all stumble about in shock and your eyes dart to the entrances and you block them. The curtains in the room catch fire and the whole place is glowing with the flickering flames. You grab onto Voldemort's robes and hang on tight. Wherever he goes you will be going with him. He's so surprised he says nothing for a second and then he laughs as asks if you are the best that the Wizarding World has to offer.

A beacon of hope, a ray of light,

Follow your heart and be mine tonight

Draco

PS. Hall 8pm, I'll sneak you into my room.

You've always had your doubts, right up until this moment, but you know now that you are the best that they have to offer. You will kill him because you are the only one who can. Simple as that. There is no loss of control here; you have complete control and this is the only way you know you will ensure he is dead. With a silent apology to Draco, you turn your eyes onto Voldemort and you pin his gaze to yours. You send every atom of power, every thing that you have with every last ounce of energy that you possess into him. A green light crackles from your eyes to his and the magic builds between the two of you, static rumbles around the room, smoke fills it, making it hard to breathe and the coughing of the choking Death Eaters fills your ears.

In a sudden flash, the build up of magical energy explodes the room apart and your last thought is of Draco and how you have kept him safe after all. Just like you promised.