Time to Kill

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Time to Kill: Chapter 8

~Johnny Doggspitt~

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Draco looked up at his master. "I-I...my Lord..." He thought fast, trying to figure out how he was possibly going to get out of this mess. "My Lord, I mean no disrespect, but...I don't think I can!"

Voldemort's eyes narrowed. "And why not? You dispatched the Potter boy well enough; you've proven you're wiling to kill for me! Why not him?"

"With all due respect, Lord Voldemort, I hated Potter. It was only too easy to kill him. But...Severus is my godfather! He's taken care of me all my life! I couldn't!"

"Perhaps the reason you are so squeamish about this task has nothing to do with your affections for your godfather," Voldemort suggested, a knowing glint in his eye.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, fighting down a growing feeling of panic.

"Perhaps you won't kill him simply because you wish to protect your spy!" the Dark Lord sneered triumphantly.

"My spy?" Draco exclaimed incredulously. "Why would he be my spy?"

"Don't play stupid, boy! Killing Potter was a clever ploy, one that works wonderfully into my plans, but you cannot hide the fact that you are working against me!"

"Against you?" Draco asked nervously as the circle grew tighter around him. "No! My Lord, I serve only you!"

"Liar! You are working for Dumbledore, and are therefore a traitor!" Voldemort pointed his wand at Draco's chest. "And traitors must be dealt with."

Suddenly, the Dark Lord stumbled forward, almost losing his balance and tumbling to the ground. His Death Eaters mumbled concernedly and looked at each other, wondering what happened.

Voldemort whipped around and glared at the Death Eaters directly behind him. "Which one of you halfwits had the utter stupidity to push me?"

The Death Eaters looked stumped. The voice of Notts came from behind one of the masks. "My Lord...no one pushed you," he protested. "You stumbled."

"Do not insult me with your lies!" Voldemort roared. "I felt someone push me! Someone is going to pay!"

Draco felt a hand slip around his left arm, and an invisible voice whispered, "Hey, love."

Draco stiffened. "Harry?" He quickly glanced at his father to make sure Lucius wasn't looking at him, but the older Malfoy was too preoccupied with the apparent insanity of his dark master. Draco turned back to his invisible boyfriend. "What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing here?" he demanded.

"I'm saving your ass, that's what I'm doing! I'd think you would appreciate it!"

"You're going to get yourself killed!" Draco hissed out of the corner of his mouth.

"Quick question, Drake: You can apparate, right?"

"No, why?" He sighed exasperatedly. "I swear, Potter, if this rescue attempt counted on my being able to apparate, I'll kill you!"

Draco could feel Harry's frown. "I do have a back-up plan, but it would have helped." Draco felt Harry's hand leave his arm.

"Harry? What are you doing?"

Voldemort was turning around to face Draco with a look of utter, unbridled rage obscuring his face, but his foot suddenly flew out from under him. He fell to the ground just as Snape seemed to be wrenched to his feet by an invisible force. Snape's bonds unraveled quickly.

"Apparate us!" Draco heard Harry yell.

Snape, not being a man to waste time asking questions when action was needed, place a hand on Draco's shoulder and apparated them to the Hogwarts boundaries.

"Are you here, Harry?" Draco asked as soon as his head had stopped swimming.

"I'm right here," Harry assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Snape seemed to be trying to get his thoughts in order. Finally, appearing to have given up, he rounded toward the spot he thought Harry was at. "Mr. Potter, I will address your recklessness later. At this time, my brain just cannot process the fact that Draco and I have been found out, and that you somehow snuck into a Death Eater meeting. Your sheer stupidity almost got every one of us killed. Did it not occur to you that I might have had the situation under control?"

"Didn't seem like it," Harry scoffed.

Snape growled exasperatedly. He stormed off in the direction of the castle and leaned on a tree not too far away from the two boys, leaving them alone for little while.

"Harry, that was quite possibly the most idiotic thing you could have done," Draco admonished him.

"Why? I talk back to Snape every day!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Not that, you twit! What you did tonight!"

"I saved your life, didn't I?" Harry pouted hurtfully.

"Harry, I'm not worth that! You can't put your life on the line like that just for me!"

"What do you mean, just for you? You may not think you're worth it, but you are to me!"

"Damn it, Harry! You're not thinking! I'm not the Boy-Who-Lived! I'm expendable! You're not! The Wizarding World can survive without me, but you're their only hope!"

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Harry asked softly. "Not just that you're expendable, which is ridiculous in itself, but that I have even the slightest chance of 'saving the world'?"

"Of course I believe it! You're Harry Potter!"

"So what?" Harry roared suddenly. "It's just a name! No one seems to realize that! I had hoped that you would, but I guess that's not the case! I'm so sick of people thinking that just because they know my name and I happened to be lucky when I was a baby, I'm going to be able to destroy one of the most powerful wizards alive! I...I can't do this, Draco!"

"You have no idea what you're saying, Harry. You're The-Boy-Who-Lived!"

Harry scoffed. "Yeah, that seems to be everyone's problem. It's a great title, isn't it? The-Boy-Who-Lived. Makes it sound like I can survive anything. The only reason I survived the first time is because my mum's love protected me. But I don't have that now. How can I possibly survive this time?"

"Well, certainly not by knocking the Dark Lord over whilst rescuing your boyfriend! I think perhaps our relationship is blinding you to what's really important here, Harry. I'm not going to let you risk your valuable life trying to keep me out of danger!"

"Doesn't seem like it's going to be a problem anymore, now that he's found you out!"

"Are you kidding? There'll be hoards of Death Eaters after me now. Severus and I are at the top of their lists after tonight. We...we'll probably have to leave Hogwarts. I won't have anywhere to go...father will disown me..." he mused, mainly to himself. He shook his head. "It's just too dangerous, Harry."

"What is?" Harry asked, sounding confused. Draco felt horrible for him. His next statement would be a bombshell for the boy.

"We can't keep this relationship together, Harry." Draco was glad he couldn't see Harry's face; it would have made this too hard. "It's much too risky. I know you can destroy Voldemort, even if you think you can't. I won't have you die for me."

"You're...breaking up with me?" Harry asked, tears in his voice.

"It's too much, Harry," Draco said, looking at the ground.

"Aren't you at least going to say something stupid, like 'I hope we can still be friends'?"

"We can't be friends, Harry. We can't talk anymore. We just...can't. I almost got you killed today, and I won't have it happen again." Harry choked back a sob. Draco, not being one to know how to handle himself in a situation where someone he actually cared about was crying, Draco reverted to what he knew best: insults. "It's nothing to cry about, you pansy! It's not like you're losing the love of your life or anything." It was obviously not helping the crying. "Harry...really, this is for the best. Go back to the castle, get some sleep, and you'll feel better in the morning."

"No...Draco, please!" Harry pleaded in a voice that would wrench the heart of even Snape. "Please, you can't do this!" Harry picked up Draco's hand and brought it to his lips. "Please, Draco! I...I love you!"

Don't listen, don't listen, don't listen! his mind screamed at him. "No one has ever or will ever love me, Potter," Draco said stiffly.

"Well, I do!" Harry said, kissing Draco's hand again. Draco wrenched it from his grasp.

"It's a nice bluff, Potter, but it won't work. I'm standing by my decision. Nothing is going to change my mind on this matter."

As Harry broke down into actual sobs, Snape called to them, "If you two are quite finished, I'd like to return to the castle before dawn!"

Draco started off toward his godfather, trusting Harry to follow behind. He had almost gotten Harry killed tonight, and it was entirely his fault. If he hadn't instigated this ridiculous relationship, none of this would have happened. Well, that was all fixed now. Sure, Harry would be miserable for a little while, but he would get over it. After all, he couldn't really love Draco. No one could.

~*~