Let the Darkness Take You

Let the Darkness Take You

Chapter Ten

~~~~~

Harry jolted awake the next morning with a great feeling of dread. He stared wildly about the room, wondering where, who, and what he was. But then, his brain started to work again and he remembered that he was in his dorm room, he was Harry Potter, and he was a wizard. Getting out of bed, he chuckled to himself. "Get your brain back together, Potter," he muttered to himself. He slipped his glasses onto his face and noticed a note sitting next to it with Draco's elegant scrawl on it.

Harry,

I have something I need to do for Snape this morning. If I don't see you before, I'll see you at lunch. Since there is only one table, I'll try to sit by you and make it look on accident. Otherwise, I'll meet you in the Common room afterwards, alright? I have the Cloak.

Draco

P.S. You snore.

"I do not!" Harry spoke to the paper as if Draco was right there. He grabbed his wand and started the paper on fire and watched it burn to a small pile of ashes. Harry spent a lazy morning in the Common room, flipping through the photo album that Draco had given him, and speaking with his snake, which he had decided to name Kiana. He wasn't certain that it was exotic, but he liked it all the same. By the time lunch came, he was extremely bored and couldn't wait to see Draco again. He hurried down to the Great Hall and sat at the end of the short table. Professors Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, Black, Hagrid, and Sprout were the only adults present, and the only other student was the lone Ravenclaw. Harry kept his head bent and tried his best to ignore the look of loathing that was coming to him from Sirius. Just as Harry was about to dig in to his meal, Draco sauntered into the Hall, looking even paler than normal. He took the seat next to Harry after giving him a glare. Harry watched Draco out of the corner of his eye for a few moments before turning to him.

"What's wrong with you?" he whispered.

Draco glared. "What do you mean, Potter? There's nothing wrong with me."

"You're all pale and shaking."

"Oh. Saint Potter is looking after me now? I didn't know you cared," he sneered. "If you knew what was good for you, you'd stay out of my business. I don't know why you even bother."

"I was just trying to make friendly conversation for once."

"If you haven't noticed, Potter," Sirius spoke up. "There isn't anybody here who wants to make conversation with you. Friendly or not. It's almost as if the entire Light side doesn't want you anymore. Why don't you go somewhere you're wanted."

Harry narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He wouldn't rise to his bait. Sirius was just trying to get under his skin. Harry broke his eye contact with Sirius and looked at Snape for a moment. The potions master was eyeing both Sirius and Harry critically. "Merlin. Professor Black sure has a good way of putting it, Potter. That man is smart. You should listen to him." Sirius gave Draco a winning smile.

"Why, thank you, Draco."

Harry threw his fork noisily onto the table and walked quickly towards the doors to all the Professors and Draco laughing at him.

"I don't know why ‘e's angry," Hagrid laughed. "'Arry already knows everybody don't like ‘im."

Harry bit his lip and began walking as fast as he could without actually running. It had seemed that Hagrid had been keeping to himself the entire term so far. But to actually hear him say something against Harry made him feel even more miserable. "Why are you angry?" Kiana hissed at him as he climbed through the portrait hole.

"Nobody likes me anymore, that's why. Everybody likes to humiliate me and they try to drive me away from all my beliefs."

"Is it working?"

"... I think so. I'm going to put you in your tank now."

"Okay. Don't change your beliefs just because somebody told you to. You'll change into somebody that you aren't."

"Yeah, thanks," Harry replied as he set the small snake into its heated tank. The raven hair boy then stormed back down to the common room, paced around, sat on the couch, paced some more, sat, and then paced some more. He was so busy pacing at one point, that he didn't hear or see the portrait hole opening and closing by itself. Nor did he see the blonde hair boy appearing as if out of nowhere. The only time he noticed the other person was when arms wrapped around him and forced him to stop pacing. Harry's body immediately tensed up.

"What are you doing here?" he spat.

"Didn't you read my note? I said I'd come here after lunch to see you."

"Oh, you'd actually want to see me?" Harry sneered. "I didn't know you cared."

"Harry, stop being such a prat. You know I had to be mean to you in front of everybody. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said, okay?" Harry glared at Draco and yanked out of his arms to go and sit on the couch again.

"Stop being like this! You know how it is, Harry! We covered this with Severus when we became allies remember? No public displays of comradeship. As far as anybody knows, I'm your enemy, and you're mine. I'm sorry, but I had to do it. You were showing signs of caring about me when you asked what was wrong." Draco sat next to Harry and looked at him angrily. "So if that display was anybody's fault, it was yours. We wouldn't have had to say anything to each other if you wouldn't have acted like you cared."

"Don't turn this around on me, Draco! I know what you really want me to do! You want me to do what everybody else wants!"

"Oh, really? And what's that?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know what happens to me every day."

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're behind it all, aren't you? I should have known better than to trust you!" Draco leaned away from Harry as his accusation came out in a wild shout. After getting over his shock of being yelled at for no apparent reason, he reached forward and grabbed Harry's shoulders.

"Get a hold on yourself, Harry! You have no idea what you're talking about. All I want for you is to be safe, to have your friends back again, to not have to worry about Voldemort killing you. You have to get a hold of yourself. I just want for you to be happy again."

Harry looked down, seeming to be ashamed of himself for his outburst. "You don't want what everybody else wants?"

"No, I don't," Draco replied, not knowing what he was talking about.

"You want me to be happy?"

"Yes."

"Then just kiss me."

Draco started at his sudden request but a smirk crossed his face and he granted Harry what would make him happy.

~*~*~

The next week until the school returned was spent doing extra homework, playing Exploding Snap, chess, playing with Kiana and Wally, talking, laughing, and stealing small kisses from each other. Neither one mentioned Harry's blow up the day after Christmas. Even if Draco had asked about it, Harry wouldn't have an answer to why he did such a thing. He had just started to feel panicked while he had been pacing, thinking that Draco was against him, and that there was only one thing to do now that there was nobody on his side. But Harry continued to push that thought aside with just being with Draco. As far as Harry knew, Draco hadn't turned on him yet, but there were those times when Draco seemed to pale even further and break out into a small sweat, thinking about something. Harry often wondered what it could be.

The thing that Harry wondered most about on the day he was moving back into his classroom, was how he had ended up liking another boy. Never, in Harry's entire life, had he been attracted to another boy. There had always been girls. First, there had been Cho Chang. She was a pretty face, and he couldn't really say that she didn't have a brain in her since she was a Ravenclaw, but that's all she really was. A pretty face and a brain. There wasn't much personality to her at all. Cho was just something to admire from afar. Then there had been Hermione for that brief month in fifth year. She had never learned of his fleeting attraction to her, nor had Ron. Harry suspected that he probably wouldn't be alive right now if he had known. Hermione also had a pretty face, in more of a subdued way than Cho did. But Hermione also had brains, and a good personality. She was a good catch, but she just didn't do anything for him. He had realised it pretty quickly. Hermione was just another one of those girls to look and admire from afar. For him anyway.

Then... there was Ginny. She was undeniably the most beautiful girl that walked on two legs in Harry's humble opinion. She was so down to earth and funny. And so completely loyal that it made Harry's heart break to even think that she didn't like him anymore. Kissing Ginny had been wonderful, she was a great kisser... but thinking back on it, Harry hadn't felt in the least bit turned on by it. It had been something fun to do, instead of only thinking about the next person who was going to hate him. Which inevitably, turned out to be Ginny.

There were no girls to catch his eye after that. Because the next one to catch his eye had been Draco Malfoy. There were no words suitable to describe him. He was beautiful in every way possible. His blonde hair, silver eyes, body, personality. Yes, even when he was being a downright prick, he was undeniably beautiful... sexy. Then there was the fact that all Harry ever wanted to do when he saw Draco, was to ravish his full pink lips. Kissing him, was nothing like kissing Ginny. Harry's body filled with an aching fire that was dying to be put out, but it would only continue to burn with more ferocity the more they kissed. To Harry's surprise, the fact that Draco was a boy, didn't bother him. It was a minor detail that could be overlooked, just as long as Draco kept kissing him, it didn't matter. There was something right with being with the Slytherin, Harry had yet to figure it out.

Over the coming weeks following the Christmas holidays, Harry didn't get much time to try to figure out what it was. Both boys were being kept away from each other by the large amounts of homework that were being piled on top of them, and Quidditch practice. The much anticipated game between Gryffindor and Slytherin was fast approaching and both teams wanted to be ready for it. During the month of January, the two boys only got together twice and both were sorely missing the friendship that they had forged. None more so than Harry was. But they made it a nightly ritual to pass banter back and forth on their parchments before retiring to bed. It always gave Harry a much needed lift to his day since his days were comprised of fighting with anyone and anything. Mainly Ron and Hermione, and the voice, and the dreams.

The dreams with the water were becoming more real than ever. And the water that had started out as a small stream, was now an ocean, and Harry could be found on a small island every time, trying to get away, but the water would claim him before long and he would sink into the darkness. He would wake up from these dreams, sweating and shaking, but feeling strangely calm through all of it.

One morning, the day before Valentine's Day, Harry had woken from this dream for the first time, not sweating and shaking. He felt incredibly upbeat by this, telling himself that he was beating it. He practically skipped to the Great Hall, and just barely managed to hold in his smile as he ate. As the post owls flew in, Harry looked up out of habit, though he knew that he wouldn't be getting anything. But to his surprise, an owl dropped a letter in front of him and flew off again. His happy mood at receiving a letter were diminished however, when he found that it was only from Professor Snape, informing him of a new detention that was to take place in his office after dinner. Harry shook his head and looked at Draco who was reading a piece of parchment as well, also shaking his head. They caught each others eyes and gave each other a secret smile, both knowing that they didn't actually have a detention.

To Harry's great relief, the day flew by quickly and soon, he was being nodded to by Snape from the Head table and Harry left the Great Hall, with Draco not too far behind. Draco and Harry got to his office first. They smiled and rushed towards each other, wasting no time in catching up with what they had sorely missed the past month. Harry sighed with content as he tangled his fingers with Draco's hair, pulling him closer to his own body. Both boys smiled inwardly as they shared their passionate, lust filled kiss. They hadn't felt this good since before Christmas when they had felt so isolated in the Gryffindor Common Room, sharing their very first kiss in the magical snow. What they both would give to have those moments back and stay there forever where they didn't have to face the real world, where everything was perfect just as long as they stayed together. They pulled reluctantly away from their world after a few moments, and leaned their foreheads together. "I've missed you," Harry said breathlessly.

Draco was about to reply but the boys were startled apart by a loud bang in the potion dungeons outside. They quickly sat down and Snape entered directly afterwards. Snape gave them a calculating, amused look but quickly swept pass them and sat behind his desk. "Sorry about that bang. I miscalculated my strength and slammed the classroom door shut," he said, laughter underlying his calm words.

Draco smirked at his godfather and leaned back into his chair. Snape merely raised an eyebrow at Draco and continued on. "It has been a while since we all met here. I've been wondering how your progress has been going? Draco, you have not told me anything about Weasley and Granger. Have you had any luck with them?"

"Yes, I have actually. I did directly after you told me to try again. They are quite gullible and they told me whatever I asked."

"And?"

"Well... I asked them why they suddenly hated Harry..."

"Quit stalling Draco. It can't be that bad," Snape spit out.

"It's not. It's just weird. They said that they don't know why they hate him now. They both woke up one day, and decided that they didn't like him. Which was also weird, because they both said that they had been talking to each other in the kitchen at Weasley's house one moment and the next they woke up in the middle of the living room floor. They both voiced their opinions on him then."

"That is strange. Was there anything else of importance?"

"Not really. We were just trying to think up pranks to pull on him. I'll have you know Harry, that I've successfully fouled up four jokes on you since the end of the Christmas holidays. You would have ended up in the hospital wing for two weeks with each one of them." Harry shivered.

"Thanks."

"Speaking of pranks, Draco," Snape said cautiously. "You wouldn't know anything about Weasley having problems with his libido, would you?"

"No! Why would I?"

"Hmm... no reason. Now, Potter... how has your research been going?"

Harry swallowed the little lump that had formed in his throat and attempted to speak. "It's going. But where it's going... I don't know. I haven't found anything useful." In fact, the search wasn't going anywhere at all. He had been successfully convinced by the voice to stop any nonsense at figuring out what was going on because the fact remained, was that there was nothing going on at all. So Harry had stopped his research about a week into January, and hadn't picked up a book on it since.

Harry looked away from the calculating look he was receiving from his Potions Professor and from Draco. They both seemed to be suspicious of something, but Harry couldn't let on that he was hearing voices in his head.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me, Potter?" Snape asked.

"No, Professor. Everything is fine. No more worries here that you don't know about. Honest."

Snape gave him a stare for a few more seconds before waving his hand. "Fine. You may go. Draco, stay. I have something else to speak with you about." As Harry was standing up to leave, Draco grabbed a fistful of his robes and brought him down so that he could whisper in Harry's ear.

"Meet me in the Transfiguration classroom."

Harry nodded and left. "So, Draco, how are you feeling?"

"Bloody brilliant. How do you think I'm feeling?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"

"Nauseated. Sweaty. Shaky. Just plain old sick."

"That's to be expected. Just remember that I'll be there tomorrow night, and just as long as you toe the line carefully, you'll be okay. Be prepared to take the Cruciatus a few times. That's the Dark Lord's favourite when initiating somebody."

Draco grimaced. "That makes me feel a whole lot better."

"It wasn't supposed to." Snape sighed tiredly, showing a rare moment of weariness. "Are you still set on not telling me who the operative is, Draco?"

"Yes," he said firmly.

Snape sighed. "I don't understand why you won't tell me. It would help us a great deal."

"Don't worry. At least I know who it is now. If he gets near Harry, I'll make sure he's okay."

"Fine," he replied heavily. "Now get going. I know you're dying to go snog him in the Transfiguration classroom."

Draco smiled beatifically. "Why couldn't you be my father? If you were Lucius, you would have beaten me to a pulp had you known that that was my intention."

"That's why I'm not him."

"How did you know anyway?"

"I came in here when you were kissing. Neither one of you noticed so I went back out and slammed the classroom door. Merlin, Draco, I never would have made you become friends with him had I known you were going to start snogging each other in my office."

"And I would have refused point blank as well. But now, I'm going to have to thank you one day." Snape rolled his eyes.

"You're turning soft."

"I'm not! I'm leaving before you can insult me anymore."

Draco mock stormed out of Snape's office and ran for the Transfiguration classroom with a smile stretched across his face. After putting a silencing and locking charm on the door, he rushed over to Harry, who was standing near a window and started biting and nibbling at his neck from behind. Harry moaned and pressed into Draco's body. Draco turned the other boy to face him and their mouths met in a burning kiss. Draco pulled away in need of breath, only to start devouring Harry's neck again. Harry thread his fingers through Draco's hair. "Oh, Drake," he moaned. Draco moved his hands down Harry's back, going for his butt, but Harry's body tensed up suddenly and he pushed Draco away.

Harry's lust filled eyes were frozen in realisation and he shook his head. "I can't..." Harry turned and ran out of the room, with Draco staring after him in confusion.

"Stupid bastard. And he's supposed to be the brave one. My arse." And then Draco, too stormed out of the classroom, this time, his anger real.

For the next week, Draco refused to speak with Harry, no matter how much he tried to explain why he had run away. Draco didn't want to be with anybody who was going to be such a coward when it came to the relationship. If his being a boy bothered Harry, then he wouldn't let it bother him. They simply wouldn't be a thing. Harry had tried many times to pull Draco into an empty classroom to talk, or to speak to him using the parchment, but nothing would work. Draco would shrug him off in the hallways, and ignore the pleading statements on the parchment. In fact, he didn't even bother to look at it anymore. It was now buried on the bottom of his trunk.

So, when Potions came on Friday, the day before the Quidditch match, Harry was hoping to ‘accidentally' get to class late, in hopes that Draco would have an empty seat next to him like he usually did. But as Harry ran into the classroom, and listened to Snape rant at him for being late and taking points away, Harry turned to look and found that Draco had surrounded himself with Slytherins. Draco smirked at Harry and turned to the front. Seething with fury at the stupid Slytherin, he took a seat by himself. How was Harry supposed to explain that he was hearing voices in his head? How was he supposed to explain that it was talking to him while they had been snogging? That wasn't something that a person wanted to listen to while kissing somebody.

The time came to make the potions, and Harry bolted out of his chair to get his ingredients. This had come as an instinct to him now. Getting to the students cupboard first was a survival technique in this class if he were to survive his classmates. So, Harry was the first one with his ingredients to his cauldron as students were swarming around the stores, picking things out.

"Hermione! What was the last ingredient on the list again?" Ron called out as he stopped in front of Harry. Harry looked up at his old friend, but as his eyes travelled up, he couldn't help but notice the bulge in front of his robes. Harry snorted and shoved his fist in his mouth. Ron looked down at him and glared.

"What's up with you, Potter?" he snapped.

"I think I should be asking you that question."

"Weasley!" Snape hissed as he hurried over. "Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Black have had to speak with you about this. I don't care what you were thinking about, you need to keep it under control! Need I remind you that we are in a classroom?"

"N... no, Professor." Snape growled low in his throat and began leading Ron out into the hallway, speaking in a low voice about detentions and point deduction. As soon as they were out of ear shot, the entire classroom burst into laughter, as everybody had stopped to watch as soon as Snape had spoken. Harry and Draco's eyes caught and in that moment, Harry knew... this was what Draco had done to Ron. He had given him an uncontrollable and unpredictable erection, popping up whenever it wanted, no matter the circumstance.

Draco made no acknowledgement that he had done it because he just glared at Harry and turned to his work. Harry continued snickering until Snape came back, in an even more foul mood than before. He wiped the smile off of his face and continued working.

***

Draco glared at Harry and turned to begin working on his potions. He tried not to show how much it had done for him, to see Harry smiling and laughing like that, and he hoped that it had shown on his face, what he was trying to tell himself. That he hated Potter. But he really didn't. It enraged him to no end that Harry would just run away like that. Nobody ran away from a Malfoy, especially when said Malfoy was snogging you. Draco felt the anger burn up inside him again and for the first time all school year, he wanted to punch Harry's face in.

The bell rang to signal the end of the lesson twenty minutes later and Draco quickly left, trailing Harry to the Great Hall for dinner. Just as the Gryffindor was about to enter, Draco called: "Hey, Potter!"

He saw Harry spin around and his face almost lit up in a smile before it turned into a scowl. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"I'll tell you what I want. I want you to bloody grow up!"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me! I want you to grow up, and stop thinking that you're going to beat me in Quidditch tomorrow!"

"Malfoy, you have never..."

"No, shut up for once! I know that you're a stupid brave Gryffindor, but when something gets too much for you to handle, you can't just bloody well run away from it! Especially when it's probably the best thing that has ever happened to you in your entire, pathetic life. What makes you think you can throw it away?"

"Are we still talking about Quidditch here?"

"Yes, we're still talking about Quidditch, you daft prick! What. Makes. You. Think. You. Can. Throw. It. Away?"

"I'm not throwing anything away. If anybody is, it's you, Malfoy. You know, when the snitch comes up to you and just hovers in front of your face, you can't just sit there and stare at it. You have grab it. Catch it while you still can! But, like you would know that. You did buy your way onto the team. What would you actually know about being a Seeker? Absolutely nothing, Malfoy. Nothing. Because you still have to grab it. It's right in front of you. If you don't move fast enough, it might just get away from you because it's not going to make the first move if it's already tried."

The two boys stared angrily at each other for a few moments, Draco trying to decipher the meaning of Harry's words because he sure as hell wasn't speaking about Quidditch. "Fight!" somebody yelled. And with that, Draco's emotions of the past week flooded out of him and he charged for Harry and punched him in the face. The two boys were soon throwing punches at each other for all that they were worth. The crowd around them were pushing closer into them, cheering them on. Everybody in attendance was cheering for Harry's murder, but Harry wouldn't give anybody the satisfaction of seeing him hurt. Especially not Draco. Just as he really started to give it to Draco, hands started to pull Harry away and when he looked up, Snape was holding back Draco with a look of pure venom. Harry could feel warm breath on his face from the person who was holding him back.

"It's getting you, Mr. Potter," the man whispered in his ear. Harry froze. It was ‘the voice.' He'd recognise it anywhere. The man chuckled softly and began forcing Harry through the crowd, following Snape to his office. Harry tried turning around to see who it was, but the man had a firm grip and wouldn't let him. The group of four went into Snape's office and Snape turned to Harry and the man.

"You may go. I'd like to handle these two by myself, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, Severus. I know that you're very strict when it comes to your students. I'll just be on my way."

The man let go and Harry immediately turned around to look, but all he saw was the swish of his robes going out the door. He began to go out and look but Snape yelled.

"Potter! You are not to leave! Close the door."

Scowling, he closed the door and sat down in the chair beside Draco. They stared malevolently at each other before turning back to Snape. "What has got into you two?" Snape hissed menacingly. "You two were snogging in my office last week and now you're in the entrance hall, brawling. My, my... that is a change of pace, isn't it?"

"It was his fault, Professor!" Harry yelled. "He started yelling at me and then he threw the first punch..."

"Silence! I do not care who started it. The fact is, is that you two have been fighting and I have not known. This could have had serious effects if you two had said anything."

"That's why I chose to speak about Quidditch, Severus," Draco smirked.

"Wow," Snape said sarcastically. "You are quite brilliant, aren't you Malfoy? And what if Potter hadn't caught on? What then?"

"I... I don't know," he replied, flushing pink. "I didn't think..."

"That much is obvious. This was an extremely idiotic thing for you two to pull. You will both serve detention with me, this time for real, and twenty house points from each. Don't make me do it again, Draco."

"I won't, sir."

"Get out of my sight. And the next time I see you two together, unless it's tomorrow's game, I really hope you're not brawling. As much as it makes my skin crawl, I'd rather see you two kissing."

"Me too," both boys muttered but neither one heard each other. They walked out of Snape's office without a word to each other and separated ways.

"You'll be eating the field tomorrow, Malfoy," Harry called just as he turned the corner and disappeared. Draco scowled and hurried to his Common room.

~*~*~

"And the tension is high as Gryffindor and Slytherin take to the air!" announced Seamus Finnigan as they kicked off. "If any of you missed it, a great fight took place between Potter and Malfoy, both Seekers for their respective teams, last night in the entrance hall. I haven't seen the likes of it for a long time. Too bad Malfoy wasn't able to smear Potter. If I wasn't a Gryffindor, I'd say the same thing right now. But... I am, so Potter, if you don't win, I'll smear the floor with you!"

"Finnigan! Get on with the game!" snapped McGonagall.

"Right, you are, Professor. And Katie Bell takes the quaffle from the Slytherin chaser and passes to Ginny Weasley."

Harry tuned out Seamus as he was now concentrated on the game and began to really look for the snitch. He wouldn't and couldn't let Draco win. This game was too important to him. He had told Draco that he would be eating the field, and he would hold true to that promise. Harry frantically searched the field for the elusive snitch as the score rose higher and higher. By the time they were an hour into the game, the score was 150-90, Gryffindor's lead. Draco had stayed away from Harry the entire game but now, Harry saw the blonde boy coming for him.

"What, haven't spotted the snitch yet, Potter?" he sneered.

"It's not like you have either."

"Hmm... good point."

Harry almost laughed before he remembered that Draco had attacked him yesterday and that they weren't friends. They began to search the field, side by side, not exchanging any words, just occasional glances. Harry's heart skipped as he saw the golden snitch ten feet above where they were currently situated and on the other side of the field at the Slytherin goal posts. The two seekers were currently near Ron at the Gryffindor. Harry took off with Draco in hot pursuit. He felt his Firebolt being hit gently but gradually getting harder. He turned his head and found Draco bumping into it.

"Get off, Malfoy!"

"In your dreams, Potter! That snitch is mine!"

Just knock him off his broom; the snitch will be as good as yours then.

No! I can't knock him off!

Do you want to win or not?

Yes, I want to.

Then knock him off!

Harry's body started moving without being told what to do. He slowed his broom down a little so that Draco's inferior broom could catch up. They were now neck and neck, racing along the field, getting ever nearer to their goal. Harry lifted his foot that was nearest Draco and kicked the twigs of his broom. He started to go out of control and Draco looked wildly behind him. Harry took advantage and flew closer to Draco, and knocked his broom forward. Taken by complete surprise, Draco's grip loosened and he flew off of the front of his broom. Harry kept going and closed his hand around the snitch. When he turned to look down, he smiled in grim satisfaction at Draco's body, falling through the air, waiting to smack into the ground.