Elementals of Magic: Prophecy of Lies

Chapter 17

Gray is the Only Safe Color

It was gray. The sky outside was gray, gray clouds hanging overhead, waiting for a signal to unleash their burden. The air was gray, dreary and moody, wandering aimlessly. His eyes were gray, like a dust-covered mirror, reflecting everything it saw but also distorting it to the way it liked it. The books were gray, ancient wisdom filling cracked and wrinkled parchment, left undisturbed for centuries at a time. He was gray, blending in perfectly with everything.

The ocean by them was gray, the waves splashing each other as they played Tag. The tree was gray, the huge granite trunk rearing up to the sky, branches everywhere, holding up gray leaves that were no less alive than regular leaves. They were lying under the tree, robes askew, staring up at the gray balcony of life.

He pushed himself up, twin pools of green the only other color in the gray.

"Why?"

He also pushed himself up.

"Why?" he mimicked.

He put his hand under his chin and tilted it up, emerald gazing into gray.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Tell me, please." His hand was back at his side, though his lips were now milimeters away from his lips.

He looked away.

"It's not for you to know."

"It is. If we want to change this, all of this."

"Who says we can?" His face had turned back.

"I do." And with that, he leaned forward and closed the distance between them.

***

It was unfair. It was uneasy. But it had to be done. Leave it to Kyon to think up of something this horrible, Draco thought, as he sat across from Harry in the Library. The Potions Master had assigned them a research project. A research project! They only had one week to get it done, so the two had agreed to meet on Saturday.

Both of them were tense, uneasy. Minds flickered away, to another world, a world of trees and skies and oceans and clouds and air. There was no small talk; neither knew what to say nor did they want to say anything at all.

The two flipped through pages of ancient tomes, looking for information on the Blood Bond Potion. Kyon had told them that they were due to start on it next week, and he would not talk about it at all but would expect them to know already what to do. Kyon had also hinted to them that this might be on the N.E.W.T.s. Thus, the two young men decided to write down everything they saw that might be useful.

The Blood Bond Potion was a curious potion. It was made in two stages, the first stage the basic ingredients, the second stage the ingredients that would make it into what it was. The potion would last only a week, not matter how much ingredients were used. But its effects were most curious.

If the drinker was loved by the brewer, he/she would be able to withstand any seductive charms, and spells/potions/magic thrown at him/her, though not powerful ones. If the drinker was a friend, he/she couldn't withstand the seductive charms but could withstand the spells thrown at him/her. But if the brewer hated the drinker, then the drinker would be especially vulnerable to the above mentioned. However, that wasn't truly the curious part.

If the brewer loved the drinker, then the drinker would be almost invulnearble. However, anything that happens to the brewer happens to the drinker. The same goes for friendship, but if the brewer hated the drinker, then whatever the drinker undergoes, the brewer does also. But when the two people both brewed and drank the potion, then really interesting things happen.

If the two loved each other, then they would be invulnerable to nearly everything, except for powerful spells, seduction spells, unicorns, griffins, and dragons. However, if one of the two was immune to one of the above , then the other also would be. If the two were friends, they would be quite invulnerable, except for the above mentioned, seduction spells, veelas, pixies, and werewolves. If the two hated each other, then they would be invulnerable to all except powerful spells. They would also gain increased resistance to seduction spells. However, whatever damage that happens to one also happens to the other.

If one brewer loved the other, but the other hated him/her, then the two would be invulnerable to everything except the most powerful magics. However, the one who is hated would be vulnerable to love potions while the one who is loved would be vulnerable to seduction spells. If one loved the other, but the other was only friends with the former, then they would be invulnerable to everything except for powerful spells, seduction spells, and love potions. The former would also be vulnerable to the Grim and Dementors while the latter would be vulnerable to unicorns and faeries. Then, there was the combination of friendship/hate. This combination would yield the two invulnerable to everything except for powerful spells and truth potions. It also made Memory Charms and Illusioning Charms unable to be cast by the two. But these three combos didn't have the bond like the others, i. e. that whatever happens to one of them happens only to that one, and not the other. All in all, this potion was the most bizarre one they had studied in the seven years the two young men had been at Hogwarts.

With the amount of effects, the number of ingredients, the two stages and the quantity of instructions for the potion, the essay, which had to be at least three feet long, took Draco and Harry five hours to complete, the finished product five feet and eight inches long. During this whole time, nothing broke the silence but for the scratching of quill against parchment and the occasional "excuse me"s and "sorry"s.

The weariness and unease seemed to diminish as the end of the five hours drew to a close. Draco wrote while Harry looked for the material. There was silent cooperation and an understanding agreement between the two of them.

As the two young men walked out of the Library, heading toward the juncture where they would split and take their own paths toward their respective common rooms, their footsteps echoing down the corridors, Draco and Harry heard loud footsteps heading away from them up ahead. Soon, quiet sobbing was heard, floating down the hallway.

Harry ran down the corridor, Draco rolling his eyes but following anyway, curious. They followed the sobbing, which lead them to a classroom. The door was ajar, and they could see a girl crying inside. Harry gently opened the door, careful to stop the hinges from creaking.

A mass of tangled brown hair fell down ungainly around a face. Streams of tears shot out of brown eyes that fluttered uncontrollably and ran down the face, red and flushed. She was breathing erratically, sobs coming every few seconds, sometimes a sob prolonging for ten or more seconds. Her shoulders shook uncontrollaby, and she had wrapped her arms around herself, rocking her body on the hard stone floor. A golden necklace laid broken on the floor beside her, links ripped apart, gleaming brightly, as if trying to divert the attention towards itself.

It was Pansy. Draco hurried forward and wrapped his arms around her, running his hands up and down her back, trying to soothe her. The brunette didn't seem to have noticed either of them, especially not Harry, who stood awkwardly by the door, not knowing what to do.

"Shh...Pansy, I'm here."

"Draco?" she asked, looking up, as if he was a mirage. Pansy reached up and touched Draco's face, tracing every line with her index finger. When she was sure that Draco was real, she flung her arms around him, burying her face in Draco's robes.

"I...I thought I was going to be taken. I really did. He was so much stronger...and I...I couldn't do anything to stop him. He...he ripped your gift off, Draco. And he..." Pansy was unable to continue.

Draco then noticed the state that her robes were in. They were tattered and ripped, gigangic tears strewn randomly about the fabric. Her jeans were half unzipped, exposing a few stray pubic hairs.

"Who did this, Pansy? Tell me."

Her answer was muffled as she said it against his robes, but he heard her clearly.

"Blaise."

Draco turned to look at Harry, then moved his head. Harry knew that he wanted him to leave and did so. The Gryffindor knew nothing about Pansy Parkinson, and his being there would only make it worse. She might bring the whole school running if she discovered that he had witnessed that whole scene.

As Harry walked away, he felt a tinge of jealousy running through him. Why was it that Pansy had unraveled more of Draco than anyone else? What was it about her that made Draco treat her so...so...concernedly but not even willing to try to understand him, to like him? And the one true question: Who was Draco Malfoy?

***

"You still haven't told me why."

"You won't understand."

"Try me."

"What's there to talk about?"

"Everything. I want to know, I want to understand you, see who you truly are."

"No one knows me."

"Then let me, let me see if I can."

"Fine then, if you really want to. It hurt me when you rejected me, chose him over me, over me, of all people! No one had ever rejected me, much less chosen someone of lesser standing over me. I lived to torment you, to make you suffer, make you hurt the same way you hurt me. And then, I found out that we had been friends. Even though we had been friends, you chose someone who you had just met over me, the first friend you ever had. How would you feel if I did that, chose a complete stranger, especially one that you hated, over you? How would you feel if I chose your one enemy over you? It made me hate you, hate you even though you had once been my friend, hate you with undaunted passion. I wanted to hurt you, but more importantly, to humiliate you, the same way you humiliated me. I wanted you to experience what I felt, I wanted you to experience how it felt to have your once very best friend turn on you, betray you."

"I...I'm sorry, I never knew that it meant so much to you."

He had turned away, gray eyes looking at the gray ocean beside them, the waves were more lively than ever, playfully slapping each other down. A gray wind blew past them, moving the gray leaves and the gray grass, all leaning towards the direction the wind was going, trying to move along with the air.

Green eyes followed gray eyes, followed them to the ocean and the gray sun that was setting down the horizon, gray rays beaming at gray clouds.

"I've never seen a sunset before. I once thought that during sunsets, the world would right itself, and everybody would live happily ever after. I believed that sunsets were the one time when everything good would happen, when everything right would happen."

"How do you know it's not?"

Gray eyes turned to look at green eyes, which were gazing at him with a glittering green emotion, hopeful, wanting.

"Prove to me. Prove to me that what I see in your eyes is real."

He leaned forward so that his lips were a fraction of a milimeter away from his lips. So close that he could feel his breath, yet so far that he was dying, dying of waiting. Then, without warning, he closed the gap between them, hands coming up to entangle in his hair.

He pulled him down with him, pulled him down so that he was on top. He had wanted this so bad, had been waiting for this so bad. And as tongues entangled, as mouths opened up to each other, as he bit down on his lip, as he moaned, as his hands gripped his hair harder, he felt that maybe sunsets were the one time when everything right happened, no matter what color they were.

***

Monday had arrived. Another day of Potions, another day of torture, of uneasiness between Harry and Draco. It was hard, hard to admit that anything had happened. Or actually, acknowledge that nothing had happened between them. It was so hard to stop denying to themselves everything. They couldn't, not yet.

As soon as the class had sat down, Kyon had started them on the Blood Bond Potion. He had told them that they would be testing it, which prompted the students to work diligently, as none of them wanted to drink poison or some other potion with a disasterous effect.

Even more ingredients were needed for this than for the Power Potential Potion. The first stage was the the true potion brewing stage. The second stage was the making of the Blood Bond. Thus, Harry and Draco worked hard, doing exactly what their essay said.

The Blood Bond Potion was very complicated. They often needed to mix ingredients in a separate place before putting them into the potion, and all the ingredients had to be added in a specific order. In other words, they had to follow the instructions to the letter.

Within twenty minutes, they heard an explosion. As the misty haze cleared, Harry and Draco turned to look at the source of the sound. Crabbe and Goyle's cauldron had exploded, bits of copper littering the classroom. Their bodies were covered in a slimy green goo, and as the whole class watched, their girth shrunk quickly until they were thinner than even Ron. The two Slytherins looked unbalanced, large heads and thick necks on top of a matchstick-thin body.

Laughter burst throughout the room as the two left for the Hospital Wing. Neville was shaken and refused to touch the potion, afraid of destroying the classroom. Ron and Pansy glared at each other with distaste, as if saying that no doubt the other will mess up somehow. Harry and Draco concentrated harder than ever, taking turns adding ingredients and checking off the instructions so that they wouldn't repeat or forget something.

Finally, as class was about to end, the last ingredient, fifteen rat tails, were added, and the potion turned clear, the bottom of the cauldron exposing its black surface to the world. Kyon swept by them, appraising their work.

"Good work, Mr. Potter. Mr. Malfoy, you ought to be thankful that you're partnered with such a talented Potions expert."

Draco rolled his eyes as soon as Kyon turned his back on them.

***

The next Monday arrived quickly, and the second stage of the Blood Bond Potion was about to take place. Some of the potions were green or yellow instead of clear, and the partners that made them looked apprehensive.

Harry and Draco's potion was placed on their desk. The second stage had to be done exactly a week after the first stage. Harry unscrewed the vial and poured a bit into Draco's ladle. The Gryffindor then pricked his middle finger with a sharp needle, careful to let only three drops of blood fall into the ladle.

Draco did the same thing, though with Harry's ladle, and the two young men sat looking at each other, each willing the other to drink first. Draco took the initiative and drank the potion. Nothing happened. Harry followed Draco and also drank.

In other corners of the classroom, the most strange things were happening. Blaise and Nott had been turned into hermaphrodites, Blaise's breasts trying to burst out of the small robes while Nott lay on the ground, having fainted from the unexpected occurence. On the other side, Lavendar and Parvati had been shrunk until they were no larger than a paper clip. They were now levitating themselves onto the tables so that someone could reverse the gone-awry potion.

All the other pairs' potions had worked, and Kyon announced that a test would be given over the Blood Bond Potion the next Monday, engendering groans from many of the students, especially the ones that had failed to produce a working potion. They had taken written tests before, and there were always 25-75 questions, plus a ten inch essay. And he expected them to complete it in one class period! Many of the pupils sighed as another weekend was going to be devoted to studying Potions.

***

The following Monday, at breakfast, Dumbledore made an announcement.

"This Saturday is a Hogsmeade weekend and also, St. Valentine's Day! A St. Valentine's Day Ball will be held that night, and younger students may be taken by prefects to Hogsmeade. The ball will be from, again, seven to midnight. Champions, I look forward to seeing you and your partners!"

As he sat back down, the Great Hall was lit abuzz with chattering. Harry had no idea who to go with, and he decided to just take whoever that asked him. Ron and Hermione were also in despair, neither of them having the courage to ask the other to the Ball as each believed that the other was uninterested.

Draco, meanwhile, put a comforting arm around Pansy.

"Don't worry, I won't let him get near you," he whispered.

Pansy had recovered almost completely, but she was always struck with terror at the sight of Blaise. Nothing seemed to have changed with the brunette, but Draco knew that a wound would be left in her for perhaps the rest of her life.

Pansy nodded. The necklace had been fixed and now rested again on Pansy's neck, but she treasured it now more than ever. Everything good in her life was due to Draco, everything.

***

In Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid announced a surprise, which did not bode well with most of the students, as they didn't think they could take what Hagrid had in store for them and still manage to pass the Potions test.

Hagrid lead them to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where a group of Veelas were standing. Harry had only seen female Veela before, so this was the first time he had a glimpse of male ones. The male ones were like the female ones, with pale hair that was a value away from being white, and skin that was glowing like the moon. They were like versions of Draco Malfoy, except that they could turn into even nastier creatures when provoked.

"Fer yer 'ducation, the Veela 'ave decided ter danc' fer ye."

A rippling murmur spread though the class, many with disbelief etched on their faces. Hermione, however, felt that it was a great way to test the Blood Bond Potion.

The class watched as the female Veelas started dancing, bodies bending in unimaginable ways. Then, the male Veelas joined in, with even wilder moves. Soon, almost everyone surrounded the Veela, including Hagrid, trying to show off.

Pansy observed Draco and Potter, who were both standing away from the Veelas, gazing at the rest of the class. Why wasn't Potter with everyone else? Draco was immune, but Potter wasn't, unless...Just as she realized the truth, the increased resistance Pansy gained from the Blood Bond Potion caved to the Veelas' beckonings, and she joined everyone else.

***

Harry was confused. How was he able to withstand the Veela, when he had almost jumped off the Top Box in Fourth Year? This didn't make any sense, unless it had something to do with the Blood Bond Potion...The answers slowly sunk into Harry's mind.

***

Draco watched Harry. Why wasn't he trying to show off like the rest of the class? How was he able to resist? Draco could, but Harry couldn't. Unless...Oh no, it was true.

***

Harry struggled with Draco's emotions towards him as he walked back to the castle after class. Draco loved him. But he didn't love Draco, did he? After all, he loved Dracina. But then, why did the Mirror of Erised show him a world like that? And the dreams, why them?

He was not going to admit it, not until he had no choice.

***

Draco sighed. Just great for Harry to know that he loved him. There was no use denying it anymore. But why, just why him? Why couldn't it even have been Pansy?

***

He looked out over the gray sea, a place where he had spent so much time with him. He had admitted it to himself, and he knew. He would most likely reject him.

Footsteps echoed behind him as he stepped beside him.

"Thank you."

He looked at him with confusion.

"You helped show me everything."

And then lips crushed onto his, and he was lost, lost in his heart, lost in his mind, lost in a whirl of passion, of want, of need, needing him so bad, needing him to love him back, to be there for him, just to be. He needed everything about him, wanted him to keep kissing him, to never stop, to never let go of him. They were perfect.

He felt as if he had finally been able to unravel a little of him, to see who he was, and he wanted more, needed more. He needed this, he needed it so much, wanted it so much. There was nothing, yet there was everything. There was passion, lust, want, need, and love, mingled in with a thin layer of confusion, understanding, and uneasiness.

As they broke apart, he gestured to their surroundings and asked a single question.

"Why?"

"Because gray is the only safe color."