Save Me From the Dark

Save Me from the Dark:

Part II

Now that I know what I'm without,

You can't just leave me.

Breathe into me a make me real

Bring me to life.

Draco looked around the room at the faces of the others there. He saw the venomous look in Voldemort's eyes but they were always venomous in one way or another so really there wasn't much change there. He then turned to the softened yet reassuring expressions of the other Aurors in the room and the look of absolute feeling in Harry's eyes.

With that look everything else just faded away. He still loves me?

The reason he had left was because he didn't think that Harry loved him at all. He had no idea how invisible he made Draco feel. In the end Draco just decided not to care as much. With this new found impasse emotion he didn't feel anything anymore.

Then the call came and then the visions at night when they would lie next to each other.

Harry wouldn't even touch him anymore, he was always turning away. He wasn't there and Draco was so scared to have to face it alone but Harry wouldn't listen anymore, even when Draco wanted to tell him he was losing grip on what mattered to him. The only thing he began to realise was he didn't care as much as he said he did even when Draco felt he was crying out loud for his help. He wouldn't open his eyes, but Draco did.

He was in it alone.

Those eyes told a different story. He wasn't alone, not anymore.

For the first time in his life, Draco let his feelings show in his eyes. That proved only to be the worst mistake he could make as that was the one place that Voldemort had not taken his eyes away from. The second it flickered there, the second he saw some spark of emotion, he knew what the insolent child would do. No mortal man, wizard or no, would turn their back on him.

Twice.

Wake me up inside,

Wake me up inside,

Call my name and save me from the dark.

"Enough of this!" he yelled raising his arms. He turned toward Draco, the venom in his eyes threatening to ooze out of him. "Insolent boy. You do not turn you back on me more than once for my enemy."

"More than once?" Harry said. "You renounced him before; you told me you never chose sides." Then his mind recalled on something. 'For my enemy.' He did it for me?

"I didn't choose sides this side was forced upon me, I thought you'd get this by now Potter."

"Silence!" rang Voldemort's voice. It almost trembled throughout the room causing a slight rumble. His hand swept to the right and Draco flew to the wall behind him. Harry started toward him but found that he couldn't move. When he looked towards Voldemort he saw that his other arm was directed at him, his wand in hand. Harry had the grace to look shocked.

Voldemort smirked. "I may not be able to force your movements, Mr. Potter, but I can prevent them." He turned toward Draco who had begun to get up. When Voldemort spoke to him he stopped and looked right at him, his hand still pointed to Harry's heart. "Was it you, young Malfoy, who told me the greatest place to attack a man in love, is through his heart? Yes, I think it was. Well, it seems for once you've done something worth my time."

Harry's eyes went wide. Voldemort was going to attack him, and he hadn't even seen it coming. Harry's hand tightened around his wand. Voldemort tutted in an arrogant way as his head turned back to him. "Tut, tut, Mr potter. Accio!" he called turning his hand over to catch Harry's wand. "Can't have you with an advantage now can I?" Harry stiffened but didn't let it show on his face how terrified he felt. When the blast left Voldemort's hand, Harry's eyes closed tight waiting for the pain to erupt.

There wasn't any.

In the distance, he heard something fall to the ground with a thud and a scream erupt from the immense double doors. He thought that perhaps he had died and his spirit was hovering above his body as it fell to the ground.

When he heard Ron yell, "Harry!" It sealed the thought in his mind. It wasn't until Ron continued with, "Harry, open your eyes!" Did he squash it.

Were his eyes closed? He didn't even remember closing them. Slowly he parted his eyelids. The sight of Draco lying unconscious on the ground filled his senses and his mouth went dry.

No, no he can't be dead. I only just got him back.

"Draco!" he passed Voldemort straight and headed to his side.

He was cold.

Bid my blood to run,

Before I come undone.

Save me from the nothing I've become.

Harry removed his hand from Draco's skin as if it burned him and tears poured down his face. He was too late. Just when he had begun to convince him to come back he had lost him again. The thought of it alone angered him mainly because he couldn't follow him, not now. Not until the fate of the world and all who inhabited it was out of his hands.

Voldemort.

The name meant to instill fear into all those who uttered it only sparked the hatred he held for him in every fibre of his being. With one sweep of his sleeve he wiped his tears and stood up to face him. He hadn't even known that Voldemort had begun to talk to him. Behind Voldemort, Ron was shaking his head at him frantically trying to get him to look in their direction. Harry watched them from the side of his eye not wanting Voldemort to turn around. Hermione was talking to the others in a hushed tone holding a piece of parchment in her hand and pointing to it so the others could see. They looked as if they were preparing for something. Ron was still shaking his head.

What, no? As in 'Don't kill him?' Why the hell not? When Harry frowned still not looking directly at him and pretended to listen to what Voldemort was saying, Ron looked irritated because he didn't understand so he took out his wand. Harry tried hard to read it but found it difficult until Ginny spun it around the right way. She had removed a word that looked like 'DISTRACT' and replaced it with 'KILL.' It said:

KILL HIM AS BEST YOU CAN.

All the others read the new version and gave him a half smile and their thumbs up to encourage him. He took that message with no confusion at all. He gave Voldemort a determined look and narrowed his eyes to mere slits, the pure hatred emerging from each. There was only one thing going through his mind.

Bring me to life.

Bring me to life

Draco lying on the ground and how he could have prevented it, had he not been so ignorant.

He had counted on him to help him, to love him enough to give him a reason to stay. A reason to live. Without that, what was the point?

Frozen inside without your touch,

Without your love, darling,

Only you are the life among the dead.

What was the point of waking up on a cold morning with someone warm to snuggle up to when they didn't even notice you were around? What was the point of living day to day and struggling to fight what should be inevitable when there was nothing to live or struggle for? Why should he have bothered making a relationship work when the other half wasn't even aware that there was something wrong, there wasn't a point to it and Harry knew it.

He had been blind the whole time, and now Draco was paying for Harry's mistakes.

All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see,

Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me.

I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems.

Got to open my eyes to everything.

Now his eyes were open and Draco was gone, Harry was going to pay him back. Saving the world could wait. Perhaps it was selfish and he knew it was, but revenge always takes the passenger seat. He thought this even as another of Voldemort's curses threw him at a wall. He fell to the ground in a heap. Right next to where Voldemort had thrown his wand.

His trail of thought had diverted his mind from the fight and the fight itself had diverted his attention from what else was going on in the room. He was so distracted that he didn't even notice the others by the door with their wands out muttering something under their breaths.

They had been fighting like this for a while now and most of the curses thrown had been by him. Most of them that had hit Voldemort had caused damage, much of it, and those that didn't had created large cracks and gaping holes in the walls and ceiling.

Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul,

Don't let me die here.

You have to swear to me you won't let me become him. I mean it Harry kill me first before that mark touches my arm."

"Ok, I swear."

Never, in all of his life, had Harry sworn on something that he didn't keep. When he made that promise he had made an oath to the Gods to protect Draco from all the things that he had turned away from. He knew one day the call would come and he had sworn to him that he would be there to ground him and stop him from falling.

There must be something more,

Bring me to life.

But he hadn't given him a reason to stay and if there was no reason there was no will. He had broken that oath, and had so broken himself. He had to finish this fight one way or the other.

And not just for him.

Wake me up inside,

Wake me up inside,

Call my name and save me from the dark.

Another hex flew at him but he averted it only to get another curse in his stomach. He flew back hitting another wall so hard it cracked even more. It wasn't only him who winced at the pain.

He stayed on the ground breathing in, deeply engrossed in the pain in his ribs. He was sure to have broken one or two.

"It's strange, our relationship, isn't it, Mr. Potter?" he heard a steady voice say. He looked up to see Voldemort inspecting his wand with a great curiosity, as if he were not in the room. He continued to speak anyway. "We seem to have this pattern don't we? I try to kill you, you - fight back," he emphasized with gritted teeth, "and I am - sidetracked a little. You always seem to get away and frankly I'm impressed that you have survived me for so long."

Harry laughed cynically holding his side. "Practice," he said painfully from the ground trying to raise himself up and failing miserably.

Voldemort gave a mocking laugh which subsided almost as quickly as it came. "You always seem to have something I want. The philosopher's stone," - He counted off on his fingers an endless list until he came to an object that angered Harry the second it left his mouth. - "Mr. Malfoy over there," he said pointing behind him without turning around. Harry's face remained to the ground breathing harder. "Your head," he finished with a deathly gaze.

Harry's hands were grinding by this, he couldn't take it anymore. Every person he had ever loved Voldemort had murdered. His parents, half of his friends, Draco and even the muggles who had taken care of him. Sure they weren't the kindest people but they were still people. They were still his family.

It was all he could take. He grabbed his wand and used his anger to push himself up pointing it straight in Voldemort's face, then lowering it to his heart. "I'm assuming you still have one?" he said looking at Voldemort's chest.

Voldemort followed his eyes and lowered his head to look at his chest. After realising what Harry meant he raised his eyes to him and spoke whilst raising his head, slowly. "What do you think you're doing, Harry?" Harry half cringed at the use of his name.

"You don't call me that."

"Why not? I have a right to. After all, am I not more a part of you than any of those muggle lovers and half breeds can dare to be? Doesn't the power in your blood run parallel to mine? Our wands are brothers, Harry, should we be classed as anything different after what we share between us?"

Bid my blood to run,

Before I come undone.

Harry's mind lingered over his twisted logic. It was true how they shared a bond of sorts but never would he want to be classed as anything other than Voldemort's enemy. All he was doing, quite frankly, was screwing with his head.

"What do you think you're doing, Tom?" he stressed and saw the look of shock in his eyes at saying his name. "See, not so comfortable is it?"

He dropped it. "What are you planning to do, Potter?"

Harry shrugged and held his chest wincing. "Kill you," he stated simply.

"And how do you intend to do that?" He laughed. "You can hardly stand."

"Like this, CRUCIO!" he yelled with all the anger he had, channelling all the power he could muster.

Voldemort fell back on his legs twitching a little but still standing. He stood that way for a while trying to gain control over Harry's spell. Harry kept his wand steady glaring him down as if that would aid him somehow. Voldemort started to return to his previous position and smirked into Harry's face of mixed anger and astonishment.

Still smirking, he answered his question. "I, like you, also posses a few immunities against you. It stings," he said with a compromising voice, "but it's bearable. You have actually surprised me."

Harry's heart sank, but he had somehow managed to keep his wand upright the curse still emitting out of it. He really thought he had him.

"Yeah, but are you immune to me? Crucio!" a different voice had spoken before Voldemort squirmed at the unexpected attack. He turned around and his eyes widened, as did Harry's when he looked up.

Draco stood behind Voldemort, his wand outstretched as the other fell to his knees.

"H - how?"

"I'm sorry, I know this was your fight and all but I just could not sit on the sidelines anymore."

"But - how?"

Hermione walked up next to Draco and watched Harry. She winked at him and smiled. "Do you think he's immune to me too?" Draco shook his head and she shrugged. "Crucio!" she called, her wand pointing directly to Voldemort's crumpled form.

"Try four of us."

"Make that seven, Ron."

"Crucio!" they all repeated as Voldemort writhed in every which direction on the stone cold floor.

Harry looked over at Draco, his eyes were glistened. In a way he could understand, Voldemort more or less killed his whole family too. He seemed to take as much freedom from this, as Voldemort's life slipped away, as he did.

Save me from the nothing I've become.

They stood in silence watching the black-burnt area where Voldemort's body used to lay. Draco emitted a sigh and turned away to the door. Harry followed him.

He caught his hand on the door handle. "I thought you were dead."

Draco opened the door and stepped outside saying, "I was."

Harry stared after him as he stepped out into the corridor. He knew what Draco meant, apart from the obvious, he had died a long time ago.

He stepped outside with him. "I'm sorry,"

He turned to him. "What for?"

"For breaking my promise."

"Promises mean nothing to me anymore." He shook his head and looked away but Harry caught his arm refusing to let him turn.

"Mine do."

Draco laughed emptily and rolled his eyes. "Yeah," he said looking away, "look where that got me."

"I said I was sorry."

Bring me to life.

"I know you did." He sighed heavily and fought to look away from him, but failed miserably. "It's alright anyway, you brought me back."

Harry's head snapped up. "What? No I didn't, I don't even know how you managed it. I'm pretty sure Hermione has an idea though."

"She recognised the spell, it wasn't one he uses often and she had hoped he would have saved something special for me I guess. Sometimes I don't think she likes me as much as she says she does," he added as an afterthought.

"So, what does that have to do with me?"

Draco smiled to the ground then looked to the inside of the room. Hermione had turned her head in time to catch them both staring at her, she smiled as she hugged Ron even harder. She had a note in her hand, the same parchment she had been pointing to before and, somehow Harry had a suspicion that it held all his answers.

"Rare antidote," Draco said looking at it.

Harry stared at it and wondered what it said, and then an idea hit him. "Accio!" he said and caught the parchment in his left hand. He opened it and read it.

~~~

Dear Draco,

I don't know where you've gone but I'm coming to find you. I can't kill you, and you know that, even though you made me promise to. Malum, quod existentia nostra coinquinat I may not get there in time, but if I do I'll use everything I have to make you understand. Understand that I need you with me to finish this and if you go before I run out of time, I'll hate you because I cannot come with you. Distanciam quae eos secernebat fecit I have a world to save and a prophecy to fulfil, but you wouldn't know about that because I couldn't tell you, I couldn't tell anybody. I may not get a chance to say this, but I love you and I just want to bring you back. Ex venis suis absolve Bring you back to the life you should have had. I can't stand waking up without you to an empty room of silence, it's driving me insane. Suum animum restitue I'm coming for you, into your dark to drag you back to the light if I have to. I swore to protect you and if I can't do that, how am I supposed to save the world? Amorem suum cordem incitare averte,

Illam exsecrationem deriva averte, illud malum expelle

Harry.

Finite Incantatum.

~~~

Bring me to life

It was the letter he never got to send days ago when he found out Draco was gone. He had tried to let him make his own decision and left him to it, but the loneliness burned and the promise he had sworn to keep lingered in every thought he had. There seemed to be a spell woven into the text but he didn't understand it.

"It says: 'An evil that stains our existence, made a distance which drove them apart, rip out of his veins, return him his soul make love power his heart. Deflect this curse, banish this evil.' Then she ended the curse." He stared at Harry before finishing, "Frankly I always thought you were a bit dramatic." He leaned on the wall behind him. "But thank you."

"For what?"

"For loving me, I didn't think you could anymore -."

"You didn't think I could? Draco, it's all I do! I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"Don't worry, the letter said it all." He looked to the ground and swallowed hard. When he spoke, Harry could sense the angst behind his words even though none was audible. "Did you mean it?"

Harry looked up at him, he would have laughed if this wasn't so serious, how could he ask that? "Every word."

Draco covered their remaining distance. "Then thank you again." He kissed him instantly before Harry had a chance to speak. Harry sighed against him and encircled his arms around him before he could get away from him again. When they broke apart they were both breathless.

"What for?" he said his eyes still closed.

He leaned his forehead against Harry's and looked directly into his eyes seeing his own. "For saving me from the dark, like I asked you to." Harry smiled into his mouth as he kissed him again.

~*~~ THE END ~~*~