Bonds of Fate

Chapter One: A Dream Within a Dream

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Harry woke with a horrible start, a gasp escaping his parted lips. It took a while before the Hogwarts dormitory materialized around him again. God, he was hugging his tear-wet pillow. He shoved it away and reached out to search for his glasses almost instinctively. He pulled the hangings of his bed open, found the glasses and put them on. Slowly the room focused. The curtains of the other four-posters where still tightly shut. The familiar sound of Neville's snore filled the room making Harry feel a little more comfortable. He let his gaze wander across the room until it went out of the window. It was still very dark outside.

He rested a bit on his bed trying to calm down before he got to his feet and walked over to the window. It was wide open, but to no avail. The air outside was mild, but the thick stone walls of the castle were still hot from the sunlight. But that was quite normal for this end-of-summer time - they'd just started another year of magical education. If he wanted some fresh air he had to get out - no problem, he was already wide awake.

He sighed slightly and returned to his bed to fetch his trunk. The lid flung back. Covered by several clothes was a neatly folded cloak. He took it out of the trunk and spread it admiring its silver glory. Harry put on the cloak and it practically flowed around and down his body. Thus made invisible he walked out of the dormitory down the staircase into the common room. The flames still danced in the fireplace but they were charmed so there was no further heat. Then he descended towards the great oak front doors. The warmth of the castle faded as he stepped out into the grounds. But he had no idea where he should go.

The moon was waning again, but still nearly full. Its soft light gleamed on the surface of the lake and Harry, somehow attracted by the sight, headed for it. Just then streams of clouds hid the moon, but one could still see so he walked on. The soft grass caressed his skin as his bare feet moved through it. He lost in the warm, comfortable feeling and didn't see that the lake was only a short distance away. The moon was revealed again and now even the raven-haired boy clearly noticed the figure sitting there on a little rock by the lake. Harry pulled the cloak more tightly around himself and slowly approached the figure. It had to be a student for the silhouette was as tiny as Harry's would be. And suddenly he realized the other person. How odd, he had appeared in his dream only minutes before. The way the moonshine mirrored in his smooth silvery hair...

The pale boy had his legs drawn to his chest his arms wrapped around them and rested his chin on the knees. He just stared at the huge moon right in front of him. And, what the..., those sobbing sounds, he was...crying! And why was he outside at this time of night. Wasn't he supposed to be in his dorm? Oh, Harry remembered, just like himself.

Leave him and go somewhere else. Just a tiny voice inside his head. Once again he cursed his curiosity and walked on. He cast the cloak aside to prevent Draco from falling right into the lake from shock and walked around the stone to sit beside the other boy. This one turned his head slowly and when he suddenly recognized who was sitting beside him started to wipe his tears furiously as he turned his back.

"Wha-...What are you doing here?" His voice was very uneven.

"About the same as you, I suppose...what's the matter with you?"

"It's none of your business." He snapped back. After a while Draco began to speak again. "Then you must have had some bad dreams..."

And the memory came rushing back into Harry's mind.

//He didn't know how he had come there, but this was actually the Forbidden Forest! And there wasn't any visible way out. Before fear overwhelmed him he started to move. He walked along the narrow path lined by ghostly-looking trees count of time completely lost. No matter whether it was night or day the Forest was hardly lit but with dim beams. But wasn't there some more light right ahead? He suddenly found himself at the edge of a clearing. And there was a strange object in the very middle of it. On a low, curved, pillar-like pedestal stood a stone basin wide and shallow. Ivy crept around it and inside was a fluid greatly resembling normal water. But it couldn't have been ordinary water for as Harry peered into it, the surface began to ripple slightly. And before his eyes appeared a house all calm in the mirror. But something was strange about it. Several hooded figures approached it and walked right through the door. The image zoomed in and Harry knew what was coming next. Knew it from all the bad dreams he had been through, all the stories he had been told about the murder of his own parents. But this one was different. It concentrated so much more on the Dark Wizards, the Death Eaters - especially on one...//

"Did you have?" Harry asked although he could figure the answer.

"I told you so, haven't I? But why do you care anyway?"

"Oh, I just wondered whether it has anything to do with...your father?"

Draco wheeled around and his pale eyes widened. How...? No, that wasn't possible! He turned away again and continued staring at the blank sky.

//... a Malfoy. The surface of the fluid moved again in soft ripples and the figures faded - except one. An older Lucius was storming into his son's room not even bothering to knock. "A house-elf found this when it cleaned the room! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" He was waving Draco's very precious diary. His worst fears had become true. Missing this very book he had searched the whole room but it was nowhere to be found. The young boy had hoped - had prayed he had just burned it, thrown it away, let it disappear, whatever. But his father laying hands on it... He had been writing down his deepest feels and desires in this book - about the person he had fallen in love with and to increase the embarrassment it had been a boy. Worst of all - Harry Potter!//

Harry followed the other boy's gaze and the memory flooded back again.

//Draco didn't answer and backed away. His father glared at him a malicious flicker in his eyes. When he began to speak again his voice was deadly low. "So, you want to get fucked? Well, you can have it." And he slowly approached his son...

But Harry bent over the basin couldn't bare it anymore. He closed his eyes to stop the awful vision, but it wouldn't do. He felt tears coming to his eyes and one already rolled across his cheek. Then it left his face and fell right into the fluid. His eyes flew open just that very moment and he saw the stone breaking. He took a step backwards. Another liquid horribly looking like blood emerged from the cracks. Suddenly a chill wind rose. The image began to blur before Harry's eyes and under the rising roar he could still hear Draco screaming...//

This was all he remembered of the dream.

"Do you still mourn for your father? You are supposed to loathe me. Since it was my father wh..." But Draco trailed off there.

This time it was Harry's turn to let his jaw drop. "Is it possible that two people have the same dream?" he whispered more to himself, but the other boy heard it.

"It is." Draco was still watching the moon.

//Harry placed a hand on Draco's shoulder sending a shiver through the other boy and turned him round. "I'm not hating anyone because of things his father did. He hurt you far more than me, Draco."

The other boy just stared at him. Harry shot him a startled look.

"You...that was my first name."

"Shouldn't I use i - " But Draco had already pressed his lips against the other boy's. To shocked to resist Harry felt how soft and velvety they were. He was actually enjoying this! But when he noticed the Slytherin's tongue sliding past his parted lips invading his mouth, he somehow managed to retrieve consciousness and roughly pulled away.

Harry wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "What was that for? Dammit, you're my enemy."

"I always wanted to do that."

*Smack* Harry had slapped him right across the face//

Hey, Harry had really slapped him. He was kneeling in front of him looking somehow concerned. "Oh my, Malfoy. You just sat here like you have been petrified and nothing else could bring you back! Have you already fallen asleep again?"

But Draco didn't answer. "What about going back to the castle? Come on, the cloak would cover both of us."

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The cry of the rooster rang across the school ground. Completely startled by his dream, Draco rose this morning...

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Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

- Edgar Allan Poe (from 'A Dream Within a Dream')