The Reason

Chapter 15

'And when you speak to me, I can't wait for the next word to fall out of your mouth, and when you close your eyes, I wonder what the thoughts look like you never let out. Ooooh, you make me wanna deny the world, deny the man I wanna be, deny the food that brings the energy I need, deny myself, my individuality. I have surrendered now, I only wonder how, sparks fly when our worlds collide, and I am falling at your feet. Stars shine so much brighter, you make me wanna sit right by and watch the world falling at your feet. And if losing myself means becoming a part of you, then I know I'm becoming something beautiful, too. You make me wanna be a better man, and when you walk into the room I feel the world dissolve, I fall at your feet, and when you look at me I swear the beating of my heart is about to cease. Sparks fly when our worlds collide, and I am falling at your feet. Stars shine so much brighter, you make me wanna sit right by and watch the world spin around.' "Falling at Your Feet" ~ Darren Hayes

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When Draco awoke, Harry was beside him, his head resting on Draco's chest, his shirt halfway up his torso, exposing his smooth, well-muscled stomach, and his hair tousled as ever.

Draco looked anxiously at his watch and sighed with relief - 6:30. They still had time to clean up and get back to their rooms before anyone else woke up. But Harry looked so peaceful and innocent that Draco hated to wake him. And as he looked at Harry lying there, he realized that this was the first night since this curse had started that he hadn't had nightmares - his own or Harry's. He was pretty sure that this meant that Harry hadn't had any nightmares either, which made Draco want to wake him even less, but they had to leave. It wouldn't do to have someone see them sneaking out of an empty classroom at 8:00 in the morning when they should be at breakfast. They couldn't afford to be seen together at all right now, it was too risky.

"Harry, we have to get up," he said softly. Harry jerked awake and looked around frantically for a second before his eyes came to rest on Draco.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked anxiously.

"Yeah, it was just a very advanced spell that takes a lot of power, so it drained my energy.

"It's 6:30 now, so we need to clean up and get back to our rooms before anyone notices we're gone."

"Too late," Harry muttered under his breath, but not softly enough to keep Draco from hearing. Draco whirled around to look at Harry.

"What?" he asked sharply. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing; it's just that Ron noticed me leaving to meet you that first night, and the second night, and last night."

"Did you tell him anything?" Draco asked, no longer angry so much as worried.

"No, I just told him that I couldn't tell him right now. But I am going to tell him after it's all over - after I'm cured, I mean."

"Okay." Draco blew out the candles, which had now burned down to half their size during the night. He quickly shoved everything into his bookbag, and turned to Harry.

"Ready?"

"Draco, are you mad at me?"

"No, Harry. I understand; Ron is your best friend, of course you have to tell him. And Hermione, too, of course. Just make sure they know that there was no poison involved." He looked over at Harry, and suddenly felt guilty. "We can talk about this later. We have to go now, okay?"

"Sure," Harry said coldly, and walked briskly from the classroom.

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"Draco, it's good to see you again, my boy. I was worried something had happened when I came to your room and you weren't there. You never were an early morning person, but apparently you've changed." Lucius Malfoy's voice was pleasant enough, but his steel gray eyes were cold as ever.

"Father, I didn't... I wasn't expecting you so soon. Actually, I wasn't expecting you at all. I'm sorry, I was just in the library doing homework; it's due today, and I completely forgot about it."

"Of course." Lucius smiled coldly. "Regardless, you're here now, which is all that matters. You know the situation with the Potter boy, more clearly than anyone else, I suppose, so you must know that the transformation is almost complete. So we're going to stay at the Hog's Head until this blows over."

"What? Dad, you can't do that!" he cried. Then, realizing that that might sound suspicious, he added, "This is the opportunity of a lifetime! Harry Potter becoming a vampire and terrorizing the school - this is history in the making! And I'm not in any danger either, Dad. I have a mental connection with him, and I've learned how to manipulate his thoughts without him even knowing it! Come on, Dad, you can't take this away from me! This is my chance to prove myself to everyone, you, the Dark Lord, everyone at school who's underestimated me, everyone. It could be my coming-of-age; I am 17, after all, and I should be becoming a Death Eater soon. This could be - "

"Silence, Draco! You do as I tell you, and from now on, you will address me as 'sir'. Do you understand? Now go get your things and we'll leave. The excuse is that you've recently come down with the flu, and I'm taking you back to the Mansion to recover. I've already notified Dumbledore. Now, move!"

"Yes, Fa - sir," Draco said icily, but there was defeat in his voice.

Draco slowly collected his things, his mind racing. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing after all. This way he wouldn't have to waste all of his energy summoning his father all the way from Malfoy Mansion. Harry could use one of the secret passages he seemed to know so well and easily get to the Hog's Head. They could do the ritual late at night so that he could set up while his father was asleep, and then he would have his full energy to concentrate on making his father reverse the curse, and then they could Apparate out of the room. They wouldn't be able to Apparate to Hogwarts, of course, but they could get to the outskirts of Hogwarts, which would give them a head start on his father. And once they were in Hogwarts, all they would have to do was get to Dumbledore, tell him the whole story, and everything would be fine. In fact, this would actually be a lot easier than their alternative, which was to summon Lucius from Malfoy Mansion all the way to Hogwarts, which would be exhausting, and then try to control him.

"Harry, change of - "

"Draco! Hurry up! I want to get out of here before the others come back from breakfast!"

"Yes, father," Draco called impatiently.

"What did you say?" Lucius roared.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir."

"Just hurry up!" he barked.

"Draco, what's going on?"

"There's been a small change of plans. I don't have time to get into it right now, but I'll talk to you soon. Don't worry, everything is fine. I'll talk to you soon!"

He cut off the connection and raced down the stairs.

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They walked to the edge of the school grounds and then Apparated to the Hog's Head.

"I'm going to stay at the bar and talk with a few acquaintances for a short while. You go to the room and stay there. It won't do to have people seeing you running around playing when you're supposed to be deathly ill."

Draco was about to protest that he didn't 'play', he merely amused himself at Zonko's, but he took one look at his father and thought better of it.

Ten minutes later, safe in the solitude of the room he would be sharing with his father, Draco called Harry and explained the new plan.

"Are you sure? It just seems like there are too many things that aren't under our control this way. Like your father could stay out all night drinking with his buddies and decide to come back at the same time I happen to be arriving."
"I'll tell you if he isn't up here at 10:00 and we'll abort the plan."

"If he pulled you out of school, then he thinks the transformation's almost complete. What if I get summoned and bitten again instead? What if that's why he's here personally - because he's going to finish me off?"

"What could we do to prevent that even if I was there with you?" Draco snapped, getting irritated.

"We could be in a protective circle."

"Then make a circle of your own and stay inside it until I tell you to leave! Harry, it'll work, goddamn it! Quit overanalyzing and just be prepared for it!" He started to break the connection, but Harry stopped him.

"What am I going to do after I get out of Hogwarts? How do I get in your room? Even if I could get through the locked door, I won't be inside the circle, and your father could wake up and hex me."

"Harry, you huge prat! First of all, you could get through the door with no problem. Even if I didn't leave it unlocked for you, which I would if we needed the door, you could use 'Alohamora'. But none of that matters because once you're out of Hogwarts, you can Apparate into the room!"

"Not everyone knows how to Apparate, Draco. It's not exactly a common skill for underage wizards, you know."

"Yes, and I also know that you're not exactly a common underage wizard, and I know that you do know how to Apparate."

"Oh. How did you know I could -- "

"I can read your mind, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

"It will work, Harry. Have I let you down since this whole thing started? Even once?"

"Well, there was the time you fell asleep in the library..."

"Harry! You know what I mean! Have I ever been wrong about anything important this whole time?"

"No." Harry sighed deeply. "You're right, Draco. I trust you."

"Okay, then. I have some preparations to make, so I'll talk to you later. Oh, and if you don't hear from me earlier, leave Hogwarts at 10:30, okay?"

"Okay." Harry didn't ask why he might not hear from Draco - he didn't really want to know. Something felt very wrong with this plan, and it worried him.

"Harry?" Harry jumped and glanced around.

It was Saturday, and everyone else was outside enjoying one of the first warm days of spring. But Ron had entered the dorm again without Harry even noticing.

"Harry, what's up? It's like you went somewhere else. You were still here physically, but, I don't know... I guess it was just me." Ron sat down beside Harry on his bed. "So, do you want to talk yet?"

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"Draco, I must give you credit. You are far more intelligent than I ever hoped. It's such a shame that you chose to use your talents this way."

"I don't understand, sir," Draco said, staring up at his father.

"The Death Eaters may not be the most competent group, but for every single plan to crumble in front of our eyes is just too suspicious. We've known for a long time that it was someone on the inside, and Wormtail caught you snooping several times in a row, so I was forced to consider you a suspect. We devised a new plan to test your loyalties, to see if it was really you. Honestly, Draco, did you really think that we would perform such an advanced telepathic spell and not monitor it at all?"

"Who's been monitoring it? Voldemort?" Draco couldn't resist asking.

"Don't be silly, boy. You and the Potter boy are nuisances, certainly, but the Dark Lord can't be troubled with the likes of you. So, I volunteered. Thank god, I couldn't hear all of your thoughts; I heard everything when you two were in each other's minds, talking or just observing dreams and memories, but nothing else. Really, Draco, I just don't understand. Where did I go wrong?"

"Can you hear this? FUCK YOU, DAD!!!" Draco thought, loud and clear.

"Draco, what's wrong?" Harry's voice jumped into Draco's head, and suddenly Draco felt the power of his father's mind in his, pushing Harry out.

"Well, we can't have that, can we? Finite Incantatem," he growled. Draco was silent for a moment, wondering if his father's spell had worked or not. He didn't feel any different, but that didn't necessarily mean anything, and he didn't dare try to communicate with Harry. If it hadn't worked, he wanted to keep it that way without his father's knowledge.

"Now, we've got a lot of work to do before tonight," Lucius said with a cold smile.

Chapter 16

'I wanted to be like you, I wanted everything, so I tried to be like you, and I got swept away. I didn't know that it was so cold, and you needed someone to show you the way. So I took your hand and we figured out that when the tide comes I'd take you away. If you want to, I can save you, I can take you away from here, so lonely inside, so busy out there, and all you wanted was somebody who cares. I'm sinking slowly, so hurry hold me, your hand is all I have to keep me hanging on. Please can you tell me, so I can finally see where you go when you're gone. If you want to, I can save you, I can take you away from here, so lonely inside, so busy out there, and all you wanted was somebody who cares.' "All You Wanted" ~ Michelle Branch

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"Harry, what just happened?" Ron was staring at Harry, bewildered. They had been discussing when exactly Harry's two days were up (Harry maintained he had until midnight, but Ron said before dinner), and Harry had suddenly gone ghostly pale and stopped talking in the middle of his sentence, doing his far-away look again. He sat there in silence for a minute, and then he gasped and suddenly he was back.

"Harry?" Ron was suddenly very worried; it was like Harry had gone into a trance.

Harry thought for a long moment and then said quietly, "I think my two days just went up, Ron. Go get Hermione, and we'll talk."

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"Harry, I can't believe you didn't tell us! Did you really think we would think differently of you? Harry, you're our best friend - no matter what."

"Good, because there's more. A lot more, actually, but we won't get into all of that now. So, Draco's been helping me, and we performed the first part of the spell last night, and all that's left is the part with Draco's father, but he came to get Draco this morning, supposedly because he wants Draco to be safe from me. Draco was planning to carry on, and have me go through the Honeydukes passage and do the spell in their room. But then just about ten minutes ago, he said really loudly, 'Can you hear this? Fuck you, Dad!' and when I tried to find out what was going on, somebody pushed me out of his mind."

"Are you sure it wasn't Draco?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"I'm positive. Believe me, over the past week I've gotten really familiar with Draco's way of pushing me out of his mind, and I can stop him. But this person was much too powerful for me to even try to fight, and when I felt his mind, it was evil. Pure evil."

"Voldemort?" Ron guessed.

"No, I would have felt that in my scar. I think it was Lucius. I think he found out about Draco helping me, and he's here to put a stop to it."

"Have you tried contacting Draco since this happened?" Hermione inquired. Harry shook his head. "I think you should. Maybe it was all just a mistake or something. We should make sure before we go charging in and blowing Draco's cover."

Harry reached out with his mind, just trying to sense Draco's mind, not even talk to him. He thought he felt Draco's mind, but all he got was a small glimmer. If that really was Draco's mind he was sensing, it was heavily blocked.

"I can't reach him."

Hermione and Ron looked at Harry, surprised to see that he was near tears.

"Harry, is there something you're not telling us?" Ron asked.

'Just that not only am I Draco's friend, I'm in love with him, too, and now he might die because of me,' Harry thought miserably, but he only shook his head.

"No, I just feel so horrible about all of this. All Draco was trying to do was help me, and now he's in danger."

"Harry, did you ever consider that maybe ..." Hermione broke off, looking scared.

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe Draco was lying to you," Ron finished for her. "Maybe he hasn't really been protecting you for Dumbledore. Maybe he was counting on your trusting nature, and your fear of being killed if anyone else found out. Maybe this 'kidnapping' thing is just a hoax, a way for them to get to you."

"Then why would he do the spell last night? Why would he erase what they had already done? I was fully under their control; they could've bitten me three times no problem, and without Draco I wouldn't have even known what happened until it was too late."

"Maybe it was to deepen the pain - give you a taste of betrayal to make it even worse," Ron suggested, but even he was beginning to lack conviction.

"Then why not do it last night? I was there because I trusted Draco, I would've been under their control, and it would have been so easy. Why lure me out of school? They can't even be sure I'll come this time. It's just so illogical for them not to have done it last night if Draco was part of it. So, we can do this together, or I can do this alone," Harry finished irritably.

"We don't have time to verify Draco's story with Dumbledore, because if we do, we'll spend hours explaining, and we won't finish this in time. I think Draco's in trouble, and I won't waste any more time."

"Alright. We need a plan, then," Hermione said.

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"Draco, really, I don't understand. I mean, it's bad enough that you're working against the Dark Lord, but to fall in love with the number one enemy? Draco, I ... I don't even know what to say."

"What about you, Dad? How long have you been a vampire?"

"Two weeks. The Dark Lord needed someone powerful to infect the Potter boy."

"So you volunteered, of course. That's a new level of evil even for you, Dad. And putting a tap on my mind? Really, I didn't think even you were capable of that!"

"Don't lecture me, Draco. I may not agree with what you've done - in fact, you disgust me, but you're still my son, and you will treat me with respect."

"Go to hell."

Lucius slapped Draco hard across the face, and blood began trickling down Draco's chin from his split lip.

"Set up your circle," Lucius commanded.

"Why? Aren't you just going to kill us anyway?"

"Of course not. What use would you be then? No, the original plan stands. I'll finish the boy's transformation, and then since you two care so deeply about each other, you can be his first. Victim, that is," Lucius said with a wicked smile. "It will be the Dark Lord's greatest triumph - the Potter boy going around terrorizing everyone, and my son with him. At least there's a way for you to redeem yourself from this terrible fiasco you've created. Of course, he'll be starving for blood, so I can't guarantee that he won't kill you. Actually, he may die before he even realizes he's a vampire. Most humans are too weak to handle the change. It takes a very powerful wizard to become a vampire. But if he dies, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. We'll simply move on to you.

"You know, I'm still amazed at your audacity in this whole matter. Did you really think that you could control me? I made you the wizard you are today, which is hardly something I can say I'm proud of. But seriously, Draco, summoning spell or not, you're no match for me," Lucius taunted Draco as he slowly set up the candles.

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"Okay, guys, I'll meet you up there. It's room 19. Be careful, okay?"

"Harry, what are you talking about? Why would you get there first?"

"I'm Apparating," Harry explained, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and the words had barely left his mouth and he was gone.

"When did he learn to Apparate?" Ron asked, staring dumbfounded after Harry.

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Harry appeared in the middle of the circle just as Draco set down the last candle. Harry's eyes darted around the room, taking everything in. He immediately yanked Draco into the circle.

"Start the spell!"

Lucius laughed. "You silly child! He has no power over me, and neither do you." He strode over to the circle, grabbed Draco's arm, and yanked him out, throwing him halfway across the room. Harry started to run over to him, but thought better of it.

"Oh, Harry, do you really think that circle means anything? Let's quit playing around. Come drink - you know you want to. Can't you feel the evil in your blood? It's your destiny, Harry. We all know that's what the prophecy said - that you would be the most powerful Dark wizard in the entire world. This is the first step to your future - embrace your destiny."

"Go to hell!"

Lucius laughed. "Maybe you two are right for each other, after all. You and Draco are rather similar - you could have made such good friends, so powerful, a team to rival the Dark Lord. But instead you corrupted my son, took him over to the other side, and made him betray his own flesh and blood. And for that, Harry, you will pay. You will pay with blood, the blood of all of your friends, your family, and everyone you've spent so long trying to protect. Come to me."

Harry walked slowly out of the circle and over to Lucius.

"Good. Now drink."

"Why don't you? How about some holy water?" Harry looked straight into Lucius' eyes and pulled a water bottle from his robes and threw it straight into his eyes.

Lucius howled and cringed away from Harry, who immediately rushed over to Draco.

"I'm fine," Draco said as Harry bent over him. "He's bluffing about the circle. He can't go inside it. He thought he would be able to, and it would work to his advantage, enhance his power, but he was wrong. If we get back there and stay in it we'll be safer."

Harry grabbed Draco's arm and slung it over his shoulder and pulled him to his feet. Lucius was beginning to recover, and they had to hurry.

"Can you still do the spell?" Harry whispered anxiously.

"Yeah."

Draco pulled a piece of parchment from his robes, skimmed over it, and began reading.

"Obedezca comandanes alames. Consuma." Draco's voice rang through the room, echoing with power.

It was obvious that Lucius was fighting the spell, and he was beginning to win.

"Harry, I can't keep it up," Draco whispered.

Without even knowing why, Harry reached over and grabbed Draco's hand. The second they touched, Harry felt a huge jolt of power run through him, and Draco nearly fell over from the rush of power that ran through him.

"Drink, now," he commanded.

Harry grabbed the dagger by his feet and handed it to Draco, who cut a small slit on Harry's wrist with his free hand. By then Lucius had reached them and as Harry held out his wrist, Lucius bent and drank.

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Hermione and Ron stopped in the doorway and watched the scene before them unfold. Harry grabbed Draco's hand and even where she was standing, Hermione could feel a burst of power, and for a second, their clasped hands glowed a light blue.

"I'm definitely getting the feeling that Harry didn't tell us everything," Ron whispered to Hermione as they watched.

When Draco finally commanded Lucius to stop drinking, Hermione walked forward.

"Well, we're here, if that even means anything," Ron said lightly, but there was a slightly bitter undercurrent in his voice.

"What do we do now?" Harry asked.

"Now we kill him," Draco said, pulling a wooden stake from his bag.

"Draco, you can't be serious! He's your father!" Hermione said, looking over at Lucius, who was sitting on the bed, still under Draco's control.

"No, he's not my father. He's a demon inhabiting my father's body. A demon that tried to kill Harry. Do you really want him running around as a vampire?"

"Well, no. I wasn't all that crazy about him before he became a demon," Hermione said anxiously. "But still, shouldn't we ask someone?"

"Who? I'm his son!" Draco snapped.

"Perhaps me," a deep gravelly voice spoke from the doorway. Professor Dumbledore was standing in the doorway, and he looked quite angry.