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Chapter Eight

The Lightning Bolt and the Eye of Flame

"'...and slipped the Ring on the forefinger of his left hand. Immediately, though everything else remained as before, dim and dark, the shapes became terribly clear. He was able to see beneath their black wrappings. There were five tall-'"

"See beneath whose black wrappings?"

Harry blearily opened his eyes as the voice stopped, words no more spilling forth from any mouth. The silence carried on, and for a moment, Harry thought he'd fallen asleep again. But no, he could see the lamp on the ceiling above, the way everything was white...he groaned in annoyance; here, again?! He came to the Hospital Wing at least once each year, and now this was the second time he'd been in here this year, and it had been less than a week since the last time!

Now irritable, he asked, "Well? I asked a question; who? Whose black wrappings?"

The soft, melodious voice sent shivers up his spine as he recognized it to be Draco. "The Black Riders' black wrappings. Haven't you ever read the Lord of the Rings trilogy?"

"I always meant to. It sounded like a bloody good book, and the movies were spectacular!"

"I wouldn't degrade myself by joining Muggles in the viewing of any feature, even if it was Lord of the Rings. But I've read the books, and they're well written. Never thought I'd see the day when a wizard wrote fiction, but Tolkien did. Why didn't you read them?"

"Never got to. My aunt and uncle barely let me have anything of my own, and my cousin Dudley is afraid of anything that has to do with magic."

"Dudley! What an ugly name! Sounds like the name of a killer whale."

Harry burst out laughing, tears of mirth coming to his eyes, and for a while he couldn't stop. How ironic that Draco had said the exact thing he thought of his cousin almost every time Dudley sat his big bottom down to spill over the sides of an incompetent chair. Killer whale, indeed!

When he finally stopped laughing, still gasping, and now rubbing his eyes, he said, "Exactly. My cousin weighs more than two hippogriffs, eats like a killer whale, and looks like a pig."

"Good god, I wouldn't touch him if I were you! What a despicable creature; shouldn't even be in the category of human!"

"I don't touch the pig. Unless he's beating me up and breaking my glasses. Speaking of my glasses, where are they? And why am I here?"

Draco handed him his glasses, saying, "Here they are. You've been here for forty-five hours. You're here because my scar and your scar reacted to each other upon you getting my blood."

Harry looked curiously at Draco, ignoring the flutter in his stomach at the piercing blue-grey gaze he got in return, asking, "I got your blood? Scar? What the hell! Explain."

Draco chuckled, saying, "That's the exact same thing I said to the old man I found in the Malfoy dungeons when he spoke about you and I being magically linked."

Harry raised a brow, thinking, Malfoy dungeons? Lord...and then asked, curious and apprehensive, "Magically linked?"

Draco took a deep breath, leaning over on his chair, hands clasped together on his lap, face worn with lack of sleep, voice more quiet and much less emotional than usual. This wasn't Draco's face mask, or his usual acting neutral towards everything. It was just that his mood and face had a loss of the usual Slytherin and Malfoy facial expressions that Harry had seen on it before.

Draco was dead serious.

Harry listened intently as the Slytherin began speaking, eyes meeting Harry with brave defiance, every few sentences flicking to Harry's scar. Clearing his throat, he tapped his wand against the bed, saying, "Well, it all began like this..."

Draco paused, and stopped, sighing, "What to say now? Damnit. Well...

"Your Scar is called the Lightning Bolt, mine, the Eye of Flame. Both of us were cursed by very powerful curses, and these curses were cast upon us each by the two most powerful wizards on earth. Anyway, I'll tell you about them later."

Harry wondered, absentmindedly, what Draco had meant by he having gotten Draco's blood. That's when he saw the dark pink tooth marks on Draco's shoulder. The Slytherin's robes, which were pale grey hospital robes, did not fit him properly. One sleeve slid down, revealing the pale skin of his shoulder. Harry then remembered...in the boy's Quidditch changing room...being pounced on by Draco...the sensations he'd felt...giving in and then protesting...he'd bitten Draco! That must be how he'd gotten the boy's blood. He shuddered; he'd bitten that hard?

Draco noticed Harry's gaze on his shoulder, and, his voice suddenly hateful, said, "You bit me, damn you! And I wasn't myself then, either, being forced." Draco ignored Harry's curious look, the plea for an answer, and hastily continued his explanation.

"So anyway, your Lightning Bolt represents the amount of darkness, power, and deadliness in the Summoner who cast the Curse on you. The lightning bolt is one of the highest symbols. There is a chart of symbols, each one representing a certain amount of darkness, light, power, and deadliness of a spell. The most powerful symbols are the Elemental symbols, and the Eye symbols. Along with your Lightning Bolt there are Earth and Wind symbols, pictured as a patch of grassy earth for Earth, and a whirlwind of blue for Wind. Yours is much more interesting than those, in my opinion

"There is no Water or Fire because the Lightning Bolt mixes both. Along with my Eye of Flame there is Eye of Ice, and Eye of Stone--which isn't exactly stone, but includes things like crystal, granite, gold, silver, copper, etcetera. And uh...that's about it."

Harry sat there, tons of questions swirling in his mind. He had to talk to Dumbledore! Finally returning to reality, he asked, "Can you summarize all that for me? Like, why are we linked?"

Draco sighed in exasperation, giving Harry an aggravated look.

"We're linked because powerful curses were put on both of us and because we have the Scars of Power given to us by the two most powerful Summoners on earth."

"Namely...?"

"Voldemort and..."

"And...?"

"Me."