FicWad

Chapter 26 The Loved and the Damned



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Draco jerked awake only to find that his eyesight was still quite blurry. Blinking a few times to clear the remaining traces of sleep, he then attempted to sit up...remarkably it was a lot easier than he thought it would be. In fact it wasn't hard at all, which of course was strange seeing as how Draco pretty much thought that when his eyes closed that he was done for. With one pale hand he reached down to examine his injured body, because he also found something else kinda odd about his situation, he wasn't hurting anymore.

Upon further examination he saw that his injuries were still there, and yet when he touched his own skin he couldn't even feel it. His hand dropped back down to the floor, and yet another mystery overtook him. He had passed out on the carpet, but it didn't feel very carpety, in fact it felt rather moist...kinda like clouds.

Draco jumped up from where he was seated, and saw that he was in fact sitting on the clouds again. And standing not three feet away was. "Harry!"

The character that had been addressed merely rolled his eyes, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well don't you feel special? But look I can do it too...Malfoy!...see it's not rocket science." The blond wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but he had a sneaky suspicion that it might have been an insult, and there was definite sarcasm in his voice. Wait was that his Harry?...He squinted his still slightly blurry eyes to get a better look.

"You have green eyes." Draco watched as a half smile formed on the raven haired boy's face, but then he bit his lip and forced it back down with a scowl.

"Nah really genius. I'm so glad you're here to tell us these things...but that's right you do prefer me with black, so I guess your statement shouldn't come as a surprise." Now really did he need to be so bitchy? Here Draco was prepared to die on his behalf, and he wasn't even greeted with a hello fuck or anything.

"What crawled up your arse and died?" Draco got all the way to his feet, thanking whatever dream god there was around that they had decided to outfit him in clothing. It wasn't much, just khaki pants and a grey sweater, but it was better than those ugly ass scrubs, or more importantly being naked. He dusted the water particles that had clung to his clothing part way off, and now found that he was rather wet. And the whole him not being able to feel himself thing was really starting to get on his nerves, so much in fact that he took this opportunity to glare at Harry for ruining his potentionely good mood.

"My ass? Oh nothing, not since Silas's cock was up there...But then you know all about that of course." Draco was stunned to say the least. Harry had never acted this way with him. There was no compassion in his voice, no to Draco it sounded as if the boy really did hate him. "So Malfoy why ever have you graced me with your oh so charming presence, come to crush me some more?"

Why was he being like this? "What are you talking about Harry? I don't want to crush you, I love you!" Draco could have sworn he heard a scoff at that. What happened to the emotionally damaged boy that had just been here two weeks ago? What happened to the boy with the lack of will to even live anymore? Why was he being so bitter towards him? It had occurred to him that he should be happy that his lover wasn't so depressed anymore, but he really couldn't be glad when he was being so bitchy.

"Don't start that again." Harry turned and started to walk towards one of the stone pillars that was crumbling from the ruin. "Oh by the way you look like shit, did you know?" Draco stomped after Harry's retreating figure, and found that he was getting more and more pissed by the second.

"Actually I did, but thank you so much for bringing it up. I always love to know when I'm looking dreadful." Draco glared at Harry. "Note the sarcasm in my voice...it's quite obvious." Being bitchy was one thing, but insulting his looks was another thing entirely. Harry spun around with what the blond could have sworn was a small trace of a would be smile.

"Is that right? Well you know now that you mention it you're sarcastic voice sounds a lot like your normal voice, but then again you use it so much I don't know how anyone can tell the difference anymore." Wow, Harry was being a bastard. Draco would have thought about taking him down a couple of notches if he didn't think he deserved all of this and more. "Oh and just so you know you're missing a huge chunk of hair on the top of your head...I remember you really liking your hair so I'm assuming you didn't do it to yourself."

Draco reached up to feel the chunk of hair that he knew would be gone, unfortunately the whole no feeling clause still applied to him, and so he put his hand down in dismay. If he lived through this he was going to kill Silas for making him go partially bald. "Yeah well people aren't too happy with me at the present time...so it goes." Draco's heart did a leap for joy when he saw a small glimmer of feeling go through Harry's eyes, but soon they were back to cold and uncaring.

"So let me get this straight, Silas was mean to his poor puppy and as a make up session he decided to come let you fuck up my life even more...though I'm not sure that's possible at this time." Harry put a hand up to his chin in deep thought. "I've got it you could have an eagle peck out my liver, and restore it the next day. That sounds like a fun way to spend eternity."

And he said he used his sarcastic voice a lot...hypocrite. "Silas didn't do this." Draco walked the remaining distance to the pillar, and leaned against its side. "In fact I don't really know why I'm here. I passed out and woke up this way...I can't explain it." There was that tiny glimmer of concern again, this time though it actually stayed put.

"And what pray tell would make the oh-so-great Slytherin prince pass out?...I'm dying to hear." Seriously if you were going to bad mouth someone for using sarcasm you really needed to lay off it yourself.

Draco raked a hand through his hair, and stared guiltily towards the ground, raising his eyes every few seconds to stare into Harry's storms. "Well I'm not an expert or anything, but I would have to say blood loss...yeah definitely blood loss." Harry clutched the stone pillar where he was currently leaning, and Draco noticed how he got considerably paler.

In a voice that sounded as if it were about to lose control, Harry asked his next question. "And where were you bleeding from?" Draco gave a small timid smile to Harry, who had gone completely rigid.

Never taking his eyes off Harry, Draco slowly rolled up both of his sleeves, revealing the two cuts that had almost ended his life. Harry gasped in surprise and turned rather green. His eyes looked as if they were permanently glued to the two gashes trailing up the blond's arms. "Don't look so surprised Harry, after all yours looked much worse." Harry put a hand to his mouth, continuing to stare at the cuts horrified.

"You're dying right now, aren't you? You're dying because you took your own life..." Harry's words were an accusation in a whispering tone. Draco didn't know if the boy was more horrified at what happened or pissed off...neither would surprise him.

"Well actually if you want to get specific, I'm not dying because I slit my wrists...your mudblood friend managed to screw that up." Harry gave a horrified glare when Draco used the term 'screwed it up' but didn't interrupt. "I'm dying because Silas just beat the shit out of me for the past 2 hours, doing his best to open the wounds back up." Maybe he shouldn't have said that last part, it didn't seem to appear to be making Harry feel in the least bit better.

"Why? Why would you do that to yourself?" Draco's heart clenched when he saw a few stray tears fall down the raven haired boy's face. There were no masks anymore...just a boy whose heart was broken. Draco walked the remaining distance between them, and used his thumb to catch one of the fallen tears. Harry's gaze was down, but when Draco lifted up his chin, his eyes joined with the blond's own.

"Last Halloween you told me you didn't want to live without me, and I said I felt the same way." He brought the tear soaked thumb to his lips and slowly extended his tongue to lick it away. "However many lies I've told you Harry, I swear to you that was not one of them. I'd rather die than have to live without you one more day." To his surprise the clammy hand was ripped out of his grasp, and brought to the chest of its owner who looked like he could draw blood.

"Shut up...just SHUT UP!" Not even realizing it, Draco took a step back at the sudden outburst. "I never wanted this, and I never wanted you! How can you act so smug and still preach about your love for me after what you did!? You're a fucking bastard and I hate you!"

Draco blinked the few tears that were threatening his eyes after the verbal lashing from Harry's sharp tongue. He couldn't be sure, but he thought the main reason this was affecting him so badly was that Harry had never done it before, well before he literally screwed him over of course. No, the thing Draco couldn't get was that he had obviously severely hurt the boy many times before, and yet he had never said a word. Draco had ruined everything Harry had ever known and loved, and the boy had just stood there and took it. Maybe that was real love, and the love Draco was feeling was only meant for some demented fairytale. No matter what the explanation was, it was certain now that there was no love radiating from Harry's emerald irises any longer. No, they looked more dead than anything else.

In a more solemn voice than the blond knew he owned, he continued the conversation. "Listen Harry I know the way you feel about me, but this is more than likely the last time we'll see each other, and I thought that maybe..." Draco didn't finish the sentence, because honestly he didn't know what he was thinking. All he did know was that he wanted Harry's gaze to turn into something other than hate. If this was his purgatory he wanted to make things right.

"You thought that what Draco...Because you were a dumbass and slashed yourself that all would be forgiven and I would let you bend me over and fuck me up against the nearest statue?" Despite the situation, and Harry's obvious sarcasm, Draco couldn't help but smirk.

"Well I was going to suggest a more subtle kiss and make up scenario, but hey if you want to get a little more frisky be it from me to stop you." Okay so maybe that wasn't quite appropriate, but once an asshole always an asshole. Harry didn't seem to like it too much either. Draco was distinctly reminded of some of the muggle cartoons he had watched as a young child where the cartoonist would eat something hot, and then because of that his face would become a thermometer and become redder and redder till it reached the top.

In an attempt to stop a potential melt down, Harry being the one about to explode, Draco walked up and slowly ran a thumb down his former lover's cheek. "You don't have to hate me anymore Harry, you can let go of it you know?..." Apparently he didn't know, for the next thing Draco knew a hand had reared out and struck him across the cheek...so much for that idea. It really stung!

"Fuck you Draco!" The blond's head had veered sideways when he was slapped, so he slowly peeled his head back to watch Harry shake in rage. "The verra fact that I can sill taste you reserves my right to hate you!" Draco really didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. It really was quite impressive that he could still taste him, all Draco could taste was pumpkin pasties and dried blood. But seeing the look on the raven haired boy's face Draco was starting to lean more and more towards insult.

"Calm down love, you'll have an aneurism or something...and then what will I do?" Draco braved a half smirk. "I mean necrophilia never really was my thing." He was expecting Harry to flip out, or hell even hit him with another bolt of that lightning he seemed to fathom out of nowhere. What he wasn't expecting was for his eyes to bug half way out of his head, and for him to actually smile.

"It's completely pointless talking to you. It doesn't matter what I say to you...hell I could say 'pull out your wand' and you would whip your dick out for the world to see. Does everything have to be about sex to you?" Draco couldn't believe his good luck, all he had to do was make enough sex jokes and he could get Harry to laugh...well might as well humor him.

"Harry I'm a 16 year old boy, of course everything is about sex." Draco suddenly had a wicked memory of when him and Hermione talked. "I'd fuck a hippogriff if it said yes." This actually caused a few chuckles to escape from Harry's mouth.

"Oh yes of course, until you know it attacked you." After a glare, Draco couldn't help but chuckle a little himself.

"Yes, until that." He really did despise that hippogriff from third year. The bad part was that he was never going to live it down. He couldn't believe they were actually laughing together, it felt really good. That is until he felt a sharp pain went through his head that caused him to fall to the ground clutching it.

"Draco!? Draco what's the matter?" Have you ever tried to talk to someone while they're under water? If the answer to that question was yes then chances are you know of the hazy drowned out sound the voices make when you're trying to communicate. It was like that then. The blond could faintly hear Harry's voice, but it was fading fast, as was his consciousness.

He had to say one thing before he left though. He struggled to focus on Harry's fading face. It was all getting foggier and foggier, whatever was happening to him, it was happening to him fast. It hurt to think, it hurt to move, hell it even hurt to breathe. With the last of his strength Draco managed to get out. "I'll come back for you." Before once again blacking out.

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It was odd how strange of a group they made, Hermione actually smiled at the mere thought of it. Here the four of the them were swiftly making their way to the infirmary, not caring at all about what their appearance might look to any innocent bystanders that might get caught in their way. Here was Hermione, oddly enough leading the entourage, still soaked in blood, it hadn't occurred to her as to how Ron or Lucius hadn't commented on that matter. Well then of course you can't blame Ron, he was still following her blindly not knowing where the hell he was, despite everything else he had seen this probably seemed normal.

That of course still didn't explain how Lucius had taken to her appearance so blindly, how he had just stuck up his aristocratic nose and ran with it. How could one man be such a bastard? I guess it's like that tootsie pop commercial, the world will never know.

Dumbledore was in the very back of the line of people heading towards the hospital, and he looked just as out of place as the other three. Because really it's not every day you see the headmaster of the school following a dirty bloody girl, a half-wit who looked like he was lost, and a known death eater, now is it?

"Albus how long until we're there? I really must have a word with my son." Hermione scoffed at that. She had no doubt in her mind that Lucius's word would be nothing more than a back lashing that would leave the already emotionally disturbed blond in a worse case than he was previously.

"It's just around the corner Lucius, and I must ask that you show him some patience...He has after all had quite a trying day." Hermione couldn't see, but if she could she would almost bet that Malfoy was rolling his eyes right about now.

"Oh I'll show him patience. I'll kill him, then use a time turner to kill him again. I'll keep this up until I get my nice sensible son back. I would say that would be quite a good exercise in patience." Hermione gulped, she would not want to be Draco at this moment. Not that she would ever want to be the blond, well except maybe when he was shagging the living daylights out of Harry...wait did she just think that!? Malfoy's dirty mind was starting to rub off on her, and that could never be a good sign.

Just as they were rounding the corner, a worried Madam Pomphrey came flying out of the double doors to greet them. "Albus! Albus! I just stepped outside for a moment, just to get him another blood revival potion! I don't know what happened! How could this happen!?" Hermione's eyes creased in worry, and she noticed that the other two adults were doing the same. The healer was red in the face, and it looked as if she had been crying.

Always being the calm one, Dumbledore carefully laid his hands on the woman's shoulders in an effort to calm her. "Slow down Poppy." The woman didn't look as if she wanted to slow down, in fact it more looked like she wanted to speed up. The last thing it seemed was on the woman's mind was taking the calm approach. "Tell us what happened to Draco." Hermione snuck a peek towards the elder Malfoy, and saw that his hand had tightened considerably around his cane, because of which his knuckles had turned a pale white.

"Yes, do tell us what this school's incompetence has done to my son this time." Worry was etched into his normally flawless features, and Hermione could tell that he was terrified on the inside.

"I don't know what happened! One minute he was sleeping peacefully, and then the next he's gone and blood is splattered all over his bed." The woman put her head in her hands. "Well more blood anyways." She wiped her eyes and put on a more professional face, but anyone looking could tell she was ashamed at what she had let happen. "Albus listen to me, I didn't even think he had the strength to walk." Her eyes once more filled with tears. "If he puts too much strain on his body he's going to die!"

That statement seemed to put things into motion. Lucius looked as if he was going to club the healer over the head, and Dumbledore quickly took out his wand with it summoning Faux. "Get Tonks. If they took him she should be able to find him." With that the bird once more burst into flames and was gone. Hermione, being more than a little confused by this time, took a nice seat up against the nearest wall, and beginning to pray, vaguely noticing how Lucius began to clutch his arm.
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"Oi Draco wake up! Come on blondie don't die on me! DRACO!" This was not how Draco wanted to wake up, a shrilling voice was shrieking in his ears and well he was just pissed. He had been laughing with Harry, now what? They brought him back to life so that Silas could torture him some more. Damn his life sucked. Who the hell was shrieking anyways? He couldn't be sure but it kind of sounded like one of his distant cousins that he had met once or twice at family reunions. He wasn't allowed to socialize with her because father didn't take to her way of life. In other words he didn't like it that she actually had a soul.

Draco opened his eyes to confirm his suspicions. The girl was kneeling over him worriedly checking their surroundings. He noticed that her hair was chopped up to her ears and a fierce fiery red. He would never understand people and their hair coloring. He rather liked his hair the way it was, well you know when it wasn't missing chunks and blood stained.

"Oh thank god for that...I thought you'd kicked the bucket on me." If it was any conciliation he felt like he had. Truthfully he couldn't understand how he was even still alive. He felt dead, and he was sure he looked it. Nyphadora must have some healing abilities in her. It wouldn't surprise him, those aurors had to train up in everything before they got the job.

The blond's throat felt dry and cracky. In a hoarse voice he managed to get out. "Water" Before he promptly stopped speaking, and clutched his damaged larynix. Tonks seemed to have got the message however, because she grabbed a nearby candle and transfigured it into a glass of drinking water, which Draco greedily gulped down.

"What are you doing here?" Draco croaked out, and suddenly didn't really feel like talking all that much. Not to mention he looked down at his surroundings to see that he was lying in her lap, still in his birthday suit. He figured that if he had any blood left in him, part of that would be discoloring his cheeks right about now.

Tonks didn't seem to catch on to his embarrassment, either that or she was trying to be as kind as she could in this situation. Neither would have surprised him. What did surprise him was when she shrugged off her long black woolen coat and wrapped it around his frail body. "Dumbledore sent me to fetch you, and before you ask I've been spying here for the last couple of days."

Draco tried to sit up, but his body fell right back down into her awaiting arms, and he didn't really fight it anymore. It was official, he was totally and utterly drained of every last bit of his energy. "Where's Silas?" Tonks put an arm under his head, lifting him up to ingest what appeared to be a blood revival potion. The taste was bitter, but Draco swallowed without complaint.

"At a death eater meeting, though I suspect they'll be back here anytime. As soon as I get you into a movable state we'll apparate to the three broomsticks, then floo to Hogwarts." Well that sounded...painful. But he really wasn't in a position to complain, so he simply nodded his head and let her bandage him back up.

"You know you're lucky to be alive, any longer and you would have been a goner." She got a pensive look on her face, seemingly rather deep in thought. "It was the oddest thing right before I revived you you said 'I'll come back for you' Do you know who you were talking to?"

Draco turned his silvery orbs towards the girl, and for the first time in his life felt a sort of kin with her. Like for some reason he could spill all of his secrets and she wouldn't bat an eye, either that or he had really gone insane from the blood loss. "Yeah I do...it was Harry." He struggled to sit up on his elbows, which was no easy thing mind you. "Now cousin, I really need to see Dumbledore."
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"Dumbledore I have to go now!" At the hysterity in the older Malfoy's voice, Hermione looked up and noticed how he was clutching his arm rather tightly. Pieces started to fall into place, and Hermione couldn't help but feel a little pissed, and rather betrayed...though she didn't know why.

"Oh that's right you have to go kiss somebody's robes! Isn't your son's life more important to you right now? Or are you really the heartless bastard that everyone takes you for!" During this rant she had unknowingly jumped up from her seat on the floor, and was now perched on her haunches growling into the face of the man in front of her.

"Girl do not talk about things you couldn't possibly understand." His voice was pure ice, and it sent an involuntary shiver down Hermione's spine, but she would not let him see that he got to her...She would not let that happen at all.

"Oh I understand alright! I understand perfectly." She took another step closer so that she was now snarling in his face. "You would rather go beg at the feet of that murderous bastard than make sure your son is still alive." In a very Malfoyish way she stuck her nose up in the air attempting to look down on him, which didn't really work seeing as he was at least a foot taller than her. "So go play spy versus spy and I'll make sure your son is okay, god knows somebody has to."

Lucius raised his hand as if to backhand her, but one look at the headmaster and he seemed to think better of it. That didn't stop him from reprimanding her though. "You have no idea what you're talking about you silly little girl. You have no idea how many times I've helped save Draco's life, hell even yours! So don't talk to me about how I should protect my son unless you have some way to back it up!"

Oddly enough this didn't seem to intimidate Hermione one bit, in fact she took a step closer. "Yes, still warm the blood that courses through my veins, unlike yours." Getting an exceptionally wicked idea in her head, Hermione pulled out her wand and transfigured an after dinner mint into a tube of Vaseline. She threw him the tube and watched with some satisfaction as he stood there examining it. "So why don't you get going, bend over, lube yourself up, and aim for penetration." She grabbed onto Ron's hand. "I have some reading in the library to do." With one last cocky smirk she spun on her heel and headed the opposite direction. Truthfully she didn't know why the man got to her so, but she did know that she was determined to find something to help Draco, and of course Harry.
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"Oh shit!" Draco was feeling rather full of a little thing called hope, something he hadn't had in a very long time, though upon his cousin's exclamation it felt like somebody stuck a pin in him and he began to uninflate. Slowly he turned his head to where Tonk's gaze was fixed, and couldn't help but feel like saying the same thing his cousin had, or at least thinking it. 'Oh shit' was definitely on the marker on this one.

There standing in the doorway was a very pissed looking Silas, and a Harry who looked as if his Christmas had come early. So much for getting out of here. He glanced back up at Tonks, and suddenly felt terrible for having gotten her involved in all of this. But hey what's one more life on his conscience?

"Don't tell me you were planning on leaving our little party Draco, and just when we were beginning to have fun." You know Silas's idea of fun was more like his idea of a nightmare he could never wake up from. Tonks had tightened her grip around his neck, it seemed she was all too aware of the state of things herself. Somehow Draco doubted getting caught was in her mission plan.

Draco could feel her hand travel to the coat pocket he was currently garbed in, and he had no doubt she was reaching for her wand. He turned to look at her to tell her that that was a very bad idea, but she wouldn't catch his eye. The blond then turned to Silas. If he couldn't stop the girl from doing something extremely stupid, at least he could help distract her prey.

"Well you know me Silas, always the party pooper...so it goes." He stretched his back to cover the extremely obvious arm that was protruding from his pocket. "So how was daddy dearest?" Silas's eyes narrowed to slits at the comment, and Draco thought he was definitely going to get hexed for it. The subject of the boy's heritage was never discussed lightly on the best of days.

"I'm so glad that this insolent girl saved you. I always love these meaningful chats of ours." Harry smiled a little at the obvious sarcasm in Silas's voice, and Draco felt that he should probably be distracting him too. Although he probably wasn't near as big of a threat as Silas was.

"Ah Harry how was Voldemort? You know I just had a verra meaningful conversation with literally your better half." Red eyes widened, and Harry's jaw dropped considerably. Apparently having a talk with the real Harry wasn't supposed to be on the menu.

"You talked to him...how?" Draco opened his mouth to respond to Harry, but he was rudely interrupted.

"It doesn't matter how the little brat got there. The point is he's never going to get there again, because he's going to be worm food in a couple of seconds." Okay so Draco was trying to be as brave as possible, but that statement still scared the hell out of him. But really, who wouldn't it scare?

"Over my dead body!" Tonks whipped out her wand, pointing it straight at Silas's heart. Draco's breath hitched in his throat, and it was like slow motion as the wand was raised and Silas raised one to counter it. "Stupify"

As valiant of an effort as it might have been, it didn't really matter for Silas countered with "Protego" and a red streak of light bounced off and hit her in the chest. Draco would really like to say he was shocked over this turn of events, but he wasn't. Though his mouth was still dropped down to the floor regardless.

In an effort to pointlessly try to better the situation, Draco rolled off the girl's lap and began to gently shake her. There was no response, not that he thought that there would be one anyway...but then again he wasn't really thinking too much at the moment was he?

"She'll get her request soon enough, and then you'll join her Draco...Won't that be fun?" Sarcasm and bitterness was laced through that statement, and Draco resisted the urge to flinch at the joke of his oncoming demise.

"I never did get your idea of fun Silas...but then again seeing as who spawned you I shouldn't really be all that surprised." Draco put a finger under his chin and pretended to be in deep thought. "Tell me Silas did he make you tell him how much you liked it this time? Did he ask you again how good he was?" He could see a fire begin to light in fierce red eyes, and thought he might as well continue. "What was it again...oh yes. 'Tell me you've never had anyone better, tell me I'm the greatest.' "

Silas was shaking with rage, and it looked to Draco that a lone tear had escaped his heavily guarded eyes. Oh yes, it was the only thing that ever got to Silas, and he would be sure to use it against him before he kicked the bucket. What was the old saying...misery loves company.

Harry quirked an eye at Silas's soon to be exploding form, and then seeing as how he wasn't going to get anything from there...except maybe pummeled, he turned to Draco. "What are you talking about?"

"It doesn't concern you!" Silas shot a death glare in Draco's direction before turning his deadly gaze to Harry, who seemed completely unaffected by it. Draco thought he hadn't even seen in truthfully. He was more focused on the blond than anything else.

"What Silas, never tell your protégé the reason you really want pops dead?" Harry turned accusing eyes towards Silas, the pale boy merely continued to glare at both occupants of the room. Draco gave a small smile and flicked both his eyebrows into the air. You really shouldn't trust someone you plan on killing later with your greatest secret.

"Silas answer me! You can't just have him say something like that in front of me and expect me to just let it go." Draco could sense an argument coming on, and just wished he had a bowl of popcorn with him so that he could properly enjoy it.

Silas sent him a glare that said one thing 'I hate you' Draco blew a kiss into the air, suddenly feeling rather light headed and giddy. "Love you too." Silas once more looked over and shook his head.

His attentions turned to a very stubborn and insistent Harry. If the two Harry's hadn't gotten anything else in common, the stubbornness more than made up for their differences. Harry really was the most hard headed person he had ever had the opportunity to meet. "Harry don't seriously tell me your listening to anything that insufferable brat is saying? He's half insane from the blood loss."

Oh, so now he was going to question Draco's insanity? Well the more the blond thought about it, that probably was an accurate evaluation, but that didn't mean he still couldn't be offended by it. "Come on Silas don't lie to the kid. Tell him how daddy bent you over his bed and how you screamed for more before it was all through!"

Well that was the straw that seemed to brake the camels back. Silas reached into the inside of his coat and pulled out his wand. "Why you fucking little piece of shit...I'll make you beg for death before I'm through with you!" Draco's heart stopped as the wand raised above the red eyed boy's head...energy seemed to be radiating off him in sparks, and Draco could only imagine how much this was going to hurt.
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Hermione was currently sitting cross legged on the floor of the restricted section, buried nose deep in a pile of books. Since Ron was there she had given him a few books and told him to look for anything he might find on ethereal plains. She didn't really have much hope though, he was a terrible researcher on his best of days.

She really wasn't positively clear on why Dumbledore wanted these books so much, but she always was a clever girl and could guess. So Harry was floating around somewhere between time and place now?...Well that was anything if not interesting. How did that boy always manage to get himself in the strangest of predicaments? She suspected that it came with the title, after all that could be the only explanation. No one ever really intentionally sought out that much trouble. She snorted when she though about Harry, and how there was a good chance that he probably did.

"Can I ask you a question?" Hermione stopped her thoughts, and took a good look at Ron. Who, to her amusement, seemed to be covered in just as many books as she herself was. Her smile lessoned when she realized what he must be going through at the moment, and she softly nodded her head. "Well it's just...you seem like such a nice person and all." Hermione couldn't help but feel a bit flattered.

"Thank you Ron, but that's not really a question." The red head blushed in embarrassment, and pushed a heap of books from his lap. A certain book fell open to a page with an illustration of a person getting their eyes zapped out with lightning. Only faintly interested, Hermione once more turned her attentions to Ron.

"Oh I know that!...I did have a point." He ran a hand through his now greasy hair. Hermione had learned through the years that Ron did that when he was either nervous or confused, and seeing as how he was both at the moment it didn't surprise her that he had been doing that for the better part of the night. "That man with the really blond hair, you were so cruel to him." He paused reevaluating the words he wanted to use. "It's just you seem to be a pretty decent person, and decent people don't usually act that way around other decent people."

Hermione couldn't help but smirk at the still blushing boy. "You're right Ron, decent people don't act like that around other decent people...but Malfoy isn't one of those people, so you don't have to worry." She raised her knee to her chin, letting the current book she was reading drop to the floor. "That man doesn't have a soul. I mean if you look into his eyes you can tell he's a cold uncaring bastard."

Hermione froze. A light bulb clicked on in her head, and she felt ridiculous for not thinking about it earlier. "Oh my god, eyes!" She shrieked and dove at his pile of books. Ron looked at her as if she had gone completely daft, and continued to do so when she snatched the book he had just dropped and began scrolling though the text.

Ron continued to watch as a huge smile covered her face, and she actually began jumping up and down in happiness. He actually thought he would die of embarrassment when she bent down and began laying kisses all over his face. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" It was official to the red head, this girl had lost her mind.

The red head used his arm to cautiously push her away, and was now blushing so hard that he thought he might die from embarrassment. "Not that I don't like you kissing me and all..." He clasped a hand over his mouth realizing what he just said, and blushed even harder. "What did I find out!?" Hermione laughed at how screwed up his face was, and how his voice had gone several octaves higher.

Hermione held out the book that she was currently clutching to her chest, and showed him once again the picture of the man getting his eyes zapped out. "Listen to this. Spiritis Sante is the ancient magic of transporting souls. This spell will transfer the person who it was casted on's soul to another plain and leave in its place a creature devoid of a conscience and moral thought. The body will remain alive, but the person's soul will wander around in limbo until the body it was once attached to is destroyed. The easiest way to tell if this spell has been performed is that the victims eyes will be a complete void. It is a mark telling everyone else that the person is otherwise soulless."

Ron looked rather confused, but Hermione would think him odd if he wasn't. "So what you're telling me is that in order to get this Harry back from wherever he went we have to kill him first?" He loudly gulped at his own assumption, and once more stared at the drawing.

"What!? No!" Hermione shook her head, and went as far as to swat the red head on the back of the head. "There's a counter curse to it, all that's saying is that Harry's soul will live as long as Harry's body does." Ron sheepishly nodded in understanding, which only made Hermione shake her head again. She let it go for now though, and grabbed his hand. "Now come on we have to get to Dumbledore...He can bring Harry back!"
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"Crucio!" Draco didn't even have time to react as the curse hit him. He immediately began spasming on the floor, and he felt his mouth fill up with blood from biting down on his own tongue. The unforgivable was always painful, but after how much his body had gone through it was particularly deadly.

"What are you doing!? You're going to kill him!" Even in his state, Draco couldn't help but think 'no duh!' Another thought occurred to him though, was Harry trying to help him?

"That's the point you imbecile...Now let go of my arm." So Harry was physically trying to stop Silas from ending his life? How sweet, never knew the soulless bastard cared. Draco could feel his mind turning cloudy, and knew that it wouldn't be too much longer under this curse before he lost it completely. Though it was sort of a good news bad news scenario, cuz good news was he'd probably be dead long before he lost his mind...or wait was that the bad news?

"No! I won't let you!" Draco's eye sight was pretty blurry, but he could see glimpses of shadows struggling above him. During this struggle, to his immense relief, the curse was lifted from his body. Draco watched as Harry struggled to get Silas's wand away from him, and in the end Silas won the fight, throwing Harry to the ground beside Draco.

Because of the fall to the ground Harry's sunglasses were now hanging off the end of his ear. Draco noticed that his nose was heavily bleeding, and sort of felt sorry for him. For one moment their eyes met, and during that moment Draco stopped breathing. For he noticed something seriously different about them...Harry's eyes were green!
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