Losing The Game

Warning/disclaimer: All recognizable Harry Potter places, Characters, Information, etc, are not mine, they belong to J.K. , I\'m just borrowing them and will give them back later, slightly the worse for wear but perfectly fine. Everything that\'s not hers is mine. I make no money off this, please don\'t sue, etc, etc.

~. . .~ song lyrics
\". . .\" talking or quotes from a person, letter, or book
\'. . .\' thoughts
*. . .* talking through Bond or the magic speaking


Losing the Game CH 10- Now what?



The moment Harry went through the portrait hole he was pounced on by Hermione, a worried looking Ron standing not two feet behind her.

\"Harry! Where on earth have you been? Millicent Bulstrode told us at breakfast that Draco was missing, too! We went to the hospital wing first but you weren\'t there and then we asked Professor McGonagall but she wouldn\'t tell us anything! Then we went to ask Snape but he wasn\'t in his office and no one knew where he was! We thought something happened to you all and Dumbledore wouldn\'t even meet with us! I\'ve never been so worried in my life!\"

Harry looked guiltily at his shoes. \"Well, um, something did happen to us, Draco and I.\"

She stared at him her eyebrows going up slightly at his calling him Draco. \"What?\"

He sighed looking around the common room. \"Can we go somewhere a bit more private?\"

\"Sure thing, Harry.\"

Hermione nodded and the three of them tromped up the stairs to the seventh year boy\'s dorm. They sat on Harry\'s bed near the window. Harry fiddled with the covers for a minute then sighed at the impatient look on Ron and Hermione\'s faces.

\"Ok, er, after you gave me the book, Hermione, I went up to the Room of Requirement and read. Then I fell asleep, I had this dream about Draco and in it Voldemort possessed him. Only it wasn\'t a dream. Voldemort had sent him this necklace through his mum\'s letters and it had been influencing his thoughts and actions. Because of the Bond he got to me as well, keeping us angry and apart so we wouldn\'t renew the bond. He caught on to him, Draco did and tried to do stuff to help, giving Millicent the book and acting over the top odd. Anyway, Draco managed to wake me up to stop Voldemort from killing me in my sleep and I used the Bond to find him. Voldemort had forced him up to the Astronomy Tower and was trying to make him jump off which would have killed me, too.\"

\"So, he knows then?\" Ron asked.

\"Yup.\"

\"Then what happened?\"

\"We, er, fell from the Tower.\"

\"What?!\"

\"Snape slowed our fall.\" He added hurriedly. \"Then we did a small stint in the hospital wing. Snape got called to Voldemort and came back broken but alive with news that there\'s a spy in Gryffindor Tower.\"

\"A traitor? Did he say who it was?\"

Harry shook his head. \"No, but Draco has gone to talk to him about it as we speak.\"

\"What about the Bond, Harry? Have you, um, gotten it resolved?\"

Ron looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione, his face the picture of frustration. \"Back up a tick. What sort of Bond are we talking about?\"

Harry flushed and looked away.

\"Harry?\"

He picked at a stray thread on his jeans. \"Apparently Draco and I were meant for each other. It\'s a Soul Bond, the strongest there is.\"

Ron stared at him, his face looking uncannily like a carp. \"How . . . But . . . It\'s bloody Malfoy! How could you and that git be meant for each other, I didn\'t even know you were gay!\"

\"I\'m not.\"

\"What do you mean? You shagged the Ferret Face, right? Doesn\'t that make you gay?\"

*Harry.*

*Not now, Draco.*

\"Ron, it\'s more complicated then that. Draco is the only guy I\'ve ever found attractive so I don\'t consider myself homosexual. It\'s just him I\'m attracted to and as for the whole meant to be thing, well, he WAS the first wizard my age I ever met.\"

\"But why him, Harry? It could have been anyone else! Why, Malfoy?\"

\"I don\'t have an answer for you. I don\'t know why him, it just is. I almost certainly would have picked someone different if I had known but I didn\'t. I think I love him and we are always going to be together, Ron. You\'ll just have to get used to it.\"

Ron crossed his arms and frowned. \"Fine, but if he ever hurts you, he won\'t have any legs to walk away with.\"

Harry smiled and opened his mouth to say that if Draco hurt him he probably wouldn\'t even be able to get up, let alone walk away when a sharp stab of pain hit him.

*Harry! They\'ve got me! The spies, the other one\'s Creevey! They\'re taking me to Voldemort, it\'s a trap! Get . . . Snape. Don\'t . . .*

Just as suddenly as it came it was gone. He held his head in his hands and felt for his connection to Draco but it was like trying to walk through a brick wall. He felt the cold prickles of fear run through him and a well of panic coming from the Bond. \'Think, Harry, think. Concentrate.\' He took in a few deep breaths, his friend\'s worried questions falling on deaf ears. He went to the center of himself, where the Gentilis magic seemed to dwell. \'Where?\' he asked. *Not in the castle, traveling . . .* Harry pressed harder against the barrier between himself and Draco. \'WHERE?\' *Far. South, house, Serpent\'s House, place unknown to us, but known to you.* Harry pushed even harder, feeling something snap, energy flooding him and a warm trickle run over his lip. Thoughts, feelings and sensory memories flooded his mind briefly, the smell of musty earth filling his nose. This time the little voice spoke with confidence, sending images to him of a large abandoned looking manor house. *It\'s in Little Hangleton, the Riddle House. Death Eaters all around it.* He pulled out of the trance and tilted to the side but Ron\'s hand stopped him from falling.

\"Harry, what the bloody hell happened? You just grabbed your head and your eyes rolled back and you kept muttering something we couldn\'t hear. We\'ve been trying to talk to you for the past five minutes.\"

\"You really need to go to the hospital wing, your nose is bleeding and has been since you started muttering.\"

Harry wiped at his upper lip, looking at the crimson smears on his fingers dully. He felt odd, sort of disconnected from himself but he could feel EVERYTHING else. He looked up at Ron and Hermione, not seeing the worry on their faces but the haze of colors surrounding them both. \'Auras, I\'m seeing auras.\' Ron\'s, unsurprisingly, was a brilliant scarlet and Hermione\'s was a cool, soothing indigo blue. Where they were closest to each other the colors swirled and melded together and he knew that meant they were intimate on a physical level. \'Not something I really needed to know.\'

He stood quickly, too quickly, sitting back down immediately. Ron\'s hands rested on his back, keeping him from tipping over, which he felt grateful and somehow restful for. \'Damn it, what the hell is wrong with me?\' A little whisper answered a second later. *You\'ve tapped into more power then your body can handle. It\'s the combined strength\'s of your and Draco\'s ultimate magical power that\'s making you weak. His powers are your powers now, his abilities yours and since he\'s unconscious he won\'t be taking them back anytime soon.* His hand went to his temple once again, rubbing it.

\"Harry? What\'s wrong? What are you feeling?\"

He blinked up at Hermione who was standing over him, her hand on his shoulder. \"It\'s Draco. The traitors have taken him to Voldemort. He said that it was Creevey who was the Gryffindor spy, the other was Zabini. He\'s unconscious now so I can\'t communicate with him anymore. I\'ve got to get to Snape! Voldemort will kill him and possibly his father if he probes Draco\'s mind.\"

Hermione kept her hand on his shoulder, then felt his pulse. \"Harry, calm down, you aren\'t thinking properly! Ron can go get Professor Snape and we can go to Professor Dumbledore or possibly Madame Pomfrey because something is seriously wrong with you!\"

\"What on earth are you talking about I\'m fine!\" In fact he felt better then fine and he stood to prove it but his knees gave out causing him to sit back down.

\"Look, your breathing is off, your heartbeat is erratic and your pupils are dilated to almost their full extent. Not to mention your bloody left eye is now a completely different color!\"

He stared at her, that was the first time he had ever heard her say \"bloody\" since he\'d known her. \"What?\"

Ron walked around to look. \"Wow, she\'s right, mate, your left eye\'s gone grey!\"

\'My left eye is . . .\' \"Grey? Draco\'s eyes are grey. I wonder if my tapping into his magic did that?\"

\"Tapping . . . Harry, do you have any idea how dangerous what you\'re doing is?\"

\"Hermione . . .\"

\"No, Harry, wizards have died from siphoning power off of others. Not everyone\'s body is meant to handle massive amounts of magical energy. You and Draco are Soul Bonded, so you are magical equals and it\'s news to no one that you are very powerful. Your abilities could surpass Dumbledore\'s given time and training. If you are using Draco\'s full magical potential and I\'m pretty sure you are because of the eye color change, then you are running at a hundred times your capacity.\"

Ron frowned at her looking a bit lost. \"But Harry can\'t be a Sycophant, that\'s . . . really dark magic and can only be done by a true pureblood. Harry\'s a half-blood and what\'s that mean he\'s running at a hundred times capacity.\"

Hermione was staring into Harry\'s mismatched eyes intently. \"Harry may be a half-blood but Malfoy isn\'t. Tell him what happens when lightning strikes a house with electricity.\"

Harry blinked, the information coming into his head like trickles of too cold water. \"It causes an electrical surge, most times blowing all the fuses in the house.\"

\"And what happened the last time your and Draco\'s magic surged?\"

\"Mione, we all know what happened. They blew up the bloody locker rooms.\"

\"Yes, because it was too small to contain the surge. Harry has taken Draco\'s magic into himself, so in a sense he made his body the change rooms, and if something causes a surge . . .\"

Ron gaped at her as he had Harry not seven minutes before. Harry looked at them both feeling the faint icy prickles of fear touch him. He quickly brushed the feeling aside. \'No, fear is dangerous, I must keep calm at all costs. The consequences are too steep to even be thought of right now.\'

\"Y-you mean Harry could blow up?\"

Hermione did look at Ron then, taking his hand in hers. \"Not literally, no, but it would be enough to blow out his magic, making him a squib. That is, of course, if he survived it at all and Malfoy as well.\"

Harry looked down at his feet and took in another deep, calming breath. \"I didn\'t do it on purpose, I didn\'t even know what I was even doing but it is done and I can\'t stop it now. Not until we get Draco back or he\'s at least conscious again. You know he needs to take his magic back, Hermione, if I tried to force it into him I could kill him. The last time he was awake he was in a hostile situation. Any magic forcing it\'s way into him will be seen as an invasion and will be rejected. Me going to the hospital wing won\'t do us any good. What\'s happening to me won\'t change anytime soon and the longer Draco is with them the worse off he\'ll be. I\'m going to Snape whether you like it or not, now let me up, Hermione.\"

She took her hand off his shoulder, her lips pressed into a thin disapproving line. \'Sometimes, I really do think she channels Professor McGonagall.\' He got up slowly this time making his way out of the dorm room and down stairs into the common room. Ginny looked up from her spot in her favorite armchair and frowned at the odd way Harry was moving and the reddish smears on his upper lip. Harry paused in front of the huge fireplace, thinking for a moment.

\"Does anyone have any floo powder?\"

\"I think there\'s some left in the pot from when that first year had to talk to his mum every night. Harry, what on earth happened to you? You look really odd.\"

Harry ignored her, picking up the small brown pot and looking inside. There was only about half of what he needed. \'Damn it, I need more, how do I make more?\' His hand went to his forehead to rub away the cold, almost painfully sharp sensation that came with the knowledge flooding his brain. If his eyes had been open he would have seen the brief blue line of connection from Hermione\'s head to his. He blinked and took his wand out of his pocket, waving it over the pot in a complicated movement, muttering under his breath.

Ginny gasped at the now brimming pot of floo powder. \"Harry! How did you do that?\"

He stared at her blankly. \"What?\"

Hermione answered, looking a bit stunned. \"That was a powerful duplicating charm. I\'d read about them a couple months ago in an advanced charms book. Harry, how did you know how to do that?\"

He stared down at the floo powder. \"I don\'t know, I just thought that I needed more and suddenly I knew how to do it. But that\'s not important right now.\" He took a handful of the powder and threw it into the flames, making them spark green. \"Snape\'s quarters, Hogwarts!\"

The flames flared higher then glowed completely green. He looked behind him at Ron and Hermione.

\"Come on, then.\"

Together they stepped through, spinning round and round before being spit out into a dim sitting room. Harry groaned, trying not to vomit from his prone position on the rug. Ron helped him up and they turned to see a very irritated looking Snape sitting on a dark green sofa.

\"Do you often burst into people\'s sitting rooms unannounced or is this some special treat?\"

Harry tried to glare at him as he usually would but was overwhelmed by the feelings of family the sight of the Potions Professor stirred up. Words tumbled from his lips, ones that he never would have said to this man.

\"Are you well, Uncle?\"

Snape looked him over intently for a moment. \"You\'ve renewed the Bond, I see. May I ask what in Merlin\'s name brought you here? Or should I ask instead, what foolish and disastrous thing have you done now?\"

Harry shook his head to clear it. \"It\'s Draco, he\'s been taken by the spies! I know where they\'ve taken him as well. We have to go and get him back!\"

Snape stood, going to Harry, staring into his eyes. He took in the mismatched hues, dilated pupils, erratic breathing and the tiny trembles of his body. The Gryffindor boy was so stuffed full of power he was vibrating. A sharp breath was inhaled at the symptoms all added up. Either Potter was somehow absorbing and feeding off of another\'s magic or he was high as a kite on Power Strengthening Potion. He probed at his mind but was ill prepared for the rapid flashing memories and thoughts shoved into his mind. He stumbled back, a hand going to his head.

\"Potter, do you have any idea of the consequences of your actions?\"

Harry nodded. \"I do but it happened by accident. I was trying to use the Bond to find Draco when something just seemed to pop and all these thoughts and feelings flooded me.\"

Severus sneered. \"You a Sycophant, I won\'t cease to be amazed at the dark talents you develop.\"
Harry glared, anger beginning to warm his belly. \"I\'m not the Sycophant, Draco is. I tapped his power, all of
it.\"

\"All . . . You mean to tell me that you stole Draco\'s magic, leaving him helpless in the hands of enemies!\"

\"I didn\'t do it on purpose!\" Harry clenched his fists tightly, his skin beginning to flush. \"None of that is important now! We have to get Draco back, I know where they took him. the Riddle House, in Little-\"

\"Hangleton. I\'ve been there. It was where he summoned me last night. It is always surrounded and you can only enter if you have been to Little Hangleton before, are you suggesting we blaze in demanding Draco back?\"

Harry sighed in frustration, tamping down his anger. \"Of course not! But we have to go sooner rather then later. I don\'t know how long I can hold onto all this power. Look, you and I can go now, have Hermione and Ron inform Dumbledore so he can follow as back up with the Order.\"

\"Six hours.\"

\"What?\"

\'That\'s how long your body can withstand the strain without having it leak.\" Snape strode over to a side table that held a tea tray piled high with small triangular sandwiches. \"That is if you refrain from eating and taking a Power Stabilizing Potion. Your body and mind are in overdrive, using any and all fuel it can. If you don\'t manage to add to it as you go, your body will begin to consume itself, burning your muscles and organs for fuel. After that puts you into an immediate coma the power will be out of your control and start splashing in ever widening circles, injuring anything and anyone in it\'s path. Even powerful and experienced Sycophants cannot hold more then a set amount of power before it kills them.\"

\"All the more reason to get Draco back as quickly as possible.\"

Snape went back to Harry, a glass vial in one hand and the tea tray in the other. \"Eat, Potter, and drink that, all of it. I will inform the Headmaster.\"

Harry opened his mouth to protest but closed it at the three glares he got. So he took the tea tray and ate, drinking down the potion between his first and second sandwich. Snape got a bit of floo powder and threw it into the fire. Then he stuck his head into the flames, his words muffled. A few moments later Dumbledore stepped into Snape\'s quarters looking a site less cheerful then usual. Harry actually had to close his eyes. The brilliance of the wizard\'s aura was a shock to his eyes.

\"Harry. Where-\"

He shook his head, turning to blink at Snape\'s oddly soothing green murk of an aura. He couldn\'t even look at Dumbledore again, the glare made his stomach lurch hard. His hand seemed to rub constantly at his temples now and he did something he was sure he didn\'t even know was possible. He took information from the Headmaster, seeking out specific moments and memories. The fight with Grindlewold was his main concern. To his surprise he learned the man was excellent at Divination\'s, but even without that gift he would have known of his battle with Grindlewold years before it happened. Strategy filled his head, spells, dark and light became known to him. In a mere minute he had educated himself for battle. He opened his eyes and looked at Dumbledore, muttering a charm that blocked the colors from his vision. The Order leader was staring at him his face showing no emotion. He felt a pang that he hadn\'t a talent for Legillimency. He got memories and knowledge but not the emotions behind them. *Intellimency,* a voice said, it was darker, oilier then the voice of the Bond, *the ability to read a mind, a life essentially, like a book. Dumbledore is a Legillimense though, we could borrow that power for good use.* What he felt when he absorbed Draco\'s power started and he felt the wet of blood run from his nose again. Before he knew it he was drawing off Dumbledore, but instead of the full gulp Draco had been, he was taking it up in small sips. *So good, so strong, so powerful.* He let out a loud gasp as he was shaken forcibly by the shoulder. The flow of magic into him stopped and he stared at Professor Snape in shock. \'What have I done?\'

\"Potter! Get a hold of yourself! If you absorb any more, you\'ll die!\"

Harry\'s gaze went back to Dumbledore. \"You knew.\"

\"Harry?\"

He ignored Hermione, concentrating on the old wizard. \"You didn\'t tell me until you were forced to because you knew. You were in a prophecy too, about Grindlewold. You knew how me knowing about the prophecy would effect me because you went through it yourself.\"

Dumbledore nodded. \"I was wrong to keep it from you, Harry, it was not my place. But as it is you seem to have forged your own destiny regardless. So many times you have surprised us all with your abilities, becoming more then we ever thought possible.\"

\"You thought I would lose, so you never said anything, never trained me properly. You left me at loose ends to die, didn\'t you?\"

\"Potter!\"

He ignored Snape, he was getting pretty good at ignoring people at this point, and went on glaring at Dumbledore.

\"You are a child, such things should not be taught to children. I wanted you to have-\"

\"I am NOT a child! I have not been a true child since I was eleven years old and you left me to battle a wizard possessed by the one I was prophesied to kill!\" They all flinched at the loud roar coming from him. \"And the next year? Did you see me as a child when you left me, yet again, to battle a Basilisk with just a sword and a phoenix for back up? Let\'s skip a head to fourth year shall we? When you let a fourteen year old compete in the Triwizard Tournament, when somehow the Goblet became my ticket to Voldemort, giving him his body back. Cedric DIED! Instead of me. And after that? You paired me with Snape, whom you know I despised, to teach my occlumency, never rightly explaining what could happen if I didn\'t learn it. Who took the fall for that, hmm?\"

Dumbledore flinched but never looked away from the enraged Gryffindor. This had all been a long time in coming. Harry felt what little control he had snap and he lunged at the Headmaster, grabbing the front of his blue robe with the little shooting stars. His vision went completely red.

\"Draco will not become more of your collateral damage! I will kill you myself to keep that from happening!\"

This feeling was familiar, this rage at this man. It was like a fire flaming inside him. The little whisper inside that he was really beginning to hate started to chant. *Fire, fire, burning higher, making music like a choir.* Hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him away. He spun around and found himself staring into the familiar blue eyes of his best friend.

\"Harry, calm down! The walls are rattling and your nose is bleeding again.\"

He wiped at his face again and his hand came away covered in red fluid. \'Shit, SHIT! Calm down, Harry, calm down!\' He sank back down into the armchair near the fireplace, looking at the others with wide frightened eyes.

\"What\'s happening to me?\"

Hermione sank down in front of him, wiping lightly at his hands and his face with a handkerchief. \"You can\'t feel him anymore, can you?\"

Harry closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. The low keen he\'d been hearing in his head for the past twenty minutes came out of his mouth in a low whimper. \"I can\'t feel him inside of me anymore, I\'ve felt him ever since that day we first bonded. They did something to cut him off from me.\" The well of tears slipped down both cheeks as he looked back at Hermione. \"It hurts, Hermione, it really hurts.\"

She turned to Dumbledore and Snape, thinking aloud. \"So, new abilities, an accidental power absorption and a cut off from his Soul Bondmate. No wonder he\'s acting so . . .\"

\"Mental?\" Ron supplied getting three glares for it.

\"Six hours . . . I think he has, at the most, three. Draco needs to be found and now.\"

Harry stood the resolve on his face looked eerie as it came smeared with blood and tears. He walked past everyone else in the room, once again ignoring their calls. He actually made it to the edge of Hogwarts grounds before he was forcibly stopped. He turned, face impassive but was surprised to find himself facing the Head of Slytherin house yet again.

\"What? I\'m going and there is no way in hell you\'ll stop me.\"

\"He\'ll either be in the basment or with Him in the library. We\'ll be coming as soon as we can get everyone from the Order together. Lucius will aid you if he is there and able.\"

Harry\'s eyes widened and he nodded. He turned but Snape spoke again and he stopped.

\"He knows you\'ll come and will be probably be waiting, his trap set but if you\'re lucky, and you usually are, he won\'t be expecting you this quickly. Don\'t miss an opportunity for he\'s unlikely to give you another. Remember you have power the Dark Lord knows not and he continually underestimates you, use that and bring Draco back. He deserves to be happy.\"

The younger brunette began walking again, his own words tossed over his shoulder. \"Like I could live with anything else.\"

Then with a wave of his wand he apperated with a loud CRACK! Mere seconds later he was transported into the library of an old manor house that sat on a hill. Below that hill was a graveyard, a place he had been before. He was now in the Riddle house. A cold high voice that haunted his nightmares spoke from in front of him and he looked up.

\"Welcome, Boy.\"


~~~TBC


hey ya\'ll, all i can say is i\'m really sorry this chapter took so damn long to get done. i really have no excuse except this went down another odd path and i had to try to make it make sense. I hope it succeeded and you all enjoy it. sorry to leave it at another cliffhanger but i will get the next chap up as soon as i can since there are not very many left. oh and the fire fire part is stolen from the movie Legend just so you know. if anyone can suggest any song lyrics for this chap i\'d be grateful. Thanks to those who reviewed, Mito, Kaminari, Damaged, Remi, Jerrica and thrnbrooke. please review ya\'ll it makes me work harder!