Careless Whisper

Disclaimer: Well, let’s face it. If they belonged to me, only 5 people would be reading them.
A/N: I know it’s been a really long time since I updated and I’m really sorry. I’m not sure how long it will be before I can update again because I’m not sure I’ll have internet access this summer, but I’ll try! I think I’m going to put literary references in italics from now on so that it’s easier for me to find them…

Careless Whisper
CH 12 Part I – I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues (not beta-ed)


Draco stumbled feebly down the hall, clutching to the walls for support as his legs were still weak. He felt his father’s voice growing louder and louder in his ears. Lucius was ridiculing him for being so weak saying, “You are no Malfoy. Malfoys do not show pain. You are nothing. It will be a pleasure to break you.”

This is how Harry found the Slytherin, leaning up against the wall, mumbling to himself. “I’m not like that. I’ve got people who care about me. You can’t break me, I won’t let you.” Harry ran up to the man and embraced him. “Draco, you should be in bed. Let’s get you back to the Infirmary,” the gentle words soothed as Harry led Draco back towards the caring eye of Madame Pomfrey.

Once Draco was safely situated in his bed again, Harry sat down and took his hand. “Draco,” he began, “We’re going to beat this. I have an idea, but we’ll have to get someone besides Dumbledore to help us. I’ll take a sleeping draught and draw your father…”

“HE IS NOT MY FATHER!” Draco yelled. “I’m sorry, Harry. The man may have been responsible for my existence, but he has never been my father.”

Harry squeezed his lover’s hand gently. “I’m sorry…I would draw Lucius into my head and destroy him there. I really think it could work, I know it could.”

Draco frowned and pulled his hand out of the Gryffindor’s and began plucking at the bed sheet. A frustrated sigh slipped from his parted lips and he whispered a quick “shit” before looking up at Harry again. “Won’t work. Unless you take on the bond, killing him in your sleep would kill me as well. Hermione said she had something figured out…” he trailed off, not wanting to broach the subject of the possibility of a virtual marriage between them.

Harry understood that something was going on, but he wasn’t sure what. “Figured out…?” he questioned.

“Figured out that we can remove Lucius’ presence if Draco willingly performs the same bond with someone he would be willing to give his life for. Someone he loves. We thought why not? The only thing we don’t have is a ring, but I’m sure we can get one,” Hermione explained as she entered the room and approached the bed.

Harry looked from Hermione to Draco before muttering something about having an errand to run and dashing from the room.

Draco looked up at Hermione and tears shimmered in his eyes. He whispered so quietly, she almost didn’t hear him. “He doesn’t want me.”

*****


Harry apparated into his loft a short time later. Frantically searching through his desk, he found the paper he was searching for and disappeared with a pop.

*****


Hermione was still sitting with Draco a few hours later when an owl landed gracefully on the back of her chair, pecking playfully at her until she untied the letter.

Hermione~
Got the ring. Go ahead with whatever else needs to be done. Don’t tell Draco yet. Be back by tomorrow.
Love,
H

Looking down at the sleeping form of Draco, Hermione gently brushed a lock a white-blonde hair behind his ear, kissed his forehead, and slipped away.


*****


Ron sat in the library with Oliver Wood, each of them pouring over heavy old tomes searching for some insight into the meaning behind the urn and the bond. “It could be something else and just have a glamour charm on it,” Ron offered. Pointing his wand at the object in question, he muttered “finite incantantum.” Nothing.

“Or maybe it’s just an ugly old urn with no real purpose at all. I think we should think about the pendant for a minute. Let me see it,” Wood offered and reached out for it. Taking it in his hands, Wood’s mouth formed a small “o” of awe at the object. “This has a lot of magic in it, doesn’t it?” he asked almost reverently.

Ron nodded. “You feel it too, then? Might want to set it on the table, Chap. Hold it for too long, you won’t want to give it up. I know I felt like that when I first held it.”

“Ron!” Startled, Ron looked up to see Hermione standing in the doorway, a smile on her face. Ron looked at her questioningly before responding, “Hermione, Hon, I don’t think this is the time or the place…”

“Oh, shut it. Harry’s going to do it! Harry went to get a ring so that he and Draco can counter the bond! Wood, what else will we need for this to work?” Hermione asked while flipping through the pages of several books lying on the table.

Wood turned to the two books containing the Druidic runes. Scanning the literature, he read out a list. “Someone who speaks Druid – that’s me. The two people to perform the bond, the ring…” his voice trailed off and his eyrew rew big as saucers.

The Granger-Weasleys sat waiting for him to continue. Finally, Hermione interrupted his thoughts. “Wood, hello? What’s going on? Care to let us in?”

Wood looked up startled, as though he had forgotten that there were other people in the room. “Ron, I’ve just found the answer to your pendant and your urn. I didn’t read the whole thing earlier. There’s much more to this bond-breaking thing that we originally thought. Once Harry and Draco perform their ceremony then Lucius may still be there, free to wander between the two of them, although he can only switch from person to person while they are both asleep. His form will be weakened, but not so much that he will have no control of them. It says here in order to completely get rid of him that one of them have to capture his essence in this pendant and then place the pendant in the urn.”

“The pendant is called dauði dýr or ‘death beast.’ It feeds off the souls of evil men and absorbs their power. Whoever even touches the pendant can feel the power in it. The wearer can wield this power however they see fit, although using such a magical trinket causes the pendant to slowly suck the wearer’s energy even while they are using its power. It’s like a power parasite; it has to have a wearer for its energy to be used, but at the same time someone is using it, the pendant itself is taking their energy. The only way to destroy the pendant is, let’s see…”

“Oh, here it is. Die órval aus eimi. ‘The dreg of smoke.’ There’s your urn. Anything placed inside the urn simply disappears. No one knows where it goes, but nothing has ever been found again after being placed inside the urn. You’ve got some seriously powerful stuff here, Ron,” Wood said when he had finished reading from the old book.


*****


Harry arrived in the little jewelry shop shortly after he left his flat. Dublin hadn’t changed much since his last visit. The same old man stood behind the counter. Looking up, the gentleman spoke, “Ah, Mr. Potter. I always knew you would return for your ring. Many people have made offers, but I told them all that it was spoken for. It is my finest work ever. Here, take,” the man said kindly.

The Boy Wonder took the velvet box in his hand and looked at the beautiful ring inside. There it lay, so bright it seemed to glow. Made of the most precious and high quality platinum money could buy, the ring was made of an endless loop of knots, each one connecting to the next so that it was impossible to find the beginning or the end. Harry’s eyes were bright when he looked back into the eyes of the jeweler.

The old man smiled and nodded. Harry whispered a thank you and disappeared just as quickly as he had arrived.


*****


Draco lay sleeping in the Infirmary, his father growing more and more powerful with each passing minute. Once Harry left, presumably because the thought of being bound to Draco was repulsive, Draco had given up. Why bother fighting his father if Harry didn’t love him? Harry was his only reason to fight anything.

Draco was dreaming again, this time remembering the things that his father wanted him to remember rather than what actually happened…

It was the winter break of first year. His father had just picked him up. “Well, boy?” he had asked. Draookeooked up at him haughtily, just as he had been taught. “He chose that wizarding trash Weasley to befriend. I am better off with Crabbe and Goyle…” the next thing Draco knew, he was sprawled across the floor with the indention of his father’s cane across his cheek.
“FOOL!” his father bellowed. “Potter is your duty. The Dark Lord needs Potter in order for our plan to work. You either destroy him or bring him to us.” His father struck him again across the back and kicked him in the gut. “Is that perfectly clear?”
Draco looked up from the ground and wiped a trickle of blood from his busted cheek. “Yes, Father.”
The scene fast-forwarded several years to a quidditch match between Syltherin and Gryffindor. Harry had just given up the snitch so that Draco could catch it. Draco smiled at Harry and winked his acknowledgement. This was shortly before Harry had expressed his interest in the blonde.
Later that afternoon, Draco again found himself on the beating end of his father’s cane. “You pathetic little twit. Do you think I can’t see? That everyone can’t see the sick little affection you’ve developed for that sodding so-called Savior of the wizarding world? It’s disgusting. You are a disgrace to the Malfoy name. You have two weeks to decide where your loyalties lie. Love only makes you weak. I raised you better than this, so you remember yourself and join us at the start of the war…or I will personally hand you over to the Dark Lord and He will use you to bring Potter to us,” his father spat in his face as he spoke Harry’s name…
It was much later in their relationship that the memories went to next. He had just accused Harry of cheating on him. The raven-haired man had looked at him with hurt written plainly on his face and left the apartment. Draco sat flipping through a magazine and came across an article on cheating lovers. He read the line, It is better to be unfaithful than to be faithful without wanting to be and put his head in his hands and cried. Then he grew angry, angry that Harry had turned him into this puddle of emotions. That was the night that he followed Harry and found him in the arms of Blaise Zabini.



Literary or Movie References: Brigitte Bardot