Blood Ties.

"Harry!"

A groan tried to chase the sigh Harry voiced when he heard Ron behind him. He'd thought that Hermione and Ron had finally given up and accepted that their best friend wasn't who they'd thought he was, but clearly he'd underestimated their persistence. He steeled himself for the confrontation and turned to face Ron with a careful look of boredom on his face.

"What is it now, Weasley?"

Before he had time to react, a flash of red light smacked into him and he fell into all-consuming darkness, his last thought one of surprise at Ron's sudden skill with non-verbal spells.

~~:~~

"...tie them tight..."

"...he's going to be so angry..."

"...that bump on his head..."

"...hurry...waking..."

Harry groaned as the throbbing in his head was joined by bright, swirling lights that seemed to move with the pounding of his heart and made him feel very queasy. The familiar voices drifted in and out, adding to the nausea until he feared he was going to be sick. A warm hand brushed against his forehead and someone mumbled words in a soothing voice, though he couldn't make out what was being said.

He winced as something poked a very tender spot on the back of his head and made his stomach roll over, then a blessed relief came and washed away the pain. He sighed and tried to open his eyes, only to find himself staring up at the ceiling of the Astronomy Tower. He blinked, wondering if he'd passed out during one of the preparations for meeting with Voldemort. When he tried to stand, he felt ropes holding his limbs still and suddenly a face swarmed into view.

"Don't move, Harry. I'm so sorry we had to do this, but you wouldn't listen to reason, so we had to do something!"

The face pulled back and he recognized Hermione, her words fitting together the jumble of pieces in his head and making him groan louder. Leave it to his friends to kidnap him in an attempt to fix whatever they thought might be wrong.

A hand stroked over one of his bound arms and then fingers linked with his, squeezing his hand as Ginny's face appeared to replace Hermione's.

"Don't worry. Hermione, Ron and I've been looking through the books in the library and we think we know what's wrong with you. There's a Dark Desire spell that brings out the absolute worst in a person for as long as the caster keeps in contact with them. We think that's what Malfoy cast on you."

Harry blinked, moving his tongue and opening his lips to speak, but could only jerk when Ginny pressed her lips to his and tried to force her tongue into his mouth. He dimly heard Ron's shouted curse, but was too focused on keeping his lips tightly closed and turning his head to try and escape Ginny's kiss. She finally pulled back, flushed and grinning, staring down at him with her blue eyes shining.

"Don't worry, Harry. I won't hold your relationship with Malfoy against you. It was all because of the spell he cast."

He frowned and opened his mouth to tell her, for the millionth time, that he wasn't under any curse. However, his voice wouldn't come and he realized that they had silenced him so he couldn't scream for help until they were done with...whatever it is they were planning to do.

"The book described how to break the curse, but...it sounds painful. Ron, are you sure we have to do this?"

Hermione sounded worried, and Harry silently begged Ron to listen to her, he didn't want to endure anything painful since he knew it was utterly pointless.

"You read the book, Hermione! If we don't break the curse before Harry's better self is wiped out, then he'll be like this forever!"

Hermione whined softly and nodded, her face once more hovering over his as she murmured.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I'll try to keep it from hurting too badly, but...well, it has to be done. When it's over, you'll thank us. And, we will keep you from bleeding too much."

Everything else she might have said was lost as Harry's mind turned over those last few words like a miser with a ruby, stroking them in horrified fascination. In his estimation, any bleeding would be too much. He struggled in the ropes and tried to scream, even going so far as to feel for his magic. He didn't want to hurt his friends, but if it would keep them from hurting him, then he figured it was worth the cost.

He went still as he realized he couldn't feel the strength of his magic. It was there, but it felt distant and glowing like an ember far from his reach, making his heart pound harder with fear. What had they done to him? What if they ended up killing him, or ruining all the plans by rendering him unable to use his magic? They were a bunch of students and he was willing to bet that this Dark Desire curse wasn't found in their textbooks.

"Ron...Ron, you'll have to do it. I just...can't."

Ginny's hand squeezed his tighter and Hermione's voice cracked, and Harry tried to look around at Ron to see what it was he was going to do that made Hermione so upset. The corner of his eye caught on a glint of metal, then pain lanced into his side and exploded through his body. It forced the air from his lungs and threw spots of blood-red light across his vision. He distantly felt the dagger slicing through his flesh, which he suddenly realized was completely bare, but the pain grew and grew until he was lost within it. He knew tears were leaking from his eyes and his mouth was stretched open to voice his silent screams, but the agony blotted out reality in favor of the nightmare beast that clawed, bit and set fire to his nerves.

"STOP!"

Just before he passed out, he heard the outraged, beloved voice of Severus, and sent a thanks to the gods as he was dragged into the oozing blackness of unconsciousness.