Visions of an Empath

Chapter 2

Remus refused to accept it. There was no way he was going to allow a filthy Death Eater lay hands on Harry. He snarled and pointed his wand at Lucius, trying to stun the blonde enough to get him away from Harry. Unfortunately, the spell rebounded off of Lucius and hit the werewolf right in the chest. As soon as Remus collapsed, Moody sent a slashing hex toward Lucius. However, before it could hit, the blonde suddenly transformed into a drake, and the spell once again rebounded.

Lucius grabbed his mate carefully in one claw and rose up into the air. Ignoring his mate’s demands to be put down, Lucius flew off into the sky. He needed to get his mate to safety. Those fools could have hurt Harry by throwing those spells at him.

Harry could only hang in Lucius’ grasp and watch the ground get further away. What was he going to do now? Who knew where Lucius was planning on taking him? Harry wasn’t really worried that Lucius would hurt him because he could feel the blonde’s worry for him.

An hour later, they were still in the sky, and Harry was about to freeze, body shivering uncontrollably. His teeth chattered with every breath he took, and quite frankly, even breathing hurt as his lungs filled with the cold air. Harry was beginning to despair of living long enough to reach their destination.

As if he heard Harry’s despairing thoughts, Lucius suddenly began to descend toward the ground. He finally landed and carefully placed Harry on the ground before transforming back into his human form. Seeing the blue tint to his mate’s lips and the convulsive shivering, Lucius quickly cast a warming charm on Harry and lifted the teen into his arms.

Harry vaguely noticed a small cottage in front of them, but he was too cold to really care where Lucius was taking him. He desperately burrowed closer to the blonde’s warm chest, sighing softly in relief when the shivers gradually lessened. Eyes growing heavy and feeling lethargic, Harry soon fell asleep in Lucius’ arms.

***

Lucius was alarmed by the pallor of Harry’s skin. With his drake heritage activated, he was practically impervious to the cold and hadn’t realised Harry’s plight. Striding into the cottage and yelling for a house elf, Lucius carried Harry to the bathroom and ran a hot bath. As he waited for the bath to fill, a house elf popped in.

“Master Lucius, what can Floppy get for you?”

“Prepare a room for us, and make sure to prepare a fire in the fireplace. My mate is suffering from mild hypothermia.”

Floppy bowed quickly. “Right away, Master Lucius.” She disappeared with another pop.
Once the bath was full, Lucius quickly stripped Harry and himself before climbing into the bath with Harry firmly in his arms. He was relieved to see that the warmth of the water was slowly bringing colour back to his mate’s face. He was further relieved when Harry began to wake.

Harry hissed in pain as the hot water made his skin prickle uncomfortably. He tried to climb out of the water, but strong hands held him still. Harry froze completely when his naked skin brushed against the naked flesh of the person who held him. He instantly realised that it was Lucius in the bath with him, but that didn’t calm his nervousness.

“Lucius?”

“Yes?” Lucius swept his hands up Harry’s chest, trying to calm the brunette into relaxing once more.

“What happened? Where are we?”

“Your werewolf tried to attack us, so I brought us to a safe house. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise how cold you’d gotten. Now we’re in this lovely bath to get you warmed back up.” Lucius smiled slightly as Harry gradually relaxed against his chest, instinctively trusting the blonde to protect him.

Although touching Lucius didn’t trigger any visions of the path, Harry’s new empathy didn’t seem to have a problem reading the blonde. Amazingly enough, all he felt coming from Lucius was concern for his mate’s well-being. That, more than anything, allowed him to finally relax. That is until Harry fully comprehended the fact that he was sitting naked in the bath with an equally naked Lucius.

Harry suddenly blushed at the realisation. He started to say something, but a flash of blue caught his attention. Harry looked down at the arms wrapped around his chest and was shocked to see no Dark Mark. He did, however, see a ring of pale blue scales around each of Lucius’ wrists and another band of scales around his biceps. He reached out and traced the scales curiously. Hearing the soft moan and feeling the blonde shudder behind him, Harry pulled his hand away with another blush.

“Your Dark Mark is gone. How did that happen?”

Lucius looked at his left arm in surprise and saw that the mark was indeed gone. “I imagine the mark disappeared when my drake inheritance was activated since drakes are immune to such spells.”

Before Harry could say anything in response to that, another voice broke into the conversation. “What the hell is going on here? Potter? Why the fuck are you in the bath with my father?”

Harry saw Draco in the doorway and just wanted to disappear. Draco didn’t give Harry time to respond anyway. With a murderous scowl, the blonde stormed to the bath and grabbed Harry by the arm, trying to pull him out of the water. Harry, on the other hand, was immediately pulled into a vision.

Draco stood in front of Voldemort. The blonde was absolutely terrified, but Draco’s face remained impassive. Voldemort pulled out his wand and cursed Draco with the cruciatus curse for failing to kill Dumbledore himself. Voldemort finally released the spell only to gesture toward Bellatrix. Bellatrix smiled gleefully and walked out of the room, returning in minutes with Narcissa Malfoy in tow.

“Narcissa, sssuch a beautiful woman you are. It’sss unfortunate that you mussst die today, but you have your ssson’s failure to thank for that,” hissed Voldemort.

Narcissa just sneered at him. If she was going to die, she was going to die proudly. She’d be damned if she’d grovel for her life in front of that snake faced bastard. As Voldemort raised his wand toward her, Narcissa prayed that Harry Potter would defeat the madman before her son also became a casualty.

Draco watched in horror as Voldemort sent a flurry of spells toward his mother. He wanted to cover his ears and hide as Narcissa screamed in pain when bloody gashes appeared across her skin. In the next instant, her skin began to bubble as she was cooked from the inside out. When Narcissa finally collapsed to the floor dead, it was all Draco could do not start heaving.

“If you fail me again, young Draco, your fate will be much worssse. Now leave my sssight.”

Draco ran from the room. He barely made it outside before he was doubled over and releasing the contents of his stomach.

As Harry screamed in pain, Draco snatched his hand away and stared at the brunette in horror. What had he done? He covered his ears and backed away, remembering the awful screams of his dying mother.

“What the hell is wrong with him?” snapped Severus, rushing forward to help.

“Stop, Severus. If you touch him, you’ll hurt him, too,” growled Lucius, pulling Harry closer. He breathed a sigh of relief when Harry burrowed into his arms, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

Severus took a deep breath and glared at Lucius. “Lucius, what is wrong with him?”

“I have empathic visions of the past whenever I touch something or someone,” mumbled Harry into Lucius’ shoulder.

“What?! When did this happen?” shouted Severus.

Harry turned his head to stare impassively at Severus. “I had a vision on the train ride back to London. It only happened once, and I figured it was just a fluke. Obviously not. The visions began to occur more often over the next month, and that’s when I began to feel some of the emotions tied into the vision. Now I feel every emotion in every vision I have. Fun, huh?”

“Do you know how rare a gift that is? It’s almost unheard of in the Wizarding World,” said Severus musingly.

Harry just glowered at the man. “I don’t exactly see it as a gift, Snape. You live with it for a while and see just how blessed you feel.”

Severus started to snap back at Harry, but Lucius glared at him warningly. “Okay, you two need to leave so that Harry and I can get out of the bath. We’ll meet you in my study in fifteen minutes.”

Draco, for once, obeyed unhesitatingly. Severus glowered balefully but turned silently and left the room. Lucius quickly climbed out of the bath, wrapping a towel around his hips, before lifting Harry out of the water.

Harry yelped in surprise and blushed as his nakedness was exposed, hurriedly covering his groin with both hands. “Put me down and give me a towel. I’m perfectly capable of walking on my own.”

Lucius just smirked at his mate and carried Harry into the bedroom. Setting Harry carefully on the bed, Lucius walked to his wardrobe and rummaged through the myriad of clothing. He finally decided on a pair of pyjamas for them both, shrinking one pair down to fit Harry.

Harry hurriedly pulled the pyjamas on, blushing brightly when Lucius unconcernedly dropped his towel to get dressed himself. Fortunately, neither the bed nor the pyjamas triggered any visions, but Harry didn’t want to take any chances. He went back to the bathroom to get his gloves and quickly pulled them on.

Lucius saw the gloves but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want Harry to be forced into another vision, either. He also planned to keep a close eye on Severus to make sure the other man didn’t accidentally touch Harry. With Severus’ past, Harry wouldn’t be able to withstand such a vision.

Once dressed, Lucius and Harry headed toward the study. When they arrived, Severus sat scowling in the chair by the fireplace while Draco paced the floor, muttering angrily to himself. Harry sighed softly and reluctantly followed Lucius inside.

Draco immediately stopped his pacing and glared at Harry and Lucius. “I still want to know what Potter’s doing here. You’ve never brought a catamite here before.”

Lucius growled at Draco. “I suggest you watch what you say about my mate, Draco. I will not tolerate a second insult from you.”

“You’re mate?” asked Draco incredulously. “When the hell did that happen? What’s going on?”

“Voldemort gave Lucius a potion that activated any dormant magical creature blood, and your father became a Frost Drake. Drakes cannot assume their human form until they find their mate,” said Harry, taking pity on the confused blonde.

“So he’s stuck with you?” sneered Draco.

Lucius growled and cuffed Draco upside the head. “I already warned you not to insult my mate.”

Draco glared briefly at Harry before retreating to the sofa to sulk. Severus, on the other hand, decided to sate his own curiosity. “Why don’t you have visions when you touch Lucius? As a former Death Eater, I would think there would be several events with strong emotion tied to him.”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because he’s a Frost Drake. Apparently, they have natural shields and immunity to most spells. Lucius’ Dark Mark even disappeared.”

“What?” asked Severus incredulously.

“Yeah, now he just has a ring of blue scales around his wrists and biceps.”

“Hmm, I wonder if you can control the visions by building up your own shields,” mused Severus, rubbing his own Dark Mark absently.

“You mean like Occlumency? Those lessons didn’t go so well, if you’ll remember,” said Harry hesitantly.

Severus actually looked abashed at the reminder. “Yes, well, I may have been a little harsh during those lessons. And Lucius can help you learn to build your shields, as well.”

“It couldn’t hurt, I suppose. When do we start?” If learning Occlumency would stop those damn visions, then just call him Hermione Granger. He’d study so hard, he’d leave Hermione choking on dust.

“After dinner,” said Severus.

***

Harry could barely eat, mostly pushing his food around his plate and dreading the moment dinner ended. He truly wanted to learn Occlumency, but he was afraid they would be just like the lessons in fifth year. It had been painful and left him feeling raw and far too exposed.

The meal ended far too quickly for Harry. Severus stood and motioned for Harry to follow him, and Harry quickly obeyed. Once they reached the study, Severus turned to Harry with his wand raised. Harry flinched and braced himself for the mental assault. It took him a moment to realise the attack had never come, and he looked at Severus curiously.

“First thing you need to do is think of the place you feel the safest,” said Severus abruptly.

Harry thought for a moment and eventually thought of the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. It was the only place in Hogwarts he could go when he just wanted to be alone.

“Got it?” Severus asked, and Harry nodded firmly. “Good. Now take your most important memories and hide them. Use trunks, closets, books, whatever. Just make sure they’re well hidden.”

Harry nodded and carefully began to sort through his memories. He put all of his memories concerning the horcruxes in the pages of several books and then placed them in a large trunk. His memories concerning the Order of the Phoenix were placed is a small rucksack, which was also placed in the trunk. Harry then placed most of his memories of the Dursley’s in the trunk, layering the memories over the books and rucksack. He then locked the trunk and pushed it into the small closet. Placing his memories of his recently acquired gifts into a hidden cache in the closet wall, Harry allowed other mundane memories to just float around the closet before locking it as well.

Harry looked up at Severus and nodded. Severus raised his wand. “Legilimens.” He saw an empty sitting room with a bookshelf on one wall, a trunk in the corner, and a small closet against another wall. Focussing on the trunk, he flipped it open only to find it completely empty. He quickly turned to the closet. There was a heavy lock on the outside, and Severus blew the lock away with a smirk. He was immediately assailed with memories.

Severus saw Hermione, Ron, and Harry as they passed through the obstacles to get to the Philopher’s stone in first year. That memory was quickly followed by Harry’s battle with the basilisk in second year. Severus growled softly and pushed the memories aside.

Just as he raised his wand to unlock the trunk, Severus was pushed out of Harry’s mind. He looked at Harry in surprise. He was amazed that the teen had managed to layer his memories so well on the first try.

“Well, Potter, I must say that you have once again managed to surprise me. Well done. Now you just need to repair the damage I did, and this time try to add an impenetrable wall around the sitting room.”

Harry nodded again and thought once more of his Room of Requirement. Once the image was firmly in his mind, he quickly repaired the lock on the closet. After his repairs were finished, Harry focussed on creating a thick steel wall around the room, making sure there were no cracks or obvious weaknesses.

Harry signalled that he was ready, and Severus cast Legilimens. Severus quickly encountered the steel wall Harry had erected around the sitting room. He cast a blasting curse, and a small crack appeared in the metal. Before he could cast the spell again, he found himself thrown out of Harry’s mind once more.

“Good, Potter. Keep that wall in place and try to touch something in this room.”

Harry repaired the crack in the wall and hesitantly moved toward the desk. He slowly pulled off his glove and placed his hand on the desk, bracing himself for another vision. Nothing happened. He went to the bookshelf and traced his fingers along the shelved books, barely containing his glee when he wasn’t bombarded by visions.

“Nothing,” said Harry happily, turning back toward Severus. “Thanks, professor.”

Severus nodded briefly. “As long as you keep the wall up, you should be able to touch most anything. However, it’s not foolproof, so be careful.”

“I will,” Harry promised. He pulled his glove back on and hurried out of the room.

***

“What is going on, Father?” asked Draco.

Lucius sighed and sat down on the sofa. “It’s a long story, Draco.”

Draco glared at Lucius and sat down beside him. “Well, shorten it. Yesterday you were still in Azkaban, and today you bring Harry Potter to a Malfoy safe house, claiming he’s your mate. Correct me if I’m wrong, but there is something seriously wrong with this picture.”

“We’ve already been over this, Draco. The Dark Lord forced me to drink a potion that activated my dormant Frost Drake blood.”

“But why would he do that?” asked Draco in frustration.

“The Dark Lord mistakenly assumed that I was part Veela. He planned to activate my supposed Veela blood and then force me to drink an Enslavement Potion to turn me into his own personal sex slave.”

Draco could only stare at Lucius in shock. “B-But you’re his right hand man.”

Lucius just raised an eyebrow mockingly. “Obviously, not anymore. Instead, he activated my Frost Drake blood, and I escaped. The thing about drakes, though, is that they only assume human form once they’ve found their mate. I only became human again when I touched Harry. He is my mate.”

“Why did it have to be that bloody prat?” asked Draco disgustedly.

Lucius laughed at Draco’s disgruntlement. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Yeah, says you,” muttered Draco. “Personally, I don’t see it happening.”

“Well, I suggest you work on it,” said Lucius firmly. “Harry will be part of this family whether you like it or not.”

Draco just scowled petulantly. He didn’t have to be a Seer to know that nothing but trouble would come of this. He could only pray that his father’s involvement with Potter didn’t get them all killed.