Where Lies Will Not Blossom

Author: Akumu Suta-Raito
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: ADULT
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst, H/C
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Warnings: Language, Anal, Explicit Torture, Disturbing imagery.
Summary: HD Dark Epic. 'A single tear found its way down his cheek, hidden by hid death-mask.' In the summer before sixth year, Draco Malfoy attended a Dark Revel. It wasn't what he expected.

Author’s Notes: Wow! I had this posted of ff.net, and I didn’t get nearly as good of a response. I’m so honored that I have people that actually think this story is good enough to review. In light of this, I would like to offer email everyone who reviews every time I update. If you want to be put on this list, just leave a review with your email address and I’ll be happy to keep everyone updated. My response to each review is after the chapter.

Chapter Two: Never

“Sirius?”

“Hmm?”

“Have you… you know, remembered anything? From the veil I mean.” Harry watched the expression on his godfather’s face darken, the sparkling eyes becoming flat as he furrowed his brow. “Sorry. I’m sorry – I should have asked anything. Forget about it, I don’t need –”

“Harry its alright. Don’t get all twitchy. I told you that you could talk to me about anything. It jus that…” Sirius paused for a moment, his expression darkening further. “I don’t remember. Nothing, like it was just, just erased. Merlin, I don’t even remember the Department of Mysteries fiasco! And you think that I would remember dueling my loony cousin Bella–”

Harry stayed silent, his eyes trained on Sirius. “ – Not remembering makes me uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. It reminds me of Azkaban… sometimes I could barely remember my own identity in that forsaken place.”

“…If you don’t mind my asking, what was it like? Azkaban, I mean.”

Sirius paused before he answered, a small crease appearing on his forehead. “Hm. Let me think of a good analogy. It’s like… being in a mental ward, thinking you’re the only sane one there. But then you start to think that maybe you’re bonkers for thinking you’re not, if that makes any sense. Nights and days blend together, a day can seem like a week, and and week a day. And that’s without the dementors. Dementors – they definitely complicate the situation.”

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but thought better of it. He didn’t really know what to say; he couldn’t imagine being in Azkaban or behind the Veil. Sirius’ cheerful demeanor sometimes made him forget the trials the man had gone through. It was easy to forget that Sirius had been a resident of Azkaban for over twelve years, his only companions being mad convicts and soul-sucking dementors. And now this chaos with the Veil… Harry often wondered if Sirius couldn’t remember his time there simply because he didn’t subconsciously didn’t want to.

Harry couldn’t begrudge him for that.

“I’m sorry I brought it up… really,” Harry brought up his hand when Sirius tried to interrupt, “There are more important things that we should be talking about, like…”

“Like…” Sirius cocked one eyebrow and made a ‘well then get to it’ gesture.

“Remus.”

A rarely used scowl appeared on Sirius’ otherwise handsome face. “Harry,” he growled out, “give it a bloody rest already.”

“I won’t. Every time he’s near you, you’re practically wagging your tail regardless of what form you’re in. Its obvious to anyone that you fancy him, and I don’t understand why you don’t just – ”

By this time, of course, Sirius was sticking his index fingers in his ears and making ‘lalalala’ noises to block out whatever Harry was saying. Sirius wasn’t exactly known for his maturity.

“Sirius. Sirius! SIRIUS!” Satisfied that his last bellowed caused his godfather to stop his ridiculous actions, Harry continued.

“I just want you to be happy, and it’s so obvious that you care about him – ”

“Of course I care about him! He’s my best friend, we’ve been knowing each other for years! I don’t understand why you are making such a big deal out of nothing. I love Remus, as a friend.”

Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Sirius, last night when I came up to check on you, Remus was sleeping, laying half-way on the bed.”

“So,” Sirius stated defensively, “what’s wrong with that?”

“Well nothing would have been strange about it if you hadn’t been sniffing his hair! Sirius, that’s just plain creepy. When you are planning on telling him how you feel?”

Sirius blushed a deep color previously found only on flowers deep in the Amazon and played with the loose string on the comforter covering his lower half. “Harry… it’s just, it’s complicated.”

“But anyone looking can tell that the feelings are reciprocated, what’s so complex about that?”

Sirius’ eyes took on a rather haunted quality Harry had become familiar with, and suddenly he wished he hadn’t brought up the topic at all. He was just trying to get some good natured teasing in, and perhaps convince his godfather that he should pursue Remus. Sirius’ life had far too much tragedy and not enough happiness, in Harry’s opinion.

“Before, y’know, the whole fiasco and me getting throw in Azkaban, Remus and I were a couple.” Harry’s head snapped up in shock. “Half the time I was there, all I could think about was the fact that he thought I had something to do with your parents’ murder. It wasn’t a very pleasant thought, so the dementors couldn’t take it away from me. Sometimes I wish they could have.”

Sirius was silent for a long moment, but Harry was reluctant to say anything. Finally, the man began to speak again.

“When I saw him again for the first time after all those years, I wanted to hold him and never let go. I know that sounds cheesy, but that’s how I felt. Since then, though, neither one of us has brought up the topic of our relationship, or lack there of. There’s so much bad blood between us now, those 12 years he thought I was responsible for the death of our best friends…”

“Sirius,” Harry stated quietly, “It wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you, and I’m positive that Remus doesn’t as well. He loves you, I can tell, maybe he’s just as scared as you are. Maybe he doesn’t know that you still feel that way for him. To me, it seems like the both of you are ignoring the big elephant in the room, and that’s not fair to either one of you. You both deserve to be happy.”

“But… what if we just aren’t compatible anymore? It’s been so many years, and so many things have changed, we’re in the midst of a war – another war. The timing is inconvenient… the world won’t stop just because Remy and I have issues with one another.”

“When you died, I tried to go through the Veil to pull you back, but Remus stopped me. I think he was still in shock or expected you to jump back out and proclaim it was some horrible joke. Hell, I half-way expected that too. But, when I came here for the summer, I guess it had finally sunk in for him. He looked half-dead, he wouldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep… it was like he’d given up on life. Did you know that when you first came back from where ever you were all that time, Remus wouldn’t let anyone get near you? He just held you and whispered over and over again, ‘please don’t be a dream, please don’t be a dream’ for nearly thirty minutes.”

Sirius was obviously stunned as he passed a shaking hand through his hair. “I – I didn’t know.”

Laying his hand on the man’s shoulder, Harry replied, “I know. But now that do, there’s no reason for you to not grab Remus and snog the living daylights out of him the next opportunity you get!”

The somber mood was lifted for a moment as Sirius laughed and stated, “Cor, but you’re lame Harry!”

*Break*

The warmth of the sun didn’t reach the dungeons, and so Draco had lost track of the days. Every once and a while some enterprising Death Eater would come to his cell and cast a few (admittedly painful) spells at him. He couldn’t dodge them of course, blinded as he currently was. That did not frighten him so much.

The times in which his father came to visit were few and far between. Those times terrified him. He was grateful his father did not visit him for often, because he usually brought the Dark Lord with him. His father was very adept at Dark curses, but the Dark Lord… there was no comparison. One spell from the Dark Lord is enough to render him unable to scream, the pain so intense that all he is only able to seize on the filthy floor of the cell.

He wasn’t talking of the Cruciatus, no, that was child’s play compared to the horrors unleashed upon his unprotected flesh. Draco now knew pain…

Pain was no longer an enemy; rather, it was a bothersome relative come to remind him of his mistakes.

Draco hadn’t thought of the muggle girl so much – he didn’t obsess over her death, perhaps because his could feel his own death approaching. He was sure that he would be greeting her personally in the days to come. A sardonic smile crossed his lips, no perhaps that was not true… where ever that muggle girl was, it was sure to be a sight better than where he would end up after the Death Eaters released his soul from this useless sack of flesh.

Draco wasn’t delusional. Regardless of his recent actions, he hadn’t been a good person – and now he was suffering for it. He was suffering for his idiocy; how could he have deluded himself into thinking Death Eaters were anything more than psychotic serial killers? How did he convince himself he was joining a noble order of wizards who simply wanted to restore the Wizarding World to its former glory?

His own father had never shown him an ounce of affection, more likely to strike him then to hug. He had been a fool to believe Lucius’ comrades would be any different.

But… there was one thing. Something than brought pride to his heart (if it could be said that he had one.) Never would His mark be burned upon Draco’s flesh, for the Mark could only be given to those who were willing. And that was something that Draco vowed he would never be.

No matter the pain, he would never give in. He would never forget her broken golden eyes staring at him, the innocent victim of the worse kind of bigotry and ignorance.

Never.

*Break*

Severus Snape had never felt the kind of mental anguish he’s felt when the other Death Eaters had found the form of his godson weeping over the body of that poor muggle girl. Once Draco had Apparated from the manor, he’d held the irrational hope that the boy would somehow escape from this madness.

He had been so wrong.

At the present moment, he was sitting at one of the Malfoy’s many dining tables, sipping on a remarkable vintage of wine. He forced himself not to show a glimmer of concern at the agonizing screams he could hear coming from Draco’s mouth as he was mercilessly tortured while frantically thinking of a way to get to the boy before his death.

There was nothing he could do that wouldn’t blow his carefully constructed cover. Even if he pulled a stunt like what Draco had done a couple of days prior, he would probably end up in the dungeons with the blonde. All the Death Eaters were on high alert, unable to believe that the rather diminutive boy had fooled them so easily and caused them to issue a two hour hunt until he was found. While he wasn’t suspected to be anything but loyal by all of the living Death Eaters (even in the circumstances Severus had to give Draco praise for the way he had put down Bellatrix, the murderous whore) it didn’t mean any plan to save Draco on his part wouldn’t be noticed.

He hadn’t left the manor since the Revel, nearly a week prior; this was the longest time he’d ever been in the uninterrupted presence of the Dark Lord’s ‘lapdogs.’ None of them had been allowed to leave, as the Dark Lord has yet to dismiss them. The disgusting bastard was spending most of his time watching his servants hurt Draco with such a lustful expression, Severus nearly vomited the only time he’d been to Draco’s cell. If only he could visit Headquarters, he might get some of the members to assist him in rescuing the boy.

He had no doubt that at least a few of them would be willing to help him, the lot of Gryffindor fools were nothing if not suckers for a good martyr. And Draco’s actions had been anything but selfish; he was still finding it hard to believe that the boy had done such a rash and noble act.

He wondered if he even knew his godson at all.

TBC

Thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers!

SoftObsidian74: Yes, this story might just jerk a few tears out of you. But I promise you this: Draco will NOT die in this fan fiction, although he’ll go through hell. Thanks for saying you’ll follow the story, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

lupinswolfie: I’m truly feel honored that you thought my fic warranted a review! Thanks so much! I will endeavor to call Sirius by his given name, I completely agree with you on that aspect.

freelancer360: Heh, you’re the second person to say that this story is bound to be a tearjerker! Yes, my Draco is rather… spontaneous at times, but not he’s certainly no Gryffindor. I tried my hardest to make him more than a (admittedly cute) one dimensional character. I do believe that Slytherins have just as much emotion as Gryffindors, but just don’t express them. Writing them is a bit difficult, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Thanks for the review!

kay: I’m glad that you think my characters and settings are well developed, it’s what I try for, lol. Thanks for the complement *blushes*. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

paigeey07: That’s what I aim for! Heh, thanks for the review and I hope the story continues to cause you enjoyment.

Lilith: I love Sirius as well. Thanks for the review!

Vittani: Heh, I do like dramatics – I’m glad you do too! Thanks for the review

Darkshadowarchfiend: Thanks for taking the time to review this story!