JADE & THE SILVER DRAGON

Chapter Twenty


The next morning Pansy woke up, feeling something wasn’t right in the dungeons. She slipped into Draco’s room to see him laying on his side, curled up in a fetal position, wearing just his boxers. She came closer and gasped as she saw the bruised and bloody hands. “Draco....wake up,” she shouted shaking his shoulder.

Draco groggily woke up to Pansy’s shouting. “Pans....what are you doing here?” he asked not quite awake yet. Once he opened his eyes all the way, they fell to his hands. “My god....Pansy...I thought it was a nightmare....Harry,” he cried out incoherently.

Pansy grasped his shoulders. “What about Harry Draco? What are you talking about?” she panicked.

“Where’s Severus?” Draco asked getting up hurriedly, looking for his pants. He finally just got a clean pair and threw them on. “We have to find Harry.”

Pansy was really getting worried as she followed Draco out of the Slytherin common room towards their Head of House quarters.

Draco called out frantically for Severus when he entered his godfather’s rooms. “Sev...gods where are you?” he shouted out as fresh tears slid down his cheeks. They found him on his bed, his body stiff from a body binding spell.

Pansy saw the wild look in Severus’s eyes when they looked down at him. “Finite incantum,” Pansy said to end the binding spell.

Severus groaned as he sat up clutching his chest. “Harry,” he rasped out, “where is he?”

“I don’t know...but he needs help Sev. Please help,” Draco cried helping him to sit up.

“Where is he?” Severus repeated, clenching and unclenching his fists to get the circulation going again in his hands, while the rest of his body was coming back to prickly awareness.

“I don’t know. Somewhere in the dungeons here,” Draco replied.

“How do you know?” Severus asked, then noticed Draco’s hands. He picked one of the hands up, looking closely to check for injuries.

“It’s not mine Sev....it’s Harry’s,” Draco said quietly.

“What have you done Draco?” Severus asked getting up shakily to his feet.

“I can try to explain later...just ...we have to hurry. I just remember bits and pieces of it..like it was a dream or something,” Draco stammered, trying to get Severus to hurry and do something.

Severus turned to Pansy. “Go see Granger, tell her we need the map...and make it quick,” he ordered.

As the pain throbbed in his chest, he listened to Draco explain what he remembered while he helped clean and heal his hands. “Sev...it’s like I knew what I was doing, but couldn’t control my actions. I remember Blaise guiding me down to the dungeons, but I had my eyes closed so I couldn’t see where we were going,” Draco said then sat down heavily on the couch. “Sev...I hurt him...badly. He will never forgive me,” he said hoarsely putting his head in his hands. He looked up at Severus after a moment of silence. “You believe me, don’t you Severus?”

Severus stood there contemplating Draco as the boy was wallowing in misery. “I honestly don’t know Draco. When I did the tests with your blood, there was no signs of foreign potions in it.”

“Could Blaise have put a spell on me or something?” Draco asked. “The closer he is to me, the stronger I feel the hate for Harry.”

“I’ve done scans on you also to see if you had any spells done on you, and there was no sign of anything,” Severus answered.

“I would never intentionally, willingly hurt him Sev. I care too much for him,” Draco said quietly.

“I will check into it Draco,” Severus said then looked up as Pansy, Hermione, and Ron came bursting through the doors. “Do you have it?” he asked Hermione.

“Yes,” Hermione replied breathlessly, holding the map up. She held it out in front of her and placed her wand tip to the blank parchment. “I solemnly swear I am up to no good,” she said, then they all watched as images began to appear of the school.

“He’s here,” Ron pointed to the corner.

“Stay here Draco,” Severus ordered.

“Sev, I need to go,” Draco said determination on his face.

After Severus saw the stubborn look on Draco’s face, he figured it was a waste of time to talk him out of it, and Harry may not have time. The five of them then went further into the dungeons into a long forgotten corridor. They came to the door to have it locked. Severus tried various spells and incantations to unlock it, and was successful with the fourth one....an obscure spell that was used in the dark arts.

“Oh gods,” Draco whispered as he saw Harry lying still on the stone floor.

“Please stay back,” Severus ordered as he walked closer to Harry. He spelled the chains off, then felt for the pulse, sighing in relief when he felt the weak, but steady beat at his throat. His fingers traced the cut down the neck, then to the hole at the shoulder. “Do you know about this?” Severus asked Draco. “Looks like a knife wound.”

“No. There were no knives with me,” Draco replied coming closer.

“Are you sure?” Severus asked looking intently over to Draco.

“Yes,” Draco said kneeling beside Harry.

“Enervate,” Severus said pointing his wand to Harry’s head. Harry moved, then groaned as the pain shot through his body. “Harry...can you hear me?”

Harry slowly opened his blackened and swollen eyes to see Severus’s concerned gaze. “Sev?”

“Harry, we need to get you to the infirmary, so it will probably hurt when I move you, okay?” Severus said.

“Hurts,” Harry winced moving his shoulder then looked around the room. He saw Draco kneeling close to him, then flinched away from the blonde, burying his face in Severus’s robes.

Severus stroked Harry’s hair. “It’s okay Harry. No one will hurt you anymore,” he said looking over Harry’s head to Draco motioning for him to leave. After Draco had left, he carefully picked Harry up in his arms, his heart aching at the sounds of pain coming from him, then made his way to the infirmary with Hermione and Ron close behind.

Draco had nodded his head at Severus and made his way back to his godfather’s rooms with Pansy close by his side. He sat at the corner of the couch and drew his legs up against his chest. “Pansy, can you get me some pain potion? My head feels like it’s going to explode,” he asked not looking up.

Pansy looked down at him, the always composed friend, that never let anything bother him...an emotional wreck. She left, then came back to silently hand him the potion. “I should make you suffer Drake.”

“You probably should. I’ve been such an asshole lately,” Draco said looking up at her.

“Yes, you have,” she replied sitting beside him. “What happened to you Drake?” Pansy asked. “You were never this bad before, even with your father’s shadow around you.”

“It’s hard to explain. I feel so fucked up. One minute I feel the need to go to Harry to make things right between us again....gods...I miss him,” he sighed, then looked over to Pansy when he heard her give a very unlady like snort as if not believing him. “Then next minute I hate him, want to hurt him...fuck with his head,” he continued.

She sat back, the wheels in her head going a mile a minute. “When do you feel like that?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“When do you feel like you want to hurt Harry?” she repeated.

Draco sat back and thought back to the last week. “Christ...I’ve been such an idiot!” he cried out sitting up straight. “It’s that fucking Blaise. I’ll kill him,” he said starting to get up off the couch.

Pansy pulled him back down. “You can’t Drake. You need to stay away from him until we find out what he’s up to,” she said trying to hold him down.

“But Harry...”

“What happened Draco?” she asked.

“I hurt him Pansy, in so many ways,” he replied, fresh tears running down his cheeks as the memories replayed over and over in his head.

“And the knife wound?”

“What I remember...there was no knife.”

“Was Blaise with you when you left the room?”

“No. I remember leaving the room with a pounding headache, then you waking me up. I don’t even remember getting into bed,” he replied.

Pansy shifted over and put her arms around his quaking shoulders. He buried his face into her neck and hugged her tight. “I love him Pansy....I didn’t mean it,” he whispered, with Pansy barely able to hear his words.

That is how Severus found them when he came in about two hours later. “Severus...how is he?” Draco asked sitting up after hearing Severus sigh heavily as he sat in the chair across from them.

“He’s been better,” Severus sighed. “Right now he is sleeping. He suffered three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, several lacerations and bruising, and the most disturbing of all..he was raped and there was traces of poison around the knife wounds. If it wasn’t for the protective charm on the gold chain he wore that was given to him for his birthday...he would be dead.”

“Poison?” Draco asked.

“You know nothing about that?” Severus asked.

“No.”

“Would you be willing to put the memory in the pensieve?” Severus asked.

“Yes,” Draco replied. “How much trouble am I in?”

“I honestly don’t know Draco,” Severus sighed. “Harry was almost killed.”

“Professor, we think Blaise may be up to something,” Pansy said reaching out to clutch Draco’s hand in hers. “Draco said he only felt the hate when he was near.”

“Is this true?” Severus asked looking to Draco who grimly nodded.

“We will need to keep an eye out for him to get some solid proof. In the meantime...stay away from him Draco. You can stay here in my rooms and you will not be allowed to see Harry until we’ve cleared this up,” Severus instructed as he got up to get his pensieve from his locked cupboard.

“Excuse me Professor, but do you know who put the binding spell on you?” Pansy asked as she watched Severus carefully place the pensieve bowl in front of them.

“No. I had my back turned to the classroom after dinner the night before when I heard the spell faintly, then I was moved into my bed chambers, not seeing who had done it to me. I can’t say I am not curious to know how someone got past my wards on the classroom, and my personal rooms to get at me. I would have to say it was someone that found out about the connection that I have with Harry from when he removed the dark mark from my arm,” Severus said taking out his wand. “Ready Draco?”

Draco looked apprehensively at the pewter bowl with the clear liquid in it. “Severus. I know I did hurt him...and raped him,” he said quietly, “but I did not use a knife.”

“We shall see,” Severus replied. “Now, I want you to remember the time you left my office to the time Pansy woke you up,” At Draco’s nod he placed his wand tip to Draco’s forehead to have a long silvery-like thread trail after the retreating wand, then placed it in the clear liquid.

He waited until the silver strands settled in the liquid then sent the two of them off while he poured himself a straight shot of firewhiskey, not really looking forward to viewing Harry’s torture. He took a couple of deep calming breaths then ran his fingertip along the surface of the liquid for him to be sucked into the memory. At the beginning, it was plain to see that Draco wanted to talk to Harry, to make things right between them again. He noticed when Blaise entered the picture, that Draco kind of shook his head, as if to clear his mind. He stepped closer to the then-Draco and Blaise so he could hear every word that was being spoken. When the two of them came to the wooden door and opened it, Severus stepped back, his chest hurting once again when he saw Harry strung up from the ceiling.

No matter how much he wanted not to watch Harry being abused...in so many ways ...by his godson, he forced himself to watch as Harry’s body gained more and more evidence of the abuse. After Draco said his parting words into Harry’s ear, then gave a final kick to Harry’s head, he noticed that he was pressing his hand to his temple as if he was in terrible pain, then looked down to Harry with tears flowing freely down his face. He followed closely behind Draco as he left the room, but happened to glance back at the door to see Blaise smiling satisfactorily, holding onto a knife, rubbing the blade onto a wet cloth. The next moment he was pulled into Draco’s room as he stripped his clothes in the bathroom for the elves to take during the night, then crawled under the covers muttering Harry’s name over and over again as he drifted to sleep.

Once he was free of Draco’s memory, he spent the rest of the night sitting back, staring into the fire. Occasionally he would replay the beginning and the end of Draco’s memory, making sure he didn’t miss anything of importance. He now knew for sure that Draco was coerced somehow by Blaise to attack Harry physically and verbally over the course of the week. He just had to figure out how. He looked up at the clock that sat on his mantlepiece and felt a need to see Harry in the infirmary, then figured it was time he went to talk to Sirius....bringing plenty of calming potions for the elder wizard.



Over the next few days, Harry slowly came out of his self-induced exile from his mind. He had lain in his bed, his back turned to any visitors, not wanting to talk to anyone or listen to anyone’s pitying chatter. The nights he took some dreamless sleep potion to help stop some of the nightmares that played over and over in his head. He decided to check himself out of the infirmary... much to the displeasure of Madame Pomfrey, to get away from the loving..but cloying attention from Sirius and his friends. His body almost felt back to normal, it was just his mind that was still healing. He started teaching again the day after his release to keep busy, giving out even more homework than he usually did. He rarely ventured into the Great Hall, and he was rarely seen smiling.

During Defense class with the seventh years, he let Remus lead most of those, helping only when needed. He sat at his desk marking the endless pile of parchments while his eyes strayed to Draco every now and then. He had noticed that Crabbe and Goyle were once again stationed as the blonde’s personal body guards and stayed close by Draco’s side. He was quite surprised to see the two burly Slytherins man handle Blaise away from their charge.

Severus had talked to Harry about what happened, and after he saw part of Draco’s memory of that night, he was not putting all the blame on the blonde. Severus had just played the beginning and end of the memory for him so he didn’t have to relive the abuse over again. The bother of Severus blocking out that part of the memory was a little useless as it was in his own memories, night after night if he let his mind relax enough to let them in.

He gave a small smile as he remembered the expression on Blaise’s face when he was given detention for his shoe laces being undone in Potions, and had spent it with Filch cleaning out the owlry for most of the night. While Blaise was busy with Filch, Severus and Draco did a search of Blaise’s room. The knife was not found, but a partially empty vial of blood was found lodged into the corner of his trunk. On testing the blood, it was found to be Draco’s, who had no recollection of having blood being taken from him. Also found were various dark arts potion books which Severus confiscated to find what Blaise may have done.

He was looking at Draco when his eyes met his. Draco gave a small smile to Harry where Harry snapped out of his daze and bowed his head down again to his papers. His heart jumped at the smile, but then the words... ‘I hate you Potter,’ reverberated through his head, not letting him let it go.

(typos fixed Apr. 07)