Only You Can Set Me Free

Harrydraco4life: You are right on many points. Of course Harry will not die, or the story would be dead :). There are reasons behind Harry’s coldness toward the blond, they may not be completely justified, but there are reasons. The end results will certainly make up for their hardships.
Now on with the story…

Chapter 27
The Hero, Not Always the Hero

The trio ran to the edge of the cliff, looking over and into the abyss.

The sun was now setting, casting long and eerie shadows of the three across the ground.

They scanned the rushing waters hectically, using their wands to illuminate the steadily darkening drop.

“Where is he, I can’t see him!” Luna cried out, searching the side of the rocky cliff only to find no sign of either the dog or the wolf.

“They must have fallen into the rapids,” Cedric whispered, his eyes still scanning the treacherous, intimidating, sloshing waters.

Draco said nothing; saw nothing as he looked down the steep drop. ‘Fawkes, Helios…’

The large birds heard the blonds’ telepathic summons and flew before him.

‘What happened to him?’

The birds looked at each other as they hovered before him.

‘He fell over Draco, you saw with your own eyes,’ Fawkes replied.

‘Do you mean what has become of him?’ Helios asked gently, sensing the boys’ anxiety.

Draco nodded slowly, still in a stupor. The others looked between the boy and the phoenixes in confusion, not understanding the knowing silence between them.

‘That, we do not know. What we can tell you is that Harry is still alive, weak, but alive.’

The blond focused on the birds for the first time, his blue eyes illuminated and hopeful.

“So you are sure that he is still alive?”

The birds nodded in unison.

“Can’t you two go down and search for him? Couldn’t you have caught him?”

The birds looked at the young man shamefully.

‘We can not determine his location, only feel his life force. Our bond to him has not had enough time to become strong,’ Helios said, his brilliant eyes never leaving the blonds’ face.

‘As our bond is still relatively weak, we could not have caught him. You see, we have been with Harry for a relatively short period of time. The more we work together, the stronger our connection, mentally and physically. With time, and through trials and hardships, our powers grow,’ Fawkes continued.

‘We are truly sorry Draco; we could not have caught and carried him in his large and bulky state.’

Again Draco’s spirits fell as he turned back to face the others. Still, he knew what had to be done, and he knew that we would be the one to take the lead. He regarded the other members of the team he never truly wanted to be a part of.

With a new resolve, he shook the doubts from his muddled mind and stood a little taller.

Luna smiled at the former Slytherin. She saw the determination and his need to prove himself in those sharp eyes.

‘He may not like us, but he is willing to put that aside to rescue Harry. He has changed somewhat…’ She crossed her arms and waited for the blond to speak. ‘It isn’t bad that he is quite easy on the eyes, either,’ she thought, retaining a giggle as she did a once over of the blond. His golden-silver, ear length hair blowing softly in the late afternoon wind, his lithe, slightly muscular body was tall, with an air of propriety about him. His shirt was slightly torn, at the arm and at the chest, revealing the slightly built body beneath. Yet, what she noticed most of all, was his newfound confidence, which seemed to radiate from the handsome Malfoy.

‘Indeed, he is quite the looker. Too bad he is taken. Lucky Harry…’

Cedric looked at the young man before him, remembering him as the biggest prat he had ever met, and something of a coward as well. He knew very little else about Malfoy, only that he was someone that needed to earn the trust of his companions, whether he liked it or not.

‘I don’t have to like the git, but to save Harry; we have to work as a team. He can play leader, as long as he doesn’t take advantage of that position.’ He too crossed his arms, waiting for the boy before them to tell them the grand plan. He was willing to let the blond lead the way; he knew they may come across many obstacles in their search for the dog boy.

Cedric just hoped the blond considered this as well.

Draco gripped his wand tightly, his eyes darting quickly over his shoulder once more before he faced the pair again. Licking his lip, he began to address Luna and Cedric.

“We need to get moving now. We have wasted enough time standing here. Harry is still alive, so we must follow the water and search the surrounding area.”

“How do you know Harry is alive?” Cedric asked, looking at Draco skeptically.

“Helios and Fawkes told me he is alive, I trust their bond to Harry, as you two should. So can we get moving, or do you want to ask more useless questions Diggory?”

Cedric bit his lip in frustration, biting back a snide remark. He shook his head slowly and motioned for Draco to lead the way.

Draco nodded, walking beside the edge of the cliff, following the direction in which the rapids were rushing.

Luna and Cedric looked at each other briefly, and then turned to follow their temporary leader.

‘You had better know what you are doing Malfoy,’ Cedric thought bitterly as they headed off while the sky darkened above them.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

“Are you sure your information is correct? Can you trust the source?”

“I am positive. According to intelligence gathered, Harry had been almost mortally wounded. He was in a fight with a werewolf when both of them plummeted over the edge of a cliff.”

The man’s soft eyes widened as he imagined the dog boy wrestling the wolf before falling over the side of a steep, unforgiving cliff.

“We must find him; he can be dying as we speak!”

“The others do not know where he has ended up. They lost all contact with him as soon as he was thrown over. Besides, he is a strong boy, with loyal, capable allies. Why, just a few days ago he added Cedric, who is actually alive, to his pack-…”

“Pack? PACK!? He has been separated from the pack, he is very vulnerable, and he is alone. I know he is strong on any other occasion, but now he is on his own, completely weakened from his last duel.”

“Remus… I am sure Potter is well. He is very thick headed, and though I am loathe to admit it, he is quite resilient. If you wish, we can send a few Aurors to the location-…”

“Darn it all, this is my fault! I sent him away, I humiliated and degraded him,” Remus choked out bitterly, whirling around to address his friend again, seemingly having not heard Severus.

“Sirius, we need to find him. I couldn’t live with myself if he died out there. I made a promise to James! I told him I would always watch out for Harry…”

Sirius regarded his friend solemnly from his side of the mirror. Gone was his usual happy go lucky attitude, he felt nothing but despair.

Despair over not knowing where his godson was or if he was still alive, slightly less of the same emotion over Remus’s apparent guilt. He had been relieved when he learned that he would finally be escaping his dark prison, only to be overwhelmed by the devastating news of Harry’s fight and disappearance.

“Remus, do you want me to send some Aurors or perhaps a few professors?”

Remus looked at his mate for the first time since they entered his chambers. He sat heavily in his chair as he brought his hand up to rub his eyes.

“We are not on good terms, the Ministry and I. They had to accept me as headmaster, but they will not tolerate requests from a werewolf. We can not afford to send any professors out; they are all quite busy preparing their students for the many tests and high level wizard trials. If I left, the ministry would see it as an opportunity to place their cronies in my halls, allowing them to harass my pupils and employees. No matter what, I will lose.”

“Perhaps I should go in search of-…”

Before Snape could finish, he was grabbed around the waist and pushed against the wall beside the large mirror containing Sirius.

“You will go nowhere Severus. I shall not risk your life for the life of another. Did you happen to forget that every death eater, magical beast and being in alliance with Voldemort is searching for you? You betrayed the snake bastard; your death would bring great joy to him. No, you will not go.”

Severus nodded slowly, agreeing with the semi- lycan grudgingly. He knew better than to aggravate the wolf man when he was in his dark mood.

That had been the case many times since Harry left the school grounds. He noticed that his mate had stopped drinking the potion that allowed him to transform only once in his concern for the boy.

“Well, now that the matter of who is not going is settled, what are you going to do about Harry?” Sirius asked, staring sideways at the men beside the wall.

Remus wrapped his arms around his mate, closing his eyes in deep thought.

“I suppose, for now, we will leave things to Draco, Luna and Cedric. We will try locating him for the time being. You may have to call in favors from the spirits there with you Padfoot.”

Sirius nodded, turning quickly and disappearing with a black swirl of mist. Today, he knew, was going to be the day he would escape the dark prison called limbo once and for all. Perhaps he could find his god son on his own.

The remaining men stared at the mirror for a moment more before they too turned, heading toward the sitting room door.

“Do you think Harry is still alive Severus?”

Snape looked at the man before him smiling somewhat snidely.

“Remus, that boy has gotten himself into tougher scrapes than this, most of which involved me. If he can survive my special brand of charm, he can certainly survive anything.”

The wolf man smiled slightly, pushing the door open and waiting for the dark man to sweep through the exit before he followed.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

‘That did not go as well as I planned…’

Harry slowly sauntered to his paws, standing shakily for a moment before collapsing in a large heap.

He lay beside the slowly flowing water, at ease now that the beast lay before him, dead.

‘Poor git, died on the fall down the cliff,’ Harry thought, remembering the werewolf’s head smash against a protruding rock, breaking its neck almost in half.

He had thoroughly examined the beast before he even thought of relaxing his guard. Now he lay on the soft dirt, trying to gather the strength to stand on his own four paws.

‘It may be easier if I became human again… At the least, many of these wounds would begin to heal.’ He concentrated, willing human Harry to come forth.

He could only lie there, in his giant dog form, eyes closed as he felt nothing happen. His powers were completely drained.

‘Well, isn’t this just grand,’ he thought angrily, staring at the large carcass before him. ‘This is your fault…’

Without enough energy to even tear the dumb beast to bits as it lay lifeless before him, he rolled onto his side.

‘Draco…’

He would be damned if he was going to lie there and resign himself to death. He knew he needed to find the blond; he needed more than anything to make sure Draco was alright and to apologize for being the biggest prat on earth.

‘I couldn’t… I didn’t mean to hurt you Drake. Everything I did was for your protection.’

He thought back to two days following Ron’s attack as he stared up into the starry sky.

**Flash Back**

‘There he is… yours to claim whenever you please. He is beautiful.’

Harry, in his regular human form, tried to ignore the thoughts the dog within him conjured up. Still he had to admit that, as he saw the blond curled up on the large blanket spread over the ground, he wanted the boy so badly it hurt.

Literally.

He ached with the need to touch the blond, to taste him in every way possible. His member was throbbing as he just looked at his mate.

This unsettled the dark haired boy. He had always been able to control his sexual desires to a certain degree. Now, he wanted nothing more than to rouse the other boy from his sleep and pound him from behind mercilessly, regardless of the others sharing the makeshift bed.

It seemed that when the dog had been completely unleashed, he lost what little control he had had.

Now, as he watched the others while on guard duty, he couldn’t help but pine for his mate. With the dog came the instinctual need to mate and reproduce.

‘What will happen if I do take him? Will I hurt him? Can I kill him? NO! I can’t… I wouldn’t allow myself,’ he thought, subconsciously backing away from the blond, from temptation.

(Skip to the next day)

Harry had managed to keep his distance from Draco, much to his dismay. He had wanted nothing more than to be beside his love. Yet with the unpredictability of his full dog powers, he didn’t dare approach the other boy. It killed him to feel the blonds’ confusion and insecurities.

They were resting now, sitting on the dry grass of the dead field.

Luna was catching Cedric up on Cho and all things Hogwarts.

Harry sat crossed legged, ripping up grass and holding the shreds in his hands, doing anything that would keep his mind off of his mate.

Draco stood at a distance from the three, clutching something he had found in Harry’s pants pocket. It was a small notebook, he decided, as he opened it to discover that it contained writings from the boy who lived.

He read through a few passages, unable to contain his amusement at a few of the later passages. He read a particular page twice, laughing as he began to read aloud.

“I can’t believe Draco is having such a hard time accepting me as his mate! I try everything to make him comfortable with me and my condition, but he refuses to warm up to me. I fear he will deny me if I make advances when it comes time to mate. Will I be… what is the word… satisfactory, in bed?”

Harry turned swiftly, anger bubbling within him as he heard the blond reading from his journal.

Luna and Cedric had stopped their conversation, both of them blushing slightly at what they heard.

“What is this Potter, a diary or something? I thought only girls had-…”

Before he could finish, he had a growling boy in his face.

Harry stared the other boy down, his teeth extending as he snarled. His eyes illuminated neon in his fury. A black tail had sprouted from his lower back.

Draco stopped smiling immediately, his eyes wide in apprehension. He cringed, backing away from the ebony haired boy.

Harry cooled down immediately after seeing the way his mate reacted. Draco had looked at him like he was about to…

About to kill him.

He backed away swiftly, turning to look at the others. He saw the look of fear they had in their eyes. He could not bear to look at any of them.

‘I am a monster… I can’t control the animal within me. I could have hurt my mate… I can’t be around him without the fear of hurting him in some way.’

“Let’s go now,” Harry said, as he gradually moved away from the shaking Draco.

‘I can’t be near him until I can completely control the dog within me.’

They followed the somber boy, Draco taking the rear position.

**End Flash Back**

‘I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I hope you will understand why I behaved the way I did.’

Something dashed by to his right, catching his attention immediately.

Cautiously, Harry got to his paws, taking special care to move in a way that would not open his healing wounds.

Something moved through the brush before him, causing him to stop mid step. He sniffed slightly, his eyes narrowed. He could neither see nor smell the being hidden in the bushes.

Suddenly, it flew at him, catching him by surprise.

It was a blur, he snarled as the creature made contact with him.

*^*^*^*^*^*

“Is it just me, or do these attacks seem far from random?” Cedric asked.

“Actually Diggory, I agree with you on that observation,” Draco replied as he looked at the four death eaters and twenty dementors surrounding them.

“We may have snorgals following us; they emit negative energy and draw evil doer’s and-…”

“Lovegood, now is neither the time nor place for you absurd rambling,” the blond bit out, standing with his back against the others’ backs. They all had their wands drawn, all were breathing heavily as the air around them seemed to have been sucked away.

“Oh, sorry Draco,” the blond girl said dreamily.

The death eaters laughed, causing the creatures behind them to move forward slightly as they felt the happiness radiating off of the masked beings.

“Not us you fools, there are your meals. Do what them as you wish.”

The dementors swept forward, flying past the four men and reaching for the three teens from every direction.

“What’s the plan leader?” Cedric asked, not liking the way the sky, which had been dark before they were ambushed, became darker still at the arrival of the ghost like creatures.

“Kick some arse… that would have to be at the top of the list.”

The three raised their wands and in unison, cast their spells.

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!”