Le Frère de Sang

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GENERAL DISCLAIMER - I do not own any of the characters used.

NOTES ON THE CHAPTER - More establishing the characters although now we begin to move on towards what this story is really about, these are the foundations for the rest of the story. This is a chapter with a lot of weight, at least in my view it is.

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“And what can I get you lads then?” The bartender asked as we slipped up to the bar. It never took a lot to get past bouncers, just a notice-me-not charm or some fake ID with a compulsion charm on them to make you believe what you saw. Luckily, mild compulsion charms like we used weren’t illegal, because they had limited life. I wore form fitting black trousers that hugged my butt and my thighs, a stark contrast to my usually overly baggy a torn jeans. My top was black and also hugged my form, only covering the shoulders and going a little way down my arm.

Blaise wore black dragon hide trousers and a white mesh shirt made from thick acromantula silk strands. He’d transfigured the top from a silk shirt he’d had at home made from the same material. The white was a stark contrast to his skin but it showed off his chest and his dragon tattoo on his back.

“Water.” I gasped fanning my face with my hand before glancing at Blaise who fell laughing onto a bar stool.

“Vodka, if you have it.”

“ID?” Blaise grinned widely, his fangs thankfully hidden with glamours. He flashed the bartender his ID, the man nodded and went to get our drinks.

“Gods, did you see the look on that girl’s face when I slid up behind you? I thought she was going to melt, or worse yet spontaneously combust!” Blaise burst into laughter again and I joined him. The bartender handed us our drinks and Blaise downed his quickly. I drank half my water before handing him the rest to finish.

“So, she wasn’t pretty enough for your tastes then?”

“Gods no! And she certainly wasn’t anything good enough for you my friend, I wasn’t going to let her near you.”

“Oh thank you so much for saving me, wonderful and courageous Blaise!” I snickered, covering my mouth to hide my laughter as Blaise struck a fancy pose. I swept a sweaty lock of hair out of my face, the hair at the front always refused to stay in the hair tie. “You haven’t got your eye on anyone then? You’re going to go home alone?!”

“Now I never said I’d go home alone. Besides which I‘m dying for a shag! There’s a guy on the dance floor who has been making eyes at me all evening, I rather fancy my chances with him. Let’s see if I can tempt him to come to me though eh? Come and dance with me!”

Blaise grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the bar. I glanced backwards and waved to the bartender, mouthing thanks to him as we left. The bartender just grinned indulgently.

“Come on Harry! Sway!” I threw my head back and laughed o the ceiling before Blaise pulled me flat against his chest. I lowered my head and wrapped one arm around his neck. We swayed our hips, them pressed against each other’s. We swayed from side to side then as the music reached a crescendo we moved slightly apart and sped up our movements. Part way through the song Blaise spun me around and pressed his chest to my back, most of his body pressed into mine. I laughed again and Blaise leaned down to whisper in my ear that his fella had his eyes glued to us. Blaise teasingly gave my neck a lick as he gently thrust his hips forwards.

If I was asked years ago if I’d ever be happy going clubbing with Blaise Zabini in an American Muggle town then I would have handed them in to St Mungo’s for mental therapy. As it was, I couldn’t imagine anywhere I’d rather be but dancing with Blaise.

Blaise became my only companion after we made the deal that I’d be his main food source until he found a permanent partner if he taught me and helped me maintain mental shields and if he helped the light. My other friends retreated from me when they’d found out what I’d done. My association with Blaise put me in the ‘dangerous’ category and they began not to trust me. Not everyone knew about Blaise being a half vampire, just him being in Slytherin was enough for them to abandon me. They tried to do it subtly, tried sitting by me in class but not speaking to me unless I spoke first. Then they’d all be too busy to hang around with me. It soon came to them leaving whatever room I just entered, unless it was the Great Hall or a classroom in which case they all pretended they didn’t notice me. I let them. I also let them think that I couldn’t see the fear they had of me, the fear that I was going dark, turning into another person.

“Stop thinking about it, they don’t matter anymore. Only you and I do.” Blaise whispered against my neck. I shuddered slightly and he raised my hands above my head, I turned around to look at him.

“I know, just you and me and your newest shag who, by the way, is coming towards us.” Blaise looked over his shoulder, following my line of sight and grinned. Looking back at me he kissed my cheek.

“Have fun then Harry, I promise I’ll put up wards around my bedroom.” I rolled my eyes and turned away content to dance alone for now.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Blaise meet and greet the stranger who’d been watching him. Immediately the guy became shy but blushed in delight at what ever Blaise had said to him. They started dancing, their dance a lot more intimate than Blaise and my dance. I met Blaise’s eyes and he gave me a wicked grin before leaning down and kissing his new dance partner on the mouth, the kiss becoming heated in a matter of seconds and their bodies still moving to the beat of the music.

I grinned, rolled my eyes and turned away. I moved further into the crowd, closer to the DJ and lost myself in the beats. The loud music, the hard vibrations and the energy that seemed to pulse through the air was all consuming. I loved it; I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

-

I slouched in the bar stool and fiddled with my glass of water. I’d danced for two hours on my own...well I say on my own; I had plenty of dance partners. In fact a very drunk group had invited me to join them dancing and I’d had a great time. One of their party was gay so when the girls weren’t demanding a dance I danced with him. I’m not fussy about what gender I date, it shouldn’t affect whether I love someone or not. I guess that it indicates the abuse I suffered all my life; I’ll take love in any form. I did explain that I wasn’t looking for anything other than a dance.

The rest of the group, who gradually got too drunk to dance without falling over, had decided to go home so I’d retreated to the bar and ordered a drink. Water was free so I could have as much of it as I wanted.

“Good night?” I looked up at the bartender, the one who served Blaise and me earlier. I have no doubts that he didn’t recognise me. I seemed to fit in with everyone else in the club.

“Definitely. Shattered now though.” I picked up the bottom of my tight black shirt and stretched it up to my forehead to wipe away the sweat. When I let the shirt go it gently snapped back against my stomach. I took another mouthful of water.

“Nice accent.” I grinned at him.

“Everyone seems to comment on that.”

“British right?”

“Yeah. Got a bit of a Scottish accent but besides that I’m from Surry, next to London.”

“Ah. Sexy British accents. I like British accents over French ones.” I shrugged slightly and took another mouthful.

“I think French accents are sexy. I had a friend from France, she was an exchange student. Really pretty girl. The accent was sexy. Never heard it on guys though.”

“You with somebody?” I gave him a small smile; he looked like he was politely enquiring not really flirting.

“Not at the moment no. I’ve only just moved here so I’ve been busy trying to get myself sorted. Not to mention chasing up after my brother. Speaking of my brother, I’d better see if I can find him. You work here often?”

“Every other night.” I grinned and flicked my gaze to his name tag.

“Well then Tony I guess I’ll see you around.”

“See ya.” I downed the rest of my drink and slid off the stool. I went up the stairs to where there was a good view of the dance floor. Looking down at everyone dancing I couldn’t see Blaise anywhere so I went up to the toilets. Blaise probably wouldn’t have hung around at the club if he’d found someone to shag, or someone to shag him.

I found an empty cubicle, after finding several couples engaged in sex not having locked cubicle doors. I pushed my trousers down and my underwear before casting a cleaning spell and sitting down on the toilet. When I was done I made myself presentable and went to wash my hands. I turned on the tap and put my hands under it.
Just as the water hit my palms pain spread across my scarred hand and the healed skin burst open spewing blood onto the sink.

“Ah!” I gasped loudly, catching the attention of several of the men in the toilets. I snatched my hand out from under the water and squeezed my wrist holding my bleeding hand far away from me. I tried to lower my mind shield to only accept Blaise’s feelings through and the wave of pain that hit me sent me collapsing to the floor.

“Blaise!” I yelled, not aware of anyone else. Pain filled my mind as well as my hand. Fear froze the blood in my veins and made my heart miss a beat. I stumbled to my feet hugging my hand to me and ran out of the toilet pushing past everyone in my way. I threw myself through the door, startling the bouncer at the door, and broke into a run trying to follow the pain I felt from Blaise to find him.

I ran down the road and pushed all my energy into pushing forward following the pain. When the pain I felt lessened I turned around and headed to where the pain was worse.

“BLAISE!” I screamed.

“HARRY!” I nearly tripped at the sound of my brother’s voice. Stumbling I forced myself to run faster towards the voice. I turned the corner into an alley and bumped into someone who turned and grabbed me tightly by the shoulders. Whoever was holding me had huge hands and the large fingers bruised my skin. Looking past the large chest in front of me I saw several other people standing around looking towards another group who had guns out. I saw the back of woman standing right standing in front of me but what caught my attention was the bloody and mangled body on the floor near a dumpster.

The body was mangled beyond belief but the face was nearly clear of injury. I recognised the face of the guy Blaise had left with.

My eyes flickered to the left and there was Blaise’s body lying in a pool of his own blood. His chest barely rose and fell. His clothes were nearly all torn off and littered the ground. He had a large wound to his neck, one to his shoulder right next to his heart and three bullet wounds to his stomach.

“BLAISE!” I tried to move towards him but the hands gripped me tightly. “LET GO OF ME!” I yelled, not even sparing the person gripping my shoulders a look. I sent a blast of magic at the person and they released me with a small cry of pain. I darted forward, dodging the several hands that tried to grab me and stop me.

“Get back you idiot or they’ll kill you too!” Came a woman’s voice. I ignored her and ran forward falling to my knees so quickly that my knees cracked on the floor. I skidded slightly in Blaise’s blood and looked down on my blood brother’s body.

“Har...ry...” Blaise whispered. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked over his injuries.

“Oh Merlin! What happened Blaise? How did this happen?!” Blaise’s eyes flickered to the left slightly and I lifted my head to look at the gang opposite me. They weren’t the people I had just pushed through, those people were behind me and further away. This group were covered in blood and I saw one of the members doing up his flies.

“Them?”

“Harry...” I snapped my eyes back to Blaise. His effort to speak made more blood pour from his wounds.

“Gods Blaise! Why aren’t you healing?!” I put my hand over his stomach and tried to push my magic into his body, trying to force the bullet wounds to heal. My magic didn’t do anything. “Why isn’t it working?!”

“Still...in....th-th-there.” I swore loudly and put my hands back over a wound.

“Accio bullet.” Blaise screamed in pain but a bullet landed in my palm.

“NO! NO! Not again! No please no...” Blaise mumbled, tears streaming down his cheeks. I threw the bullet away.
“You’ll die though! I have to heal you!” I argued and put my hands over another wound.

“Acc...”

“NO!” A hand wrapped around mine, it was slick with blood. I stopped and grabbed the hand, it was Blaise’s and his scar was torn open too.

“Why not Blaise? Why won’t you let me heal you?”

“You...you have to run!”

“What?! No!” Blaise gripped my arm tighter.

“Please, or they’ll kill you!” He coughed, blood dripped out of his mouth.

“No, you have to heal! I’m not leaving you!” Tears burst down my cheeks and I moved my hand to his stomach again.

“NO Harry! DON’T! It HURTS DAMNIT!”

“You’d rather die then?!” I screamed at him. He didn’t answer but I could see what he wanted to say in his eyes. The pain that swirled in his eyes was enough to make me see his answer. My hand came up to my mouth, I don’t know why I did it but I did.

“You do...you want to die...” I breathed.

“There’s nothing...you-you can do...Just let the pain end...”

“I can feed you, that would help wouldn’t it? Please Blaise, you can’t die! I know it’s selfish of me but you told me I was allowed to be selfish. I don’t want you to leave me, I’ll be alone!” Blaise shut his eyes with a shuddering sigh. A lump was in my throat, I felt sick.

“I won’t live through this...even if you heal me and feed me...the part of me in you has bled out. Magic knew I wouldn’t live...”

“Nooo.” I whimpered sliding from my knees onto my bottom, bracing my hands to either side of him and leaning over so I was looking straight down at his face.

“Yes Harry.” He whispered, not able to make his voice box work. “Please, do as I ask...please.”

“What do you want?” I whispered, the lump in my throat not allowing anything else. My lip and chin trembled and my body shook. Tears slipped from my eyes and hit Blaise’s cheeks mingling with his tears and falling over his skin.

“I want you to run. Get away from here or they’ll kill you. I want you to run. Please, please run.”

“No Blaise...”

“Yes, run!” He whispered fiercely his eyes ablaze with pain, fear and command. I shook my head and he raised a trembling hand to my cheek. I put my weight on one arm and held his hand on my face. “I love you, now run!”

He used his remaining energy to push me over. I fell off balanced onto my side, the blood splashing beneath me and soaking into my clothes. He had his head turned to the side.

“Run!” I stumbled to my feet my eyes not leaving his. “RUN!”

At his scream I burst into action I took of running towards the only other route out of the alleyway. The two groups of people were stood at either end of the alley but there was a small narrow slip alley off to the side. I dove towards it. Guns fired in the alley, hit walls to either side of me. I threw my magic around me, to protect me.

I reached the slip off only to hear a loud scream behind me. Looking around I saw Blaise’s body arching off the floor as his face screwed up in a scream of pain. I slammed into a wall and hugged it slightly dazed and in shock. Blaise’s body slumped back to the floor and then disappeared into ash that floated into the air and mixed with his blood. He had used the only spell he could do wandlessly to rid himself of pain, a dark arts spell that causes spontaneous combustion in its victims. The tingling from the bond we had to each other disappeared immediately, like a candle being snuffed out.

“Blaise...BLAISE!” I screamed wanting to turn back and run towards where his body had been. A bullet hit the wall just in front of me and I looked up to see the group who Blaise had indicated as being responsible, There was no denying it, the amount of blood on them. I saw blood all down their fronts and chins. Rage filled me and my grip on my magic slipped. Their clothes were stained in it. They had made Blaise die!

I went to take another step forward and get my revenge, avenge Blaise, but one of the group shot at me again, this time it grazed my arm. I gasped in pain and grabbed my arm to me. A gun went off again and this time one of the group who killed Blaise fell to the ground. I spun around and ran away, like Blaise told me to do. I ran down the next alley and came out onto the main road. I looked left and right only to see some people come out of the alley. When they spotted me they broke into a run. I knew they hadn’t stood the same side of the alley as Blaise’s killers but they had guns and they’d started to chase me.

I turned and ran away from them trying desperately to pool my magic together. I gasped for breath as I ran still clutching my arm to my chest. My magic didn’t want to be called forward but I collected enough and turned into the next alley, out of sight of my pursuers, and apparated with a deafening crack.

I appeared in the flat and fell to my knees on the doormat. I fell forwards onto my hands, ignoring the pain shooting through my cut palm and my injured arm. My chest ached unbelievably. Tears fell from my eyes and hit the wooden floor. I gave a loud cry, it rang everywhere in the flat. I sounded like a dying animal.

I let my hands collapse and let myself take a nose dive to the floor. I only just turned my face to the side to avoid breaking my nose as I landed. Pain shot through my head and the force of the hit knocked the rest of my mental shields away leaving me completely bare to any and all emotions.

Blaise had done the main wards on the flat. He’d put the ward up to stop other people’s emotions coming into the flat. Now he was dead the wards had fallen and as my shields fell I was exposed to all the feelings of everyone in the flat building.

“AAAAHHHH!” I screamed at the top of my voice as emotion after emotion coursed through me. Tears fell from my eyes; my body convulsed on the floor from the force of my sobs, from pain and now from the stress being exposed to so much caused me.

“BLAISE! BLAISE!” I screamed. There was no answer.

-

I woke up slowly. I snuggled into the covers even as I reached a hand out and slammed it down on the alarm clock. I opened my eyes, my eyeballs stinging as I did so. I didn’t need to look in a mirror to know my eyes were bloodshot and swollen. I rolled over, wincing at the pain in my hand.

I’d fallen unconscious on the floor two nights ago and when I’d woken up I threw a bubble up around me, protecting me and everything within the two meter in diameter bubble. I’d crawled to Blaise’s bed and cuddled his pillow falling asleep crying. I’d only just woken up. It was Monday, time for school.

I pushed myself out of bed and stood robotically. Tugging Blaise’s pillow off the bed I pulled it along with me as I left the room and headed towards mine. I slipped into my room still holding the pillow and pulled a pair of underwear from my top drawer. I then pulled out the first pair of trousers to hand, a pair of jeans with holes torn in at various points down the leg. I snatched a t-shirt from the next drawer down, a red t-shirt with a black snake’s shadow hanging down from one shoulder.

I trudged into the bathroom, Blaise’s pillow still in my hand. I turned on the shower and stripped off my clothes. I let my top pool to the floor. As it fell from my hand I noticed the scab across my palm. I traced it lightly with my fingers. Pain hurtled through my chest again and I felt o my knees with the force of it. I let out a loud sob and let myself collapse to the floor again. I hugged Blaise’s pillow to my chest. Burying my face in it I could smell his shampoo and his smell. I could smell him.

“Blaise...” I whimpered out laying my cheek on the pillow and tucking my knees up. I didn’t want to move, I just wanted to hug Blaise’s pillow.

-