Healing

Authors note: Thanks to my beta Alexandra, who is too brilliant for words. lol. I\'m happy everyone is finding my stories enjoyable and I will continue to update all of them. In the meantime I am also working on a couple other story projects that I hope you will like as well. If you haven\'t already seen, I posted artwork for all of these stories on my website () and my livejournal (/digitallace)



Chapter 3 Pick Your Poison



“Malfoy,” Harry said curtly as he got up to leave.



“Potter, sit,” the Slytherin countered, pointing to his abandoned chair.



Harry rolled his eyes but obeyed nonetheless. “What in Merlin’s name are you doing here?”



“I’m merely providing a much needed service. The real question is what are you doing here?” Draco asked.



He opened his mouth to answer but shut it promptly. Draco took that as an excuse to continue. “I think, if you even care what I think, and by the look on your face you don’t, but I’m going to tell you regardless,” he sneered. “You crave pain. You need it like you need air or water or food. You need it to think and to feel anything besides the emotional anguish you experience on a daily basis.”



Harry gaped at him, but quickly composed himself. “Even if all that were true… and I’m not saying it is, what do you care?”



“You mistake me. It’s not my ability to care that makes me so good at my job. Quite the opposite actually,” he replied, smirking wickedly. “You enjoy receiving pain, and I enjoy inflicting it. It’s simple really.”



“So what, I pay you to torture me,” Harry asked incredulously.



Draco tipped his head back and forth as if weighing the answer carefully. “It’s a rather crude way of putting it, but yes, the arrangement is similar to that.”



“And if I don’t agree?”



“Then you walk out now, and we modify your memory so that you don’t recall this visit. No harm, no foul,” he answered simply.



“And if I do agree?” he asked, more curious about this answer than the last.



Draco leaned forward and raked his eyes over Harry’s body. “Then we begin right away.”



“What if I need time to think about it?”



Draco shook his head and leaned back in his chair again. “Time is the one thing I cannot give. You think you’re the only war veteran who can’t live with their past? No, sorry, Potter. It’s a one-time deal. Take it or leave it.”



Taking a deep breath and exhaling it, Harry reflected on the previous night and the blissful blankness that filled his mind at Draco’s expert touch. “I’m in.”



“Excellent,” Draco replied, a wicked grin forming over his features.



A pale hand snaked across Harry’s vision and a stinging blow glanced against his cheek. He felt blood pool in his mouth where he bit his tongue. “Did you just slap me?” Harry asked, feeling like he was sixteen again and staring at Draco from under his cloak in the Astronomy tower.



“I told you it would begin immediately… oh and Potter?” he asked gently, whispering the next words against Harry’s ear. “I’m going to do far worse than slap you.”



Only a second passed and Harry found himself being gagged by Malfoy’s hand and pressed against the wall. His elbow dug sharply into Harry’s sternum and he kicked Harry’s feet apart. The room shifted around them and metal liquid oozed from the wall creating thick chains that he bound around Harry’s wrists and ankles. On what had previously been a boring wooden desk, now lay a silver tray of various instruments that Harry had never seen before. Most were gruesome looking blades and what almost looked like muggle surgery tools. Harry cringed at the sight of them.



On his opposite side another table appeared with a tray of different items. These were all sexual in nature, dildos, cock rings, whips and other various items. Harry wasn’t sure which was worse.



“Pick your poison,” Draco told him.



“I’m not gay, Malfoy,” Harry spat.



Draco shrugged. “I could care less, Potter. I told you to pick. If you don’t I will.”



Harry took another deep breath and let it out slower than before. He nodded to the left, to the tray of sexual devices.



Malfoy smirked and the other tray disappeared. With a flick of his wand he had Harry’s clothing in his hand, leaving the other man naked and shuddering. He threw the offending garments in the corner and stalked up to Harry, sliding his pale fingertips across various scars on Harry’s arms and chest.



He leaned in, once again pressing his face close to the other boy’s ear when he spoke. “I’m really going to enjoy breaking you, Potter. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for years, and here you just waltz into my office,” he said with a grin, then lowered his voice a little more. “I’m going to love this so much, I might not even charge you.”



He backed away and watched as Harry’s body responded instantly to the closeness of Draco’s, to his words, and his breath tickling his ear. “I thought you said you weren’t gay?” he trilled, smiling at Harry’s persistently growing erection.



Harry scowled at him. “It’s only the prospect of pain that turns me on, Malfoy, not you,” he growled.



Draco laughed maniacally. He took his place back in front of Harry and pressed against him, running his fingers down his naked sides, making him shiver. “I’m going to make you beg for my cock, Potter. You’ll be on your knees pleading with me to fuck you before I’m through,” he whispered seductively.



“Don’t hold your breath,” Harry replied, slightly more quivery than he would have liked.



Malfoy smiled at him and went over to his tray of toys. He let his hand travel over several, watching Harry tense or relax when his hand passed over different items. At one surprisingly large black dildo, Harry’s eyes went wide. “Don’t worry Potter, that will be for much later. I don’t want to break you so soon, then how am I supposed to have fun?”



Harry rolled his eyes, not even blinking when Draco selected one of the whips from the tray.



The blonde laced the leather tendrils through his fingers, letting them trail and fall through, gently slapping his leg as they did. His face was a mask of indifference, except for his eyes, which were a smoldering pit of fury.



He lashed out, sticking Harry across the chest in a quick vicious movement. Harry yelped, but quickly composed himself. “That was for rejecting my hand on the first day of school,” Malfoy said.



Another lash blistered across Harry’s skin. “That was for making a fool out of me getting to play seeker your first year.”



Three more stinging slices through his flesh and Harry was gritting his teeth against the welcome pain. “That was for challenging my father and getting him sent to Azkaban,” he spat.



One last stab of pain nearly wrenching Harry from consciousness, and Draco spoke again, this time softer than the last. “That was for letting Snape and Crabbe die.”



Harry’s lips curved into a soft smile. “I only have one of those deaths on my conscience, Malfoy,” he rasped, looking down at his chest that looked so much like ruined meat.



Draco stepped carefully up to Harry, trailing the strips of leather lightly across his exposed thighs. Harry winced as Malfoy pressed his hand against his bloody chest. He leaned in and kissed Harry deftly on the lips, forcing his tongue inside the other boy’s mouth and eliciting a small moan from the back of Harry’s throat.



When Malfoy stepped away again, he looked sad, resigned. Harry’s eyes were half shut, the pain of the whip mixed with the pleasure of Malfoy’s kiss made for a heady mixture. “What was that for?” he managed to whisper as he saw Draco replace the whip and head toward the door.



“For saving my life,” he replied without looking back.



--



Harry woke up in another room, having dozed off shortly after Draco left. This room was like a hospital, stark and white. He looked around and his eyes immediately trained on Lexi, who was sitting in the corner typing on a laptop.



Harry narrowed his eyes at her. “Writing more lies about me in your notes?” he asked.



She started slightly at his voice but smiled cheekily when she looked up. “No, this is personal work… plus nothing I wrote about you in my notes were lies,” she replied.



“So what are you doing now?” he asked.



She clamped the laptop shut, running her hands briefly over the gray bat graphic on its face, and shrugged. “Nothing important. Just waiting for you to wake up.”



“So that you can mock me again?”



She laughed. “No, so that I can make sure you’re all healed up before I let you leave.”



“Where’s Malfoy?”



She shrugged lightly. “With another client most likely.”



Harry felt a twinge of annoyance that he couldn’t logically explain. “Don’t worry,” Lexi added, “most clients choose the other tray.”



His eyes went wide. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said at last.



Lexi’s smile brightened. “Right,” she said, holding out the word to last several syllables. “I’ll let him know you weren’t concerned.”



Harry jumped at the notion. “Why did he ask?”



Laughter filled the room. “You really aren’t very good at denial, Mr. Potter. I’ll have to add that to my notes. Obvious. You’ll remind me if I forget, won’t you?”



Harry rolled his eyes and tried to remove himself from the bed. Lexi came over and helped, watching closely his movements and reactions to her touch. Harry felt fine, just a little stiff. “So you’re just going to let me walk out of here?”



She looked at him incredulously. “Can you not walk? Do you need a cab?”



“No, I mean, what’s stopping me from going straight to the Ministry?” he asked, not that he would.



“Oh, that. I put a spell on you while you were sleeping. You’ll remember everything so long as you don’t try to tell anyone about us. If you utter even one word of something that would give away our location, your mind will be blank, and you’ll never be able to retrieve those memories again,” she said matter-of-factly.



Harry nodded and got to his feet. He was a little wobbly at first but otherwise okay. “And when should I come back? When is my next appointment?” he asked, feeling like he might never run out of questions.



“Mr. Malfoy told me to tell you that as a celebrity client, you can return anytime you like,” she replied. “He said he would make allowances for your neediness and impatience because you’re so much fun,” she added with a wicked grin.



“Great,” Harry muttered, and left the stark white room with a smirking Lexi trailing behind him.



“Do you even know where you’re going?” she asked him, thoroughly amused by his reactions.



Harry stopped short and Lexi’s heels clicked to a stop just shy of slamming into his back. “That was rude,” she muttered.



A small smile crept onto Harry’s face. “You’re sort of a brat, did you know that?”



She feigned offence for a moment then grinned. “I’ve been told so on more than one occasion, yes.”



Harry let her lead the way from the room they had just occupied through the maze of metallic corridors until they passed the security station he recalled from earlier. “How long have I been here?” Harry asked.



“About five hours or so,” she replied. “Trying to scheme an alibi for your lost time in the real world?”



With a snort of harsh laughter Harry shook his head. “No, that kind of thinking is for people who have someone on the outside that will miss them,” he replied, his voice tinged with bitterness.



Lexi nudged his shoulder, a look of minor concern mingled with amusement on her pale face. “Come on, surely the savior of the wizarding world has someone to go home to.”



Harry just sighed and shook his head again, leaving Lexi behind and slightly bewildered as he exited the building and apparated home.



Authors Note: If I promise to release the hostages, will you still review?