Epitome of a Soldier - What it is to be Necessary

Hi everyone :)

Thank you very much to everyone who took the time to review, they make the writing worth while :) As always, I have replies for you lovely people :)

Kuromei
Yeah, Draco needs to do a little bit of growing up, me thinks. But, considering what section this is in, I think we're all pretty sure he'll get there eventually XD And I'll make sure to set up a nice big fresh water tank for you, right beside a computer XD *hugs Kuromei-chan*

Arcee1000
Yeah, gotta love an unemotional Harry; I seriously fell in love with the idea when writing this and the sequel.

thrnbrooke
Nope, Draco's pretty ignorant when it comes to this particular situation ^_^;

snappy pants
*giggles* Ah, I love funny reviews ^_^
Ooo, and pie this time! *gobbles* Yummy ^_^

BlackVirgin17
Yeah, Harry's life isn't too good at the moment, very confusing and strange. It'll get better though, if only because I hate too much angst XD

gorgeousbowneyes
Hmm, someone who's being hard on Harry; never come across that before XD All I'll say to it is, how can something be rude when you don't know that it's rude?
But you can still go on being mad at Harry if you like, I'll have fun trying to soften you to him :D

And with that said, on with the chapter :)

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Morning came and Harry's eyes flew open, fully awake in an instant. He hadn't slept for very long, perhaps two hours at the most, but it was enough to recharge him. He still sat in the armchair in the study, the book he had been reading before resting on his lap, opened but cover-side up. The room was lit from the sunlight outside coming in through the single window, telling him that it was at least past eight o'clock in the morning now. With his usual slow and careful movements, he lifted the book on his lap and shut it before setting it down on the table beside his chair. He then stood and left the study, heading in the direction he was pretty sure the kitchen was in once he was past the door. Before he could reach his ultimate destination however, he paused upon entering the living room.

There, by the still open front door, was Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy, collapsed on the floor, both face down and clearly unconscious. They were still dressed in their Death Eater robes though they were no longer wearing their masks. There were no apparent injuries but that meant very little when magic was involved. After all, there was any number of curses that could be used which left no physical mark but still did great damage. The Cruciatus for example.

For several moments, Harry just stood there, simply watching the two. Then, very slowly, he approached them, sinking down onto his knees, just in front of both of their heads, when he reached them. A few more seconds were spent once again watching the still forms before the dark haired youth reached forward and pressed his index and middle fingers to the blond boy's neck. There was a steady rhythm beating underneath the skin assuring him that Draco Malfoy was still alive. Knowing that, he moved onto Professor Snape, pressing those same two fingers to the black haired man's neck. As with the younger Death Eater, there was a definite pulse.

Both men would live. That was all he needed to know.

Harry got to his feet and walked the rest of the way to the kitchen. In there, he went straight for the food that was the most apparent and easiest to gather; an apple and a banana from the bowl of fruit on one of the side counters. He left without further actions after he had found his breakfast, once more passing the unconscious Death Eaters on his way back to the study, but that time he didn't even spare them as glance. He was aware of their presence, he just felt no need to aknowledge it a second time, especially since he knew both would recover.

Before too long, Harry was back inside the comfortable room which was the study and straight away he sat back down in the armchair and began to peel the banana before reaching to the side and retrieving his book. He lifted the yellow fruit to his lips as he flipped the cover back open and began to concentrate on the text inside again. His eyes on the page, he brought the yellow fruit to his lips and took a small bite of it. However, after a mere two chews, he froze, all action of his jaw stopping. Slowly, he turned his eyes onto the banana he held in his hand, looking at it out of the corner of his eyes. Seconds passed of nothing but that until he set the banana down on the table beside the armchair carefully at the same time as placing the book down on his lap. Then, he opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out, revealing the half chewed bite of banana. With a wave of his hand, the lump of fruit was banished.

Glancing down at the apple that had rolled down to nestle between his leg and the arm of the chair, he reached for it carefully. He brought it to his face and inspected it closely before taking a rather small bite out of it. It crunched as he chewed it slowly, the sound muffled through his shut mouth but still audible. Then he swallowed. He paused for a moment afterwards as if considering something. Eventually, he lifted the book from his lap again and brought the apple back up to his lips. As he continued his studying, he took another bite.

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Draco bit his bottom lip lightly in concentration as he struggled to balance the tray he was holding and turn the knob that would open the door into the study. He had woken up on the living room floor that morning in unbelievable pain, but luckily Snape had had some suitable potions already on hand to help ease the aches he had been suffering from. Never before had he ever suffered the Cruciatus curse and now he had...Well, needless to say he had a lot more respect for the Longbottoms.

As he finally got the door open, he nudged it with his hip and put on his best smile. "Good morning." He greeted the room cheerfully, knowing that the person destined for the tray of food he was carrying was no doubt present. Sure enough, there Harry Potter was, sitting in the same chair as the day before, the only thing different being the barely touched banana and the apple core resting on the table. "It's about lunch time and I thought you might be getting hungry." The blond said by way of explaining his presence.

"You are no longer injured." Harry spoke in the usual barely hearable voice.

Inside, Draco beamed at that, beyond glad that Harry Potter had finally noticed something about him. "Oh, it was nothing too serious, Sev gave me a potion for the pain and I felt...Wait," a light frown crossed his face as something occured to him. "How did you know I came back hurt?"

"You were unconscious this morning." Came the simple answer.

"You knew?"
"I saw you and Professor Snape while on route to the kitchen."

"You actually saw us, you went past us, and you didn't help?" Draco gasped, his frown deepening. "We were clearly injured and you just left us there? We could've been dead for all you knew and you just left us there! You're unbelievable, you know that! I mean, to not want to talk to either me or Sev is one thing, but to not lift a finger to help us when we were so obviously in need of medical attention; what sort of person does that? It just isn't done, it goes against human nature to just let people suffer like that! And we were suffering! We both suffered so many rounds of the Cruciatus Curse that I lost count! Do you not even care? Or do you just not understand?" The blond ranted angrily and the only reason he wasn't waving his arms around was because of the tray of food he still held.

Harry Potter said nothing for what seemed like an age after the talking/yelling had stopped and Draco just continued to stand there, glaring at the dark haired boy. However, eventually, words came: "Are you aware of the location of Professor Snape?"

"What?" Draco asked, unable to quite believe what he had just heard.

"Are you aware of the location..."

"I heard what you said!" The blond snapped irritably. "What I meant was why do you want to know now of all times?"

"It is necessary that I speak to him. Do you know where he is?"

Draco sighed. "I left him in the kitchen to come and bring you lunch."

Harry Potter wordlessly stood from the seat, placing the book down beside the apple core on the table. Then, the dark haired boy passed Draco by as though the blond was nothing but thin air and walked straight out of the still open door.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Draco called, quickly putting the tray down on the floor before running off after Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived obviously moved with incredible speed though because the dark haired teenager was already entering the kitchen by the time Draco caught him up. The blond slid to a stop on the tiled floor and watched the interaction between the boy who shared his age and the older man silently.

"I have discovered the location of another Horcrux."

"Where?" Snape enquired from where he sat at the kitchen table, pausing in his pouring of some tea.

"Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Are you aware of it?"

"Yes. It's the home of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black."

"Those names are..."

"Familiar? Yes, no doubt they are. Sirius Black is the man who escaped from Azkaban prison in 1992. When Peter Pettigrew was arrested at the Ministry along with several other Death Eaters, Sirius Black had his Azkaban sentence revoked and became a free man. He and Remus Lupin were friends of your parents. In fact, I believe Sirius Black is your godfather." Snape explained patiently.

"I see."

"What Horcrux is it that's in there?"

"Slytherin's Locket."

"And you plan on going to get it soon?"

"Tonight."

"Very well, I'll stay up and have the acid ready to destroy it."

"As you wish."

And with that, Harry turned and walked out of the kitchen, once again passing Draco as if he weren't even there.

The blond watched him go with a scowl before turning back to look at Snape. The Potions Master had continued with his task of preparing his tea. "That guy is a freak." Draco muttered as he walked over to the kitchen table and slumped down in the chair opposite his teacher.

"Do you not think that a little harsh?" Snape murmured, setting the tea pot down.

"No, I don't! He's like a...Like a..." The young man struggled for a second to find the right word. "He's like a doll! Yeah, that's it, like a doll. He doesn't do anything except what he's supposed to, he doesn't act like he has emotions, even his tone of voice doesn't have a real tone! And he ignores me all the time! I have been nothing but friendly and accomidating towards him and most of the time he just ignores me!"

"It sounds to me you are simply bitter that he appears to have no interest in you rather than actually a valid reason to be annoyed." Snape replied knowingly.

"And why shouldn't I be offended? There's no reason for him not to like me and yet he doesn't." The blond pointed out reasonably.

Snape gave a tired sigh at that and rubbed his eyes wearily before standing up. "I have had far too much excitement in the past day and a half to have to listen to your continuous whining. I am retiring to my bedroom for a well deserved rest. The only reason I want to be disturbed is if there are Death Eaters outside, Aurors outside, or if Mr Potter needs me for something." He said as he picked up his saucer, his tea cup resting on top, and headed out of the kitchen.

"Oh yes, sure, make an exception for him why don't you!" Draco yelled after him. He got no reply to that and with a huff, he crossed his arms over his chest and commenced sulking.

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The crack of Apparation broke the peaceful silence that surrounded 12 Grimmauld Place for a split second before the quiet resumed. From the light of the half moon, Harry would've been visible to anyone who happened to look up onto the roof of the house but as there was no one in sight, there was no need to worry. Moving over to the very edge of the roof, he leaned forward and over in order to check the windows and saw that there was light shining through a set on the bottom floor. That meant there were most likely people in that particular room and that in turn meant he couldn't Apparate or else those inside would hear the crack. That was no real problem, he'd just have to get in the Muggle way.

He straightened back up and moved over to the other side of the house, the side that faced the back garden. Reaching the edge, he leaned forward just as before and was satisfied to see that, predictably as it was a warm summer night, there was a window open. That was all he needed. With an amazing amount of skill and grace, Harry swung himself down, shooting through the window neatly and landing in a crouch in the room behind the window; he found himself in the house's bathroom. He got to his feet and carefully crept over to the door which led into the rest of the house. After pulling it open a little, he peered out into the darkness behind just to check if there was anyone currently upstairs who might see him. There was no one though and upon reaching complete surety of that fact, he slipped out of the bathroom and commenced his search for Slytherin's Locket.

It took him several searched rooms before he found the hole in the ceiling that led up to the attic. He lifted his right arm and directed his hand to the wooden panel that blocked the attic off from the rest of the house. With a light clank it moved away, clearing the path. For a second he hesitated as he considered how best to get up. Then, upon deciding, he pressed his back against the wall to his right and then stretched his legs out in front of him. Slowly, he walked his feet up the wall so that he was no longer touching the floor. He used his arms to move his torso so it didn't drag against the wall and gradually, just like that, he managed to make it all the way up to the ceiling. It was tricky for him to get into a position which would allow him to grab hold of the edge of the hole into the attic, the risk of falling and making a noise ever present, but he managed it and was able to heave himself through the hole and into the attic.

The dark attic was suddenly lit by a bright silver glow Harry created wordlessly and then held in his slightly cupped right hand. The light didn't quite reach the edges of the attic but it effectively lit the surrounding area enough to allow him to search for the Horcrux. It would also prevent him from walking into anything and perhaps making a noise that would alert the people in the house that there was someone besides them in there.

For what seemed like ages he searched every nook and cranny of that attic and for a long time found nothing. Not once did he lose his patience or even come close to losing his patience though, he just continued his slow, careful searching. Eventually, it paid off and it was when he moved an old cardboard box off of another one that he saw the face of the locket resting on top of the junk which filled the box. He quickly assessed the immediate surroundings of the locket for any evidence that it was booby-trapped and only when he was completely satisfied nothing was going to happen if he took hold of the object or removed it from where it was, did he reach for it and slowly closed his left hand around it before pulling, dragging the chain out of the box as he brought the locket closer to himself.

Harry knew the moment his skin touched the locket that it was the one he needed. It was a sort of innate realisation. He wasn't completely sure himself how he knew so definitely that this was Slytherin's Locket but he wasn't about to question it. Getting to his feet, he slid the golden object into an inside pocket of the simple black robe he still wore before bending back over and picking up the box he had originally removed from the top of the one he found the Horcrux in. Once it had been replaced, there was no evidence that he had ever been there, everything was exactly as it had been when he had arrived, right to the last detail.

Only when he was completely satisfied that everything looked exactly the same as before his arrival, did he close his right hand, extinguishing the silver glow it had been holding. After glancing around the pitch black attic one more time, Harry took the final step towards the hole in the attic floor and jumped down, landing back in the first floor of the house. No sooner had he landed though that the yellow glow of artificial light suddenly flooded around him and footsteps started to come up the stairs. Without hesitation, the teenager made a dive into the room closest to him, shutting the door quickly behind himself but being careful to make sure it didn't slam and give him away. He remained close to the door and peered out through the crack between it and the door frame at the two people who were coming up the stairs.

"I wish I was old enough to retire." A man's voice grumbled from by the stairs, though the person who said them wasn't yet visible.

"It'll come all too soon and then you'll be depressed because you'll be old." Another male voice said in answer to that just in time for Harry to get the first glimpse of the two men. Both people he instantly recognised and his eyes widened minutely at the sight. It was strange how the two men could seem so familiar to him yet this was the first time he had ever really seen them.

"I'm already old." The man with shoulder length, black hair muttered as he turned to the right, heading towards what Harry knew was the bathroom.

"You're in your mid-thirties." The other man, who looked incredibly tired and rather worn, with shorter, sandy brown hair pointed out in amusement as he went to the left, heading Harry's way.

The dark haired youth drew back from the door a little but never took his eyes off of his view to outside. It was only when it was obvious that the man was going to enter the room Harry was in did he quickly get out of the way, diving under the king-sized bed in the middle of the room.

"And that's old!" The voice of the other man protested from somewhere else in the house as Harry watched the sandy-haired man's feet wander around from underneath the bed. "I never thought the day would come that I'd be in my thirties!"

"That's because you only acknowledge what you want to acknowledge; you've always been like that." The sandy-haired man said, his voice fading as he left the room.

For several moments, Harry lay under the bed in silence, waiting patiently for the two men to come back in and settle into bed and go to sleep. He couldn't risk being seen sneaking out of the room or them hearing the crack of his Apparation. All of this had to be done in complete secrecy. Secrecy meant no one seeing him, hearing him or even suspecting he was there.

Before too long, the two men had returned. They continued to converse as they climbed into the bed and the mattress dipped underneath their combined weights, forcing Harry to lay himself flat against the floor to avoid being noticed. When the light was turned off, he prepared to slide out into the open and sneak out of the room but he was forced to remain where he was when the conversation once again picked up.

"Remus?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever think about having kids?"

"You mean like adoption?"

"Yeah."

"Can't say that I have though I'd never say it wasn't possible. Have you been thinking about it then?"

"Sort of."

There was a pause then where neither man said anything more nor did either of them move. However, eventually, the person laying on the left hand side of the bed shifted, the mattress dipping a little more to accommodate his new position. "Or should I be asking have you been thinking about him then?"

A sad sigh came then. "I can't help it Moony, it's getting so close to his birthday."

"Sirius, you know that if we did adopt a child, even if it were a boy who looked exactly like him, it wouldn't actually be him."

"I know that!" Sirius Black's voice snapped angrily and a brief, awkward silence passed for the next few seconds. "I'm sorry," the man said eventually. "I didn't mean to sound so harsh."

"It's all right."

"Where do you think he is right now Remus?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think he's happy?"

"I hope he is."

"I wish I could see him, just for a moment, just to see how he's grown up, to check whether he's all right or not, to make sure he's happy."

"Oh please Sirius, you and I both know that if you got to see him you'd want more than a moment, you'd want to keep him forever."

"I suppose your right...None of this is fair you know. If it wasn't for Pettigrew, I never would've been thrown in to Azkaban and we would've been granted custody of him just like Lily and James wanted."

And that's when Harry realised; they were talking about him.

"Do you think, maybe, we could try and find him?"

"Oh Sirius, I don't know...Where would we start? For all we know his uncle and aunt might've changed his name completely. He might not be Harry Potter, he might not even be in England anymore."

"Couldn't we just try? There's no harm in trying, surely?"

"But he'll have been raised a Muggle, he wouldn't understand anything, he might not even believe us if we were to tell him anything..."

"I don't care Remus, I don't care about anything. He'll be turning seventeen in less than a month and I want to be there with him..."

"Sshh, all right, love. If you want to, I suppose we can try and look for him though I really don't know where we'd start what with Dumbledore being dead now; he's the only one I can think of that might've been able to help us get started. But we'll figure something out in the morning, when we've slept and can look at all of this properly."

"All right. Good night Moony."

"Night Padfoot."

No more was said after that.

Harry lay there for countless minutes more, waiting for as long as he dared to before he finally began to shuffle out from underneath the bed. Once out, he didn't stand and instead crawled out of the room, keeping as low to the ground as possible. The door was opened the barest minimum before he squeezed out. That done, he finally got to his feet and hurried back to the bathroom, where he first came in. The window was still open luckily and he wasted no time in climbing up to it, using the edge of the bath tub as a boost.

But then the bathroom light suddenly came on and against everything logical inside him, Harry froze completely and turned his head to look over his shoulder. There, standing at the open door was the one known as Remus Lupin, staring at him as though he was staring right at a ghost.

Their eyes met for only a second but it was obviously enough. "Harry...?" The man breathed and it was enough to bring the dark haired teenager out of his stupor. He turned and dived out of the window, ignoring the call to him to wait for just a moment. In mid-air he Apparated and in an instant he was back at the safe house, in the bedroom which had been named his when he had arrived.

Slowly, Harry lifted his head and looked ahead only to find himself staring right back in his reflection in the full length mirror attached to the bedroom wall. He had never really seen himself before and for long moments he just stood there and stared at the person who was Harry Potter. That person, the person staring back at him, the person who he was, everyone knew as Harry Potter. Yet different people called him different names. Why? If his name was Harry Potter, why didn't everyone call him that? He didn't understand how he could be Harry Potter and at the same time be Mr Potter to Professor Snape and Harry to Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Was there more to a name than a simple method of getting someone's attention? Could the name you called someone convey something else?

Remus Lupin called Sirius Black "love". But wasn't love an emotion? Why did he call someone who already had a name something different? And Draco Malfoy; he often referred to Professor Snape as simply "Sev". It was...Very strange. He did not understand why it was necessary.