Dark Endings

Title of Story: Dark Endings
Title of Chapter: Debts
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don’t profit from writing this.
Chapter Warnings: Devious Harry beginning to show through.
Chapter Summary: Harry explains how things will be for the rest of the summer.

“It was foolish to switch to the Light.”

“What the hell do you mean, Potter?” Draco snapped. “The Dark Lord will just kill all his followers that don’t get killed in the war! We gave up everything to do the right thing!”

“Ah, but little dragon,” Harry said calmly as he conjured a chair and sat down. “There isn’t really going to be a dark lord for much longer. Nor will there be a light one. There is a new lord growing and he’s simply. . .unselfish. He wants old Voldie and dear old Dumbly to be able to retire to golf in the Caribbean and that sort of thing.”

Harry’s eyes were sparkling weirdly as he spoke, his hand clenching and unclenching a fist.

“What are you saying, Mr. Potter?” Lucius asked. The elder blond’s mind was reeling, wondering what could have caused Harry to change like this? Or perhaps, no one had ever known Harry, and this was who he truly was? Or maybe it was from how his father had behaved when he was a lad before he met. . .

Lucius was jolted out of his reverie when he realized Harry was speaking to him again.

“Oh, I think you know what I’m saying, Lord Malfoy. You want to know something else I’m saying?” Harry paused for effect.

“Life debt…”

Lucius’s eyes widened when the realization hit him. Harry did save their lives when he accepted them into his home and his protection and then healed them, and each one of them in turn owned him a personal life debt.

“Draco, how could you do this to us! We are now in debt to the Wizarding World’s savior!” Lucius yelled.

“Silencio, my darling Lucius. There’s no need to raise your voice, is there? Do you want to wake the dead?” Harry purred, his green eyes glinting in the half-light of the breaking dawn.

“Ennervate,” Harry said gently to Narcissa.

“My dear lady, it is an honor to meet you and as always, I am astounded as to how you find yourself in the company of these two men,” Harry said. She slowly sat up and looked around, taking in her surroundings quickly.

“Mr. Potter? Could someone tell me what’s happened? Draco? Lucius, my love?” she asked timidly, her mind racing in a thousand directions before zooming in on one question: Was her family in danger? She turned her ice blue eyes on Harry Potter.

“So far, your husband and your son seem reluctant to tell me what’s going on,” Harry explained. “All I know is that Draco’s Apparated you into my bedroom and you were all in a sorry state when you arrived here.”

“Um, mother, do you remember how we were trying to escape Britain? Someone sank our ship, and I Apparated us here,” Draco said quietly, looking at the floor. “I couldn’t think of anywhere else. And since Potter didn’t turn us out and healed us, even though he had no personal or social reason to do so, we uh. . . owe him a life. . .”

“Oh!” Narcissa exclaimed. “Oh, a life debt, yes. Mr. Potter, please, what can we do for you?”

Recklessly, Narcissa struggled to stand before the Boy-Who-Lived and smiled graciously.

“Please, you have saved my family,” she said thickly as she grasped Harry’s hand. “Is there anything we can do for you?”

“Ah, well, I was just thinking about that, ma’am,” Harry said. “You shall repay me by letting me live with you the remainder of the summer. I turned seventeen today, actually, and I would like to leave this hell as soon as possible.”

Narcissa clapped her hands together and said, “Oh, yes! That would be no problem at all, Mr. Potter. There are plenty of spare bedrooms at the manor and I don’t imagine the house elves would be put out at having a guest. It’s been many years since anyone’s visited on friendly terms. And we really do need to change the wards, as it is, make them a bit stronger, so we could add your blood in there, at least until September comes around, and you can sleep in the goldenrod bedroom that’s across the hall and down a few doors from Draco’s room, I’m sure he’d be all right with that, as long as you don’t stay up too late, mind you. I know you’ve never had a mother, really. . .”

Narcissa trailed off with wide eyes, realizing she’d just brought up the death of Lily. She didn’t know how Harry felt about being reminded he had no parents.

“Harry.”

“What?”

“Call me Harry, please, Mrs. Malfoy.”

“Oh!” she said with surprise. Grateful for escaping hurting the feelings of one of the most powerful wizards of the time, she quickly said, “Call me Narcissa. . .Harry.”

“Alright. . .Narcissa.”

“Alright, Harry,” she smiled. “Why do you wish to leave this place? It’s dirty and small, but it is still your home.”

“I never wanted to stay here as my relatives are quite unpleasant towards magic and anyone associated with it. That’s all I shall say about it. I grow weary of this arrangement, and I requested that Dumbledore allow me stay elsewhere this summer, as I have requested every summer, but it seems the old bastard thought he was doing the best for me.”

Harry breathed deeply, trying to suppress his anger toward the Hogwarts Headmaster. He had begged and pleaded at the end of the sixth year to stay somewhere else, anywhere else, the Burrow, the Headquarters, even in a vault in Gringott’s. But the Headmaster had insisted it was for his own good and had sent him to suffer with the Dursleys once more.

“Lucius, my darling, darling Lucius,” Harry purred, taking the silencing charm off the elder Malfoy. “Is this satisfactory with you as well?”

Lucius was staring at Harry, completely taken aback at how Slytherin he was being. He swallowed a time or two before attempting to speak.

“I suppose. If Narcissa is all right with it, I have no real reason to go against it. Nor do I have any choice, actually, of which you’re plenty aware, so…yes, it’s satisfactory.”

Harry smiled and his eyes flicked to Draco, who shivered when he saw the two green orbs pierce his very soul.

Draco swallowed and thought desperately to himself, ‘What the fuck am I supposed to do with him the rest of the summer?! I hope he doesn’t expect me to be his friend! What is mum THINKING, putting him in the room down the hall to me? She knows how I’ve felt about him on and off! Is this punishment for spilling wine on that blasted carpet? It’s not like it stained at all. . .What was I thinking when I brought us here? This was such a mistake. We should have just drowned like we were supposed to. What is he thinking? I wish he’d stop staring at me. Why is he so damned different now!’

Draco was dragged out of his thoughts as Harry opened his mouth.

“Draco Malfoy, if you want me to be nice to you, I suggest you tell me exactly what has happened since school let out, or even before if the story extends that far into the past. And trust me -- I can get very mean,” Harry said with a sneer to rival any Malfoys’.

The emphasis on ‘very’ was not missed by Draco, and he nodded and began to tell their tale as best he could.



A/N: Each of these chapters is about this length. For that, I apologize. I feel it's easier to read, but I do understand the angst of waiting for another chapter when the last one only whetted your appetite even more. On a different note, I think you should read my new post, Mother Knows Best. It's my favorite of what I've written so far. I think it shows how I've grown as an author, the development of the plot and such. Review Dark Endings (which, as a piecve of trivia, was never meant to be the name -- only a convenient way for me to remember it should have a dark ending. I could just never think of a new name!) And then read Mother Knows Best and review. ;)

Thank you, lovlies. :)



BTW, I'm having a girl!