Funerals and Weddings

For disclaimer, summary, story codes and other information, please see the prologue.

Chapter the Thirty-eighth: Dark Plans
The early hours of 6 January
Hogwarts, Room of Requirement

Draco jerked backwards and nearly fell off the sofa when Harry yelled. Harry had ended up on the floor—he was kneeling, with his body bent double and his face buried in his hands.

“What the fuck?” Draco yelped, scrambling to kneel next to Harry on the floor. “Harry, what’s wrong? What’s going on?”

He could see now that Harry was pressing his hands to his forehead.

“Voldemort,” Harry managed to say through gritted teeth. “Vision.”

“Shit! What do I do? Should I get someone? Dumbledore?” Draco was frantic. He’d never experienced one of Harry’s “connections” to the Dark Lord before and it was scaring the shit out of him.

“No, just…wait,” Harry panted. He rolled over onto his side, facing away from Draco, still curled into a ball.

Feeling helpless, Draco stroked Harry’s back and head while the dark-haired wizard shuddered. After a few minutes, Harry stopped shuddering and his body relaxed.

“Harry? Is it over? Are you all right?” Draco asked anxiously.

Harry got to his hands and knees, then stilled, his body going tense again for a moment. Draco could hear him breathing in and out through his nose. Finally, Harry sat back on his haunches and looked at Draco.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” he said, smiling weakly.

Harry went to stand, pushing himself up using the table. His knees wobbled and Draco quickly grasped his arm and helped him sit down on the sofa.

“Harry, are you ok?” Draco asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just…give me a minute,” Harry said, leaning back on the cushions and closing his eyes. He moved one hand to rub at his scar.

“Do you have a headache?”

Harry grunted. “Yeah, always do. Wish I had some Headache Potion.”

Draco closed his eyes and concentrated a moment. A blue phial of liquid appeared on the table. He unstoppered it quickly and brought it to Harry’s mouth. “Here, drink this.”

Harry cracked open an eye. “Where’d you get that?”

Draco smiled. “Room of Requirement, remember? Now drink up.”

Harry swallowed the slightly bitter potion and closed his eyes again. Draco pulled on his shoulders until he was lying back with his head in Draco’s lap. Draco began to rub small circles on Harry’s temples.

“Ahh…thanks. You can’t imagine how good that feels,” Harry sighed.

“Shhh, just rest a minute. Let the potion work,” Draco soothed.

They stayed liked that for several minutes, Draco rubbing the tension from Harry’s head. After a little while, Harry opened his eyes and peered up at Draco.

“Thanks. I feel a lot better now,” he said, starting to sit up.

Draco held him in place. “No, stay—unless you aren’t comfortable?”

Harry relaxed back into Draco’s lap and smiled up at him. “Are you kidding? I could stay here forever.”

Draco returned the smile, then sobered. “Harry, what happened? What was that?”

“Voldemort,” Harry sighed. “Remember I said I connected to him through my scar?”

“What…what did you see?” Draco asked, the trepidation plain in his voice.

Harry frowned. “Well, it was really weird. It was the same vision I had…was it just yesterday? So much has happened, it seems longer ago. Anyway, it was the vision I had of you—as a prisoner.”

Draco paled. “Again? What…what does that mean?”

“I have no idea. It’s never happened like this before. Usually, when I connect with him, I see or feel whatever he is seeing or feeling at the time. This is different, obviously. I mean, you’re here, not a prisoner somewhere.”

“Thank Merlin,” Draco said under his breath.

Harry reached up and squeezed Draco’s hand. “Yeah.”

Draco shook his head in confusion. “So…you saw the same thing you saw yesterday? When you were the Dark Lord or whatever, then you became me when he used the Cruciatus? Did you just experience the Cruciatus Curse again?”

“No,” Harry moved his head side to side in Draco’s lap. “It was…different. More like…a dream. Or a memory. Yeah, that’s what it felt like—a memory. Like…Voldemort was remembering torturing you. And I was…remembering with him, I guess. You know how when you remember something, all the details aren’t clear? It’s more like—images and impressions? That’s what this was. And it was happening fast—like a film being played in fast-forward. Do you know what I mean?”

Draco frowned. “I think so. So…you think the Dark Lord was remembering torturing me as a prisoner? But…that’s impossible. It’s never happened!”

“I know. I don’t understand it either. But it’s the only way I can explain it. Maybe Dumbledore can make more sense of it. I’ll tell him tomorrow—well, today, I guess. What time is it?”

Casting the Tempus spell, Draco replied, “Damn! It’s five in the morning! We should probably get some sleep.”

“Yeah, I’m knackered. Visiting with Voldemort is really exhausting. I’m just glad I was able to stop myself from chucking my dinner this time—I figured it was not the best way to impress my new boyfriend,” Harry joked.

Draco snorted. “Thanks for that. So…time to go then?”

Harry shifted to lie on his side and looked up at Draco. “Will you stay? Sleep with me? Just sleep, I mean.”

Draco smiled. “Yeah. Sure. Care to conjure a bed or do you plan to sleep squashed up on this sofa?”

Harry closed his eyes and heard Draco’s started yelp when the sofa suddenly doubled in size.

“How’s that?” Harry asked with a grin. “Now we don’t have to move.”

Draco grinned back at him. “Great, but you could have warned me. Now budge over, I want to lie down.”

Harry shifted over and sat up. He realised he still had his jeans on and didn’t really fancy sleeping in them. “Um, Draco, I usually just sleep in my boxers. Is that all right? If it’s not, then—”

“It’s fine,” Draco interrupted him, chuckling. “Me too, actually. I’d forgotten I even had my trousers on, I’m so tired.”

Stripping off their respective trousers and settling back down on the sofa-cum-bed, there was an awkward moment as the two boys tried to figure out how to sleep. Finally, Draco took charge and pulled Harry back against his chest. He draped an arm over Harry and spooned around Harry’s back.

“This all right?”” he asked.

Harry snuggled into Draco’s warm body. “Ummm…yes. Could use a blanket though.”

Draco closed his eyes and in a moment there was a nice, soft blanket and a huge fluffy pillow on the sofa with them. Shoving the pillow under their heads, the boys nestled under the blanket and, giving in to their exhaustion, fell asleep almost instantly.

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Deep within the bowels of the crumbling manor house, Lord Voldemort gave a negligent wave of his hand after Bellatrix Lestrange prostrated herself and kissed her Master’s robes.

“You may rissse, Bella. Pleassse, be ssseated. We have much to dissscusss.”

Standing, Bellatrix moved to the wooden chair to the left of Voldemort. After arranging her robes to her satisfaction, she met her Master’s crafty gaze with her own. “Yes, my Lord, how may I be of service to you?”

Folding his pale hands together, Voldemort tapped the tips of his raised index fingers together.

“I have need of your asssissstance in carrying out a plan I originally asssigned to Luciusss. Asss you know, your nephew ssseemsss no longer inclined to join my ranksss. He hasss proved to be quite the disssappointment.”

Bellatrix nodded, her eyes narrowing. “Yes, my Lord. I am ashamed to call him blood. Have you devised a way to…punish the traitor?”

“All in due time, my dear Bella. The young Mr. Malfoy may have other usssesss. Before he got himssself foolissshly killed, Luciusss dissscovered a fassscinating ssspell. Usssing the blood willingly given by the father, I am able to enter into the mind of the ssson.”

Bellatrix leaned forwardly eagerly. “Ah. I see. You wished to know if he was a traitor. What did you learn, my Lord? Has my wretched nephew joined the old man?”

“Yesss,” Voldemort said. “He hasss completely betrayed his family. But hisss mind isss a ussseful tool. And not only asss a sssource of information on Dumbledore and Potter. Usssing the ssspell, I have ssseen hisss fear of me.”

Ever dramatic, Voldemort paused. “And I have ssseen hisss visssionsss of the future asss well.”

“The future? You mean Draco is a Seer? I did not know this! Did Lucius?”

“No. The firssst time I entered hisss mind, I learned of two dreamsss. I did not know they might be propheciesss until Luciusss wasss killed. It ssseemsss young Malfoy dreamed of hisss father’sss death at the handsss of Potter. I believe the dream ssshowed the truth: Potter killed Luciusss.”

“Potter! How could that brat kill Lucius? He isn’t powerful enough to kill Lucius Malfoy!” Bellatrix objected.

“Unfortunately, I could not sssee all of young Malfoy’sss dream clearly. I do not know if the boy even knew that hisss dream wasss anything more than just that—a dream. But it ssshowed Potter usssing a ssshield to deflect Luciusss’ Killing Curssse back onto him. Thisss ssshield would be of great value to usss,” he paused, his snake-like eyes slitting into almost nothingness as he smiled evilly. “I want it.”

Bella smiled slowly in return. “Yes, that shield—if it exists—could be very useful. But my Lord, how do you plan to get it from Potter? That old crackpot Dumbledore doesn’t let him out of his sight.”

“I ssshall ussse young Malfoy’s knowledge to get it. Hisss sssecond dream isss of himssself asss my prisssoner. How he fearsss this visssion! What you mussst do, Bella, isss help me to fulfill thisss prophecsssy. You mussst capture your traitorousss nephew for me. Then, we ssshall demand the ssshield in return for hisss…sssafe return,” Voldemort said.

“But my Lord, how can you be sure that Dumbledore will give up the shield to save Draco? Surely the shield is more valuable to him than my worthless nephew!”

“Ah, but you mussst think like the sssoft-hearted fool, my dear. Dumbledore will not sssacrifice a life. And the…hintsss…that I give Potter asss to the torture young Malfoy is experiencsssing will help to convincssse him to do asss we want.”

“Hints? Forgive me, Lord, I do not understand,” Bellatrix implored.

“In a moment, my dear,” Voldemort said, holding up one thin finger. Then he said loudly: “ELF!”

A decrepit-looking house-elf appeared instantly, head bowed as it kneeled before the Dark wizard. “Yes, Master?” it squeaked.

“Mrsss. Lessstrange and I would like dinner—immediately,” Voldemort ordered, waving a spidery hand. “You are disssmisssed.”

The house-elf barely squeaked out a “Yes, Master!” before vanishing. Within minutes, the wooden table was set with a meal and a bottle of red wine.

Smiling, Voldemort poured wine for Bellatrix and himself. “To the death of Potter,” he intoned.

“To your victory,” Bellatrix returned.

While they ate, Voldemort told Bellatrix the plan he had already set in motion: using his connection to Potter, he had given him “visions” of Draco Malfoy as a prisoner under torture. When Bella was successful in kidnapping her nephew, he would continue to send the “visions” to goad Potter into insisting that Dumbledore save the poor boy, even if it meant giving up the shield. Then he would demand that Potter deliver the shield—alone. If the plan worked, he would have all three: the traitorous son of his former top lieutenant, the young wizard who was the bane of his existence, and the powerful shield. He even promised Bellatrix that she could have Draco to punish and dispose of as she wished.

Bellatrix asked a few questions of her lord, albeit carefully. She hadn’t risen to the top of the Death Eater ranks by being a fool. His answers satisfied her, but she was surprised by the answer she got when she asked how he planned to continue invading Draco’s mind without Lucius’ blood.

“Ah, but I do have Luciusss’ blood. After ssseeing hisss ssson’sss dream, I realisssed that ssshould anything happen to Luciusss, I would no longer be able to ussse the ssspell. He…donated sssome before he died,” Voldemort replied.

Eyes widening, Bellatrix said, “Forgive me, my Lord, but I am surprised that Lucius would…allow you to take and store his blood. Did he know of the dream?”

“I did not choossse to tell him. I did not believe it wasss anything more than a dream at the time. I…convinced…Lucius to donate hisss blood ssso that I could enter the boy’sss mind at any time, not only when Luciusss was able to be presssent.”

Bellatrix wondered which painful spell the Dark wizard had used to “convince” her former brother-in-law to “donate” his blood. Lucius had known well that one did not give away any part of their physical self that could be used in a spell against them—especially blood. It must have been a hideously nasty curse; Lucius had had a high tolerance for pain. Her face twisted in a cruel smile as she thought of Lucius in agony. It was such an…arousing image.

“I applaud your…forethought, my Lord. As usual, you are a step ahead of everyone else. Do you have any specific instructions as to how you wish me to capture Draco?” she asked.

“No…not unlesss you happen to know of anything that will lure young Malfoy out of the ssshadow of the old man he cowersss behind?” Voldemort returned.

Bellatrix thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, my Lord, I do not. I would suggest his mother…but he has never been all that close with Narcissa. I don’t know whether threatening her would be a strong enough motive for him to come out of hiding.”

Voldemort inclined his head. “Then I will visssit the boy’sss mind again tonight. I will ssseek out hisss weaknesssssesss. Then you may exploit them.”

Seeing Nagini slither into the room, he switched to Parseltongue to greet his favoured pet. The shudder that ran through Bellatrix as he did so did not escape his notice.

“Isss there sssomething elssse you would like to ‘exploit’ in the meanwhile, my dear Bella?” he asked, with a leering grin.

Bellatrix’s eyes darkened to almost black as she moved to kneel in front of her master, licking her lips. “Oh yes, my Lord, there is…”

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Draco was having another amazing dream—a new one. He was lying warm in bed, with an even warmer mouth surrounding his morning erection. In the dream, he knew it was Harry going down on him. It wasn’t that he could see him or recognise his technique—not yet anyway. But he could smell him. That wonderful scent that was Harry—something that reminded him of summer and rain and sun and freshly mown green grass. As the mouth working to devour him brought him to full-blown arousal, Draco realised in a distant sort of way that he’d never noticed being able to smell things in his dreams before. This thought—and a long, rough swipe of a tongue across the head of his cock—brought him to full consciousness, up through the last layers of his sleep-fuzzed semi-awareness. And the first thing his newly awakened brain understood was that there really was a delicious mouth swallowing him.

Heat pooled in his groin and the arousal he thought had already reached its peak intensified. Opening his eyes, Draco looked down to see Harry’s unruly black hair covering his lap. He groaned and his hands fisted in the blanket as Harry sucked hard on the head of his cock. Hearing the groan, Harry tilted his head enough to look at Draco. Grinning wickedly, he sucked to the end of Draco’s erection, then leaving his mouth open, used his tongue to tease the tip.

Just seeing the lust darkening the green of Harry’s eyes had almost sent Draco over the edge; watching Harry’s tongue dance over the end of his cock and feeling the barbell graze his weeping slit was more than he could take. With a hoarse shout of “Harry!” Draco arched his back and came. Harry engulfed Draco’s cock just in time to avoid being hit in the face with a spurt of ejaculate; instead he swallowed it down. As he did, it occurred to him that while he hadn’t minded the taste of Jason’s come, or Justin’s, he hadn’t loved it either. But Draco’s…it was different with Draco. He actually liked how Draco tasted.

Licking up the last of the white essence and holding it on his tongue, Harry crawled up Draco’s still-shuddering body. He closed his mouth over Draco’s parted lips and shared the taste with its owner.

Draco moaned and tasted himself as Harry’s tongue tangled with his own. The thought of tasting his own come was not appealing—until it was mixed with the flavour of the boy kissing him. Then it was one of the most erotic things Draco had ever experienced. In response, he deepened the kiss.

When the kiss finally ended, Draco opened his eyes to see Harry looking down at him.

“Good morning,” Harry smiled.

Draco smirked. “A very good morning, I’d say. I think you give a much better wake-up call than my alarm does.”

Laughing, Harry gave him a smacking kiss. “Thanks—I think!”

“Oh, it was a compliment, believe me,” Draco said. “A lovely way to wake up. But I think I’m not the only one…awake.” With that, he thrust upward into the erection he could feel against his thigh.

Harry hissed and closed his eyes. “Ahh…do that again.”

Draco complied, then slid his hand in between their bodies and grasped Harry firmly. Using his free hand to pull Harry down to him, he kissed and licked and sucked at the Gryffindor’s neck while his hand brought Harry quickly to completion. Spent, Harry collapsed on top of Draco, panting slightly. After a few moments, he kissed Draco softly, then slid his weight off Draco’s body, resting his head on his chest. Draco brought his arm around Harry’s back to toy with his hair.

After a few moments, Draco shifted. “Harry? Are you awake?”

“Yeah.”

“Not that I’m not enjoying this, but…well, I’ve really got to pee!” Draco said, snickering.

Harry sat up laughing. “Yeah, me too actually. And we need to get cleaned up. Want to shower and change, then meet for lunch?”

Draco nodded. “Yeah. Then we should probably talk to Dumbledore.”

“Yeah. All right. Well, then…see you in thirty minutes in the Great Hall?” Harry said, reaching for his jeans.

“Thirty minutes?!? I’ll be there in an hour,” Draco said.

“An hour? Why the hell will it take you an hour to shower and put on a shirt and trousers?” Harry asked, genuinely baffled.

Draco paused as he was doing up his trousers. “My dear Harry,” he drawled exaggeratedly. “Looking this good isn’t all nature. It does require a little effort.”

Harry snorted and yanked his T-shirt over his head. “Whatever. I always knew you were a vain git.”

“Plebian,” Draco sniffed. Then he caught sight of Harry’s shirt and remembered he’d wanted to ask about it earlier. “Harry, what does ‘RU429?’ mean?”

“Huh? Oh, my shirt,” Harry grinned wickedly. “It means, ‘Are you gay?’”

“What? I don’t get it,” Draco said.

“Well, the ‘R’ means—” Harry started.

“I get the ‘RU’ bit, you prat!” Draco huffed. “How does ‘429’ mean gay?”

Harry snickered. “Just playing with you a bit. Have you ever seen a Muggle telephone?”

Draco nodded. “Yes, I’ve seen the boxes in London. And I had to use that one to get in at the Ministry once. Weird things, those Muggle telly-phones are.”

Harry grinned at Draco’s pronunciation. “OK, good, that makes explaining this easier. You know the numbers on the phone that you press to make a call?” At Draco’s nod, he continued. “Well, each number has 3 or 4 letters of the alphabet that correspond to it. G is the number 4, A is the number 2 and Y is 9. Get it?”

“Yeah, I get it. But why would you wear a T-shirt with that on it?” Draco didn’t see the humour in the shirt.

“Ah, it’s a Muggle thing, I s’pose. Muggles spell out words with the numbers on the phone a lot—so it’s funny to them. It made me laugh when I saw it—and I couldn’t help but wonder who all here at Hogwarts would get it.”

Draco just raised a brow. “If you say so. I’m sure the Mud—er, Muggle-borns will love it. I’m off to clean up. An hour then?”

Harry just smiled. “Yeah, an hour.”

Having finished getting dressed, Draco turned to leave. Before he reached the door, Harry’s hand on his arm stopped him.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Harry asked.

Draco looked around. “Am I?”

Harry smiled. “Yeah…this.” He pulled Draco’s face to his and kissed him, his tongue sliding between Draco’s lips easily. Holding Draco’s face in both of his hands, Harry ruled the kiss, taking Draco under fast and deep. When Harry finally stepped back, Draco opened his eyes slowly.

“What was that for?” he asked breathlessly, still in a bit of a daze.

“Just a good-bye kiss,” Harry replied innocently.

“Can’t wait to see your kiss hello, then,” Draco muttered, then shook his head to clear it. “Bye.”

Harry laughed and walked back to the table to get his wand. Dating Draco Malfoy was going to be a lot of fun.

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A/N: So…what did you think of Voldemort and Bellatrix? They are just so evil! I’m sorry it has taken me so long to update. I’m a teacher and the last week of classes before Thanksgiving Break is NUTS! Hopefully I will have more time to write during the break. As always, reviews are much appreciated!

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