The Flames of Passion

A/N: Please be aware that although this is an AR fic, there is magic involved in later chapters. Please heed the warning below, it is for your sake as the reader as well as mine. If you flame me, it will be ignored since you obviously didn't read the warning.

WARNING: This fic is based around events which some readers may find disturbing. If reading about fires, death etc is something that will upset you, please DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER.

Beta'd by the wonderful shadow_samurai. Thanks, hun. Please come back, lol.

Disclaimer: “Harry Potter” is owned by J.K. Rowling and her affiliates. The author of this story makes no monies from these characters or situations, and no copyright infringement is intended. All place names, OC's and anything unrelated to the HP universe are my own creations.

The Flames of Passion

Chapter 3

Harry left the hospital rather reluctantly and made his way back to the station. He now had his four days leave, something he and many of the others on Red Watch cherished. The shifts were long and gruelling, working on a pattern of four days on, four nights on, then four full days off.

Most of his colleagues spent their time off with their wives, families, kids etc, but Harry didn’t have to worry about any of that. He had no wife, no family and certainly no children to take up his free time. But he did get lonely and it was during the lonely times he thought of his future. He wondered if he would always be alone or if would he ever find someone to love and to cherish, and have those feelings returned? He loved Draco, there was no denying it, but the blond was married and had two children, and Harry certainly wasn’t a home wrecker. He would just continue to love Draco silently. That way, no one could be hurt.

**********

After returning home from the station, Harry got ready to crawl into bed. He was exhausted and wanted to sleep through his four day break. But that was proving to be impossible when he couldn’t shut his mind off, even after all the times he had managed to do it in school. Of course, someone was invading his head at the time and out to kill him. Now? Now it was thoughts of Draco that were keeping him awake.

Seeing the blond so helpless and desperate was playing on Harry’s mind over and over again. He tried to put the little pieces of the puzzle together and concentrate on what he remembered from the rescue.

Pansy and Blaise were found alive fairly quickly, and almost unharmed, but neither would say where Draco was. Strange! And then there was the baby. Why was the baby near Pansy and Blaise when the older child could not be found? And where did Blaise fit into all of this?

Harry tossed and turned and made the decision to call the hospital later and ask if he could visit Draco. He just didn’t want to turn up unannounced mainly because he wasn’t family so they probably wouldn’t allow him to see Draco.

After what seemed like hours, Harry managed to drift into an uneasy sleep with visions of Draco yelling for help and a small child with a shock of black hair.

**********

The raised voices could be heard from the other end of the corridor as Draco continued to yell. “I don’t fuckin’ care if I have nowhere to live at the moment. I want out of here, I want to see my son, and I want you all to stop fuckin’ prodding me and sticking those vile potions down my throat, goddammit!”

“Mr Malfoy, if you could just quieten down for two minutes!”

“Don’t you tell me to quieten down, you jumped up arse! There is nothing wrong with me, I am taking up a bed that could be used for someone who is really sick, and I… I just want to get out of here,” Draco trailed off, looking and sounding defeated. He turned his head away from the doctors and nurses gathered around his bed and took great pleasure in replacing the famous Malfoy mask.

The doctor assigned to Draco’s case cleared his throat and tried once more to talk to the blond. “Mr Malfoy, I can understand how you feel right now. It can’t be easy, knowing you have lost your home and possessions, but you have to understand, we cannot let you leave our care when you have nowhere else to go. It is our responsibility to make sure no further harm can come to you. Nurse Paterson is trying desperately to contact social services and have you put into emergency accommodation until something more suitable arises.”

Draco was listening, but he snorted at the information he was being given. He could just imagine the ‘accommodation’ they would be offering. A run down, one bedroomed, twenty storey flat in a drug crazed area full of addicts and, quite possibly, paedophiles and all sorts of criminals. He wasn’t going to bring his son up in conditions like that, but he had no other choice. He murmured a quiet thank you and closed his eyes, praying that sleep would take him and the medical staff around his bed would leave him in peace. But he wasn’t given that pleasure.

“Mr Malfoy, if I could just talk to you about your son.” Draco shot up in bed and began to panic. The doctor laid a gentle hand on his shoulder to calm him down. “Just relax, he is in good hands.”

“But?”

The doctor took a deep breath before he broke the news to the distressed blond. “Your son has severe lung damage due to smoke inhalation, Mr Malfoy. He is showing difficulty in breathing and has had to be put on a respirator. There are also signs of heat damage, that is burns around and inside the mouth and nose and internal swelling of the throat. Was your son actually in the same room as the fire, Mr Malfoy?”

Draco was stunned. He remembered smelling smoke whilst he was working in his lab in the basement, and upon opening the door he heard the smoke alarms going off in every hallway in the Manor. But he was sure the fire was nowhere near his son’s room.

“I… I’m not sure. Har… I mean, the firefighter that rescued my son, he… oh God, is he going to be all right?” He knew he was going to have to speak with Harry, and soon. Draco had no idea where the infant was rescued and if the fire was in that part of the Manor. He only knew his son was safe from the fleeting memories of Harry’s softly spoken words to him earlier. Oh, I got your son out. He’s beautiful, Draco.

“Is… is he going to d… die?” Draco asked, afraid of the answer but he needed to know, if not for his sake but for Harry’s.

These were the sort of questions doctors faced nearly every day, and every time they were asked, they still had difficulty finding the right words to say. Honesty was the best policy, but the young man in front of him had already lost his home, and he was unsure if he would take the news that it was possible his son may die very well. But he had to know.

“Your son is very weak at the moment. If he manages to get through the night, then there is an eighty percent chance he will make a full recovery. The next few hours are crucial. But I have to warn you, Mr Malfoy, he has inhaled a lot of poisonous gases, which is unfortunately one of the major causes of death in house fires - not the fire itself but the fumes it gives off - and it will take a miracle to get him through this.”

Draco let out a strangled sob and shook his head in denial. “No, he’s my son; his fa… other parent is…” Draco couldn’t blurt out what he was thinking. How could he have been so stupid? The very thought of nearly exposing the wizarding world made him feel sick. Instead he asked, “May I see him, please?”

Draco was given a few moments of peace to try and get his head around everything he had been told. The soft knock on the door made him jump and the doctor poked his head around and asked if he was ready. Draco nodded and followed the doctor from the room.

They walked in silence through one corridor after another, up one flight of stairs, along another corridor and then into a part of the hospital Draco didn’t really want to see. ‘The Sick Children’s department of the Royal Wiltshire Hospital’, the sign said above their heads. Draco tried to control his breathing as the doctor (he couldn’t even remember his name because he’d spent most of his time yelling at him) spoke with the nurse on reception duty. She gave a nod of the head and pointed towards the end of the corridor. The doctor motioned for Draco to follow him and he fell into pace beside the man in the long white coat.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Draco said. The doctor shot him a confused look. “You know? The shouting and stuff, I… well, I’ve never been in a hospital as busy as this before and I freaked out. I’m sorry, Doctor…?”

The doctor extended his hand and Draco took it. “Dr Trevin and apology accepted. It’s what we are used to anyway. And that was mild compared to some of the language and verbal abuse we have to suffer in this job.” Draco managed a small smile, despite the circumstances.

Before he could speak once more they had stopped at the double doors of a children’s ward. Doctor Trevin’s voice took on a very grave tone, and Draco knew then just how serious the situation was that he found himself in.

“This is the ICU ward, or Intensive Care Unit, whatever you want to call it. This… well, this is where the children who need close monitoring are found. Your son has a room at the end of the ward. Nurse Johnson will take you there, but before you go in I suggest you take a few calming breaths. It’s not easy seeing a child, especially your own, like that. There are a lot of wires and machines plus a few tubes feeding him fluids, oxygen and medication. He is in a deep sleep, but he may be able to hear your voice. If you want to touch him, just be very careful of everything. One wrong move and a wire may be displaced, a vital one. I’m sorry I have to tell you all of this, but it has happened before and we’ve lost the child and the parents have sued us.”

Draco understood and nodded his thanks. The nurse gently gave his shoulder a squeeze as she opened the door. Draco stood there, in the doorway, frozen in fear and shock at the sight before him. Then the tears came and his feet found their way to the bedside of his barely alive child of their own accord. He didn’t recall walking to the bed, or how he got there, just that he was now sitting on a chair gazing at his son.

All around him were machines, wires, tubes; everything that Doctor Trevin said would be there. The screen above the bed had a zigzag line going across it from left to right. Draco wondered what that was but was thankful the red warning light hadn’t come on. He tore his gaze away from the screen and bent his head low to speak quietly to his son.

“Oh my God… Har… Harrison, baby, I am so sorry. Daddy is so sorry. I… I tried to get to you, really, I did, but….” Draco let his head fall onto the tiny figure on the bed and he sobbed until his eyes were barely open. He wiped his tears away roughly on the sleeve of his hospital gown, which he didn’t even realize he was still wearing until now, and took hold of his child’s tiny hand. “Your papa rescued you. Did you know that? Still playing the hero even after two years! He doesn’t know about you being his son yet, but I promise I will tell him. You have to get better, Harrison; Daddy needs you. You are all I’ve got right now and… God, this is so hard. I’m going to talk to Papa, and maybe we can find a cure for you somehow. Just hang in there, soldier. Do you think you can do that for Daddy, huh?”

Draco saw, rather than felt, a tiny finger jerk just for a second before it went still again. With the knowledge that Harrison had felt him close by and responded to his voice, Draco grinned and placed a soft kiss on the child’s forehead before leaving the room. He promised to return soon, but first, he wanted to discharge himself and go and find Harry. They had a lot to talk about.

***********

After much deliberation and promises to return to the hospital if he showed any signs of fatigue or sudden dizziness, Draco was allowed to leave. The nurses had given him a pair of jeans and a thick jumper to wear. He shuddered at the thought of wearing some nameless Muggle’s clothes - probably a dead Muggle too, he mused - but it was the only clothing he had. The trousers and silk shirt he had been wearing when he arrived at the A and E had been tossed aside and he was stripped and given a very uncomfortable hospital gown. He snorted as he left the hospital, pushing the double doors open with so much force that some of the people coming and going looked at him peculiarly. Draco just passed them his famous sneer and headed for his destination.

***********

Harry was dreaming, at least he thought he was. Someone was banging really loudly on the door, but he knew he was alone. Then he heard a familiar voice, not taunting or nasty, but scared and desperate. “Potter, open this damned door! I know you’re home. FUCK, HARRY, PLEASE… Please, I… I need you!”

Harry’s brain registered just then as he heard the thud at his front door. He leapt out of bed, tripping over the duvet and bolted through his house in three seconds flat. Breathless and terrified, he opened the door to find Draco slumped on the ground with his knees pulled up to his chest. Harry placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and Draco got up. He threw his arms around the brunet and clung on as if Harry was his lifeline.

“What is it, Draco? Are you okay? Is your son okay? What’s happened?” Harry asked, frantic with worry.

Draco pulled out of the embrace and simply said, “We need to talk, Harry!”

TBC

A/N: Oooh, another cliffhanger. I’m so sorry, honestly (grins like a loon) but this chapter just felt so long and I wanted the readers to see what went on after the big rescue. So the next chapter will be the big talk. Also, a big, big thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. All your questions will be answered in the upcoming chapters, just hang in there.