Darkmoon and LIght

This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Thanks to Kei and Sandra for their betaing Job....

Chapter Six

Severus had kept his word, and Harry had been allowed out of his room the next day. None to soon as far as he was concerned. Poppy had given him an almost clean bill of health, other than the damage already done to his lungs, which allowed him to move from his bed into other parts of the Manor, as long as he was never on his own. Between the two healers, they had come up with a list of things Harry was not allowed to do. If he wanted to go any farther then the bathroom, he had to find some way, either by being carried or by an enchanted chair, to get him there. Walking long distances was not allowed. Flying was not allowed as she had forbidden him even contact his or any other broom, considering that it may injure his lungs even more, and even his magic would need to be restricted for a little while longer. All the restrictions, watched over by the House Elves, had Harry irritated almost all the time.

So here he was a week later and still under Poppy's and Healer Van Der Meulen's orders, surrounded by Slytherins, sitting in the library doing extra reading for potions. His father would not take 'no' for an answer.

The silence was only occasionaly broken when Draco found something interesting or Harry had a question.

“Uncle Sev?”

“Draco?”

“Where would I find a copy of the polyjuice formula?”

“Why would you want to know how to brew polyjuice?”

“I don't. At least, not really. I just wanted to know in case I ever needed it, and I didn't have access to you.”

“You’re a Slytherin, find it yourself. If you can't find it yourself, find someone who can. Other than me, that is.”

“Fine.”

Harry had been listening trying not to let a blush stain his cheeks. “If you really want to know Draco, you could always ask someone in Gryffindor.”

Draco looked up in surprise. “Are you saying that you know where to find it?”

“Have you ever heard of the restrected section blondie?”

“How would I get into the restricted section?”

“You would need a pass from a teacher. Or, use the same technique I used on you in second year.”

“Which teacher would be stupid enough to have given you permission to enter the restricted section, Harry?” Snape asked in curiosity.

“Lockheart.”

“Ah, that would explain it. Did you ever use the information?”

“I'm sorry Severus. I cannot tell you what you want to know, since I am not the only one who could get in trouble.”

“Understandable.”

“Harry, what are you talking about? Lockheart has been gone since second year.”

“I know that. I'm one of the reasons he's in St. Mungo's.”

“Care to tell me how you did that?”

“Nope I can't tell you for the same reason I gave Severus.”

“You miss them don't you?”

Harry gave Draco a surprised look-- that was the last question he ever expected to hear. Slowly he nodded his head.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Harry carefully stood up from his spot on the couch. Taking a few steps, he looked back at his father. “Sir, would you help me back to my room? I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it on my own.”

Draco looked over at his Godfather with a raised eyebrow and a question in his eyes. Recieving a shake of the head in return, he gave a sigh and slowly started reading his book again, or tried to, anyway. Harry had started to open up over the past week, but Draco knew that Harry still kept way too much to himself. Even he knew that without talking about somethings you would slowly go crazy. As he watched Harry and Severus leave the room, he decided he needed to take action. Leaving the library, he started to hunt down his father.

He found him in his private study, staring off into space. Draco knew that he was remembering Narcissa and his time in Azkaban. Not really wanting to dwell on either of those thoughts, he cleared his throat to get his Father’s attention.

“What can I do for you Draco?”

“Actually Father, it's not so much what you can do for me, but what you can do for Harry.”

“What's wrong with Harry?” Lucius asked with concern.

“He's lonely. There's no one here he can actually talk to without giving away anything that he and his friends have done over the years. He needs contact with Granger and Weasley,” Draco told him.

“And you want to invite those two here?”

“Yes. The only thing is convincing them that this is not a trap.”

“Yes, that could be a problem.”

“What could be a problem? Is there anything I can do to help fix it?” Severus asked from the doorway.

Draco looked up at his godfather, and hope started to show in his eyes. “We're trying to think of a way to bring Harry's friends here for a visit. The only problem we can see is convincing them that this is not a trap,” Draco told him.

“That is actually not that big of a problem. If we send the request with my Grandmother, Albus will back it. Are you sure you want two more Gryffindors in the Manor?”

Lucius glanced over at his son, and recieving a nod in agreement looked up at Severus. “As long as the two of them can put up with us, then I'm sure that we can put up with them. I'll have a portkey ready to bring them here, for whenever your Grandmother is ready to bring it to them.”

“I'll send Hedwig with a note for my Grandmother. She'll be here shortly after recieving it.”

Without waiting for an answer he walked out of the study. In truth he was extremely proud of Draco to notice that Harry needed his friends, but he wasn't sure how the other two Gryffindors would take to being in Malfoy Manor.

Writing a short note to his Grandmother, he called Hedwig to him and tied the note to her leg. All he needed now was to wait for his Grandmother to return to the Manor. He knew that it would only take Hedwig about half an hour to find her, and then he need only wait another five minutes or so before she showed up.

Instead of waiting for her in the study with Lucius and Draco, he decided to spend the time watching his son sleep. Sitting in the chair set next to Harry's bed for just that purpose, he lost himself to his own thoughts of a time long since gone.

Evelyn stood watching her Grandchildren from the doorway. For once, Severus did not notice her arrival, so this was a rare thing for her to do. Glancing over at her youngest Grandchild she could see the difference that being in a place that he was comfortable in made, but she could also see the lines of loneliness in his face. It was the same look in the faces of his two best friends.

Gliding silently across the room, Eve gently touched her Grandson's hair, brushing it back away from his eyes. “Severus my Childe, it's time to come back to the present,” she murmered just loud enough for him to hear.

Severus blinked his eyes back into focus, and checked on Harry before turning to his Grandmother. “Grandmere. I'm glad you could come.”

“I was on my way here with a message from Albus when Hedwig found me. Albus would like permission for either Harry to return to Headquarters for a few days or for Harry's friends to come here.”

“That's what we wanted you here for. Lucius has made a portkey to bring Miss. Granger and Mr. Weasley here. It seems Draco believes Harry needs his friends.”

“He's right, and I believe they need him just as much. They're barely eating or sleeping because they are so worried, no matter how many times we tell them that Harry is fine."

“Harry is the same way. Do you think they will come here without knowing where here is first? We still don't want Albus to find out where Harry is staying.”

“Let’s find Lucius. I'm sure that there will be no trouble convincing them to come here, but the problems will come after they find out where they are.”

“Agreed.”

~~hp~~

Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger had been allowed into this meeting of the Order of the Pheonix for one reason and one reason only: to learn what was being done about Harry. It was no secret that they wanted their friend back.

Albus Dumbledore looked around the room and noticed that Harry's friends where looking worse every day. “I have sent a message to Harry's new guardians asking them to either allow Harry to come here for a few days, or for you to go to him. I'm not sure what will happen,” Albus told them.

Fred, George and Ginny looked up with hope, hope that they to would be allowed to see Harry if he was not allowed to come here. For that matter, the rest of the Order looked hopeful also.

“Before you ask, I have no control over this. My request may be denied altogether. At the very most only Ron and Hermoine may be allowed to go to Harry. I am not even allowed to know where he is. Poppy has only told me that he is safe and well taken care of.”

This was something he had not told anyone before. As far as the rest of the Order knew, he had known where Harry was, but he was ready for any questions that came his way. Before any one could ask, a shimmer in the air alerted him that Evelyn was back. Holding up his hand he held off all questions until she made herself known.

“Eve, how wonderful to see you agian.”

“Hello Albus. It seems that you and my Grandson had the same idea. He would like to request that Miss Granger and Mr. R. Weasley come to the Manor to visit with Harry for about a week.”

Albus smiled. It seemed Harry missed his friends as much as they missed Harry. “Are you planning on telling me who your Grandson is yet?”

“No, Albus, I'm not. I've told you before, if Darkmoon wishes to tell you who he is, then he may. If he has not told you then I won't either. Get over it.”

Ginny and the others watched and listened. No one could believe that someone would dare talk to the Headmaster this way. Looking around Ginny realized that no one else believed it either.

“Um, excuse me Lady Silverstar. What about the rest of us? Are we going to be able to see Harry also?”

Eve smiled at the youngest Weasley. “I'm sorry my dear, but not this time. I will work on the others so that you may visit him later, or he can visit here, but I'm not making any promises. I can tell you that you can all go shopping together for your school supplies. If I have to, I'll pull rank on Darkmoon to allow this.”

“Thank you Lady.”

Glancing at Harry's best friends she smiled once again. “You two have ten minutes to get everything ready to go. If you are not here, I leave without you. The portkey is not timed but I do have other things to do today. Get going.”

Without looking at any of the adults for permission, Ron and Hermoine ran out fo the room, quickly followed by the rest of the Weasleys.

Looking at the rest of the order, Eve lost her smile. “Now that I have them all out of the room, I just want to let you know that Harry is healing, but it's going very slowly. It's our hope that having his two partners in crime around will help the healing process. I will make sure that they write to you at least once while they are gone. Just don't try to track the letters. I have added an anti-tracking spell to Hedwig. She will be the only contact that you will have with the children unless there is an emergency.”

The Order just nodded their heads in agreement. Holding back her sneer, she concluded that she had spent entirely to much time in the presence of her Grandson. Eight minutes later all the children returned. “You returned with two minutes to spare. I don't think I've seen anyone your age move that fast in years,” she laughed.

“Now for the words of warning. Harry is asleep at the moment, so I am taking you to the Study instead of directly to him. There you will meet his guardians. You may or may not know them. You may or may not like them. You will not hex them in anyway, shape or form. I suggest that you use the time until Harry wakes up to work through any issues or misunderstandings you may have when we get there. Otherwise I will take you right back here without you seeing him. Do you understand me?”

Hermoine and Ron swallowed what ever they where going to say and instead just nodded their heads. They would do anything they needed to do to make sure Harry was happy and healthy.

“Good. Then I suggest you take hold of this,” she said and held out a crystal paperweight. “Just remember to mind your manners. My grandson is not a very patient person.”

When both teens touched the crystal, the portkey activated and they were all whisked away.

Moments later the group landed in the Malfoy's Study. It only took the two of them a minute to figure it out.

Glancing at the teen waiting for them, Ron started to turn red in anger, barely managing to keep it to himself. “Lady Silverstar, please tell me that this is some kind of joke. I really don't think that Harry would willingly spend time with a Slytherin.”

Eve answered before Draco had a chance to say anything. “I do not joke, Mr. Weasley. Harry is here away from the Headmaster by his own wishes. Did you want to return to headquarters now?”

Hermoine slapped her hand over Ron's mouth. “No Ma'am. We just don't understand why he would want to stay here instead of with us.”

“Because he is safe here. And because he doesn't have to hide in a house that reminds him at every turn of just what he lost,” Draco told them.

Evelyn looked around the study “Where are the others?”

“They were Called.”

Before she could ask another question, a House Elf popped in. “Mr. Draco, Harry Potter Sir is having a nightmare. I cannot wake him up.”

Draco looked at his two year mates and back to the House Elf. “Thank you Tinnie. Go make the rooms next to Harry's ready for these two.” With a bow Tinnie disappeared. Turning back to Ron and Hermoine, Draco motioned them out the door. “I'll take you up to Harry's room. It sounds like he is having another of the visions he told me about.” Nodding for Draco to led the way, the three teens rushed out of the room to find Harry.

The sound of his screams told Ron just how bad the vision was, and he surprised Draco by moving past him at a run, trusting the screams to lead the way. What he saw when he entered the room angered him.

“You have to hold him down or he'll try to claw the scar off!” he told Draco, and jumped up on the bed next to Harry. Grabbing hold of Harry's hands to keep them away from his head, and straddled the smaller boy. Moments later, he felt Hermoine join him.

“Lady Silverstar, we are going to need a cool cloth for his scar. Charm it so that it stays cold. Really cold. It will help dull the pain, and shock him enough to pull away from Voldemort’s mind,” Hermoine told her.

Draco, seeing Ron struggling to keep both Harry's hands down and keep his body still, ran over and vaulted on to the bed. Pushing Ron to the side, he grabbed one arm and put all of his body weight on the leg on the same side; Ron quickly copied his movements. Hermoine had grabbed the iced cloth as soon as it appeared and placed it directly over Harry's scar. Moments later Harry's eyes shot open. Ron and Draco immediately let go and Hermoine helped Harry roll onto his side to let him get sick without worrying about choking on it.

After Harry had spit up all that was coming out, Hermoine accepted a cup of water from a House Elf and pressed it to Harry's lips. When he had swallowed a few mouthfuls, she pulled it away and replaced it with a pain potion.

Ron surprised them all when he pulled Harry forward enough to slip behind him and cradled Harry against his chest as he waited for the tremors to ease. Whispering words of comfort, he let Harry cry until he settled enough to be ask what everyone wanted to know. “Hey mate, what is Snake-face up to now?”

Through his tears, Harry looked up at Ron and shuddered, “He found the Dursleys, and when they didn't tell him what he wanted to know proceeded to torture them to death,” he said before burrowing into Ron's robes.

Eve produced a vial of sleeping draught, and Ron held it so Harry could drink. Before it could do its job, he twisted his hands in Ron's robes so that Ron could not escape, needing the familiar solidness of his best friend.

Hermoine watched Harry's reaction with worried eyes; she had never seen or heard of Harry reacting this badly before. Looking up, she saw confusion from Lady Silverstar and what looked like ill-concealed jealasy from Draco. Knowing that her explanation would ease both of their minds, she gave a small reassuring smile.

“Ron has been doing this since the end of forth year. Ron is giving Harry the reassurance that he is not alone and still has friends and in the case of the Weasleys, family,” she told them, and noticed right away that Draco's stance eased up.

Her smile disappeared as she planted both hands on her hips. “Now would you be kind enough to explain to Ron and myself just what in Merlin’s name is going on?”

“I'll give you the short version. Darkmoon and myself rescused Harry from the Dursleys, brought him here, and healed him. We kept him asleep for five days, and at the end of that time we worried that his eyes would heal properly. Harry made the decision not to let Albus know where he was, and he has been here ever since,” Eve told them.

“That does not explain why he is here,” Ron said quietly.

“I'll give you the same reason that Harry gave me when I asked the same question. He's hiding in plan sight. No one would think to look for Harry in the house of his enemies,” Draco told him

Ron thought about that and then nodded his head. “Lady Silverstar, how long will that potion keep him asleep?”

“Not long, Mr. Weasley. There was only enough in that dose to put him out for about 20 minutes. I cannot give him anymore since I do not know exactly how much Darkmoon gives him.”

“Please, Lady call us by our first names. The use of our last names makes me at least feel like I'm in school,” Ron told her, while Hermione nodded in agreement.

“Then the two of you must call me Eve.”

Hermione gave her a considering look. “Who is Darkmoon?”

Draco started to laugh. “You, the smartest witch in our year, haven’t figured out who Darkmoon is yet?”

“Now, now Draco, it's rude to laugh. If I remember correctly, it took you awhile to figure out that Darkmoon and Darian Star were, in fact, the same person,” a cool voice came from the doorway.

“Father, you’re back. Where's Uncle Sev?”

No sooner was the question out of his mouth then Harry started to twist and scream again. Ron slide out from beneath him, and together with Draco once again held Harry down. Lucius watched in morbid facination as the boys tried to keep Harry's hands away from his scar.

“Merlin, he might as well be suffering through the same curse,” he breathed.

Hermione looked up and gave him a grim smile. “Technically, he is, Mr. Malfoy.”

After a few minutes went by Ron looked up at Hermione with worry in his eyes. “It's worse this time. I don't understand, it really shouldn't be this bad. Who ever pissed Riddle off did a very good job of it.”

Lucius and Eve shared a look, both of them had the same thought. The reason it was so bad was because of the shared blood. When Harry suddenly went limp, they feared the worse. But were reasured by Ron's next words. “Finally. It seems who ever was on the recieving end will live to piss off Riddle another day.”

“Are you sure that the recipient is not dead?” Lucius asked, moving over to the chair next to the bed.

“Yes. This was just the limp relief of the curse being cancelled.”

Harry's shot up in bed. “Father,” he moaned, before blinking his eyes open, glancing around he saw Lucius. “Uncle Luc, you have to go and help him back up here. He's hurt bad.”

“Relax, Imp. I left orders for the House Elves to keep an eye out for him, and bring him up here to you.”

Harry nodded his head and sunk back into the pillows, doing his best to breath through the pain, since he could not take another pain potion for another few hours. He was only vaguely aware of Ron and Hermione.

“Harry Mate, are you okay?”

“Yeah Ron. Or at least I will be.”

“Harry, you called out for your Father,” Hermione said, not asking a question, but not making a statement either.

Harry looked up at the concerned faces of his friends. “I did?”

Lucius gave a short laugh. “Yes Imp, you did.”

“Shite!”

“Watch your language young man,” came a weak voice from the Shadow.

Harry was out of bed and next to his father's side in a flash. “Father! How dare you risk yourself Shadow-Walking like that. You could have been lost,” Harry scolded as he helped Severus into the bed.

“I needed to make sure you were okay. I knew that the Dark Lord would pull you into his mind for this one.”

As Harry started handing the same potions that he took earlier to his father the others watched on, some in shock, but others in amusement. “Why did he hold you back?”

“Because there has been no word on where you where. He's had everyone looking.”

“So he took it out on his spy.”

“Of course. Now stop hovering and let me sleep. I think you need to explain a few things to your friends.”

Eve gave Severus a mock glare. “You do realize, Darkmoon, that you are kicking your son out of his own room.” she asked just as Harry poured a sleeping drought down his throat.

“My room is too dark at the moment. I need light,” he mumbled, and then used one of Harry's lines. “Evil you know, talking to me while I'm trying to sleep.”

“So I've been told Childe, so I've been told.”

Harry watched as his father slipped all the way into sleep, before standing and taking a step away from the bed. He found out the hard way that he was not up to walking, as that first step became his last. Lucky for him that Draco was standing right behind him, waiting for him to stumble. Before he could fall, Draco looped his arm around Harry's waist and pulled him against his chest. “You know, Potter, Poppy is not going to be happy with you for this.”

“Stuff it Malfoy, or I'll tell the Dragon Lady that you let me near your broom.”

“Fine, be a prat then. My room or the library?”

“Your room. Then I can fall asleep and not worry about having to be moved again.”

“You just wanted an excuse to get in my bed,” Draco joked before making sure Harry was balanced and stepping away long enough to get centered. He then picked the smaller boy up and cradled him against his chest once more. Looking over at the two gobsmacked Gryffindors he told them, “The longer you stand there with your mouths open, the longer it will take to get the answers you want,” and walked out of the room.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other in shock and then took off running after the other two.