Short Fuse

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its corresponding ideas and themes. If I did, well, never mind; that\'s a big if.

Summary: This takes place in Harry\'s 7th year. Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape... are they really what they seem? Some things in Harry\'s life aren\'t as simple as they seem, and with his powers growing, he begins to learn this in a difficult way.

Notes: Yes, I am one crazy mother... Welcome to the Insanity.

\"The worlds flowers like a carpet of crimson red
as one scatter and toss through the air
sorrow and sadness are born there
from the darkness that streams underneath
ah, are hearts only meant to lie?
are people just puppets of fate
only to embrace those we love
and protect those small and precious
today again some one shouts that out
sacrificing even their life
to smolder in the midst of time
with that instants kiss.\"- \"Velvet Underworld\" by Weiss Kreuz

Chapter 6. The Shadow\'s Flame

A loud yell awoke both Snape and Io from their slumber. Draco Malfoy sat up in his bed staring at the odd pair, his actions last night coming to him in flashbacks. Io lay curled in the potion master\'s lap, blanket spread over them both, with his head nuzzled into the center of Snape\'s chest, the heart beat like a faint drum to him. Io rose of his position at the same moment Draco jumped from the bed, his magic becoming as chaotic as it had been before. The anger was apparent in Draco, but even he did not expect, as Io walked closer and bent down on one knee in front of the blonde, what came next.

\"Master.\" Io said simply, keeping his eyes and head down.

\"Master? I thought Potter was your master?\" Draco\'s voice echoed throughout the wing, audible to all of those on the floor.

\"He is, sir, but you are my master\'s mate, hence, you are my master as well.\"

The Slytherin shot forward, grabbing the small boy by the neck and holding him up against the wall, letting his feat dangle. Draco\'s eyes narrowed, and lowered his face within centimeters of Io\'s, making the boy meet him eye to eye. During this time, Snape was still regaining his senses, his morning grogginess hitting him harder today than either other. His eyes snapped open, and he was pulled into alertness by Io\'s sudden position. He jumped up, pulling his wand from in his robes and aiming it at the angered prince.

\"Draco, don\'t do it! You have no idea what you are messing with, and you don\'t know everything.\"His voice seemed to have no effect on Draco, who still held a now blood red-eyed Io up.

\"Shut it, Sev. I want to know if this filth has been touching my mate. I smell Harry all over him, but not any of his need. Tell me, slave, have you been serving my Harry?\"

Draco was surprised as his hands suddenly tinged, pain shooting through his hand. His fingers slowly bent backwards, each one popping and breaking, their hold on Io forgotten. Draco shifted his head to see Io\'s red eyes and dual red scars glowing softly, but noticed that the magic was flowing between him and another. Draco followed the trail, and saw his godfather, wand aimed at himself, words of a hex flowing from his mouth. Pain struck the Slytherin until the magic rippled and knocked backwards, away from Io, who fell slowly to the ground, letting the shadows levitate him down. Draco fell into a heap onto the floor, growling softly until his eyes closed, and he passed out from exhaustion.

Shadows wrapped around Io and Snape, dancing around the two and blocking out all light from the outside. Still, the potions master gazed at the other boy... no, the other man, and was able to see every detail as clear as day, from the tear-shaped scar to his choker. Smiling was never something the Slytherin ever did. He smirked plenty, but never truly had he smiled like this, and indeed, he was smiling almost goofily at Io. The now amethyst eyes of the \'Ethereal\' danced lightly over the older man, and Io laid his head back on the man\'s chest, looking up to meet Snape directly.

\"Thank you, Severus.\" the shade muttered, burying his head once more. Snape wrapped his arms around Io, bringing the younger man into his warm embrace, and resting his chin on his head.

\"Your welcome, my little shadow.\"

Io let go, gazing up into Severus, grinning slightly. Snape pulled Io closer, rubbing his hand through the boys hair and bringing his face up to his own, letting his lips brush over Io\'s lips, before taking them completely. His kiss was deep as he pressed into Io, letting his tongue run slightly over his bottom lip, and eliciting a moan from the other boy, who pressed back, relishing the professors taste and touch. Never had Fudge been like this. Fudge was brutal and forceful. Snape was soft with his kiss, not forcing Io to do anything, showing that he cared. Snape slowly stopped, pulling away gently, letting his lips brush over Io\'s one last time before pulling away completely, and dropping his hands down around the boys shoulders.

\"Severus...\"

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Pages and pages of text lay sprawled out on the desk in front of the bushy-haired Hermione as she looked up anything she could on dark creatures, spells, potions, charms, hexes, and generally anything she could. Soon, as her hand trailed down the page, she stopped and her eyes glazed over as she read the info that lay in front of her. Ron came into the library and found her like that, her nose so close to the book he could have closed it and she would have gotten stuck. He looked over her shoulder, and waited for her to notice his entrance. After a few minutes he shook her lightly, which seemed to bring her out of her stupor. She looked up at him in surprised.

\"Oh, hey Ron. Where\'s Harry? I thought you were supposed to go see Dumbledore with him?\" Ron shrugged.

\"He wasn\'t in bed when I woke, so I assumed he went to the headmaster\'s office and just didn\'t want to wake me. It\'s no big deal, I guess. So, what do you have there that has gotten you so interested?\"

\"It\'s that research Harry asked me to do. I was reading about what Io is, and you might want to listen to some of this.\" she began to read from the text in front of her. \"Ethereals, a human-hybrid, or commonly know as a form of \'Half-Breeds\' to the rest of the creature kind, is the direct combination of a Wizard or Witch and a Succubus or Incubus. If the Incubi or Succubi were to be mated with a muggle, more Incubi and Succubi are formed, but as the magic in Witches or Wizards combine with the creatures own magics, they create this form of shade. Succubi and Wizards seem to be the only ones that can produce both male and female children, as Incubi tend to only create male children. With a Succubi-produced male, their is a 90% chance that the child will be attracted to members of the same sex, as part of the Succubi\'s instinct to pray on males. The Succubi Male is one of the rarer breeds, as well as the strongest of them, and its powers in magic is always greater then it\'s parents.\"

\"Wow, sounds like Io has a lot going for him when he can get set free. If he is as powerful as this book says, he will be a very promising alley against you-know-who.\"

\"Wait, there\'s more. Let\'s see; \'Ethereals are greatest in a form of magic that uses the shadows as it\'s weapon. The shadows themselves can conceal and transport the Ethereals through a vortex dimension called \'the Veil\'. In this, all shadows of this plain are pulled into the void, creating pockets of dreams, visions, and the darkest of emotions. Because of this, Ethereals are branded as some of the darkest creatures, surpassed only by Dementors, their natural enemies, and Vampires, whom the Ethereals consider royalty. Only one documented doorway to the dimension, not created by Ethereals themselves, is in existence, but its current location is unknown. These dark creatures also use darkness to transmute their appearance into several forms to defend themselves or their mate, or attack if necessary. Though they are naturally submissive as to add to their charm and aid in their seduction of men, all Ethereals have dual personalities as a means to an end. When their mate in in danger, or their is a need of self defense, another more aggressive and dominant personality surfaces and takes control, blocking out commands from any one person with the exception ONLY to their mate. Physical alterations to the Ethereal\'s being are signs that the change has occurred.\" Hermione finished, waiting for a response from Ron.

\"I wonder of those scars on his face are indicators?\" he wondered, resting his head on his folded arms.

\"Maybe. We\'ll have to talk to Io or even Harry. I hope Draco didn\'t hurt him too bad. Let\'s go find Harry and see if he has talked to the headmaster yet.\"

\"Good idea.\" Ron and Hermione closed the book in front of them, and spelled the books back into the shelves, walking from the Library towards the Gryffindor tower.
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Burning all around, bodies and screams, the smell of burnt flesh. This all seemed rather familiar to Harry. His mind wandered again as cackling started, and this time, the image of Voldemort standing over the battlefield looking down on him accompanied it. The Dark Lord smiled victoriously, like he already knew he was going to beat the boy-who-lived. Harry suddenly found himself in control as his anger spiked. He saw himself in third person, walking over to the madly laughing Lord, standing in front of the man until he looked down to see the golden boy staring back at him. Harry\'s eyes met his own, and for a instant Harry felt the pain flair in his scar, but then he pressed his own mind and anger into it, and it all became louder. The Dark Lord screamed in pain as the fire burned its way into his brain. Harry looked calmly at the gasping Lord Voldemort, smiling to himself.

\"Fuck You!\" he yelled loudly, and the dream ended.
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Back in Voldemort\'s lair, the Dark Lord writhed on the ground, clutching his forehead. Finally, as he woke and the pain subsided, his he removed his hands from his head, seeing a blood smearing his hands. Producing a mirror, Voldemort saw the last words Harry has said in the dream carved there.
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Harry stomped from the owlry just as Ron and Hermione walked by, ignoring their calls to him. He swept by, standing in front of the headmaster\'s gargoyle, and with a motion of his hand, punched a hole through the wall and lowered the stairs. His magic swirled around angrily in his system, trapped within him. The words of Snape rang through his head. Draco. Draco. Draco. He muttered, his dream currently forgotten in place of the knowledge he had gained the night before. He slammed the door to the office open, glaring daggers at the school headmaster, not caring that Ron and Hermione were almost directly behind him, watching him a little frighteningly, but listening intently to every word.

\"You knew! You knew about him and you didn\'t tell me! Why didn\'t you tell me, old man?\" the duo blinked, never knowing Harry to be so disrespectful to the headmaster, of all people.

\"Yes, I knew about young Mr. Malfoy. It wasn\'t the time for you two to find each other, I\'m afraid. He had his own inheritance two years back, and even now had no idea who is mate was supposed to be. You could imagine my surprise when I learned you were destined to be together. His father and him came yesterday, in fact, shortly after your transformation and declared their allegiance to you. Not to the light, nor the Order, but to you. The light needs you, and I will not let you get distracted from your path. You are the one who will kill Voldemort.\"

Harry\'s eyes were dark, and the room cracked with his magic, his control nearly gone. His entire body glowed a brilliant white, and suddenly, his glow wasn\'t the only one. Snape and Io walked into the room, just behind a like-wise glowing Draco. The Slytherin boy was oblivious to Snape or Io, and his entire center of attention was his mate and the headmaster. He stood next to Harry, not looking at the golden boy, but glaring at Dumbledore.

\"You manipulative bastard, I will not let you do this to me.\" Draco and Harry spoke at the same time, their voices in perfect sync, matching each other in intensity and anger. They spoke like they were already one. \"I will not fight your war, and you can do nothing to stop me. Voldemort will be defeated, but not on your terms. You\'re done, sir, and I will not allow you to continue to control so many to keep yourself in power. You have lied to me, and kept me out of things for so long, I could have known ways to keep those who have died alive. I\'m sick of you sir, and now, I don\'t have to put up with you.\"

Dumbledore\'s eyes lost all of their merriment, and his normal twinkle and smile was missing. His anger and magic turned to face the two boys. \"I made you, Harry, and you will not stop me from succeeding in my plans.\"

The wand glowed a sickly green, Dumbledore\'s strength going into the one shot of the killing curse. It was Io who stepped in the way, throwing up his hands and sending black flames forward, incinerating the wand and disintegrating the spell. With the magic gone, Dumbledore\'s body was slowly consumed by the flames as they blasted and pulled each molecule of his being into the veil. His echoes of anger and disbelief could be heard even as his ashes blew away, and the group sat in silence. But, even though nobody in the group moved an inch, there was still movement within the room, as a shaggy man pulled himself up from the ground, his eyes scanning the people in front of him before he blacked out. Harry moved quickly to gather the man in his arms, not all too sure how it was even possible.

\"Sirius!\" he called as the man stopped moving.
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THANKS TO REVIEWERS!

sbkar~ I may not have added everything you suggested, but I wouldn\'t worry. The story is no where near its end, and I still have to hook Harry up with Draco, have some fun scenes between the two of them, as well as a few with Io and Snape. Not only that, there\'s the final battle, our return of Sirius, what becomes of the Order now that Dumbly is banished to the Veil, Umbridge and Percy\'s punishment and possible togetherness, and a return of the penguins! This will be a fun one to continue ~_^ Keep coming with the questions, and thanks for the review!

Loki~ My inner pyro had a little fun with that, and there goes Dumbledore! Review some more!

Memdrake~ I think I answered the question in this chapter, and yet, there is still so much more to write. Yay!

tessa3~ No, no red hair. Just penguins, and they will return... with toasters! Can things get any weirder? Yeah. Welcome to the insanity! Luc is fine, but still too worn out to play. ~_^ I think he likes my dungeon way more than his own >.>

elecktra~ One more update for you! Thanks!
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A fun chapter, but I\'m sorry to say that I wont be able to update tomorrow. I, hopefully, will be able to pump out a chapter Wed, but Tuesday I have work, then I\'m going over to a friends to help him with a few things, and after I am going to see a concert. Otherwise, I got listening to two songs while writing this, and I decided they were perfect for Harry Potter. One is called \"Blackest Eyes\" by Porcupine Tree and the other is \"Beautiful\" by Thornley. Good songs that just give me a feeling of Draco and Harry together. I\'ll be looking for more songs like that. Oh yes, speaking of songs, today lyrics are from a Japanese band, and when I read the lyrics, I thought it fit the chapter perfectly, so, yeah. Later!