Whisper

Chapter 7: Natsuhibashi (Summer Star) - Naruto



Draco couldn\'t sleep till late that night, nervous and a little scared about the next day. He woke late the next morning and was in no hurry in getting ready to leave. When he went to the dining room he saw Narcissa was seated in her chair and Stasis Charms on the food. She also had the look of lacking sleep.



"Couldn\'t sleep as well," he asked. Narcissa nodded as Draco sat across from her.



"I\'m worried something will go wrong," she said.



"I am too. But I have to try, Mother."



"I understand. I just want you to be careful."



Both were silent during the meal. When they finished Draco kissed Narcissa good-bye and walked through the fire-place to the Sanctuary. The last thing he heard from Narcissa before the sound of fire engulfed his ears was, "I love you." Unlike his father who said it days before, he believed her.



He entered the Sanctuary and looked up to find Granger and Weasley waiting for him in front of the fire-place. Both looked somber and anxious.



"Is everything ready," he asked. Granger nodded. "All right. Let\'s go."



Both lead the Mind-Healer to Potter\'s room and Draco couldn\'t help but feel like a death march. Both Harriet and Evangeline had been taken to the Burrow earlier and would be staying there till the end of the procedure. When he entered Potter\'s the occupant was as usual looking out the window towards the sky. When he heard the door open Potter turned and smiled as Draco walked into the room.



The room had transformed. It looked a bit more like a hospital room with two beds with soft white sheets. Two Muggle I.V. stands next to each bed and a potion filled with nutritional replacement was filled in the bags. Granger informed Draco she could fill several bags if she needed to.



"Harry," said Draco after Potter did his customary hug. "I want you to lie down on the bed and go to sleep in a while. Then you\'ll dream. There\'ll be nightmares at first, but I promise they\'ll go away soon. But I can only do it if you trust me. Do you trust me?"



Potter couldn\'t say anything. He just looked at Draco once, as if searching for a lie from the blonde, before going to the bed and laid down. He didn\'t close his eyes yet but he stayed perfectly still.



Draco nodded. "All right," he said turning to Granger and Weasley. "We\'ll both be put in a kind of coma. If we both don\'t wake up after a week consider the procedure smashed and pray for our peaceful deaths."



"I hope you are joking," said Weasley.



"Actually, I was being serious." Weasley sent a glare at Draco which the latter brushed off. "I hope you don\'t wish your best friend to live the rest of his life plagued by nightmares. The best you could hope for is a merciful death."



"And you call yourself a Healer!"



"Ron," said Granger softly. "Look."



She pointed at the door way and saw Evangeline standing in there. She was sooty and looked between the adults nervously.



"I…I want to tell Daddy night-night," she said.



At the sound of his daughter\'s voice Potter slowly sat up from his bed and opened his arms. Evangeline immediately ran into them and Potter held her. Draco heard a humming before the words.



"Love is a song that never ends," she sang. "Life may be swift and fleeting. Hope may die but love\'s beautiful music comes each day like the dawn. Love is a song that never ends. One single theme repeating. Like the voice of a heavenly choir, love\'s sweet music flows on."



As she sand Potter\'s eyes drooped and he fell back onto the bed. Weasley rearranged Potter back on the bed, gently placing the cover over him.



"He always falls asleep by that song," said Granger. "Sirius once told him it was because he was such a handful as a baby."



"I can imagine," said Draco and he went to Evangeline. "Evangeline, I know you love your father, and you take such good care of him, but it\'s my turn now. Go one back to your grandmother."



Evangeline nodded and walked out of the room, escorted by Granger to the fire-place. When she returned Draco laid on the second bed.



"Bring him back, Malfoy," said Weasley. Draco nodded and closed his eyes.



\'Exspositus Portus Spiritus,\' (1) he thought and immediately he fell in the comatose state. He felt like something in his chest being pulled out of him and all he could see was color before he fell unconscious.



He first felt himself being shaken, but was so deeply asleep he didn\'t want to wake so he curled away from the touch. What woke him was the sharp kick in his back. Groaning he opened his eye to find a pair of vivid emerald green eyes looking down at him and a mane of wild ebony hair.



"H-Harry?"



"Well, you\'re half right, and since when were we on first name basis?"



Draco blinked in surprise. "Potter, why are you acting thing way?" He then realized what was happening and he sat up. "Wait, you\'re talking!"



"Of course I\'m talking, and I\'m not Harry."



"But you are him. At least you look like him." Indeed, the person in front of him was an exact replica of Potter, minus the glasses, but he looked to be fifteen years old in his school robes, and the scar was gone.



"That\'s because I\'m…." The teenager stopped suddenly when a cold wind blew around them. It was then Draco noticed that they were in Hogwarts in front of the entrance doors.



"Why are we back in Hogwarts?" he asked.



"No time!" The Potter look-alike grabbed Draco and pulled him up. "We have to go."



"Go where?\'



"Anywhere but here! Grab the kid!"



"The kid?" It was then Draco saw a small boy no older then five or six sitting against the front door. All he could see was the boy\'s black hair as he hugged his knees. Draco stood in amaze at the younger form of Potter.



"Come on!" yelled the teenager.



Not wanting to try the teenager\'s patience he picked up the boy. It was then he noticed the drop in temperature. When he woke the air around him felt like an unpleasantly hot summer day. Now it felt like the middle of winter.



"What\'s going on," asked Draco shifting the kid more comfortably on his hip.



"No time," said the teenager and grabbed Draco\'s hand. "Move!" And he lead Draco away from the doors at a fast run. Draco had to stumble to keep up. The kid clung to Draco\'s shoulders and buried his head in the crook of Draco\'s neck. He tried to look over his shoulder to see what they were running from but all he could see were shadows.



"What are we running from," he asked.



"Dementors," yelled the teenager and the boy whimpered. Draco\'s face paled and allowed the teenager to drag him to an empty class room. "Shut your mind."



Immediately Draco forced himself to think of nothing but darkness. Clamped down on the fear that he always felt when he neared the Dementors. He felt the chill of the Dementors as the swept past. The teenager grabbed the door knob, even through he had locked the door when the entered. The boy cowered on the floor in the same position Draco first saw him. The cold numb feeling leaked from the door, as if the Dementors were floating in front of it. The door began to rattle and the teenager held it firmer and he boy curled into a tighter ball.



"Hold him," yelled the teenager.



"What?!"



"Hold him. His fear\'s attracting the Dementors."



Draco went over to the kid and gently placed the boy on his lap. Immediately the boy wrapped his arms around Draco\'s neck and held him tight. Draco could feel the chill shiver of the fear the boy felt against his chest, but it gradually subsided. The rattling stopped and the coldness faded. Finally the teenager let go of the door knob and slide to the floor.



"Okay, now look, who-ever-you-are, you\'re going to tell me what the hell is going on," said Draco staring at the teenager.



"As you just saw, that was a Dementor."



"I know that! What I don\'t know is why there are two Potters!"



"Harry actually tried to answer that question some time ago."



Draco waited for among moment before he spoke. "And?"



The Potter look-alike shrugged. "He doesn\'t remember."



"How can Potter not remember? Who are you?"



"You know, I never really thought of a name, but being trapped in someone\'s mind nearly a decade get\'s a person thinking. You could say I\'m Harry\'s Mr. Hyde to his Doctor Jekyll."



"Who?"



"It\'s a Muggle book. Just call me James Evans."



"James Evans?"



"After both of his parents, James Potter and Lily Evans. Duh."



"And his name," asked Draco indicating to the child in his arms.



"The Kid."



"He doesn\'t have a name!"



"I tried to give him one but he wouldn\'t respond to anything accept "kid." So don\'t blame me for trying."



"You said Potter doesn\'t remember. Why?"



"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Evans putting up his hand in a stopping motion. "You can\'t be the only one getting answers. So let\'s do Twenty Questions."



"Twenty Questions?"



Evans rolled his eyes. "It\'s simple. You ask a question, I ask a question. The rest should be simple, for a Muggle." Evans gave him a devilish look.



Draco\'s eyes narrowed at the teenager. "Fine. What is your first question?"



"How did you get here?" asked Evans.



"I Delved."



"Delved?" Evan\'s face scrunched up in confused thought. "Never heard of it."



"Obviously, and I\'m not explaining complicated matters to a fifteen year old child." Both glared at each other. "Okay, my question. Why are you both here? I expected to see Potter."



"Kid\'s been here since before I was." Evans indicated to the boy in Draco\'s arms. “I woke when Harry was in his fifth year of Hogwarts. At first there was pain, and then I was suddenly conscious. I was in the Headmaster\'s office. I didn\'t know how I knew where I was, but I knew. Merlin\'s mane, Dumbledore was talking and I could hear, but I couldn\'t respond. I couldn\'t. Then I heard myself speak, but I wasn\'t talking. It was then I knew I was a resident of someone else\'s mind. It wasn\'t long after when I found Kid. You wouldn\'t believe it, but he was a chatterbox.



"Together we wandered the corridors, learning about Harry\'s past. Sometimes I took control, sometimes Kid, but it was mostly Harry."



Evans sighed before continuing. "It took awhile, but I think I know why we exist. We\'re symbols. Aspects of Harry that never developed. As a child, Harry was never allowed to be a kid." He nodded his head to Kid. "And during the war, Harry was never allowed to be a teenager." He indicated to himself. "He cast out Kid as a boy in order to grow up. The same with me. And yet he never really grew up. People holding him back, withholding information from him because they believed he was too young. I was created in order to cope with these situations at the time, but I could do nothing. Harry had to grow up so fast that he caste me out too."



Evans sat on the floor and rested his head on the wall. "Your turn."



But Draco was thinking. Something Evans said sounded familiar. Duel identities. Draco had read about it somewhere. Shaking it off, he turned back to Evans.



"What happened to him," he asked looking down at Kid.



Evans sighed and rested his hands behind his head. "It was wicked, and not in the good sense. We couldn\'t run from the Dementors fast enough. Kid slipped down the stairs and right into the Dementors. I managed to save him, but he\'s been like this ever since. That was six months ago."



Both were silent. Draco looked down at the child in his arms, gently petting the ebony hair and gently drew a finger over the scarless forehead. What horror did this child see? Nightmares during stormy nights that kept him awake or childish terrors?



"What\'s your question," asked Evans. Draco looked in surprise at the teenager. He had forgotten the other boy was there. He looked around he empty classroom.



"Why Hogwarts? I had heard that some people\'s minds will make a building, but why the school? After th Final Battle I would think Potter wouldn\'t want to come back."



Evans smirked. "Hogwarts was always on his mind. It was the one place that felt like home. The one place where he wasn\'t hurt and found his first real friend. Dudley never allowed Harry to have friends."



"Yeah, I know. Granger told me about his childhood."



Both were silent.



"Why you," asked Evans. "I know you from Harry\'s memories, but why did you come?"



"Granger and Weasley hired me. I am a Mind-Healer. It\'s my job."



Evans snorted a cough. "I\'m sorry, but from what I know you\'re not exactly the first person I\'d call if I needed help."



Draco\'s eyes narrowed in anger. "Well, excuse me! Not everyone\'s a hero-in-training!"



Kid shifted at his raised voice and buried his head against Draco\'s chest, hugging him tighter. Evans looked at him in anger even more and dislodged the boy from Draco.



"If you can\'t say something nice then don\'t say anything at all!" hissed Evans. Kid wrapped his arms around Evans and the teenager gently soothed the child. The scene was so like a father and a child that it was unnatural. Then he remembered what Evans told him a minute ago. They were together for so long and they only had each other. But it was more then parent and child, or brotherly love. They were the same person.



"Evangeline is fine, by the way," he said. Evans looked up in surprise.



"Evangeline? Oh, Eva. Harry\'s daughter. I haven\'t seen her in weeks. Too busy running."



"My question, who\'s her mother?"



Evans suddenly gripped Kid so tight the child squealed and tried to squirm away. Evans loosened his grip and looked away.



"Harry doesn\'t want anyone to know," said Evans.



"Why? You\'re Potter. Why can\'t you tell me?"



"Because it\'s Harry\'s business! And it\'s one of the memories I try to avoid." Evans stood up and carefully placed Kid in his back to carry easier. Kid wrapped his arms around Evans\' neck. “We better move. It\'s not a good idea to stop in one place long."



He held out a hand and helped Draco up, then needed help from Draco when Kid\'s weight overbalanced him.



"Let\'s go," he said. With one hand on Kids under Kid to keep him up and the other a hold of Draco Evans lead them out and ran down the corridor.



To Be Continued



I know that the name “James Evans” is widely used in the Harry Potter universe but I wanted to write something symbolic to Harry that connected him with the teenager. With Kid, I ran out of ideas.



(1) \'Exspositus Portus Spiritus,\': Open a door to the soul.