Icarus Syndrome

Disclaimer: 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.

SP777: Honey, Erised was Desire. The Mirror names are the reflection of real English words. Elur is Rule and so on. The mirrors are supposed to have functions similar to their names.

NOTICE BETA-POTENTIALS
These questions must be answered : Do you have any HP beta-experience? Do you have any grammar and English language rule experience? How familiar are you with mythology of all types? Do you have a preference for sending and receiving chapters to beta? Do you have a flexible schedule?

Tree802: No, I have not found a beta yet, though I have a few inquiries as demonstrated below.

Dark Oracle: Can you include the e-mail address in a way that does not become filtered by fanfiction.net?

Hitsuzen: Would you consider taking a look at Chapter Ten after reading this update? Contact me with your answer and we can try it.

Warnings: The unnamed female Prince is an OC. The woman in the portrait guarding the Hallways where Draco's at is also a Greek mythological character. Points will be awarded to the House that names her correctly! I am taking liberties with the castle's defenses. Let's just assume they are the reason Hogwarts is so hard to obtain. Demonstration of the bond between Draco and Harry. Violence.

Thank you, dear readers, for the hits, reviews, alerts and favorites. An author loves to know their work is appreciated. I am impressed so far by the amount of attention this has garnered so far. Please keep it up. Seriously, keep it! I love to read reviews!

-X-

“Is there nothing more you can tell me? Nothing else?!”

“No. Icarus' Curse has been extensively studied. It terrified heirs to the point of paranoia. If someone found a counter-curse, they held it to their chests.”

“Could the Malfoys have found a counter?”

“I cannot say.”

“...Thank you.”

“Of course, Severus.” She smiled at him and he strode out of the room. A great relative of his mother's side had once been a librarian at the great library in Alexandria. Her picture was returned after the library was burned to the ground. She had many duplicates through the great magical libraries of the world and even in some families homes. She made an excellent consultant and spy.

Narcissa would be the key. He may not be able to get to Lucius, but he could get to Narcissa. He smiled grimly, casting his Patronus. The doe leaped from his wand, turning to stare at him. He relayed his message and watched the doe dart away.

He sat down to wait.

-X-

Harry came awake suddenly, gasping and terrified. He couldn't remember his dream, only the sudden emptiness and fear. He pushed the blankets off and ripped the curtains apart. The faint morning light painted the room, and someone had left a window cracked open. The cool air helped him calm down and relax. His magic wasn't as easily calmed. He could feel it stir the air around him, even if it remained colorless. It was swirling around him, as angry as a tornado.

He couldn't concentrate with his magic this angry and wild. He walked across the room to Dean's alarm clock and picked it up to read the time. It was early, but not too early that the house elves wouldn't have breakfast already prepared and ready to serve. He could grab some things at the kitchen for himself and then maybe get some for Draco before he woke him for meditation lessons.

-X-

Potter was in the kitchen. He looked a little stressed and more than a little anxious, but Draco supposed it wouldn't be too odd if he were still having nightmares and flashbacks. He briefly remembered the lessons he promised but he didn't want to leave. If he left, who knew if he would ever get back, ever see these again. What if the cure to his magic lay within one of these mirrors? He couldn't leave. Not yet.

“Could I ask the Mirror to show me another person?”

“Be polite about it and it will show you whoever you want as often as you would like.”

“Mirror?” He waited until it cracked an eye open. “would you please show me Severus Snape?”

The snake smiled again and the glass smoothed and then re-splintered in another pattern. His godfather came into focus, sitting in his dark study, highlighted in fire. He watched in disbelief as a silvery doe approached from out of a wall, bearing a flower around its neck. He recognized it as a narcissus and realized with a start that it was his mother's Patronus.

Severus leaned forward as though he were listening to something. His face became ugly and twisted as the silvery images dissipated and he strode to the fire. He pitched Floo powder, and it had to be as the fire burned green, and vanished into the flames. He pressed as close as he dared to the glass but couldn't read his lips.

“Mirror, please show me Narcissa Malfoy!” He asked suddenly, without waiting for the mirror to acknowledge him. It didn't smile, but its lips parted and it hissed warningly. The glass sealed and then shattered again, his mother appearing in the glass.

He didn't know where she was, but it was a well-furnished and upper class dining room. The long table had a familiar crest on the center but he couldn't make it out. The fire blazed green and he saw his godfather stalking out, approaching Narcissa with his wand drawn. He felt as if someone shoved both a stake of ice into his chest and a burning coal into his stomach. He felt his magic slip out of his grasp as his emotions turned violent. The ferret hissed at him and he heard a few statues scream, but his mind was locked in terror, for his mother, for Severus.

-X-

Harry fell forward in pain. His magic swelled out of him, concentrating into a single ray and streaking forward. The pain increased as he walked out of the line and the urgency only rose higher and higher. He stumbled forward, trying to follow the bright light. He forced himself to concentrate on that magic light alone. He couldn't grasp it, couldn't hold the beam to help himself, but it was remarkably easy to stand when he stood with the light in his chest.

He began to run, thinking only of the light. Stairs, corridors, and hallways seemed to fly past him until he was standing before a wall with a portrait. It shot past her but he couldn't force himself past the wall.

“Is there a password?!” He demanded. She ignored him, watching something off in the distance. “Is there a password to get through?! Please!”

“There is not a password. I cannot open the way.” She said finally, dropping her eyes to him.

“How do I get through? Is there a lever or something to open it? Please, I need through.” He asked, nearly begging her.

“It will only open when needed. You are not in need.” She said coldly, turning away from him to once again stare out blankly.

He barely kept his temper and magic restrained. He sank down to his knees, hands fisted and slammed them hard against the wall. The beam of light pulsated steadily, taunting him. He couldn't think of anything else to do. He couldn't get past this obstacle by anything but force. He would have to force the wall to reveal its opening.

He spread his fingers and summoned what magic remained from forming that light beam. He pushed it through, hearing the portrait begin to reprimand him. He ignored her with a vengeance. His magic covered the entire wall and he began to pull at the stones. He felt the places it was weak and turned on them like a predator. He began to dissolve a hole in the wall, watching as the mortar holding the stones together began to melt away. He pressed harder with his magic. He would be through soon enough.

-X-

His mother whirled away from Severus, a spell just barely missing her. Severus thundered something and more light shot from his wand. His mother was a flurry of pale silver and blond. She dodged and evaded all those lights, drawing her wand and casting something pale blue back to his godfather. Severus slashed his wand down sharply and it dissipated. His mother was already prepared for that and had sent a white spell on the heels of it.

Severus shuddered as it brushed his arm, but there weren't any immediate effects. Narcissa approached with a superior smile and held her wand high again. She began to intone something and then gasped as Severus shot something at her wandlessly, his arms disabled and wand lying on the floor. She faltered back and collapsed on the floor. Severus whispered something and then twitched his arms. He must have used the counter-curse. He grabbed his wand and drew it level with his mother's temple. Silvery wisps were drawn out and he caught them in a vial.

Draco was near to the glass. He could barely hear the screams of the statues and the stone ferret. His mother was lying on the floor unconscious and put there by his godfather. What happened to make them turn on one another?! His mother gave him her name and her protection. His godfather was researching his curse and a cure. If there should be anyone he could understand they turn against, it would be his father. Severus already displayed hatred of his father. Why would he hurt his mother?!

Severus was already leaving when the door was kicked open. His father entered the room like an angry and charging dragon. Spells were flying from his wand, but striking against the shield Severus had constructed. Severus seemed to abandon any idea of escape and advanced on his father, a true duel breaking between them. Spells flashed over his mother's prone form, and his anxiety only increased and magnified. He loved everyone in that room. Why was this happening?!

He didn't know who to be more afraid for. His father and Severus had never fought one another before that he knew. They had close to the same magical strength. It was dangerous for them to fight. If anything, he felt afraid for both. Father was more bloodthirsty and vicious with his curses. Severus, however, was more cunning and smart about his attack. They both had drew blood, but the feverish furor of their assault never slowed.

Severus intoned twin curses on the heels of one another, and two white lights curved into scythes as they approached his father. He dodged one but it jagged his hair, scattering the blond strands across the floor. The other he had turned right into. His father went backwards in a spray of blood.

-X-

Harry was nearly through. The portrait screamed at him as she clattered to the floor and the tapestry collapsed on top of her. The wall was nearly dissolved around his hands. He could see something beyond the wall. Light! He could see light!

Something stirred suddenly and green light lunged at him like a serpent. Fangs closed over his vision and he screamed as his magic was pushed back into his body forcefully. He fainted and collapsed heavily on the ground. The portrait screamed again and again, until someone finally came upon them.

-X-

“Father!” He pressed his hands against the frame, feeling the snake around the edge stir. “Father!”

“Don't touch the glass!” The ferret screamed at him, curling around his arm. It grabbed his fingers and tried to hold him back. “You'll lose your soul, foolish mortal!”

“Father!” He watched as Severus strode forward with a sour smile. Severus was speaking to him, sharp words that drained his face of color as quickly as the blood loss. He collapsed on the floor beside Narcissa, breathing heavily and staining her hair with blood. Severus laid his wand to his temple and drew out more silvery wisps, catching them in a vial. He strode back satisfied toward the fire, but hissed in agony as Lucius cast a single curse his way. His godfather barely made it into the green fire and whisper out a word. Lucius smiled grimly, laying his wand to his wound and slowly trying to heal himself.

Tears were pouring down his face. His family...he knew nothing would ever return to how it would be after his father cursed him, but he had not imagined this. Polite but barbed distance at the most. Not this ugly hatred. He fell away from the mirror, sinking into himself. The ferret was bounced from his arm as he hugged himself. The snake in the mirror hissed at him, sealing the glass once more. It sat and watched him, eyes gleaming.

His magic raged around him, as chaotic as his emotions. The Gryffindor red color cocooned around him, blocking out all but his own grief.

-X-

“Mr. Potter? Can you hear me, Mr. Potter?”

He groaned, blinking his eyes to try to clear the blurriness.

“Mr. Potter?”

“Yeah. I can hear.” He groaned, hands rising to hold his head. “I can't see very well.”

“That would be because you are missing your glasses, dear. Here you are.” The glasses were slid onto his face and his vision went clear. “Are you hurting anywhere, Mr. Potter?”

“My head. Feels like a headache.” He said, the sudden clarity making it hurt just a bit worse.

“Understandable. You were found trying to break into a wall, Mr. Potter. One of the castle's defenses put into place by the Founders to stop such attempts disabled you. If I may ask, why were you attempting such a thing?”

“I don't know. My magic. Something was...” He trailed away, feeling the magic stir under his skin. It felt angry and desperate. “Something is calling my magic. It's behind that wall.”

“There is nothing behind that wall, Mr. Potter.” She said sternly. He narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to argue when Dumbledore suddenly entered the room.

“Now, Madam Pomfrey, do not be so hard on the boy. He is responding to things he cannot control.” As welcome as it was, it was irritating that he had to sound so patronizing. “Perhaps Mr. Potter would know where Mr. Black has vanished to.”

“Draco's missing?!” He shouted, suddenly starting to understand what his magic was upset for. “How long has he been gone?!”

“A house elf brought him food last night and a few portraits have seen him later, but he has been missing for five hours so far.” Dumbledore said, eyes sad and sympathetic.

“How could he have been missing for so long?! Wasn't someone supposed to check on him?!”

“Mr. Potter!”

“No, Poppy. He is right. We should have checked on him.”

“I have to find him!” He jumped out of the bed, scrambling for his robes Pomfrey had taken.

“Mr. Potter. Harry. Please. Wait a moment.”

“I need to find Draco, Headmaster.” His eyes flashed dangerously. “My magic is responding to him. He's in trouble. I can't wait anymore.”

“Harry. The wall you were breaking into holds one of the most sacred secrets of Hogwarts Castle. Behind it lies the Room of Healing. It houses the greatest of the magic mirrors. They are kept hidden at all times because they are such powerful and dangerous devices. The Founders would use this room privately to remind themselves of their mission. If they could not keep their heads clear, then it would only mean disaster. They are said to be created by Merlin himself. If Draco is indeed hidden in this room, you may not be able to reach him.”

“I don't care if they were made by Voldemort. Nothing is going to stop me.” He pushed past them, and strode down from the Hospital Wing. Draco was trapped somewhere. He was in danger. Harry wasn't about to let him stay there and suffer.