Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Cannot Save You Now	By : tigrelilje Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Slash - Male/Male Views: 15706 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter fandom nor do I make any money from writing this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
{Parseltongue}
Chapter 10
As predicted, Harry rolled out of his bed the next morning convinced he had not slept at all. It was still very early; none of the other boys in the dorm would be rising for some time yet. He headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day before leaving a note for Blaise to find.
His eyes drifted over to his mate’s bed. He felt an unpleasant lurch of anxiety in the pit of his stomach at the thought of the situation he had caused between them. He slowly stepped over to Draco’s bed and watched the blonde for a moment. He desperately wanted to reach out and stroke one of his cheeks or run his fingers through that silky blonde hair.
He clenched both hands into fists at his side, not entirely certain that he would be able to keep his hands to himself. He had missed so much as a human that had been right in front of him. His mate was gorgeous in a very masculine way. And his presence was intoxicating. Draco was very sexy, from the way he walked to the lazy way he could drawl a sentence full of sarcasm or innuendo.
Harry Potter had only ever seen the spoiled child throwing a tantrum when he interacted with Draco, but there was so much more to him. He was cool, collected, and dangerous. It wasn’t something the Malfoy heir flaunted, but Harry knew he was right.
But Harry Potter was always able to destroy Draco’s perfect control. It was a heady thought.
Finally giving in to his desire, Harry reached out one hand and trailed a finger down the side of Draco’s face. He felt like his nerve endings were dancing throughout his body from touching his mate. He smiled when Draco turned his face slightly into the touch before beginning to stir. Harry dropped his hand and disappeared quickly before he could be caught. The only hint that he had been there was the slight fluttering of Draco’s bed curtains.
***
A few hours later, Blaise and Theo found Harry sitting outside near the lake with the Forbidden Forest at his back. He was staring off into space while absently flicking debris into the water.
“I forgot to give this to you yesterday,” Blaise said, handing Harry a letter as he sat down next to his friend. Theo sat down on Harry’s other side and looked at the letter curiously.
“Wonderful,” Harry said with a smile when he recognized the familiar handwriting of his Father. Harry quickly slit open the letter to read. As he unfolded the page, he was momentarily struck by a feeling of distress due to his separation from his Father. For a moment, he swore he could smell his Father’s scent on the breeze coming from the forest.
He shook himself out of his melancholy thoughts before reading the letter. With each word, his expression became more mischievous.
Dearest Henry,
I hope things are going well this school term and you are conducting yourself appropriately. I look forward to hearing many stories upon your return home.
An old acquaintance of yours has requested a meeting on All Hallows Eve. I do so hope you can find a way to attend.
Au revoir,
Tristan Renard
Voldemort had finally contacted the vampires. Harry could finally begin to move on his revenge against the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters.
Including Severus Snape.
“Would you like to explain your shit-eating grin?” Theo asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Your former master would like to meet with the vampires,” Harry smirked. “Father has been gracious enough to let me attend the meeting alone.”
“Alone?” Theo asked, sounding nervous. “I know you’re powerful Harry, and I don’t worry about you in a confrontation with the Dark Lord, but what about the other Death Eaters that will be in attendance, such as myself?”
“You’ll be there?” Harry asked, distracted for a moment. “Even though it will be during school and not the holidays?”
“Yes, of course,” Theo said. “We are expected to attend no matter what. There are passages out of the castle that we have been instructed how to use to come and go.”
Harry narrowed his eyes for a moment. Passages? Fucking Pettigrew, Harry snarled internally. He had forgotten about the rat. How could he forget about him?
He had lumped all the Death Eaters together in his mind, but Pettigrew deserved something special. He had betrayed Harry’s parents. He had gotten Sirius thrown in prison and taken away another member of Harry’s family. He had brought the Dark Lord back by cutting Harry open and using his blood.
Harry would have to think carefully on how to pay the sniveling coward back.
“These are secret passages that lead to Hogsmeade?” Harry questioned, wanting confirmation.
“Yes,” Theo answered, giving him a suspicious look.
“If Voldemort knows of these passages, why has he not invaded the school?” Harry questioned, truly curious.
“He does not believe the passages are practical,” Theo shrugged. “It is unlikely that Dumbledore would not be alerted to a horde of Death Eaters in Hogsmeade and we would be easy to pick off as we entered through the passages one at a time.”
“So he is not completely insane then,” Harry mused. “Could have fooled me.”
“Those lucid moments are few and far between,” Theo responded with a smile. “I’m sure the worst you think of Death Eaters is not bad enough.”
“Perhaps,” Harry said noncommittally. “But back to your original concern, you need not worry about me. I will be more than capable of handling myself. You shall see. It will be quite amusing for you, as you are no longer a targeted Death Eater.”
“How unfortunate,” Blaise snarked, but Harry could tell he was joking.
“In the meantime,” Harry said, before Theo could respond, “I have something for you to do Theo.”
“Of course,” Theo said.
“I would like you to monitor Draco,” Harry said in a dangerous voice. “You are aware of the problems he is having with children from other Dark families?”
“I am,” Theo said slowly.
“He does not need monitoring, Harry,” Blaise cut in. “As you have seen, he is more than capable of taking care of himself.”
“I do know this,” Harry said with a glare, “but I cannot be with Draco at all times at the moment. Nor can I completely curb my instinct to protect him at the moment. It will appear less suspicious if Theo is keeping an eye on him. Draco will assume that Theo is watching for his chance to challenge Draco as others have but I do not think he will act until Theo makes a threatening move toward him.”
“So you want your mate to be on edge at all times because one of his dormmates might attack him unexpectedly?” Blaise asked incredulously.
“Of course not,” Harry growled. “But as I said, I cannot be with him at all times. This is the best option to make sure he remains safe.”
Blaise was observing him with narrowed eyes. Finally he said, “You are avoiding your mate. Again. What happened?”
“Nothing for you to concern yourself with,” Harry replied stiffly.
“Whatever it is, fix it,” Blaise scolded sternly with an irritated sigh. “This tension between the two of you is becoming stressful for me.”
“I’m working on it,” Harry growled. “It is not as easy for me as it is for other vampires. I actually have to worry about my human past with my mate whereas the majority of vampires do not. This is foreign territory for me.”
“Well, you best hurry, or you may lose your chance,” Theo advised. “I do not see Draco as the kind of man to sit around and wait. He may choose another if he feels you are not an option.”
Harry growled and felt his fangs descend. That was unacceptable. His mate would not be with another.
“Calm down, Harry,” Blaise said smoothly. “That won’t happen as long as you fix whatever has happened and make your claim on Draco. So stop hiding and do something.”
“I will!” Harry exclaimed. “Leave me be.”
“Perhaps we should return to the castle for lunch now,” Theo suggested while standing up. The others followed him back to the castle, Harry with a scowl and Blaise with sidelong glance and smile in Harry’s direction.
It wasn’t often that Blaise got to see a vampire lose their cool so thoroughly.
***
Hermione was spying. After her conversation with Harry the night before, she needed to figure out what was going on with Neville.
The boy was so much more jumpy than usual. He seemed as though he had lost even more confidence than before, and Hermione hadn’t thought he had any to lose. But she was wrong. He was a mess now; completely isolated from everyone else and with a wild look of panic in his eyes. Hermione wondered how it wasn’t completely obvious to everyone who looked at him.
He kept glancing at a watch on his wrist in an almost compulsive manner. She saw his shoulders twitch every time someone’s voice got closer to him or became louder for a moment. She was genuinely worried about his health.
Suddenly, Neville stood up and his gaze darted about the room like a frightened rabbit before he stumbled toward the portrait hole.
Hermione was up and after him in a flash, clutching a few books to her chest as if she were merely heading toward the library. Not an unusual destination for her after all. She slipped out of the portrait hole a few moments after Neville. She ditched her books behind a suit of armor after casting a charm to conceal them from sight.
She wished desperately that she had Harry’s invisibility cloak at that moment. It would be so much easier to follow Neville. Though Neville was by no means stealthy in his movements and his own footsteps drowned out any noise Hermione made on her much lighter feet. She couldn’t have an invisibility cloak, but made she could have the next best thing.
She paused for a moment before quickly casting a Disillusionment Charm on herself. A cold tickling sensation trickled down her body as the spell took effect. She shivered in discomfort for a moment before looking down at herself. She could see nothing unless she moved, and then her form appeared to look like a heat haze.
She realized Neville had halted and turned around when she had spoken the words of the spell. She held completely still as he glanced nervously around the hall behind him before taking off again. After a moment, Hermione resumed her chase.
Eventually it became apparent that they were heading toward the Headmaster’s office. Hermione would not be able to follow him up there. She bit her lip as she debated with herself.
After speaking with Harry, she had naturally gone to the library this morning to research any spells that could help her with spying. As a result, she had found herself flicking through books of a darker variety. She had the perfect spell to use right now, but did she want to perform a Dark spell?
She saw Neville giving the password to the gargoyle ahead of her and with no more time to think, she cast the spell at her housemate.
“Exaudiam vos,” she whispered and watched as her spell wrapped around Neville. Almost immediately, she heard the sounds of his frantic breathing coming from her wand as he stepped onto the moving staircase.
Alarmed, Hermione glanced around quickly before dashing into a nearby classroom and erecting privacy and locking charms. She settled into a chair, determined to listen to what Neville was up to with Dumbledore.
***
Neville knocked on the Headmaster’s door before entering after being given permission to do so. He stepped slowly into the old man’s office and walked toward the chair in front of his desk that Neville knew was meant for him.
After taking a seat, he nervously looked up at the man that was in charge of fighting against the forces of the Dark. Of saving them all. He felt the familiar awe and terror that he was apparently an important part of that fight as well now.
“Neville, my boy, how are you?” Dumbledore asked genially with his grandfatherly smile.
“I’m good, sir,” Neville replied with a shy smile. He felt so insignificant in the other man’s presence. Especially now that the older man expected something from him.
But I can do this, Neville thought fiercely. I owe it to everyone, but especially Harry, to do my best and make this work. He thought of the confrontation he had been a part of the previous year with the Death Eaters at the Department of Mysteries and his determination to be stronger intensified.
“That is good to hear,” Dumbledore said with a gentle smile. “Now are you ready for more of the lessons we’ve been having?”
“Yes, of course, sir,” Neville responded.
“Good,” Dumbledore said, “but before we begin, I have some things we need to discuss. Things I hadn’t told you about before.”
“O-okay, sir,” Neville said nervously.
“I informed you before of the prophesy and that you or Harry could have fulfilled the terms,” Dumbledore began. “Due to Harry’s… death, the Wizarding world can only hope that I was mistaken in believing him to be the chosen child of the prophesy and that you can save us. But we must keep you secret, because we do not want Voldemort to turn his attentions on you.”
Neville flinched when he heard the Dark Lord’s name but said, “No, I d-definitely don’t.”
“The most important thing you will learn from me is how Voldemort is to be defeated,” Dumbledore explained. “I have recently gained information that confirmed a theory I had been pondering. You must not share this information, Neville. Not with anyone, no matter what. We cannot risk the Dark finding out and Voldemort being alerted to our discovery.”
“I won’t say anything, sir,” Neville agreed fervently.
“Very good, my boy,” Dumbledore smiled at him. “I am only going to give you a quick overview of the situation. Believe me when I say this is not information that you want to know.
“Voldemort has, more or less, gained immortality as he has always wanted.” Neville gasped in horror, but Dumbledore continued, “It is reversible, however. He created objects called Horcruxes. These objects are the foulest of magic, they are truly evil. One must be morally devoid to be able to create such abominations.”
“W-what are they?” Neville stuttered, wondering if he really wanted to know.
“They are objects that a wizard can use to house a part of their soul,” Dumbledore said slowly, watching the young man in front of him pale in horror. “This is of course after that wizard splits his soul by murdering in cold-blood. It is truly monstrous, what he has done. Before he began this process, Voldemort was already corrupted, but this would have destroyed his humanity. Made him more of a creature than a man.”
Neville cringed. He felt like his skin was crawling at the thought of what You- Know-Who had done. His mind was filled with feelings of darkness and terror. For a moment, he thought he even saw a black snake in the corner of the room but when he looked again, there was nothing there. Just his mind playing tricks on him.
“S-so, You-Know-Who h-has a H-horcrux?” Neville asked, wishing he felt braver.
“Not just one,” Dumbledore said sadly. “I believe he made six intentionally and one by accident that he was not aware of.”
“He made one by accident?” Neville asked in a high pitched voice. “How?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Dumbledore reassured. “That one has been destroyed, as have two others, leaving only four more. I know the identity of three of them and the fourth I have a guess.”
“Three g- you- uhm- w-what are the ones you know?” Neville asked in a high voice.
“I will show you, in my pensieve, two of them in a moment,” Dumbledore assured. “The third, I believe is his snake Nagini. I would have shown this information to Harry but… I was mistaken, apparently.”
Neville wasn’t so sure, but he wasn’t going to protest. Because if he wasn’t the one to help, then their world was truly lost. He listened to Dumbledore explain how to use a pensieve before stepping inside the memories of the past.
***
Hermione was frozen in her classroom after their conversation. Horcruxes? Did Harry know about these things or did he die before Dumbledore explained anything?
And Neville was being used. She sighed in irritation. That old man really was throwing him to the wolves. It was scary how desperate she could tell he had become. She wondered if anyone else had noticed. Admittedly, she would be desperate too if she were not fully confident in Harry’s ability to keep her safe. She felt like she was on the winning side and it wasn’t with any wizards.
What did that say about her?
She shook her head to clear those thoughts. She had found out what Harry wanted to know and then some. Perhaps she would be able to share information with him that he didn’t know yet. She debated cancelling the spell on Neville. After a moment, she did. She could always cast it again later if need be.
She would find Harry tomorrow, if she could, and tell him that a new Boy-Who-Lived was being trained.
***
The End of a Hero
The Boy-Who-Lived Remembered
By Rita Skeeter
Today the Wizarding world grieves for the life of their Savior. Thought to be missing, it has come to light that Harry Potter, our hero, is dead. In these dark times, the news of death is always devastating, but the death of the Boy-Who-Lived is unthinkable.
Let us learn a lesson from our Savior, fellow wizards and witches. For with his death, we may reflect upon his life, and the great courage he showed in his passion to save us.
Harry Potter was raised, not by his magical guardian Albus Dumbledore, but by his mother’s muggle sister, Petunia Dursley. For any of our kind who have met Mrs. Dursley, it is safe to say that a more magic-hating muggle would be hard to find. Constantly neglected and unappreciated, our Savior grew up in the harshest of environments. And yet he remained pure and loving.
His time at Hogwarts was a dream and a nightmare. For even in our world, Mr. Potter was always fighting for his life, while still thinking about everyone else first.
“I remember him when we first met,” a source close to the Boy-Who-Lived shared with me. “He was so small, so much smaller than the rest of us. It was obvious that he had not been taken care of the way he should have been. But no one wanted to see that and his presence was so strong that it was easy to overlook. Goodness and love were almost a tangible force around him.
I know his relative’s tried to keep him in the dark for years, smothering his light. But even keeping him locked in a cupboard under their stairs for the majority of his life couldn’t break Harry. He persevered.
Our time at Hogwarts together, Harry was always more concerned for his friends than for himself. He cared deeply for every person he encountered and wanted to help protect us no matter the cost to himself.
His death was a tragedy of the most unjust kind. Harry’s life was taken away before he was allowed to live. If everyone fought even a fraction of the amount Harry did, we would not need to be saved.”
The goblins at Gringotts have confirmed that the Potter vaults have transferred into the care of another, who they would not name, as would be expected when our Savior died. His cause of death is unknown at this time, and remains a dark mystery. Though I could not discover what became of our beloved Boy-Who-Lived, I was determined to discover if my sources details of his life were true.
The house of Mrs. Dursley and her family was empty, their mysterious deaths adding to that of our Savior’s. But unlike Mr. Potter, their deaths should not be mourned, for the cupboard under the stairs was revealed when the house was searched. A tiny cot, barely big enough for a child, was crammed into the small space along with a small handful of broken toys. There was not a single picture within the house to hint that a little boy named Harry Potter lived there along with his aunt, uncle, and cousin.
The whole picture was a heart wrenching one; to think of our Savior growing up alone, in the dark, and forgotten. I must ask why Albus Dumbledore left Harry Potter to be raised by those who could never understand or appreciate him, instead of those who could have loved him.
His godfather, Sirius Black, was sent to jail without a trial, though our Leader against the dark of You-Know-Who could have protested. Perhaps the man was guilty, but we shall never know. Our Savior could have been deprived the wonderful childhood he deserved during his short life.
So, today we mourn the loss of our Savior and the injustice that he was served in life. But let us always remember that he never stopped fighting, and that we shouldn’t either.
The article was ridiculously overdone and sentimental, not at all like Rita would usually write. But he supposed that the death of the Boy-Who-Lived deserved a break from the norm. He wondered who she used as a source, or if she merely pretended to have one so she could use the personal information he had disclosed.
Harry sat back and observed his peers while he munched on his Monday morning breakfast. The expressions around him ranged from horror to anger to despair. He saw a few attempting to suppress gleeful expressions and he assumed they were from families who supported the Dark Lord. He glanced up and down the Slytherin table and was surprised by what he saw. There was the poorly hidden glee, but there was also uncertainty and disgust on a few faces. Many of these children had been taught to hate Harry Potter, but they seemed unsure if they should rejoice in his death when his life had been so bad. The disgust was easy to explain; the thought of how muggles had treated a wizard.
He glanced at Dumbledore, who was currently reading the paper, and watched as the old man’s face paled with each word. He saw McGonagall lean toward him with a thunderous expression and start to whisper furiously. He smirked. He didn’t expect this article to ruin Dumbledore, but it was a beginning. The seeds had been planted; he just had to nurture them and let them grow.
He finally swept his gaze to his mate, the reaction he found himself to be the most curious about. Draco’s face was hard to read; it was a mix of disbelief, anger, confusion and… sadness? He wondered what the other boy was thinking to evoke such feelings.
“Do you think this article is true?” Draco finally asked out loud the question everyone was thinking.
Before Harry could find a way to encourage their belief, Blaise replied, “I would not be surprised in the slightest. It’s fairly obvious now, when you think about it.”
“Why do you say that?” Pansy Parkinson asked, looking eager at the thought of gossip.
“Perhaps you were too blinded with your preconceived notions to see,” Blaise sneered disdainfully, “but Potter was covered in scars. I remember thinking that he looked unhealthy when I first saw him. It was sickening how thin he was. It is disgraceful that you did not notice; a real Slytherin would have.”
Harry wanted to laugh at the shame-faced look on the other Slytherins faces, but he was more interested in his mate’s response. Part of his wanted to smack Blaise for subtly hurting his mate, but another part wanted to see if Draco Malfoy cared at all, even the tiniest bit, about Harry Potter.
“Why did you not mention anything, Zabini?” Draco asked coldly. Harry was confused when he saw the regret and anxiety in his gaze to contradict his callous tone.
“Would you have listened or cared; so busy following your father’s every word?” Blaise accused. Harry squeezed his thigh in warning to moderate his tone. “The Boy-Who-Lived is dead, though. Seems the Dark should be rejoicing. Though it was unnervingly Slytherin of Potter to keep such a past completely hidden, don’t you think?”
Blaise stood up to leave the Great Hall and Harry moved to follow. After a moment of hesitation, Theo got up as well. As the three of them walked towards the doors, Harry took one last look at the Slytherins. It was interesting that none of them, other than Pansy, were immediately excited about his death. They seemed like they didn’t know how to feel.
Perhaps none of them had really thought about what it would be like to see a fellow classmate missing, that they had interacted with, and know they were dead. That perhaps their families had caused it.
Perhaps they were just now realizing what war could cost them.
He flicked his gaze to the Head Table and saw that Dumbledore had already disappeared. Harry gave a cold smirk as he exited the Great Hall. It seemed the old man wasn’t prepared to defend himself.
***
Ciaran was shocked out of his light doze when the door to Dumbledore’s office burst open far sooner than he had come to expect. He felt a moment of excitement as he tasted the frantic scent of panic and desperation on the air when he flicked his tongue. Perhaps his master had finally made his move.
Ciaran had been finding it more difficult to stay active recently. More often, he was prone to napping and dozing while his body tried to conserve his stores of energy from his last meal. He was thankful that the one with the white fur kept his office toasty warm otherwise Ciaran would have begun to feel the pull of hibernation long ago.
But it seemed he was finally going to gain the information his master wanted. He peeked out from the books he had settled behind this morning to observe the old man pacing his room and became aware that his lips were moving.
“How did that woman find out?” he heard in a muttered whisper. Ciaran flicked his tongue and tasted anger in the mix of scents now.
“I did nothing wrong,” Dumbledore whispered. “I did what had to be done. One life to save them all. I am not the bad guy; I am the only one who had the strength to make the hard decision.
“If the public had known what the boy was capable of, they would have wanted to make sure his power was controlled as well,” Dumbledore fumed to himself. “Rita makes it sound like I abused the boy. But his muggle relatives were really the only option.
“Remus could have easily killed him by accident during the full moon. That was a risk I could not allow. Severus would have been worse than the Dursley’s, and perhaps Harry would have dabbled in the Dark Arts like his guardian then? No, that would have been a disaster, there was no good outcome with that situation. And Sirius… well he was hardly a role model. Harry needed to learn obedience, not how to cause endless amounts of trouble and disrespect authority. Though his muggle relatives were hard on him, it showed Harry how precious the Wizarding world was when he found such a better life here and that it must be protected from Tom!
“No, no, I did the right thing, especially after I learned of the prophesy,” Dumbledore paused for a moment before falling into his chair behind his desk. “Harry really was the best option given the clues in the prophesy. It appears I was wrong; only the Dark Lord should have been able to kill him! So Neville must have been the boy all along. I wasted so much time convincing Lily and James that the house in Godric’s Hollow was a better option than their manor. Who would think a pureblood would chose a little cottage over their manor with bloodwards?
“I am lucky that Neville survived Bellatrix and her companions when they visited the Longbottoms. The boy may seem weak but he has to have hidden depths that will show themselves in time. He has to be the one!”
Dumbledore pounded a fist against his desk at the end of his last statement in a moment of unrestrained anger, though Ciaran could taste the fear the old man was trying to cover. A knock suddenly came at the door and Ciaran slipped out from the books to slither behind a table next to the door. When Dumbledore bid the person to enter after composing himself, Ciaran darted out the door just before it closed behind the visitor, taking the first chance he could to escape.
He was sure he had learned all he could before the interruption. Now he just had to inform his master.
***
Before Harry, Blaise and Theo got too far away from the Great Hall, Hermione came rushing up behind them.
“Harry!” she hissed softly when she was only a few feet from them. He turned to her and she said, “Can I speak to you for a moment?”
“Of course,” Harry replied. He turned to Blaise and Theo and said, “You guys go on ahead, I’ll meet you in class.”
As the two boys nodded and walked away, Hermione grabbed Harry’s hand and dragged him down a passage out of sight from the Great Hall.
“I followed Neville,” Hermione began, “and he went to Dumbledore’s office. Obviously, I couldn’t follow him up there, but I cast a spell on him so that I could hear him and those he spoke to from a distance.”
“A Dark spell, Hermione?” Harry teased for a moment. But Hermione didn’t smile back.
“You were right,” she said angrily, “Dumbledore is using him. He’s convinced Neville that he must have been the Boy-Who-Lived all along. Now he’s training him, though I don’t know what that all entails, but I do know part of it is giving Neville information.”
“What kind of information?” Harry asked slowly when he saw the nervous expression on Hermione’s face.
“Do you know what a Horcrux is, Harry?” Hermione asked.
“Yes,” Harry growled. Hermione looked surprised for a moment, but she continued nonetheless.
“Well, he’s told Neville that Voldemort has six Horcruxes. And an accidental one that he didn’t know he had created,” Hermione said. “I’m not sure how Dumbledore knew of an accidental one, but he has assured Neville that it has already been destroyed.”
“That fucking bastard,” Harry hissed quietly, so angry he was almost beyond words.
“What? What do you know?” Hermione asked.
“I was that accidental Horcrux,” Harry explained angrily. “Tristan and I discovered it over the summer after I died. We weren’t sure if Dumbledore knew or not about me, but evidently he did. Which means-“
“He was planning on you dying in the end,” Hermione whispered, horrified.
“Yes,” Harry hissed. He felt himself losing control over his anger again. He thought he had finally learned to control this. He thought he had been prepared to hear this truth. But apparently he was not.
“Harry, calm down,” Hermione said, looking fairly alarmed when she felt his magic begin to crackle around them.
“I don’t know if I can,” Harry said in a strained voice.
Unexpectedly, Hermione threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a fierce hug. He felt her lips on his neck as she gave him a kiss there and he felt his instincts becoming distracted. He wrapped his arms around her as well and buried his nose in her hair, hoping that her scent would be as calming as her pure blood.
Don’t think about her blood, Harry thought frantically.
After a few moments, Harry felt more in control and he pulled away from Hermione and looked down at her.
“Thank you,” he said, in a surprisingly hoarse voice. “That was risky of you, though.”
“Yes, well,” Hermione flushed, “I was hoping that perhaps sexual contact or just close contact might override your anger. It seems to be a rather intrinsic part of vampire behavior, after all.”
Harry gave her a seductive smile, which he lost almost immediately when he saw who was standing at the end of their secluded hallway. Draco gave Harry one cold glare before he stalked off out of sight.
Harry let out a pained little moan. Of course Draco would find him in a compromising position with someone he greatly disliked.
“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked, concerned.
“Draco just saw us,” Harry sighed. “Who knows what he thought of seeing us embracing. I’m already in trouble with him for the other night.”
“Oh Harry,” Hermione said in exasperation. “You were hopeless as a human with relationships. I thought being a vampire meant you had some instincts when it came to this kind of stuff now.”
“I do,” Harry said defensively. “But… maybe I’m being too human about this mating stuff, but I don’t feel like I should approach Draco as a vampire normally would.”
“You are hurting yourself, and your mate,” Hermione scolded. “You need to fix it. Immediately. Especially before Draco decides to take out his anger on me.”
Harry groaned. She was right; his mate hardly needed an excuse to torment Hermione and it seemed like Harry just couldn’t help giving him reasons to dislike his friends even more.
***
Harry watched his mate pass through the common room and out the portrait hole without even a glance in his direction. He was definitely in an even stickier position after this morning. It hurt but he felt too terrified to confront Draco about what was going on between them. His mate could hurt him so much more once he told him about his past and was rejected anyway…
But he knew he would tell Draco, he just needed to find the right time. Perhaps he could covet his mate’s time this weekend? He needed time, lots of time, to keep Draco to himself and hash out their issues.
He suddenly felt something wrapping around his leg. Before he could react, he heard a familiar voice below him.
{Master, I have returned} Ciaran greeted. Harry waited for a moment to make sure the snake was completely wrapped around his leg before he took off toward his dorm without responding. He saw Theo get up and follow him from the corner he had been resting in. Blaise was already in their dorms napping and Harry hoped there was no one else in there so the three of them could be alone.
He barged into his dorm and scanned the area quickly before confirming that Blaise was the only one in the room. He paused while he waited for Theo to dash into the room behind him before he shut the door and locked it. Blaise had been roused when they entered and he cast a sleepy glare toward them before sitting up straighter when he saw the expression on Harry’s face.
Harry made his way to Blaise’s bed and sat down, closely followed by Theo. He reached his hand down so Ciaran could move from his leg onto his arm. Blaise and Theo’s eyes widened when they saw the snake and a look on anticipation came over both their features.
Obviously, Harry’s charm to conceal him had worn off over time, but Ciaran was more than capable of hiding himself.
{I have missed you, Ciaran. What have you learned?} Harry asked once they were all settled.
{Your Headmaster was most displeased this morning} Ciaran began. {He wasn’t able to say much before he was interrupted but I think I got enough information}
{What did he say?} Harry pushed.
{Basically, he knew of the prophesy and felt he had to ensure that it would come to pass} Ciaran explained. {Apparently your parents were convinced to stay in Godric’s Hallow instead of their manor because Dumbledore reasoned that no one would expect a pureblood to stay somewhere other than a family manor with bloodwards}
{That’s no more than I was expecting to hear} Harry growled. Blaise and Theo gave him questioning looks at the anger on his face, but he held up a hand that he would explain in a moment.
{He more or less believes that he was right in sending you to your relative’s house} Ciaran continued. {He said a man named Remus could have killed you, Severus could have turned you Dark or treated you worse, and Sirius couldn’t be trusted to be a good guardian and teach you respect and obedience. He does not believe he did a bad thing. I believe his words were something about one life for everyone else’s}
Harry growled more loudly this time. He quickly filled in his two companions about what Dumbledore had said. They both looked angry by the time he was done and Harry was happy to see they were indignant on his behalf.
{Ciaran} Harry said as he thought of his conversation with Hermione. {Has Dumbeldore been meeting with a boy named Neville and discussing things about the war?}
{Yes, he has} Ciaran said. {Just yesterday, he informed the boy about objects called Horcruxes}
Harry closed his eyes and suppressed his anger on his own this time. How could the old man think this was an acceptable back up plan? Were lives really so immaterial to him at this point that he didn’t even blink when he had to know that Neville wasn’t the boy he needed?
As much as he didn’t want to be distracted from his main goal, he knew he was going to have to do something about Neville Longbottom; before he became another casualty.

Exaudiam vos roughly translates to “hear you”
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Cannot Save You Now