Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Harco Empire	By : Toddy Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 34430 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or films. I do not make any money from the writing of this story, just enjoyment.

Chapter List
- 190
- 191
- 192
[Note: “x-x” = speech & ‘x-x’ = thoughts & *x-x* = telepathy & #x-x# Parseltongue]
~~~ MORTALITY ~~~
In Godric’s chapel, once Harry had left his body, the seers lost mental contact with him. However there were some images that got through usually when Harry was stumped for an answer. The two on duty would try to sort out a truthful answer and project it Harry-wards. They had no feed back whether what they had sent was received. It was quite frustrating for them, being so used to dwelling in each other’s minds.
The longer Harry stayed away the colder his body became, so quite soon two of them had to lay one each side of him. There was a preservative potion to be forced down his gullet, massaging his throat until the motor muscles took over.
“Draco, you’ve been by his side for nearly two days without sleep. Ginny and I can watch over him,” said Astoria crossly: “If you pass out you will put too much burden on us and all of us will fail. We know he’s still aware because of these vague images we receive, now go over to the other bed and take your sleeping draught.”
Draco looked as though he was about to rebel, as he had done previously.
Timothy looked up from the bible in his hands: “I thought you were and adult, Draco. You are behaving very childishly. I imagine the Devil is tempting you this way so as to ensnare Harry’s soul. Now do as Astoria says.”
That remark dug into Draco’s stubborn psyche: “Yes … I’m sorry … I was being selfish, wasn’t I?” He took the potion lay down and dropped into a dreamless sleep.
A day later it was changeover time again. Harry’s breathing rate became erratic.
“Come on, we know what we have to do,” Astoria said: “No snogging, Draco, it’s artificial respiration, got it?”
“Yes, Dear, I’ll try and resist. If you see me hugging him tight, you’ll have to pull me off. Okay?”
The girls giggled and Draco set to work. Astoria retired to bed leaving Ginevra hugging the just warm body. Draco kept the warning from Timothy in his mind whilst his quarter hour breath-session lasted. Ginevra took over and just before Draco relieved her Harry’s breathing settled down becoming regular again. Draco fed the body some more nutritious potion and resumed his body warming hug.
~~~ TRAIN ~~~
This time it was a different kind of battle. There were cords attaching this Lucius to the main body of the train, some showed green, some showed red, and they almost surrounded a string of black ones. Whilst trading swords, Harry thought about the connections. Green he knew to be good thoughts, and he wanted not to cut those off. Red stood for anger, he was tempted to cut those, but Godric suggested that Narcissa ought to remain angry at her ex husband so that he could not reassert his will. Harry looked at the tangle and almost gave up, withdrawing slightly to slump on a vacated seat. Lucius crowed in triumph and sat down with his back to Harry in the next bay trying to show that he was unafraid.
~~~ GRUNRASENHOF ~~~
Grandmamma Lily was watching over the comatose Narcissa. She had been fed a sleeping potion whilst Harry was sorting out the Lucius connections. The bad odours coming from Narcissa’s miasma had been becoming sweeter so Lily knew that Harry was at work. She was analysing the three remaining odours that she had not yet categorised. Roses, nettles and a dung-heap were the nearest descriptions.
‘What would I do with a dung heap?’ she mused: ‘I wonder if I could dig some out and use it as fertiliser.’ She thought of ways to do that magically, mentally trying to part one odour from the other and applying the smell-magic that was hereditary to her family.
~~~ TRAIN ~~~
Whilst Harry was watching the tangle, something appeared to be parting the red and green tubes. ‘I need some surgical scissors’ he thought. The sword transmogrified. Harry carefully rose and knelt on the seat behind The Lucius. The red and green wires opened up again. Harry darted in and cut the black ones, darting out again as the enraged Lucius phantasm stood to come around the seats.
Harry thought ‘sword’ and it was in his hand.
“What have you done boy? I can no longer feel my wife.”
“Do you wish to have happy memories of her still? I have severed your controlling-magical connection.”
“You’ve done what?” The Lucius shouted: “That’s an impossibility!”
“To you perhaps, but to us seers, not quite!”
“Very well, I’ll kill her and you too.” The Lucius stormed off towards the front of the train.
Harry almost ran after him.
“Don’t forget Harry, if it moves off with you on board both of you are dead,” reminded Godric; “And so will Narcissa be no longer in your world.”
This time both of them ran hell-for leather to the back of the train. It was shaking with the effort of trying to pull away. Harry looked at the buffer-stop and saw a straining chain between them and the carriage. He thought ‘wand’ and the sword changed. He pointed at the chain and applied as many strengthening and thickening charms as he could remember. When he had finished the chain had turned into a massive girder linking the carriage to the platform. There was a reverberating clang somewhere to the front of the train. It was as if the trump of doom was sounding and Harry’s heart stopped beating.
As he started to fade Harry said to Godric: “At least she’s freed of her compulsion.”
~~~ DEATH ~~~
In the chapel all three seers worked on Harry’s body, one keeping him warm, another massaging his heart and a the third giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The clerics were all in front of the altar praying, and a large body of Dumbledorians and others sat silently and hopefully in the pews.
John looked in: “I know you all are praying for him to return, my dears, but you knew the risks. I would very much like to see his smile again, but you have been labouring for over three hours. You will have to give up soon and accept that Harry is dead.”
Draco looked up with tears streaming down his face: “Is he really gone?” and collapsed sobbing next to Harry’s body.
“I-I c-can’t hear his heart or his lungs, I’m sorry, Draco.” Ginevra had her ears to Harry’s chest.
“He’s beginning to go grey,” said Astoria, absently chafing the stiffening hands.
There was a commotion at the door and Narcissa rushed in: “Am I too late … Oh no … Harry … Harry … Is he dead …?” Narcissa knelt by Harry’s corpse and started to weep.
There was a hollow voice: “Turn the stone!”
Narcissa shuddered and looked up: “What?”
The statue’s voice said once again: “Turn the stone! Only the saved one can revive the saviour.”
Hollow eyed and pale with astonishment, Narcissa demanded: “Where is it?”
Vasil pointed silently to the statue’s foot, which was firmly pressed into its base and then continued with his prayers.
Narcissa went to the altar and grabbed the saint’s foot; trying to lift it
“Oh no it won’t come open … Oh … Just a minute.” She fumbled for her wand and pointed it at the statue’s foot: “Alohomora!” The foot lifted and she reached in to turn the stone three times.
On the floor the corpse took a big breath and opened its eyes: “Merlin, I do feel sore, what have you all been doing to me?”
Draco let out a wail and glued his snogging lips to his awakening lover. Ginevra and Astoria broke down in relieved tears. A number of ‘Praise the Lord’s’ came from the kneeling clergy.
Harry managed to temporarily shake off his shivering lover and sit up: “I thought I was a goner. Maybe some of the train did move off, but the majority of it remained in the platform. Circe, I do feel hungry.”
Those in the chapel looked at Harry uncomprehendingly; trying to understand why he was talking about railways.
Draco solicitously helped the naked Harry to rise; Ginevra and Astoria found his clothes and helped the shaking seer to dress. As the quartet moved slowly out of the chapel they were met by sighs of relief and applause from the assembly outside. Draco reckoned there were at least a hundred people sitting there because the transept and the body of the church were full. He noticed that there were muggle members of the congregation, students, elves and goblins as well as the expected Dumbledorians.
Then followed a long session around the meal table in the vestry; whilst each seer told their story, with clergy, Narcissa and Grandmamma recounting their versions also. After the meal Harry went to see the waiting congregation, who were just finishing their sandwiches and hot drinks, still sitting in the pews.
“Thanks for supporting me, Guys. I’m still a bit sore from my fellow seer’s enthusiastic body massages, and I feel like I need nine day’s sleep. I’ll tell you all about it on Sunday afternoon, at the cottage, okay? Please don’t hug me or shake my hand, up here I’m still very tender,” he pointed to his chest and grimaced.
Each one, as they departed, gave Harry a nodding bow as well as making sure he knew how relieved they were to having him back in the land of the living. He walked carefully back to the cottage, lay on the bed and immediately dropped off to sleep. Quarter of an hour later Draco found his lover snoring on top of the bed coverings. An undressing charm soon had Harry naked and a couple of spells later Draco was also under the sheets, snuggling up to his lover, but not hugging his bruised chest.
The following day was Saturday; the atmosphere inside the cottage was subdued. No one had risen early, especially the seers. Others were feeling the effects of having stayed up keeping vigil at peculiar hours of the day and night. When Harry eventually appeared for lunch the conversation turned to light-hearted discussion; avoiding asking him any leading questions. He appreciated this and later retired to the study to place some of his thoughts into the Penseive; the one that had been left to Draco by his departed godfather. Draco was with him, sharing the quietude of the situation and placing some of his own memories in there as well. That Penseive would eventually be loaned to Ivanova so she could add the happenings to her database.
By the time dinner came around, all the seers were nearing their normal selves again so that the boisterous Saturday evening’s entertainments took place as usual. However Harry avoided swimming because his chest muscles were still tender.
~~~ SUNDAY ~~~
At the main communion John said that this was a thanksgiving service and he had altered the readings to reflect the theme. He also commended the vigilantes for the successful completion of their ordeal, without revealing what it was about. All the Dumbledorians joined in the hymns with great gusto; even those who had been unable to attend during the week previous. Afterwards a few of the congregation were curious as to the intent of the vigil. Once it was explained that it was for very personal reasons they accepted the seers wish for privacy. Eventually, after Harry’s revelations, the story spread anyway, but people were careful not to mention their knowledge to the seers; the village being just as bad as Hogwarts for keeping secrets.
In the afternoon, as promised, Harry related his adventure, trying to explain the experience in terms that the others understood. All the people who had been in the transept were there plus some others. They sat on rugs on the lawn whilst Draco told the story from the three seers’ point of view dovetailing the incidents with Harry’s story, and then Mother stood.
“I was out for the count,” started Narcissa: “And had a peculiar dream. It was as though Harry was walking around inside my head opening doors into rooms and talking to the inhabitants. It was a most peculiar feeling. When Harry cut the magical bond with my ex-husband it was as though a large elastic band had snapped inside my cranium and the sound reverberated. Not an experience I would recommend. Grandmamma said that I fell out of my bed too. The next part of the dream was even odder. Saint Godric’s statue seemed to come to life and told me to go and turn a stone. At first I didn’t realise that it was a real instruction. I just thought it was part of the reaction to Harry’s severing the bond. Only when Godric got up and shook my dream-self did I realise that I had to do something. I woke to find Grandmamma shaking me and telling me that I had been shouting about turning a stone. I had no idea what the message meant, but Lily thought I had better come to the chapel and see if anyone knew. As for the rest, you all saw what happened; acted out before Harry opened his eyes.”
“What do you remember of Lucius?” Hermione asked.
Narcissa closed her eyes for a minute or two: “Him courting me, my parents saying I should marry him because of the betrothal contract. Something of the marriage ceremony too.” She smiled and then frowned: “I seem to be angry about him although I’m not sure why.”
“He mistreated you very badly, Mother, in the end you divorced him because of it. Harry had to remove the bad memories in order to stop him controlling you. We have penseive memories of a lot of the incidents if you wish to look at them.”
“Not at the moment, Draco, thank you. I feel as if a large burden has been lifted from me and I think re-living bad memories would spoil that. No doubt, later on, when I become curious you can show me some. However, inquisitiveness can take a back seat just now.”
“How much of growing up at your home, do you remember?” It was Hermione again.
“Christmas trees, chasing Bellatrix when she stole my doll, smells of cooking from the kitchen, Mother comforting me after I had fallen over and lots more besides.”
“It seems Lucius didn’t manage to detach the older memories then.”
“I can remember Bella and her nasty tricks later on. I think Lucius was there, but I’m not sure. Draco was though, and that monster called Voldemort. My poor child, the horrible things that he did to you.” Narcissa came over and publicly hugged a very embarrassed Draco; smoothing his hair comfortingly. Then she realised what she was doing and chuckled: “Sorry Darling, you’re a man now aren’t you? I hope I haven’t made you jealous, Harry.”
“Not really, I’m just pleased that I never reached the Voldemort carriage. I’m not sure I could have fought all the old battles again. I’m also pleased that I didn’t cause you too much amnesia.”
Narcissa let go of Draco and came to hug Harry instead. She kissed his cheek: “Thank you Harry, you’ve been wonderful.”
It was now Harry’s turn to be embarrassed. The assembly thought it highly amusing and the laughter helped everyone to assume their normal roles. Naturally their muggle friends needed some things explaining and asked their magely neighbours. Gradually little groups of chatting people picked up their rugs and waved goodbye to the seers’ party.
Later on, when only a few were left sitting round the fire, Millicent gave them some good news: “I’ve just had it confirmed that I’m pregnant. You know Dudley and I tried an experiment with the Catlin’s green potion that Draco brewed. Well … It looks as though it’s been efficacious.”
Harry was thankful to Millicent, it drew people’s attention away from him. He was feeling both elated and disturbed by the experience and it would take some weeks before he could deal with mundane matters without falling into a holy reverie. The times he prayed the ‘Thank you Jesus’ prayer were innumerable.
Easter was late in April; that celebration plus a few days with the immediate family at the Hermitage, close followed by the Beltane charming of cabinets put him back on the level.
~~~ IMPROVEMENTS ~~~
Early on May Day morning over a late breakfast, Dean and Seamus were chatting with Draco and Harry about the minor jobs around Milkwood House.
“We’ve altered the changing rooms,” explained Dean: “It’s always been awkward for the village families when they use the pool. Not too bad if it were a hot day, they could walk over in their bathing costumes, but in the winter Brrrr! This last cold season they used the area beneath the stage to change in.”
“Isn’t that a bit low?”
“Not really, Draco. You see, the land falls away on the pool side of the building so the floor below the stage is lower than that in the barn’s auditorium. Now that we have a dramatic society the scenery makers wish to use the under-stage as their workshop so we were looking round to see where to make some proper hygienic changing rooms with solid partitions. Not the canvas partitioned ones that were being used under the stage.”
“It was Tim and Jock who gave us a clue,” added Seamus: “By accident. They were digging down ter make proper footings for the track that runs up ter the dam. One of them stuck her pick through a vault. They made a hole and inspected it. We think it was some form of water channel. Probably the reredorter from the old monastery.”
“What’s a reredorter?”
“The monastery’s latrine, Harry,” Dean explained: “The stream ran below and carried away the shit that they dropped through the holes above. All gone now. Anyway the girls thought it would be unsafe to continue running the railway over the ancient vaulting and dug it out, meaning to fill it in before reinstating the rails. When we looked at the levels; the floor of the reredorter drain and that of the under-stage were very much on the same plane. It was quite obvious that the barn’s wall was built on the same foundations and the monks had arched it to give it greater strength.”
“Next thing that happened,” Seamus continued: “Was the wall between the drain and the pool began ter wobble. So we drained the pool quickly only ter find that we didn’t need ter have done. There was a void between the wobbly old wall and the one supporting the pool. In it slightly lower down ran the drain from the stew-ponds. For a time it flooded the floor because the wobbly wall had fallen into it. It’s a good thing that the girls thought ter check. Imagine the fuss if a train full of visitors had gone down inter it. The space was full o’ the’ collapsed rubbish. So now we had quite a space between the barn’s wall and the pool-side one. We had a look at the pool side-wall and reckoned it would be safer if we buttressed it once the supporting rubbish was removed. Then Jock said that maybe the buttresses could be made ter carry the weight of the track on top of them. Something like a hidden viaduct. So we mulled that over too. Dean-love was next. He’d found a charm for glazing bricks. Well … there were a lot of them there so we tried it out, knowing that if it failed we could bury the mistakes. It wasn’t a mistake, was it, luv?”
“No,” agreed Dean, “Tim said our trial looked like a changing cubicle. Then the sickle sank. The buttresses could be spaced so as to make cubicles. The arches in the barn’s walls would be the entrance doors. Thus the buttresses would support both the pool-wall and the lower section of the barn wall laterally as well as the track-bed above. Not only do the cubicles serve for the pool but they can double-up as changing rooms for the drama group. And we fixed the stew-pond drain to run underneath the floor. It bubbles up on the other side and acts as irrigation in the greenhouses and then feeds Michael’s water wheel. When we need to drain the pool we no longer have to use pumping charms, it can be emptied into that drain as well.”
“Further explorations found more hollows beyond the pool, probably cool cellars for the monastery, so we’ve adapted those ter add ter the changing accommodation too,” added Seamus: “That’ll be one storey high, replacing some old outhouses that we demolished earlier. The pool roof continues down over the rooms, thus there’s sufficient height because of the lower floor level. The passageway has steps up to the end of the pool and passes through the changing rooms. Going down to the theatre changing rooms means that we don’t have people put at risk from a train coming along.”
“So we have fifty eight cubicles to share. They can be split male/female, or actors/actresses, or visitors/home side; in a number of combinations.”
“Fine, so when are you going to show us?”
Dean made a mocking bow: “Come this way my kind sirs. That is if you’re not too tired after your midnight magics.”
“It was just cabinets this time and we slept in. There’s time enough before we have to preside over the maypole dancing this afternoon.”
Seamus chuckled: “Dean-luv and I are entered in the wheelbarrow race on Bank-holiday Monday. And we’ve been strong-armed into being pushers for some of the alms-houses’ residents’ wheelchair race. I think we’ve got Mrs Figg.”
The mages finished their coffee and wandered through the Milk Wood to the Annex. It was there that Draco and Harry realised that they had not been to the playground since before Christmas and neither had they travelled on the new railway extension.
Entering by the front entrance at Milkwood Hall the four mages turned right along the main passage. Through a door they gained the covered raised walkway that overlooked the playground. This area was now enclosed on three sides by buildings. The open side had a railway spur.
“That’s a new bit of railway, isn’t it?”
“Yes Draco! We used that siding for carrying away the excavated rubbish. Festy and Dodo have put that away in some disused adits, so as not to contaminate the ground. Putting the skips there didn’t block the main line.”
“We have an idea ter extend it as a spur down the drive and along the footpath of the lane. We have a number of houses ter renovate there. The opposite footpath is used more. It’s not as though it’s a main road any more. Most of the residents are used ter us chuffing around wi’ the train. Nor would we inhibit any parking that side, most of those houses have garages and the ones that don’t are owned my mages.”
Draco smirked: “Alright, alright! No need to sell it to us. We are on your side, you know.”
“Good! Maybe I was selling it a bit.”
Having arrived at the end of the walkway there were a couple of steps and another door. The party went down onto the floor below. Opposite were two rooms fitted out with showers. On the left was a passageway with more cubicles with arched doorways. These, they were told, were the ones aimed at the theatricals. One of their trains rumbled overhead so everyone paused their chat until it had gone. On the right and up four steps and they entered the new changing block. It was as long as the pool and formed a passageway with changing cubicles on either side. The entrance to the pool was up a further four steps. Almost opposite that, were four steps down onto a lawn outside. On this some youngsters were kicking a ball around, watched over by some of the pensioners sitting in deckchairs.
After the inspection, there were a number of families enjoying the water, so the four mages accioed their trunks, used a couple of cubicles and went to splash around. Somewhat refreshed, they walked back with the villagers. The two seers, swapping damp trunks for green robes, had lunch and went to attend the procession followed by the maypole dancing.
###
John smiled in relief: “I thought you’d forgotten, Ginny and Tor are over there with the children. They say that they won’t be walking with us, because they don’t want to tire Lily out.”
“I think they’re feeling the strain too. We were up at midnight charming cabinets for George and Co.”
“Well you two look fresh enough.”
“Surprising what a dip in the pool can do. Are we walking the bounds afterwards?”
“Missing out Niggle Edge, but yes for the rest. We’ll start at David’s farm and bless each farm in turn, ending up at Woodyates, if that’s alright by you?”
“Scrambling up the hill might just be too much. Why are you altering the route?”
“So that, once Woodyates and Milkwood have been blessed, we can end up at the picnic area for the village meal. Now the goblinesses have re-laid the track we will come back to the village on our mini-train. Oh! Time to be serious, the children are here with their ribbons and dances.”
Being the village mages had its recompense, they were allowed seats whilst others stood to watch the celebrations in the village square. Another compensation was being at the front of the procession, it had been raining earlier so the paths were damp. Those at the back were following hundreds of feet which had turned the damp earth into squelchy mud. Not that anybody minded too much, many of the parishioners were wearing wellington-boots.
Ending up at the sheltered picnic place the sunshine was pleasant and the bluebells were just coming-out. Their scent filled the air pleasantly. The mini-train had been used to bring the provisions and the ladies buffet vehicle was present to serve hot drinks. Griswold had worked out a steam supply from the engine which would, when connected, provide boiling water for tea-making and a coffee machine as well. To be hygienic; the steam from the engine passed through a heat-exchanger in the ladies buffet and thus heated a separate water supply.
“Hello Griswold. That flashing red light on the guards van, is that a new muggle regulation?”
The driver/mechanic/mage chuckled: “No Draco, it’s the mage warning light.”
“I didn’t think we were that dangerous.”
Griswold chuckled even more: “It’s the other way round. It’s warning us mages that there are stranger muggles around. You know, those that do not know about us.”
“What a good idea. Well thought out.”
“I’ll thank Madeline for you, shall I? She was the one who had the brainwave. If you’re wondering how to explain it when an outsider asked. A warning because our mini-railway is unfenced, would be the excuse. We need to put one in the village too when tourists are wandering around.”
“Some muggle towers and tall chimneys have aircraft warning lights one them,” supplied Harry: “Although our tower isn’t that high compared to the surrounding fells.”
“Thanks for that Harry. We’ll see to it. Of course, the villagers in the know have also been told, just in case they let something slip.”
###
They were a bit footsore after the walk, and the lack of a full quota of sleep, plus the warm sunshine bringing out the scent of the bluebells; were extremely soporific. Harry and Draco sat next door to each other, arms around waists and silently dosed.
They must have slept soundly, propped against each other, for about half an hour. They awoke to their children’s giggles.
“Alright! Alright! We know we dropped off, no need to make a fuss,” said Draco, good humouredly.
But other people were giggling too and looking at them. Harry spotted some jars of coloured paste on their picnic table – at least that’s what they looked like. Then he saw Albus’s and Scorpius’s colour smudged hands. He looked at his amour and chuckled.
“You look something like the Cheshire Cat.” Draco scowled, so Harry hurriedly added: “Don’t be cross with them. What do I resemble?”
His lover swallowed his ire and smiled: “The Dormouse. We have been reading the Alice books to them. Look, James is the Mad Hatter. Interesting hat he’s wearing. The painters are Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee and our little gem is Alice. I cannot be cross with them, it’s obvious those stories have caught their imagination.”
“Oh No! Even our wives are in on it. Ginny’s got a white face and a rabbit’s-ears hat. Tor looks magnificent in her Queen of Hearts get up.”
Dudley wandered over looking vaguely Walrus-like: “So glad you’re getting into the spirit of things. Michael’s got a DVD of the film. We’re having a showing a bit later on at the Mill. Here are your costumes.
The two mages took time to look around as they dressed. Every child and quite a few adults were purporting to be several of Charles Dodgson’s characters.
Draco smirked: “I wonder if Dodo is dressed as the Dodo,” he whispered.
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