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Inter Vivos	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 42948 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I am making no money from this writing.

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Chapter Twenty-Eight,
Part Three�Stone

�� You�re
fully healed?� It was the third time Draco had asked the question, but Harry
couldn�t be angry at him, not when he could see the reason for his asking it in
his eyes. Or in his gestures, for that matter, Harry thought, as Draco smoothed
his hair back with a slightly trembling hand.

�� Yes.�
Harry touched his head, wishing Snape�s healing had left some kind of mark that
would stop Draco from worrying. �I still have missing memories, but I think
that�s just the way possession works. All the books say that someone who�s
possessed is never mentally normal afterwards.�

�� Draco
narrowed his eyes instead of looking reassured. �There could be some poison
that Snape forgot to remove.� He shoved Harry back against the pillows when he
tried to sit up. �And relax. Snape said you�d still have a headache.�

�� It�s only
a minor one,� Harry tried. �Nothing like the ones I used to get when Voldemort
sent me visions.� But he rolled his eyes and flopped back obediently when Draco
glared at him. �Maybe he left some poison, but I don�t think so. I feel�lighter
than I have for months, as if all that venom was a weight I was carrying in my
head. Cleaner.� He made a vague gesture with one hand, wishing that he could
explain it better than that. Merlin help
me if I ever have to make a grand speech explaining what I�ve done in detail.

�� Good,�
Draco said, and the way he exhaled after the word told Harry how worried he had
been. He leaned forwards and laid a hand against Harry�s forehead for a moment,
as if to check for fever, then hesitated.

�� Say what
you�re going to say,� Harry demanded. He had learned to recognize that kind of
hesitation. Draco was worrying over something that wasn�t worth worrying about.

�� Could I
use Legilimency on you to make sure that there�s no poison left?� Draco rushed
the words out, staring at the blankets. �It�s not that I don�t trust Snape,� he
added hastily, as if he saw the objections rising in Harry�s mind already. �But
I would feel better if I could see for myself�� He stopped, face burning. Harry
reckoned it was still hard for him to confess something like that.

�� Harry
considered carefully. Draco had been gentle in past Legilimency sessions, but
his head hadn�t hurt this much then.

�� Still, he
would rather that Draco see for himself than walk around for days thinking
Harry still had poison on the brain.

�� Of course,�
he said quietly, and extended his hand. Draco clasped it and held it hard
enough that his fingers dug into the skin and Harry winced. Draco relaxed a
moment later, turned Harry�s hand over, and raised his eyes and his wand.

�� Legilimens,� came the whisper. Harry
realized he had braced for pain at the first sound of the word and smiled
wryly.

�� Draco
stepped into his mind the same way he�d always done it: moving quietly and
gracefully, doing his best not to hurt Harry. Harry could feel the jangling
warnings of pain anyway, vibrations along oversensitive nerves, but he did his
best to ignore it. This was Draco, not Snape, and although Harry trusted Snape
again now, he could still remember the times that Snape had hurt him.

�� Draco made
a few clucking noises and once stiffened, as though he�d seen something that
frightened or startled him, but he said nothing. Then he nodded and focused his
eyes again, letting Harry know he�d stepped out of his head.

�� There�s
nothing left,� he said. �It�s really gone.�

�� Harry
sighed in relief. �Good. Now perhaps we can focus on destroying the
Resurrection Stone with Fiendfyre?�

�� Draco
shifted. �I still need some more time to study Switching Charms,� he said. �Though
I think I can switch the essence of the Elder Wand with the Resurrection Stone.
They�re both equally powerful, but the Wand doesn�t have the protections that
the Dark Lord might have attached to his Horcrux.�

�� Harry sighed
and flopped back against the pillows, Draco�s news making him feel far more
impatient than Draco�s desire to see inside his head had. �All right. So we�ll
wait. But you at least agree that Fiendfyre is an adequate substitute for basilisk
venom?�

�� Draco
grimaced. �I think so. I�m just not sure how we�ll control it.�

�� At least
that gave Harry something new to argue about with him. All he�d been able to do
for the last three days was lie back in bed and read books on Fiendfyre until
the words swam before his eyes and Snape came in with another draught of
Dreamless Sleep.

�� But, in
practice, with the venom that might have killed him gone from his mind and the
imminent destruction of two Horcruxes at hand, he reckoned that a few days was
a small time to wait.

�� You thought you could kill me, Voldemort,
but you couldn�t. And every plot you try will fail, until I send the Killing
Curse hammering into your ugly face.

*

�� It was
time, Draco thought, and tried to ignore the way that his fingernails were
driving into his palms. He was calm, and he had been looking forwards to this
moment, not dreading it. Really.

�� It�s finally time.

�� He, Harry,
Snape, Black, and Narcissa all stood around the kitchen table, on which the
Resurrection Stone and Ravenclaw�s tiara sat in their open silk bags. Draco
reached up and placed the Elder Wand beside them. The Wand made a sharp singing
noise like someone running a finger around the rim of a wineglass. Draco
smiled, and hoped the smile was at least confident enough to convince the
others that he knew what he was doing. Unhappy
that you won�t be around much longer to achieve power over me? I�m sorry that I�m
not feeling sympathy for you.

�� The wand
twitched towards him. Draco realized his hand reached out for it if someone had
yanked on a string. He growled and snatched it back.

�� Harry was
pale, but he looked much better than he had since they�d gone to Hogwarts to
retrieve the tiara. He stood tall and firm, and his wand was ready in his hand,
his eyes locked on the Stone, which they�d agreed they would try to destroy
first since it was likely to be the harder Horcrux. Draco smiled when he saw
the way Harry shifted his weight now and then, as if he would have to charge
into battle. His eyes shone with furious determination, and he regularly
narrowed them like he was staring into the sun.

�� Is it any wonder I love him? Just look at
him.

�� Snape
waited with his hands folded over his wand, his face expressionless. Draco
wondered idly if he was really calm or only forcing the fear away. He would
have liked to use Legilimency to find out, but Snape would have sensed the
magic at once and thrown him back into his own head, and Draco didn�t think
they should be angry at each other when they were about to tackle Horcruxes.

�� Black had a
desperately hopeful expression on his face, and wouldn�t stop darting his eyes
back and forth between Harry and the Horcruxes. He hung back from the table;
Professor Snape had said that since his body had been touched by the Dark Lord�s
magic, he would prove more attractive to the Horcruxes than the rest of them.
Draco held the private opinion that this was total nonsense, since Harry had
been touched by the Dark Lord�s magic, too�more powerfully than Black�and Snape
probably just wanted Black out of the way so he wouldn�t disturb their
concentration. But Black was the only
one who could raise the wards of the house to contain any Dark spirits that
might escape the Horcruxes, so they didn�t need him as part of the inner
circle.

�� And then
there was Narcissa.

�� Draco met
and found himself holding his mother�s eyes. They bent slightly at the corners,
as if she were ruthlessly repressing her anxiety. He smiled thinly, and
wondered if she had anticipated that she would be unable to help in the destruction
of the Horcruxes when she fled from his father. Of course she provided a
potential backup for the wards if Black should fall, because of her Black
blood, but Draco knew it wasn�t the role she would have preferred.

�� Well, she did save Snape when we retrieved
the tiara. We will have to hope that helps for the moment. Draco looked at
the floor and broke eye contact with his mother for a moment. He felt�uncomfortable
noticing the emotions of others, though he could not have said why. Certainly
that ability would have made his falling in love with Harry easier, since he
could have identified what their feelings meant.

�� We are
ready,� Snape said, in the kind of tone that dared anyone to challenge it.

�� Harry
nodded and moved forwards, though he was already as close to the table as was
wise, looking at Draco. �You need to cast first,� he said, and his voice was
gentle and bracing at the same time. Draco smiled at him gratefully. He might not think that he�s much of a
speaker, but he certainly inspires me.

�� He faced
the Resurrection Stone and raised his wand. The hawthorn wand, not the Elder Wand,
although that buzzed at him imperiously from the table. Softly, he breathed the
Latin incantation that he�d chosen, out of the large book of Switching Charms,
as the one most likely to work.

�� A dull red
spark took form beside him, and struggled in slow motion towards the
Resurrection Stone. Draco ignored the nervous looks that Snape and Harry both
wore. He had anticipated this happening. They were up against a harder Horcrux
this time than Slytherin�s locket, which had had only the protections that the
Dark Lord had placed on it�and Draco didn�t want to underestimate those
protections, since he knew he would have to face them on the tiara.

�� But the
Stone was one of the Deathly Hallows.

�� He�d
counted on this; it was the reason he had insisted on waiting a few days even
after he found the correct Switching Charm. Draco concentrated again, and spoke
the second incantation he�d found. This was the one Harry had said he�d heard Dumbledore
use. The spark flared, and strained towards the Stone.

�� Draco heard
the breathing of the others then, tight and shallow, but dismissed it from his
mind in a moment.

�� The spark
halted, fluttering, in front of the Stone, and then twisted and started to go
out. Draco moved his wand in the motion for the Switching Charm, but didn�t
speak the incantation, and in the same moment laid his free hand on the Elder
Wand.

�� Draco, no!� Harry yelped.

�� Draco
thought absently that he really was going to kill Harry later�he�d told Harry all about this plan, and why it would be
dangerous for him to get distracted�and then forced his will into the Wand. It
rose with a delighted buzz, thinking he would use it to complete the Switching
Charm. Draco waited until he saw the red spark hovering at the very edge of the
Stone and felt the Elder Wand�s magic surging and pounding up his arm, a
howling golden tide.

�� Then he
threw his will behind the magic and twitched the Elder Wand in another,
exceedingly complicated pattern, whilst he drove the hawthorn wand through yet
another variation of the Switching Charm.

�� A shriek
that ripped the air and made it beat like a gong against Draco�s head, and then
a golden spark flew out of the Elder Wand and joined the red one hovering next
to the Resurrection Stone. Together, they popped inside the Stone. So fast that
Draco would have missed it if he�d blinked, something green streaked out of the
Stone and into the Wand.

�� There was a
moment of intense silence.

�� And then
Draco discovered that he should have waited even longer to study Switching Charms, because abruptly his spirit left
his body and was sucked into the Stone after the Elder Wand�s essence.

*

�� Harry
straightened, watching with silent terror as Draco�s body collapsed like the
Invisibility Cloak when someone took it off.

�� He wanted
to wail. He wanted to leap over the table and do something that would rescue
Draco.

�� He wanted
to�

�� But he didn�t
have time to do that, because the Stone was shaking and a thick smoke that
looked like the deformed baby-thing that Dumbledore had called out of the
locket was leaking from cracks in it.

�� Harry
pointed his wand at the Stone and spoke the incantation for Fiendfyre, not thinking
about what might happen next, just intent on getting through the destruction of
the Horcrux so he could find out what was happening to Draco.

�� Only a
moment later did it occur to him that Draco might be inside the Horcrux somehow,
and the Fiendfyre might kill him,
too.

�� But the
spirit shrieked and writhed as the Stone smoked, and the Fiendfyre, conjuring
images of claws and fangs and twisted heads with huge eyes hanging out of their
sockets, rose and raged against the invisible limits that Snape�s magic was imposing
on it, and then the spirit pressed steadily towards him.

�� Harry backed
up, snarling. Thoughts whirled and dashed through his head, changing as often
as the beasts in the flame. He had to save Draco�he couldn�t let the shard of Voldemort�s
soul gain a hold on his spirit�he had to stop the Fiendfyre because it stood a
chance of destroying Draco�s spirit, too�the Elder Wand was rising from the
table and vibrating�Draco�s body lay still and crumpled as if all his bones
were gone and it was horrible�Draco�s
mother had slipped around the table and was kneeling over him, chanting in a
steady voice, but Harry couldn�t make out the individual Latin words and it
would have done him no good even if he could�

�� And then Snape
snapped his will forwards, corralling and driving back the piece of Voldemort�s
soul, the way they had practiced.

�� Harry
wondered if he should hate or envy Snape for that focus he possessed, which let
him remember the original plan even when he must be worried about Draco.

�� The piece
of spirit shrieked and tore at the air with invisible claws, its face so
twisted that Harry wouldn�t have called it a face at all if he hadn�t seen
Dumbledore destroy the bit of soul from the locket. Snape continued to speak.
He was the most experienced with Dark Arts of all of them and the strongest
wizard, so to him had gone the task of holding the soul back.

�� And you need to be paying more attention to the Fiendfyre.

�� Sure
enough, the flames were licking around the limits that Harry had fought so hard
to impose, trying to escape them. Harry cast the spell that would hold them in
place again, and again, and then again, the syllables feeling as ineffective as
though he were saying them in his sleep or in Parseltongue. The Fiendfyre
churned and danced inwards, and Harry heard a loud pop, which he hoped was the Stone being destroyed. His hands
slipped on the wand with the amount of sweat coating them, and he felt as
though his eyes would strain out of his head, so hard was he staring at Draco.

*

�� Severus
understood what had gone wrong, of course. He had been present when the Dark
Lord experimented with prisoners to make their spirits leave their bodies and
enter objects, where he could torture them in new and innovative ways. It hadn�t
occurred to him at the time that the Dark Lord might also be gaining information
on ways the Horcruxes would behave, but only because he hadn�t known about the
Horcruxes; the Dark Lord rarely did anything that had only one purpose.

�� The Elder
Wand had not been powerful enough to resist the Switching Charms Draco cast,
and its essence had indeed entered the Resurrection Stone whilst the Stone�s
essence entered its wood. But it was bonded enough to Draco, as its master, to
yank his spirit along with its essence.

�� Severus considered
for a detached moment the pain that Draco was probably suffering as the
Fiendfyre destroyed the Stone, but did not allow himself to consider the matter
in any detail. That would only distract him from his double task of caging the
bit of the Dark Lord�s soul and freeing Draco�s spirit before it could die.

�� He had not
observed the Dark Lord only. Before he was a spy, he had been a student of Dark
magic, and so he had learned as much
as he could. He had only heard the Dark Lord speak the incantation to reverse
the process of sending a spirit into an object once, but that was enough. He
whispered it now, keeping his voice low so that Black could not hear the words
and use them for mischief, as he undoubtedly would.

�� The air
shimmered and bent back on itself, grinding and tearing. As from a distance, Severus
heard Harry cry out, and Narcissa. It was not them he was listening for, but a
voice that spoke a moment later in surprise, and the scrape and flail of Draco�s
hands against the floor.

�� He had
returned to his body, and the essence of the Elder Wand to itself. For a moment,
a sharp green glow surrounded the Wand, as the essences of the Wand and the Stone
fought for supremacy inside the elder wood. Severus fell back a step. He knew
no spells that would control a battling pair of Deathly Hallows.

�� Then Harry
gave a great shout, and the Fiendfyre�s flames slammed together with a wail
like a dying soul, which almost masked the Dark Lord�s own wail. The green glow
above the Elder Wand dimmed, sinking into either end. Severus turned about and
looked, though he already knew what he would see.

�� The
Resurrection Stone was gone, taking the essence of one of the Hallows with it.
Only ashes were left, scattered across the silken bag that had held it.

*

�� Harry only
waited to see the Stone crumble and the piece of soul vanish before he hurried
around Snape to Draco. And then he found out that he couldn�t embrace him and
snog the life out of him like he wanted, because Mrs. Malfoy was holding him in
her arms and her head was bowed. Her
eyes were shut tightly, as if she feared what she would do if she opened them.

�� For the
first time since fourth year, Harry felt a sting of jealousy. Would Mum have done that for me, if she was
alive and I was wounded fighting Voldemort? I reckon I�ll never know. He
absently rubbed his hands off on his trouser legs again and stepped back, doing
his best to wait until Mrs. Malfoy was done.

�� She stood
up at last, still holding Draco, although he was pushing for her to let him go.
He did get one hand free, so Harry could clasp that. Harry smiled into Draco�s
eyes, then looked back at Mrs. Malfoy.

�� I didn�t
do that to him,� he said, because her eyes were blaming and judging and he
wanted it to stop. �Fighting
Voldemort is dangerous. But he wants to do it.�

�� Yes, I do,�
Draco said, breaking Harry�s impression that this was a silent contest between
just him and Mrs. Malfoy. �Were you telling him otherwise, Mother?� He twisted
around and frowned up at his mother. �I warned you not to do that. You can�t
make me back away from him, or from this war.�

�� Mrs. Malfoy
wore no expression at all, a trick that Harry had sometimes seen his Aunt Petunia
strive for, but never manage. �I did not tell him to make you back away, Draco,�
she said. �I asked him why you were in danger, and he was unable to give me an
honest answer.�

�� That�s not
the way it happened,� Harry snarled, his worry over Draco transmuting in a
sudden flash to anger. �She implied that I should have made you stay behind in
Hogwarts, no matter what the cost was��

�� Snape slid
in between them just then, grasping Draco�s chin and tilting his face back so
that he could stare into his eyes. Harry didn�t hear him whisper the Legilimens incantation, but was sure
that was what he�d done. He let Draco go less than a minute later, though, with
a small and satisfied grunt.

�� The
Fiendfyre did you no mental harm whilst you were trapped in the Stone,� he said
briskly. �Whether it did you spiritual harm
is, of course, beyond my ability to discern.�

�� Mrs. Malfoy
closed her eyes again. Understanding, for once, exactly how she felt, Harry
clutched at Draco�s hand again.

�� I don�t
think so,� Draco said, slowly, his words stumbling as if he were pulling on
memories that escaped him. �It�s like a dream. I know there was pain, but I can�t
remember being in pain. If that helps.�

�� Good,�
Harry said fiercely, and finally Mrs. Malfoy�s arms were weak enough that he
could pull Draco into his own embrace. �What happened?� he asked Draco�s neck.
His hands crept up and down Draco�s back and into his hair, touching every bit
of skin he could find to make sure it was whole.

�� I used the
Switching Charm to switch the essences of the Deathly Hallows, instead of
switching the spirit in the Horcrux with something else,� Draco said. �It was
supposed to propel the spirit out of the Stone and lessen whatever protections
the Stone got from being the Stone.
That part worked. But I didn�t realize how deeply the Elder Wand was bonded to
me, and it pulled me along for the ride. It�s dim, like a dream. Like I said.�
His voice was wry, but his hands tightened like bone pincers on Harry�s
shoulders.

�� But the Elder
Wand still survived, didn�t it?� Harry asked. He half-turned his head to look
at the Wand. �I mean, spiritually, and not just physically.�

�� Draco
nodded, his hair scratching Harry�s cheek. �Its essence was freed when
Professor Snape freed me, and then it went back home. The Stone�s essence
perished when the Stone ceased to exist.� He looked over Harry�s shoulder. �And
it�s angry now, and wary,� he whispered. �I won�t catch it off-guard instead.�

�� Harry
pulled back to stare into his face. Draco�s voice wasn�t dismayed enough. He
sounded grim, yes, but also smug. �You have an idea,� Harry said. �Don�t you? Something
about destroying the Wand forever.�

�� Not just
about that,� Draco said, but widened his eyes in a mock-innocent manner when
Harry scowled at him. �I�m tired, Harry,�
he said.

�� And though
Harry didn�t believe that at all, and thought Draco had only said it to get out
of talking about his idea, he had to accept it for the moment, especially since
Mrs. Malfoy was trying to take Draco away from him again.

*

�� After the
pain and confusion of destroying the Stone, destroying the tiara was
comparatively easy. Draco made sure to keep his attention on the screaming
spirit in the walls of Snape�s magic, however, and away from the Fiendfyre.

�� Being
trapped in the Stone was like a
dream, with the pain and the flames pressing close, the flames changing shape
in his sight into dogs and centaurs and beasts without color or name, and the
certainty of oblivion beyond all that. Draco knew he would have nothing worse
than a few nightmares, but still, he didn�t wish to look at the thing that had
almost killed him.

�� He looked
at the Elder Wand instead, and tasted its buzzing frustration, and savored the
idea that had come to him.

�� I know how to get the Horcrux out of Harry.

*

�� qwerty: The
books said that Harry will have scars, and he does, such as missing memories. But
the poison is gone.

�� Sneakyfox:
Thank you!

�� MewMew2:
Thanks for reviewing.

�� SP777:
Well, as far as I�m concerned, lots of my plots take unexpected turns! But for
something like �Keep It Simple, Stupid,� it has to be a very short and punchy
plot. I don�t get those very often.

�� So far, �Building
With Worn-Out Tools� has stubbornly refused to provide any sequels or
side-stories, but I have the seed of an idea that might take place in the same
universe.

�� Snakes are
going to be incorporated into the next long story I write.

�� And yes, I
do understand what you mean. That�s why I try to include moments of joy and
pleasure in my stories, though the angst sometimes overwhelms them.

�� Thrnbrooke:
Well, here�s the last part of Chapter 28. Chapter 29 is coming up next.

�� Ayla Rouge:
Thank you! Narcissa is still upset that Harry and Draco are dating, but she�ll have
to realize that some things are just not Harry�s fault and she can�t protect
Draco from everything.

�� And yes,
Snape and Harry are on the road to becoming friends again.

�� Banner:
Thank you! I hope their strength is on full display in this chapter as well.
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Inter Vivos