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Ceremonies of Strife	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 16218 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I am making no money from this writing.

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Chapter
Thirty-One�Stripped Bare

�� Harry.�

�� Draco had
wondered what would happen if he spoke to Harry at all, let alone in the brisk
tone that had emerged from his mouth. Harry had stood still for the last
several minutes, staring at his hands in a way that made him look lost.

�� But Draco
was going to begin as he meant to go on. He wouldn�t sound deferential or
pitying because Harry had used necromancy. Nor would he ignore it. He knew that
Harry hadn�t had a choice, but it was still something that they would both have
to deal with, not pretend hadn�t happened.

�� Harry
blinked and looked up at him. Then he swallowed. �Draco,� he said, voice dull.
�I can feel it in my head.� He touched his temple and pressed down harshly with
his fingers, rubbing back and forth.

�� Draco
caught his breath. But he wouldn�t allow himself to panic until he knew what he
was panicking about, so he raised his eyebrows and asked, �What do you mean?�

�� I can
feel�� Harry closed his eyes and tilted his head back, but Draco thought he was
only struggling to find words to describe what he felt, rather than struggling
with some sensation that would make him seem mad. At least, Draco hoped so.

�� I can feel
the necromancy taking up residence in the back of my head,� Harry said. �It�s
like I�m never going to be able to forget or ignore it, now that it�s there.�
He shivered and opened his eyes. There was a look of such utter despair in them
that Draco was taken aback until Harry looked at him and spoke the explanation.
�I�m sorry. I should have found a different solution to the problem.�

�� Draco
relaxed, so much tension draining out of his body at once that he swayed. �It�s
all right,� he whispered, moving forwards to enfold Harry in his arms. Harry
leaned on him, and Draco kissed his forehead. That was what I was most afraid of, he thought. That Harry would try to ignore this, that it would lead to him refusing to
acknowledge what it had meant that he used necromancy. �I know you had no
choice, and I would rather that you use necromancy than that all of us die.�

�� I should
have tried the compatible magic instead,� Harry muttered, refusing to open his
eyes, but there was a lightness in those words Draco knew he could counter.

�� I didn�t
think of it, either,� Draco said. �And we don�t really know that it would have
worked from so far away, and with the two of us using completely different
disciplines of magic. Lowell and Weston haven�t taught us that yet.�

�� Harry
nodded, his hair rustling against Draco�s cheek. Then he turned and kissed him.
Draco turned greedily to meet the kiss with his lips.

�� So you�re
a necromancer. You could have told me that before.�

�� Draco felt
Harry jump, and used his reaction to that to conceal his own surprise. He
turned around to find Ventus considering them from a few feet away, arms folded
and head tilted as if she was trying to figure out the best way of dealing with
this revelation. Granger and Weasley were beyond her, watching Harry with
anxiety. Draco didn�t think any of the anxiety was for him. Politesse brushed
up against his ankles, growling, though Draco didn�t know if it was because of
Ventus�s nearness or Granger and Weasley�s attention.

�� We didn�t
want to tell you for obvious reasons,� Harry said, and his tone was bored now,
as if the only one he wanted to show weakness in front of was Draco. Draco�s
arm tightened around Harry�s waist, and he fought not to sigh with delight at
the thought. �We thought you would go at once to the Auror instructors and
report me.�

�� Ventus
blinked slowly, eyelashes lifting and falling with such deliberation Draco was
sure it was on purpose. He didn�t know what she wanted them to understand from
the gesture, though, until she spoke. �I value every spell that can be used in
battle. I told you that, and under Veritaserum, too. When are you going to
believe me?�

�� Draco shook
his head. �What you did today was�incredible.� That was one way to describe it,
and it left out other, more revealing things he might have said.

�� Thank
you.� Ventus gave him such a dazzling smile that Draco reeled, and then turned
her attention back to Harry. �I would never have betrayed you. You�re a
powerful addition to my comitatus, and my loyalty is to the five of us first,
before the Aurors.�

�� Harry
looked as if he believed it, so Draco decided that he could act the same way,
at least for now.

�� What are
we going to do?� Granger demanded, looking back and forth between Draco and
Harry, at Ventus as if she would have some kind of answer, and then back into the
valley. Draco looked with her. Bodies still littered the ground, though mostly
in pieces. There was no way that they would be able to hide what had happened
here.

�� Oh, that�s
simple,� Ventus said brightly, and lifted her wand. Draco had enough experience
with what might come out of it now to flinch as she aimed downhill.

�� Ventus
didn�t actually make something come out of her wand, though. She merely traced
it in a circle, all the while looking trustingly up into the sky, as if she
thought that someone was waiting there for her command.

�� The sky
twisted in response, and a spiral that was a healthier yellow than Nihil�s
sickly glamour came out of it. It descended into the valley so gently that
Draco didn�t realize it was made of fire until it touched the grass and the
grass began to smolder. Smoke and sparks still didn�t spring up, though, as the
flames neatly, cleanly, quietly, consumed the bodies. Every severed hand and
exploded organ seemed to attract the fire, and it leaped through the air
without the necessity of more commands from Ventus.

�� In five
minutes, the bodies were burned to less than ash, and the spiral rose back into
the sky and vanished beyond the clouds.

�� Draco
looked at Ventus in silence. She looked back at him peacefully, raising her eyebrows
as if she didn�t know what to make of his gaze but found it intriguing.

�� There,�
she said. �Now no one has to know.�

�� Draco shook
his head and turned to Harry. �Are you ready to return to the Ministry? We
should discuss what we�re going to do once we�re there, but I don�t think
remaining here will win us anything.�

�� Harry
nodded and started to open his mouth. Draco never knew if he wanted to offer
another apology or a piece of advice.

�� There were
three loud cracks in the valley, and three wizards appeared there. Draco moved
forwards at once, but he could see that none of them were Nusquam or Nemo�or at
least, not Nusquam and Nemo as he had last seen them. If they really could
change identities and bodies any time they wanted, then he didn�t know how they
were going to identify them.

�� If they
could be Dearborn�

�� But there
were enemies in front of them to brood about instead of what the man who had
mentored him really was, so Draco seized his wand and made sure that Harry was
at his side. If they couldn�t use their compatible magic in battle with Nihil,
they would use it now, against opponents who looked less formidable.

�� The three
wizards remained motionless, staring up at them, even when Weasley called out
in a wavering voice for them to name themselves. Draco just barely kept from
rolling his eyes and snorting. Yes, I�m
sure they find that threatening, Weasley. They all wore black robes, and
heavy hoods that draped around their faces. From what little Draco could see of
their chins and necks, though, he didn�t think they were wearing masks, which
meant they probably weren�t Death Eaters or people imitating them.

�� That told
them nothing about what these wizards were,
though.

�� No matter
how closely Draco looked at them, he couldn�t make out any symbols on their
robes, or any distinguishing characteristics that would have let him know how
they moved or fought. The three wizards turned their heads towards each other
and seemed to confer, but no murmur of voices rose to the hill, either.

�� Then the one
in the middle stepped forwards. The voice that called out was feminine, but
Draco reminded himself that could be a trap as easily as anything else. Nihil
and his tricks meant he was doubly reluctant now to trust to appearances.
�Surrender the necromancer. We have no reason to detain the rest of you.�

�� Ventus
began to swing her wand through her fingers, her eyes brilliant. �Oh, good,�
she said. �A fight to defend one of our own. I like this.�

�� Be still,�
Draco snapped at her, because he thought she was more likely to listen to him
than anyone else, and glanced at Harry. To his surprise, Harry�s face was pale
and tight, and he had his eyes fixed on the wizards beneath them as if he knew
them. Draco leaned towards him. �Do you know what they want?�

*

�� Portillo Lopez. I know her voice. And the
rest of them must be her little group that hunts necromancers and the living
dead. I should have known.

�� Harry was
regretting now that he hadn�t told Draco and the rest about her. True, the
secret hadn�t really occurred to him as one that he needed to share, but if it had, then he wouldn�t be in this
situation.

�� He placed a
hand on Draco�s shoulder and squeezed. �Let me talk to them,� he whispered.
When Draco opened his mouth to object, Harry smiled at him. He knew it wasn�t
as convincing as it could have been, from the way Draco�s eyes narrowed if
nothing else. �Please? Trust me?�

�� The words
carried more charge than almost any others would have between them. Draco
bobbed his head and moved out of the way, wordless. Harry could feel Draco�s
gaze burning on his back as he descended the hill, though. He knew Draco would
require an explanation of him later, and that it had better be a good one.

�� If there is a later. If Portillo Lopez and
her friends don�t just kill me on the spot.

�� Harry shook
his head to get rid of the thoughts as he halted in front of the three wizards.
They watched him with a tense eagerness he hadn�t been able to see from as far
away as the top of the hill. There was some sort of border around their hoods,
too, a thin strip of dark green. Harry wondered if that was for the deadly
nightshade that twined the spokes of their wheel tattoos, and then told himself
not to worry about it as Portillo Lopez leaned in towards him.

�� You were
warned,� she whispered. �You knew what would happen if you used necromancy. You
cannot complain that we violated the rules.�

�� Harry
lifted his head and tried to pretend unconcern, but his stomach was vibrating
with anxiety. Portillo Lopez�s words gave him a bit of hope, though.

�� They want to obey rules. They have some sort
of standards. That means that I might be able to fool them if I can find a sort
of exception to the rules. Of course, it would help if I knew what the rules
were.

�� Does that
include any use of necromancy?� Harry asked, and was surprised to hear his
voice was calm. But he figured that out in a moment. Compared with losing
Draco, nothing Portillo Lopez and her group could do to him frightened him. And
he didn�t think he would lose Draco, even with the new secret he had to
confess, as long as he could survive this. �Even one that stopped Nihil?�

�� There is
no way necromancy could stop Nihil,� said one of the other two. He had a
distinct voice, deep and croaking like a frog�s, and Harry decided that he
would probably knew him if they ever met again. �He understands it as no
necromancer in the history of the world could.�

�� Harry took
a deep breath. �But I used necromancy controlled by Parseltongue and not Latin
against him,� he said. �And I know how Nihil came to be what he is. That�s
information I could offer to you, but there�s no reason to do it if you�re only
going to kill me for doing something totally different from him, for different
motives.�

�� Portillo
Lopez was still, and it seemed that her two colleagues stood even more quietly,
poised and staring at him. There was a long moment when Harry could feel her
tension and wondered if she would agree to eliminate him immediately rather
than allow him to run free.

Then Portillo Lopez glanced over
her shoulder and nodded. The other two wizards stepped back, and Portillo Lopez
faced Harry and cast a ward that enclosed them in a shimmering line. Harry
noticed that he couldn�t hear any sounds from beyond it. It made sense that it
would keep their words quiet, too.

�� You could
offer this information to us because it would be for the good of the world,�
Portillo Lopez said. �You have more practice than most in realizing that that
is larger than a single life.�

�� Harry
shrugged. �And if I�m really the evil necromancer you think I am, that all
necromancers become just by using this art, why would I do that? I wouldn�t
have any conscience left, would I?�

�� Portillo
Lopez waited some more, as though someone was going to show up and offer her a
way out of this difficulty. Harry looked back at the hill. Draco was leaning
forwards as if that would let him hear what was happening. Hermione and Ron
stood close together for company. Ventus was in front of the others, her smile
visible from here.

�� I would
ask you to demonstrate this Parseltongue-based necromancy to me,� Portillo
Lopez said, �save that I would not encourage you to put yourself in danger even
for the sake of new knowledge. But it is true that you do not smell as bad,
spiritually, as you would if you had embroiled yourself in darkness willingly.
Tell me the circumstances under which you used the spell, and what it did.�

��

�� Harry
hesitated. He had gambled that Portillo Lopez wouldn�t punish him as badly as
she otherwise might if he told the truth, but he hadn�t thought about what the
consequences might be for the others.

�� You
hesitate now,� Portillo Lopez said. There was a little ripple down the side of
her body. Harry was sure she was aiming her wand at him. �When I ask you to
confess the truth, you pause. Can it be that you have no new information to
offer? That this was merely a gambit to make sure that I would not execute you
immediately?�

�� Harry
snorted in spite of himself. �Well, of course
it was that,� he said. �But no, I�m worried about how you�ll punish the
others in your capacity as an Auror instructor.�

�� Another
period of silence, while Portillo Lopez seemed to commune with herself and
Harry looked back at Draco. He had his arms folded now, and his gaze was remote
and cold. Harry shuddered and hoped that he wouldn�t have to go through the
entire process of regaining Draco�s trust again.

�� If you do, then you do, he reminded
himself. Anything is better than a
permanent loss.

�� When I am
part of my Order,� Portillo Lopez said, slowly, as if she was having difficulty
finding the words in English, �then I am not an Auror instructor. My purpose on
this battlefield is not to punish the ones who came with you. It is to
determine if you should live, or if we should kill you now before you can
inflict more damage on the world. So long as you do not reveal my identity to
them, or the existence of my Order, I have no reason to try and get them
removed from the Auror program, as it seems you fear.�

�� What am I
going to tell them about this meeting if you let me walk away, then?� Harry
asked, swallowing as he thought about keeping secrets from Draco. �If I don�t
reveal the existence of your Order, then they�ll never believe me.�

�� Portillo
Lopez tilted her head, and Harry could envision the smile she was wearing under
her hood. �Perhaps you should have considered such a difficulty before you
became involved in an art so dangerous,� she murmured.

�� Harry
clenched his fists. �If I lose my friends, which will happen if I lie, then
I�ll be restless and miserable and lonely,� he countered flatly. �They�ll be
reproaching me all the time and begging me to tell them the truth. They�ve done
that before,� he added, thinking about the times in Hogwarts when he had tried
to keep secrets from Ron and Hermione. And Draco could do even worse to Harry,
because he had a more powerful hold on a different part of Harry�s heart. �That
doesn�t give me much incentive to keep your secrets.�

�� Unexpectedly,
Portillo Lopez chuckled. �I know now that you have not completely succumbed to
the forces that you have stirred up in your own mind,� she said, when Harry
stared at her. �No necromancer possesses such a sense of humor. Those forces
tend to consume such lightheartedness almost at once.�

�� Harry
shrugged with one shoulder and then stood waiting, tense, while Portillo Lopez
divided her gaze between him and his friends.

�� Tell them
that we are another group fighting Nihil,� Portillo Lopez said at last. �You
can even say that we specifically fight necromancy. But I must not have my
identity compromised. That you know is enough of a problem already, but I wish
to avoid unnecessary killing and so have not done as some of my siblings
recommended and silenced you.� Harry shivered in spite of himself. �If you
betray me, I will have no reason to keep their memories intact. And I can avoid
killing while inflicting significant damage still. Remember that.�

�� Harry
nodded, and then began to explain. Portillo Lopez listened so intently that it
felt as if she was drinking his words, but she did nothing other than
occasionally nod. Harry still couldn�t catch a glimpse of her face. He thought
he might have felt slightly better if he could have.

�� Ah,� she
said, when he was done. �So you yourself do not understand what happened. The
snake that you conjured was not real?�

�� It came
from illusions,� Harry said. �It flowed together on its own. The illusions were
only meant to confuse and trick Nihil.� He turned and stared at the part of the
valley where the bodies had lain. �And I think it did confuse him in the end,
but not for the right reasons.�

�� Portillo
Lopez nodded. �I will have to conduct research.� She paused again, and Harry
shifted his feet and looked over his shoulder. Draco�s expression was cold and
ready, his wand pointed at Portillo Lopez.

�� I have
never heard of wish magic so powerful that it could overtake death,� Portillo
Lopez said suddenly. �If it was common, we would have had reports coming in
about people who had raised the dead without turning to the path of necromancy.
Grief is a powerful motivator for wishes.�

�� Harry
shrugged irritably. �He could have been lying to me even then, I reckon. But I
don�t think he was. There was too much fear and anger in his mind, and then he
flung a huge force at us right after that.�

�� I trust
nothing where Nihil is concerned.� Portillo Lopez swayed slightly on her feet
when she finished speaking, and then turned and dropped the ward encircling
them. She called something in Latin too quick for Harry to follow to the other
wizards. One of them nodded and Apparated out. The other responded, but
Portillo Lopez spoke a single, harsh word, and then he was gone, too.

�� Portillo
Lopez glanced back at him. Harry shivered�maybe Voldemort had had the right
idea about having his Death Eaters wear masks after all; it was creepy trading
words with someone whose face you couldn�t see�but forced himself to meet her
hidden gaze steadily.

�� For now,
we will leave you alive,� Portillo Lopez said. �You are not the kind of
necromancer that we thought you were, and you have performed admirably against
Nihil, as well as contributing information to us. But I would not continue to
practice it, if I were you.�

�� Harry tried
to smile at her, and said nothing about the dark shimmer in the back of his
mind.

�� Be careful,�
Portillo Lopez said, and she was gone, jumping after the others before Harry
could ask her a single question.

�� I would at least have liked to know what
they were doing here, and why they didn�t show up earlier to help us against
Nihil, Harry thought resentfully as he trailed back up the hill.

*

�� Draco
wasn�t convinced by Harry�s story about the other group fighting against Nihil,
or the careful way in which he told it, with his eyes on the ground. But
Granger and Weasley seemed to be, and Ventus had a habit of swallowing things
whole if they didn�t relate to fighting or make things more dangerous for her
in a fight. In fact, she was already debating what they should do in their next
battle with Nihil as they prepared to Apparate back to the Ministry.

�� Harry was
standing off by himself with Flash�s tail curled tightly around his neck, so
Draco took the chance to catch his arm. �What secrets are you keeping from me?�
he whispered.

�� Harry
caught a whistling breath. Then he lowered his eyes as if he was ashamed of
himself, the way he should be, and said, �It�s not entirely my secret to keep.
But I�ll tell you once we�re back in our rooms.�

�� Draco
growled and made sure that he had a tight hold on Politesse when he Apparated,
as well as on Harry�s arm. He wasn�t going to give Harry the chance to lie to
him or turn his back on him again, not when they had both fought so hard for their renewed relationship.

�� When they
were in their rooms�they had walked through the corridors there in absolute
silence�he dropped Harry�s arm, turned to face him, and snapped, �Talk.�

�� Harry
grimaced and rubbed his forehead as though his scar was stabbing him. �That was
Portillo Lopez,� he admitted. �She�s part of a secret order that fights
necromancers. She had come to see if they needed to kill me.�

�� Draco
stared at him with his lips parted, his mind leaping to the strange mark they
had observed on Portillo Lopez�s skin at the end of last year. �And how long
have you kept this secret?� he asked, determined to let his need for Harry to tell
the truth prevail over his curiosity.

�� For a few
months.� Harry winced and lowered his head. �At first I didn�t tell you because
it was part of the same body of knowledge about necromancy I was trying to keep
secret, and then I thought that�well, it really wasn�t my secret. I didn�t know if telling you would endanger you,
or her.�

�� Draco
waited a few minutes before he nodded, but he could see this. All too easily,
really. Harry�s guilt complex and sense of duty would have demanded that he do
what he could to protect everyone, excluding himself.

�� Very
well,� he said. �And why did they decide not to kill you?�

�� As Harry
brightened and launched into his explanation, Draco sat down, scratched
Politesse�s head, and thought about whether it was fair to demand complete
honesty from Harry. After all, he had secrets of his own.

�� Such as the
way he had glanced back when they were Apparating and seen a distant figure
with bright, pale hair watching them from the top of a hill.

*

�� rafiq: I
don�t know about more powerful, but they will certainly be different.

�� Dragons
Breath: Yes. On the other hand, the necromancy Harry used at the end is more
like the traditional necromancy, a dark power.

�� angelmuziq:
Ominous, huh?

�� SP777:
Thanks!

�� I have to
admit, I was curious to see if I could make Draco a leader. But he likes power
so much that it�s a natural role for him to take, once he and everyone else
grows out of expecting Harry to take on the leadership role.

�� Harry doesn�t
really understand what happened with the Parseltongue, but although he uses it
here to get him out of the sticky situation with Portillo Lopez, he won�t use
it lightly.

�� polka dot: He
has such a mark to those who know what to look for, a sort of spiritual stink.
But it�s not necessarily visible.

�� thrnbrooke:
Oh, it should.
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Ceremonies of Strife