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Harry Potter and The Bound Prince (BP1)	By : slashpervert Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 50892 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 32
- 33
- 34
Chapter Number/Total: 33/37
Chapter Title: The Tower
< Words: 4275 Words
Notes: Italics sections are taken directly from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Harry helped Dumbledore to his feet after they were again under the starry sky. Wet and cold, supporting Dumbledore's weight, Harry tried to only think of his destination: Hogsmeade. Steeling himself for the distasteful feeling that accompanied Apparation, he held on to Dumbledore tightly and was gone.

He opened his eyes and the scent and feel of the sea were gone. They stood dripping and cold in the middle of High Street in Hogsmeade. Harry thought he saw more Inferi coming at them from the edges of the shops. Blinking, he saw that nothing stirred. All was dark except the street lamps and a few upper windows. Must have been his imagination.

�We did it, Professor!� Harry whispered with difficulty; he suddenly realised that he had a searing stitch in his chest. �We did it! We got the Horcrux!�

As Dumbledore stumbled, Harry thought that his unpractised Apparation had affected him, and he saw his face looking worse than ever in the light from the street lamp.

�Sir, are you all right?�

�I've been better,� said Dumbledore weakly, though the corners of his mouth twitched. "That potion ... was no health drink ..."

And to Harry's horror, Dumbledore sank on to the ground.

�Sir -- it�s okay, sir, you�re going to be all right, don�t worry --�

As Harry thought he must get Dumbledore to the hospital wing, he looked around for help, finding no one.

�We need to get you up to the school, sir ... Madam Pomfrey ...�

�No,� said Dumbledore. �It is ... Professor Snape whom I need ... but I do not think ... I can walk very far just yet ...�

�Right -- sir, listen -- I�m going to knock on a door, find a place you can stay -- then I can run and get Madam --�

�Severus,� said Dumbledore clearly. �I need Severus ...�

�All right then, Snape -- but I�m going to have to leave you for a moment so I can --�

Suddenly, Harry heard the sound of someone running towards them. Someone had seen and knew they needed help. He looked up to see Madam Rosmerta hurrying towards them in a dressing gown and high-heeled bedroom slippers.

�I saw you Apparate as I was pulling my bedroom curtains! Thank goodness, thank goodness, I couldn�t think what to -- but what�s wrong with Albus?�

She came to a halt, panting, and stared down, wide-eyed, at Dumbledore.

�He�s hurt,� said Harry. �Madam Rosmerta, can he come into the Three Broomsticks while I go up to the school and get help for him?�

�You can�t go up there alone! Don�t you realise -- haven�t you seen --?�

�If you help me support him,� said Harry, not listening to her, �I think we can get him inside --�

�What has happened?� asked Dumbledore. �Rosmerta, what�s wrong?�

"The -- the Dark Mark, Albus.�

And she pointed into the sky, in the direction of Hogwarts. Harry�s heart plummeted with Madam Rosmerta�s words. He turned his head slowly to look in the direction she was pointing.

There it was, hanging in the sky above the school: the blazing green skull with a serpent tongue, the mark Death Eaters left behind whenever they had entered a building ... wherever they had murdered ...

All Harry could think was -- Draco.

Harry could hardly take in what Dumbledore was saying to Madam Rosmerta, his mind was only in one place.

�When did it appear?� asked Dumbledore, and his hand clenched painfully upon Harry�s shoulder as he struggled to his feet.

�Must have been minutes ago, it wasn�t there when I put the cat out, but when I got upstairs --�

�We need to return to the castle at once,� said Dumbledore. �Rosmerta,� and though he staggered a little, he seemed wholly in command of the situation, �we need transport -- brooms --�

�I�ve got a couple behind the bar,� she said, looking very frightened. �Shall I run and fetch --?�

�No, Harry can do it.�

Harry raised his wand at once.

�Accio Rosmerta�s brooms.�

A second later they heard a loud bang as the front door of the pub burst open; two brooms had shot out into the street and were racing each other to Harry�s side, where they stopped dead, quivering slightly, at waist height.

�Rosmerta, please send a message to the Ministry,� said Dumbledore, as he mounted the broom nearest him. �It might be that nobody within Hogwarts has yet realised anything is wrong ... Harry, put on your Invisibility Cloak.�

Harry pulled his Cloak out of his pocket and threw it over himself before mounting his broom; Madam Rosmerta was already tottering back towards her pub as Harry and Dumbledore kicked off from the ground and rose up into the air. As they sped towards the castle, Harry glanced sideways at Dumbledore, ready to grab him should he fall, but the sight of the Dark Mark seemed to have acted upon Dumbledore like a stimulant: he was bent low over his broom, his eyes fixed upon the Mark, his long silver hair and beard flying behind him in the night air. And Harry, too, looked ahead at the skull, and fear swelled inside him like a venomous bubble, compressing his lungs, driving all other discomfort from his mind ...

As they flew over the dark, twisting lane down which they had walked earlier, Harry heard, over the whistling of the night air in his ears, Dumbledore muttering in some strange language again. He thought he understood why as he felt his broom shudder for a moment when they flew over the boundary wall into the grounds: Dumbledore was undoing the enchantments he himself had set around the castle, so that they could enter at speed. The Dark Mark was glittering directly above the Astronomy Tower, the highest of the castle. Did that mean the death had occurred there?

Dumbledore had already crossed the crenellated ramparts and was dismounting; Harry landed next to him seconds later and looked around. The ramparts were deserted. The door to the spiral staircase that led back into the castle was closed. There was no sign of a struggle, of a fight to the death, of a body.

�What does it mean?� Harry asked Dumbledore, looking up at the green skull with its serpent�s tongue glinting evilly above them. �Is it the real Mark? Has someone definitely been -- Professor?�

In the dim green glow from the Mark Harry saw Dumbledore clutching at his chest with his blackened hand.

�Go and wake Severus,� said Dumbledore faintly but clearly. "Tell him what has happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, speak to nobody else and do not remove your Cloak. I shall wait here.�

Harry hurried over to the door leading to the spiral stair-case, but his hand had only just closed upon the iron ring of the door when he heard running footsteps on the other side. He looked round at Dumbledore, who gestured to him to retreat. Harry backed away, drawing his wand as he did so.

The door burst open and somebody erupted through it and shouted: �Expelliarmus!� Harry�s body became instantly rigid and immobile, and he felt himself fall back against the tower wall, propped like an unsteady statue, unable to move or speak. He could not understand how it had happened - Expelliarmus was not a Freezing Charm �

Then, by the light of the mark, Harry saw Dumbledore�s wand flying in an arc over the edge of the ramparts and understood ... Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilised Harry, and the second he had taken to perform the spell had cost him the chance of defending himself. A cloaked figure stepped forward, holding a wand pointed at the headmaster.

Harry was furious at Dumbledore for having done this to him. Was the man a fool? He tried in vain to push himself from the wall, but he couldn�t move at all. What Dumbledore said next made his heart stop in his chest.

"Good evening, Draco."

Draco stepped forward, glancing at the brooms. "Who else is here?"

Harry didn�t know what was going on. He felt as if his heart picked up again and seemed to be trying to make up for when it had stopped.

"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?" Dumbledore said calmly.

Draco looked at Dumbledore and shook his head. "No," he said. "There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight."

It felt as if Harry�s brain had shut down. What was Draco doing? Death Eaters? Why would he know about them? And why would he disarm Dumbledore? Harry�s heart was beating madly, and he tried to push against the spell again.

"Well, well. Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?" Dumbledore asked, still completely calm.

"My idea at least," Draco said, his voice sounding flat. "Had it figured out before ... well, before."

Harry would�ve gone limp at that if he were able to. Oh, God, no. This wasn�t happening. Draco had not just said that.

"Ingenious," said Dumbledore. "Yet ... forgive me ... where are they now? You seem unsupported."

Draco snorted at that. "They met some of your guards. They�re fighting down below. It probably won�t be long ... I was sent on ahead to complete my mission."

If Harry had been able to keep from going limp at Draco�s words from before, he would�ve slid down the wall now. But he stayed upright, staring at the scene in front of him, horrified.

"Well, then, you must get on and do it, my dear boy," said Dumbledore softly.

Draco stood staring at the man in front of him, wand raised. He shook his head a bit and his hood fell back, white-blond hair gleaming green in the light from the Dark Mark.

Harry could feel himself starting to get sick. His stomach was twisting all in knots, and he didn�t know what to do. His heart seemed to be trying to get of his chest now, it was beating so madly.

Dumbledore looked at the boy before him. "You are not a killer, Draco."

"You smug bastard," Draco hissed. "You don�t know a damn thing about me. You certainly don�t know of what I am capable. Or the things I have done."

Harry felt silent tears beginning to burn his eyes. This couldn�t be true.

Dumbledore didn�t even flinch. "I know much more than you think I do, Draco," Dumbledore said. "You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. They were both very feeble attempts to kill me. I know your heart is not in it ... or perhaps it is. Perhaps your heart is exactly the reason you are up here .... But you are not a killer, Draco."

"If my heart had been in it, you would have died long before this, old man," Draco spat.

A tear spilled over onto Harry�s cheek.

Dumbledore nodded appreciatively. "I suppose that may be true," he said simply. "If I may ... you say that you birthed the idea of how to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts? Who has helped you? How are they here?"

Draco sighed and moved slightly to the side, wand still pointed at Dumbledore, but he could better see the door this way. "I was working on it in the Room of Requirement since the beginning of the year. A broken Vanishing Cabinet that no one has used for years. The one Montague got lost in last year."

Harry�s eyes would have widened if they could have, but they only continued to fill with frustrated, angry tears.

"Aaaah." Dumbledore�s sigh was half a groan. He closed his eyes for a moment. "That was clever ... there is a pair, I take it?"

"The other�s in Borgin and Burkes," Draco said. "They make a passage between them. I realised that they could be used as a way into Hogwarts and around your security if I fixed the broken one in the Room of Requirement."

Oh, Merlin, no. That information sent Harry�s mind reeling. If Crabbe and Goyle had been ... that had probably been what had happened, but then why was Draco here? Why was Draco acting like this? Harry was so confused and angry and frustrated beyond belief.

"Very good. Very clever of you to think of that. The Death Eaters were able to get in right under my nose."

"Yes, they did that all right. Here to help me complete my mission." Draco huffed. There was sarcasm in the last line that seemed out of place in the simple statement.

Dumbledore�s eyebrow rose at Draco�s slight sarcasm, but he said nothing about it. There were noises coming from down the stairs. "I see what has happened," Dumbledore continued. "Earlier in the year, you were far more desperate to kill me. You must have had times where you thought the cabinet might not work. You tried to send me a cursed necklace that was sure to fall into the wrong hands. You tried to give me poisoned mead that there was only the slightest chance I would drink."

"You are such a fool," Draco said with a sigh. "You still have no idea of what really happened. Do you? Did you know it was me?"

Harry�s heart felt torn in two as the knowledge that the one person he loved more than anyone else in the world had almost killed two of his friends -- one of them his best friend. And now Harry knew that Draco had a mission to kill Dumbledore and was acting very much like he was going to do it. How could Harry have been such a fool?

"Of course I did, Draco," Dumbledore said with a small smile. "I was sure it was you."

"Typical," Draco sneered. "Yet, you stood by and did nothing. You let your own people get hurt, your Gryffindors. You let Harry take me to his bed. Sleep in the tower with them."

Tears were running freely down Harry�s face now. He wanted to kick and scream and ... fuck, he didn�t even know what he wanted to do, but he was furious.

Dumbledore�s smile did not leave him. "As I said, you are not a killer, Draco. Although I have been having Professor Snape watch over you."

"Well," Draco shook his head, "we see how effective that is. Did you think I would trust a double agent with my mission? He serves two masters and he took an oath to my mother. I knew better than to trust him. And you should know better, too."

"We must agree to disagree on that, Draco," Dumbledore said lightly. He slipped down the wall a bit. "I trust Severus Snape with all of myself."

"With what�s left, you mean," Draco said with another sigh. "It�s almost a waste to kill you. You look like you won�t be around much longer."

Harry would have been shaking if he were able. He wanted to hit Draco. That old anger and hatred was back. How could he have let himself be fooled? Ron had been right; he�d only been thinking with his prick and now Dumbledore was going to die.

There was another loud sound from below. "Perhaps you should get on with it then," Dumbledore said, slipping just a bit more.

Draco frowned. "I should."

Harry wanted to claw him, and kick him, and hex him into a million pieces. How dare Draco tell him that he loved him? How dare he do all the things that he had done?

Dumbledore sighed. "How did you know I would not be in the school?"

The blond rolled his eyes. "I didn�t. But you were watched. When they saw you had gone for a drink, they made their move."

"They? You mean it was not you who decided to spring this trap?" Dumbledore asked, clearly struggling to remain upright.

"I already told you I am not alone," Draco said. "They put the Dark Mark over the tower to get you to hurry up here, to see who had been killed. They sent me up here to wait for you."

"But am I to take it, then, that no one has been murdered?" Dumbledore asked, and Harry�s heart sped up even more.

"I believe someone is dead," Draco said, sounding angry. "One of ... your people � I don�t know who, it was dark. I had to step over the body to get up here. Your Phoenix lot got in the way ..."

Harry�s heart stopped working for another moment.

"Yes, they do that," Dumbledore said simply. "There is little time, one way or another... let us discuss your options, Draco."

Draco seemed to startle at shouts from below. "Yes, let�s discuss my options," Draco sneered. "If I don�t kill you, I die. Probably my parents as well. But if I do kill you, Harry will hate me forever. Maybe even kill me himself."

What? What was Draco talking about?

Dumbledore frowned slightly. "Why else do you think I have not confronted you about any of this until now? I knew that Lord Voldemort would murder you if he thought I suspected anything. But now at last we can speak to each other ... No harm has been done, you have hurt no one. You can come over to the right side. I can help you. I can help your parents. Come over to the right side, Draco. I know how you feel about Harry. You may already be convinced that coming to the right side is what you must do. If you kill me, I am not so sure they will accept you so readily."

Draco laughed out loud. "You really don�t understand anything. If I die because I didn�t do this, it might break him. But if I kill you, then he can hate me. Harry does much better when he is angry. You cannot save me, old man. I am as good as dead already."

Harry was confused again. His head was spinning. He tried to struggle against the magic again.

"You do not know what you are saying, Draco. The right side can protect you. We can save you from Lord Voldemort. You and your parents. Come over to the right side. Lower your wand."

Draco didn�t lower his wand. Instead he used his right hand, still holding the wand, to rip open the sleeve on his left arm. The serpent seemed to glow, the green light from above glistening off its scales. "You can protect me from this?" Draco said as he held his arm up, showing Dumbledore the serpent�s fangs in his arm.

Dumbledore�s eyes seemed to widen slightly. "Is that ...?" He closed his eyes. "Of course it is." He seemed at a loss for a few moments and said nothing.

But suddenly footsteps were thundering up the stairs, and a second later Draco was buffeted out of the way as four people in black robes burst through the door on to the ramparts.. Still paralysed, his eyes staring unblinkingly, Harry gazed in terror upon four strangers: it seemed the Death Eaters had won the fight below. His eyes shot to Draco again, and then back to Dumbledore.

A lumpy-looking man with an odd lopsided leer gave a wheezy giggle.

�Dumbledore cornered!� he said, and he turned to a stocky little woman who looked as though she could be his sister and who was grinning eagerly. �Dumbledore wandless, Dumbledore alone! Well done, Draco, well done!�

�Good evening, Amycus,� said Dumbledore calmly, as though welcoming the man to a tea party. �And you�ve brought Alecto too ... charming ...�

The woman gave an angry little titter.

"Think your little jokes�ll help you on your death bed, then?� she jeered.

�Jokes? No, no, these are manners,� replied Dumbledore.

�Do it,� said the stranger standing nearest to Harry, a big, rangy man with matted grey hair and whiskers, whose black Death Eater�s robes looked uncomfortably tight. He had a voice like none that Harry had ever heard: a rasping bark of a voice. Harry could smell a powerful mixture of dirt, sweat and, unmistakably, of blood coming from him. His filthy hands had long yellowish nails.

�Is that you, Fenrir?� asked Dumbledore.

"That�s right,� rasped the other. �Pleased to see me, Dumbledore?�

�No, I cannot say that I am ...�

Fenrir Greyback grinned, showing pointed teeth. Blood trickled down his chin and he licked his lips slowly, obscenely.

�But you know how much I like kids, Dumbledore.�

�Am I to take it that you are attacking even without the full moon now? This is most unusual ... you have developed a taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?�

"That�s right,� said Greyback. �Shocks you, that, does it, Dumbledore? Frightens you?�

�Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little,� said Dumbledore. �And, yes, I am a little shocked that Draco here invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends live ...�

�I didn�t,� breathed Draco. He was not looking at Greyback; he did not seem to want to even glance at him. �Crabbe and Goyle did, they --�

�I wouldn�t want to miss a trip to Hogwarts, Dumbledore,� rasped Greyback. �Not when there are throats to be ripped out ... delicious, delicious ...�

And he raised a yellow fingernail and picked at his front teeth, leering at Dumbledore.

�I could do you for afters, Dumbledore ...�

�No,� said the fourth Death Eater sharply. He had a heavy, brutal-looking face. �We�ve got orders. Draco�s got to do it. Now, Draco, and quickly.�

Harry looked at Draco, terrified. He was still torn in two and found himself wanting to grab Draco and pull him to safety, away from the Death Eaters, and wanting to Stun him so that he couldn't hurt Dumbledore.

Draco�s eyes narrowed in anger and his face flushed. He shook his head as he stared into Dumbledore�s face, which was even paler, and rather lower than usual, as he had slid so far down the rampart wall.

�He�s not long for this world anyway, if you ask me!� said the lopsided man, to the accompaniment of his sister�s wheezing giggles. �Look at him -- what�s happened to you, then, Dumby?�

�Oh, weaker resistance, slower reflexes, Amycus,� said Dumbledore. �Old age, in short ... one day, perhaps, it will happen to you ... if you are lucky ...�

�What�s that mean, then, what�s that mean?� yelled the Death Eater, suddenly violent. �Always the same, weren�t yeh, Dumby, talking and doing nothing, nothing, I don�t even know why the Dark Lord�s bothering to kill yeh! Come on, Draco, do it!�

Harry wanted to cry out, but at that moment, there were renewed sounds of scuffling from below and a voice shouted, �They�ve blocked the stairs -- Reducto! REDUCTO!�

Harry�s heart leapt: so these four had not eliminated all opposition, but merely broken through the fight to the top of the Tower, and, by the sound of it, created a barrier behind them --

�Now, Draco, quickly!� said the brutal-faced man angrily.

�No,� Draco said, turning to face them and stepping between Dumbledore and the Death Eaters, blocking their aim.

Harry would have whimpered, and he struggled as hard as he possibly could against the Body-Bind, wanting to reach out and pull Draco to him, away from those wands. He wanted to grab him and Dumbledore both and escape on the brooms, to do anything possible to get out of there.

�I�ll do it,� snarled Greyback, moving towards Dumbledore with his hands outstretched, his teeth bared.

�I said no!� shouted the brutal-faced man; there was a flash of light and the werewolf was blasted out of the way; he hit the ramparts and staggered, looking furious. Harry�s heart was hammering so hard it seemed impossible that nobody could hear him standing there, imprisoned by Dumbledore�s spell -- if he could only move, he could aim a curse from under the Cloak �

�Draco, do it, or stand aside so one of us --� screeched the woman, but at that precise moment the door to the ramparts burst open once more and there stood Snape, his wand clutched in his hand as his black eyes swept the scene, from Dumbledore slumped against the wall, to the four Death Eaters, including the enraged werewolf, and Draco.

�We�ve got a problem, Snape,� said the lumpy Amycus, whose eyes and wand were fixed alike upon Dumbledore, �the boy doesn�t seem able --�

But somebody else had spoken Snape�s name, quite softly.

�Severus ...�

The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.

Snape said nothing, but walked forwards and pushed Draco roughly out of the way. The three Death Eaters fell back without a word. Even the werewolf seemed cowed.

Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.

�Severus ... please ..."

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.

�Avada Kedavra!�

A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry's scream of horror never left him; silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air: for a split second he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backwards, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.

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Harry Potter and The Bound Prince (BP1)