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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.

Chapter List
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Chapter
Twenty-Nine�Cup

�� Harry
staggered as he landed and caught himself with a hand on the wall. He winced as
his knee slammed against something that felt wooden�a desk or a chair,
probably�and tried his best to stay silent, even though he wanted to pant. Just
because Snape had said he would be able to Apparate through the wards didn�t
mean it was easy, any more than Snape claiming Harry could brew meant he could get a perfect working potion.

�� He crouched
down, hoping the piece of furniture he�d hit would shield him from the gaze of
anyone coming down the stairs, and darted his gaze around the room.

�� A single
dim window shone in the wall, about five feet above his head and ten feet away.
Grime and cobwebs covered it. By its light, Harry could see that he was in a
sort of storage room, with tiny paths between the various cabinets, trunks,
beds, and sets of drawers. The air was still and stank of dust.

�� At the
moment, though, the room had a distinct lack of raging, Voldemort-possessed
Seamus. That was enough for Harry to consider the location ideal.

�� Maybe he didn�t hear me come in, he
thought, but then shook his head. No, he had to assume the worst and that his
enemy would have heard him bang on the desk, or at least felt the effort of his
bursting through the wards. That effort had taken more out of Harry than he
liked. His forehead ran with sweat, which seemed to score salty, painful lines
along his scar. His arms trembled, and so did his legs, particularly as he
continued crouching there.

�� But he
hadn�t had any choice. He knew that Draco or Snape, if they came with him,
would try to kill Seamus instead of giving him a chance to throw Voldemort out
of his head. Ron and Hermione might not, but Harry didn�t trust them to listen
to him, either. Seamus could throw a curse and end their hesitation. The
thought of taking Mrs. Malfoy with him was nonsensical.

�� If he
wanted to spare Seamus�s life�and of course he did�then he had to come by
himself.

�� The tug of
the potion still worked on his muscles and eyes, telling him that Seamus was up
the set of stairs Harry could see not far away, but it had eased. With its
target so close, Harry thought, the potion must know that he didn�t need the
guidance.

�� He took a
few more moments to sit there, composing himself and going over his fragile
plan in his head. He knew that he couldn�t destroy the Horcrux by himself,
though he knew the incantation for Fiendfyre and the Switching Charms. He
wouldn�t be good at holding back the shard of Voldemort�s spirit in the same
way that Snape was. Instead, he would confront Seamus, expel the possessing
spirit, then snatch the Horcrux and leave.

�� That means Seamus has to stay here on his
own.

�� Harry shook
his head and sighed. He couldn�t do everything. He thought that Seamus ought to
be fine once Voldemort stopped possessing him and the Horcrux, the main source
of his corruption, was taken away. Because of course Draco and Snape and the
others would have defeated Lucius in the meantime.

�� Draco. Snape.

�� Harry
imagined their angry looks, the pain and fear that were probably coursing
through them at the moment as they tried to come after him, and winced. Then he
straightened his shoulders.

�� He couldn�t
let fear of their reactions control him, or stop him from doing what was right.
Then he would be no better than Peter Pettigrew. He was no coward, and he was
no traitor. He was just someone who had slightly different morals than they
did, someone who knew what it was like to be a trapped victim, hoping
desperately for rescue and yet thinking it would never come.

�� Seamus had
probably spent five years at least under Voldemort�s possession. That was half
as long as Harry had spent trapped at the Dursleys�, but he didn�t care. The
times were comparable, and the suffering was probably greater on Seamus�s part,
and the thought of leaving him to die just because he�d once hurt Harry was intolerable.

�� He set his
foot on the first stair.

*

�� Lucius knew
there was someone there.

�� Severus had
fought beside the man for years, and had been his comrade and his enemy and his
companion in many other situations, and he knew him. The concealment spells
weren�t enough to fool him. He moved with his chin slightly lifted, his eyes
focused straight ahead, his nostrils flaring. Maybe he wouldn�t be able to
determine much by scent, but it was more likely than if he didn�t sniff at all.
Lucius was always saying how fascinating it was that humans paid too much
attention to their sight.

�� As if the other senses count for nothing at
all, said his voice in Severus�s memory, and he laughed and sipped a glass
of wine.

�� He would
find them. Severus made plans for nothing else as he stepped slowly to the side
of the tangle of briars, away from the frantic Draco, who was trying to bring
down the wards that Harry had vanished behind. For a moment, worry for Harry
made Severus�s brain and heart heavy, too, and his wand shook in his hand.

�� Then he
banished even that thought. There was nothing they could do for Harry right
now. What he could do was take the
burden of killing Lucius on himself, so that Narcissa would not have to
slaughter her husband, or Draco his father. Leaving Lucius�s demise up to the
untrained Weasley and Granger was, of course, entirely out of the question.

�� Memories
surged and swirled through his head. The old scar on his right arm, got at
Lucius�s instigation, ached. Severus felt his teeth pull back from his lips.
Yes, in some ways this would be a positive pleasure, the repayment of an old debt.
Training Draco himself and stealing his loyalty from Lucius was not enough.

�� And then
Narcissa stepped into the open and ruined it all.

�� She had
taken off the concealment spells, and she moved like a goddess, her white robes
shining. They were the same ones she had worn when they went to Hogwarts, the
robes that had rescued her and Severus as they fell down the pit Dumbledore had
opened. Severus was not surprised. He was not surprised at anything she did as
he folded her hands in front of her and gazed thoughtfully at her husband.

�� Only
dismayed.

�� Narcissa,
stand back,� he said, and the command
came out sharply enough that both Weasley and Granger jumped. Then they started
moving cautiously behind Severus, their wands drawn. Both were pale, but Granger
seemed more intent than Weasley, whom Severus expected to vomit or faint or
flee at any moment.

�� I see no
reason to,� said Narcissa. Her words were soft and passionless. Severus
wondered if the display would fool Lucius. It certainly did not fool him, not
with the way her fingers were twisting together in front of her until her
knuckles almost matched her robes for color, or lack of it. �Lucius tried to
kill me once already, disregarding all the sympathy and pity that tied us
together, and the sanctity of the marriage vow. This is a matter of blood
between us.�

�� And it would be so easy to believe you, too,
Severus thought grimly. But I am not
one to be fooled by pretty words.

�� I am glad
that you recognize the blood.� Lucius�s voice was low and harsh, bereft of the
political music that Severus had heard him employ so often. He was spinning his
wand in his fingers, and he never took his eyes from Narcissa�s. �I wondered if
you would. So lost to all sense of honor and tradition that you could steal my
most prized possessions and take my son from me��

�� I was the
one who took myself away from you,� Draco snapped, stepping up to his mother�s
side. �When I realized that I mattered less to you, and our traditions mattered
less to you, and everything mattered
less to you, than serving that bloody Dark Lord.�

�� Lucius�s
eyes widened at the sight of Draco. Draco might think of that as greed if he
wanted to. Severus knew that he was looking at Draco with hunger, and pride,
and the consuming desire to know more of this impressive young man who had
replaced the boyish son he remembered.

�� He felt so
in tune with Lucius, but not with Narcissa and Draco. He knew of no way to make
them back off and realize this was his fight. They could convince themselves
they hated Lucius all they liked, but they did not, and his necessary death
would devastate them. Better for them if they did not cause it.

�� And then
Severus smiled slightly, because he had never played fair, and he did not
understand why he was standing here worrying over how to get Narcissa and Draco
out of the way. Perhaps Harry�s Gryffindor ideals were rubbing off on him. He
could only hope that the boy had taken some Slytherin into him in return.

�� He moved
his head until Lucius�s eyes locked on his face, and then he whispered, �Legilimens.�

*

�� Harry
blinked as he came out at the top of the stairs. There had been no wards on the
way up, no traps. He�d kept the words of curses ready on his tongue just in
case, but there hadn�t been any.

�� As if
someone knew he was there. As if someone�wanted him to come in.

�� Maybe part of Seamus survives, then, Harry
thought in some hope, and looked around the corridor he�d reached. It was the
first real sign he�d had that Voldemort didn�t control Seamus completely. I mean, he couldn�t, could he? He would want
to protect his Horcruxes at all costs.

�� The
corridor ran down past a railing that looked out over the dim room Harry had
landed in, and back behind him into more dust and more emptiness. There were
three doors in it, one behind him, one directly ahead, and one three paces away
on the right. Harry cast a spell that sharpened his hearing and listened, but
couldn�t detect any sound of movement. So he decided to start with the door on
his right, purely because it was closest.

�� He stepped
into the room and stared around expectantly. This looked like a bedroom; thanks
to the larger and brighter windows than before, he could see a single small bed
like the one in his room at the Dursleys�, the pillows and the blankets also
sagging under the weight of dust. There was another shut door over to the side,
which might lead to a bathroom. The walls were plain wood�

�� And then
his scar exploded into pain as Seamus appeared in front of him.

�� Seamus�s
eyes were wide, and serpent-slitted, and the color of blood. His face was full
of hopeless pain. He reached out a hand to Harry, which curled halfway there,
as though someone were hammering an invisible stake through it. His mouth
opened in a silent scream. �Please,� he whispered. �Harry, Harry, please.�

�� Then his
face wavered, and Harry could see Voldemort
coming into control of him. Suddenly those red eyes seemed completely natural,
and Voldemort threw back Seamus�s head and laughed. �So foolish,� he whispered.
�So foolish to come this far alone.�

�� Seamus is still there. He�s still alive.

�� And so
Harry couldn�t use any spells that damaged the body, because it was Seamus�s body, and he would still need
to live in it after this was done. He hadn�t come unprepared, though, the way that
Snape would probably say he had. He�d spent some time looking up curses that
affected the spirit and the mind in the past few months, and if there were two
minds and two spirits in Seamus�s body, then he ought to be able to affect the
one without affecting the other.

�� He aimed
his wand and chanted the incantation for the Painful Memories Curse, being
certain to substitute Voldemort�s name at the end of the spell, so it would fly
true to its target. Voldemort stood there and watched him with amusement,
making no attempt to defend himself. Harry bared his teeth. Overconfident bastard. I�ll show you.

�� But a
moment later, it appeared there might have been a good reason for Voldemort�s
confidence, as the body began to scream with Seamus�s voice.

*

�� Severus
plunged into Lucius�s mind with no finesse, no goal, nothing but sheer power
driving him. He swept through the front rank of memories and lit them on fire
like a dragon flying low and breathing out over a stand of trees. He heard
Lucius howl in agony, and then he tore back out of his mind and dropped to the
ground to avoid the first curse.

�� He rolled
over, counted three, and then cast a Levitation Charm that lifted him above the
second curse Lucius had aimed. By then, he was content that his gamble had
worked. Lucius was in so much pain at the moment that he wouldn�t be able to
think of anything other than getting the pain under control.

�� And
destroying the one who had done this to him.

�� If Narcissa
or Draco tried to intrude into the personal combat between Lucius and Severus,
Lucius would simply ignore them. For the moment, he wasn�t their husband or
father any more. He was simply a crazed, murderous beast.

�� A clever crazed, murderous beast, Severus
reminded himself, as the Constriction Curse nearly stopped up his throat and
nose. He cast a spell that made Lucius feel as if his skin was on fire, every
inch, and so gave Severus time to cast the countercharm. He whirled to his feet
and entered the battle without any more hesitation.

�� There
remained only the kill, which he knew well how to do.

*

�� Seamus
stumbled and cried out and clawed at his eyes. He was sobbing something thickly
now, a name, a death he�d witnessed. Or maybe a death that Voldemort had made
him cause, Harry thought numbly.

�� He hadn�t
learned the counter for the Painful Memories Curse as well as he�d learned some
of the others. It wasn�t coming to mind. Or, at least, it wasn�t coming to mind
before Seamus�s screams drove it out again.

�� I�m torturing him, the way Snape tortured
Bellatrix. I�m as bad as Voldemort himself.

�� But then
the Latin words were there, and Harry snapped them, and Seamus slumped to the
floor, sniffling softly. He lay still, shaking. Harry backed a step away from
him and cast a Locater Spell that Hermione had modified, enabling them to seek
out the greatest concentration of Dark magic in a limited area. It ought to
find the Horcrux, unless Voldemort had used his time with Seamus to create
something even more horrifying.

�� Yes. There
was a dark purple throb from behind the closed door on the other side of the
room. Harry began to edge in that direction, trying to make it look as if he
were just getting in a better position to attack. Seamus, or Voldemort,
couldn�t know that Harry knew about Horcruxes.

�� Thank you.�

�� Harry
stopped at the soft, heartfelt words. He stared as Seamus climbed back to his
feet, glancing over his shoulder as if he thought that someone would come
hunting him at any moment. The red tint had faded from his eyes, and though his
pupils were still shaped like a serpent�s, Harry could see them washing back to
round as he watched.

�� What
happened?� he whispered.

�� He�s
gone,� Seamus said. �At least for the moment. Sometimes I can push him out�for
an hour, a day.� He was swaying as he spoke, and his words slurred with
exhaustion. He reached out, his hand flailing, and Harry automatically stuck
out his arm so that Seamus wouldn�t tumble to the floor. His eyes did have
traces of red at the rims, Harry saw now, but that was ordinary bloodshot
tiredness. He had to close his own eyes in sheer relief.

�� The pain
helped give me a focus,� Seamus said. �He was making me relive my Mum�s
death�he killed her�and I got so angry that I was able to shove him out.� His
hunted eyes shifted to the door on the far side of the room. �He�ll be in�the
thing I have. You know about the thing, don�t you?� He stared at Harry
anxiously.

�� Yes, and
there�s no need to speak its name,� Harry said soothingly. He wrapped an arm
around Seamus�s waist as he wobbled again, and helped him over to sit on the
bed. �We�ll get it and you out of here. And I�m sure Professor Snape can help
you force the spirit out of your head for good when we see him. What was Lucius
Malfoy doing here?�

�� He came to
negotiate with me over the�thing.� Seamus peered at Harry, but Harry nodded and
smiled understandingly. He couldn�t say that he would have wanted to name a
Horcrux, either, if he�d been possessed by the spirit out of one. �He said that
his Lord needed it back.� Seamus folded his arms and shivered. �It was horrid,
sitting in the back of my own head and listening as the�thing�argued with
Malfoy.�

�� I�d think
so,� Harry said, and squeezed his arm once more before standing up. �Listen,
we�d better get out of here before Voldemort comes back to you or Lucius
decides that it�d be better to run back into the house and steal the Horcrux.�
Seamus flinched at the word. Harry peered at him. �Sorry. But I think we should
go.�

�� Seamus
nodded. Harry turned towards the closed door. Yes, now that he was able to concentrate
on something other than tormented screams or an impending battle, he knew the
Horcrux was definitely here. It throbbed with a rippling ache of Dark magic,
the way that the walls of Snape�s lab had after he finished brewing the potion
Harry took.

�� A stream of
fire hit him in the back.

*

�� Draco had
to do the hardest thing he�d ever done in his life: stand there, whilst Harry
was in danger, and not go after him, whilst Professor Snape systematically
destroyed Draco�s father�and he couldn�t interfere in that, either.

�� It was
obvious from the beginning that there would be no contest. His father was a
ferocious duelist. Draco had carried his share of bruises and bumps in the days
when Lucius was tutoring him, and still carried a scar or two, from the times
when Lucius had been more interested in practical demonstration than in
practical restraint, and had let his magic get out of control.

�� But
Professor Snape was something else again: a killer, a warrior, who would do
whatever he could to emerge from the battle alive, whether or not that involved
obeying the dueling code.

�� And he was
in control of his actions, whilst Lucius was not.

�� Draco
wasn�t sure what Snape had done to turn his father into a drooling, wide-eyed
maniac, who didn�t even seem conscious of the saliva spilling down his chin as
he fought, his robes snapping behind him. But it had worked, and Lucius was
ignoring obvious opportunities whilst Snape defended to pursue purely offensive
strategies. The injuries he received seemed to heighten his anger instead of
convincing him to back off.

�� Snape
whirled out of the way of one curse, and cast another as he came around. He
sacrificed his robes to a Blood-Boiling Curse without hesitation. He stamped
out a fire that Lucius managed to start on his robe hems and didn�t lose the
beat of the battle as he did it. His eyes never strayed from Lucius.

�� Draco
shuddered and hoped that he was never obliged to be on the opposite side from
Snape�if a shard of the Dark Lord�s soul managed to possess him, for example.
He didn�t think he would survive.

�� His
mother�s hand tightened on his shoulder. Draco looked up and saw that her eyes
were fixed on Lucius�s face, too, but the tight lines around her mouth conveyed
easily enough that her intentions weren�t the same as Snape�s. She looked as if
she were contemplating leaping into the middle of the fight between them.

�� Draco
touched her knuckles, running his fingers over them until she looked at him.
Then he shook his head. He didn�t think any words would persuade her at the
moment. He had to use his body language and hope it would be enough.

�� You had to give him up when you fled the
Manor, he thought at her, trying to make his thoughts as sharp as possible,
so that Narcissa couldn�t help absorbing them through the skin. That should have been the end of it. Mother,
you have to remember that. He isn�t the man you married anymore. He isn�t the
man you felt pity and sympathy for. He chose his Lord over us, and that has to
be the end of it.

�� Narcissa
stood staring into his eyes, and behind them feet stamped and curses cracked
and voices cried out in pain.

�� Then
Narcissa turned away from him, and her hand slid away from his shoulder to fall
into a fist at her side.

�� But she
didn�t touch her wand.

�� Draco
turned back to the fight. He had the vague impression that someone of the Malfoy blood should be looking at Lucius when he
fell.

�� He was just
in time. Snape�s Crossbow Curse punched through Lucius�s chest and sent a
complicated spout of organs and blood flying up. Draco saw his father�s face
assume an expression of surprise mingled with rage. He would probably command
death to wait on his pleasure, if he could.

�� And then he
fell to the ground and was still.

�� It took
Draco a long moment to connect the hollow feeling in his chest with a feeling
of loss, partially because he had already turned to the house and begun to
dismantle the wards again. The living are
more important than the dead.

*

�� Harry fell
to the floor as the pain curled all around him, the fire flickering out to
touch his ribs, his heart, his liver, and all the other major organs that Snape
had taught him to identify as targets. He was in more pain than he had been for
a long time. This was like all his weeks of starvation at the Dursleys� two summers
ago condensed into a single moment.

�� But because
he had borne that starvation and was determined to bear this, too, he rolled
over and aimed his wand in one shaking hand.

�� Seamus was
coming towards him, moving in a leisurely way. His wand was clutched in his
outstretched hand. His smile and his gaze never wavered, and red had washed
over his eyes again. It was Voldemort�s voice that spoke.

�� So easy to
fool,� he murmured, his tone almost a caress. �His spirit died long ago, little
Potter. It put up a rebellion when I made him burn your possessions, and I
crushed it like a fruit and swallowed it, keeping the pulp so that it would be
easier to maintain the charade.�

�� Harry�s
fingers burned. His eyes burned. He tried to ignore Voldemort�s pronouncement
and concentrate on the bit of Seamus that he was sure was in there somewhere,
buried. Voldemort might brag about being able to crush a soul, but he couldn�t
actually succeed.

�� Seamus,
mate,� he said steadily. �I still want to rescue you.�

�� Voldemort paused
a few feet from him. He shook his head. Then his eyes turned brown again, and
Seamus gasped and said, �Harry, I threw him off again for the moment, but he�ll
be back! Come on, we have to get out of here!�

�� The same
sort of thing he�d said before. The same sort of thing he would always go on
saying, knowing that he could fool Harry, until he killed him. Another curse
like the last one would kill him, Harry knew.

�� But if
there was a part of Seamus still left buried�

�� How could
Harry abandon him?

�� Seamus�s
body took a step closer. His eyes were red again, and then brown. Red, and then
brown. Voldemort let go a low chuckle of delight. �Which one of us is it,
Potter?� he taunted. �How could you rescue him even if you knew?�

�� His voice
warped into Seamus�s again. �Harry, I�ve lived through all this despair, and
all that kept me going is the thought of someone coming to rescue me. Of you coming to rescue me. Please,
please.� His words trailed off into sobs.

�� Harry�s
body shook with pain. The curse was coming back for a second surge, and his
hand wavered and dropped.

�� Seamus�s
wand came up, his eyes still his own brown, but his mouth twisted in
Voldemort�s killing sneer.

�� Harry
burned. His soul twisted.

�� No time to choose. No time. I could be
killing Seamus.

�� I have to choose between killing someone
innocent and letting myself die, and Draco and Snape and Ron and Hermione and
Sirius mourn.

�� I choose�

�� And then he
cast the Conflagration Curse that burned Seamus�s wand and body to ash, a
whirling collection of burning molecules in the face of the fire, and a shape
like a white bat flew out of the body and streaked through the shut door into
the Horcrux.

�� I choose to live.

*

�� When Snape
and Draco, Ron and Hermione and Narcissa Malfoy, entered the house, they found
Harry sitting next to a golden cup already caged with several protective spells
and not far from a small pile of ash, his body shaking with constant fine
tremors, his face marked with the murder that had torn his soul.

*

�� Thrnbrooke:
Mostly, Harry was thinking that he could save someone. He does have a bad hero
complex in this one, especially since he hasn�t actually had someone die on him
yet.

�� MewMew2:
Thank you! I read every review I get (as long as my e-mail delivers them to
me). I appreciate your taking the time to review.

�� gentlenightrain:
Not so much mad as thinking he knew best.

�� qwerty: Harry
wasn�t paying as much attention to the aspect of the potion as he should have,
and might not have known how to interpret its warnings even if he did.

�� Sneakyfox:
Glad you think so.

�� SP777: Yes,
but I do not think the amount of death and destruction that potion seems to
bring along with it would make a good selling point�

��
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Inter Vivos