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An Image of Lethe	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 21751 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and am not making any money from this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter Thirty-Eight—The Canting Hours
            “My Lord.”
            Greyback was bowing, or cringing, before him. At this point, Harry had no idea what he was supposed to call the motion, and he had no inclination to find a name. He stared with Voldemort’s remote, icy eyes until Greyback had finished smashing his face into the floor and was quiet.
            Then he turned and looked out over the ranks of the Death Eaters. Nervous faces stared back at him, mingled with confused ones, excited ones, and ones that smiled as if they thought that would make them look more trustworthy.
            Harry experienced a wholly unwanted and unwarranted moment of sympathy for Voldemort. If this was what he had to work with, no wonder he’d lost the war. And if the Death Eaters thought they were being clever when they lined up to betray him, then it was no wonder he’d remained in power for so long.
            “There will be two sets of guards,” he said harshly. “As well as the illusion-makers. The illusion-makers will wait in hiding and not attack until I have used the reverse Lightfinder. The first honor guard will come with me to the meeting place and make sure that the Ministry does not interfere before time. You are to attack only if they disarm me or take my pretended prisoner away. Do you understand?”
            There was a chorus of nods, but also a chorus of murmurs, and someone who sounded like the woman Yaxley-Jones called out, “My Lord, what prisoner is this?”
            Harry turned to face the door. They had planned this, and Greyback’s fall on the floor in front of his throne had opened up a small clear space. That gradually widened into an aisle as Draco walked down the middle of the room, head bowed.
            He knelt in front of Harry, beside Greyback. Harry saw a quiver in Greyback’s neck, as though he wanted to turn his head and bite Draco for daring to share his space. Harry gave a small hiss in Parseltongue. Greyback frantically went back to trying to acquaint his face with the floor.
            “This is Draco Malfoy,” Harry said, and reached out and clamped one heavy hand on Draco’s shoulder. “Because he has displeased me.”
            This time, the chorus had laughter in it. Harry scanned the room swiftly once, but didn’t see Narcissa or Lucius. He hoped Draco had told them to leave and be quick about it. The last thing Harry needed was them interfering.
            “I will come to the area where the original Lightfinder was, with the prisoner,” Harry continued, still in the same harsh tone. “I will make them think that I am really Harry Potter and I’m bringing a fugitive who ran for them in as a prisoner. The first guard is to interfere only if the Ministry harms me or takes Malfoy from me. Do you understand?”
            “My Lord, yes my Lord!” said the prompt chorus this time.
            “The second guard will spread out on the other side of the square,” Harry continued. His throat was throbbing with sickening speed. This was happening, really happening now. “They are to strike after I have raised a beast from the reverse Lightfinder and it has done its work. Do you understand? Not until the Light wizards are dazed and reeling.”
            “Yes, my Lord,” said Arsinoe Rosier, who moved a little forwards now. “May I apply to lead the second guard?”
            Harry half-smiled. He would have suggested her for it if she hadn’t volunteered. He wanted two divisions of guards to scatter and somewhat weaken his “followers,” and Rosier needed to be placated with something that looked like a position of power, lest she figure out the tactic. “You may. Your request is granted.”
            Rosier bowed, eyes glinting. Harry looked for a moment at the cobra coiled at her heels, and then away.
            “May I lead the first guard, my Lord?” Greyback looked as if he wanted to have a tail even in human form, so he could wag it.
            “I am not sure that I trust your control of your temper,” said Harry, looking directly at him. This was what he wanted, but he could hardly be seen wanting it. He waited until Greyback had made some attempt to flatten wolf ears that he didn’t have in this form, either, and was whining appealingly.
            “I can do anything you ask of me, my Lord.” Greyback managed to speak at last, and the words came through the whine in a way that made Harry have to clench his teeth. “If you tell me to stay still and out of sight, I will. I can. You know that?” He looked up at Harry.
            Harry didn’t want anyone other than Draco and Narcissa finding out about the nighttime trip he’d taken in Greyback’s company. He did have to nod and announce, “Then Arsinoe Rosier will lead the second guard, and Fenrir Greyback the first.”
            Greyback sprang to his feet and howled with happiness. Harry shook his head and turned to face Parkinson and Astoria, standing among the small cadre of wizards who would use illusions. “You’re ready? Do I need to explain to you again what I want?”
            They shook their heads, eyes wide. Harry kept his glance from lingering on Parkinson and Astoria, even though he wanted to. They had instructions to create illusions of themselves after the first barrage of distractions and then slip away. Harry only hoped they would listen.
            “Then,” Harry said, as he conjured a manacle for Draco and reached down to touch the back of the jeweled dragon that crouched unhappily on the arm of the throne, “let us march forth, my followers! For pleasure! For power! To win!”
            The chorus of shouts this time sounded almost like howls, although Greyback’s still rose above them all, making it sound as though the room was full of a werewolf pack. As he slipped the manacle around Draco’s wrist, Harry met and held his eyes.
            If he hadn’t seen a determination in Draco’s gaze as strong as the one that he felt, Harry honestly didn’t know if he could have gone through with this plan.
*
            Draco kept his muscles tensed as Harry Apparated in to land a short distance away from the Lightfinder’s platform. Best to start playing the performance he needed to play, of the reluctant prisoner dragged along by the conquering Dark Lord, as soon as possible.
            That, and he didn’t know if he could have relaxed. His mind was speeding through the permutations of the plan as Harry had explained it to him.
            Harry wanted to bring as many of the Death Eaters along as possible and have the Ministry capture them, while still giving Draco and Astoria and Pansy—and Draco’s parents, although they had gone already—the chance to escape. The division of them into two honor guards was going to accomplish that, and the illusions would serve less to distract the real Ministry Aurors than to make it seem as if Harry was serious about the attack, for the Death Eaters’ benefit, and to hold the crowd in one place as the reverse Lightfinder worked. Meanwhile, the dragon and his friends would help in getting the Aurors into place. Harry had told Draco that. He’d sent a message to his friends last night.
            It had been a Patronus message, and Draco hadn’t actually seen it go. But he trusted Harry to have sent it. He didn’t think Harry wanted his plan to fail, either.
            The problem was that Harry had such a trust in Light wizards in the first place. What if they still decided to distrust him? What if their hatred of Harry, or the madness caused by the Lightfinder’s explosion, was so great that they didn’t get the Aurors into position to take the Death Eaters but to capture him?
            Draco knew what he would do in that case. And it wouldn’t have any reference to the wishes and plans of Harry’s friends, and not much to Harry’s, either.
            They could argue about Draco taking Harry to safety, if it came to that, after Harry was safe.
            Draco found himself tensing up even more, to the point that his shoulders began to ache, as they walked through the empty streets, finally halting near the Lightfinder’s platform. This had been a place he’d anticipated being dragged for weeks, after all, when he had thought the Ministry might test him and reveal him as Dark.
            He still didn’t know what would happen.
            But then he saw a flicker of ruby and sapphire from the corner of his eye, and when he turned his head, he saw the dragon flying in. It landed on the upper corner of the platform for a second. Harry smiled.
            That was supposedly a signal that the Light wizards and Aurors were in place and the Lightfinder’s victims gathered. Draco turned his head slowly.
            There were people walking towards them, looking confused. Most wore the plain robes of Ministry workers, but there were some shopkeepers among them, too. The crowd that had been influenced by the Lightfinder’s explosion, Draco hoped. They would only get one chance to reverse the madness.
            If they could at all.
            Harry’s hand tightened on Draco’s arm for one moment. Draco leaned against him. It was the closest they could come to an embrace when they were like this.
            Then Harry reached into the pouch at his waist and pulled out the shrunken reverse Lightfinder. Draco licked his lips and straightened as Harry cast the spells that would restore the machine to its normal size.
            Show time.
*
            Harry raised his voice as he floated the reverse Lightfinder to the side of him, onto the platform. He had already cast a Sonorus Charm on his throat, luckily. It was the only way he could make himself heard, with the orchestra of screams at the sight of him.
            “Be still! I have come to offer Light wizards a chance to become even more Light, and those tainted with the Dark to find their way home!”
            The screams shut up more because of the strange-looking machine at his side than because they believed or trusted him, Harry thought. He could see several Ministry workers staring back and forth between him and the reverse Lightfinder. Others were paying attention to the dragon sitting on the edge of the stage.
            The dragon opened his mouth in a calm yawn, and then curled himself up as if he was going to sleep. Harry could only hope that he would actually play his next part in the plan.
            “I know you don’t trust me,” Harry said, as softly and gently as he could. Even though the Death Eaters who had escorted him and Draco were out of sight behind Disillusionment Charms, and the ones led by Rosier had come earlier and were likewise concealed, he thought he could feel their tension. “I used the excuse of Voldemort’s soul shard being in me for two reasons, though. I wanted to infiltrate the Death Eaters who had escaped prison and bring them to justice.” He paused, waiting for an attack. That was a possibility if one of the Death Eaters, despite thinking all his words were lies, decided the lies were a bit too convincing.
            Nothing happened other than some people in the crowd beginning to hoot and jeer, though. Harry shook his head and spoke again. “And to draw on their Dark Arts knowledge so I could create a machine that would get rid of Darkness.”
            “Not really,” said someone who must be braver than the others, although Harry could still hear his voice shaking.
            “But yes,” said Harry. “Allow me to demonstrate. This Lightfinder doesn’t only detect the Darkness of one’s soul. It transforms Darkness into Light.” He reached out and conjured a snake in front of him.
            There were a few screams and bolting people from the edges of the crowd. Harry grimaced. He couldn’t help that. He would have to hope that the Aurors that Ron and Hermione had alerted—that he thought they’d alerted—could turn them back.
            And I have to hope that the Disillusioned Aurors and the Disillusioned Death Eaters don’t collide.
            Harry banished the thoughts from his mind, and turned to look at Draco as he sent the asp into the reverse Lightfinder. Draco held his eyes. His own were madly determined, and Harry could read, as if he had Legilimency, Draco’s intention to grab him and Apparate out of here if this didn’t work.
            We’ll see, Harry thought to him, and said aloud, “I brought Draco Malfoy with me for one reason: to show you, after I transform this snake, how I can alter a Dark wizard’s mind.”
            That brought on a stir of reluctant interest. From the center of the crowd called someone who sounded like he could have been an Unspeakable. “And how can you do that, when the natures of Light and Dark magic are so embedded in our minds and souls?”
            Harry gave him a slow smile. “By changing the soul, of course.”
            There were excited little shrieks that reassured Harry. The madness inflicted by the first Lightfinder couldn’t have changed them that much. They still had the typical wizard’s desire for scandal and gossip.
            “And how will you do that?” continued the same speaker. Harry craned his neck to try and see them, but the middle of the crowd was packed with too many individual faces to find one person.
            “By using my new machine in the way I showed you,” Harry replied, and turned to face the reverse Lightfinder. He tugged Draco close to him as if he was afraid that Draco would try to run away.
            As he bowed his head in feigned concentration, he hissed into Draco’s ear, “If this goes wrong, remember your promise of getting away and surviving first.”
            Draco shivered and trembled, which effectively hid the way that his lips formed the word, “Yes.” Harry gave a grim smile, and then really did start concentrating on the Lightfinder, where the asp had curled himself in front of the globe.
            The desire stirred in him. This was what he had to want most of all. Not just to cure Light wizards, or to have his friends take him back, because in both those cases what the snake would transform into wouldn’t be helpful to his ultimate goals.
            To heal the Light wizards and have his friends take him back because it would keep Draco safe, and make his life happy. Draco stood rigid beside him, and Harry knew he would never yield to the temptation simply to run and not look back, or accept a life separate from the imprisoned one Harry might soon have.
            Around his knowledge of Draco’s unyielding will, Harry bent and warped and wrapped his own concentration, and then he reached out to the Lightfinder with his magic.
            The buzzing power of the Lightfinder rose in consequence. Someone cried out in wonder behind them. Harry ignored them. He had to set aside the fear of knives in the back, of someone snatching Draco free, of his spells going wrong, to picture the single, desired, intense result.
            This is the truth. This is the reality. I want nothing more than this.
            And then the magic around the Lightfinder rose in a glorious, golden cloud, and Harry plunged his own mind and will fully into the battle to shape what he wanted.
*
            Draco caught his breath as the power surged through his body and blood. He knew he probably had a greater reaction than a lot of people because the manacle around his wrist also connected him to Harry’s magic, but…
            It was wonderful. It was intoxicating. The cloud seemed to pour into Draco’s lungs and fill his chest with light. For a moment, he drifted above imaginary mountains, and his head was full to the point of bursting, with dreams and pursuits and furious hunts.
            Then he was himself again, but watching with dazed, enchanted eyes as the golden cloud coiled around Harry’s Lightfinder and the snake waiting inside.
            The snake began to stretch and pull, its body sparking with blue flames. Draco shielded his eyes a little as the flames turned back on each other in a corkscrew spiral and snapped together like a shutting door. When Draco could see again, there was a different kind of snake slowly swaying up from the floor of the Lightfinder.
            Not a snake, though, Draco realized a second later. Or a dragon. He had only seen it that way because of the utter liquid grace with which it moved. Instead, it was a cat, a lithe miniature leopard with glowing white spots on its coat of gold instead of black ones.
            And it had wings. It sprang into the air on translucent blue bat-pinions and hovered there, glancing from face to face as if it was searching out one person to specifically heal.
            The crowd was hushed now. Draco could imagine the expressions on their faces as they stared at the cat, which stared back and wriggled its whiskers. It rose higher and higher, and then spread its wings until it seemed impossible that it should continue hovering.
            Harry abruptly distracted him by disconnecting the manacle from his wrist. Draco glanced at him, startled, but Harry had turned and looked at the dragon sitting on the edge of the platform.
            The dragon rose casually and flew away. Draco tracked its flight for a few seconds with his eyes, until the leopard Harry had just created opened its mouth and burst into flame.
            The flames seemed to race around and outline its body, and then came from the inside, too. The leopard didn’t cry out, although Draco winced again and again at the pain that he thought even a magical creature would suffer from that fire. It dived straight down at the crowd, and people began to scream and scatter.
            They couldn’t scatter fast enough. The burning sparks of the leopard fell on them, ringing their heads in coronas of fire. Draco saw a few of them stop running and screaming as they figured out that the fire wasn’t burning them, but most of the crowed plunged like the panicked sheep they were towards the exits from the square.
            At that moment, the illusions Harry had told Pansy, Astoria, and a few others to cast came to life. Walls of stone, fire, and brick sprouted from the earth, blocking access to the streets—or so the people would imagine. They turned back, wailing.
            Then the wailing stopped as though someone had turned off a spigot. Draco found himself rising on his toes to see exactly what was going on. People were kneeling, reaching for their heads and hair, clawing at their ears with their fingers.
            But the transformation that covered them wasn’t accompanied by pain.
            Instead, flakes of black ash coalesced on the spectators’ shoulders and around their heads, and flew up and whirled around and danced in the air as though they were going to make a leopard of their own. White flakes followed them, then orange and gold and blue, all the colors of fire. For a moment, Draco did think he saw a long mosaic of leopard faces, each of them made of a different hue, staring and snarling over the square.
            But they collapsed and burned out, disappearing, and the Light wizards were left kneeling with their hands slowly falling from their heads, staring in puzzlement into each other’s faces.
            “Draco.”
            Harry’s voice was harsh and trembling with effort. Draco turned towards him, and saw spells exploding from one side of the square, flickering like ghostly fires through the illusions. He thought the Aurors must have joined battle with Arsinoe Rosier’s group of Death Eaters, and grimaced a little. He wished he knew whether Rosier had discovered the betrayal or whether the Aurors had simply ambushed her people.
            “Yes,” Draco said, keeping his voice low in case someone had time to glance up at the platform and notice that he was free.
            “Go when I tell you to.”
            Draco bit down sharply on his lip. He had agreed to do this, and his reasons for wanting to remain free were still the same. He nodded, and Harry gave him the one smile Draco had seen from him since the end of their shower, before he turned to face the crowd again.
            The illusions were fading, and Draco could see a few befuddled-looking Death Eaters turning to face the attacking Aurors. There was no sign of Pansy and Astoria save a few colored smudges that imitated the pattern of Pansy’s robes. Draco hoped that meant they had taken Harry’s orders and used illusions to disguise their flight.
            “Now do you believe me?” Harry called out, his voice soft and exhausted. “The original Lightfinder turned your fear to paranoia when it collapsed, and it was spreading paranoia in the months before that. Now do you see what I was trying to do?”
            There was a curse soaring towards Harry’s head, suddenly. It hadn’t come from the crowd in front of him, which was nodding. It hadn’t come from the battle. It could only have come from the hidden Death Eaters that Greyback led.
            Draco had no idea what to do. He was grabbing, fumbling, for his wand, which was in Harry’s pocket, but he wasn’t going to be in time. He had no idea what was going to happen—
            Then there was a multicolored streak flashing in between Harry and the spell, and Draco saw the dragon open its mouth and swallow the spell as though it was a large insect. The dragon spent a moment licking its jaws, and then soared up again and bellowed.
            A fierce howl cleaved the air as if in response, and Draco whirled around. If Greyback bit anyone, then Harry would lose his chance at telling people he hadn’t meant to harm them.
            But instead, Greyback had his hands clenched around the neck of someone that Draco thought was Rabastan Lestrange. Lestrange was fumbling at his throat in response, and Greyback howled again and hurled him to the ground.
            “For the honor of our Lord!” Greyback snarled before dropping on Lestrange with claws and teeth.
            Draco spun around to see how Harry was and how the battle was going. He didn’t think the other Death Eaters with Greyback would be a problem for now, although the Aurors might not capture all of them immediately in the way that Harry had hoped.
            Harry was standing within a protective, shimmering circle of charms. Even as Draco watched, he cast another Shield Charm to add to the ones around him, and then turned and nodded at Draco.
            “The way we discussed,” he said.
            “You have no idea how they’re going to react to you yet,” Draco said. How he kept his voice low and charged in the middle of such chaos amazed him. He supposed he must have some of his mother’s strength in him after all. “I want to stay by your side until we know for sure whether they’re going to arrest you or not.”
            “I can’t let you take that risk!” Harry made a pretty impressive show himself, banging his hand down on nothing but air. “You agreed—”
            “If I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stay with you, yes! I don’t know that yet!”
            The air around them gleamed, torn with the glimmer and fret of battle, and screams from people as they Apparated out. Harry raised one hand as though he was going to take Draco’s shoulder and shove him out of the range of the shields.
            Then another spell came through the shields as though they didn’t exist and laid Harry low, and Draco saw perfectly well who cast that. Someone in scarlet Auror robes, hurtling towards the platform through the crowd and shouting.
            The dragon swooped low a minute too late. Draco snarled up at it, wondering why it hadn’t blocked the spell that had felled Harry this time. The dragon landed on his shoulder and gave a shrill cry.
            Draco closed his eyes. He knew what he had to do, as long as the Ministry was hostile to Harry. And he had only moments, likely, before the Aurors either Stunned him, too, or raised spells that made it impossible for him to escape.
            He Apparated, the dragon clinging to his shoulders and his mouth filled with the blazing taste of failure.
*
PotterMalfoy24: Thanks so much! As far as Draco is concerned, Harry is the reckless one, not him. ;)
moon: Thank you!
SP777: Kind of, I suppose? Although the troubles I have are ones that can’t be solved by beating someone up. Or kissing them. ;)
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An Image of Lethe