Losing The Game

Warning/disclaimer: All recognizable Harry Potter characters and places are not mine, They belong to J.K., I\'m just borrowing them and will give them back later slightly worse for the wear but perfectly fine. I make no money off this, please don\'t sue etc, etc.
~. . .~ song lyrics
\". . .\" talking or quotes from a person, letter, or book
\'. . .\' thoughts

Losing The Game CH 5- What a Slytherin Wants . . . Part One ~


~ How the hell\'d we wind up like this
And why weren\'t we able
To see the signs that we missed
And try to turn the tables.~


One week later,


\"My Darling Draco,


Dumbledore tells us that you have once again returned to classes, I am so happy you are doing better. I am so very sorry we could not visit you in St.Mungos, though the Healers assured us that you were well and you only had a couple broken limbs and were suffering the most from magical exhaustion. Your Father has been very busy at the Ministry and with several emergency meetings with your God-Uncle. I have also been required to attend quite a bit lately as well. Your Father has been trying very hard to keep your condition from him and I suggest you tell only your most trusted. Your Uncle would take advantage of it no matter the cost to you, my darling boy.

Please write to us and let us know the extent to which you are involved with that half-blood. I will be sending you the family book so that you can reacquaint yourself with the information. Draco, my darling, always know that we love you and while your Father may not show it I know for a fact he feels it. He worries over you and your choices in life simply because he feels you deserve the best and because you, as a Malfoy, have it in you to BE the best.

Remember always that you are a Malfoy and above all else our son.


Your Mother,
Narcissa Malfoy\"


Draco put down his Mother\'s letter and picked up his Father\'s reading through it for what seemed like the hundredth time since he\'d gotten them.

\"Draco,


I cannot express how disappointed I am in your failure to recognize the signs of the Gentilis. It has caused your Uncle to renew his interest in you. Who you have allied yourself with is most unfortunate. Any matter, no matter how small or insignificant, concerning that boy draws his interest and you being in that sphere of attention is beyond unacceptable. I have tried very hard to keep his attentions off of you but he sees you now, wonders over you and I cannot begin to express how much that concerns me. Hold tightly to your own, my son, and have a care for those in which you confide. The Serpents House can be a dangerous place but never more so then the Lion\'s Den. Continue to keep your Mother and I informed of what goes on with you and I will find a way to make things right over the upcoming summer holidays.


Your Father,
Lucius Malfoy\"


Draco sighed and put the letters back into his privacy box and set the wards on it once again. He shoved the box underneath his bed and then crawled under the covers. He lay staring up at the green canopy above his head for what seemed like hours contemplating what exactly \"a way to make things right\" meant. He was beginning to get ill already and what he had read in the book his Mother had sent was not very promising at all. He would continue to get worse as time went on, especially if Potter\'s negativity and bloody depression didn\'t let up, but he\'d rather die then go to that git begging to be forgiven for something he didn\'t even do! Malfoys did NOT apologize and they most especially did not take the blame on anything, even if they had done it. He rolled over and fell into his usually fitful sleep.

*** *** ***

Two Weeks Later, Four Weeks After The Explosion,


Draco walked sluggishly down the rarely used hall on the fifth floor to his second class of the morning, Arithmancy. He had just come from Double Potions, his only NEWT class that he shared with Potter. He rushed past his friends into an alcove and threw up. \'Gods, I hate Friday morning Potions, I used to love how Snape ripped into him but now I vomit every bloody time, I HATE this!\' He took out a monogrammed handkerchief and wiped his mouth with a sigh. He banished the mess that had been his breakfast with a look of intense disgust. He then came out and started down the hall like nothing had happened until a hand grabbed hold of his elbow and swung him around. He frowned into the face of his nearly life long friend. Her deep chocolate eyes were full of concern.

\"That\'s the fourth time this week, Draco, if I didn\'t know better I\'d be asking when you were due.\"

He let out a surprised laugh but stopped when no one laughed with him. \"I\'m fine, Millicent, it\'s nothing to worry about really.\"

She frowned at him pushing a lock of dark hair behind an ear. \"Don\'t lie to me, Dragon, you know I can always tell.\"

He grimaced at the use of the pet name, feeling the guilt raise up inside because he had been lying to her for the past three weeks. She was his best friend, the only one he let call him Dragon besides his Mother and he was the only one she let call her Lysie. They had been playing together since they were three along with Nott, Crabbe and Goyle. He hadn\'t been able to pronounce Millicent and she had thought it brilliant for them to have special names for each other. He sighed and looked at his shoes then back up at her face.

\"Did you have to use the pet name, Lysie, you know it makes me cave every time.\"

She shrugged and gave a little smile. \"Well, of course, I am Slytherin after all.\"

Draco, Millicent, and the often silent Theodore Nott all grinned at each other and quoted the unofficial Slytherin motto.

\"Fight hard, fight dirty and don\'t ever be afraid to be sneaky, because after all what a Slytherin wants a Slytherin gets.\"

They all laughed and then Millicent frowned at Draco once again.

\"Spill, Dragon.\"

\"Fine, fine, I\'ll tell you but you\'re not going to like it. I\'m bonded to Harry Bloody Potter and it\'s making me ill.\"

\"What!\" She looked him over intently, taking in the his paler then normal complexion, the shadowed skin under his eyes and the way his normally fitted uniform shirt seemed to be a size too large. \"What kind of bond?\"

He looked away, his jaw clenched then he blinked and swallowed. \"The Lovers, if not more.\"

She paled and Theo looked at him with wide eyes. \"Have you renewed the bond since the surge?\"

He pressed his lips tightly together and shook his head.

Millicent gasped and shoved him back into the alcove he\'d lost his breakfast in. Theo took one look at her angry face and headed down the hallway. The Slytherin\'s resident amazon ticked off what not something he wanted to hang around for, she was known for her quick temper and loyalty to those in her inner circle. She protected them fiercely, with a sharp word and a hard fist, even if it was from themselves.

\"Draco, are you crazy? You know a bond this strong has to be renewed and strengthened or you\'ll pine for him, getting sicker and sicker. Merlin, if it actually is the Bond of Souls then the lack of it could bloody well kill you both!\"

He forced a smirk. \"Well, it would certainly make things easier for the Dark Lord, wouldn\'t it?\"

She whacked him hard on the arm. \"Ow, Millicent!\"

\"That is not even funny, Draco Malfoy! You know he\'d use any thing to get at that stupid git Potter!\" She glared at him a moment longer then whacked him again. \"I can believe you can be so bloody stupid!\"

\"Millicent Francine Bulstrode, knock that the fuck off or you will develop a rash I am quite sure Neville Longbottom will NOT enjoy contracting from you!\"

She just kept glaring at him, ignoring the dig at her long time crush on the Gryffindor boy. \"You are letting him dump all his negative energy on you, aren\'t you? He doesn\'t know squat about the bond you have and what you need to do so he\'s inadvertently projecting all his shit on you! And you\'re holding onto it and not letting it backlash onto him, why Draco?\"

Draco pushed away from her and went down the hall again but then halfway down he swung around. \"You think I want to be bonded to that damn bleeding heart? You think I like knowing that if I ever wanna stop feeling like I got my guts ripped out that I have to have sex with someone who thinks I raped him? You think I like feeling him inside of me? Needing him?\"

\"Draco . . . then why haven\'t you talked to him about this?\"

\"Because he fucking HATES me!\" He ran both hands over his face and then looked at her his eyes haunted. \"He has these nightmares, they\'re horrible. Did you know he saw Cedric Diggory die? And his Godfather? That he feels it when the Dark Lord tortures people? Every night almost. I can\'t let that backlash on him, Lysie, I just can\'t, but I will not fucking go to him and apologize for something I did NOT do! I\'d rather die!\"

Millicent gave him a sad smile.\"A Slytherin with a soft heart all wrapped in brittle pride, what would the Gryffindors say?\"

He gave a wry smile in return. \"We have hearts as well you know, they maybe cold blooded but they beat and break just like everyone else\'s.\"

\"You can\'t keep doing this, Draco, he\'ll start feeling it if he isn\'t already. What if your sickness does get to him? What if he has to vomit during a Quidditch match? While it may be good for our team, you\'ll still feel it if he breaks a limb.\"

Draco cursed, he hadn\'t thought of the upcoming Gryffindor match against Ravenclaw, the last game of the year.

\"I already have to worry about keeping the Dark Lord from offing him but now I have to worry about bloody Quidditch injuries too?\"

\"It wouldn\'t be as bad if the bond was renewed and your magical shields not so weak.\"

He growled and began the trek down the hall again. \"Leave it alone, Millicent, just leave it alone.\"

She watched him go following behind him slowly. He was her best friend, the only one besides Theo that ever saw beyond the \"Fat Girl\" label most had pegged on her. She would have let herself fall in love with him a long time ago if he didn\'t swing the way he did. But he had been obsessed with Harry Potter since he had seen him in Madame Malkins. She had, along with Crabbe and Goyle, suffered through many a rant and even a few bratty tantrums over \"The-boy-who-lived-to-make-us-all-miserable.\" All because of one simple rejection of friendship. Draco was not one to take rejection lightly, oh no, it was met with a fierce pout and a swift desire for retribution. She knew her stubborn friend from the inside out and knew, as any girl would, that it was up to her to make thing right and she knew just where to start.

*** *** ***

Hermione sat at her usual table in the library pouring over the six open books infront of her. She had spent every lunch hour for the last three weeks looking for more information on the Antiquus Gentilis Magicus but had found nothing more then the most basic information. She hadn\'t even found anything useful after a week of combing through the restricted section! She was taking notes so intently that she nearly fell out of her chair when a rather large book was slammed down in front of her. She blinked up at the imposing figure of Millicent Bulstrode and then looked down at the book. Two words stuck in her momentarily shocked brain, they were Gentilis and Malfoy done in elegant looping letters in a dark, shimmering gold text. The book itself was bound in a foresty green velvet with the lettering curving around what she assumed was a family crest. Hermione looked up at Millicent again, her mouth opening to ask a question, but the Slytherin beat her to it.

\"He\'s getting sick, isn\'t he? Not sleeping, not really eating, throwing up sometimes?\"

Millicent stared down at Hermione, serious chocolate eyes meeting the golden browns of the Gryffindor.

\"Yes, how-\"

\"It\'s the bond.\" She wasn\'t one to mince words when it was important. She tapped one surprisingly well manicured finger onto the book and it opened to a marked page. \"Fix it, make him see reason, or we\'ll lose them both.\"

She then turned and walked away before Hermione could ask her to stop. Hermione pulled the book closer and began to read the chapter entitled \"Maladies, Side effects, and Consequences of The Lovers Bond and the Bond of Souls.\"

\"The Bond of Souls, and in some rare cases the Lovers Bond, unlike the Friendship or Familial Bonds, requires a renewal of the bond soon after the initial magical surge. This is because the couples life forces, the very energy that keeps them alive, have essentially swapped bodies while still keeping the ties to their own, making one persons pain the others and sapping both of most of their strength and energy. When they renew the bond their energies will merge and stop feeding off one another. This will solidify the pairs places in each others lives. They will become more connected but will be able to comfortably be away from each other for longer periods of time without any side effects.

Until it is renewed the couple will pine for their missing partner if they are apart and any negative emotions felt and shared will have very harsh consequences. Such as Magical Fluctuations, Insomnia, Lack of Appetite, Sudden Weight Loss, Vomiting, Mood Swings, Unreasonable Actions or Behaviors, and Depression from the mild to the Suicidal. If the bond is not renewed at all then the couple will continue to decline, losing all magical abilities and motor functions as their organs shut down and they ultimately die.\"

Hermione stared at the words her eyes wide with shock. She flipped through the pages of the book until she found the chapter she wanted. She read it and several others then closed the book. She gathered and put away the library books as the bell rang and stowed the green book in her bag. She headed to her Ancient Runes class with a look of determination on her face.