Escorts Entangled Chapter 7 of ?

[dysonrules]

Title: Draco and Harry - Escorts Entangled Chapter Seven
Author: dysonrules 
Rating: NC17
Summary: The boys are camping out in a magic circle on a really hard floor. Think Draco will wake up happy? Yes, it's short. And yeah... cliffhangery. Heh. I had to beta this myself because lovely byaghro  is in NYC "working" and going to see Tokio Hotel. *so jealous*

Chapter Seven

 

            Draco became aware of discomfort first.  He opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling strung with cobwebs.  His back was killing him.  He turned his head and saw Harry asleep next to him.  One hand lay possessively on Draco’s abdomen and he covered it instinctively with his own.  Draco fumbled for his wand to cast a Tempus Charm.  A dry voice prevented him casting the spell.

            “Finally awake?” Snape asked.

            Draco slid carefully away from Harry’s hand and sat up, rubbing the grit from his eyes.  He reached around to rub a twinge near his spine while making a mental note to never sleep on a stone floor again.

            “Did you cancel the spell that locks us in here?” Draco asked, not bothering to keep the bitterness from his voice.  He felt fingertips brush against his and looked down to see Harry watching him.  Draco gripped his hand tightly.

            “Not quite yet.  Someone wants to say hello to you and your little hero,” Snape said.

            Draco swallowed hard and the unease he had felt the night before grew into full-blown trepidation.  He should have concentrated on escape instead of falling asleep.  He felt Harry’s fingers tighten.

            “Who?” Draco asked as his other hand clenched on his wand, even though he knew it would likely do him little good if Snape intended to keep them trapped in the circle.

            “Here he comes now,” Snape said casually, but Draco tensed.  The winemaker’s stance belied his light words.  Draco’s eyes slid to the steps where black-booted feet slowly showed themselves, followed by midnight blue robes and matching cape.  Draco thought there was something dreadfully familiar about the footsteps, but the breath still caught in his throat in disbelief when the man’s face became visible.

            “Father?” Draco whispered.

 

xxXxx

 

            Harry’s eyes snapped open at the question and he felt Draco’s hand nearly strangle his with the force of his grip.  His mind raced with questions.  Lucius Malfoy was alive.  Severus Snape was alive.  He wondered if any of the damned Death Eaters were actually dead.  Malfoy Senior had supposedly died in the same battle that had claimed Snape, which explained a lot.  It was no wonder some of the other Death Eaters were unaccounted for.  He made a mental note to have Bill dig up a few graves to make sure the bodies therein matched the names on the headstones.

            On a visceral level, he cringed at the sound of hope in Draco’s voice.  The bastard might be Draco’s father, but Harry doubted anything good could come of his presence, especially considering he and Draco were still locked in a magical cage—and Harry was powerless.  He wondered if Snape had planned it all along.

            “Draco.”  Lucius Malfoy’s voice had not changed.  It was still haughty and cold as ice.  “How nice to see you again.”

            Draco released Harry’s hand and got to his feet.  “You’re alive?  You’ve been alive all this time?”  Draco’s incredulity was tinted with accusation.

            “All this time,” Lucius admitted.  “I must say I’m rather pleased to see you rebuilding the Manor.  You are doing an excellent job, although I’m not certain I would have chosen cherry wood for the dining room floor.  I was rather fond of the slate.”

            Harry felt ill, knowing Lucius had been to Malfoy Manor.  He steadied himself with the knowledge that he could not have been there recently—not since the debacle in Ireland, at any rate.  Not since Harry had placed it under a Fidelius Charm.

            “I am, however, not at all pleased with your choice of company.  You were doing quite well for yourself after the war, until you chose to associate yourself with… that.”

            Harry gave up feigning sleep and pushed the blanket away as he sat up.  He wished to hell he did not feel quite so vulnerable.  Even worse than being nearly nude was the knowledge that he was utterly powerless.  He ignored the elder Malfoy completely and reached for his jeans to drag them on, giving no hint as to the pain caused by the movement.  The raw agony had receded somewhat from the prior day, thankfully.  It no longer hurt to breathe, but the pins and needles effect was still in full force, particularly where Harry’s clothing pressed against his skin.  He ignored it as he got to his feet to stand next to Draco.

            “Harry saved my life,” Draco said simply.  “More than once.”

            Lucius snorted.  “Apparently, it’s what he does, Draco.  You should not have taken it to heart.”

            Draco reached out and took Harry’s hand as he looked at his father defiantly.  “Well, I have.”

            The pale eyes, so like his son’s, narrowed.  “So you have.  You were always a foolish boy in many ways.  Far too soft, like your mother.”

            Draco drew in a startled breath.  “Is mother—?”

            Lucius shook his head.  “No.  Unfortunately those rumors were true.  Narcissa was killed, although of course it was not Snape’s wand that fired the final curse.  Snape, obviously, was someone else that day, as was I.”

            “It’s been years!  Why did you not show yourself before now?” Draco demanded.  Harry nearly winced at the pain laced through the words.

            Lucius chuckled.  “Draco, someone had to step up and take up the mantle dropped by the Dark Lord.  Even before that final battle it was obvious he would fail.  His methods were crude and erratic.  His only thought was to kill the Boy-Who-Lived.  Hardly unexpected, considering his half-blood status.  I knew I could do better once he was out of the way.  And I succeeded for such a long time.”

            “What are you saying?” Draco asked and stepped closer to Harry.  He thought it might be involuntarily and felt a moment of terror, knowing Draco instinctively turned to him for protection and there was not a damned thing Harry could do to help him.

            “He’s the Benefactor,” Harry said quietly.

            Lucius Malfoy laughed aloud.  “Very good, Potter.  I never thought you were stupid.  Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact, especially after your little trick with my house-elf.”  Harry sensed suppressed rage beneath the words, an old grudge, long-held, never forgotten.  “In a way, I’m almost impressed that you chose my son.  If he had taken his true place at my side instead of cowering in his mother’s shadow, he might have been worthy of you.”

            Harry pressed himself against Draco’s side and held his hand tightly when Draco went rigid at the words.  “He is more than worthy!” Harry snapped.  “If anything, I am not worthy of him.”

            “Interesting that you should mention that, Potter, especially now that you are little more than a Squib.  Perhaps you are even a little less than a Squib.  Let’s see, shall we?”  Lucius raised a dark wand and pointed it at Harry.  He cast a spell Harry had never heard before and a golden light burst around him.  Even as Harry braced himself he had to admire the construction of Snape’s circle.  Spells could enter, but not leave.  It left them at an even bigger disadvantage.  Nothing seemed to happen and Harry looked at Draco curiously, only to find the blond enveloped in a shimmering nimbus.  A closer look revealed hundreds of tiny moth-like creatures fluttering around him.

“Magimoths,” Draco said quietly.  “They are attracted to magic, like normal moths to flame.”  Harry looked around to see moths clustered around the perimeter of the circle and hovering over the shackle on the floor.  A few meager moths fluttered near Harry, but they seemed confused and rather aimless, unlike the cloud that surrounded Draco.  The glow faded as the moths began to wink out, seemingly immolated by their consumption of magic.

“Less than a Squib,” Lucius said derisively.  “It is bad enough you are a half-blood daring to consort with my son.  Only the fact of your prestige persuaded me to let you live.”

            “Let me live?  You nearly had your own son killed by Mulciber in a plot to do me in!  You allowed him to be tortured for months!”

            Lucius narrowed his pale eyes at Harry.  “That should have worked.  By all accounts, you should have sacrificed yourself for Draco.  I have been curious about that, actually.  Lovely Pansy refuses to answer my letters.  I will, of course, deal with her later.  She already knows she lives on borrowed time.  The idiots in St. Mungo’s will prevent her killing herself before I go to claim her.  She will pay for her betrayal.”

            He seemed to have forgotten the others for the moment, lost in his vengeful reverie.  Harry looked at Draco quickly.  Only their dual sacrifice attempt had saved them when each had tried to die for the other.  Draco met his eyes for a brief moment and Harry tried to reassure him with the glance, even though he held little hope for making it out alive.  He only hoped Lucius was not crazy enough to kill his own son.

            “Why did you do it?  I understand why you tried to kill me, since you lot seem obsessed with wiping me out, but why did you run the Ministry behind the scenes?  Why not take it over openly?”

            “You know as well as I that the Wizengamot would never accept a former Death Eater as Minister of Magic.  Umbridge was ever loyal to the old Ministry, in her own twisted way.  She was a willing pawn as long as she had the visible trappings of power.  The idiots never knew who made the ultimate decisions.  Even those in opposition were quickly subdued with an occasional Imperius.”

            “But why destroy the Floo Network?  And prevent Apparition?”

            “Please, Potter.  You are not that dense.  You know sheep are easier to control when they are divided.  Keeping the seat of power safely in London and not focused on the rest of the realm made it much easier to bend them all to my will.  I am not pleased with you for destroying my network, Potter.  I mistakenly thought you were not much of a threat as long as you were content to jaunt about with my son, even though you made it your mission to eradicate my lovely web of Dark Magic.”

            “Your web?” Harry asked, surprised.

            “Oh yes.  My final gift to the Dark Lord prior to his demise.  It is a rather simple spell once you learn it.  I’ve been forced to go out and reseed certain areas, if you will.  I should have tried harder to kill you, apparently.  Thankfully, events worked out on their own, did they not?  Draco sought out Snape to rid you of the pesky excess of power bequeathed to you by the Dark Lord.  It’s almost a pity, Potter.  You might have become a worthy opponent if not for my son choosing to save you from yourself.”

            Draco swallowed hard and Harry murmured, “It’s okay.  You could not have known.”  He decided to stop skirting the issue and face it head-on.  “Do you plan to kill me now?”

            “That would be too simple, Potter.  Instead, I will give my son a chance to earn his way back into my good graces.  There is power unlimited to be had, Draco.  All you need to do is join me.  I will admit that the Dark Lord’s purposes were less than ideal and you can be forgiven for not wholeheartedly embracing them.  I, however, intend to recreate the Ministry and the Wizarding World from the inside out.  None shall oppose me… as soon as you eliminate the one person with the overweening need to do so.”

            “Me,” Harry said flatly.

            “Correct.”

            “You want me to kill Harry?”  Draco was incredulous.

            “You have little choice, Draco.  You cannot exit the circle.  It should not be difficult, as Potter’s power have been drained utterly.  The poor lad cannot possibly want to live as a Squib, especially after tasting such power as he possessed.  You will be doing him a mercy, will you not?”

            “Why bother to kill him at all?  Harry can’t hurt you now!”

            Lucius sneered.  “You know as well as I that his Gryffindor ideals will never allow him to let me be.  He will oppose me with his last breath, powerless or not.”

            Harry glared and Draco said nothing.  They knew it was true.

            “I will not kill Harry,” Draco said with finality.

            “Then I will do it myself.”  Lucius sounded unconcerned.  “It was for you that I suggested it, Draco.  You seem to care for him.  How much better to die at the hands of a loved one, don’t you think, Potter?”

            “I’ll stop you,” Draco said and raised his wand.

            Lucius chuckled.  “You seem to forget where you are standing, Draco.  If you prove to me that you wish to return your loyalty to me and kill Potter, then I will allow you to live and all will be forgiven.  If you choose to remain with your boyfriend—“ he sneered the term “Then I will simply remove your powers and destroy you both.  The choice is yours.”  His gaze softened slightly.  ‘I do miss you, Draco.  You are my son.”

            He turned with a flare of his cloak.  “You have one hour,” he snapped and stalked up the stairs.  “Come, Severus.  Leave the doomed lovers to their fond farewells.”

            Harry’s venomous glare should have frozen Snape on the spot.

            “Why, Severus?  Why did you bring him here?” Draco demanded.

            “He came to me, Draco.  He has been keeping tabs on you and Potter for quite some time.”

            “You couldn’t have warned me?” Draco cried.

            Snape shrugged.  “Lucius has the power to ruin everything I’ve built, Draco.  Once this Potter business is done, he will return to London and leave me in peace.”

            “Once we are both dead!”

            Snape shrugged.  “As to that, you have a choice.  It need not be both of you.”

            Draco let go of Harry’s hand only to put an arm around his shoulders and draw him closer.  Harry felt a swell of pride tinged with sadness at Draco’s proud stance.

Snape sighed.  “I never knew Gryffindor traits were contagious.  I shall make a note of it.”  With that, Snape departed.

            “You have to do it, you know,” Harry said when they were alone.  “You can’t let him kill you.  Like he said, I’m already a Squib and I don’t really want to live this way.”  The lie tripped off of Harry’s lips easily.  It was almost true.  He did not really want to live without magic, but he would have done so just to be near Draco.

 

xxXxx

 

            Draco stared at Harry, unable to believe his ears.

            “As long as you’re alive, you can try to stop him.  Ron and Hermione will help you, and Bill, and Tonks and Lupin, of course.  He’s right about… about being killed by someone you love.  And it’s—”

            “Shut up, Potter.”

            Harry blinked at him.

            “Do you really think dear old Lucius has any intention of letting me live?  Especially after forcing me to murder you?”  Draco laughed shortly.  “This is the sort of thing he does for fun, Potter.  It would amuse him greatly to come back and find I’d killed you, only to laugh and do the same to me.  He will not allow either of us leave here alive and upset his plans.”

            Harry swayed against him.  “Then what can we do?  Why did he give you an hour?  Why not force the issue now?”

            Draco sighed heavily.  “Pansy.  He’s going to fetch Pansy and provide one last opportunity to torment me.  We saved her, after all.  She was marked from that moment.”

            He noticed Harry cringe.  “I told her to send me a Patronus if she felt threatened.  Bloody lot of good that will do her now.”

            Draco enfolded Harry in a hard embrace, wishing the guilt would lessen instead of increasing exponentially with every passing moment.  Harry’s arms went around him, holding him tightly.  His lips met Draco’s with a gasp that sounded life a half-sob.  Draco kissed him like it was the last time they would ever touch.  He drank deeply, imprinting everything about Harry on his psyche—the taste, smell, and feel of the man he loved.  The bloody idiot that had chosen Draco over all others, heedless of the cost.  Harry met him caress for caress, kiss for kiss, until the need for air overrode even the desire to expire through sheer lack of oxygen.

            Harry laughed shakily against Draco’s cheek.  His lips were wet and left a cool patch against Draco’s heated skin with every exhalation.  “I think I’d be okay dying this way,” he said.

            Draco tipped his head and nuzzled Harry’s neck.  Black curls brushed against his nose.  Draco raised a hand to thread his fingers through the tangled mess.  “I’m not ready to die just yet, Potter.  Although you are right about the method.”

            “You have a plan, then?”

            “Not really, no.”

            “I tried to go through the floor before Snape took my powers.”

            Draco pulled back in surprise and then bent down to lift a corner of the fur.  The thick stone was cracked in the center of the circle, with long jags shooting from it.  Draco felt a wild moment of hope, until he realized that it would take far longer than their allotted hour to dig out, even if Draco could manage a proper spell to finish what Harry had started.

            Harry knelt to examine the largest crack.  “If we enlarge this and bring it down here…” he said and gestured to the etchings on the floor,  “Do you think we could break the circle?”

            Draco drew in a breath and thought about it.  It was possible.  The resulting backlash could kill them both, of course, but tearing the stone beneath the runes should break the ring, depending on how far down Snape had sent the spell.  It was possible he had created an entire sphere, but such a thing took far more power than a hemisphere.

            The problem was finding a spell strong enough.  A Severing Spell did nothing but chip the stone.  Neither of them knew any demolition-type spells.  Their tenure as wilderness guides had been spent attacking the mortal or immaterial.  Bodies and spirits succumbed far more easily than granite.

            “This is useless!” Draco cried after extending the split a mere hand-span.  He cast a Tempus Charm and discovered they had wasted nearly twenty minutes already.

            Harry stepped up and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.  Draco glared at the hopeful expression on his lover’s face.  Damned optimist.  Harry grinned wryly at Draco as if sensing his thoughts and tugged at his hair.  The ring glinted on his hand and the movement exposed his famous scar for a moment.

            Draco stared at him and then took Harry’s left hand.  Giving in to a sudden impulse, Draco triggered their Bond.  Harry gasped when the lines flared gold over his skin.  Exultation rushed through Draco at the sight.  They might die, but Harry Potter still belonged to him.  He laughed aloud and Harry’s delighted expression prolonged it.

            “How?” he asked.

            “This is my magic, Harry.  Snape took Avery’s and he took yours, but he was not aware of mine.”  Another thought rocked him and he pulled Harry close to run a finger over the lines he had painted so long ago, glowing now as a symbol of their unbroken connection.  “I want to try something.  It’s completely insane and practically Gryffindor, but for that reason it just might work.”

            Harry obediently sat on the fur according to Draco’s instructions.  Draco sat down and linked his legs around Harry in duplication of their Bonding ceremony.  He rested his forehead against Harry’s for a moment and gripped his shoulders, willing his breathing to still.  He tried to center himself, but Harry’s teasing words broke his concentration.

            “Are we renewing our vows?”  Thankfully, he left before we die unspoken.

            “In a way, now stop asking questions and let me do this,” Draco said, trying to manage a stern tone and failing.  In fact, he was quite nervous considering what he was about to attempt.

            “Okay,” Harry said simply, trusting to the end.  Draco growled and kissed him.  The Gryffindor melted into him as he’d done a thousand times before and Draco knew he was not ready to let go of this.  He was not done with Harry yet; they simply weren’t finished.  After what they had already been though in the short time they had been together after the war… Well it wasn’t fair.  He knew it was a childish thought, as petulant and selfish as he had once been, but no less true for the realization.

With renewed determination, Draco said, “Link hands.”  Harry obediently put his hands in Draco’s left to left and right to right, threading their fingers.  “Good.  Now breathe together.”

            Their foreheads still touched, and soon their breathing became slow and even.  Draco inhaled as Harry exhaled.  Draco tuned out everything but total awareness of Harry and their Bond became almost tangible.  Now, Draco thought and flooded the Bond with his magic.

            “What… what are you doing?” Harry asked.

            “Keep breathing and let it in,” Draco replied softly.  Despite Draco’s admonition, Harry’s breath hitched.

            “No, I can’t… I can’t let you…”

            Draco felt immense satisfaction that Harry could not seem to stop the process once started.  The Gryffindor tried to tug his hands away, but Draco held tightly.  He felt magic draining out of him—flooding out of him—and into Harry like a tide, filling him.

            His lover suddenly shoved him away and shot to his feet, breaking the connection.  Draco fell back, immensely weak.  Harry stood over him angrily, looking like a vengeful god, powerful and strong.  Draco smiled at him.  “Did it work?” he asked.

            Harry’s expression turned to bewilderment.  “What did you do?”  Without waiting for a response, he bent and snatched up Draco’s wand.

Lumos,” Harry said and the tip lit instantly.  Harry stared at it and his knees seemed to give out.  He knelt before Draco in a semblance of reverence.  “You didn’t.  Tell me you didn’t give me your magic.”

            Draco reached out gently and took the wand.  “Tempus,” he said and numbers gleamed in the air for a moment.  Draco did not bother to hide his relief.  “Not all of it, Potter.  I just… shared.”

            “You shared,” Harry repeated and then Draco was knocked flat by the Gryffindor.  Harry’s mouth was on his, hot and demanding.  Draco would have laughed in elation if Harry had allowed him to breathe.  It was all he could do to draw in air during Potter’s brief pauses, during which Harry murmured against his lips.  “You insane… mmm… beautiful, incredible… oh god, Draco… absolutely…mmnnnn… fucking gorgeous man.  I can’t believe you did that.”  Harry drew back suddenly, green eyes wide as saucers.  “How did you know it would work?  How did it work?”

            “I only hoped it would work; I got the idea when I saw the markings.  Obviously that particular magic was unaffected by Snape’s spell.  It acted like a conduit, since it already connected us through magic.  Once I began to pour it in, you soaked it up like a sponge, obviously trying to replace what had been lost.  How do you feel?”

 

xxXxx

 

            Harry looked into Draco’s incredible eyes and could barely formulate an answer.  He felt like a million Galleons.  The screaming ache he had felt to his bones was gone—completely gone.

            “I feel like I could fly,” he replied and kissed the blond again.  “Draco, you’re amazing.”

            Draco laughed.  “Yes, I know, Harry.  How amazing am I?”

            Bloody hell, his voice, his scent, his magic coursing through Harry’s very being—Harry was harder than he’d ever been in his life.  He rocked his groin into Draco’s and felt an answering hardness rise as the Slytherin gasped.  “You’re the most amazing man on the face of this planet… or any other,” Harry admitted.  “And I love you.  God, I love you so much.”

            Draco’s hands gripped his hips and pulled Harry against him with an almost pained moan.  “Harry, love, too bad this is neither the time nor the place.”

            Harry kissed him a few more times, unwilling to admit reality quite yet.  He wanted nothing more than to remove every stitch of Draco’s clothing with his teeth and retrace those beautiful bond markings with his tongue.  He said as much and smiled in delight when Draco’s silver eyes went wide and dark.  Harry regretted being such a bastard for the past few weeks—he had missed so much.  He had forgotten how much he loved watching Draco come undone.  It was beyond painful that he might never see it again.  “I love you,” he said again, finding it difficult to speak.

            “How did my magic turn you into a Hufflepuff?” Malfoy asked and Harry guffawed against his cheek, amused in spite of his growing fear.

            “Bastard,” he said.

            “That’s better.”

            Harry rolled away, trying to rein in his raging libido.  It would not do for Lucius and Snape to return to find them in such an amorous state.  “How much time do we have?” he asked, knowing that despite Draco’s unbelievable gift of magic, they were still doomed if they did not get out of the damned circle.

            Draco fumbled for his wand—too late.

            “Time’s up, boys,” Lucius Malfoy said.

Linkage: Escorts Entangled
Beginning of it all: Draco's Escort Service