Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) 23rd Chapter ( Chapter 23 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Anything you recognize is property of JK Rowling. Additionally this is not my story. I am uploading this to my own account in support of the author the story belongs to who has been struggling with hackers.

The thing I've most been dreading as a fan is that the story would be removed from the site by the hackers and the author wouldn't have access to their old chapters when the situation was eventually brought under control in the event the site moderators wouldn't be able to give the author their account back.

For anyone interested the author goes by Hancock23 on Fanfiction -dot- net. I will remove the story from my account when Hancock23 has gotten the story safely uploaded elsewhere or has been safely given their account back on Fanfiction -dot- net. Without further ado I give you a backup upload of: Behind the Fog by Hancock23.

PS: This Backup Upload contains minor edits for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Plus some rewording/restructuring of sentences so they make better sense and flow better. Hope you don't mind me becoming something of a Beta Reader for this Backup Upload Hancock23.

Chapter 23 - Catch 22

It was a cycle. One of them would do or say something, and they would fix it with harsh words, sex, or silence and this time was no different. Draco kept his distance and Harry made no attempt to mend what he had broken. He knew that he had been needlessly cruel, and maybe it was because of the animosity they had held towards each other for the past six years, but he simply could not bring himself to apologise.

Apologising to Draco Malfoy meant that he cared to some degree for the other boy and that thought more than any other scared him. He wanted not to miss the days they would quietly sit for hours reading manga, and he wanted not to spend every waking moment thinking about Malfoy. He did not want to wonder what Malfoy was doing whenever they were not in sight of each other, and he desperately wished that Ginny still commanded all his attention whenever she walked into a room.

Harry could not pinpoint the exact moment that things had changed, but he now knew that the simple rules that had defined his marriage in September of the previous year no longer applied. There would not be a clean break from Draco Malfoy and that confused Harry because in his simple world, good people did not get attached to people like Malfoy.

For his part, Draco was experiencing what could only be described as a Catch 22. Even before the marriage business, Draco had feelings for Harry for a long time, and no matter how illogical it was; he wanted Harry to discover his character by himself. He wanted Harry to know him well enough to realize that he would never willingly become Voldemort's lover, but then he also realized that nothing in their past encounters would have given Potter the basis to come to such a conclusion.

Over the past weeks, Draco had realised the truth about their bond, and unlike Potter who still held hopes that they would be able to live separate lives; he knew that was no longer possible. They needed to speak and start building some form of amenable relationship, but something prevented Draco from broaching the subject. He did not want to become even more vulnerable to Potter by telling him some of what had happened, but he also knew that nothing would ever change if he did not say something to break the status quo.

It took him days of second guessing his decision, but finally, Draco decided to speak to Harry; and an opportunity presented itself one evening when he returned to their rooms in the East Tower after hours in the Slytherin common room with Pansy and Blaise. Potter seemed to have just finished doing his homework, and Draco almost smiled at the almost childlike relief on the raven's face when he rolled back the thirty-six inches of parchment which Draco saw contained the potions homework they had been assigned just a few days ago. He waited until Harry had put away his writing stuff before he spoke:

"Can we talk?" He asked, and Potter had this complicated look on his face that for a moment there, Draco was fearful of the possibility that the Gryffindor would refuse. It did not take more than a few seconds, but when Harry finally nodded his head in acceptance, Draco could not help but let out a breath in relief; He truly wanted to settle things between them. Without saying another word to each other, they walked the small distance to the rarely used dining table and took opposite seats from each other.

"I shouldn't have blamed my behaviour on him." Harry said in a rush, the moment they had taken their seats; as if afraid that the words would forever get stuck in his throat if he did not speak them then and there.

"I obviously desire you of my own accord; but I hate myself for it. All this time I have been telling myself, that I am not cheating on Ginny; because yes, we are married, but our bond only needed consummation once. I can't understand why I keep wanting to touch you in such ways."

It took Draco all he had not to comment on the pink that had spread all over Harry's face and ears, but he knew that it was not the right moment for such chatter; so he chose to address the issue at hand directly.

"People lust even after people they hate Harry. After all, hate is only another aspect of love." Draco hazarded, even though he knew that neither of them was nowhere near ready to deal with anything other than physical attraction.

"But…" Harry began in protest.

"But Voldemort has touched me?" Draco asked; Harry nodded, and Draco could see the Gryffindor's discomfort at the admittance.

Harry did not want to have this conversation, but like Malfoy, he acknowledged the necessity of it. "You loath yourself because a part of you consciously wants this body that I have willingly shared with the vilest person imaginable?" The blonde plowed onwards.

Harry nodded again, and Draco took a deep breath, and sighed in resignation. "You and I are far from friends, and I honestly don't want to tell you this, but we need to somehow learn to live with each other." Harry narrowed his eyes at him, and Draco sighed again.

It was going to be a long journey from the current attitude they had towards each other to a time they could freely share secrets. Nevertheless, he needed to say what he had set out to say. "He did touch me, but I never allowed it." Draco said, and he could see the moment his sentence registered in Potter's brain because the other boy's face contorted in wide-eyed horror.

Maybe it's their interactions until then that had made Draco expect to be called a liar, but he was relieved that Potter seemed to believe him at once; he truly did not think he was well enough to convince someone else of the thing that had happened to him when he was still coming to terms himself. When Potter went to speak, Draco lifted his hand and stopped whatever the raven had been prepared to say.

"A long time ago, I spent hours in a day obsessing about what you thought of me, but when everything went to hell, I realized that I couldn't afford to care anymore. I did not have enough energy to both put myself back together, and care about any of you; so when you all made your own conclusions about this situation, I did not correct you because I couldn't be arsed to care enough to."

"Do you care enough now?" Harry asked, because it was the only thing he could think to ask as the rest of his brain attempted to make sense of the situation. Truthfully, he was shocked. He had always assumed that Malfoy had wanted power and gained it that way; That it could have been rape had never occurred to him, and he now realised that it should have.

Malfoy was a vain creature, and even for power, it didn't make sense that he would go for the newly reborn Tom Riddle. These thoughts led to wanting to know what had happened and then remembering that night in Grimmauld Place, when Severus was talking to Bill which made Harry feel even more uncomfortable and afraid.

"No, I haven't started to care." Draco answered simply, dragging Harry away from his thoughts.

"I am only telling you this because I have recently taken the time to think; and what I need right now is peace; I don't need hostility in my own place of sleep, rest, and relaxation. Ideally, we could try to get to know each other properly and genuinely from now on, but if you are not inclined to, we don't need to like each other to have a truce within these quarters." He finished.

"Truce?" Harry saw the offered right hand, and had a Deja Vu of six years ago, when he had refused to take the offered hand. Somehow, he knew that the hand would never be offered to him again if he yet again declined to take it, and that thought terrified him for a reason he did not want to think about.

Steadily, he took the hand and barely refrained from gasping when he felt a ripple of magic pass between their joined hands. The magic was warm and having been in the wizarding world for a while now, Harry was fairly certain that it meant something, but he did not think now was the time to ask about it, so he let Malfoy head to the shower as he got ready for bed.

Feeling exhausted from the emotional baggage he had dealt with for the last couple of days, Draco slid into bed after his shower and for the first time since their argument, he did not make any great efforts to ensure that he lay at a distance from his husband. Potter for his part cautiously positioned himself beside Draco, and after what must have been an adequate time to him, he pulled Draco to him and held him within a cocoon of warm arms.

Unexpectedly, he placed a chaste kiss on Draco's brow before he fell asleep and that more than any words he could have said, assured Draco that everything would be fine. They were not a piece of broken equipment that could be fixed with the wave of a wand, but they were no longer standing still and expecting things to just magically get better.

Free Cure For Lycanthropy: An Interview With A Former Werewolf

The Daily Prophet had an interview with respected former Hogwarts professor and former werewolf Remus Lupin to discuss this miraculous development, and this is what he had to say:

"I was approached by Dragon World to be an ambassador for their new cure for Lycanthropy. They explained to me how it worked and then gave me the cure which I took an hour before the full moon last week. Instead of changing into a wolf as I have for so many years, my hair turned white for a couple of hours, and I developed a craving for chocolate rather than the mindless bloodlust that comes with the influence of the pulsations from the invisible rays of a full moon."

Shocked at such a revelation, this reporter turned to a healer at St Mungos who explained the changes, and this is what they had to say:

"I am amazed truly. It's impossible to get rid of the Lycanthropy gene, but the person who developed the cure has manipulated the gene in such a way that the body is tricked into shifting the hair colour rather than shifting the body. Also, the lust for blood is changed for craving chocolate. The werewolves who take this potion can live a normal life, and their progeny will not even have to worry about inheriting virus as it will fail to pass on to the next generation given that the hair shifting gene or the chocolate craving mutation are not necessary functions for human beings; Human being who at their core are creatures of evolution. It is truly remarkable work that cannot have been produced by anyone short of a genius."

What is even more remarkable is that the cure is free. All a werewolf needs to do is to walk into St Mungos and ask and they'll receive the cure. This reporter has uncovered information that Dragon World approached the Ministry of Magic to help foot the cost of production, but the ministry refused the offer.

Other ministries around the world including the French, Swiss, and American Ministries have agreed to a 50-50 cost sharing deal in the production of this cure. For the English, St Mungos has agreed to pay 30 percent while Dragon World covers the rest. The Daily Prophet would like to offer their sincere gratitude to both Dragon World and St Mungos, and urge the werewolves to go to St Mungos for more details.

Harry was not the only one staring in shock at that day's Daily Prophet. He couldn't believe that Remus had not been a werewolf for almost a week and not told anyone. Seeing the look on Dumbledore's face, he also had heard nothing about it, and that was confirmed in the Order meeting that was called some hours later.

'Are you really not a werewolf anymore?' Tonks asked, once everyone was settled and as expected, every eye in the room was on Remus.

"I am not." Remus smiled brightly, brighter than anyone had ever seen him smile and those who were close to him could not begrudge him the week he had taken to enjoy this news by himself.

"I can't believe you didn't even tell me." Sirius sulked.

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise." Not even Sirius' obvious annoyance could dampen Remus' mood.

He had approached the full moon the previous week with desperate hope, but also with with great trepidation, and even when things had turned out exactly as they were supposed to, it had taken him a little longer to come to terms with his new self entirely.

It would take much longer than the week that had already passed for him to change his mindset from that of a being that was hunted and hated, to someone who had the same opportunities as all the other wizards in the Wizarding World. Shaking himself from his thoughts, Remus was quick enough to catch the end of Dumbledore's address.

"But with this, we really cannot afford to ignore Dragon World anymore, and even the dark lord should be having the same thoughts." Dumbledore said. 'Voldemort has an army of werewolves; he will not want to lose them to this cure. Whoever this person is, he is an asset worth an entire army for either side. You met the man Remus?"

"Well, yes." Lupin agreed, and anyone who was watching him closely would have noticed his discomfort with this line of enquiry.

"What did you think of him?" Everyone was listening eagerly now.

"He is exceptionally brilliant, but I got the impression that he will never work with either side." Remus said and steeled himself from reacting aggressively to the attempt at intrusion into his mind he could feel.

It seemed Dumbledore had asked the question, but that was only a formality because he intended to get an answer even if it meant using Legillimency on his own people.

"Surely he would reconsider if we talked to him." Hermione said, and her voice suggested that she had no doubt that the person would do just that.

Since she began her education at Hogwarts, Hermione Granger had been lauded as the smartest witch to walk the halls in a century, and if she could see the benefits of aligning with the light, she had no doubt that the Dragon world genius would feel the same way given a chance. It was the only logical course of action.

"I don't think he would." Severus said, surprising everyone in the room.

"What do you base your opinion on?" Dumbledore asked suspiciously.

"He sent me instructions for the Cruciatus Cure Potion, but before I could even open them, I had to sign magically binding documents that prevent me from revealing anything I have learnt for a couple of years." Snape said, and lifted his hand to stop the headmaster from saying what was clearly on his tongue.

"I have checked and counterchecked, and there is no loophole in the agreement. I cannot reveal anything I know intentionally or even unintentionally."

Some of the Order members looked impressed that someone had been so thorough in maintaining their secrecy, but Dumbledore and some of the others could not hide their displeasure at being thwarted yet again. Counting Severus, the order had now three people who had been in contact with the most sought after person in the Wizarding World and yet none of them could be relied on for information about the individual. It was becoming an alarming trend, and what worried the old man the most was the fact that none of the three, especially the spy looked even the least bit concerned. It's as if they had chosen the interest of the person over the greater good.

"I also got the feeling that he would not be willing to join either side of this war." The Potions Master concluded.

"But why did he send the instructions to you?" Charlie asked the question that was on everybody's mind.

"The letter said that he recognised my skills as a Potions Master and he wanted someone other than himself to have the ability to make it in case of a negative eventuality for his life. He may not want to get involved with the war, but he's very much aware one is happening." Snape improvised and Dumbledore fell into a thoughtful mood that Snape had seen numerous times since their first meeting all those years ago.

"If he wanted to pass along the recipe for the Cruciatus Cure, then it goes to reason that he would do the same for all the other potions, including the Lycanthropy Potion.' Dumbledore said, and somewhere in there was a question that Snape did not need to think hard to find.

"Yes, I would imagine so, and I am making preparations with the expectation of that being the case. I am hoping to find a way of binding myself long enough for me to access the instructions without binding myself permanently." Severus said, and not even Dumbledore who knew the man well could detect the deception.

In fact, Severus already knew the recipe, but the Order did not need to know that just yet. Anyway, if he knew the headmaster as much as he thought he did, it was only a matter of time before the old man presented him with a 'solution' and when it failed like Snape knew it would, he would not have to explain himself or field the suspicion he could feel directed at him.

The room fell into silence as everyone attempted to think of a way to break an Unbreakable Vow that would not involve the death of the one who'd taken the vow; until Ronald Weasley broke the silence, and abruptly drew everyone's attention to him.

"Wouldn't Malfoy know this person?" Ron said with a contemplative look on his face that was ever only really present whenever he was contemplating a chess move.

"How so?" McGonagall asked.

"Harry, don't you remember that first time at your place?" Ron asked, and Harry frowned trying to grasp what Ron was on about.

"Malfoy put up that ward, and both Bill and Remus said it was a very complex likely Unbreakable Ward unlike any they had ever seen before. Maybe Malfoy is in contact with this person." Everyone looked at Harry in question, and he shrugged, because he had never even thought of the possibility.

To be honest, the only reason he had not forgotten that interaction was because the lawsuit against Ginny was still happening. For some reason, he had never considered asking Draco to drop it even when Ginny gave him the evil eye whenever she received a letter from the solicitor that Harry had helped her retain.

"He does get a lot of mail, but I don't think it has anything to do with the Dragon world inventor because it all started with the grey faction business. I have also not seen him with anyone except Parkinson, Zabini, and some other Slytherins." Harry said.

"Bill, what can you tell us about this?" Molly Weasley asked, and the eldest Weasley son was hard pressed not to feel like a naughty child caught doing something that he should not have been doing.

"Malfoy did put up quite a complex ward that one time, but when I asked him, he said he had received it as a birthday gift from someone. I didn't ask who and considering our relationship; he wouldn't have told me. Either way, I have never seen Malfoy with my employer or even heard mention of him." Bill said. A good lie was one that intertwined fact and fiction, and he was sure Draco could take care of himself. "You could try asking him, though I doubt he will tell you anything considering his attitude the last time he was summoned here."

Dumbledore nodded his agreement. "Harry, I want you to monitor every move Malfoy makes, nothing is too little to report." Harry nodded and wondered if he shouldn't have said that Malfoy spends a lot of time off the Marauders Map? He didn't dare risk his map being confiscated though, and furthermore, he felt like he needed to protect Malfoy because the Order had revealed itself as an enemy of the Slytherin. Whatever Malfoy was up to was his own business unless it somehow proved detrimental to the banishment of Voldemort.

The meeting ended with the promise that everyone would try in their own way to discover the identity of Dragon World's inventor, and in the time it took Harry to reach the East tower after spending some time with his friends, Draco had received warning of everything that happened in the meeting, and Snape's mention of the Marauders Map had finally revealed to Draco how Potter always managed to find him except when he was in the room of requirement or his secret base in the owlery. Things had gotten complicated once more just when he was about to relax his guard a little, but he wasn't very worried, he would manage somehow. For now, he had letters to write.

Uploader's Note: This Has Been A Backup Upload of Chapter 23 of Behind the Fog by Hancock23.