Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) 40th Chapter ( Chapter 40 )

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 40 – A portrait of the Wizarding World

Without waiting for the Wizarding World to fully absorb everything that had happened in the Wizengamot, Dragon World announced that it would release a potion that would allow vampires to walk in the sun. Draco knew that the Wizarding World would need some time to get accustomed to the idea of coexisting with vampires so he had set the launch date of the potion for the 1st of June which was two weeks from the announcement date. However, he had seriously underestimated the Wizarding World's negative feelings towards vampires as he soon came to realize minutes after the Daily Prophet hit peoples' tables.

Less than an hour after people read the announcement in their morning papers, an outraged crowd of protestors appeared in front of Dragon World's store in Diagon Alley. The gathered wizards had initially come to Dragon World to protest as individuals, but upon discovering others who had also been outraged by the news, they became organised. Soon enough, protest placards appeared and all the robes of the protestors were transfigured into white hooded robes. The gathered also had white masks that covered their faces which was eerily reminiscent of death eater costumes.

However, everyone who saw the protestors failed to make the connection with death eaters because they were too busy looking at the placards and the back of the robes where a wizarding video had been charmed to play on replay. The video showed what appeared to be a vampire snapping the neck of a fragile witch, brutally sinking his fangs into the innocent victim's neck, and draining all her blood until her body lost all colour. The image was horrifying and it fuelled the Wizarding world's outrage when it appeared in the following day's prophet causing the number of protestors outside of Dragon World to triple.

The protestors called for a boycott of Dragon World if the company refused to comply with the wishes of the public; going as far as to harass the customers who went to the store. By the fourth day of the protest, no one was willing to physically go to the store and all business shifted to owl orders, but even that stopped by the fifth day since the protestors had begun stunning all owls that approached the store. There was no doubt that the situation was getting out of hand and even though the Ministry of Magic had already asked Dragon World to stop the launch of the product, Draco didn't feel as if he could.

The vampires at Dragon Castle were willing to wait until the Wizarding World was more tolerant of the idea, but in his mind, Draco could not accept the unfairness of it all. The vampires had done nothing to deserve this extreme intolerance from the Wizarding World, but he also could not carelessly disregard the worries of the Wizarding World; because he knew better than anyone that if he callously handled the situation, it would only enlarge the rift between wizards and vampires.

The dilemma was taking a toll on Draco and although most people at Hogwarts failed to notice it, Harry did not. He had become so attuned to the moods and actions of his husband that there was no way he could have failed to notice that Draco was brooding over something.

Harry knew he was not as smart as Hermione, and definitely not as smart as Draco, but his instincts more than made up for what he lacked in smarts. The Order and Dumbledore had investigated and found that Draco did not own Dragon World, but Harry's instincts told him that was not the case. The name, the timing of the opening, Draco's finances, and strange reactions; like when Hermione attempted to explain the Valentine's flower spell, among others; had made Harry very suspicious. However, it was the actual spells and potions that Dragon World released that made Harry certain that Draco was the owner.

Draco Malfoy was incredibly smart, but unexpectedly, and Harry was sure that not many people would believe him on this; the Slytherin was kinder than anyone Harry knew. His kindness was not obvious, and rarely in anyone's face; but it was unmistakable to those who received it. It was there in all the potions and spells that Dragon World produced; whether in the taste, the price, or the intention. Harry had no proof whatsoever to back his assumption that Draco was the owner of Dragon World, but his instincts told him that he wasn't wrong.

It was this assumption that clued Harry in as to why Draco had been brooding over the past few days. Dragon World's situation was dire; and although Harry was also apprehensive about the potion for vampires, he trusted Draco. He knew that Draco would not intentionally and maliciously expose the Wizarding World to danger; despite everything that had been done to him. That said, he could not outrightly say all this to Draco, because the blonde had not confided in him about Dragon World. For days, Harry did not know how to help his husband; until an idea occurred to him one evening, when he got back to the East tower after training with Dumbledore.

Draco was sitting on the sofa, scowling darkly as he reread that day's Daily Prophet when Harry came in. Glad to cease his unfruitful pondering for a few minutes, he placed the paper down and smiled at his approaching husband.

"I'm back." Harry said, a smile plastered on his tired face.
"Welcome back." Draco called in return; and patted the space next to him on the sofa, indicating that Harry should sit with him. "Did your training go well?"
"Same as usual." Harry answered, as he took the offered seat. "And your evening?"
"Same as usual." Draco said with a smile, but he subconsciously glanced at his discarded Prophet, which gave Harry the opening he needed.
"I wonder what Dragon World will do about all this; what would you do if you were the owner of Dragon World?" Harry asked casually.

For a full minute, Draco did not answer; as he studied Harry's face, trying to figure out where that question had come. Harry had gotten much better at hiding his feelings, but he was yet to master the art; so Draco could detect that the question was not as coincidental as Harry was trying to make it appear. Draco had his suspicions about what was going on, but in the end, he decided to answer.

"Well, I don't think I would back down." Draco answered cautiously.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"What do you mean why?" Draco countered in confusion.
"Why wouldn't you back down?" Harry clarified.

"Because there is no reason to." The Slytherin answered confidently. This much he was sure of.

"Hmm, I see." Harry said thoughtfully. "It could be that the owner of Dragon World is also thinking that way; don't you think that people would be more accepting if they knew why the owner thinks that vampires pose no threat to the Wizarding World though?"
"You are probably right." Draco answered thoughtfully, as something occurred to him.

All this time, he had been expecting the Wizarding World to accept vampires without actually giving them a reason to do so. It was only natural that they would be resistant to the idea, given everything that had been taught to them at both home and school about vampires. Feeling hopeful for the first time in days, Draco leaned in and excitedly hugged Harry; before he realised what he was doing and pulled back.

"I don't know if the owner of Dragon World is married, but if he or she is; I hope that their spouse is as wise mine." Draco said, with a smile at Harry. "It would be a pity if the product launch failed, just because he or she could not find a way to change public sentiment."

"I hope so too." Harry said with a smile. He did not know what decision Draco had come to, but he was glad that he had managed to help; without revealing that he knew who the owner was. Two days later, Harry's curiosity about Draco's decision was answered by the Daily Prophet.

Draco could not conduct a face to face interview with any paper except the Quibbler, but he had worked around that by writing a letter which was printed in all the major papers and magazines.

"To the Wizarding World,
I am writing this letter as both the owner and inventor of Dragon World with the purpose of engaging all of you in a discussion.
First, I will explain my thought process for every product that is released to the market. Before I make a product, I gather all the available information and logically think about the consequences of making and launching the product. I think about the consequences to myself, the person who uses the product, and the public at large.
That said, this is what I knew about vampires before I ever thought about making this product:
Vampires are immortal.
Vampires can't walk in the sun.
Vampires feed on blood.
Vampires do not hesitate to kill their victims in order to feed, thus vampires are a danger to both magical and non-magical beings and creatures.
Vampires are sadistic creatures who enjoy toying with and torturing other living beings.
This perception of vampires was born from lore rather than substantive sources as I later came to find out. By coincidence, I met a vampire at the beginning of this year, which made me realise my ignorance and arrogance.
The vampire is kinder than most of the people I have encountered in my life and he is the type of person whose smile always manages to make others smile.
He is a person who is very tolerant of others and does not discriminate based on species or some such other technicality.
He is a person who does not perceive anyone that is different from him as the enemy because he understands that a person's merit is not derived from the form of their existence, but by the choices they make.
The attitude of this one vampire is not an isolated case; I know this because I had the opportunity to meet more of his people. They were unlike what I had been led to believe and it occurred to me that we, as a Wizarding Community, have allowed ourselves to be deluded into thinking that values like kindness, patience, and rationality among others, are a preserve of wizardkind. This way of thinking is egoistic, arrogant, and shameful.
Over the months, I have come to know the vampires in my acquaintance and I can confidently call them my friends. That said, these are some of the things I have found out about them:
Vampires are immortal.
Vampires can't walk in the sun.
Vampires feed on blood.
Vampires have a very strict code when it comes to their feeding habits, and they do not kill humans and creatures for blood nor do they take blood from just anyone.
Vampires do not take blood from humans or creatures, that are not their mate; once they have mated.
Vampires are willing to give wizards a chance.
With this in mind, I decided to make a potion that would allow them to walk in the sun and I have succeeded.
They, like all humans, are creatures of nature; and they deserve to enjoy the things nature has to offer without fear.
They shouldn't be relegated to the fringes of society because we fear what we do not know, and don't understand.
I also found the following information from the Ministry of Magic archives.
In the last century:
There have been twenty-three documented attacks on a human by a vampire, and one death.
There have been nine thousand and fifty-five attacks on a wizard, by a wizard, leading to death.
There have been six instances where a vampire was captured and tortured by wizards.
From where I stand, wizards are their own worst enemy and I have not heard anyone say that humans should be stripped of their rights, and crippled so that they do not pose a threat to other creatures of nature.
The instinct for self-preservation is only natural, but when that turns into irrational fear, then it becomes a yoke that prevents progress. In this world, there are very few creatures and beings that warrant the fear we have of them, and I choose not to let my fear of the unknown get the better of me.
Here is how I see it; I will fulfil my own sense of social justice by releasing this potion, the vampires will be able to enjoy the sun like every person should have the option to, and the public will be released from the grips of a fear that has reigned for the past one thousand years.
My challenge to you is to provide information that warrants the irrational fear we have of vampires. If there is a truly rational objection for this potion, I will destroy it right away. Otherwise, Dragon World will launch the potion as planned on the 1st of June.
The world is big enough for all of us, so there is no need to deny others a place they can exist fairly. Remember, no one ever achieved anything by standing still; so let's take this first step to reconcile all of magic's children.
Please take some time to really think about this matter. Is it really unacceptable for us to allow the vampires some sun?
Thank you for listening.
The Owner and Inventor of Dragon World"

Harry could not help but smile as he read the letter. It had answered everything he had wanted to know and also challenged him to question his own sense of righteousness when it came to his perception about vampires. This was something that only Draco would have the courage to do and Harry felt proud as he discretely stole a look at his husband who was seated in his usual place across the room.

Harry, however, could not help but be sad when he noticed that Draco had only signed the letter with his titles and not his name. He knew why Draco had done that and it made him ashamed that he and the Wizarding World had pushed Draco out of the light and forced him to live in the shadows where light did not reach. Draco Malfoy was not allowed to be a genius who came up with inventions that steered the Wizarding World a thousand years into the future.

Draco Malfoy was not allowed to care about the world and its people. Draco Malfoy was simply not allowed to be human, and he reminded Harry of Dorian Gray's portrait. He was so beautiful, so capable, but his image had been marred by the ugliness of the world. The beautiful Dragon was forced to be the incarnation of the Wizarding World's sins and until the Wizarding World began taking responsibility for its own actions and bias, Draco and others like him would continue to be hidden away; and forced to be the personification of ugliness and evil.

"Harry?" Someone called, drawing him from his own thoughts.
"What?" He asked Ginny, who for some reason had decided to sit next to him despite; his refusal to get back together.
"I am asking what you think of this." She said testily. "I for one think that whoever the inventor of Dragon World is, is bonkers. Vampires are dark creatures; that is enough reason to distrust them."

Harry frowned because he no longer perceived everything as either dark or light. He normally would not express such thoughts, but he felt that he could not let this precious opportunity that Draco had created go to waste. It was time for people to begin thinking outside of the dark and light constructs.

"I think the inventor is right." He said, shocking the other Gryffindors who were listening, "I don't think it is right that vampires are treated the way they are, just because they are dark creatures."
"Harry, you don't know anything." Ron argued. "We all grew up hearing about vampires; and personally, I don't want to meet one."
"Ron, the author of that letter did not ask anyone to meet or befriend the vampires." Harry clarified. "He just asked to be allowed to give them the potion."
"So that they can walk with us in the sun!" Ron snorted. "Who knows what they will do once they can freely walk where normal humans are?"

"You are being unreasonable Ron." Harry said. "It's not like someone monitors for vampires at night in Diagon Alley. There are probably many who walk around there at night, and I for one haven't heard reports of people being attacked all over the place."

"Right," Ron snorted again, derision evident. "Probably because they are killing and hiding the bodies."

"Don't you think someone would have noticed if so many have disappeared?' Neville asked.

Neville really didn't know what had made him speak up, but he felt that he needed to. It's not because the inventor of Dragon World had come up with the potion that cured his parents, but because he felt it was the right thing to say. He had also grown up hearing about how vampires terrorised the Wizarding World, but he had never met or heard of a specific person that was attacked.

"If you haven't noticed, people are disappearing left and right." Ron argued.

"And the numbers have been rising since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named came back." Lavender Brown added.

"Vampires are dark creatures." Hermione said. "I have read all about them Harry, and it's in their nature to be dark."

"Hermione, werewolves are also dark creatures and yet Remus Lupin is one of the gentlest people I have ever met." Harry said, daring Hermione to contradict him and even though she seemed like she wanted to, she kept her mouth shut. "What does dark mean anyway?"

"It means they use dark magic." Ginny answered as if it was the simplest thing in the world, and she was surprised that someone didn't know that.

"And? What is wrong with dark magic?" Someone asked; and they all turned to look at the person who had asked the question. He was one of the foreign students that had been sorted into Gryffindor; and Harry recalled that he had been introduced as David Mwangi from the Uagadou school of magic.

"Dark magic is magic that hurts people. It is magic that goes against nature. The unforgivables and fiendfyre are some examples." Hermione answered the boy, using a polite yet condescending voice.

"In Uagadaou, we are taught that there is no such thing as bad magic, because all magic can hurt people, but for magic to harm there must be harmful intent." Mwangi informed. "A powerful enough Lumos spell can blind someone. Although it is not something that has been in done in almost five hundred years a blood adoption is a form of magic that can harm someone even though they will gain a family, something good, from enduring the ritual. Remember and take this to heart: It is peoples intentions that makes magic hurt, that makes it a bad thing."

"Also, your examples are not dark magic." Haruna Takahashi, a Gryffindor foreign student from the Mahoutokoro added.

"I assure you, they are dark magic." Hermione insisted.

"It is true what they say." Someone else spoke up, a familiar someone; and Harry noticed that when he was not paying attention, Draco had for some reason walked to the Gryffindor table and had been eavesdropping on the conversation for the last few minutes.

"Those who cannot learn, teach." Draco continued, eliciting sniggers from some of the Gryffindors. "Fiendfyre is fire magic and like any fire magic it has positive uses; and the unforgivables are soul magic, not dark magic. There are several books in the Hogwarts Library that get quite in depth on the nature and classification of magic. Familiarize yourself with them, before you attempt to teach someone again."

"I need to talk to you, Potter." Draco said and walked away as if nothing had happened. Unwilling to linger and be a witness to Hermione's oncoming tirade, Harry quickly followed the blonde out of the Great Hall.

"That was a bit awesome." Harry said; when they were behind a closed door in an empty classroom.

"I don't like it when people try to rationalize their ignorance with brute false reason." Draco intoned with a frown, which was immediately replaced by a smile as he looked at his husband. Harry laughed in good humour, before asking what Draco wanted to talk to him about. "I just missed you." Draco answered, and Harry's eyebrow went up.

"Didn't we part a few minutes ago, just before breakfast?" He asked.
"Well, I missed you between that time and now." The blonde said imperiously. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Harry almost burst out in laughter at the stubborn tilt of Draco's jaw; and the way he pouted like a naughty child who was stuck between being defiant, and being embarrassed. Instead, Harry smiled and flung out his arms to encircle the blonde in a hug. After all, it's not like he was any different; every minute he spent away from Draco felt like a lifetime.

Uploader's Note: This Has Been A Backup Upload of Chapter 40 of Behind the Fog by Hancock23.