Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) 42nd Chapter ( Chapter 42 )

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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.

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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 42 - Aftermath and Alexandrite

Severus was awoken from his slumber by a burning pain on his left forearm. In annoyance, he cast tempus only to see that it was half-past six in the morning; and alarmed at that, he quickly made his way to the bathroom. Severus only had enough time to wash his face and down a hangover potion, before another sharp pain permeated his arm; causing him to double over in pain. Once the wave of pain was over, he left the bathroom to find that Remus was already up.

"He is calling for me." Severus said, without waiting for the former werewolf to ask the question that was clearly on his tongue.

"I will let the boys know when they wake up." Remus acknowledged, and without saying another word, Severus left. He walked past the school wards; before apparating to the dark lord's location.

"My lord..." Severus began the moment he arrived, but he was forced to stop at what he saw before him.

In front of him was a handsome man who Severus recognised as the dark lord of days past. However, the current looks of the dark lord were overshadowed in importance by the pile of corpses that were stashed only two meters from where he had landed. At that moment, the Potions Master was sure he would have lost his accounts if he had not taken the time to take a hangover potion before apparating there.

"My lord, what happened here?" He asked.

"Lucius Malfoy happened." The dark lord answered, and Severus was somewhat alarmed by Voldemort's tone of voice. He would have expected the man to be in a raging fury, but the dark lord seemed to be taking what appeared to be the murder of at least twenty of his death eaters reasonably well.

In shock, Severus glanced at the corpses that were placed in a high pile and shuddered. Some of the bodies were intact, but the majority were in pieces and twisted grotesquely. The Potions Master was not a stranger to death, but he was sure that he would never forget the faces of the death eaters here; that appeared to have been malformed by unfathomable horror in their last moments of life.

"Why did he kill them?" Severus asked. He would never have dared to do so in the past, but the combination of shock and the somewhat amicable dark lord emboldened him.

"He apparently had a thought to kill me; and so he killed everyone in his path in an attempt to get to me." Voldemort said, and to Severus' horror, there was a fond look on the dark lord's face; as if he was dealing with the antics of a naughty foolish child.

"Where is Lucius now?" The Potions Mster asked in trepidation.

Usually, he wouldn't need to ask such a question; because the man would surely be dead, but the dark lord was in a strange mood; and Severus had the slightest hope that the Malfoy patriarch was not deceased. In all honesty, he was hoping that the man had been killed, but he had a feeling that Draco would not like that outcome. Severus did not understand it, but despite everything that had been done to him; Draco did not seem to hate his father, and the potions master's attempt to delve into it had not been taken well. After some time, Severus understood that Draco was unwilling to talk about his father to him, or anybody else for that matter.

"Bellatrix managed to catch him with a cutting hex; but he made his escape once he realized he would not be able to get to me in his condition." The dark lord answered, drawing Severus from his thoughts. "He has somehow managed to remove his dark mark, and as far as I can tell; he is within the impenetrable wards of Malfoy Manor."

"Any idea why he chose this course of action?" Severus asked cautiously, and the dark lord chuckled in what appeared to be good humour.

"I have my suspicions." The dark lord said, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes as he considered something, but he did not say more on the issue.

"Enough about Lucius." Voldemort said, and Severus straightened his back without daring to ask any more questions about the platinum-haired patriarch of the Malfoy family. "I would like to know why Potter took an unconscious Draco into your rooms in the middle of the night."

Severus felt as if he had been punched in the stomach, and his mind raced a kilometre per second as he tried to come up with a plausible lie about everything that had happened the previous night. He had not had time to come up with a plan, and in the back of his mind, he wondered how the dark lord had found out about the matter so quickly. There was always a chance that someone had seen Potter running through the castle, but Severus had not expected the dark lord to find out before he could come up with a plan.

"My lord...," Severus began hoping that Voldemort would believe his explanation. He narrated how Draco had come to his inheritance early because of the war, while carefully omitting anything regarding the first vault.

"I see." Voldemort said, and to Severus' relief; the dark lord dropped the issue after asking a few questions about the inheritance. The meeting lasted for another half hour as the dark lord informed Severus, that he had been able to regain his looks by utilising the potent magic that had been caused by the planetary alignment the previous night.

The sun had already begun to rise over the horizon by the time Severus apparated back to Hogwarts. Uncharacteristically, Voldemort watched the sunrise as he pondered over everything that the Potions Master had told him. He knew that Draco's inheritance was more than met the eye, but he had no idea whether Severus had deliberately lied to him or if Draco had hidden the true nature of his inheritance from his godfather. In the end, Voldemort decided that finding out the true nature of Draco's legacy was not a priority; because it would not change his plans. Sighing, he sat back on his throne as he pictured how the Wizarding World would change, before the year was out; and a maniacal smile developed on his face as he lost himself to his imagination.

Severus headed straight to Dumbledore's office as soon as he arrived at Hogwarts. Now that Voldemort knew that Harry had brought Draco to his chambers in the middle of the night, Severus had a feeling that Dumbledore would also know thus his only option was to get in front of things.

"Come in my boy." Dumbledore said, when Severus arrived at the gargoyles that guarded the Headmaster's office. "We were waiting for you to come back."

Quickly, Severus made his way up the stairs, and he was not surprised to find the core members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Harry. His long hair was tied back in a ponytail, and the Potions Master took a minute to wonder why Harry had not bothered to conceal that he had received his inheritance during the night.

"I assume you know what happened during the night?" Severus asked Dumbledore, as he looked thoughtfully at Harry; wondering what the young man had told the Order.

"Yes, I told them everything." Harry said before Dumbledore could answer. "The planetary alignment pushed Draco to receive his inheritance early; and since he is my mate, it caused my all elemental magic to fully awaken even though I am not of age yet."

"I see." Severus confirmed Harry's account of things from there, and was grateful that the Gryffindor had the presence of mind; to tactfully diminish Draco's importance in everything that had happened the previous night. At that moment, Severus understood Harry's decision not to glamour his new look; because for as long as everybody was busy looking at him, their attention would be directed away from Draco.

"We will come back to the issue of Harry's inheritance later. For now, I would like to know why Tom summoned you." Dumbledore said urgently.

"The dark lord somehow found out that Potter and Malfoy visited my chambers in the middle of the night, and he wanted to know the purpose of the meeting." Severus answered honestly, and the Headmaster frowned at the news.

"I wonder how he found out so quickly." Dumbledore intoned, as he ran an aged hand through his white beard, but no one had an answer to that.

"Maybe he found out the same way you did." Harry suggested suddenly, and Dumbledore frowned even further.

"One of the students from Beauxbatons saw you take Mr Malfoy to Professor Snape's chambers and he reported the matter to the International Confederation of Wizards.' The man said. "It is not possible for any of the students to reveal the information to Voldemort."

Dumbledore had already told the members of the Order of the Phoenix the intricacies involved in the communication of information from the students to the confederation, and they also agreed that it was highly unlikely that any of the students had found a workaround that would allow them to report any information to Voldemort.

"It could be that one of the representatives is allied with Voldemort." Hermione suggested, and Dumbledore nodded absently. He had also been considering that possibility, and he was inclined to agree with the girl. It would also explain how Voldemort had managed to find out about the meeting on the fifth floor in the Ministry of Magic and consequently, details of the World Divination Orb.

"I will look into that." Dumbledore said, and the turned his attention back to Severus. "Was there anything else?"

Severus told them about the changed appearance of the dark lord, and after some hesitation, he revealed everything he knew about the situation with Lucius.

"I cannot begin to imagine what caused Lucius to attack Tom." Dumbledore stated, confusion evident in his voice. "As far as I know, he has always been loyal to Tom."

"It makes no sense to me either." Severus admitted truthfully.

"It may be time to have a talk with Draco Malfoy." Dumbledore suggested, and Harry fisted his hands, as he attempted to keep his anger and worry off his face. Dumbledore may have suggested talking to Draco, but the tone of his voice implied that the 'talking' he meant should not be mistaken for a literal conversation.

"Malfoy is using the Anti-Legilimency spell from Dragon World, it won't be possible to get into his head." Severus said bluntly, and like Harry; none of his anger at Dumbledore's suggestion could be seen on his face.

"There are many ways other than legilimency to get information from an unwilling wizard." Moody said gleefully, and only an outraged inquisition by Arthur Weasley; stopped Harry from attacking Moody right then and there.

"Are you suggesting we torture a child for information?" The Weasley patriarch asked; hoping that he had somehow misunderstood the former Auror's implications.

"Draco Malfoy is no child, and it would be the height of folly to treat him like one." Moody said, and Arthur opened his mouth to refute the argument; but was interrupted by Dumbledore.

"I normally would not consider such an option, but we are at war." Dumbledore began, and there was a solemn look on his face; that convinced even Arthur Weasley, that Dumbledore would never consider such forceful means if he didn't have to. "Clearly, the planetary alignment brought more changes than we could have ever imagined, and we cannot afford to ignore Lucius."

"What do you mean by that?" Ron Weasley asked.

"I expected that Voldemort and others would take advantage of the magic caused by the planetary alignment to cast spells that they normally wouldn't be able to with their own magic. There was no way to stop them, but that does not mean we should not try to find out exactly what they did. We can be sure that Voldemort did more than change his appearance with last night's opportunity; and considering Severus' report we should be doing all we can to find out the extent of what Lucius took last night's opportunity to do too. We need to find out as much as we can if we want to win this war."

"As far as I know, Malfoy has not had any contact with his family since we bonded." Harry said, loathe to call the blonde by his surname; but needing to do so in front of the Order. "How exactly do you expect him to know what Voldemort and his father have been up to?"

"He may not have directly talked to them, Harry." Hermione said, knowingly. "But that doesn't mean has hasn't been in contact. He could have used his housemates to send and receive messages."

Harry wanted to categorically refute the girl's idea, but her rationale was reasonable to anyone who did not have an intimate knowledge of his husband. He knew that Draco had done no such thing, but explaining how he knew that would expose his and Draco's relationship, which was not ideal.

"What exactly do you hope to find out from Malfoy?" Harry insisted, while trying to keep his frustration from showing.

"At worst, we will find out that Lucius plans to take over Voldemort's place as the dark lord; and at best, something may have happened that has caused him to realize the error of his ways. If the latter is the case, it would be to our benefit to approach Lucius and offer him immunity in exchange for information." Dumbledore said, and his words sparked some chatter among the gathered members of the Order.

Most were dubious about showing leniency to the elder Malfoy, but they could not discount his value since he was Voldemort's second in command. In the end, most seemed to come to terms with the fact that they would need to interrogate Draco Malfoy for information. In a barely concealed panic, Harry took turns to look at Severus, Sirius, and Remus; but all of them imperceptibly shook their heads urging him not to say or do anything stupid. However, this one time, he found he could not do as they suggested; because he had no intention of allowing Moody anywhere near Draco.

"I am amazed that the so called light side; can discuss the torture of a student, a child; so calmly." Alice Longbottom said with a sneer, and she did not bother to conceal the anger that had taken over her being. "This makes us no different from Voldemort."

"Now look here…" Moody began, but he was interrupted by Tonks; who had been getting extremely agitated as the meeting went on.

"I agree with Auror Longbottom." She said. "It is unthinkable that we should decide on such a course of action, without any evidence that the Malfoy boy knows anything about his father's or the dark lord's actions. Even with evidence, it would still be objectionable to do more than slip him a truth serum to get at the information."

"I don't know how it was during the first war, but can we really afford such qualms this time around?" Hermione asked. "A lot of things seem to be out of our control this time around; including but not limited to, Dragon World, Malfoy's Grey Faction, the World Divination Orb, and now the bizarre actions of Lucius Malfoy; to name a few. As it is, no one seems to know what is going on anymore; and if there is a chance that Malfoy knows something, we shouldn't let this opportunity go to waste."

"Miss Granger's position is quite reasonable, and I agree." Dumbledore said calmly. 'I did not want to mention this until I had more information; but killing Voldemort isn't going to be as straightforward as most of you might believe."

Dumbledore took a moment to observe the curiosity that was clearly showing on the faces of the Order members except for Severus and Harry, who had an idea of what the old man was planning to say. In truth, Dumbledore had not planned to tell the Order about Voldemort's Horcruxes at all, but he felt that he needed to if he was to retain his authority over them now.

"What do you mean by that?" Sirius asked cautiously.

"I trust that none of you will reveal this information to anyone outside of this room?" Dumbledore asked, and the members nodded their acceptance to Severus' relief. He had worried that Dumbledore would insist on a vow; which would have prevented him from speaking to Draco about the Horcruxes like he planned.

Severus didn't particularly want to tell Draco about the objects, but it was becoming clear that he needed to. He had been trying for weeks to think of a way to remove the one that was lodged on Harry's soul, but no solution came to mind. He had to ask for Draco's help, but that would have to wait until Harry spoke to the blonde about the transference situation.

"In the first war, Voldemort used extremely dark and evil magic to split his soul into seven pieces. He placed them in various objects that he considered of value to him." Dumbledore said and paused for dramatic effect.

All the members of the Order looked horrified and even Harry and Severus who already knew this shuddered in revulsion. "I was not aware of this until Harry's second year when we incidentally came across one of the Horcruxes."

"Horcruxes?" Hermione asked, eager at the prospect of new knowledge.

"That is what we call objects that contain the soul of a still living person." Dumbledore answered.

"Second year, could it be…" Ron trailed, and Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, Mr Weasley." Dumbledore agreed. "The diary that nearly drained the life of young Miss Weasley was a Horcrux. After its discovery, I conducted some research and found out that Tom has seven of them, including the diary."

"What does this mean?" Molly Weasley asked, in a barely audible voice; as she recalled her fear as her only daughter lay dying in the school's Hospital Wing.

"It means that Voldemort cannot be truly eliminated while even one of his Horcruxes remains." Kingsley Shacklebolt answered.

He had never come across a Horcrux in all his years as an Auror, and as hardened as he was to evil; it was still repulsing to imagine the existence of evil on the magnitude of Horcruxes.

"Exactly." Dumbledore said. "The diary was fortunately destroyed, and I know the location of another of the Horcruxes, but I have no intelligence on the other five. I have no idea what they are or where they might be, and it would be dangerous to haphazardly search for them."

"Do you suspect that Lucius Malfoy might know the location of the Horcruxes?" Tonks asked, and Harry's stomach knotted in dread.

He knew what Dumbledore would say next, and he suspected that a majority of the Order were horrified enough by the existence of the Horcruxes to disregard their earlier qualms about interrogating a student. In the light of the prospect of having to deal with a resurrected Voldemort five more times, torturing a student for information he may or may not have began to seem like the lesser of two evils.

"As a matter of fact, I know so." Dumbledore said with a mad twinkle in his eyes. "Lucius Malfoy was the one who placed Voldemort's diary in young miss Weasley's belongings, and it thus stands to reason that he would know the location of the rest."

"There is nothing more to discuss then." Moody said authoritatively. "We must interrogate the young Malfoy, and use whatever he tells us to devise a method to gain the older Malfoy's cooperation, and if that is not possible; we must find a way to draw him out of Malfoy Manor or find a way into the manor to capture him."

The majority of the Order appeared especially partial to the second and third option because those would not force them to provide immunity to the notorious death eater. They hoped for a chance to capture and interrogate Lucius, as opposed to allying with him.

"I agree." Molly Weasley said, a look of determination on her face. In her mind, the problem had zeroed down to protecting her children; even if it was at the expense of other people's children.

"I suppose that it can't be helped." Arthur Weasley said solemnly. He was uncomfortable with the whole thing, but there didn't seem to be any other options aside from using Malfoy to get to his father. "However, we must take every precaution to ensure that the boy is left with no lasting damage."

Severus sneered in disgust when he heard Arthur's words, and he forced himself not to scathingly comment on the man's lack of a backbone. It annoyed him a lot, that Arthur was the kind of person who could never seem to stick to his convictions; even when the alternative went beyond what his morals could justify.

"You mean the kind of lasting damage that was left on my wife and I the last time we went through an interrogation?" Frank Longbottom asked, with a sneer that was remarkably like his wife's.

"You must understand…" Dumbledore began, but Frank waved his hand to still whatever the man had been about to say.

"My wife and I want nothing to do with this." The Longbottom patriarch said, and Alice nodded in agreement as they both moved to leave.

"I don't believe that the end justifies the means in this case." Alice added, as she looked at her husband cryptically; before she continued. "Frank and I will not stand by as you destroy the life of that child more than you already have."

"We cannot allow Voldemort to win this war." Professor McGonagall pleaded with her old students, but the stubborn glint in their eyes told her that they were unwilling to listen to the Order's logic.

"There are many ways to draw Lucius from Malfoy Manor, without resorting to traumatising his son." Alice insisted.

"There are, but it would take more time than we have." Dumbledore argued. "The war is happening now; people are dying now, and there is no telling how many more will die if we waste time taking the long route to Lucius. We must know what he knows as soon as possible, so that we can end this war before Voldemort becomes unstoppable."

"Nevertheless, we will not be a party to this atrocity." Alice said with finality, and Frank agreed with her.

"We have promised not to breathe a word of what was said today to anyone outside of this room, and we are going to keep that promise. However, there is nothing to stop us from doing everything we possibly can to interfere with your plans." Frank informed the gathered members.

"What do you mean by that?" Moody asked with a threatening tone, his hand reaching for his wand, but Alice was faster, and her wand was at the old Auror's throat; before he could unsheathe his from its holster.

"There is no need for threats." Dumbledore said, his whole demeanour portraying his disapproval, but that made no difference to the Longbottoms.

"As of this moment, Alice and I are excommunicating ourselves from the Order of the Phoenix; and we will be joining the young Malfoy's Grey Faction as soon as we leave this room." Frank said confidently.

"You can't be serious." Hermione said in shock, and she was not the only one who seemed perplexed by the turn of events.

"I assure you that we very much are." Alice said. "If you will excuse us, we will be heading back to our quarters."

The two former Aurors quickly made their way out of the room, and Dumbledore could not help but regret that he had previously asked them to stay on in Hogwarts, until the end of the term. He had wanted someone to keep an eye out on the foreign students and knowing that Frank and Alice wanted to spend more time with their son, he had offered the mission to them. He could obviously rescind the offer, but that would invite scrutiny from the Ministry because he had justified their presence in the school by saying that they were recouping lost time with their child.

"The nerve! We must do something about them." Moody snarled.

"Knowing them, they will not leave the Malfoy boy alone for even a second." McGonagall commented.

"I am aware of that." Dumbledore said, a frown lining his face.

"I do believe that the Longbottoms have the right of it." Bill said suddenly. "I think we should find another way to get to Lucius. Not necessarily because his son won't know anything, but because depending on what has to be done to get him to fess up we'll be looking at inciting anything but cooperation from Lucius when he's standing before us."

"I suggest that we stop wasting time and take action on the Longbottoms." Moody barked. "It won't take much to seal the entrance to their quarters, and then proceed with our plan for Malfoy."

"We shouldn't fight amongst ourselves." Professor Flitwick said; as he frowned at Moody's suggestion.

"It seems to me that there is a more obvious action to take before we even think of interrogating Draco Malfoy." Remus spoke for the first time. "We can attempt to make contact with Lucius Malfoy; there is no guarantee that he would be opposed to it. Everything else can be revisited if we fail to negotiate with him."

"I agree with the wolf." Severus said curtly.

"He is no longer a wolf, Snivellus." Sirius played his part. "Anyway, I hate to agree with the bat, but we should try to get in touch with Lucius before anything else. We have no idea what will happen to Harry if we leave young Malfoy to the tender mercies of Mad-eye."

There was a maniacal glee on Sirius' face as he imagined what Moody would do to Draco, and if Harry did not know better; he would have believed that Sirius truly wanted to see Draco's torture at the hands of the ex Auror. As it was, Sirius and Draco had surprisingly gotten along once they all had some alcohol in their systems; and Harry was sure that the cousins would become better friends in the future.

"Very well." Dumbledore said reluctantly, when he noticed that several members of the Order seemed to favour Remus' suggestion. "Severus, do you have a way to contact Lucius?"

"I believe so." Severus said, after a few moments of thought.

"I will leave it to you then, but remember that time is of the essence." Dumbledore emphasised, much to the displeasure of Mad-eye.

"Understood."

The meeting ended shortly after, and Harry quickly made his way out; together with Remus and Sirius. He could see Dumbledore signalling him to stay from the corner of his eye, but he opted to pretend that he did not see it. Harry knew that Dumbledore wanted to talk some more about his inheritance, but he was not ready to do so at that very moment. Most importantly, he wanted to hurry back to the East Tower, where he knew Draco was waiting.

After Harry had been summoned for the Order meeting, the blonde had gone to the dungeons to fetch Pansy and Blaise, and in the privacy of the East Tower, he had breakfast with them as he told them about his inheritance. They had obviously been happy for him, but they were also worried because they knew the significance of the first vault to the Wizarding World. It was the kind of inheritance that could start wars, and they feared for their best friend. After receiving assurances that Draco would not disclose the details of his legacy to anybody else, Blaise and Pansy left.

Draco had only been waiting for fifteen minutes before he felt the wards at the entrance of the tower shift and with a smile, he walked towards the door, hoping to see Harry that much sooner. For his part, Harry took the stairs three at a time, and he was already at the door when Draco pulled it open.

"I'm back." Harry said as he attempted to stop his gasping; that evidenced his run up the stairs.

"Welcome back." Draco said with a smile, as he pulled Harry in for a kiss.

Harry, who had been weighed down by the Order meeting, felt all his worries slide off him as he concentrated on the beautiful creature in front of him. Draco looked radiant despite not having slept much the previous night, and Harry felt as if he was walking on air as he was dragged towards their dining table where a small breakfast was laid out.

"Aren't you eating?" Harry asked, as he took a bite of sausage.

"I already ate; with Pansy and Blaise." The Slytherin answered. "I figured that I should have breakfast with them, since I will spend the rest of the day with you."

There was a bit of uncertainty in the way Draco said the last part and Harry concluded that his husband must be feeling bashful at his presumption that he was free to spend the day together. However, Harry didn't mind that Draco had assumed it because he had every intention to spend the day together.

"There is nowhere else I would rather be." Harry said; and watched as Draco's smile became even brighter.

Over the months since their bonding, Harry had come to know his husband's personality pretty well. Draco was a creature full of contradictions in everything that he was. He loved shiny and expensive luxuries, but still derived equal pleasure from the simple things in life; and Harry had planned out the day with activities that personified these contradictions. For the majority of the day, they played games; with Harry introducing the blonde to various muggle board games; like monopoly, scrabble, dungeons and dragons; and puzzles. Like he had expected, Draco took to the games like fish in water and before long, Harry lost all the advantage of experience, but he was not resentful because the blonde seemed to be having loads of fun. Before they knew it, Dobby apparated in to tell them that they should get ready for dinner; to which Draco raised an eyebrow in question.

"Just go along with it." Harry said, as he dragged Draco to the bathroom. They both entered the large bathtub and proceeded to wash each other, and by the time they were out of the tub and fully dressed in formal evening wear; it was completely dark outside.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked, as he offered his arm to Draco; and began walking out of the bedroom once the blonde had taken it.

"Wow!" Draco exclaimed as soon as they stepped into the sitting room. The chaotic red and green halves that had been the hallmark of their sitting room; had been replaced by a mahogany coloured wallpaper that seemed to both absorb and reflect the candlelight that lit the room dimly. The furniture had been replaced by several ornate pieces that had been tastefully arranged around the room, and although they looked obnoxiously luxurious, they also appeared to be extremely comfortable. The furnishings had aesthetic splatters of Draco and Harry's favourite colours that served to satisfy the senses without overwhelming everything else.

"It's exquisite." Draco said as he took everything in.

"I hated that our sitting room had a half belonging to you and another half belonging to me. I wanted one sitting room that suits both of us." Harry said, and even in the dimly lit room, Draco could see the blush on the Gryffindor's face.

"I like it a lot." Draco said through the lump in his throat. It made him happy that Harry had put so much thought and effort into this. "When did you have time to do all this?"

"Well, I have had weeks to plan; plus I conscripted the help of Dobby and Biddy." Harry said proudly. "I hid everything in the Room of Requirement; and had the elves put it in place as we took a bath."

"Thank you, this is a wonderful gift." Draco said, as he leaned in to gently kiss his bonded.

"Your birthday is not over yet." Harry said cryptically, as he guided Draco to the dining table where utensils, dishes of food, and bottles of wine had been laid out.

Harry pulled out a chair for Draco, and then proceeded to sit across from him. In the middle of the table between them were several blooms of orchids which Harry had instructed to be cut very low; so that they would not obscure the diners from each other.

"Love, luxury, beauty, strength, charm, refinement, thoughtfulness…" Draco incanted absentmindedly as he looked at the orchids. "I love orchids."

"I hoped you would." Harry said bashfully, as he also looked at the flowers. There were a lot of things that Harry wished to say to Draco, but there were a lot of other things that needed to be said and done, before he could say what he truly wanted to say. For now, the orchids would be his words.

"Let's eat." Harry said with a smile; and proceeded to serve. They talked as they ate and drank some wine; and when they were done, they moved to sit on one of the new sofas.

"I have one last gift." Harry said, as he removed something from his robe pocket; and handed it to Draco. It was a rectangular object, wrapped in green and silver paper.

"Today has been like a dream, I am truly very happy." Draco said bashfully.

"It's been like a dream for me too. I never knew it was possible to be so happy, just spending the day with someone." Harry said, as he once more thrust the package towards Draco.

"Thank you." Draco said as he took the box. He unwrapped it carefully; to reveal a velvet box, and from within, he extricated a silver chain with a pendant; that appeared to be both an emerald and a ruby.

"An alexandrite?" Draco asked in shock, and subconsciously glanced at the alexandrite ring he now wore on his left index finger.

"Yes." Harry said. "I was a bit annoyed; because you got an alexandrite ring during your inheritance, but I decided to give it to you either way."

"I am glad you did. I love it." Draco said, as he beckoned for Harry to help him put it on. "Why an alexandrite, though? Most people prefer gifting diamonds and the like."

"I think that alexandrite suits you the most." Harry said. "For one, it is the birthstone for June. Second, an excellent quality alexandrite looks like an emerald when exposed to sunlight and like a ruby when exposed to candlelight; while it appears like both an emerald and a ruby when exposed to mixed light. I think the stone is much like you; because you are neither one thing nor the other, you are everything."

Harry paused for a second; as they both blushed to their ears and then continued as if wanting to say everything he had planned to say in one go. "Alexandrite is supposed to strengthen intuition and increase creativity and imagination." The Gryffindor said with a sly look at the Slytherin. They both knew that Harry's mention of creativity and imagination was an allusion to Draco's role in Dragon World, but they both stopped short of actually acknowledging it.

"I tweaked the candles to produce mixed-light instead of pure candlelight so that you would be able to instantly tell that the pendant is an alexandrite and not a ruby." Harry finished, and Draco was silent for a moment.

He could not believe the lengths that Harry had gone to, to make this day perfect for him; and he felt tears prickling at the back of his eyes. Draco wanted to thank Harry for everything, but that did not seem enough; because all the gifts he had been given were worth more in emotional value than physical value. It was as he was contemplating what to say, that an idea occurred to him.

"Harry, have you ever read 'The Lord of the Rings' by J.R.R Tolkien?" He suddenly asked, taking Harry by surprise.

"No." Harry answered.

"Well, there is a race called hobbits in the books; and in addition to receiving gifts on their birthdays, they also give gifts to their guests." Draco informed. "I want to give you and myself something that I have never been able to give to anyone before."

"You don't have to do that." Harry said, although he was quite curious about what Draco was talking about.

"I want to." Draco said, and there was a determined look in his eyes.

"Wait for five minutes before following me." He said, as he left the sitting room for the bedroom.

"Okay." Harry replied, although Draco was already out of sight. He impatiently waited for the five minutes to wind down and then followed.

Harry did not know what he had expected, but it was not what he encountered, and for a minute, he struggled to catch his breath as his eyes stared in wonder at the creature laying on the bed. Draco was utterly naked, and although Harry had seen him like that many times, it still took his breath away. However, the surprising thing was that the blonde lay spread-eagled; with his limbs tied with silk scarves to the four posts of their bed.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, without taking a single step towards the blonde.

He understood what it was that Draco was giving him, and it left him feeling humbled and fearful. They had never really talked about Draco's experience at the hands of Voldemort, but the effects were always there for Harry to see. Draco often woke up with nightmares and even when they had sex, the Slytherin always preferred bottoming from the top. There was always an element of fear when Draco was pinned under Harry even when he was clearly enjoying himself. That he had tied himself up in such a vulnerable position showed Harry that Draco was giving him all his trust. He trusted Harry not to hurt him despite having the advantage in the situation.

Draco nodded in answer to Harry's question, and there was no mistaking the fear in his eyes. He was obviously afraid; he clearly wanted to quickly remove the bindings on his limbs and run away, but he was doing none of that. He wanted to trust Harry with his body and everything that he was, even if he was afraid.

Slowly, as if approaching a cornered animal, Harry moved towards the bed and carefully laid a palm on Draco's right cheek before lowering his head down to kiss him. The kiss was slow and tender, and Harry kept it that way until the blonde began to relax. Unhurriedly, he climbed onto the bed as they continued kissing.

Harry was not ignorant of the fact that Draco tensed a little when Harry climbed on top of him, but he soothed the fear with tender kisses that turned Draco into putty beneath him. Slowly, he made love to Draco; touching him lightly and tenderly, and allowing him to adjust whenever he felt the other boy tense a little.

It was a work in patience, especially since all of Harry's blood had immediately rushed out of his head the moment he touched the blonde. However, it was all worth it because he could feel the tension leave Draco's body, and with its departure, the blonde's trust in him grew even more. It was an intoxicating feeling, and Harry realised that he would sooner die than ever betray that trust.

When he finally entered Draco, it was different than all times before. Sex had always been passionate between them, sometimes filled with emotions like despair, but it had never been filled with tenderness and trust, and Harry was immediately addicted to the new feeling. This meant so much more, and he revelled in it. At some point, the silk restraints on Draco's limbs had come undone, and his hands went around Harry's back, touching him everywhere and drawing him closer.

His legs were raised to Harry's waist, and his back was arched while his head was thrown back in pleasure. It was too much for Harry, and with a few more thrusts, they both came. Draco screamed in Harry's mouth, and Harry groaned as he poured himself into the blonde Slytherin.

They both collapsed, and neither spoke as they tried to regain their normal breath. When Harry was confident that he could properly cast a cleaning spell, he spelled them clean and then rolled to Draco's side, but he did not let go of the other man.

"Thank you for trusting me." Harry said, simply.

"Thank you for giving me a chance to trust you." Draco answered.

They fell asleep like that and spent the next day, which was a Sunday, alone in their rooms. It was not until Sunday evening that they returned to the world outside their quarters to begin getting ready for the end of term exams that were scheduled to start the following day.

::On an Island Somewhere::

"You must go at once, and don't dilly-dally along the way." An elder said to the people who stood in front of him. They appeared to be teenagers, but there was a wisdom in their eyes that did not belong in the eyes of teenagers.

"I object." Another elder, who sat beside the first elder, said vehemently. "The goblins keep and maintain the vault, the sphinx guards the vault, and our people chronicle the life of an heir. We must not overstep our role by interfering with the heir."

"You must admit that this situation is unusual" The first elder argued. "Draco Malfoy is to be the last heir of the vault, which means one of three things. It could be that he will destroy the world so horribly that there will be no chance of recovery, there is also a chance that he will destroy the first vault which is equally as bad as destroying the world, or it could be that he is an eternal heir and that would make him the first immortal to become an heir of the first vault. Whatever the case, we must know the truth."

"If it's the truth you seek, then all we have to do is wait; and the truth will come to us like it has always done." The second elder argued.

"I don't believe we have the luxury of patience."  A third elder said. "We must find out the boy's intentions; and take action before it is too late for us and the world."

"What is our mission?" A girl who was one of the two teenagers standing before the elders asked eagerly. This would be her first time leaving the island, and she could not wait.

On the other hand, her compatriot, a boy of the same age appeared to be her polar opposite. He had also never left the island, but he was not enthusiastic about going to the broader world. Like the second elder, he believed that they should not interfere with the heir, it was simply not their place.

"You are to observe the state of the world, and if you judge it necessary' you must anonymously disclose the heir's identity to the Wizarding Council." The first elder stated.

"I am pleading with you not to interfere." The second elder begged, but it fell on deaf ears.

"We must." The first elder said, as he bid the boy and girl farewell.

"Gods save us all." The second elder said sadly, as he watched the emissaries leave for their mission.

Uploader's Note: This Has Been A Backup Upload of Chapter 42 of Behind the Fog by Hancock23.