𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

Part 9

Wings Eclipsing Night
Part 9: Summer in Winter
by KC

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Harry, Draco and all the rest; they'd do a lot more stuff than they do in the books and it'd all be rated R through X. Alas, however, I do not.
Other info: Post-HBP, dark!Harry, veela!Draco.
Summary: Draco finally meets his family.

Summer in Winter

All morning, Harry paced back and forth in their room, occasionally sitting at his desk and looking at the paperwork on top before standing and pacing again. Sometimes he mumbled to himself, sometimes he didn't speak for an hour. From his seat on the bed, Draco kept his gaze lowered, watching Harry's feet walk in front of him.

"I don't have to let you go," Harry snapped, coming to a stop and glaring at him. "I could keep you locked up and never let you out of this room, you understand? You understand?"

Draco nodded. He twisted the small amount of chain between his wrists and throat, too nervous to speak.

"You belong to me. Nothing will change that."

Draco nodded again. He briefly thought of trying smooth Harry's anger but shivered at what might happen. Far too dangerous now to touch Harry's mind.

The soft bell tone of the desk clock chiming the hour was enough to startle Draco. The slender chains binding his wings snapped tight as his wings spasmed, and Draco put his arms around himself as Harry watched him.

As he expected, Harry grabbed his chin and made him look up, taking one more look into his thoughts and pushing his way into the deepest corners searching for the slightest hint of an escape plan. Once again he found nothing. Growling low in his throat, Harry walked away and threw open the trap door.

"Come on, then," he ordered as he climbed down.

His heart fluttered in time with his wings. Draco followed after him, carefully climbing down the ladder so that his wings didn't catch on the floor. Rather than being led by his leash, however, Draco stumbled as Harry grabbed his upper arm and pulled him along through the castle, not once letting him go. As they walked, Draco saw that the castle had changed during his confinement.

Red tapestries now covered the walls, all of them emblazoned with a lion triumphant over a serpent. A close look revealed the scar on the lion's head, but the serpent was not Slytherin's mascot. It looked instead like Voldemort's snake Nagini with red eyes. The exposed fangs and hateful stare would have frightened Draco even though it was just cloth, but the lion's claws were firmly embedded in the serpent.

"You can see them for one hour," Harry said. "No more. After that, I need you when I meet my new vassals."

"Yes, Harry," Draco said, then chanced a question. He wouldn't have dared say anything except he could imply that he was eager to stay by his mate's side. "Will it be a long meeting?"

"Probably," Harry said. "They're afraid of me but only in an abstract way. Intellectually."

Draco had no doubt Harry was repeating something Hermione had said, but he kept that thought to himself.

"You'll help me show them exactly how I treat those who disobey me."

Draco couldn't help it. He stopped, eyes wide as his mouth opened in shock. "You--you're going to--? Harry, please, if I've done something bad, please tell me and I won't do it again--"

"You're not being punished," Harry said in exasperation. "It's not a punishment, it's a demonstration. I promise there won't be any pain."

The assurance hardly helped, but he knew he was lucky to have it at all. Draco nodded once and started walking again.