Gold Tinted Spectacles (Hecatemus Book #1)

Chapter 33 - Father and Son (pt1)

Professor McGonagall had asked Harry to stay after the lesson for a few minutes. He had no idea what it was about, but Draco had received a note at breakfast asking him to meet Pansy on the other side of the school and had rushed off as soon as the Professor let them go. The corruption of the Slytherins, as Draco referred to it, was showing positive results after nearly two months of trying.

Harry was waiting patiently for his house head to finish explaining something to Seamus Finnegan when his mind exploded. The classroom faded out of his vision as Draco's anger and fear flooded into his head wiping away anything else. Someone had just cast a spell against his soulmate and Harry did not stop to consider his actions: without hesitation he opened up the link between himself and Draco almost completely and wrapped his lover in his mental presence.

Acting on the same instinct Draco let him in and Harry was suddenly looking through his soulmate's eyes. What he saw made his blood run cold: Lucius Malfoy was standing no more than ten feet from his son and he was holding his wand.

"Drawing your wand against your own father, Boy," Lucius said icily. "Tut, tut, I thought I brought you up properly."

Harry could feel Draco's hand stinging and he realised Lucius must have cast a disarming spell.

"You did," Draco hissed at his parent, "I should have been quicker."

This appeared to amuse the other man and his mouth curled into a smile.

"My, my," Lucius commented in a superior manner, "you can take a Malfoy out of the Death Eaters but you can't take the Death Eater out of a Malfoy."

Then he laughed at his own joke and Harry felt Draco's anger burn through him. It occurred to Harry that he needed to do something, to alert someone that this was happening on school grounds, but a dreadful instinct kept him from withdrawing from the link even slightly.

"You'll learn obedience, Boy," Lucius said coldly, the humour leaving his features, "and you'll bring Potter to his knees."

Then Draco's father lifted his wand.

"Imperio," he said viciously and Harry felt the curse flying towards his soulmate.

When it hit, the power tried to force him out of Draco's mind, replacing his presence with Lucius' will. Draco was used to obeying his father: he'd been brought up with Lucius as the authority figure and it was almost impossible for him to fight the Imperius curse from his parent. Harry became partially aware of his own body again, but the curse ignited a fury in him so deep that it almost scared him. He could feel Draco's mind desperately trying to hang on to him and he fought against the magic with equal ferocity.

"You can't have him, he's mine!" he heard himself yell and he was not sure if the words came out of Draco's mouth or his own.

The curse hurt as it twisted through his lover's mind and it tried to weaken the link between them. Harry knew he could not let this happen; he could not lose Draco to his father's will. Without knowing exactly what he was doing, he let down his guards and grabbed at the closest raw magic he could find. Then he forced it down the bond between himself and Draco and used it like a club to beat at the curse trying to take hold of his soulmate. He felt Draco cry out at the force which invaded him, and he felt his lover fall to his knees, but the Imperius Curse shattered into a thousand magical pieces.

As the curse dissolved, the link between Harry and Draco slammed back into place and for a few moments it was like they were the same person. The division between them blurred as they clung to each other desperately and Harry could not think of anything more than holding on.

"Well, Boy, you are full of surprises," Lucius' voice made it into the muddle of joined thoughts and Draco looked up.

His father was sneering down at his son and Harry felt the cold touch of fear at the ice in the man's eyes.

"I suppose we'll just have to do this the hard way," Lucius said and lifted his wand again. "Crucio," he said calmly.

The agony that stabbed into every nerve ending was blinding. The power of the curse travelled through the completely open link and Harry felt his own body react as well as Draco's. They screamed in unison, locked together in excruciating pain, but hanging on to each other frantically.

[I love you, Harry,] Draco had somehow managed to find his mental voice and threw emotion and words at his other half.

Then Draco, his body already having been weakened by the battle against the Imperius curse, passed out and the pain ended. Harry slammed back into his own body and found himself curled into a foetal ball on the floor of the transfiguration classroom. His muscles ached with the memory of the Cruciatus Curse and he felt disconnected as if his mind was not quite ready to remember how to be just one person.

"Harry, Harry Potter, can you hear me, child?" he heard Professor McGonagall's anxious voice, but it took a few seconds for his brain to understand it.

Slowly he moved his head and looked at the woman who was hovering over him, not daring to touch in case she hurt him. Harry wanted to scream at her, tell her what had happened, make her help, but it was so difficult. Draco was still close, he was still on the grounds, Harry could feel him even though his soulmate was unconscious, but he could not find his voice. He tried desperately to speak, but the words would not form and then, suddenly, Draco's presence dimmed in his mind. One moment Harry knew Draco was close and then he was distant.

Harry had not been separated from his soulmate by any distance since they had bonded and the shock caused him to gasp. It was almost more than he could take, but in a last desperate effort he blindly threw out his hand and grabbed the Professor's arm.

[Lucius Malfoy took Draco,] he threw the words directly at his housemistress' mind and her eyes opened in shock.

Then having used the last of his strength Harryslid ungracefully into darkness.