Solstice by samhaincat
Summary: Harry has trouble coming to terms with Sirius' death and finds himself once again having to take occlumency with Snape. This is the beginning of their growing relationship as Snape starts to see the green eyed wizard in a different light. Snape finds himself being a father figure to both Harry and Draco as the Dark Lord's power grows.
Categories: Teacher Snape > Trusted Mentor Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Draco
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: None
Takes Place: 6th summer
Warnings: Physical Punishment Spanking, Self-harm, Torture
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 27 Completed: Yes Word count: 109980 Read: 228429 Published: 29 Oct 2006 Updated: 20 May 2007
Chapter 12-Dark Side Of The Moon by samhaincat
Author's Notes:

WARNING: VIOLENCE AND ABUSE IN THIS CHAPTER

Thanks for reviewing....

I took a walk around the world to
Ease my troubled mind.
I left my body laying somewhere
In the sands of time.
I watched the world float to the dark
Side of the moon.
I feel there is nothing I can do, yeah.

I watched the world float to the
Dark side of the moon.
After all I knew it had to be something
To do with you.
I really don't mind what happens now and then,
As long as you'll be my friend at the end"

3 Doors Down – "Kryptonite"

After checking out all the new things at Zonko's, Hermione, Ron, and Harry left Ginny, Neville, and Luna there, promising to meet them over at the Three Broomsticks a bit later. Big flakes of snow had started falling that morning and a white sheet of snow had collected on the ground by the time they headed over to Honeydukes.

"Oh, this is a wonderful, perfect setting to do my Christmas shopping," exclaimed Hermione as she twirled in the snow. Harry and Ron looked at each other with amusement

Hermione sighed at them, then a mischievous grin formed on her face as she swooped down, grabbing two handfuls of the soft, fluffy snow and throwing it in their faces. She burst out laughing with glee as they sputtered, but then, with a shriek, started running as they each bent down to grab their own handfuls.

**********************************************

Draco shivered slightly as he waited behind the Shrieking Shack. He felt sick, like he had just done something terribly wrong. He stood there, wishing he had gone to the potions seminar with Snape.

"Hello, Draco," drawled Lucius' voice.

Draco jumped when his father suddenly apparated in front of him. "Hello, father." They stood staring at each other for a moment. Draco noticed that despite the time spent in Azkaban, his father looked much the same. Tall, arrogant with long, silver-blond hair and eyes of steel.

"So, Draco, tell me what have you accomplished while I've been away. Other than getting yourself injured by Potter during Quidditch," came the cold voice.

Draco shivered under his cloak again. "I'm at the top of my class in the Dark Arts and in Potions."

"I see. Am I too assume Granger is at the top in the rest?"

Draco swallowed. "Yes, but I'll beat her before the school year is over."

"I hope so, Draco. The Dark Lord wants his Death Eaters not only strong, but also smart. If you graduate at the top of your class, he will be very impressed, as, of course, will I. I have been telling him what a wonderful heir to the Malfoy name you are and how you assisted Umbridge last year. He admires your loyalty to the dark side. You will go far, Draco, perhaps even further than I."

Draco looked down at the snow for a moment. "Would that make you proud?" He hesitantly looked up.

"Very." Lucius smiled at him.

Draco smiled back. "What's it like being a Death Eater?" There was a hint of uncertainty in his tone.

Lucius smiled again. "There is no greater honour than being made a Death Eater. The power you have is supreme, outshined only by the Dark Lord himself. That power, coupled with the Malfoy fortune, makes us virtually unstoppable."

"But you were sent to Azkaban. Why didn't the Dark Lord rescue you?"

Lucius' eyes narrowed. "Don't you ever question the Dark Lord!!! He had reasons for biding his time, but he never lets down a faithful follower."

Hesitantly Draco asked, "Do you have to do everything he says?"

Lucius didn't respond for a moment, then he strode over to Draco, roughly grabbing him by his chin and forcing his eyes up. "Why are you asking such questions? Who has put these ideas into your head?"

"No one. I just wondered," Draco stuttered.

Lucius stepped back, looking suspicious. "You better not be having second thoughts about becoming a Death Eater. I have been preparing you since the day you were born."

A shiver coursed up Draco's spine. "I'm not. I just want to know more about it."

"You will provide the same loyalty to the Dark Lord that you provide to the Malfoy name!"

"What kinds of jobs does the Dark Lord have you do for him?" he asked hesitantly.

"Torture muggles, mudbloods, and muggle lovers." Lucius smiled evilly.

" But aren't you just a slave to the Dark Lord? Where is the power in that?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

Lucius' face twisted. "It's true then? I didn't believe it when Crabbe and Goyle told me that their sons had seen you in the arms of that mudblood Granger. No one but a mudblood could have put these thoughts into your head." His hand lashed out as he viciously backhanded Draco. The boy fell against a tree and his jaw cracked with a terrible pain as blood ran out of his mouth.

He slowly got to his feet while his heart dropped. His father hadn't changed; he was still the same. His hand went to his jaw, holding it, as he choked out, "The mudblood fell on me! That's what Crabbe and Goyle saw. Nothing else happened, nor ever would happen. Mudbloods are filthy!"

Lucius glared at him then nodded curtly. "Do you remember that I taught you that valuable lesson long ago? Malfoys do not interact with Mudbloods and such. I was starting to wonder if you needed a refresher!"

Draco quickly shook his head then winced as he tried to wipe the blood off his face.

"Be prepared to the take the Dark Mark soon."

Draco stood trembling in front of him. "Why do you always have to hit me? Can't you just talk to me."

A dark scowl crossed Lucius’ face. "As head of Malfoy house, I expect totally loyalty, respect, and obedience without question. Since you appear to have trouble learning that from me, I look forward to the day when the Dark Lord teaches you these lessons. Apparently, I have been too lenient with you, Draco," he drawled in a cold, icy voice.

Defiance burned in Draco's eyes. "Perhaps I don't want to be a Death Eater anymore."

Lucius' response was swift. The staff came down on Draco, who brought his right hand up to ward it off. He felt his wrist snap as the staff connected. With a cry of pain, his left hand cradled the broken wrist. The staff came down again, hitting him across the chest. He felt a rib crack and sank to his knees. His face twisted in pain and his breathing grew laboured.

With watery eyes, he looked up at Lucius and gasped, "I wish you weren't my father! I wish Professor Snape was!"

Anger blazed from Lucius eyes as he raised his staff. It cut across Draco's shoulders and he fell hard to the ground on the rocks beneath him. The staff kept striking across his back, but Draco didn't care anymore. He would not beg for mercy this time, nor would he give any signs that he had been beaten into submission. Tears soaked the rocks he lay on, but his blond hair fell over his face so Lucius couldn't see them . A warm, welcoming blackness soon engulfed him.

Lucius kept striking his son until voices shattered his anger. Someone was coming. A tiny grain of fear curled in Lucius' gut. Draco was too still. The Dark Lord would be severely displeased if his soon-to-be-Death-Eater had died unexpectedly. He rolled Draco over onto his back and felt for a pulse. With relief, he noticed there was a very faint one. He noticed the tears on Draco's face. Foolish boy, the punishment would have ended much sooner if he hadn't been so defiant. Perhaps this time he would finally remember this lesson.

He heard screams from the village and smiled. He would apparate there and join in the fun. Whoever those approaching voices belonged to would no doubt find Draco and fix him up. With a crack he was gone, leaving the unconscious boy bleeding in the snow.

*************************************************

After the snowball fight, which ended with Hermione, Harry, and Ron thoroughly wet and bedraggled but laughing, the trio went into Honeydukes and treated themselves to a hot chocolate with generous heaps of whipping cream and nutmeg sprinkles.

While taking a slow sip from her steaming mug, Hermione glanced at Harry. For the first time since the last Quidditch match she saw his green eyes sparkle with laughter. He and Ron were still reliving the snowball match and how they had rubbed snow on her as revenge for getting them earlier. She smiled at them happily; it felt so good, just like old times.

Harry rubbed his numb hands together and wrapped them around the warm, steaming mug. He was so glad they had all come to Hogsmeade today. For a brief moment, thoughts of Sirius flitted through his mind, but he consoled himself with the knowledge that Sirius would want him to have fun. Still, he missed him and wished he could have been here with them.

"I think we better start…" Ron’s words were cut off by screams from outside.

They jumped up, hurrying to the window. Before they even got there, Harry stumbled to his knees, struck by the icy cold, hopeless feeling that only a dementor could bring. Ron and Hermione froze when they saw what must have been at least 50 Dementors outside in the square. They turned and quickly picked Harry of the ground.

"What are we going to do?" Ron asked, looking around desperately.

"Out the back door, quickly!" shouted Hermione.

As they headed out the back carefully, making sure no one was around, Hermione spoke up: "It’s not safe here, especially not for Harry. Let’s head up to the shrieking shack. I’m sure they won’t go there. There’s an old, rustic cabin up there and we can hide there until the coast is clear."

Harry had sufficiently recovered by then. "I could use my patronus against them."

"No! The place may also be crawling with Death Eaters out to get you for You-Know-Who," shouted Ron.

The three of them hurried through the swirling snow up to the shack.

"Come on, the cabin is this way," Hermione directed as she led them to the back. She suddenly froze, staring horrified at the ground.

Sprawled and covered in snow was a body. They recognized the black cloak and barely discernable emblem as belonging to a Hogwarts student.

Harry ran over, dropping to his knees and brushing the snow off the student’s face. Inhaling sharply, he recognized Malfoy.

"Someone has attacked him!" Hermione spoke with panic evident in her voice.

Draco’s face had dried blood on it and a terrible blue-tinged bruise on his jaw.

Hermione lightly ran her hands down his chest. "He has broken ribs."

"His hand isn’t looking to good either," Ron pointed out, looking at the unnatural angle of his wrist.

"We’ve got to get him to the cabin." Harry lifted him under the shoulders while Ron grabbed his legs. They carried him slowly, following Hermione into the forest to the small, snow-covered cabin.

With a quick "Alohamora," she unlocked the door and led them inside. There was an old wrought iron bed in the corner and they carefully lay Malfoy down on it. Hermione waved her wand and a fire appeared in the large stone fireplace.

"He’s badly injured. We need to get help from a professor. Harry, you are the most affected by Dementors, so you need to stay here. Ron and I will head into town. I’ll see if I can get some supplies from somewhere and Ron you will need to find a teacher. I’ve seen Madam Pomfrey at the Three Broomsticks in the past; maybe you can find her there. Professor Snape would also be good – he might have a healing potion he can use."

Fear entered Harry’s heart. "No, you can’t go! I’ll go. I won’t let you risk your lives. I can conjure up a patronus to ward off Dementors. You haven’t learned that well enough yet."

"Harry, we don’t have time to argue! Malfoy is barely breathing he could DIE! We have to get help. You need to stay safe! Come on, Ron!" Hermione barked out the orders and, grabbing Ron’s arm, pulled him out of the cabin, locking the door behind her.

Harry went over to Malfoy. Hermione was right, he was barely breathing. His skin tone was an awful shade of gray and his skin was cold to the touch. He searched the cabin for more blankets and covered Malfoy with them.

After what seemed like a long while, Malfoy moaned and seemed to grow restless. His eyes opened and he struggled to sit up.

His vision was blurry. Every fiber of his being hurt. What had happened? Where was he? Then the memories came rushing back. He whimpered at the memory of his father’s fury.

An arm came around him and helped him up. He started to retch as his stomach cramped up from all the blood he had swallowed. A bucket appeared in front of him and he weakly threw up into it. Waves of pain coursed through him as his ribs screamed from the effort; there was a severe pain in his chest and he could hardly breath. He felt himself break out in a cold sweat and he shivered uncontrollably.

Someone was holding him up with an arm on either side of him. He grabbed onto the arm in front of him with his uninjured hand for support and tried to work through the pain tearing through him.

Malfoy was shivering violently as Harry held him up with one hand. He cast a spell with the other and cleaned out the bucket. He remembered how badly his ribs had hurt after the Quidditch tournament. He didn’t envy Malfoy what he was feeling right now. He tried to maneuver him to lie down again, but Malfoy let go of the tight grip he had on his arm and grabbed the bucket once more. He threw up again and Harry realized it was likely from the shock and pain of his injuries. "Easy, Malfoy. Just try to breathe through it. Try to take as deep a breath as you can then hold it and slowly release it. It will make you feel better."

Draco, recognizing the voice, started fighting back tears, not quite believing that his father must have just left him lying there bleeding. Of all people to find him why did it have to be Potter? He glanced up at him with bleary eyes. He looked away quickly as his eyes welled up. He’d rather die than cry in front of Potter.

Harry noticed him struggling and knew exactly how he felt. He hadn’t wanted to cry in front of Snape, yet when it happened, Snape hadn’t held it over his head.

"It’s okay, Malfoy. I won’t tell anyone." But Draco managed to keep the tears at bay. The sound of his breathing scared Harry. It as shallow and almost sounded like he was underwater.

He carefully lowered him back down on the bed. Malfoy gasped out in pain.

"What is it? What’s hurting?" Harry knew it was a stupid question as likely everything hurt.

Malfoy didn’t answer and his eyes were tightly closed, his breath coming in shallow pants. Harry gently pulled his hand out from his back. His heart jumped when he saw faints streaks of blood on his hand.

"You’re bleeding. You’ve got more injuries." He gently rolled him over a little more. Malfoy sprang to life and struggled against him murmuring a weak but desperate "No."

Draco didn’t want Potter seeing his back. Despite the heavy fog hanging in his mind, he knew that Potter wouldn’t know what exactly had happened, but still he felt so humiliated over what Lucius had done that he didn’t want anyone to see it.

"Shhh, you're bleeding. I have to find the wound."

He gently untied the cloak and lifted his shirt up. He froze, his stomach churning at the bloody sight. Malfoy’s back was covered in angry red welts ending in deep, bleeding gauges in his skin.

"Who did this to you?" Harry whispered. He gently rolled Malfoy over on his stomach, but the groan of pain and the frantic attempt for breathe made him realize Malfoy had to stay on his side; the pressure from his ribs was too painful. He got him on his side again. He noticed the gray eyes were open again, although rather unfocused. He knelt down in front of him.

"I’m going to clean the wounds as best as I can. Hermione and Ron went for help. They’re trying to find Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape. They’ll be back soon. You have to hang on."

Draco’s eyes closed as he put his full effort into attempting to speak, but he only succeeded in wincing. At the mention of Snape’s name, his throat closed painfully. He so desperately wanted Snape, even though he knew he’d be so disappointed in him. He was so ashamed, but he knew Snape wouldn’t abandon him.

Harry patted his shoulder. "Come on, Malfoy, fight. I know you can. You’ve got this year and another at Hogwarts to make my life miserable as only you can."

With that, Draco’s eyes opened again and gray looked into green for a moment.

Draco tried to speak again. He wanted to tell Potter where he could find Professor Snape, but his jaw ached so baldly he could barely open his mouth.

Harry looked concerned and he spoke reassuringly. "Just take it slow. Do you want me to get some paper and a pen? You could try and write with your left hand."

Draco nodded weakly. Harry helped him slowly sit up again and watched as his trembling hand tried to write what he wanted to say. He made out 'Snape' and 'Potion,' but the last word had ended in a scribble as the pen fell out his hand. Draco’s eyes closed in frustration as Potter laid him down on his side again.

"Rest your hand for minute, then try again."

Harry’s heart raced. He was afraid. Malfoy was getting weaker. Despite being enemies, he certainly didn’t want to watch Malfoy die like this. Silently he wished Ron or Hermione would come racing through the door with Pomfrey or Snape. A shiver ran through him as he thought of the dementors and possible Death Eaters out there. What if they couldn’t come back? He shook his head. He couldn’t think that now, he had to focus on Malfoy.

He grabbed a bowl of warm water and a soft rag. He pulled out his wand, making Malfoy’s shirt and cloak disappear. He made sure the blanket covered him as much as possible in the front so he would stay warm as he carefully wiped off as much blood as possible.

Draco fervently hoped the darkness would envelop him again; the pain was excruciating. He couldn’t stop the whimper escaping from his lips.

Harry’s hand went to his shoulder. "I’m sorry this is hurting you more. I’m almost finished."

Draco’s stomach cramped up and, with a cry, he attempted to sit up. Potter’s arm went around him instantly and the bucket was put in front of him. There was nothing left in him to throw up, but his stomach kept cramping.

With a heartbreaking groan, Malfoy went limp and fell against Harry.

Just then he heard ‘Alohamora’ and Hermione came through the door.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you all right? I’m so glad you’re back."

Hermione’s worried gaze lit on Malfoy. "I couldn’t find Snape or Pomfrey. I’m hoping Ron had more luck. I found a bunch of supplies to make potions that can help him. I’ve also brought a warmth package. The Dementors and Death Eaters were gone, but I heard that two people had been killed. I couldn’t find Ginny, Luna, and Neville. I hope they’re okay."

Harry lay Draco down on his side again. "I’m going to see if I can find Snape. Malfoy was trying to communicate about Snape, something about Snape and potions. Maybe he’s in a potions store or something we’ve never paid attention to?"

Hermione’s eyes lit up. "The Potions Seminar! Oh, why didn’t I think of that before. There was one last year in the Golden Pentagram. There might be one this weekend. Maybe he’s still there."

Harry headed for the door. "I’m going. The Dementors and Death Eaters are gone and you’re definitely better at making potions than I am. He’s in really bad shape. He keeps throwing up, maybe you can make something for his stomach and also a painkiller."

She looked at Draco’s pale form. He looked so helpless and vulnerable. She sat down beside him and put her hand on his giving it a squeeze. "I’ll try to put something together to help you." She vowed.

The End.


This story archived at http://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=1229