Evil Author Day: The Greater Evil

Title: The Greater Evil

Pairing: Harry/Draco

Fandom: Harry Potter

Warning: Canon Typical

Word Total: 1665

 

“This is for the greater good, Harry. You’ll understand, someday,” Dumbledore murmured as he shot a sled silent stunner at Harry.

Harry barely had time to blink before the world went dark.

 

When he woke up, he was in the infirmary and there was a hole in his memory. He ignored the bustling of Pompey as she settled him in for the night, too intent on trying to figure out what had happened. He couldn’t remember why he had been arguing with the Headmaster. But Harry could remember the old bastard saying something about the greater good and then he had been stunned.

What in the actual fuck?

Harry suppressed a groan as he tried to get his brain working. It felt stiff, almost bruised, like when Snape was giving him lessons and went on the offensive. Poking around the edges he revised his mental description. He wasn’t bruised, instead, someone had added a patch to his mind.

The spot was stiff with very little give to it like a new Quidditch pad before it was broken in. For the first time all year, Harry was grateful for the Occlumency lessons he had endured. Those lessons let him feel the edges of whatever had been done to him.

It took hours of him picking at the edges of the spot to get anywhere. He was counting himself lucky that Pomfrey was leaving him alone. Having her hovering and fluttering at him would have been too much of a distraction.

Finally, just before midnight, he managed to shift the patch on his mind. He got his mental fingers under it and yanked at it until it came off. The pain blinded him for a moment and it took work to breathe through the pain. The first thing to come back was the feel of slightly chapped lips on his. Next came the smell of bergamot and amber. Finally, his eyes opened in the memory and he found that the person he had been kissing was Malfoy.

Again. What in the actual fuck?

The surge of anger and hatred that moved through him at the ‘sight’ of Malfoy felt… wrong. Almost as if it had been manufactured for him to feel and inserted by someone outside of himself. Opening his physical eyes, he cast a wandless ‘tempus’. Three am on Saturday. He had time before he needed to be anywhere to figure out what was going on with his mind.

Settling back into his mental landscape, Harry tracked the anger and hatred to another path on his mind. This one felt old and well used. The edges had been skillfully blended to almost match the rest of his mental landscape and he knew he would have missed it if he hadn’t been looking.

Too bad for whoever had set it though. He was a lot better at removing it than he had been at the start of his meditation. And a lot more motivated.

Harry got his mental fingers under the edge of the memory and ripped it off. He ignored the stab of purely mental pain that earned him with the ease of long practice. He and pain were old and unhappy friends. The memories hidden under the patch poured into his brain in a relentless rush and he ground his teeth together to contain his scream of pain and anger.

The Headmaster had hidden his Guide from him. Had tried to get him to bond with Ginny Weasley and when that had failed, had memory charmed and portioned him into forgetting that Draco was his Guide. The only thing the old bastard hadn’t done was make him forget he was a Sentinel.

As he tried to process that recitation, he felt something snap deep inside. Whatever it was, he didn’t want to stay at Hogwarts to find out. “Dobby!”

The house elf appeared and seemed thrilled Harry had called him Dobby drew in a deep breath to speak and Harry threw up a hand to silence him. It was way too early for the elf’s norm greeting.

“Don’t talk, please. Just nod or shake your head at my question,” Harry hissed.

Dobby’s eyes got wide before he nodded hard enough to flap his ears. Before Harry could ask his first question, the elf gave a quiet snap of his fingers and a glowing barrier surrounded them, cutting off all sound.

“Good thinking Dobby,” Harry said and watched Dobby smile. “Okay, when I ask, you can talk. Did you know I’m a Sentinel?”

“Yes Dobby knows,” the elf told him, voice quieter than Harry had ever heard it before. “Felt shift in Master Harry’s magic.”

Well wasn’t that food for thought, Harry mused. Moving right along. “Did you know Dumbledore memory charmed me?”

Dobby shook his head firmly while tugging his ears. “Oh, Headmaster Dumbles be bad man for that! Hurts my Harry Potter!”

Harry patted the elf on the shoulder in sympathy. “Next question. Did you know Draco Malfoy is my Guide?”

“Yes,” Dobby’s voice was firm. “Master Dragon has always been yous Guide.”

“Last two questions,” Harry said after a deep breath. “Can you pop him in here? And can you take us both to Gringotts?”

“Yes. I’s be back,” Dobby hissed before silently popping out.

Harry got off the cot and looked around for his clothes. Bless Madame Pomfrey for placing his clothes at the foot of his bed. He was tying the laces of his school shoes when Dobby popped Draco in.

“Shhh,” Harry hissed as Draco opened his mouth to speak. It took only moments for him finish his task before looking at the other teen.

Draco looked confused, angry and tired. There was a sleep crease on one cheek and he was dressed casually in a cable knit sweater, jeans and dragon hide boots. Harry felt woefully underdressed next to the Malfoy heir, but he pushed the feeling aside with the ease of practice.

“I’ll explain when we get to Gringotts.” Harry breathed out. “Dobby.”

The alarm that crossed the blond’s face would have been funny if the situation hadn’t been so serious. Dobby popped in with Harry’s school bag clutched in one fist and Draco’s in the other. He handed each to the correct teen before he grabbed them both.

When they appeared again they were on the front portico of the bank.

—-

 

“You had better tell me what we are doing here, Potter,” Draco muttered as he stared at the door into the bank.

Harry signed softly before pushing his migraine aside again. “I will. But first, we need to get in before Dumbledore finds out we’re missing,” Harry told him before approaching one of the goblin guards.

The guard flicked his eyes towards Harry before redirecting his gaze down the Alley. Harry was quite sure the two guards knew who they were and were just waiting on them to make themselves known. Screwing up his courage, he made the next move.

“May gold ever run to your coffers and you’re enemies die poor and ashamed,” Harry said in careful Gobbledygook before switching back to English. “Sentinel Hadrian Potter and Guide Draco Malfoy to see Chief Ragnok.”

“Wait here,” the guard looked at him for a moment before apparating away from his post. Moments later a new guard appeared in his place.

Harry nodded once before moving back by Malfoy. The blond was holding his questions in and Harry appreciated the effort. The Sentinel with in him was fiercely aware of the Guide standing beside him and wanted to claim the teen as his. But Harry had enough control not to try. At least for the nonce.

The ‘tempus’ spell he had going in the lower corner of his glasses showed it had been only five minutes from the time of his request to when the doors opened. “Come.”

Harry shared a look with Draco and walked into the bank.

The whole place seemed very different when there were no witches and wizards around. There were a number of goblins standing attendance to one in the center. Harry stared for a moment before turning to his right and bowing at a goblin standing by himself. “Chief Ragnok, may your enemies know no peace and all their gold find its way to your accounts.”

The smile that crossed the small being’s face was a sight to behold. Way too many teeth there. “So, you did hear the directions.”

“I did, and I thank your son for his assistance,” Harry confirmed, voice calm and confident.

“Why are you here?” Ragnok asked after inspecting them both for several heartbeats.

“I have come to the realization that Headmaster Dumbledore is interfering in the bond between myself and my Guide, Draco Malfoy. I further believe he has attempted to force a bond between myself and Ginerva Weasley. I have learned Chief Ragnok, that if you want something done well and right you come to the Goblins. I want the blocks on my memory and magic removed. I want the blocks on my Guide’s mind and magic removed. And I have come to you to do so.”

“This is no small thing you are asking for, Sentinel Potter,” Ragnok warned. “It will be expensive. And painful.”

Harry shrugged. “Can’t be any more painful than what I’ve already done, I just hope I don’t hurt anyone when you do it.”

“We’ll take precautions. And payment after, when we know all that we are due for this healing,” Ragnok told him. “Griphook, take them to a waiting room.”

Harry could feel the relief moving through him and he almost wanted to cry. But he had one more warning to give before he could relax. “Chief Ragnok, Dumbledore does not know we are here. I don’t know if he will come to you in his search or not, but please be aware.”

The smile Ragnok wore now was almost gleeful. “Let him try to search our bank. He’ll live just long enough to regret it.”