Kings

 

Title: Kings
Author: Ladyholder
Fandom: Harry Potter
Warnings: Major Character Death, Canon Typical Violence
Wordcount: 2049
No Beta

 

A/N: I borrowed Zir from Keira & used her casting from The Absence of War

“You know, when I sent you to fix the world, I didn’t expect you to fail.”

Draco woke up to the sound of his liege’s anger and sighed. Opening his eyes, he stared at Zir and shrugged once. “You are the one who sent me into the house of a rabid Death Eater all unknowing. Said Death Eater had a fondness for spells used to impel loyalty to him and I didn’t know how to avoid them. Then you put me in with a bunch of snakes who would eat their own mothers, let alone the son of the most senior Death Eater to survive the first war. Exactly what did you expect me to do? Win? Really?”

Zir stared at him, silent and watchful. Draco leaned back in the air he was sitting in and stared up at the nothingness above him. His liege wasn’t even trying to be impressive. The two of them were in the middle of nothing. No light, no dark, and certainly, no chairs. The things you got used to when you had no other options.

His time-sense was for shite here, but he was certain it was only a few minutes before Zir nodded. “Point.”

“What happened?” Draco asked. “The last thing I remember was getting ready to snap shut an ambush with Granger and Weasley.”

“Oh, your ambush went off just fine,” Zir told him. “It was the red-headed menace that did you in.”

“Son of a bitch,” Draco cursed. He hadn’t been happy that Weasley had been with them for the ambush, but they had only had so many fighters. The war had dragged on too long and too many had died. “Why did he kill me?”

“Jealousy,” Zir dropped the word on him like it was poison. The word burned like acid against his mind. “He thought Hermione was turning to you for romantic company and wanted you out of the way, so he killed you.”

“The fuck?” Draco asked. He could not have just heard that right, could he?

“Yes, you heard me right,” Zir snapped. “The little fucker thought you were after his girl. Even after being told that your soulmate was Potter and with him dead, you weren’t interested in being with anyone. Even after Granger told him to fuck off, she wanted nothing to do with him. He didn’t care, he just wanted you dead.”

Draco ran his hands over his face and suppressed a moan of frustration. “Please tell me he’s dead too?”

“The whole bloody planet is dead, Pendragon. It was hanging on by a thread, but with the death of the Once and Future King, there was no saving it,” Zir told him.

“What happens now?” Draco asked, morbidly curious.

“Now, I respin time to send you and that twit you call your mate back in time and see if we can make things work right for once,” Zir told him. Waving his hand once he brought a new person to the conversation.

Draco took a deep breath and clenched his fists. He would not try to hug the too pretty bastard. “Potter.”

Green eyes looked at him steadily before nodding once. “Malfoy.”

“Oh, for my wife’s sake, will you two stop being dumbarses and just accept that you’re made for each other and kiss? This dancing around each other got old ages ago,” Zir snapped.

Draco slanted a look at his liege and saw that he had pulled up a window looking onto Earth. Time was moving backward at an accelerated rate and he could tell they wouldn’t have long to work things out.

“Did you know you were my soulmate when you died?” Draco asked the question that had been bothering him for years.

Potter shook his head in denial. “No. I didn’t know. Did you?”

“No,” Draco breathed out. “I found out after you died. Granger dragged me to the Book of Souls and we each looked at our entries.”

“And you saw my name?” Potter asked, on black eyebrow raised.

“Your initials were all that was legible,” Draco admitted. “Hermione had her own entry, but she never talked about it, just that her soulmates were dead.”

“She never said?” Potter repeated before turning to look at Zir. “It’s not us, right?”

“If I was going to stick her with you two, she would be here, bossing you around and making sure you actually talked before I throw you back through time,” Zir snapped. “Speaking of, do you have any preference as to when you want to go back to?”

“Lucius placed the first loyalty spell on me right after I was sorted into Slytherin,” Draco admitted. He shivered slightly as he remembered the feel of Lucius’ will pressing on his mind. At eleven he hadn’t had the ability to defend himself against it. “If we go back after that, I will be useless.”

“I think we should go back August first before first year,” Potter suggested. “And we need to have our memories.”

“I was going to make sure you had your memories anyway, Potter,” Zir sniped as he settled in on the time and place. From the looks of the window, Harry was moving through the Leaky Cauldron with Hagrid, on his way to Diagon Alley.

“Why then?” Draco asked.

“Because I met you for the first time at Madame Malkins that day and it will give us a month to plan things,” Potter explained.

“Did you go back to those nasty Muggles the first time around?” Draco asked, horrified.

“Yes. It was a crap month between finding out I was a wizard and getting to go to school,” Potter admitted.

“If I send you back to that day, you aren’t to return to your relatives, Potter,” Zir directed. “Living with them didn’t serve you at all and you can take that month to get the medical attention you’ll need. Plus talk to the dverger about claiming your title. Pendragon, go to the bank and get a wearable ward to protect your mind.”

“I’m good with that,” Potter admitted.

“Will do,” Draco confirmed, staring at Potter.

“Good. Now, will the two of you please kiss?” Zir demanded.

“Why?” Potter asked.

“Because you are the Merlin to his Pendragon,” Zir explained pale green eyes serious and filled with the wisdom of the ages. “If you were to go back right now, the Book would show you as soulmates. If you kiss and start even the most minimal bond, you will be listed as fated. And you need every advantage you can get.”

Draco said nothing as Potter thought things over. He wanted the other man. He wanted Potter with all the desperation that had built in his heart after discovering his name and knowing that he was never going to have him. To be this close and not be touching was almost torture.

When Potter walked up to him, he looked into the deep green eyes of his soulmate and held out one hand. “I know I got to see the Book, but I promise to take you there when we return.”

“You better,” Potter told him. “And I want an explanation on this Merlin business. I thought that he was a person, not a job?”

“Explanations later, kissing now!” Zir called. “I can’t keep time paused forever, you know.”

“He reminds me of you,” Potter said with a smile. “All flash and drama.”

“Good to know,” Draco admitted before leaning forward slightly to kiss his soulmate. He had just enough time to enjoy the barest taste of him before the world went dark and still.

 

“Go to Madame Malkin’s, Draco. I’ll meet you at Fortescue’s later,” his mother directed as she walked off.

Draco blinked once as he came back to himself. The world was suddenly a lot bigger and more dangerous than it had been only moments before. “Yes, mum,” he called.

If he remembered everything correctly, he had hours. As a child, using the influence of his family to get his way had been second nature. He didn’t have the patience to be a prima donna anymore.

Taking a deep breath, Draco headed to the Bank. Zir had directed him to visit and there were things he needed to do. He could only pray that the dverger were willing to assist. He had enough money in his trust vault to pay for anything he needed, but…

Walking up the steps to the Bank, Draco wished he had a wand. If he remembered this day correctly, he had gotten his wand after he had met his mother at Fortescue’s for ice cream. And his wandless abilities were mostly non-existent at this point.

But the Bank was neutral ground. The dverger did not stand for anyone to break their laws. Customer safety was a legit thing for them and as long as he had his key, he could get everything he needed. Taking a deep breath, Draco pushed the door to the bank open and headed for one of the tellers waiting for business.

“Key, please,” the dverger sounded deeply bored and Draco suppressed a snort of amusement as he handed over the small gold key. “Reason for being here?”

“Taking funds out and I hope to purchase a wearable ward that will allow me to guard my mind,” Draco announced. He kept his eyes level as he stared at the teller.

The dverger raised an eyebrow at his request and wrote a note out and placed it on a tray where it flamed up and disappeared. “Once you have the funds from your vault, you will be met by an artificer.”

“Thank you,” Draco murmured. He accepted his key back and tucked it into his belt pouch. When he was waved forward, Draco nodded and carefully climbed into the cart he was directed to. The trip down to his trust vault was slightly hair raising, and he squeaked as the cart came to an abrupt halt.

“Key, please,” the dverger managing the cart requested. Draco handed over the key without a word and watched as his vault was opened.

He accepted the key back with a nod. “Thank you,” Draco said as he walked past the dverger and crossed into the vault itself. It took him several minutes to load his pouch up with enough galleons to afford everything he needed. His mother would be buying him all standard items, but there was more he wanted to pick up.

The trip back up to the main part of the bank was done in silence and Draco walked over to where the artificer was waiting. “Sir Artificer.”

“Scion Malfoy,” the new dverger returned. He sounded vaguely amused by something and Draco suppressed a sigh. Being eleven sucked. People didn’t treat him with much if any respect and the last time around, he’d used his father as a hammer to demand it. It hadn’t worked, but at eleven, he hadn’t figured that out until it was too late. “What can I do for you?”

“I need two wearable wards that will protect minds against behavioral spells and potions,” Draco requested. He kept his body language open and nonconfrontational. “And I would like to make it so that no one but the wearer can see it once it’s on.”

“Such a thing is expensive, young Scion,” the artificer warned him. “And making it unnoticeable makes it more expensive still.”

“I understand,” Draco confirmed. “But it’s for the best.”

“Hmm,” the artificer hummed before he pulled a stave out and started waving it over him. Draco couldn’t see the results of the tests that were being run and that bothered him slightly. He had no idea if the dverger could see any traces of Zir. “Interesting. Please stay here.”

Draco nodded once. He tried not to fidget as he waited, but it was hard. He’d already spent more time in the bank than he thought he would and he had no idea how much time it would take his mother to complete her errands. It would be better all around if he was being served by Madame Malkin before too much longer. But he needed to get the wards.

When the artificer returned with the wards, Draco was rocking back and forth on his feet as he tried not to pace.