Bright. Too bright. Draco's lids were closed but he could see how bright it was behind his eyes. He wasn't sure what was going on. Was he dead? Was he alive? Or was he just swimming in an existence of nothingness? He wasn't conscious of memories or past experiences. He was just a being floating through the bright white. He was curious. That is a side effect of being human. He couldn't help but wonder where he was or what he was supposed to be doing. Order. Wasn't that what made the world go round? There was a rhyme or reason to the world, it was order that let people know where they fit in life. Draco was positive that he was supposed to be doing something. Doing nothing seemed like an odd choice. Was this supposed to be a pleasurable experience? Was doing nothing an experience he was supposed to enjoy?
A distant sound made his ears twitch in awareness. He found himself wanting to fight the pain that he knew would happen if he opened his eyes. Did he want to look into blinding light for an unknown noise?
"Draco." The answer was yes, yes he did. Thousands of memories swam into his mind as he pried open his eyes and blinked heavily into the white light. He realized that the voice was familiar. He narrowed his eyes into the light as he tried to place it.
"Love, can you hear me?" Draco snapped his head up. Harry. The first thing he realized as he fought his limbs to sit up was that the room was not as bright as the thought it was. Just that the ceiling was bright lights, artificial blinding lights. That would explain the pain. He was in a tiny square room. No bigger than a kitchen. Every part of the room was white, to the walls to floor. Even his clothing, he was wearing a bright set of white robes. He turned his head and caught sight of his entire reason for existing. "Harry." He breathed out before completely launching himself at him.
Harry chuckled slightly as he held on to Draco. He let out a relieved sigh. He hadn't been sure what to think when he came to and saw that Draco was just lying there unmoving. He had been worried that his soulmate was too far gone.
"I wasn't sure what had happened to us." Draco whispered as he held on to Harry tighter. He could still see the way Harry looked with blood pouring down his face. The way Harry had continued to clutch the Sorcerer's Stone even as he was dying. The way that Harry's entire body began to crack and buckle under the weight of too much magic from the darkness.
Harry's memory was a little hazy. He could remember hearing Draco tell him to push out the darkness. He could remember knowing that they were going to die. "You offered to let Finneus go." Harry said in amused confusion.
Draco huffed at the fleeting 'moment' that they just had. Leave it to Harry to ruin it. He narrowed his eyes in a challenge. "What of it?"
Harry grinned cheekily. "I think that you have really taken Hufflepuff pride in stride." Draco growled lowly in his throat.
"Do not tempt my patience. I will kill you." Draco threatened with narrowed eyes. No one threatens his Slytherin reputation.
Harry threw his head back and laughed loudly. Such a sweet sound that caused Draco's mouth to twitch. He cursed inwardly at the fact that Harry could do that to him.
"We are already dead love." Harry reminded him before sobering up. Dead. That was an interesting thought. He thought of the family that they were leaving behind. He sighed sadly at all that they would be missing. He wouldn't be there to see Teddy grow up. He wouldn't be there for when the quartet got married and had children of their own. He wouldn't be there to witness the love between Severus and Remus grow. He wouldn't be there to see Lucius and Narcissa be wonderful grandparents.
He swallowed thickly at his own life that was cut short. He had wanted to finish school and get married. He felt a pang of loss go through him at the thought of never being able to walk down the aisle and marry the love of his life. During his marriage to Noah, things had been rushed and small due to Larson. Harry had been really looking forward to their wedding. He wanted to exchange vows and tie himself for eternity to Draco. He wanted to live his life next to the best man he had ever known. He wanted to wake up every single day to the gorgeous blonde and fall asleep tucked up in his arms. He wanted to have a family. He felt another ache at the children that they wouldn't be having. His eyes filled with tears as he covered his flat stomach. He wouldn't ever get the chance to be pregnant with a child. He wouldn't see them grow up and find their own way in life.
Draco swallowed thickly at the emotions he could feel through Harry. His own eyes became watery when he realized what Harry was thinking. He covered Harry's hand and rubbed his lover's stomach. "We can still have that. We can have children in our next life." He promised with a shaky breath. He tried to force away the ache of longing when thinking of the children they would never have. He had heard the way Harry described them and he had wanted them. Wanted them with a ferocity that had surprised him. "We can have our dream wedding in another life." His voice cracked.
Harry closed his eyes tightly and buried his face in Draco's neck. "What if there aren't any other lives? What if three was our limit?" He whispered.
Draco shook his head. "I can't and won't believe that. We keep finding each other love. That must mean something. Look at us now, we are dead but still here with one another. Maybe we will enter our next life together." He knew that no matter what they had given up, that he wouldn't change a thing. The way they died had been necessary.
Harry wiped his eyes and nodded slowly. "I love you." He croaked as he stared into beautiful soft grey eyes.
"Oh baby." Draco breathed out slowly as he cupped Harry's face. "I love you too. So much." He whispered. "Not even death can stop my love for you." Draco sighed internally, perhaps there was some truth to Harry's Hufflepuff statement. He was a giant sap when it came to his green-eyed beauty.
"You aren't dead." They both sprang into action at the close voice.
Harry looked around before gaping inelegantly at the newcomer. Draco looked to Harry and the new person in confusion. "There are two of you." He said slowly.
Harry eyed his double warily. He could see that the other version of his was a little see through. Similar to a ghost but a little sturdier. It was odd watching his own self smile. He narrowed his eyes at the love shining in his other self's eyes as he stared at Draco. Draco was his, he would even fight his own double if he had to.
Draco entwined their fingers at the jealousy he could feel. He thought it was silly that Harry was jealous of a ghost Harry. He cocked his eyes as he noticed some subtle differences between the two of them. His eyes widened in realization. "Ethan." He breathed out in surprise.
Harry tilted his head back in shock. Oh. That would explain the ghost like features.
Ethan smiled in delight at Draco. "Yes. It is I." He looked to Harry. "I am you. I unfortunately do not have the same memories that you do. You have lived three lives, while I have only lived two."
Harry bit his lip. "I don't remember Ethan knowing about his first life." Ethan shook his head. "I did not know until after my death." There was a sadness to his face that made Harry and Draco shift a little.
Ethan looked to Draco with sad eyes. "I am sorry that I never listened to you." Draco blinked a little at the apology. "It's alright." He mumbled a little uneasily. He had already had this conversation with Harry. It was so odd to think of two Harry's.
Harry frowned. "Why are you here?" He caught the arched brow and he rushed to explain. "I don't mean in a negative way." He reassured. "I just mean that you are me and I am you. So how come there is even a ghost version of you. I have your memories because I am you. There shouldn't be two of us."
Ethan nodded his agreement with a smile. "You are correct. There shouldn't be two of us. Technically there isn't." Harry and Draco shared heavy confusion through the bond.
"I am not you per say. I am your magic and your essence. Well, part of it." He sighed at their obvious confusion. Draco grumbled a little at Ethan's irritation. It wasn't like they had ever been in a situation like this.
"When I died, the Flamels took my very life essence and magic in a sacrifice for their stone. When you were reincarnated you were given most of your magic in this life but not all of it. You couldn't have the magic that was trapped in the stone. I was trapped inside of the stone for nearly 700 years."
Harry and Draco shared a considering look. Harry was still a little confused but now things were starting to make sense.
"Trapped like the rest of the souls?" Harry asked with furrowed brows. He wondered if they were going to see the other souls too. Did that mean that part of the extended darkness was a piece of himself?
Ethan shook his head. "No. When I died, something happened. I did something that changed the stone." Harry blinked rapidly as he tried to think of what Ethan had done. He thought back to the last few moments of his life.
"We thought of our love for Noah." He finally said out loud. He looked up to see Ethan smiling at him in approval. He looked to Draco and caught sight of a pretty blush staining his cheeks. Harry shared an amused look with himself. Merlin, that was going to take some getting used to.
Draco pouted. They were double teaming him. He couldn't hold up very well against one Harry and now there were two of them.
"That is right." Ethan spoke up. "I thought of the love that I held for Noah and it changed the stone slightly. The stone was not designed to hold love. The stone is one of the darkest rituals known to man. Something that dark filled with love? Well that was two warring natures that didn't belong. I have spent 700 years fighting off the darkness."
Draco immediately frowned. That didn't sound good at all. But he was intrigued at the love. He knew that dark rituals failed with light things. He wondered how the stone could have even been created with love inside of it. Ethan was right. They were two warring natures.
"How did the stone manage to survive for so long? Shouldn't the love have corroded the stone? Dark rituals aren't meant for love." Draco piped up.
Harry had no idea if that was true. He was curious though.
"The stone was corroding." That statement brought Harry and Draco up short. "What?" They said at the same time.
Ethan smiled at them softly. "I was one life essence against three hundred others. It was difficult. Since it was two warring natures pitted against each other, the darkness of this stone was wanting me to conform to their nature. I had to fight constantly. Luckily enough for me, the love that I have for Noah was stronger than anything that they could throw at me."
Draco was filled with a mass of affection. He laid his head on Harry's shoulder and didn't mask the love he knew was in his eyes. Ethan and Harry were the same person. Even if they were right now in two different forms.
Harry tilted his head to the side. "But there had to be some people that thought of their family members before they died." He wondered. The darkness of the false stone had shown him memories of some of those victims and they had thought of people.
Ethan nodded his head. "That is true but there are other factors that come into play as well. Magic is one. Not all of the people who died were wizards or witches. To fight off the darkness's intended purpose, magic was needed. Then you have to take account of the victims themselves. The Flamels didn't just pick random people off the street. They targeted a lot of people who wouldn't attract attention. Widowers or people who just didn't have families." He held up a hand when Harry opened his mouth to argue.
"I am not saying that none of their victims had families. There were a lot of people that did. They had wives and husbands or children. But those were the minority. There is also a mob mentality that you have to look into. The group as a whole had already conformed to the ritual. As they died for the stone, their life essence and will to fight was gone. They are beings with no body or conscious. They are just existing in the small form of the stone. What one does, the other's follow. Even if there was to say fifty or so people who had magic and thought of loved ones as they died, that is not enough to fight the status quo of the stone."
Draco was a little out of his element now. Sentient dark rituals were not something that really existed. He wasn't sure what would be normal or not.
"Plus. None of them were soulmates." He smiled widely. "Soulmates love on a deeper level. A level that other people just can't understand."
Harry smiled down at Draco. That was something he definitely already knew. He looked up to Ethan and smiled at him before he considered what he had said. "When I was Ethan, I didn't know that we were soulmates."
Ethan laughed. "The thing about being in isolation for so long is that there is a lot to think about. I came to the conclusion that we were soulmates pretty quickly. I myself had wondered why I was able to fight the darkness so easily and that was the only thing I can think of. But now... now I know it is true because I can see it." He said in awe as he stared at the two of them.
"There is a beauty to you both. I can see your souls. They are intertwined together. A lot of people think that soulmates share one soul but that is not the case. I can see it. You both have your own souls but they are so far intertwined, two souls that complement the other. You were meant for each other. It is like one soul is the key and the other the lock. One only has purpose with the other. Without Harry, there is no need for the key that Draco represents." He finished with a grin.
Harry wished that he could see what they looked like to Ethan. He wished that he could see their bond and connection. Draco sighed happily at the explanation. It all made sense to him. He liked that he was the key in the metaphor. He liked to think that he was the only one that could unlock Harry. It was a sweet thought.
Ethan shook his head. "I am getting off topic." He said with a wry grin. "The stone was corroding. I would have guessed that without your interference, the stone would have lasted maybe another sixty years. Give or take a decade or two." He said with a little shrug. "I was winning the fight." There was a proud but smug grin on his face.
Harry bit his lip in confusion. He was impressed but this seemed complicated. "How come it wasn't like the stone that I touched? The false stone's darkness wanted revenge."
Ethan hummed in thought. "That is a good question." He admitted. "The key words there, were false stone. That ritual failed. Nothing came out of the botched experiment. So the stone's true purpose never came to fruition. That stone didn't have the will of the Flamels to go against. The Sorcerer's Stone was bound in the ritual. The darkness in the Sorcerer's Stone had to do the bidding of the Flamels. Their purpose was the Elixir of life. They had one purpose and that was it. Your false stone had no purpose since it failed the ritual. There was no will there. Nothing to fight against. That stone had no warring natures either. That darkness had nearly 700 years to plan its revenge and just waited for the right moment to strike. Which came along in the form of you." He pointed to Harry with a regretful expression.
Draco considered this. It made sense to him in a way. Since it was a failed ritual there would be no order to the stone. Nothing to tell it what to do. The Flamels had made the mistake in thinking that since the ritual failed that that meant that the stone was inert. That had been their biggest error.
"Which I would say happened to the other false stone that you touched right before the end. Two darkness' that wanted revenge. That along with the volatile darkness to the Sorcerer's Stone made it possible for you to push it out of your body."
Harry narrowed his eyes in thought. "What happened to the darkness? Is it still out there?"
"No." Ethan assured him. "You released the darkness in a burst of wild magic. If you had done a ritual and put the darkness inside of another vessel than the darkness would have been able to live inside of that. But just like any form of magic that is released, it unleashed on the surrounding area. My guess, the whole place went under."
Draco hummed. Wild magic. He had hoped that this is what would happen but he hadn't been entirely sure. There would be a buzz of magic around the area for a long time but nothing sentient any longer. He thought back to when Harry asked why Finneus hadn't released Lucinda's magic into the air. Doing so would have torn apart the Manor and the buzz of magic would have been the same. It would have been in the air for a long time before dissipating. If this had really been what had happened, then the darkness was gone.
"Why didn't you get released too?" Harry asked.
"Because you never took me into your body like you did with the three darkness'. I don't conform to the darkness. I fought to stay inside of the stone."
Harry and Draco looked around warily. "We are inside the stone?" Draco asked in distaste. He huffed when Ethan started laughing.
"No. How in the world would you have gotten inside the stone? Have you been in any dark rituals that I am not aware of?"
Draco glared at him and folded his free arm across his chest. "No." He pouted slightly which made the man laugh more.
Harry ignored the laughter and Draco's pouting. "You said that we aren't dead. But then if we aren't dead, then where are we?"
Ethan cocked his head to the side. "I would classify this as a form of limbo. Like an astral or spiritual plane. You are not in hell, heaven or any form of an afterlife. You are in an in-between."
Draco arched a brow and looked around the plain empty white room. "Well they need a new decorator. That is for sure." He mumbled under his breath. Ethan and Harry both snorted before rolling their eyes. Draco really didn't like that there was two of them. How was he supposed to hold out against them both?
"Why are we here?" Harry asked. "Why haven't we moved on to an afterlife?"
Ethan looked at them pointedly. Harry and Draco shared a confused look. Was that look supposed to signify something?
Ethan huffed in annoyance. "I am the reason that you have not moved on." He rolled his eyes at their surprise. "Do not forget that I am an entire life's essence. Even though you are me and I am you, I am still not exactly you. I am your magic and life. I stuck around in the stone to give you the life that was taken from you."
There was a stunned silence as Harry and Draco stared at Ethan in shock. Harry shook his head vehemently. "I am not living without Draco."
Draco was torn between kissing Harry senseless and smacking him. He opened his mouth but Harry cut him off with a glare. "Don't even fucking say it Draco. I refuse to live without you. If you think for one moment that I would want to go live my life without you by my side then you have gone mad. That isn't a life I would want. You complete me. I would be living half a life without you. I refuse." Harry told him firmly and a little angrily.
"I would rather just go into our next life together." Harry ground out.
Draco melted into Harry and kissed his neck. "I know. I wouldn't have been able to do it either but I just wanted to give you a chance. I would never hold you back. You know this."
Harry lifted Draco's chin so that he could see into glittering grey eyes. His anger evaporated. "I know." He said softly.
Ethan cleared his throat and they looked to him and noticed that he was amused. "As touching as you two are, I never said that it would only be for Harry."
Draco blinked rapidly. "You mean?" He couldn't even voice his question out loud in case it couldn't happen. He didn't want to get his hopes up just for them to dash.
"Didn't you hear me when I said that your souls are intertwined? What happens to Harry's life will happen to yours as well, Draco." He paused to smile at the wonder on their faces.
"My essence will be enough for the both of you. Your magic will not be as powerful as if I had combined with Harry while he was alive. But it will still be about what you had before. Only, it is more like one magic being split into the both of you."
Draco wasn't too concerned that his magic was essentially gone. This was just one other thing that he had with Harry. Having his magic be his own but also Harry's was just going to be an experience he was looking forward to. They shared a bond, love, and their lives. Why not magic too?
"But if you don't want this then I can just combine with Harry and you two can move onto your next life. You don't have to continue with this one if you don't want to."
Harry was surprised that it wasn't an easy question. He thought it would be. Did he want to go back to this life? Did he want to spend the rest of his life in the spot light? Going back didn't just mean going back to their family. It meant going back as The Harry Potter. It meant all of the responsibility too.
Draco wanted to go back but he could also see the excitement of going into another life too. He would follow Harry anywhere. "If we go back, they are going to kill us."
Harry could see the confusion on Ethan's face and he chuckled. "He is talking about our family." He looked to Draco. "Oh yeah. I can't even imagine the talking to we will receive. What are the chances Severus will leave his potions out of it and your father won't hex us?"
Draco winced at the mental image that pictured. "Slim. We might have to run for it." Harry laughed out loud. "Definitely wouldn't be a Gryffindor with that attitude."
Draco mock glared. "Good. It is a proven fact that only prats come out of Gryffindor. While sophistication is the embodiment of Slytherins." He raised his nose in the air and dismissed Harry with a haughty wave.
Harry's mouth twitched. Gods, he loved this man. Even when he was a snooty handful.
"Does that mean you will go back?" Ethan asked them softly. They looked at one another and nodded their heads.
"Yeah, we will go back." They said in unison. This was the right decision. Harry felt a little thrill at the idea of getting to have the life that he had envisioned them having. Only this time, there would be no more villains... hopefully. If there were then he was so not interfering. Society could handle the next Dark Lord.
Ethan smiled warmly at them. "Alright." He told them both. He looked to Harry. "Brace yourself. I will combine with you, I need you to keep the bond open so that you can share all of this through the soulmate bond." He waited until Harry nodded his agreement before gliding forward and just entering Harry's body.
Harry stilled at the odd experience. He was surrounded in a cold embrace, just as if he had walked through a ghost. It was unpleasant. He could feel magic thrumming throughout his whole body before suddenly the cold was replaced with a warm feeling. Like his whole body was filled with liquid heat. It wasn't a burning heat but more like he was in front of a fire. It was warm and comfortable. His mind was filled with all of the memories that he already had inside of him. They were Ethan's life. He knew that the combining process was over as soon as the last memory filtered across his mind.
Draco had felt everything that Harry had, at first it was just secondhand but when the warmth spread inside of Harry, it had spread in him too. He felt like his whole body was being cherished. He looked around and noticed that the room was dimming away, like they were moving somehow.
"Harry, it is getting brighter." Harry looked around and realized that Draco didn't mean brighter white light. He meant true light. Like when you open up a window and nature's light shines through. They were leaving behind the false lights and entering true light. Their hands were still entwined together before they were sucked into a darkness for just a moment.
The first thing they registered was more white light.
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Author's Notes:
Okay, what did you think of this chapter?
Harry being possessive over Draco against his own self. Haha.
Now some things are starting to make sense. Hopefully. Now you know what the green light was when Ethan was dying.
Okay, you might be a little confused with the different darkness talk. There were four stones. With four separate darkness'. Perenelle destroyed one of the stones. So that darkness is gone. There was the darkness inside of Harry from the false stone he touched. Darkness from the last false stone and darkness from the real Sorcerer's Stone.
Now Ethan's life essence is inside the stone but he was able to contact Harry and Draco from limbo.
So what did you think of this chapter?
-XxTheDarkLordxX