Deal.

The word kept repeating in Draco's brain as Mythas Lester broke into a grin, taking Draco's hand in a firm handshake. It killed Draco's pride to work with a monster like Lester, but he had no choice. His pride wasn't worth Harry's life.

"You see," Lester said, smiling too widely, "the world will call me a hero. They'll look to me for salvation after this. Harry Potter will become a faceless name in a history textbook. I'll become Minister in no time and then..."

Lester lifted his sleeve and Draco's heart sank. The Dark Mark, an obvious botched job, the proportions were all wrong and green fire surrounded the snake. Still, his heart wouldn't stop pounding in his ears. It was still recognizable. His heart seemed suspended in deep space, growing heavier and heavier. "The Death Eaters got it wrong. They just got the Darkest wizards who would do anything for power. No, no. What we must do is make the populace think that what is Dark is Light."

"You're insane. No one will go for that. They banned all Dark spells!" Draco couldn't stop shaking his leg, couldn't calm his breathing.

Lester just grabbed the cauldron that Draco had been crying over moments ago. His mousy hair fell in his eyes and he tilted his head at Draco, tapping his long wand on the edge of the cauldron. "If you tell a lie long enough and loudly enough, sooner or later people will start believing it."

Draco didn't know how to respond to that, but ignored it for the time being. He would deal with this when Harry was himself again. "What about people like me?"

"Ah yes," Lester grabbed the vile from Draco without asking and dumped the dark contents into the cauldron. "The hazy grey. The in-betweens. Well, those are the most important ones."

"How?"

"Because they're the ones most desperate for a change. They're the ones most confused."

"Whatever. Let's just save Harry," Draco forced himself to stand, his head still spinning. He almost fell over but kept his eyes focused on Lester. "How will we save him?"

"With your tears, of course. You need to get him to kiss you."

Draco looked into the now bubbling contents of the cauldron. Lester reached over and pulled at a piece of Draco's white hair. "OY!" Draco exclaimed, jerking backwards and grabbing at his hair, "what the hell was that for?"

"If you want to save your boyfriend, you'll do what I say. No complaining."

Draco growled low in his throat but nodded. He could do this. He could suck it up for a little while. He didn't know how long he would last though. Draco decided to leave Mythas out of his watchful gaze for a few moments, walking to the window and gazing out at the streets of the city. He leaned against it, trying to spot a cloud of darkness or a shadowy figure. Draco sighed, trying to calm his frayed nerves. "I will stay forever here, with you, my love," he whispered so quietly, he barely heard himself. He didn't want Mythas to hear his words to Harry.

Little did he know that Harry, now standing in the empty streets not too far away from Draco was whispering the same words to himself.

-_-_-_-_-

Harry could barely think anymore. His words weren't his own. All that he could feel was anger, it boiled over and made his muscles twitch and his teeth clench. The more he tried to erase the feeling, the stronger the anger became. Until the next thing he knew, he had cast Darkness over the city of London. Over Muggles, over Wizards, over everyone. It still wasn't enough.

His power just exploded out of him whether he willed it or not. Light posts shattered when he walked by, the sky grew darker and darker until the city became shrouded in darkness. And all Harry could see was a blur of the street in front of him and the limp image of Draco cradled in his arms. Dead. Gone. Destroyed by society. The one good thing in Harry's life... stolen.

He let out a wail, and a sound wave shot out from his chest. The glass windows of the buildings surrounding him fractured at the intense magic emanating from him. He couldn't stop it. A dark cloud engulfed him, swallowing Harry whole. His mind grew muddled, blind rage consuming every movement. He would destroy everything. He would take everything away from every wizard who stood in his way, the same way everything was taken from him.

Then the ghost of Draco...That made the anger blend with a new emotion. A new passion maybe as futile as the last. Flames of something boiled under his skin, in his visions he could see illusions, he could see Draco in the corner of his eyes. His ghost.

What he didn't know was that Draco was standing in Harry's apartment, staring out at the same dark streets that Harry stood on, awaiting for his strength to return. Draco turned back to Mythas Lester who's pointed face was looking over the now steaming caldron. "Is it almost done?" Draco asked, picking at the sweater he was wearing. It belonged to Harry.

"Yes," said Lester, pouring the contents into a tiny vile. "Rub this on your lips and get Harry to kiss you. He must initiate it, if you do it, it won't work."

"Is this all there is to it?" Draco wondered aloud.

"I don't know. I invented this, I don't know if it will work."

Draco opened his mouth to respond but in that second, a loud rumble erupted through the street. Draco shook violently, the whole flat shook. Books fell off the coffee table, old packages of premade mac and cheese, and even some furniture tipped over. Draco closed his eyes tight, holding onto his strange new wand as tightly as he was able. He whispered a calming spell in hopes it would soothe his pounding heart, but nothing seemed to work. Whatever this violent eruption was, the magic surrounding it was too powerful for Draco in his frightened state. "What the hell?" he said once the quaking stopped.

Mythas had an unreadable expression on his face. "He's about to begin."

"Begin what?" Draco asked hurriedly.

"The real plan."

"The real plan? What real plan!" Draco instantly moved into an attack pose, wand raised at Mythas. His whole arm hummed with the power radiating through the ancient wand.

"You think I want Harry Potter to be a powerful light wizard again?" Mythas scoffed, laughing. "No. What I want is him to join me in the revolution! Wizards will believe that Harry Potter can save them from the oppressive hand of the Ministry and liberate them! Those fools will believe anything someone who seems nice will say."

Draco wanted to hit himself. What an ignoramus he had been. He'd believed Lester's lies! Draco shook his head, a storm of emotions he couldn't name swirling in his stomach. "Then what's the potion? Why help me?"

Lester laughed. "You think I want to share the glory with the new Dark Lord? No. I will ascend above him after he does the dirty work I don't have the magic to do. You will cure him of his Darkness, but only enough to weaken his resolve. The Light will be snuffed out and the Dark will now cast a shadow over the Wizarding world! The oppression of the Ministry will last no more!"

The crazed look in Mythas' eyes made Draco shutter, but he still didn't back down from his stance, already running through spells he could use to disable Lester.

Lester seemed to read his mind. "Don't bother. You can't stop me. Look out the window, see where that noise came from."

Draco swallowed hard and turned around, peering out the window. The grip on his wand remained tight. He could see Harry now, a tall figure in billowing robes, wand raised to the sky with an electric green light shooting from the tip. Dark, shadowy creatures crawled towards him on the street below, some humanoid but others like ravaged animals. Dementors floated among them, sucking in the light from the street lamps until they flickered out. "What the hell is that?"

He whirled around to find Lester inches away from him, a wand now pressed against his throat. Lester grinned, eyes gleaming. "That's the sound of justice."

With that, Lester reared his hand back and Draco felt himself falling.

Everything faded to black.

---