Escaping Darkness [Book 1 of Through Darkness and Light]

Chapter 21: Blood Magic and Horcruxes

A/N: This chapter has a bit more humor in it (well, I was smirking while writing it, so I hope it's somewhat humorous). Anyways, enjoy! There is a bit of Romanian in here (I used a translator, so if you speak Romanian, and it isn't correct, sorry!), but I forget what the original English version was. I know, silly me didn't write it down. :D Okay, enough rambling...but if you feel like smiling, go check out my 30 Ways to Piss Off the Harry Potter Cast! I've entered it in the Wattys. :) Ciao, loves! Refavoment!

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Time had passed, but neither cared about how long they had been sitting there, embracing each other. Harry was the first to break the silence, shifting positions. "I almost forgot...I have your present." 

Draco tilted his head up to look at him. "What?" 

"It's your birthday. You know, the day that everyone fawns all over you and gets you presents?" Harry teased. Draco shot him a smirk. 

"Welcome to my everyday life." 

"You wish everyone fawned all over you. Prat." 

Draco chuckled. "Whatever." He sat up, raising an eyebrow. "Well, go on then. Surprise me." 

Harry shook his head. "With that tone of voice, I don't think I will." 

Grey eyes widened in surprise, and Draco feigned hurt. "Fine." He crossed his arms with a huff, his lower lip protruding in a pout. 

"You look constipated." 

"Excuse me?" 

"There, that's better. Now you look sufficiently surprised." Harry shot Draco a cheeky grin, and reached into his jacket pocket. Draco glared at him, not quite forgiving him for the previous comment. Harry only smiled, as he handed over the small brown box. "Happy birthday, Draco." 

With a nervous glance at Harry, Draco asked, "You didn't rig it to explode, did you?" Seeing Harry's exasperated look, he said, "Okay, okay, I trust you." 

He opened the box, and stared at it, seeing the crumpled note inside. Eyeing the simple, yet elegant ring, he read the note, sitting there for a moment in silence. 

Harry interpreted his silence as a bad thing, and he nervously chewed on his lip. "Do you not like it? I didn't know what to get you, but if you'd like, I can get you something else..." His nervous rambling was cut off, as Draco suddenly drew him into a crushing hug. "Draco, what-?" 

"Thank you," Draco whispered. "It's perfect." Harry had promised to keep him safe...and this would fulfill that promise. Harry might not have known the true power behind the ring, but he did. Bonding rings were rare, but they were powerful. They protected with the one power Voldemort would never have - love. "Harry...I don't think you know what these do..." 

"I do. Hermione told me..." Harry glanced at Draco. "So you like it?" 

"Harry, I'm carrying a fortune around on my finger. How could I not like it? No, a better question...where did you buy this? It must have been expensive!"

"Erm...I, um..." Harry blushed, and Draco gave him a look. 

"You didn't steal it, did you?" 

"No!" Harry shrugged. "I got it from the Chamber of Secrets."

"What?!" 

"Turns out ol' Slytherin had a secret room or something. I don't know if there are any others, but I found one. Anyways, there was all this stuff, old valuable stuff...and I found this chest. I guess Slytherin had some sort of magic protecting it, but I managed to convince the two snakes to let me open it..."