Omega

Chapter 9

Harry served yet another coffee. His mind was in shambles. After their talk, he had left Draco's apartment in a daze. It had been three days since he last contacted the blonde. Even in all this time he was unable to decide how he truly felt.  Was he upset with Draco or with himself? He didn't even know.

The final customer for the day left and Harry finally let some relief sink into his bones. He was working the late shift. Where he worked was unfortunately one of those late night type places because the boss wanted to squeeze out as much money as possible, and because there were psychopaths that ordered coffee at 10pm.

His slightly bleary vision met the clock hung on the wall. It was already nearly pushing on midnight. After the experience he had, he had made it a point to get home before dusk, even if it meant losing out on some cash. what was the use of the money if he was dead in a ditch somewhere after all, but this shift was one he was not able to avoid.

After closing up the shop, he began his trek back home. It had become colder and windier in the last few days or maybe that was just him. Harry walked down the tranquil streets lost in thought.

Flashback to three days ago

Draco had not said anything yet.

Instead he stared at the raven incessantly as if mentally engraving the omega's face into his mind. Like he knew the minute Harry found out about who he was, he was going to run away. After seemingly getting his fill, the blonde grunted and clasped his hands.

"Have you ever heard of the sacred twenty-eight?" Draco asked, he didn't look up at Harry once instead his gaze seemed to be stuck on a particular ring on his index finger.

"No."

Draco let out a dry chuckle, "Of course you haven't, its a high society thing" Draco muttered morosely. He took a deep breath, needing some moments to gather himself before he continued.

"The sacred twenty eight is an elite group of pure-blooded noble families that have close ties with the English monarchy. They are very old, very influential and extremely powerful people who run the country behind the scenes."

Harry nodded in understanding, even though the blonde stubbornly kept his gaze on the signet ring on his right hand.

"They were divided into factions, what we call the dark and the light. The light are the nobles that we knew, families recognised by the general populace, those who served under the queen in public and pushed the agenda of the court unto the people."

Draco paused for a minute like he was struggling to get the words out.

"And the dark were the shadows. The people who did all the dirty work the court did not want the Royal name to be stained with. They do the killing, the trafficking and the erasing, almost like the mob but on a much, much more grander scale."

Harry stiffened. Judging by the look of shame on his face, the latter category was probably where the blonde belonged.

"A lot of the families lost their relevance and power over time. Some were cut off from the list and are considered blood-traitors, some lineages became extinct while others were destroyed by decades of in-breeding to keep the bloodline 'pure'. And so their responsibilities were granted to the families that remained."

Draco huffed and ran a hand through his hair.

"My family is the only one left of the dark and just because they call themselves the light doesn't mean they don't get involved in unsavoury things either, it just means they get to cover up the ugly bits and I don't. There is a constant struggle for power between both sides and as the only heir to my family I bear the brunt of it."