Eternal /Drarry/

Chapter 21: R.A.B

Harry sat on the floor in the astronomy tower. The sky was still dark before him, vague hues of pinks, yellows and oranges beginning to line the horizon as morning drew closer. A cold breeze blew his hair back, biting at his nose and cheeks as he looked across the grounds, watching the funeral that was being held.

Dumbledore's funeral. All his friends were there, all the teachers, all the students, mourning the loss of the headmaster. Harry hadn't wanted to go; he'd wanted to do nothing but be alone since he'd watched the man fall from the tower. His head felt empty, like he couldn't think, couldn't for, any coherent thought, so he sat in a state of dreary blankness.

In his hands he twisted the locket, the metal cold in his fingers, beginning to shine in the light that was emerging, a wary reminder that soon his skin would burn. The green snake that leered at him from behind the glass was a taunting reminder, a sickening feeling, that in his hands he held a piece of Voldemort's soul. It was hard to believe, to be honest, that an object so normal looking contained a piece of the most dark, evil wizard to walk the earth.

The thought of Slytherin brought his mind back to Draco, who'd caused the funeral going on below him. People would hate him when they found out, they'd isolate him and wouldn't trust him anymore. No longer would Molly Weasley coddle him, Hermione Granger talk to him about books, and Ron wouldn't even try to tolerate his presence anymore. He had to hope that Remus and Sirius wouldn't turn on him as well, but Harry knew it couldn't be Draco's fault. He'd changed, changed far too much over the past few years to have willingly done this. Things hadn't been right all year, he must have been under the imperius curse when he murdered the headmaster, there wasn't any other explanation Harry could come up with. There was no point in threatening Harry, he could take care of himself, surely Draco knew that.

The sun finally rose, and Harry only realised when his hands started burning, forcing him to stand and move back into the shadowed area of the tower. The sound of footsteps ascending the staircase below him made him turn, seeing Remus walk up the stairwell.

He looked tired, like always, but now there was something else in his features, a heart wrenching sadness, a look of quietened agony. His eyes were red, dark circles hanging beneath them, and his posture was hunched, exhausted.

"How's Draco?" Harry asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Fine, he's sleeping," Remus replied, voice scratchy, clear that he'd been crying. "What's that?" He asked curiously, looking at the locket in Harry's hands.

"It's a piece of Voldemort's soul," Harry replied truthfully, finding the look these words caused to cross Remus' face pretty funny despite the situation. "It's a horcrux, it's the reason he can't die. He'd stored parts of his soul in objects, and we need to find and destroy them to kill him."

Remus frowned. "But what if he stored his soul in, I don't know, a random pebble or something? Isn't it impossible?"

"Dumbledore thinks he knew what most of them were, or at least had some ideas."

Remus nodded somewhat numbly.

"You need sleep," Harry told him, Remus just giving him a weak smile.

"Sleep can wait. I've gotten permission to take you back to Grimmauld until the end of the term, and then you'll need to go back to the Dursleys for the holidays."

Harry groaned. "I don't want to go back."

"You have to, I'm afraid, there's nothing we can do about it."

Silence resumed between them, leaving Harry to fiddle with the locket more, finding that the locket could open. He frowned curiously, opening it, and seeing a slip of paper, folded to be tiny, tucked inside the locket.

He took it out, Remus watching as he straightened the paper out, eyes scanning across the neat handwriting printed across it.

To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B

Harry had to read it multiple times before the words sunk in, a growl of anger passing his lips as he lifted the locket, hurling it over the edge of the tower, eyes beginning to heat up as tears finally surfaced.

******

The atmosphere in Grimmauld Place was tense. Draco had woken up a few hours after Harry got there, and had been completely silent.

They were sitting on Draco's bed, Draco leaning on Harry, eyes half closed. Not breaking the silence, Harry handed him the slip of paper he'd found inside the locket a few hours ago. Draco glanced at Harry in confusion before starting to read the words, a look of pain crossing his face.

"It was Snape," he choked out once he'd finished reading.

"What?"

"All year I've been having bad dreams," he whispered, hiding his face in Harry's shoulder. "Of your parents, of me, dead, all telling me to fix this thing called a Vanishing Cabinet. It's in the Room of Requirement, I found it in second year, it's like a portal sort of thing, you put something in one and it transports it to the other that it's linked to. Snape was telling me to fix it in my dreams, while trying to get me to kill Dumbledore. It was his voice telling me what to do, I don't know how I didn't notice."

Harry glared at the ground. He'd always known that man was absolutely evil, no matter what people told him otherwise. "You need to rest, you've been through a lot," Harry murmured, Draco lifting his gaze, grey eyes haunted.

"I don't want to sleep ever again," he mumbled. "What if I start having nightmares again?"

"Then I'll be here for you. I'll stay till you fall asleep," Harry replied softly, pressing their lips together gently, Draco leaning almost desperately into the kiss. It was almost as if he was starved of affection, hardly daring to pull away even to breathe.

After holding him for ten minutes, kissing him sleepily, Draco finally drifted off. Making sure he was sleeping soundly, Harry stayed close for another ten minutes before leaving the room.

Remus met him in the living room. "Can I see the note from the locket?" He asked.

"Why? Do you know who R.A.B is?"

"No, but I told Sirius about it, and he wants to see the note."

Harry handed it over, following Remus into the kitchen where Sirius was sitting at the dining table, quickly taking the note out of Remus' hands. As soon as his eyes found the handwriting and the signature, he closed them and pushed the scrap of paper away, as if he couldn't bear to look at it.

"Regulus," he said quietly, voice pained.

"Who?" Harry asked quietly.

"His younger brother," Remus whispered.

"I haven't heard from him in years, I always hoped he'd just disappeared, that he wasn't dead," Sirius mumbled, pressing his palms into his eyes.

"His death won't be in vain, I promise," Harry said firmly. "We'll find the real locket and destroy it, we'll beat him, I swear."