Draco's eyes shot open and he glanced around, only met with darkness. His hand closed around his wand and he squeezed it tight, the words "I love you," on his lips for some reason. Instead of those words, he quickly mumbled lumos and his wand lit up.

Where was he? Draco glanced around only to see long rows of shelves that went on into the void. Blueish glowing files littered the shelves, strange and otherworldly. The Department of Mysteries? What on earth was he doing here. Glowing black and blue tiles glittered beneath him as Draco stood. His wand lit up brighter than any wand he'd ever seen. The illumination sent bright light down the seemingly endless hallways of shelves full to the brim of random assortments of things. An endless amount of Merlin knows what scattered on shelves that towered over Draco.

No one really knew what was hidden down in this level of the Ministry, but Draco only had one goal. To get out. He was sure Lester had sent him here to keep him out of the way, to hide him from Harry so he stood no chance of possibly saving him.

Draco didn't know that wasn't what had happened at all. He didn't know that the ancient wand in his possession, a wand more powerful than all others, had sensed the great desire to save Harry Potter. It took the yearning and turned it into a spell. That spell had taken Draco here, to the Department of Mysteries, where he would either find his solution, or get lost in a labyrinth trying.

If he wasn't wrong, Harry was still somewhere in the Ministry along with Hermione, and if Harry was on a murderous rampage, it wouldn't end well for Draco if he was caught. Harry might think he's still a ghost and try to banish him to the afterlife. Then Draco would actually be a ghost. Yet Mythas had given him the means to save him. "Yet the means to save him will only give Lester what he wants," Draco whispered aloud.

Draco wished he was back on the streets, with nothing to worry about and plenty of soup to eat and no one bothering him. The Muggle police never bothered him, they acted like he wasn't even there.

But now he was in the wizard world. With a dead monster of magic and an evil boyfriend who was supposed to be a strong Gryffindor! Who was supposed to be helpful and nice and brave. And he had a crazy wizard who was some Voldemort wannabe. And he had a mysterious wand on the mysterious floor of the ministry.

What in the hell was he gonna do?

Draco sighed, rubbing his throbbing head, tightening the Slytherin scarf he still had and walking straight forward. He didn't know it was further into the darkness, or closer to the way out.

He pressed a finger to his lips. All he knew was that on his lips was the key to saving Harry. He touched his pocket, where a small vile of the potion Lester had made sat. Draco tried to recall the events before he woke up here. All he remembered was Lester standing over him, hanging him the vile. You should've seen the look on your face, Lester was laughing.

A plan began to formulate in his head. A path to saving Harry and getting rid of Mythas Lester.

How was he going to get Harry, who thought he was dead, to kiss him of his own free will?

He chuckled weakly. "Love endures all things," he recalled the words he'd read years ago in a Muggle book, "let's see if you love me enough to save the world."

Draco held his want out in front of him, walking slowly in a direction he thought could lead him to the exit. If he didn't know how he would get out, or where the end of the maze even was, how was he ever going to find Harry and get him to kiss him? He would be lost in the Department of Mysteries for too long, it would be too late for Harry, Lester would get to him. That must be Lester's plan, Draco decided as he held his wand out and began to channel all his energy through the wood. It flowed bright as he focused inward, on the night Harry tried transfiguring his bed for Draco, under the bridge, laughing over box mac and cheese. Harry, he thought as he opened his eyes and shouted the words, "Expecto Patronum!"

Lester couldn't win. Draco wouldn't let him. A blue light shot out of his wand and an ethereal stag took form, shining with blue light that reminded Draco of the night sky. The stag danced around him for a moment, leaping high into the air and back down to the ground. It came close to Draco, nuzzling him with its nose, sending electric tingles up Draco's arms.

One of the deer's antlers was cracked and broken, and its ribs poked through its translucent skin, skinny and small. The stag turned in the opposite  direction Draco was walking in, and began to lead the way.

Draco smiled.

-_-_-_-_-

Harry couldn't think straight. His mind was fuzzy and blurred. All he could see was a dark swirl of smoke and lightning. He was trapped in his very own mind.

He had always had a tiny spec of darkness inside of him. Normally that darkness was so small, he could keep it in check. But then it started to grow. Little by little until a form began to take shape in Harry's mind. It whispered things in his ear. At first it made him lustful. He lusted for power and revenge, thoughts he'd managed to bury over the years, but they began to make over. That made him angry. It made him so angry as the darkness began to grow and swell in size. Then it began to take over. It grabbed Harry's thoughts and now Harry could only watch through his own eyes. He looked and saw Draco's face, broken when he turned him away. But Draco had to be dead, right? The Ministry killed him? The thoughts kept whispering to him, making him question everything until he agreed with the whispering voice. Fighting the voice became so tiring, so he repeated the words it told him to say, felt what it told him to feel, and believed what it told him was real.

No, he was making his own decisions, right? He was fighting for justice, for stopping the regression of society!

Or was that the dark thing taking over again? Was it him talking?

Harry could only watch as he tied up Hermione, asking her again and again where Draco's body was. They stood in the office of the Minister of Magic, where Harry had killed him hours before. He strapped Hermione to the chair, he didn't want to kill her but he couldn't have her running around with a wand.

"I told you a million times I don't know where Draco is and he's not dead! He's alive!"

"Hermione I'm going to rip this entire city to shreds if you don't tell me where his body is. I want to bury him in peace before his body is disturbed by the upcoming war. He can't be harmed."

"I thought you..." Hermione coughed, straining against her bonds. "Hated Draco."

How could she say that. "How could you say that! I loved him and the Ministry put a hit out on him before I could tell him."

"You love him? You barely know him."

"Shut up!" Harry snapped, "you're distracting me from more important tasks. We'll finish this later. The war has only just begun, I need to kill another soul. If I do, maybe I can bring Draco back. Another soul for a soul."

"Another what?" Hermione's tone changed, from angry to scared.

"A horcrux. I made one to save Draco and it failed."

"So that's why he woke up," Hermione muttered, "Harry, I promise you he's alive. He can help you, help you, save society! Just find him before you go start your war, please."

"Quiet," he said.

Maybe she was right.

But he didn't know. The darkness was too strong now.