JKR owns them, as if it weren't patently obvious…

The things I attempt when I'm feeling crabby and depressed. -_-;; I should probably just stick with fluff, but oh well…this stuff comes out on occasion anyway. I would dedicate this to Cairnsy and Mireille since they initially put the little seed of an idea in my head, but I'd like them to still talk to me when it's all said and done. ^-^;;; And the Percy in this is very much in the closet and very much in denial.

Anyway, on with the fic…and no kiddie eyes allowed, okay? It's dark. (Well, dark for me anyway. X_x)

*****

Phantoms

*****

"Perfect. Little. Percy." Each word enunciated in a clear, soft hiss in his ear. "Hogwarts perfect prefect…" The voice hissed again, this time he felt the nip at his ear, and startled he tried to shy away.

"Why?" He asked slowly, forcing the words past his aching lips, moving his jaw even though the effort sent sparks of pain radiating down his neck and across the back of his skull. The voice gave a nasty laugh before tipping back the chair he was tied to. He waited for the center of gravity to pitch backwards, and he flinched in anticipation.

"A bit jumpy now, aren't we?" A snicker accompanied the voice this time, and as the chair rocked back forward, Percy clenched his eyes shut, vowing not to look. Not to give him the satisfaction. "Aw, you're going to play the shy, pure virgin for me now? How fucking cute." Nails raked across the bare skin of his chest and Percy bit back the hiss of pain as best he could. He could feel the weight rest itself over his legs, his arms snaking around his neck…He tried to jerk away, but his arms were tied tight against the back of the chair, and the jerk sent shards of pain skittering across his skull again. "Although it's not a play for you, now is it. Just look at all this snowy skin."

"What do you want from me?" He gritted out as the nails raked down the side of his chest, taking skin with them.

"What I want," The sibilant hiss was there in his ear again as his hot breath fell against his skin, "is for you to open your eyes." There was a twist and a jerk, and his nipple was on fire. Gasping, Percy let his eyes fly open, finding himself face to face with his tormentor. "Now that's more like it." Lips quirked in a cruel smirk, and Percy stared at the reddish-brown eyes, unable to decipher anything from their depths. "Now what are you so scared of, little prefect?"

Percy shuddered, knowing that the other knew exactly what he was scared of, and he tried to shy back as the black hair fell lightly against his forehead. The movement only earned him pain as the other boy's fingers dug into the tendons at his neck. "You." He gasped as the black haired boy's straddled legs pushed hips against hips.

"Liar." The word was accompanied by a chuckle as the other boy leaned forward, moving up against Percy's body to reach behind him for something. "I'm not even real, why would you be scared of me, little one?" Percy could feel the purr in the other boy's voice just before he pulled back, flashing something in front of Percy with a satisfied grin.

Percy decided to stay silent this time, eyeing the other boy a bit wildly, waiting for the next move. Pouting, the black haired boy reached out, one hand gliding across Percy's slightly swollen jaw, the palm coming to rest on a cheek. "Trying to play the stoic strong silent type? It doesn't suit you." A rough thumb rubbed over his lower lip, breaking the freshly made scabs and making Percy wince.  "You're pretty when you bleed. It makes you look all open and vulnerable." Winking, the boy pulled back his thumb, sliding it lightly across Percy's cheek before delicately licking off the excess blood. "Tastes good too." Came the husky whisper, as the black haired boy leaned over, licking lightly at Percy's frozen lips before biting down hard.

Yelping again, Percy yanked his head back, nearly blinding himself from the pain in the process as amused laughter filtered through his ears. "Stop it. Just stop it."

"Stop what?"

"This!"

"I'm not doing anything you don't want me to do." The reddish-brown eyes narrowed in a cruel smile. "We have a lot in common, you know."

"I am nothing like you." Percy managed to force his tongue to comply with conviction, before giving the black haired boy a haughty glare of disgust. The harsh laugh he received in return was not comforting in the least.

"Oh, poor little prefect. Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. It hardly matters." The black haired boy pressed something solid and cool up against his skin. "I wouldn't be here if you hadn't begged me to come. Poor little pathetic prefect. Has no friends, has no family, has no life."

Something sharp pierced at the skin above his heart, and Percy cried out as the pain skated across that patch of skin.

"Seems appropriate, doesn't it? Personally, I prefer the irony of it. Your blood trickling slowly out of your heart, sliding across the very thing you use to protect it." The wolfish smile in the other boy's eyes furthered Percy's panic.

"What did you do?" He managed hoarsely, doubting now that he'd get a straight answer.

"You looked so naked without it. Besides, it's all pretty and silvery there against your white skin and even the tiny rivers of blood on either side look perfect against you. Because perfection is something we have to strive for, right?" The words were purred against his throat before teeth bit into his neck. Nails bit at his biceps, and flinching back, Percy couldn't keep the ragged quality out of his breathing any more.

"I was wrong about you."

Peals of amused laughter fell over him.

"What? You thought I'd be a willing ear? A protective force to cuddle you, to make you feel loved and appreciated? You thought I'd just come out to comfort you in your hour of need and mop up the pathetic tears you would cry on my shoulder? Oh, little one, that wasn't why you called me out, and you know it. You don't fucking deserve my pity, my compassion, or my mercy." Fingers grabbed at his nipple, twisting hard, and eliciting a groan of pain from him.

"I hate you."

"Oh come now, you know that's not true. What a compulsive little liar you've become. You can't even see the truth in front of your own face anymore, now can you? It's not me you wish would simply vanish. It's not me that you wish would simply die. It's not me who disgusts everyone. And it isn't me who doesn't deserve to live. It's not me you hate." The black haired boy's nails raked down his stomach, coming to a stop at the waist of his trousers.

"Poor little prefect, so alone all the time." The words were cooed softly in his ears and the dark head bent over slightly and leaned against Percy's shoulder, the boy's warm breath caressing the cool skin of his collar bone. Nails that had raked hot bloody trails moments before now caressed lightly. "You feel so isolated all the time. Like no one could understand what you're going through. Like no one knows the pressure you feel or how deeply words wound you. You watch them all, day in and day out. Envious, jealous even, of the things that they have, the touches the revel in and take for granted. You feel excluded. On the outside and unable to patch your way back into their graces and into their lives."

A button popped open, followed by the zipper coming down, and the black haired boy's hand was in his pants, caressing him lightly through his boxers. "I understand." The words are whispered against his throat as the black haired boy's tongue licked tentatively, mimicking on a patch of ivory skin the smooth motions his hand was making against Percy's growing erection. "I understand how you ache for someone to touch you like I'm touching you now. I know how you feel when you think illicit thoughts and what you think when catch yourself looking while in the prefects' bathroom. You want someone to be so close to you that they can see you past your shield…and still find something redeemable."

Percy whimpered quietly, and the black haired boy lifted his head from Percy shoulder. "You don't want to be the only one in your world any more. I understand that." There was a faint click as the boy flicked something open out of Percy's eyesight with his unoccupied hand. "You just want to be loved…" There was a muffled thump, and Percy screamed as pain jolted through his upper thigh. Wildly he looked down at the pen knife sticking straight out of it before blinking back tears as his eyes came to meet the slightly demonic ones of the boy in front of him. "…you pathetic little sick fuck."

Percy gulped back another scream as the knife was yanked out. "A few soft words, and light touches and you're ready to be fucked silly, you perfect little whore." Percy shut his eyes against the ripping sound as the knife cut through his pant legs, nipping at the insides of his thighs, and he both felt and heard the black haired boy laugh as the boxers were made short work of.

"I hate you." The words came out in a broken sob, barely distinguishable to his own ears.

"It's not me you hate." The black haired boy smirked back. Percy let out a startled yelp as the hand that had been holding his erection slipped back over his balls and towards his anus. "You hate that you imagine doing things like this to Oliver or to Cedric. You hate that you sit in your bed late at night, picturing the way they looked that morning, the water dripping off them, oblivious to your covert stares. You hate that this is just another reason for people to shun you, to push you away, to rationalize why it's alright to treat you like shit. And you hate that deep down, you think they'd be right to do so."

Two fingers pushed forcefully in, and Percy tried to back away from them in extreme discomfort as they burned a trail inside him. "But most of all, you hate that you feel like this. An unwelcome, unwanted invasion in people's most private places." Leaning over, the black haired boy bit hard at his throat, drawing blood. "You're a disease, little one. A cancerous growth on humanity." The words were spoken matter-of-factly into his ears, brooking no argument from him.

There was a knock on the door, and for a moment, Percy sat rooted in terror as a cold sweat ran down the back of his neck. Flexing his muscles, he tried to tug away from the ties that bound him, only to discover that they—along with the dark haired boy—had vanished. All that was left behind was his own bleeding, weeping wounds and the mangled remains of his pants.

"Percy?" The knock sounded again as Ginny's voice trailed off uncertainly.

"Just…just give me a minute, Gin." He managed before shakily climbing to his feet and pulling his robe off the bed behind him and over his body. Limping slightly, he moved over to the knob, twisted it open, and let his worried little sister enter.

"Do you look at it? Did you try it? What do you think? What should I do?" The stream of anxious, worried questions flew out of her mouth in a jumble and Percy bit back a grimace and he forced himself not to hobble over to his desk.

"Get rid of it. Get rid of it and tell no one about it." He whispered hoarsely as he shoved it into her hands. Her brown eyes grew large and she nodded, swallowing hard. Without a word, she scampered back out the way she came, and Percy shut the door behind her. Then he peeled off the robe, revealing the bloody trails where nails had taken off skin, a swollen much abused nipple, blood that dribbled down his thighs and down his chest…

Reaching over towards his left side of his chest, he pulled the once shiny sliver prefect badge out of the patch of flesh covering his heart.