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Here to Live and Die	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 5833 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money from this fanfic.

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Chapter Two—Meeting

            “There they are.”

            Harry had thought that the winds would bring him the first news of their enemies’ arrival, or perhaps a guard running from the borders of the meadow would, but he happened to be on guard himself, with Draco and Open Wings, when they saw them for the first time. The winds had been able to tell him weight and speed and direction of flight before this, but the information remained muted and hard to understand as long as Harry didn’t really understand what he was supposed to be looking for.

            Now he understood. The closest of all the creatures he had met on Hurricane to the animals soaring towards them now had been the fin-winged shark he and Draco had seen in the ocean, and that hadn’t been sentient.

            These were like great rays, the manta rays that Harry had seen during a trip to the aquarium with his Muggle primary school. They floated and rippled on the wind, great spreading blankets of color. Harry blinked and lifted his hand to shade his eyes. He hadn’t seen such brilliant shades anywhere on Hurricane, even near the ocean, or the silver flowers that he and Draco had discovered during their flight over the deep plains. Scarlet and pink and glorious, thrumming blue even deeper than the color the skies turned at twilight here. And some that glimmered from within like diamonds, and some with the startling white of fresh parchment.

            On their backs, about the middle where those backs mounded up, sat humans. Harry thought he recognized Primrose’s erect carriage and lifted head from here, but it was probably silly to think that. He really had no idea where she was riding, or what she might feel about having mounts to ride.

            She probably likes it, Draco whispered, leaning towards him. Since being in the air that way would give her a way to combat the birds.

            Harry nodded, and turned to Open Wings. The rider who had first had the courage to approach them and the mummidade, he was standing beside them on the ground now, his talon-hand on the neck of his beast, Swoop in the mummidade’s translation of the riders’ language. Harry was doing his best to learn that language and cut out the part that the mummidade otherwise played in their bond, but it was difficult. The two-toned screeches that made up most words weren’t anything he felt capable of producing.

            He licked his lips and tried. “Scout?” he asked, with the rising, whistling inflection that, luckily, both English and the riders’ language used to indicate questions.

            Open Wings looked at him for a single, critical second that was as much an evaluation of Harry’s skills with the language as a sign of doubt. Then he nodded, and turned towards Swoop, gesturing with two fingers. Swoop bowed his neck, and Open Wings ran up it and into the saddle. A moment later, they were aloft, and spinning towards the great rays. Harry had to admit it was probably his bias, but Swoop looked more graceful in the air to him.

            “Do you think it’ll go well?” Draco whispered into his ear, aloud, as he usually did for questions that mattered to him.

            Harry put his arm around Draco and silently shrugged. He didn’t know what a good meeting between people who were probably enemies would look like. If the humans with Primrose wanted to live in the meadow, then they were probably going to have a bad one. The riders were already uneasy about the potential human growth that might follow as more people had children.

            And that wasn’t even counting the ritual dance that Draco hoped the mummidade would teach them, Harry thought, that would give the two of them the chance to have their own children.

            The thought made his cheeks grow red, and was about the only one that could have distracted him from the meeting in the air. Draco caught it and gave him a secretive glance, a bright smile darting across his mouth and vanishing.

            “You think of it, too, then,” he said, and focused on Open Wings and the rays again. “That was all I wanted to know.”

            Harry would have retorted, but it really was more important right now to pay attention to the various kinds of riders slowly skirmishing around each other over the mountains that surrounded the meadow. It didn’t seem as though the riders knew about the rays, either. Even with the mummidade translating, they’d said they didn’t know what, besides birds, the other humans might have been riding.

            Well, that was understandable, Harry thought, shielding his eyes with his hand again to see better. The riders had stayed in the north for years, or so it seemed, and had little reason to venture beyond their borders before.

            Send your winds, Draco whispered. I want to hear what Primrose is saying.

            A good idea, and one that Harry had to chide himself for not thinking of before now. He nodded, and the winds fled away from him and towards the distant meeting.

            It seemed that no one was speaking when they arrived. Instead, Primrose was leaning forwards on her ray’s hump—which Harry could see from this distance, too—and tapping her fingers on the leathery skin that made up its back. She was frowning at Open Wings, who continued to hang in front of her. Maybe she had expected to have someone she could understand here, Harry thought.

            Maybe he should have joined Open Wings on Swoop’s back, or maybe he should have flown out on the winds—

            This isn’t always your burden, Draco said into his mind, and tightened his hold on Harry’s shoulder. And you have to remember, there’s no reason for Primrose to welcome you. She might think of us as enemies, more so than the other humans she could meet on Hurricane.

            Harry hesitated, then shrugged agreement to that. It wasn’t something he liked to admit, but yes, Primrose hadn’t left them on the best of terms. There was little that they could offer her, but she knew how to survive on her own. She was the one who had shown them how to catch the small, rabbit-like creatures who haunted the grass on the southern plains.

            Open Wings held up his taloned hands wide, in front of Primose, and then brought them gently down. It was a gesture Harry had taught him, to show that he had no weapons. Primrose leaned further forwards at it, and then turned and seemed to stare at the green meadow, what she could see of it, beyond Swoop’s back.

            Can she see us? Draco murmured, as though he didn’t want to speak aloud and possibly alert Primrose that they were there.

            I don’t think so, Harry said. Or she would have started towards us before now.

            But perhaps Primrose had caught a glimpse of them after all, because she suddenly started, sat back, and clenched her hand on the reins or whatever else might control her ray, jerking her head a little. The ray flew straight up like it was swimming and arched over Swoop’s head, towards the meadow.

            Swoop rose at once, his wings beating sideways. Harry had seen the riders perform several such maneuvers during their first visit to the meadow, when the riders had no way of knowing that they weren’t enemies, but he had to admit that he hadn’t ever seen something this graceful. Swoop caught up with Primrose’s ray and hovered in front of it again, politely, Harry thought, as though Primrose hadn’t just tried to get past him.

            Others were pouring around Swoop, though, and towards the meadow. And Harry had to admit that sending one scout out by himself, no matter how experienced, probably wasn’t a good idea.

            “All right, let’s go,” he told Draco, and used winds to scoop Draco and himself off their feet and into the air before Draco could object. Not that Draco planned to, as he told Harry in a lofty tone in the back of his mind as they flew towards the meeting in midair. He would have been upset if Harry had tried to leave him behind to “protect” him or something else equally stupid.

            Harry smiled at him. Well, good. Then you can help me think of some things that we can say to Primrose when we get there.

            That I’m glad she found her own version of the bird?

            Harry rolled his eyes, and touched the bond with Draco in a way that made Draco quiver with laughter. They soared on.

*

            Primrose had done well for herself, Draco saw as they got closer, and not just because she had a creature of her own to ride on now. She looked taller than since the last time they had seen her, more tanned and far more confident. She held small leashes of white and grey cloth that seemed to run around the manta’s lumpish head to the mouth underneath it.

            She did stare in a gratifying way when she saw who was coming towards her, Draco admitted. He glanced at the other humans riding the mantas behind her, but didn’t see anyone he recognized. Considering some of the former Death Eaters they knew were on Hurricane, that was a relief rather than otherwise.

            “Harry Potter, at the center of everything strange that happens, whether or not this is our world,” Primrose muttered, and shook her head. “I should have known.”

            “We came north and made our home here,” Harry said, and gestured towards Open Wings, who bowed over Swoop’s neck. The choice of him as the one to negotiate with the humans and mummidade had been coincidence as much as anything else, Draco knew; he had been the one with the courage to approach them when they appeared on the borders of the meadow. But he had worked out well as a diplomatist. “We were in a vulnerable location in the south, and the country here is more sheltered and more earth-like. We made an alliance with the riders and used that to defeat the creature that threatened them.”

            “The creature whose presence the thunderrin have felt,” Primrose said, and laid her hand on the back of the manta’s neck, leaving no doubt the thunderrin were the mantas. “They knew that something immensely powerful was in the north, and then it wasn’t anywhere. We came to investigate what had done that, and whether it was likely to be a threat to us.”

            Harry held her eyes. “Not unless you attack us first.”

            Primrose stared at him, and then at Draco, and then back and forth between them and Open Wings, as if in doing that, she might find the answer to the problem Harry had apparently just handed her.

            Well, she’s not wrong, since we all defeated Bodiless together, Harry murmured.

            Draco rolled his eyes a little. Yes, they had all done it together, but Harry had been the focal point, and their bond the thing that had drawn the other humans into the battle. He wished that Harry would remember that sometimes. He didn’t want to be the leader anymore, but at least he could claim the glory that was due to him.

            It’s all yours, Harry said, and went on speaking. “Yes, we defeated Bodiless. It took us, and the mummidade, and the riders, all of us, to do it. And after that, they were glad enough to let us share their territory. It’s safer here.”

            “You already said that,” Primrose murmured. She was still staring as though her eyes would fall out of her head. She glanced back as though to make sure that the other humans who rode the thunderrin couldn’t hear, and then leaned nearer. “You—you know what this means?”

            “I know it means that we can have peace between us,” Harry said, holding her gaze. His calm voice made him all the more impressive, Draco thought. Here was someone who didn’t have to storm and shout and bluster to express his power. He hoped that Primrose was thinking the same thing. It would be tiresome to start another battle just when they had won the first one. “Because you probably have your own settlements and your own safety under the protection of the thunderrin, and that means you don’t need our land or our allies.”

            “I would have said it was impossible,” Primrose said, and shook her head a little. “We thought you might be something that could threaten us. That’s true.”

            “But ridiculous,” Draco said. He had been willing to keep quiet and let Harry handle this, but Harry hadn’t been blunt enough for her. “Don’t you see? You have everything you need, or you should, and nothing else that you need to attack us for. And if you do decide to attack, then we can obliterate you.”

            “The thunderrin have magic you know nothing about.” Primrose’s hands both rested on the ugly creature’s head now.

            “No doubt,” Harry said. “But why should we go to war? We have no quarrel with you. We let you walk away when you wanted to, and we didn’t persecute you. You seem determined to continue an argument of some sort. Why?”

            Primrose gritted her teeth. “You don’t find it threatening to know that you exist, and could turn that magic on us?”

            “Do you have people that stupid with you?” Draco asked. “That they want a war, or they want to control the whole of Hurricane? It can’t be done, anyway. It’s way too vast. We don’t have any reason to hurt you unless you hurt us. That’s what we’re trying to say.”

            Primrose eyed him. “It didn’t sound like what you were saying.”

            “That’s it, then,” Harry cut in. “We have bonds with the mummidade and the riders.” He nodded to Open Wings again, who bowed over Swoop’s neck again, and sat there as though he had no intention of glancing away from Primrose for a moment. Draco wondered if that was because she was speaking, or because he’d identified her as the leader, or because she seemed the best-suited to fighting on her creature. “We’re content to stay here and make a home. You don’t need our space, our land, or our allies. Why attack?”

            Primrose half-closed her eyes. “There were some of us who hoped we were the most powerful people on Hurricane, now that we’ve found the thunderrin.”

            “Get used to disappointment,” Draco told her cheerfully.

            Harry threw him a filthy look—though not as filthy as some of the ones they’d used on each other last night, and which Draco thoughtfully remembered for him, and which made Harry flush—and turned back to Primrose. “What can the thunderrin do that’s so special?” he asked. “And remember that attacking is going to bring a lot more riders down on you than you have riders and thunderrin.”

            Primrose nodded and guided her creature backwards with a few taps of her fingers. Then she shut her eyes, bowed her head, and held up her hands.

            She vanished in a gleaming cocoon of light, illusion. Draco knew that, but it was still unnerving to see a Hungarian Horntail dragon turn its head towards him and hiss menacingly.

            “The thunderrin can create glamours and illusions based on anything that’s in someone else’s mind,” Primrose’s voice said, and the dragon vanished. She was looking at them with a light that seemed to shine through her skin as well as her eyes. Draco nodded a little. He was sure that he had never seen her look this confident when she was still part of their camp. That meant that venturing away from them and into the wild had been the best thing she could do for herself. “We thought—well, we thought that any enemies we met could be defeated because the thunderrin would know what they feared most and be able to create that image.”

            “A simplistic way to do it,” Draco murmured, and smiled sweetly back at Primrose when she scowled at him. Harry dug his elbow into Draco’s ribs and his mind into the bond, and that was harder to ignore.

            “It would have protected us,” Primrose said, and then turned back and eyed Harry. “Although maybe not from someone like you.”

            Harry shook his head. “We’ve told you the conditions of staying on good terms with us already. Are you really going to throw that away because you want some mythical greatest power?”

            Primrose sniffed a little and touched the sides of her robes as though she was going to hold them up and keep them from trailing through dirt. “Not now. But as long as you’re sure that the creature we felt die can’t come back…”

            “It can’t,” Harry said, and then looked behind her at the other humans riding on the thunderrin. “And frankly, I want to hear the story of how you met them, but I’m getting tired of hanging up in the air here. Come down?”

            Draco concealed a snort. Harry’s magic supported and sustained their presence in the air, and was less likely to get tired than Swoop’s wings. He wanted to make a point to Primrose, one that would work better if she saw how many allies they had and the kind of home they were building in the meadow.

            Yes, I am, Harry told him. But she might guess what I’m doing if you make too many loud noises. Shut up, please.

            Yes, master, Draco shot back, and rolled his eyes. Harry’s rolled an instant behind his, and then he turned and smiled at Primrose, who was watching them both intently.

            “Do you have the authority to extend an invitation like that to me?” she demanded. “I don’t know if the rest of the people that follow you would like it…”

            “I notice that no one else has tried to interrupt you,” Harry said, and nodded at the humans on the thunderrin again. “I have as much power to extend the favor as you do to accept it.”

            Primrose smiled at that. “It’s thrilling being an authority,” she murmured, which could have been agreement with Harry or just something she wanted them to know about her. “All right. Let’s go down.”

            Harry made a little noise of agreement and dived right behind her, as the thunderrin flapped lazily towards the meadow. Draco followed in Harry’s wake, of course, and the other thunderrin came behind them, and Swoop soared in front of everyone, with Open Wings sitting upright and proud on him.

            Open Wings did glance back, once, over his shoulder, with his head twisted to the side in the bird-like gesture that Draco had come to think of as watching a worm to see how much it thrashed. “Best?” he asked, another of the rider words that Draco had come to recognize.

            Harry, his gaze focused ahead, didn’t appear to notice, but Draco caught Open Wings’s eyes and nodded reassuringly. Open Wings faced forwards again, his talons curling down and hard into the feathers of Swoop’s neck.

            So, with the whole cavalcade trailing behind them and another war averted, they came home.

*

            Harry could feel the stares when the thunderrin began to land in the meadow. They came down weirdly, for one thing, their flap-wings spread out, and then bounced on their bellies a little, before settling back on their tails and extending their wings down to the grass. Harry wasn’t sure if they could really move on the ground, but it was disturbing to watch them mimic the postures of four-legged animals when they didn’t have legs.

            But more than that, these were strangers, and most of the Weasleys had good reason to fear strangers now. The bonding that had happened between them when they fought Bodiless, Harry had learned, had connected them more closely than ever. There were fewer arguments—even Bill was less abrasive than he had been—and people spent more time, willingly, with the mummidade and the riders. Harry had thought it was a good thing. Now they could face the dangers of a world like Hurricane without being torn apart by their internal divisions.

            It had been a good thing. Maybe. Now Andromeda huddled next to Arthur, and Molly, who usually opened her arms to everyone, didn’t look disposed to welcome the strangers. Harry bit his lip, wondering if his invitation to Primrose to land had indeed been a bit too hasty.

            Then Teddy broke away from Andromeda and raced towards Harry, his arms uplifted and his face shining. He had eyes only for Harry, it seemed, although Harry did catch him glancing curiously at the thunderrin once or twice.

            “Harry!”

            Harry knelt down and picked Teddy up, cradling him, and grunting a little when Teddy’s feet wrapped around his ribs. Draco placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder, his eyes steady as they turned to Primrose. Harry turned to face her, too, wondering if he would look like a weaker target while he was holding his godson.

            If anything, Primrose was regarding him with a faint smile. There were no children with her, Harry noticed. Of course, it was possible that the human group she’d joined had some and just didn’t see the need to bring them on what they had thought might be a battle mission.

            “Nice to see you again,” Primrose told Teddy, and faced Harry. “Is there any chance that we could get some food?”

            “Sure,” Harry said, and glanced over his shoulder at the others, daring them to disagree. Molly sighed, and Ron and Hermione pushed forwards with some of the cooked flesh that the riders fed on, from the antelope-like animals that ran the meadow. Harry smiled and faced Primrose. “Unless the thunderrin can’t eat meat?” he added.

            “They’re predators,” Primrose said, and stretched out her hand for the nearest plate. “Thanks, Granger. Good to see you again.”

            “You, too,” Hermione said, while she looked at the thunderrin with a devouring gaze. Harry had to hide a smile. Hermione probably wished she had made a discovery as grand as the one that Primrose had.

            She was part of our expeditions to the north. I think she can be bloody grateful that she got to see as much as she did.

            Harry rolled his eyes a little as Draco spoke, and watched to see how the thunderrin ate. Apparently they caught the strips of meat that Primrose and the others tossed them on the edges of their wings, forming a shape like a diamond, and then brought it to those mouths in the underside of their faces, sucking it in.

            “It’s a long story, how we met them,” Primrose said, meeting his eyes. She was leaning a little forwards on the balls of her feet, but Harry didn’t think she was about to attack. He nodded grudgingly, and she smiled at him and moved back a little, pushing her hair behind her ears. “Do you want to hear it?”

            “What else did he bring you here for?” Draco muttered, and added to Harry in the bond, Doesn’t anyone else who’s with her ever talk?

            “Want some lunch,” Teddy said clearly. He tried to reach for the plate as it was handed past him.

            Harry gave him a piece of the meat and sat down in the grass with him while he slobbered it up. Teddy always liked messier food, and the messier the better. “All right. Why don’t you tell us?”

            Primrose sat down with him, and smiled, and began.

*

            SP777: Because he’s part of the Weasley family, and where they go, he does.
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Here to Live and Die