Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Of Shield and Sheath	By : KusanoSaku Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 17446 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own the HP franchise so I make nothing from my writing.

Chapter List
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Title: Of Shield and sheath

Pairing: future DracoxHarry

Summary: A foolhardy Dumbledore attempts to change fate, he gains more and less then he bargained for. Creature fic. Future Mpreg.

Author's Note: For Jannafrancine who has guessed a small portion of this story's plot. Sequel to Cadmus and the Phoenix.

Chapter 1- Choices and decisions

It was nearing Harry's birthday and still there was no reply from him.

Albus checked the magical charm on the letters.

'Notice of non-receipt.'

Albus sent a House elf to find Hagrid.

It didn't take the man long to reach the Headmaster's Tower.

Hagrid was out of breath.

Albus had his back to him, his hands clasped, giving off an air of paternal worry.

"Rubeus, it seems that something is wrong with Harry's letters. Can you see why he isn't getting them? On the desk is a copy of Harry's letter and his vault key for his Trust Vault. Oh and that thing I mentioned in Vault 712, if you would be so good as to retrieve that. It seems that it is in danger at its present location. I have a letter for Griphook granting you permission to retrieve it."

Hagrid seemed to puff up with pride, "I'll be goin' at once." There was a sound of shuffling.

"Yes Hagrid, you may use magic since you are on Hogwarts business but only until you have Harry. He needs to be taken to Diagon Alley to purchases his school things…"

Albus knew that the last admonition would not be followed but it mattered not. He was sending someone who wouldn't speak anything unless asked by himself. Hagrid was a fool but a loyal fool.

XoooooX

Harry sighed; those letters what ever they said were making Uncle Vernon furious and Aunt Petunia hysterical. Dudley was furious to be leaving his video games and missing his best friend Piers coming over. Their favourite activity was 'Harry-Hunting'.

He disliked it about as much as being picked last or not at all because everyone was afraid of Dudley. The only person to befriend him in kindergarten, well all of elementary school really was a boy named Leo. He was blonde…

He'd been found unconscious after recess.

Harry never saw him again…

Dudley told him, that he and Piers beat the tiny blonde so bad he had died. Dudley sneered that they'd do the same to any friend he had.

Since then, Harry was so closed off that he was afraid to be close to anyone.

Now he was curled up as small as he could get.

They were driving and letters kept raining on the car.

That was impossible right? That it was raining letters?

"Whatever you're doing freak you better stop it!" Dudley said menacingly.

"Diddy dear, please be quiet and let Mummy and Daddy think."

Harry hated that sickly sweet voice his aunt used when talking to his cousin.

They drove out to the middle of nowhere…

Well something like that. They'd parked the car; it was now raining real rain as well as those stupid letters.

Something inside whispered that he would never be the same again and he wondered just how that could be…

He was dragged and thrown into a creaky rowboat, landing painfully on his knees and almost face planting on the weathered wood.

Aunt Petunia coddled and tried to soothe her constantly complaining son.

Uncle Vernon was breathing heavily and sweating so much he was steaming when the rain touched him.

The letters flew around the boat, sometimes falling into the water.

Harry repressed his half-hearted desire to just open one to see what the fuss was about.

"You touch one freak and I'll drown you right here. See if I don't."

Harry shivered, when Uncle Vernon had that tone he knew he was going to be hurt if he disobeyed.

Finally they reached an old dock that seemed as strong as toothpicks and like one gust of wind would shatter.

Uncle Vernon collapsed over the oars and breathed heavily.

His aunt kissed Dudley and jumped out to tie the boat to the dock.

"Move freak!" his uncle rasped.

Dudley made a move that was partially aggressive and definitely intimidating.

Harry scrambled to his feet and hauled himself up onto the dock.

Uncle Vernon finally moved from the old rowboat to the dock.

His Uncle seemed exhausted as he plodded along towards the door of a dreary hut that looked so ramshackle and mere moments from collapse that it was no wonder that his aunt looked at it with such loathing and disbelief.

Then she turned to him and hate blazed in her eyes so bright it rivalled the lighting that flashed in the storm.

"You're blocking the door freak!"

Familiar hands shoved him inside and he sprawled on already bruising knees.

The door was bolted but the letters came through the cracks in the walls, the gaps between the window and the walls. They even came down the chimney and through the gaps in the door.

Then his uncle started a fire and he fed the letters into it, "At least they're useful for something."

Harry shivered but moved as far from the fire as he could. He vaguely remembered what day today was…

His eleventh birthday not that it mattered…

Then there came a loud banging noise from the door, it shook so hard that it seemed as if it would collapse.

"We don't want anything. Go away!" his uncle yelled.

There came an unintelligible shout and the door flew towards them like a rocket behind it propelled it.

The doorway changed size and the hugest man he'd ever seen stepped inside.

"We want none of your kind here…." His uncle stammered.

Was his uncle actually frightened?"

The door flew back into place as soon as the stranger came inside.

"I'm not here ter talk ta you Muggle. I be here fer Harry."

Harry knew that tone; it meant he was in lots of trouble. He curled up, trying to become as small as possible.

"Now Harry, nuna of that. Last I saw ya, you were just a wee thing. You were still in nappies and smaller than me hand."

Harry blinked, peeping up at him with wide eyes, "Who are you?"

The man laughed, "Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, the greatest school of witchcraft and wizardry in tha world."

"Shut up!" his uncle roared, "I forbid you to tell him any of that nonsense!"

"Magic ain't nonsense you fool of a Muggle. Is yer brain as small as yer belly is large? I know Flobberworms smarter than ya. Now I be charged with informing Harry of a few things he oughta know." He toyed with the handle of his huge pink umbrella, "If ye think ya gotta chance of stopping me go ahead and try. I know things ya cinna dream of. I cin do things that would blow yer stupid Muggle mind." he brought up his umbrella with all the menace of a man armed with a gun, "Ya cin move and let me be alone wit' Harry or…" he pointed the tip of his umbrella first at Vernon.

Harry didn't see his uncle move at all, he merely swallowed and tried unsuccessfully to look unafraid.

Then the umbrella skipped over his aunt and pointed at his cousin.

Granted he didn't like Dudley much, but to punish someone else because of another was unconscionable. He kept seeing Leo's lifeless face…

It should have been him…

Before Harry could think twice he shouted, "NO! It's not right."

The umbrella jumped, it fell out the giant's hand. Some very odd-looking orange light leapt between it and Dudley. It hit his cousin in the stomach. He danced around and there was a strange ripping noise that could be heard over the crackle of the fire and the roar of the storm.

His cousin danced around in a circle.

To Harry's shock and horror, there was a pig's tail peeking out of his dusty trousers.

Harry blinked, "That's impossible…."

The giant grumbled, "Merlin…" he ran his huge fingers through a tangled black beard. "I were tryin' ter turn him inta a pig not ter gib him a tail."

"If you're mad at someone, you ought to hurt them not pick on someone else." Harry said sagely.

The man turned back towards him, "Perhaps…" his eyes seemed far away, "That seems like sumthin' yer mum mighta said."

Harry frowned at him, "You knew my mum?"

Then his aunt rose from her stupor, "Don't you be speaking about her! That stuck up princess and her freaky husband! That insolent girl ought to have been drowned at birth!"

"You'll not speak of heroes like the Potters tha way! They be the bravest people I knew! You are nothing compared to Lily!"

Harry frowned, "Who?"

The giant fell back on the couch, "Ya don't know?"

Harry scooted a bit closer, "Know what?"

"Yer parents names…"

Harry shook his head.

"This be worst than I feared. Yer mum were Lily Potter, sweetest, kindest witch there ever were in those dark days."

At the edge of his mind he heard a musical laugh, then the colours of Christmas: red and green. What that meant he didn't know…

"Yer da was James. He were so brave, he were an Auror. He took yer mum and you in ter hiding."

The impressions slipped away, then he felt the echo of a warm smile, the gentleness of an embrace, spinning, being thrown, laughing because he knew he was safe. Then it all drifted away before he could really understand the impressions… "Why?"

"Because there were bad 'uns around. Like…." The giant paled, he looked around and then gestured for Harry to come closer.

Harry stood slowly and came forward.

The giant leaned over to whisper, "I'll only say it once, the really bad one was…" his voice dropped really low, almost unheard over the fire and the storm, "Voldemort." He shivered.

The name sent shivers down his spine.

He heard screams that made him almost wet himself and then green light dashed across his mind.

Green was a colour that made him feel both comfortable and terrified him…

"Now this wizard, we call him You-Know-Who because well everyone does. He was able to find your family because they were betrayed."

Harry asked in a shaky whisper, "By who?"

"Yer da's best friend, Sirius Black. His family were all bad eggs but one, it weren't no wonder he went bad in the end. Ought to have been in Slytherin…"

"What's that?" the name sent shivers down his spine, they didn't feel bad or good but it felt like they meant something…

"Almost all the bad ones came from there."

"Did He? Black I mean." Harry had to know…

"Nah he were in Gryffindor like me. Well befur I were expelled yer see. They snapped me wand and all but Dumbledore took me back. He gave me a job when I were just a lost kid. Hard to be employed when yer fifteen and no OWLS or NEWTS to show what ye really know."

Harry had no idea what he meant by mentioning those odd birds and poisonous lizards but he was wary of the giant just the same…

Harry's stomach growled.

"Yer hungry? I cin fix that." He took off his huge coat and dug through the pockets stacking odd things on the couch beside him.

Bits of string, an owl pellet, a shiny gold key that seemed to call to him, a small brown paper package tied with string, a frying pan, a huge fork and other random things.

"Here if be." He tugged out a box as big as Harry's head, he held it out, "Fer ya. Mighta sat on it at some point but here it be. I made it meself. Weren't sure I'd be chosen seeing as how ya be living with Muggles but I were hoping."

Harry took the box and placing it his lap, he opened it. It was a cake…his eyes filled with tears. The frosting was pink but it had green writing on it, 'Happy Birfday Harry.' He peered up at the giant, "For me?"

The giant laughed, "Of course. An eleventh birtfday be special in our world. It's the year ya get a wand of yer own. You get sent away to school and learn wit' witches n' wizards yer age."

The idea of friends made Harry cold inside. He kept seeing Leo as he hadn't actually seen him but had nightmares of anyway.

A bloody blonde boy thrown on the ground: his tiny body broken while his eyes were wide, empty, cold and staring at nothing.

His voice was hollow, "I suppose friends might be nice…"

He spotted Dudley in the corner, his eyes beady with anger and he shivered.

"Yer cold?" The giant pointed his umbrella at the fire and it grew. He opened the package and it contained six sausages. He put them in the frying pan and placed it near the fire. "Move closer and warm up Harry. It be a cold nasty night."

Harry scooted closer; staring at the cake like he was sure it would disappear.

"Ya be wanting a piece?"

Harry looked up at him fearful he was being teased about it; after all he could count once he actually got sweets. The time he'd gone to the zoo last month for Dudley's birthday and he'd gotten Dudley's Knickerbocker Glory because it hadn't enough ice cream and Dudley threw a tantrum thinking it would be thrown out. His aunt had shoved it at him with a glare that meant 'shut up and eat it freak.'

Then two plates came from the coat and the giant held out his hand for the cake box.

Harry had a sudden impulse to hug the cake box to him but he was very intimidated by the man's sheer size that he reluctantly handed it over.

"I'd be lectured fer ruining yer appetite but it be yer birfday so just this once ya?"

Harry tried not to drool as the man cut two huge pieces with a knife that seemed to have appeared from thin air.

He was half afraid he would be teased it with when it was handed to him.

Then the umbrella was pointed at him, well his hands really…

"Scorgify."

His hands felt like they'd been scrubbed hard like when Aunt Petunia was in one of her nasty moods. They were red and a bit sore but most definitely clean.

The cake plate was set in his lap.

Harry stared at it for a moment.

"Go ahead n' eat it."

Harry didn't have a fork so he grabbed the cake with his hand, it was gooey but he didn't care. He ate it ravenously because well, he didn't think he'd actually eaten today. He'd learn to eat fast in case they decided to take it away.

By the time he finished, his hands and face were covered in cake.

He could feel his uncle's anger, his aunt's disapproval and his cousin's malicious jealousy.

The umbrella swished and a wet face towel appeared in his hands, "Ya cin have more later but wipe up befir I give ya sausages."

Harry was a very obedient boy; he did as he was told.

The sausages sizzled and were turned.

The drafty place filled with the smell of warm sausages…

Dudley was whining about being hungry and his aunt shushed him nervously.

Harry thought annoyed, that Dudley was so huge that he could stand to miss a few meals.

Two sausages were placed on his chocolate cake smeared plate. They were hot and burned his fingers and mouth but he was too hungry to care. Harry ate them quickly and then felt sleepy. He yawned…

The huge musty smelling coat was tossed on him.

"Git sum sleep Harry. We got ter be up early."

Harry curled up under the coat, near the fire thankful for the warmth of both and fell asleep.

What do you think? Outstanding? Exceeds Expectations? Acceptable? Poor? Dreadful? Troll?
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Of Shield and Sheath