Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Wondrous Lands and Oceans	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 10108 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money from this fanfic.

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Chapter Twenty-Nine—Open Wings, Open Words

            Draco had drifted through two restless dreams and two entirely silent quarrels with Harry before they heard the sound of the beasts’ wings above them again. Draco actually wasn’t sure who had heard them first, he or Harry; they shared senses the way they did everything else when they were closely bonded like this.

            Either way, Draco turned his head upwards and opened his eyes, and Harry was beside him with a hand on his shoulder doing the same thing, and they watched as the beasts turned and wheeled, faster than the birds. And no doubt deadlier, with the riders on their backs, Draco thought.

            He was glad they weren’t in close contact with the mummidade right now. Thoughts comparing the beasts to the birds might have panicked them.

            If they were inclined to panic, though, they didn’t show it. Westshadow stood with all four of its heads pointed towards the beasts, and didn’t flinch when the shadows swept over them. For a moment, Draco thought they would spring up again and resume the bond, but instead they waited, as stolid as statues, for the riders to descend.

            The one who came down was the same one from before, as far as Draco could judge from the size of his beast, although his face and cloak and reins all looked the same as any other rider’s. Draco frowned and wondered when they would learn enough to make an identification. At least the mummid way of communication by image meant they knew who they were talking to at any one time.

            The rider landed his beast a few steps from them, which meant Draco had to retreat from the stink of carrion that wafted from its beak and talons. The beast blinked its great eyes at him and laid its head on the ground as the rider touched it. The rider leaped to the ground and folded the claws he had in place of fingers, looking from one of them to the other.

            This time, Westshadow divided its bodies evenly, sending one to Draco, one to Harry, one to the rider, and one to the beast. The rider nodded and laid his hands in place on the mummid’s forehead, above the slanting golden eyes, even before Harry and Draco could touch their parts of Westshadow. The mummid blinked a little at the sight of those talons, but didn’t flinch.

            Draco shook his head a second longer. Of course. Westshadow was in contact with them, and Harry and Draco didn’t fear the riders putting a mummid’s eyes out, so Westshadow refused to fear it, either. It was so hard sometimes, remembering what the mummidade knew at any one moment.

            What have your people said? Westshadow demanded, as the bond settled into place again. Draco wanted to shudder, but gritted his teeth and held on instead. At least the mummid beneath him was solid and didn’t mind Draco sinking both his thumbs into the silky fur.

            They think that it might be dangerous to have you here, the rider replied. How many of you are there? How much do you eat?

            How many are there of you? Your beasts must eat more than you do. Westshadow’s voice didn’t tremble, although Draco had to admit that if he were four-legged himself, he would flinch when thinking about what the beasts ate.

            We—For a moment, the bond went fuzzy, as the rider apparently said something that had no equivalent in any other language. He clacked his beak a moment later, and said, We control our breeding. I don’t know if you are going to do that. He cast a dubious look at Draco and Harry, and Draco wondered whether he had picked up on Draco’s instinctive revulsion at the idea. After all, for centuries the problem in the wizarding world had been how to encourage reproduction, not halt it.

            We breed only as many as the grass can sustain, Westshadow said calmly, and then turned all its heads to look at Draco and Harry.

            Draco stared back with his lip curling a little. There was a lot he could say about the children he wanted to have with Harry, but it would also mean talking about the ritual they wanted to perform, and he didn’t know if the mummidade would consent to teach it to them.

            You do not hatch from eggs? the rider asked, sounding more than a little revolted.

            You do not come from the magic? Westshadow stamped all four left forehooves, scraping at the grass and tossing up a little puff of dust.

            No, Draco snapped back. They must have picked up images of pregnancy, maybe from Harry. Harry shoved back reassurance, and enabled Draco to lower his shoulders and continue speaking without being offended. We come from the bellies and the hearts of two of us. But two men—two like us—can’t have children that way. They would have to come from the magic.

            Westshadow tossed all its heads. We will teach you the dance at once.

            But that would leave you to have many children, said the rider. What would happen when you outgrew the valley?

            We would find some other safe place at a distance, Harry said, his mental voice so calm that Draco had a hard time believing it was him, even with the confirmation of their private bond. There are many other groups of humans who came through the gate to this world with us, although some of them are probably dead by now, and we knows others are. We would be small for many years.

            The rider clacked his beak again. Draco glanced at him. He had his shoulders hunched, a small breeze that didn’t feel like one of Harry’s ruffling the slender black feathers on his body.

            Can you give us something to call you? Draco asked. We know what our names are, and Westshadow’s, but not yours.

            The rider glanced at him for a moment, then clacked and rattled his beak, as well as extending his claws up and down in a pattern.

            Draco shook his head. That doesn’t translate through the bond.

            He had been worried the rider might not understand the concept of “translate,” but a moment later, his feathers lay down, and he clacked his beak again. You have my permission to call me Open Wings, and my partner Swoop.

            Draco nodded at the beast, which still lay watching them motionless, with its head not moving from the ground. He supposed that settled the question of whether the riders considered their beasts true partners or unintelligent creatures simply tied to them by magic that would allow them to resist Bodiless.

            If you come to our meadow, you must not grow fast, Open Wings insisted, with another gesture that looked as though he was using his claws to rake flies out of the air. Or you must agree to control your growth when you reach a certain point.

            Or leave? Harry asked.

            Leaving would be well.

            Harry bobbed his head. Then I don’t see why we shouldn’t agree. You would be the ones to decide when we grew too big for the valley, and some of us would leave when that happened.

            Draco flicked a quick image of Andromeda and some of the Weasleys. That group argued about things endlessly when it was only them in their own relatively safe camp. Were they really going to calmly accept an order to leave a place that they had come to regard as home, because they had too many children?

            That was assuming they even agreed to leave their camp by the spring to come here, of course. Draco could just imagine the amount of argument that was going to take, and grimaced.

            We would decide, Open Wings agreed, with a slow inclination of his head. But before that can happen, the battle with the Darkness in the North must happen. When will you gather enough of your own kind to fight it? he added, turning to face Westshadow.

            We will gather them immediately, Westshadow said, and all its heads turned in the direction of the silver oval. They can come through there, the same way that we did. There is no saying that we may not have the battle over before the day is.

            Then its bodies all moved at once, and headed towards the silver oval at a steady gallop, which became leaps before it was very far away. Draco swayed from the breaking of the bond, and glanced at Harry, who smiled a little and shook his head. No, I don’t think we’ll ever get used to the mummidade. But at least you know now that they won’t mind teaching us the dance that will allow us to have children.

            But do you want to have them? Draco insisted. He had worried for a moment that Westshadow would hate them for spying on the dance by the sea, but he should have wondered more about Harry’s reaction.

            Harry stared into the distance for a few seconds, his eyes so dim the bond seemed to flicker and splutter like a dying candle. Draco couldn’t get any sense of what he felt through the bond, at least. Then he turned back and said aloud, “I might like to have a child. Only when I know that Teddy wouldn’t mind and is either grown up or on his way there, though.”

            Draco rolled his eyes. You would make me wait years?

            Maybe that would be a good idea, since the riders don’t want us to grow too big anyway, Harry retorted.

            Draco started and turned back to face Open Wings. With the bond the mummidade had created shattered, it was easy to dismiss the rider, to push him back to being “someone else.” But Draco also found it hard to forget that he had heard Open Wings speak with an intelligible voice, now he was thinking about it.

            His eyes on them, Open Wings moved back and placed one hand on the neck of his beast. Swoop lifted its head, looked at them with what Draco thought was indifference, and laid his wing down. Open Wings ran up it as lightly as though it was a ramp, and landed in the middle of Swoop’s back, where he sat and stared at them again.

            Harry nudged Draco in the ribs and bowed. Draco rolled his eyes, but did the gesture along with him. He thought it was more than a bit useless. More than likely, Open Wings wouldn’t even know what it meant.

            From the way Open Wings looked at them, though, Draco decided he might know, after all. For a moment, his hands quivered on the reins, and then he jerked his head back at them and snapped the reins on Swoop’s neck. Swoop leaped up with that effortless grace the beasts had and joined the others who had never ceased to circle overhead. In a few seconds they’d turned and were soaring their way back to the valley.

            Draco glanced at Harry. “Well?” he asked, speaking aloud because it felt good to do so. “Do you want to stay here and wait for the outcome of the battle, or go back to the camp?”

            Harry grinned at him ruefully. “Go back to the camp. I think it’ll take at least as long as the battle to persuade the others, don’t you?”

            Draco thought of it, and snorted. Yes, Harry and he could take Teddy, and Granger and Weasley would add their voices to Harry and Draco’s, since they had been to the meadow as well and seen how rich it was. But the other Weasleys would want to stick to the houses they had built so far, and God knew what Andromeda would do.

            “I’ll leave the negotiating up to you,” he said.

            I knew you would agree I was better than you at something, Harry said cheerfully, and avoided Draco’s punch by neatly scooping him up with wind for the journey to the silver oval.

*

            Harry had thought about what they would say on their flight back through the silver oval, and although he hadn’t come up with anything as magical as an incantation, he had come up with something that he thought would work. He stepped out of the silver oval into the hidden valley with his mind buzzing with the words.

            They’re not going to like that, Draco said into his brain, right on cue.

            Harry rolled his eyes and glanced sideways at him. Of course they’re not. But they don’t like anything about Hurricane, some of them, and the others are willing to work with us if we make it appealing enough. I’m going to make it as appealing as I can.

            Someone like the werewolf will resist just because he can.

            Harry rolled his eyes again. You could call him by his real name, and that would probably eliminate half the problems between you.

            Draco said nothing, but the pulse in the back of Harry’s mind, through the bond, grew heavier and sharper both at once, like a boulder that someone had carved into a weapon. Harry nodded in recognition and used his winds to lift them both up through the rim of the hidden valley. They had to get back to camp as soon as possible, both so that Harry wouldn’t forget the words he had come up with and because he wanted to see if Andromeda had come out of her house. Her new ability might prove to be even more useful in the valley, if they moved there, because it would save them the labor of raising new houses.

            I’ll remember the words of your little speech if you forget them.

            Harry turned on his back on the winds, ignoring the way Draco winced when he did that, and blinked at Draco. He recognized the words for the peace offering they were, and nodded. Thank you, he sent, when Draco looked less than impressed at the nod.

            Draco rolled his eyes in turn, but said nothing as Harry skimmed them above the grass in the direction of the camp. It came into sight before Harry was ready for it; he had forgotten how short the journey to the mummidade’s hidden valley really was. He exchanged one more glance with Draco, and then plunged downwards.

            Hermione and Ron ran to meet them at once, and Hermione grabbed his arms and stared into his face. Harry blinked as he saw the red tinge to her cheeks and realized how hard it must have been for her to stay behind, when she was dying to learn more about the mystery of the silver ovals.

            Yes, I just weep for Granger.

            Harry smiled at Hermione as the flood of questions began and shook his head, simply interrupting to give her the most important information he could. “No, the battle isn’t over yet. But Westshadow and the other mummidade are going to fight it for us. What’s more important is that we’ve got permission from the riders to move our little group north to their meadow.”

            Hermione stared at him, and then almost stomped her foot, and Harry started a little. “So many important things are happening,” Hermione whispered. “And they’re happening faster than they have since we’ve been on Hurricane. And I had to stay here and out of them.”

            Harry decided to change the speech a little after all. He hadn’t been sure that he could count on Hermione’s whole-hearted support when he first dreamed it up. “Then this is your chance,” he said. “We’re going north, into the middle of the meadow, into the middle of—everything. Help me convince the others that we should go, instead of staying here because it’s safe and familiar. That’s something you could do that would be more helpful than anything else, and it’s something only you can.”

            For a moment, Hermione stood still, staring at him. Then she nodded rapidly and turned to Ron. “You want to go, don’t you?” she demanded.

            “I want you to be happy,” Ron said, looking back and forth between Harry and Hermione as if to reassure Harry that he considered him someone he wanted to be happy, too. “And if going north is what it’s going to take…”

            Hermione melted as fast as she could sometimes, and reached out for Ron’s hands. “Oh, Ron, I didn’t mean to say—if your family isn’t going to be happy about this, and you know they’re not, then how will you choose?”

            “They don’t have a strong reason to stay here,” Ron said, looking around. “We don’t have much water. We’re under constant threat of attack by birds. There have been lots of arguments here, and Ginny wants to go further afield with her bird, and there’s the possibility that someone else might come upon us and want what we have. This is our best chance of understanding Hurricane more and having someone else to share the work of getting food and guarding us. We can put it in those terms, and then they might listen to us.”

            “But the greenhouses…” Hermione said, staring at them. “I don’t know what we can do about the Earth plants…”

            “Lift them with soil clinging around their roots,” Harry said. “Or lift the pots.” He knew Hermione had planted the ones that were most resistant to native Hurricane earth in pots. “It’s the work of a second for my winds to do.”

            Hermione turned glowing eyes on him. “Would you really, Harry? That’s the best—that’s the best thing anyone’s ever offered to do—”

            Harry cleared his throat in some embarrassment. “Of course,” he muttered. “We’re here to colonize Hurricane and make a life. Not much of a life if we don’t bring some food we’re familiar with along.”

            Hermione nodded rapidly. “And let me speak to them, too,” she added, trotting ahead. “If you’re not the only one trying to persuade them…”

            Harry smiled as he followed her, and exchanged the smile with Ron. If anyone could make the move from their permanent campsite to the north easy, then Hermione was that person.

            And notice I said nothing, and left you alone to talk to your friends like the virtuous little Slytherin I am, Draco added behind him.

            Harry started and turned to him. I didn’t mean to force you out.

            I know. You just weren’t thinking about me. Draco’s eyes held him, gentle as his claws could sometimes be. And that’s all right. Sometimes. When we go north and we’re settled, though, I’m going to demand a lot more of you.

            Harry couldn’t help the smile that broke across his face at the thought, and Draco played lightly with his fingers as they moved further into the camp.

*

            “This is the best chance we have. Once we’re in the north, we can relax this constant vigilance, the fear that the birds will come back at any time, because we’ll have someone to guard our backs and look out for us…”

            Draco sneaked a covert glance around the circle of (mostly) Weasleys seated on the grass, watching, especially, the way they stared at Harry. They looked less resistant than they had at some times in the past. That was in large measure the result of the tactic Harry had chosen, Draco had to admit. Harry had decided to emphasize that the north would result in less work and more leisure, and for people who had worked harder than they ever had in their lives since coming to Hurricane, that was an attractive picture.

            As though you were a menial laborer in the past.

            Draco sniffed. At least I have the excuse of growing up with house-elves.

            The werewolf leaned forwards, of course, before the echoes of Harry’s last words had faded on the air. “And how do we know we can trust these riders?” he demanded. “They might want anything from us, and they might ask it after we’ve already abandoned our independence and moved up there.”

            “What do we have that they would want?” Harry faced the man with calm resignation in his voice, his face, his eyes. “They could fly south and raid us if they wanted to; they could have done that already, the first time we went north and revealed we existed. They have all the food they want in the north. They can fight the birds. They have wild magic, more sophisticated than the kind we wield.” He had decided not to make it public knowledge that he had reeled the riders up and down the sky, Draco thought, and wisely. That would probably only make them distrust Harry more, instead of less. “They can ally with us, but they wouldn’t gain anything from raiding us.”

            “That’s what you think,” the werewolf muttered, folding his arms. “They could be fooling you, and just hoping that we will make the bargain, so they can take advantage of us.”

            And Harry changed. Draco felt the jump in the bond a moment before he abandoned the speech he had come up with and leaned forwards, with a nasty smile on his mouth that Draco had never seen before.

            “Yes, that is what I think,” Harry said, quietly, in a clipped voice. “You want to know something else I think? That you doubt everything I say, and I’m sick of it. I haven’t betrayed you. You chose to come here. I did things that I shouldn’t have in the wizarding world. But if you’re going to hold that against me, then I might as well give up on trying to persuade you of anything.”

            “You took up with Malfoy,” the Weasley mother said, frowning at Draco as if he was something on the bottom of her shoe. “That needs some forgiveness.”

            “And he’s helped us with defense duty, and come with me on the journeys that are the most dangerous things we’ve done on Hurricane, and helped us with the duties like weeding and guarding the camp that he would have assumed were beneath him, before,” Harry said, with a little shrug. “I don’t know what else he can do to convince you that he’s on our side, and I don’t care, not anymore. I’m going north, and I’m taking Teddy with me.”

            “What about Andromeda?” the Dragon-Keeper asked, glancing at the silver house that still sat in the center of the camp.

            “I don’t know whether she’s coming out again,” Harry said shortly. “I can bring her north to see Teddy, if that’s what she wants. She would be welcome to come with us. But all I can do is extend the invitation—to anyone. You keep talking as though I have a duty to make you like it, too, and I don’t. I can protect you and invite you and try to help you without you liking it. You have to make up your own minds, now. I can’t give you any more time.”

            He turned away, and Draco smiled sweetly at them before he stood up to accompany Harry away from the circle.

            I’m proud of you, he told Harry, with a caress down the bond, and Harry nodded shortly.

            “I didn’t want to do that,” he muttered. “But God, they will not let it go.”

            Draco shrugged. He could understand the Weasleys’ hatred for him, and their reluctance to acknowledge his bond with Harry. But at some point, they either had to accept him, if grudgingly, unless he did something new and wrong, or they had to admit that they cared more about the past than the present and more about the wizarding world than Hurricane. They shouldn’t say they had forgiven the past, as Draco had asked them to when he claimed his debt for saving the youngest Weasley, and then bring it up over and over again.

            He would have tried to say that aloud, because Harry needed to hear it right now, but the sky darkened above them then, the deep blue crumpling in from the horizon as though someone had wadded the sky up like a handkerchief, and there was a low, dull roar that seemed to radiate from all the corners of heaven. Draco stared at it, then at Harry.

            Harry already had his arm up in front of him, his eyes narrowed. “I think the battle is starting in the north,” he said.

            And then the winds came down on them, and proved him wrong.

*

            Sasunarufan13: Draco’s kind of worn out on the subject of children. Hopefully he can leave that subject alone, and it can work in Harry’s mind for a little while.

            SP777: Thanks! I hope enough happened in this chapter to satisfy.

            I didn’t really take the idea of the mummidade leaping like that from anything. It just seemed the thing to do, since the mummidade can jump high.
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Wondrous Lands and Oceans