A Lifetime of Looking

Title: A Lifetime of Looking
Author: Mania_regale
Archived: Also posted on my LJ; No archiving without prior permission of the author.
Summary: Draco\'s birthday ends in an encounter with aurors and an unexpected request for help.
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: HP/DM
Disclaimer: Characters and canon are the exclusive property and J.K. Rowling and her assignees. No money is being made from this endeavor.

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Draco stared in amazement at the two green eyes staring back at him from the open box. Nestled amid the silvery satin interior was an intricately carved miniature dragon pendant on a long silver chain. Two flawless emeralds served as eyes for the dragon, and as Draco stared at the pendant, he could swear he saw the dragon wink at him.

He extended a trembling figure towards the dragon to caress the beautifully detailed features. As soon as his fingertip entered the cavity of the box, the dragon began to pulsate, sending wave after wave of increasingly strong magic towards Draco. Startled, Draco snapped the box shut with a gasp, and hastily stuffed it in his pocket.

His reaction had not gone unnoticed by Ron and Hermione, who moved closer to Draco, but had not been able to see inside the box.

“What is it, Draco?” inquired Hermione.

Draco turned slightly towards the wall, away from Hermione’s probing eyes before answering. “It’s just a pendant, nothing special,” Draco answered, as he attempted to appear engrossed in reviewing the locations shown on the map.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the answer, and Ron impatiently tugged at her sleeve, dragging her to the other side of the room.

“He’s lying!” Ron hissed. “We should know what is in that box! What if it’s a lead to where Harry is?!”

“Ron, relax,” whispered Hermione. “He obviously doesn’t want to tell us, and there’s no magic associated it with. I checked, remember? So it’s not like it a portkey or anything. He’ll tell us when he’s ready. And we’re not going to bother him about it until then,” she demanded, glaring at Ron. Ron didn’t look too certain about this, although he was starting to squirm as a result of the glare he was receiving from his wife. “We need Draco’s help Ron, remember? We’re not going to get it if we start harassing him.”

As Hermione and Ron had been whispering about Draco’s box, Draco had been straining to overhear the conversation while trying to appear thoroughly engrossed in the map. Hard as he tried to clear his head and focus on the murmurings from across the room, his thoughts kept wandering to the box and the pendant that lay within. He knew they’d be curious about the gift from Harry, but there was no way the two of them were going to talk him into explaining what it was or its significance. In truth, Draco wasn’t sure he quite understood it himself, although he knew that he would be leaps and bounds ahead of the weasel and mudblood in that department. Granger had assured him that there was no magic associated with the gift, but the power he felt radiating from the pendant as he made to touch it told him otherwise. But as far as Draco was concerned, that was the lesser of the mysteries surrounding the gift. Draco had seen that pendant before, worn that pendant before, or at least, he had worn an identical one. His pendant had been missing for some time, and the appearance of this one only unleashed a number of questions about not only this gift, but also the original.

Pulled from his thoughts by the sounds of footsteps approaching his end of the room, Draco looked around to see Hermione carrying a large book of some sort.

“We should look through this next,” she said, placing the volume on the table behind Draco and opening it to the first page.

Glad that Hermione was apparently willing to forget about the gift from Harry for the moment, Draco turned to look at the book and realized that it was actually a photo album. And not just a normal album, it was apparently a muggle album since none of the people in the first photo were moving. Sitting at a chair in front of the book, he started flipping the pages silently, noting that each page seemed to hold a number of photos, each photo showing a single individual. Although the subject was almost never looking directly at the camera, instead being portrayed through profile shots and other odd angles, there did not appear to be a single subject repeated in the entire album. The subjects were all over the spectrum in terms of height, build, dress, colouring, hair, and seemed to be split fairly evenly in terms of gender.

Coming to the last page of the album, Draco looked up at Hermione. “Am I supposed to know any of these people? None of them look familiar in the least.”

Hermione sighed, “I figured as much.” She pulled the book around to her and opened it to the back, where she inserted a new page containing a single photo. Draco leaned over the photo and stared.

“Isn’t that a picture of Harry from tonight?” he asked.

Hermione nodded. “They are all Harry. Each of these photos is one of his disguises that he has been seen in. He never uses the same one twice, that we know of. We were hoping maybe you’d remember seeing him in any of these at some point other than those sightings we’re aware of,” she said, nodding at the map.

“You think he’s been around more than you know? More than all of those sighting you have marked?” Draco turned again to look at the map, wondering just how many sightings were marked there. It looked like quite a large number, and Draco was feeling too knackered to even contemplate counting them all.

Apparently Draco’s meaning was obvious, as Hermione looked at the wall herself and said “Tonight is number 94.”

“94? He’s shown up 94 times and no one has managed to catch up with him? It’s almost like he’s daring you to catch him – as if he really wants to be found.”

“We’ve thought of that. But the second he’s spotted, he’s gone again. He doesn’t give us a chance to get to him.” A look of sadness crossed Hermione’s face as she admitted this, and Ron stepped closer to her and put his arm around her, his freckled hand resting on her shoulder. Hermione’s head immediately tilted to rest on his chest, and Ron brought his chin down onto the top of her head, holding her close.

Draco looked at the display of affection feeling slightly sickened by the whole thing and decided that it was time for him to take his leave.

“Ahem.” The sound of Draco clearing his throat ended the moment between Ron and Hermione and Ron, and they turned towards him.

Draco had set his face into a harsh scowl. “Were you planning on keeping me here all night or can I go now?” He noted that Hermione looked slightly taken back by the change in his tone, and inside he smirked at himself for accomplishing that. ‘Can’t go having them think I’ve gone soft and am willing to be a pawn in whatever this is,’ Draco thought to himself, as a yawn overtook him.

Seeing that, Hermione looked startled and glanced at her watch. “It’s late, we should go.”

“And how am I going to do that?” Draco inquired.

“Ron will apparate out of here with you. From outside you’ll be able to apparate yourself home. Can you come back in the morning? I’d like to go over some things…” Hermione found herself suddenly cut off.

“I’m not rightly sure. I have some appointments set up already. Perhaps I’ll be able to fit you in. But perhaps not.” Draco drawled. He wanted to make it clear that he was not signing up to be part of this search mission, and that if he did assist, it would be on his own terms, in his own time.

Hermione nodded, apparently understanding the meaning behind his words. She walked over to a drawer on the opposite wall and pulled out a metal object. Crossing the room, she handed the item to Draco. He looked down at the flat, garish item. The metal was cut into a two-dimensional shape of a building of some sort, and there was a big monkey attached to the side of the building. A metal ring was attached to the top of the building, and as he turned the item over, he noticed that the back was engraved, although he couldn’t quite make it out. He looked at Granger questioningly.

“It’s a muggle key chain. But it’s also a portkey. Just press it between your fingers and say ‘portus’ and it will bring you here. You’ll also be able to use it in reverse to get to wherever you were previously when you are ready to leave. It will only port one person at a time, so you can’t use it to bring anyone else here. If you decide to help us, we’ll change the wards later so you can apparate in.”

Ron glared at Hermione as she mentioned changing the wards, but she merely smiled at him. “Could you apparate outside with Draco now, Ron?”

Ron shrugged before turning to Draco and grabbing his arm.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Draco landed in his front hallway with a “pop” and Blinkey immediately appeared in front of him, waiting for her Master’s fist request.

“Go away, Blinkey.” With a slightly surprised look, Blinkey disappeared before Draco could change his mind. Alone, Draco allowed himself the luxury of slumping against the wall and momentarily holding his head in his hands. Draco couldn’t think for all of the thoughts swarming around his brain, and he wallowed for but a moment in confusion and self-pity. “Why does Potter have to wrap me up in this little game of his?” Draco asked the empty apartment. Hearing no answer, he sighed and pushed himself from the wall, straightening to his full 6’ height and squaring his shoulders before he walked down the hall to his bedroom.

The door glided open as Draco approached, and he entered the richly appointed room, glancing around to make sure that all was in order. Standing at the center of the room was a large four poster bed decked out in varying shades of green and silver silk. Draco moved towards the bed, and first removing his shoes, nestled himself among the many pillows that accented the bed.

Pulling the box from his pocket again, Draco opened the lid and gazed at the familiar dragon. Although Draco was by now exhausted and was fighting to keep his heavy eyelids open, he couldn’t help but be pulled to the pendant. Resolving to consider the pendant, and its connection with Potter in the morning, Draco lay back on the bed and apprehensively let one pale finger caress the dragon’s back, marveling at the sensations of the pendant’s magic that flowed over him as he surrendered to sleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Some long distance away, green eyes opened with a start and a smile fluttered across drawn lips. Harry reached a tanned hand up to the chain around his next and the object which resided there, before drifting again into sleep.