Chapter 3
Almost three weeks after the start
of Harry’s troubling predicament Minerva McGonagall sat in her office with a
perturbed expression on her normally stern countenance. She was reading the
front page of the day’s issue of the Daily Prophet. A couple of the past
headmasters were still in their portraits in the new headmistress’ office and
so were also reading the paper over her tense shoulders. There in big, bold,
glowing red script at the top of the page the scandalous headline of the
article by Rita Skeeter read “Hero Still Unconscious: The Dark Lord’s Last
Victory or the Light’s Hidden Agenda Coming to Fruition?” Even after days since the end of
the final battle and the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the wizarding world
still has not seen its savior make a public appearance. This reporter has it on
good information that one Harry James Potter is currently still in the
infirmary at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry lying unconscious. Even
with the Dark Lord gone, he still manages to continue to darken our days.
Perhaps the Boy-Who-Lived just
is not fated to live past the war. Even in defeat the Dark Lord still manages
to have one final victory. But what if the one responsible for the Chosen One’s
condition is not the Dark Lord? It was not long ago that we believed Albus
Dumbledore was planning a coup against the past Minister of Magic. Harry
Potter’s unconsciousness could be the work of Dumbledore’s remaining followers
who can finally reveal the deceased wizard’s schemes now that there can no longer
be any opposition from the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. This possibility is
only made more plausible by the fact that our hero’s visitors must gain the
permission of Hogwarts’ current headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, a loyal
friend and ally of the late Albus Dumbledore. It is this reporter’s goal to
uncover the truth behind the Chosen One’s unfortunate circumstance.
The article went on to give some
‘facts’ as to why Dumbledore and those of the Light side were the ones
responsible for Harry’s unconsciousness. Rita Skeeter even had the audacity to
accuse the headmistress of single-handedly organizing the plan to dispose of
the wizarding world’s hero. McGonagall finally lost her patience with Skeeter’s
article and put the paper down on her desk. Her calm exterior did not show an
ounce of the outrage she felt inside at Skeeter’s libel. She knew she had to
hedge the problem before Skeeter’s lies got too out of hand. The easiest
solution would have been to show that Harry was finally awake. Sadly, Madame
Pomfrey was still not able to find a way to wake the boy. And McGonagall knew
that not even Harry’s friends’ constant visits were enough to prompt the boy to
consciousness. If only there was a way for them to help Harry wake up. But
sadly not one of them had the answer. As McGonagall despaired over the
situation she missed the twinkling blue eyes from one of the portraits behind
her.
After Draco’s short visit to Harry,
the blonde Slytherin had not been able to go back and visit. During the day
Draco only experienced the odd throbbing sensation throughout his body, but at
night the feeling increased a hundredfold, making it absolutely awful and
debilitating. For the next few nights Draco stayed in his room with a silencing
charm up, writhing uncontrollably and screaming the night away. After a while
Draco found that the pain was starting to concentrate on a particular area.
There was still immense pain throughout his body and it felt as if he was
trying to break out of his own skin. However, that pain all over his body was
incomparable to the pain he felt around his shoulder blades. It felt like the
bones on his upper back were trying to rip through. But Draco also discovered
during these nights that thinking about one person in particular almost seemed to
somewhat alleviate the pain. Every time he pictured jet black hair; sparkling,
green eyes; and rosy lips; fully kissable, rosy lips; the pain lessened just a
tad. For a full week Draco spent his nights alone and in pain until he finally
got a temporary reprieve.
But instead of finally visiting the
sleeping angel in the infirmary, Draco felt it in his very being that he had to
go outside. He snuck out of the Slytherin dorms and carefully maneuvered inside
the castle to avoid patrolling teachers and escape into the castle grounds.
Once he safely made it outside Draco started for the Forbidden Forest. On any
other night the thought of going into the forest at night all alone would have
been unnerving, but that night he just felt like he had to be there. He
continued walking until he was finally quite a ways into the forest in a
secluded clearing. Draco took a moment to admire his surroundings and how only
the stars lit the night as the moon was absent from the sky. It was the night
of a new moon.And suddenly the pain flared once
again. Draco once more felt as if his shoulder blades were trying to rip out of
his back. His skin felt like it was melting and the itchy feeling became
unbearable. As he tried to scratch at his arm to remedy at least one thing, he
found that he couldn’t. As he examined his skin through the blinding pain, he
noticed that parts of it were silver and somehow shimmered in the starlight.
But before Draco could take a closer look the pain on his back heightened even
more and he could feel himself finally breaking out of his skin. Only pain
registered for a while until he felt liquid trailing from his back around where
his shoulder blades were. Then he realized that he could smell something salty
and metallic in the air. He knew the smell was blood but what confused Draco
was why the smell felt almost overpowering, as if someone shoved buckets of
blood beneath his nose. The pain just kept mounting but at some point it felt
like he was away from it all. He noticed how he could somehow hear soft snoring
when he was nowhere near the castle and he could hear the rustling of leaves
from the flight of an owl he knew to be miles away. And all of a sudden Draco
realized that he could see the owl he just heard above the see of trees very
far off in the distance. Finally Draco once again felt as if
he was in his own body and the pain was gone. After the absence of pain finally
sunk in, the first thing that registered to Draco was the difference in his
vision. Everything seemed sharper. Even with the lack of proper lighting he
could see everything better than ever. It also seemed like his vision reached
farther, much farther. He could hear everything in the forest and in the
castle, from the sound of sleeping students to the noises of nocturnal animals.
He could smell nature all around him, only the scents were more precise; like
the smell of water coming from somewhere in the heart of the forest or the
scent of coming rain. And there was also a really faint yet totally enticing,
sweet scent coming from the direction of the castle. He didn’t understand why
his senses were heightened. Suddenly he realized that his line of sight was
much higher than usual. Startled by this discovery he looked down at the
ground. But he didn’t notice the grass or the fallen leaves on the forest floor
because he was too preoccupied by his scaly, silver body and his gigantic clawed
feet. His clothes were in tatters all around him. He inspected his hands and
all he saw were more silver scales and claws. He seemed to be scaly everywhere
except a tiny portion around where he thought his belly still was. He tried to
move and everything felt awkward and heavy. Then he heard a thump and he knew
some part of him just made contact with the ground. He looked behind him and
saw a long tail with a sort of arrow-shaped tip. Panic was starting to well in
Draco. But before he could fully dread over the situation, he suddenly felt
like his energy was draining, almost as if his magic was trying to pull him
into unconsciousness. And he succumbed to the darkness, falling to the forest
floor in a gigantic silver heap. “Please wake up. You’re stronger
than this. So please, wake up!” Every day since Harry woke up in darkness all
he heard was this quiet voice constantly pleading with him to wake up. He tried
to find the source of it but it seemed to be coming from everywhere, even from
inside his own head. He was afraid of the darkness when he first woke but when
he heard the voice he knew he was safe. He wanted to tell the voice that he was
trying to wake up but he found he had no voice. He knew he needed to tell the
voice that he could not wake up without its help, but he didn’t know how. He
also did not understand why he knew that the source of that voice was the only
one who could help him leave the darkness. All he had really gathered was that
every time the voice spoke, he could feel warmth and it chased away any of his
fears.
After a while Harry started to
remember the final battle. He remembered lying on the forest floor after he was
attacked with the Cruciatus. He remembered being in King’s Cross Station with
the headmaster and the horrifying sight of the flayed baby. Although he was not
certain whether that really happened or it was all just in his head. He did
remember, however, that the Elder wand did not obey Voldemort. And the shocked
look on Draco’s face when he revealed the truth about the wand’s ownership to
Voldemort always seemed to come to mind whenever he thought of the final
battle. But lately Harry has found that it was not so much the shock on Draco’s
face that he wanted to see, but simply just the other boy’s face. He couldn’t
understand it. But he did not pay it much mind since all his thoughts were his
only company other than the voice. Lately he started thinking that the gentle
voice sounded familiar, yet he could not really give it a face. Though, he did
know that it was important for him to find out who the voice belonged to.
Something inside him was telling him he had to. Once again Harry found himself
waking up in the dark place. The voice had been absent for a week now and Harry
was starting to feel extremely worried. He wasn’t worried about being alone.
Rather he was afraid that something terrible has happened to the owner of that
voice. His fear confused him because he did not even have a clue who the
voice’s owner was at all or why he seemed to care so much about the person. And
yet Harry’s very being told him it was natural for him to feel that much
anxiety for the unknown person. As he sat there thinking, he
noticed something in the distance that he had not seen since he first woke up.
There was some sort of faint light ahead of him. Harry stood up and started in
the direction of the light. He walked for about ten minutes, or so he thought,
and finally he came upon a forest clearing. There was barely any light in the
clearing because it was night time and there was no moon. But that did not even
matter to Harry. He was simply ecstatic that after over two weeks of no light
and not knowing where he was, he was finally in some sort of location that he
could actually see. As he basked in the starlight, he looked around the
clearing. He finally noticed something rather large in the shadow of the trees
on the other side of the clearing.He approached the mammoth,
boulder-like object on the other side and found that it was actually moving
very slightly. But somehow Harry knew that he had nothing to fear from this
huge shadowed figure. As he got closer the figure started to take shape. What
he thought was a giant boulder was actually a sleeping creature covered in
silver scales. Upon closer inspection he noticed that it was actually a silver
dragon. It was lying on its stomach on the forest floor and breathing softly.
Harry suddenly felt the urge to touch the creature. He shifted closer to the
dragon’s head and reached his hand out to its snout. Just as he was about to
touch it, piercing, slitted silver eyes were staring straight into his own.
Harry was frozen for an instant as he saw the heart-breaking sorrow in those
eyes. Something inside him felt like it was breaking when he looked into those
despairing eyes. He caressed the dragon’s scaly snout and the beast made a
slight, almost purring, sound. The pain in those silver eyes was starting to
give way to recognition, then relief, and eventually unadulterated joy. The
beast then nuzzled Harry’s hand and it shifted closer to him. Harry’s
experience with dragons should have made him a bit nervous at being that close
to what appeared to be an almost, if not fully grown, silver dragon. However,
Harry knew that this creature would never cause him any harm. Harry did not know how much time
passed but he did know it was long enough to make him sleepy already. The
dragon seemed to sense Harry’s exhaustion and shifted over a little, almost as
if it was inviting Harry to lie by its side. And Harry did just that. He lay
down on the ground next to the creature and snuggled up to its warmth. The
scaly beast seemed to make another purring noise as if it was completely
satisfied. Harry could hear the steady beating of its heart as he gave way to
his sleepiness. When Draco finally awoke he found
himself lying on the forest floor. For a moment he did not know why he was
there in the first place. And then memories started coming back in snippets as
he sat up and saw his shredded clothing and he started to panic. He frantically
looked at his hands and feet and was extremely relieved that there were no
claws or scales. He reached behind him around his lower back and was almost
overjoyed by the fact that he had no tail. ‘Was I just dreaming? Was the pain
making me delirious? But why am I naked?’ As Draco thought this a glint of
silver finally caught his eye. Where the dark mark used to be was a patch of
silver scales in the form of a roaring dragon. Draco was so startled that he
doubled back and as he struggled not to fall over backwards, he suddenly felt
pain. He didn’t understand why he registered pain when he managed to catch
himself before he fell. And then he realized that he did not break his almost
fall with his arms. The panic came back as Draco looked behind him and found a
pair of silver dragon wings.
“What the bloody hell just happened
to me?” Draco managed to hiss out as he struggled not to hyperventilate. He had
no idea why he was lying naked in the middle of the Forbidden Forest at night
with a dragon mark made up of scales and dragon wings. It took him a good hour
before he could finally breathe normally. He knew he needed help. This was one
problem he could not handle on his own. But he did not know who to approach
with his not so little problem. The only people he thought might be able to
help him were dead. Severus and Dumbledore were no longer around to tell him
why the bloody hell he was turning into a giant lizard. ‘Perhaps my only choice
now is the headmistress. This might be a bit too much for my parents to handle
right now.’As Draco made up his mind to ask
McGonagall for help he slowly got up with great effort. Balancing with his
wings on his back was somewhat tricky. He felt like he could topple over at any
minute. He stayed in the clearing for a good while as he tried to accustom
himself to walking with his wings. When dawn’s first light was starting to
show, Draco finally managed to walk properly like the well-bred Malfoy heir
that he was. But no matter how composed he was once again in his manner of
walking, he could not get his mind off of how he was going to avoid
embarrassment striding into the castle completely naked. His family’s defection
may have spared them from Azkaban and consequently from falling out of the
elite circles, but he knew that it could not save him from public humiliation
in showing up at the castle bare. But then again it might not be so bad since
he was quite aware that most of the student population would find his current
appearance quite appealing. Then he remembered that there was the wing problem.
He did not want all of Hogwarts to be privy to his current condition. And so
Draco walked on to the castle with every intention of sneaking into Slytherin
and finding his wand to cast a concealment charm before paying a visit to the
headmistress. Minerva McGonagall was just about
to leave her office after her upsetting perusal of the Prophet when a knock
came on her door. She knew it was quite early for anyone to visit her, but she
bade the person on the other side to enter nonetheless. To say that she was
surprised to see Draco Malfoy on the other side of the door was a complete
understatement. Instead, the headmistress was momentarily speechless to see the
young man. She noticed that right after the war he was looking quite unwell.
However, as he stood before her now she knew that he must have been feeling
much better. The young Slytherin looked nothing short of immaculate. His skin had
a healthy glow and his pale cheeks finally had color to them once again. His
hair was once again perfectly coiffed and his robes were in perfect order. His
eyes, however, still held turbulent emotions. But if the boy was once again
paying attention to his appearance, then something must have changed.
“Come in, Mr. Malfoy,” Professor
McGonagall finally managed to say when she came out of her short inspection of
the blonde. “Thank you, professor,” Draco
responded as he closed the door behind him and came forward and sat on one of
the chairs that Professor McGonagall indicated in front of her desk. “What brings you here this early?”
the headmistress asked. “Well, professor, I came because I
am in need of your help.” Draco did not want to beat around the bush. For such
shocking revelations he thought it would be best to simply put it on the table
as quickly as possible. Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrow slightly and
Draco took that as a sign to continue. “I’ve been having some…pains… lately that
I didn’t quite understand until I woke up this morning. I believe you might be
the only person that could help me with it.” As Draco started his explanation
he found his resolve slowly wavering. He did not know how the headmistress was
going to react. ‘What if she won’t let me see Harry after this? WAIT! Why did I
just think that? What does it matter if she forbids me from seeing Potter? Now
is not the time for this, Draco.’As Draco continued with his inner
musings Professor McGonagall spoke up. “Why don’t you go to Madame Pomfrey if
you are ill, Mr. Malfoy? A mediwitch might be the better choice for a
consultant than the headmistress if you are experiencing inexplicable pains.”Before Professor McGonagall could
continue, Draco interrupted her and said, “But I don’t think Madame Pomfrey can
help with my problem, professor.” When he saw that Professor McGonagall was
about to tell him otherwise once again, Draco stood up. “Please, professor,
just let me show you something before you say anything more.” Draco knew the
only way to make the woman understand the situation was to show her his
‘transformation.’ So he started to undo his school robes. He noticed that as he
was disrobing the somewhat curious look on the headmistress’ face slowly turned
to outrage. Draco momentarily thought that perhaps his concealment charm had
fallen or the bindings he put on his extra appendages had broken until the
headmistress began her angry tirade.“Now, see here, Mr. Malfoy.
Hogwarts is a prestigious institution for aspiring young witches and wizards,
not a place for debauchery. And you can hardly expect your headmistress to
participate in any acts of lewdness that you wish to initiate. As a pureblood
wizard you should know that decorum dictates for you to…” As the woman
continued to splutter in front of him with an angry blush on her face, her
words finally registered in Draco’s brain and he started to laugh hysterically.
Professor McGonagall noticed the hysterically laughing young man and stopped
mid-rant. Draco’s wild laughter made her see that she made a grave mistake in
her assumption and she was horrified at the mortifying situation.When Draco finally got control of
his laughter, he coughed and reassured the headmistress. “Believe me,
professor, I do not wish to ‘initiate any acts of lewdness’ in this office
whatsoever. However, I do need to take off the top half of my school robes to
show you the problem.” Professor McGonagall still looked too horror-stricken at
the situation to respond, so Draco simply opted to continue disrobing and show
her his wings. When he finally managed to get the top half of his uniform off
he waved his wand and casted a couple of nonverbal spells to remove the charms
he casted on his wings. They became visible and the bindings he placed on them
disappeared and they automatically spread out and twitched slightly. Draco just
stood in front of the headmistress, waiting for her to say anything.Professor McGonagall’s
embarrassment quickly gave way to shock and awe at what she was seeing before
her. The first thing she thought of was how beautiful Draco’s wings looked. And
then she saw that the boy looked increasingly nervous the longer she went without
speaking. So she asked the first question that came to mind. “When did you
first discover this Mr. Malfoy?”At the headmistress’ question Draco
found himself telling her everything about the pains and the eventual
transformation. He told her about collapsing in the dungeons and waking up in
the forest. He did not really know how afraid he was until he found himself
telling Professor McGonagall everything except his nightly visits to Harry,
when normally he would be more elusive with his answers. When Draco finished
his long explanation, he waited for the headmistress to tell him what might be
the matter with him.“I’m sorry to say that I don’t have
the answers you seek, Mr. Malfoy. Perhaps you should ask your parents because
they might know more about the current circumstances.” Draco was afraid that
she was going to say that but he said nothing and just let her continue.
Professor McGonagall, however, noticed the brief worry on Draco’s face when she
mentioned his parents. “As unpleasant as it may be for you to approach them,
they might be the only ones who could help you. Considering the situation, the
only thing I could offer you is to go home for a while and talk to your
parents. I will give you special permission to leave school grounds to sort all
of this out. Since regular sessions will not be starting until the first of
September you have until then to find your answers. I’m terribly sorry I cannot
help you more than this, Mr. Malfoy, but I’m afraid I am as much in the dark as
you are in this one.” “Thank you for your time,
professor.” Although Draco felt hopeless after finding out the headmistress
could do nothing for him, he still felt a little better about having told at
least one person of the situation. Draco bound his wings once again and made
them invisible. Then he put on his now noticeably larger school robes and
spelled them to look normal as he placed the final concealment charm on. He
bade farewell to the headmistress and left her office. Neither one of them
noticed the once again twinkling blue eyes behind the headmistress. When Draco reached his room, he
simply lay in his bed for a few hours. It was Sunday so he was able to stay in
his room without anyone trying to come and get him. Draco managed to doze off
and when he woke up he noticed that it was already dusk. He sat up and thought
about Professor McGonagall’s suggestion of going home. He knew that it was the
most logical solution at the moment so he resigned himself to confronting his
parents about his problem. He knew that it was not going to be an easy
discussion. Draco got up from his bed and
started to pack. He tried not to think of the oncoming talk with his parents as
he moved about. Instead, he found himself thinking of a green-eyed angel. He
overheard the Weasel and the Mudblood a couple days ago talking in class. They
were saying that Harry’s temperature was rising. As his mind was finally no
longer too fuzzy with pain, Draco found himself worrying over Harry. When he
was done packing he came to the decision of visiting Harry one last time before
leaving for home in the morning. He made a note to pay another visit to the
headmistress’ office after dinner to inform her of his plans. Dinner and his second visit to
Professor McGonagall’s office were a blur to Draco. Now he found himself making
the same trek he made every night except for last week since Harry’s stay in
the infirmary began. Somehow he grew more excited with each step he took. He
did not know why but he did not really care to find out at the moment. He
already had too much going on with his sudden transformation. Contemplating all
the weird feelings he had every time he visited Potter or why he even wanted to
visit the boy in the first place would just be asking for a headache right
then.
Draco finally reached the infirmary
and he crept inside. When he reached Harry’s bed he immediately said, “I’m
sorry.” He surprised himself at that declaration and thought about why he felt
the need to apologize to the unresponsive boy. And he found that his mind came
up with quite a few answers: he was leaving Harry for home, he didn’t visit
last week, and Harry was still unconscious. The last one confused him because
he did not know why he should feel guilty over Harry’s unconsciousness when he
was not even aware of the reason for it in the first place. As his thoughts became too
confusing Draco just stopped thinking altogether and simply focused on the
beautiful sleeping face in front of him. He hoisted himself up beside Harry on
the bed and held one of Harry’s hands gently in his own. He was content to sit
there for a while with Harry by his side. And then he started to talk to Harry
like he usually did during his visits. He always started with asking Harry to
wake up. And when he got no response like always he started to talk about
anything and everything. As the one-sided conversation continued, Draco just
knew he had to tell Harry that he was leaving for a while and won’t be coming
to visit. But the thought of actually telling Harry that made an uncomfortable
feeling well up in his chest, but he blamed it as just a lingering sensation
from the sudden transformation. And as he sat there talking to the boy, he once
again found himself constantly drawn to soft-looking pink lips. ‘I wonder how
soft they really are.’ Harry woke up from his slumber and
was scared to see that his new companion and the clearing were gone and he was
once again plunged into darkness. He was about to cry when he heard the most
wonderful sound. The absent voice was finally back. It was currently telling
him about new brooms on the market. He felt inexplicably happy knowing that the
owner of the voice sounded unharmed. He was content to simply listen for a couple
hours to the constant gentle murmurs that surrounded him with feelings of
warmth and safety. And then he noticed that the topic of conversation was
starting to shift and the voice started to sound a bit anxious and he no longer
wanted to listen to what it was saying.
“Potter, I have to leave for a
while. I don’t know when I’ll be back. And I don’t think I’ll be able to visit
while I’m gone. I’m really sorry but I will come back.” ‘NO! Don’t leave me!’
Harry kept screaming those words in his mind, but unfortunately he still could
not say anything out loud. Tears of frustration were forming in his eyes and he
finally could no longer hold back his grief over the oncoming abandonment and
just cried. And the voice was none the wiser. “Even when I go I’ll keep hoping
you wake up soon. Please, Potter, just wake up.” As Draco continued to plead
with the unmoving Harry, he started to feel an even stronger urge to find out
if the boy’s lips were really as soft as he imagined they would be. The
knowledge that he would not be seeing Harry for an indefinite length of time
just spurred the urge on even more. And so Draco shifted beside Harry on the
bed and started to bring his face closer to the other boy’s. As he got closer
to Harry he could not help but notice the scent coming off the sleeping boy. He
could smell freshly cut lilies and the clean scent of spring water. But there
was another scent in the mix, a scent Draco found vaguely familiar and
intoxicating. It smelled slightly sweet and was growing stronger by the minute
until all he could think of was getting as close to Harry as possible just to
continue breathing in the stimulating scent. He was finally nose to nose with
Harry and he licked his lips slightly. He wanted so badly to kiss Harry but a
part of him felt guilty about it. ‘What if he doesn’t want me to kiss him? I
feel like I’m taking advantage of him.’ As Draco struggled with his mild guilt,
he finally gave in to his urges and whispered a quick apology to Harry as if
saying sorry would absolve him of his wrong. Draco lightly touched his lips to
Harry’s and closed his eyes. Savoring the gentle contact, he was delighted to
find that Harry’s lips felt and tasted even more heavenly than he could
have ever imagined. Before he drew away from Harry, Draco briefly licked
Harry’s lips. When he opened his eyes he was shocked by what he had just done.
‘Bloody hell! I just kissed Potter and I think I enjoyed it.’
Draco stared wide-eyed for a moment
at Harry’s face. When he snapped out of his trance he noticed that once again
he was awake to see the sunrise. ‘When I go home I really should find time to
sleep more.’ Thinking of his home made another uncomfortable twinge well up in
his chest. He said his goodbye to Harry and left another kiss on the back of
the sleeping boy’s hand. He hopped off the bed and went out of the infirmary.
When he returned to his room he gathered his trunks and started to head out of
the castle. He informed McGonagall that he would be leaving for Hogsmeade at
dawn to avoid all the other students and their questions. Draco left too soon
to notice that Harry shifted slightly on the infirmary bed when the blonde
moved off of it. The voice grew fainter and Harry
continued to cry. Then he felt lips that were soft and warm on his that were
gone too soon in his opinion and the voice came back just long enough to say a
final farewell. For a few moments Harry continued to cry in the dark until he
finally realized that his tears were useless unless the voice’s owner actually
saw them. So he resolved himself to finding the person. That kiss he felt, or
he thought he felt, had to mean the person at least somewhat cared for him. He
stood up in the dark and wiped the tear stains on his cheeks. He had no idea
how to find the source of the voice but he knew he desperately wanted to find
it. He stood there for a while simply thinking of how much he wanted to see the
face behind the voice when he saw light in the distance once again. If it led
him to the clearing again, he just knew that his new friend would be able to
help him. He was sure of it.
Harry followed the light. The walk
took much longer than the last time and the light at the end seemed so much
brighter. ‘Perhaps it’s morning in the clearing.’ And then Harry heard someone
calling to him. The voice sounded a bit different but Harry found it familiar
still. In his happiness to hear someone calling for him he thought it was only
his imagination playing tricks on him. When he finally reached the light
though, he saw that he was not in the clearing. Instead he was just engulfed by
blinding light and for a moment he felt like he was leaving his body. And then
the feeling was gone and he felt like he had just been dropped back into his
own body…HARD. ***
As always, thank
you for reading. We find out more about the bad guy in the next chapter unless
my muses take me in a different direction. Right now I just really need to
sleep. Just like Draco I’ve been awake during sunrise almost everyday. Ciao!