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Dragon Blood	By : Aline Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 55990 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
*Disclaimer: Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn’t belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I’m not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

Author’s note: Another chapter! Sorry for the long wait between chapters, but I have a full time job and little time to write. But no matter what! I won’t abandon this fic! Thanks to all that had reviewed.

Chapter 05. Rediscoveries.

Harry stepped out of the fireplace followed by Moody. It had turned out that the situation hadn’t been so bad, sure there had been plenty of injured and some dead, but St. Mungo’s mediwizards had had everything under control. Harry and his friends were only required to help take care of the most gravely injured until they could transport them to St. Mungo’s.

Mr. Weasley had been hurt and Fred too. The Weasley family was going to stay the night in St. Mungo’s, Hermione had gone with Madam Pomfrey to help her prepare some potions for the order and Moody had took Harry away as soon as a mediwitch had informed them that both patients were fine and would be fit to leave the Hospital the next day. The Weasleys would be back at Grimmauld place the next morning, so Alastor promised that he would stay the night in the house; Lupin and Tonks would probably arrive overnight too.

Harry looked around the parlour and then went upstairs in search of Draco. After looking for the Slytherin in the library without result he went to the blonde’s bedroom and knocked on the door. He didn’t get response and he entered, wondering if his ex-rival was asleep. The room was semi-dark and empty; Harry scowled and went over to the window. The garden could be seen from there but Harry could barely distinguish the silhouettes of the plants below him. It was late. One could still see the brilliant red and golden horizon, signalling that the sun had just set, but it was already dark in the house.

Harry wondered where Malfoy could be and then he spotted something strange at the far corner of the garden. The Gryffindor scowled and remembered that he had found Malfoy there the day before. Surely the boy wasn’t removing soil again? Harry stepped out of the bedroom and went to the garden.

Malfoy stared in awe at the huge chamber he had entered. It was as big as a Quidditch stadium and all made in granite and marble, the columns had different carvings of dragons and runes with various precious stones and gems. Draco couldn’t see the ceiling; a brilliant clarity seemed to emanate from some place above. All around the chamber were several portals similar to the one he had come from; every one of them had a crest above it.

Malfoy recognized the emblems of the Zabinis, the Parkinsons’, Notts’, Puceys’, and the Lestranges’. He was starting to think that the place was something created by the dark wizards, but then he recognized the Bones’ crest, the Longbottoms’, Dumbledore’s emblem was above the last portal he was analyzing.

‘What is this place?’

Malfoy turned away from the portals and started to examine the carvings on the columns. He discovered a staircase behind a big wall, and was thinking about going to see what was upstairs when he heard a voice calling for him.

“Malfoy! Are you in here?!”

“Potter!!”

Draco panicked and hurriedly looked for the Black’s portal, not stopping to think how he could hear the Gryffindor when it was obvious that he was no more in Grimmauld place. He crossed the portal and rand through the corridor, not caring that the light orb was not there anymore, he already knew the way. Soon he could see light illuminating the intersection with the tunnel ahead of him. Potter could not reach the corridor! He had to get the black-haired boy out of the place! Draco’s shoes screeched when he turned around the corner and crashed right into Harry, taking them both to the ground. The green-eyed Gryffindor fought to breathe again for a few seconds and then glared at the blond above him, he had lost hold of his wand but fortunately the light was still on. He was ready to lash verbally at Draco when the earth started shaking. Harry saw Malfoy’s eyes widen in panic when it looked like the tunnel would collapse. The blond was on his feet instantly and grabbed Harry’s wrist, dragging him without explanation to the exit.

As soon as both boys were out in the garden again, the bronze door moved and closed the hole. The young men took a minute to recover from the run and Harry noticed that the garden was illuminated by torches. He took a deep breath and turned to look at Malfoy’s back, the blond was still standing near the strange bronze plate as if considering something. Harry scowled and took a step towards Draco.

“Malfoy what the hell was that?”

“What are you talking about?”

Malfoy’s voice was a bit rough. Harry wasn’t in the mood to be fooling around.

“Don’t give me that Malfoy! You know pretty well what! How did you know there was a tunnel here?! Where does it lead Malfoy?!”

The blond straightened and he looked at Harry over his shoulder. His voice was extremely calm.

“You must be confused Potter. I didn’t see any tunnel.”

Harry stared and reached for his wand, freezing when he realized that he didn’t have it. Draco turned around to face the Gryffindor boy, Harry’s wand in hand.

“And neither did you. Obliviate!”

The curse hit home and Harry fell backwards, a surprised look on his eyes registered instants before he lost consciousness. Draco looked at the still form for a second and then fell to his knees. He was exhausted.

“Kreacher! Dobby!”

Both house-elves appeared instantly. Dobby squeaked and ran to Harry as soon as he saw him.

“Harry Potter sir!! What happened to Harry Potter?!”

“He… he followed me…” answered Draco automatically, not sure of how he had managed to hex Potter or why. Dobby stopped his frantic jumping around Harry and looked at Draco with wide eyes.

“Master Draco has come down Sir? Master Draco remembers now?”

Malfoy looked at the elf and was at a loss of words, his head was spinning and the situation was not making any sense to him. He needed to rest. He groaned and rubbed his temples with one hand.

“Dobby, take Potter to the library. I’m not sure of what he’ll remember.”

“Dobby take care of Harry Potter! Master Draco not worry!”

“Oh, and take this.”

Malfoy gave Harry’s wand to the elf, who took it, and with a snap and a loud pop both Dobby and Harry’s body were out of sight. Malfoy sighed and looked at the other elf.

“Master Malfoy should go rest. Kreacher take tea to Master’s bedroom.”

“I want to know what’s happening Kreacher!”

“Master is remembering soon. We elves look out for Master.”

“And what about this?” He signaled to the bronze ‘trap door’ and scowled. Kreacher didn’t look worried.

“Entrance buried itself when Masters of the manor could see dragons no more. Now Master can use it, no one else would know.”

“Potter did. He entered looking for me.”

The elf made an annoyed face.

“Yes. Because he has power. He is eligible.” The utter distaste in the elf’s voice convinced Draco that the creature was not happy about that particularity of its new Master. “But now Master Draco can wish for no one to see and no one would. Not even Master Potter. Only those who can see dragons will see.”

Draco wanted to ask more, it was obvious that the elves had a very good idea of what was happening, but his eyelids were heavy and his head was just about to give up on consciousness. He decided to leave things at peace for the night and hoped that Potter would be ok in Dobby’s care.

Unknown to him, a figure on one of the windows of the second floor of the house was carefully watching every move of the young blond. Alastor Moody smiled. The door had been opened. Now it was just a matter of time…

Harry waked up slowly; it took some time for the fog in his mind to clear and realize that he was on one of the library couches. He sat up and shook his head to rid it of the foggy feeling; he didn’t remember having fallen asleep in the library. He had arrived to the house with Moody and had been looking for Malfoy… Malfoy! Harry didn’t remember having seen the blond before falling asleep. Malfoy wasn’t in the library with him and the Gryffindor couldn’t remember if he had checked the bedroom. He heard a pop near him and turned to see Dobby jumping beside him.

“Master Harry Potter is awake! Master Harry Potter would be wanting something?”

“No Dobby, thanks. Where’s Malfoy?”

“Master Malfoy is sleeping in bedroom.”

“Sleeping?” Harry felt that something was slipping his mind; he tried to concentrate and remember. He had entered Malfoy’s bedroom, he had walked to the bed… he remembered a blond mop of hair on the pillow… he had returned to the library then… Harry frowned, something was not quite right with that memory but he couldn’t tell exactly what it was…

“Master Harry Potter should go to bed sir! Not healthy to sleep on couch!” Dobby admonished him and Harry sighed. The elf wasn’t going to let him concentrate. He turned weary eyes to the hyperactive creature and let it guide him to his bedroom.

Severus Snape walked hurriedly towards the cellar; he could feel the magic seeping through the entire house, calling to him after so many years of silence. He made his way to the secret door and the tunnel, not pausing even to procure a light. He stopped when he reached the dead end and smiled… Instead of a stone wall he was in front of a brilliant multicolored one. Snape reached over and for the first time in years felt the power of ancient magic run through him, it was not as strong as it used to be in the past, but the wizard enjoyed it nonetheless. Soon they’ll have revenge and they’ll recover what was taken from them. He smirked in anticipation and crossed the portal.

Snape walked through the immense chamber, taking his time to look around him and touch the columns, tracing the intricate patterns engraved in them. There was no hurry, after all everyone was doing exactly the same as him. Snape just barely glanced at the other witches and wizards that were in the chamber, all of them getting reacquainted with the place, and continued his exploring.

It was almost like the first time he had entered. This place had a special aura in it, the magic and power had always been strong and intoxicating for some, but there was also a feeling of tranquility that Snape had missed so much. All of these feelings were still there, but dampened. Severus had the impression that the power of the place was growing weaker by the moment. Soon it would exist no more.

After some minutes he walked over to the group of wizards that had already finished their explorations and were greeting each other.

Few wizards knew about the chamber, despite the many portals that lead to it from almost every part of Britain, each one coming from an ancient wizarding home. A good number of the portals had been un-active for generations and others had recently gone dormant after the traitorous attack seventeen years ago, the wizards and witches that survived said attack had found out that part of their magic had been somehow sealed and they couldn’t use all the power they originally had.

They almost disappeared, but they’ll recover, Snape was sure of that; after all it was relatively easy to broke the seal, they only needed for Draco to do his part and they’d took care of everything else. Granted, Snape knew that it was not going to be easy to convince Draco about the importance to fulfill his “duty” as soon as possible, especially taking in consideration what exactly said “duty” implied. The man could only imagine what was going to be Draco’s reaction upon realizing that he’d have no say in the matter.

Snape joined the group and everyone turned to him, almost immediately they gave him condolences for Albus Dumbledore’s decease and he accepted them as gracious as he could. Though he still was a bit resentful with the man for having allowed things to happen the way they did, he knew that there had not been any other choice. The rest of the wizards knew that it had to be done and were not sorry for him because he had been forced to kill Dumbledore; their sorrow was because the old man had been a good guide and mentor, as well as one of the most powerful amongst them. It had been a shame to have to lose him.

After their brief moment of mourning over Dumbledore someone conjured proper seats and soon everyone was sitting in comfortable armchairs. One of the witches started speaking.

“So Alastor, how are things going? Did the boy have any problems?”

“Not at all Salamanca. He was alone when he discovered the entrance. But it really surprised me that he chose the hardest one to work on!”

“It was the garden one then.” Said Nott, who was at Snape’s right side.

“Yes, it was. But it has little importance now. I’m going to use glamour to cover it, just to be in the safe side. The Potter boy was capable to see it.”

Some surprised gasps were heard among the concurrence. Snape gave an unpleasant sneer.

“I suppose you have already taken care of that.”

“Don’t fret Snape, it’s well taken care for. Malfoy’s instincts kicked in and he obliviated the boy.”

Every one visibly relaxed and another wizard spoke tentatively.

“Well… it’s not so bad after all… it means that our guess was the correct one this time…”

The woman, Salamanca, smiled appreciatively at the nervous man.

“Indeed Horace, but the Potter heir would still remain ignorant of us for a little while. Once we have this problem past us we would have enough time to instruct those with potential and to take care of the families that had forgotten about our ancient heritance. For now our only concern should be the Malfoy heir. He had gone to the right place, now we must continue to check on him. Tonight he will have every memory about his dragon back. Tomorrow he will be curious to learn more, maybe he’ll go to the book first or try to get some information by himself, but eventually he’d return here and his guide would be waiting.”

Another witch, an elder one sighed rather loudly and complained.

“Can’t Moody bring him here tomorrow? Time is passing by and he still has to be taught many things!”

“Yes, we are pressured, but have a little more patience Ana. We should grant him some time to get to know his dragon. It may be of help for him to understand the importance of his ‘mission’. It would be far better if he willingly accepts to do it.”

Everyone seemed to agree on that statement and soon after that they parted ways, returning to their respective portals.

Draco was hugging the scaly head that was in front of him, ecstatic in the knowledge that the beautiful creature was his. All his! There was a deep magical bond between them that Draco could feel from the moment he woke up.

The memories were still a bit blurry, but he remembered that the last time he had seen Sally had been on his fifth birthday. The very moment he had understood that the ghostly dragon was a real creature and not an imaginary friend like the grown ups had insisted on telling him. Of course he had never mentioned to anyone the fact that Sally was a dragon. When his parents ever took an interest on his childish activities, which had not been often, he always had said that he had been ‘playing with Sally’ and nothing else. Soon he had learned not to mention his friend at all, seeing that his father disapproved of such foolish things like ‘imaginary friends’. Sally had quickly become his childhood secret, only Dobby and Kreacher had known about it.

Draco smiled at the name ‘Sally’. Such a common name. Well, after all he had been only three when he had named his dragon. ‘Sally’ had been his attempt at naming the creature after Salazar Slytherin, because his father admired that man so much, and the little boy had supposed that ‘Sally’ would be a good name, seeing that Salazar had been more difficult for him to pronounce and the fact that his dragon was a girl.

Malfoy pulled away from Sally a little to better see the dragon’s yellow eyes, he was still on his bed, the creature had been waiting for him to wake up at his bedside. Draco had not thought it strange that the dragon had managed to fit in the bedroom, he knew from past experience that Sally’s body was like that of a ghost. Only tangible to him and invisible to everybody else. In fact, Draco knew that Sally was not actually in his bedroom. She was in his mind. He could see and touch her only because he wanted to. The blond felt confused by that knowledge, the dragon was real, he was sure of that, but he was having problems with the concept of a real, huge creature taking his mind as residence. He needed someone to explain things to him, but before that he needed to vent other slightly less complicated doubts.

“Sally, why did you leave?”

He listened to a voice in his mind, deep, powerful, so sweet at the same time, and he suddenly realized how much he had missed that voice.

‘Never left. I’ve been always here. You only forgot that.’

“But why?”

‘It was necessary, or people would have started to get suspicious. No one could know that I’m here.’

“Not even me?” asked Draco a little hurt; the dragon nuzzled his hair in a comforting gesture.

‘Both of us were babies, not powerful enough to prevent mind reading.’

“I’m happy I learned to occlude then.”

He had a lot more questions in his mind, but at that moment someone knocked at the door. Malfoy turned just in time to see Potter poking his head in.

“Malfoy, are you coming to breakfast? It’s late…”

The black-haired boy looked at the room in shock for a second; he blinked a couple of times and resisted the urge to rub his eyes. For a moment he had thought that a dragon was beside Draco’s bed, but that was clearly ridiculous, it must have been a trick of the light.

“Something wrong Potter?”

Harry focused again in the blond Slytherin and forgot about dragons.

“Nothing… err… well, are you coming or not?”

“I’m not really hungry…” Draco’s stomach disagreed rather loudly to that statement and the blond blushed in embarrassment. Potter found that pretty amusing.

“I think that it will be better if you listen to your stomach. Come on sleepy head! No one is going to eat you after all.”

Draco grumped in annoyance and got out of bed. He needed to find some time to talk with Sally and it would be difficult if the house was going to be full of Order members again.

The day passed by without disturbances. Draco was painfully aware of Sally’s presence behind his eyes. It was like having someone seeing everything from above your shoulder, and it was wearing him tired. Apparently Sally had been dormant since his fifth birthday and now she wanted to know more about the new people around her human. Besides from Sally, Draco was aware that his sensitivity to magic had increased, he could feel tenuous tendrils of magic around people when he was near enough to them, and not only people, he felt the magic on objects too. That shouldn’t bee a bad thing, but Draco discovered that living in a house which had centuries of dark magic in it could be a bit overwhelming. He felt the house’s magic constantly as a background sound, though it didn’t feel oppressive or menacing, it only felt pretty strong, and to Draco’s wonder, it seemed to be singing! Houses should not know how to sing! And even if they did, it was certainly the last thing Malfoy would have expected from a dark wizards’ home! He thanked the gods for not been in Hogwarts. If the Black manor was singing, Merlin only knew what the castle would do!

He was not so surprised to discover that he could ‘feel’ Potter’s magic at a considerable distance from him while he had to be at arms length from the others to sense their magic. Sally was curious about Potter; he was the most powerful wizard in the house, including Moody and Professor McGonagall who had passed by to see if everything was in order. Draco told his dragon a little about Harry, thankful that his thoughts were enough to communicate with her, and could feel that Sally was taking special interest in his long-time school rival.

He was a bit surprised to see that Granger’s magic felt stronger than Weasley’s, but then he thought it fitting and reassured in his previous conception that Ron Weasley was a mediocre wizard. Ginny and Mrs. Weasley’s magic had the same strength as Granger’s while McGonagall’s and Tonk’s were a bit stronger. Remus Lupin felt… strange. He had strong magic but it seemed wrong somehow… tainted. Draco supposed that it was because Lupin was a werewolf and Sally agreed with him. The dragon felt uncomfortable around Lupin, her instinct told her that the man-beast could be a treat to her human, so Draco procured to keep his distance from the werewolf.

The real surprise was Moody. No sooner the ex-auror entered the kitchen at dinner time than Sally was practically jumping in joy inside Draco. The blond had nearly choked on his food and glared inwardly at his dragon for the exuberant display. Moody felt strong but not so much as Harry, however there was something different in him, but it was dampened, hidden. Sealed. It was as if some part of Mad eye’s magic was missing. And there was the trail of something else too. The tell-tale of ancient magic. It was a bond, Sally could feel it, the man had a bond with one of her kind.

Malfoy fought very hard the look of pure astonishment that wanted to show on his face. Moody moved about the kitchen unconcerned and took a bite or two of a sandwich. Then he stared at the blond boy for a moment and his lips twitched in delight. Draco gulped and averted his eyes. Moody had always made him feel scared and the boy preferred to not cross paths with him. The only reason Draco had accepted to be in the training session with Mad eye was because the ex-auror had practically ordered it and Malfoy didn’t want to be on the man’s bad side.

The blond was considering if it would be a good idea to approach Moody, when the man suddenly announced that he was going to leave for a mission and would not return for a couple of days. He insisted that the youngsters should continue their training in his absence and not be fooling around. Ron gave a loud groan at that.

Draco didn’t have the opportunity to talk with Mad eye before the man left, but didn’t feel particularly upset about it. He needed to ask many questions but he figured that it could wait until the man returned from his mission. That way he’d have time to think about the best way to approach Moody, and maybe he’d be lucky and found another one with a dragon-bond too. That would be ideal.

Draco went to sleep still thinking about dragons and how to research the bond he shared with Sally. He did notice that the house was not singing anymore and thanked Merlin for that.

The next day Draco sleepily walked into the kitchen to find a crowd already in there. He rubbed his eyes and stared at the faces that were awkwardly looking at him. Besides Granger and the Weasley younger siblings there were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Lupin, Tonks, Longbottom, professor McGonagall and Rubeus Hagrid, who was occupying a large space by the table. Draco frowned in confusion and annoyance, he still wasn’t used to feel the magic around him and the number of people present was making his head ache.

“Wha…?”

“Pff. Nobody told the elves to take HIS breakfast to his room today?” Ginny glared at Malfoy, who only stared back at her.

“Ginny! Don’t be so rude! He’s living in this house too and as Harry’s guest he can take a piece of cake too!” said Mrs. Weasley, clearly annoyed at her child’s behavior. Draco was still confused.

“Cake?” He looked to the table and noticed the huge cake that was at the middle of it. A birthday cake.

‘Oh, shit! It’s Potter’s birthday!’

Malfoy quickly put his indifferent mask in place to hide his hurt. Of course Harry’s friends would not want him there, and Potter was bound to feel uncomfortable if he stayed at his birthday party and would eventually ask him to leave. The blond was starting to turn around to escape when the kitchen door opened again and a disheveled Harry entered escorted by the Weasley twins, who were singing a much distorted version of Happy Birthday.

Draco winced at the loud noise when the rest of the concurrence joined into the song and tried to disappear as quietly as possible. But before he could reach the door Potter spotted him and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the table.

“Where are you going Malfoy? I’m sure you haven’t eaten yet! You have to try Mrs. Weasley’s cake, it’s wonderful!”

Harry ignored the surprised looks that his friends were sending him and focused on the looks of approval that Tonks and Mrs. Weasley had on their faces. As far as he was concerned he was going to get to know Malfoy better and bring him to the light side completely, even if he had to force the blond to spend time with him and his friends. He was absolutely convinced that they had a chance to still be friends and no one was going to spoil it.

The black haired Gryffindor dragged Malfoy to a chair and made him seat, proceeding then to blew of the candles and cut the cake. Draco was confused but remained quietly at Potter’s side. The others soon realized that Harry was not going to shun Malfoy from the party and so they resigned themselves to have the blond around. After some initial tense moments everyone relaxed enough and started to chat animatedly, much to Harry’s joy.

After breakfast, the youngsters went into the sitting room while the grown ups stayed in the kitchen talking about strategy for the war. Draco had resigned himself to spend the day in Gryffindor’s company and tried to focus only on Harry’s magic, so he could ignore everyone else’s. After a while he succeeded in blocking his sensitivity and was actually starting to lower his defenses. He even accepted to play exploding snap with Neville.

Harry was satisfied, he knew that his friends were reluctant to give Malfoy a chance but they were willing to humor Harry and not segregate the blond for the day. They probably reasoned that the more time Malfoy spent in their company, the less chance he had of plotting betrayals.

Harry looked at the blond Slytherin scowling in concentration. Malfoy was not so bad when he wasn’t behaving like a spoiled mini-Lucius. He even had started to open a little more during their training sessions and Harry was planning to convince Remus to allow the blond to take part of the magical training too.

The day went by quietly; the youngsters even tried to clean up the garden a little and ended up just having a quick Quidditch game. They had dinner in the big table at the dinning room and all of them were in high spirits. It seemed that the day had been a success. That was until Ginny started an unwanted conversation.

The red-headed girl had been fuming all day. She was extremely unhappy that Malfoy was still there with them and wasn’t showing signals of leaving any time soon. She was a bit putout that her brothers didn’t seem to be as uncomfortable as she was. What was the matter with them? Had they forgotten that the Malfoys were evil dark wizards? Had everyone forgotten that Draco Malfoy was the enemy and that he would hand them over to the Death Eaters as soon as he could?

What was worse was that Harry apparently had decided to give the git the benefit of the doubt. Harry was letting his guard down and was allowing Malfoy to get closer to him. Ginny couldn’t let that happen. In her opinion the blond Slytherin didn’t deserve Harry’s help. He hadn’t the right to be taking part of Harry’s birthday and it was time that someone did something about it.

“Have you been reading the news lately? The situation is worse each day. You-know-who is getting stronger and Remus had told us that the werewolves are not seeing any advantages in supporting the light.”

“Ginny, maybe this is not the best time to be discussing things like that.” Said Hermione, it was Harry’s birthday and unless anything real bad happened, she saw no reason to remember her friend of the war.

“But we should be worried about doing something! The Order keeps finding murdered people everywhere! Like the blond woman that Shacklebolt found in that alley near the Ministry building. You remember her, right George?”

The twin looked at his sister in confusion while everybody else tensed. It had been a sad case in the news a couple of days earlier that week, the aurors had have the theory that the woman had been tortured by Death Eaters as some kind of vengeance. George had been reading it just before Ginny had taken the Prophet borrowed.

“Well, yeah. Like many others. Why?”

“It was terrible the way she was tortured, the body was unrecognizable, she had all her bones crushed and…”

“Gezz Ginny!” Ron interrupted with a grimace. “Please! We don’t want to hear those gross comments today! Especially while we are having dinner!”

Everyone agreed with Ron, Draco however kept quiet and Harry could feel that the blond was really upset. The black-haired boy glared to the red-headed girl.

“Just leave it Ginny. We deal with that kind of news everyday, we could do without them for a while.”

“But Harry, that woman died in such a horrible way, and she could have been anyone…”

“Ginny, just stop.” Said Fred, in an attempt to make his sister change the subject with no luck.

“… like Mrs. Malfoy for example. No one knows her whereabouts, for all we know that anonymous woman could have been her. Right?”

The entire room was shocked into silence; Ginny took advantage of that to look at Malfoy pointedly.

“Don’t you think so Malfoy? After all, YOUR Lord is not exactly known for his kindness. It’s almost certain that Narcissa has been dead for months now…”

“Ginny shut the fuck up already!!” Harry yelled at her as Draco calmly got up and walked outside the dinning room.

“Lovely party Potter. If you excuse me.”

The blond was gone and Harry clenched his fists in anger. Ginny was oblivious to his mood and happily walked towards him and tried to hug him.

“Well, now we can really enjoy ourselves and finish the day in the right company…”

She hadn’t expected to be shoved away roughly and she landed on her ass.

“Ow! Harry? What…?”

“How dare you! That was low Ginny!”

The red-head stared shocked at Harry’s angry face, her brothers seemed pretty embarrassed.

“But Harry! Why are you mad? You can’t possibly be feeling bad for him! He’s Malfoy!”

“Oh, and so I suppose I shouldn’t give a damn on how he feels?!”

“Of course you shouldn’t! Who cares about him?! He’s a self-righteous git and he deserves everything that’s coming to him! You couldn’t have forgotten so soon the terrible things he used to do in school!”

Harry’s lips were pressed tightly and his eyes shot daggers at Ginny before getting up and stomping towards the hall.

“He was an insufferable bastard! So what?! He asked for help! And I happen to know how it feels to have your mother murdered because you aren’t capable of defending her!”

Harry exited the room in rage. Ginny stared open mouthed for a while and then tried to follow him.

“Wait, Harry!”

“Stop it Ginny! Leave him alone!” Fred grabbed Ginny’s arm and prevented her from going after Harry. The girl tried to shove him away.

“Let me go! I have to talk with him!”

“You realize that he’s upset and…”

“He’ll probably hex you Ginny.” The twins said and the girl crossed her arms angrily.

“I don’t know what the big deal is! He shouldn’t be that worked over Malfoy!”

The twins looked away and Ron shrugged.

“Perhaps not, but you know Harry Ginny, and what you said, well…”

Ginny turned over and glared at her brother.

“What Ron? It was just a comment!”

“And it was an unnecessarily cruel one Ginny.” Said Hermione, returning the glare, Ginny looked openmouthed at them.

“I can’t believe it! Have the lot of you forgotten who he is? He’s bloody Malfoy! He’s Death Eater’s material!”

“We’re not so sure about the Death Eater part anymore Ginny.” Said Neville, clearly upset about the whole incident.

“Are you mad? Are you going to let the bastard worm his way close to Harry? I can’t believe you are actually feeling sorry for what happens to the git!”

“Look Ginny, I don’t really give a damn about Malfoy’s feelings!” said Ron, starting to get angry. “But that doesn’t mean that I go around rubbing his misery into his face every time I can just for the fun of it!”

“Oh, no? You teased him well enough about his lost heritance!”

“Yeah, well that’s different! It’s only money; it’s not a big deal!”

“No? And why is it different from my earlier comment?”

“Ginny, you can’t compare…”

“Money is just a thing Ginny. It comes and goes…”

“It may hurt him to have lost his rich boy position, but that’s not as bad as…”

“Having lost a parent.” The twins were looking serious and Ginny just glared at them.

“Just think of what you’ll feel if mom or dad were in Narcissa’s place.” Said Ron seriously. Ginny sniffed and marched to the exit.

“It’s not the same! Malfoy deserves it!”

“Ginny…”

“And the lot of you are letting your guard down around him! But I won’t let him get close to my Harry!”

The red-head got out, leaving the rest of the youngsters really frustrated about her lack of comprehension.

Draco was sitting on his bed, head over his knees and arms hugging his legs. He had tried to not think about his mother and he had had almost managed to convince himself that she would be ok. But he couldn’t deny the fear he felt. The probability of his mother been ok was almost non-existent and he knew that she should be dead. But he hadn’t wanted to think about it, about how bad a son he was. He couldn’t protect her. He couldn’t even search for her. He was useless. His mother was dead.

Malfoy felt the sting of tears trying to escape his eyes and bit his lips angrily. Something appeared beside him and a big head rubbed his back gently.

Draco was relaxing enough to let a few tears run down his cheeks when he heard the door been opened and the contact with Sally disappeared. He cursed under his breath and wished the intruder away.

“Malfoy?”

“Go away Potter. Leave me be.”

He was surprised to feel the mattress sink at his side and before he could protest two strong arms were embracing him. Draco’s body tensed and he immediately fought the embrace. To his utter surprise, his struggling only made Harry’s arms hold him tighter.

“Leave me go Potter! I don’t want your pity!”

“I don’t pity you Draco. But I know what is it like to lose someone dear to you, and I’m not going to let you alone with this.”

Draco gaped and was really glad that the black-haired Gryffindor could not see his shocked face. He continued his struggles half-heartily.

“Fuck you Potter! Don’t try to be nice to me! It doesn’t fit you and I don’t need it! So leave me the fuck alone!”

“No, I won’t leave you! You were asking for help the entire last year of school and I couldn’t see it! You still need that help Draco, I know you do! No one should have to experience what you had all alone!”

“Why you bloody care?! That damn hero-complex of yours is eating up your brain Potter?! I hate you!”

“Both of us know that’s not true anymore Draco. Perhaps it was never true to begin with. Maybe your pride was just hurt and you covered it by starting a childish grudge, or maybe you were only acting like a Malfoy was supposed to. But you don’t hate me, and neither do I.”

Draco was shocked into submission by those words, his entire body was trembling and he was having a hard time choking his sobs.

“W-what do you w-want P-Potter?”

The arms holding him loosened a little and the forceful embrace turned into a comforting one.

“I want for us to start over again. To know each other. We have been doing fairly well these last weeks. I don’t want you to start acting like a git again because of what Ginny said. I don’t know what’s wrong with her. Please, just let me get to know you.”

Malfoy didn’t know what to do, he felt emotionally overwhelmed. He had never thought it possible that Potter would want to start over again with him. Besides, it felt good to be held by the Gryffindor. Draco finally surrendered and let the tears escape his eyes freely.

“Damn Potter. Whoever gave you permission to grow up and mature while I wasn’t looking?”

Harry chuckled quietly and rearranged his position on the bed to a more comfortable one, with Draco between his legs and the blond head over his chest. He let the Slytherin cry and held him until he fell asleep. He never saw the pair of brilliant yellow eyes that were watching them from a corner.

The next day at breakfast, Harry was amused to see a very embarrassed blond at the table. Ron and Hermione apologized for Ginny’s comments the previous day and mistook Malfoy’s red cheeks for suppressed anger and dropped the subject immediately.

Draco was very grateful that they had something to blame for his discomfort. He’d hate to have to think of a suitable reason for his suddenly distant behavior and he certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone that he had cried himself to sleep in Harry Potter’s arms. How undignified of him! Malfoys never show weakness to anyone! Sure, he had already decided that he was going to stop acting the Malfoy part, but this kind of situation had certainly not been in his mind at the moment. He couldn’t stop the feeling of shame when he remembered how good it had felt to be comforted, and that he had allowed it! He had cried in front of Potter! He would never live it down!

Draco finished his breakfast in silence as soon as he could and excused himself. He was going to hide in his room and never ever came out again.

Harry sighed when Draco exited the kitchen and offered an apologetic smile to his friends before going after the blond, leaving Hermione and Ron to explain to a slightly confused Remus the reason of Malfoy’s discomfort, or at least what they knew of it.

The dark-haired boy smiled when he saw Malfoy trying to open the door to his bedroom. The blond had no idea that Harry had spelled the door earlier so it couldn’t be opened from the outside until bedtime. The Gryffindor was not going to let Malfoy hide anymore, he had had enough of childish grudges and he was determined to have Malfoy as a willing ally.

“Damn!”

“You know, it’s no use to hide away. The world would find you sooner of later.”

Draco sighed and rested his forehead on the door; he had never wanted Potter to see him this weak.

“What do you want Potter?”

“I thought that we had already gone about this.”

Harry closed the distance between them, putting a hand on Malfoy’s shoulder.

“Come on Malfoy, don’t be like this. Let’s try to be friends; you can’t isolate yourself from the world.”

“Wanna watch me try?”

“Not really. Look, I’m not really sure myself why I’m offering you friendship, I mean, we had been fighting since we met, but that doesn’t feel right anymore. Is just… I can’t really explain it… you are different, you have not been acting like a spoiled git anymore, and your fights with Ron are not as vicious as they used to be. So far, I like the part of you that you’re finally showing. We haven’t even throw hexes at each other since you arrived!”

“That, Potter, is because I find myself bereft of the means to cause proper damage. I assure you that if I had had my wand with me, Ronald Weasley would have gotten what he deserves a couple of times.”

“Ah, well good for us that you lost it.”

Harry smiled at the painful groan that Draco emitted and he nudged the blond to move and get away from the door.

“Come on Malfoy, it had not been that bad.”

“No, I suppose not.”

Draco straightened again and looked directly at Harry… with big yellow eyes. The Gryffindor gasped and took a step backwards. Draco frowned in confusion at the other boy’s reaction.

“What?”

Harry approached again and looked intently into Draco’s eyes, which had returned to their normal color.

“Mm… nothing, just… your eyes change color?”

Draco’s frown deepened.

“What do you mean? My eyes have always been grey.”

“Hey Harry?”

The boys turned towards Ron’s voice, the red-head was at the end of the hallway.

“Are you two ready?”

Harry had a moment of confusion and then remembered.

“Ah, yes. Coming Ron!” He returned to look at Malfoy sheepishly. “Heh, I almost forgot. Before you came to breakfast we were wondering if you could show us that garden door, the one you said that leads to a forest.”

Draco relaxed, for a second he had thought that Potter remembered the bronze trap door.

“Sure.”

“Great, come on, Remus is going to go with us.”

Malfoy started walking keeping himself about a step behind Harry. He felt more at ease and wondered how Potter had managed to change his humor. The dark-haired Gryffindor was getting to him in a way that no one had done before.

‘He’s powerful. His magic is strong.’

Draco could feel Sally moving within him. He could tell that she was pleased, but he didn’t know exactly why.

‘He’s nice too. He would make a good mate. He would make strong human-cubs.’

Draco chuckled inwardly.

‘Indeed’

They got to the garden and reunited with the rest of the guys. Ron and Hermione looked intently at Malfoy to be sure that he was ok. The werewolf and Tonks were there too, as well as Ginny, who had just arrived from the Burrow. The red-head immediately pulled Harry’s arm and the boy shrugged her off, but Draco didn’t notice it.

‘But not with me’ he thought somewhat sadly and focused his attention on Lupin, who was asking him questions. He wasn’t aware of the quiet last foreign thought in his head.

‘We’ll see about that…’

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Author’s note: Mmmm… I hope I’m making sense with this.
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Dragon Blood