Twisted Faerie Tales

Author's Note: Many thanks to Shannon and Laurel for their beta reading of this story. It's so much fun weaving these tales.

The Little Mermaid - Part 2

Draco was wading in a shallow tide pool where he thought he’d be able to find the shell they’d been looking for. It would be the last ingredient he and Harry needed to find before they took his father’s boat out to look for the final ingredient needed for the antidote. That ingredient was going to be tricky. They had captured a dolphin’s song the morning before, which was easier than it sounded, but still rather difficult. In order to do so, they had to get close enough to cast the Sonorous charm on the creature and then Harry had to capture the sound in a charmed jar that they would be able to use it in the potion Draco had begun brewing. After this, only the Roogna flower remained.

The potion Draco had devised was a complicated one, and he hoped Harry understood what it meant that he was doing this for him. He’d always had a crush on the Gryffindor, always. It was probably what led him into being so possessive of the boy and even cruel after he’d been rejected repeatedly by the reluctant hero, and for a Weasley no less. These past few weeks that Harry had been with him in the guise of gathering ingredients together –he probably could have ordered most of them from the Apothecary in Diagon Alley and had them delivered within the week, but that would have given him no alone time with Potter- these had been the best few weeks of his life.

Harry was fun and kind and blushed delicately whenever Draco would pay him a compliment. He was easy to talk to and now that the Malfoy family was changing alliances, there was almost nothing standing in their way…except that tail. Harry wasn’t like other Mermen, whose tails would dissolve away the moment they were on dry land. Still, Harry’s tail was stunning. It looked like thousands of precious gems strung together.

He wouldn’t have traded these weeks of quiet companionship for anything though. The more he got to know the Gryffindor, the more he adored him, and he suspected that Harry liked him as well. He looked over through the crystal clear waters to see Harry skimming the floor of the pool for the shell Draco had shown him in a book earlier that day and he sighed. He wished he knew for sure how the boy felt about him. Was it just a new friendship or did Harry think of him the same way? He desperately wanted to kiss the boy but he had no idea how a forward gesture like that would be received – so he refrained…for now.

“Anything?” Harry asked him, those red lips swollen and soft from too much salt.

“Not yet, you?” he replied, a soft smile on his face. He could stay like this forever with Harry and be content, but the greedy Slytherin in him wanted it all. He wanted to kiss him, hold him, make love to him, and hold his hand at school. He didn’t care who knew or who gawked at them, he just wanted to possess the boy as thoroughly as Harry could be possessed.

“This is useless,” Harry sighed. “How are we supposed to find this shell? It’s like a needle in a haystack!” he complained.

“I’m starting to think you just don’t like spending time with me anymore,” Draco pouted as he slinked over to where Harry floated in the pool of crystal clear water, his tone light and joking while his eyes remained slightly injured.

“No!” Harry gasped, his reaction warming Draco’s heart. “It’s not that. I’m just eager to have legs again.”

“What are you going to do first when you get your legs back?” Draco asked, pushing a lock of Harry’s wild mane behind his ear.

“I’m going to run!” Harry exclaimed, looking wistful. “And then I’m going to mast-er-nevermind,” he stammered, his face turning bright crimson.

Draco chuckled in understanding. It took a lot of self-restraint for him not to ask Harry what it was like to be suddenly void of his manhood. The tail was lovely, as he constantly reminded the boy, but he was certain that Harry’s prick would be lovely as well. “I couldn’t even imagine not being able to wank when I got horny,” Draco mused aloud, causing the blush on Harry’s cheeks to flame up again.

“It’s…trying, to say the least,” Harry muttered.

“Oh yeah?” Draco asked conversationally, trying to keep it casual so that Harry wouldn’t get embarrassed again. “So, when you get your legs back, are you and Alana going to ‘come ashore’,” he asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at his innuendo. Draco was confident Harry would do no such thing with Alana, but he thought that if he could just get Harry to admit he was gay, perhaps then he might not reject his advances outright. Draco had been trying to do that very thing for the month that they’d been out here.

“Alana? Merlin, no!” Harry scoffed, and if Mermen could choke on water, that’s what he did. “Anyway, she thinks I’m gay,” he muttered as an afterthought.

“Are you?” Draco asked softly.

“No!” Harry replied all too quickly, and then looked down into the suddenly intriguing waves. “I don’t think so, I mean…. I’m not sure, really.”

“What would help you decide?” Draco asked, inching closer to Harry with every word.

“I don’t kn-”

Harry of course was going to give his standard ‘I don’t know’ answer, but Draco wasn’t in the mood to hear it again. What he was in the mood for was to have Harry’s tongue in his mouth, so that’s what he went for. He’d been restraining himself for weeks now and he hadn’t the energy to do it any longer. The boy gasped as their lips crashed together; he didn’t respond at first, but after a second’s pause Harry began fervently kissing Draco back.

Harry tasted like salt and the fresh fruit Draco had been bringing him each day. Draco’s hands roamed Harry’s flesh, his fingertips drifting down and over the scales covering the boy’s arse. They weren’t sharp like the hide of a shark, and they weren’t slimy like he expected most things that spent too much time underwater must be, they were slick and smooth and just like the skin of a serpent, to which Draco could easily relate.

A soft whimpering moan met Draco’s ears and encouraged him on. He nibbled lightly on Harry’s bottom lip and wished he could feel Harry responding with more than just his tongue dancing in his mouth. Draco’s hands grabbed roughly at Harry’s hips while Harry’s own hands seemed to awkwardly roam Draco’s back, as if he didn’t know what to do with them.

Apparently he was struck with inspiration, however, because he pulled away from Draco’s lips just slightly to smirk against them. His fingers rested on the edge of the elastic band on Draco’s shorts and they toyed with the hem there as he spoke. “I guess it’s decided then,” he whispered.

“Oh?” Draco replied, his voice breathy and filled with need. “What convinced you?”

“That was the best kiss I’ve ever had,” Harry told him, his eyes sparkling with a radiance that hadn’t been there before.

“I’ve always liked you, Harry,” Draco admitted, blurting it out before he lost the gumption.

Several emotions flitted through Harry’s eyes then. For a moment it looked as though he thought Draco was teasing him, but he must have appeared sincere enough to convince the Gryffindor that he was being honest. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“It seemed pointless. It wasn’t as if I could do anything about it, we were on opposite sides of a war,” he replied honestly.

“Ever the practical Slytherin,” Harry muttered, though he didn’t sound angry. “Did it ever occur to you that I might feel the same way?”

“No,” Draco answered at once. “Did you?”

“No,” Harry replied with a cheeky grin. “But I do now.”

“I suppose that’s all that matters, right?” Draco asked and then he gasped when Harry’s hand slipped into his shorts and grabbed his erection. “Harry,” he breathed, his eyes fluttered closed. He’d imagined what it might feel like for Harry to touch him for ages now, but no fantasy was as delicious as the real thing.

“It seems neglectful not to make up for lost time,” Harry whispered against the shell of Draco’s ear. He didn’t know where this emboldened Harry came from but he was glad for it.

“But you,” he murmured distractedly as Harry stroked him. “I can’t reciprocate,” he complained and he could feel his lips forming a pout at the words. “I want to touch you, too.”

“Then I suppose it will be all the better incentive for you to cure me,” Harry groaned breathlessly. The feel of Draco’s cock in his hand was seriously turning him on. In fact, he’d never been so aroused in his life.

Draco would have responded, but it would have fallen on deaf ears because in that moment, Harry dove under the ocean’s surface. Draco had a split second to wonder if Harry had changed his mind before he felt a tug on his trousers as he lost them and then lips around his cock.

“Oh, fuck,” Draco exclaimed, his voice becoming thick and full of lust. Harry snaked his hands up Draco’s thighs and over his hips, gripping him tightly to steady himself as he bobbed up and down Draco’s length. There was nothing Draco could compare to the feeling of getting an underwater blowjob from the boy he’d lusted after for years. Harry’s beautiful tail made splashing ripples on the waters surface as his clever tongue did amazing things to Draco’s throbbing prick. It was all Draco could do not to shout out, but even still, his mouth made involuntary murmurs of Harry’s name like a chant on the breeze. The word ‘Harry’ was strung together a thousand times or more as if it were one long name. He could feel the heat grow, pooling in his groin and trying to explode through him.

The first wave of his orgasm hit as if he were slamming head first into a brick wall and his entire body shuddered. He bit into his bottom lip to keep from screaming out at the unexpected force of it and his hands were balled into fists at his side, no doubt drawing blood in his palm from the pressure of his perfectly manicured nails.

When Harry’s wet black hair emerged from the water, Draco launched at him, crashing into the boy’s lips and claiming him once more. They tumbled in the shallow water until Draco had Harry pinned beneath him on the bank, only their feet –or tail in Harry’s case- still underwater. “I’m going to cure you,” Draco promised.

Harry smiled up at him, his lips still swollen and abused from their previous activity. “I know,” he whispered.

“And when I do, you’ll be all mine,” Draco added, no less serious than before.

“I look forward to it,” Harry replied. “Oh,” he continued as an afterthought. “I found the shell while I was down there.” Harry held it aloft and Draco chuckled, shaking his head at Harry’s persistence and distraction as he claimed his paramour’s lips once again.

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Two plump boys waited on the shore of a vacant beach in, more or less, the place where Umbridge had instructed them to meet her. She made her way towards them slowly; her rotund body made the trip far longer and more arduous than it should have been.

“What news?” she asked, forgoing any niceties. She hated children, these two included, but Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were more pliable than the rest, so she tolerated them. Their putty-like brains certainly came in handy.

“Draco Malfoy is helping Potter,” the taller one said. She never knew which was which, and didn’t much care to know either. They both looked like equally fat lumps of meat to her.

“Helping how?” she hissed, eyes narrowed dangerously at the thought of Potter receiving assistance for the carefully constructed situation she had placed him in.

“Draco’s setting sail tomorrow to seek out the last ingredient for a potion they’ve been working on,” the other boy replied. “Draco’s sure it’ll cure Potter.”

“Why would the heir of the Malfoy family interfere? Surely he wants Harry Potter out of the picture nearly as much as I do,” she grumbled; she remembered the Malfoy boy from her time at Hogwarts and always found him to be very eager to assist her in her plight against Potter. But she supposed that was the negative side to having such bumbling idiots as spies, they often got mixed up. Still, they rarely complained when she Transfigured them into eels so that they could easily spy on her victim.

“They were kissing,” the tall one informed her, looking as disgusted as she felt.

“Lucius would disown the boy if he knew his only son had designs on Voldemort’s Bane,” Umbridge snarled. “Perhaps I should pay the younger Malfoy a visit and remind him where his loyalties should lie?”

She wasn’t asking the two idiots in front of her so much as thinking out loud and pondering which method would be best to use to scare the boy away from her target. She’d prefer not to start a war with the Malfoy family if it could be avoided, but she would kill the young blond before she would allow him to interfere and save Potter’s life. Since she knew the ingredients to the potion she’d used to curse Harry and which could be used to save him, she knew exactly where they would be going tomorrow. It should be easy enough to head them off and destroy Harry Potter once and for all.

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Draco’s family boat wasn’t a boat at all; rather, it was a massive yacht that Harry couldn’t have missed if he’d tried. Pearly white and magnificent, the S.S. Malfoy was a sight to behold. Draco rowed over to it in a small dinghy, and Harry swam smoothly along beside him, playfully splashing the boy with his tail as they made their way to the giant white ship. “Would you stop that already?” Draco huffed, wiping the saltwater from his face for the tenth time. “Your good looks and charm will only be able to buy you so much.”

Harry chuckled and returned Draco’s teasing by leaping up on the edge of the little dinghy and pressing a wet kiss into his boyfriend’s cheek. “Love you, too,” he quipped upon landing back in the water and Draco only smiled warmly as he kept his eyes on the horizon. There was only one reef that the Roogna flower grew and it would be easy to find once they got there because it was so distinctive looking.

“So, tell me again what we’re looking for?” Harry asked, trying to make conversation as they trekked to the boat.

“It’s the flower of wishes,” Draco replied wistfully. His father had told him stories about it for years and it was a thrill to Draco’s system that he was in pursuit of it now. “It’s a brilliant red with feathery pieces of pink and purple that make up its petals. The flower, once added to the potion, will grant you a secret wish.”

“And I’ll wish for legs again,” Harry muttered. “I still don’t understand how this potion will reverse what the previous one did. If we’re wrong about what poisoned me in the first place, won’t this just make it worse?”

“I’m positive I know the culprit given to you at the feast. If it was so easily masked in Pumpkin Juice and did this to you, there are very limited options, really. The potion you drank granted your deepest desire, which in theory might seem like a good thing, but it does so at a price. It’s almost like summoning a Genie; the potion took your desire and twisted it to fit the maker’s wishes. What do you desire now, Harry?” Draco asked, his eyes full of lust and his voice a deep purr in the breeze.

Harry’s face flushed and he looked away. “I didn’t desire to be a Merman,” he challenged, choosing not to answer Draco’s loaded question.

“What were you thinking about when you drank the potion?” Draco inquired.

Thinking back to that evening, a wave of understanding suddenly washed over Harry. “I wanted to be free from everything,” Harry admitted, as if a light went off above his head and clarity flooded through him.

“There aren’t many creatures freer than the Merpeople, and none freer in the ocean for sure. No doubt the potion tried to bend your wish to its watery will,” Draco laughed. “Still,” he added, sobering at his own thoughts, “there had to be a reason your attacker chose this manifestation, why they wanted you relegated to the water.”

“I have to assume that it was Voldemort’s doing,” Harry mused. “No one else wishes me harm as much as he does.”

“Perhaps he wanted to separate you from those who could help? Maybe he’s planning an attack on the school?” Draco suggested, mildly disturbed by the thought. For all his posturing about what a terrible school Hogwarts was, he loved it dearly – it was like a part of him.

“So, we need to fix this,” Harry replied anxiously. “Fast, just in case that’s exactly what he had in mind. How will the antidote work?”

“It’s not really an antidote so much as the exact same potion with a slight twist,” Draco replied.

“What will keep this very thing from happening again?” Harry asked. “What if this time I turn into a starfish or an octopus?”

“I suppose you’d better be pretty specific with your wish,” Draco mused, smirking gently. He was sure the potion would work because he’d designed it to attune to his boyfriend, not to be a sneaky devise to injure Harry in some way. “Maybe instead of legs you should wish for human legs, or maybe you should just wish to be mine forever and we’ll see what happens.”

Harry laughed and nodded. “Sure. It would probably turn me into a rock that you could keep in your pocket.”

“No.” Draco pursed his lips and shook his head. “That simply wouldn’t do. I can’t go around having sex with a rock. That just wouldn’t be proper.”

It took Harry a moment to realize that Draco was kidding because his face never faltered from its contemplative gaze. “But it would be proper to have sex with me?” Harry asked at last, one dark eyebrow raised in question. He meant it in a teasing way as he had most everything he said to the boy as they found an odd comfort zone with one another, but he still wanted his question answered, teasing or no.

Draco leaned over, hovering so that his tiny boat might tip him at any moment, and he looked into Harry’s glittering emerald eyes. “Well,” he began, his tone distinctly throaty, “I’m hoping to find that out very soon.”

A bright flush crept up Harry’s cheeks and Draco winked at him. “I love it when you blush,” he observed. “It’s so lovely.”

Embarrassed, Harry dove underwater to avoid the sultry compliments he wasn’t sure how to respond to, well aware that he had splashed the blond once again with his swift movement.

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Technically Draco didn’t need to be out in the ocean with Harry. He could have easily given Harry the coordinates, shown the boy a picture of the plant and sent him on his way. However, the fresher the Roogna flower was, the better it would work in the potion, and Draco didn’t want to risk it wilting in the day or so it would take for Harry to bring it back to him. So, Draco set up the rest of the ingredients and the nearly completed potion on the deck of the yacht, and basked in the glow of the sun on his skin as they made their way to collect the flower together.

Even if none of that had been true, Draco had grown used to spending time with Harry every day, and he would have missed the raven beauty if he had sent Harry out alone.

It took them a little over seven hours to reach the coordinates that were reported to hold the reef and Draco was happy for Harry’s company, even if it was distant. Just knowing he was close by was enough. Harry followed in the ship’s wake, occasionally popping out of the water to spar with Draco.

Things between them were moving swiftly and Draco had to admit that he adored Harry even more as he grew to know the boy. They fell into an easy relationship out here in the ocean, away from all the evil of the wizarding world. Out there, apart from Gryffindors and Slytherins, they were just Harry and Draco and he worried slightly what it would be like when they went back to Hogwarts.

Would it be too hard to stay together? Would Harry kowtow to his friends and leave Draco behind? What if Harry was no longer interested in him once he was cured? He couldn’t see the future and that terrified him. For the first time in his life, Draco Malfoy didn’t have a plan, and that prospect was frightening.

He commanded the house-elves to anchor the boat and Draco slipped out of his shirt and dove over the edge into the water where he knew Harry was waiting for him. Harry immediately swam over and enveloped Draco in a warm, yet slippery embrace as he tried to help Draco get his bearings. “So, I take it we’re here? Or did you just want to come swim with me?”

“We’re here,” Draco confirmed. “Do you want to dive under and have a look around, see if you can find the flower?”

Harry nodded and set off. Under the water’s surface the reef was teeming with fish and coral and all sorts of unusual critters that made their home there. As he skimmed the top of the reef, Harry caught a glimpse of a cluster of small flowers that matched Draco’s description of the Roogna flower. He swam toward them with abandon, overcome with excitement at being human once again and paying too little attention to his surroundings. Just as his hand clasped a bright colorful bloom, a net snapped up around him.

In a confused panic, Harry struggled to free himself, but his frantic movements only managed to get him more tangled in the web-like mess. He wondered for a moment what was going on, how he had ended up caught in a net, and then he realized with a cold dread that he had been captured. His thoughts were immediately pulled upwards toward Draco, feeling the need to warn him of potential danger the most prominent concern on his mind.

He struggled even harder at the thought of Draco being attacked above the surface while he was trapped below, but he couldn’t get away. He couldn’t think of who would be doing this to him, who would even know he was out here, but that question was easy enough to answer. No one knew, no one except for Draco.

His throat constricted painfully as the implications rolled over him. His body felt limp as he felt the crushing heartbreak of Draco’s betrayal; it had been a trick all along. Draco didn’t care for him, and Harry felt ignorant for having ever believed he did. Of course it had been false, Draco was probably doing the bidding of Voldemort himself. It wouldn’t be prudent to kill Harry there on the shore of the Malfoy’s summer home. No, it would be far better to lure him out and kill him in the middle of the ocean, far from help, far from home.

He swallowed down the bile that rose up his throat at the thought. How could he fall so easily and so completely for a known Slytherin liar? He must have been desperate to be with someone familiar if he fell for such a trick.

It wasn’t long before he was made to rethink his initial panic and wonder if Draco didn’t have an accomplice in all this because a moment later a putrid being skulked closer and Harry had the feeling he might be sick all over again. There in front of him was a very deformed Delores Umbridge. He was certain it was her by the manic gleam in her eyes, the toad-like structure to her mutated head, and the fact that the tentacles that grew out of her globular body were tinged the faintest of pink. Even as an evil sea creature the woman was ghastly and he never thought he’d say this, but Harry far preferred her human form.

“Umbridge,” Harry growled at her. “I suppose you and Malfoy think you’ve won some great victory by capturing me?”

“Oh dear,” she giggled, and shook what Harry supposed was her head. “My true victory will come when I see the last breath escape your body, Mr. Potter, but yes, this is also fun.”

Harry thrashed in protest as she pulled the edges of the net to her and up toward the waiting boat. Harry had grabbed hold of the flower he had been seeking, but let it go when he realized that it had been a wild goose chase set up by a boy he thought had feelings for him. He supposed Draco did have feelings after all, but they were all as evil as Harry had once suspected.

The trip onto the boat was slow and awkward but eventually Harry found himself on the deck, staring at Draco’s potion equipment and wondering how he had been so naïve. He could have sworn the blond’s feelings were genuine; he could feel them like a palpable rush through his veins when they touched. Yet there he was, lying on the sun-bleached deck of Malfoy’s ship drying out. He was going to die there, he knew it, and he had no protection.

“My, my,” Umbridge cooed, her rubbery flesh reflecting the waning sunlight. “Look at the dying lovebirds.”

Harry didn’t understand her comment until he looked over to see Draco in a similar net -only he was unconscious. “Why did you capture Malfoy?”

The woman made an odd clicking noise with her beak-like mouth, which made Harry cringe. “I would have thought after confessing your love to one another that you’d be on a first name basis.” A deep frown set into his brow and he stared back. “Priceless!” she cawed, and laughed, the sound a hideous cackle in the air. “You thought he tricked you. Oh, Potter, you’re such a foolish boy.”

Harry felt awash with so many emotions he could hardly identify them all. He was ashamed at suspecting Draco’s betrayal, angry that Umbridge had hurt his beautiful boyfriend, and determined to free them both, though, he had no idea how. He was growing weaker by the moment, what sun was left was quickly drying his tail into a stiff lump of scales and it was quite painful.

He breathed a sigh of relief when Draco stirred beside him and looked over, his eyes filled with confusion and then panic. “Harry, what’s going on?” Harry didn’t reply, he just let his eyes flick over to the massive creature keeping them bound and Draco’s followed. He took in the blubbery weight of his old Defense professor, the patches of missing blonde hair; the extreme morphing her body had taken with whatever curse had been leveled on her had not done her any favors. Finally, his stormy eyes fell on a vial the woman carried around her neck, bright fuchsia and cloudy, Draco knew at once it was the antidote they’d been brewing all along.

“Why didn’t you tell me you wanted him,” Draco asked her, his haughty Malfoy tone returning in full force. “I would have brought him to you willingly. Now you’ve gone and sullied my clothes,” he whined, pulling at the robe around him that left filthy lines all over him. “Really, Delores, there are easier ways.”

“Don’t toy with me, Boy,” she hissed. “I’ve heard the tales of your infatuation with this freak. How you fell so far from the Malfoy tree I’ll never understand. He’s not even a pureblood,” she added critically.

“He’s purer than you’ll ever be!” Draco shouted, letting the act go since it obviously wasn’t working.

“Filthy,” she growled. “Both of you are filthy little brats. I’m not sure what would be more fun, killing you and letting Potter watch or the other way around.”

“If you touch a single fucking hair on his head I’ll kill you,” Harry seethed.

“I suppose that settles it then,” she mused with a throaty laugh. In the next moment her wand was leveled at Draco’s temple and Harry’s eyes went wide. With all the strength he had left, Harry leapt into Draco’s net and shoved him enough out of the way for the spell to miss, catching Harry in the chest instead.

“No!” Draco screamed as Harry’s body convulsed under the weight of the Cruciatus Curse. A strangled cry broke through his lips as the spell held him and twisted him and filled his mind with pain.

A toxic giggle escaped Umbridge as she continued to hold her wand aloft, aiming it at Harry’s heart until his eyes closed and his breathing stopped.

“You. Fucking. Bitch!” Draco screamed murderously and power flooded his body as he turned all his fiery rage onto Umbridge. He heard her scream long before he realized that his hands seemed to glow an otherworldly blue and the light seeping from them was tearing the watery witch to shreds.

The net was released from around him as her magic drained away. Draco stepped forward as if in a trance and the moment he placed his hands on what was left of her rubbery form, her screaming stopped and the light fled from her eyes. Like a torch flaring to life, Draco snapped out of his fury fueled daze and rushed to Harry’s side, trying to shake him awake. He could hear the boy breathing, but it was shallow and faint and Draco started to panic.

“Harry, wake up,” he demanded. “You can’t leave me now, you just can’t!”

A loud pop competed with Draco’s shouts and the blond looked up to see the Headmaster staring down at him with glittering blue eyes. “Move away, please, Mr. Malfoy,” he ordered and Draco reluctantly let go of Harry’s limp body and shifted to the side but he refused to drop the boy’s hand.

Another pop signaled Snape’s arrival on the Malfoy yacht and he looked slightly ill. “I don’t like Apparating onto a moving vessel, Albus,” he hissed to the older wizard, ignoring Draco outright.

“Enough complaining, Severus. Grab Harry, we need to get him back to Hogwarts so that Poppy can have a look at him,” he commanded. Snape shot him a withering sneer before leaning down and pulling Harry into his arms, giving Draco little choice but to finally let go of his boyfriend’s hand.

“Draco? What are you doing here?” Severus asked at last, apparently just spotting him for the first time.

“You’ll need this,” Draco told him, ignoring his potion professor’s question as he ripped the potion’s vial from Umbridge’s fat neck and placed it in Snape’s palm.

He held it up awkwardly as he was trying to hold Harry aloft at the same time. “Cupioserum,” he mused, “why didn’t I think of that? Excellent work, Draco, I’ll see you in class in a few weeks.”

With that they were gone, stealing Harry and the antidote away with them as they Apparated off the yacht, leaving Draco to stare off into the distance after them. He had no idea if Harry would be alright, or whether or not the fuchsia liquid would truly cure him, or what the boy would think about him once he had legs again. What if everything went right back to the way it was before? What if Harry refused to help his family since Draco didn’t have the chance to live up to his end of the bargain?

A million other questions and emotions crossed his mind as he sat there in the middle of the ocean alone. He wanted to be with Harry, but he wasn’t sure how to make that happen. He couldn’t Apparate all the way to Hogwarts; he’d barely even trained on how to get from his living room to his bedroom. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he would probably have to wait for the new term to begin before he got to see Harry again.

It was with a heavy heart that Draco began to make the long journey back to his family’s summer home alone. All the way back he chanted over and over to the Gods, or the Fates or Merlin – whoever was listening – to please let Harry be alright.

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The train ride to Hogwarts was tense for Draco Malfoy. He’d gotten not a word of news about Harry’s condition for the remaining weeks of summer no matter how many times he wrote to his godfather, Severus, pleading for an update. Draco assumed he was under orders from Dumbledore not to give any word; no doubt the Dark Lord had caught wind of Harry’s predicament and would be most pleased to learn of his death.

The idea caught in Draco’s throat like a horrid lump. Perhaps that was exactly why he’d gotten no news so far. Maybe Harry hadn’t recovered from the torture inflicted upon him by Umbridge, or maybe the antidote didn’t work or had made him worse off than he already was. It would also explain why Harry himself hadn’t written either. He wanted to scream in frustration but he refused to break down on the Hogwarts Express. He was sure being made to sit and wonder was worse than knowing what had happened after his two professors had stolen away with his love.

After scouring the train for the hundredth time, looking for any sign of Harry onboard, Draco eventually gave up and succumbed to the fact that he might not ever see Harry again, might not ever find out if there was more to that kiss, more to their relationship now that everything was different between them.

When the train pulled into Hogsmeade, Draco trudged over to the waiting carriages. He was feeling despondent, but a small part of him held out to hope that Harry might be waiting for him inside the castle. That hope was squashed as soon as he found the Gryffindor table empty of his black mop of hair and piercing green eyes. He couldn’t even pretend to listen to the sorting or the welcoming speech and he hardly touched his dinner as he did everything within his power to keep tears from sliding down his cheeks.

Near the end of the meal, Draco had an inspired idea. He had no idea if it would work, but if Dumbledore and Snape weren’t talking to him, he knew two people who might. The moment the feast ended, Draco raced to the entrance hall where he waited for Harry’s friends to emerge. He tried desperately to ignore the fact that the pair of steadfast Gryffindors looked equally sullen and pressed on.

“Granger, Weasley, could I have a word?” he asked, trying for the most friendly tone he could muster given how close he was to losing his mind with fear and desperation.

The pair looked sideways at one another and Draco surmised they were both equally perplexed at being called aside by a Slytherin, and Draco Malfoy at that. “What do you want, Malfoy?” Ron asked, his frown portraying just how skeptical he was.

“I just want to know if Harry’s alright,” Draco blurted, unable to hold back his tirade of emotions any longer, the blond closed his eyes to ward off a bout of tears.

The Gryffindors glanced at one another, seeming to have a silent conversation there in the hall. “He told us you might ask,” Hermione said softly.

“We didn’t believe him,” Ron huffed, clearly wishing he’d been right and whatever story Harry gave him wasn’t true.

“So, you helped him then?” she asked, chewing on her bottom lips as she studied her former rival.

“You’ve spoken to him?” Draco asked, clearly relieved by the simple question. If the pair knew anything about what happened to he and Harry over the summer, they must have heard from him at least once since he returned. Draco could have laughed with joy at the knowledge that Harry might be okay after all; he must have recovered from the torture at least, and perhaps he was no longer a merman either.

But Hermione sighed and leaned against her redheaded friend, and Draco’s heart nervously skipped a beat. Something was wrong and he needed to know what it was. “We’re not supposed to say anything to anyone, but-” she remarked, tears welling up in her eyes. That sight scared Draco more than it had to see Umbridge changed and aboard his boat. Something was wrong. Something was desperately wrong.

“He’s been sent out to kill Voldemort.” It was Weasley who spoke when Hermione no longer could, and his own voice shook as he held his friend close and wiped at her tears. “Dumbledore thought it would be best to use this moment, while we had the element of surprise on our side. You-Know-Who was informed through our spies of Harry’s condition, so he wasn’t expecting an attack. All the Order is backing him up, of course, but we haven’t heard word from any of them and it’s been nearly a week.”

“They’ll probably all be dead,” Hermione added with a choked sob.

No. No. No. This couldn’t be happening, not now, not when he’d finally had the boy he wanted within his tenuous grasp. It couldn’t be. Harry couldn’t be yanked from his arms just as quickly as he was placed there. Draco wobbled where he stood; his legs trembled beneath him and threatened to collapse from under his weight. His hands went into his hair, tugging at it fiercely in his anguish and pain. He turned, slowly striding away from the others without a word. He didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing but he couldn’t face his housemates right now; he needed to be alone.

“Malfoy,” Ron called after him, “you can’t tell anyone.”

That was a given. Who would he tell? He’d already alienated most of his house when his family switched sides in the war, no one would listen to him or believe him even if he wanted to tell someone. He didn’t reply, he just kept walking, up and up and up until the castle grounds stretched out before him in all their magical glory. He leaned heavily against the wrought iron bars, relishing the rush of being so high up; it was nice to feel something other than worry, fear and the aching pain in his heart. He wondered for a brief moment what it would feel like to just cast his body down into the dark glassy surface of the Black Lake, letting his body break against the sea foam, but shook his head as if in answer to his own question of mortality.

Death wasn’t the answer. He wasn’t capable of taking a human life and in the end that included his own.

“You’re not thinking of doing anything stupid, are you?” asked a voice from behind him. Draco whirled and came face to face with a pair of emerald green eyes that he didn’t think he’d ever see again. “Was it so terrible kissing me that you want to throw yourself from the Astronomy Tower?” Harry asked, and all Draco could do was shake his head, freeing some of the tear-drenched hair from his sticky cheeks.

“You’re late,” he replied, trying to quell the chest heaving sobs he’d been wracked with only a moment before.

Harry looked guilty, and Draco noticed the cuts and bruises on his face for the first time. His hand lifted to touch them gently, and much to his disbelief, they started to heal. An awestruck smile colored Harry’s features and he held out his hand for Draco to take, which the blond did without hesitation.

“I seem to recall you saving my life,” Harry whispered, his face only inches away from Draco’s.

“I had to,” Draco replied easily. “No one can hurt what belongs to a Malfoy and get away with it.” He regretted the words the moment they left his mouth but Harry’s smile remained soft and he moved closer, his bruised lips nearly brushing against Draco’s.

“So, I’m yours then?” he asked, his grip on Draco’s hand clenching slightly.

“I hope so,” Draco replied, less confidently this time.

His answer came in the form of a blistering kiss, Harry’s free hand carding through his blond locks as Draco pulled him closer and ravished that mouth he’d missed so dearly. “I thought I’d never see you again,” Draco admitted when they broke apart.

“For a moment I thought the same,” Harry replied, pulling the boy back over to the side of the tower as they watched the Black Lake churn below. There was a storm coming, the clouds were nearly black with it, but Draco couldn’t bring himself to care if it rained every single day so long as Harry was beside him. “He’s dead,” Harry added, almost as an afterthought. “Your family is safe.”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Draco whispered.

“And that I don’t have a tail?” Harry inquired, but Draco only laughed.

“I liked the tail,” he protested. “But I think you have something back now that I’ll like even more,” he added with waggling eyebrows.

Harry chuckled and pulled Draco into another kiss, nearly gasping as the blond’s fingers found their way below his shirt. Their kiss wasn’t broken until Draco pulled the shirt from his body, smiling as Harry did the same with Draco’s robes, tie and crisp white dress shirt. When the rest of their clothes were dispatched of, Harry admired the naked blond before him. Lean expanses of milky white flesh filled his vision and then his mouth as he devoured the boy, kissing and biting hot lines along his chest and stomach.

They collapsed to the ground, latching on to one another fervently with hands and mouths. Draco ran his hands down Harry’s back, relishing the silky feel of him until he hit a patch of skin that wasn’t quite right just above the man’s arse. He flipped the boy over in a fluid movement, taking a moment to admire Harry’s pert backside before smiling as he saw a smattering of glistening scales on Harry’s lower back. It was like a rainbow had branded his tanned flesh.

“All but that spot went away,” Harry muttered uncomfortably. “Is it hideous?”

“No!” Draco replied with a gasp. “It’s beautiful,” he added as he kissed the glittering flesh. “At least you don’t have scaly balls, right?”

Harry chuckled and flipped over, grabbing Draco and pulling his face up to meet his. “Maybe I do,” Harry goaded.

“Oh, trust me, Harry, I plan to give that area a thorough inspection,” Draco replied and to punctuate his promise, Draco descended on Harry’s erection as if it were an ice cream bar on a hot sunny day. Harry found himself clawing at the stone floor underneath him as Draco sucked, looking for purchase anywhere he could find it as if grabbing hold of something would alleviate the pressure building steadily through him.

His world began to fuzz out until it exploded around him like a wave crashing against the shore. Draco’s name was on his lips as a murmured chant as the tide of his orgasm shuddered and waned, leaving him a jelly-like mass on the floor.

His boyfriend’s smirking face loomed over him, capturing his lips in a hurried kiss before he felt a finger breach him, filling his groin with renewed heat. “Fuck,” he hissed, biting down on his lip to keep from wincing from the pain that so closely bordered on pleasure. Draco pulled Harry’s leg up and kissed the tender flesh at the inside of Harry’s knee as he added another finger. Harry was keening, begging for Draco to take him, but the blond didn’t want to enter him without proper preparation.

After he felt his lover had been stretched enough, Draco cast a quick lubrication charm and angled himself to press against Harry’s entrance. The impatient Gryffindor arched up, trying to pull Draco inside of him, but with a steel will, Draco resisted him and chuckled at his eagerness. “I love you, Harry,” he whispered, distracting the boy from the pain of being filled for the first time.

He made a few strangled noises in reply, some of which sounded like he might be reciprocating the blond’s sentiment. When Draco was fully sheathed inside his beautiful Gryffindor, he paused to see how Harry was doing. His face and chest was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and his lovely mouth was parted in a delicious sigh. Then Draco began to move and a mingling of the boys’ throaty moans filled the air around them. Harry wrapped his legs around the blond’s waist, pulling him deeper with each thrust until light exploded behind Draco’s eyes and he watched as Harry pulled himself off while the blond emptied his release inside of his virgin arse. Only a few moments were spared for murmured proclamations of love and sated contentment before the boys drifted off into sleep right there in the exposed loft of the Astronomy Tower.

Their bodies were covered in rain, sweat and the sticky remnants of Harry’s second orgasm when they two woke up. Harry didn’t know what made him stir awake until he heard a deep throat clear sharply from behind him. Quickly, Harry pulled Draco’s robe up to cover them both as Draco woke up beside them.

“Now that you’ve had your little…reunion…we think it is time to announce your success to your classmates, Potter,” Snape sneered from above them.

Draco blushed cutely under the Potion Master’s gaze and Harry couldn’t wait to kiss him again, but assumed under the current circumstances, they might have to wait until Snape left. The man dried and levitated both boys’ clothing to them with a look of disdain written clearly on his face and turned to leave as they both dressed quickly.

“You look like a couple of dirty vagabonds,” Snape muttered when the two emerged and followed him down the long staircase to the main floor.

“I hope your time together was agreeable,” Dumbledore asked as he met the three men at the bottom of the stairs.

“I’d say it was more than agreeable judging by the state I found them in,” Snape grumbled.

Dumbledore chuckled and shooed the boys’ along to the Great Hall. “Severus and I will be along shortly. I’m sure Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley will be eager to see you safe and sound again, Harry.”

The Gryffindor beamed as he thought of how different his life was going to be now. Hermione would no doubt smother him in a frizzy-haired hug, Ron would clap him amicably on the back while looking relieved and uncomfortable, and the rest of his housemates would undoubtedly give various degrees of congratulations, well wishes, handshakes and hugs. He’d experienced all these things before, but this time it would all feel new to him because now Draco was at his side and Voldemort was gone and he could finally begin his life.

His story was far from over, because Harry Potter had just traded one tale for another.

Author's Note: So, I was trying for a quiet balance between the original darker tale and the lighter Disney version of the story while adding in enough HP flavor to make it better than both of them. lol. Next up is Sleeping Beauty.