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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
- 8
- 9
- 10
*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: This story was planned (and partially done) before the release of DH, so I’m messing a bit with the horcruxes. I’ll not have Harry been one on this and I’m practically ignoring the canon location of the cup. Ravenclaw’s item is a problem, but I’m going to respect it a bit more. I’d rather ignore Gryffindor’s sword.

Chapter 08. Spells.

Harry looked at the now empty wall with satisfaction. It had taken them a good amount of time and headache, but Sirius’ mother’s portrait was finally down and out of their lives. The process had involved plenty of dark curses that Remus and Hermione had found in one of the most ancient books in the library, and a lot of shrieking on the portrait’s part; as well as the combined forces of the golden trio, Remus, Tonks and the Weasley twins. Harry had not been surprised when Malfoy had run to hide in his bedroom, complaining loudly about his poor eardrums that were about to explode. Harry had not been any better, as every charm they had tried to dampen the noise had failed miserably. They had to give it to Mrs. Black; she had been a powerful witch. Kreacher of course had wailed loudly once the portrait had been down and disposed of, mourning his lost mistress, and had retired to his lair. Harry didn’t care much about the old elf, but had send Dobby to watch him closely, just in case it would try to do something suspicious.

Harry sighed and walked towards the first floor to inform Malfoy that it was safe to wander out of the room now.

The black haired boy was content. It seemed like for the first time in years, everything was going the way he wanted. A couple of weeks had passed by since they had found Hufflepuff’s cup and had it tucked away in a magical container that Hermione had prepared, until they were ready to destroy the Horcruxes. The things had very powerful spells protecting them and the dark magic they themselves contained was intense and evil. They all had felt how it had called to the darkest desires in their hearts; luring them to use its power for their own benefit. They had been able to resist it and put the cup away in the unused attic of the house. Harry smiled as he remembered how tired they all had been the next morning. None of the trio had made an appearance to breakfast or lunch. Thankfully, Malfoy had not questioned them.

It had been a nice and quiet couple of weeks; even Ginny’s birthday had passed by without trouble, mostly because Malfoy had retired to his room that particular day and Harry had preferred peace and had left him be. Along the last days, they had focused in finally doing some mayor repair to the house. The elves’ heads had been long gone, and the room where Buckbeak had once stayed had been cleaned over the last year, but the house was awfully big and needed much more attention. The removal of Mrs. Black’s portrait was the final thing that required heavy magic, by then they had already taken down the wall separating the drawing room from the library. The Black family tree was gone and the old drawing room had been made into a sort of antechamber to the library. The curses preventing the garden from being tended to had also been removed and Hermione had suggested asking Neville for his opinion on some plants that could be useful to have nearby.

Of course they hadn’t forgotten their training. Mad eye was now escalating to teach them the basics of martial arts and Remus had started teaching them high advanced spells. Only the Horcrux’s hunt had been slowed down. They still needed to know which Ravenclaw’s relic Voldemort had used and to figure out whom their mysterious R.A.B. was, and after that, they’ll need to find out where this person had hidden the real Slytherin locket. Hermione was convinced that she had seen the locket or one very similar before, she only couldn’t remember where.

That however was something to worry about later, at the moment Harry had reached Draco’s door and knocked politely before open it and peer inside the room. The blond was sitting cross legged on his bed, hands over his ears, and scowling at one of a few potions books that Moody had brought him, claiming that the boy might as well do something useful and help with healing potions. That had been a couple of days ago, after the ex-auror had discovered that there was an old and long disused potions’ lab in the house. The Slytherin boy was required to make a list of needed potions’ ingredients and was seemingly taking the task very seriously. Harry was happy for him. The blond needed something to occupy his mind and he had always liked potions.

“Hey Malfoy. The house is quiet now.”

“Can’t hear you. I was rendered deaf for life.”

Draco was trying very hard to appear quiet and undisturbed. The very first thing that Snape had taught him once they could meet again was to effectively block the sense of magic around him, in a better way than how he had been doing so far. Snape’s technique was really strong, but it had not been enough to escape from the overwhelming “noise” that the portrait had made. To Draco it had been as if the entire house had been screaming in pain as some integral part of it had been tore apart. The boy was still shocked to the core after feeling the raw magic emanating from the portrait, moments before the spell that had kept it in place had disintegrated in the most horrendous manner. It had been the most awful experience of his life. Well, second only to being crucioed. Thank Merlin it had ended and the house now seemed to be quiet. There was still a deep gash in the structural magic of the building where the portrait had been. Draco could feel that it was slowly filling itself.

The blond wasn’t sure why Harry had come for him, but hoped that the boy didn’t notice something wrong. He stubbornly fixed his eyes in the text in front of him and pretended to read, hoping that Harry interpreted his actions as teasing.

Harry smiled. Over the last few days Draco had been really trying to socialize more with them and had started to confide in the black-haired Gryffindor. They had had some talks about their respective childhoods and had found out that both of them had grown up very lonely, albeit in very different ways. Harry felt that Malfoy was trying to fit in the group and was making an effort to be nice with his friends, all without losing his previous proud personality. Mrs. Weasley had the theory that being away from horrendous Death Eaters had done a lot of good to the boy, and was starting to treat him as one of her own. So far, only Ginny was still openly hostile with the blond and Malfoy actively avoided her whenever possible. Of course they still distrusted the Slytherin, Ron in particular was suspicious of his behaviour and it unnerved him the lack of insults on the blonde’s part. Harry didn’t care. He was really happy that things were calm between them and that Malfoy seemed to be more at ease among the Gryffindors.

Some little part of Harry’s mind was worried that he could be misinterpreting the signs and Malfoy really was plotting something, after all, they had no real proof that the boy had actually changed. Harry had the distinct impression that Malfoy wanted to be accepted, but he really had no idea if the blond actually wanted to be a different person, or if he was only trying to do what was expected of him in order to keep himself alive and away from Azkaban. Either way, the Gryffindor had already reasoned that if Malfoy was doing an effort to behave, he deserved the opportunity to prove himself. Harry knew how bad it felt to be isolated, and for the Slytherin to be away from his family, knowing that his mother could very well be dead, must have been especially hard.

“Come on Malfoy! Don’t be such a sissy! We are going to have a picnic in the forest to celebrate!”

Draco looked up, instantly interested by the prospect of getting some fresh air.

“That sounds like you lot succeeded in murdering the portrait.”

Harry grinned at him.

“Well, you can’t murder something that isn’t actually alive, can you?”

Malfoy couldn’t help the shudder that ran through his spine. He was not sure that something that felt the way the portrait had couldn’t be alive. Harry must have sensed his discomfort because he raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

“It screamed bloody murder until the very end. Surely that qualifies as some kind of life.” He said defensively. Harry threw him an unbelievable look.

“Are you going Hufflepuff on me Malfoy? Don’t tell me you have not seen worse dark magic in your house!”

“Of course I have seen it!” ‘Only I have certainly never “felt” it like that before!’ Draco fumbled for a second on what to say that could not be held against him. “Really Potter, believe me when I say that I have no interest in seeing something worse than what you were doing any time again soon. Especially when I don’t have a wand.”

Harry looked apologetic for a moment and then decided to change the subject. He really didn’t want to start discussing what dark magic Malfoy could or couldn’t have been privy to.

“Well, are you going to give a rest to your potions books or not? Really, since Moody gave you those it seems like you have forgotten that there’s a full library just down the hall.”

Draco looked at the book he had grabbed earlier in a feeble attempt to have something to hold onto while the house raged around him. It was no simple potions book; this one was the Prince’s family copy of a certain Dragon’s book. Moody had brought it over with the rest of the books destined to the blonde’s use for him to study. Malfoy was eternally grateful that this particular copy was printed in modern English and couldn’t suppress a smile thinking about his ex-potion’s professor. Of course Snape’s copy of the ancient book had to be disguised as a potions text. Always the practical one.

Malfoy put the book aside and was about to answer Harry when the Weasley twins intruded in his room.

“Come on! What’s keeping you?”

“We can’t leave poor Hermione alone with our Ronnikins for too long!”

“Yeah! Who knows what he could do to her?”

The twins pulled Harry away and Draco was half expecting to be left behind, but one of them re-entered the room and dragged the blond outside.

“Come along Malfoy! You need some sun! That pale shade of skin is unhealthy!”

&&&&&&&&

Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had joined the assembly with the food when the four boys arrived to the garden’s “back door” and all of them exited Grimmauld place’s grounds in search for a bit of sun. They had a peaceful picnic in a clearing of the forest. Everybody was in high spirits because the last Death Eater’s attack had been promptly nullified and it seemed that the goblins were willing to have a chat with the Order. McGonagall and Harry were going to meet with them in a couple of days. Draco was listening to their plans to make new and stronger alliances, and even to make the Minister of Magic change some of the tactics of his administration. He thought briefly that they were letting their guard down. The Dark Lord would surely take vengeance for his failed attack, but he figured that everybody needed to celebrate the little victories once in a while.

He stayed quiet for most of the lunch, listening to Sally’s growl once in a while. The dragon was not entirely comfortable with Remus’ presence, but Draco had assured her that the werewolf didn’t mean harm to him. When they finished eating, Draco followed Potter to a nearby tree, with the sole purpose to relax a little under its shadow. Ginny soon joined them; seating at Harry’s other side. Malfoy looked around to see if the other two thirds of the golden trio were going to sit with them, but he spotted Ron and Hermione going deeper into the forest for some exploration. Mrs. Weasley was shouting after them to not go too far.

Draco sighed uncomfortably. He had been trying to get closer to the Gryffindors and understand them better. A couple of days ago, Sally had activated the “lust” spell, which, Draco had found out, worked more like a compulsion spell. The primary goal was for the person to be noticed by the “target” and then said “target” felt the need to be close to the person. The desire came later and, according to Salamanca, the more the “target” truly wished to be near the person, the stronger the lust.

Draco had also discovered that the spell worked both ways. He felt the need to be with the other boy. He wanted to be able to be near Harry at all times, even with the black-haired boy’s friends present. So he had to at least show a bit of interest in them.

It pained him somewhat to admit that it wasn’t so bad. He had found out that Granger had an interesting way of thinking, but he could not for the life of him phantom what she had seen in Ronald Weasley. The boy was careless, ill tempered and dull; and he wasn’t exactly handsome. Draco could think of many boys far more agreeable to the eye. And his level of magic was really not a match for hers. She was intelligent. She could have a better partner. One with whom she could have children with dragon blood in their veins and stronger magic. Children that could perhaps have a bond… Draco’s mouth twitched. He was now thinking of suitable partners for Granger! Dear Merlin! This Dragon bond thing was really starting to mess with his head! Harry’s words suddenly took him out of his thoughts.

“Something wrong Malfoy? You seem too interested in Hermione and Ron.”

Draco huffed in annoyance. He wasn’t interested, he just couldn’t understand that particular couple. Ginny narrowed her eyes at him.

“Surely Malfoy is thinking along the lines of what a disgrace it is that another pureblood line is going to admit new muggleborn blood in it.”

“Ginny, don’t start.”

“But it’s true, doesn’t it Malfoy? You are thinking that they are not good to each other, don’t you?”

Draco shrugged, still looking towards the path that the couple had taken.

“Well, yeah.”

Harry was taken aback by that admission and looked at the blond intently. The conversation got the twins’ attention and they approached as Ginny was talking sarcastically.

“So, Malfoy is still a git that firmly believes in pureblooded superiority. What a surprise.”

“What was that Malfoy?”

“You’re thinking of a better witch?”

“A pureblooded one perhaps?”

Harry had not said a word, but he was biting his lip. He was clearly disturbed to notice that Malfoy was not paying enough attention to them.

“Actually I am thinking of a better wizard. Granger could do far better than Ron Weasley. I don’t know what she sees in him!”

The look on the other’s faces was almost comical. All of them were wide eyed and with mouths open. Draco bit his lip, realizing belatedly that he had just insulted their brother and best friend. However, Harry’s words show him that they had not processed the insult yet as their minds were totally occupied by another thought.

“A better wizard? Who?”

Draco raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback by the question.

“I don’t know. Someone capable to keep up with her, and not too slow in comprehending things. She’s powerful. There are plenty of wizards powerful enough to complement her magic. And smartest, and with a lot more of common sense for example and… what?”

“So…” started the twins.

“You are saying that our Ronnikins…”

“…is not good enough for Hermione…”

“…because she’s better than him…”

“…because she’s more powerful?”

Draco looked at them nervously and started to shift slightly away form his previous spot. Ready to bolt.

“Umm… well, yes.”

The twins closed onto him predatorily. Not allowing much space for him to run.

“Are you aware Malfoy…”

“…of the fact that Ron is still a pureblood?”

“Not rich certainly, but still a pureblood.”

“Wha… Yeah, so what?”

“And she’s still better than him?”

“Uh… yes?”

The twins narrowed their eyes.

“Do you know something about Hermione…”

“…that we don’t, Malfoy?”

Draco paled dramatically and stared incredulously at the twins.

“What?!”

Harry’s laugh was heard in the clearing and Draco looked at him like he was mad. Then he noticed the looks of pure amusement now in the twins’ faces. Ginny was looking at him murderously as always. The blond wondered what Potter thought was so funny. Harry of course was quick to inform him.

“… I-I never expected to see the day that a Malfoy would say a muggleborn is better than a pureblood… even if the pureblood is Ron!”

The twins joined Harry in his laugh as Malfoy’s cheeks blushed, understanding the situation. He hadn’t been thinking in terms of bloodlines, only of how strong the magic was in a person. He had not really been considering Granger’s parentage. He crossed his arms, a bit upset with himself, and glared at the laughing boys.

“Well, so what? It’s not as if I’m singing her praises or something like that!”

“If I didn’t know better Malfoy… I’ll say that you like Hermione!” said George between laughs.

Draco looked positively horrified, which made the laugh grow louder. Ginny was not partaking of his brother’s and Harry’s joy. She was upset that Malfoy had managed to reassert Harry’s belief that he had changed; which was obviously a lie. They couldn’t see what a good actor Malfoy was. She wanted to ripe out Malfoy’s façade but she didn’t know how.

The blond huffed and got to his feet, clearly intending to get away. Harry quickly reached over to him, grabbing the edge of his trouser.

“… He-Hey! Wait Malfoy… don’t run away!”

“I really don’t see the reason why I should stay here in such company.”

“Oh, please! You have to admit that it is rather uncharacteristic of you to be pointing out Hermione’s superiority. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

The grin in Harry’s face told another story, but Draco let it go. The twins got up and proceeded to drag the other two boys towards some brooms that they had brought along for a quick Quidditch game. Ginny followed them, still upset.

Ron complained loudly when he and Hermione returned from their little trip and found out that the rest had started to play Quidditch without him. They stopped and started over to include Ron while Hermione helped Mrs. Weasley to clean the area on which they had eaten.

&&&&&&&&

After dinner, Harry was pacing in the library, thinking. It had been a pleasant day. Harry was satisfied to see that Malfoy was starting to get along with the Weasleys. Of course they had not informed Ron of the blonde’s opinion about his inadequacy to be Hermione’s boyfriend, as they didn’t want the red-head to murder Malfoy, much less for him to think that the Slytherin fancied his girl.

Harry grimaced at that thought. Of course Malfoy didn’t fancy Hermione. That was ridiculous. The blond surely fancied one of the Slytherin girls. Harry winced a little remembering Pansy Parkinson’s pug face and did an effort to remember the rest of the female Slytherins in the same year as Draco. None of them was particularly pretty. The Gryffindor boy was suddenly wondering about which type of girl Malfoy liked and then stopped and berated himself. It really was none of his business what girl Malfoy liked. The blond was free to fancy whoever he wanted.

Harry scowled and entangled his hands in his hair in a nervous gesture. Lately he had caught himself thinking more and more about Malfoy. Perhaps Hermione was right to worry about his obsession with the blond. Harry had never before been so fixated with a person. It felt different from the past year when the Gryffindor had been trying to prove that Malfoy was looking for trouble. Now he seemed to want to prove that the Slytherin was trying to help, to be accepted. Harry felt protective; as if somehow Malfoy’s well being was his responsibility. He had assumed it to be a consequence of having found out the blond and offering him help in the first place, but now he wasn’t so sure anymore.

The Gryffindor boy was very aware that he had been treating Malfoy as a friend and even when he continued to tell himself and the others that he didn’t trust the blond, his actions didn’t exactly support what he was saying. For the past few days he had actually longed to be with Malfoy, which made no sense. The fact that, apparently, Malfoy wanted to spend time with him didn’t help at all. Somehow they had gone from hating each other to form a tentative friendship in a matter of days. Harry didn’t know if he should be worried.

Sighing in defeat, Potter sat heavily on one of the couches. He was clearly not thinking straight. He shouldn’t be worrying about the strange way he was behaving around Malfoy. He had more important things to do. Like looking for clues that lead him to the remaining horcruxes.

He shook his head to clear it and took a book from the side table. It was about bloodlines. Harry had found a copy of the book in the Black’s library the previous week and had thought it interesting. The book had the family trees of every pure-blooded family, as far back as the fall of the Roman Empire times it seemed. It had some very detailed entries about some people, including some locations and places considered important. The book was part of a magical encyclopaedia; its contents were a rather large preamble and a long index. You had to point with your wand at the family name you were interested in and said a short incantation for the index to disappear and the pages of the book to fill with said family’s history. Another incantation was required to return to the index.

Harry had been appalled by the number of pureblood families in the index. He had realized later that many of them were already dead, but still it was a fair number. He had also been extremely disappointed upon discovering that the encyclopaedia wasn’t complete. Many names in the index had been scratched down or erased and some pages had been torn. Some families were still activated in the index, but their histories lacked some pages. Like the Potters’ for example. The lineage came from the founder’s times, but the family history ended abruptly around 1900. The last pages were missing.

He had been so frustrated that he had complained loudly about the book one breakfast, only to have Ron and Malfoy inform him that every pureblooded family had a copy of the same encyclopaedia and Ron had happily offered to ask his father for it. That afternoon Mr. Weasley had lent him the family copy of the book. It was more tattered than the one in the Black’s library but it was complete. Mr Weasley had explained that those books were family heirlooms, no new copies were printed since the early 1800’s and their magic allowed them to keep updating themselves. Unfortunately, apparently the magic had wasted away after so many years, because sometime around the late 70’s the book had stopped updating. Therefore, Harry could find his parents in the family tree but not himself.

He had discovered some things about his family and the possible inheritance he still had to acknowledge, but he left it to examine another time, he was rather looking forward to know more about the founder’s bloodlines. To his immense frustration, he was unable to access Slytherin line. Mr. Weasley had explained that some families had actually gone to the printer, so their lineage was only visible to their own descendants by means of a complex spell that allowed the book to identify the magical signature of the caster and somehow link him or her to blood relatives. Gryffindor’s history had the same protection. Fortunately, Ravenclaw’s was available and Harry had already noted a few items that were likely candidates to horcruxes. He only had to share his findings with Ron and Hermione, both of whom had been quite busy with one another lately.

Harry decided that he could give a look to his family’s history and searched the index for the Potters. He was starting to read a bit of his father’s childhood when he felt a familiar presence in front of him.

“Still reading that book Potter? I thought that you’ll leave it once you had read everything about your father.”

Harry smiled to the blond while he took a seat on the couch beside him. The couch was large enough for three people, but Draco practically glued himself to Harry’s left side, peeking over his arm to look at the book. The Gryffindor didn’t make a move to put some distance between them.

“Well I want to do some research, not only on my family line. There’s so much I can know about the purebloods, even when many of the families had blocked their part on the encyclopaedia. I lack a lot of knowledge about wizard history and traditions. Voldemort already has a great advantage over me. The least I should do is try to know as much as he knows. I bet that he had managed to fool many of his followers with his knowledge, I’m sure that even the ones who know the truth don’t really believe that he’s a half-blood.”

Draco smirked at this. For many Death Eaters, like his father, it would be a shocking revelation. The mighty purebloods leaded and controlled by a half-blood whom they feared! He could imagine the look of incredulity on Lucius’ face.

“Do you think you could disclose the Black’s information?”

Draco had to retreat a bit to be able to see Potter properly. He sat back and looked directly to the other boy’s face. One of his knees still touching briefly the Gryffindor’s one.

“Maybe, I’m technically a Black. Why?”

“I’m just curious. I want to see how long the “most ancient” house of Black has actually been around.”

“Ok, but I don’t have a wand. I don’t know if the spell would function if I use a wand that’s not attuned to me. Maybe with one powerful enough…”

Surprisingly, Harry took out his wand without hesitation and offered it to the blond. It wasn’t until Draco quirked an eyebrow to him and took hold of one end of the wand that Harry doubted, thus not letting go of the other end.

“You know Potter; if Mad eye had been here you’ll be in for a hell of a hearing about that constant vigilance thing he’s always bragging about.”

“Umm, yeah well…”

Harry didn’t know what to say. He was very aware that it had been a stupid thing to do. One never gives his wand to another person. Never. Much less if he claimed to not trust said person. He only knew that somehow his instincts had decided that Malfoy was trustworthy, even if his rational mind was starting to feel alarmed. He bit his lip nervously and stared into Malfoy’s silver eyes. Deep, silver eyes. So beautiful. Harry lowered his sight and stopped at Draco’s thin lips. Somehow they looked so tender, so… palatable. If he just leaned forward a little bit…

Harry blinked and tried to focus on what was happening.

“Err…”

“Stupefy!”

Draco’s eyes widened a fraction before the spell hit him and he fell backwards on the couch. Harry stared stupidly at Malfoy’s unconscious form for a second before Ginny came crashing into him.

“Harry! Harry. Are you alright?”

The boy turned to look at her. His brain was trying to get past the utter confusion of the last minutes and catch up with the events.

“Ginny? You hexed him? But… What did you do that for?!”

“Harry he was about to take your wand! He could have harmed you!”

The Gryffindor realized that that was how it would look to a witness and felt even more stupid. He put down his wand and sighed.

“Look Ginny…”

Harry was brutally interrupted by a burst of magic that sent both him and the red-head flying to the nearest wall. When he landed on the floor he immediately sat up, wand ready, and stopped. The boy stared in shock at Malfoy’s unmoving form, which was now glowing green. All the furniture, save the couch where Draco was lying on, were now scattered in complete chaos all over the place.

Harry didn’t know what to do. He stood and absently helped Ginny to her feet, wondering if they should go get help.

Sally was furious. Draco could feel it through the slumber the spell had forced him into. She was enraged that someone had interrupted the most promising moment that the boys had have until now. Draco could feel her magic going out of control, leaking out of his body, and panicked. He tried to talk to Sally and calm her down. They were at the library and Harry could get hurt. The dragon relaxed a little and the magic slowly settled down. Draco felt relief at the same time that oblivion took over.

Harry looked in wonder as the glow around Malfoy receded and he stopped to feel the incessant leak of magic coming from the blond. He took a step towards the couch and Ginny grabbed his arm to stop him.

“No Harry! It’s dangerous! We should call McGonagall to get him out of here!”

Harry scowled, wondering again what he should do. He was saved by the sudden appearance of Dobby. The elf was jumping nervously up and down beside him.

“Dobby felt sudden burst of magic. Dobby wondered if Master Harry Potter was fine.”

Harry looked at the elf and half smiled.

“I’m fine Dobby, thanks. It’s Malfoy the one who had the onslaught.”

The elf’s eyes went even bigger than they were and the creature turned towards the stupefied blond and approached gingerly.

“Be careful Dobby. It may be dangerous.” Suggested Ginny.

The elf paid her no heed and after a few seconds was hoping up and down again.

“Master Draco Malfoy was hexed, Master Harry Potter sir! Magic reacted to spell sir! It is fine now sir!”

Harry relaxed slightly and approached the couch and the elf.

“But why it did that thing? I have never seen something like that before.”

Dobby wriggled his hands together and his ears flattened on his head. He was really nervous.

“Draco Malfoy not uses magic lately. Draco Malfoy is powerful wizard. Magic must be reaching its peek, unstable because lack of use sir.”

“Oh.” Said Harry, not really understanding what the elf meant or why the creature suddenly was pulling at its ears.

“He should be away from here Harry. Who knows what damage he could do?”

Harry was surprised to see that Dobby had narrowed his big eyes and was glaring at Ginny. He was about to ask if something was wrong when he heard Kreacher’s drawling voice beside the couch.

“Not Master Malfoy’s fault if witch attacks him and magic protects.”

Dobby nodded at the old elf’s words and Harry felt lost for a few seconds. Then started to reason the events and analyse them.

“You know Ginny, maybe Kreacher’s right. You attacked Malfoy, and you really didn’t have any reason to do it. Dobby said that his magic reacted to your spell. If you haven’t hexed him, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Ginny stared open mouthed for a second at Harry and then scowled, starting to look really angry.

“What are you saying Harry? He had hold of your wand! What was I supposed to do? Wait till he had killed you?”

“He was not going to do anything! Look Ginny, I was giving him my wand, I…”

“You what?! Why would you do such a stupid thing Harry?!”

“I wanted his help with something! Ok? And he needed a wand to be able to help me, so I was going to lend him mine! Fine?!”

“No Harry it’s not fine! How can you be so trusting? You gave him the perfect opportunity to hurt you!”

“Well, he didn’t do anything! We weren’t even arguing when you arrived Ginny! In fact, he was precisely pointing out that I was doing something stupid!”

“Well then, it was a good thing that I hexed him at that moment! Surely after he informed you of your mistake he was going to curse you!”

Harry ran his hands through his hair in agitation. He didn’t know how to explain to Ginny that Draco’s intentions hadn’t been ill.

“Ginny you can’t know that! Look, he wasn’t going to hurt me; we were just making some fun of the Death Eaters because Voldemort can fool them so easily, and we were talking about the Bloodlines’ book. That’s all.”

Ginny narrowed her eyes and for a second Harry was sure that she was about to hex him too.

“Maybe he has already cursed you. He had Madam Rosmerta under Imperius the last year. That could be the reason why you are acting so strange Harry.”

The boy gaped at her and immediately felt like she had insulted him.

“That’s bloody ridiculous Ginny! In case you have forgotten I know pretty well how an Imperius feels like! I can fight it for God’s sake!”

“And could you still fight it if you don’t know you’ve been cursed Harry?”

“The feeling is the same anyways! I was perfectly able to fight down Voldemort’s Imperius! Or are you telling me that Malfoy is more powerful than Voldemort Ginny?”

The girl backed down and bit her lip.

“Well of course not. But he could have done something before Harry, something to make you act differently!”

“Without a wand?” Harry asked sceptically.

“He can know how to do wandless magic for all we know!”

Harry sighed and shook his head.

“I don’t think so Ginny. If Malfoy knew wandless magic he would have bragged about it ages ago. Especially in front of Ron.”

“But…”

“Look Ginny. It’s late already, and this discussion is useless. Nothing bad happened, and Malfoy is not going to hurt anyone. Next time try to be sure of what’s happening before you throw hexes around.”

Harry considered the talk ended and turned towards the couch. He proceeded to haul Malfoy on his arms and carry him bride style; much to Ginny’s horror.

“Harry what are you doing?”

“I’m going to take him to his bed.”

“What?! Why? You can enervate him or levitate him!”

“After that reaction? I’m certainly not sending any spells on Malfoy’s direction until Madam Pomfrey checks him up. And before you suggest it, I’m not leaving him to sleep on the couch! It’s not his fault that you decided to stun him!”

Harry started to walk towards the door after telling the house-elves to put some order in the library. Ginny stared after him for a moment, finally concluding that she had to say what had really prompted her to hex Malfoy.

“Harry, he was about to kiss you!”

The black-haired boy froze at the doorstep and turned around slowly, gaping at the girl.

“W-what?”

“You heard me! He was close enough! He only had to lean over and he would have kissed you!”

Harry blinked, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

“Ginny that… that’s ridiculous! Why on earth Malfoy would want to do that?”

The idea that the Slytherin could be gay had never occurred to Harry before; and he wasn’t really considering it now. He was just honestly confused about why Ginny would think that Malfoy would want to kiss another boy, let alone him. The girl put her hands on her hips defiantly.

“Please Harry! Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed his attitude. He’s been a flirt! And he has been doing it since he arrived! Just yesterday he sat at your feet and put his head on your knee!”

Harry remembered that. He also remembered that Ginny had glared at Malfoy and had threatened him with bloody murder if he didn’t get away from her friend. The blond had then taken a sit on the couch, thus depriving Harry from the wonderful feeling of someone touching him... The boy blushed slightly and avoided Ginny’s face. He didn’t like having this talk.

“He was tired Ginny. That was not necessary flirting. Besides, Malfoy’s a boy, why should he be flirting with me?”

“Malfoy is gay!”

Harry turned again to the girl; with a look of incredulity on his face.

“What? How do you know?”

“Girls talk Harry. It’s really obvious once you observe him closely.”

Harry didn’t think that it was “obvious”. Granted he couldn’t say that he was an expert identifying the sexual preferences of others. It simply was not his business. And he refused to let Ginny’s thoughts to influence him. What was obvious to him was that the girl was trying to make him treat Malfoy as the enemy. Back to old school grudges. Well she could forget that! He was not going to act as a child anymore! He had make peace with Malfoy and started a friendship and things were going to stay that way!

“I don’t think that you should judge a person on the basis of school gossip Ginny.”

“But Harry…!”

“And I really don’t want to hear any of this! Have a good night.”

The girl looked as Harry carried the blond boy out of the library and huffed in annoyance, turning to look at Dobby.

“How can you let him be fooled by Malfoy Dobby? Harry trusted you! I suspect a house-elf is only loyal if it’s bonded after all!”

She turned around and exited the library angrily. Dobby narrowed his eyes at her.

“Dobby loyal to Master Harry Potter he is!”

“Witch does not know of Master’s new elf.” Said Kreacher, walking towards the younger elf. “Witch looks for trouble. Must watch witch. Not let witch interfere.”

Dobby nodded and both elves disappeared with a loud pop.

&&&&&&&&

Harry put Draco on the bed and debated whether it was safe to use his wand to change the blond into his pyjamas. Finally he only removed Draco’s shoes and then he covered him with the comforter and smiled at the vision. The boy looked peaceful and innocent while he was sleeping. Harry thought that he was really handsome and that his hair looked beautiful in the moon light. His skin seemed soft, it must be tender to the touch; he wondered how it would feel like to kiss the blonde’s temple…

Then he blinked and retreated a step from the bed, shaking his head. He was not, Not, thinking about Malfoy like that! The blond was a guy for Christ sake! And however handsome he was, Harry was definitely not gay! He had noticed on occasion a boy or two, but he liked women, he had liked Cho and he liked Ginny… Well he didn’t like Ginny that much lately, but he still liked women!

He looked at the blond again to reassert his belief. Damn! But Malfoy looked bloody beautiful right then! Harry bit his lower lip and groaned. This couldn’t be happening! He shouldn’t be in his ex-nemesis bedroom suddenly questioning his own sexuality! All because of what Ginny had said!

And maybe it wasn’t even true, maybe Ginny was just exaggerating and Malfoy already had a pretty girl on sight. Yeah, that was it, Ginny was undoubtedly mistaken. Harry had seen Malfoy dance with Pansy Parkinson on their fourth year. And when he had spied on the Slytherins in the train back in sixth year, Malfoy had had his head on Pansy’s lap. They were surely together. In no way Draco Malfoy was gay! Having reached that conclusion, Harry turned around and got out of the room, berating himself against crazy thoughts.
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Dragon Blood