Dragon Hunt

Harry lay on the packed dirt staring up at the black sky. He’d expected to see stars, with how clear the day had been, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be disappointed when there was nothing but empty blackness above him. In fact, it seemed appropriate. It made it difficult to tell if his eyes were opened or closed and that seemed familiar. For weeks now he couldn’t tell if he was awake or asleep. It was all blurring together. Though in truth, he knew he was always wakefulness. Sleep had been all too elusive since that night all those weeks ago.

. . . “We’ve helped eachother out, haven’t we?” Harry asked, his face twisting into a shy and hopeful smile. “We both got here. Let’s take it together.”

Those stormy gray eyes stared at him first confused, then suspiciously. When Harry’s expression only begged for understanding, finally Cedric’s lips broke into a broad smile of acceptance. “You’re on. Come here.”

Harry breathed out a long sigh of relief. He reached out, taking Cedric’s offered hand, their fingers automatically entwining easily as they had before. Their unattached hands hovered over the arched handles of the glowing cup that was to be their prize. “On three, right? One—two—three” . . .

Harry jerked into wakefulness when a flash of light went across his face. “Get up, Potter!” Dudley taunted. Harry glanced up, staring into the bright light shining into his face. He recognized the voice of his fat cousin. Before he could react, chubby fingers had wrapped around his bicep and yanked him to his feet. “Time to get you back to the house,” Dudley grumbled.

“Why do you care?” Harry asked morosely. The fact of the matter is that since he’d returned home this summer, Dudley had been down right nice to him. At least when compared to his usual behavior. He hadn’t beaten Harry or chased him down with his friends. He hadn’t stolen Harry’s food or bossed him around like a houseelf. On the contrary, he’d left food by his bed when Harry refused to leave it. And when Harry awoke screaming in the night, Dudley had been there with a glass of water and concerned eyes staring at him.

“I don’t,” Dudley huffed. Nice by comparison. “Mum sent me after you.” At that Harry jerked his arm away and stared at his cousin, waiting for an explanation. Dudley shrugged. “Something about being your birthday tomorrow. Got a letter from some ruddy bird saying that you needed to be in the house and secure in your room at midnight.”

“Letter from whom?” Harry asked snidely. I haven’t gotten any letters all summer!” Harry shouted.

Dudley choked out a short letter. “You haven’t gotten them. Doesn’t mean they weren’t delivered.” Dudley shook his head. “Look, Potter, my da’s been getting crazier and crazier since you started going off to that school. He’s been stealing your mail since it started showing up. I’d have thought you’d a noticed but you’re barely alive unless you’re screaming out that Cedric’s name throughout the night. Oh, you shoulda seen his face the first time he heard you moaning out a boy’s name,” Dudley giggled.

Harry stared at Dudley with wide frightened eyes. Dudley looked at him with concern, suddenly recognizing what his cousin was thinking. “You love some bloke. No crime in that, cousin. I share my father’s appetite, but little else these days.” Harry nodded slowly and fell into step beside Dudley as they headed back to the house. “So Cedric’s your boyfriend?” Harry nodded slowly, his eyes locked on the lighted spot in front of him. “That why you been so depressed? Because you haven’t gotten any letters from him?”

“He’s dead,” Harry breathed. “Cedric is dead.”

Dudley tripped up, catching himself just before he completely lost his balance. “I’m sorry.”

Harry again nodded dully and was grateful when Dudley allowed for silence on the rest of the journey to the house.


Harry lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, studying the long shadows as they stretched from the window. He wanted to sleep, to lose himself in dreams. Whether they be pleasant or nightmares, they would bring him closer to Cedric. He missed the Hufflepuff more than he thought he would. Thought he could. He missed his gentle touch, his teasing kisses, his broad smile. Gods he missed that smile, that smile that made him feel so naïve and innocent. That smile that made him feel like the center of someone’s world. He wanted to be lost in that smile. That’s all he wanted.

Why couldn’t he sleep?! He slapped the mattress beside him in frustration. He wanted sleep! He wanted to see that smile. He needed to see that smile. “Damn it!” he shouted to the shadows. He could hear the ticking of the little clock by his bed. He glanced at it. 11:58. Two more minutes and he would be 17. Legally an adult according to wizarding law. Maybe he would leave. But then again here at the Dursley’s he was safe. He was actually grateful to his uncle for keeping the letters away. He didn’t want to hear from his friends.

Hermione and Ron both knew of his relationship with Cedric. They’d been confused and concerned about why it had to be kept a secret. Cedric had easily explained it to them. They didn’t want people to think that they were in the tournament as a team. It wouldn’t be fair. And if they had been able to stick to that, Cedric would be alive. He would be alive if Harry hadn’t wanted to share everything with him. But Harry had. Harry had wanted to share everything with him. He’d wanted to share his soul and his body and—

“I just want some sleep!” he grumbled again, glancing over at the clock. 12:07. He was seventeen. Wait. No, he wasn’t seventeen. His birthday wasn’t for another week and a half. He scowled in confusion. What had Dudley been talking about?

Just then the house seemed to shutter. Harry could hear a screeching sound that all at once hurt his ears and at the same time, he didn’t want it to end. He ran to the window and saw a flash of white beneath his window before the flashing lights began. He looked down again seeing familiar faces all with wands drawn.

“He’s running!” Remus shouted. Then the faces were gone, disappearing into the brush as they chased after the fleeing white figure.

Harry stared down in shock at the scene playing out before him. He could hear his uncle howling with rage and his aunt prattering on. The porch lights were being flipped on and that’s when Harry noticed that not all the familiar faces had chased after the ghostly figure. Dumbledore stood on the porch smiling up at Harry while Vernon Dursley charged at him shouting obscenities. Apparently Dumbledore said something quietly to Vernon causing Vernon to run back into the house with Dumbledore. Harry fled down the stairs to witness the meeting.



When Harry reached the living room, Dumbledore was standing quite calmly his eyes twinkling with amusement while Vernon screamed at him. When Dumbledore saw Harry, he flicked his wand at the head of the Dursley household and the room went silent. “Harry, my boy! I trust you’re in fine health?”

“As fine as can be expected, I guess. What’s going on?”

“We need to speak about that little scene outside,” Dumbledore said with a chuckle, “though you probably realize that.”

“Yeah,” he breathed, glancing over to his uncle who seemed completely unaware that he had been muted. Dudley was sitting on the couch watching Harry and the newcomer. Harry briefly wondered about his aunt, but soon saw her on armchair opposite him. Apparently she’d fainted.

Dumbledore gestured to the dining room table. “Let us sit, shall we? Do you have any sweets?”

“Yes,” Dudley piped up. “Let me get you something.”

Harry sat gingerly at the table across from Dumbledore. Dudley set a plate of chocolates between them along with a pot of tea before taking a seat beside Harry. “May I speak in front of your cousin?” Dumbledore asked politely. Harry glanced at Dudley and then nodded. “Ahh, good. Let me tell you a story, then. Centuries and centuries ago there was a wizard who was abandoned by his parents and raised among muggles. Why he was abandoned, no one knows. He was raised without education of our world, though he was very powerful and used to use his magic anyway. He was a wizard living among muggles and took advantage of the power it afforded it. He met a witch and though she herself was not very powerful, she helped him harness his power even more. Together they cursed muggles, stole from them, tortured them, spread plague among them. Muggles called them evil, called them maleficia.

“Finally the wizarding world became aware of his crimes and they hunted him down. There was no Azkeban and we do not believe in killing our own kind. So they were cursed. Their powers were bound and a curse was placed on any of their descendants to have them be what they could be, regardless of their parents’ influence. Though the curse on the descendents did not work as intended.

“To each generation, one son is born of the line. Their name is chosen for them by fate and stitched into the family tree by magic. As they grow up, they slowly begin to see what will become of them and do what they can to prepare themselves for the change because on their seventeen birthday, they become what their name fates them to be.”

“Today is not my birthday,” Harry muttered.

Dumbledore giggled. “Quite right, but it is someone’s birthday. Someone’s seventeenth. Another student’s actually. See, this young man came to me at the end of last term and explained to me the story I’ve just told you, though truth be told I already knew. However, he also told me that he was concerned about you. It seems that for years now, your presence had made his blood boil, something he couldn’t control. He was worried that he would seek you out when he came into this inheritance. He was concerned for your safety. He knew that when the change occurred his memory would be gone for days, maybe months. Controlling himself would be difficult.”

“So you’re telling me that the thing out there was a student who wants to kill me?” Harry laughed. “As if Voldemort wasn’t enough?” Harry was laughing a bit hysterically. “Let him. I don’t care anymore.”

Dumbledore frowned at him. “That’s not good to say.” Harry rolled his eyes at the old man and dropped his head onto the table. Dumbledore took the time to nibble happily on the chocolates. “We’ll be moving you a safer location on your birthday when the magic of this place wears off. Until then, you will be guarded around the clock.”

“What is it?”

“Excuse me?” Dumbledore asked.

“You said that this student would become whatever his name would dictate. What is it?”

Dumbledore shook his head and truly seemed confused. “That’s the problem. He appeared human when we followed him here tonight, but we assumed he would be a dragon.”

“A dragon?”

“Yes. Draco does mean dragon, afterall.” Harry’s jaw dropped as he stared at his headmaster, but he really couldn’t feel surprise at the fact that Draco Malfoy wanted to kill him. It was nothing new. The shock came from the fact he had gone to Dumbledore because he was concerned about his safety. “Then again, Lucius didn’t exactly sprout horns and a forked tail when he turned seventeen, though he certainly adopted aspects of the demon his name derives from,” Dumbledore mused mostly to himself as he continued to eat the chocolates, making little yummy noises with each bite. “Perhaps Draco will only gain aspects of dragons?” he asked himself.

“Aspects, yes!” Sirius said breathlessly from the door where he and four others had rushed in from. “But those aspects do include being a huge scaled flying beast that just burned down a school down the block.”

Dumbledore hummed happily. "Oh good. I was hoping the dear boy wouldn't be short changed in the power department.

Harry rolled his eyes and hit his head off the table. Leave it to the man who claimed to want to protect him to be happy that one of the people wanting him dead apparently had all the powers of a dragon.