Harry Potter and the Womb of Requirement NOW CODED

Part Two: Elemental

13

{Well, boys, as a result of all I’ve seen, heard and read. I believe, that with the protection of the sash you wear Draco, that you can both re-enter the School population once more until Draco is ready for his confinement. Madam Pomfrey has dowsed the protections on this cloth, and believes that you can re-enter your Potions classes once more, but not Transfiguration or DADA until after you’ve delivered. I have made sure that you will be seated together in each class, but as Gryffindor and Slytherin share many classes, this is no major imposition. You will, however, remain quartered where you are and you are still free to take your meals where you will, although it would be fitting if lunch was spent in the Hall?}, he raised an eyebrow.

The boys glanced at each other, delighted. To be out of seclusion again was like a breath of fresh air to them. {Draco, Madam Pomfrey would like to check you over before you start school tomorrow morning. And both of you, I’m glad to see you back. Consider today a start of your self-training. You will have three such periods in your week. Use them wisely}.

Harry couldn’t help himself, {Sir, what about flying?}. {As you know, Harry, neither of you can play competitively again. You, Harry, can fly all you want, and, you, Draco, let your feelings guide you. It depends how far apart you can bear to be from each other as your bond strengthens. Also flying may make you nauseous and Madam Pomfrey recommends that you do not fly in your final month, Draco}. Draco grinned and sent, {If that book is anything to go by, then I doubt very much if I will feel like flying anyway, considering that I will be as big as a London bus by then}. Harry sent something, Draco looked puzzled, until he adjusted his bandwidth, and heard him, {I’ll still fancy the arse off you, my Dragon}. Draco slipped Harry a sidelong glance, reddening., and Dumbledore realised he could no longer hear them, despite it being fairly obvious that they were still sending and receiving, {Boys?}. Harry looked mildly chagrined, {Sorry sir, but we can change to a private bandwidth once we’ve read your ‘broadcasting channel’, so to speak}. Dumbledore shook his head, laughing softly, {I think that already you are growing beyond us. Now you realise why none of us can train you}.

Harry sent to Draco, {That should scare me, but strangely, doesn’t. Are you frightened, lover?}. Draco shook his head, {No. So long as we stay glued to each other. That’s probably his strongest chance of defeating us. If he separates us, uses me against you, or you against me. That thought makes me shake to the core of my soul, but, babe, if it’s gonna happen, then all we can do is be vigilant, and stay together, and try to be happy, for Cariad’s sake}. Harry turned to see his lover’s lower lip tremble. He reached out a hand to Draco, who took it, rising and sitting in Harry’s lap, burying his head in Harry’s shoulder, shivering as Harry held him. Dumbledore just watched in amazement, then discreetly left, winking at Harry. {Take all the time you need, boys}, he sent as he exited.

Draco tried to bring the shakes under control, Harry kissing his hair, and holding him tight. {We’ll be all right, Dragon. We’re the best there is, except there’s no-one to train us, we’ve no idea what the fuck we’re doing, and we have to train ourselves}. He suddenly started to laugh, Draco catching the slight hysteria, joined him, until they were both helpless with mirth.

Harry caught Draco’s lips with his own {I’m sorry, Dragon, sorry for everything. For getting us in this mess, for being unable to get us out, for being fuckin’ ME}. Draco answered the luscious mouth beneath his, {No, Harry, we’re both in this. I love you, and I will always love you. We will do this, babe, or die trying. And if we die?. Then I’ll be right beside you}. They both clung and cried a while.

They left Dumbledore’s study in a welter of emotion, building a wall of love against the intrusion of fear and doubt. As they made their way back to their rooms, they stopped to kiss in every empty corridor, feeling passion build at every step, avoiding everyone, until they tumbled into their rooms, locking and warding the doors. Then Draco sent an extremely detailed picture of exactly what he wanted, running the short film from his mind to his lover. Harry thought back, elaborating on Draco’s theme, ramping up the eroticism, making Draco gasp and chew his knuckle, {Pervert!}, he sent, as he willingly sank. A far-off voice reminded them, “You’re supposed to be studying”. As Harry took Draco’s left nipple into his mouth, feeling his Dragon arch beneath him, he sent back to that niggling voice, “We are, now fuck off”. Was this an intuitive voice?, was this Harry picking up a random send?, was this the voice of their collective guilt for not studying?. Neither of them cared as they spent their last ‘free’ afternoon making their lovemaking as erotic as possible using sound, sends, pictures and each other’s viewpoints.

Later, Harry felt Draco grin against his chest, {You know, Harry, we could do all our training this way, to see how intense we can make our lovemaking}. Harry tipped his Dragon’s ecstatic face to his, and kissed him. {If these were all the skills we needed to learn, lover, then we are experts, but I have a nasty feeling that there are others, darker and more dangerous, that we will have to figure out on our own. This is where we learn our limitations. This is where we learn what we need to be prepared for}. Draco sent, {Yes, but lover, what we have transcends everything, including his hatred. I have you. You, for what it’s worth, have me. And we, have her. This little Magical being inside me}.

Harry’s dark thoughts continued, {What if she’s a squib?}. Draco looked puzzled, {Of course she won’t be, she’s half Malfoy, for heaven’s sake. Not to mention her Daddy’s the legendary Harry Potter}. Then Draco paused, thinking. He looked at Harry, opening the channel and divining his thoughts. {If she’s a squib, then it will be the best thing all round, won’t it?. I mean as far as he’s concerned. But if she is then she will never know the magic of magic, but he will never be able to use her against us}

Harry sunk in upon himself, at the perceived bleakness of his options, but brightened when he recalled what they had already ‘seen’ of her. With her messy brown hair, and ash-grey eyes, her mother’s pout, her dad’s clumsiness. Brightened more as Draco’s lips touched his, persuading his to part and admit that skilful tongue, that turned Harry to jelly, brought him back. To plain reality, not panic, loving him, as he dissolved into his lover’s arms.

In the event, they spent the whole afternoon barely inches from each other, sometimes less than that. Most times less than that in fact. Dozing off in a mess of limbs and blankets before the fire. Harry opened his eyes on a completely dark room. No candles, the fire dead. Felt joy rise in him, they could fly again.

He kissed his Dragon awake, all reluctant and sleepy, until Harry mentioned the magic word, ‘Fly’. Draco leapt up in seconds, as, giggling, they donned cold weather layers and crept outside, holding hands, their trusty brooms in the other hand. They stepped out beyond the light of the castle, the cold night nipping their cheeks, and took off, feeling the icy wind in their hair for the first time in weeks, both of them delighting in the sensation, shrieking their joy into the numbing cold, not a care in the world. Several folk came to the windows that night to witness Draco and Harry’s first flight in ages. Up in the Astronomy Tower, Ron watched, laughing, until they flew out of sight, then turned his attentions back to Blaise.

On the empty Quidditch pitch, a dark huddled shape leant against the foot of the stands. As the boys flew by, the shape raised it’s head. Against the moonlit night, the shape resolved into Hermione, smiling, seeing her best friend in the air once more. He was back in school tomorrow. She breathed a sigh of relief, then watched one of the flyers suddenly plunge towards the ground, dismount in a hurry and crumple to the ground, retching and throwing up. She rushed to Draco’s side, stroking his shoulders and rubbing his back as Harry came in to land, dashing to his lover’s side. She offered Draco her bottle of water, he poured some into his mouth, being careful not to touch the bottle, swilled then spat, then took a long drink. “Thanks, ‘Mione”, he smiled, a bit pale. Harry’s arms reached around him, sending a panicked, {What happened, babe?}. Draco had completely recovered, sending, {I’m all right now. Maybe I flew a bit fast for my condition. I was just so glad to be out here, you know?}.

Hermione watched them send, felt her mind yearn to reach, asked, {Are you all right now, Draco}, and suddenly sent it, without a hope in hell’s chance of reply. There was a space in time, then a faint, {Yes, thanks}, insinuated itself into her mind. She leapt back several paces as if punched, her eyes huge. Harry leaned forward, grabbed her shoulders, pulling her towards him, forcing her to look into his eyes, {Did you hear that?}, she nodded, dumbstruck. Harry shook her gently. {C’mon, ‘Mione, think of a radio. A Muggle radio. We can tune into various frequencies. We found yours. Don’t panic, sweetpea, this could be a top weapon for the DA}. Hermione could do naught but nod in stunned amazement, sending, {You can really hear me?}. Harry turned his cool green gaze upon her, nodding slowly, {Every word, girlie, if you give us time to adjust}. Her reply was lost to laughter.

xxxxxxx

Over the next several days, Draco and Harry had to get used to School again. Being welcomed back with a cautious optimism by the Gryffindors, a rampant pessimism by the Slytherins. {Can I sit at your table, Harry, I’ve a feeling my own house wants to kill me?}. The Gryffindors tried to be revolted, but somehow found the whole story ridiculously romantic, and moved up to give Draco a space. Draco ‘sending’ {Thank you}, on several different frequencies, obtaining several stunned replies from around the table. Harry was deeply impressed, his Dragon was tuning into all his friends’ minds, reading their individual frequencies, politely telling them mentally that they could probably read each other on a simple level if they sat quiet and tried to send, turning them, convincing them, teaching them, waking up to his role, even though he didn’t really know what it was, he reacted, to the situation around him.

That evening the Gryffindor common room was a seething hive of silence, as various people tried to read each other, interrupted by the occasionally squealed, “Cool”, or by someone knocking over their chair, as they leapt back in amazement. Meanwhile, up in their eyrie, both boys were desperately trying to catch up on more mundane matters. Potions. Snape had set them some extremely advanced practicals on the basis of the excellent essays they had been turning in, and Harry was tearing his hair out with frustration, the thing was supposed to be blue dammit, not red. He felt Draco’s arms snake around his middle, his lover’s calm send in his mind, {Harry, come on, love, it’s only a potion. There is an order to this, and logic. No place for emotion. Just one step after another. Carefully rewind your inner film reel one frame at a time, and you’ll ‘see’ what you missed. Go on, try it}.

Draco felt Harry relax, {It was the Juniper root, like a berk, I forgot to add it!}, and stepped away. With a deep sigh, Harry tipped his effort away, and started again. He assembled his ingredients again, borrowing from Draco where his had run out, then cursing as he realised all the wormwood was gone, {I’ll have to go and get more. I’ll only be a few minutes}. Harry grabbed his cloak and made for the door, to find Draco blocking him. {Together, babe, even such a routine thing as this, always together. Give me a minute}. He threw on his cloak over jeans, t-shirt and cummerbund, thrusting his feet into trainers and was ready. They kissed for a delicious moment before pulling open the door.

To see before them a small sea of faces, Ginny Weasley at their head, with a lightly balled fist held up as if to knock. The DA. “We need you back, Harry, we need you leading us. Draco too”. Harry regarded the solemn expressions before him, and invited them all in, asking them all to keep their wands sheathed. They were both faced with a barrage of questions relating to the ‘sending’ which some people were mastering with varying degrees of success. Draco stood in the middle of the gathering, as they all seated themselves wherever they could, using placating gestures with his hands to calm and hush the room. He stepped to the fireplace, standing in the grate so he could see everyone.

“There’s nothing so special about any of this really, It’s just that we’ve used a modern analogy to teach it. Hogwarts cannot be breached by radio signals, as any of you who have tried to smuggle Muggle transistor radios in will know. And, if it helps, those who aren’t finding the radio transmission thing helpful, might like to use the idea of the telephone to focus on, the idea of a solid wire that you send and receive on. I’m pretty sure most of you have used the School phone at some time or another”.

There was an outbreak of murmurs at this until Draco once again quieted them. Seamus spoke up, “How come you know that we’re capable of all this. I mean, we’re not Telepaths or anything, not even Empaths?”, he shrugged. Draco looked thoughtful for a moment, then attempted an answer, “I can read each one of you if you choose to send to me, and something told me that close friends, comrades and lovers often share a near-telepathic understanding, twins too. It seemed such a small step from there to actually finding the frequencies of your mates by trial and error, especially as we’re Magic folk anyway. I’m not sure if there’s something in the library on this or not. I feel like we’re making this up as we go along. Something to do with intuition and instinct, but I’m buggered if I know what”, to general laughter.

Dean spoke next, “If you can teach us this stuff, Harry, then surely you can continue advanced DADA. What’s the problem?”. Harry stepped forward and explained. About his non-realization of what he was, his file disappearing from the Ministry, and his and Draco’s vow to stay within feet of each other, to not be separated, as they knew that Voldemort would try and effect this. There was a sudden sombreness in the room. Ginny spoke up, “And as any girl knows, there are certain types of magic that we have to stop using when we’re expecting a baby. We can’t go near any dark stuff or Transfiguration stuff, just as there are certain medicines we can’t take, like Skele-Gro, when we’re pregnant”. There was a general murmur of assent from the girls. Draco felt somewhat relieved that he had the tacit support of at least half of the room.

Neville cleared his throat diffidently and spoke, his voice too quiet for all to hear. Harry said gently, “Speak up a bit, Neville. Tell us all”. Neville swallowed and nodded, speaking a little louder, “Erm, why don’t we, that is, erm, the rest of the DA come up here for, like, chats and talks, like tonight, then go and practice elsewhere, in our room, that way, we still can learn new stuff, and we’re not putting Draco in any danger, or making Harry do something he doesn’t want to do”. Harry tuned to their private level, {Well, could you handle that, love, maybe, say, once a fortnight?}. Draco nodded, {Yes, but I feel a bit twitchy at all the wands in the room}.

“We’ll do it, but we need an adamantine box from somewhere”. There was a mumble around the room, until Susan Bones stood, “I have one, about fifteen inches long, three in width and two in depth. It was a gift to me, but I have nothing that needs that level of protection. Why do you need a box?”. Draco explained about the wands, stroking his belly unconsciously as he did so, “Then I’ll lend it to you, for as long as you want, we can all put our wands in when we arrive, if that will make you feel better”. Draco beamed a big smile, “Thanks, Susan. Then, yes. I think we can help”. He looked down at the hand covering his belly, “I’m only doing this to protect her, you know, not to be mean or anything”. There was a collective squeal from the girls. “A girl?. Have you named her? Oh my god!!”, and all manner of exclamations, until Draco sagged somewhat against the mantel.

Harry read the sign, as did others. He moved to his lover’s side as people made to leave, taking Draco in his arms, {You need to eat, my love, what do you fancy?}. {Let’s get everyone out first. I need to collapse somewhere}. Harry led Draco to the sofa, he sagged into it with relief. Harry saw his guests out. Dean and Seamus called over Harry’s shoulder at a prostrate Draco, “Hey, Malfoy”, Draco opened his eyes. “You’re welcome at our table, anytime, man, anytime”. Draco managed a weak grin, sending them a heart-felt, {Thanks, guys} as Harry closed the door.

In an instant he was scooping Draco into his arms, {You were magnificent, lover, you’re a born teacher. You had them eating out of your hands}. Draco giggled, {Right now, I could eat off the floor. Steak and kidney pie and mash, good old-fashioned stodge, that’s what I need}. No sooner had he articulated the request, then it was conveyed to Dobby, who answered moments later with the finest suet-crusted pie either of them had ever tasted.