Dragon Hunt

“I hate this,” Draco complained. Harry laughed lightly and stood to help Draco with his tie, which Draco refused to allow and gently slapped Harry’s hands away.

“Think of it as a well-deserved rest for me,” Harry laughed. Draco only pouted. Harry sighed and brushed invisible lint from his mate’s shoulders. “From the time I leave for the train, it will be approximately four hours before we see each other again.”

“And another three before I can touch you without giving us away,” Draco complained.

Harry gave him a sad look. “I have something for you. I saw it and knew it was for you. I figured today would be a good day to give it to you.” Harry pulled a small box from his pocket and pressed it into Draco’s palm.

Draco opened it, seeing the gift inside. On the end of a long silver chain there was a stone, bright green and swirling with darker lines. It had been carved into a lightening bolt. And wrapped around it was a silver dragon with crystal eyes. “It’s beautiful,” Draco said softly.

“I figured you could hide it beneath your shirt and know I would always be near you. And I figured with the stone being green, if someone saw it, it could be passed off as Slytherin,” Harry explained shyly.

“Not likely when it matches your eyes so well and mimics the line on your forehead.” Harry scratched at the mark self-consciously. Draco reached for him, running his hands into Harry’s hair to tilt his head down just enough to brush his lips over the jagged mark. “It’s almost as beautiful as you,” Draco whispered.

“And the chain is magically set to expand if it needs to.” Draco looked confused. “So you don’t have to take it off when you become a dragon. It’ll stay with you even then,” Harry explained.

“I don’t know what to say,” Draco said breathlessly.

Harry laughed. “‘Thank you’ would work.”

“Harry!” a voice called from downstairs. “It’s time to go!”

“Thank you. I’ll see you in our new home,” Draco said softly. Harry left him with a parting kiss, ruffling his hair and running, laughing as Draco complained loudly about it.



Harry stared out the window of the train waiting for the castle to appear on the horizon. He missed Draco, ached not being able to hear that comforting purr that was so much a part of his soul now. Silence was also emptiness without the sound of his mate and they’d been in silence since the beginning of the trip when Hermione had cast the charm so she could ask about Draco.

“Well, Harry, you’re at least not nearly as twitchy as the last time the two of you were separated.” Harry turned and glared at his bushy-haired friend. “Of course, that could have to do with the fact he’s not at an audience with You-Know-Who.” Harry gave her the ‘no-duh’ nod and went back to staring out the window. “Sirius said you’ll have your own room.”

“Why?” Ron asked.

Harry ignored the comment. Hermione glared at him. “Because, Ronald, according to your brother, a world-renowned expert on dragons, a newly mated pair of dragons need to regularly copulate in order to nurture the bond.”

“Copulate?” Ron asked dumbly. Hermione rolled her eyes.

Harry giggled at his friends. “Ron, bottom line is that Draco and I need to be together. And because publicly we will have to keep our distance and feign hatred like we always have, we will need to be even closer privately.”

“You mean you’re getting your own room so that you and Draco can have sex whenever you like?” Ron asked.

“Crudely put, but yes, Ronald,” Hermione snapped.

“There it is!” Harry shouted, turning on his seat to get a better view of the castle. He was kneeling on the seat like an excited puppy. And he knew we practically was. His mate was in there and he wanted, needed to be with him.

“Harry,” Hermione warned. “Remember yourself. You need to get through sorting and dinner before you’ll be able to really be with him.”

“I know,” Harry said seriously. “I just need to hear the purr. I need to hear his presence. That’s all.”

And it was all. He’d managed to not even look in Draco’s general direction once he’d heard the purr. He’d focused on his dinner and listening to that comforting sound. He could feel Draco staring at his back. But with each passing moment, he knew with greater certainty that the plan would work and that he could handle this. He only wished that he knew how Draco was handling this, in detail. The purr had spiked a bit when (Harry believed) Draco had seen him and settled into the comfort it always provided. Harry knew that turning to face Draco would give him no more clues because Draco would be wearing his Malfoy mask.

Draco, I need to know you’re all right, Harry thought.

I’ll be fine soon, Harry heard. The voice was part of the purr. Startled, Harry turned to look at the Slytherin table. Draco was sitting flanked by his usual crew. He wasn’t even looking towards Harry, but Harry saw him clutching something under his shirt and happiness spread through him.

“Harry!” Hermione whispered harshly. “You’re staring,” she reminded him. Harry brought his attention back to the food before him just as Dumbledore started with his announcements. Harry didn’t hear them at all, but did recognize the dismissal when he heard it. Harry bolted, ignoring the protocol of older students leading the younger until he got to the Fat Lady and realized he didn’t know the password. He paced, impatiently waiting for the rest of the students to catch up.

Hermione giggled at him as she approached. She then turned her attention to the students she had been leading. She explained all about the Fat Lady, even her real name and history, which Harry impatiently tuned out. Finally the portrait swung open and Harry went directly for the staircase even as Hermione continued to lecture the first years. He made it up to the seventh year dorms and noticed a bed missing, his bed missing. Instead, there was a door in the wall.

“What’s this?!” Seamus complained, gesturing to the missing bed. “How come you get your own room, Harry?” he asked.

“My fault,” Ron piped up. “Harry and his damned loud dreams. I complained once too many times and now he gets his own private room.”

Seamus shrugged. “I complain once or twice myself.”

“Me too!” Neville added.

“Dumbledore figured it would be best,” Harry said.

“Can we come see it?” Dean asked.

Harry looked stunned as he searched his brain for an excuse. “Afraid not,” Ron piped up with a laugh. “It was in the letter Dumbledore sent Harry this summer. It said because of Harry’s preferences, Harry’s room is warded against males except for himself. It’s to make sure we don’t have a room just for gay orgies.”

Harry stared at his red-headed friend in shock. How had Ron come up with that big long lie on the spur of the moment? And why had his friend completely outed him in the process? But then he looked at the faces of all his other dorm mates and realized that no one seemed particularly surprised. Instead they shrugged and Harry took it as an opening. “Well, I’m going to go check out my new digs and get some sleep. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

Harry opened his own private door and bolted up the narrow staircase to his room. “Wow!” was all he could come up with. The circular room was huge, bigger than the room that he’d just left and he knew it was the top section of the tower. The staircase let out in the floor. There were windows surrounding almost the entire room except for a huge wardrobe across from the huge four poster bed. Harry realized that one set of windows was actually French doors leading out to a large stone balcony. To one side was a table and a chair large enough to hold two if they weren’t opposed to closeness. The room was perfect, but missing something, namely Draco.

Harry didn’t even try to explore the room. He just resumed his pacing, waiting for Draco. He knew Draco was in Hogwarts and safe, but he was too far away because he couldn’t hear the purr. He must still be in the dungeons, performing all his Head Boy duties. In actuality, Harry was pretty calm, but he dearly missed his mate. He thanked the gods that Dumbledore had seen fit to allow the school a day strictly for settling in. He would need the entire next day just to be with Draco. Draco should be here.

And then Harry heard the purr and one of the windows opened, letting an unnaturally bright line flow into the room. But, in that light, there was Draco. Harry instinctively wrapped him in his arms. “You’re here,” Draco sighed in happiness. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to wait for you all alone.”

“No, I had to suffer that,” Harry sighed, burying his face in Draco’s wet hair. “Why are you wet?”

“You don’t like me all quaffed and scented, so I needed to get the gel out of my hair and the cologne off before I came to see you,” Draco explained.

“I prefer you better this way, but I love you any way you are,” Harry said seriously. “I don’t need you to bathe every time we’re together.”

Draco shrugged. “I just need to keep Malfoy separated from your dragon, for myself if not for you.”

“Was it difficult being in the Snake Pit?” Harry asked. Draco nodded and shrugged all at the same time. “Tell me.”

“It’s just really difficult to be that person after I’ve gotten to be just Draco. It’s like now that I’ve shown the real Draco, putting the mask back on is even more difficult. I don’t like it.”

“I—“

“I heard your voice in my head,” Draco said quietly. “It was asking me if I was all right.”

“I heard your response in the purr,” Harry said. “You said that you would be soon.”

Draco frowned. Charlie said dragons may be telepathic with their mates, he thought hard.

He must be right, Harry thought back, watching as Draco smiled. “That could be quite useful,” Harry mused allowed. “Maybe it’ll make being in the Snake Pit more tolerable for you if I can be with you like that.”

Draco smiled. “Severus has given me an apprenticeship. It will allow me to be completely antisocial with the snakes without bringing too much attention to it. Between Head Boy duties, an apprenticeship and all the studying I’ll have to do, I can conceivably have to only deal with them at meals.”

“And with all those things you’ll have to do, when will you have time for me?” Harry teased.

Draco smiled. “I think I can squeeze you in to my schedule.” For the first time, Draco looked around the room. “Wow!” He went through everything, seeing the wardrobe filled with both of their clothing, the marble bathroom, and the magical window he had stepped through that showed the outside, but when opened led into the dungeons and the huge balcony. He pushed the French doors open and stepped into the night. “This is big enough for a dragon to land on,” Draco commented.

Harry laughed. “I think that was the idea.”

Draco bit his lip and it was clear that he was thinking. Finally he looked to Harry mischievously. “Do you want to go flying with me?”

Harry shrugged. “I’m sure my broom—“

“No, I mean—Can I take you flying with me?” he asked. “I’ve wanted nothing more than to fly with you since we first bonded.” And then Harry watched, mesmerized at Draco’s crystal eyes became slitted and his skin began to sparkle. Draco quickly removed his robes as his limbs lengthened and grew and from his back, huge wings ripped away from his skin. Soon, the beautiful young man had transformed entirely into a beautiful, powerful dragon. Draco leaned forward, showing the spot at the base of his long neck. “Come fffly wwwithhh meee,” the dragon hissed in parseltongue. Harry was practically shaking with anticipation.

Without hesitation, Harry slid one leg over the spot Draco had presented to him. It allowed him to sit on Draco’s shoulders just above his wings, straddling his neck. “Hhhold ooon,” the dragon hissed lowly and Harry instinctive gripped onto the spikes on the back of Draco’s neck. With a few powerful beats of his wings, Draco had lifted them both from the balcony and into the night.

What if we’re seen? Harry worried.

Invisibility, the purr answered. Harry held tighter as they flew higher towards the stars.

Harry had flew over Hogwarts grounds many times, on both a broom and a hippogriff, but this was different. The sheer power that Draco radiated made it different. They flew for what felt like hours to Harry, but he loved every moment of it. From the dragon’s back, he could feel the purr as if it were coursing through his own veins. And each flap of wings massaged his buttocks and thighs. Harry was strictly a passenger here. He had no control and it was exhilarating. He felt so alive, so turned on, so needy. Soon, the purr said.