Dragon Hunt

They curled up together, cradling the egg between their bodies. “I asked Charlie to come immediately. In the mean time, the two of us need to make an appearance.”

“What?!” Draco shouted, almost in panic.

Harry shook his head. “Figuring everything out will take a few days, at the least,” he said calmly. “I figure that we should go to the Great Hall for dinner; while there, I feel it pertinent to curse eachother with something that could conceivably keep us both sequestered for longer.”

“We can’t leave—I mean, I know that—“

“There is a house elf that feels himself indebted to me on staff here. He’ll watch the egg and keep silent if I ask him.” Draco nodded reluctantly. “Dobby!” Harry called, sitting up at the same time to greet the elf who appeared with a pop.

“Harry Potter called on Dobby!” he said excitedly. “Dobby will do what Harry Potter asks of Dobby.”

“Dobby?” Draco asked curiously.

Dobby bowed lowly to his former master. “Master Draco,” he greeted. “Master Draco has partnered with Harry Potter. The match is good. Dobby will serve Master Draco.”

“I thought father had killed you!” Draco shrieked.

Dobby shook his head furiously. “Harry Potter freed Dobby!” he shouted with excitement.

Harry cleared his throat. “Dobby, we have a favor to ask you.”

“Anything for Harry Potter and Master Draco!”

“It is a strict secret, you cannot tell anyone.” Dobby nodded his acceptance. “Draco and I need you to guard something very precious to us.” He indicated the egg on the bed beside him. “Draco and I will be heading to dinner in the Great Hall. We need you to stay here and watch it closely. Can you do that?”

“Dobby will protect the funny rock with his life.” Harry smiled and couldn’t help but be happy that his elf friend was so trusting of him and willing to not ask questions.

“What time is it?” Draco asked rhetorically, even as he cast a tempus charm. He frowned at the results. “We’ll have to get ready.”

Harry nodded his agreement. “I’ll see you at dinner. Just follow my lead.”




“Harry!” Hermione said in surprise. “We didn’t think we’d see you until tomorrow,” she continued. Harry shrugged and slid into his regular seat beside her. “Everything all right?” she asked with a frown. “You don’t look so good.”

“Hermione, I’m fine. Just—Owl me with questions tomorrow.”

Hermione shook her head quickly in shock and confusion. “What does that mean?” Harry gave her a look that said don’t ask and started shoveling food onto his plate. Hermione didn’t push and instead allowed Ron to divert Harry’s attention to Quiddich and complaining about their schedules.

Harry heard the purr and smiled secretly to himself. Can you hear me? Harry thought hard.

Yes, came almost the immediate reply.

“Ron?” Harry asked softly, making sure no one around them was listening. Ron glanced up with a mouthful of potatoes that were also stuck to his lips and chin. Harry shook his head at his friend, but focused on the task at hand. “Are you willing to hex me in the back?”

“Huh?”

“I need your help,” Harry whispered and then set about explaining the plan.


Hermione sat eating her dinner, peacefully talking with Ginny when the fight broke out. “Watch it, Pothead!” Draco screeched from his place at the Slytherin table. Both Harry and Ron were on their feet in an instant. The Slytherin table as a whole cheered on their housemate as he advanced towards the two Gryffindors.

All three had the wands out. “What’s the matter, Deatheater?!” Harry shouted. “Too delicate to handle a little argument?”

Draco practically growled. “I have no intention of lowering myself to your standards, Scarhead!”

“Still mourning your Deatheater parents? Murdered by their own supposed lord?” Harry snapped.

“At least they died fighting, unlike yours! I hear yours died begging for their lives. Is that what gives you nightmares, Potter?” Mention of his long dead parents was Harry’s usual cue to lose his cool. Harry managed to get a spell off first, hitting Draco squarely in the chest. Hermione gasped in horror at the sight. Draco shook it off chuckling at the supposed weakness, but was turning an unnatural shade of blue if one wasn’t a blueberry.

Draco fired back, managing to wing Harry and Ron’s spell went haywire, hitting Draco, but also managing to hit Harry in the back. Both Harry and Draco dropped to the floor and cried out in agony.

Hermione cringed as Harry began redepositing his dinner to the floor of the Great Hall. Draco was fighting the urge, but it was apparent he would lose the battle soon. “Enough of this!” Snape shouted. “Weasley, to the Headmaster’s office! Potter, Master Malfoy, both of you will come with me.”

Ron nodded and left immediately without arguing. Snape started to walk away, but quickly realized the two students in question were unable to follow. He quickly levitated them both and were gone. Snape dragged them both to his office and slammed the door behind. “What the hell is the meaning of this?!” he shouted, ignoring the fact that both young men were currently trying to keep themselves from turning inside out.

Harry raised a wand and muttered something. Both boys instantly stopped their gagging and stood up. “Are you all right?” he asked Draco, concern coloring both face and voice.

“I feel better, though I look like a blueberry,” he complained.

Harry chuckled. “That one just needs time.”

“I will repeat,” Snape growled. “What the bloody hell is the meaning of this?!”

Draco shrugged. “Harry and I need to keep up appearances, right? Besides,” Draco added. “We are not ready to be separated. We figured a spell gone awry would give us an excuse to be quarantined for at least another week.” Snape crossed his arms over his chest. “Please, Severus,” Draco begged softly.

Snape frowned as he regarded the two young men: the messy haired brunette regarding him with restrained hope and the currently blue faced blonde who was truly pouting. “I’m concerned about the bonding process. You need to learn to control your need for your mate, Draco. In the months, perhaps years, to come, you will need to be able to be separated for days, perhaps weeks at a time,” he pointed out impassively.

Draco shook his head and frowned. “I do not wish to think on that,” he said quietly. Harry wrapped his arms around him from behind. “Will you buy us some more time?”

“I will give you a week, Draco, but no more. I am truly concerned—“

“I am too,” Harry inserted. “I’ve contacted Charlie to come and see us. Perhaps he will have some insight. Will you help find a plausible reason for him to come into the castle?”

Snape nodded. “I will make your excuses. In the mean time, I’ll levitate Draco to his room in the dungeons.”

“And me?” Harry asked.

Snape turned and leveled his wand at him. Harry didn’t even hear the spell, but felt its effects. He doubled over in agony. “Find your own way.” With that, Snape opened the door and pushed Harry out.

Harry made his way along the corridor, struggling to stay upright through the pain in his belly. He was sweating and shaking and by the look of his hands, he wasn’t exactly his normal skin tone. “Harry!” Hermione cried out. Immediately she was by his side, helping to support him. “What is going on?!”

“Help me to the tower,” Harry demanded greatly.

“No, I—“

“Please, Hermione,” Harry whined. “I can hardly stand. I’ll owl you tomorrow with everything. I promise, just—“

“Fine, but you owe me!”


Draco paced the room nervously. Snape had gotten him to his room in the dungeons even as Draco protested being separated from Harry. And then Snape spoke of the Dark Lord and his plans. Draco shuttered at the news, fought to keep his stomach calm again.

“Draco, I know this will be difficult for you, but—“

“When I started spying for the Order, I agreed to do what must be done.”

“Not this,” Snape argued. “No one could have ever predicted this. I’ve been racking my brains for a way out of this for you, but—“

“I know,” Draco said shortly. He didn’t want to think on this. He begged Snape to be excused.

“Don't dwell on it,” Snape urged. Draco nodded and Snape reluctantly dismissed him. Draco went directly through the magical passage to the tower room he shared with his mate, but Harry wasn’t here. It had been almost twenty minutes.

“Is young Master Draco feeling well?” Dobby asked from his place beside the bed. Dobby hadn’t taken his eyes off the rock since Harry had told him to watch it.

“No,” Draco sighed. “I’m worried about Harry,” he admitted.

Dobby looked torn between doing what was first asked of him: watching the ‘rock’, and offering to look for Harry. Luckily, the door opening stopped his from being forced to wring his hands until they bled. “Oh gods!” Draco shouted at the sight of his mate. Quickly, he scooped Harry up and deposited him into their bed. “Drink this,” he commanded as he handed the brunette an overly large potion bottle.

Harry wretched at the thought, but there was nothing left in him to come out. Draco wasted no time. He crawled over Harry, pinning him down with his knees and prying his jaw open. He poured the potion down Harry’s throat and covered his mouth with a hand to force it down.

The brunette hacked, gagged, and protested, but soon felt to weak and drooped down into the mattress. He glanced to his side and saw the egg there. He let his hand slide over the smooth surface and find comfort in it. “Your godfather is a right prick,” he muttered to Draco above him.

Draco relaxed and drooped to rest on top of his mate. “Dobby, you can go.”

“Could Dobby have the honor of bringing food for Harry Potter and Master Draco?” Dobby asked nervously.

Harry looked as if he would lose the potion. Draco shook his head. “In a few hours, okay Dobby?”

“As Master Draco wishes.” He disappeared with a pop.

“What happened?” Draco asked.

“Bastard hexed me and left me to get back here on my own. Hermione found me and helped but couldn’t get past the wards on the dorms,” he complained.

“He gave me the antidote for you,” Draco countered.

“You’re blue,” Harry pointed out, struggling to sit up. Draco shook his head and kept Harry pinned. “How blue?” he asked with a smirk, reaching up to run a fingertip down the side of his dragon’s neck, pulling his collar back to see the color.

Draco raised an eyebrow. “You’ve just puked and now you’re frisky?”

Harry shrugged. “The potion is working.” Draco rolled his eyes. Harry smiled. “I love you so much Draco. You know, the egg scared me, but now? I want to share everything with you. I want to be one with you. I feel as if we’re practically one person, could tell you everything, no secrets. Sick, well, rich, poor, forever, Draco. I feel like—“ Draco pulled himself off his mate without hearing Harry’s feelings. Harry followed, moving to kiss Draco, only to have the dragon turn away. Harry felt as if he’d been stabbed at the rejection. “Draco?” Harry asked, concerned.

“Hmm?” Draco asked distractedly as he stared out at the darkening sky.

Harry bit his lower lip. He didn’t like Draco’s unresponsiveness; even the purr was dull. “I’m going to go shower,” he said quietly. He quietly ran his hand over the smooth shell of the egg before grabbing his things from the wardrobe and disappearing into the bathroom.

Draco hadn’t moved when Harry had returned. Harry tried to ignore the fact that Draco hadn’t even turned. “Good night, my dragon,” Harry said softly as he crawled into the bed. When Draco didn’t respond, Harry curled up, the egg against his belly and fell asleep. Draco never entered the bed.