The Only Thing Left is the Emptiness

The Only Thing Left is the Emptiness
By LadyDiablo


Pairing: Ron/Draco Slash. Don’t like, don’t read.
Disclaimer: This is not mine. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 3


They entered The Three Broomsticks, drawing curious glances from some of the people near the door. The group of six made their way to a booth near the back. For a long time they were just observing each other awkwardly and not talking. Ginny, feeling rather put out, glanced between the others with a frown on her face. She had of course heard of what happened in the potions-lesson, but she had no idea what was going on now.


The silence was broken when Madam Rosmerta came by asking for their order. Draco was the first to voice his desires.


“A pitcher of water, please. On the other hand, make that two.” They looked at him strangely, making him squirm. “What? I’m thirsty.” He said, taking offence at their stares. The others ordered butterbeer and various other drinkable things.


“You’re out of the Hospital Wing, are you better?” Hermione asked after taking a sip of her drink. She looked closer at the blond Slytherin, noticing the black long-sleeved polo shirt covering his neck and wrists. He leaned on the table, looking bored as he answered her.


“Apparently Madam Pomfrey seems to think so. Still can’t get enough water, though.” He leaned his head in his hand, gazing with half-closed eyes at nothing.


Harry sat quietly, musing on the fact that they all seemed to get along remarkable well. Not even Ron was irritated with the Slytherins, which was something new. After observing them for a while, he noticed Ron throwing one too many glances at the blonde boy to be healthy. What was up with that? However, if he was honest with himself, he did have a clue as to what was going on. He smirked to himself behind his hand as he looked between Ron and Malfoy. Suddenly he felt someone nudging him subtly in the side. He looked up to see Zabini smirking at him, no, with him. The dark-haired boy motioned towards the two other boys with his head and his grin widened, showing that he too had noticed.


“Do you think we should play match-maker, Potter?” he whispered in his ear as he leaned towards Harry. Harry could hardly smother a very un-manly giggle at the others playful tone. “You think we should?” he whispered back breathlessly.


“Definitely” was his answer.


As they were discussing their new mission quietly, Hermione tried to engage the other two boys in conversation. She had tried every topic from school and teachers to plans for the future. In the end, they had ended up discussing Quidditch and she was now half listening to their conversation, bored out of her mind. Draco ordered another pitcher of water, the rest of the time passed quickly, and they were soon heading back to Hogwarts.


The rest of Sunday passed quietly. Draco spent over an hour in the shower. He examined his wrists and was transfixed by the glittering scales on his skin. Running his fingers over them, he marvelled at how incredible soft they were. However, he could still understand how they could protect the body. How soft they might seem, they were still hard as diamond. He longed for a bathtub and decided to go to the Prefects bathroom the next morning.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


It was Monday again, Harry hated Mondays. Though he had had a good night’s sleep and he was alert again - well more than he had been for the past days, he did still not like Mondays. The dreary day did only mock him that he had the whole week in front of him, before he could sleep in again.


He dragged himself out of bed and to the Prefect’s bathroom. In Harry’s opinion, the best thing about being a Prefect was the Prefect’s bathroom. He walked down the corridor, still in a sleepy daze. He said the password when he got to the tapestry of Cecily the Saucy and did not blink an eye as he walked into the big exclusive bathroom. He did not notice that the taps to the tub was already on and that there were actually two people soaking in the bath already.


Draco and Blaise had got up early to have a chance to catch up on the latest gossip in the Prefects bathroom. Not thinking that they would be disturbed, they were surprised when the door opened and they saw a black-haired boy that they both recognised. They looked at each other and smirked when they noticed that he was not quite awake yet and therefore not aware of anyone other in the room. They leaned back and waited for the boy to notice them.


Harry started to undress slowly and when he was in his boxers, he decided to turn on some of the taps and fill the bathtub. However, he was quite astounded when he found several of the taps already running. For the life of him, he could not remember putting them on when he entered the room. It was not before he heard muffled snickers that he looked up.


His eyes enlarged to the size of golf balls when he noticed the two Slytherins. “Well, Potter, you sure seem more out of it than usual. One too many bludgers to the head?” Draco teased him lightly.


“What?” The reply was not much better, but in his state, he could not think of anything else. Rather, he could not be bothered.


“Articulate as always.” The other boy said, drawing Harry’s attention to him. Zabini was sitting at the left end of the large tub, at the opposite end of where Harry stood. It gave Harry a good view of the tanned boy’s shoulders and wet tousled black hair. He blushed instantly. Malfoy snickered at Potter’s expression, he turned back to watch Blaise’s face and found himself drawing his mouth up in a small smile. Maybe his best friend had finally found someone worthy. About time…


Harry hesitated. Should he leave or should he join them in the bath? The warm water did look tempting and he had been yearning for a hot bath for days. His body and muscles were aching so bad. They had been civil the other day in Hogsmeade, had they not?


He decided to join them after all. He eased into the water, eyes closing, and sighed at the feeling of his muscles loosing up. He did not notice the looks he was getting from the other dark-haired boy. His eyes opened and he looked over at the other two. His eyes were drawn to Blaise first, taking in everything he could see of the boy. The water went to just under his collarbones, leaving Harry much to fantasise about. His eyes were next drawn to the blond boy, more specifically to the scales almost covering his neck and shoulders.


“What’s that?” he asked without thinking, pointing at the silver-shimmering scales.


Draco looked down at himself, seeing the scales. The area covered with scales must have grown, he decided. Before he could not see those on his neck, now he could see them trailing downwards on his chest. He looked up at Blaise, frowning.


“Were there this much before?” He brought his hands up and noticed that the scales that before only covered his wrists, had now moved up to his elbow.


Blaise looked closer at his friend and noticed that indeed, the scales had expanded. “No, you’re right, there was not this much before.” They looked up at Harry simultaneously and had to restrain from laughing at his facial expression. They had to remind themselves that he had not seen the scales before.


“This is what happened after I got the potion all over me.” Draco said with a smirk. Harry’s eyes widened and he looked up at him with horror. Draco hurried to assure him.


“It does not hurt. I’m only thirsty all the time.” He looked thoughtful for a second. “Though they seemed to have expanded.” He suddenly noticed Harry had gotten very close to them all of a sudden. He sighed as he noticed the look in the emerald eyes and promptly held out his hands for the Gryffindor to touch.


“Yes, you may touch them.” He resigned himself to his fate. It did not feel as uncomfortable as when Granger had touched them, though it was still very different from what Ron’s touch had felt. Both Blaise’s and Harry’s touch felt kind of neutral, if that was possible. As Harry was caressing his wrists, he noticed Blaise stiffening beside him and looked over at his friend. What he saw there made him smirk to himself. His best friend actually seemed jealous. This was good, now only to get them together…


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


At breakfast that morning, Pansy could not seem to stop fawning over Draco. She was terribly clingy normally, but now she was outright horrible.


“Are you really all right? You sure? We have to get them for this, the lousy Gryffindors!”
She just went on and on, but Draco just ignored her, he was used to her long monologues. Though he could not ignore the fawning and clinging, it was slowly getting on his nerves. She could be very annoying when she put her mind to it.


He took his arm back from her wandering hands and looked up and around the Great Hall. His eyes were immediately drawn to the Gryffindor table and the redheaded boy sitting there. Their eyes locked and they held each other’s gaze for what seemed like eternity. He could vaguely feel Pansy latch onto his arm again, and as she did, he could see the look in Ron’s eyes change. His eyes seemed to travel to the arm attached to Draco’s, and when he noticed who it was and what she was doing, a scowl appeared on his face. Draco took in the look on the freckled face for a few seconds before he realised what it meant. He had seen it just half an hour ago in the prefect’s bathroom. It was the same way Blaise had looked when Harry touched his scales. Ron was jealous!


Blaise looked at the redhead sitting at the other end of the Great Hall and saw his expression just as Draco had. His eyes shifted to the dark-haired boy sitting beside Ron and saw that he was smirking as he looked between Ron and Draco. He clearly knew what was going on, now they only had to figure out how to get them together. He would have to meet with Harry and come up with a plan, maybe something more while they were at it…


Draco drowned his glass of water and looked at the pitcher of clear cold water longingly as he got up from the table. Their first class of the day started in ten minutes and they had to get all the way to Hagrid’s hut and Care of Magical Creatures in that time, so he had no time to waste on water. Maybe he would go down to the lake in the evening; it should not be too cold in the water yet, it was only September after all and school had barely started.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


The day had gone excruciating slow and Draco was at his last straw when Professor McGonagall finally let them go for the day, and they could get some dinner. He knees were bouncing up and down and his hands were fiddling with the paper napkin before him like a crazy loon. Blaise had looked at him with an odd expression on his face at first, but he apparently decided to ignore his best friend in favour of chocolate-dessert.


After dinner, they made themselves comfortable in the common room and started on their homework. They sat in silence for almost fifteen minutes, concentrated on their homework, before anyone spoke. Draco leaned over to Blaise and whispered quietly in his ear.


“I’m going to go up to the lake. Don’t tell anyone.” Blaise knew his friend did not want anyone to know, so he only looked at him with understanding and nodded. He rather wondered what it felt like to have scales, though he would not trade or anything.


Draco hurried up the stairs from the dungeons and out onto the grounds. He noticed that the sun was setting and it would soon be dark, though he still had some time to take a relaxing cold swim. At the lake, he stripped down to his under shorts and hurriedly jumped into the water. It had never felt this good to be swimming; he could feel a pleasant sensation travelling all over his skin, as if the water was trying to sooth him.


Ron stood in the sixth year boy’s dorm, looking out the window. They had the fortune of having a view over the lake and too seldom, he took the time to enjoy the sight of the water glistening in sunlight or moonlight. He had been standing there for a while transfixed by the person swimming in the clear water. He had recognised him as soon as he saw him, the light coloured hair giving him away. He looked at the clock on Harry’s bedside table and saw that it was only nine o’clock and there was still an hour before curfew. He quickly put on his cloak and headed down to the common room. He stopped by Harry to inform his best friend that he was going out.


“I just need some quiet time.” He said, only half lying. Harry nodded and went back to his homework. Hermione, sitting on the couch across from Harry, only looked him suspiciously, but let it slide.


He swiftly crossed the ground, soon arriving at the lake. He did not see Draco, but he knew that he was still around here somewhere, because his clothes still lay neatly on the grass a few meters from the water’s edge. He walked down to the water and put his hand in; expecting it to be cold, but it was not.


He looked up as he heard water splashing and saw the blonde haired boy swimming towards him. Draco had not seen him yet and he patiently waited for him to notice that he was not alone. The other boy looked up and stopped immediately in his tracks as his eyes locked on Ron.


“What are you doing here?” he stuttered, slightly panicked. Ron tried in vain to come up with a plausible answer, but all thoughts failed him at the sight of Draco’s bare upper body.


“I-I saw you an-and thought I’d k-keep you company.” He slapped himself mentally over the head. Idiot! Draco on the other hand, did not seem to notice Ron’s idiocy, as he kept moving closer to the other boy. When he was standing right in front of the redhead, he slowly reached out a hand to take a hold of the other’s tie. He slowly started to loose it as he spoke, more confidently than before.


“Well, then. Why don’t you join me, it’s quite nice in the water.” He smirked in victory as he saw Ron’s eyes glaze over, before he started to strip down to his boxers. Draco led Ron into the water, noticing the goose bumps it caused the other boy.


Ron snapped out of his stupor and before he could stop himself, he reached up to Draco’s shoulders, putting his hands on the silver-glittering shoulders. It felt unreal to be running his hands over the soft scales and he noticed that they seemed to have moved out over the boy’s shoulders, up his neck and down on his torso, since he last saw him.


Draco shuddered as he felt Ron’s hands skimming over the unnatural things growing on his upper body. He lifted his own hands, not wanting to be idle, burying them in the red hair before pressing himself closer to the other body. It felt so good to have Ron’s hands on him, not at all like Harry’s or Blaise’s touch, far from it. This was ecstasy, in its purest form and he did not want it to stop.


He looked up into the taller boy’s eyes, suddenly aware of everything around him, the water around them, the crickets singing in the autumn breeze and all the smells from the earth. He slowly inched closed to the lips he found so incredible tempting and before he could react, they were kissing.


In their excitement, they did not immediately notice the scales covering more of Draco’s body, not before they started up on his face. Ron drew away from Draco as if stung when he felt something other than the skin on Draco’s face under his hands. He looked at him in alarm and Draco started to panic.


“What’s wrong?” Draco asked in concern, not knowing what to think of the look on Ron’s face.


“Draco… the scales. They’re… growing.”