Gilded Soul

Chapter 36 Voyeur

Hermione was grinning ear to ear and trying to divert her eyes from either of the naked boys in front of her. Harry looked livid and Draco looked about to burst with laughter. “Hermione Jane Granger, get up this instant.” The young Gryffindor was instantly mollified by her housemate’s stern tone. “Did you just… watch us?”

She stifled a grin and struggled to meet Harry’s eyes and not let them drift lower. “Sorry, I… just wanted to se the ritual. I hadn’t expected… well, you know,” her voice came out broken and the verge of a giggling fit.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Well, are you happy now? I’ll never be able to look at you again,” his words were stern but his voice was slightly teasing.

“Me? Think of how I feel! I won’t be able to stop picturing the two of you for the rest of my life,” he voice was also teasing, but even as she said it she knew the complete truth those words held over her.

“Well it serves you right. Gawking at us from under the bed,” Harry shook his head unable to finish his thought. The idea of his best friend watching him in his most intimate moments with Draco made him shiver in annoyance. The phoenix on his back mimicked the movement, ruffling her vast feathers across his back.

“I suppose your right. I didn’t think it through, I didn’t think about what might happen after,” she was carefully examining the floor, her eyes had carefully avoided looking at either boys exposed genitals as her eyes drifted from Harry’s to the floor.

Draco couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot. He found the whole situation quite entertaining. Hermione’s eyes met his after hearing him chuckle and he winked at her. She blushed furiously and looked back at the floor, her eyes wide having not managed to avoid looking at his erection on her way back down to the floor.

Draco nudged Harry lightly with his elbow and nodded towards their robes. “It would be extra kind of us to cover up since she’s obviously staying.”

Harry laughed as he looked over at Hermione who was making no move to leave, and was apparently trying to memorize the floor. “It would be extra kind of us. Are we feeling kind Draco?”

A small smirk played against Draco’s pale features, and Harry though for a moment that he might say no, but he walked over to their discarded clothing and picked up their robes. He immediately discarded them however when he thought of having to cover Harry’s magnificent tattoo. He knew it would have to be covered eventually, but he didn’t want it to happen yet, not when it was unnecessary.

He discarded the robes back to the floor and headed for the wardrobe. He pulled out their green and burgundy pajama bottoms and took them back to where Harry stood. The two boys dressed quickly and Draco noticed Hermione watching them with a wicked grin. Decent, they went over to where the blanket was still splayed in front of the fireplace.

Harry waved his hand and several things happened at once. The blanket and their clothing moved to a pile in the hamper in the corner, the brushes and instruments used in the ritual hovered in the air for a moment before placing themselves gently on a side table that had appeared in between two armchairs he had just conjured. It was an impressive feat.

Hermione seemed to think so too, for her eyes got even wider than they had been when she accidentally looked at Draco’s exposed flesh. He hadn’t stopped to think of it, but she had never really seen Harry’s new abilities in action before. Draco saw it so often now that he almost took it for granted that Harry was just more powerful, the most powerful even. It no longer bothered him the way it once did, giving him little pangs of jealousy that Harry’s magic came to him so fully and naturally. Draco was content though, as long as he had Harry, he didn’t care what powers the boy had that he himself did not.

Draco and Harry took a seat in one of the oversized armchairs, squishing together. Their limbs tangled and Draco leaned in for a chaste kiss. He saw Harry’s eyes drift over to where Hermione stood. “Really Harry, I don’t think a small kiss is going to ruin her Gryffindor virtues. She saw much more than that just a bit ago,” he teased.

Harry smiled and captured Draco’s mouth in a fiery kiss. Hermione gasped and Harry looked up at her confused. “You two are… so beautiful together. I mean, you’re both quite lovely apart, of course, but together… there are no words.” Draco grinned feeling suitably flattered and Harry blushed, pulling his Slytherin closer.

Several moments passed in silence as Hermione took her seat across from them and played with a lock of her hair, staring out into space. Harry wondered if she was still picturing he and Draco together, and decided he didn’t care. Let her have nightmares, or elicit fantasies, whichever the case may be, it was her own fault.

Draco laughed, as if reading Harry’s thoughts. “She’s going to be a bit distracted for awhile, I think.” Harry nodded and grinned.

That seemed to snap her out of it. She looked back over at the two boys; her cheeks still a vivid pink, and smiled. “So show me these marks. I want to see them up close.”

Draco held out his arm, which was closest to her and sandwiched between the chair and Harry. She leaned over and studied it for a long moment then reached a hand forward. “May I touch it?”

Draco nodded so she leaned closer and ran a delicate fingertip down the dragon’s tail. The dragon, Draco had already begun referring to him as Quill in his head, opened his eyes and raised its head. A small gasp from Hermione said that the movement was not in Draco’s mind alone. Quill didn’t smile as he had for Harry, but neither did he hiss or growl at the girls touch. It stood then, fluttering its wings and trying to get a closer look at Hermione. “It’s so lifelike,” she exclaimed. “Harry, I didn’t know you could draw.” Harry shrugged, obviously embarrassed.

“His name is Quill,” Draco offered.

Harry looked up quizzically. “What? You named him? Shouldn’t I get to name him?”

Draco laughed. “I didn’t name him, he named himself. It was just what popped into my head when he came to life.” Harry looked slightly affronted. “That didn’t happen for you I take it?”

Harry shook his head. “I do know it’s a her, though.”

“So were gay, but our marks are heterosexual. Swell.”

Harry laughed. “It is an inter-species love though,” he added as if that cleared everything up.

All three of them were laughing then. It was Hermione who broke first. “Okay, Harry, let’s see yours.”

Harry wiggled free of Draco’s grip and shifted in the chair so that his back was facing Hermione. It made the Quill brush against his phoenix though, and both boys shivered with the touch. “Ember,” Draco whispered with no other explanation.

“What?” It was Hermione that asked, but Harry was also curious.

“Your phoenix. Her name is Ember.”

Harry smiled, “You got that from the touch just now?” Draco nodded with a smirk. “I like it.”

“Me too,” Draco and Hermione both said in unison.

Hermione stood and walked over to the other boys’ armchair. Harry was straddling Draco so that he could show his back to Hermione. He was attempting to ignore the growing erection pressed against him to no avail. He watched as Quill slinked back up Draco's arm to settle down on his chest, where Harry had originally drawn him.

Hermione closely examined the phoenix on Harry’s back as she had done with Draco’s tattoo. When she reached out, Ember cooed at her and ruffled her wings. “What does it feel like?” she asked.

“Strange,” both boys answered in unison, chuckling.

She couldn’t see the entire design though, because of Harry’s trousers. She placed a tentative hand on his waistband. “Do you mind?”

Harry laughed. “You’ve already seen it I guess, so have at it.”

Hermione blushed furiously as she pulled his bottoms down low enough to see the entire piece of art, for it truly was art. Draco’s drawing looked more like a master painting than something hand-drawn. “Draco, this is stunning.”

“If you’re talking about Harry’s arse, I already know that.” Hermione blushed darker and Harry joined her. “But if you speak of the phoenix, thank you. Only the best for my Harry.” His silver gray eyes were locked with Harry’s green ones as he said it. Harry leaned in a kissed him lightly on the lips.

Hermione righted Harry’s trousers and went back to her own chair. “That was an amazing ritual. Even though I got more than I bargained for, I’m still glad I watched.”

--

“Interesting indeed,” Dumbledore chuckled after peering at Harry and Draco’s new body art. “You’ve been busy these past few days I see.”

Draco smiled. “So you don’t think it was a terrible idea?” he asked, already relieved by the headmasters obvious acceptance.

“Quite the contrary, I only wish I had thought of it. I think it will be a valuable asset in your upcoming battle.” He looked critically at both the boys then. “Speaking of, where is the gilded soul?”

Harry and Draco exchanged a look. “Well, we were hoping you could help us with that question. We haven’t been back to the maze since the last trial. It’s been four nights, sir. We don’t understand what’s wrong.”

The headmaster leaned back in his chair and studied the portrait above Harry’s head. “Tell me Harry, can you feel Voldemort in your mind.”

“Right now?” The headmaster nodded, so Harry tried. He searched his mind for that niggling feeling in the back of his head that indicated an intruder, but nothing was there. “No sir, nothing.”

Dumbledore nodded. “I thought that might be the case. I believe this was an unanticipated side effect of your ritual. No that you are bonded to each other, there is no way for the Dark Lord to create a mental bond with you, Harry. Since we cannot see what he’s doing, I can only assume he’s not ready for you to find the gilded soul. He’s keeping the two of you away from it until he‘s ready.”

“What happens then?” Draco asked.

“Well, at which point several things could happen. Voldemort may try and reopen his connection with Harry, and find it permanently closed. Which means, no gilded soul. See, you were only in the maze at his bidding, so without him, you cannot get into it.”

Harry blinked. “So how do we fight him then? How does it all end if not with the gilded soul?”

Dumbledore chuckled. “You were never going to use the gilded soul against him. You couldn’t. It is his weapon to wield, no one else’s. In fact, if that is the case, and you are officially closed off from him, then I am relieved. It would have been a distraction at best to have the gilded soul unprotected.”

“Okay, and what if he’s able to reopen the connection?”

“Then you will find yourself in front of the holding place of the gilded soul, and you must bring it to me.” A strange light echoed in Dumbledore’s eyes, and Draco found himself worried. He doubted heartily what the headmaster said about the gilded soul. How could it possibly be a weapon that only Voldemort could wield? That made no sense. There was only one thing that did.

Dumbledore wanted the weapon for himself.

--

Author’s Note: Next chapter – The gilded soul is finally attained, but by whom?