Harry Potter and the Eyes of the Dragon

Chapter V: The Eyes of the Dragon

Since Ron and Hermione started dating, Harry spent much more time on his own; not because he felt awkward being around them, but because he wanted to give them some privacy. The grounds were so beautiful in Christmas time: white snow covered every inch of landscape, the Forbidden Forest didn’t look terrifying in the daylight, the frosted lake shone like a thousand diamonds and Hagrid’s cabin just seemed to have been taken out of a fairytale. There was smoke coming from the chimney, what indicated Hagrid was at home.

Harry walked slowly toward his half-giant friend’s place to say hello. He knocked on the door and heard Fangs loud barks and Hagrid saying ‘I’m comin’!’

Hagrid opened and invited Harry in.

‘How are you, Hagrid?’, he asked rubbing Fang behind his ear.

‘I’m fine, yeh know… thing’s have bin quiet ‘round ‘ere lately’, he said pouring two cups of tea. ‘It’s bin a long time since we las’ heard o’ Yeh-Know-Who. Professor Dumbledore is beginnin’ ter get worried ‘bout it. He thinks he’s up ter somethin’, yeh know, Harry?’

‘I know. I’ve been thinking about that, too. After the Dementors left Azkaban and the Death Eaters managed to escape, I really thought he would raise up all strong and resume with the killing like in the old times.’

‘Do yeh know wha’ Firenze said ter me the other day? He said dark times were comin’, an’ we should get prepared ter put up some defence’, said Hagrid, talking about the centaur who had taught Divination two years ago. He took a sip from his tea and added ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea fer yeh ter wander ‘round alone. Why arm yeh with Ron and Hermione?’

‘Haven’t you heard? They’re the new Gryffindor couple.’

‘Really? ‘ow come I didn’t know ‘bout it?’

‘I don’t know. The whole school had heard about it before supper. You should consider getting you one of those gossip gazettes Parvati and Lavender are selling. Most of the things there are hilarious.’

‘So, tell me some more abou’ ‘em. ‘Ow are they doin’?’

‘They’re great. I’ve never seen them so happy. They hardly ever bicker anymore, so that’s good for a change.’

They kept on talking about the growing romance between Harry’s closest friends and then he said goodbye to Hagrid and went back to the castle. As he passed by some bushes, he heard the sound of leaves and twigs moving. He looked around to see if there was anyone watching him and after checking he was alone, he took out his wand and walked slowly toward the bushes. Before he could touch it, a grey rat ran out. Harry sighed in relief and cursed himself for being so paranoid. He was about to walk away when a green slim snake slid from under the bushes and hissed ‘Thankss for sscaring my toy, idiot.’

***

The Great Hall was bright with laughter and chattering that night. The four house tables were less crowded during the holidays, since many students left to spend them with their families. Everyone was talking about what Dumbledore had prepared for after the feast; it was a known fact that Harry Potter was the Headmaster’s favourite, and when the rumour about the most popular wizard rock band of the moment coming to play at Hogwarts spread, people immediately associated it with this being Harry’s last Christmas at school.

‘Tho’ ‘ome elves really wo’ked ‘ard ‘his ‘ime’, said Ron, spitting some of the beef pie he was eating and making Hermione a little sick in the process.

‘That’s because they’re finally getting paid for it’, she said. ‘It’s funny to think that I could make a hundred home elves change their lifestyle in three years, but I still haven’t managed to make you stop talking with your mouth full! Sorry, did I say funny? I meant sad.’

‘Seriously, Ron. She’s your girlfriend now, show some manners’, Harry mocked him.

‘Well, at least I have someone to show my manners to’, he replied ruthlessly.

‘Oh, that was a low punch, Ron’, said Dean.

‘Just because I’d rather be alone than be with the first girl that says she loves me for being Harry
Potter, it doesn’t mean I’m some sort of pathetic loser, Ron’, said Harry irritated.

‘I know, mate. That’s why I do this sort of jokes, I know they won’t really affect you.’ He leaned closer to Harry and added ‘I would never say a thing like that to Neville, for example. Knowing him, he’d probably throw himself from the Astronomy tower.’

The both of them made a pain gesture and went back to their meals without touching the fellow Gryffindor’s constant depression topic again.

Once the dessert was served and eaten, Dumbledore stood up and waited for the students to pay attention to him.

‘My dearest students, now that we’re all full and jolly, I am pleased to confirm the rumours Miss Patil and Miss Brown skilfully spread’, he made a pause and beamed to the two giggling Gryffindor girls. ‘Let’s give a warm welcome to The Bleeding Unicorns!’

The Great Hall exploded in applauses as the double doors flew open and the rock band strode to the end of the room. They shook hands with Dumbledore right before he lifted a whole stage with only a wand movement and moved the tables aside to make enough room to dance. The band got on the stage and everyone smashed around it, screaming and cheering.

‘Hullo, mates! We’re very excited about being here tonight’, said the singer/guitarist to the crowd. ‘We’re The Bleeding Unicorns and we’ll rock this castle down! Happy bloody Christmas!!!’

They begun playing a punk song called ‘As a phoenix to the ashes’, which seemed to be one of their hits because everyone with a wizard family knew it. Harry was pleased to see those songs weren’t particularly to be danced, and spent most of the night with Ron and Hermione. He was on his way to get a drink when Colin Creevey called him up to show him the new camera his parents had sent him for Christmas and how great the pictures he had taken the band were, and when he finally could escape his grip and return with his Butterbeer in hand, the happy couple had disappeared.

‘Hey, Seamus! Do you know where…?’, Harry asked.

‘What?!’

‘Ron and Hermione! Where are they?!’

‘They went outside to get some fresh air!’, he answered, elbowing Harry on the ribs.

‘Should’ve figured…’

‘What?!’, asked Seamus, screwing his face in the effort of hearing Harry over the loud music.

‘Nothing.’

Harry almost turned around and left to the common room, but he said to himself, bugger them. If they wanted to be alone so desperately to ditch you like this, don’t give them the satisfaction of ruining your night. Just find something to do.

He scanned the room and his sight fixed on the one person who could make his life more entertaining. He walked straight towards the slim figure of Draco Malfoy, who was elegantly dressed for the occasion and conveniently distant from his Slytherin cronies. Harry bumped Malfoy with his shoulder, and before he could give two more steps forward, the blonde grabbed him by the arm and spun him to face him.

‘Watch where you’re going, moron!’, he yelled.

‘Funny thing is, I was.’

Harry grinned and saw Malfoy’s expression change from slightly disturbed to incredibly irritated. His hands twitched in anger and frowned. Harry could see a pure hatred spark in those grey eyes that would have made anyone else run away in fear, but not him. He loved that spark. It announced something exciting was coming, therefore, he encouraged it.

‘What’s wrong, Malfoy? Can’t come up with a fast retort? You’re beginning to lose your touch, you know?’

‘I’m just trying to guess what drove the Gryffindor Golden Boy to wanting to become the night’s bad boy, which by the way you stink at. Rejection, maybe?’

Malfoy’s words wiped off the grin on Harry’s face. He smirked.

‘My, my! I think I was right!’, Malfoy snigger. ‘Honestly, Potter, being so predictable will be your doom.’

‘If I’m so predictable, how the hell am I still alive?’

‘Simple, there’s always someone there to save your arse. It’s either Dumbledore, or a teacher, or your dirty little bitch of a mother.’

Malfoy touched his nose, where only a second before Harry’s heavy fist had punched him with all his strengths. He looked at his hand and saw his own warm blood running down through his life line. The crowd spread as soon as they begun rolling around the floor, punching and kicking whatever was on their reach.

The band stopped playing, but they didn’t notice.

‘How dare you say that about my mother!’, Harry yelled pinning Malfoy onto the floor.

Hagrid took him by the arms and broke the fight, even though Harry was doing everything he could to slip away and hit the other boy hard on the stomach at least once more. Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore came up to them and looked at them severely.

‘I’m very disappointed of the two of you’, said Dumbledore. ‘Fighting like this tonight… I want you both to go to your rooms and don’t leave until tomorrow morning, when I’ll give you both a fair
punishment for your behaviour.’

‘Yes, sir’, the two boys said and walked away reluctantly to their dorm rooms.

After leaving the Great Hall, Harry heard the band say something to break the awkward silence and murmurings, and resume the show. He walked in anger up to the Gryffindor common room.

‘Tinkerbelle’, he barked to the Fat Lady’s portrait and went straight to the bathroom. He was a complete wreck. His lip was split and bleeding, his eye was turning purple and his hair was inexplicable. His school robe had been torn apart and was swinging lose without its three upper buttons.

He washed his face and went to his room. He was shocked when he found Ron and Hermione inside.

‘What the bloody hell was that all about, Harry?’, asked Ron.

‘What do you two care?’, he yelled. ‘I only had to walk one step away from you, for you to leave me alone in there. You could have at least had the decency to tell me you were going out, but no! You don’t give a damn about me since you’re together, why bother!’

‘Harry, you know that’s not true. And what does that have to do with you getting into a fight with Malfoy?’, asked Hermione.

‘It has to do a lot more that you think, and even he got it better than the two of you together. You should go back to the party.’

‘But Harry…’

‘Leave it alone, ‘Mione’, Ron told her. ‘He doesn’t want us here, now. We’ll talk it out in the morning.’

Hermione nodded and they left Harry alone to release his anger by himself.

Harry only considered the idea of going to bed, but he was much too pissed and awake to even lay down. He paced around for what seemed like hours until he realized what he needed to calm down: a nice walk around the castle under his invisibility cloak. He opened his school trunk and took out the basic escapade equipment, which was his cloak, his wand and the Marauder’s Map.

Before leaving the room he had the urge to see if stupid-prick-Malfoy was in his room, so he unfolded the map and, tapping it with his wand, he said ‘I solemnly swear that I am up to good’. A map of Hogwarts appeared on the blank surface of the parchment and he looked in the dungeons for a black dot labelled “Draco Malfoy”, but just like Harry had guessed, he wasn’t there. He smiled at the sight of a great black stain in the Great Hall, indicating everyone was still there. Everyone but Malfoy and him.

‘OK, Malfoy… where are you?’, he whispered as he scanned the map from one side to the other. It didn’t take him long finding the lone black spot he was looking for going up a staircase on the other side of the castle.

Harry slid on the cloak and left the Gryffindor tower without taking his eyes off the “Draco Malfoy” tag. He was on his way up that same staircase when the black dot stopped on the fourth floor. A very odd place to go to, Malfoy, Harry thought. What are you up to?

When he was close to where Malfoy was, he heard voices, so he turned around the last corner silently. And there he is, he thought, all alone, talking to… talking to a painting? He walked closer,
each second more intrigued.

‘I’m telling you, he’s insane’, Malfoy said in a hushed voice. ‘He beat me up just because I told him his mother was a filthy bitch.’

‘You should be careful, Draco’, said a voice he recognized as Lucius Malfoy’s that came from the painting of a dragon. ‘You might get something good out of this, don’t ruin it.’

‘I won’t, Father’, said the Slytherin.

‘Good. Now, get back before someone sees you.’

Harry got quickly out of the way to avoid Malfoy bumping into him and waited for the other boy to leave before facing the painting again. The eyes of the dragon, that had seemed so alive when Lucius Malfoy was speaking, were now moving in the same way any other magic painting would have. He only stayed there a few minutes staring at the painting, but then he decided to get back before people noticed he was gone.

The whole way back to the dorm he couldn’t stop thinking about what he had just witnessed: Draco Malfoy had a way to speak to his father, one of the most respected wizards before being imprisoned for being a Death Eater, while he was at Hogwarts. No one knew where he and the rest of the Death Eaters who escaped from Azkaban were. They were obviously planning something, and unfortunately, he seemed to be involved, as always.

He slumped onto his bed and didn’t move until he heard his roommates coming, only to close the curtains from his four-poster and pretend he was asleep. Sleep… that’s something he wouldn’t get tonight.