My Beautiful Dragon

A/N: First of all I would like to say sorry for the lack of updates on this fic. I had lost a lot of interest in writing it, but thanks to Sam and Amazonia I've decided to continue. Secondly: This chapter was written solely by Amazonia and I want to say a huge thanks for that. You don't know how much I appreciate it, really.

Thanks to shadowsamurai for her wonderful beta work. You're the best, hun.

Chapter six: A Much Needed Conversation

Whenever Draco turned back to his human form at dawn, with the sun barely up, he would sometimes take a risk. A foolishly Gryffindor-ish risk, if you asked him. He’d stand beside Harry’s bed and stare at him, finally almost peaceful in sleep. He needed these moments though, dwelled on them from day to day, night to night. All Draco wanted was a moment to observe Harry while he was human, even if Harry’s face was in shadow.

Just before leaving every morning, Draco would kiss the inside of his palm and brush it against Harry’s brows, his hair, his nose, his cheeks, and - even once - over his lips…one phantom kiss for every night. He’d smile in happiness when Harry would curl into his hand, sometimes gently grabbing his fingers and smiling faintly, while he half whispered, half sighed a half of Draco’s dragon name, which sounded like either identity nonetheless: ‘Drak’. He’d gently release himself from Harry, whisper “’Til tonight,” and leave the tower before the early riser stirred. Today was a phantom hand kiss; he curled his own hand over Harry’s and silently hoped for today to be the day they spoke. They’d had awkward moments of almost touching, almost meeting eyes, but they hadn’t spoken yet. Today, he promised himself silently, he’d try to make it happen.

**************

Harry always woke up in the dark, the time just before the first rays of sun hit the high windows of Gryffindor tower. He always woke up alone, but he’d got used to it now and so he smiled at the warmth he still felt on his face, on his hand, next to him. Drakkon had always just left when Harry woke. He would have to wake earlier to be able to ask him to stay, to catch him sniffing his face and hands goodbye. It was always a wonder how he left, especially during particularly chilly nights when the windows had to be closed. That thought always brought a rare smile to Harry’s face.

Drakkon had sure made a difference in Harry’s life in a few short days. The only things bothering him now were the fact that he still hadn’t spoken to Draco, and nightmares - he still couldn’t sleep unless his dragon was there with him. That morning he woke up slightly nervous; it was double Potions, two whole sessions with Draco. Could he finally rake up the courage to go thank him for what he did for Harry back in the battle: killing Voldemort for him, to save him? He didn’t know, but Draco was owed an apology, and a life debt. His only courage was that rare smile he’d received from the Slytherin on his first day back. Draco had also been quite non-confrontational, even going out of his way to deliberately side-step Harry so they wouldn’t bump accidentally. He seemed a bit drawn at times and Harry sometimes wished that he could turn into some small, sweet animal that could comfort Draco in his sleep.

Harry got up, went to the loo and looked at himself in the mirror above the sinks. He still looked pretty awful, too skinny, with dark dull shadows under his eyes, but he felt better. He hadn’t cried and hadn’t dreamed, or even vomited anything he’d eaten for the past two days. He hadn’t thought of any sharp leaves on mysterious bushes either, until he picked up his steak knife at dinner. But the thought had passed quickly, much to his relief.

He got out of the shower, drying and dressing himself quickly for classes. He’d stopped changing in the room since the war because of his multitude of scars. He didn’t want any added questions to be asked on top of the ones that they already asked him. Slowly walking around the room, he woke up his roommates, ending at Ron.

“I hope that bloody dragon is gone, Harry,” Ron mumbled sleepily, burrowing deeper into his blankets. Harry scowled; he didn’t exactly know what Ron had against Drakkon. He hadn’t done anything to Ron.

“Yeah, Ron, he’s gone. Now get your arse out of bed before I call him back to burn it.”

Ron glared at Harry, but got up with a groan.

“As if bloody Potions wasn’t enough, we have to have it for two hours, and with that blond git, no less,” Ron yawned, walking sleepily to the loo while he scratched at his backside. He didn’t see the shockingly irate look on Harry’s face. No one in the room did.

That morning, neither Harry nor Draco ate their breakfast.

**********

The way that Professor Severus Snape stalked into the room belied his intent for that morning. The Headmaster had spoken to him, had told him more than he already knew about the final battle - about Draco and Harry. Dumbledore believed that they were each other’s cures. He urged Snape to help them out, and that’s what he was going to do.

“Today we’re working on a very complicated potion. That means I will not be pairing imbeciles with imbeciles, as I fear for the safety of my classroom. If you mess up this potion, mark my words, you will not be happy about it. The pairs for this potion are final,” Snape said as he walked around the classroom, ending with a flick of his wand, in which both pairings and the ingredients for the potion appeared. He turned around and studied the students, who were all staring at him intently with various emotions running through their faces. “Well, what are you waiting for? A good morning? Get to work!”

And, as usual, Granger raised her hand. “Professor Snape, sir, what exactly is the potion we are working on called?” she asked even before he’d called on her.

“I was not aware that I had called upon you, Miss Granger. Five points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn. To answer your question, it is an unknown. Do you not know what it is from the ingredient list already?” Snape sneered at her. Hermione flushed and ducked her head in a farce of collecting her things, while all the Slytherins, but one, laughed.

The students slowly filtered out to their respective groups, the Gryffindors mumbling about the unfairness of their potion partners. Harry, though, was still staring at the board. This was his perfect opportunity to thank Draco, but he was suddenly very nervous. He didn’t know what he should do. Should he go over to Draco, or let Draco come over to him? Should they meet in the middle? Draco had not come over, and so, Harry, now discouraged, bent down to pick up his things so he could get up and go over to Draco’s table, which was in the back of the room where the blond usually sat now.


“Ouch,” Harry heard from above as he got up and hit someone’s chin. He rubbed his head and looked up. There was Draco, rubbing his chin and grimacing.

“Sorry,” Harry whispered.

“So, I take it we’re working together, eh, Potter? Like good old times,” Draco said, strangely not angry at the hit or working with Harry.

Harry looked to the board again, just to make sure, then nodded at Draco.

“Well, let’s get on with it; don’t want to have to do it over because class time ran away from us, yeah?”

“Sure…okay. I’ll go get the ingredients?” Harry asked, aware that Draco was probably angry over his partner’s lack of potion making ability.

“If we both get them, it’ll be faster, no?”

“Well…um, someone has to start the fire and get the other supplies.”

Draco winced inside; he wanted to go into the storeroom with Harry to talk, or tell him to meet him somewhere. When he’d seen his name next to Harry’s on the board, he was ecstatic, if not a little suspicious that Snape had been talking to Dumbledore. Now Harry was making sense when he needed him not to. But Harry was right, it would be faster if one got the ingredients and the other started the fire.

“I’ll go get the ingredients, you start the fire,” Draco finally stated. Harry nodded and strode off toward a lab bench, one that was right in the view of everyone. Perfect, it was like the world didn’t want him to talk to Harry, like it was teasing him with the idea that it was theoretically possible, and then snatching it away. Draco stomped toward the storeroom in frustration.

From his desk, Snape raised an eyebrow; Dumbledore hadn’t told him to expect anything like what he was seeing, especially from Draco now. He stopped grading the fourth year’s horrid papers and watched.

Harry looked at the board several times before starting the fire as the instructions said. He didn’t want to mess this potion up for himself, Professor Snape, or Draco. Especially Draco. He got out the materials they were going to need. No knife today, the ingredients had to be taken apart by hand or smashed.

Draco hurriedly gathered all the ingredients they needed for this potion and hurried back. A plan was forming in his mind. He would pass a note to Harry inconspicuously, by snatching the Gryffindor’s notebook and writing on it a time and place. When he left the storeroom, he was suddenly glad that Harry had chosen a place nearby. He would have almost dropped a jar or two if Harry’s Seeker ability hadn’t caught them just as they fell.

They smiled a little sheepishly at each other, but it was a smile nonetheless. It was a smile that Snape caught.

**************

They set to work quietly, efficiently, and somewhat strangely. There were soft questions asked and answered about having ripped these leaves apart or smashed that root into a paste. It wasn’t until Draco asked Harry about the next ingredient that he actually looked over. Harry had broken their organized pattern and Draco nauseously knew why.

Harry picked up the second to last ingredient dismissively until it hurt. He looked at the small cut on his finger and wondered what kind of plant could do that as he actually looked at the leaf. It was his plant, his razor-sharp plant that he hadn’t thought of in a day. His mouth opened and his breathing only came and went from there, shallowly. His eyes became unfocused as he remembered that day when he could’ve ended it all, but someone was following him.

Someone was still following him, that’s why he never went outside anymore, even though it was his only refuge sometimes. He looked at his finger and the blood and pain that dripped from it. His heart was pulsing through that rip of flesh and Harry exulted in the feeling of such a little thing producing such a big reaction. Harry took the leaf and turned it around in his hand, feeling some of his skin almost give, and barely heard the ruffle of Draco’s voice as he tried to snap him out of his trance.

Snape scrunched his eyebrows as Harry and Draco suddenly stopped working. Loathe as he was to say it, they actually worked quite well when they were not fighting and he was wondering what had stopped their progress now. He got up to go across the classroom and check on the other students' work.

Draco knew what Harry was thinking. He’d been there in the woods that day and knew Harry looked exactly like he did then. He was scared for Harry and the looks he was giving the leaf, but he couldn’t snatch the leaf out of Harry’s hand; it would only cut more, hurt him more. Draco was unwilling to do that. So he did the only thing he could think of to do, without touching Harry in case he’d frighten him. He cut himself on the tip that wasn’t held by Harry. The leaf was sharp and cut painlessly, but he hissed as its after-effects started.

Harry snapped out of his reverie with the snake-like hiss. His head snapped back in fear before he realized what had happened. He dropped the leaf on the table and, his finger still bleeding, took a hold of Draco’s hand to see the damage. A shock of recognition flashed through Harry’s eyes as his tingling fingers enclosed around Draco’s palm. Calm came over him and he reached out and grabbed a towel from the end of the bench. He enclosed it around Draco’s fingers and held on tight to stop the flow. Draco’s eyes were wide and wet; Harry wanted to make Draco’s pain go away. He knew why Draco had done it, but it was too late to add the plant, their potion was burning now.

It wasn’t anything unusual for the students to cut their fingers during this experiment, so Snape wasn’t surprised that he had to heal at least one out of every group. When he got to Draco’s group, the idea was a bit more surprising, especially since Draco was letting the cauldron burn, its thick smoke turning yellow and rising high above the classroom.

“What’s going on here, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy?”

Draco - breathing hard from the cut, Harry’s reaction, and the feel of Harry touching him while awake and willing - found it hard to answer.

“Um, Potter, he wasn’t…the leaf wasn’t…it wasn’t ready and I tried to take it…but… I...I cut myself. Potter cut himself too,” he decided to add as an afterthought. Harry wasn’t paying them any attention; all his concentration was focused on the blood-soaking towel. By now the whole class was somewhat in shock. Ron was scowling and Hermione was staring calculatingly at Harry and Draco; some of the Slytherins were eyeing Draco in sudden distaste. Snape didn’t know what to do, a first that he would never admit, and he just shook his head in lieu of understanding. He thought he’d heard everything when Albus had told him the bit of information about these two boys, but they seemed to be bringing their own surprises with them.

The only thing Snape knew he had to do at the moment was to heal Draco, all that blood loss, though some might be Harry’s, couldn’t be healthy. He reached down and touched Harry’s hand gently so he could remove the towel and another surprise, though not that unexpected, occurred.

Harry jumped and screamed in anguish. And, like a few days ago, fell down on the ground, breathing harshly and looking at Snape in fear. Draco, now on natural instinct, got up to run to him, but Snape stopped him, and Draco had to watch as Ron and Hermione went to Harry instead. He looked up and scowled at his once favourite teacher. Snape knew he had to talk to Draco; he had slowly put the pieces together and figured there was something more to them saving each other than what Dumbledore was telling him, at least for Draco. He shook his head minutely at Draco and took his hand to heal it. Draco looked confused, scared…relieved that he was no longer in pain.

***********

When Snape had touched Harry, the only thing that went through his head was to run and hide. So unlike touching Draco’s hand, he would muse later on. Fear made him panic and he had flown out of Draco’s touch, probably hurting him more that way. He felt sorry after his friends calmed him down, because Snape had been so nice to him just a few days ago.

By the time Harry had calmed down and Draco had his eye-only conversation with Snape, the class was over and every potion was a ruined, stinking, yellow mess. Snape cleaned the smell in the room with a strong charm and only told the students to research three ingredients on the list, and that they would re-do it next time. He was thinking too much to notice how Hermione looked shocked at the little amount of homework, and the class looked shocked that he hadn’t punished them greatly, as he’d forebodingly promised earlier in the period.

“Draco, stay,” Snape said as soon as Draco got up to leave. Draco clenched his teeth; he had written a note for Harry to meet him in the hope that he would run into him, giving him the note somehow. Harry looked back at Draco sadly, he’d had such high hopes that today would be the day he could thank him. He couldn’t even stop the blood from flowing from Draco’s wound, a wound he had doubtless gotten because of Harry. As he turned around to leave with his friends, Draco caught the movement and looked at Harry; dropping his head he started to move to the front of the room.

Both of them then, Snape thought, although Harry might not realize it yet.

Draco moved up to Professor Snape’s desk when everyone was gone. He stood similar to how Harry stood when the Potions professor had told him what he knew. Now, struck by that similar sight, Severus was going to relay some information over to Draco. And some advice.

“The first thing I want you to know, Draco, is that I know what your father did to you. I have talked both with the Headmaster and your mother about this. I’m sorry to say that there is no counter spell or cure via potion that I can make to relieve you of this curse.”

“No! I don’t want you to take it away. There’s only one cure for it, but for now I’m willing to keep it. I want it,” Draco said adamantly. Severus raised an eyebrow at this, but went no further in asking for explanation because of the sudden blush that flowered on the young Slytherin’s face.

“Um, you said you spoke to Mother? How is she?”

“She is doing as well as can be expected. Your father is not home yet, so all is safe for her so far. She says she misses you, though,” he drawled. Draco closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them to look at Severus they were glassy from the sheen of unshed tears.

“This is not the main reason I kept you after class, however,” Severus said, deciding that to continue would be the best course. He wasn’t used to having Slytherins have any emotional breakdowns, other than angry ones, in front of him.

Draco visibly swallowed. Did he know about his sleeping with Harry? Did he know what he did when he transformed into Drakkon? The first thing he did? Is that what Snape wanted to talk to him about? Draco didn’t know, but he did know one thing. No matter what his favourite professor said, Draco was not going to give up the valuable time he had with Harry, human or not.

“Sir?”

“This business with Potter,” Severus said, stopping when Draco’s eyes got wide and confirmed what he was going to say as truth.

“I do not begrudge you your feelings, Mr. Malfoy, please understand this. I have grown to have immense respect for that young man and I, and the Headmaster, feel that you need each other.”

Draco relaxed.So Snape - cold-hearted Snape - had been broken by Harry. It didn’t seem that he knew what Draco did with his nights.

“I see that you seem very set on pursuing him. Tell me, Draco, how serious are you about this?”

Draco swallowed; this was the closest person he had to a father now. He’d already told his mother his feelings for Harry. This man deserved to know; somehow Draco knew that, sensed it. But it still felt weird to say it out loud, more than a whisper, to anyone but himself.

“I love him, sir. I do, or else none of this would have happened to me, I’m sure of it,” he said quietly, but with strong conviction. Severus gave one nod in respect to Draco and intertwined his fingers in front of his face.

“Sit, Draco.” Draco swallowed again, but moved to sit in the desk closest to the Professor. He chewed on his bottom lip and watched usually veiled emotions run through the older man’s eyes.

“You must understand something about Mr. Potter, Draco. He has gone through much while you were imprisoned in your home. If I hadn’t rescued him…” Severus said, trailing off, suddenly unable to imagine a world without Harry Potter in it. Draco knew something had happened to Harry, he knew; but hearing someone like Severus saying so, with all that emotion, chilled him. He was grateful that he had been the one to get Harry out.

“Thank you, sir,” Draco said, barely audible for the sudden tightness in his throat. Severus shook himself and sat up straighter.

“I feel I must be frank with you; I watched you in class today. Your actions were not veiled to people who are watching you closely. Please heed my warning that you cannot go about school acting like a lovesick child. There are still enemies within these walls,” Severus said, brushing off the thank you.

“I also have one more piece of advice. Do not get angry or act unexpectedly when you are with Harry. He has gone through…he needs someone to act with the highest gentleness, but not someone to pity him or make him feel weak. I believe that you can do this, Draco. I hope, for your sake, that he shares the same feelings for you as you do for him. But if that is not the case, do not discount the friendship he has to offer. If you do, the consequences of that action will be upon your conscience and guilt,” Snape said while getting up and leading Draco to the door.

“I’m not doing this for Harry to fall in love with me, sir. I won’t be anything further than his friend, unless he allows me to be. Being his friend is all I’m allowing myself to hope for anyway, sir. It will be enough and I will not dismiss his friendship, if he allows me to have it,” Draco said with passion, already knowing, having seen evidence of how Harry’s mind worked, how unstable he was at the moment. It scared him that Severus had noticed it too.

***********

Severus stopped, right before he opened the door, and put his hands on Draco’s shoulders. He looked him in the eye and Draco watched as his mask returned, and felt his own mask returning. Professor Snape dropped his hands from Draco’s shoulders, got out two slips of parchment, and opened the door. Draco walked out and looked questioningly at the slips of parchment.

“Do tell Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, that you and he must report to me at promptly three this afternoon for detention, as you ruined the whole class’ potions and demolished your own. You will be cleaning this room to perfection. Without the use of magic. Be aware that you will not go down to dinner until this room is spotless,” he said coldly, and stared at a group of fifth year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs walking by, eyes wide at the punishment.

“Yes, sir,” Draco said, and gave an inconspicuous smirk in understanding as Professor Snape handed him the slips. His internal smile would have split his face. An opportunity to finally talk with Harry, alone. He wished he could hug Severus. His note was of no use now. He got it out and looked at it, laughing giddily at his stupidity as he walked through the halls. In his rush to try to get the note, any note, to Harry, he had told him to meet him tonight. No matter, he thought, as he burned the note out of existence, Severus had provided him with a most adequate, plausible opportunity to talk. Now, what was Harry’s class at this time?

TBC


A/N: If you enjoyed this update, please show your appreciation by leaving a review. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. You guys give me the inspiration to keep going.