Stealing the Stars

The next time he ran into Malfoy, he was alone; Draci had opted to stay behind in their sanctuary. Having found them there once, Harry was expecting Malfoy to assume they wouldn't be back, and had gone back for that exact reason. He was in town, buying fruit and some bottled water, and Malfoy bumped into him at the market, completely on accident.

"Excuse me-" he started, and then blinked. "Harry?"

"Evans," Harry said icily, and paid for his produce. Malfoy followed him to the edges of town, and Harry's well-earned indifference melted away. "Call me James, and I'll talk to you," he said finally. Malfoy blinked.

"Alright... James," he said uncertainly, and Harry reached out into the power surrounding them, and apparated them both back to Draci's side. Malfoy immediately toppled over, clutching at his head, but Harry sat down calmly and began eating his fruit.

"Did you bring anything back with you?" He asked Draci, noticing that she was licking her bloody mouth clean. She nodded, and dragged forth a pair of rabbits, slightly charred and smoking, but otherwise whole. "Ooh, rabbit," Harry said, and stuffed the fruit into his mouth while he dug his knife out of the pack.

Malfoy was still righting himself from the influx of power not his own, and when he next glanced over at Harry, he was surprised to find him naked from the waist up, his sandals and shirt next to Draci, who was purring contentedly.

Harry was wielding a wide-bladed knife easily, skinning the rabbits, and cutting away parts like their feet and ears and- Draco shuddered, looking away as Harry calmly beheaded the rabbits. The heads he chucked into the forest, uncaring of the blood that splattered across him. The feet and ears, and other tender parts he offered up to Draci, who gave a dragonly grin and ate them in one bite.

With one hand, Harry started a fire in a small pit next to the dragon, and set up a spit, cooking the skinned and gutted rabbits. To Malfoy's utter and absolute horror, he reached with one bloody hand back over to the fruit, and ate it, blood and all, before tossing the inedible seeds into the surrounding woods.

"that's disgusting," he whispered, and Harry looked back at him, then down at himself in surprise, as if only then realizing that he looked like a barbarian.

"Sorry if I offend your delicate sensibilities, Malfoy, but I've been by myself for a long time." He did wash his hands off in the water, however, and Draco watched mystified as the stream coming from the small pond carried it away. He took the time to assess the changes in Harry.

He was whipcord thin, but his muscles stretched the skin across his back and arms, lending him a wiry sort of strength. Draco hadn't fared nearly so well during the nigh-on seven year hunt, and had more often than not gone hungry. His muscles were there, but not nearly so defined as Harry's were, and the other man made him feel small, despite the distinct height difference - Harry would never be tall, not like Draco's willowy length, but he made up for it in stature. To his great surprise, Harry tossed him some fruit and a bottle of water.

"You look like you haven't eaten in weeks," Harry said by way of explanation, motioning a hand in the direction of Draco's ribs, which protruded through his skin.

"I haven't, really," Draco said, and tore into the fruit with abandon. When Harry offered him a second, he didn't turn it down, though he shook his head at the proffered third. "What will you eat?" he asked, somewhat jokingly.

"Well, there's fruit in the forest, it's just not as good as what they get in the market. It's a simple thing for me to apparate in and buy some more, and anything I can't take care of myself, Draci gets for me." Draci's eyelid twitched at the mention of her name, but she otherwise slept on.

Draco, who had been expecting another frosty brush off, took in the details with surprise. When Harry handed him a stick with what looked like a nearly whole rabbit still on it, his stomach nearly turned. Seeing the look on his face, Harry shrugged, tearing off some of the meat from his own rabbit and chewing softly. "God, that's good," he murmured, swallowing worshipfully.

Draco was hungry, despite the fact that the food he was expected to eat really did make him sick, and he delicately tore off his own strip and swallowed it. It was tender, and flavour burst across his tongue and before he'd even finished chewing he had another piece in his mouth, moaning around the meat.

"This is the best thing I've ever eaten," he said, honestly, and Harry flashed him a grin. HIs hair was down, and falling around his shoulders, and Draco suddenly wished that they'd been friends so long ago at school. He knew that Harry was a loyal friend; Granger had proven her point again and again, despite being Draco's most loyal supporter herself.

They'd worked out their differences when she'd awoken from the coma after the attack on Hogwarts. Harry had been long gone, and Voldemort was gaining strength with each passing day, and Draco had taken her aside and explained, and told her he was beginning a resistance movement against Voldemort. Charlie Weasley was holding down the fort in Harry's absence, but he had a job to return to in Romania, and the people refusing to join Voldemort needed a leader. Draco intended to become that leader.

When he'd informed his ragtag group of crusaders against Voldemort that he was going in search of Harry, he was met with disdain, disbelief, and scorn, but he'd left anyway. And now, after a long, hard search, here he was, five feet away from the man who had consumed so much of his life, and like a rock, Potter was stubbornly refusing to come back.

Meanwhile, Harry was giving thoughts of his own a run around. He couldn't keep running forever, no matter how hard or desperately he wanted to. And Malfoy seemed genuine, and the detection spell he'd cast as soon as Draco had occupied himself eating told him that there were no untoward intentions behind his visit. He really wanted Harry to come back to England, and fight Voldemort.

He closed his eyes, leaning against Draci, who started purring loudly. "Draci," he whispered. "I think..."

She answered him in kind, replying in Romanian. "You think? What do you think that you need to hide from Malfoy?"

Draco blinked at them, hearing the sibilant hiss of Dragon-speak form his name.

"I think... it's time I went Home," he whispered, and Draci's purring increased.

"You will take me home to your England?" she asked. "We will fight this Voldemort?"

Draco's interest was captured completely when she said England, followed by Voldemort. What was Harry telling her?

"Malfoy," Harry said, turning to him. "Fine," he said. "I'll go back to England."

-TBC-

I rewrote nearly the entire beginning of this, and then mostly just changed words here and there for the rest of it (I really don't have the patience to sit down and entirely rewrite the whole thing from beginning to end.) This has always been one of my favourite stories, although it never really got as many hits as my others did. I intend to continue into a sequel immediately, despite the fact that I've got multiple other stories waiting to be updated. After this, I think I'll work on Displaced.

I've said this before, in other stories I haven't posted yet, but since I haven't posted them yet, I'll say it again - if there's anything in-prog on my page that you're interested in me continuing, drop me a note and let me know. Otherwise, I may never get around to it. XD

Reviews are beloved, and will be met with Draci-cookies.