The Phoenix and The Dragon

Harry woke up groggily and flung his arm out to find his glasses. They didn’t hit his glasses but instead landed on the taut stomach of his bedmate. Draco flinched and slowly slung Harry’s arm off with an easy almost affectionate pat, as if they had always shared a bed. Harry sat up and checked the time, 3:55. They had a few hours. Draco sat up as well with a sleepy grin.

“Good nap, Potter.” It wasn’t a question, it was a proclamation. Harry grinned back. “Now what?”

“Now you get your wand back and we go over the plan.”

“That is the best bloody news I’ve had in weeks!”

“You really miss your wand don’t you?”

“Well yeah, it’s like an arm Potter. I can live without it but it’s damn difficult.”

“I guess. I haven’t really been without mine since I got it in Diagon Alley.”

“Now imagine having it taken from you.”

“I get it, it sucks.”

“Understatement.” Harry chuckled and walked over to his desk and felt underneath. The tape made a ripping noise before coming loose and he pulled the wand out with a flourish.

“Here.”

“It was there the whole time. Argh. Why am I not surprised?”

“What? How many good hiding places do you think there are in this room?”

“Apparently just the one.” He pointed toward the floor.

“Exactly, and I didn’t want you snooping. Not that it mattered in the end.”

“Sorry about that.”

“No you’re not.”

“Well I would be if you hadn’t tackled me to the ground and beat me into submission.”

“I didn’t beat you, you wanker.”

“Oh no, of course not. Perfect Potter wouldn’t do that.” Harry could tell Draco was kidding and he let himself laugh at the snarky comments and threw the wand at the blond, tape still attached. “So the plan.”

“Right.”

“We’ll go to the edge of your backyard and apparate from there. We should land outside the wards of the Parkinson grounds. We’ll walk to the niche Dobby made me, but it’s pretty small. Well have to crawl. When you do this follow me and stay low, the wards are wicked, very difficult to cross without a hole.”

“How difficult.”

“They stick to you and hold you in place like, like muggle fly paper. It alerts Pansy’s dad and he’ll come out and, well let’s not think about that. But the important thing is it doesn’t stick to your skin. It sticks to the residual magic on your skin and that why you can’t pull yourself off. It’ll rip your magic and it hurts. Bad.”

“That’s dark magic. How do they get away with it?”

“They just do. What did you expect? Anyway once we’re through the niche we’ll be okay but it’s a long walk to Pansy’s window and we have to remain unseen. Your invisibility cloak would come in handy. You’ve still got it haven’t you?”

“Right.”

“Good. Once we reach Pansy’s window we wait until the room is empty. If she’s in there she won’t be all night.”

“Why can’t we go in when she’s there?”

“The cloak won’t cover us both on the way in and if she makes so much as a peep we risk getting caught. I haven’t talked to her so I don’t know how receptive she’ll be, we have to observe her a bit.”

“I thought you said she didn’t want to be a death eater?”

“I did. I’m just hoping that still applies. Then, if she’s willing to talk to us, we tell her what we need and ask for her help.”

“And if she says no? What if she doesn’t want to talk to us?”

“We ask her to give us a head start before she tells her parents and blows our cover.”

“Oh.”


At 6:55 Harry was pacing back and forth in front of the door. Draco was biting his nails in a very un-Malfoy-ish way on Harry’s bed. Draco explained the wards and how they worked and what Harry was likely to expect so far as the grounds were concerned. It all added up to ‘Don’t Touch Anything.’ There were too many dangerous plants and cursed objects for Malfoy to count using all of his fingers and toes and that was only what they had last time he’d been there. A lot could change in a year and a half.

The bolts stiffly clicked one after another reminding Harry of the hammering of his own heart. It was seven. He stopped his pacing and looked at Draco. He was pale but his features were set and Harry could tell he was trying desperately to be brave.

“All right, let’s get this over with.” Harry had to agree with a nod. He wasn’t exactly nervous, not anymore than usual anyway, but if something went wrong…“You coming Potter?”

Harry could see Draco at the door, looking thin and pale and not quite ready himself. Harry wanted to say ‘no’ and he felt that Draco wanted him to say ‘no’ too, but he just walked forward and lead the way out. They inched quietly down the hall and turned right instead of left at the bottom of the stairs.

He could hear the Dursley’s having a quiet dinner in the kitchen as he stealthily lead Draco through the sitting room and out into the garden where he had first seen his visitors. He remembered how dirty and tired both of them had looked. Draco was ten times cleaner and twenty times healthier than then. He wondered about Snape. They walked to the farthest portion of the yard from the house. There was a high wooden fence that bordered the yard and Draco leaned against it with Harry pulled close to him. The smell was something unique, a combination of Harry’s shampoo and something that was purely Draco. The brunette recognized the musk from the numerous fights they had at Hogwarts, although his own shampoo lent a touch of strangeness to the event.

Nothing happened. No strange pull, no sharp crack, no tightness or the feeling of being squeezed through a hole fifty times too small. Nothing.

“Draco?”

“I tried. I think this is an anti-apparition area.”

“What?”

“An anti-apparition ar-”

“I heard you. I mean…No one told me.”

“Well it would make sense wouldn’t it?”

“I guess. We’ll have to go over the fence into the Radford’s yard.”

“It’s still light, they could see us.”

“Eh, maybe, but their in their seventies. I doubt it.” Draco just shrugged and motioned for Harry to go. He walked to the other side of the yard, pausing to examine his aunt Petunia’s rose bushes, and jumped up to grab the top of the picket fence after handing his cloak off to Draco. He hoisted himself up and in no time tumbled to the other side. Lying on his back he stared at the fence and a few moments later, after Draco figured the coast was clear, the cloak was thrown over and Harry saw pale, manicured fingers coming over the top.

He leisurely watched as Draco dragged himself up and when he saw the blond almost over he got up and moved over so as not to be crushed when Draco fell.

“I think I’ve got a splinter.”

“That’s the least of your problems.”

“Thanks for keeping things in perspective. Now help me get this out or we’re not going anywhere.” He groaned but stepped over and held Draco’s hand up to the fading sunlight. He was right, there was a huge splinter sticking out of his palm but when Harry tried to pull it out he snatched his hand back.

“I can’t get it out if you won’t keep still!”

“It hurt.”

“We could die, you spent days with no food or shelter, and you’re complaining about a splinter!?!”

“YES!”

“Shh. Okay put your hand out, I’ll be gentle…Promise.”

He looked reluctant but stretched out the appendage in question and although he winced and looked away it didn’t move. Harry looked it over and carefully lined his fingers up with the largest edge of the splinter and squeezed the reddened skin around it. The tip came out and Harry pinched it between his fingernails and pulled.

“My hero.”

“Shove off.” Draco just smirked and gestured Harry to him. “I’m not hugging you.”

“No, but you have to hold on to me to apparate, unless you want me to do this on my own?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” He stepped forward and put his arm around Draco’s waist and held on tightly.

This time he felt the ground disappear and the odd flattening feeling he always associated with apparating. With a crack it was over and he was standing in the early evening twilight, in a clearing surrounded by thick undergrowth and towering trees.