Of Fangs and Fur

A/N: I do not own anything. So please don’t sue. Here’s the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter Eight

The next morning dawned bright and warm. Harry woke and looked around. He was confused for a moment, before he remembered the events of yesterday.

‘I can’t believe Ron and Dean. How could they turn on us like that? I thought they were our friends. I guess not. I think Ron’s right though. I AM a monster. I tried to bite him! And Malfoy, he stopped me. Why did he stop me? He’s being so nice to me and the girls. Why? He even let me…Oh My God! I bloody FED on him! I bit him and drank his blood! And he let me! What the bloody hell is happening to me! Why is he being nice to me? Why have I been calling him Draco? Why did he let me feed on him?’

Harry’s thoughts rolled around in his head while sat in bed. This was the sight that greeted Draco when he woke. He looked over and saw Harry sitting absolutely still with a lost look on his face. Slowly, Draco stood from his bed and padded silently over to Harry’s. He stood quietly for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something, when Harry suddenly got out of his bed and stood up. Harry’s eyes widened in surprise when he realized that he was standing nose to nose with Draco. He could feel Draco’s warm breath on his face. He closed his eyes and tried to swallow past a lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat. He listened for Draco to move, but the only sound he could hear was the beating of Draco’s heart.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Something deep in his chest stirred at that sound, and he tried to fight it. But the sound only seemed to intensify.

THUMP, THUMP.

THUMP, THUMP.

THUMP, THUMP.

Harry’s fangs lengthened, even as he tried to regain control. He tried to focus on something else, anything else. But that sound filled his ears, his mind. He was losing himself to the rhythmic perfection of that almost musical sound.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Harry’s hands reached out and pulled Draco to him. Draco squeaked in surprise.

“Harry, are you alright? Harry?” Draco asked, his tone betraying his worry.

Harry didn’t hear him. He felt as though his head was wrapped in wool and the only sound that could penetrate it was that beautiful, inviting sound.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

“Harry? What’s wrong? Open your eyes. Harry, please. Tell me what’s wrong,” Draco cried, worry, anxiety, and a touch of fear making his voice quiver.

Harry noticed the sound speeding up, racing faster than before. He smiled and imagined that the owner of that sound must be anticipating what he was going to do.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Harry opened his mouth and pulled Draco’s head to the side. Draco whimpered slightly as he felt Harry’s tongue flick against the pulse point in his neck. Just as Harry was about to sink his teeth into the awaiting flesh, the bedroom door flew open. Blaise, Pansy, Hermione, and Ginny entered with wands drawn. They had been knocking at the door the past ten minutes, but neither boy had heard them.

“Harry? Draco? Are you boys alright?” Pansy nervously asked. She eyed the scene in front of her as she would a wounded animal, as if, at any minute, something terrible could happen.

Harry stopped moving as the sound of four new heartbeats in the room disoriented him. He pulled back from Draco, slightly confused. His fangs retracted and he opened his eyes. He looked straight into bright silver-gray eyes that showed confusion, apprehension, and anger. As Draco recovered from his shock, Harry realized what he had nearly done. Harry’s eyes widened and he didn’t see the fist that came at his head. His head exploded in pain and his world went dark for a split second before filling with colored sparks. He opened his eyes to find himself sprawled out on his bed with Draco sitting on his chest and his arms pinned over his head.

“I may have let you feed on me when you were raging for Weasley’s blood, but I swear to fucking Merlin, Potter, if you ever do that again I will beat you so badly you’ll be in the hospital wing until graduation. Do you hear me?” Draco growled in to Harry’s ear as he released his grip on Harry’s hands.

Harry wiped the blood from his nose with his hand. He stared at it for a moment before slowly licking it off his fingers. He twirled his fingers around in his mouth and flicked his tongue out to get the creases between his fingers. He heard a strangled moan from above him and looked up at Draco.

“Draco, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I just, I could hear your heart beating. I, everything else, it just faded out. I don’t, I hate this! I’m a monster!” Harry cried, placing his hands over his face.

“Harry,” Draco said soothingly, “I, it’s alright. I know you haven’t gotten control over things yet. But try not to do that again. You’re not a monster, Harry. You just have to learn how to control it.”

“Why are you being so nice to me? You hate me. We’re rivals.”

“Not any more, Harry,” Pansy said, from the foot of Harry’s bed, “You’re a Slytherin now. And we Slytherins stick together. We protect our own.”

Draco got off of Harry’s bed and held out a hand to Harry. Harry placed his hand in Draco’s and allowed Draco to help him up. Once he was sitting up, Blaise stepped forward and drew his wand.

“Let me heal that for you, Harry,” he said, before whispering a spell.

“Harry felt his nose tingle and then the pain was gone.

“Thanks. I suppose we should all get ready for breakfast,” Harry said, standing now, and realizing that everyone was dressed except for him and Draco. He nervously looked around at his friends, then got his clothes from his dresser and disappeared through the door he had only just realized led to the bathroom.

“How long is it going to take to get him to realized that he’s not a monster? That he’s perfectly fine? I mean, one minute he’s confident, self-assured, and flirting with you, Draco, and the next, he’s a wreck and won’t even look any of us in the eye,” Ginny whispered into the silence that followed Harry’s exit. She sat on the edge of Harry’s bed and looked around at the other students gathered in the room.

“I think that it is going to take all of us in this room as well as Professors Snape and Lupin to help him get past his fears of who and what he is. And I think it’s going to take some time,” Hermione replied, wringing her hands in worry, “Harry hates being different. And he’s so used to hiding his feelings around his family, the Dursleys, that he still hides what he’s truly feeling from everyone. I just hope that we can help him get through this. I hate to see him like this. He’s horrified at the knowledge that he can really hurt someone without even realizing it. He looked so upset when he realized that he had almost bitten Draco. Speaking of which, Darco, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I didn’t mean to hit him. I wasn’t that upset over it. It just startled me. And I only threatened him in hopes that it will make him more willing to accept his changes and practice control. Why don’t you guys go on ahead to breakfast? We’ll be there shortly.”

“Are you sure?” Pansy asked, concern clearly evident in her pretty blue eyes.

“I’m sure. We’ll be fine. Go on.”

“Alright, you heard him girls. Let’s get moving,” Blaise said, opening the bedroom door and motioning for the girls to precede him before following them out.

After the four of them had left, Draco let out a sigh of relief and walked over to the dresser. He put on his clothes for the day and gathered his and Harry’s books. Then he penned a note to Professor Snape, telling him that they needed to talk and that it would be easier if he kept Harry and Draco after class. Then he went over to the window and whistled. A large eagle owl flew into the room and landed on Draco’s bed. He walked over to it and sat down on the bed next to it.

When Harry emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, Draco turned to say something and the words caught in his throat. The only thought in his head was of how incredibly hot Harry looked at that moment. His hair was still damp and was spiked up again. This time, though, the spikes were tipped alternately in green and silver. He had on form fitting black leather trousers and a crisp white button up dress shirt. He had his green and silver tie on and his robe was on but open. Draco shook his head to clear it of the image that formed in his mind: Harry slowly stripping out of those clothes in a sexy private show just for Draco. Draco stood and grabbed his bag, then waited for Harry to do the same. They walked to the Great Hall together, ignoring the jeers that came their from the Gryffindor table once they got there.

After breakfast, the students headed to their first class of the day. Harry and Draco walked side by side to the Potions classroom. Their friends followed them and kept watch for anyone that might make an aggressive move towards them. As they approached the classroom, they saw that most of the 6th year Gryffindors were already there. Ron lead the group and faced Harry and Draco. He drew his wand and smirked at the Slytherins.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the traitors and their pet monster. How does it feel to be crawling around in the dungeons with the rest of the snakes?” Ron’s voice rang out in the hall, the hatred and angry clear for everyone to hear.

“If anyone is a traitor, Weasley, it’s you. Gryffindors are supposed to be brave and loyal. They’re not supposed to turn on their friends because of something that happened to them,” Harry quietly replied.

“Well it wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been running around in the middle of the night, no would it have?” Ron sneered.

“I had a job, Weasley. I was on my way home from work. If you had listened to me at all when I explained what happened, you would know that. But it doesn’t matter. I know who my real friends are now. Malfoy and I have had our differences, but we still accept each other as we are. And Hermione and Ginny and Blaise and Pansy will never turn their backs on me either. So it no longer matters what you think. Now, move out of our way so we can go to class,” Harry spoke calmly, keeping his face blank and showing no emotions to his former friend who was rapidly turning red. Unnoticed, he and Draco both took their wands into their hands and readied themselves for a duel.

“They’re bloody Death Eaters in Training! They don’t ‘accept’ you! They want to kill you! They want to turn you over to You-Know-Who. You think they’re your friends?”

“I think that you don’t know the meaning of ‘friendship’. I think that you have your big head shoved so far up your own arse that you can’t see what is right in front of you.”

“I can see what’s right in front of me. All I see are a bunch of slimy, sneaky snakes. Know what else I see? I see the person who is supposed to be the bloody Savior of the Wizarding World joining sides with You-Know-Who. Fit right in now, don’t you? A monster joining up with the Death Eaters.”

“Ronald Weasley! You have no right to talk to Harry that way! I can’t believe you would even think that!” Hermione exclaimed. She looked over at Harry and saw how hard he was trying to hold his feelings in. She could see Draco watching Harry out of the corner of his eye and knew he saw it too.

“I think that you need to get out of our way,” Harry stated through gritted teeth as he tried to keep his emotions in check.

Ron stepped forward so that he was nose to nose with Harry.

“I think that you are nothing but a Death Eater monster. I think that you went out got yourself bit because your master ordered you to,” Ron snarled hatefully.

Before Harry or his friends could respond, Professor Snape walked up to the group of students and ordered them all into the classroom. The students took their seats and waited for the professor’s instructions.

“Due to Mr. Weasley’s idiotic actions yesterday, today you will all be taking notes,” Professor Snape sneered. He tapped his wand against the blackboard and writing appeared. “Get to work,” he barked as he turned and went to his desk.

The students got out their parchments, quills, and ink and went to work. All except for Harry who pulled out a muggle notebook and pen. The notebook was charmed to never run out of paper and the pen was charmed to never run out of ink. Draco looked at him curiously, having never seen these muggle objects before. Harry felt him looking and looked at him. Draco raised and eyebrow at the notebook and pen and Harry smiled and winked at him.

“Mr. Potter, exactly what are you doing?” Professor Snape sneered.

“Taking notes, Professor. I have found using muggle notebooks helps me keep my notes organized better.”

Professor Snape stalked away from Harry and went to his desk. Harry looked over at Draco and smirked, which made Draco raise his eyebrow in response. They both went back to their notes. When the bell finally rang, the students all hurried out of the room, rubbing their sore writing hands.

Harry, Draco, and Hermione walked to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class together. They ignored all the Gryffindors they met on the way and talked to their project.

“I think we should go to the library after dinner. We can look for some books to use,” Hermione said, trying to ignore all the hateful, angry stare aimed her way from the other students in the hall.

“We can ask Professor Lupin for a pass to the restricted section. There might be something useful there,” suggested Harry.

“Why don’t we wait on that and see what we can find without it first,” Draco quietly suggested.

“Why don’t you just drop off the face of the Earth?” a voice said from behind the group.

They turned around to meet Ron’s hateful glare. All three students fingered their wands, which they had tucked up their sleeves.

“What do you want, Weasley?” Harry questioned calmly.

“I want you to go jump off the Astronomy Tower. That’s what I want,” Ron replied.

“Well, I’m sorry. But that’s not going to happen. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we are going to class,” Harry stated, turning around and leading Draco and Hermione into the classroom.

“Harry, I’m so proud of you. You kept your temper!” Hermione exclaimed. She smiled at Harry as the three of them took their seats in the back of the room.

The rest of the students filed into the classroom, followed by Professor Lupin.

“Hello, Class. Get into your groups. Today you get to work on your projects. I have several books on different creatures over there,” he said, pointing to the stacks of books covering his desk, “There should be plenty for everyone. Go ahead and get to work.”

The students went up to the Professor’s desk and found the books they needed. The groups all spent the class taking notes and working on how they were going to handle their projects. The bell finally rang and all the students headed off to lunch.

After lunch, the Gryffindor and Slytherin students had a free period. Hermione and Pansy headed to the library to study, Blaise went to the dorm to take a nap, and Harry and Draco headed outside to get some fresh air. The first years were having their flying lesson, so they decided to walk around the lake.

They walked quietly for a few moments, casting looks at each other along the way.

“Draco, I’ve been wondering. Why are you being so nice to me now? Besides the fact that I’m in Slytherin now. I thought you hated me.”

“I don’t hate you, Harry. I never really did. I was angry when you turned down my friendship. It just escalated from there. I parroted my father and his friends. It was an image I had to uphold.”

“Well, I know we’ll probably still have our moments, but maybe we could start over,” Harry said as he stopped walking to look at Draco. He held out his hand and looked Draco in the eye.

“Hi. I’m Harry Potter.”

Draco laughed before putting his hand in Harry’s.

“I’m Draco Malfoy.”

The two of them smiled at each other, then realized they were still holding hands. Blushing furiously, they pulled back their hands and kept walking. They made another circle of the lake in a comfortable silence before walking back to the school for their next class.

The rest of the day continued without any problems during classes. After dinner, Harry, Draco, Hermione, Pansy, and Blaise went to the library to work on their DADA projects. They found several books to help them, but found they couldn’t concentrate on their work. The other students in the library kept glancing at them and whispering amongst themselves. The Slytherin group tried to focus on their task, but all the whispering and hushed murmurs began to grate on their nerves.

“Come on. Let’s find somewhere else to study,” Hermione said quietly, closing the book she was looking at.

“We can go to our room,” Draco replied.

The students packed up their belongings and checked out their books. They left the library and headed to the dungeons. As they walked down the hall, they saw groups of students look at Harry and then walk away in fear. They turned a corner and saw a group of first years from all four houses. They were arguing about something until they saw the group of Slytherins. Then they pushed a first year Gryffindor forward and they all took out their wands. Hermione snorted and Pansy rolled her eyes. The young Gryffindor looked at Harry with barely disguised fear shining in his brown eyes.

“Harry Potter, um, we were, we were wondering if you, um, if you were really, um, really an evil monster like Ron said,” the boy rushed out in one breath.

Draco shook his and head and Hermione grumbled about the torture of one re-headed Gryffindor. Pansy laughed quietly and Blaise just looked at Harry with sympathy. Harry stared down at the young Gryffindor, eyes wide with surprise. He stared, uncomprehending, at the boy until he saw the fear overwhelming the child. He shook his head and, with a heavy sigh, knelt down and looked at the boy.

“Listen,” he said, “I am not evil. I am not going to hurt anyone. You have no reason to fear me. I promise.”

The child looked at him for a few moments, then nodded as the fear in his eyes faded. He smiled at Harry, then turned around and rejoined his friends. Harry stood up and looked around at his friends. Hermione gave him a small smile, Pansy quirked an amused smirk at him, Blaise shook his head trying not to laugh, and Draco just raised an eyebrow at him. They continued their walk to the dungeons and made it to Harry and Draco’s room without any more problems.

The students studied their books and took notes for their projects for a few hours until they were all yawning. Hermione, Blaise, and Pansy said their good nights and went to their own rooms. Harry and Draco got ready for bed quietly, both lost in their own thoughts. It was Harry who finally broke the silence.

“Draco? I, um, I just want to say that I’m sorry. About this morning. I don’t know what came over me. I know I already said that, but I mean it.”

“Harry, stop. It’s alright. I know you didn’t mean to lose control like that. I understand. I’m not mad at you. After all, I know how irresistible I can be,” Draco said, smirking as he said the last part.

Harry grinned mischievously at him and slowly walked towards him.

“Irresistible? Really?”

“Yep. Completely. Everyone knows that. It’s a curse that I must live with for being so gorgeous,” Draco said, with a heavily dramatized sigh.

Harry laughed, and before Draco knew it, Harry had a hold of him and was nose to nose with him. He could Harry’s breath on his face and couldn’t help the warm feeling that rose up from his groin.

“You think I can’t resist you? I think that I can. As you see, I haven’t even tried to kiss those enticing lips of yours yet. So I think I’m doing a pretty good job resisting you,” Harry said, moving his face so his lips were barely centimeters from Draco’s. Then he pulled away and went over to his bed. He pulled down his blankets and climbed underneath them. He looked over at Draco and smiled.

“Good night, Draco.”

Draco shook himself out of his stupor and scowled at Harry.

“That wasn’t nice, Harry. Good night.”

Draco climbed into bed and rolled over so his back was facing Harry’s direction. He heard Harry chuckle for a moment and then it was silent. He stretched and let himself fall asleep. His night was filled with dreams where Harry didn’t stop. Dreams of Harry kissing him and holding him. How he wished they could come true.