Thank you to my BETA: Malombra.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…
Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH. No MPREG in this story.
Summary: Harry Potter, the Care of Magical Creatures Professor at Hogwarts', was in love with Draco Malfoy. But he would never tell the man that. What happens when that option was taken away from him?
MY STORY IS AU.
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Care of Magical Creatures
Chapter Two
Ron looked like shit. There was bruising all over him where the Healers had to touch him in order to heal him. I tried to hide my shock at what he looked like but I new I didn't do it very well.
Ron stood slowly but didn't take the hand I held out to him. "Sorry, can't. The Healers said to be careful about touch. Side effect of the poison is that it causes bruising whenever I am touched. Come Sunday night, I might have to take a few more days off."
Ron grinned the grin of a man who had lengthy plans with his wife on the night in question at me. I laughed in delight. Hermione's face flared red and I could tell she wanted to smack her husband as she had instinctually raised her hand to where it was inches from the back of his head fortunately she pulled it back sharply and had to settle for a scandalized 'Ron!'
"You going to be okay, mate?" I interrupted quickly to avoid my best mate from future harm.
"Yeah. Hurts though." Ron was trying to hide how much he was hurting from me, I could tell.
I nodded and glanced away not knowing how to comfort him. A pat on the back or a hit on the arm usually did it for us but that was out of the question for right now. I saw the look they exchanged from the corner of me eye and sighed. I hated it that they knew each other so well that they could exchange entire conversations with just one look. A deep part of myself knew it was jealousy as I wanted that with someone too. Now, he questions would start soon.
"Would you like some tea, Harry?" Hermione's voice was too tight sounding to be real, something was up.
"Please." When Hermione left the room I immediately walked to my best friend and leaned as close to him as I could without touching him.
"Robards?" I saw him nod without hesitation.
"Where?" Seeing him hesitate to tell me upset me greatly.
Just because I didn't follow him into the Auror's didn't mean I had forgotten anythingI had learned. I just pointed it into a different outlet. "Please."
Ron sighed deeply. "A Manor outside of Paris. We tracked him there but before the raid started we were all knocked unconscious. When we woke he was gone but by then it was too late and the search was called off to get me to St. Mungo's."
"And now?"
The flash of anger that coursed through me when he hesitated this time was not unexpected but I hadn't realized it would be this much. "He was spotted outside of Hogsmead early this morning."
"What!" I pulled back into a standing position from shock and then exploded. That man was near the castle! The castle where there were over a thousand kids in it right this very minute! I wasn't there to cover the grounds and my wards would hold for only a certain amount of time without me there to funnel magic into them. And then a nasty thought occurred to me and I couldn't stop myself from hissing, literally hissing!, at my best friend.
"That's why I am here isn't it? Not because you wanted to see me but to get me out of the Castle. You think I can't take care of myself anymore." It wasn't a question so much as a furious statement. I tried very, very hard to pull my anger back into check but could tell by the fleeting emotion on Ron's face that I had not succeeded.
"No, Harry, that isn't it." Hermione's soft voice from behind me made me stiffen in anger. The soft clink as she set the tea tray down made me want to snarl at her too.
"It isn't?" I did snarl. I couldn't help it. They thought I had gone soft. They thought I couldn't take care of myself. Just because I didn't want to kill anymore? Just because I worked with animals now instead crazy deranged criminals and kiss-my-ass partners instead of running after bad guys? Have they not seen some of the animals I worked with? I tried extremely hard to stop the anger and hurt from building but knew that it wasn't going to work.
"No, Harry. He was after you." Hermione kept her voice on the same even keel. It didn't calm me.
"So, you left a Castle full of children for him instead?" I whirled to face her. I knew my anger would be clear now but also my hurt and my fear for the children I wasn't there to protect.
"Of course not, Harry." Ron said matter of fact voice but you could still hear the amusement. "We left a Castle full of Teachers, Auror's, and locked dormitories full of children."
I felt the anger flee just as quickly as it had risen leaving my head spinning and my face even redder. I slumped into the chair I always sit in when I visited my friends unable to respond with anything but a sheepish, "oh."
"Tea?" Hermione asked with a quirk to her lips.
I stared at my best friend in shock. Her grin was certainly big and the twinkle in her eye annoying but I reflexively took the cup and saucer from her anyway. After a few tense seconds the silence in the room was broken by Ron as he snickered. Seconds later he started to laugh. Hermione joined him after a failed attempt to cover her laughter up. I tried to keep the scowl on my face to show them how funny I thought it was but I had never been good at it.
Soon all three of us were laughing and the tension fled before that happy sound.
I was still pissed at them though.
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When the owl came to let Ron know that Robards had been captured we all breathed a sigh of relief. I quickly stood so that I could get back to the castle when Hermione stopped me with a gentle hand on my arm. I didn't like the look on her face and I knew with a sinking heart what was coming next. I could have shaken it off and left anyway but she can be a very scary witch if you get on her bad side. So, I slowly sat back down and kept my gaze on my shoes. I dreaded this conversation.
"So, Malfoy is at Hogwarts?"
I nodded my head.
"Potions?"
Nod.
"Head of Slytherin?"
Nod.
"Still a git?"
Interrupted nod, then a slow shrug of shoulders.
"Harry?" Hermione's voice was soft and closer than it was a second ago.
I looked up to see her kneeling in front of me. "You okay?"
I smiled wryly at her, "I will be."
She patted my knee and then gave me a swift kiss on the forehead. Her usual consoling techniques that I would never, ever tell her worked better than anything else in the world ever would.
Ron snorted. "Have you even talked to him?"
"No." I glared at him.
"Why not?" The challenge in Ron's voice and on his face made me so angry that I jumped up and moved away from both of them careful not to hurt Hermione.
"None of your business, Ron."
"None of my business? Of course it is, you're my best friend!"
"Then just be my friend Ron!"
Ron rocked back in his chair as if I had hit him and his face flushed an even darker red. "Excuse me!"
I ran a shaking hand through my messy hair and glared beseechingly at my best friend. "Stop it, all right. I can't deal with this right now. I don't want to deal with this right now, maybe ever. Okay? Just stop."
Before waiting for a reply I apparated out of their house and to the far edge of the Forbidden Forrest where I had set up a small one room cottage. I usually spent time there during the Holidays and the Summer and this would be the first time I had come here when school was in session. No one knew the coordinates of this place, even my best friends, and I had warded it against any kind of owl, hawk, or house-elf. The floo connection was also shut off. I went to the small bathroom and got ready for bed. I stared at myself in the dim bathroom mirror not liking the haunted look I could see in my eyes. This was going to be a long stay.
Fucking, fucking hell.
Before leaving I took a large gulp of the sleeping potion I had stored there the last time I was here and made my way over to the hidden bed. One swish of my hand and the bed was down and seconds later I was asleep curled up in the blankets I had taken from my dormitory in the Gryffindor Tower those many years ago.
I didn't want to think. I needed not to think.
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I do hope you all like this chapter. I had a significant plot bunny that I hope works out well with the story line I had already worked out.
Does anyone know what FanBox is?
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LMG
