The ground was soft under his feet as he walked as calmly as he could towards the forbidding line of trees. Somehow his wand remained steady in the cage of his fingers, though he was sure that in his unease, it should be shaking something awful. Actually, if he was willing to be completely honest with himself, he was downright terrified. Greyback had always scared the hell out of him when he had to interact with the crazy werewolf a few times in the past and while there didn't seem to be any proof of his presence now, one could never be too careful. But he couldn't let that show to the others who were all silent and watching from the slight rise of the clearing, their accusing eyes cold and looking for excuses to condemn him even more. He wouldn't show weakness in front of them.
It was lucky, or unlucky depending on how this turned out, that Kingsley was even willing to listen to him. Maybe it was because in all of the time he had worked as an Auror, he had never had the occasion to lie or make things up for his own benefit. That was something his old self used to do but he had not been that person in a long time. Whatever the reason, after he had explained everything, from the strange feeling of the wild magic to Potter's voice that kept asking for help, the older man had finally decided that something should be done, and allowed Draco to go down and see what he could find out. He had wanted to send in a team with the blond but Draco trusted himself alone more than he did with a bunch of battle trained wizards that heated him. Before Kingsley could start barking orders, he shook his head, eyes still on the image of the boy flickering in the trees. There was something in that emerald eyes that pulled at him, though he couldn't say exactly what it meant.
"No, I think I have to go alone, for this to work," he had said, much to the annoyance of everyone else but the Head Auror just threw a glare around and the unease settled. If anything were to go wrong or if he was just going to find Potter's dead body, they were going to blame it all on him.
"What's going to work?" the older man had demanded but Draco had no answers.
Now he walked the last few feet, drawing closer to the dark haired wizard, gaze drawn to the perfection of his face. It had been years since he had last seen the other boy but surely he had never been this beautiful? Strait nose, full lips and sloping dark eyebrows over bright green eyes. And somehow he still looked like he did then, young, strong, confident. The only difference was the lack of a scar on his forehead under the unruly strands of the inky curls.
"Potter?" he breathed, reaching out with his free hand to touch the boy's shoulder. A shock went through him, like the form he was looking at was made completely from magic and he wondered if this had something to do with the strange feel to the air. There was no recognition in the intense gaze, nothing solid that said he knew who Draco was but that blazing green was no less intense for it.
"Have you come to help me?" the voice asked though Potter's lips never moved and the blond swallowed hard, beginning to truly shake but he would never give anyone the excuse to call him a coward again so he nodded. When he did, the full lips curled up into a stunning smile that left him quite breathless and then the dark haired boy reached out, curling his hand around Draco's, "Thank you,"
All he could see was green as the clearing and the forest around them disappeared.
TBC