Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the Harry Potter Universe. It rightfully belongs to J.K. Rowling. This story is produced purely for entertainment purposes only. I own Fayt, Arion, Athena, Alyss, and the Dragon Walker plot/species.

Chapter 7

Malfoy and I have been sneaking glances at each other discreetly for the next month. My sickening feelings no longer bothered me when I was in class sitting a few seats away from him. I kept thinking about the night after the Quidditch match and constantly felt my face growing hot at how close we were to...

Arion and Alyss have welcomed Hermione during meals and provided much distraction for her. It turns out that Hermione and Alyss are in the same Arithmancy class and haven't noticed until Hermione had pulled up the charts for homework. And so Hermione and Alyss were able to put their heads together while Arion and I hovered over our Care for Magical Creatures essays.

Harry has also been busy switching from being Ron's friend to Hermione's friend, though he seems more comfortable with Hermione since Ron was usually occupied with Lavender. Harry found Hermione, Alyss, Arion, and I at the library and as he took a seat he looked at my rather busy state. "I see you're in better state than last full moon." He commented making sure to whisper the last two words.

I tried to look more energetic today seeing that it was the night before the full moon. The last full moon of the year seemed to decide I will not be tormented with nausea, exhaustion, and other nasty symptoms I usually get. "I'm feeling a bit tired today but I almost forgot what day it is tomorrow. Anyways, it's nice to know that the Library is becoming more useful to you," I joked. "Although perhaps not yet the way it should be used." I chuckled softly.

Harry gave me a smile. "Library's not bad if you want to avoid seeing certain things." He replied and glanced at Hermione who made a slight scowl but never had her eyes leave her parchment.

"Sometimes I feel like I can't even enter the Common room. Not even Alyss and I are as passionate as R– OUCH!"

I jabbed my elbow into Arion's side. "Romilda Vane's attempts in your affections." I said quickly, careful not to bring Ron and Lavender's relationship. I looked at Hermione and Harry briefly before looking back at my homework.

"Indeed, Harry," Hermione finally decided to join in the conversation. "You need to be more careful." She said and immediately scowled at Harry's Advanced Potion-Making book.

Harry argued in defense of his book shortly since he know of Hermione's disapproval of the book.

"I'm not talking about your stupid so-called Prince," Hermione interrupted him. "I'm talking about earlier. I went into the girl's bathroom just before I came here and there were about a dozen girls in there, including Romilda Vane, trying to decide how to slip you a love potion. They're all hoping they're going to get you to take them to Slughorn's party, and they all seem to have bought Fred and George's love potions, which I'm afraid to say probably work–"

"Why didn't you confiscate them then?" Harry gave a small glare.

"They didn't have the potions with them in the bathroom. They were just discussing tactics. As I doubt whether even the Half-Blood Prince could dream up an antidote for a dozen different love potions at once, I'd just invite someone to go with you, that'll stop all the others thinking they've got a chance. It's tomorrow night, they're getting desperate." Hermione explained.

"There isn't anyone I want to invite..." Harry muttered seeming to be in deep thought. He then looked at Hermione who seemed to be making gestures at me, but I was buried into my Care of Magical Creatures textbook. "Umm, Fayt?" He asked.

I looked up and blinked. "What?" I asked and looked at everyone sitting around me.

Harry seemed to shrink slightly feeling slightly uncomfortable. He knew of my past affection towards him after all. "I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me to Slughorn's party." He muttered.

I blinked a few more times. "Umm, that's flattering, but I believe I have to work on Defense homework. You know how Snape is," I scratched my temples gently. "And the night of the full moon did set me back since I was absent the whole day." I gave him a sad smile.

The four also recalled my absence on the 25th of November when I was simply too weak to get out of bed and thus missed all of the Monday classes. Snape seemed thrilled to pile copious amounts of homework for missing his class.

There was a slight uncomfortable silence as we all realized Harry had failed to get a "date" for Slughorn's party. It probably really does hurt to be rejected. Hermione decided to chase the awkwardness away by speaking up.

"Well, just be careful what you drink, because Romilda Vane looked like she meant business." She said grimly. She returned to the parchment in front of her.

Harry gave a sudden look of realization. "Hang on a moment. I thought Filch had banned anything bought at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

Arion snorted and Hermione didn't look up as she said, "And when has anyone ever paid attention to what Filch has banned?"

"But I thought all the owls were being searched. So how come these girls were able to bring love potions?"

"Fred and George send them disguised as perfumes and cough potions. It's part of their owl service."

"You know a lot about it." Harry pointed out with small suspicion. He and Hermione didn't notice when I started packing up all my things.

"It was all on the back of the bottles they showed Ginny and me in the summer. I don't go around putting potions in people's drinks... or pretending to, wither, which is just as bad..." Hermione glared at Harry.

I leaned towards Arion and Alyss who were also slowly and silently putting their things away. "I think we should leave..." I whispered.

"Always the wise one, Fayt." Arion said and we all made our way out of the library. Once we were out Arion gave a shudder. "The tension was so thick I thought I would have drowned in it!" He shuddered and turned his back to me to face Alyss. "Anyways, Alyss want to get some drinks at the kitchens?" He asked while wagging his eye brows.

Alyss giggled not at Arion but at me as I made a vomiting action behind Arion's back. "Sure." She smiled at him and I quickly went back to my normal walk as Arion turned to me.

"You want to come, Fayt?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Please don't let me interrupt your date. I'll head to the common room and try to finish the homework I have left." I said. I waved at the two before climbing the stairs. I managed to make it to the third floor when I heard a cackle from a certain poltergeist. I looked up and gasped as a balloon dropped on my head.

"Aww wee little dragon got a sack full of flour on her!" Peeves giggled as he floated around.

Without thinking of using the cleaning charm, I ducked into the bathroom. "Ugh that little Peeves..." I muttered as I closed the door. I looked up and nearly screamed but a hand covered my mouth. I stared wide eyed at Malfoy who seemed to be looking at me with the same shock.

"Lupin... What... happened to you?" He asked moving away and looking at me from head to toe.

"Peeves dumped a bag of flour on me and flew away. I wanted to come here to– Wait a minute! This is the girl's bathroom! What are you doing?" I hissed at him. I gave him a glare and my hands instinctively found themselves at my hips.

Malfoy's lips twitched into a smile of amusement. "Honest to Merlin, Lupin. Please don't look at me like that. It's hilarious!" He laughed and held his stomach.

I glared at him feeling hot with anger and embarrassment. "Don't laugh you jerk!" I stomped my foot and accidentally inhaled some flour. I coughed and waved my hands.

Malfoy managed to calm down when he saw my slight suffering of flour dust. "Here, allow me." He said and grabbed his wand. "Scourgify." He said and waved his wand at me. He also cast the same spell to remove the flour I got all over the floor and on my bag.

I brushed my hair checking to see if there was any leftover flour. "Thank you, Malfoy." I said while checking my uniform. "So unless you have a secret to tell me. Why are you here?" I asked.

Malfoy frowned. "It's none of your business." He said.

I crossed my arms. "You're not leaving this room until you spill the beans." I said.

Malfoy stepped closer to me, making me feel nervous as he did since September. "What if I said I was thinking about you?" He asked me while running his hands through my hair. "I've been noticing you were looking at me for a month." He said.

I moved to push him away but my hands just gripped his robes. A part of me was screaming to escape but my body wouldn't listen. My brown eyes stared at his grey ones and when I managed to break away they fell onto his lips.

"What do you want?" Malfoy whispered as he wrapped an arm around my waist.

I held his face gently and pulled him into a kiss. My knees felt weak and I leaned against him to keep myself from falling. My heart was beating so hard against my chest I thought it was going to burst. I felt his arm around my waist tighten and his other hand ran through my hair until it settled behind my head. I wrapped my arms around his neck and felt something strange around us. I forced my mind away from the kiss and sensed the familiar raw magic I use when using Dragon Magic began to latch onto Malfoy. I broke the kiss gasping for air and stepped away from him. "I'm sorry!" I shuddered as I forcefully pulled the Dragon Magic away from Malfoy.

He looked at me slightly confused. "Why are you sorry for?" He asked.

I looked at him up and down checking for any damage I may have caused. "It's... It's nothing... I thought..." I held onto the wall as I felt dizzy. "Goodness..." I placed my hands on my lips.

Malfoy gave a smirk. "Was it that good?" He gave an air of confidence and I glared at him.

"Did... you feel anything?" I asked him slowly.

He raised an eye brow. "What do you mean? We snogged. Unless you meant if I like you?" He asked.

"Well no... I was..." I stuttered and felt my face get hot. "I mean..."

The slytherin gave me a soft kiss on the lips and smirked at me. "Let's do this again another time, Lupin. See you." He whispered in my ear and left the room.

I swallowed and slipped to my knees. 'What just happened?' I thought. I could feel Athena's smirk at me.

Wasn't it obvious? You kissed Malfoy. She laughed. And you liked it a lot.

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed my bag and left the bathroom. 'Didn't you feel our magic during the kiss?' I asked her. I felt Athena's mood turn serious.

Yes, she said slowly as if she was thinking. It was as if our magic was reacting to it. She said.

I frowned as I climbed up the stairs. 'Something's going on between Malfoy and us. Maybe we should be careful and try not to repeat this again.' I thought, feeling slightly better from Athena finally talking to me about the situation with the Slytherin.

I feel that would be unwise, Fayt. I know as much as you do how much to hurt to stay away from him. It's a dramatic change of feelings towards the boy but we have to face it. We cannot stay away from him or risk our sanity. She pointed out.

I groaned as I reached the seventh floor. I covered my face with my hands. "Elder, this is such a mess." I muttered. I greeted the Portrait of the Fat Lady with a polite "baubles" before walking into the common room. I met Arion who was thankfully sitting away from Ron and Lavender as they seemed to be sucking each other's face off.

"Fayt! Where did you come from? I thought you would be working on your homework." He said while sipping on a cup of hot cocoa.

I immediately grabbed his hot cocoa and settled into a chair. I ignored his protests as I downed the whole thing. "Peeves got to me. Threw a sack full of flour at me and I had to go to the third floor bathroom to clean myself." I muttered. It was at least half of the truth.

Arion gave a sarcastic 'aww' while he grabbed his mug back. He peered into it and glared when he found it empty. "Should we do something about him?" He asked while setting the cup down.

"We're turning him into a chicken with a sticking charm on feathers so powerful, he won't be able to take them off until we come back from break." I growled while flipping through our Charms book for a spell.

The next day wasn't as bad as the past three full moons. It seemed I had a bit of energy left to attend classes, which was good since I didn't need to miss any more classes and fall behind.

We made our way to Transfigurations and was greeted with mirrors at each seat.

I took a seat next to Arion and looked into the mirror. I jumped when I saw Malfoy appearing in the mirror as he took the seat behind me. I shrank in my seat slightly as I watched him give me a small smirk.

Professor McGonagall taught us the steps to a difficult topic of human transfiguration. "Today you will attempt to change the color of your own eye brows. You will monitor your progress using the mirrors in front of you and for the love of Merlin, please do not poke your eyes out." She gave us a warning look. She told us the spell and allowed us to practice.

The class was filled with mutterings as students tried to attempt the difficult task.

I heard a laugh from Hermione and turned to see her looking at Ron who was glaring at her with a spectacular handlebar mustache. I also couldn't resist a chuckle. I then watched as Ron imitated Hermione by jumping up and down his seat the same way she does when Professor McGonagall asks a question. My eyes then flicked to Lavender and Parvati who started laughing and then back to Hermione who seemed to be on the verge of tears.

The class finally ended when the bell rang and I jumped when Hermione ran out of the room with some of her items forgotten.

Harry had grabbed her things as well and followed her out.

After fixing Arion's blue eye brows with my wand I turned on Ron with a glare. "That was a new low." I told him while packing my things.

"What did I do?" Ron glared back towering over me.

"You know very well what you did during class and it was uncalled for. You hurt Hermione's feelings enough." I hissed not intimidated by his height.

"Please everyone makes fun of how she's so eager to answer professor's questions like she's about to burst." Ron rolled his eyes. "Malfoy's been doing it for years." He shoved a thumb at the Slytherin who just happened to be taking his time with packing his things.

Malfoy was ready to put up a fight but I beat him to it.

"It's one thing to make fun of a student you don't particularly like," I said hotly. "But it's a completely different thing when a former friend does the same. There's nothing worse than getting hurt by someone you care about." I shoved my chair under the desk and walked off, silently announcing the conversation over. I had walked fast enough to put a floor between myself and the classroom within a few minutes as I headed to the Great Hall for lunch. I heard someone run up to me and expected it to be Arion but instead I was stopped by Malfoy.

"Thanks." He said as he caught his breath. "You're probably the first Gryffindor to defend me." He said.

I sighed. "He can be such a prat sometimes." I glared at the floor. "Hermione doesn't deserve all this. After all she's done for me I will defend her no matter who it is." I said. I looked up at him and shrugged. "Sorry, I just get over-protective."

Malfoy studied me for a bit. "You're crazy." He finally said.

I rolled my eyes turning away from him. "You're impossible." I countered. I yelped when I was suddenly dragged into one of Hogwarts' many unused and empty classrooms. I froze when Malfoy's lips crashed into mine. I couldn't help but melt in his arms and ran my hand against the door knob to lock it. I kissed him back feeling my heart soar like I was on cloud nine. I don't know why this was happening but it felt right for some reason. I couldn't think of anything while I was in Malfoy... no... Draco's arms.

Draco suddenly hissed and pulled away clutching his right shoulder.

I blinked and looked at his right shoulder. "What's wrong?" I asked and felt fear grip me as I sensed the Dragon Magic hovering over the shoulder.

"My shoulder is burning all of the sudden." He winced.

"Take it off." I demanded.

"What?" He looked at me with shock. His face was etched in pain that nearly shattered my heart.

"Take off your shirt now!" I demanded with more force.

Trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder, he cautiously unbuttoned his shirt and flinched as I pulled at the right side of his shirt to look at the shoulder. He relaxed a little when he realized I wasn't taking off his shirt completely. He did grow tense as we both looked at his pale skin that was being burned with a shape of a black shield. "What the bloody hell is that?" He stared at it wide eyed.

I placed a shaky hand over his shoulder with ancient words at the tip of my tongue. I heal thy shoulder and remove thy burning. I whispered. When I felt his muscles relax under my hand I removed it but the black shield lingered as if it was a tattoo. I ran my finger against it feeling the raw Dragon Magic that lingered in his skin.

"It doesn't hurt anymore. Wh-what did you do?" He asked looking at me surprised.

I looked at my ground. "I'm sorry... I don't know what I did." I felt tears in my eyes. Would he hate me now? Would he be afraid of me and call me a monster again? "I'm sorry for hurting you."

Draco pointed at his shoulder while shooting me an angry look. "You did this?" He asked with a forceful tone and sounded angry.

I stepped back. "I swear I don't know what I did! All I know is that that was caused by my magic. Dragon magic." I said quickly. "I didn't mean to hurt you." I felt tears falling.

Draco's angry face disappeared and he fixed his clothes. "Don't cry, Lupin." He said softly. "Whatever you did, it doesn't bother me right now." He muttered.

I looked at him not believing him. "I'm sorry." I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Lupin, please." He sighed as he closed the space between us. "I'm surprised, but at the same time it's not surprising. We both know you're not normal like the rest of the students in this school. Whatever this black thing is I'm sure you'll figure it out and remove it." He said. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm fine. Really... I don't feel anything different." He said.

I looked at him then at his shoulder before looking at him again.

He wiped my tears and shook his head. "Lupin, you're growing soft. I've never seen you cry so much." He chuckled.

I glared at him. "Shut up." I muttered and rubbed my eyes with my sleeves. I grabbed my bag that fell to the floor and unlocked the door. I pulled the door open and stepped out into the hallway.

"So what did you say earlier?" He asked following me out.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You said something that I couldn't understand."

"I heal thy shoulder and remove thy burning." I said in English. "It's the language of my ancestors." I said. "I use it to control Dragon Magic. It's raw and powerful but if I speak to it, it should do what I want it to do. Kind of like us using spells that we learn in class with our wands. When we..." I laced my hands together in front of me. "I felt the Dragon Magic surrounding us and it seemed like it was after you. I stopped it last night but this time..." I placed a hand on his right shoulder.

Draco was about to respond but we heard a voice coming towards us.

"Potty loves Loony!" He bounced in the air. He looked at us and was about to make a statement but I whipped out my wand and pointed at him.

In an instant he puffed into chicken feathers and he clucked as he flew off like a chicken fleeing.

Draco snorted trying to hold back his laughter. "That's a good one." He commented.

I slipped my wand into my bags and smiled in triumph. I looked at Draco and finally noticed his face under the sunlight shining from the window. I ran my fingertips against his cheek which made him flinch in surprise a little. I studied the dark bags under his eyes and the slightly greyish tint to his skin. "Are you alright?" I asked with a frown. "You don't look so good."

He looked away with a frown. "I'm fine... it's just... classes. This is a really hard year for me." He answered. He didn't know that Athena was already analyzing his words. He didn't know that Athena told me that he was telling me half of the truth.

"You look like you haven't had a good rest." I frowned. "You should take better care of yourself."

Draco gave me a glare. "I'm fine, just drop it okay?" He snapped.

I stepped back, flinching a little. "I'm sorry if I care!" I snapped back. I couldn't believe how he could be so sweet one minute and then rude the next. I watched as his anger simmered down and he seemed to be having troubled thoughts.

"I know you don't trust me Fayt but I can assure you I have everything under control." He said.

I studied him. Another half lie. I took his hand and held it tightly. "If you need my help... I'm willing to be here for you. It's like you said. We're not our parents. We can live life our own way. I know that one shouldn't poke an irritated Dragon with a stick. The outcomes aren't pretty. Deep inside, I want this to work." I whispered feeling my words come straight from my heart. "I want you to take care of yourself. Get some rest over the break." I smiled at him.

Draco hesitated when he held my hand tightly. He was looking at our hands as his troubled thoughts continued to plague his mind. "Thank you Lupin. It... means a lot." He whispered.

I gave Draco a kiss on the cheek and felt myself blush. "So… what does this mean?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"You know. We…" I tried to hide my smile as I remembered the feeling.

He looked at me with his smirk. "Kissed and enjoyed it?" he finished for me turning me into a ball of embarrassment. "I'm fine with keeping this a secret." He crossed his arms.

I frowned at him. "That's not what I meant…" I began but he raised his hand to stop me.

"Lupin, if you haven't noticed a decent relationship between us is the last thing people would expect. I would like to save you the trouble of being hounded by your friends and I wouldn't want Parkinson screaming in my ear." He explained but Athena had again quickly analyzed his words and tone feeling that he wasn't putting his full feelings into the explanation. There was something else behind the reason he wanted to keep our relationship secret.

I gave him a shrug. "Alright then." I said. "I better head to lunch then." I turned and took a few steps before stopping. "Oh, I suppose you can call me Fayt." I looked back at him and he gave me another shocked look. "If you want to. You don't really have to…" I stuttered.

"First name terms. I find that as a huge accomplishment." He smirked again.

I rolled my eyes at him and looked away hiding my smile from him. I walked away from Draco, failing to notice a tall dark figure dressed completely in black watching us from afar.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I had fun writing it. Please review and let me know what you think! :)