Chapter Ten: In the Courtyard
(This Chapter is from the point of view of Draco Malfoy)
The storm had mostly blown over by the next morning, and the light in the Great Hall during breakfast was pale gray and strange. Harry was looking over our schedule and piling his plate with sausages simultaneous, managing not to miss his plate once. "We don't have Moody until Thursday. He should be interesting; his entrance last night was dramatic enough, wasn't it? We have Herbology today and then Care of Magical Creatures…with the Slytherins, of course. That'll be great. Divination this afternoon…I wonder if she'll start the year of by predicting my untimely death again…mental old bat," he rambled, tossing the schedule aside and beginning to eat.
"You should have given it up like me, shouldn't you?" Hermione asked, sitting down and buttering herself some toast. "Then you would be doing something sensible, like Arithmancy."
"Oh, be quiet and eat your toast," Harry said without venom as he dug into his breakfast. "Maybe we'll actually learn something in there this year, but if we don't, it wouldn't bother me much," he grinned between mouthfuls. I rolled my eyes.
"Stop talking and eat your food before you make us late," I said lightly, smiling and looking up at the enchanted ceiling. "I wish we were having Quidditch," I though aloud, turning to look across the table at Harry, who had an odd look on his face.
"We can still go flying," he said quickly, eating the last bit of his eggs and standing up. "We could go between lunch and Divination. It's a good day to fly."
"Alright," I agreed as we left the hall. "I'm going to ask Professor McGonagall for permission," I added. "You know what happened last time."
"I know," he grinned, ruffling my hair. "But it was a brilliant fly, wasn't it?" he asked. I just smiled. There was no arguing with that.
We spent the rest of the morning squeezing puss out of bubotubers, which was sort of disgusting, and trying to feed Blast-Ended Skrewts, which was sort of dangerous. Harry began by healing a burn on my hand at the end of class, and ended up standing outside Hagrid's cabin mending several of our classmates for quite a while after the bell for lunch had rung.
"I didn't know you knew any medical magic," Hermione said, impressed, as he concentrated on a burn on her forearm.
"Part of my summer training," he muttered. "Minor healing—scrapes, bruises, and some burns. My mother is completely mental. But at least I can actually use some of it," he said with a shrug, dropping her arm. "There. Now come on, I'm starving." We walked back up to the castle quickly and sat down at the Gryffindor table. "At least skrewts are small," Harry said as we loaded our plates.
"Blast-ended skrewts grow to be between six and nine feet long in the span of five months. They feed on blood, and most any kind will do. I'm just hoping the things die of starvation before Hagrid figures that out," I said, wrinkling my nose. "Those things will kill us if he has us trying to feed them once they've fully matured. As much as I like Hagrid, I wish he would choose more reasonable creatures to teach us about. Or at least something useful, which skrewts aren't. In any way."
"First of all, it amazes me that you knew that. And second, you know that Hagrid has no idea which animals are reasonable to reasonably sized people, since he isn't," Harry said with a grin. "Oh, and third…look at Weasely," he said with a sly grin, nodding down the table toward where Weasely was nursing a nasty burn on his hand. "He was too much of a prat to ask me to heal him."
"Of course," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Now eat your food before it gets cold."
"Yes, mum," Harry grumbled with a playful smile, and I laughed.
"I think there's something to be said for shade trees," I observed, several days later out in the courtyard during a break between classes. I had never really thought about it much, but the light was sort of green and gold, and it shimmered when the breeze moved the branches.
"Hm," Harry mumbled, opening his eyes a bit. He was sprawled in the grass beside me and was using one of the books I'd brought out as a pillow, albeit most likely not a very comfortable pillow. The other book was propped open in my lap, but I had become distracted from my reading by the light under the tree. "I like shade trees. But I think a root may be poking me in the back," he said sleepily, scooting sideways until his head fell off of A Moving Myth: The Sea of Monsters to the Bermuda Triangle. "What is this, anyway?" he asked, picking the book up and examining the cover, which pictured a boat being destroyed by a very large squid.
"It's about how Muggle myths relate to the kraken, which is the monster there on the cover. There are actually about a dozen of them in the oceans at any given time, and they live in a sort of group in one particular area. And every once in a few centuries, they move to a new place. They live a very long time, you see," I explained. "The book traces where they've inhabited and how it has affected the Muggles, since they tend to destroy ships and such."
"Ah," Harry nodded, frowning at the cover before replacing it behind his head. "You find the oddest things to read about. What are you reading now?" he asked, pulling the book I held out of my lap and turning to the front cover, his thumb holding my page. "Dragons of Europe," he read aloud. "You aren't turning into Hagrid, are you? We don't need another Norbert."
"Merlin. Of course not. If I never see another dragon again, it wouldn't bother me a bit. But if I do, I'll know what sort of dragon is about to eat me," I joked, and Harry rolled his eyes and grinned. I took my book back, and Harry's eyes slid closed to resume his nap, and for a few more minutes, our day remained perfectly peaceful.
"Hey Malfoy!" Weasely called from across the courtyard, coming toward us, flanked by Finnegan and Thomas.
"Bloody hell," Harry muttered under his breath as he sat up to watch the redhead's progress toward us.
"Read this, Potter," Weasely said when he reached us, thrusting a copy of the Daily Prophet into his hands.
Harry glanced up at the other boys then skimmed a bit of the article Weasely had the paper folded to. "Why should I care about this?" he asked, crumpling the newspaper.
"I just thought you should be reminded what kind of scum you hang around with," Weasely sneered, and I winced when Harry came to his feet at once. "Your uncle may not be in Azkaban yet, but everyone knows what he is…and what you are," he added, glaring at me.
"You do not know Draco," Harry said venomously, shoving the Daily Prophet back into Weasely's chest. "And you don't know me, either. So you can just fuck off and leave us alone."
Weasely was the first to draw his wand, brandishing it in Harry's face. "Watch your mouth, Potter," he snarled.
"Do you really think you're any match for me?" Harry laughed derisively, not even reaching for his wand, but Finnegan and Thomas both had theirs out now. I didn't see him move, but Harry was the first to fire a spell, knocking Thomas on his arse with a jet of orange light. I had no idea what spell he'd used, but Thomas didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon. I slowly got to my feet, trying not to draw attention to myself or distract Harry as the boys were dueling furiously. I raised my wand, bringing up a shield around Harry, careful that it would allow his spells through but not Weasely's or Finnegan's. I was concentrating, strengthening it, and Harry sent Finnegan toppling over with what looked like a Body Bind.
And then, "OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" which was followed by a loud BANG, and pain consumed my body. My vision went black and my limbs crushed in on themselves, and when I could see again, I was so small and frightened. Harry, I thought, but I didn't know what to do, so I pressed myself closer to the ground and tried to cry out for him, but the sound I made wasn't mine. I couldn't breathe. I wasn't me. Harry, I thought, and I could hear his voice. I knew he was close. I could smell his rage. Where was he? Why couldn't I find him?
And then the pain returned, just as blinding as the first time, stretching me back out into my body. I gasped for breath, fingers digging into the grass for purchase in the world as I looked for Harry, needing him so desperately that I could feel the keening animal noise from before still in my chest, as if I wasn't quite human again yet. Then I found him, standing a few yards away, flushed and shaking with rage, his wand at the throat of a man that I didn't matter.
"Harry," I cried, and I knew that it was a broken, pitiful sound. But Harry ran to me right away, falling to his knees as he reached me and crushing me in a hug. My body was still shaking, but I felt such incredible relief with Harry close. There were others around, maybe yelling, but I couldn't keep my eyes open. I leaned into Harry's warmth and safety, and let consciousness slip away.
(Jeez, sorry that took so long. But at least you get two chapters at once this time. I had chapter nine done for a little while, but it was just so plain that I didn't want to post I alone. And this chapter took me a little while to get out, for some reason. So I'm sorry for the wait. Review and tell me how I'm doing so far!...Pretty please with cherries!)