DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.
Ta-Da! This chapter ends Book III. Hopefully you guys will stick around for book IV and continue to encourage me with all the reviews. Also to answer your question, I would never have tagged this story as romantic if I hadn't planned on making it so, so yeah it's coming don't fret :)
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CHAPTER 54
Draco had refused to speak to Harry after they had returned to school; he had given him the silent treatment from the moment they had set foot in the building. Harry couldn't understand why he was so angry and started to get irritated at the boy himself, if he wanted to spend the last two weeks of the Academy in silence then Harry would easily comply.
They went to classes separately and ate with other people, slowly Harry started to have a niggling fear that Draco would never speak to him again, the thought tore him up more than he could comprehend and he became steadily more and more frustrated; he tried talking to him but was roughly pushed aside with anger.
It was a week before their departure that something happened that changed everything between them.
Harry had climbed into his bed to go to sleep during the night after calling out a good night to Draco who still stubbornly refused to reply and sighing he fell on to his pillows and went to sleep.
It was sometime around midnight that there came an incessant tapping sound at the window, woken up from sleep, Harry threw his covers down and opened it to let in a large brown owl through. Removing the note from its foot Harry watched as it took flight again and disappeared.
Looking down at the note Harry noticed that it was addressed to him, frowning in curiosity he tore it open and read from it, his face became mask-like and anger radiated from him rising to a burning pitch, 'We kept our promise, you tried to defy us so this is the price you must pay, Malfoy dies tonight!'
Crushing the paper in his hand with blind fury, Harry stalked over to Draco's bed and threw the drapes open to find it empty. Placing his hand on a small tattoo of a snake on his wrist he said 'Revelio' and the snake disappeared, replaced by a tiny map, pin pointing Draco's exact location, Harry caught hold of his broom and mounted it in a hurry, flying to where they were holding him hostage without a moment's hesitation.
Coming closer to the broomstick shed he saw a huddled figure on the ground surrounded by three or four towering men. Clenching his teeth, Harry landed roughly and let his broom fall to the floor, "Let him go" he said, his anger and pain shining through the tone of his voice, "Let him go, before you regret."
Laughter rang through the otherwise still night and Toby approached him languidly, his ugly face lit up with the thrill of the hunt, "Run away, baby Potter, your friend is already lost, run away" he said in a sing song voice "What can a coward like you ever hope to achieve?"
Harry took one step back and was a about to raise his wand when it was taken out of his hands by a well-placed 'Expelliarmus' by one of the boys standing to his side.
"You call me a coward, and then sic all of your buddies on me? Very brave of you" he snarled. Holding out both hands he cried out 'Everte Statum' and the four men standing around Draco's fallen figure were thrown up and backwards into the air away from him.
Harry quickly threw a couple of protective wards at Draco and watched as the four scrambled to their feet looking stunned.
"Wandless magic!" Toby said, there was a tiny hint of awe in his voice which was quickly wiped away when he said 'Glacius' a jet of ice shooting out of the tip of his wand, Harry immediately counteracted with a fiery spell and jumped out of the way with lightening reflexes to avoid being hit by a another spell from someone else in the front.
"Looks like you got better, Newbie" Toby said smirking 'Gurth' he called out and his long deadly black sword emerged in his hand replacing his wand and he began to slowly advance towards Harry.
'Sicko!' thought Harry, 'The boy loves playing with his prey, this time however he won't know what hit him' he vowed silently.
Deciding that if he wanted to take down Toby he would have to get rid of his tagalongs first, so he spun around abruptly and shouted out 'Oppugno' to the old Quidditch balls lying close to the shed behind him and didn't stop to watch as they rose up and hurled themselves on to the three others with great speed knocking out one of them.
Unfortunately Toby reached had Harry by then so before he could fully register his onslaught he felt the full wrath of that arcing sword which had moved downwards with practiced elegance. He felt the bite of the sword as it created a deep laceration in his back, and unable to hold back a scream, Harry held out his hand and caught hold of Toby's wrist 'Flagarate' he said looking into his eyes with an ugly smirk and watched as Toby dropped his sword from the pain of the burn.
Harry ducked saying 'Bombarda' and the earth beneath Toby's feet blew up and threw the boy a good distance away from him.
In the meantime his friends had gained on Harry and one of them shouted 'Crucio' Harry threw up a shield before him and not waiting to see if the spell had struck or not he jumped out from behind it saying 'Falatheil.'
The stunning bow appeared in his hand and Harry knocking a single arrow in it, aimed and fired it at them. It split up into many arrows only a few feet away from the two boys when he cried out 'Indencio' and they burst into intense flames now becoming big balls of fire, the boys tried to douse them with an 'Aguamenti' charm but it had already struck home creating a wall of fire before boys.
Toby had recovered and had picked up the wand his sword had changed back into and creeping up behind Harry he said 'Crucio.'
Harry unable to dodge the spell, fell to the floor as pain took over his mind and he fought it with everything he had, just the way Reynald's had taught them to and threw off the curse completely, but by then Toby had run over to his gang and had doused the flames.
Getting up panting, Harry turned to face them and found all four of them grinning evilly at him, Toby who had his wand out threw a purple hex his way and Harry knew instinctively that the spell was dark magic, cursing he disapparated and appeared behind them.
"Enough!" he said, startling them, 'Contego Norbert' he cried out and disapparated again as he felt another spell singe past his head.
Landing on the roof of the broomstick shed, Harry put his hand to his back and closed the wound, then holding his hands together he whispered a spell and watched the wind around him pick up speed, almost becoming a gale force. He let it rip forward and laughed as it knocked down all four of them. He cried 'Incarceous' and watched as a rope tightly bound them together.
Suddenly he felt a gently breeze ruffle his hair and he heard the gasps from below, looking up he saw Norbert flying towards him, and landed softly next to the shed on the ground beside him as if he were his guard, he sent a question out to Harry asking him if he should kill the four miscreants.
Harry shook his head and turned to see that all the boys had dropped their jaws in surprise, "Yes I'm a Dragon Tamer" Harry said "So from now on, if you so much as breathe in my way anymore, I'll have you burnt to a nice crisp before you can even begin to regret."
"You lie" said Toby, trying to wriggle out of his bonds "Dragon Tamers are legends" Harry smirked at him but didn't take the bait.
"You will get what's coming to you and you brother" Toby said "We know The Dark Lord will rise again and when he does I hope he peels the skin of your brother's body and feeds his carcass to the vultures."
Harry didn't know when he had moved, with movements faster than eyes could see, he found himself standing before the boy. Seeing the black sword fallen to the ground which Toby had re-transformed, Harry picked it up and held it with its tip pointed at its owners own throat, "You're dead" he said and was about to plunge it into him without a second thought when the sword was knocked out of his hands by a gleaming dagger.
Turing around furiously, Harry saw that it was Draco who had done it "Harry I know you love Darren but becoming a murderer for him will not help either of you" he said rather dryly.
It was listening to Draco's voice speaking to him after such a long time that made him stop to re-evaluate, and suddenly he looked frightened at the sword that had been in his hands only moments ago.
"Shit!" he had been about to kill the boy, his murderous rage had grown to such an extent he couldn't have held back, turning to the beat up gang he let them loose and walked away from them "Get out before I forget" he said and watched as they ran away in silence, looking down he picked up his fallen wand and twirled it absently in his hands.
Turning to Norbert, he thanked the dragon and apologized for waking him up, but Norbert sent him an image of the four boys burning in his flames as if to say 'I'll be there the next time as well' and he rose to the sky and flew majestically away.
Now kneeling in front of Draco, Harry saw that he had been roughed up a bit, there were a few bruises but nothing major, "Did they hurt you bad?" he asked.
"No" Draco said trying not to wince with pain "They brought me here in my sleep and kicked me a little, but I'll live" he said.
Harry didn't smile but came closer to him and gently drew him into his arms "Thank God!" he whispered holding Draco's warm body against him, "What if they had killed you I thought, and lost it completely."
Draco turned his face into Harry's neck and said "Now you know why I couldn't speak to you this entire week. I too was unable to let go of the 'what if's'."
Sitting down fully on the ground Harry pulled Draco to him and carefully started mending his wounds. Draco watched him use nothing but his hands and felt that weird shiver again, "Better?" Harry asked looking at him with those clear green eyes, Draco reached out and touched his arm in gratitude as if to say 'yes'.
"So…wandless magic and a Dragon Tamer! Why am I not more surprised? Anything else you want to tell me Harry?"
Harry looked guiltily at him and turned away "I'm sorry" he said "I didn't want people to make a big deal out of it."
Draco sighed knowing that arguing with this bonehead was a waste of his time, "Bonehead!" he said softly and ruffled Harry's hair.
"Dray…?" Harry said,
"Yeah…"
"Don't ever do that to me again!" said Harry, still looking away to hide his now burning face.
"What?"
"The not talking to me bit, and openly avoiding me, I couldn't handle it when you did that."
"I'm sorry" Draco said softly.
"I can't understand why, but somehow you not being there with me feels really lonely, so please don't put me through that again, okay?"
Draco unable to help himself, hugged him and let go "Then don't try to get yourself killed so often, I can't bear that either."
Harry nodded and smiled "Shall we go?" he asked pulling Draco gently to his feet when he agreed, and they walked backed a bit battered from the night's excursion but felt somewhat happier than they had been in the morning.
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The one week remaining had flashed past them and they found themselves standing with Professor Fletcher Garrett and Venus Reynald once again near the train station waiting for their families to pick them up.
They hadn't made any close friends in the Academy but had said goodbye to everyone anyway. Harry had introduced Norbert to Draco who had looked at the Dragon Tamer like he was a bit mental, but gradually began to accept that the dragon did not want him roasted.
The other Professors spoke quietly to them and wished them good luck; all of them said that they had surpassed their expectations, even the grouchy Odin! Lady Cassandra had clung to Draco and wept over his shoulder, so much so that Draco had started to look quite discomfited.
Maybe someday they would return, but for now they had to leave. Spotting their families come running up to them, including Narcissa Malfoy, they turned to the two Professors standing with them and thanked them for the last time.
They had learnt to fear, learnt to fight, and learnt to protect what was most important to them.
Promising never to forget they left them and ran up to meet the others.
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