"Ron!" Hermione slapped his shoulder. "Stop eating! I don't feel right about this. Are they alright in there? It's been half hour!"
"Chill, 'Mione," Ron replied while chewing the wild cherry he picked from a tree nearby. "It's only been half hour. And it's Harry. He's strong. A cursed house is nothing for him."
"Ron," Hermione stilled. "How did you get those cherries?"
"With this wand, of course," Ron swung his second wand on her face.
"Ron! Didn't I tell you to lend it to Harry before he went in there?!" Hermione dreaded.
"Uh… y-you did?" Ron swallowed hard.
"Oh Merlin, Ronald!" Hermione yelled, "So Harry walked in there empty handed?! What if something happened?!"
"He—hermione, nothing's going to happen. I mean, it's Harry, and he's with Malfoy, right? Malfoy has a wand…" Ron tried to calm her.
"Ugh! Ron…! I'm going there!" Hermione started to walk pass through the set of trees hiding the house site.
"Wait, Hermio—"
A sudden rumble in the air and a loud roar hit the two Gryffindors' ears.
"What's that?" Hermione spoke in alert.
~o~
Draco felt something pulled his jacket strongly while his body was suddenly being pushed hard to the wall panel by a heavy force, squeezing Potter between him and the flat wood material. Draco heard a destroying sound echoed around him. Then a vibrating deep rumble was heard very, very close to him.
And Draco realised that he was still alive, and Potter was hissing in pain. Checking briefly on Potter's condition, unharmed, Draco wheeled around, drawing his wand while his left arm still holding defenseless Potter protectively.
He gasped at the same time as a giant magical creature roared aloud to the manticore that was somehow thrown off to the ground floor.
"What— what—" Draco tried to say something with his shock.
"Dragon!" Potter gasped.
A young Common Welsh Green dragon.
It had made the first level's floor collapsed, unable to support its weight. Its large green body and wings smashed objects and wrecked the walls and the high ceiling. It was a miracle that only a small area of the wooden floor where Draco and Potter were standing remain attached to the wall on their back.
The dragon looked up and let out a distinctive and melodious roar to the roof. The dragon then shot narrow jets of fire, burning the roof into ashes. At seeing the exposed sky, breathing the free air, the dragon flapped its wings in rigid motions.
A loud and threatening roar came from the manticore.
"Are we going to die?" Potter wondered, and Draco had to smack his head for thinking about it and saying the sentence calmly.
"Quiet, Potter! I don't care why and where this dragon came from, but let's take this as our opportunity to escape this house! Manticores don't get along with dragons. So I'm guessing they're going to fight. See that hole on the right wall? We'll jump out from there," Draco measured the distance from their position to the hole. He wasn't sure they could manage to cross the seven metres gap, especially Potter with a fracture.
"But it's high, Malfoy. You might break some bones," Potter whispered now, observing the manticore and dragon making stare contest.
"I'll use Arresto Momentum right before we fall to the ground," Draco told him. "You hold on to me. I'll use Levitation charm on you. Get—"
The manticore jumped and the dragon roared, swung its tail in fast movement. The dragon's big tail hit Draco and Potter, throwing both teens down to the right side. They hit the ruined side of the wall and slid down the ground floor, landed hard on the ruins.
"Potter are you alright?" Draco got up first.
Potter's head hit a brick hard and for a moment he seemed to have a mild concussion. Draco checked if Potter vomited, and thank Merlin he didn't. No brain and spine damages then.
Potter tried to stand up but he lost balance and fell again. Only few metres away from them, manticore and the young dragon were hitting and clawing each other. Though, Draco suspected the dragon was only playing around with the manticore. The dragon was clearly no match to the manticore.
"Malfoy, where's your wand?" Potter asked as he tried to stand on his feet with Draco's help.
"What… Damn, I lost it!" Draco searched around with his eyes. His wand must have been thrown somewhere when he fell.
A screech was heard and a moment later Draco saw the dragon launched a fire-breath toward the manticore near them. They had no time to dodge the fire.
"Protego! Harry, Malfoy, over here!" Granger shouted.
Apparently, she and Weasley had made a hole on the wall and broken in and saved them at the right time. The house must have been released from the curses and ward spells after the dragon destroyed the house.
"My wand!" Draco shouted to inform her that he had lost his wand.
"Accio!" Potter shouted and Draco's wand flew toward Potter.
Holy Merlin! Potter could do wandless magic! But it wasn't the time to be awed. So Draco took his wand from Potter, re-casting protecting spell to the both of them and then ran out of the house, supporting Potter with his left arm.
The four of them ran away as far they could from the site, ignoring the screeches and roars behind them. They stopped twenty-five metres away from the fighting creatures. The villagers began to run toward the demolishing house. At the same time, they heard loud rushing sounds from the sky. When they looked up, three dark mists were trailing toward the house.
"Death Eaters!" Draco choked. "Use Disillusionment charm and let's hide in those trees!"
Granger and Weasley put the charm to conceal their bodies and ran toward a collection of Scots pine trees, meanwhile Draco casted the charm on him and Potter and followed the former Gryffindors.
"Cave inimicum!" Granger casted the protective spells, conjured up a shield that kept them hidden from the Death Eaters and villagers.
"What are those scums doing there? Did they know you were there, Harry?" Weasley asked.
"I dunno. I think we've activated the Taboo curse. And— ah!" Potter hissed as Draco was healing his burnt skin. "I… I think he knows that we're searching and destroying the horcruxes."
"How?" Granger asked while keeping her eyes on the Death Eaters that were throwing hexes to the house, or to the dragon. The villagers were running back to their village after seeing the chaos.
"Through my head? I think one of us slipped and we shared our minds when I was in there," Potter told her.
"Okay. I think the Death Eaters got confused for not finding you there. They're leaving," Granger informed them. "And, by Merlin's name, why is there a dragon?!"
"Potter, can you lie down? I will try to heal your rib and I need you to lie down to do so," Draco told him.
"What?!" Granger and Weasley said in unison, throwing their heads toward Potter.
"Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry." Potter told his friends. Draco only stared at Potter in restrained anger. These injuries were nothing?! "Ah, Malfoy, you lost your beanie."
"I don't give a fuck about that beanie, Potter!" Draco gave him an anguish rude reply. Potter was in pain and he still had time to care about someone else. It upset Draco and he didn't even know why he upset.
"What happened?" Granger asked, now squatted down next to Potter's left.
"Can we go somewhere safe first?" Draco asked the three Gryffindor in worry. "I need to heal him, and, just— just somewhere safe first!"
"Bill's house!" Weasley suggested.
"I don't know the precise coordination and Potter is currently unavailable to do Apparition and I'm not sure he can do a far Side-Along either," Draco told them.
"Well, can you do a Side-Along?" Granger asked Draco seriously.
"Yes," Draco answered.
"Oh, alright. For now, let's go back to the location we last camped," Granger decided for them. They all agreed and with Potter to Side-Along with Draco, they all Disapparated to their previous camp site.
~o~
Done setting up the magical tent, Draco immediately dragged Potter to the bed and proceeded in healing the fissured rib. Thank Merlin it wasn't a broken bone. Draco didn't know how to heal a broken bone.
Draco could see well on Potter's face how he was holding back the pain as Draco worked with medical spells his mother taught him. Draco wondered how many times Potter had his bones fractured when he was still living with his abusive relatives?
"Done," Draco told Potter. Next, he checked Potter's head. No injury, but the medical scan spell told him that Potter's head was stressed by the hit. "Now sleep. Your body needs it to heal."
Draco kept sitting beside Potter's bed as the Gryffindor insisted that he didn't need sleep. He would wait no matter how long until Potter fall asleep.
"Here," Granger gave Draco a vial of Essence of Dittany.
Draco thanked her and applied the healing potion on Potter's scarred skin that had been burnt. He wondered why didn't she applied it to her best friend herself.
"Thank you, Malfoy," Potter said in soft voice. "Hermione, I know where the Ravenclaw horcrux is. I saw it in his mind. That last horcrux is at Hogwarts."
"Oh God," Hermione held her breath. "How do we get in there? Hogwarts is under his power now."
"The last one. Thank Merlin!" Weasley sighed.
"Stop talking. Continue tomorrow. Potter, you go to sleep," Draco stopped the Gryffindors' conversation.
"You stop it, ferret. You're not his mother. Stop dictating him," Weasley said in annoyance.
"His body and head have been hit by hard objects and he had a concussion," Draco looked Weasley sharp, then moved his eyes to Potter, "Now."
"Yes, mum," Potter replied with a lazy grin.
"Um, Harry?" Granger called. Draco had to hold himself not to cast out everyone out of tent and let Potter rest in peace. When Harry opened his eyes and glanced at Draco, then Granger, the girl told him, "He stole the Elder wand."
Potter was staring at her solemnly and then closed his eyes, deciding to go sleep.
Draco casted silencing charm to the beds room to isolate Potter from noises outside the curtains and hushed everyone out. Outside the room, the other three sat around the table, discussing the way to enter Hogwarts.
Hogwarts Castle contained many secret passageways. And according to Marauders Map, Granger told Draco (he would ask what was Marauders Map later), several lead to Hogsmeade village.
And when the final solution was made, that their next destination was Hogsmeade, it's time for bed. Draco volunteered to guard the camp outside alone. And then Weasley would guard four hours later.
~o~
Draco sat on a log outside their camp, reading a book about Magical Bonds that Granger lent from a library. He wanted to know more about the accidental bond he had with Potter.
At one point, he put his hand into his pocket and searched for something. And for the second time, Draco noticed, he lost his dragon statuette.
"Great," Draco sighed. Must have fallen at Rowena's house. It wasn't a precious thing, but it had become his favorite statuette since the day Potter gave it to him. Just because Draco liked dragon and green.
Four hours passed and now it was Weasley's turn to take the guard. Draco went inside the tent and woke the tall Gryffindor sleeping on a hammock.
"Will you be guarding until morning or we take a turn again at dawn?" Draco asked.
"Uh… morning…" Weasley answered sleepily.
Draco wasn't convinced, but he nodded anyway and took over the hammock after checking on Potter. Then, after a second thought, he gave sleepy Weasley outside the tent a small hex to wake him fully from sleepiness.
"Ow! What the hell?!" Draco heard Weasley swore in confusion.
~o~
Draco felt like he was just asleep a minute ago when suddenly loud noise awoken him. And when Draco fully awoke, it was a loud screech he heard from outside the camp. Draco got up and grabbed his wand, full alert he ran outside.
It was a chaos.
"Aah! Ron you said it would work!" Granger screamed from somewhere not far.
A loud hiss and a warm puff of air.
"But I saw Charlie did it at Hogwarts that time!" Weasley yelled, repeatedly throwing some beast-taming spells.
Draco ran about fifty metres away toward them.
And then Draco found the what-the-hell scenery.
"What. The. Hell," Draco stood still. By now he wasn't so surprised anymore at facing extraordinary things. That's for being around with Harry Danger-Magnet Potter for two months.
Draco made eye contact with a dragon. The same young dragon he saw at Rowena Ravenclaw's house. Which was being annoyed by Granger and Weasley.
"The dragon is nesting there?" Draco asked no one in particular, observing the dragon settled in comfortably on the forest floor after it saw Draco.
The dragon purred at Draco.
"What— Oh!" Granger slapped her own face. "Look!"
"Huh?" Weasley glanced at her.
"Look! See, on the dragon's chest? There's a runic script engraved on its skin!" Granger told them. Draco could see the end part of the script, too. It looked familiar. "Oh my God! That's the end part of the runic script I saw on Malfoy's dragon statuette!"
"What?" Draco opened his eyes wider to see better and recalling his memory.
"What, Hermione. You think that's the statuette? It came alive and, and, grow BIG?" Weasley asked her in disbelief.
Draco thought of that, too. And that's possible. How crazy that sounded. The dragon didn't harm nor trying to attack them, though. But its eyes eyeing sharply Weasley and Granger.
"Malfoy, where's your statuette?" Granger asked him.
"I think I lost it at Rowena's house," Draco told her.
"Lost it?" Granger returned her attention to the lying comfortably dragon. "Could the seal have broken and the dragon was freed?"
"And how do we make sure that dragon was my statuette?" Draco raised his eyebrow. The dragon blinked lazily at Draco. Okay, that was weird. A real dragon couldn't be that tame and so ignorant.
"Well, your statuette was gone, right at the time a dragon mysteriously appeared. And it didn't attack us. And it has the same script written on your dragon statuette." Granger replied.
"Again. How to make sure it was the same dragon as my statuette?" Draco leered at her.
"Well… Wait," Granger snapped her neck to look at Draco. "Where's Harry?"
"Sleeping, obviously," Draco rolled his eyes.
"What? How can he be still sleeping with the loud noises we made?" asked Granger.
"Because I casted a twelve hour-sleeping charm on him," answered Draco.
"What?!" Grange and Weasley snapped.
"Well, I had to make sure he had enough sleep," Draco answered nonchalantly.
"Why— What if something happened while he's sleeping?!" Granger yelled at Draco then ran toward the tent.
Draco rolled his eyes again. She was right, though. Cursing his carelessness, he walked back to the tent.
"Hey, wait!" Weasley ran back to their tent, too.
~o~
"Okay. What do we do now?" Potter asked the group.
They had walked for fifteen minutes to test something. It appeared that the dragon kept following them. Following Draco specifically.
After they finally able to see the whole script written on the dragon, that it was the exact same script written on Draco's former dragon statuette, they made conclusion that the dragon was indeed the statuette came alive. Draco and Granger had a hypothesis that the amount of dark magic absorbed by the apatite statuette had accumulated enough to give the imprisoned dragon power to break the seal and be free.
"What am I supposed to do? I've told the dragon to stop following me but it kept following me," Draco answered with some annoyance. They couldn't go stealthily to Hogwarts with a five and half metres dragon.
"Well, tell it again," Potter ordered with hands on hips. Bossy, Draco said mentally.
"Dragon, please. Just, go!" Draco gave the dragon under Disillusionment charm withering look. The invisible dragon only growled low in response.
"Great. Now we can't really go to Hogwarts with that dragon!" Weasley complained.
"Well, excuse us for not being that advanced in magic that none of us able to cast Diminuendo spell to that massive creature!" Draco glared at Weasley in challenge.
"Okay okay, stop it you two! I'll go to Bill's house and ask Remus an advice for our situation," Granger told them.
"Don't Hermione," Potter disagreed. "We can't risk bringing them danger. Let's just… let's just stay in the forest for another day until we can solve this problem. Besides, I don't know how to explain about the dragon's origin to Remus..."
"Oh don't be silly, Harry," Weasley sneered. "Just don't bring Malfoy with us. Problem solved!"
Draco felt like his heart fell to the ground. What if Potter agreed with Weasley? Would they leave him alone here? He had nowhere to go.
"No," Potter said firmly. Draco almost choked in grateful to him. "We stick together. Hermione, I think that area is good for our tent."
With hesitation, Granger followed Potter back into the forest to set their tent.
~o~
"Maybe I should check on library…" Granger said as they ate wild berries for their lunch.
"No, Hermione. He must be in high alert now. Setting alarms and spies everywhere. Strict supervision in the whole England," Potter shook his head.
"Just a library near here. Or the Black's library…" Granger tried.
"Hermione…" Potter sighed, "I can't risk endanger you or losing you again…"
"Come on, 'Mione. Let's take a walk for a FRESHER air," Weasley stood up from the bench and stomped out of the tent. Granger sighed and followed him.
"Good then," Draco said loudly, making sure Weasley heard him. "Potter still need a rest. The peaceful tent can help him as much!"
Potter glanced at Draco from the corner of his eyes and rolled his eyes. Draco rolled his eyes in response. And three seconds later both of them laughed.
"Ron's just being silly. Again," Potter finished his last berry. "Come on, let's see your dragon."
"My dragon…" Draco repeated in awe. "I really have a dragon?"
"Well, it kept following you, acted nice to you, and it's from your dragon statuette," Potter shrugged.
They walked only about five metres from their tent to reach the dragon. It laid on the ground lazily. They had lifted the Disillusionment charm on it. The dragon looked calm. Trees around it were crashed though.
Maybe Potter was right. Somehow, the dragon wanted to be with Draco. Maybe it had nowhere else to go, just like Draco. Draco was more than okay with that. And the plus point was, the dragon acted hostile to everyone but Draco. Draco liked that.
"What are you smiling at?" Potter asked.
Draco looked at Potter. Oh, apparently he smiled unconsciously, thinking about dragon ownership. He had a dragon, oh Salazar! He smiled again.
"You look nice smiling like that actually," Potter said.
"What?" Draco sobered from his daydream at hearing Potter's words.
"What?" Potter's eyes widened. "I mean the dragon looks nice actually. I wonder if I can touch it," Potter said quickly.
"Potter, stop! You'll upset it—" Draco paused his warning as he saw the dragon stuck out its head to sniff at Potter. And then the dragon retreated and went back to lying down and closed its eyes. "Huh? That's… odd."
"And I thought you had the brightest brain among us," Potter said. Draco could sense the Gryffindor were rolling his eyes. "Seriously, Malfoy. It must have smelt your scent in me."
Silence for a minute.
"Oh my God that sounds so wrong," Potter scratched his head. Draco could see Potter's ears reddened. Draco sported blush on his face, too. Yes, Merlin. That sounded so, so wrong.
Draco wondered how would it be if Potter smelt of him.
"God, I mean the dragon must sense your magic signature on me. You know, the bond…" Potter scratched his head again.
"Merlin, Potter. Stop with that abusing hand! You're ruining your hair!" Draco stepped forward and pulled Potter's hand away from the unruly black strands.
"You and your hair obsession…" Potter mumbled. Draco only looked down at him in the eye.
Oh dear Merlin. Potter had the most beautiful emerald eyes Draco had ever seen. Those green irises gleaming under the sun were so alluring.
"You know what? If that dragon is truly mine, I'll name it Emerald," Draco said with a husky voice.
"It—" Potter cleared his throat, "It's a female?"
"Male," Draco corrected.
"Malfoy, you have a very silvery eyes," Potter whispered. His lips only made barely noticed movement. Potter had luscious lips. That rosy lower lip looked so plump. Draco wondered how it would feel on his thumb as he caress it…
"Ahem!" A feminine sound of clearing throat.
Draco blinked and released Potter's hand.
"Um, I think we should camp further into the forest. I can see clearly the dragon's head from the footpath view," Granger informed them.
"Right. Move the tent, Potter. Emerald, come on," Draco spoke without looking at everyone and walked away deeper into the forest. Meanwhile Potter said yes and then sprinted to the tent.
"Emerald?" Weasley asked in confusion. "Wait. Did he name that dragon Emerald?!"
Draco focused on the rustle sound of the dragon moving, ignoring the three Gryffindors' voices.
~o~
On the next afternoon they sat on the benches in the tent. Draco was reading a Magical Bonds book he lent from Granger. Potter was playing with a closed golden snitch. Granger was reading a book. And beside her, Weasley was resting his chin on his hand staring outside the tent.
"Ugh! This is useless! We're wasting time!" Weasley dropped his hand to the table loudly. "Harry, he has nothing to do with this! Why can't we just leave without him?"
Draco swallowed. He didn't make any movement with his body nor his eyes.
"You seem to hate Malfoy so much, Ron," Potter said in amusement.
"Aren't we all? You hate him, too, Harry," Weasley leaned forward to reach Potter.
"Ron, I don't hate him," Potter stopped playing with his snitch. "He helped us."
"Wait. Does this have anything to do with that bond? Your secret bond?" Weasley asked in contempt.
"Ron! It's not like that. And we haven't figured out about the bond yet so I can't tell you anything about it because I really don't know!" Potter raised his voice.
"Ugh! This— this suck! I don't want to be in the same tent with that ferret! You choose now, Harry. Me or him," Weasley threatened.
"Ron! I can't believe you ask me that!" Potter said with a hint of horror on his face.
Draco didn't have the heart to make Potter had to choose. It wasn't fair. How could Weasley did that to him? Even though the answer was clear. Potter would definitely choose his best friend over an outsider like Draco.
Draco was ready to leave them, whether he was ready or not. As he was about to stand up, Potter did it first fast.
"I'm not choosing. The four of us will stick together until this all over," Potter said clearly to everyone.
"So you chose him. Fine. If that's what you want. I'm leaving!" Weasley yelled and stomped out of the tent.
"I'll go with him. I'll try to talk to him. Maybe he just misses his family," Granger quickly ran out to catch Weasley.
Beside him, Potter sighed heavily. There were sounds of guilty, sorrow, and helplessness in the sigh. Somehow it made Draco's heart ache.
"…I'm sorry…" Draco whispered. He didn't deserve this person's kindness.
~o~
It was late at night and both Weasley and Granger hadn't come back to the tent.
"Where are they?" Draco asked Potter. He didn't like to see Potter worry.
"Probably at Bill's house," Potter answered. "I hope…"
Draco casted Tempus that showed it was past eleven at night.
"It's so late. Wherever they are, I think they won't be back until at least tomorrow morning," Draco told Potter. "Let's sleep. It's no use staying all night up worry and waiting. I'm sure they are safe, Potter. You trust Granger, don't you?"
Potter glanced at the entrance of the tent for the last time and then looked at Draco.
"Yeah, you're right. You go sleep first, Malfoy. I'll take a guard," Potter nodded to Draco.
"Don't be silly, Potter. We have Emerald guarding for us. Let's go to sleep," Draco put his hands on his hips.
"You really name it Emerald," Potter smiled at Draco. He was damned if that's not a sweet smile Potter gave him. The smile that flipped his stomach… Ugh!
Oh Merlin, Salazar, and other great wizards, his brain must be damaged at Rowena's house. He had possessed silly thoughts concerning Potter lately.
The next morning, April 25h, both Granger and Weasley hadn't come back yet. Potter looked restless.
"I'll go looking for berries for breakfast," Draco told Potter. And without waiting for reply, he exited the tent and walked toward Emerald.
Draco sighed and just stared at the dragon as if the creature had offended him on intermediate level. After a dozen minutes, he finally said,
"I like you, dragon. But why came to me at the wrong time? I don't give a damn about that Weasel and know-it-all Granger. But apparently their well beings are so damn important for Potter. That stupid Gryffindork caring for the wrong persons! It stresses me that I can feel him here, too! Argh!"
"It sounds like you're jealous of them," a voice startled Draco, he almost jumped.
"Bloody hell, Potter!" Draco turned around to see Potter was standing only few metres.
Whole Draco's face was red evenly. From behind him, the dragon snorted. Too embarrassed and didn't know what to do, Draco turned to the dragon and yelled at it.
"And you, begone Dragon!" Draco yelled as he pointed his right index finger to the dragon. The yell came out as an expression of shame rather than anger toward the innocent dragon.
Draco didn't mean it. He really didn't mean it.
He hoped the dragon didn't understand English.
But maybe the dragon understood language sign.
Or English.
Dragons are most intelligent among magical creatures, after all.
With a short hiss, the dragon woke up, stretching its wings and started to hover above the ground. Draco thought it was finally going to Wales when the dragon flapped its wings. However, alert gasps came from Draco and Potter when instead the dragon swooped down toward Draco.
Draco rose his arms to protect his head while Potter grabbed Draco's body and threw their bodies to the ground to avoid the dragon.
The attack never came.
Nor did they see the dragon anywhere.
"Where did it go?" Potter asked, still in alert.
Draco, ignoring everything for a while, rolled up his sleeve as he felt a great pressure on his right forearm. It felt as if something was coiling his forearm immensely tight and burning his skin. And when his once flawless right forearm was revealed, he had no choice but to choke and let out fearful tears instantly.
"Fvcking hell! Why it's always me!" Draco swore in anger and despair.
On Draco Malfoy's right forearm, a small green dragon was coiled around. It moved around before finally settled, then flattened, and became inanimate dragon print.
~o~