YourSide, Their Side and the Truth by Mizzy ( )
Part XII - Nothing But You (12.45)
Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, this is a fan fiction, by a fan for the fans. No money has exchanged hands during its production.
"Norbert? You know that dragon?" Draco spluttered in amazement.
Ron blinked before grinning brilliantly. "So do you," he said nonchalantly. "He looks good," he added to his brother.
Charlie smiled and began outlining how well Norbert had settled in, commenting it was a good thing he was released to the wild before he became fully domesticated.
"Although," he added ruefully, "unfortunately the small amount of contact has made him slightly domesticated and is definitely one for the case books. We've learnt a heck of a lot about the physiology of Norwegian Ridgebacks from Norbert which we haven't known before."
"Especially of the interesting ridge patterns and they way they separate about fourteen inches every time he's frightened, but close up about 3.4 inches when contented or relaxed, it's fascinating," Simon interrupted, eyes sparkling. All of them could see he truly loved his subject, as did Charlie.
Ron surveyed Charlie and Simon's interaction before rolling his eyes and muttering disconsolately: "Birds of a feather," he grunted.
"Clump together," Charlie retorted, sticking his tongue out as his younger brother.
Harry and Draco exchanged a very bewildered look. "That must be a Weasley thing," Draco offered.
"He's moving!"
Hermione's startled gasp drove all of their attentions back to Norbert. The magnificent black dragon was really moving, sluggishly raising his head from he had been curled up asleep. One golden eye opened slowly, lazily surveying the six onlookers at the top of the cliff. He rose up onto his feet slowly, tentatively sniffing the air before letting out a short screech.
"Just to indicate he's awake," Simon whispered softly, scribbling something down in a notebook.
Draco watched, fascinated, as the dragon paced forwards and without warning stretched upwards; front legs curling into the sides of his body and wings stunningly outstretched. Norbert beat his wings a few times and they could feel the wind from the displaced air knock at them for a good few seconds before Norbert let out a terrifying screech and drenching the surrounding air in a clear yellow flame.
"Wow."
Charlie looked around, noticing Draco's stunned expression and laughing gently. "That's our feelings every time we see them."
The redhead smiled gently and began to briefly outline the usual routine of the Norwegian Ridgeback, filling in all the physical details and normal patterns of movement specifically for Draco. Draco nodded and took it all in, without taking an eye off Norbert himself while Ron, Hermione, Simon and Harry just watched the dragon.
"I remember you," Simon said conversationally, remembering to keep his voice down so neither Norbert or Charlie and Draco would be disturbed. "You were the kids who let us take Norbert to Romania in the first place."
Harry nodded. "We had to get him out of the country before Hagrid got in trouble," he explained softly, his gaze flickering over to Draco faintly. "Thanks to some people though, we ended up with detentions and a hundred and fifty points from Gryffindor."
Simon nodded. "I heard. But you got the points back for Gryffindor in quite an amazing way, I've heard. I don't know, all you plucky Gryffindors…" He rolled his eyes and laughed gently.
"Which house were you in?" Ron asked curiously.
Simon laughed a little. "Ravenclaw," he admitted. "I was one of the Beaters for their Quidditch team… That's when I first met our Charlie… I accidentally knocked him out with a bludger."
Hermione raised her eyebrows slightly. "It is a dangerous sport," she said blandly, her tone indicating that it was a delicate issue with her. She didn't like flying and it showed.
They must have sat there watching Norbert for a good hour before Charlie finally let up on Draco. The blonde's eyes were shining with something Harry couldn't quite fathom.
"Well, I'd like to keep you four for a little longer, but I have my orders," Charlie said ruefully, nodding at a twisted tyre on the ground. "Don't forget to owl me, Ron, but for now you'd better touch the next Portkey."
"The next Portkey?" Ron asked, bewildered.
"Three, two, one –" Charlie said, grinning as the four hurriedly bent down and touched the tyre disappearing instantaneously.
Simon shook his head in mirth. "Nice kids," he said, smiling.
Charlie grinned at his lover. "They're exactly the right ones, too. The Powers That Be chose them well."
Simon nodded. "So where are they off to next?"
"This looks like… Somewhere near the Himalayas!" Hermione blinked, holding up one arm to block the snow.
"It's freezing," Ron grumbled, casting an eye on the bleak horizon covered in snowy hills and white trees.
Draco rolled his eyes and pointed at something in Ron's hand. Ron looked down and saw his wand.
"How about making a fire, Ron?" Harry suggested, laughing.
"There's no wood," Hermione said cheekily.
Ron looked astonished for a moment before bursting out into giggles. Harry managed a smile while Draco looked confused.
"What?" Draco blinked. Harry studied his boyfriend for a second as the blonde flushed indignantly looking totally adorable in Harry's opinion with snowflakes dusting his eyelashes.
"You amaze me sometimes," Harry said.
"Huh?" Draco blinked, even more confused.
Harry blushed as he realised he'd said his thoughts out loud. "Nothing," he whispered. Draco frowned.
"I really did miss out on a lot by being such an ass, didn't I?" He said wonderingly.
Hermione frowned. "You did miss out on a lot, but you can't help your upbringing," she said finally.
Draco frowned all the more. "What do you mean by that?" He asked, confused.
"You're even dumber than I used to think you were," Ron said frowning. Draco's eyes narrowed.
"Hey," he said, his voice low.
"Ron," Harry protested.
Ron folded his arms staunchly. "So? I mean Hermione's parents must have read a lot of books, Hermione reads a lot of books. My parents don't think before they speak, I usually don't. Most people are like that, taking after the people that brought them up. Mind you, with the nightmares of the muggles Harry lived with it's amazing he's come out half-way civilized."
This time it was Harry's turn to glare. "Thanks," he said softly. "I think. I'm going to take that as a compliment I think."
Ron grinned and stuck out his tongue.
"Hey, shouldn't we figure out why we're here?" Hermione asked suddenly. "We're just standing around like a bunch of dunderheads! Professor Snape would be proud of us for looking as stupid as he thinks we are!"
"Huh? Professor Snape's always been quite nice to me," Draco said bemusedly.
"That's because you were a Slytherin," Ron said; grinning. "Hey, did you have to put on the Sorting Hat again or did you ask to go into Gryffindor?"
"Sorting Hat," Draco said, smiling softly. "It even apologized, but said something about right house, right time."
"As in you needed to be in Slytherin at first for the right events to happen, for the right contacts and preconceptions to be made," Harry said, thoughtfully. "This whole thing is being pulled and twitched still to make us follow the same sort of path." He frowned. "We're still stuck in the cycle, aren't we?"
Draco's eyes widened. "But I think everyone's doing as much as they can to help us get out of it too."
They were silent as Hermione lit a witch's fire to keep them warm and they huddled around the warmth while looking around.
"I can't see anything apart from snow," Ron said grouchily.
"And trees," Hermione added.
"And more snow," Harry said morosely. "Draco, do you see anything?"
"Nothing but you," Draco said softly before shaking himself. "Uh… I mean…" He started to blush despite himself. "I just see snow."
Harry considered the implications of the words while trying to avoid the fuzzy feeling creeping up his neck.
Ron tried to clear the silence. "I spy with my little eye something beginning with S."
"Snow," Hermione answered deprecatingly.
"I spy with my little eye something beginning with MS?" Ron tried hopefully.
"Uh…" Hermione blinked before groaning. "More snow?"
Ron nodded. "EMS?"
"Even more snow," Hermione replied softly grinning. "YEMS?"
"Yet even more snow?" Ron tried.
"MSTTHBCH?" Draco butted in; smiling.
"Uh…" Hermione shrugged. "I don't know."
Draco turned to Harry. "You got me," Harry said, looking baffled.
Ron stood still for a moment; scowling fiercely. "More snow… than the… human body can handle?" He guessed.
"Damn," Draco said, finally laughing out loud. "Right!"
"That's a nice sound," Harry reflected. "You should do that more often."
Draco jumped, startled.
Their banter was quickly stopped by the sudden appearance of a well-wrapped up figure.
"Oh, zis is ve-ry cold," the girl said liltingly. The accent was heavy and struck a chord in Harry's brain. However it was Hermione who connected the accent with the person first.
"Fleur Delacour?" Hermione asked nervously.
Fleur nodded, pulling down the scarf so more of her face could be seen. "Yes, it is me. I am to be your guide for this part of your learning." She looked up; quick eyes flashing over at Harry. "It has been a while," she said softly to Harry. Harry nodded, his face tensing up. Draco noticed his tightened expression and squeezed Harry's hand reflexively, knowing what – or more precisely who - Harry was reminded about. Cedric. Harry swallowed and nodded.
Fleur nodded nervously; noticing the entwined hands with a small smile of satisfaction. "Gabrielle sez to say thank you again and she hopes you are well," she added.
Harry managed a tight smile while Hermione was actually looking quite disgruntled. Harry looked mystified until he remembered the amount of attention Ron gave Fleur last year and he grinned as he also remembered Hermione's catty comments about her and Ron's response to her.
"Well, we are not here to stand about chatting," Fleur said suddenly. "Follow me."
Startled, they exchanged glances and quickly hitching up their robes trailed after the French witch.
"We're here," Fleur announced after about an hour of traipsing over snow-covered landscape and hills. All four were shivering from the cold and they watched numbly as Fleur motioned for them to drop down to the ground. They were on some kind of rise and they knelt down numbly in the snow next to her. "We found these last week on our travels," Fleur explained. "Dumbly-dorr was looking on the black network for someone who'd spotted Himalayan wolves."
"Black network?" Harry asked. Fleur grinned.
"There's a lot for you to learn about the wizarding world when you graduate," Fleur said; grinning.
"They're amazing," Ron exclaimed.
Harry gasped and turned to watch the scene unfolding before them and listened mildly as Fleur began explaining the habits of the Silver Himalayan/Hebridean hybrid wolf, which was apparantly it's full title. As Draco before him, Ron was entranced with the animal. Apparantly an inborn fascination with the creature helped with animal transfigurations.
They sat there for about an hour watching the wolves before a disturbance from some trees to their left caught their attention.
"This is the second part of it," Fleur said suddenly. Ron watched in dismay as the wolves picked up the scent of something and ran off.
"They've gone," he said mournfully.
"Something scared them off," Hermione said softly.
"What was it?" Draco asked, craning his neck.
"It's beautiful," Harry gasped.
They didn't have to ask what Harry was talking about as something entered the clearing gracefully, sniffing the air tentatively. It was graceful, glistening, and powerful…
"It's exactly like... like I imagined," Harry whispered.
"It's… he's… a creature definitely not very typical of the Himalayas, but we do have a few," Fleur said softly, beginning to outlining the habits of the silver stag standing proudly in the clearing.
Harry listened attentively while keeping his eyes trained on the stag. To his abrupt amazement he realised he was crying. Forcing himself to stop crying he listened to Fleur. The girl sounded like Hermione – like she's swallowed the textbook. Harry reflected it must have something to do with this dark network thing – she'd learnt this information completely and most likely very rapidly.
What seemed like five minutes later but was in reality closer to half an hour the stag trotted away and Fleur got to her feet; steadfastly wiping snow off her clothes. She frowned as she realised most of her clothes were soaked through and her charges looked like bedraggled drowned rats. She sighed.
"You are soaked… Never mind." She reached into her pocket and brought out a glass jar. Unscrewing it she dropped a small stone on the floor.
"It's been nice seeing you all again," she said softly. "I hope to see you again when this is all over alive and well."
Harry nodded. "We do too."
Fleur smiled. "Well, what are you waiting for? Three, two, one –"
Suddenly getting it, they quickly grinned and touched the stone; the area around them quickly disappearing again like before.
"Keep you well," Fleur added to the still air, smiling bitterly before disapparating away.
"Where are now?" Ron demanded, looking around the forest.
"Easy, we're somewhere where there are unicorns," Draco said softly.
"How do you know that?" Ron asked.
"Hermione's the only one left," Harry said, rolling his eyes. Ron looked stunned for a moment.
"More precisely we're back at Hogwarts," Hermione said, shrugging. The three boys turned to look at her confused. Hermione sighed.
"This is the forbidden forest," she said exasperatedly.
"Oh," Ron said. "Oh!" He whipped out his wand. Draco looked a little nervous.
"Scared again?" Harry quipped.
Draco frowned. "Me, scared Potter?" He asked sarcastically. "Hell yes! This place scares me, and it should scare you too!"
Harry laughed. "At least we're back."
"You've had me worried, you four. Not turning up for supper, not being around at school, no-one knew where you were before Professor Dumbledore told us that it was all right he knew where you were."
They turned to see Hagrid standing next to one of the giant trees.
"Hello Hagrid," Harry said softly.
Hagrid shook his head. "I don't think I'm happy with you getting messed up with the network, but Dumbledore assures me its necessary and I'd trust him with my life."
"So would everyone, I think," Ron said, nodding.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Follow me!" Hagrid grunted and turned away.
"Why are we doing this?" Draco asked suddenly. "We've done unicorns in Care of Magical Creatures."
"Yeah, you have, I know that," Hagrid said; nodding. "That means I don't have to go over its habits and all that. We're just here to see them interact with each other."
Sharing a few puzzled looks and shrugs, they decided to follow Hagrid and keep close to the formidable but friendly half-giant.
Almost half an hour later, and they were exhausted after traipsing through a lot of the trees and over fallen debris and bushes. None of them had ever been so far into the forbidden forest, not even in their detentions in the first year.
"Shush," Hagrid said suddenly. "They're close, I can smell it."
Ron instinctively tried to sniff the air but couldn't smell anything apart from the normal stench of the forbidden forest.
"I can't smell anything," he declared.
Hermione looked a little troubled. "I can," she said softly, starting to step out into the clearing. Ron immediately tried to follow but Hagrid held him back.
"We're just here to watch," Hagrid said softly. "Let her do this."
"But it's dangerous!" Ron hissed.
Hagrid cast a searching look over Ron and smiled. "Thought you'd come to your senses eventually," he said finally. Ron gaped, then blushed, his face redder than his hair.
"Look!" Draco gasped.
The four males turned to see the moonlit clearing and Hermione stood softly in the centre, surrounded by four or five curious unicorns. Their hair was shimmering silver in the bright white light and they were sniffing at her curiously. It was a few long tense moments before one of them brushed her head with the side of his head and Hermione gasped slightly, smiling with tears in her eyes. She stood there for what seemed like an eternity but in reality were only a few minutes, looking almost like she belonged in the group of unicorns.
Then a loud sound heard and a dark something shot out of the air, slamming towards the group. Hermione let out an involuntary gasp and the unicorns reared. One of them reared back onto his feet and the something slammed into its horn, ricocheting away into the night with a squeal before returning. Three wands were lifted in unison to attack the something.
"Expelliarmus!"
Another squeal of pain was heard and a lot of neighing from the unicorns there was a lot of movement, and one frightened squeal and a thump and moments later the clearing was deserted apart from one figure lying on the ground.
"HERMIONE!" Ron and Harry bellowed in unison, picking up their robes and scrambling over a tree trunk to see if she was ok. Just as concernedly, Draco and Hagrid followed. Ron bent down over Hermione and she smiled up at him weakly, her robe gashed open savagely. Blood seemed to cover the ground but she laughed as she pushed herself up.
"It's mostly the blood of whatever that was," she explained, wincing. "Mostly."
"Are you all right?" Ron asked furiously.
"I'm fine," Hermione said candidly before fainting.
Ron let out a strangled sob before hoisting her up in his arms and looking determined he turned to Hagrid. "Which direction's school?"
Hagrid looked upset. "Th-that way," he sniffed. Ron nodded determinedly before turning and starting to run.
"Ron, wait for us!" Harry and Draco managed to bellow at exactly the same time, hitching up their robes again and pelting after the redhead.
Amazingly they made it through the forbidden forest with no further conflicts or episodes. Harry thought it might have had something to do with Hagrid, the half-giant was pelting through the undergrowth determined no more harm should come to her.
Ron made it to the end of the forbidden forest before collapsing exhausted on the ground.
"I can't make it," he said brokenly, clutching his side almost in tears. "Harry?"
Harry nodded and bent down, pulling Hermione from Ron's grasp. Draco shared a glance with Harry, with that glance agreeing to stay with Ron till he recovered. Harry looked softly at the unconscious girl in his arms – his best friend for crying out loud – and gritted his teeth, starting to run as fast as he could with the little energy he had left to reach the castle.
Almost surprisingly, Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey were already waiting in the main entrance; as soon as Harry crashed through the door holding Hermione Madam Pomfrey took over.
"I see it didn't go too well," Dumbledore said, his voice troubled. "I sensed some kind of movement in the forest. I'd hoped you weren't involved."
"Hermione –" Harry gasped. "With the unicorns, something came.. Black… Evil… It attacked and scared them. I think she got hurt by accident…" He clutched his side and his gaze flickered over to Hermione and Madam Pomfrey.
"It's only a small superficial wound," Madam Pomfrey called out softly. "A night's rest in the infirmary and she'll be as right as rain."
Both Harry and Professor Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief. Seconds later the door burst open.
"Hermione—how is she?" Ron asked gaspingly, breathing heavily and supporting himself on the doorway. Hagrid looked extremely troubled and Draco looked about ready to collapse.
"It wasn't your fault, Hagrid," Professor Dumbledore affirmed gently. "It was one of the their sabotages."
Hagrid still looked upset. "She'll be all right, right Professor?"
"She'll be fine!" Madam Pomfrey repeated, casting an appraising and calculating look over the four children. "I think they could all do with a night's rest in the infirmary."
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. Good idea."
Sensing the immediate protests, Dumbledore held up a hand.
"No arguments! Hagrid, help them, they're going to collapse," Dumbledore added. "I'll be in my office if you need me."
Madam Pomfrey nodded and looked over to Hagrid.
"Can you help me with her?" She asked. Hagrid nodded gruffly.
"Of course," he said, nodding.
Ron, Harry and Draco staggered slowly after the infirmary nurse and Hagrid, tired out of their minds.
"I think…" Harry said slowly. "Today's one of those days which you wouldn't forget easily."
"Unless you had a memory charm inflicted on you," Ron grunted softly. Draco stopped in shock, slamming his hand into his forehead in astonishment.
"MEMORY CHARM!" He bellowed.
"WHAT?" Harry and Ron exclaimed in sync.
"What are you going on about?" Harry clarified.
Draco shifted uncomfortably. "I think I may have just found the answer to something that has been plaguing me for quite a while."
(Now onto Sirius and Remus… Two days previously…)