They braced for the impact..but it never happened. There was no sickening thud, no pain, only their racing hearts and agitated breaths. Harry was the first to tentatively open his eyes.
"Are we dead?" Draco mumbled into Harry's robes.
"No Draco..look!" Harry exclaimed in an excited gasp.
Draco opened his silvery-blue orbs then, only to realize they were floating inches from the ground. Clow's magic circle glowed beneath them, much larger than Harry's had been and shaded a radiant color of blue.
"Wh-wha..what happened!?" Draco stuttered mesmerized at the scene.
Out of the shadows a boy dressed in long, blue, archaic robes stepped forth. In one hand he brandished a long staff about twice the length of his body topped off with a sun-like symbol.
"ERIOL!" the two boys exclaimed tearing apart from each other.
The pseudo Potter smiled cheerfully at the two. The boys fumed with anger but then suddenly their faces dropped and paled in fear.
"BEHIND YOU!" they yelled in horror.
Eriol turned to see the same dragon from before lumbering up in his direction (Draco's robes still hanging from his mouth). He shrugged and turned back to the boys as the massive beast took a spot next to the young wizard. Eriol merely rose a hand to pat the animals limb lightly. The dragon bowed it's head in reverence and in a poof was gone.
Both boys slumped to their knees, whether from relief or a heart attack was not certain.
Eriol brought his gaze to their level as if checking to make sure they were ok, or simply to poke fun. Either way he smiled cheerfully at them. Harry and Draco looked upon him incredulously and then with a quick look and unspoken word to each other, they jumped the mage in a burst of energy.
"You bloody git! You nearly had me eaten!" Draco yelled.
"You had me hanging off an imaginary dragon's tail!" Harry screamed.
"We could have died!" they both chorused menacingly, releasing their hold on their victim.
"Relax mates. It was MY dragon, and if either of you had fallen I would have cushioned you like I did just now. And Draco you would not have been eaten, which is why I made sure the dragon grabbed you by your robes." Eriol explained but was cut off by Draco's whine.
"Yeah! Which are completely ruined now, thank you very much!" grumbled the blonde as he eyed the shredded fabric.
Eriol slapped his forehead, "That's not the point! I made this whole mess for the sole purpose of bringing you two together..or at least at a mutual understanding."
The boys sobered up fast to the facts of what they did and said, not too long ago, to each other. For a moment they were still and thoughtful..the next minute their cheeks burst into hues of red in varying degrees. They turned their faces to opposite sides of the woods, avoiding contact with each other like two magnets of the same polarity.
Eriol grumbled. "Want me to sick another dragon on you?"
Both boys turned to him decisively, "NO!"
Eriol smiled at their antics, "Harry, you impressed me with your skill. You were able to use that spell I taught you briefly..I wasn't expecting that. The way I saw it, if you two hadn't come to an understanding at some point in the forest, it would have happened at the mercy of the dragon up in the air, either way I would have landed the lot of you safely. But you took charge without a second thought. You are as brave as they say, well done."
Harry seemed to beam momentarily at the praise.
"And Draco.." Eriol continued as the other boy's ears perked up, "How do you feel? You finally learned to trust in another. I told you..it's a wonderful feeling isn't it? It melts away all doubts you have within yourself because you know you are not alone, and at the same time it makes all the bad things going on in your life seem all together small and unimportant at that moment."
Draco pawed the ground pensively, "Yeah.."
"And one last thing I noticed."
Both boys looked up anxiously.
"You are both on first name basis."
The boys turned to each other briefly and the shades of scarlet returned. Eriol giggled followed by a long stretch, "Well with all the adrenaline and testosterone I nearly forgot the time."
In the horizon traces of light glittered and the stars showed signs of fading.
"I think I will leave you two to your business." he mused then he turned to Harry, "I will see you in class tomorrow. Draco..don't come back too late to the dorm, wouldn't want Filtch catching you."
Both boys nodded and with a flick of the wrist Eriol bid his goodbye, turning and fading off into the woods.
~*~
The atmosphere between the boys remained unsteady long after Eriol left and neither had the courage to comment on anything that was said and done during their little test.
Not only was the atmosphere unsteady but it had grown quite chilly too and Draco, without his robes, shivered unwillingly. Harry noticed and took this as an opportunity to break the ice, almost literally at this point. He took off his robe and draped it around the shoulders of a very startled Draco.
"I can tell you're cold. You are paler than usual." Harry mentioned
Draco raised a bored brow, "Oh come on Harry..that is the oldest trick in the book, I'm sure you've practiced better come-ons with your friends than that!"
Harry bristled, "Well I'm not the one who'as, and let me quote here, 'Always loved me'!! It does take some getting used to coming from the spawn of hell!"
Draco's eyes widened as he realized that what he had said had NOT been in his head and totally dismissed the rest of Harry's comment.
Harry noticed Draco's mildly disturbed reaction to what he had just reminded him of. He allowed himself a long heavy sigh, taking a seat next to his nemesis.
"So..did you..really mean that? What you told me up there.." Harry trailed pushing up his glasses with am anxious finger, as if not to miss a single reaction.
Draco smirked, "Do you want it to?"
There was a heavily pregnant pause between them. The rays of the sun had begun to cut through the sky and melt away the stars by now. The boys knew they had to return to the school quickly.
Harry frowned, turning his head away with a small dissapointed shake, "It's not about whether I want it to or not, it's about whether you truly meant it, or if it was some blinded last minute act."
Draco bit his lip incredulously, spilling each word out of his mouth with a little more force than the last, "Well what good is it pouring out my heart, or whatever is left of it, if I don't have some guarantee that it wont be stomped on!? Especially by the great Boy Who Lived!"
Harry retorted heatedly, "Because true love is about taking risks, it's not something you can fix and cheat Slytherin style, it's either real or it isn't, despite what anyone else feels Draco, but of course you wouldn't know about that."
Draco's voice cracked, "You're absolutely right, you bloody Gryffindor, I WOULDN'T!"
"Right, well neither would I!"
....?....
In that instant, during Harry's violent reply, Draco found himself wrapped in his arms. At first harsh and rigid on contact but then soft and almost nurturing. Harry rubbed Draco's back gently as his body shivered from the new warmth between them. Draco was utterly stunned.
"H-Harry.."
"Shut up..and just let me..hold you. I've never had someone say they truly loved me, and I've never held someone before like this..so I just want to, try." Harry whispered in his ear.
Draco closed his eyes and let his own hands warm up around Harry, his icy heart doing the same.
Forget Quidditch practice...he thought with a small trace of a smile.