Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize in the Harry Potter books.
Chapter IX: Dreams and Dragons
Hermione was staring at the gift Draco gave her.
"I want you to wear it and keep it with you at all times, alright?"
She didn't know why but it seemed that Draco was hiding something. That this pendant was somewhat important. But why? If it was, it must be the strange way the dragon acts. After Draco left her in the room, she looked at it and noticed that, like any other works of art in the wizarding world, the little thing was moving. Apparently noticing that somebody was looking at it, it stopped moving again.
"Hey, little guy, it's alright. You don't have to stop moving whenever I look at you. I'm your new mistress now."
The dragon, seemingly acknowledging what she said, started to move again. It flapped its wings and resumed what it was doing. Hermione noted down that the dragon actually had two eyes; therefore, the pendant actually had two stones. But why did it show only one at a time? Well, if not for the dragon, maybe its significance was in the stones themselves. From time to time, the two jewels shone brightly, as if they were on fire. Of course, Hermione was not sure if both would do that at the same time, but she assumed they would.
Still staring at the pendant, sleep slowly came upon her.
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Tall evergreen trees peered through the swirls of angry snow falling from the dark, grey clouds. Hermione noticed that, however hard the harsh winds kept blowing and albeit the thin polo shirt she was wearing, which she had been accustomed to wear as a nightwear, she didn't feel cold at all.
Barefooted, she walked. Though the landscape is new to her, her feet seemed to know where they were going. After some time of unwearied walking against mounds of snow, she heard the faint call of a young child. Following the voice, she came upon a young boy, the age of five, sitting underneath a small tree, his slender arms wrapped around his legs, his pale face turning blue from the cold and his blond hair gracefully going with the wind. Bruises peeked from his torn winter clothing and a broken broomstick was beside him.
"Hello! Is anybody there? Please help me!" the boy called out again, his voice shaking from the extreme cold he was feeling. Hermione walked near him.
"It's alright, I'm here," Hermione said, her arms reaching out to the boy to give him warm hug. But her arms just passed through him.
"What's happening? Is this another dream?"
She stayed with him for about half an hour more, hoping to share even just a bit of heat for him, her heart aching for not being able to help such a poor child. By now, his yells had become but weak murmurs. Hermione admired how brave the child was as he had not cried the whole time.
Suddenly, a large shadow came over them, the large creature creating a strong vortex of wind around them from the beating of its wings. Hermione looked up and saw the outline of what looked like a dragon. Slowly, it landed in front of them, the large trees around them seeming like twigs near it. The child gazed tranquilly at it, unperturbed by the two horns peeking from the dragon's menacing head, its black, scaly body partly covered by its immense wings, and the great jagged spikes lining its back, from its neck to its long, whip-like tail. Hermione watched as the child's bluish-grey eyes stared calmly at the dragon's yellow ones with its black slit pupils.
"You were the one calling for help, calling for me." Hermione was startled to hear these words resound from the trees around her. It was the dragon who said it, Hermione realized.
"Please help me!" Hermione heard the boy's words struggle through his throat. In reply, the dragon opened its large jaws, showing rows of enormous yellowish teeth and a thick, red, worm-like tongue.
"It's going to breathe fire," she whispered, suddenly paralyzed.
Hermione felt its intake of breath. She closed her eyes and nervously awaited the dragon's scorching breath. Then, it came. And again, she didn't feel a thing, however, the pressure inside the streak of fire was enough to force a distressing cry from her.
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Draco had just come back from "welcoming back" his parents and of course, they were quite surprised when they saw that he was wearing his favorite dress robe. Or at least, his mother was. His father, on the other hand, mocked him, saying: "Who are you dressing up for, son, the house-elves?" His mother just looked at him sadly, her eyes telling him to ignore the comment. If it wasn't for her, the comebacks longing to leave his mouth would have come out a long time ago. He could take any punishment the man would give him, but he knew his mother couldn't. Her love for him as deep as any mother's for her child, she would try to protect him. And then his anger would turn to her.
Draco was seated comfortably on his couch, reading a book, as his pastime at home always was when he heard Hermione's startling scream. He went over to her as fast as he could.
Hermione opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Draco's face. 'Just a dream,' she kept repeating to herself, 'just another dream.'
"What happened?" Draco's words sliced through her thoughts.
"Nothing. I just had another dream," she answered, trying to be as calm as she could.
Again, a worried look came over Draco's face, and again, it left it in the blink of an eye.
"What's the matter?"
"What do you mean? Nothing's the matter," Draco answered as innocent-seeming as he could.
"Draco, this is the second time I told you I had a dream, the second time that worried expression passed your face and the second time you tried to hide it. Now, don't you dare tell me nothing's the matter 'coz that innocent look doesn't suite your face." Hermione said all this very fast and commanding that Draco stared at her and found it quite hard to talk, add to that the thoughts in his head battling over whether he should tell her or not.
Draco sighed. "Why'd you have to be a Know-it-all?"
"I'd take that as a compliment," Hermione said with a placid expression on her face, though a hint of irritation could be traced.
"Dreams are forbidden in this house," Draco said quickly. Hermione just looked at him inquiringly, waiting for him to continue… waiting
"Why?" she finally said, annoyed that she had to ask before he would talk.
"My ancestors think dreams are signs of weakness. One reason is that they are used for fantasizing, which they think is a major flaw of humans. They could also be used as a downfall. Dreams could be used as tracers, so the location of the manor could be at stake. Also, the dream world isn't really their favorite place to die. And though only a few selected people have the ability to walk between these two worlds, they wouldn't take any chances."
"Dream walkers," Hermione whispered to herself. Her knowledge of them is minimal. What she did know was that this is what people who could travel between the real world and the world of fantasies are called. They also have the power to seal away the minds of people inside the dream world. This ability is very rare and though there is a ban in mind-sealing, it is extremely hard to locate a person who had done so. "If dreams are forbidden, why do I have them?"
"I really don't know. The first time you told me, the magic being old, I thought there was just some sort of hole in it. Spells grow stronger with time but ever so often a part of it temporarily weakens and creates a hole, although it only lasts for an hour, at most, and in spans of centuries. But now that you've had two dreams…"
"Actually…" Hermione said hesitantly, "I had four, more than even, if you'd count the one before I left the room and the ones I had when you brought me back."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Draco barked, punching the wall in frustration. Hermione, sitting on the bed that was adjacent to this wall, jumped. Draco's really scary when he's angry.
Draco realized what he just did. "I'm sorry, you didn't know. It wasn't your fault."
"It's alright," Hermione answered meekly. "Anyway," she added, trying to lighten up both of them, "not all of the dreams are bad."
"Your recent one?"
"Oh, it was about a boy. I think he got lost in the mountain. I kind of heard him crying for help and tried to keep him company. But then, an enormous dragon came and…" Hermione looked at Draco, and realized, "actually, he looked a lot like you."
"I think because it was me."
Hermione looked at him quizzically. "You think…"
Draco didn't allow her to finish. "I really loved flying since I was a child. When I was five, my parents bought me a new broom. I was so excited I wanted to try it out at once. I loved the feel of the wind in my hair, the speed, the power it seemed to give me. I flew to Mount Aurus, the mountain south of this manor. I was there almost the whole day, trying out new moves, oblivious to the cold. I was about to go home when a huge snowstorm came and blew me off the broom. All I got were a few bruises but my broom broke. I didn't know where I was so I couldn't walk home. I waited under the tree for some time when Alden came."
"Wait, Malfoy. What I saw was a dragon. Who's this Alden guy?"
"Alden is the dragon."
Hermione was confused now. "What do you mean? If we're talking about the same story, why aren't you dead yet?"
"You really want me dead that much, Granger?" Draco said, trying to keep a straight face, and failing miserably.
"That's not what I meant," Hermione answered annoyed. "I saw the dragon breathe fire."
"He was a Black Dragon, Hermione."
If Hermione was confused before, now she didn't know what to think. "So?"
Much to Hermione's irritation, Draco gave her that "And I thought you were smart" look again. Only he could give her that much frustration to such a trivial reaction. She tried to calm herself once again. "A Black Dragon's breath is not for death, it's for life. Alden saved me. I was at the peak of my strength then and if it wasn't for him I would've died."
"So that's why he said that line."
It was Draco's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about?"
"He said: "You were the one calling for help, calling for me." Don't you remember?"
"He didn't say anything of the sort. He couldn't even speak."
"What? But I heard it. He didn't open his mouth but I know it was him who talked." Draco just shrugged. "Anyway, how'd you know his name was Alden?"
"I didn't. I named him."
"What happened after he…" Hermione didn't know what to call what the dragon did, "after that incident."
"He kept me company for awhile and all of a sudden he spread his wings and flew off. Minutes after, an elf came and led me home."
"You gave everyone such a hard time. Think of what your parents must have felt."
"It's not as if I was the only one who got lost in that mountain."
"Who else then?"
"You really should read Lady Elmira's book. I'm tired and if you don't mind I'd want to go to sleep."
"Oh," Hermione realized how late it was. "I'm sorry."
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a/n: I apologize if I suck at describing things. Just tell me if you're confused with some parts or just want additional information so that it'd be easier to imagine the setting or/and scenario and I'd be happy to oblige. Oh, and if you're gonna do that, please tell me what part I should edit. Thanks. Oh, and I'd just like to ask if you guessed that Draco was the kid in the mountain. Tell me if you did. J
Sorry for the delay. I was kind of down when I found out only some people reviewed on the last chapter when I worked really hard on it. Then our tests came up so I had to concentrate on my schoolwork. Anyway, please bear with me 'coz I have to put this on hold again since I have to study. But I promise I'll make it up to you by April. Or if I find even just a little bit of time, I could get out the next chapter by March, but don't get your hopes too high.
Here are my acknowledgements from the first chapter:
Kitty D1, Choclairs, True Image, Shadowblossom, Moony31, The Sarcastic Morbid One, Remus_Lupin's_friend, overXposed, I'm S.S.M, dracosgurl_chrissy, Dark-Tail-Meimi, Noelle, qtvi3tgrl05, Dark Veritas, babmidnight, MidnightandMoonlight, un-foolished Bonnie, scooby dooby doo, lump-on-a-log, the counter, Cristina, Some12
Just tell me if I forgot anybody. Thanks everyone for reviewing!
Badmidnight: well, not really, but you'll find out. This fic's longer than I thought, really; the counter: I really don't know what you meant but thanks anyway for reviewing; Cristina: thanks for the review. I appreciate it; Some12: I'm sorry. I really am. As I said, I had a lot of things to do; I'm S.S.M: Yeah, I was just getting to that part. But still, thanks for the idea.