Summary: This story is based in Harry's seventh year - the Unicorn Hunt, an event held every ten years, is to be hosted at Hogwarts this year, and the eight schools in the Western Magisphere are called together to take part, and as it involves eight different schools, there will obviously be OC's - specifically those from the Australian school Kallaix Academy and the Egyptian school Thundreds. Those will be introduced later in the story. And of course, when the darkness is rising, nothing is going to go completely to plan. First in a trilogy.
Disclaimer: KALLAIX IS OURS!!! Back off! All Hogwarts stuff belongs to JK, but anything you don't recognise (eg, most of the story) is ours.
Chapter One: Shades of Grey
(September 1st, Britain)
It was night time and raining quite heavily. Harry jogged towards the no-longer-horseless carriages, surrounded by a chattering crowd of students.
He reached up to push already sopping black hair from his eyes, blessing his contact lenses, because if he had still been wearing his glasses, he would not have been able to see through the rain. As he did this, he noticed Draco, jogging beside him, reach up and do the same.
Each saw the other's movement, and grinned simultaneously, then burst into laughter. "Race you to the nearest carriage, Potter!" Draco called over the noise of the crowd.
"You're on!" Harry called back, and the two of them starting running faster, through the reluctantly parting crowd.
Harry remembered a time when he and Draco had been enemies, but that had been a long time ago now – a whole life behind him.
Back in that life everything had been clear to him – the light had shone to show his way, and he had followed Dumbledore's guiding hand with unquestioned loyalty.
Then Sirius had died, and everything had changed. Now he saw everything in shades of grey.
Remus had adopted him the summer after that, while they were grieving together, for the loss of a godfather and a friend.
Remus had known that Sirius, Lily and James had always wanted Harry to have a stable family. Now that the rest of them were gone, he saw it as his duty that he brought that wish to life. The same summer, Lucius Malfoy went crazy in jail, and no one really knew what had happened to him after he had disappeared.
Narcissa Malfoy got a divorce on the basis of abandonment and changed her last name back to Black. She then went on a rampage, selling everything in the house that reminded her of Lucius (which was a lot), save for the actual dark artefacts, which she gave up to the Ministry, who paid her well for her cooperation. This money went into a trust fund for Draco, which he could not access until his seventeenth birthday.
During the process of taking things to the Ministry, she met up with a group of Order of the Phoenix agents, including Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin. It didn't take long for her to decide to join the Order, and once she had, she spent a lot of time with Remus, rekindling a love affair from their early Hogwarts years.
With Remus and Narcissa courting, Draco and Harry were thrown together on far more occasions than either of them liked at the time.
Slowly, however, their attitudes had begun to change. They knew that they were god-cousins, and came to accept that they would become stepbrothers in the near future.
From acceptance, friendship bloomed, and the two went from detesting each other, to tolerating each other, to actually looking forward to time spent together.
Harry soon realised how much he enjoyed Draco's company – Draco had never been a supporter of Dumbledore, so Harry could talk freely of his growing mistrust for the Hogwarts Headmaster, his dissatisfaction, and Draco would listen. When Harry had stopped complaining, they would talk, and Draco would mention some good points of Dumbledore's, but also talk of the bad.
When Harry tried to talk to Ron and Hermione about this, they would simply defend Dumbledore, still sure that he was the same good, great person that the rest of the world saw him as. This had formed a rift between Harry and his old friends.
Then school returned for their sixth year, and Draco drifted back to his allies in the Slytherin house and Harry had returned to his old friendship, renewing it.
In that year, Harry had balanced his old life as Gryffindor's little golden boy, and his new life to most people's satisfaction. Hermione soon came to accept, and even like, the new Draco, and had fallen in love with the new Harry, and he loved her back.
Ron, however, did not accept Draco, and Draco would never like Ron. They were civil in Harry's company, because they knew that fighting would only upset the boy who was both of their friends.
DA had continued through that year, with the Slytherins joining it, and though the students might occasionally refer to it as Dumbledore's Army, in Harry's presence it was nothing except Defence Association.
Last summer, between sixth and seventh years, Remus and Narcissa had married, and Harry and Draco had become brothers in law, though they had been in heart and mind for a long time by that stage.
At the end of the holidays, a week before school went back, Draco was sent a letter saying that he had been made Head Boy at Hogwarts. Harry was not jealous, but Draco's first words after reading the letter were, "It should have been you."
Harry had shrugged. "Dumbledore would never make me Head Boy," he replied, "He would think I couldn't cope."
Draco had shaken his head, "We both know that you could have coped easily – look at all that you did last year!"
"Dumbledore will never admit that," Harry replied with acceptance.
"The students will all think of you as Head Boy, we both know that."
"But the teachers will treat you as Head Boy."
"Together we will rule the school!" Both cried simultaneously, green eyes meeting silver, dancing in the light, and smiles touched both lips.
Harry was jolted out of his memories as he saw the first carriage through the rain. He and Draco were perfectly matched for speed. Suddenly a figure stepped away from the carriage – Hermione. "I think I won," she said, smiling wickedly at her boyfriend.
"I think you did too," Harry agreed and gave her a quick kiss.
"Hey! No steamy stuff while I'm watching!" Ron yelled, as he and his girlfriend of a year Padma Patil walked up, arm in arm.
"What about you and Padma?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow, "Have you ever inflicted your ministrations upon a mirror to see what it looks like?"
Harry had some trouble not laughing. It really was all Seamus' fault that Draco had discovered his own quirky brand of humour, during the swordplay practice at DA. Draco taught the Advanced Class and Leon Necrose, Hufflepuff, taught the Intermediate, as he had spent a year in Japan learning Boshiedo. Seamus had taken to swordplay like a ... like an Irishman to beer, and had quickly joined Draco's class. During one training bout, he realised Draco's apparent lack of humour, and had offered to give the Slytherin after hours lessons. Much to everyone's secret fear, Draco had agreed. They were now faced with results – scary.
Draco continued, "Seeing that once was far too much for even me."
Hermione stepped quickly in Ron's path to stop him leaping at Draco, and Harry placed his hand lightly on Draco's shoulder. "I'm not going to attack Ron," Draco said amusedly, "Some people have control."
Harry nodded, stepping away and looking at the pair. "Can you guys go even twenty four hours without killing one another?"
"Fine," Ron spat, pulling away from Hermione. Everyone was now familiar with the process Harry and Hermione made Draco and Ron go through whenever they fought.
Reluctantly they stepped together and shook hands briefly, "Sorry," They muttered, let go and stepped away. Draco had told Harry that he was willing to stop all this idiocy with Ron, but Ron showed so much animosity towards him that Draco had decided to have as little to do with the other boy as possible.
Harry would have been happy to drop the whole 'forgiving' thing, but Hermione had yet to accept that the two would never be friends.
"Ok, can we go up to the castle now?" Draco asked.
"Let's go, this rain is damn cold." Harry agreed. The five of them clambered into a carriage and it started off towards the castle.
"I'm calling a meeting of the defence council," Harry said as the carriage wound its way upward. The defence council was made up of two representatives from each house who were in seventh year, Harry's year, and was presided over by Draco and Harry, the leaders. This was the governing body of the Defence Association. "Straight after dinner."
"But Harry!" Hermione cried, aghast, "That's when the seventh year prefects and head student meeting is! Dumbledore will kill us! You are a prefect!"
"Hermione, do I really care? That's when the meeting is."
Hermione walked into the Great Hall with Ron, Draco, Padma and Harry, and the group stopped short. There, at the Head Table, was Remus Lupin, who had been there the year before, and was therefore not to be commented on. At the end of the table was Firenze, whom, despite him being a centaur, everyone was familiar with… but who was that red-headed, suspiciously freckled young man next to Firenze …
"CHARLIE!!" Ron bellowed down the Hall, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
"Language, Weasley," Draco drawled.
"I'M TEACHING CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES! HAGRID'S BEEN MOVED TO SECURITY!" Charlie hollered back.
"HEY CHARLIE! MUM SAID YOU FORGOT YOUR TEDDY BEAR DRAGON! I'VE GOT IT HERE, DO YOU WANT IT NOW?" Ginny thundered from just behind the group.
Draco raised one hand to his ear and scowled at her. "What is it with you Weasleys? Can't you afford owls?"
He was given two dirty looks. Ginny pulled a pink fluffy dragon from behind her back and threw it into the air, Charlie yelled, "NOOOO!!! SMOKEY!!! WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!!"
Said pink fluffy dragon was levitated to the safety of Charlie's arms, where he hugged it tightly, then, with a carefully blank expression tucked it under the table and whistled, looking as macho as possible.
"Beautiful night tonight," he could be heard commenting to Professor Snape who arched an eyebrow and moved to the other end of the table.
"May I see your dragon?" Hagrid asked, with an eager expression.
"We are so not with them," Harry muttered to Hermione, who nodded, deciding now would be the appropriate time to 'zone out'.
"Once I told you, once I warned you,
and you listened to my song,
reuniting the four houses
so that we might carry on.
Two friends they sought to reunite,
the houses to be kept.
Bold Gryffindor he paved the way,
Slytherin from shadows crept.
These two once foes then did unite,
and joined us in their way.
Their mighty crew of students hope,
for tomorrow and today…"
As Hermione listened, almost absentmindedly to the end of the Sorting Hat's song, she suddenly realised what it was talking about, and looked up, meeting Harry's green eyes across the table. He gave her a thumbs up and an adorable grin.
Both turned to look at the Head table, at the centre, Dumbledore looked down at the hat, a slight frown marring his brow as though deep in thought.
Now Hermione was faced with the question of what to do after the feast. Should she go to the seventh year prefect meeting, since she was Head Girl, after all! Or should she go with Harry, the guy she loved, and whom she knew was really right.
When the meal was over, Hermione took a deep breath, preparing to tell Harry that she really had to go to the meeting with Dumbledore, and she would have to take Draco with her, since they were head boy and girl of Hogwarts.
Then Harry flashed her a charming smile, and nodded in the vague direction of the Room of Requirement, arching a questioning eyebrow. Before she knew what she was doing, she was smiling and nodding back, before linking arms with Harry and walking out of the Great Hall, not even hearing Dumbledore call for the seventh year prefects and Head students to attend the meeting in his office in five minutes time.
"I take it you aren't going to the meeting either?" Draco enquired, swinging away from the Slytherin table where Blaise Zabini was collecting his stuff with Malcolm Braddock, the new male Slytherin Prefect, and Daphne, who had taken over from Pansy last year when Pansy had started misusing her privileges.
Padma Patil and Terry Boot of Ravenclaw, as well as Leon Necrose and Hannah Abbot from Hufflepuff joined them. Hermione walked close to Harry as they entered the Room of Requirement. Inside the room was a crackling fire place and a long rectangular table, with four chairs on either side, and one at either end.
The ones on the end were somewhat more ornate than the others – the Room seemed to know exactly what the Council wanted for their meetings. Harry took the chair way from the door, and Draco took the other one, while the others sat, girls on one side, boys on the other, each facing his or her equivalent.
"As Head Boy this year, as well as Second in Command of the Defence Association, I officially call this, the first meeting of the Defence Council this year, to order," Draco stated.
"As the Head of the Defence Association and Council, I officially call this meeting to order," Harry added coolly, and everyone settled into silence, wondering what would be discussed. "Well, the main thing we have to talk about is timing for the DA practice sessions," Harry remarked. "Do the House Quidditch Captains know when they'll be training?"
He looked at Ron, who was the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, Draco, who was the Slytherin. The Hufflepuff captain Justin Finch-Fletchley, was a member, so he would have to be consulted later, and Ravenclaw's Captain Bradley wasn't a member.
"Well, I hadn't really thought about it too much," Ron said slowly, "But perhaps Friday afternoon for Gryffindor?"
"I was thinking Monday for Slytherin, something really early, and particularly nasty… 6 a.m." Draco put in, shooting a glance at Malcolm who was on the team, and then grinned, "What do you think?"
Malcolm grinned back. "I think the Gryffindors figured you out years ago. You really are evil. Blaise is gonna kick you ass."
"That leaves Thursday for the practical sessions, and I think that we should go back to Sunday evening for the council meetings … are we in agreement?" Harry enquired, looking around the group. "All in favour of Thursday afternoons?"
He raised his own hand, and the rest almost immediately raised theirs. "OK, Hermione Granger, as Recorder for the meetings, would you please enter in the log that all are in agreement on Thursday afternoon?" Draco stated.
"And for the continuation of Council meetings on Sunday afternoons?" Again, there was unanimous agreement, and this was duly entered in the council book.
"OK, that's the important things out of the road," Harry said. "Now we have to discuss the rest of what's going on at Hogwarts this year and anything that will affect DA should really be discussed."
Draco looked around the meeting. It was good to be back at Hogwarts, and back with the Defence Council. This was where he belonged. Just a pity about Ron Weasley …
Ron started saying something and Draco tuned out, focusing instead on his latest memories of home … so much had changed, now memories were happy rather than painful. His mother was happy now, baking in the kitchen, having yelled conversations with Remus across the dining room, Harry and himself laughing at Remus's jokes, rolling their eyes at sappy love comments at that kind of decibel.
Harry and Draco sneaking into the kitchen behind her back and trying to steal her muffins – of which Harry was overly partial, and Draco had never really tried before, since Lucius didn't let her cook. They often ran into Remus doing exactly the same thing. Damn those muffins were good!
He wrote a mental note to himself, he would have to send an owl to Narcissa and ask for muffins … unless Harry had already done that.
"Draco? Draco? Hello Draco!" Draco's head snapped up, and he met Harry's laughing green eyes at the other end of the table.
"Muffins," Draco said.
"I already asked Narcissa to send some, there's a packet in each of our trunks and more coming at breakfast tomorrow," Harry assured him. "But that wasn't what I was talking about."
"Who gave you permission to talk about anything but muffins?"
"Have you talked to Seamus recently?" Leon enquired, arching an eyebrow while everyone else giggled.
"Yes, saw him at dinner … lovely chap, used to think he was gay," Draco replied.
"Exciting as your meeting with and prior impressions of Seamus might be, let's get back on topic," Harry said. "Going back to my original question: while you and Hermione have told me about the United Youth Conference, aka the Unicorn Hunt, no one else here knows. I assume that was what Dumbledore wanted to talk to us about at the meeting that he was supposed to be holding now."
"Oh, you want me to tell them?" Draco asked.
"Finally, we have a breakthrough."
"Fine," Draco muttered. "The United Youth Conference is held every ten years as a way for the eight largest schools in the Western Magisphere to get together and compete at popular sports and crap on about so called 'important' issues in teenage society … they haven't yet brought up dragon racing at school … idiots. Because Hogwarts won last time, this time we get the esteemed 'privilege' of hosting the damn thing."
"I think I've heard something about that, …" Ron muttered.
"Well duh, your teddy-bear owning older brother was in his seventh year at the time it was last time. He was Quidditch captain at the time, he won us the Quidditch and that won us the damn cup, so it's all his damn fault that we have to organise it this year."
"Oh," Ron said.
"Talking about your older brother, he is soo cute," Daphne said dreamily. "And did you see him with that toy dragon? Oh my god!"
"You're not only talking to a guy, but about my older brother – it's not a nice picture," Ron said, "Besides, he's too old for you."
Hermione scowled at him, "Ron, will you quit your over protectiveness? It's so frustrating! Ginny really liked being with Dean and then you blew it!" she snarled at him. "Now you're trying to organise your brother's love life – he's what, ten years your senior?"
"Yeah," Ron said nervously.
"So stop it! I dare you, Ron Weasley, every time Ginny looks like she's going to get with someone, or have an argument with someone during the Hunt, walk away."
"I can do that," Ron said. "Dare accepted."
Hermione sat back with a satisfied look on her face. "OK, so while the Hunt is going on, we've got all year nearly to plan this, but we should start now, we need to have some students who will go around and make sure no fights break out between the schools," she continued.
"I think that should consist mainly of the DC," Harry said, "But with other members from fifth and six year ready to be called."
"That's a good idea," Draco agreed, "We can't have too many of the younger students running around trying to break up fights. Leave it to the seventh years whenever possible."
"Are there going to be that many fights? The competitors are pretty much all in seventh year – I'm sure they are more mature than that," Malcolm Braddock remarked with a yawn.
"Look at what happened before Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch matches," Hermione pointed out in grim amusement, "I seem to remember plenty of seventh year students being involved in those, as well as anyone else who took offence at members of the other house."
"They're right," Terry Boot agreed. "I saw what some of you guys did to each other, and a lot of it was pretty low – sorry, but it was. I don't think I'd be all that good at breaking up fights though."
A slim, tall and studious young man with glasses, Terry Boot was quite obviously not suited to breaking up fights. There was a round of nods over the table. "We should change those coins that Hermione made in fifth year so that they can be used to alert all the members of the DC when a fight breaks out," Harry suggested. The need for the coins had disappeared with Umbridge, but they were still a good idea.
"That sounds good," Ron agreed.
"Hermione, can you make them again? And modify them to fulfil their new purpose?" Harry asked.
"Of course," Hermione replied. "I'll get onto that tonight. Terry, maybe you could give me a hand?"
"Sure. I'd like to be of more help to the DC," Terry agreed. "I'm sure I'd be able to do this."
"It's quite easy," Hermione assured him. "Meet me in the library tomorrow after classes."
Suddenly the door flew open and everyone turned around as none other than Albus Dumbledore strode into the room, looking happy to have found them. "So here you are!" he said, eyes twinkling madly. Behind him was Ernie McMillan, looking somewhat apologetic. He mouthed to Harry, I didn't tell him.
"Yes, here we are," Draco agreed calmly, not in the least bit apologetic as he met the ancient blue eyes. "Oh, sorry, we were supposed to be at your meeting, weren't we?"
Draco was tempted to laugh. Though Dumbledore was trying to hide it, Draco could see the disappointment in the Headmasters eyes. "Yes, you were," he said softly.
"I was just about to suggest that we organise the United Youth Conference this year. As the Defence Council responsible for the safety of the school, I believe it would be in our best interest if you leave it to us," Harry put in coolly, ignoring Dumbledore's almost-hidden disappointment just as Draco had.
"Well …"
"It makes sense," Hermione put in. "Draco and I are the Head students and we fully support the idea, don't we Draco?"
Draco nodded quickly.
"I suppose so then," Dumbledore murmured. "I hope that you will come to me should you ever require assistance."
"Count on it," Hermione assured him, glaring a silent warning at Harry, who looked about to protest.
Harry nodded, obviously unwilling. "Should we need any help in organising any aspect of the Unicorn Hunt, we will request your aid," he said. "But we have other matters to discuss tonight, including organising this years lessons with DA – Draco, Leon, you will continue with your sword fighting lessons, I hope?"
Dumbledore left quietly, wishing that he could once more gain Harry's trust, and hold it as he once had. He had tried to regain the young hero's support by giving DA as much power as it liked within the school, but this had done nothing to lessen Harry's animosity, merely providing the boy with the opportunity to go head-to-head with him more often. Tonight was the worst of Harry's attempts to rebel against Dumbledore.
Well, that's the end of the first chapter. Please review and let us know what you think ... the next chapter should be posted soon ... don't worry, the chapters will get longer as time goes on ... MUCH longer ...