Of Wizards and Duelists …
XO'MagickMoon'OX
A/N: Oooooh my God, I am sooooo sorry, guys! I haven't updated this story in sooo long, and after leaving you with that cliffhanger! -sob- Well, hopefully this chapter will make up for it. Something really good happens!
You guys are just too awesome for words. I'm glad you're all enjoying the story. I've just had a serious lack of motivation lately, doubled with very evil writer's block … but now I'm back on track! And thank you to CloudKat and Phantom Fox for wishing me a happy birthday! And Phantom Fox gets a plushie … erm, how about two? Bakura and Yami! Yae for plushies!
And on that note, I apologize for my seriously bitchy A/N in the last chapter. I don't know what came over me! -sheepish laughter- Hehe … eh … anyway …
And –gasps- guys I realized something that really screws up my plot! I realized it after watching the newer episodes of YGO, but since the A/N is getting kinda long, I'll explain in the next one.
Now, read and enjoy!
---
---
Atemu and Bakura watched their hosts trekking through the snow, scouring the ground for firewood. Yuugi and Ryou were pale, save for their cherry-tipped noses and wind-bitten cheeks. They were shivering uncontrollably. They looked miserable. It sent pangs through the spirits' hearts (figuratively speaking) to see the boys suffering, Bakura doubly so, since it was ultimately his fault that any of them were out there in the first place.
"Yadonushi, let me take over," Bakura said.
Ryou shook his head, sniffling.
"Please!"
Another negative.
"Ryou!"
No response. The white-haired teen seemed to be trying to ignore the nagging thief.
Meanwhile, Atemu was also trying to reason with Yuugi.
"Aibou, come on, let me have control. You can sit in the Puzzle and rest."
Yuugi smiled appreciatively. "But then you'll be cold."
Atemu sighed exasperatedly. "Please Yuugi, I want to help."
"No, it's—" sniffle "—all right."
Atemu and Bakura hung back as Ryou, Malik, and Yuugi continued on a few paces, Malik with his arms around his boyfriend. He hadn't inquired as to why Yuugi and Ryou were seemingly talking to the trees, as he knew that they weren't.
"What do we do?" Bakura groaned.
"I don't know. We could just take control without their consent," Atemu offered.
Bakura studied the king. "I think we're spending too much time together."
"Why's that?"
"'Cause that's something I would think of." Bakura grinned deviously and suddenly disappeared. Somewhere up ahead, a golden light cut through the gloom of the Forest. Atemu chuckled and, not more than a second later, he had disappeared, too.
"Holy shit!" Bakura rubbed his hands together frantically. "It's fucking cold!"
Malik jumped a foot away from 'his boyfriend' and blinked. "… Bakura?"
"Yeah?" Bakura automatically glared at the blonde Egyptian.
Malik peered around Bakura to 'Yuugi'. "Pharaoh?"
The tri-color-haired Egyptian nodded.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"Just shut-up and get over here," Bakura demanded. "Unless you want Ryou's body to freeze."
"I'm not hugging you." Malik made a disgusted face, remembering their earlier episode in History of Magick class.
"I don't bite," Bakura snapped. Then, as an afterthought, "Unless provoked." He sighed. "Please, Malik … we're all going to freeze if we don't huddle together."
Atemu laughed. "I think we have been spending too much time together, because you're beginning to think sensibly, Bakura."
Bakura cut a glare at Atemu, but grabbed his shoulder anyway and pulled the pharaoh against him. Then he gripped Malik's shoulder and forced the other Egyptian to do the same. Malik grudgingly wrapped his arm around Bakura, and Atemu followed suit, so that they were all huddled tightly together, trying to salvage as much warmth as possible.
They were silent for a few minutes until Malik said, "Oh, there's some wood." He broke away from the other two and stooped to pick a portion of a fallen branch up out of the snow.
After walking a little more and finding an armful of fuel for the fire—damp as the wood was—they decided to head back. They followed the orange glow that the others had started up and were soon back at the designated site.
"Oh good, you found some," Hermione said as she saw the three step from the surrounding shadows. Malik handed the wood to Hermione and she threw it into a nearby pile.
The boys sat around the small fire and began to warm up.
Koe, let me have control again, came Ryou's voice from the back of Bakura's mind.
No, you need to rest.
I'm rested. Let me have control again.
Bakura was taken aback at his host's sharp tone. He relented and slipped back into the Ring before phasing through the veil and appearing in spectral form at Ryou's side. He looked over at Atemu and saw that the pharaoh had also given Yuugi his body back.
Everything was quiet, save for the crackling of the fire. Using incendio spells, the students had cleared the snow around the fire in order to sit down without getting soaked through.
Suddenly, something stumbled into the site, and it only took a second for the others to recognize the 'something' as Draco and Harry.
"Help," Draco panted, laying Harry down in the snow. He was flushed and out of breath.
Everyone was speechless as they took a moment to register the sight before them. Harry was apparently unconscious, and Draco had been carrying him. Something was very, very wrong.
Ron jumped to his feet as Hermione rushed to Harry's side. "What did you do, Malfoy!" he shouted.
Malfoy glared furiously at the redhead, his eyes glittering in the firelight. "What did I do? Why the hell do you assume that I did something, Weasel!"
"What happened?" Hermione interrupted.
Blaise was beside Hermione, inspecting the unconscious raven-haired boy.
"We were attacked," Draco explained hurriedly, "by a unicorn." He knelt down and pushed Harry's robe aside, carefully rolling up the hem of his shirts to reveal the wound. Hermione gasped. Ron, Ryou, Yuugi, and Malik came up behind the others.
"Bloody hell," Blaise murmured.
"Okay, um …" Hermione began to try to think of what to do, but her panicked mind wasn't functioning properly. She took a deep breath, and said, "We need to stop the bleeding." She pointed her wand at Harry's side and said, "Ferula!" Immediately, a roll of bandages appeared and began winding around the wound. The gauze immediately was stained red as layer after layer was wrapped, each layer saturating with blood.
"It's not doing any good," Malik said. "Stop it."
Hermione ended the spell and wished the dirtied bandages away. "Then what do you suggest?"
"You need to cover it with something before you start wrapping it up, something that can absorb the blood," Malik answered calmly.
"But we don't have anything!" Hermione said. "At least, nothing sterile. If we just throw some random article of clothing over it, it could become infected!" She raked her fingers nervously through her hair.
"Dammit!" Ron kicked at a nearby tree angrily and continued swearing under his breath.
"Can you cast the ferula spell without the bandages wrapping around the wound?" Malik asked.
"You mean just conjure the bandages?" Hermione bit her lip nervously. "Maybe if I …" She pointed her wand at her own hand and cast the spell on it. Immediately the bandages appeared in a puff of blue smoke and began winding around her fingers. She cast it a few times, and by the time she'd finished, she had a decent amount of gauze. Malik began unwrapping the bandages and folded them up, placing it over the wound. The blood soaked through the square of gauze, so Malik took another strip and did the same, putting it over the first patch. Only a spot of blood appeared on the surface. Malik took the last strip of gauze and folded it up as well and placed it on top of the first two squares. This time, no blood seeped through. Hermione cast ferula on the wound once more, and this time the bandages wound around the folded-up gauze, holding it securely over the wound to absorb the blood.
"That should hold for a little while," Malik said.
The group seemed to release the breath they'd been unconsciously holding simultaneously.
"But if we don't get out of here soon, I don't know what we'll do," Malik added. "He needs professional help."
Ron ran his hand over his face. Then, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "DAMMIT!"
And suddenly, two lights cut through the darkness of the Forest. A horn blared, and an engine rumbled, and then a formidable shape rolled into the area.
The students froze, gaping at the intruder.
Ron shook his head incredulously. "No. Way."
Hermione started laughing delightedly, and the others soon found themselves joining in. Ron stepped through the snow. "It's my dad's car!" he exclaimed, placing a hand on the hood. The horn beeped in greeting as the doors flew open.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Hermione smiled.
She, Blaise, and Draco worked together to lift Harry carefully out of the snow, carrying him towards their mechanical savior. Somehow, they all managed to pile into the car, all eight of them, with Harry laid out on the laps of the four in the back. Ryou sat on Malik's lap in the front passenger seat, Ron in the driver's seat. The doors closed with a rusty moan and the enchanted car began rolling through the Forest, heading towards Hogwarts.
---
The first thing Harry was aware of as he came to was the dull throbbing in his side. He opened his eyes to stare, blurry-eyed, at the ceiling. He was in the hospital wing, he realized. The room was dusted blue with nighttime, the moon shining brightly through the large, arched windows. Everything was peacefully quiet.
Then, four words drifted, unbidden, into Harry's disoriented mind.
I love you, Draco.
Had he really thought that? Yes, he had. He remembered, it had been the last thing on his mind before he'd passed out. In the Forbidden Forest. And … he was at Hogwarts?
He sat up, ignoring the pang that seared through his midriff. Looking around, he found the dull outline of the nightstand and reached over to blindly search for his glasses. Before he'd had a chance to find them, though, they were pushed into his hands. His fingers brushed against someone else's as he took his glasses. He put them on and blinked. The first thing his eyes met as his vision swam back into focus was a pair of metallic irises, bright with a swirl of emotions Harry couldn't identify. But, the emotions disappeared quickly and were replaced by an iron wall.
"So," came the all-too-familiar, apathetic drawl, "you're alive, after all. I should have known a bloody unicorn couldn't kill you, however hard I'd hoped it would."
"Shut-up, Malfoy," Harry growled tiredly, running a hand through his unruly hair. "What happened?" he asked.
"Get one of your Gryffindor mates to explain. I'm late for dinner." Draco stood to leave, but Harry reached out and grabbed his wrist.
"Wait, don't go," Harry begged.
Draco turned to the raven-haired boy, his delicate features painted with surprise. "What?"
"I mean … I want to know what happened. How'd we get back here? Are the others okay?" He began bombarding Draco with questions in an attempt to cover up his earlier plea.
"Uh …" Draco was very aware of the fact that Harry was still gripping his wrist. He wrenched it out of the other's grasp and sat back down in the chair beside Harry's bed, suddenly feeling too weary to keep up his façade. He sighed. "The others are fine, Weasel's car brought us back—"
"His … car?"
"Yeah, that enchanted one that nearly got you two expelled in second year."
Harry grinned at the memory. "Oh, that one."
They were silent for a moment, before Harry said, "Thank you."
Draco started. "… What?"
"Thank you," Harry said again, still with an awkward air.
"For …?"
"For … saving me."
"Hmph." Draco averted his eyes. "I didn't save you. It was the Mudblood and that Egyptian bloke that saved you. I just brought you back to the others."
"You shocked me," Harry said. "I would've expected you to just leave me there, you know."
"Yeah, and then I would've been the downfall of the Wizarding World, leaving the Boy-Who-Lived to die," Draco tried to reason.
"So your motives were entirely selfish?"
"Entirely."
"I don't believe you."
"Suit yourself."
"…" Harry scowled at the blonde. He heaved a heavy sigh before asking, "Well, what's the date?"
"Uh … it's the twentieth."
"Huh, that means that we have vacation coming up soon."
"Yeah, in three days."
"… Are you staying at school?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Just curious."
"… Yes, actually, I am. … You?"
"Where else would I go?"
"I don't know, back to that Muggle family you stay with over the summer—"
"The Dursleys!" Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Please, I'd rather serve detention with Snape than go back there."
"Why?"
"Why? Because they're horrible, magick-hating monsters. My bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs until I was eleven."
"Your room was a cupboard?"
"Yup. And that was only half of the torture they put me through. I hate them." Harry sat back against his pillows, folding his arms across his chest.
"And here I thought there was no one you would hate more than me."
"Who says I hate them more? At least I don't have to put up with them on a daily basis."
"…"
Harry sighed. "Well … perhaps I don't hate you as much as I let on."
Draco quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Hn," Harry grunted. "I don't think you hate me as much as you let on, either. You did, after all, save me."
"I didn't—"
"Stop denying it."
"…"
"And …" Harry looked up to meet Draco's gaze, "I think you … were worried about me, too."
Draco blushed, though it was hidden by the darkness of the room. "I was not."
"You were too. You were crying."
"No. I. Wasn't! You were imagining things—"
"I think you really do care about me," Harry teased, half-joking.
But Draco wasn't finding it very amusing. "Shut-up!" He jumped to his feet. "I do not … I don't … I didn't … rrgh, dammit Potter!"
Harry sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. "Malfoy, hey, I was only kidding—"
"It's not a joke!" Draco growled.
"What's not?" Harry frowned, confused.
"You are so bloody clueless!" Draco accused.
"Clueless? About what? Malfoy, what are you talking—"
Draco stormed over to the door.
"Malfoy, wait!" Harry winced as he stood. The blonde ignored him, pulling open the one of the double doors and slipping into the torch-lit, abandoned corridor. He'd barely gotten five paces down the hallway when Harry called to him again.
"Leave me alone, Potter!" Draco warned, not turning around.
"Malfoy, I—nnng!" Harry groaned, falling to his knees and clutching his side. "Dammit." He felt lightheaded suddenly and began to sway before falling sideways.
Draco froze. Why had Harry stopped calling? What was that sound …? He turned to see the Gryffindor collapsed in front of the doors. "Potter, you idiot." He tromped back over to the fallen teen and, kneeling beside him, shook him gently. "Oy, Potter," he murmured.
"Mmm," Harry groaned wearily.
"You shouldn't have gotten out of bed," Draco scolded softly. He picked the boy up and carried him back into the room, bridal-style, and put him back on the hospital cot. He turned to go, but again he was stopped by a hand on his wrist, the grip weaker this time. He sighed. "What is it, Potter?"
"Please don't go."
"Potter, you're delirious. Go back to sleep—"
"No, I'm not. I want you to stay here."
Draco looked over his shoulder to see Harry watching him, his eyes beseeching. The Slytherin sighed again. "Fine." He sat down in the chair beside Harry's bed.
"Hey, Malfoy."
"What?"
"Why is it that you were the only one here when I woke up?"
"…"
"Malfoy?"
"Uh …"
"You really do care about me, don't you?"
"I …" Draco met Harry's gaze, his emerald eyes pleading with the blonde to tell him the truth, as if he'd be crushed if Draco lied to him. "… … Yes, I do. I do care about you." Draco felt his eyes begin to sting with unbidden tears. "Dammit, I love you."
Before he could register what he was doing, Draco leaned down and pressed his lips against Harry's. Everything froze inside of him, and he felt suddenly very cold, knowing that he'd just made what was probably the biggest mistake of his life. He waited to be pushed, to be punched, to be yelled at and told off, but nothing of the sort happened. In fact, Draco received quite the opposite reaction.
Harry kissed him back.
---
---
Yeah, this chapter was kinda short, but I'm trying to get them longer again. And I wanted to update really badly, sooo … yeah. Anyway, what didya think? REVIEW! And, of course, TBC. There's still a bit left to go!
---
---