Tiger & Dragon
By loverstouch
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to J.K Rowling. The story is based on Rowling's work, but the plot of 'Tiger & Dragon' comes from my own sick brain.
Summary: In the summer after his fifth year Harry is taken from the Dursleys to live with the Malfoys. The next day the Daily Prophet's headline read 'Boy Who Lived Died In Death Eater Attack' …
Rating: R
This is my first "Slash" fanfiction and the first fic I have published at all, so please go easy on me.
The story begins in the summer after Harry's fifth year, which means yes; it is post OoTP, but has nothing to do with HBP.
I'd like to thank Draeconin for being the beta for my story. I'm really grateful for your help.
Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 21 – Sometimes words can really hurt
Tiger had come back to Remus' quarters first thing the next morning to talk and to read Sirius' diary. But Remus hadn't been there. He hadn't been in the Great Hall either, when Tiger went to breakfast. The moment he entered the Hall, an owl flew over to him and landed on his shoulder. It held out its leg, and Tiger removed the letter from it, patting the owl before it left.
Curious, Tiger opened the letter immediately and read:
'Dear Tiger,
I'm sorry to say that you can't come to my rooms today, as we had planned. I hope you aren't too disappointed. We will meet at a later date, I promise.
Remus'
Disappointed, Tiger walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down beside Draco, who was the only other sixth year Slytherin at the table except Blaise, with whom he was talking when Tiger arrived – and stole a toast from the blond's plate. Deep in thought, he nibbled on it, and didn't notice Draco when the boy tried to get his attention. Only when the blond waved his hand in front of his face, did Tiger look at him.
"What?" He asked, surprised.
"What's wrong with you, Tiger?" Draco asked, concerned.
"Nothing. Why do you think something is wrong?"
"I don't know; maybe because you haven't spoken a word to me since yesterday? You came back late last night, and when I asked where you'd been so long, you just crawled under the blanket, cuddled close to me, and fell asleep."
"You could have said that you didn't want me so close to you," Tiger answered, a bit hurt.
"I never said that," Draco exclaimed, then lowered his voice and leant closer to Tiger. "And this morning you were out of bed before I even woke up. I missed waking up with you in my arms."
"You'd have stayed only a few minutes anyway before you'd rush off to the bathroom to 'relieve' yourself. Sorry to have spoiled your morning fantasies." With that, Tiger stood up and left the Great Hall, leaving a shocked Draco and a giggling Blaise behind.
"Did we have a little lover's spat?" Blaise asked, amused.
"Oh, shut up." Draco rose from his place and stormed out of the hall. He was about to walk down to the dungeons, when he saw Tiger vanish up the stairs. He turned, and followed the other boy.
Tiger walked aimlessly up the stairs, not looking where he was going, when he stepped into one of the trick steps. He would have fallen, if it weren't for two strong hands grabbing his shoulders. Looking up, surprised, he found himself in the arms of Seamus Finnegan.
"Hi." The young Gryffindor smiled, as he helped Tiger out of the trick step, to stand beside him.
"Oh. Hi. And thanks." Tiger smiled, slightly ashamed. "I didn't look where I was going."
"Don't worry. After a few weeks here, you'll skip the false stairs automatically. Where are you going, anyway?" Seamus asked curiously. "Some secret rendezvous with a Gryffindor who isn't me?"
"What?" Tiger asked, confused, then he noticed that his feet had brought him all the way up to the seventh floor. "Oh. I hadn't noticed."
"That's what I thought." Seamus held out one arm invitingly. "May I escort you down to the Great Hall, monsieur? Couldn't risk letting you trip again, and possibly hurt your beautiful face."
"No, we couldn't risk that." Tiger smiled warmly and hooked his arm into Seamus'. "But not to the Great Hall. The Entrance Hall is as far as our ways are similar."
"Then I'm sure we will meet a lot in the future, because the Entrance Hall has the heaviest traffic in the school."
The two walked down the stairs, not noticing the blond boy standing on the landing to the third floor.
-------
In the Entrance Hall, Tiger and Seamus parted ways after they had talked for awhile, oblivious of their surroundings, and then Tiger went down to the dungeons. At the entrance to the Slytherin common room, he met Blaise.
"Where is Draco?" Blaise asked, as Tiger stopped beside him.
"I don't know." Tiger replied, confused. "He was with you when I left the Hall."
"But he went after you the minute you left."
"Maybe he went back to the common room?"
"No, I've looked there already. He wasn't there in the dorm, either."
"Then he could be outside, or with Professor Snape. Don't worry. He'll turn up sooner or later."
"Don't you even care if he's alright?" Blaise asked angrily.
"Why shouldn't he be okay?" Tiger asked, confused.
"Maybe because of what you said to him earlier? You really shouldn't have been so rough."
"What did I do?" Tiger sounded a bit worried. He had been angry after Remus' letter, and he hadn't really listened to what Draco had said to him. "What did I say to him?" he asked worriedly.
"You don't remember?"
"I was angry. I wasn't really listening to him. I just wanted to be left alone."
"You accused him of just wanting you near him so that he could get a good morning wank."
"What?" Tiger asked, shocked.
"Well, not with so many words, but yes."
"Fuck." Tiger leaned against the door and hid his head in his hands.
"Fuck, indeed. And what was that with Finnigan, anyway?" Tiger looked at Blaise, confused, so the other boy explained. "You came down the stairs with linked arms, and then you two talked and laughed in the entrance Hall as if you were best friends. He's a Gryffindor."
"Oh, for god's sake. Not you, too." Tiger threw his hands in the air, and glared at Blaise. "I don't care about Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry. They haven't said anything against me, and I won't treat them like scum just because of a stupid tradition."
"Calm down, Tiger. I didn't mean it like that." Blaise held his hands up in surrender. "I just meant you and Seamus seemed very familiar with each other. Maybe a bit too familiar?"
"Oh, god. Don't be stupid. Just because we came down with linked arms doesn't mean we've shagged."
"Yet," came an annoyed voice from behind Tiger.
"Draco?" Blaise said, surprised. When Tiger turned to the blond, Draco was already through the entrance of the common room.
"Draco, wait." Tiger grabbed his hand, trying to stop him, but Draco yanked his hand free.
"Don't touch me, Ryan," he snapped, and went on down the corridor to their dorm.
"Wait!" Tiger ran after him, and grabbed his hand again just inside their dorm room door.
"Let's talk." Tiger let go of Draco when he stopped struggling.
"No!" Draco answered icily, and turned around. Before he vanished again, Tiger wrapped an arm around his waist and held him back. For a moment Draco froze, then he turned around and pushed Tiger from him with all his force. "How dare you!" He glared at the other boy but didn't even try to walk away when Tiger approached him again.
With a push of his own, Tiger surprised Draco, and shoved him up against the wall next to the door, pinning him there with his hands against Draco's shoulder.
"Would you please listen to me now?" He asked, annoyed, his eyes pleading with Draco to hear him out.
Draco glared at him for a moment, but after looking at those big, pleading eyes, he turned his head away so that Tiger wouldn't see his expression falter.
Inwardly cheering, Tiger smiled slightly when he noticed Draco melting under his look. He loosened his grip on Draco's shoulders and took a small step forward. He let one hand wander to Draco's chest, still lightly pressing him against the wall. Making sure they were alone in the room, he used his other hand to close the door, and put a silencing and locking charm on it. Then he grabbed Draco's chin softly, to turn his head around until they faced each other again. Tiger's thumb stroked softly over one cheek while he spoke.
"I'm sorry for what I said earlier this morning. I got a letter from Remus. He knows who I really am."
Draco's eyes went wide in shock. He wanted to say something, but Tiger put his thumb over his slightly parted lips.
"Don't worry," Tiger said, letting his thumb stroke softly over Draco's lips, causing the blond to close his eyes, enjoying the tender touch, "he won't betray my trust."
Draco's eyes opened again and looked at Tiger questioningly, as if to ask why he was angry, if it wasn't because of Remus knowing.
"You remember the journal Ron and Hermione gave Remus the day of my funeral?" The blonde boy nodded. "He gave it to me, but I had to leave it with him because I couldn't risk it being found in my possession."
Draco looked confused, not getting what Tiger wanted to say with that statement.
"He promised me that I could come back today to read the book, but then I got a letter from him saying that I couldn't come. I was just angry. He had more or less thrown me out yesterday, but he still said I could come. And now he isn't even brave enough to come to me and tell me that I can't come. He's avoiding me, and I don't know why. I'm sorry that I took it out on you."
"Apology accepted," Draco said softly, before his tone became icy again. "Now would you please let me go? I don't want to be so close to you at the moment."
"What?" Shocked, Tiger took a step back and looked at Draco with wide eyes.
"It might be in your Gryffindor nature-"
"Hey!"
"-but I don't like it when a fellow Slytherin pulls such a stunt, especially with a Gryffindor."
"What are you talking about?"
"The little show you and Finnigan put on in the Entrance Hall. And from what I heard of your conversation with Blaise, he was fooled by your act."
"And what if that 'act' wasn't one? What would Mr. Slytherin say if I were involved with a Gryffindor? You know, Seamus is a really nice guy, and I know for sure that he wouldn't say no if I'd asked."
"Would you?" Draco asked in a small voice.
"Would I what?"
"Say no to Finnigan."
"I don't know. He is good looking and he is really charming." Tiger said in a dreamy voice, totally missing Draco's hurt look. He took a step back and began to pace, revelling in memories. "You know, he made a go at me once last year, just before Sirius died." He paused a moment, remembering the dreadful day at the Ministry. "We met once and he kissed me then, too. I didn't mind at the time. But after Sirius' death I didn't want to have anything to do with anyone. Sometime later Seamus lost his interest, I think." He trailed of a bit, sad, and turned back to Draco, just to find the blond gone.
-------
It took Tiger nearly the whole day to find Draco. He had searched everywhere he could think of that Draco might be, before he remembered the Marauders Map. He went back to the sixth year's dorm, and retrieved the map from his trunk.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said, and tipped his wand to the parchment. Immediately all of Hogwarts' corridors and secret passages appeared on the previously blank parchment. It took him nearly ten minutes to find Draco, in a place that the map couldn't point out as a room or a corridor. It was halfway between the dungeons and the ground floor, maybe fifty feet away from the Slytherin common room, and deeper down in the dungeons.
"That must be a secret passage the Marauders never found," Tiger mused. "But how will I get there?" That was a question he had to find out on his own. So Tiger cleared the map, put it in his pocket, and went on his way to search for Draco.
It took him only a few minutes to find the place the map had shown him, but he had no idea where the entrance to the secret room might be. So he opened the map once again, and searched for a hint. This time he found Draco's dot quite quickly, and only a few feet away, he found his own name. He watched the map for a moment for other people around, but found no one. He then stared at the wall nearest to Draco's dot, and felt for a potential hidden hole.
"Isn't he a pretty one?" Tiger's head snapped around, looking for the owner of the voice, but found no one. Another look on the map confirmed to him that nobody was near him. He went back to searching the wall.
"But what is he doing here?" another voice asked, but still Tiger couldn't see a soul.
"Do you think he is looking for the Dragon?"
'Dragon?' Tiger thought. This time he fought his curiosity and didn't turn around, but kept an eye on the map.
"Shh. Don't call him that in front of the human."
"You know he can't understand our language."
'Human? Our Language?' Slowly it dawned on Tiger what, exactly, was talking about him. He turned his head slightly towards where the voices came from, and out of the corner of his eye he could see a portrait of an old, dark-looking castle surrounded by mountains. In the front of the painting was a small rock out of which two snake-heads appeared through a small hole in the stone. Without them noticing, Tiger turned back to the wall and continued his search, hoping he would get some information from the snakes without outing himself as a parselmouth.
"Of course you're right, as always."
"What do you think? How long will it take him before he surrenders, and leaves?"
"I don't know. I know the Dragon was here for nearly an hour before he found the entrance."
"But remember, he knew what to look for. He always muttering to himself about 'three left, one up' until he found his way in."
Tiger inwardly cheered them on to go on. Because of that, he wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing when his hand stroked over something sharp that was jutting out from the wall.
"Damn!" He pulled his hand back, and found it bleeding where the stone had cut him.
"Yes. He didn't know where to start. He searched for nearly an hour before he found the sharp stone. He even cut his hand on it once, but then he lost it when he looked after his hand."
Tiger had stopped cradling his hand when he heard the snake speak about just the one stone where he had cut his hand a few minutes ago. Carefully he put his hand back on the wall and searched for the sharp stone. He found it when it again cut in his hand, but this was irrelevant now. He counted three stones left and one up and pressed his unhurt hand against it. Nothing happened.
"Blood was shed on your way to your doom
"Blood will give you access to this room,"
The two snakes chanted together, then began to laugh and mock Tiger that he would never find the way in.
Smiling to himself, Tiger's right hand came up and rested against the wall beside his left.
Immediately he felt his blood being drawn into the wall, and he pulled away to find a wet spot where his injured hand had pressed against it. He watched the wet spot expand until it was as big as a door.
Carefully he reached a hand out to the wall. Instead of solid stone, he felt only a waterfall-like wall through which he could step through.
"Look. Look. He has opened the door," one of the snakes said. "Just up the stairs now, and he will be in the Dragon's lair."
"He still has to say the password, 'Dragonheart', before he can enter the room. We will see him again soon, I'm sure."
Tiger smiled, and stepped through the doorway. Behind him, he could still hear the snakes talking.
"Or not. We will know if he gets inside, if the passage closes again. Until then, we will wait."
After he had stepped through the wall, Tiger stood in a candle-lit corridor. In front of him was a spiral staircase leading up to a single door. Slowly he went up the stairs until he stood in front of the door. Just then he noticed that the door had no handle, or anything else which could be used as such. He turned around, and looked down the stairs. He could still see the wall through which he had entered the secret passageway. As on the other side the wall, it looked as if there was a big wet spot. Turning back around, he took a deep breath and spoke the password. "Dragonheart."
A doorknob appeared on the previously blank wooden door, but Tiger hesitated. "What should I say to him? Why am I here? Does he want me to be here?" These questions were running through his head. He debated with himself whether he should enter the room, or just leave again. But when he looked back down to the secret entrance, he found the wall solid once again. There was only one way to go. He laid a hand on the handle and pushed it down. With a soft click, the door sprang forward a bit, and Tiger pushed it open just wide enough for him to slip into the room.
After he had closed the door again, Tiger got his first good look at the room. "Wow." The room was bathed in red light coming from the left corner, where a big fireplace, flanked by comfy chairs and a sofa were located. Then there was a bookcase with all sorts of books, and a desk full of writing materials. The best and most eye-catching piece of furniture in the room was the big mahogany four poster bed. It had green hangings, and silver bed sheets. Except for the light from the fireplace, there was nearly no other light in the room. Because of that, the right side of the room where the bed stood was nearly totally dark. But the bed itself was illuminated by a soft golden light that seemed to have its source in the bed itself.
On top of the silver sheets, curled up in a little ball, was Draco. He was sleeping peacefully, but when Tiger approached the bed he could see a quill, an ink bottle, and parchment laying half under the blond. His potions book had fallen to the floor. The ink bottle was closed, but there was a small ink spot where the quill lay.
Carefully Tiger retrieved the bottle, the quill, and the parchment. He read the few lines of Draco's essay. Most of it was crossed out, until it eventually ended in a big ink spot. He laid everything on top of the bedside table before he sat down beside the sleeping blond. He watched Draco for a long while before he reached out a hand and softly stroked the blond's cheek.
Immediately a smile appeared on the boy's features and he leaned into the touch, but didn't wake up.
Tiger smiled faintly and leaned down to Draco, kissing his forehead before he sat beck up. "I really don't know what I've done wrong this time. Sometimes I'm really dense, I know that. But I swear I didn't mean to hurt you," he whispered, not wanting to wake Draco up. "I know you're too proud to show your hurt to anyone, and I know you will never tell me what I did wrong, but I hope you will accept my apology when I give it to you when you come back down." He leant down once again to Draco, this time kissing his cheek. "Sleep well, my Dragon," he whispered, before he stood up and left the room.
The moment the door closed behind him Draco opened his eyes, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Apology accepted. But don't think that means forgiven and forgotten." He turned onto his other side and fell back into a slight slumber, all the time thinking about the former Gryffindor who was probably still sitting at the foot of the stairs because he didn't know how to leave the secret passageway.
-------
For the last thirty minutes Tiger had been trying to open the damned entrance, but he had no success. Defeated, he sat down on the stairs to wait for Draco to wake up and come down.
-------
When Draco left the room late that evening, he wasn't really surprised when he found Tiger sitting on the steps, head against the wall, obviously fast asleep. He had heard the boy swearing for about a half hour when Tiger had left him lying on the bed, but he'd had no intention of going down to help him out.
It was now more than an hour after he had heard the last of Tiger's defeated sighs. He had taken his time to get ready and go. To be precise, he had first finished his potions essay before he had packed his things and left the room. He braced himself before he took the remaining steps down, accidentally bumping against the sleeping boy.
"Draco?" Tiger asked sleepily.
"Is the Slytherin dorm not good enough for you to sleep in, that you prefer to sleep on the steps?" He said all that in a sneering tone, with his back to Tiger. Then he straightened himself even more before he said "Open up," and with a little smirk over his shoulder, he stepped through the wall and vanished from Tiger's view.
"I'm so screwed," Tiger mumbled to himself while he stood up. "He will never let me live this one down. Open up," he added, and followed Draco through the wall.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
A/N – That's it for now. What do you think?