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 25 – What Happened?
"I can't believe him. That bastard tried to kill him! He sent a Bludger with full force towards Tiger, and what is his punishment? A fucking place on the team."
"Calm down, Draco," Blaise said to the enraged blond.
"Calm down? Calm DOWN?" Draco's voice reached a new height. "I will not calm down. How could Severus do that? How could he give him a place on the team?" There was a pause in which only the footsteps of an arriving person was heard. "Look what he did to Tiger," Draco said angrily.
"I know what happened to Mr. Ryan," Snape's voice was heard.
"Is that all you have to say?"
"I don't know what else I should say."
"Let's think about it for a moment," Draco said sarcastically. "How about not putting Parker on the team?"
'Parker? Patrick?' Tiger tried to digest all that he had heard since he'd woken up a few minutes ago. 'Patrick Parker hit me with a Bludger? Well, Snape was right to put him on the team, if my headache is any reference to the force with which the Bludger struck.'
"I think you should take a walk and calm down for a bit."
"First, you will tell me what you thought when you gave him the place on the team."
"Mr. Parker has remarkable strength for his age. It would be stupid not to let him play for Slytherin," Snape answered his godson's exclamation.
"You'll need to teach him how to aim, before he can play. At least I hope he just hit the Bludger randomly, and didn't intentionally use me as a target," Tiger said, without opening his eyes.
"Tiger, you're awake!" Draco ran over to him and gave him a relieved hug.
"Ah." Tiger winced, and Draco jumped back.
"I'm sorry, Tiger," the blond said, and softly stroked a wet cloth over the other boy's forehead.
"It's okay, just… I don't think I can move for the next… say, three years. My head is killing me."
"Then you might like this." Madam Pomfrey arrived in Tiger's sight, and handed him a potion. "It's the strongest headache potion we have. Mr. Zabini, Mr. Malfoy; it's time for dinner. Please leave Mr. Ryan now. He will need to stay the night," she said, while helping Tiger to sit up and drink the potion. Disappointed, Draco and Blaise left the hospital wing.
After only a few seconds, Tiger's headache faded somewhat, but it still hurt a lot. "May I have a second goblet?" Tiger smiled slightly and held the empty goblet out to the nurse.
"Do you still have pain?" Madam Pomfrey asked, confused.
"It is a lot better, but it still hurts like hell." Tiger said.
"That isn't possible. That was the strongest potion available for students," Snape said. "I've never heard of anyone who wasn't totally headache free with the capitis sanare potion."
'I know someone,' Tiger thought, just as…
"Potter often needed a second dose," Madam Pomfrey said to Snape.
"How often did you give him a second dose?" Snape asked critically. Tiger turned nervously to the side and listened to what the two adults said.
"You know he had a lot of headaches through his fourth and fifth year. At first he would only need a mild potion, but with every headache the potion would help less, the poor boy." Madam Pomfrey's expression softened. "Abut halfway through October last year I gave him the capitis sanare potion. It worked very well up until just before Christmas holidays started. You know what happened then."
'The attack on Arthur Weasley,' Tiger remembered.
"Yes, I know," Snape said coldly.
"That was the first time he had a second dose. I told him that it was only once because it was Christmas, and I didn't want him to be in pain all through the holidays." She smiled at the memory.
"But it wasn't the only time you gave him a second dose."
"He was in so much pain all the time. I couldn't refuse to help him," Madam Pomfrey said, with tears in her eyes. "About two months after his first second dose he said it didn't work as well as it did before."
"Don't tell me you gave him a third dose," Snape said angrily.
"No, of course not."
"What I want to know is where did you get the potion from? I know I've only made the capitis sanare potion twice for your store. That should have been enough until mid January for the amount you said Potter took. Why haven't you asked me for more? What did you give him?"
"I made the potion myself." Madam Pomfrey confessed. "I used less arboris root than was asked for."
"That would lessen the affect, but wouldn't harm anyone," Snape said to himself.
'That explains a lot,' Tiger thought.
"I wanted Harry to believe he got two doses."
"You thought it was only in his head that he needed so much."
"I hoped I could get him back to milder potions with time."
"Did it help?"
"He had asked a few times whether he could get a third dose, but with time he gave up on his asking. And after one more month – I think it was the beginning of March – he came less and less often to me for the potion."
Tiger could hear the wheels in Snape's head working. Carefully he rolled out of the bed and grabbed his shoes, pulling them on while he continued to listen to Madam Pomfrey.
"At the beginning of April he came for the last time," she told Snape proudly.
"You stupid woman," Snape said all of a sudden.
"What?" the nurse asked confused.
"You don't really believe the boy didn't need the potion any more?"
"What are you talking about?"
"At the end of February I noticed that a few ingredients from my stores were missing. Among other things, I missed arboris root; enough to last for five cauldrons of capitis sanare potion."
Slowly, Tiger made his way over to the door.
"What do you mean?" Madam Pomfrey asked, puzzled.
"The capitis sanare potion is highly addictive. You don't just stop taking it from one day to the other; not without a lot of help, anyway."
"It wasn't like that," the nurse tried to explain. "It took nearly four months to…"
"That is not possible. The only way to come off that stuff is a dry withdrawal treatment. "
"But Harry didn't take any potion after that last time. He hadn't had any headache since then."
"How stupid can you be?" Snape roared.
Tiger stopped at the door and turned around.
"How dare you, Severus Snape? Lower your voice! I have a patient who needs his rest."
"I don't think so," Snape said calmly, looking over to the empty bed where Tiger had lain moments ago. Then his eyes wandered to the door, where they met Tiger's, moments before the boy fled the room.
"What?" Pomfrey turned around, but only saw the doors to the room swing shut.
--------
Tiger made his way down to the dungeons, hoping no one would see him in his haste. The corridors were empty because it was still dinner time.
After giving the password to enter the common room, Tiger went to his dorm and to his trunk. He rummaged through his things until he found a small casket which he took with him to the bathroom.
With a tap of his wand the casket opened and revealed about twenty small vials, of which at least ten were already empty. One by one Tiger took out the full vials, and emptied them into the sink.
Tiger was about to empty the last two vials when he stopped. He uncorked one and rotated the potion within three times. "He just mustn't find it in my possession. Who cares how it is destroyed? At least my headache will be gone." He raised the vial to his lips and drank the potion in one move. Grabbing the last vial, he repeated the rotating movement and drank half the contents before emptying the other half into the sink. Sighing in relief, Tiger sank to the floor and cradled the empty vial to his chest.
"How long have you taken the potion, now?" a stern voice asked from the doorway.
Startled, Tiger's head snapped up, and found Professor Snape walking over to him. Scrambling to his feet, Tiger shoved the last vial back in the box and walked out of the bathroom as if nothing had happened. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said as he passed his Head of House without looking at him.
"Don't play dumb, Ryan," Snape said as he grabbed Tiger's shoulder, and pulled the boy around to face him.
"Look at me," Snape snapped, when Tiger still tried to avert his eyes. Slowly Tiger raised his head and looked the Potions Master in the eye. "You stupid boy," Snape snarled. "Your eyes are shining. How much did you take? And don't lie to me," he added, before Tiger had a chance to answer.
Without answering, Tiger opened the wooden box and handed Snape one of the vials.
"The whole vial?" Snape asked, shocked. Tiger nodded. "That must have been at least a double dose."
"Triple," Tiger whispered, as he took the vial back and put it into the box. "Sometimes I take two vials, undiluted."
Stunned, Snape looked at Tiger for a while before he got his composure back. "Show me the box," he demanded.
Tiger did as he was told, and opened the lid fully.
After making sure that all the vials were empty, Snape turned to the door and walked out. "Follow me."
Reluctantly, Tiger followed him out of the common room and through the dungeon's corridors. As they stopped in front of Snape's quarters, the first students returned from dinner, including Draco and Blaise.
"Tiger? Where have you been? I went to the hospital wing, but you weren't there," the blond said as they approached Tiger and Snape.
The moment the door to Snape's rooms was unlocked, Tiger went into the room, leaving a bewildered blond behind.
"What's going on?" he heard Draco ask, as he sat down in one of the armchairs.
"We have something to discuss. Mr. Ryan will be back soon," the Potions Master said before he closed the door and walked over to Tiger. He sat down in the second armchair facing Tiger and watched the boy for a few minutes. Tiger sat with knees up against his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs, and watched the flames dancing in the fireplace.
"How long?" Snape asked in a un-Snape-like, concerned voice.
"About six months," Tiger said, without looking up.
"How often?"
"Three to five times a week at the beginning. Every day for about two months; sometimes twice a day. Lately, only sporadically. That was the first time this week, and only the tenth since I came to the Malfoys."
"Look at me, Tiger," Snape said after a short silence.
Slowly, Tiger turned his head to meet Snape's eyes. They held eye contact for a moment before Tiger jumped up and backed away.
"Why did you do that?" he asked, hurt. "How dare you invade my mind while I'm sitting here about to totally break down, and you just use Occlumency on me?" The hurt transformed into panic as Tiger backed away to the door. Snape stood, too, and looked shocked at Tiger.
"Potter?" He looked totally bewildered. "What the hell? You're dead! I can't believe it." He started to pace. "Albus, that old fool. How could he do that? Oh, my god; Draco." Tiger's head snapped up at the mention of the blond boy. "He will be furious when I tell him his new best friend is Harry Potter." He spat the last two words.
"What?" Tiger asked in disbelief.
"How dare you worm your way into the Malfoys' confidence in such a way?"
"What?" Tiger had no idea what Snape was on about.
"I can't believe Albus doesn't trust Lucius. I can't believe he would stoop that low to search for evidence that Lucius is loyal to the Light."
"What are you on about?" Tiger felt his anger rise again.
"I will make sure that you won't come near Draco again. You won't use Draco's feelings for you to keep his father loyal to that old fool, even if I have to tell everyone the truth."
"You won't," Tiger exclaimed, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Snape.
"Do you really believe you could stop me from telling anyone?" the Potions Master spat, and drew his own wand.
"I will do anything that's necessary."
"You stupid child: put that wand away before you injure yourself with it."
"Do you want me to put it away?" Tiger exclaimed angrily. "By all means, make me."
"Expelliarmus," Snape said immediately, but at the same time Tiger shouted "Stupefy."
The young Slytherin watched his Head of House fall to the floor, while his own wand flew out of his hand. With his Seeker reflexes, he reached out and grabbed the wand before it was out of reach.
The moment Tiger held his wand in his hand, he realized what he had done. "Oh, my god. I hit a teacher with a spell. I hit Snape with a spell." He walked over to the fallen Potions Master and looked down into deadly black eyes. He held the gaze for a moment until he felt Snape probe his mind again.
"Stop that." Tiger pushed the invader out of his mind with full force. "I will not allow you to destroy the friendship between Draco and myself. You will not reveal who I really am." He felt his anger rise to the point where he felt his magic boil. Sparks flew from his body and hit Snape, who watched Tiger with wide eyes.
The moment the first spark hit him, Snape felt the stupefy spell fading until it was totally gone. Carefully his hand searched for his wand, his eyes never leaving Tiger. The boy continued his ranting and never noticed his spell was off the professor. Snape found his wand and grabbed it. At the same time Tiger raised his wand to cast a spell.
"Stu-" Snape began but Tiger stopped him with another burst of magic. Snape was thrown back against the wall with full force. His head hit the wall with a sickening sound.
"Oh, my god." Tiger paled and rushed over to him. He knelt down at Snape's side and looked him over for injuries. "Oh, shit." he said, as he felt a wet spot on the back of Snape's head. As he pulled his hand back, it was red with Snape's blood. A groan pulled his attention back to his Professor.
"What happened?" Snape asked, as he tried to sit up.
"Don't move." Tiger put a hand on Snape's chest to keep him still.
"My head." Snape put a hand to the back of his head, and as he pulled it back, saw the blood on it. "What happened?" he asked again. "Tiger?" He looked up at the boy in front of him.
"You don't remember what happened?" Tiger asked, concerned.
"No."
"What is the last thing you remember?" The boy asked, as a plan formed in his head.
"You were hit by a Bludger, and we brought you to the hospital wing."
"That's right. And after that?"
"I don't know. What happened after that?"
"Not much. I left the hospital wing after I got a headache potion. I think you wanted to talk to me, because you followed me." He stopped for a moment to think up a plausible explanation. "You said you wanted to tell me something, so we came here, because the others were coming back from dinner."
"What did we speak about?" Snape asked, as he tried to stand up. Tiger helped him up and led him over to the armchair. "I can't remember that I wanted to talk to you about." He winced a bit as Tiger lay a conjured cloth on his wound.
"Sorry," the boy said, as he cleaned the wound. "Do you want me to heal it?"
"Please." Tiger pulled his wand and said a healing spell over the wound. "Thank you. Tell me what happened."
"It was my fault."
"How so?"
"I teased you. I asked whether you wanted to seduce me because you wanted us to be alone." Tiger said that all in one breath. "I wouldn't stop, even as you threatened to hex me. You pulled out your wand, and I pulled mine as well to compare 'length'. When you spoke a spell, I reacted instinctively and defended myself. I'm sorry." Tiger lowered his head in shame. He couldn't believe he told his Head of House such a lie. But obviously it worked.
"I think I will lie down for a while. Maybe after I rest I will remember again. Or at least my headache will be gone."
"I am really sorry, sir," Tiger said, standing up.
"Just don't do it again," Snape said as he opened the door for Tiger.
"I won't, sir. I promise." Tiger bid Snape goodbye, and left his quarters.
After he had created enough distance between himself and Snape, he leant against the wall and sighed in relief.
"Is something wrong, Tiger?" A voice said, startling him.
"Remus," Tiger said, surprised. "What are you doing down in the dungeons?"
"Dungeons, Tiger?" Remus asked, confused, and looked past Tiger. The boy followed his gaze and found himself looking out a window. He looked up and down the corridor he was standing in and realized he was on the second floor, right in front of Remus' quarters.
"Oh," he said, perplexed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"Come in." Remus led him into his private room and set him down on the couch. After preparing some tea, Remus sat beside Tiger and handed him a cup. "What happened?"
"I hexed Snape," Tiger said without looking up.
"What do you mean, you hexed him? Was it a prank?" When there came no answer, Remus lifted Tiger's head with a finger under his chin and looked at him. "Tell me, Tiger."
"I was angry. He wanted to make Draco leave me. I wasn't on guard. He knows who I am," Tiger sobbed. "He wanted to destroy my friendship with Draco and Lucius. He wanted to tell them. I couldn't let him do it. I couldn't."
Remus hugged Tiger to his chest and let the boy cry for a while. When he felt Tiger calm down, he held him at arm's length and looked in his tear filled eyes.
"Tiger, Harry," Remus said calmly. "They do know. Draco and Lucius do know who you are."
"I know that, Remus. But at that moment I was so shocked and taken by surprise. Then Snape started to rant and I hadn't time to explain. And then I thought what Draco told me about his Snape and that he would do almost everything for his godfather. He values Severus' opinion and in my mind I thought Snape could make Draco hate me again. God, Remus, what have I done?"
"What did you do to him?" he asked gently.
"I stupefied him when he wouldn't stop his ranting. I didn't know what to do. I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't stop probing my mind. I got even angrier, and my magic went out of control. The stunning spell loosened, and Snape grabbed his wand. He wanted to stupefy me, but I was so angry when I noticed that, that my magic hit him and shoved him back against the wall, hard."
Tiger stopped for a moment and took a deep breath before he continued. "He had a wound on the back of his head…but I healed it," he added, as Remus looked concerned. "But now he doesn't remember. He doesn't know who I really am, and I told him a story about what happened. He believes it."
"Remus, I'm sorry that I hurt him, but I couldn't have let him ruin everything. I would have Obliviated him if it had been necessary. He was nice to me for the first time. I'm really happy as Tiger Ryan. I don't want to lose that. I don't want to lose Draco." He looked at Remus as if he waited for reassurance that he did the right thing.
"I can't approve of what you did, Tiger," Remus said. He held his hand up as Tiger started to protest. "But I understand what you did. What I don't understand is why you had such a panic that he would tell Draco and Lucius? I think the two know who you really are."
Tiger looked at him for a moment as if Remus had told him he was Merlin himself. "Oh," he said, nonplussed, and buried his head in his hands. "I didn't think about that," he mumbled. "I was just so worried that I could lose Draco. I'm an idiot." He smacked his hands repeatedly against his head.
"You didn't think," Remus said gently, as he grabbed Tiger's hands and pulled them away from his head.
"No, I didn't think at all," Tiger said, defeated. "It was just the shock that he found out, and the realization that he could ruin everything if he told Draco that I am add-" Tiger stopped himself, shocked that he'd nearly told Remus about his problem with the capitis sanare potion. He shook his head, exhausted, and went on.
Remus had noticed that there was something else, but for now he had to keep quiet and let Tiger talk.
"You know what Snape is like. He always made me angry and lose control when he started to insult me. I just didn't think about anything else than what would happen if he told anyone. I had this picture in my head of Draco laughing in Potions while Snape announced me as the stupidest wizard ever born."
"Draco loves his godfather, and he listens to his every word. What if he realized that Snape was right, and he didn't want to be with me anymore? What if he realized what a big mistake he made in befriending me and would stop now, after Snape had opened his eyes?" By now Tiger had talked himself into a bit of a panic. His breathing was too fast, and his hands were trembling. He had a headache, and longed for his potion. But he knew he couldn't take another dose: besides, he hadn't any left.
Remus watched the boy for a while, and he couldn't help but think that his reaction was similar to something he himself had gone through after he found out that his lover was about to marry someone else, and the pain of his loss just wouldn't stop. 'Don't think anything like that. He is so much stronger than I was. He would never become addic-' He shook his head to clear his mind from such an absurd idea. 'He is stronger than that,' he told himself. But there was this little bit of doubt that wouldn't stop tugging on his mind. He looked up when he heard a sarcastic laugh come from the young Slytherin.
"I'm such an idiot," Tiger said, shaking his head.
"I think you said that already." Remus smiled at him. "You know that his memory might come back any day?"
"I know that," Tiger said. "But I hope he will know who I really am by then. Not Tiger Ryan, the boy who just appeared one day. Not Harry Potter, the boy who lived. Not James Potter's son. Just me."
"He will. I'm sure about that," Remus said reassuringly.
The two drank their tea and talked a bit about anything and everything until Tiger said he wanted to read more of Sirius' journal. So Remus got it and started to read out loud, while Tiger lay with his head in Remus' lap, listening to every word.
After three hours of reliving Sirius' memories, Tiger made his way back to the common room. He went into his dorm and stripped down to his boxers, then climbed into bed and wrapped his arms around a sleeping Draco.
"Everything alright?" the blond asked, half asleep.
"Yes. Go back to sleep." Tiger kissed his neck.
"Mmh. Love you," Draco mumbled softly.
Tiger smiled and snuggled closer to Draco before falling in a restful sleep.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
A/N – That's it for now. What do you think?