((A lot is happening in this chapter, this is when "the plot thickens". All right so, Rock on.))
Brothers under the sun.
Chapter 2- Yellow like Autumn's leafs.
"Being late to potions wasn't all that bad, right?" Said Hermione cheerily "At least Snape's not teaching anymore." They were making there way once again down the stone steps to Hagrid's. "Yeah. At least. But was that person a ministry worker or something? He kept saying how great the minister of magic is." Draco asked, following behind her.
"Actually, He is." said Hermione conversationally. They spent the rather long walk teasing the new teacher. Upon approaching Hagrid's a voice from behind them said, "What happened to Slughorn anyways?" They turned to see Ron, looking luminous and cheery. "Ron? You're all better?" asked Hermione. "Apparently. I was in bed and I looked around and said to myself, I'm not sick anymore. And I got up and I was just fine. It sure was weird though." He explained. "Thas wonderful ta 'ear Ron." Said the booming voice of Hagrid. Fang barked loudly from the porch of a half-scorched shack at the edge of the forbidden forest. "I reckon you guys 'ad forgotten 'bout me seein' as you 'adden't visited er nothin'." "We're terribly sorry Hagrid; you know how hectic the first few weeks can be. Besides, we could never forget you!" Hermione said. She smiled, and then asked, "How long have you been here Ron?" "Just a few minutes. Madame Pomfrey came into our dorm all out of breath sayin that I should be all better and to get down to care of magical creatures. But by then I was already going out the door."
"Well at least you- he stopped mid sentence when he saw Draco who had dropped back behind the group. " What are you doin' 'ere?" said Hagrid with a vicious growl from Fang. Draco began to form the word, 'I' but fell silent. He shuffled his feet in the dirt. Hagrid frowned. "What's goin' on 'arry?" Harry's face redden. He hadn't told Hagrid anything that happened in the first few weeks of term. Harry stung with guilt as he remembered what it was like not knowing what was going on, only having a few newspapers to tell him about current events. Fang kept barking viciously. Draco looked up at the scorched home. "I'm…really sorry about that… It shouldn't have happened." Hagrid was taken aback. He shrugged and said "Well I guess if yer…-wait a gosh darn minuet. Yer a bloody death eater. I otta" punch er' lights out"
" I…" is all Draco managed too say. "Hagrid,…" said Harry slowly. "Sometimes people - (Hagrid's eyes widened) - Change." He finished. Hagrid's enormous beard trembled as he violently shook his head. "Oh no. No. Harry, you've fergotten what his type did ta Dumbledore already?" he said with a sharp whisper. "I didn't do anything to Dumbledore." Said Draco, "I was about to, but he… talked me out of it." Draco fell silent again. Hagrid stared suspiciously. "I said yer type. Not that you did it derectly"
Draco stiffened. "So one mans sins can be past to another?" He said acidly. "I'm not Voldemort nor am I my father. Or any other of the death eaters. I acted on my own then and I do now. And if it takes me for the rest of my life to prove that I am not serving the agenda of Voldemort, so be it. At least my conscience will be clean."
Hagrid clutched his fist and Fang stopped barking. They heard talking from up the steps and saw a group of students headed their way. Hagrid eyed Malfoy and pointed a giant finger at him. "Alrigh'. I believe ya… fer now. But mark me words Malfoy. If I see one wrong move…One look that don't feel right…. - Hagrid made a finger across the neck gesture. "I understand. Nevertheless, you will believe me. In time." Said Draco.
The rest of the class went well. They spent the hour and a half putting together a module of an Ashwinder. They were supposed to write up a report about the creature and create a moving replica. "The Ashwinder is created when a magical fire is allowed to burn unchecked for too long. A thin, pale-grey serpent with glowing red eyes will rise from the embers of and unsupervised fire and slither away into the shadows of the dwelling in which it finds itself leaving an ashy trail behind it." Read Hermione from her textbook. "The Ashwinder lives for only an hour and during that time seeks a dark secluded spot in which to lay its eggs. After it lays its eggs, it collapses into dust." She said with fascination. She gasped and said. "Listen to this, Ashwinder eggs are brilliant red and give off intense heat. They will ignite the dwelling within minutes if not found and frozen with a suitable charm.--fascinating. Simply fascinating." Said Hermione.
"So, we're supposed to make a moving module of that?" Ron said pessimistically.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course. It's not that hard. All we have to do is make a module out of clay, and Find a movement spell too make it move. You two-She pointed at Ron and Harry- can be in charge of finding the spell. And I'll make the replica. And Draco can do the report." She said. Ron and Harry shrugged.
"Can I see your book?" asked Draco. Hermione handed him her book and leaned over his shoulder too see what he was looking for. He turned back one page and said "A magical fire?" Draco asked. "What's a magical fire?" Hermione frowned. "You mean, you're actually going to do the report?" "Well, you told me to do it right?" he replied, slightly confused. Hermione smiled happily and hugged Draco. "Finally, where have you been all my life!" She said sarcastically. "So, you mean too say Potter and Weasly don't do their work?" he asked. "Hardly." Hermione replied. "They act as though it's like getting their teeth pulled, those two." She made a gesture towards Harry and Ron. "So, why tell them to do anything?" Draco seemed too be laughing as he said this but stopped when Ron glared at him. "Any fire to which a magical substance, such as Floo powder has been added." Said Hermione, changing the subject. She pointed at that sentence in the book and Draco wrote it down. He began to piece together to report with information from the book, put into his own words. After a few minuets, Draco felt something hit his neck. He swatted at it thinking it was a bug. When he felt three more hit his neck, he looked over his shoulder as a spit wad hit him on the forehead; He saw Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe, And Goyle, his old best friends, laughing. He heard Crabbe, a short, brainless, heavy weight slytherin, say "bull's-eye" and high-fived Goyle, a tall, brainless slytherin. In between them was Pansy, a skinny, medium height Slytherin girl with chin length black hair. Draco swallowed as he looked at them. He turned away and tried to continue working, but couldn't. He was relived when Hagrid said, "Alrigh' class is over, be on 'er way."
On their way back to the castle, Hermione put her arm around Ron and he put his around her. Harry looked away, blushing, when they slipped their hands into each other's back pockets. He paused and dropped back until he was walking with Draco. They were silent as they walked past the ruins and over the bridge. Harry stopped at one of the archway shaped windows and peered down at the water. Draco put his hands up on top of the archway next to Harry and stared out at the scenery. Some birds flew past them, chirping softly. Hermione and Ron stood at the other side, pointing at things and laughing. Draco looked over at Harry but looked away quickly. Harry looked over at Draco and looked back down at the water. He tapped on the wood and swallowed. He suddenly had that strange, uncomfortable feeling as he had back in the dorm the night before. Suddenly, Harry's head hurt unbearably. He tipped backwards and fell. "Harry!" was the last thing he heard before he blacked out. As his surroundings faded away, Harry saw images flutter threw his mind. Images of hatred and fear, and of confusion, and dismay. They all were blurry, quickly touching Harry's conciseness and then fluttered away. He began to notice this and tried to slow them down but to no avail. He felt as though he was trapped in a spiral of thoughts, thoughts not his own, but someone else's. He tried and tried to make them stop as they made him feel sick. But as he did this they only went faster and faster until they were nothing but a blur. He couldn't see anything now, only darkness. He felt himself falling threw air. The thoughts had ceased and he was very tired. He drifted away and allowing sleep to take him.
He stirred in his sleep, hours later. An image of a drop of water hitting a puddle and creating a silvery ripple floated across his mind, like a dream. As this image gently came and went threw his mind he woke. Opening his eyes, all he could see was a deep purple, flowing threw the air. Rising, he looked around. He sat in what seemed to be the middle of an endless forest of purple and black clouds. "I'm sorry" Said a whisper threw the mist, which echoed momentarily. An image of a young, blonde haired boy made Harry feel sleepy again. The boy began to speak but Harry couldn't hear his words. Behind him, however, he could hear footsteps he got up, and turned around only to fall back down again. He was weak. The voice echoed again saying, "Don't be afraid, it's me."
Harry wasn't afraid, on the outside, at least. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice failing. "Show your self!" he demanded. Out of this mist came someone tall and skinny with a haunting presence. "Draco...?" said Harry his own voice echoing this time. "Yes." He said as he raised his head. Draco's voice was deep and unnatural, as if multiple people spoke. He wore a long black button-up shirt, which was ripped, on the long sleeves and along the chest. His skin was pale and spotted with black vein-like lines on his face and part of his neck area. His pants were black canvas material with red stitching. He wore no shoes or socks but had an anklet around his left ankle. He began walking slowly towards Harry, holding a book in one hand and a black rose in the other. Something caught Harry's eye. A girl with grey dreadlocks stood bashfully behind him, slowly coming out of the purple clouds. She wore a loin-cloth and a animal skin shirt, which only covered what it needed too . He kept an eye on her and asked "Where in the world are we?"
"You mean, you don't recognize it?" Draco asked, surprised. "Well, Potter, we, are in your mind." Harry shuttered as Draco's voice eerily trailed off. "My…Mind?" Asked Harry trying too figure out what he meant. "Yes. Or it so appears."
"Why?" asked Harry.
"I wouldn't know"
He looked to the girl. "Who are you?"
The girl's shimmering light blue eyes widened as she looked back and forth at the two. She merely blinked innocently without a word.
"Its no use, I've already tried. But she's just been following me around like a lost puppy." Said Draco in his ere voice. "Why do you look like that? And what's with your voice?" asked Harry. "I could only guess that because we're in your mind I'm look how my mind appears to your mind. Just like how you look different to me. I read something like that in a book once."
"Wait, I look different to you?" asked Harry, confused. Trying once more to get to his feet Draco helped him up. "Yes. You've got red hair, oh, now its purple, and you have some bluish lines across your face. And now your hair is green…" Draco went on about how Harry appeared to him. Explaining how Harry's glasses were black, square-ish, and thick-rimed and how he was wearing black knee-length shorts ((Tripp pants/shorts)) no shoes or socks and a black shirt with a skull on it. Draco also said that Harry's voice sounded, faint, and serene. He described it as, 'soft music'.
"So you don't know why we are here either?" "No," said Harry. "All I remember is fainting before waking up here." Draco scratched his head, thinking. "Well, I figured we were in your mind because well, she told me" Draco said pointing to the girl. "But she hasn't said anything else really."
They stood in silence as they thought. The girl walked over to them, slowly. She poked Harry and jumped back. She stared at them wide eyed and watched their every movement. It wasn't until now that Harry realized that he had seen her before. "She… was in that dream…" He said, thinking out loud. "What are you talking about?" Asked Draco "You mean the dream we both had? I only remember…" He stopped mid sentence. "No... Wait, there was someone else…" As they both tried to remember their dream, another image flashed in their minds. It was the dream being played backwards, and then forwards in slow motion. As the waves swept them away, the girl was sitting on the stone wall, watching as they struggled in the water. She wanted to help them. She wanted them too be ok, but something held her back.
"We are in my mind, aren't we?" asked Harry. "Yeah, So? But what's that got to do with anything?"
"So I had that dream in my mind, why wouldn't she be in here?" Harry explained.
"I ... Don't know!" Draco threw up his hands and sat abruptly on the ground.
Harry plopped down as well. Laying down he put his hands over his face and took a deep breath. "I must be going insane." He said lightly. Draco sighed. "I don't know what to do" He said in a hopeless tone. Minutes passed. Nothing. Soon minutes turned to hours.
Harry had still been lying down for a long time, mostly resting, but he was brainstorming what could have happened to them. Was this the work of Voldemort? Is he dreaming? He rose up and removed his hands from his face. As he lowered them his hand slipped onto Draco's on accident. The purple mist churned and spun as it changed to blue. What felt like a bolt of electricity surged through there bodies. Harry jerked back but his hand wouldn't budge. He couldn't even see Draco now, only the blue mist and black and green dots that danced in his vision. He wrestled with the odds until it wore him out. The pain pulsed unbearably as
He fell unconscious.
He felt warm, soft blankets around him and a bright yellow light through his eyelids slowly woke him. As he opened his eyes it took a moment to figure out where he was. The hospital wing was barren of people but a warm light streamed in threw the big windows.
Rising up once more he scanned the room. On the far side was Draco, still asleep. Near the door was Hermione and Ron, also asleep, Hermione's head was on Ron's lap.
What had happened? He removed the covers and stepped down from the bed. His knees wobbled but he didn't fall. He walked to the bathroom on the other side of the room.
As he washed his hands he splashed his face with water and rubbed. His left hand ran across something. Looking in the mirror he cringed. His lightning bolt scar had stretch down. Now it went through his eye brow and stop just at the end of his eye lid, only to continue at the bottom of his eye to about the middle of his cheek. Not only had that, but the color of his left eye changed as well. It was Yellow like Autumn's leaves.