Chapter 9: Dragon Heart

Draco was roused from his sleep by a flutter of wings, when he opened his grey eyes Hedwig was circling the room hooting in an upset tone. Getting up from the bed Draco began to look around for Harry, Hedwig following close behind before landing on the blonde's shoulder. After search the entire house the blonde went to the sitting room where Sirius and Remus were sitting.

"I can't find Harry anywhere; I've searched the entire house… I don't know where he went. Earlier he was saying strange things about how he loves me and that I should know that if something happens to him." Draco said reaching up and starting to pet Hedwig's chest softly.

Sirius looked over at Remus "I have an idea who might know where he went. Kreacher get in here…" Sirius yelled as a loud pop filled the room and a very old house elf stood before Sirius"

"Master… is there anything Kreacher can do for you?" the house elf asked bowing slightly though his face held a great sneer.

Sirius looked at the house elf "You remember my godson Harry Potter, have you seen Harry recently?" Sirius asked getting to his feet and looking at the house elf.

The old elf nodded his head "Kreacher hear the Potter boy earlier in the kitchen from his cupboard using the floo powder to travel to Dumbledore's office." Kreacher said lifting his head and looking at his master.

Draco looked at the floor as he touched his lips with his fingertips. In his mind he was trying to come up with a plan to find Harry and get him back safe.

"If Dumbledore is dead why would he go to Hogwarts when he knows that his secret could be spilled if he goes there?" Draco asked looking at the two men before him.

Sirius sighed softly "When we were looking for Harry in Diagon Alley we ran into your father and he said something about Snivellus that hinted he was being held by Voldemort somewhere. You know how Harry is, when someone is in trouble he's the first one to go and help them." The animagi remarked looking at Draco.

Remus nodded "Harry is trying to make it up to Severus for the torture his father and Sirius both put him through when we were all in school together." The werewolf said getting up from the couch he was sitting on.

"This is why I fell for Harry, he's not some snobby rich person who lets others do things for him, he has adventures he puts others needs in front of his own. But he's going to get himself killed him he goes off like this all alone without back up. We need to go to Hogwarts and back him up before something bad happens to him." Draco said looking at Remus and Sirius.



"Draco you know Harry does this to keep people safe, if you go you'll make it harder for him to concentrate on what he needs to do. I know you don't want to hear this but you have to stay here. That's why he left without telling you where he was going to keep you safe" Remus said going over to Draco and putting a comforting arm around him.

The blonde pulled away from Remus's comfort the jarring motion sent Hedwig fluttering off to perch on the bookcase. Draco turned on his heel and kept his back facing the two men behind him.

"You're right he did it to protect me, and he is the great Harry Potter he can get out of any jam with the luck he has." Draco said leaving the room and heading up the stairs to the room he shared with Harry and closed the door behind him.

Draco was in tears as he sat on the bed and hugged a pillow close to his chest. Closing his eyes as the tears slid down his pale cheeks silently.

--

Harry looked up at Balise as he tried to push himself up into a sitting position even though his legs were still locked together.

The Slytherin teen looked down at the boy who lived. "You're supposed to save everyone from the dark lord, how did you get beat so easy by me?" Balise asked with a smirk as he crouched down close to Harry.

"You caught me off guard is all... though I should have expected to find some rats down here it is a dungeon after all" Harry said confidently.

This angered Balise as he pointed his wand again at Harry "I can't wait until you're finally gone, you may be some golden boy to a lot of people but you are nothing special." He said poking Harry roughly in the chest with his wand.

"When you're gone Draco will be very upset and need to be consoled by someone he knows very well. That will be me and then he'll fall for me." The teen said as two others came out of the shadows and stood above Harry.

Draco's former bodyguards started to crack their knuckles as Balise stood up to his full height once again. "He'll be here soon, and we need to get Potter ready for his date with a very special surprise." The teen said ordering the two idiots to pull Harry to his feet and drag him back up the stairs to the entrance hall.

In the entrance hall Harry saw Lucius Malfoy standing there waiting dressed in some of his finest robes with a cane in his hand that Harry knew hid the elder blonde's wand.



"Ah if it isn't Harry Potter, I hear that you have some idea where Draco is. His mother is very worried about him since he hasn't returned any of her letters. If you just tell me where he is I'll make sure that he returns home to where he's safe and he can be reminded that he is a pureblood wizard." Lucius said taking a step forward toward Harry.

Harry stood there quietly and just stared at the man in front of him before speaking. "Draco wants nothing to do with that pureblood lifestyle anymore he said so himself. Your fancy life means nothing. " The emerald eyed teen said smirking at his father in law.

Lucius was livid as he stood there in the empty entrance hall "I think it's time you shut your mouth before it gets you into any more trouble boy" the blonde said locking eyes with Harry.

The teen gulped lightly frozen to the spot with the leg locking spell he held his head up. "You don't scare me anymore; you're losing your grip on controlling your own family." He said gripping hand into a fist.

That small sentence caused the elder Malfoy to snap. Pulling out his wand from inside his cane he pointed it at Harry. "Crucio" he roared the force of the hate behind the spell sent Harry reeling backwards into the large Gryffindor hourglass by the main doors. The glass shattered and red stones spilled across the stone floor.

--

Draco felt a pain in his chest that gave him a bad feeling. Letting out a heavy breath Draco went over to his chest and grabbed his wand that was lying on top of it and stuffing into his pocket. He grabbed his broom and without hesitating he ran down the stairs till he was standing in the kitchen. He didn't care how much noise he made making his way through the house. Going over to the fireplace he grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace and stepped into the fire.

"Gryffindor common room" he roared as the fire swept him up like ash, soon he was spinning around like a top until he came to an abrupt stop and moved out of the fireplace with a fluid motion. Many young Gryffindors screamed that someone had just come out of the fire unexpectedly and also a Slytherin no doubt.

Ron and Hermione jumped to their feet and rushed over "Malfoy what the bloody hell are you doing in our common room?" Ron asked checking Malfoy over quickly sizing him up.

Draco didn't bother to dust himself off. "Shut it Weasley, I just needed this fireplace." the blonde said shoving past a bunch of the students and dashed out the portrait and stood on the stairs straining his ears.



Many of the Gryffindors who had seen Draco come out of the fireplace had followed behind him watching him closely. Draco heard the faint sound of a cold laugh that he knew all too well floated into his ears.

Knowing it would take too long to run down the stairs Draco leapt over the railing and wrapped his legs around his broom as he fell maneuvering around the moving staircases till he was hidden just out of sight of the entrance hall. He floated there; his heart was racing from the excitement of dodging the moving stairs.

--

"Now Potter to make sure that you don't get in the way, you're going to get a very special kiss very soon" Lucius said from the other room, his sounded almost gleeful that he was going to be getting rid of the famous boy who lived finally for his master.

Balise's laugh echoed in the hall as the air that Draco was currently hovering in was becoming colder by the second. It took all his self control to keep his teeth from chattering as he waited for the right moment to swoop in.

Draco knew that the entrance hall had filled with Dementors, there was one problem he didn't know how to defeat Dementors but he knew someone who did. Turning his broom nose up Draco shot up like a bullet to the seventh floor where Ron and the others were all standing quietly.

"Granger… how do you get rid of Dementors, you know everything there is to know about everything. You damn well better know how to get rid of them or Harry is going to be in really deep trouble." Draco hissed

Hermione swallowed hard and nodded her head "You have to summon a Patronus, Harry once mentioned that you need to think of a very happy memory to summon it. The spell is expecto patronum" she said breathlessly as Draco dove back down to where he had been before making sure to stop again.

Peering around the corner Draco saw that the front door was open and the voices were growing fainter.

Zipping around the corner he floated silently out the door and quickly took to the shadows of the castle and used his skills as a seeker to locate Harry. He rose higher to get a better look.

His eyes landed on the raven haired boy who was currently backed up against a tree on the edge of the forbidden forest Next to him was an unconscious potion master who looked liked he went a few rounds with a mountain troll.

The Dementors had begun to swarm around the tree and were gliding toward their prey at the base of the tree.



Pulling his wand out of his pocket Draco closed his eyes for a moment trying to find the perfect happy memory. Once he had a grasp on it he snapped his eyes open and smirked at the memory.

"Expecto Patronum" he roared loudly. An extremely bright wave of silver light shot out of his wand. The night sky had lit up as if the sun itself had sprouted out of his wand, Draco squinted his eyes as the silver light took the shape of what he could imagine was a dragon. It swooped down and chased after the hooded creatures that had headed down the lawn of the castle grounds toward the lake.

Shooting toward the ground Draco landed hard as he stopped before Harry and Snape. He was flushed and breathing heavy as he smiled at the other teen in front of him.

Harry got to his feet and launched himself into Draco's arms and hugged him. "I'm so glad you came." He said finally pulling away and looking at Lucius and Balise.

Draco kept his back to them before spinning around yelling the disarming spell and catching theirs and Harry's wand that Balise had been holding still.

Lucius stood there his mouth agape for a moment before he realized and shut his mouth.

"Draco how dare you, I am your father now return my wand at once and come home with me right this minute." The elder Malfoy said his eyes were livid.

The younger Malfoy chuckled softly "No, I'm not listening to you anymore. Before I listened to you, now that I've started to listen to myself I'm enjoying life more. It's time for us to part father." He said going over to Harry and putting his arm around his waist and staying close to him.

--
The bright light had woken the entire castle; both teachers and students were making their way to the front doors to see what had caused such a stunning light.

Professor McGonagall now headmistress of the school held the lead of the group of teachers on the stairs. Brandishing her wand she swept down the lawn in her bathrobe along with the other teachers.

"Balise Zabini, I am shocked… Mr. Filch, take Mr. Zabini to my office and send one of the school owls to the minister's private residence." The headmistress said her wand pointed at Lucius Malfoy.

Harry started to hear the whispers from the teachers he let out a small sigh of relief that none of the students had seen him yet. He knew for a fact that the teachers wouldn't say anything.

Filch grumbled over and gave a sickening smirk as he grabbed Balise by the wrist and dragged him up the lawn toward the open doors of the castle.



"Mr. Potter, what in heaven's name, are you doing here?" the transfiguration teacher asked setting her gaze on her student.

Before he could answer Snape began to wake up, his demeanor was the same as always as he got to his feet and dusted his robes off. "Potter… I can't very well take house points from someone who is supposed to be dead. Even if they do something utterly stupid as jeopardize everything the way you did. But I will say thank you" the potion master said giving Harry a curt nod before walking over to Lucius and taking back his wand from his pocket and pointing it at the elder Malfoy.

Harry gave out a soft sigh and stayed close to Draco "I'm beat, we should head back now. By the way Draco how much trouble am I in for what I did?" Harry asked softly as they made their way slowly up the lawn hand in hand.

Draco smirked softly "they didn't mind, but that doesn't mean you're going to get off so easily with me. You might be the savior of the magical world but you're going to pay for this" Draco said pulling Harry close up against him.

When the two teens arrived back at the castle the other students had been ushered back to their houses to sleep. They entered the brightly lit entrance hall and squinted as their eyes readjusted to the light. Teachers were bustling around the hall in a flurry. Harry lead Draco toward the stairs, just as they reached the first stair Snape seemed to appear out of nowhere.

The potion master walked the two teens up to McGonagall's office and waited for the headmistress to enter the room.

"Harry… Draco I spoke with Remus and Sirius, they have decided that you need to return to Hogwarts to continue your studies." The witch said raising a hand to rub the bridge of her nose.