AN: So sorry about spelling Gryffindor wrong last chapter…see, it's because of annoying things like these that authors have betas
ATTENTION, THIS IS IN A DIFFERENT STATE FROM ALL THE CHAPTERS BECAUSE MY STUPID INTERNET WOULDN'T STOP GLITCHING AND WOULDN'T LET ME EDIT MY CHAPTERS BEFORE PUTTING THEM UP. SO. I HAVE DONE ALL THE EDITING I COULD ON WORD, BUT BECAUSE OF SOME OTHER GLITCHES IT STILL ISN'T….GOOD. HEY. AT LEAST THE CHAPTER IS UP…
AN: Who knew exam month could be so BORING? … .
Warnings: same as before, slash, as in boys kissing boys, M for later chapters
Disclaimer:J.K. Rowling did all the work, I own nothing, so no yelling….no yelling –shifty eyes-
Harry spent most of the night unpacking, as in ripping the clothes out of his suitcase and throwing them across the room. The only think he probably didn't throw that night was Hedwig, her cage was neatly set up next to one of the windows.
When he finally calmed down, he allowed himself some time to think. All right, so throwing a fit wasn't exactly mature, but he hated the fact that he was stuck with Malfoy. Well, actually, he didn't hate the Malfoy part as much as he hated being moved away from his friends. He supposed the Slytherin wasn't too bad. In fact, he didn't make one rude comment since Harry had gotten here. If anything, Harry was the one being a git.
The Gryffindor groaned slightly, realizing with a pang that he had actually taken over Draco's role of annoying rude bastard. He supposed he should apologize to the other. With another small groan, he stood up and walked over to the door of his room, only to notice that there was a strange little book lying on the floor in the corridor. Picking it up, he turned the book over to look at its cover. The title read 'Veela and their cousins. A full history. ' Strange. Why would Draco be reading about Veela?
Heading to the lounge area, he was surprised to find the Slytherin asleep, surrounded by a mass of crumpled up paper. He was sort of curled up on one of the couches, and sitting, neatly perched on his shoulder was some sort of silver creature resembling a dragon. Even through its eyes glowed bright green, its body was almost translucent, like that of a ghost's.
The creature picked up one of the less tattered pieces of paper and pushed it towards Harry, seemingly trying to communicate something. Smoothing the paper out, Harry could tell it was some sort of note of apology, and it was addressed to him. Malfoy was trying to apologize to him? "Great." He mumbled with a sigh. " make me feel even more guilty."
There was something going on, that was obvious. Malfoy never apologized, especially not to him, there was something weird about the situation. He picked up one of his quills and scrawled a quick message ( 7pm at the Owlry –Harry ) and left it next to Draco before moving to get his books. Unlike Malfoy, Harry actually had some morning classes today, so he didn't have time to sit around. He'd sort it all out later, he decided with a nod. Still, as he moved to get his books something else had to get in the way.
The small creature was now sitting on his books, rolling around lazily. " Hey, get off, I'm going to be late. " Harry mumbled, trying to push the thing off. That didn't work however, as the small dragon reached around and almost bit Harry's hand. " That's not fair! What am I supposed to do, just carry you around the whole day?" he asked exasperated. His expression turned shocked as the creature nodded. " Hang on..you can understand me? And you still won't get off?" The creature nodded again, drawing another sigh from the boy. There was always something either trying to kill him, or begging him to save or otherwise aid it.
" Fine..I'll give you a ride if you promise to bite anyone bothering me today!" Harry suggested. Oddly, the small thing seemed to be quite pleased with the deal and nodded eagerly
The Gryffindor sighed and let the animal hop onto his shoulder before picking up his books and heading to his divination class. For some reason, he didn't see as many students in the hallways as he was used to, and only realized that it was because he was early when he stepped into an almost empty classroom. " Great…could have spent the extra time sleeping.." he mumbled more to himself as he plopped down into his seat. Ignoring the few confused stares he was getting, he moved to lay his head on his arms, closing his eyes with another small yawn. He wasn't a morning person.
" Ron! For Merlin's sake, hurry up! We're going to be late for Divination. You know very well it's an important and fascinating class-" Hermione was saying, though the red hared boy didn't seem to hear a word of it. She couldn't believe the nerve of him, still halfway asleep at this hour. " We're going to have to skip breakfast because of you, I hope you know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.." she added, frowning. " Ronald Weasly, are you even listening to me?"
" Jeez…'mionie, you sound just like my mum. It's scary." Ron mumbled, looking around a pile of his books, trying to remember where he'd put his homework.
" Look, at least hurry up so we can go look for Harry." The bushy hared girl said with a sigh, fishing out the crumpled papers that were Ron's 'homework' " Here." She added, handing them to Ron.
" Thanks..yeah, let's go." Ron mumbled awkwardly, talking the papers and shoving them inside the Divination textbook he was carrying.
With that, both Gryffindors exited the Common Room, almost an hour later than usual, and headed directly for the classroom with Ron already complaining about the fact that they were skipping breakfast. If it was up to him, he'd much rather just skip Divination and spend the hour in the kitchen finding something to eat.
When they arrived at the classroom, they were glad to see that they were still slightly early. With a sigh, they both moved to take their places next to Harry when Ron let out a frightened yelp.
When Draco awoke, he winced sharply at the bright light that stung his eyes. He waited for a moment, thinking that the light was part of a dream, but the stinging didn't fade, in fact, it grew stronger. He couldn't understand what was happening until he finally sighed and opened his eyes. He didn't expect what came next.
The room was on fire, burning…everything, everything glowed. But not a soft, warm light, a strong, intense light emanating from every object in the room, destructive and dangerous. He couldn't understand what was happening. Was this some sort of spell? No, it couldn't be, the room not only looked so bright that it might have been engulfed in flames, but it felt absolutely cold. Cold as ice. It didn't make any sense.
With a whimper, he brought a hand up to shield his eyes, glancing around to try to find the source of this chaos. Finally, he noticed it. The window. That what where it all came from. The window was the brightest of all, the horrid light filtering in from outside, making everything shine so unbearably. Gathering up his strength, he sprung for the window, shutting his eyes tightly as he reached for the heavy curtains, doing his best to blindly draw them closed.
He continued on to the second window, and his frenzied efforts to block out the horrible things didn't cease until every curtain was drawn, every door was shut and there were more hexes put up to block out the light than he could count. Finally, finally the glare toned down to a level where Draco could actually keep his eyes open.
By this time, he was sitting on the floor close to the bathroom, shivering uncontrollably. Even though the light was so bright and seemingly burning everything it touched, it was so horribly cold. After a few moments, he drew in a couple of shaky breaths and stood up. He didn't know what had happened, but he needed to calm down. A hot shower would definitely help, especially with the shivering.
" H-Harry..the…there's a a .." Ron stuttered, pointing to the sleepy Gryffindor. Harry took a moment to react, moving to look up at him with a yawn. It took a moment for him to realize that Ron was talking to him, and another for him to muster up a reply. " What is it?" he asked the panicking Gryffindor.
" There's a, a thing…on you..it's glowing…and has teeth oh my god get it off!" Ron said, his voice rising to a nervous pitch as his trembling finger pointed in the direction of Harry's shoulder.
Hermionie was staring at the same spot, though without the panic, just some mild interest.
" Huh? " Harry answered, raising an eyebrow before looking to his shoulder as he heard a small coughing noise. When he spotted the small dragon curled up and shaking, he realized the creature was laughing. " Ron, relax. He's harmless….and really cute." He added, moving to pet him. " What do you think I should call him?" he asked, but was cut off by Hermionie shifting closer to get a better look at the dragon, pulling out some textbooks.
" It's fascinating, I haven't seen anything like it! Harry..where did this..creature come from?" she asked, leafing through the books with references to magical creatures. For the first time, she was lost, but she wouldn't be for long. She was determined to find out everything about the dragon-like animal.
" I…don't know actually…he was with Draco when I woke up this morning." Harry answered with a slight shrug. For a moment, everything went quiet and he could feel Ron's piercing gaze on him. " Harry? What is the world were you doing with that git this morning? Did he blackmail you into something, or, try to kill you?" he asked, glowering. Hermionie stopped looking through the textbook, sending a questioning glance to him as well.
" I uh…changed rooms…we're, sort of..staying in the same rooms now. As of yesterday night." Harry answered awkwardly. Both of his friends were either shocked into silence, or too crewed out to say anything. " Guys? Please say something.." he mumbled then, looking to them with worry.
After a few seconds, Ron shook his head and started backing away. " You…are disgusting." He spat out, causing both Harry and Hermione to gasp in shock. " Ron.." Harry started, but the other quickly cut him off. " Stay away from me…just stay away from me you filthy freak, I thought you were my friend and now you're going off with Malfoy." He shrieked, standing up and racing out of the classroom.
" W-What? Ron…Ron! You don't understand, wait." Harry called out , moving to the door when their professor cut him off. Not even thinking about detention anymore, he shoved past her and raced out after his friend…and hopefully not his ex friend.
As both students took off, Hermionie tried to follow, but was stopped by a glare and a threat for detention. Frowning worriedly, she returned to her seat as class started, glancing to the two empty seats besides her. She hoped they would be all right. Of course it seemed strange that Harry was suddenly staying with the Slytherin, but anything like this had to be discussed with the Headmaster. And she was sure Dumbledore must have had some good reason behind this. She just hoped Ron would realize that before he ruined their friendship.
Draco let out a soft sigh as the scalding water cascaded past his skin. He could feel the heat of the water, yet for some reason, he was still cold. It felt like he was freezing, except the cold was spreading from the inside out. He didn't know what to do anymore, and that stupid creature would have been of great use right now if it hadn't run off.
With another shiver, he gave up on the shower and stepped out, getting a towel and drying himself down. Well, with that idea shoved out of the way, he needed to at least find something to distract himself with. After combing out his hair and getting dressed, he stepped out of the bathroom, his hand reaching for the small switch that controlled the spell for the light. He frowned slightly, noticing the light was off. No. It was impossible, he could see everything, as clear as day, it was even a bit too bright for comfort, how could all the lights be off.
He shook his head, pushing his thoughts away. He did not have time for this, he needed to get to class. Picking up his books, he moved to the door, opening only to be faced with the same horrible glare as he stepped out. Everything was so bright, he couldn't see…everything was a blurry mix of red, yellow and orange blotches, like fire. Just like fire. Backing away, he tried going back into their rooms, only feel the smooth surface of a wall against his back. No. This couldn't be happening, where in the world was the door? His breaths quickened in panic as the flame like light engulfed everything around him.
Then, just as quickly as the light came, it disappeared. Draco paused for a moment, dumbfounded, staring at the perfectly normal hallway in front of him. There was no strange light, just the normal, everyday scene. Was it a dream? Definitely not. He wanted to find out what happened, he didn't want to go through that again. With a frown, he headed over to his potions class. He really needed to find that creature before any more of this…transformation took place.
Sighing, he moved over to his seat, lucky to have arrived shortly before the potions master, who seemed in a worse mood than usual. He didn't even bother looking up from his textbook, leafing through the pages when he found a small, ripped piece of paper. Picking it up, he turned it over to read the note. It was from Harry, asking to see him in the Owelry before dinner. That was strange, the boy didn't even want to look at him yesterday evening. He cringed slightly, thinking of that night, that he'd spent staying awake trying to figure out some way to apologize.
Draco was snapped out of his thoughts as some new partners were assigned and Granger moved to take a seat next to him. Looking up, he realized the Gryffindor wasn't in the classroom. He frowned slightly with worry. Did something happen to him? Wait, why did that even matter? He was a Malfoy, he didn't feel worry…it was just curiosity…yes, curiosity.
" Granger, where is H-…Potter" he whispered, catching himself before saying his first name.
" Why are you two sharing a set of rooms?" the girl retorted, getting straight to the point.
" I asked first." Came the Slytherin's reply, who wasn't even paying attention to the potion anymore.
" Well, he ran out of Divination and never came back, your turn." Hermionie whispered back.
" I don't know..Dumbledore set it up." Draco lied, turning his gaze away. He didn't make any more contact for the rest of the class.
The whole time Snape was yelling about how incompetent they were, he kept wondering what could have possibly happened to cause Harry to run out of a class. As far as he knew, the Gryffindor's attendance was always perfect. These thoughts continued to swirl in his head, until he found himself walking out of his last class for the day. Well, he couldn't put it off any longer. Now, he'd have to go have a nice long talk with Harry, explain to the Golden Boy that he was to be his future mate, make him understand that he wasn't human and somehow still come out of it alive. Yup. This day was looking good.
When he arrived at the owelry, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, frowning at the silence that greeted him. After a few moments, he could make out soft sobs from the darkness, and stepping forward, he could make out Harry's form curled up into a miserable ball on one of the benches.
Author's note: IMPORTANT I am looking for a Beta, seeing as how my skill at proofreading is worse than that of a sixth grader's. Also, I'm sorry for the wait, but again, we are in an Internet rut right now, it's horrible. You'll get some more answers next chapter, promise. You'll even find out what the bright light that Draco saw was, if you haven't guessed it already. XD Review people….
If you think you'll want to help me by being my Beta, go ahead and e-mail or leave a review. Thanks