Chapter Eight:
Serpent Charmer
A/N: Please read, review and enjoy!
There's a woman here with a broken record player
And a dusty compass off to map the country's new behaviour
Strange words that we hold on back into the river
Brave boys in the empty coats of men.
There's a kitchen timer, distractions and reminders
That the rolly-pollies started crawling across your family's china
Strange words that we hold on back into the river
Dead dogs only want to live again.
By nightfall, the two were clutching each others hands with a sweaty grip of nerves. "The wards should be somewhere soon," Draco explained shakily.
Harry had never seen him so nervous, not even when they were face-to-face with that Chimaera. "So do you think it'll just be your Mother there? Maybe we could sneak in and use the Fireplace to Floo to Hogwarts?" he suggested, only to recieve an incredulous look.
"Are you kidding? Sneak into the Malfoy Manor? My parents are immediately alerted when and where there are 'intruders' on the grounds. I'm just hoping that only Mother is there, because it won't be difficult to subdue her into allowing us to use the Fireplace. The only trouble will be if Lucius is there," Draco grumbled, he had worry etched across his entire pointed face which made Harry frown.
'Of course he's worried. He did just completely defy his Father and disown him over a month ago...I doubt Lucius Malfoy would let off his own son that easily,' Harry sighed and held Draco's hand tighter, he definitely didn't enjoy seeing him this worked up.
"Up there, look," Draco stopped walking, he pointed his finger straight ahead and as Harry squinted his eyes under his dirtied glasses, he saw large iron gates ten feet tall in the distance. "The wards activate once you pass the gates, so it is no harm done if we go up to them to see who is home," he explained, and led the way closer to the gates through the thick of trees.
And then they were out onto a clearing, the night sky glittering stars down on them and Harry felt it a little easier to breathe out of all that brush. The iron gates seemed so menacing to Harry, and the way Draco was scowling they did to him too. They were spiked at the top, and looking out into the distance Harry could see the Malfoy Manor a couple hundred yards away.
"Wow...you grew up here?" Harry asked, completely astonished.
The Manor looked to be at least six floors, it seemed to be separated into five towers and of course there was the main area. The windows were large and glistened in the moonlight, and the lawn was absolutely fantastical. The freshly mown green grass had more than one garden arranged on it, heavy statues of marble and stone of famous witches and Wizards all pureblood alike. "The courtyard is my favourite place," Draco whispered, cocking his head to the left side of the side yard where a garden was groomed in a circle and had a paragola in the middle of it. "It was nice to sit out there and think, especially in the summer between the years at Hogwarts," he sighed but shook off the nostalgia when he felt Harry's hand slip from his own.
Harry hissed in immedate pain and both hands flew up to his forehead, he pawed at his lightning bolt scar groaning. "Harry? What is it?" Draco hurriedly was beside him as Harry dropped to the forest floor, still clutching onto his head and groaning.
"Voldemort's here," Harry hissed venomously, "My connection to him always hurts this much when we're closeby...I just wasn't expecting it," he took a shaky breath before pulling himself to his feet with the assistance of Draco.
"Are you alright?"
"M'fine, but there's no way we'd get in and out of there unnoticed. If Voldemort's there then there are most likely Death Eaters and your Father too, and there's no way in Merlin's hell he'd just let us use the Floo Powder and say 'good day'," Harry growled, his fists were clenched at his sides now.
"Here. Lets walk around to the other side of the gates, we can see Father's study from there and there aren't any gardens in the way," Draco offered out his arm but was momentarily stung when Harry refused it and began to trudge after him with a vengeful scowl on his face.
It took about ten minutes to circle the gates, and then they came quite close to the Manor itself. Harry squinted his eyes and peered up through the iron bars into the large window, curtains drawn with none other than Lucius Malfoy looking out and upwards at the night sky. He was talking, his lips were moving in a sly smirk. Harry's head was absolutely burning, and he hadn't any question whom he was talking to.
"Father's fire is the only one connected to the Floo network," Draco explained with a frown, "And it does not look like we will be able to get at it,"
"If I killed Voldemort then we could," Harry growled, his eyes never leaving the window as he wished to catch a glimpse of that creature.
Draco quickly grabbed ahold of Harry and roughly dug his nails into his shoulders, forcing them to look eye-to-eye. Harry's face immediately softened though the hatred didn't leave his eyes, "Don't. Even. Think. About. It," Draco spat protectively, shaking the boy in front of him gently.
"Why not? He's right there! What if he's keeping Remus imprisoned or something? You expect me to sit here and do nothing?!" Harry yelled back.
"Yes, I do," Draco sneered, "We are in the Black Forest now, that is only a week from The Forbidden Forest which takes about a day and half to walk through itself. Hogwarts is the next closest destination and I suggest we get there as soon as possible and get rested up before we come back here to deal with vermon," he spat.
"We?"
"Yes, we! I told you before and I will tell you again, you are not going at this alone! I promised I'd be by your side when that day came, and I will keep that promise!" Draco's grip on Harry softened and a small smirk formed in the corner of his mouth as he closed most of the distance between them. He pressed his body up against Harry and wrapped his arms around the waist of the smaller boy, "I also made a promise to myself," he whispered, hot air ghosting on Harry's face.
Harry swallowed, he couldn't help but get aroused when Draco was this close to him even when Voldemort was just a few hundred yards away. "W-what promise?" he stuttered, fluttering his eyes shut.
"I promised myself that I would never let anybody hurt you ever again, that I would personally protect you, Harry. Don't make me break that promise by doing something as moronic as marching into the Malfoy Manor which is most likely crawling with Death Eaters," Draco was now pressing his lips on Harry's, the brunette fully relaxed now in his arms and wrapped his own around Draco's neck.
"Mmm...okay...but only if you let me promise that I'll protect you too," Harry said quickly, only to peck Draco once more.
"Good. Now that we are in agreeance, I do believe we should get as faraway from here as possible,"
"Agreed. Voldemort will most likely be noticing soon that I'm nearby, but I'm not too sure our connection affects him the same way it does me," Harry raised an eyebrow curiously, thinking to himself. He still only had very vague details on him and the Dark Lord's connection.
Draco began to lead the two of them away from the Manor, "We will be walking Southeast from now on," he explained, Harry only dumbly nodded and held the blonde's hand lightly.
"Isn't Hogsmeade closer than Hogwarts at this point?" Harry asked, "Or for that matter isn't there any other Wizarding village between here and then?"
Draco shook his head lightly, "I actually do not live too far from Hogwarts, surprisingly enough. But I am still required to take the train, which absolutely annoyed me to no end...alas, Hogsmeade is not closer either. You see it is on the furthest east side of the Forbidden Forest, and Hogwarts is more on the Southwest side. Therefore walking Southeast, we will eventually come to Hogwarts much sooner than Hogsmeade," he explained.
"Ah, okay then. How much longer should we walk tonight? It is night and we haven't even dinner yet,"
"Hmm...I would say just two more hours, we can hunt on our walk. I just do not feel incrediably safe this close to all of...them," Draco scowled.
"Me neither," Harry quickly agreed.
About four hours later when the two laid out their cloaks and hyde-pillows, they immediately curled up into one another. They were facing one another, their arms draped over each others torso's and their legs entwined as their foreheads lay barely touching and they blinked softly, looking into each others eyes. Harry never felt more safe, calm and relaxed when he was lying like this with Draco and he couldn't describe it further than pure bliss. Harry also had the Chimaera egg lying just above their heads, wrapped up in a rabbit hyde.
"How much longer do you suspect it will take for it to hatch?" Harry asked, smiling as he watched Draco cutely surpress a yawn.
"We found it when it was matured, it was ready to hatch. But we took it away from its mothers warmth, but it should anyday now," he explained lazily, "Now shush, Potter, I need to get my beauty sleep,"
"You don't need beauty sleep, Draco, you're always beautiful," Harry whispered, and watching a hint of pink crawl up Draco's neck he was more than satisfied and could honestly die happy at that moment in time. "Goodnight,"
"Goodnight, Harry," and when Draco was assured that a few minutes later Harry was sleeping, he quickly kissed him on the cheek and brushed aside his raven fringe, "I love you," he whispered, getting nothing but the soft sound of breath escaping from Harry's lips in response.
The next day Harry did not wake with the first rays of sun as he usually did, but with the odd sound of yelping. He quickly sat upright and saw that Draco was still fast asleep, his platinum hair dirtied, greasy and still somehow silken lay in every which direction. Harry smiled down at him but soon heard another sucession of yelps.
Turning towards the sound, Harry looked upon the rabbit hyde concealing the Chimaera egg and saw it rocking uncharacteristically back and forth. Quickly untangling himself from the blonde, Harry unwrapped the egg which was cracked nearly in half. His emerald eyes went wide as he sat cross-legged and placed the heavy egg in his lap. Harry couldn't help but gently pet the side of it as it shook.
"Psst...Draco! Draco!" Harry called softly, not wanting to startle him from his sleep. "Draco, wake up!"
Draco groaned and rolled over onto his front, he stretched his arms above his head and slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "What do you want, Potter? It's not even daybreak yet!"
"The Chimaera, I think it's hatching!"
"Really?" Draco suddenly forgot all about his wish to go back to sleep and how early it really was and hurriedly sat across from Harry, looking curiously down at the egg in his lap. "If I were you I would put it on the ground, Harry. It will make it easier for the Chimaera to hatch, on a smoother surface. And then it will be able to recognize who it will as its Mother,"
Harry followed Draco's instructions and placed the egg down on the ground between them. There was more yelping from inside, "Is it supposed to do that?"
"What, did you think suddenly coming to life in a dark place by yourself was supposed to be all fun and games? The poor things scared and has no idea what is going on, of course it is supposed to do that," Draco hissed, Harry shot him a quick scathing look only to gaze intently back down at the egg which continued to rock.
Suddenly the crack widened considerably and what looked like a hoove jabbed out at a sideways angle. Harry inched closer as the yelping seized momentarily and the golden egg then burst into a thousand little pieces, spraying across the forest floors and their laps. There shakily stood a minature version of what he and Draco had faced many weeks ago now.
The lions head had wide eyes, not harmful but merely curious. The dragon's tail was a pail red, the spikes didn't look menacing but cute. The goat body was soft, and most definitely miniscule. "It's so tiny!" Harry squeaked, a bright smile lighting up his face as Draco watched him with an equally happy gaze.
"Chimaera's grow rather rapdily. It should reach its Mother's size in a week, and this one..." Draco ducked his head close to the ground and then smirked before coming up again, "Seems to be a female too. Look, it is attempting to figure out its Mother," Draco said pointedly.
The baby Chimaera, just learning how to walk, stumbled on its hooved feet with its tail wagging experimentally behind her. She yelped one more strangled yelp before glancing up at Harry and quickly hobbling over towards him. She stumbled into his lap and nuzzled up against his arm, Harry looked up at Draco brightly but with slight confusion.
"Looks like she found herself a Mother," Draco snorted, relishing the scene as much as possible.
Harry smiled brightly and looked down at the small creature rubbing up against him, he reached out and stroked its small body and was amused as its tail wagged, almost like a dog. "Keaira," Harry said resolutely.
"What?" Draco asked.
"Kearia, I want to name her that," he explained, his eyes not wandering from the little creature still happily nuzzling him, Harry continued petting her. "What do they eat? And how do I even begin to train her?"
"You do not feed, or train a Chimaera, Harry," Draco drawled, "They learn rather quickly on their own. She will be catching her own food by nightfall, and walking easily by tomorrow morn. She will forever know who her 'Mother' is from this point on. It's all instinctual. Chimaera's are incrediably powerful creatures, as I explained you are the first survivor to defeat one who did not die shortly thereafter. They are breed to quickly learn and adapt to their situation, in a short five days she will be nearing her full potential. She will most likely sleep more than usual for the first little while, she must adjust to her body rapdily changing. However, she will not like being away from you whatsoever," he explained.
"How do you know all of this?" Harry gaped.
"Because I, unlike yourself, pay attention in class Potter," Draco teased and then reached out to stroke the creature in Harry's lap. She, or Kearia as she was called now, immediately retracted herself with a yelp.
"Shh, it's okay. That's just Daddy Draco, he won't harm you," Harry whispered soothingly, and the Chimaera automatically relaxed and allowed for Draco's hand to reach out and pet her.
"Daddy Draco?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrow considerably as a blush rushed up Harry's cheeks.
"Er, yeah I just..erm..."
"Just refrain from ever calling me that again and we will call it even," Draco smirked, "Now that we're up I might as well go find us some food. You can stay here...Kearia will want to adjust to being with you firstly. Then the quicker we get moving, the faster we can get to Hogwarts and rest up to go off and face Voldemort," he explained pointedly.
Harry merely nodded, most of his attention comletely centered on Kaeria. "Did I ever tell you that you were cute, Harry?" Draco asked as he stood up, still smiling down at the scene.
Harry's cheeks were blazing red now, but he shrugged it off the best he could.
"Well, you most definitely are the cutest thing I have ever laid eyes on," Draco winked and with that he was gone off to trapse around the perimeter of the woods in search of breakfast.
There's a serpent charmer, pair of shoes and wander
Speeing ticket, you're not leaving that last land of slaughter
Strange words that we hold on back into the river
Good girls come and kick you in the shin
There's a hopeful hunter with a hapless sense of wonder
And a million claw marks on the rock he hid his money under
Strange words that we hold on back into the river
And made men only want to live again.