Hey!

Sorry for the long wait.

You see, I can't reach my beta at the moment so this chapter here isn't beta'ed. And I don't really wanted to put it up... put I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer either.

Is anyone willing to help me out and beta the next chapters? Probably even when knitchick is avaiable once more to make sure? (Two's better than one, isn't it?)

It would be great if a beta is out there somewhere. Just send me a message.

Well, I hope you enjoy the new chapter. (Even though there probably are sooo much mistakes in it)

Chapter 24

The next weeks practically flew by in a rush of howling winds, H.A meetings (Harry was happy to see that all of them were progressing really fast, so he would be able to drop the bomb in one of the next meetings) and driving rain.

The middle of December had already arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy draughts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly grey, the mountains around Hogwarts were snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so low that many students wore their thick protective dragon skin gloves in the corridors between lessons.

Over all the time Harry noticed Ron growing more and more fidgety with each day and the redhead argued with Draco more than usual. At first he absolutely didn't understand why, but then his brain caught up to the events in the castle and he realised that the first Quidditch match of the season would be held soon.

Gryffindor versus Slytherin.

It was really late this year, and Harry had to say, that he was really happy that he didn't have to play in the cold. The first match of the Phoenixes would be in February.

He looked forward to the coming game with mixed feelings. On one side he really hoped that Gryffindor would win, but on the other side didn't he want Slytherin to loose either. At least for Draco's sake.

He had been on the Gryffindor team for four years after all and old habbits die hard. But now that they all were in different houses and so had to compete against each other in one way or another anyway, Harry didn't really know which team to support and decided to do it just like Hermione, by wishing both, Ron and Draco, luck for the game.

…HPHPHP…

The morning of the match dawned bright and cold. When Harry left the Common room and re-entered the Room after wishing for their own personal training room, he already found the others waiting for him and they all argeed after some talking to leave their workout for the day.

When they entered the Great Hall, Ron was a nervous wreck. They sat down at the Phoenix table together and Hermione promptly shoveled breakfast on the redheads plate. Harry had to surpress a laugh when he saw said redhead was slightly green in the face when he looked at the food.

"Really…" mumured Draco who was pouring over a potions book with a cup of coffee in his hands, seemingly the calm in person. "I never thought I'd see the day the weasel doesn't want to eat."

"Shut up!" grumbled Ron and half-heartedly started munching on some bacon and toast.

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Well execuse me. It's the truth. No need to be such a bitch in the morning."

"Stop it you two," chided Neville and stuck a slice of bacon in Draco's mouth when the blond wanted to say something else.

Harry snorted into his own coffe and looked at the newly arrived newspaper Hermione was reading now. "And? Sirius strolling around again?"

Hermione shook her head a little exasperated and bit into a piece of toast. "Yes. He was seen walking around Trafalgar Square yesterday afternoon. Wearing a bright yellow hat and… flip-flops?"

Harry shuddered and looked at the ceiling. It was snowing outside. "Damn… this would be too cold for my liking."

He had given up to tell his godfather to be carefull and obviously Sirius had a blast driving the Ministry insane. In the last few weeks they had seen small articles about him nearly every day. One said he had been seen by four wizards in Edinbourough, others said he was seen walking trough the National History Museum in London.

But Harry was happy for him. As long as Sirius didn't get caught he was okay with him wandering around the U.K. and enjoying himself.

"Will you stop looking like something crawled up your ass now!" demanded Draco annoyed and Harry looked over to him.

The blond was staring at Ron who was looking at his plate. "Why d'you care? Leave me alone. I'm nervous, that's all!"

Neville, Hermione and Harry sighed at the same time.

"Really, you schould be glad that Draco told the other Slytherins not to tease you," said Harry. "You know how they always treated me before a match. So look at the bright side."

"Yeah… I guess so…" admitted Ron grumpilly. "But I'm so damn nervous!"

"Well, that's a good sign, I never feel you perform as well in exams if you're not a bit nervous," said Hermione heartily.

"Hello," said a vague and dreamy voice from behind them. Harry looked up: Luna Lovegood had drifted over from the Ravenclaw table. Many people were staring at her and a few were openly laughing and pointing; she had managed to procure a hat shaped like a life-size lion's head, which was perched precariously on her head.

"I'm supporting Gryffindor," said Luna, pointing unnecessarily at her hat. "Look what it does…"

She reached up and tapped the hat with her wand. It opened its mouth wide and gave an extremely realistic roar that made everyone in the vicinity jump.

"It's good, isn't it?" said Luna happily. "I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent to represent Slytherin, you know, but there wasn't time. Anyway… good luck, Ronald!"

Harry had to bite back his laughter when he saw Ron's ears turn red and clapped him on the back.

She drifted away. They had not quite recovered from the shock of Luna's hat before Angelina came hurrying towards them, accompanied by Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet.

"When you're ready," she said looking at Ron, "we're going to go straight down to the pitch, check out conditions and change."

"He'll be there in a bit," Harry assured her. "Ron's just to finish breakfast. I hope you play a good game."

Angelina sighed, but then smiled slightly. "It's just not the same without you and the Twins. We're good, but not the same. See ya!"

It became clear after ten minutes, however, that Ron was not capable of eating anything more. As they rose from the table, Hermione got up, too, and taking Harry's arm she drew him to one side.

"Don't let Ron see what's on those Slytherins' badges," she whispered urgently.

Harry looked questioningly at her, but she shook her head warningly when Ron and Draco passed the looked at a nearby Slytherin and raised an eyebrow when he saw that they were wearing badges in form of a crown.

They caught up to the two Quidditch players when they reached the entrance hall.

"Good luck, Ron," said Hermione, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek while Harry shook his head amused when the blush that the redhead had before returned. "For you too, Draco," she added and also gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

Harry snorted when Draco looked at her baffled and then shrugged before following Ron down to the pitch.

Harry, Hermione and Neville took their time to go to the pitch. When they were stomping trough the snow that decorated the castle grounds now Harry frowned.

"You know… it's strange. I'm not really eager to see the match… I'd sure like to see Ron playing, but sitting in the cold for the whole time…"

Hermione giggled and squeezed his arm. "I think I'm rubbing off on you. Now you know how we normal people feel when we watch a Quidditch match."

Neville looked at Harry. "Now that you mention it… you haven't ever been to a game you don't play in, have you?"

Harry shook his head. "The only game I've been to where I didn't play myself was the world cup last year. I've never been to a Hogwarts game where I didn't play."

Neville raised his eyebrows. "What did you do then?"

He smirked and threw one arm around Hermione's shoulder. "Most of the time this lady here dragged Ron and me into the library."

"Well execuse me! I just –"

"Hey you three!" boomed a cheerfull voice and they turned around.

"Hagrid!" greeted Harry happilly when the half-giant stomped over to them. "How are you? We haven't seen you in ages."

Hagrid stopped and clapped him on the back. Harry grunted when his knees buckled slightly, while Hermione giggled at his expense. "Fine, fine Harry. Never been better!"

Harry nodded. "Good to hear."

Hermione tittled her head. "Where've you been anyways?"

Hagrid sighed. "Dumbledore told me 'bout your training, so I guess you're allowed to know. But not here. Come on, to my hut."

The three looked at each other and then over to the Quidditch pitch. They could hear the cheers and Lee Jordan shouting the players' names.

"I guess… we can let that game pass", said Neville unsure. "We'll know the score later anyways."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I just hope Ron won't be too upset."

"Come on you two!" they heard Hermione call and looked around.

She had nearly arrived at the hut and waved at them. Harry chuckled and they went over to her.

Once they were all comfortably seated in Hagrid's hut, with Fang drooling all over Neville's robes and Hagrid being busy to look trough the shelves for a tea kettle, they stared at each other and listened a little bit to Lee Jordan, who still could be heard.

"-GRYFFINDOR SCORED!" they heard from afar.

Harry could hear Luna's ludicrous lion hat roaring and looked at Hermione. "D'you think that Ron's alright? He really was nervous."

"I don't kn-" she stopped suddenly and frowned "What's that? Are they… singing?"

The three looked at each other and then at Hagrid who was loudly fumbling with the tea-kettle and tried to listen what was happening at the pitch.

"WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN, HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN!"

"WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN"

Neville shook his head when Hagrid put a cup of tea in front of each of them. "That's just low! It's hard enough for him to concentrate. I thought Draco had talked to them."

"WEASLEY IS OUR KING, WEASLEY IS OUR KING…" they heard again in between the aching of the chair Hagrid sat down at.

"There's only so much he can do," replied Harry and sipped at the hot tea. "And he's in the air looking for the Snitch. He has his own hands full." He blinked slightly when his vision suddenly got blurry for a short time and sighed. 'Damn… I must be tired…'

Neville nodded and Hermione looked at Hagrid. "So, what have you been up to that you can't tell us in public. There's no illegal dragon egg in here, is there?"

Hagrid smiled at her and chuckled. "No, there's not. Well… Dumbledore send me on a very important mission…"

…HPHPHP…

"WHAT?"

Harry winced at the volume of Hermione's voice when Hagrid had finished his story and rubbed his ears.

Hermione took a deep breath and tried to compose herself while looking at the half-giant in front of them. "Hagrid… you… there's… there's a GIANT IN THE FOREST?" her voice had taken on a slight hysterical edge now.

Hagrid nodded cheerfully. "Yep. Grawp's his name. Good guy he is."

"But… but…" stammered Hermione at a loss for words and Harry took pity on his girlfriend now.

"Hagrid. Not that I really mind, but why did you bring a giant to Hogwarts?" he tittled his head. "That sure is a bit risky, don't you think? What if a student is attacked by… Grawp?"

"He'd never, na!" argued Hagrid back and gulped down tea from his massive cup. "He's a good guy and… he jus' has to learn some rules an' our language. He wouldn't even hurt a fly. No, he wouldn't!"

Neville leaned over to Harry when Hagrid stood up to refill his teacup and whispered in a slightly shaky voice. "When what you've told me is true, then he said the same thing about those Acromantulas in the forest. That… doesn't sound really safe."

Harry nodded slowly and when he caught Hermione's eye he sighed and looked at Hagrid, before looking back to his two friends. "I'm not worried about… Grawp. I'm worried what happens if Umbridge catches wind of it. If she discovers that Hagrid brought a giant on Hogwarts grounds, I'm afraid she'll have a very good reason to send him to Azkaban."

"Hagrid?" asked Hermione then. "But why did you bring the giant then?"

Hagrid took a deep breath and once again sat down on the aching chair. He shook his head. "Couldn't leave him there, no. He's small. Too small to have a good life with the giants. He was always bullied. When Olympe and I went there –"

Harry nearly chocked on his tea and stared at Hagrid. "O-olympe? You don't mean… the director of Beauxbatons, do you? Madame Maxime?"

Hagrid smiled wistfully and the three of them looked at each other with slight grins on their faces. Hagrid coughed embarrased and looked out of the small window. "Well, we were there to make an alliance with the giants. Olympe's one of those who immeadietly voluntered to come with me, ye know. "

"Did it work?" asked Hermione immeadietly. "The alliance, I mean?"

Hagrid shrugged and waved his hand in front of him. Just now Harry saw, that they were coverd in some angry looking bruises He frowned, but held back a comment. "Not really sure. We gave 'em some gifts. Showed 'em some magic mostly. They like magic, ye know, just not when it's used against 'em. The first day we gave 'em a branch of Gubraithian fire."

"Where'd you get everlasting fire?" asked Neville awed before Hermione could even open her mouth.

"Dumbledore gave it to us. But anyway, didn't go very well after that. There was a fight between 'em and suddenly they'd a new leader. Gurg, they call him. S'name was Golgomath. Wouldn't listen the one an'after two days we knew why. Cause we weren't alone there then."

Harry's face grew dark. "Death Eaters, no doubt."

With a nod Hagrid once again looked out of the window while shifting slightly on his chair. Harry carefully eyed him and noticed that not only his hands must be bruised, but maybe he had some broken rips as well. He had never seen the half-giant move so carefully. "It looks like some of the giants were against you taking Grawp with you."

"Right," answered Hagrid "Gave me some nasty wounds. But I saw Grawp there an'… I immeadietly knew who he was. He… well… he's my brother."

Neville nearly fell off his chair and while regaining his balance stepped on Fang's paw. The dog howled and as fast as lightning disappeared under the giant bed in the corner, where you could hear him whimpering slightly.

"B- b-brother?" he asked with wide eyes and threw an apologetic look to the direction of the bed. "Are you serious?"

"Half-brother," confirmed Hagrid, stood up once more and turned his back to them. He slipped out of his furry coat and now they all could clearly see some really nasty cuts and bruises on Hagrid's forearms.

Hagrid suddenly took a giant piece of raw meat out of one of the drawners near his stove and Harry felt his insides grow cold when he realised what it was.

He paled

"Hagrid…" he asked quietly when the half-giant put a big bowl on the table and put the meat into it. "That's… that's dragon… dragon meat, isn't it? And dragon-blood."

Hagrid nodded cheerfully while the bowl slowly filled with the blood. "Yep. Ma'm Pomphrey said it's the best thing I can do to threat the bruises. My arms are covered in them. She said I should use the blood as an ointment."

Harry nodded when a sickening feeling grew in his stomach. He clutched his head and groaned softly when he felt his vision go blurry.

He knew, that he probably should have taken a run for it, when Fang suddenly rushed out from his hideout under the bed and pounced at the desk. At the raw meat on the desk, to be exact. The bowl with the meat immeadietly flew down and Harry jumped startled when some drops of blood made contact with his hand.

"Fang! Yeh dozy dog! Bad!"said Hagrid angrilly. "Stop it!"

Harry stared down at his hand and his eyes widened alarmed at the blood that was dripping from his fingers. He quickly stood up and grabbed a tissue from the sink. He stopped in the middle of his movement and gasped when a burning pain shoot up his arm.

"That's not good…" he hissed trough clenched theet.

Hermione, who had been looking at the meat with disgust and fascination, looked over to him when he clutched the sink and broke out in cold sweat. He tightly closed his eyes when the salty iron-scent of the dragon-blood finally hit his nose and his breathing started to grew ragged.

He felt Neville jump up behind him and asked himself, why his friends suddenly where shouting his name, when he felt the hard wooden floor under his knees.

The last thing he heard was Hermione's scream and then his vision went black.

…HPHPHP…

"… happened to him?"

Harry groaned quietly. His whole body was on fire! He clenched his teeth when a soaring pain shoot trough his arm and then trough his whole body and he felt the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead tingle slightly. He had to keep himself from crying out, before the pain subdued to a bearable level. He once more heard a voice.

"… told you long ago, Sir. He suddenly broke down. We brought him here as fast as we could." 'Yes, that is definitly Neville's voice,' noted Harry with his not-so-aware brain.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I'm afraid, I have no answer for that," he heard another voice. He was sure, that this was Madam Pomphrey and groaned again. "Maybe Professor Edison knows something, but I believe he's in the Ministry at the moment."

So he was in the hospital wing. If his body hadn't hurt so much at the moment, he would have laughed. And he had hoped that he wouldn't need to go here this year. But obviously he wasn't able to break the tradition…

"I suggest we first try to find out the cause of his sudden collapse," replied a silky voice and Harry decided it was time and turned his head over to the noise.

"What do you think have I been doing for the last hours?" asked Madam Pomphrey and sounded slightly offended.

"Probably fussing over me…" Harry muttered softly. He opened his eyes and gasped, before closing them quickly when another wave of pain rushed over him. With a shaky breath he settled himself on his elbows.

"HARRY!" he heard a voice, that definitly belonged to Hermione. Then he heard hurried footsteps. "You're finally awake!"

He hissed when he willed his body to cooperate and forced himself in a sitting position. Without the wall behind him, he was sure that he would've fallen down immeadietly.

"Mr. Potter," said Madam Pomphrey and he heard hurried footsteps rushing over to him.

He carefully blinked and this time no wave of pain hit him. Just a soft stinging. Suddenly a warm hand gently curled around his cold fingers and he slowly looked at Hermione, who stared back at him with worry.

"Hey, Mione," he said. His voice was raspy and he couldn't even tell that it belonged to him. He coughed when he noted that his troath was dry and raw. He wondered idly how long he had been unconsicious.

"How are you feeling?" asked Hermione in a shaky voice, her eyes never leaving his face, when Madam Pomphrey also appeared beside his bed, carrying a tray with phials of potions on it.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath when another wave of pain shot trough him. "To be honest… like I'm burning from the inside out."

Madam Pomphrey, immeadietly all business, started to feel his temperature and waved her wand over him. "Can you describe it more precisley? I'm afraid I'm not able to detect what's wrong with you. In all my years as a healer I haven't seen something like that."

Harry blinked. "Well…"

"You have a fever…" he heard Madam Pomphrey mumur.

He felt Hermione's grip tighten and looked at her. She had tears in her eyes and shook her head frantically. "It was horrible! You… you collapsed in Hagrid's hut and at first you didn't move. We didn't even see if you were breathing."

Harry nodded. "That's… that's- ugh!" he clenched his fists and started to curse quietly under hi breath until the pain disappeared. After that he looked back to his girlfriend.

Hermione sniffled and grapped his hand a little tighter. "Then… then you started screaming… and… and trashing around… you… you seemed to be in so much pain… I… we thought that maybe it were nightmares and Madam Pomphrey gave you dreamless sleep potion. B-but… it didn't stop. She gave you pain-killers, but still…"

"We even tried a bezoar," said Neville and Harry jumped slightly when he noticed the boy standing at the end of his bed. "Professor Snape brew a lot of potions, but nothing seemed to work. You didn't stop screaming. Even Dumbledore was at a loss."

The still slightly chubby boy, who visibly was gaining more muscles and less fat every day smiled at him. "I'm glad you're awake. We were worried."

Harry coughed again. "That's probably why my throat feels so raw," he rasped out and sighed relieved when Madam Pomphrey held a glas of water in front of him.

"Potter," greeted another voice and Harry merely smiled slightly before drinking the water in large gulps. Snape came trough the door, his robes as always billowing behind him and handed Madam Pomphrey another potions vial. He regarded Harry with an annoyed gaze, but Harry could detect a slight worry behind those eyes. "Would you mind explaning what is going on?"

"It's because-" He stopped when Madam Pomphrey held a vial under his nose and he sighed ruefully. "What's this?" he asked and eyed the liquid carefully. He could swear he knew the potion, but he couldn't put a name to it.

"It'll bring the fever down," she answered. "Your temperature is really high."

He took it and carefully drank a little bit. Then he stopped when his hand started to shake. He slowly closed his eyes.

"Damn…" he whispered and the vial fell to the floor where it shattered. "Bring… bring Nick here." He hissed when the pain returned a thousand times stronger than before and his whole body tensed. "What… this potion… what… what's it called?"

Madam Popmhrey was at a loss for words when he once more broke out in cold sweat and she looked at Snape. "It was a simple Aestus-Potion, wasn't it?"

The potions master nodded and Harry with all his power now forced back the scream that wanted to tear his way out of his troath and just gasped while falling forward, clutching his head, which was spinning. He felt as if acid was being pumped into his blood-stream. Slowly burning him with every beat of his heart.

All his senses were on fire and his fingernails dug deeply into his palms. His eyes clenched shut he registered that more persons had hurried into the room. "Nick…" he bit out. He heard a sob, some hurridly called instructions and felt Hermione's arms around his neck when he wasn't able to sit up any longer.

He clenched his teeth… and then his world once again went black.

…HPHPHP…

"I hate it…" mumured Harry groggily and sat up, looking at the white ceiling of the hospital wing once more. He was able to discribe every single scratch on it now. Then he looked out of the window. The sky was dark. "I bloody hate it!"

"HARRY!" he heard several voices at once and blinked when the sense of deja-vu hit him, before his vision was engulfed by a mass of soft brown curls and he found himself holding Hermione in his arms.

"Hey… I'm alright, Mione," he said softly when Hermione didn't make any move to let him go.

"Don't scare us like that, mate!"

Harry's vision was cleared when Hermione moved slightly to the side and he looked at Ron, who was standing next to Draco and Neville. Draco had an angry expression on his face, while the others just looked relieved.

"What's gotten into you?" asked the blond loudly. "What were you thinking?"

"What's all the commotion about?" asked Madame Pomphrey and came bustling into the room. "Oh, Mr. Potter! You're awake. Wait a moment, I will immeadietly inform the others."

Harry blinked. "Um… how many people know that I collapsed?"

Hermione who was still clinging onto him like he was a life-line, now sat down on the chair by his bed. "Dumbledore knows, of course, Snape knows and Nicolas was the one who was able to stop your pain."

"How long was I out for?" asked Harry now and streched his muscles, he grimaced when he noticed that the pain was still there. If only to a lesser decree.

"More than two days in total. It's nine o'clock in the evening. Monday evening."

"Yeah mate!" said Ron. "Our match was on Saturday. But hell! The game took ages. We finished shortly before dinner. Then suddenly Neville came rushing into the great hall and told us you collapsed. Why the hell anyway?"

"Who won?" he asked and Ron grimaced.

"Slytherin by ten points. Draco caught the Snitch just before Angelina made a goal."

Harry nodded and they stayed silent for a short while. He thought he could nearly feel Draco's anger and smiled sheepishly at the blond. The other's seemed to notice the blonds mood now too and looked at him questionally.

"You knew what happened the last time and yet you still went near dragon-blood," said a calm voice from the door and Harry looked at Nicolas, who was coming in now, followed by Dumbledore and Snape.

Harry sighed. "How could I've guessed that Hagrid has a giant piece of raw dragon-meat in his hut? I've never intended to touch the blood, but Fang threw the bowl off of the table."

Hermione, Ron and Neville looked at him puzzled and then to Nicolas.

"What does it have to do with the dragon-blood?" asked Neville finally.

"You see, I'm probably the only person who'll never get to try out some of the twelve uses of dragon blood bare-handed," replied Harry. "Heck, I won't even use it as an oven-cleaner."

"I don't understand…" said Hermione and Draco sighed exasperated.

"We noticed it while we were training with Nick. Harry has something like a strong allergy against dragon blood, to put it mildly. That's why he collapsed. It's because… erm…"

Nicolas smiled slightly and turned his head in the direction of Snape and Pomphrey. "When the blood touches his skin it acts like acid." The Alchemist gently grabbed Harry's right hand – the hand were the dragon-blood had touched his skin – and examined the flawless skin. "You can't see a thing, but once it enters his bloodstream it forcefully burns away the magic in his system. Therefore the pain. The fever he had was also due to that, because his body tried to get rid of the dragon-blood."

"But he was working with dragon-blood in my lessons more often than I can count," said Snape thoghtfully. "Something like this never occurred."

Harry smirked. "Gloves. I always wore gloves, so I never came in direct contact with the blood. Normally even the scent of dragon-blood makes my head spin, but I guess in the potions-lessons I didn't notice it because of all the other smells."

"But really," said Ron baffled. "It wasn't that much of blood. How can it make so much damage?"

Hermione huffed. "Honeslty, Ronald! We're studying various dark creatures in our training. How can you not know?" Ron shrugged helplessly and Harry snickered softly at the redheads misfortune. "Dragon-blood is one of the strongest magical substances and therefore in raw form extremly potent. There are twelve uses for it and every single one can be dangerous if not done correctly. But… the most negative effect I've read about was that a wizard from India wanted to cast a simple Incendio and blew up his house in the process, because his magic was disturbed."

"Yeah," nodded Draco when Nicolas send Hermione an amused and approving look. "That may be true, but Harry really seems to be the exeption." He threw Harry a pointed look. "It's the second time that he collapsed now. Charlie Weasley once contacted us when we were training with Nick. He said an old Peruvian Vipertooth had died in the dragon reserve. We told him before who we were looking for and he asked if we wanted to have some potions ingredients. Harry came in contact with the dragon's blood after Nick had told him to extract some vials. His reaction however was stronger this time."

Snape's eyes now widened and he looked at Harry in disbelief and anger. "You foolish boy! You could have told us. That's why you collapsed again after we gave you the Aestus-Potion. The main ingredient of it is dragon-blood! Merlin am I happy that Draco didn't try to hide that he had the same problem with basilisk-blood…"

Harry nodded sheepishly. "I know… I noticed it too late. I guess I still wasn't really awake then."

"Draco has a reaction like that too?" asked Hermione the potions master and he nodded.

"Indeed. It was I who discovered his 'allergy' to basilisk-blood. I tutored him in potions before Hogwarts and we used it as an ingredient once. It too wasn't pretty but by no means this bad."

"Is it just possible to get such a strong reaction with the blood of dark magical beasts?" asked Ron suddenly.

Now Nicolas and Snape looked at each other with a frown. "It's… highly possible that this is the case…" answered Nicolas slowly. "Now that you mention it. But we would've to run some tests to answer your question."

He looked at Snape when he said that and Harry knew that the Alchemist and the Potions Master had a project to work on for the next time.

Harry now looked at Dumbledore, who had stayed strangely silent all the time and frowned at the thoughtfull and worried look on the headmasters face. "Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled gently, but his face was serious once again shortly after that. "Harry, my boy. I'm glad that you are better. However… I must ask you one very important question. Have you lowered your Occlumency shields?"

Harry's eyes widened and he groaned when he leaned back into his pillow. "Not again… it's like the last time… I didn't lower them. They broke down."

"This happened before?" asked Dumbledore alarmed. "Your mind is wide open at the moment."

Harry nodded and drove a hand trough his messy hair. He answered thrutfully, but not before sending the headmaster a chiding look for probbing around in his mind: "After the first time I came in contact with dragon-blood I wasn't able to raise my shields for two weeks. Normally my shields are unbreakable, just like the shields of a phoenix' mind are unbreakable, but a shield can only be unbreakable when it's up, can't it?"

Dumbledore looked at his old friend and Nicolas nodded slightly. "His shields are hold up by magic, but his magic is disturbed at the moment. He certainly will be able to do spells normally, but the full control over it that is necessary to raise his shields disappeared. He'll have to work to perfect his control again. After that he won't have any trouble to raise his shields again."

"This most definitly is the strongest negative reaction to dragon-blood I have ever come across," stated Dumbledore and Harry noted that his voice was slightly troubbled. "How long do you think your shields will be inactive?"

Harry shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Like I said, the last time it were two weeks. I hope it's no longer than that…" with a yawn he adjusted his pillow to be more comfortable.

Madam Pomphrey pursed her lips. "Are we finished now? He's still my patient and he needs rest."

Dumbledore nodded. "I believe so, Poppy. But alas… Miss Granger?"

Hermione looked at the headmaster questiongly. "Yes, Professor?"

"Do I have to tell Fillius, that his prefect is sleeping once again in the hospital wing and that he doesn't need to worry? He looked for you yesterday because apparently you had patrol, but he couldn't find you."

Hermione blushed when she met Harry's gaze and bit her lip. "Um… if Harry doesn't mind… I'd like to spent the night here…"

He smiled gently at her. "Of course I don't mind."

She beamed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Dumbledore chuckled. "I believe I have my answer. Well then… good night you all. Get well, Harry."

With that the headmaster disappeared and Harry sighed. After his question if he had lowered his shields, the headmaster hadn't looked him in the eyes. Just like in the holidays. The others slowly wished him a good night too and Madam Pomphrey waved her wand over the bed next to Harry's, so that Hermione could sleep in it and then disappeared into her quarters. Harry stayed silent and when he looked up he saw that only he, Hermione and Nicolas were still in the room.

"So, Harry," asked Nicolas and Harry sighed. "How are you really feeling?"

"Like a herd of hypogriffs stomped over me," he answered truthfully. "I still feel like my whole body is burning, but it's not that bad. My vision is slightly blurry and I have a headache. Otherwise I'm fine."

Hermione gasped and Nicolas snorted. "That I noticed." He held a hand against Harry's forehead and nodded to himself. "You still have a slight fever, but I guess you'll be completely fine the day after tomorrow, if not sooner." He took a vial with a deep red substance out of his cloak and put it on his desk. "I leave it here. Drink it tomorrow before breakfast. And try not to come in contact with dragon-blood again. I don't have that much of the Elexir."

"But Harry, why didn't you tell Madam Pomphrey?" asked Hermione in a whisper after Nicolas had bid them a good night.

"Because she'd have fussed over me like always," he answered and nodded over to the vial. "The other reason is, that only Nick's able to help me. He's the only one who has an antidote to my so-called allergy."

Hermione examined the vial closely in the now dim light of the hospital wing. "What's that for a potion? Is it really the only one that helps?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, it is. Don't ask me why, but Nick told me it was the only thing that worked after I collapsed for the first time." He smiled slightly. "And… what could it be that only Nicolas Flamel has?"

Hermione looked at him and then her eyes widened. She once more sat down on his bed and shook her head in disbelief. "You… only… the only antidote for this is… the Elixir of Life?"

"Apparently," answered Harry and encircled her waist with his arms to pull her closer. "It is unusual that only the Elixir helps, but it won't have any other effects than curing me, because I'm not dependant on it."

Hermione sighed and snuggled into his chest. "Why didn't you tell me? You… you could've died, am I right?"

Harry shook his head ans carrassed her cheek. "No… I couldn't have. There'd have to be much more dragon-blood to actually kill me. Nick said it probably could happen, if I would drink a vial of pure dragon-blood, or be thrown into a pool. But urgh… no thanks."

They sat in silence for a while and just enjoyed the company of each other. After five minutes Hermione yawned and Harry had to grin.

"You don't plan on using that other bed, do you?" he asked.

Hermione snuggled closer and shook her head when Harry threw the blanked over both of them. "Not if I don't have to."

That was it. I hope you liked it. Don't forget the Reviews!

Don't forget to send me a message if you are willing to be my beta.

Dark Phoenix of Slytherin