Author's note: Next chapter. It took a while for me to write. But I did my best. Hope you all enjoy it!
Maesde: Thank you. I just had this idea that Draco should talk to Harry. Glad that you liked it.
Legionary Prime: Yes, I looked up the video and it's amazing. I'm definitely going to use that. You actually solved my problem. Thank you!
101FrozenFire101: Thank you. Actually, the shield thing, I read something similar to this a couple of days ago and tried to modify it and I came up with this. I'm glad that you liked it. I read a lot of Draco/Hermione and Harry/Ginny fanfics to keep writing. Perhaps you can recommend some Draco/Hermione?
hptrump: Thank you for reviewing. Glad that you are enjoying the story.
CookieMonstaGirl: Yes, because I looked your work and thought it would be useful to have your review. Thank you!
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They all unknowingly and surprisingly met on the seventh floor corridor. Everyone's eyebrows rose in surprise and after exchanging a few pleasantries and nod in case of Slytherins they headed towards the Room Of Requirement. It was late on Saturday night and they all had planned to stay the night there. There was so much yet to be done; many lessons and study to research and strategies to plan. They knew the school wasn't that much protected with Dumbledore gone, therefore Harry had taken it upon himself not to ignore it.
"Where's Potter?" Draco asked politely. After his much normal talk with him, he grew to show some respect towards him.
"He said he would meet us directly in the room." Hermione answered walking beside him. She gave him a shy smile and he winked at her in return.
"So Weasley, how are you holding up with Brown? The last I heard Theo helped you send a letter to her and it ended up with the wrong Lavender instead." Blaise smirked at his own words and faced a much redder Ron who tried desperately to avert his eyes.
"What?" Hermione and Ginny shrieked together.
"It was rather….hilarious." Blaise said, glancing at Theo and Ron in turn.
"It was a perfect plan." Theo said, rushing forward to keep pace with Blaise, "…until Ron messed up." He looked at Ron with accusing eyes.
"I didn't mess up…" Ron started but Theo cut in,
"How can you be so sure of that?"
"Because there was nothing to mess up with." Ron said, turning even redder.
"Then how the hell did that blasted owl land up with that Ravenclaw Lavender? My plan was perfect." Theo said, slowing his pace and falling in line with Ron.
"How would I know? All I…"
"Oh! Just stop it, will you guys?" Draco hissed angrily. "You…" he said pointing at Ron, "…are just incapable of asking a girl out and you…" he then pointed at Theo, "….are just filled with rotten plans and strategies to the point that they smell."
Hermione and Ginny burst out laughing at Theo's expression. Blaise joined in when he couldn't control any longer, Neville and Luna had already joined Hermione and Ginny in the laugh. A smile twitched on Draco lips but he controlled for the effect of his words.
They had reached the door which had materialized in front of them and Draco turned the knob of the door. He walked in first and stopped dead in his tracks, shocked by what he saw in there. The others collided against him unceremoniously, as he got pushed inside the room gracelessly.
"What the hell Draco?" Daphne said, straightening up and brushing her robe.
"Can't you tell Malfoy and you are just…whoa!" he said as his eyes followed to where Draco's eyes were trained unblinkingly.
They all turned to stare where the two boys were staring and their eyes almost popped out of their sockets at what they saw. Ginny trembled and clutched on to Hermione who gripped Daphne by her arm. Daphne held on to Hermione for support while the boys stood transfixed, like rooted to the spot. If fire would have engulfed Hogwarts still the nine teens standing in the doorway wouldn't have noticed. The door of the room shut with a loud bang and the teens were brought out of there daze.
A large lion made of fire stood before them, circling Harry. He was shirtless with faint burn marks on his torso and shoulders. The fire rushed around the lion, making faint gushing sound. The heat of the fire that radiated off the lion was enough for the school to burn down to ashes but surprisingly it did not. The fire stayed in control, swaying freely around the lion. The muscles made of fire were rippling beneath the lion, its golden mane; a ring of fire burned around its face. The fiercer eyes, quite having the potential to crush anyone who came within its sight, held a strength that coiled like a spring in them. The most remarkable were its teeth, long and pointed, made of fire which gave it the appearance of blood coated on them, likely of the last victim it had just hunted and enjoyed.
It gave a loud roar, the kind which sends shiver down your spine, the one which makes you cover behind a table with your hands over your head, and the one which even makes the bravest of brave…a coward. Yet, Harry stood where he was. His eyes never left the huge animal in front of him. Their eyes were locked with one another. Harry squared his shoulders and stood up even straighter like trying to intimidate it but the animal imitated Harry and tried intimidating Harry by standing on his all fours and leaning forward, fire leaping out of its nostrils and towards Harry.
As the fire reached Harry, Ginny broke out of her trance and shouted, "HARRY." Her voice was like a desperate plea for help and Harry immediately looked over at his audience. He was caught off guard and the lion took advantage of Harry's distraction. It roared and stood on its hinges before leaping at Harry. Its head collided with Harry's front and passed right through him and the huge lion disappeared into thin air.
Ginny would have collapsed if Luna wouldn't have caught her. She stumbled with the sudden weight of Ginny and collided against Neville's chest who immediately caught the two girls from falling on him. Luna turned and gave Neville a grateful smile before helping Ginny into a standing position. She ran at Harry with top speed, as if her life depended on it. She threw her arms around him and cried into his shoulder all the while muttering things like, idiot…git…trying to suicide…
The others slowly made their way to Harry who had his arms around Ginny. He patted her back and untangled her from around his neck. He looked at the tears in her face and wiped them with his thumb.
"I'm fine Ginny." He said, softly; his arms never leaving the younger girl.
"What the hell was that Potter?" Blaise asked, his tone stunned and his face expressionless.
Harry looked over at them, a bit startled at their sudden appearance. He was so engrossed with Ginny that he missed them coming towards him. He took in the appearance of them. Draco's eyes were wide with surprise, Theo and Ron wore shocking expressions, Hermione was on the verge of crying, Luna smiled appreciatively at him, and Neville had an awed expression on his face.
"Well, it was just some kind of magic, you know…" he said, offering a weak explanation of what he was just doing. He combed his fingers in his hair. "…it's something that I have been studying around lately. I wanted to tell you guys, but I wanted to perfect it before I could expose it to you all."
He looked around sheepishly at them and they let a huge sigh which they hadn't realised they had been holding.
"Come here, I'll heal your injurious." Hermione said approaching the couch. They all headed toward the sitting place and took up various places to sit.
"That looked dangerous." Hermione said slowly as she healed the burn marks on his shoulder with her wand.
"It wasn't Hermione. It's a kind of magic that you can control. Nothing harmful." Harry said, wincing slightly as her wand touched an inflamed wound on his torso.
"Sorry." She said softly as she muttered another healing spell under her breath.
"It's alright." Harry said softly and smiled at her.
Draco's mind was going haywire. He still couldn't believe what he saw. He knew what it was, an ancient magic, he had read about it. Never in his life had he imagined he would get to see it. It was a different kind of magic; he knew that, he could just feel it in him. It was a kind which a normal wizard couldn't control. Only a powerful, an extremely powerful and controlled wizard could do it, his father had told him. He sensed that from the power the lion radiated off as he had stared at Harry. And Draco, in that moment realized just how much powerful Harry was. He needed to talk to him. He looked at Harry and found him staring at him already. Harry had already sensed the inner turmoil of Draco. He nodded silently at him and Draco got up from his seat and walked over to the windows.
His father had sent him a letter that day, alerting of the big night that was on Christmas Eve, and he could feel dread and fear creep in him. He was yet to reply, and he didn't know what he was going to say, Sorry father, I switched sides? Or Sorry father, I just realised that I have fallen in love and wish to live for and with it? His father would hex and curse him into next century. His mother would be accepting he knew that. Even if, Hermione was a muggle she would accept her, for Draco's sake and his happiness.
He was deep in his thoughts. He knew he was not returning home for Christmas and that would give away his intentions of not returning and joining the Dark Lord in his cruel quest of conquering the world. Maybe he would be spared of writing his reply…
"Malfoy…" Harry called out from his right. He somehow failed to notice Harry's appearance on his side.
"Potter." He gave him a small nod, an acknowledging one.
"What is it?" Harry said, staring ahead of him. Draco's eyes never left Harry.
"What you were just doing…" he started but Harry cut him off.
"Yes, it's an ancient magic Malfoy and I know you recognized it. I could see it on your face, you knew what it was." Harry was now looking at Draco with curiosity. He wanted to know how Draco knew about it.
"My father told me about it." he said slowly, almost in a whisper and he saw Harry tense at the mere mention of his father.
"You lied to Hermione. It's dangerous and definitely harmful." Draco continued.
"I had to. She's always the caring one." Harry looked back over his shoulder and at Hermione. Draco followed his gaze and his Hermione was in the middle of a chasing game with Ginny. He smiled his Hermione. He liked how that sounded, possessive….very possessive.
"I couldn't tell her. She would never let me do it then." Harry smiled at his own words. All these years of their trio's friendship…it was just something he was proud of. He had seen many friendships breaking and never healing back and he was just glad that he's was the only one that had stayed intact over the years.
"Who taught you?" Curiosity was now getting better of him.
"No one. I learnt it on my own." Harry said casually as if he had completed his Charms homework without Hermione's help.
Whatever it was Draco wasn't ready for this answer. He learnt it on his own? It was impossible. It's just not possible…it caught him off guard. He remembered his father telling him that it's not possible; it's dangerous and requires a lot of energy. And Harry had learnt it on his own without any help was just…he couldn't get any word that couldn't describe what he felt…maybe awed?
It was an ancient one…very ancient. In fact the last person to do that was in fact Godric Gryffindor himself. That is why the symbol of Gryffindor was a lion. All the other founders had similar powers. Slytherin could create a snake like the lion, Rowena – an eagle and Helga –a badger. The magic of that intensity and strength was never seen again. In fact many of Godric's descendants had tried it. The most anyone was ever able to achieve was a faint whip of fire which he wasn't able to control and that had left him dead….burnt from head to foot.
"How?" Draco spluttered recovering from the shock.
"I don't know." Harry said sincerely. "I did research on that a little but I didn't find any, partly because there wasn't really anyone who could do it and Godric didn't leave any records behind. I personally went through all the books related to this in the library and in 'the Restricted Section' but there isn't anything in them too." Harry stopped and when Draco was sure Harry wouldn't speak he asked,
"And the other?"
"Well, I'm not sure what it is but…I think I have some extra magic, I mean it's incredibly difficult to learn wandless magic and yet it came to me like its second nature to me. And it's been so difficult for others to grasp, a simple concept which took me a minute to understand, it took them hours to learn. It's bizarre, I really don't understand it."
Draco was actually shocked. He hadn't hoped for Harry to open up to so much not with the obvious enmity they had between them, like the past never happened.
"How can you trust me so much?" Draco asked before he could comprehend what he was going to say.
"Because you mean no harm Malfoy." Harry said immediately as if he had known the answer all along.
"No, I mean how can you be so sure?" Draco still didn't understand how Harry could trust him so easily, especially when he knew who his father was.
"Dumbledore isn't mental to tell that love is the only thing which will ultimately save us you know." Harry said in a whisper, this thoughts far away to his old mentor.
"I don't get…" Draco started but Harry answered him again before he could finish.
"Love saved you Malfoy from turning over to the Dark Side."
When Draco still gave him a confused look he let out a sigh and Draco felt like a stupid child who couldn't grasp on the spelling of a simple word as 'Apple.'
"Your love for Hermione saved you from the Dark side Malfoy, that it what it all comes to in the end. Love and Dumbledore isn't really mental to say that."
That had Draco thinking. He knew Harry was right yet again. It was truly his love for Hermione that had saved him. He knew fairly well that if he hadn't loved her he would have been very proudly replying to his father saying how much eager he was to serve the Dark Lord.
"You told her?" Harry asked bringing Draco back from his reverie.
"What?" Draco asked momentarily confused by what Harry asked.
"That you love her." he said rolling his eyes.
"No." Draco said, turning away from him.
"Then you should. Because others are not going to wait for long you know." Harry didn't know why he said that to Draco, but it was true. Since they had returned to Hogwarts he had seen many boys were staring at her and she had been the topic of discussion behind closed doors of the boys dorm as well.
"WHAT?" he said almost too loudly but hushed up when he got stared.
Harry chuckled. "Yes, she's been quite a topic of discussion since she wore those jeans to the station instead of robes."
Draco instantly felt jealously bile inside him. He hadn't seen her on the station that meant he missed which something the other boys got to see and that made him even angrier.
"Tell her…she is waiting." Harry said slowly. A few years ago Harry would have sliced his tongue off then to tell Draco this but at that moment it felt right and Harry couldn't think of anyone more perfect than Malfoy even if it made him a little uneasy.
Harry turned to leave and suddenly Draco felt like he owed Harry something. "Potter." He said and Harry stopped and turned to stare at Draco.
"I…I think I can help you." He said, his voice sounding unsure.
"With what?" it was Harry's turn to sound confused.
Draco rolled his eyes at him. "With your powers thing you know."
"How?" Harry asked curiously, he was desperate for answers.
"I'm not sure how but I think the 'Restricted Section can help us." He was not sure himself but he wanted to help.
"I tried the entire library. There isn't anything."
"No, maybe if we search for something else related to your powers, I mean like what makes you stronger than others, then maybe you'll find some answers."
Harry realised he hadn't done that. He had only researched the fire thing and stuff related to that. Maybe Draco could be right. Maybe the fire could be related to his powers. Maybe he hadn't looked for the right thing. He let out a small sign as he realised he had researched the wrong thing the entire time.
"Well I think you are right. I just looked up things related to fire and not what made wizards truly powerful. So I guess the…"
Harry couldn't finish the sentence. A loud crash was heard and Harry and Draco whipped out their wand turning back at the room. The couch was turned over, books were spread around the room carelessly and Theo, Ginny, Neville and Hermione were panting heavily. The chasing game between Hermione and Ginny had somehow managed to include Theo and Neville as well.
Hermione's feet were tangled between Draco's bag, from which all of his books had sprawled out on the floor. Hermione bent down to gather his things. She collected his books and put them in his bag, she turned to collect a book on her right when a piece of parchment caught her attention.
Hermione's heart raced as she realized what the piece of parchment was. She lifted it from the ground and stood up. She had held that familiar parchment in her hand twice before and she knew perfectly well what it was. Before Draco could stop her, she opened and read the letter and tears welled up in her eyes.
-xxxxxxx-
Done! I just finished writing the next chapter and it's got me all excited. Spoiler - The next chapter has Harry/Ginny moment!
Hope you all enjoyed it! I can't wait to post the next chapter.
Review!