My Dear Volaticus
by kittenvks
Disclaimer: I own nothing
warnings: HPDM, slash, yaoi, homosexuality. Don't like it? Don't read it. Flamers to the left.
Chapter Four: A Late Night Dinner
Draco awoke to his stomach growling and a strange sensation that he was being watched, or touched recently. Checking a delicate looking watch on his wrist Draco scowled, he'd slept right through dinner, which was over an hour ago. Madame Pomphrey was bustling about nearby and apparently bringing him some potions and a food tray. Draco sniffed the air gently, picking up the delicious smells of roast chicken and pasta and breads and... soup. She had brought him soup, again. Scowling at the tray, Draco placed it on the bedside table. As he pulled his arm back he brushed something, causing him to start because clearly- there was nothing there to touch. He sniffed the air again lightly, he could still smell chicken...and other wonderful foods.
"Draco, do try to eat something. Don't forget to take your potions. I'm retiring for the night," Madame Pomphrey said, placing a bell on his table. Draco distinctly heard an out of place swish of fabric as she did so and he stared into the emptiness, nodding at whatever it was the old woman was saying. "...if you need me. Goodnight." he heard, turning to her he nodded appreciatively,
"Goodnight, Madame Pomphrey, thank you," he said and continued to watch her till she was gone. Turning back into the emptiness and readying... something... at his fingertips Draco scowled, "alright, who's there?"
"Shhh, Malfoy, wait till her light goes out," came the hushed whisper from the emptiness. Draco immediately recognized the voice. Harry Potter. Though he chose not to say anything as he suspected the other boy had food. Sure enough, as soon as the light under Madame Pomphrey's door went out, Harry Potter emerged from under an invisibilty cloak, a tray of food in his hands. Draco wasted no time taking the tray and beginning to eat, only occasionally stopping to scowl at the soup and potions. Harry flopped down in the same place he was always in, watching him.
"Good?" he asked, gesturing toward the food. Draco nodded,
"yes, Potter, thank you. I was bloody starving."
"I saw your father leaving this evening, didn't look as though he was coming back. Anything new?" Harry asked, leaning forward. Draco stopped eating, looking down at his food for a moment and then at Harry.
"Nothing I should talk about, okay?" he replied, turning back to his food. Harry seemed to think a moment before nodding.
"That's understandable. What about being friends? Anything new on that?" he asked. Draco frowned, slowly chewing his food as he mulled the idea over. Two seperate parts of him conflicted, one saying that they could be friends- he had, afterall offered before. On the otherhand, the quieter voice, told him that they were rivals and would always remain as such. Then, a third voice entered, his fathers- 'Follow your instincts son, always, the Volaticus in you will not betray you'. Both of the other "voices" seemed to disappear at that, accepting like the rest of Draco, that Lucius' word was law. Because it was.
"Sure, Harry, we can be friends. Though we'll just be Draco and Harry, no more of this surname stuff. I'll be nice to the Granger girl, and I'll attempt to at least be... civil... with the Weasley. Unless he starts it, then I will finish it. No more Ferret stuff either." Draco said, again, reaching his hand out in friendship again. This time though, Harry took it, shaking it firmly and grinning. Draco did not grin, Malfoys didn't act as such.
"Oh, Draco, I forgot to tell you- Dumbledore called off classes due to several more of those... things... the ones that attacked you..."
"Kobaloi, what about them?"
"Hagrid discovered several others lurking around the Black Lake earlier. They seemed to be searching for something. Hagrid thinks they're looking for the other two that your father and I dealt with." Harry replied, "since they could pose a danger we're ordered to stay inside until they're gone. So many classes are held outside out of necessity that it just seemed smart to cancel them for the week." Harry said, glancing around at the window briefly. Draco shivered and reminded his wings to stay put, it was not time for a fight or flying. He would be safe in the castle... right? He paled visibly, looking suspiciously at the window himself. His father was gone and he knew it, some deep seated instinct told him to be worried about that, that his fathers glorious and frightening wings were not there to shield him. Did he even need his father's wings or could he defend himself, was that what his father had meant about instinct? Harry seemed to have picked up on his fear and was watching him curiously, bringing him back to reality and out of his own head.
"You okay? They're looking for you aren't they, Draco?" he asked, drawing his wand cautiously and glancing around the room.
"They are." Draco said, his steely Malfoy mask put back in place. He glanced around for his wand, he hadn't seen it since he'd first been put in the Infirmary, "have you seen my wand?" he asked, changing the subject a bit.
"It wasn't with you, I imagine it's out by the forest or something..." Harry seemed thoughtful before flicking his wand, "Accio Draco Malfoy's wand!" Both boys looked around expectantly but nothing happened.
"Must be too far away for that to work," Draco said, sighing and laying back.
"Well, Hermione did say that the...Kobaloi, were nocturnal creatures. She said they weren't likely to attack a wizard at all, and even less likely in broad daylight. So, tomorrow, I'll see if I can go look for it."
"No!" Draco hissed quickly, startling Harry a bit. Draco felt the muscles in his back stretch, his wings wanting to unfurl. So he sat back, closing his eyes and desperately trying to calm down- willing them to stillness. It worked.
"Draco, look, I'll get a teachers permission, okay? Why are they looking for you?"
"I didn't say they were." Draco replied cooly, reaching for a scone. He really loved scones.
"You didn't have to say it," Harry said, snatching another scone from the tray, "I can tell. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. But, I'm just going to find out eventually. I can try to help you, if you want." He was trying to convince Draco to tell him and the blonde vaguely registered, somewhere in the back of his mind, that it was a very Slytherin gesture- a bribe of sorts. Two could play at that game,
"They're hunting me, Harry, that's all I know, okay?" he lied, lifting his head in defiance.
"Well, then we'll just have to keep an eye out for them," Harry said, standing, "I'll have Hermione look up effective spells on them. Though your father seemed very adept at handling them."
"He's very adept at every thing he does," Draco said confidently, "a Malfoy is good in all that he decides to do."
"You sound like you're reciting from a book," Harry said, laughing. Draco shrugged, taking another bite of chicken,
"you know, the Kobaloi can be very dangerous. I wouldn't be here if they weren't," he said after a moment, looking around the infirmary. Harry was walking to the window next to Draco's bed, leaning against the sill.
"I'm not scared," he said bravely.
"You're Gryffindor is showing," Draco said, a smirk plastered on his face. Harry shrugged, gazing over the grounds,
"they're kinda like Bogarts I think, and I can handle those..."
"Stop it." Draco said in a very commanding voice that Harry wondered if he'd picked up from Lucius, "you'll not be killing yourself because of me. Nor will you be going after my wand. I will fetch it when Father returns, and there will be no problems."
"Draco," Harry said, moving back to the bed, "you might need it if they get in. What if they do? Before Lucius gets back? What then? What if I'm not around, what if you're by yourself?"
"Stop trying to con me," Draco snapped, refusing to be afraid. His wings would protect him. His father would be back in a week. "I can handle it."
"You're really stubborn you know that?" Harry retorted, drawing himself up to stand straight in anger, "I'm not about to let some... some *thing* come in here and hurt *anybody*. I don't think so."
"That's the teacher's job, not yours!"
"Whatever, I'm not going to listen to this. It's almost curfew. I'm going to go back to my dorms. I'll be back in the morning with breakfast," Harry said, scowling as he moved toward the door. Stopping, he seemed to think a moment before returning to the bed. He pulled the cloak out from under his robes, stuffing it under Draco's pillow.
"You don't have to-"
"I want it back, when your father comes back." Harry cut him off, "it's just in case, okay?" Then nodding to himself he left. Draco scowled after him, stubborn stupid Gryffindor. He hoped he wouldn't get back in time and get detention from Filch for being so stupid.
However, Harry did not get detention, he returned to the common room, in one piece and still slightly irritated with Draco. Hermione and Ron were waiting for him by the fire, Hermione reading a book and Ron trying to draw chatting amicably with her. She raised her eyes only briefly to look at Harry when he came in,
"how is he?" she asked.
"How did you know?" Harry replied, flopping down into an over stuffed chair. Ron held up the Marauder's Map, wiggling his eyebrows at Harry. Setting it down, he touched his wand to it and whispered,
"Mischief Managed."
Harry rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Stubborn, that's how he's doing. Being a stubborn *prat*."
"So, he's returned to normal then?" Ron asked, grinning. Harry snickered, shaking his head.
"I suppose so. He did take our offer up on friendship though, so we're expected to behave and get along. He said the Kobaloi things are hunting him and that was all he knew, but... I think he wasn't telling me everything."
"You can't expect him to, Harry, he's just now decided to be friendly. Just now, discovered this... whatever it is... about himself. I think. You wouldn't tell you either, in his situation." Hermione said, glancing over her book pointedly.
"Those things are hunting him? That's a bit dangerous isn't it?" Ron asked, peering over Hermione's shoulder and finding nothing in the book that he deemed interesting, he turned back to Harry, "I mean, they *did* put him there." Harry nodded and Hermione hummed, acknowledging that she was still listening.
"Yes, well," she said, turning a page and looking up at them, "I think he'll be fine, he's evaded them once. He has his wand, he's sure to know enough curses to at least hold them back until someone else gets there. Assuming they catch him alone, that is."
"That's the thing though, 'Mione, he doesn't have his wand," Harry said, sighing, "we've agreed it's probably out in or around the Forbidden Forrest."
"What?!" Ron said, nearly choking, "if they get in, they'll kill him!"
"We have to get it for him." Hermione said decidedly, "we can't keep watch over him all the time."
"What?!" Ron repeated, staring at Hermione like she'd grown three more heads.
"He doesn't want us doing that either, says it's too dangerous. Nearly ripped my head off for suggesting it," Harry said, pointedly ignoring Ron.
"I agree with him, for once." Ron said, picking up a chess piece from the table in front of him and twirling it.
"We're wizards, Ron, not... whatever it is Draco must be. They won't be intimidated by us at all. It would be fairly easy to retrieve his wand."
"Then Dumbledore wouldn't have called off classes," Ron pointed out, looking proud of himself, "if they weren't dangerous. He would have just made Malfoy stay inside." Hermione looked thoughtful at this but said nothing. Harry raised his eyebrows, surprised that Ron had made such a good point.
"Well, we can also try to keep an eye out for him," he suggested thoughtfully, "he did say Lucius was supposed to be back by the end of the week, and I'm sure he'll be able to handle them."
"Lucius Malfoy is a cold, straight forward man. As quickly as he let out of the infirmary after those things, I think he'd be more than happy to run them off the grounds," Hermione said, nodding at her own statement.
"Any idea what they are yet? The Malfoys?" Harry asked, staring into the fire and only glancing at Hermione. She shook her head, her curls bouncing around her.
"Not yet, though I've got it narrowed down to around twenty suspect creatures. I'll need more clues."
"I just hope it's not something dangerous to *us*..." Ron said, shuddering. Hermione nodded thoughtfully.
"How many of the twenty are really dangerous?" Harry asked curiously. Hermione closed her book, setting it on the table and pulling out another from behind the pillow she was propped up on. Inside was a folded piece of parchment that she pulled out, handing to Harry.
"All of them," Ron said, staring into the fire.
"Depending on the circumstances, every creature on that list is formidable," she said, her tone very matter of fact.
"Could you have missed one?" Harry asked, opening the parchment. Scrolled on it in a very neat list were about a hundred creatures, all but twenty scratched out with a thin line.
"That's what *I'm* hoping for, mate," Ron said, coming to sit next to Harry and look at the list as well.
"I don't know what half these things are," Harry said, folding the parchment so that just the twenty, sitting in their own neat list, was showing. Hermione came to sit beside him, carrying her new book with her.
"The elf, you know what that is," she said, beginning to point out each one on the list as she explained, "he could be this, they usually have darker coloring though. He could hide the ears and markings with a glamour, no big deal. They tend to lean toward the Darker side, usually drinking the blood of other magical creatures and emitting a dark magic that turns the wizards around it after long periods of time. Very few are what you would call good. Then, there's the Veela, though I don't really think that's it. He shows none of the loving characteristics, or any of them, other than the coloring. The Magiodrago, but he doesn't seem to be overly warm to me, and they tend to radiate heat. The Harpie, also unlikely because he's... well, a he..." she continued down the list, giving brief explanations, "the stymphalians, though he's not eaten any students that we know of yet. I'm looking into any missing, just so you know. Finally, the Volaticus. They're probably the most powerful here, with huge wings and a vicious look on protecting those they care about. They're hunted by bounty wizards and witches, looking for their skin, feathers and blood for some very dark magic purposes. Like some of the others I mentioned, they also have a soul mate."
"He doesn't have wings though," Harry said, "I saw his back in the Infirmary, it looked just like mine or yours, just paler."
"Volaticus can draw their wings within themselves, magically. Their wings are just as dangerous as blades, feathers as sharp as a razor and strong as steel. They've been known, according to my book, to wrap their prey in those wings and when they release, there's nothing but mushy ribbons of flesh and shattered bone." Hermione said, sighing. Ron and Harry both shivered.
"I hope that's not it," Harry said, imagining Draco with huge spiky wings.
"Me too, mate, those things are scary." Ron said, his eyes distant, probably imagining the same mental image Harry was. They both shivered again.
"Personally, I hope that *is* it." Hermione said, nodding her head as she always did when she fully agreed with herself. Ron and Harry both scoffed.
"Why, 'Mione, why?!" Ron said, staring at her.
"They're the most self controlled of the lot, least likely to attack unless they're in danger or if their... whatever it's called is in danger. Their intended...or bondmate... chosen... it doesn't matter, it all boils down to the same thing, their soul mate. They're capable of flight but don't back down from a fight often, depending -again- on what's at risk. For our sake, I hope that's it. Anything else would either kill someone in a fit of jealous rage, easily. Or because it was hungry or overly agitated. Or because it just felt like it, you get the idea. The Volaticus, though the most dangerous, is the hardest to provoke."
"So, what do we do if *that's* it?" Ron asked, looking unsure.
"Well, if that's what he is, we be greatful he's not killed one of us already after hexing him or... punching him. Then, once he finds his," she opened the book, flipping through it quickly before reading a brief paragraph, "his amesoeur, we make sure not to harm that person or be in the way when they're being harmed. Don't go pointing anything dangerous in Lucius' or Blaise's general direction either. The Volaticus protect their own, and only their own."
"Who would want to be *his* soul mate?" Ron asked, looking up to both of his friends.
"Anyone," Hermione said, "the Volaticus protect their mate's with their lives. They also tend to spoil them terribly, which seems like a Malfoy thing to do. However, the mate, whoever it is, will feel just as attracted to him, if only physically. Unless they're a muggle. That doesn't happen often, but sometimes. It's our magic, inside of us, that would attract us to a Volaticus, and they- muggles- don't have that. Only the Volaticus would feel it then."
"Wouldn't that be something? Draco being married to a muggle, can you imagine?" Harry said, grinning widely. All three burst out into laughter at the idea. Then, Dean and Seamus entered, both with detention from Filch for getting caught snogging in a broom closet so they changed the subject and soon went to bed.