Author's Note:

Two chapters in one day! The length of this one should make up for how short the last one was.

I just wanted to thank all of you for your readership. It means a lot to me to know that people keep reading it, following it, favoriting it, and reviewing it. Hopefully that means all of you are enjoying it so far. We're on Chapter 13 now, and there's just something I've never liked about the number 13. I wanted to add some happiness in the author's note while I can. Have fun reading this chapter, and please review with your thoughts on it.

Chapter 13

*November 1995*

Draco was sitting on a couch in the Slytherin common room next to Pansy. He'd been trying his new approach to her out for the past few weeks, and it had worked in getting her to leave him alone when he needed to be on his own without her nosing into his business. It hadn't made him see anything worth liking in her, though. If anything, he hated her even more. She was extremely self-centered, and now she wouldn't stop asking his opinion of details for their wedding.

"Should the flowers be blue or red, Draco?"

He thought for a moment, even though he found the idea of flowers at his wedding disgusting. He'd never liked flowers. They were too delicate, too dependent on people to take care of them. "Blue, I suppose."

Pansy nodded. "They'll be white then. What about the cake? Do you have a preference on the flavor of it?"

Draco inwardly shook his head and took her hand in his own. He hadn't touched her yet, and hopefully it would quiet her. Making wedding plans wouldn't make him like her. If anything, it would scare him more than he thought possible. "I'm sure whatever you want will be perfect."

Pansy blushed as she looked at her hand, then to the person holding it, and back again before settling her gaze on Draco's eyes. Draco's hand was beginning to tingle, small bursts of pain in his fingers, but he resisted the urge to break the contact with her. "Draco, I—Ouch!" She moved her hand away from his. "What's happened to your hand?"

Draco looked at his hand in surprise. The skin on his hand was now a bit scaly, and it was slightly paler than normal, which was strange since he didn't think his skin could get any paler. His fingers, though, were hard and sharp, curved and coming to points at the tips. He'd have to figure out what had happened later; he didn't need Pansy to make a big scene in the common room. "Sorry, it must be a side effect from my training."

"Your training?"

"Yes, I'm training to become an Animagus. Before a wizard's completely changed his form parts of him change randomly. That must have been what happened."

"What's your Animagus form?"

Draco shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure yet, and it would be dangerous to talk about it here where anyone can listen. It's not exactly something I would want people to know."

Pansy looked at him strangely for a moment. "You'll tell me when you figure it out, won't you? I am you fiancée after all."

Draco nodded as he stood up. "Of course. Please excuse me; I have a meeting with my godfather for tea."

"Fine, will I see you at dinner?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose." He left the common room and walked to Professor Snape's quarters. He didn't really have a meeting with him. They never scheduled times when they would see each other apart from Potions; they just showed up where the other was when they wanted to talk to them. Draco knew his godfather didn't have any classes for the rest of the day, and he figured he might now what was happening to him. Of course he had lied to Pansy when he said it was a side-effect of Animagus training; he didn't want to become an Animagus, and fifth-years weren't allowed to anyway.

Draco glanced back down at his hand. It was perfectly normal now, but he couldn't have imagined what had happened. Pansy had seen it, too, and he had felt the pain in his hand as it had most likely changed. Professor Snape would have an answer; he was much smarter than what people gave him credit for, and he would know whether it had been a potion, a spell, or some other bizarre occurrence.

He reached the portrait guarding his godfather's quarters and knocked on the frame. The wizard that was normally in the portrait was dueling with the subject of a different portrait. "Stop, I have business to take care of. We'll resume our duel in a moment. Ah, Draco, what is the password?"

"Basilisk fangs,"

"That's correct. Have a nice chat with your godfather."

"Thank you. I wish you the best of luck in your duel." The portrait opened, and Draco stepped through it as it closed behind him. "Uncle Severus, where are you?"

A voice shouted from an adjoining room. "I'm grading some papers turned in by second-years. I'll be out in just a moment, Draco. Have a seat and order some tea from a house elf."

Draco did just that, inspecting his hand as he waited on the edge of a black couch. Green pillows were on it, as well as the two black armchairs. The house elf arrived with the tea and set it on the coffee table before disappearing with a Pop! The coffee table was a dark green stone with silver streaks curling through it and black legs holding it up. Professor Snape came in through a room and sat in the armchair facing Draco. "It's nice to see you, Draco." Severus picked up the pot of tea. "Was there something you wanted to talk about or did you just want to come visit me?" He poured the tea into the two cups and passed one to his godson.

"Actually, I was hoping you could give me some information."

Severus sipped his tea and sat back in his armchair. "What kind of information?"

"Something happened to me a few minutes ago in the common room, and I was hoping you could help me figure out what caused it."

Severus nodded as Draco sipped his own tea. "Tell me about it. What happened?"

"Well, you see, I was holding Pansy Parkinson's hand since apparently I'm betrothed to her—"

"Did you just now learn that?"

"Father told me as I was about to get on the Hogwarts Express this year."

Severus shook his head. "I'm sorry you didn't learn of it sooner; I would have told you had I known your parents hadn't already done so."

"Anyway, I was holding her hand, and my hand grew claws."

Severus stared at his godson. "Claws?"

"Yes, claws."

Severus glanced at his godson's hands. "They look fine now. Are you sure you didn't imagine it?"

"I'm quite sure. My hand started tingling, and my fingers were in pain. After that she shouted and pulled her hand away. My hand had grown claws."

Severus sighed. His godson always seemed to end up in more troublesome incidents than he deserved. "Focus on it. I want to see what it looked like for myself." Draco set his cup down, nodded, and looked at his godfather's eyes. "Legilimens."

Professor Snape studied his godson's hand as it changed, taking careful note of each detail. He'd never seen anything like it before, and he was upset with the only possible explanation he could come up with for it. He pulled out of his godson's mind and looked at the perfectly normal hands as they were now.

"Well, those aren't claws." Draco gave his godfather a confused look. "They're talons. The two are nearly the same thing, though."

"Do you know why that's happening?"

Severus shook his head. "No, but I might know how it's happening. I've never seen anything like it before." He thought for a moment, contemplating what he was about to say next as he put his hand on the armrest of his chair, palm up. "Hold my hand."

Draco gulped. "Are you sure you want me to do that?"

Professor Snape rolled his eyes. "It's not going to mean anything; I just want to see if it will happen again. It's purely in the name of finding out what's happening to you."

Draco set his hand on top of his godfather's and watched it, but nothing happened. He didn't feel the tingling, the pain. "You said you thought you knew how it was happening?"

Severus nodded. "I think it has something to do with the Dragon blood."

Draco stared at his godfather. "What Dragon blood are you talking about, Uncle Sev?"

Severus carefully studied Draco's face. The eyes were blank; Draco really had no idea what he had meant. "Please tell me they've told you about the Dragon blood."

"Who are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your parents. Have they told you about the Dragon blood?"