Ginny sighed, leaning over to tuck up the quilt.
- "No, Albus", she said gently but firmly. "You can't go out to play. Tomorrow, if you feel better."
The child's eyes, bright with fever, were pleading, and his mouth showed the cutest pout of the universe, but she did not give in.
- "I said no", she repeated. "So you stay in bed and you have a good sleep, okay? Tomorrow will come faster like this, you'll see."
- "But Mummy ..."
- "Uh-uh."
She kissed him, then put back the wet cold cloth on his forehead.
- "Sleep tight, honey."
She left the room after a pat on the nose of the dragon who now occupied half the room and closed the door before leaning against it.
The tender smile she had shown her son sank and disappeared. Her throat tight, she looked up at Harry who had been waiting, leaning against the corridor wall, his arms folded.
- "The fever didn't go down", she whispered. "Oh, Harry ... what are we going to do?"
The young man shook his head sadly.
- "I don't know, Ginny", he said softly. "I don't know ..."
Ginny's heart broke as she heard the child coughing on the other side of the door.
It had been three days already.
Albus had come back home, puzzled and a little frightened, showing his mother the blood clot in his little fist.
- "Inside, it feels like the owl when he choked", he had explained in clumsy words.
As if small claws were hooked his windpipe, ripping the thin walls in his lungs.
The dragon was hovering about him, his green and golden eyes worried, cooing softly as if he was sad.
A St. Mungo, the healer had frowned and muttered throughout the whole exam. Albus had complained about his cold hands but swallowed the bitter potions without a fuss, and had finally fallen asleep in his father's arms while another wizard multiplied diagnostic spells, without result.
They had been told to go back home with him. At the Burrow, Albus, had played happily for a moment with Toothless whose weight was shaking the stairs as he ran up and down. The little boy seemed much better. Then, while Ginny was preparing supper, James had come in panic: "Mum, Al spit and that's all red! It is disgusting."
She had found Lily in the process of giving a drink to her brother in a plastic cup from her Muggle dinette, the dragon lying on the carpet guiltily and Albus whose face was smeared with blood and who could not catch his breath.
And two day after, Albus had stopped eating. His legs couldn't carry him anymore and brown shadows were digging under his eyes, as if he was eaten from the inside.
- "What did they say?" finally asked the young woman, brushing back her red hair, her lips trembling.
She already knew the answer. Harry would not have been so silent if his visit had been fruitful.
- "They don't know", he finally whispered. "They said he's ..."
She shook her head to prevent him from finishing his sentence.
The words were too unbearable to hear, too meaningless, too unreal.
- "All was fine, three days ago", she whispered hoarsely. "We were fine until ..."
It had started the same evening they had condemned the plush toy. The night Albus had disappeared.
The night the dragon had showed up in their lives.
Ginny's eyes narrowed into thin slits.
- "I knew it wasn't something good", she hissed, her hand on the latch, ready to go back in the room and to chase out the animal.
Harry put his hand on his wife's and shook his head slowly.
- "I asked them", he said. "I brought a hairball, I explained. It has nothing to do with the dragon, Ginny. I promise. He's ... Al is just sick, Ginny. Maybe ... he'll get over it, my love. He's strong. Children have an amazing capacity for recovery. He ..."
The words were rushing out, jostling in his mouth, but failing to convince him. Tears now flowed without restraint on Ginny's cheeks and Harry hoped he would be able to hold his own long enough for the young woman to regain control of her emotion.
- "Mum?"
They turned their heads to the concerned voice and Ginny wiped her cheeks quickly.
- "What is it, James?" she asked, kneeling before him and giving him a tight smile meant to be reassuring.
- "Is Al going to die?"
Harry's heart froze so suddenly his breath was cut for a few seconds, then he swallowed and leaned toward their son. He stroked his head with one hand, while with the other pressed Ginny's shoulder to help her stay strong.
The acute squeak that had strangled the woman was not likely to reassure the eight year old boy who was staring at them with very serious eyes.
- "Al will be okay in a couple days, he just caught a cold, that's all", Harry lied with an aplomb that surprised himself. "And your mum's tired, that's why she takes it to heart. Don't worry, James."
James bit his lips. The curly red head of his sister appeared behind him. The little girl was tugging at her brother's sweater.
- "Are we going to eat soon, then?"
Harry and Ginny exchanged a guilty look.
It was past noon. Time had seemed diluted, colorless and without landmarks for them during those three days. But James and Lily needed them too.
Harry picked up Lily who tied her arms around his neck and Ginny took James' hand.
- "Yes", she said in a choked voice that strengthened gradually as she spoke. "Yes, we should eat, you're right. You must be starving!"
- "I'm hungry as a werewolf!" nodded James who, after some hesitation, had decided to believe the unsteady smiles of his parents.
- "Hungry as a farting werewolf", insisted Lily, delighted to be able to place her favorite word without being scolded. "Can I give Toothless his fish, later, Mummy?"
They went down to the kitchen and their voices gradually faded away in the corridor.
Albus snuggled into his pillows, giving up following the conversation. The idea of eating was tiring and he felt a little nauseous.
He turned his head to the dragon and smiled.
His face was almost as white as the pillow, but his emerald green eyes were tinged with glittery gold, much like those of the animal who was approaching, purring.
Toothless' wings filled the room like long black satin draperies and his thick velvet paws were now almost as big as James' Quidditch ball. The dragon put his head on the comforter and closed his eyes in pleasure when the child scratched the fur on top of his nose. His fluffy ears were fluttering and his tail undulated with contentment on the ground.
- "Toothless ... do you want to fly?"
The dragon opened one eye and licked the face of the child who struggled with a laugh.
- "Ah, it sticks!"
He stopped fighting for fun very quickly, shaken by a coughing fit.
The dragon cooed, pushing his muzzle against his arm.
- "S-s-sorry", Albus finally said, wiping his mouth on his pajamas' sleeve.
He hugged the dragon's neck, buried his face in the soft black fur.
- "Toothless ... take me to the sky, please."
The dragon purred louder, her green eyes fixed on the window through which the sun came in waves. He suddenly freed his head, ears erected as if he had heard something.
- "What did you see, Toothless?" Albus asked, also turning his head to the window.
The wet cloth fell from his forehead when he slipped out of the boat-shaped bed. He tiptoed to the window, opened it and gazed at the vast sky, so blue, in which reflected the plain covered with snow. He was just in pajamas and shivered. He sank against the dragon who had approached behind him.
The dark wing folded around him, creating a warm cocoon of ebony feathers.
Albus coughed again. He held out his hand, reaching to the sky, watching how the sun tinted his fingers against the light.
- "I want to go there, Toothless."
The dragon cooed in reproach. The child's eyes grew round and pleading, his lips curled into an irresistible pout.
The dragon raised his eyes, just like a human would have done, and gave an impulse to the little boy who lost his balance.
A second later, Albus, delighted, was sitting on the dragon's neck, grabbing two tufts of fur.
- "Off we go!"
The animal put both front paws on the window sill and his ace of spades shaped tail undulated behind him. He slipped out swiftly and effortlessly scaled the wall of the house to the pointed roof. Standing on the tiles sprinkled with snow, he hesitated, his head turned towards the sun, then stretched.
Albus felt the power circulating in the backbone of the beast, like a bubbling stream that was sweeping in the muscles. The huge black wings swelled like two sails and the claws sparked on the tiles.
He opened his mouth, and just the day when Arthur Weasley had tried to take the picture, a blue light flashed under his glottis. There was a crunch followed by a deafening hiss, then something broke in the sky, like a silver comet.
The next moment, the whole world froze between time and space.
Lying on the black neck, Albus opened an eye.
He first saw the huge black wing, barely touched down by the wind, the tips of the feathers on which clung cloud filaments. Then he heard the dragon's purr, looked up and saw the vastness around him.
On the wind bathed in golden sun, the dragon was flying in the sky.
He was even bigger than before.
- "Oooh", breathed out Albus.
His eyes crinkled because of the speed. He let go of the soft black fur and stretched out his arms, throwing his head back.
- "Fly Toothless, fly!" he shouted.
The dragon cooed as if he laughed softly.
Oh I will, Little One. Just watch me.
Albus looked around in surprise, then leaned toward the dragon's head.
- "Can you speak?"
The green and gold eye of the dragon blinked benevolently.
I can.
The child's face lit up in awe.
- "Oooh", he repeated.
Laughter hatched in the harmonious silence of the sky, like a song.
Aren't you cold?
Albus patted the black neck.
- "No. How about you?"
I have a big fur - and you're just wearing pajamas, Little One.
The child giggled.
- "True."
Let's go back now. You must rest.
- "Oh no! Not yet, please, dragon."
His teeth were chattering, but the dream could not stop now. He wanted to touch the stars, see if he could win a race against the steam train that took Teddy to Hogwarts, visit unicorns, land on a volcano.
Volcanoes don't smell too good, you know. And I thought you called me Toothless ...
Albus smiled, lying on the back of the creature, close to the skin under which he felt the pulsing heart of the dragon, warm and powerful.
- "Thank you, 'he whispered.
The dragon made a graceful turn in the blue sky and returned to the house, his wings flapping slowly, like a lullaby.
When he landed in the garden, the little boy had fallen asleep.
Harry and Ginny ran out of the house towards him. The young woman snatched the child from the beautiful creature, and wrapped him in a blanket before running back to the house.
Everything will be fine, mother ...
Harry stopped and spun around, sure to have heard a voice. He looked at the dragon, frowning, stared at the green and golden eyes for a moment, then went back inside at last.
The sun was melting into carmine and indigo draperies, and the pale moon was slowly rising over the plain covered with snow.
Between the Burrow and the house with a pointed roof, the huge black dragon was standing motionless, gazing at the dying day.
TBC