DON'T THEY REMIND YOU OF SOMEONE, RON?

Ron laid Scorpius' lifeless body on the bed, then stepped back to make way for Lizzie. His shoulders were shaking and he could not take his eyes off the boy covered in blood.

- "He s-s-saved m-my l-life", he stammered. "I ha-a-adn't seen that b-bloke and he p-pushed me out of the way. He took the burst and..."

- "Any idea what spell it was?" interrupted the woman whose wand was cutting the leather tunic into strips to better see the extent of the injury.

- "I... I don't know, I didn't..."

The hospital was buzzing with arrivals of Aurors supporting each other. The acrid smell of Dittany mingled with the spicy scent of Murtlap Essence and various potions were bubbling in pots by the window. Someone pulled a white curtain on a rod which rattled, grunts of pain crisscrossed with exclamations of relief, yet Ron heard no sound.

Scorpius' haggard face and his lips tinged in blue were haunting him as he relived the scene.

It was almost dawn. The night was fading and the white sky was painting things in pale shades. Drops were dripping down his face and he was tired to the point his movements were automatic.

Nigel on the left, Aretho to the right, the Scott brothers and the young Geoffrey Manchester... he mechanically counted the Aurors still standing around him - his men, his teammates, his family.

Lifting his wand, muttering incantations, he spinned on himself in a dizzying slow-motion, fiercely hanging onto his desire to survive, to see Hugo and Rosie again.

Arresting the old MacFusty wasn't a priority anymore. It would be enough to hold on, even for just a few more minutes, then the dragons would retire and with them this hellish army. And then he would be able to rest...

He stumbled on a piece of metal – scrap from these pesky boats or maybe one of the Scaly's helmets - lost his balance and heard the lightning crack of a spell.

Ah.

Too late.

For a split second, he thought he was going to die and felt perfectly calm. Then someone hurled into his shoulder and threw him to the ground with a muffled groan.

He heard a cry of pain - a child's cry that chilled him - then the next moment, the blond teenager he had carefully avoided so far collapsed next to him, his face splashed with the blood gushing from his shoulder...

- "Ron. Ron, I asked you a question."

Harry's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Ron shuddered, back to reality in the noisy and busy hospital.

Lizzie was done undressing the boy. The dragon skin tunic, torn and soaked in blood, was crumpled on the floor. Scorpius' chest, pale and thin, was gleaming in the light of the lantern hanging above the bed. Ron gasped.

The collarbone had ripped through the skin and Scorpius' arm was a heap of bruised flesh.

Lizzie mopped the blood with a cloth and hastily looked around her. Her rolled up sleeves and her apron had turned pinkish.

- "Where's the Dittany gone again?" she snarled.

Harry shoved Ron to the side to grab the little bottle on the cart and gave it to the woman who was pushing up her glasses on her nose with her forearm. She was not wearing her hat and gray locks were loose from her bun.

- "I think his arm got more or less splinched", she winced. "It had to be a Blasting Curse or a Severing Charm - and at close range, even. This is serious, but he'll be fine, Ron. Now get out of here and go help the others!"

Harry nodded and dragged away Ron who still seemed in shock.

- "I wanted to let his father die in the Room of Requirement..." muttered the red-haired man whose shoulders slumped down miserably. "And him... he saved my life."

- "That was a long time ago, Ron. It has nothing to do with what happened today", his best friend said quickly, frowning. "Come along, we must find the other children."

The pleading note in his voice triggered something in the fuzzy brain of the Auror.

The idea that his nephew could be somewhere in the plain in the same state as Scorpius electrified his weary body and he hurried out of the tent.

- "Lieutenant! You... ha. Sir, your son..."

Harry felt his heart sink to the bottom of his guts like a stone. He slowly turned toward the voice and a cold sweat beaded on his hairline.

Darren, the Auror who was disfigured, was coming to them. Rain glistened on his long brown cloak. He was carrying in his arms the lifeless body of Albus.

- "God..." breathed Ron, stopping abruptly. "Is he…?"

Harry rushed forward. He took his son in his arms and cradled the boy's lolling head against his shoulder.

Albus' black curls were tangled on his forehead, his cheeks were ghastly and smeared with mud and sulfur, but apart from a gash on his nose, he seemed unharmed.

- "He is not hurt, just fainted", confirmed Darren in a deep voice filled with awe. "That young dragon put an end to the fight and when the demon beast collapsed, it flew a few meters before crashing - exhausted, I'd say. It tumbled down the slope and by the time we got there, it had turned into a child again."

His only eye lit up with pride.

- "The bravest child I've ever seen."

- "I know", Harry choked.

He held Albus closer to him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Retrospective fear was turning his legs into jelly and he was glad to feel Ron's hand supporting his back.

- "Colonel Potter!"

Aretho was waving at them, molded in her armor and looking even more attractive than the day before with her caramel skin shimmering from rain and perspiration, her dreadlocks pinned up with a red feather and her tempting cleavage. She was helping Wendy who was stumbling, in a daze, dragging behind her a piece of wood. Colchis was walking along, carrying Terrence on his back like a mama koala. The teenager with glasses seemed seriously shaken up and his left leg was strapped with two bits of scrap metal and some ripped up fabric.

- "Those two are in one piece", announced Aretho, flashing her white teeth in a wide grin. "Well, Swanson's a little banged up, but he'll be fine."

She gave an enthusiastic slap on the shoulder of the boy who groaned involuntarily.

- "Well done, kids! You survived baptism of fire!"

Her features drawn by fatigue, Wendy pulled away from the arm that held her standing straight and staggered to Harry.

- "Al?" she croaked worriedly.

- "He's fine", said Darren catching her gently before she'd collapse. "He's just worn-out."

Harry nodded.

- "You all are", he added. "Everybody is. Wendy, you're not hurt, are you? Terrence, you okay? Let's have a look at your leg."

He went back inside the hospital and carefully placed Albus on an empty bed at the back of the tent. He covered the boy with a soft blanket and kissed his forehead.

- "Sleep well, my son. Dream of nothing. You fought like a lion... I'm so proud of you..."

He drew the curtain and walked away before the tears welling up in his eyes overflowed. He must have been even more tired than his painful joints were saying.

He locked eyes with Teddy who was lying in the row in front of him and gave a short grin, squeezing his godson's ankle. Then he slalomed in between the beds, greeted an Auror who was extracting bursts of rock and metal from his thigh with his wand, his face (almost) impassible. Harry smiled at the Scott brothers who were coating each other with Murtlap Essence, acknowledged the grateful look of Dean whose head was wrapped in a thick bandage, and whom he had saved from being devoured the night before. Three men were unconscious, with severe burns, and a fourth was babbling incoherently, spluttering some sort of white puree. Bowls of steaming repugnant potions were travelling on their own in between the rows. Nigel was sitting on a stool next to a dead body covered with a white sheet and had buried his face in his hands. Harry stopped just enough time to squeeze his shoulder with compassion, then went to the corner where Hermione was busy uttering a number of mid-toned words that sounded like insults.

- "You okay?" he asked Wendy who was waiting, sitting in socks on a bed, wrapped in a blanket.

The girl nodded. Her mouth was slightly open as if she was unable to close it completely. She was blinking, and startled sometimes, as if she was drowsing and waking up alternatively.

- "You should lie down", suggested Albus' father, amused.

She shook her head, pointed her chin to the curtain that hid the next bed from them, and behind which was moving Lizzie's shadow.

- "I'm waiting... to know 'bout Scorpius..."

Terrence, who was anxiously watching Hermione who was checking on his swollen knee, lifted his blue eyes for a moment.

- "Is he going to be okay?"

Harry nodded reassuringly.

- "Yes, of course."

He took the boy's glasses and wiped them on a corner of the curtain before putting them back on Terrence's nose.

- "Everything will be alright. You guys were amazing."

- "Really?" Wendy asked sleepily.

The man smiled and sat down next to her on the bed. She snuggled against him instinctively, as would have done Lily, and yawned widely.

Harry smiled again to Terrence whose face was still strained. He was obviously trying to hold back his tears and looked about to crumble to pieces.

- "Do you remember what I told you during our first class in Defense Against the Dark Arts?" he asked gently, over the bushy hair of the woman who was applying ointment on the knee. "It's normal to be afraid. What's important is not running away and doing what we know to do, what we have to do – with all our strength. You never backed down, Terrence Swanson."

Hermione had stopped working while he was speaking. She waited until the boy had nodded silently, wiping off with his sleeve the tears now overflowing down his cheeks, then got up.

- "All right", she announced. "The swelling should decrease by tonight, provided you do not put any weight on that leg."

She took the wand tucked behind her ear and waved it towards the scrap metal bits left on the ground. They stood up, turned into crutches, and she handed them to Terrence smiling.

- "And now, off to bed. I'll give you both a potion for dreamless sleep, just in case..."

She paused and laughed.

- "Well, I reckon someone won't need it."

Harry cocked his head to look at Wendy who was already fast asleep, her mouth still half-open, drooling a little on the black coat of the Auror, her hand clutching the man's sleeve.

Lizzie lifted the curtain that separated them from Scorpius' bed and Terrence jumped.

- "How is he?"

The woman's body was hiding the injured boy, but her stained apron was enough tmake you want to puke and, more worrying, was the wan face of Ron sitting on a stool on the other side, staring at Scorpius.

- "He'll be better tomorrow", said Lizzie briefly, letting the curtain fall. She glanced at them, then frowned. "Potter, why do you always come back from a fight with a bloody nose? Come over at once."

Harry chuckled. He was feeling a little dizzy and swayed a bit when he stood up after carefully putting Wendy's head on the pillow.

Hermione put her hands on her hips and twitched with disapproval.

At the same time, Skyler popped his head at the entrance of the tent.

- "Charlie Weasley is dealing with the dead dragon", he told Harry after casting a glance towards Ron and deciding grimly that it was useless to try to catch his attention. "The... those who fell last night were also gathered in one place."

Terrence shuddered.

The empty eyes of the corpse danced for a moment before his eyes. But they quickly dissipated when Harry put his hand on his shoulder, while addressing the Auror.

- "Very good. Thank you, Skyler. Since the call is over, I want everyone to rest, now. See you at eleven at HQ to prepare for tonight's clash."

The man answered with a quick nod and disappeared.

Lizzie snorted and patted the back of a chair near the shelf with an imperious finger.

- "Here, Potter. Sit. How come you managed to be the last to get treatment - again?"

Hermione gently lifted Terrence's leg onto the bed and helped him lie down, propping his knee on a pillow. She made him drink an oozing potion and tucked a blanket on him, before unfolding another one which she used to cover Wendy. She lingered a moment, tenderly pushing back a lock of brown hair from the girl's face, then gathered on the cart ointments and compresses, the empty cup and the remnants of Dittany and Muggle dressings with a sigh.

Terrence was already asleep when she disappeared from his sight. The last thing he had heard was the deep voice of Harry arguing that he did not want cotton or algae to be shoved up in his nostrils.

oOoOoOo

Charlie was watching the beast's body burning in the tall blue flames. He didn't seemed affected by the sizzling of grease and the noise of the scales bursting in the heat. His arms crossed, he was gazing at the night more than at the magic pyre.

No doubt that there was no other alternative. Where the Aurors had failed for days and days, the dragon had succeeded in a few hours.

Toothless' arrival upon the battlefield had confused the enemy at first. MacFusty's supporters, stunned, had watched him tackle the first monster like in slow motion. The furry little dragon had grabbed the neck of one of the creatures, biting and clawing on it like an angry cat hanging from the throat of a lion.

The Anghenfil was nowhere at that time and Charlie felt his sweat stick his shirt to the skin of his back when the cold wind rose on the plain.

Fortunately.

The massive lizard had fought back ferociously. Pinned down by its heavy metal armor, it had roared, its wings flapping and billowing, and swept its tail to get rid of the opponent circling nimbly around him with bright green eyes like comets in the burning night.

When the beast, its blood dripping from multiple injuries, had taken to the smoky sky, Charlie had thought Albus would flee. The fur dragon was exhausted and his wings were struggling to keep him away from the terrible maw of his enemy.

But Toothless had given everything in a last effort and the Hebridean Black had finally fallen heavily to the ground, bellowing in desperation.

Troubled, Charlie closed his eyes for a moment.

The other two dragons had not intervened despite their heartbreaking trumpeting and Bercelak MacFusty's favorite had only watched the battle from the crest on which it had perched like a nightmarish swan.

They were hurting.

They weren't free, and neither were the men who were attacking the Aurors as if they truly believed in this chimerical empire.

Something was wrong. Something wasn't fitting. Something grisly was lurking in the shadows.

He opened his eyes and watched the embers gnawing at the bones. For a few more minutes, the skeleton still looked like a sleeping dragon, with its curved wings and its neck softly bent, then a spark crackled and the lonely grim figure turned into nothing more than smoke and a whirlwind of ash.

Charlie was feeling sick thinking of what must have felt Albus.

He must have heard the dragon's weeping long before it had died.

And he had surely understood its pain.

But still, Toothless had given the last blow.

oOoOoOoOo

When he came out of his meeting with the Aurors, Harry only wanted to go back to the hospital and drop on the bed next to Albus', to give in dear sleep while gratefully contemplating his safe and sound son. His morning nap he (one hundred and ninety-five unfortunate minutes) had been anything but enough rest.

But there was always someone to ask him a question, to suggest an action he approved in the end, like surveying the hills, overseeing training - or deciding what to do about food.

- "Okay, you can go, but be back before tea", he told Hermione who was again wearing her pink woolen jumper.

She had managed to wash her hair and her long brown curls fluttered in the wind coming from the sea. She nodded and took the reins of the pony.

- "Try to snatch something other than Fish & Chips, this time", pitched in the oldest of the Scott brothers. "We're growing fat!"

Hermione gave him a wry look, half-closing her eyes like a fox.

- "Oh no, I had another idea", she sneered. "I thought I'd stop at the pub and ask them to pack me some Haggis."

There were protests all around and someone pinned the young man under his armpit to knuckle-shampoo his head.

- "Herm-i-own, don't do that, I beg of you! I'd rather eat something cooked by Skyler", pleaded Aretho.

The nickname reminded Harry of distant days and he cast a thoughtful glance toward the hospital: Ron had not left the place since dawn.

Wendy was sitting in front of the dining tent with Darren who was showing her how to make making a bludgeon similar to his, transforming her wand like Hagrid had done with his umbrella when he was not allowed to use magic. The girl looked up when Hermione was hoisting herself on the pony's back and stood up hurriedly. Putting her hands behind her back to give herself a casual attitude, she came closer. Her cheeks were somewhat rosy.

- "Do you want to go with her?" Harry asked – he had seen the whole move.

Wendy's face brightened.

- "Yes, please", she said shyly.

Hermione looked her up and down suspiciously.

- "Are you sure you'll be fine? Did you rest enough?"

The teenager strongly nodded.

Hermione finally smiled and held out her hand to help the girl onto the saddle behind her.

- "Okay, then."

Harry watched the pony go off and sighed deeply, then he firmly walked to the infirmary, knowing he probably would not sleep for the rest of the day.

He slipped inside, drew the curtain and met Lizzie's gaze.

- "Where's Terrence?" he asked quietly, trying not to disturb the wounded.

She chinned to the back of the tent. Harry nibbled his lip. He walked cross the dormitory and slowly approached the bed where Albus was still sleeping.

He had not woken up yet, but he seemed peaceful and that was enough to reassure his father.

Terrence was sitting on the next bed, his crutches leaning against the mattress, looking very gloom. Harry walked up to him silently.

- "Come", he whispered. "I've got a job for you."

He supported the boy to Scorpius' bed and helped him settle into the stool he had turned into a chair with a ramp for the boy's leg to be positioned comfortably.

- "I want you to keep an eye on him for a while", Harry muttered, gently but firmly.

Terrence nodded, not taking his eyes off Scorpius who was breathing heavily, his fever breaking in large drops on his face twisted in pain. He was oscillating in between sleep and consciousness and often moaned involuntarily, like a child lost in nightmares.

Ron did not dare to reach out and pat the valid shoulder to soothe him. Scorpius looked so much like his father, it was like seeing Malfoy lying there, panting, suffering... The boy had cracked open an eye at some point. His glassy gaze had had trouble focusing on anything specific at first, but then it had locked on Ron.

- "Why did you save me?" had slurred the Auror.

A strange smile had pinched the pale lips of the teenager - and the resemblance to Draco had accentuated, unbearable. Then he had grunted in pain.

- "Seemed to be… the right thing… to do... We're… on the same… side..."

He had not said "because I owed you one, Weasley" or "did you thought I'd let you to die like you wanted to let me?" or any scathing retorts that Ron had expected.

There was no bitterness in this dove gray eyes. No soul-gnawing past or controversial ulterior motives. Just typical Malfoy irony and an innocence that reminded Ron of Hugo.

Scorpius had slipped again into unconsciousness after that. He was very weak. And the red-haired man had kept chewing his fists, not realizing that the hours were passing.

He flinched when Harry put his hand on his shoulder.

- "Come with me", ordered his best friend in a low voice.

Ron first tried to protest that the wounded boy should not left unattended, but then he locked eyes with Terrence on the other side of the bed, and met Lizzie's non-negotiable gaze.

So he stopped struggling.

It was broad daylight outside. The drizzle had stopped. It was perhaps three in the afternoon, or even later. He blinked. His muscles woke up painfully and ants biting his legs reminded him he had stayed too long in the same position.

- "Come", Harry repeated, and Ron followed him obediently to the hilltop.

They sat in the grass in front of the sea, just some steps away from a place where the scorched ground was covered with ashes.

The waves lapping the shore and the steady sound of the surf had a calming effect on them. In a shy sunbeam, seagulls were squealing and fighting over fish scraps.

Ron breathed in deeply.

- "Some kids, eh", he said after a moment.

Harry just nodded. He had pulled off a clump of grass and was fiddling with it thoughtfully.

- "He's not Draco Malfoy, isn't he?" mumbled Ron.

- "No, he's not."

The tall redhead bit his lip, emotion constricting his throat.

- "We'll bring them back – all of them. Unharmed", he muttered hoarsely.

- "Yes, we will."

Ron leaned back his head, savoring the smell of salt that stung the small scratches on his cheeks and forehead.

- "Don't they remind you of someone, Ron?" Harry asked, his green eyes gazing at the sea.

His messy black hair was sweeping his round glasses.

His best friend snorted, amused.

- "A trio that could not help but butt their noses in stuff that was none of their concern?" he suggested.

Harry grinned.

- "That too, I suppose. I was thinking of a marauding quartet ready to risk their lives for a friend..."

There was a silence, filled with memories.

- "Yeah", Ron finally said, still looking at the blue and peaceful sea. "But it won't end the same way."

His hand squeezed Harry's shoulder for a moment.

- "Albus isn't Remus. The Ministry will eventually accept him. And there isn't any Wormtail among them. Just a fearless Lily and three lads who deserve her."

Harry did not reply immediately.

The foam on the waves was bubbling below, sparkling and fizzing against the rocks. The wind loaded with iodine swelled in the sleeves of both men. The sun was gently warming their bodies bruised by the battle of the day before.

They were so young and so old already.

Still the same, though.

Ron yawned, unable to help himself. He rubbed his angular chin, his fingers crunching in his red beard, and massaged the big dark bags under his eyes.

- "I'm glad you're here with me, Ron", Harry said, still looking at the sea, his fingers absently playing with the grass.

Ron didn't say anything for a moment. Then he chuckled.

- "I'm too."

TBC

Next chapter: Dragon's Gaze