-O-
Upon returning to Hogwarts, Draco was more determined than ever to keep an eye on Potter and Weasley. He tried not to dwell upon the fact that watching the two of them usually meant watching Hermione too. If there was even a chance that Potter was trying to drag Hermione into some hare brained scheme against Lord Voldemort, there was no way that Draco would just stand by and let that happen.
But Potter was known for bending the rules and getting away with it. He had already probably snuck out after curfew several times (albeit once to duel him,Draco smirked to himself). Potter seemed hell-bent on getting expelled or dying trying. Hermione definitely did not need to get herself involved in that.
By now the story of the Halloween troll and the parts the trio played in it had gotten around the school. With each retelling, the troll got bigger and nastier. In some recounts, he had grabbed Hermione and had been nearly about to eat her. In others, the troll had been going on a rabid rampage, breaking lavatory sinks and tearing doors off their hinges when Potter stunned him. Whatever had happened, it became clear to Draco from watching the three of them that they had bonded over the incident.
-O-
And so it was that one morning in the Great Hall, he overheard bits and pieces of a discussion about... a dragon? Surely not.
A stealthy follow of the trio down to the gamekeeper Hagrid's hut revealed something unbelievable: the oaf actually had a dragon's egg!No sodding way. It was just like Potter to get wrapped up in illegal dragons,Draco thought bitterly.
Over the next week, Draco kept tabs on the trio, and also on Hagrid and the dragon egg. Draco went down to Hagrid's hut more times than he had intended, drawn by the presence of the egg. The fact that his name essentially translated to dragon meant that he always carried a fascination for them. At first, Hagrid had been wary of him, knowing who he was and how contentious his relationship with Potter was. But Draco was naturally curious, and eventually Hagrid warmed to him. Still, Draco was careful never to be seen by Potter or his crew. He didn't want anyone knowing of his interest in the oaf's dragon egg or and how much time he spent there in the hut with the man.
-O-
One morning over breakfast, he saw the three of them hunched over a note. He walked around to the other side of the Slytherin table so that he was only a few feet behind them and tried to listen.
"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Weasley's annoying voice piped up.
It was hatching! Draco had been waiting for days, certain that the hour was close. When the three Gryffindors stood and walked out of the castle instead of going upstairs to classes, Draco waited only a minute before he followed.
-O-
Draco had not noticed himself inching closer to the window of the hut until Hagrid spotted him. Hagrid had not recognised Draco because he couldn't see his full face, as the window was clouded with the steam of his breath. Potter and the weasel's angry voices could be heard shouting from within, but Draco bolted back up to the school.
A real, live dragon, right here at Hogwarts! A thrill of excitement mixed with fear ran up his spine.What the hell was Hagrid thinking?Then again, Draco couldn't blame him. If given the chance, he himself would gladly have a dragon as a pet.
-O-
The next week, he visited Norbert a handful of times, learning bits and pieces about dragons and even sharing a bit of his limited dragon knowledge with Hagrid. Hagrid talked as though Norbert would only be here for a short time, intimating that there were possible plans in place for him to move to a dragon sanctuary.
"Norbert is such a good boy, ya know? He loves his stuffies an his little blankie. He's such sweet comp'ny. But, I know that Hogwarts isn't the best place for him," Hagrid said sadly one day when Draco was visiting.
Hagrid was quite torn up about the idea of losing the creature, and Draco entirely understood the man's reluctance to part with the beast. But he also knew that the creature had to go. Seriously, who could think it was a good idea to keep a dragon around hundreds of schoolchildren?
Draco continued to keep a close watch on the trio. In addition to being concerned about their quest regarding the philosopher's stone, he now felt sure that they were involved in some way with relocating Norbert. Somehow, Potter was going to get Hermione wrapped up with this illegal dragon business, and Draco was going to do his best to keep her out of it. If he could get Potter and Weasley in trouble at the same time, well, two birds with one stone and all that rot.
-O-
"Drake. Draco! Earth to Malfoy!" Theo called to him from across the table in the Great Hall. Once again, he had been caught staring at Hermione- er, Potter and Weasley. "What's got you going spare? You look like someone pissed in your breakfast, mate."
"What? No, no, I'm just still annoyed that Potter made his house Quidditch team, the absolute prat, " he said quickly. It seemed as good an excuse as any. All of Slytherin House was still angry about the loss to Gryffindor, the unreal finish to the game, and how it all came about at the hands of a first year who nearly swallowed the snitch rather than catch it.
"Ah, no matter, the season is still young. Sure you're not just jealous of Potter?" Theo asked with a wry smirk. Theo knew him better than almost anyone, as they practically grown up together, and Draco knew he had a hard time masking his emotions. It was definitely something he would need to work on more.
And why the fuck would I be jealous of Potter?" he scoffed rudely. Blaise cast him a sidelong look and said nothing, pouring a bit more sugar into his porridge.
"Language, Malfoy," Theo teased.
"There is no reason to be envious of a specky git with a scar on his face," Draco said vehemently. "Can we get to class already? I'm willing to bet you that Professor Binns has already started his lecture. Half the time he doesn't even wait for class time to begin before he starts talking."
The three Slytherins gathered their things, and Draco schooled his eyes to not wander back to the Gryffindor table and Hermione.
There truly was no reason to be jealous of Potter, he thought to himself. Sure, he was famous and had won his first ever Quidditch match at Hogwarts. As a first year. And he was friends with the smartest and most interesting witch in their class. But that was no reason to be jealous. After all, Hermione was friends with the weasel and Draco certainly wasn't jealous of him. No, it wasn't jealousy. It was simply concern on his part that Potter was about to get Hermione in serious trouble, whilst he tried to get himself expelled. That was all, he told himself.
-O-
The weasel had missed class. Potter and Hermione were whispering anxiously, which made Draco nervous. He stopped Dean Thomas after class to ask where Weasley had been.
"Not sure," Dean had said, eyeing him warily. "I heard he's up in the infirmary, might have eaten something bad."
How would Weasley even notice, seeing how fast he scarfs down his food?Draco thought snidely. But it gave him an idea of what was really happening. Earlier that morning before breakfast, Draco had gone down to see Norbert. The dragon had been scampering about lately in the back pumpkin patch, and had been fluttering his wings as though getting ready to attempt flying. Additionally, his large teeth and breathy fireballs had grown. Where once Hagrid's beard was only occasionally singed, now, patches of grass had turned black with fire as the young dragon had tried his lungs. Hagrid had been reticent to let him and likely anyone else get too close to the dragon's cage.
"Norbert's been acting a bit dodgy lately, so it might be best if you just look at 'im through the bars, yeah? Wouldn't want 'im take a nip out o ye."
-O-
Draco was willing to bet that that was exactly what had happened to the weasel. He chuckled to himself.Who better to get a dragon bite than that ginger git?Draco hurried to the infirmary, convincing Madame Pomfrey that he needed to borrow a book from Weasley.
Weasley saw him coming and pulled a face. "Whaddya want, you wanker?"
"Bold language for a knob end that let himself get bit by a dragon, Weasel. I'll bet you didn't tell Madame Pomfrey what it was that tried to make you its dinner." He spoke in a low voice so as not to be overheard by the infirmary matron.
"Stuff it, Malfoy. Why are you here?" Weasley's freckled pink skin was getting pinker by the second.
In truth, Draco wanted to find out what their plans were about Norbert, and to make sure that Hermione wasn't involved. He couldn't put his finger on exactly why he wanted to keep her out of it, but he found that he preferred not to dwell on that. This was just about getting Potter and Weasley in trouble, he assured himself.
"Relax, Weasley. I only wanted to borrow a book," Draco lied easily.
Draco looked at the small stack of shabby secondhand books on the bedside table. He picked up the top one and began to thumb through it. It had nothing interesting, so he tossed it onto the bed and grabbed the second.
"So, what does that stupid oaf plan to do with his dragon?" Draco whispered stealthily.
"As though I would tell you. Why don't you take your poncy ass out of here, Malfoy?" seethed Weasley.
"In due time, Weaselby," Draco admonished, flipping through the third book. Aha, he found something! This book had a short note tucked inside, and with a quick glance, Draco spotted the words Norwegian Ridgeback.
Draco smiled to himself and pocketed the book, satisfied as he left Weasley in the infirmary. If Hermione couldn't keep herself out of trouble, he would do it for her. He'd catch Potter and Weasley in the act, and perhaps they'd even get expelled for it. Draco relished the thought of being the one to turn them in.
He went to dinner that night with vague daydreams of turning the two Gryffindor wizards in, earning a school commendation for spotting wrongdoing and miscreants. The two Gryffindors were expelled, and Hermione was suddenly free to make friends with... other people.
-O-
That night, Draco waited for Potter and Weasley, knowing that it would likely take both of them to carry the cage holding Norbert up to the highest tower. Certainly neither of them had the brains or maybe even the magical skill to think of levitating it. He was standing flat against the wall, his head poking out just barely from a tapestry depicting six mermaids dancing (or perhaps fighting?) with tridents, when Professor McGonagall grabbed him by the ear and yanked him from his hiding spot.
"Detention! And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you —" she began tugging him down the hall away from the tower staircase.
"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming — he's got a dragon!" in his panic at being caught out of bed after curfew, Draco began spilling everything he knew.
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on — I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
She had dragged him away, and with it went his hopes of catching Potter and the weasel single handedly. And his chance of possibly seeing Norbert one more time before the dragon left for good.
-O-
Detention. Detention! Wait till Father hears about this, Draco thought glumly. And all because he was trying to keep an eye on her and catch a couple of wrongdoers.
Now, he and Hermione and Potter, and for some reason Neville Longbottom, were headed into the Forbidden Forest with no one but Hagrid and his scared dog to protect them. Draco had some confidence in Hagrid's abilities in the forest, but they were to split up in search of an injured unicorn. Hagrid was going with Hermione and Potter. Weasley had been still stuck in the infirmary, and so Potter had indeed roped Hermione into helping him. Potter and Hermione had gotten caught after leaving Norbert at the top of the tallest tower. Longbottom had snuck out trying to warn them and had been caught and given detention as well.
Draco nearly asked to go with Hagrid and Hermione, but thought better of it at the last moment. Despite his thin veneer of bravado, he was a little afraid, and didn't especially want a witch, especially this witch, seeing that. Nighttime was not the time to go wandering around the Forbidden Forest. Really, Draco imagined that daytime wasn't either. He wondered briefly why they couldn't have completed this detention during the daytime hours. Hadn't Dumbledore warned them against this very thing, going into the Forbidden Forest?
He crept along with Neville and Fang. The dog seemed even more on edge than the two boys he was with. Fang's tail was singed and bandaged, likely from an encounter with Norbert. Draco thought Fang likely had had his fill of magical creatures for awhile and would have been far happier being left back in Hagrid's hut lying on the rug in front of the hearth
Unseen creatures moved about them, unnerving Draco.What the ever loving hell were they doing here? Surely this sort of activity could have been done in the light of day? Unicorns came out in the daytime, didn't they? Injuries to animals happened all the time. Couldn't this wait until daybreak?Draco's thoughts ran away nervously.
"Neville, what the fuck was that?" Draco turned quickly as a large branch cracked to their left. He grabbed Neville"s arm. Without even looking around, Neville raised his wand and sent up a stream of red sparks into the sky.
"What the hell did you do that for? Now Hagrid's going to think we're in danger!" And Hermione is going to think that we were scared, he thought privately. He hadn't been, of course, he said to himself.
-O-
And so now he was stuck with Fang and the Boy Wonder whilst Neville went off in a different direction with Hagrid and Hermione.
When they entered a clearing and saw that... that thing eating the dead unicorn... It felt like all he could do not to faint or vomit on the spot. He hadn't known what it was, hadn't known what he was seeing exactly, other than knowing that it was a horror beyond anything he'd seen before. The glowing creature, so beautiful and strong, slain on the forest floor, its magical blood spilling everywhere. The guttural noises of the- Beast? Man? Being? Thing feasting upon it were like nothing he ever wanted to hear again. He raced back to where he had last seen Hagrid, hot on the heels of the fearful boarhound who crashed headlong through the undergrowth heedless of path or person. Panting by the time he reached Hagrid and Hermione and Longbottom, Draco spat out the story of what they'd seen, the details that he could recall. He did not make eye contact with any of them, aware of how it looked that he had left Potter with the evil creature that was currently eating a dead unicorn.
Hagrid hurried off in the direction from which Draco had come, his large shoes beating down a path as he went. Neville looked nervously in the direction of the school and grabbed only Fang's collar.
"I'm just... I'm just going to make sure Fang is secured inside Hagrid's cabin," Neville mumbled to the two of them. The frightened young wizard hurried up the trail to keep up with the nervous dog, who tugged at his collar frantically.
Draco sank to the ground beneath a large oak tree, still panting slightly. Now that the danger had passed, he felt almost silly. When he felt the shadows shift over his head, he looked up to find Hermione standing over him, an uncertain look up on her face.
"Are you okay? You must have been scared," she asked in a quiet voice. She wrung her hands distractedly in front of her. She was concerned about him? This threw Draco for a loop. Perhaps it was only Potter she was worried about, though. That made far more sense.
"I'm fine, Granger," he offered with more ease than he felt. Still, the shivers that went up his spine as she eased herself to the ground to sit next to him below the tree were enough to set off a new look of worry from her. "Fine," he repeated more forcefully.
She lit her wand with a muttered lumos, and he was grateful for the warm light that it cast. She reached in the cuff of her jumper and withdrew a familiar white square.
"Here, I've been told that these come in handy sometimes." He could not miss the smile on her face that seeped into her voice. She held out the square to him. He did not immediately take the square of white cloth, instead rubbing his hands along the goose flesh on the backs of his arms underneath his jumper.
To his extraordinary surprise, Hermione turned towards him and began mopping the sweat from his brow without his input. His breath seemed at once too much and little for his lungs. What was the meaning of this, then? He found himself breaking out in a fresh sweat at her touch. He raised his silver eyes to meet her copper ones, an unspoken question in them. Why was she being so kind to him?
She stopped and lowered the handkerchief, offering it to him again. "Would you like it back? It is yours after all." Her smile warmed him even more.
"No, I told you it's yours now."
"And yet, it has the initials DM on it," she replied with a wry grin, her warm eyes meeting his.
"Hang on, I think I can fix that." He was glad to have something that perhaps he might be good at to show off for her, especially after his showing of cowardice in leaving behind her friend and running away from the dead unicorn and the creature out in the forest.
He raised his wand with more confidence than he actually had, pointed it at the handkerchief and said firmly, "Consuo elementum." He moved his wand as neatly as he could in small detailed movements.
The handkerchief glowed briefly and he handed it back to her.
"I know con is with, what is suo?" she asked.
"To sew or stitch," he offered. At the first sight of her covered giggle, he said, slightly miffed, "what? When I was a child, I had fishing nets for gulping plimpies and miniature shrakes from our lake. The damned spines tore through so many nets, I had to become a dab hand at magical sewing. A reparo never really seemed to hold that well."
"You were a dab hand, were you?" The effusive giggles seemed to come on stronger. Hermione looked down at the handkerchief. Now, just an inch or so away from the green initials DM sat another set of green initials, this time HG. She gasped.
"Oh- Malfoy - you didn't have to do that." She seemed a bit bewildered. "And how did you know my favourite colour was green?"
"It is? I just chose it because my initials are green. Of course, my house colours are also green so..." He turned slightly pink at the praise.
"Of course," she laughed.
This was the first time Draco had ever heard her laugh, truly laugh out loud up close, and he felt even warmer for being the cause of her amusement. It amazed him, how her bright copper eyes seemed to sparkle, even in the low light of the lumos from her wand.
"I like green too. But I think my favourite colour is brown. Well, really more like gold." In his mind, he slapped his forehead in disgust. He could have bit his lip for how much he really did not intend to say that.
She seemed slightly surprised. "You should have been sorted into Hufflepuff."
"You take that back right now, Granger!" He said in mock fury. She laughed again, slapping him lightly on his arm in her glee, sending a jolt up his arm. If Draco had had his wand in hand, he thought it surely would've sent sparks up into the night air.
Hagrid and Potter finally made their way back to the clearing and the group started back towards the castle. Draco walked alongside Hermione in comfortable companionship over their encounter in the forest. He silently congratulated himself for not saying his whole truth back in that clearing. It wasn't so much just brown or gold that he liked now. It was really more of a copper.
-O-