Warm But Tainted Blood (Drarry)

chapter nineteen

The day before a rune appears on Draco Malfoy's skin is a normal one.

He walks with Harry to the Gryffindor Tower, exchanging idle conversation-- ("Did you notice that they're not writing about you being the big bad dragon slayer anymore?" commented Draco, "I mean, the less publicity, the better, but it's like the press has moved past that completely--"

"That's because they know I'm not a dragon slayer anymore," interrupted Harry quietly, "I'm a murder.")-- before breaking off to head to his own Tower.

He changed into his sleeping robes-- green silk, only the best for a Malfoy-- and brushed his teeth before settling into bed. He thought briefly about the letter from his father condemning his friendship with Harry and thought briefly about how he didn't give a shit.

He slept.

But not well.

He's woken up but a few hours later by a bright light shot from nowhere and the sound of retreating steps. He thinks nothing of it-- because why would he? He assumes it was a dream because he was given no reason to assume otherwise...

... Until he's brushing his teeth and catches a glimpse of the back of his hand.

"Shit," says Draco faintly, as if that explained the situation in its entirety. He resumes his morning routine-- because the reality that he's to be turned into a dragon and soon is not an excuse not to look his best-- and does so with shaking hands.

This is fine, he thinks, followed up by a slightly more panicked, This is not fine.

Because it's not. Draco's a person and he wants to stay as such. He scrubs at his hand until the skin is red and sore but it doesn't erase the reality that he's next. The next course of action is to go to the Hospital Wing to he subjected to various spells and potions...

... None of which will work, of course. He'll go to bed and wake up to meet his past peers outside the wards. He'll go about his day as a person and end as a dragon. He'll see Harry again except he won't have a mind un-muddled enough to recognize him. Questions about why Dumbledore hadn't made the Hospital Wing inaccessible at night are not thought of when he's so obsessed with the concept of being removed from his current state of being.

Draco decides that he'll be spending his last day as he pleases. He refuses to be couped up like a lab rat only for all experiments to prove futile anyway--

No. He'll do as he pleases. Today's his day and anyone who disagrees can go to hell.

Malfoy slaps on some contour over the rune and walks into the Great Hall, ready for the best (and last) of his weekends to commence.

∆¶∆

Harry Potter knows he got it from living with his relatives, but other than that he tries not to think about it. He identifies people by smell first, sight last.

When Draco Malfoy asks to join him on his usually isolatory walk, his steps precise and prestige as only a Malfoy could manage, Harry can smell something off. Draco's cologne is overpowering, as always, but... There's something more, ever so faint there, too.

And Draco's behavior-- it's changed, as well. He's usually so understanding of Harry's want for alone time, for time spent together in silence, but Draco is pushing for the opposite of that. He adknowledges Harry's boundaries... and still pushes past them. He's sorry, Draco is, but not enough so.

He's desperate, Harry thinks, because it's true, he can pratically smell the desperation on him, But why?

When Draco accidentally rubs the back of his hand against his robes and leaves a pale trail in its place, the odd smell and strange behavior is given a name and a reason to go with.

Harry hates physical contact-- it makes him cringe and fight a flinch because his skin is his own and no one else's-- but he reaches out and grabs Draco's hand. With a shaking thumb, he swipes off the rest of the make-up.

They stare at the now revealed rune in silence. Draco's shoulders slump with resignation and he chuckles weakly.

Harry's frown deepens at the sound. "Shit," he says quietly.

"Shit indeed."

Harry tries not to cry-- he's always been a crier and sobs when the reason is right-- because he's not the one with the rune on his hand. Draco's not crying, so why should he?

(Tears spill down his cheeks unpermitted.)

"Shit," echos Harry again and only when Draco's eyes widen slightly does he notice that he's not speaking in english.

And that the rune had dimmed slightly.

"I guess," he says in Parseltongue, smiling widely even as he cries, "we know what was in the reversal section after all."

∆¶∆

Harry was considering a set up for a system for people that find the rune on their body to report to him so he can Parseltongue it away when Draco Malfoy says something that removed the need for one altogether.

"I had woken up a few hours before, I guess, but I couldn't see who cursed me. It was like it came out of nowhere-- like they were invisible, or something."

Harry stops in his tracks, then, because oh Merlin it's all coming together. How did he not see it sooner?

Harry speed walks into the Gryffindor common room, Draco following closely behind spitting questions that are all ignored, and storms into the dorm room. He kneels at his bed and flung open his trunk. Grabbing his valued Invisibility Cloak and inhaling the scent deeply, his eyes narrow.

He shoves it at Draco and says, "What does this smell like?"

Draco leans back a bit and says, awkwardly, "...You?"

Harry shakes his head and slams ths lid of his trunk down harshly. "No," he says sternly, "It smells like the same bitch who's been stealing my Cloak."

"What?--"

"Neville Longbottom," said Harry strongly, "is the cause of the Dragon Epidemic."