What a Terrible Mess

Chapter 9

Draco peered cautiously over the edge of the bed at the rather ruffled Harry Potter. His heart soared when they made eye contact.

"Harry," he said, reaching out his hand to help the raven haired teen, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine Malfoy- and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep- I was just trying to speed up the whole process I guess, and you were having nightmares. I *really* didn't mean to fall asleep..."

"Harry, slow down. What are you going on about?" Draco asked calmly. Harry did not miss the use of his first name.

"Zabini said that you had some sort of curse on you. He said that if someone you disliked or hated touched or felt the same toward you that it would heal you. You fainted out on the grounds, after his charms spell. Madame Pomphrey said you might not make it... I was just trying to help. I am so sorry."

"Wait. A spell that does what now?" Draco asked, eyes wide.

"He said it was really old. Like ancient dark magic. It has to be an enemy, or someone you dislike to touch you. Or vice versa- they can hate or dislike you. Since we used to fight a lot...I thought it would help."

"While that would be rather brilliant for a spell," Draco said, making a mental note, "it does not exist- to my knowledge- nor was I cursed with it. I apologize that you were misled." Harry blushed deeply, embarrassed and Draco did his best not to notice. "However, Harry, as much as I deeply appreciate the gesture- I really do- I don't hate you."

"You don't?" Harry asked, confused.

"No. I don't. Now, what else were you saying? Someone struck me with a charm?"

"Yes. It was Blaise, you were still awake do you remember that? It was a disillus-" Draco cut him off with a howl of rage.

"That fucking idiot! I'll kill him!" Draco shrieked, noticing that his scars were all visible, he was hideous. "Oh I swear to god, I'm going to fucking peel his skin off with my bare hands!" Draco was roaring, angry.

"Mal-Draco, it's okay. The charm can be replaced. It's just a charm. I have scars too. Not as bad as yours, but pretty bad. They're all down my back. I'm not judging you for them and I won't tell anyone."

"It's not okay," Draco said, falling back onto the bed, covering his face with a pillow, and moaned "it's not okay- the damage has been done."

Draco knew now that Harry would never see him as beautiful. Ever. He wanted to cry,

"Did anything else happen that you're aware of?"

"Um...no. That's it really. Oh, wait. Zabini did say he had done something. Said to tell you he had accomplished something. Didn't say what. Just said to let you know. Do you know what he's-" Draco cut Harry off again, this time with a loud whoop, pumping his fist in the air.

"Okayyyyy?" Harry said, confused.

"It's nothing- I'll tell you later if you'd like. Just... not right now. We've been trying to help someone- he finally did, he finished it."

"With Hagrid?" Harry asked.

"Yes- with Hagrid... No Death Eaters have been back have they? Nothing else happened?"

"No. Nothing. McGonagall is considering closing the school though," Harry sighed wistfully, "a lot of students are gone...The Death Eater attack was really bad- even though no one really got hurt, a lot of student's have been removed by their parents. Plus, those creatures? Merlin knows what those were."

"Creatures?" Draco ventured. Harry nodded,

"When school started- everyone was really down about Dumbledore being dead and Voldemort rising and family members being dead... McGonagall thought it would be a good idea to host a mock quidditch game a little early- to cheer everyone up. We were all playing when the Death Eaters burst onto the field. Bellatrix LeStrange was there," Harry thought back to the tapestry at Grimauld place, "aren't you related to her?"

Draco nodded and shrugged slightly,

"something like that... I'll explain another time. Go on."

"Okay- well the Death Eaters (they were actually mostly students, probably earning their marks) attacked and then, when I thought a lot of people were going to die, these two creatures swooped down out of the sky. I don't know what they were- or even where they went. They were pretty awesome though- once we figured out they were just helping. You didn't see them?"

"No, I didn't see anything."

"Okay well, one looked like a sort of bloody dragon. The other one was wild. It had huge black wings. I mean huge. It's skin was kinda gray and looked a little scaly- with long fingers and ridiculous talons. Huge talons- like Buckbeak-"

"Buckbeak?"

"The Hippogriff that Hagrid had... remember?"

"Oh yeah," Draco said, feeling uncomfortable.

"Yeah. It sort of appeared human though. It's legs were bent oddly, like a horse I guess? Or a werewolf? Well they swooped down and the dragon one's tail had these bright feather looking things flowing from it, but they were sharp. When it passed Hermione, it sliced the bottom of her robes up. It circled around us. We thought it was an attack and hit it pretty hard with some spells. Then, as the Death Eaters got close, the other one- with the big wings- fell on top of us, the two of them sorta made a barrel and we were protected. We tried to push the one on top of us off, the others got cut up pretty badly when they touched it's wings though. Bellatrix killed that one- I heard her say the Killing Curse." Harry seemed kind of sad at that and became quiet.

"Did... did you get cut? By it's wings?"

"No, for some reason it didn't effect me at all..."

"Shame it died. You seem really disappointed."

"Well yeah... it saved my life."

"So did the dragon."

"Yeah, it did. I've seen dragons though- the other one... it was just special I guess. I know it sounds weird. I always enjoyed learning about different creatures here though- it's completely different than the muggle world... I don't know... it was just awesome."

Draco felt himself swell with pride and he did his best to supress a grin. He decided to continue the conversation,

"where did they come from? No one knows what they were?"

"No one knows anything about them. Neville suggested they were stirred up out of the Forbidden Forrest by the Death Eaters. Ron thinks maybe they were put here by McGonagall, like guard dogs since the wards aren't as strong as they used to be. Luna thinks the school created them somehow... or something. Dean believes it was some kind of a spell someone cast. Hermione is convinced they're real and Seamus thinks we all imagined the whole thing."

"What do you think?"

"Oh they were definitely real. They could have come from the forrest I suppose, that would make sense. Hermione's got us all trying to figure it out now."

It was then that Harry and Draco heard someone open the infirmary doors, someone was coming quick- several voices. Snape and Narcissa were bickering back and forth... something about a sleeping potion. McGonagall was speaking with Madame Pomphrey. Draco looked panicked, he couldn't do a disillusionment charm as well as Blaise could. Shit. Harry noticed his panic and waved his wand, whispering a small spell to make sure the curtains stayed locked tight. Then, quickly, he removed his robes, stripping down to his tee shirt and jeans- tossing them to Draco. Yet, Draco didn't move. He seemed frozen.

"Malfoy! Hurry! Put them on, they're coming!"

Draco couldn't breathe. His mouth was dry, his body trembled sporattically. Harry was stripping. Part of his tanned, and very tone, abdomen showed as he pulled his robes off. When Harry urged him, he managed to snap out of it enough to slide the robes over his head, smiling.

"Thank you," he managed to whisper. Harry nodded, drawing his wand and whispering another disillusionment charm. This one wasn't nearly as good as what Blaise could accomplish- but would do the trick for now. He was only focusing on the face, afterall. Draco straightened his hair the best he could with his fingers.

"HARRY POTTER! YOU OPEN THIS CURTAIN RIGHT NOW!" Oh, Pomphrey was angry.