A Throne of Blood and Stars

Chapter One

"Draco?"

"Blaise," Draco pops out from behind his bed, kneeled next to his open trunk. "Something happened."

Blaise is immediately on alert. He pulls his wand out and takes a stance.

"No, no, I meant in my dream. It was different."

Blaise exhales in relief, pockets his wand and sits on the corner of Draco's bed, hugging the post. "We established that this morning."

"No. No, I fell asleep again, after you left," Draco clarifies, Blaise nods patiently. "And I was back on the Astronomy tower."

"And?"

"And Harry was there."

"Of course. And?"

"We talked."

"And?"

Draco flushes. "He hugged me. And apologized. Of the sort."

Blaise snorts, barely missing Draco's swat. He rolls his eyes when Draco goes to open his mouth. "Yeah, yeah, Slytherins don't snort."

"Yes," Draco corrects. "And we do not snort. It is beneath us."

"Once a Malfoy, always a Malfoy, I suppose," Blaise chides fondly. Draco was digging somewhere under his bed, only the heels of his boots visible. "Speaking of do nots, are you on your knees?"

Draco pops his head up to roll his eyes. "I am looking for something."

Blaise is amused when Draco dives back under, and lays across the bed to smack the back of Draco's thigh with the tip of his wand. He chortles when he hears a thump and a growl. "Alright there, Draco, dear?"

"Just you wait, you cur."

"Cur," Blaise exclaims. "Cur!"

Meanwhile Blaise exiles his fit of giggles, Draco throws object after object away, he curses his younger self for thinking that expanding the underbody of his bed was ever a good idea. It has to be here, this part of the castle remained untouched, he hums thoughtfully.

"You are aware you are a wizard, right?"

"Do you think I would be digging around dead skin and dust bunnies for the fun of it, Blaise? I charmed this item so I could be the only one that finds it. Without magic."

He hears Blaise sigh. "Very well. May I be of assistance?"

"No, Blaise," he answers curtly. "You just sit there and laugh at my century old insults."

"Cur," Blaise clutches his chest and falls back dramatically. "He called me a cur!"

A couple hours past and Draco definitely regrets expanding underneath his bed, somewhat. He's glad since it gave him space to put all his belongings as he was banned from visiting the manor while his mother was on house arrest, however, seeing as his current situation is urgent--

"I found it!"

Blaise sits up, thumping his head on the bed post. "Bloody hell," he grumbles.

Draco though, jumps up, relief on his face as he bounces on the heels of his feet, his hand is balled around something and he's holding it as if it holds his future. "I have it, I knew it was still here!"

"What is it," Blaise rubs above his eyebrow, looks at Draco with his undamaged eye.

"This," Draco announces proudly, opening his palm in front of Blaise's good eye.

"Merlin's balls," Blaise chokes, enclosing his palm over Draco's open one and looking around cautiously. "Draco, what the hell are you doing with that thing!"

Draco rolls his eyes at the ignorance of his best friend and pulls his hand back. "Relax. I doubt they know what it is."

"How did you even get it," Blaise hisses. He feels his blood rush to his head, he feels faint. "That thing was supposed to be destroyed."

"It was supposed to be lost. Harry dropped it in the forest because he did not want the Dark Lord finding it."

"How do you know that? And how did you find it?"

Draco looks down at the small stone in his hand, tossed it up softly. "I Accio'd it."

Blaise's eyes widen incredibly. "You went into the--"

There is a pale hand that stops the rest of his sentence, and Draco shakes his head. "From the edge of the forest. It took an hour for it to get to me. I did not think it would work, seeing as it has a very powerful magical signature, but it did. Then I sent it back here and Apparated back to the Manor, before I got arrested. It has been here ever since, I suppose."

"You've gone mad," Blaise shakes his head.

"This is the only way for me to know he is still alive. I would not be able to take it if he," Draco chokes, looking back down to the stone. He shakes his head, looking into Blaise's eyes. "I need to know."

Blaise inhales deeply, and rises to his feet as he shakes his head. "I still can't believe you called me a cur."