luius malfoy burst into the infirmary, wings sning in anger, followed by a somewhat irate looking professor snape who’d been sent to feth the elder malfoy all eyes in the room (whih inluded any staff who weren’t teahing at the moment) were trained on the boy lying, deathly pale, on the bed
“i don’t know what hened,” madam pomfrey said worriedly “a to hagrid, he just fainted there was no ause he doesn’t have any harateristis of being sik…he just won’t wake”
luius radled his son’s hand in his own, his fingers traing the vein bak up the boy’s arm to the point when it wasthe surfae drao’s blood was as old as ie what had potter done? for the first time in his life, the malfoy faade threatened to rumble
“dumbledore i will be taking drao to his room,” he spoke abruptly, his eyes searhing out those of the headmaster and then those of snape the pon master’s own eyes widened in reognin as dumbledore gave his permisn despite madam pomfrey’s protests
after luius had left, radling his son’s body to his own as if he would never have the hane to do so again, snape spoke “don’t bother trying to protest, pomfrey drao should at least be able to die in his room with his remaining family”
“die?”
shrouded eyes widened as herne made her way out of the room drao had heard harry now all she had to do was get to harry to tell him but would harry are enough to save him even though that meant pratially haining himself to drao malfoy for the rest of his life?
chapter 8: flight at midnight
luius stood at the window in dumbledore’s offie, wathing the rain pelt down mournfully against the gss
“nature knows what is oming it antiipates the death of a veriae, and it prepares to mourn” dumbledore’s voie ame softly from beside him the headmaster’s gaze followed luius’s aross the grounds of hogwarts, towards the forbidden forest “you knew they were destined to be together, did you not?”
“i did i was aquiring drao’s shoolbooks when drao was being fitted for his robes for his first year here i returned before narissa and hened to see both drao and potter were being fitted in the same room, my son hatting away as usual, both surrounded by auras so simir it sared me while my son did not reognize the fabled harry potter, i did i knew the dark lord would stop at nothing to return, so i feared for my son’s life it seems my fears were more orret than i wished them to be”
“you told your son to befriend harry”
“yes but that did not hen i hope ronald weasley is hy with himself today, for at midnight drao dies his father’s grudge against my family an then be finally put to rest”
“luius, your son and your grudge pyed a rge part in harry’s dein”
“but out of the two families, it is the malfoys who will regret it”
luius turned to leave, his fae impassive, his emons only betrayed by a single rystal tear that fell to the plush rug of dumbledore’s offie
“bsp;you not help him, luius? drao is strong; he may be able to live through it… even if no veriae ever has”
“drao ran to the forest when he woke i ould not even begin to fathom where he has gone”
“so you will give up that easily, luius? you will let your son die?”
“sider my opns, dumbledore, before you ondone my ans suiide is unbeoming of a malfoy” luius spoke gravely “if i were to find him, drao would ask me to kill him”
harry woke, gasping voldemort was pleased, and for the first time in weeks, harry had felt every painful moment there was no reassuring bkness, no voie to whisper sweet words, and no wings to shelter him from the pain had that…had that atually been drao, as the book had said? harry’s eyes shifted over to the lok that sat on his bedside table 11:30
that was bad wait, why was that bad? why did harry feel so empty inside? like something important was slipping away from him…something he desperately wanted to hold on to
almost on an impulse of their own, harry’s arms reahed for the book that he’d insisted to herne that he read, but he had put down after realizing what it was telling him something was wrong, something whih he had ignored when herne had tried desperately to expin to him, and now he wanted to find out what
his eyes hurriedly sanned the headings, to find the page that he had lost when he’d smmed the book shut finding the page number, his fingers dove through the pages, almost as if they knew he had to hurry as his emerald orbs piked up the paragraph about mates, they widened as the truth of the situan hit and it hit harder than a cr ever ould have
drao dead at midnight wait…why did he are? no more drao, no more insults, no more underhanded slytherin pranks direted solely at him…no more ompetin at quiddith…no more…just no more
drao had wronged him…many times in fat yet, drao had been the first wizard he had ever ome in ontat with that didn’t aknowledge the fat that he was…well, different drao had extended a hand of friendship to harry, albeit rudely but…he hadn’t really been rude to harry…just to ron
ron had started it…
harry blinked ron had started it all harry had fallen into the same pit that he aused drao of being in…he had taken ron’s opin of drao as the bk and white of the situan and ron’s interpretan of drao had ome, not from analyzing drao, but from what he had heard from his father about luius drao was not luius luius was not the malfoy who had saved harry from the wyverns, nor was he the malfoy who had fainted after care of magial creatures…where he must have heard harry’s words to his friends somehow, nor was luius the one who had the same aura as harry
what did harry really know about drao?
nothing exept that drao knew how to r
