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Tinanit.E.
Author of 6 Stories |
I’m trying to get back into the flow of writing a little bit since it’s been so long since I’ve updated Alvatas. ((Hangs head)) schoolwork kills, ((shudders))
Anyway, I dug the start of this fic out of my ideas folder and decided to make it into a oneshot.
No real pairings, but, well, you can read into what you like I suppose.
Clenching his teeth, Harry hissed out a tight breath as he tried to figure out how on earth he was suppose to harvest bat’s wool as the recipe required. Beside him Malfoy moved the toes into a neat mound and took hold of a limp marshland snake. Resting it on the chopping block, he prepared to fillet the poor creature while locked it remained locked in it’s magic slumber.
Harry looked away, stiff bat clenched painfully tight in one hand. Truth be told he was glad Malfoy had been the one to tackle the snake, he couldn’t stand the thought of cutting into the live flesh knowing full well that if it was awake he could talk to it just like he did his friends.
He heard Malfoy snigger at his reaction to the dead reptile. “What’s the matter potter?” The blonde purposely dangled the snake carcass close to Harry’s face; “Was this a friend of yours? Too bad, I s’pose you’d rather have a cup of tea and a nice long chat with it than use it in our potion.” An ugly grin formed on the blonde’s face. “Don’t worry, I’d hate for you not to have the chance to say goodbye to it.” With a flick of his wand a valiant hiss filled the air.
Harry turned around in time to see Malfoy pin the now wriggling snake to the chopping block, as it plead for mercy.
As knife came ever closer to the scales of the snake’s back Harry let out a cry and lunged for the knife, wrestling Malfoy for it.
There was a gasp as the knife scraped over the Malfoy’s palm, barely enough to draw blood, but it distracted the blond as Harry wrestled the snake away, hissing in parstletounge to the distraught creature.
Snape rose sharply from his desk, an oppressive figure looming over the timid third year class. “Potter! What in Merlin’s name are you doing!”
Harry turned and bolted to the side of the classroom, he wrenched a chair from the workbenches and clambered up on it to reach the small dank windows that lined the top of the dungeon classroom. He wobbled on the rickety structure, somehow keeping his balance as he scrabbled to stand on the back of the chair. He forced one of the rusted windows open at the hinges almost breaking it in the process, as he forcefully shoved the snake through and into the over grown garden above.
“Potter! Get down! Twenty points from Gryffindor! And a detention!”
Harry half toppled from his perch on the chair, knees meeting the harsh stone floor, but he rose glaring Snape down, before pinning Malfoy with a glare instead, as he returned to his seat. At least he’d saved the snake.
Malfoy nursed his hand as though it were an injured baby, “Professor Snape, I have to go to the hospital wing. I was cut.”
Snape eyes turned dangerously on his normally favourite student, “You’re not going anywhere Mr Malfoy. You have detention for trying to kill a conscious specimen. Wait after class.” He hissed white teeth grinding together, as though daring Malfoy to oppose him.
Draco blinked, his grey eyes wide with shock. “Not go the Hospital wing! But I’m bleeding.” He shoved his hand palm out revealing a cut that was barely more than a red line, looking an awful lot like nothing more than a paper cut, “Look! Blood!”
Snape frowned biting his tongue against knocking the boy down more, “Mr Malfoy, that cut is not even worth the effort of a healing spell.”
Draco’s eyes went wider than anyone thought possible, “But I’ll bleed to death!” he yelled dramatically.
There was a snigger from the Gryffindor’s and it didn’t take much else for the Slytherin’s to soon join them in laughter at the blonde’s expense. After all no one was that inept.
Draco stared at then as though they were all mad, “Why are you laughing, I’m bleeding!” he screamed hysterically, voice turning shrill.
“Mr Malfoy you now have a detention tonight and tomorrow with Potter as well, sit down.” Growled Snape, “Do not make me take points as from my own house.” He threatened.
Draco’s eyebrows bunched in confusion. He wordlessly held out his hand again, blood flowing ever so slowly from the shallow cut, gathered to form a single drop at the tip of his index finger. It dangled precariously for a moment, quivering as the blond’s hand shook, before plunging onto the wooden bench top.
Snape turned his back on the boy, “Get another snake Malfoy, and be sure this one does not awaken.”
Draco drew in a breath that sounded suspiciously like a chocked sob, and turned to fetch another snake.
Across the classroom he could see Malfoy’s hunched form weakly scrubbing a different section of floor. Snape had truly decided to make the classroom as filthy as magically possible before telling the boys to clean it, manually.
Harry turned back to the floor when a sound caught his ears. He looked up and studied the blonde again, picking up on a definite tremble in thin shoulders.
Harry tossed his brush into his bucket causing lucky water to slop over the edge, “Oi, Malfoy. Are you blubbering?”
When the blonde didn’t raise to his bait Harry arched an eyebrow and clamoured to his feet, stretching out his legs as he went. “Are you deaf too Malfoy?” he made his way over the blonde.
Still getting no response Harry sunk down to the ground beside the Slytherin, “You’re still going on about your wee little paper cut?” he asked bemused. Ever since the incident Draco had insisted that he couldn’t perform any spells with his injured hand and had subsequently skipped all his classes even potions, much to Snape’s disgust.
Draco wiped at his eyes angrily, turning away from Potter’s glowing face, “Go away.” He spat voice strained like he was about to cry.
Harry rolled his eyes, “Gee just go get it healed already.”
Harry turned to leave but a quiet voice caught him “I went to the hospital wing but they wouldn’t heal it either.” Draco paused. “She told me I was fussing and to go away. I sent an owl to father, but it’ll probably be too late by the time he gets it. I’m going to die here while everyone points at me and laughs and calls me names.” Draco’s voice became unbearably tight and an anguished sob escaped his pressed lips.
Harry frowned, “You really think you’re going to die if your cut isn’t healed by magic?”
Draco’s reddened eyes met Harry’s, “Of course. It bleeds and if you don’t stop it, you’ll bleed out and then you shrivel up like a fig and die!” he licked his chapped lips, “I suppose you’re going to tell me you know how to heal injuries without magic?”
“Of course, how else do you think the muggles survive?” asked Harry.
Draco snorted, “Oh I know how muggles stop bleeding, they wrap you up like an Egyptian mummy so the blood doesn’t get out, and you have to live with it forever.”
Harry hung his head chuckling, “You’re so dumb.”
Draco let out a whining cry, “I’m going to die and your laughing at me!” tears stung the blonde’s eyes.
“Cut’s heal themselves, idiot.”
Draco’s face screwed up in confusion and thought, “How on do you charm them to do that?”
Harry shrugged, “It’s not a charm, they just do. The blood clots and it forms a scab.”
“Scab? That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”
Harry shrugged, “Then new skin grows underneath the scab, then it falls off and you have new skin left behind.”
Draco jerked away, “You know at least the others only laughed at me. You don’t have to go and make stupid stuff like that up; you just love seeing me in dieing and I can’t do a thing about it because it’s on my wand hand, and no one will heal it for me! Well I’m going to die now, so I hope you’re happy. Why don’t you go back to your little mudblood lovers and laugh it up at my expense! I’ll just lay here with the scum on the floor and Die!”
Harry seized Draco harshly by the shoulder, “What the hells you’re problem! I’m not making it up.” He pulled up the hem of his robes revealing a half-healed scab over his knee from where he had toppled off the chair. “See, I did this yesterday. It’s almost healed already.”
Draco stared at he scab for a moment, then gingerly reached out and touched it with his good finger.
He pulled back quickly, “It’s hard.” He observed, gently he reached out and touched the patch again, “Doesn’t it hurt?”
Harry shook his head, “No, it’s just a graze.”
The boy who lived watched at Draco prodded his scab carefully, “How long does it take?”
“For what?”
"For one of those scab things to form?”
Harry shrugged "an hour maybe, minutes? I don’t really know, I suppose it depends how big the cut. That little thing on your hand should be practically gone by now anyway, I don’t know why you think you’re going to die.”
Draco looked down, “I don’t think I can heal like that.” He whispered softly.
Harry blinked, “Your cut hasn’t healed yet?”
Draco shook his head.
“Let me see it.”
Shakily the other teen raised his hand and Harry blinked in surprise a steady stream of blood was gently making it’s way down the blonds hand.
Harry took the hand, “Oh my god, you’re still bleeding.”
“I’m going to die, I hope they all feel horrible that they laughed. I hope guilt eats them up forever, because they laughed and I died. If I can, I’m going to come back as a ghost and I’ll make them all go mad, especially Snape, he was my favourite teacher.” Tears coursed down the blonde’s face.
Draco smiled weakly, and Harry suddenly realised how pale the boy looked, even more so than he usually did.
“Malfoy?” Another drop of blood fell from the blonde’s hand. “I don’t know any healing spells.” Admitted Harry.
Draco’s eyes closed, “You wouldn’t heal me anyway, you want to see me dead, everybody wants to see me dead. When I’m a ghost, I’m going to put leaches in everyone’s beds. But not Potter, I’m going to put dead snakes in Potter’s bed, he’ll be so scared of me he’ll wet himself, then they can all laugh at him.” Malfoy droned off tiredly.
Another drop of blood hit the stone floor.
Draco toppled forwards into Harry’s arms, eyes closed.
“Malfoy?”
Harry turned the blonde’s hand over to look at the small cut. Suddenly he realised something, The sleeves of Draco’s robe’s weren’t damp with water from cleaning, it was blood. Harry’s eyes trailed to the area Malfoy had been scrubbing. The floor was awash with blood; the scrubbing brush was red.
Another drop of blood hit the floor.
With the blonde slumped motionless in his arms, Harry half turned and did the only thing he could think to do, he bellowed for Snape at the top of his lungs. After all, he was becoming accustomed to saving snakes.
“We never told him of his condition.” Malfoy burst into the hospital wing moving to his son’s motionless form in the nearest bed. “He knows how to heal himself for almost everything. We didn’t want him to live in fear of being weak.” Lucius paused regarding the boy for a moment, before he stooped over his son and gently brushed his fringe away from his resting features. “He’s always been so weak.” He added softly.
Across the room perched in a chair Harry watched silently, as Lucius brushed a gentle kiss on his son’s temple and drew a chair near to sit by his son’s side to hold his recently healed hand.
Suddenly feeling awkward, Harry stood moving towards the door. In the end he had half dragged, half carried the other boy to the hospital wing, never even pausing to think about using magic to aid him.
Before he could slip away Madam Pomfrey caught his shoulder gently. “Thankyou Mr Potter, if you hadn’t have helped him here…”
Harry cast a brief glance at the pale form in the bed, “What’s wrong with him?”
The witch smiled sadly, “It seems Mr Malfoy has a very rare condition, his blood is sort of thin, he just can’t heal very well. There are treatments for it, but as his parents never seemed fit to look into them for him…” she shook her head absently, “the poor thing was merely told that he needed to be healed by magic from a young age, he’s never known anything else, and being a pure blood, every scrape, every bloody nose was always healed in a trice, he’d have thought nothing of it.” She paused to look at the boy as well, “No wonder he was beside himself when I sent him away. He must have been scared to death.”
“He can die.”
The witch blinked, “Oh, no, no, don’t think like that. He’ll be fine he’ll need a blood replenishing potion and a good nights rest, he has been bleeding out slowly for quite awhile, but he’ll be just fine.”
Harry turned away, remembering the blood staining the floor off the potions room. He hadn’t really meant Malfoy could die right now. It was more of the idea hitting him that the boy could die anytime; he was a fragile, weak, even more so than the average person. Malfoy was as helpless as the snake dangling from pale fingers, but there was no way to set him free.
“Malfoy?”
Draco cursed loudly wiping invisible dust from his school robes. He had only been released a few days ago, but trust the first time he saw his unwitting saviour since he had been at deaths door, was on his ass in the middle of corridor.
In an instant Harry was on his feet helping the blonde up, “I’m so sorry. Are you okay? You’re not hurt are you? Do you need to go to the hospital wing?” Harry babbled checking the blondes arms for cuts or grazes.
Draco wrenched his arm from Harry’s grasp, “Stop pawing over me you moron, I’m not a ruddy piece of glass.”
Draco looked at the bespectacled boy before him and let out a sigh, hand running through his blonde hair, “Just, just leave me be Potter.”
Harry blinked, “But you’re-”
“I know what I am Potter, and it changes nothing! You here me, Nothing!” he swivelled and strode away.
Harry almost sighed in relief watching him go. As a flurry of robes licked around the corner vanishing from site and Harry allowed himself a smile, maybe the snake hadn’t truly been helpless after all, just in need of help.
Reviews are welcome good or bad I don’t mind.
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