Minerva Mcgonagall, headmistress of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, was a woman who treated all her students with complete fairness and respect. Houses, be damned.
Although, she always had one specific student closer to her heart than she had others. That student was Harry Potter.
She wondered if that was because he is the child of both of her students, now long dead. Or if it was out of guilt that she hadn't taken him in like she had wanted to on that fateful day in Surrey. If it had been up to her, little Harry Potter would not have been exposed to such terror at such a young age. But destiny had different plans for that boy.
So, when Minerva overlooked the Great Hall in her place at the staff table, she grew worried as she saw no Harry Potter sitting next to his friends and eating dinner.
She was, and rightfully so, worried like a mother when her child goes missing, and simultaneously highly annoyed; because Harry Potter was on one of his nightly adventures.
She sighed and turned her head away from the Gryffindor table to look at the Slytherin one. It seems, that one Draco Malfoy was not with his friends either.
Her worry decreased a tad bit, but not completely. For, she knew, that wherever they were, Draco Malfoy would keep Harry Potter safe at all costs.
When Hogwarts opened her gates back up after the war, the seventh years were called back for another year as they hadn't really had proper schooling the year before. She saw the empty spaces in the house tables as many that were previously present, had either passed away or was pulled out of Hogwarts to a different magical school.
She had kept an eye on all her students, observing each and every one of them. She made a note to keep a closer eye on the children that fought in the war. As she did so, she noticed two very distinct and odd things; Harry Potter ate very little, and Draco Malfoy was isolated from Slytherin.
She noted that people picked on Draco, and that most were from Gryffindor. The students of Slytherin avoided him at all cost and barely interacted with him. He had dark circles under his eyes, frequently falling asleep in class. Nightmares, she guessed.
Harry’s health, both mental and physical, didn't appear to be any better. He barely ate anything, and would appear in his classes with red rimmed eyes, and more often than not, she'd caught him dozing of in between lessons. And the mysterious bruises that he'd been getting, with closer observation, seemed to be coming from a petty Gryffindor whose brother died in war and was seemingly blaming it on Harry.
Try as she might, no amount of words or detentions from her were stopping all the nonsense some students thought were needed to punish the ones who'd wronged them. She was a hair's breadth close to giving them detention with Filch.
To try and mend the broken bridges between the houses and to give her students some reprieve, she had asked to talk to the boys together. She had asked them to try and get along, and, to make sure that both boys would do so, asked Draco to tutor Harry in potions. Of course this didn't go without argument. Both boys had simultaneously objected but after a stern glance and a lecture from herself, they, albeit grudgingly, obliged.
Before they had left, she had asked Draco to stay back. After Harry had left, she told him to make sure Harry ate even a little at their tutoring sessions.
Since then both boys have been inseparable. She reckoned something interesting happened during one of their sessions.
The click of her fork on the her plate broke her out of her reminiscing. Her worry had only increased when she realised that they were three quarters into dinner. Where were they?!
●•●•●
Hermione Granger chewed on her bottom lip anxiously, the charms textbook in front of her long forgotten.
“Where do you think he is?” She asked Ron, who was happily eating his chicken leg.
“Don't worry so much Hermione. He'll be fine, he's probably just with Malfoy again,” he shrugged, going back to munching on his chicken leg.
She looked at him sceptically. How could he be so calm when their best friend is missing?!
She hit him on the head with her book. “Stop eating will you?! Your best friend is missing!“
Ron shrugged.
“We've known him since first year. He'll be fine ‘mione. If he's in a deadly situation, which he probably is, he'll be fine. He'll probably come through those doors carrying a flock of unicorns he saved from an acromantula...” he added as an after thought before going back to eating again.
This did not make her worry ebb away even a smidge. She was fretting even more than before. But before she could say anything to Ron, she saw Mcgonagall approached them.
●•●•●
Mcgonagall, more worried than before, approached Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley in hopes they would tell her some good news that might rid her of her, extremely necessary, worry. Though, as she approached, it looked like they didn't know where he was either.
“Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, do you happen to know where Mr. Potter is?” she asked.
The red haired male all but shrugged.
“No professor, we haven't seen him since before dinner.“ Hermione replied anxiously.
“Very well then," she said and turned away to go to the Slytherin table.
She hoped that Draco‘s friends at the very least knew where he was. Though she doubted it. The Slytherins didn't seem as close anymore.
She approached a girl and boy that she'd seen Draco talk with on multiple occasions over the years. They seemed to be close.
“Miss Parkinson, Mr Zabini, do you happen to know where Mr Malfoy is at the moment?” she asked the girl with short black hair and the dark-skinned boy.
“The last we heard he was with Potter, odd really, he seemed to be hanging out with him a lot,” she said, with a dramatic sigh at the end, while Blaise tried to hold in a snicker.
“We saw him talking to Potter near the black lake a little before dinner,” he said, a smirk prominent on his face.
Good, she thought, at least they were together.
“Thank you Ms Parkinson, Mr Zabini,“ she said and turned away to return to her seat, content with what she was told.
But just as she reached her seat, the doors of the great hall were pushed open...
●•●•● Meanwhile with Harry and Draco ●•●•●
“Why, hello there, Potter,” said the blond boy smirking down at his companion.
“Hello to you too, Draco,” the black haired boy replied, looking out on to the lake.
It was getting darker. The sky was all kinds of colours. Blue, purple, pink, orange and red. The stars were starting to shine brighter and the crescent moon was glimmering softly in the sky. The sun was just about setting.
“Fancy a little walk on the grounds,” he asked an eyebrow raised, hand outstretched with a smirk on his lips.
Harry looked at the hand, a fluttery feeling in his stomach. He'd been feeling something other than friendship for the blond boy for a while now, but he'd rather die than admit it to him.
“Sure,” he said, grabbing the blonds hand and intertwining their fingers together with a smile, his face feeling a little warm.
Both boys’ hearts beat faster and their stomach were doing small flips. They silently walked through the grounds hand in hand, the sun slowly setting until all that was left was the beautiful purple and blue sky filled with bright, twinkling stars and the shining moon.
While one boy would rather die than admit their feelings to the other, the other had wanted to confess his feelings, to get it over and done with so he could wallow in pity when the other boy had rejected him. But Draco had an inkling that that wouldn't be the case. If he wad interpreting the signs correctly.
They stopped near a tree on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, both silently admiring the night sky.
“it's beautiful, isn't it?” Harry asked, in awe at how fascinatingly amazing it was. Purple and blue skies mixed together perfectly with white-grey, fluffy clouds parting slowly to reveal the previously hidden crescent moon. The small twinkling stars dusting the sky giving it the image of a painting. It looked absolutely beautiful.
“yeah, it is,” Draco said, although he wasn't talking about the sky. The way Harry's bright emerald eyes lit up behind his glasses was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. They looked as if they were sparkling. The twinkling stars reflected in them made them even more mesmerising.
“Harry?” Draco asked. It was the perfect moment for him to confess.
Harry hummed, giving a fleeting glance at the stars before turning his attention onto Draco
“I- I wanted to tell you something,” he internally cursed himself for stuttering, but it couldn't be helped. He was nervous. He was about to tell the boy he'd been fancying for months that he liked him, of course he was nervous. His palms were getting sweaty, his face was hot and Harry was staring at him looking worried.
“Draco? Are you OK?” Harry was getting worried. Draco was paler than he usually was, there was a pink flush across his cheeks and Draco was nervous. Very nervous.
Wanting to make sure Draco was not catching a fever, Harry reached a hand up to his head and pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. His temperature felt normal, so why was Draco so flushed?
Draco didn't know what made him do it but one second Harry was checking his temperature and the next, he was leaning down a little and pressing his lips against Harry's fuller ones. The green eyed boy was a bit startled at first but began to kiss back hesitantly.
In a matter of 10 seconds, Draco had come back to the real world and pulled away from Harry. What was he doing? He didn't even know if the other boy felt the same way and he immediately started apologising.
“I- I'm sorry- I s-shouldn't have done that-” Draco was quickly shut up when a hand had grabbed his tie, making him lean down enough to look the other boy in the eyes.
“Just shut up and kiss me,” Harry sighed breathlessly, his pupils blown out, a dark red flush painting his previously pale cheeks.
Draco didn't need to be asked twice.
In a matter of a moment, they were kissing again. The kiss was sweet and passionate. It felt like everything was okay and that they were the only ones in the world at the moment. Harry's hands were tangled in Draco's perfect blond hair, while the blonde’s hands encircled the dark haired boys waist, both of them holding onto to the other, not wanting the moment to ever end.
But alas, breathing was something you required to survive.
They hesitantly moved their lips apart, Harry now pressed against a tree with Draco's face buried into the crook of his neck. The blond boy still had his arms around Harry's waist, holding him with as much care as he could. He felt safe like this, with Draco. He never wanted to leave his gentle hold. He carded his fingers through soft, white-blond hair as he held his eyes closed and relaxed into the other's arms. If it were anyone else, Draco would have hexed them into tomorrow, but since it was Harry, he'd make an exception.
“So- uh- you like me?” Draco asked and, once again, cursed himself internally for stuttering. He loosened the hands on Harry's waist, leant back a bit and stared into the his emerald eyes. Both their faces were flushed pink.
“Of course I do. I mean, who wouldn't?” Harry replied, avoiding the other's piercing steely grey eyes.
“I could name a few...” he chuckled humourlessly, taking Harry's chin between his fingers, making the boy look into his eyes.
Harry hummed. “Their loss.” He whispered before leaning up and pecking the blond on his lips, surprising him.
“So does this mean you'd date me?” Draco asked hesitantly after he came over his shock. He was still oddly nervous to ask the him out. I mean who wouldn't? He was Harry Potter. The saviour of the wizarding world. He had faced a dark lord and won, just last year. You would have to be at least a bit nervous while asking out someone like that.
“Of course I do, I wouldn't have kissed you if I didn't want to.” Harry replied. Of course, he was nervous about this as well. It was Draco Malfoy, the most good looking git in all of Hogwarts, according him at least. Add to the fact that the git was also really confident if he needed to be. And he had liked the boy for quite a while now. So of course he was nervous. He's just glad that his feelings weren't as unrequited as he thought it would be.
At Harry's answer Draco couldn't help but smile goofily. That smile made the other man giggle softly. It was amusing to see the “Ice Prince of Slytherin” smile so widely. Harry wouldn't admit it but Draco looked really attractive when he smiled.
They continued to hug as they leant against the tree. Draco had his face hidden in the crook of Harry's neck as soft hands continued playing with his hair.
Harry's head was wandering. He was extremely happy that Draco returned his feelings, yet it still frazzled his nerves when he thought about what his friends would think. Would they hate him? Would they support him? What would they do?
He knew that his friends weren't on the best terms with Draco. Draco had apologised for what he did to them when they were kids and for what he did during the war. But they weren't exactly on speaking terms. Ron tolerates him but doesn't go out of his way to speak to him. They both ignore each other the majority of the times Harry talks to Draco. Hermione would occasionally ask Draco about Potions homework and such but other than that, they ignore each other.
As Harry thought of ways to tell Ron and Hermione he was dating Draco, he heard a sound. It sounded like a howl. It sounded scared and pained. Harry straightened in Draco's hold, his senses heightened.
“Harry?” Draco asked, concern laced in his tone.
“Did you hear something?” He questioned, listening intently for the howl.
“No?” the blond turned his head from side to side, trying to sense if there was any unwanted presence nearby.
He heard the howl again. This time it sounded as if there was more than one. The howls were coming from the Forbidden Forest. Harry wanted to know what was happening in there. The howls sounded like they were asking for help. He knew it wasn't a werewolf; the full moon was a week away. So he assumed they were just normal wolves.
Harry couldn't help it, the howls and yelps sounded so frightful and helpless, he dragged Draco and himself into the forest.
“Potter?” Draco's somewhat panicked voice asked. “Where are you taking me?”
Draco hated the Forbidden Forest. All the creatures that could, and most definitely will, maim him, all the icky, annoying bugs, and, worst of all, most of the plants that will try to strangle him to death. Yes, he definitely hated it. So, he wondered, why the hell his maybe-official boyfriend was dragging him in there. Sure, he had always known that Harry was curious and adventurous, but he did not think he was this adventurous.
“I can hear something crying in here,” Harry tugged Draco's arm, making him stumble when his foot caught on a rock.
“Are you sure we should go in there? It's night time, we could get killed...” he blurted out. He really, really didn't want to do this.
“What? Are you scared, Malfoy?” Harry smirked. There was a challenge in his voice that Draco just couldn't get pass. His emerald eyes had that mischievous glint in them that sometimes had him worried. And, for some god forsaken reason, this made Draco want to prove to him that he could do something as fickle as venturing into the, extremely dangerous, Forbidden Forest at night.
“You wish, Potter.” Draco accepted whatever challenge he was getting in to. He was not going to let someone with a birds nest for hair beat him at anything but Quidditch. Harry may be the person he was infatuated with, but this didn't mean that everything between them would change. No, definitely not. A challenge was something Harry and Draco would always have. They liked it this way.
“Perfect.” Harry gave him that small boyish grin that always made his heart flutter. “Now, C'mon!” he tugged at Draco's arm once again, and this time, he followed him willingly.
They ventured deep into the forest, listening to the pained and helpless howls of, what seemed to be, wolves. Leaves crunched under their feet, their robes were tearing and ripping as they went deeper into the closely packed clusters of trees.
The howls turned into whimpers as they got closer and closer, until finally, they saw what they were searching for.
Wolf pups. There were four wolf pups in the small clearing. They looked like new-borns. They were small and frail, it made Harry want to run to them and scoop them up. Draco didn't want to admit it, but he wanted to too.
That's when Harry noticed something odd. Where was there mother? Mother's don't normally leave their newly born pups until after a few weeks, maybe even months. But these pups looked about a day old, so where was their mother?
Draco seemed to have come up with the same conclusion as he had, because he was looking at the pups strangely.
Right when they were about to go up to the pups, they heard a noise.
It sounded like the snapping of pincers.
That's when it hit Harry.
He looked around. He knew where they were. They were in the part of the forest that belonged to the acromantula. Shit.
“Draco?” he said panicked.
The taller boy hummed and kept looking around.
“I think I might know where we are, just don't freak out.”
“Why would I freak out?”
Harry mumbled something under his breath that Draco couldn't quite hear. “Say it louder. I can't hear you over the noise.”
“I said, we might possibly be in the acromantula nest.”
“We are where now!?” Draco said panicked. What the absolute fuck had he gotten into now.
“I told you not to panic!” Harry was panicking even more now. What had he gotten them into? Why did he have to be so reckless? Merlin, just kill him now.
“What else am I supposed to do?! Bake a cake?!” Draco retorted.
“I don't know! You're the smart one!” his mind was getting fuzzy from the panic now and his head had started hurting.
The giant spiders were in their line of sight now, and they were getting closer.
Draco saw one reaching out to snatch Harry, so, in the spur of the moment, he pulled out his wand stunned it.
“I don't know about you, but we need to get out of here,” Draco said somewhat calmly while stunning another spider.
“Right. Yeah.” Harry's mind was getting clearer by the second. They had to get out and now.
The spiders started dropping down to the ground from the trees, starting to circle them with their pincers snapping at them furiously.
Harry heard a whimper. It was coming from the wolf pups. A spider was trying to grab at them. He sent a stunning spell at the spider.
“We are taking the wolves with us.” Draco knew by the determined look on his partner's face that he wouldn't have it any other way. So he agreed.
“OK. But you'll be carrying them.” He saw that Harry was going to argue about the fact that he still needed to fight, so he silenced him with a hand. “I don't care what you say, but I can protect you better like this, and before you say it, if we both have two of those wolves then both of us will find it difficult to fight, so it's better if only one of us carries them.”
Harry seemed to agree to those terms, he pocketed his wand, ran back to the pups and scooped them up into his arms while Draco made sure both he and Harry weren't going to get eaten alive.
As Harry turned to face Draco again, he caught sight of bloodied, white fur. He inhaled sharply at what that meant.
They were side by side, circled by a bunch of hungry, vicious, giant spiders. The pups’ in Harry's arms were wiggling and whimpering, Draco was sending curse after hex at those spiders while Harry was left feeling a little helpless at the fact that he couldn't defend himself.
The spiders were coming closer, surrounding them with the sound of snapping pincers. There was sticky, silky, white, thread-like things covering the forest grounds. Draco's defences weren't working that well anymore. The stunning spells worked on them for only 10 to 15 minutes at most and there were just too many acromantula surrounding them. Harry really wanted to defend them, but his hands were full of baby wolves and he didn't exactly want to drop them.
Right when they were about to lose all hope of getting out, they heard a strange sound. It sounded like a car horn. And it was getting louder.
Out of nowhere a blue, rusty, dirty, mud-covered Ford Anglia jumped into the circle where Harry, Draco and the baby wolves were standing shocked. It made the spiders retreat a few steps back. The car honked at Harry and opened its doors for them. Harry, knowing exactly what car it was, put the baby wolf pups into the backseat of the car and dragged a bewildered Draco in with him.
The doors locked automatically once they were in, the engines revved and then they were driving hectically out of the forest. The drive out was rough, bumpy and rushed. The spiders were trailing after them on their long spindly legs.
“Why does this car move on it’s own!” Draco yelped out as the car bumped against a tree.
“You know the time when Ron got a howler in second year for a flying car?” Harry asked.
“Yes?”
“Well... this is the car we were flying. Apparently she didn't like what we put her through so she drove off.” He said, before both he and his partner screamed when the car ran over a spider.
“I really shouldn't be this surprised.”
“I don't even know why you are! You've known me for years!” Harry screamed out half hysterically as they drove around in circles and hit a low branch... or was it a bird?
The spiders sounded like they were far away now, but the car was still going too fast. The wolves whimpered in fright and jumped into Harry's lap. They were jumping all over him, it made Draco laugh despite the fact that they were in a potentially deadly situation.
“I think, they think you to be their mother,” Draco chuckled when Harry turned to look at him with wide bright green eyes.
“They think I'm their what?!” Harry croaked out, his brilliant emerald eyes sparkling with bewilderment and fright, while trying to get the wolves to calm down. He really did paint a hilarious picture in Draco's head.
They jerked forward as the car came to a sudden stop. The car honked loudly and they got out before it could shove them out like it did to Harry and Ron just a few years prior. The two boys and four wolf pups watched as the car gave one final honk and drove back into the forest it came from.
The two boys stood around awkwardly until they made eye contact and broke into a fit of giggles. The wolf pups crawled around Harry's feet waiting to be picked up. It was dark out, the moon was shining brightly and the lights in the great hall were still bright so they assumed that it was halfway through dinner.
“They must really like you,” Draco chuckled, nodding his head at the wolf pups.
“I guess,” the brunet trailed off in a whisper while bending down and letting the pups jump into his arms. He looked at them with so much care that Draco almost felt a bit jealous.
Something clicked in his mind then. Did Harry really want to... oh god! He did! Does he really want... it would make sense... but it was against the rules... then again, when have rules ever applied to Harry Potter...
“I know that look,” he said, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Harry looked at him innocently and replied, “what look?”
“You want to keep them, don't you,” Draco sighed out. He was never going to be able to convince Harry otherwise. Surprisingly, Harry was a very persistent (read: stubborn) person. Hell! He could even ask Draco to play chess with the Weasel and he'd agree!
“Can we? Please?” Harry pleaded, giving him wide, emerald eyes and pouty pink lips. It was as if he was trying to kill him. Oh, how he hated his moral strength when Harry did this. No one could ever say no to that face. How do you even say no to that face when he was the one making it. If it were anyone else he could have said no in an instant, but alas, whatever spirit was with him hated his guts.
He gave in. It was the only thing he could do.
“Fine! But you are explaining this to Mcgonagall!” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. How was he supposed to explain this to the headmistress? And it was only a matter of time before his father and mother heard of this. What was he supposed to tell them? That he wanted to say no but Potter had a really cute face? His father would probably sigh and go to bed saying something about Potter and himself, while his mother would ask to bring Harry over to their house. His mother seemed to like Harry almost as much as he did, which was surprising.
Harry cheered and followed Draco to the great hall, asking him to sit with him at the Gryffindor table. Once they were in front of the great oak doors, the blond pushed them open...
●•●•● In the Great Hall ●•●•●
She turned in her seat to look towards the great oak doors as they were pushed open to reveal the two boys that were making her worry an irrational amount. But they weren't alone, the younger one of the boys were carrying, what seemed to be, four baby wolves.
Oh, how she feared to ask where he even got them. Where the absolute hell were these two boys when she was worrying over them? In hindsight she could see all, if not most, of her students staring at them.
And quite a scene they were. Robes ripped, shirts torn, ties halfway undone, hair mussed, the baby wolves were just an added bonus to the student body's curious eyes. Not to mention, the students were even more gobsmacked when the two boys turned out to be Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. The two famous for their rivalry during their younger years. The fact that they were from the two houses that had the biggest rivalry only added to their puzzlement.
She didn't even want to know where the wolves came from, but as headmistress it was her duty to figure out what had happened.
But that could wait a few hours. She could feel a headache coming on.
●•●•●
“Told you he'd be fine,” the redheaded boy said. It earned him a glare and a hit on the head with a Charms textbook.