The Aftermath
“Ok come on let’s get you back to the castle and cleaned up a bit before the Slytherins steal you away for this celebration.” Severus said eventually pulling back.
They all started walking up to the school, however, they didn’t get very far before they heard someone calling his name from behind them.
“Wait Harry, do you have a minute?” Charlie shouted running towards them.
“Erm sure what do you need?”
“I just wanted to congratulate you on today. I know I called it at Easter when you came to the burrow but seeing you outfly a dragon in person was unbelievable. I’ll say it again we really could use you at the reserve.”
“Yeah about that, working with dragons doesn’t seem so cool anymore.” He said sheepishly. “How do you deal with that sort of danger everyday, don’t get me wrong it’s exhilarating while you are completing the task but the lead up to it and the after is awful.”
“That awful feeling goes away after a while, you get to know each dragon and it’s behaviour and you don’t really think about the dangers after that. Obviously every so often one of us gets hurt but it doesn’t really faze us anymore. Although I will give it to you that nearing mothers are terrifying and you got the most vicious dragon of the lot we brung, I would have been nervous to go near her to heal her never mind try and steal an egg, wether it be a fake one or not.”
“Yeah I somehow managed to not get hurt in that whole ordeal which I put down to my dumb luck once I get into a bad situation but don’t know if I will be rushing back to face another dragon anytime soon.”
“Well it is a bit disappointing we won’t get a great addition like you to our team I understand these animals aren’t for everyone but if you ever do want to come visit the reserve just send me a letter and I would be happy to accommodate you.”
“I will keep it in mind for when I’m not freshly out of a dragon fight.”
“Fair enough, I better get going to help my team calm down the dragons but I just wanted to tell you well done because that was bloody brilliant what you done today.”
“Thanks Charlie, if you have time your more than welcome to drop by the Slytherin party tonight.”
“Thanks for the offer, I will stop by if we get them calmed in time. I best be off now before they send a search party for me.” Charlie waved once more before running back towards the dragon pen.
“When did you and Charlie Weasley talk about you going to the dragon reserve.” Remus questioned as they restarted their walk back up to the castle.
“During the Easter holidays, both Bill and Charlie had been at the burrow that day and we had a quidditch match between us. Charlie brought up that I would be a good flyer against the dragons which may be true but not something I am thinking about repeating.”
“Yeah you are not becoming a dragon keeper, you have already caused me enough heart attacks and grey hairs and you are only half way through school. Nope you are going to have a nice, calm, safe job where you cannot be hurt.” Severus stated causing Sirius to start laughing.
“Oh Harry I love how much you work him up, how is it that back in the school days we couldn’t even phase you but Harry gets a paper cut and you are up to the high heavens.” Sirius said through the laughter.
“Because back then I was just dealing with your school boy pranks, things are far to real now and I don’t like that Harry is wrapped up in it.”
This statement sobered Sirius up. “Yes I wish we could go back to then when our biggest issue was wether someone was going to ruin the others potion.”
“Let’s not focus on this stuff right now, right now is to celebrate how well Harry done today, let’s keep it like that.” Remus interjected as they all entered through the portait into their quarters. “Now Harry go clean yourself up and get changed so you can go join the celebrations, I will keep these two from interrupting you guys.”
“Heyy why am I not allowed to interrupt.” Sirius feigned hurt.
“Because you would cause some sort of prank that would cause complete and utter chaos and I can’t be bothered dealing with that and Severus before you ask, you are not going in because you will act all papa bear on Harry and not let him have fun. So we are all going to stay here and Harry is going to go there.”
***
He arrived at the common room about 25 minutes later with the golden egg in hand and when he entered he was met with cheers and applause, streamers and balloons everywhere. A huge banner was spread form one end of the room to the next spelling out – Congratulations Harry, the Slytherin Champion – in huge letters. Draco immediately ran over to him, clinging onto him for dear life and trembling slightly.
“Thank you everyone for this, let’s get on with the party.” He shouted causing everyone’s attention to veer towards getting music ready and collecting drinks so he could deal with Draco with a bit more privacy. He lead the older boy over to the side of the room. “Hey, is everything alright? What’s wrong?”
“It was so close to you, it’s tail, the fire, it’s mouth. It was so close to hurting you and I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything to help you and that killed me.” Draco whimpered.
“I’m alright though, it didn’t get me, I managed to out fly it. I’m safe and everything is fine.”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if it managed to catch up to you, I wouldn’t have coped if it had hurt you.”
“You cant keep thinking about what ifs, focus on what is happening right now. Right now I am standing in front of you completely unharmed and the dragon didn’t catch me. How about we go join our friends and we can all have fun to take your mind away from the what ifs.”
“Alright, but I am staying right next to you for the whole night. I don’t care if you are going to the bathroom I am staying with you.”
“Alright if that’s what you want to do then that’s what we will do, now let’s go find the others.”
The rest of their friends were sitting across all the couches in front of the fire and when they walked over, a space was made for him and Draco to slot into next to Hermione.
“At this point you should just become a snake, you spend enough time in this common room.” He joked with the girl.
“It would have been so much easier if I had been sorted into Slytherin but alas I am just an honorary member.”
“Enough with the jokes, tell us about the fight and about the significance of the egg.” Pansy cut in impatiently.
“Oh the egg, they said it was our only clue for what the second task would be so I decided to bring it so we could all hear what it said.”
“Well you can open it after you tell us what it was like facing off against a dragon.” Millicent said causing the whole group to lean in closer.
“It was terrifying to be honest. I was just making up moves as I went along to make sure I didn’t get deep fried until I saw an opening to dive and get the egg. It isn’t exactly interesting because I didn’t know what I was doing.“
“What you were doing was being awesome. I mean you got the most points out of everyone despite being the youngest and you were the only one who didn’t get hurt.” Blaize exclaimed. “Although when you went in for that dive I was sure it’s tail was going to connect with you.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence I guess.”
“Your welcome.” Blaize grinned. “Now open the egg and let’s see what your next clue is.”
He manoeuvred the egg to lie over his lap, with great difficulty considering Draco was still clinging to him, and unscrewed the top of the egg allowing the sides to fall open. Immediately an ear piercing scream sounded echoing throughout the entire room attracting everyone’s attention. He shut the egg again and locked the lid before just staring at it.
“What in Merlin’s name was that.” Adrian shouted from the other side of the room.
“Sorry guys, I unscrewed the egg and for some reason it decided to have a hissy fit. Just go back to partying, I won’t open it again.”
Thankfully no one questioned it anymore and just went back to the party leaving him and his friends to stare blankly at the egg.
“I think I missed the part where it gave you a clue.” Hermione muttered sarcastically.
“What are you talking about, the clue was so obvious. Harry has to defeat Blaize while he is singing in the shower.” Theo managed to keep a straight face while speaking but once done dissolved into laughter with the rest of the group.
“Heyyy that was supposed to be a dorm room secret.”
“I’m sorry man but if you subject me to that pain every day then I am not keeping your secret.”
“Least I don’t dance around in my towel once I’m done in the shower. The day that towel drops is the day I tell madam Pomphrey to obliviate me.” Blaize said dramatically.
“As much as I love hearing about what you guys do in the shower why don’t we get back to the topic in hand of what that clue meant.” Tracey steered the conversation back.
“I don’t really know what you expect us to say Tracey, it gave absolutely no indication as to what the second task would be.” Daphne stated. “I think we should just forget about it tonight because surely you have at least a little while to figure it out Harry, I think we should be able to just enjoy tonight without any further mention of screaming eggs.”
“Yeah the next task isn’t till February so I have plenty of time to figure it out, I had thought it would have been more interesting that’s why I brought it down.”
“Why don’t we all get up on the dance floor and act like idiots all night?” Daphne suggested standing up and offering her hand to him which he accepted after dropping the egg. He allowed the girl to drag him up and off the couch, Draco following behind holding his other hand, and onto the dance floor where everyone else joined hands to form a circle which they used to dance like lunatics.
After a while they broke of the circle and started dancing in pairs of in threes but he noticed Draco was still being uncharacteristically quiet so he tapped the boys shoulder and motioned to the stairs to get Draco to follow him up to the dorm.
“You are still being really closed off, what can I do to help you out here?” He asked desperately, hating to see the older boy so upset.
“Just be close to me so I can feel that you are alive and well. I can’t stop unseeing all the worst case scenarios that could have happened today.”
“I think I have a way to show you that I’m alive and well.” He smirked before stepping forward and planting a barely there kiss on Dracos lips. “How do you feel about this method.”
Instead of answering, Draco just stepped forward and kissed him but this time the kiss was desperate instead of the previous quick and gentle one he had offered. Knowing Draco needed it, he just relaxed and let the other boy take complete control.
“Never scare me like that every again, I don’t think I can take it.” Draco whispered as they had to part for some air but within the next second lips were on his again.
Eventually they broke apart to simply lay in the bed, legs intertwined with Dracos and head pillowed on the boys chest.
“This reminds me of us sharing a bed back in first year after I had a nightmare.” He whispered.
“I knew I liked you back then I just didn’t completely understand what my feelings meant.” Draco started stroking a hand up and down his back causing him to relax even further, his eyes becoming heavy.
“You were always safe, even when I was terrified of being in a new place with new people, even though you were one of those new people, you were safe.”
“I will always try my best to be safe for you.” Draco promised.
“And I want to be the same, for whenever you need me.”
With both of their promises hanging in the air, they fell asleep wrapped on each other not caring about the fact the were missing the party downstairs because lying there together was exactly what they both needed.