Angels and Devils

Chapter 04/10 Malfoy

The Quidditch game had been quite spectacular with Slytherin only beating Ravenclaw because Malfoy had caught the snitch. Harry had been impressed with the manoeuvre the Slytherin Seeker had pulled off, even if he didn't really want to be. He waited for the cheering supporters to let their team head off the pitch and then Harry stepped into the path of the whole group of players as they headed for the locker room.

"Nice catch," he said and fixed Malfoy with a firm gaze.

One thing Harry did not want the Slytherin to feel was threatened and hence he had decided to make sure his approach could not be misconstrued. Malfoy appeared slightly surprised and not very pleased to see him.

"Come to admire the team who is going to beat you this year, Potter?" the blond Slytherin asked acidly.

"Actually, Malfoy, I need to speak to you privately," Harry said bluntly, "and I didn't want you thinking I was trying to corner you, so I decided to ask in front of your friends."

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at that.

"You could never corner me, Potter," the object of his fixation said coldly with a sneer and Harry had to mentally kick himself for thinking that the boy was attractive.

What he did not need now was a reason to step into la-la land and do something stupid. Malfoy had a very unsettling effect on Harry's psyche and he did not trust himself at all.

"Malfoy," he said firmly, "would I be here if this wasn't more important than our happy little feud? Can we forget the insults for five minutes?"

Baiting Harry was a favourite game amongst the Slytherins and up until the previous week it had always worked rather well, now he was focused on other things.

"But insults is what we do best," Malfoy said snidely, less than willing to acquiesce.

Both Goyle and Crabbe stepped round from behind their glorious leader with their beater bats in hand; Malfoy did not look as if he was about to stop them. From the look in his eye Harry thought the Slytherin was more interested in seeing what he would do than talking about anything. Harry not high on hormones would have thrown his hands in the air and gone back to Poppy for her assistance, but then the problem would have been moot and he wouldn't have been having this conversation anyway. As it was his displaying instincts kicked in and he watched the two beaters approach with contempt.

Harry's wing nubs itched as his defence mechanisms stirred, but he did at least have the presence of mind not to let them loose. He was faster and stronger than either of the Slytherins with his enhanced Seraphim physique and he did not need any of his magical defences. Both Goyle and Crabbe appeared surprised when Harry stood his ground as they approached: it seemed as if they had expected him to retreat.

"Call off the dogs, Malfoy," Harry said pointedly, at least a little of his common sense coming through.

"Why?" Malfoy asked and crossed his arms across his chest in a very final move.

That appeared to bolster the two Slytherins' confidences and they moved forwards faster.

"Fine," Harry said and accepted that he couldn't avoid the confrontation, at which point Crabbe swung his bat at him.

Rather than back away and avoid the blow as he suspected he was supposed to do, he caught the bat on its way down with one hand and yanked it out of the other boy's grasp. A swift hook with his foot on the back of Crabbe's knee sent the Slytherin sprawling to the ground, at which point Harry brought up the bat he was now holding to block the blow coming from Goyle. A sharp left hook under their arched arms sent the other Slytherin onto the grass as well.

A scrabbling noise announced that Crabbe was attempting to regain his feet and Harry simply turned towards the hulk of a youth and snarled, "Stay!" With an almost terror struck gape the boy sat still. When he looked back at Malfoy, for a second Harry saw reluctant admiration, but it was rapidly wiped away by the familiar sneer.

"Malfoy, this is important," Harry said steadily. "Now I can work my way through the rest of your bloody house if you like, but sooner or later you are going to have to talk to me."

The Slytherin raised an eyebrow, but did not immediately dismiss the affirmation.

"One hour," he said shortly, "by the jetty."

At last! Harry nodded and dropped the bat he was holding next to Crabbe; he then fixed Goyle with a glare as the boy nursed a bloody nose; and finally turned and walked back towards the school. That had not quite gone how he had expected it to, but at least Harry had achieved his aim. He shook his head in resignation as he realised what he had just done: taking on Crabbe and Goyle, alone, when they were armed with bats had to be the stupidest thing yet.

====

The water was dark and murky, reflecting the sky. There was going to be a storm, Harry was sure of it; which rather suited his impending doom as he sat on one of the jetty posts waiting for Malfoy to arrive. The Slytherin was late and Harry was becoming cold even though he was wrapped in a thick cloak, which was probably his adversary's aim. This was going to be difficult enough as it was without freezing his arse off first.

"Potter," the Slytherin greeted in a surprisingly polite manner when he finally did arrive.

"Malfoy," Harry replied in kind, suddenly forgetting that he should have been annoyed at his school nemesis for being late.

He looked into the Slytherin's strangely calm grey eyes and then glanced out over the lake again.

"No escort?" Harry asked as he tried to gather his thoughts.

"You went to a lot of trouble for a private meeting," Malfoy replied in a neutral tone, "I decided not to ruin it for you."

The Slytherin sat down on another of the wooden posts as Harry watched him from the corner of his eye and finally he turned to face his archrival-come-object-of-desire.

"Malfoy," he began slowly, really unsure how the Slytherin would take the news, "I suspect it has failed to escape your notice that I've been acting somewhat oddly just recently."

He paused and looked Malfoy in the face to gauge the wizard's response: the Slytherin did not appear to be reacting at all.

"Well, it's, um ... you see," Harry found that all his words were deserting him and he expected mockery from his companion, but none came.

"You're displaying for me," the words out of Malfoy's mouth froze Harry in place and he couldn't help himself; he stared.

"You know?" he didn't quite believe it.

"Potter," Malfoy replied and rolled his eyes, "remember who you're talking to. I'm a Slytherin and in some circles there is a higher price on my head than on yours. When someone starts to act strangely around me, even if it is the boy wonder himself, I check up on things."

Voldemort was dead, but several of his Death Eaters were not and it was still a dangerous world even though the war was over. Malfoy's reasoning made perfect sense to Harry.

"How did you figure it out?" he asked eventually.

"Once I realised you weren't under a spell I dug deeper," Malfoy replied in a surprisingly calm tone. "The information about your family is not difficult to find and I went about it the same way Granger found out about my family."

Harry looked at him questioningly.

"I saw her in the library," the Slytherin provided evenly, "and I assume you know about the Veela."

Harry nodded, he was not about to deny it.

"As soon as I knew about the Seraphim it was obvious," Malfoy continued and an amused quality entered his voice. "You are not subtle, Potter: my god if you had wings you'd be stood on the top of the Astronomy tower displaying like a magpie."

Harry groaned and put his face in his hands.

"Not quite, but it's been close," he mumbled and wondered just how many of the other Slytherin's knew what was going on.

There was silence from Malfoy for a moment and Harry was sure the other wizard had heard him.

"Potter, are you trying to tell me you do have wings?" the Slytherin asked evenly.

Harry nodded: Malfoy needed to know just how far the transformation went if he was going to understand the extent to which Harry was affected. He looked up reluctantly.

"And nails like steel; and enhanced senses; and strength and just about everything," he said plainly. "The only thing I have to be thankful for is that I'm not suddenly androgynous, I'm still male."

"You're sure about that?" Malfoy actually sounded shocked.

"Very sure," Harry replied shortly.

Silence fell again.

"Bloody hell, Potter," his companion said eventually; "how powerful are you?"

"A lot more than I want to be," Harry replied with a sigh: he wanted this to be over. "Look can't you just go and shag someone, please? You must know the only way to get me off your back," that conjured mental images he didn't want, "figuratively," he added and tried to banish the thoughts, "is for you to die or go off with someone else."

Malfoy laughed at his discomfort, but sobered quickly.

"And did it occur to you that me having sex with someone else might not be enough?" the Slytherin asked in a reasonable tone. "Seraphim are much more to do with magical interaction than physical and me shagging someone might not fulfil the criteria."

Harry did not want to think about that, it was the only plan he had.

"It's the closest thing to a solution there is," he replied pointedly, "isn't it worth a try?"

For a while the Slytherin looked at him with a pensive expression on his face and slowly he shook his head.

"I can't," he admitted honestly.

"You're in heat too," Harry concluded: Hermione had been right, "which probably has a lot to do with why we're in this mess."

"You're the one trying to get into my trousers," Malfoy pointed out as if he was insulted.

Harry opened his mouth to deny the claim and then shut it again as he realised that that was what this all boiled down to. It would be stupid to deny it.

"Look," he tried again, "Hermione speculated that you can't go near a girl because you'll end up getting her pregnant, but what about a boy?"

At that Malfoy gave a dismissive laugh.

"Granger will never cease to amaze me," the Slytherin said and shook his head. "For your information, she's right, but it's more complicated than that and I would like to point out I'm only telling you this because otherwise undoubtedly Granger would dig it up anyway. A successful Veela mating can take up to four days. If I let myself go into full heat I could end up pinning someone to a bed for ninety six hours, which would go down so well don't you think. If I chose a girl there is almost a one hundred percent likelihood that she'd come out the other side expecting my child, contraceptive charms or no contraceptive charms. If I choose a boy there is the delightful possibility of about five percent that my heritage will kick in at full strength, I will become a hermaphrodite and I'll end up pregnant myself. Now call me paranoid, but I'd rather not risk either."

"Shit," Harry said with venom.

They lapsed into silence again and he tried to find something in the tatters of his plan to help. It occurred to him that Malfoy was as at the mercy of his ancestry as he was; only he seemed to be handling it better.

"If you don't mind me asking," he said eventually, "if you're in heat how is it you haven't fixated on someone like I have?"

"Will power," the Slytherin said snidely.

Harry was not taking the inference that he had not will power lying down.

"I didn't know this was coming," he protested in his own defence, "no one told me I had magical creatures up the family tree. I was having enough trouble with the bloody wings; no one told me I'd suddenly start lusting over my worst enemy."

They glared at each other for a while and then Harry turned his eyes to the growing storm clouds. Arguing was not going to help.

"How long will you be in heat for?" he asked trying to get back on track.

"Probably another two to three months," the Slytherin replied evenly, "it's difficult to tell."

"And after that you can go and shag who the hell you like?" Harry wanted to be sure.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at Harry's slightly desperate tone, but nodded.

"Then all we have to do is keep this under control until then," Harry decided firmly. "Is there anything I should try and avoid at all costs? I'm probably going to make a complete prat of myself over the next few weeks, but is there anything that could make this worse?"

"Don't touch me," Malfoy said without needing to think. "Veela mating is chemical; if you touch me in the state you're in we could be in real trouble."

Harry nodded.

"Anything else?" he asked quickly and glanced up as a rumble of thunder rolled across the sky.

"That's it," Malfoy replied and suddenly grinned, "I look forward to your antics. They've been most entertaining so far."

Harry groaned and stood up. It was going to be an uncomfortable couple of months.

"Are you going to tell everyone about the wings?" he asked, needing to know.

"I think it'll be far more entertaining if the rest just think you're loosing your mind, don't you?" the Slytherin replied with an evil glint in his eye. "Besides, you keep my secret and I'll keep yours. There are those who would like a liaison with the house of Malfoy and would take advantage of my condition. I would rather not have to deal with that."

Harry faced Malfoy as he also climbed to his feet. He looked into the Slytherin's storm grey eyes and for a brief moment wished that they were not enemies. With a short nod he acknowledged that they understood each other, and then he looked back at the sky.

"We should get back inside," he decided quickly, "it's going to rain."

Without another word the pair set off across the open ground towards the castle. The heavens opened when they were about halfway there and Harry pulled the hood of his cloak up quickly, grateful for the shelter. There was a bright flash and fork lightening lanced out of the sky almost as soon as the water began to fall and it was followed instantly by a roll of thunder. Harry looked around and then at Malfoy knowing that they both realised how dangerous their situation was: they were in the middle of a piece of flat ground and were the only raised objects in a thunder storm. Lightening liked magical things, which was one of the reason Hogwarts had several very large lightening rods, but they were too far from the castle to be safe. As one the pair began to run.

Harry felt the build up of static in their vicinity as his very well developed sense of danger kicked in and he didn't hesitate. His wings ripped through his clothes as if they weren't there and he threw himself at Malfoy, wrapping the Slytherin in a tight embrace as his wings closed round them in a protective shield. The lightening struck his highest wingtip a fraction of a second later and pain lanced through Harry at the impact. Most magic his wings could repel, natural forces were more difficult and he paid for opposing the lightening, nowhere near as much as if he or Malfoy had been hit directly, but enough.

It wasn't as if he hadn't felt pain before, it was almost second nature to him, but even so Harry lost it for a while. He had no idea what he was doing and everything was a blur and when he came back to himself he was lying flat on his back looking at the sun coming out as the storm headed towards the coast. The clouds seemed to be moving too fast to be natural and Harry wondered what the hell had happened. His wings were folded away, he ached from head to foot and one arm was being crushed by another body.

There was a groan from beside him and Harry looked over to see Malfoy picking himself up from where he was laying on his limb. He could not fail to notice that his hand was firmly wound with the Slytherin's fingers and as Malfoy sat up Harry looked past the dishevelled wizard to their joined hands. The Slytherin seemed to realise at the same time and snatched his limb away swearing loudly.

"Potter," Malfoy yelled loudly and scrambled to his feet, "which bit of don't touch me did you not understand?"

"I wasn't trying to touch you," Harry protested his innocence and felt every part of his body complain as he sat up, "I was just trying to prevent you being fried. We just got struck by lightening if you missed it."

The Slytherin was glaring at him, but Malfoy could hardly argue with the logic of the argument. It took Harry a couple of seconds to realise that his companion was staring at him rather hard and not quite as angrily as he had started.

"Malfoy," he said slowly, a little worried by the abrupt change in his companion.

That snapped the Slytherin back to reality.

"Oh bloody hell," Malfoy said loudly, "it's started already. I told you if you touched me we were in trouble. We need to get to the hospital wing now: if we're lucky Madame Pomfrey can stop this before it goes any further."

Harry chose not to argue and hurried after the Slytherin as Malfoy stormed towards the castle.

End of Chapter 4