Draco and Harry's Escort Service

Chapter Five

They proceeded more cautiously, flying low and slowly. Malfoy took the lead and the two women rode together behind him. Harry brought up the rear. They all kept their wands out and Harry was glad to know if there was trouble that neither Cho nor Luna would be screaming and shrinking away from danger.

The attack came without warning. One moment Draco was flying warily, the next he was gone. Harry blinked and maneuvered his broom past Cho in a flash of motion.

"Where did he go?" Harry yelled. Before Cho could respond, the earth burst upward and slammed Harry into the sky with such force he felt bones crack. He spun away with a dizzying sensation, but managed to keep one hand on his broom. He began to fall back to earth and forced down the pain as he struggled to orient himself.

He flipped the broom beneath him in a rolling maneuver and scanned the ground for Cho and Luna, but before he could spot them, both were flying beside him.

"Harry!" Cho cried. "Are you all right?"

"What was it?" he yelled, frantically searching both ground and sky for any sign of Draco.

"I don't know--the ground just came up and hit you. Luna and I both flew after you."

The ground came up--what the hell could it be?

And where was Malfoy?

"Stay here!"

He darted back to the place where Draco had disappeared and boulders suddenly began to fly at him like a meteor storm. He dodged most of them, but one grazed his hip--the same one he'd bruised on the stairs the previous night--and another slammed into his chest, nearly knocking him spinning before he recovered and ducked another spiraling at his head.

He began throwing spells at the ground--how could the ground be attacking?--although he wasn't certain what to use. Nothing seemed to have any effect.

As he approached, the land reared up in a large, solid mass with the crunching, grating sound of rock on rock.

It suddenly clicked for Harry. An earth elemental. Where the hell was Draco? Malfoy was the one that knew how to battle all these freakish creatures--oh God, he was underground. He had to be, or he would have been here. Harry suddenly knew the clock was ticking.

He racked his brain trying to recall what he knew of elementals. Typically, they needed to be summoned--obviously a task Voldemort or another Death Eater had accomplished. This one had likely been freed by the death of the summoner, so dispelling it could be tricky.

Harry didn't have time for finesse. He executed a barrel roll and narrowly avoided a chunk of rock large enough to pulverize him. Harry, feeling the beginnings of panic, dove straight at the creature.

He leveled a concentrated blast of force that demolished the elemental, but Harry knew it wouldn't take long to reform. He needed to remove it from its element. Movement caught his eye and he noticed Cho and Luna flying beside him. He briefly wondered if there was a female alive that ever listened to a man.

"Cho, when it returns, I need you two to levitate it as high as you can manage!" he yelled. She nodded.

The three of them hovered just above the ground, alert for movement. The earth suddenly exploded beneath them and Cho's spell yanked a massive chunk of rock and dirt into the air. Luna helped, but Harry could see them straining with effort.

The creature began to hurl stones at them again, but Harry concentrated all his energy and sent a blast of force at the elemental. It exploded.

"Don't let it fall!" he bellowed and continued to send spell after spell at it, shattering the smaller bits into powder. Luna caught on to his purpose and assisted, creating a strong wind that scattered the dust in every direction.

When the creature was completely dissipated, Harry turned and hurried back to the place where Draco had disappeared, praying he was in time. Without dismounting--he knew his leg was broken--he collected every bit of his energy and extracted a massive chunk of earth. He levitated it and held it above the ground. It began to fall to pieces and he hurried the process by shaking it like a giant sieve.

To his immense relief, Draco's silver-blonde head soon appeared. Harry switched the spell to Malfoy and removed his still form, allowing the soil and stones to fall back to earth. He set Draco down gently and then flung himself off of his broom, wincing as he realized that although his left foot wasn't broken, it was definitely bruised. He kept his weight off the right leg entirely, but movement alone shifted the broken bone and sent red agony exploding through his body.

Harry ignored the pain and threw himself at Draco's side. Both hands grasped Malfoy's neck, begging for a pulse--he found one, but it was weak and erratic. If Malfoy breathed, Harry couldn't detect it.

He put a hand under Draco's neck and tipped his head back before placing his mouth over Malfoy's--how many times had he done that?--in desperation. He breathed air into Draco's lungs. Three times, then four. Then five.

Draco coughed. Wild joy surged through Harry and he gave Malfoy one last breath that was half-kiss. Draco's hand rose weakly to touch Potter's hair gently.

Harry pulled back in relief to see the grey eyes open.

"Bastard broke my shades," Draco said hoarsely.

"I'll buy you another pair," Harry promised with a relieved chuckle.

"What were you doing?" Cho asked. She and Luna stood nearby, watching his antics.

"Breathing for him," Harry replied. "It's a Muggle remedy to save someone's life. Works great on drowning victims, although Muggles generally don't drown in dirt."

"Where's my wand?"

Harry Accioed it from its burial spot and handed it to Malfoy, who immediately sat up and set about restoring his appearance. Harry smiled ruefully and sat back carefully to examine his injuries.

"Harry! You're leg is broken!" Cho exclaimed.

"That would explain the blinding pain," Harry said dryly. Draco broke off his preening and looked at him worriedly. There were dirt and twigs in Malfoy's platinum hair--a capital offense. Harry closed his eyes for a moment as his brief movement caused a wave of nausea and flickering blackness to lick at him. He felt Draco's arm under his shoulders leaning him back.

"I can heal it myself," Harry muttered.

"Not if you pass out first," Draco snapped.

"Nag."

"Imbecile."

"I'll do it," Cho said. Harry felt the leg of his jeans being torn open. "Hold him--I have to put the bone back into place."

Harry steeled himself as Malfoy's familiar, comforting arms enfolded him. He gripped Draco's arm with one hand and pressed his head into Malfoy's chest.

Cho shifted the bone and it took every ounce of Harry's willpower not to scream. He vaguely heard Draco's voice murmuring to him soothingly, though he couldn't make out the words.

An instant later, his calf was enveloped in heat and the tingling pain of knitting bone and flesh. He breathed a sigh of relief when it was done. Draco's hands fell away and Malfoy stood up.

"Well, wasn't that fun?" he asked flippantly. "Elemental?"

Harry nodded and leaned forward to repair his jeans. The torn fabric wove together, albeit not prettily.

"I'm going to be penniless if I have to keep buying clothes," he commented and looked at Draco in amusement. The silver eyes gleamed warmly as Malfoy cast a spell that returned his bright locks to perfection.

"You can't blame me this time," he said. Harry grinned and stood up. His left foot could barely support his weight, but he would deal with that later. He was too tired, at the moment.

"We dispersed the elemental, but it will be back," Harry said. Malfoy nodded.

"We'll deal with it permanently when we return, now that we know what it is. For now, let's keep moving."

They flew without further incident until dusk, when Draco landed at a familiar camp site. Harry pulled out the tent they used when traveling with clients. Malfoy set it up while Harry wandered off to collect firewood. A fire wasn't necessary, but they generally built one in order to look like typical Muggle campers. Cho decided to accompany Harry. Normally, he would have been glad for the company, but at the moment he would have preferred solitude. Harry hadn't slept well, between Malfoy's midnight return and the subsequent pleasant torment of sleeping next to him.

"You're limping," Cho commented.

"Just a bruised foot," he said and Accioed a small branch to add to the growing pile he levitated nearby. He also had a gargantuan bruise on his chest and a smaller one on his hip, but those were more annoying than painful.

"Let me heal it for you," she suggested.

"It's nothing."

"If it were nothing, you wouldn't be limping. Now sit down and let me look at it."

Harry scowled at her.

"You've grown awfully bossy."

"And you remain as stubborn as ever."

Years of dealing with Hermione had taught Harry not to argue with females when they got that particular glint in their eyes, so he sighed deeply and sat on a nearby boulder.

Cho carefully pulled off his black boot--no easy feat considering his foot had swollen tight against the leather--and peeled his sock down. Her fingers probed the purpling wound and Harry observed with a clinical annoyance that he felt absolutely nothing at her touch. He found it astonishing that a beautiful woman knelt at his feet and his only desire was for her to hurry with her ministrations. Had he gone completely insane?

Harry wondered how he would feel if Malfoy performed the same chore--he imagined the long, pale fingers sliding over his bruises and his reaction was immediate and disturbing. Harry flushed scarlet, painfully acknowledging his undeniable obsession with Draco.

The Slytherin in question chose that moment to appear nearby. His pale brows rose sharply as he took in Cho's position and Harry's blush. Draco's expression turned glacial and Harry groaned.

"Sorry to interrupt," Malfoy drawled without sounding even vaguely apologetic.

"I'm only healing Harry's foot," Cho said sharply.

"What's wrong with his foot?" Draco demanded.

"I think it might be fractured. It's very swollen."

Draco's eyes leveled on Harry.

"Too noble to mention it, eh, Potter?" Draco asked. His tone was perfectly even, but Harry knew him well enough to pick up volumes of emotion beneath the words. Malfoy was livid. "Carry on, then."

Draco spun on a heel and stalked away. Harry stared after him in bewilderment.

"Carry on?" Cho snapped. "He's such a bastard! How can you even stand to work with him?"

"He's not so bad," Harry said quietly with a sudden flash of memory. A hot summer night three or four weeks prior; they had been returning from a job and camped under a brilliant star-filled sky. They were both too tired to converse--too tired to even move, and had simply lain on the grass side by side, shoulders touching, and stared at the brilliant panorama of constellations.

Harry pointed to a bright trail of stars gleaming across the heavens.

"There you are. Draco. How does it feel to have your own constellation?"

"Appropriate."

Harry laughed and Draco said, "We need to find one for you."

"I think they've all been named. And Constellation Harry doesn't sound very romantic."

Draco pointed. "There. That one is you. Leo; the Gryffindor lion."

Harry was strangely pleased. Draco levered himself up and placed a sweet kiss on Harry's lips.

"Goodnight, Potter."

"Goodnight, Malfoy."

Harry sighed and shook off the memory. He had barely noticed Cho healing his foot, but now he wiggled his toes.

"He doesn't like me much," Cho commented.

"He doesn't like anyone much. Where did you learn to heal?"

"The war."

Harry nodded and pulled his sock and boot back on.

"We should get back."

"Yes, it wouldn't do to upset Lord Malfoy."