Draco and Harry's Escort Service

Chapter Seven

A shout yanked Harry out of his reverie.

"Potter!" It was Malfoy. Harry turned and hurtled through the brush, splashing through puddles as he went. He tore his wand out of his pocket and paused, uncertain as to direction until Draco called again.

Harry raced forward until he burst upon a bizarre vista. Malfoy stood thigh-deep in an open pool skimmed with green scum. He was ringed with horrible-looking grayish creatures only slightly shorter than a man. They were armed with brutish clubs, rusted iron daggers, or sharp spears tipped with bone.

Three of them were down, which explained why the others hung back cautiously. As Harry watched, one of them hurled a spear at Draco's head. A bolt from Harry's wand broke it in half in mid-flight and sent the pieces splashing into the water.

Malfoy laughed.

"I knew I called you for a reason."

"I thought you just wanted me to see how pretty you looked when you were wet," Potter replied.

"Not the best time to seduce me, Potter."

"You know I can't control myself around you," Harry said in a teasing tone, although the words were true. "What are these things?"

At least a dozen of them clustered in small groups. Three of them were shuffling toward Harry. One tried to creep up on Draco from behind, wading into the pond, but Malfoy turned and hit it with a bolt that sent it scrambling back to dry land.

"Bugbears."

"Bugbears are real? I thought they were stories to scare children."

More of the creatures appeared through the trees.

"Are you scared, Potter?"

"No, but I'm getting a bit ill looking at them." The creatures were horrendously ugly, with grayish-green skin covered in warty knobs. They had two great Dobby-like ears with tufts of hair at the ends, and huge mouths full of snaggly, pointed teeth. Their bodies were squat and their limbs bony and mottled. They wore tattered clothing held on with vines or frayed cord. Harry recognized a Muggle tie draped around the neck of one and another wore a barely recognizable floral-patterned skirt. Harry was taken aback--their clothing seemed to have been taken from Muggle victims.

"I'll protect you," Draco said as Harry waded into the water to escape the group that approached his vicinity. Two threw spears and one a bony club, but Malfoy deflected the spears and Harry sent the club flying back to smash into the head of the sender.

Harry hissed as the cold water rose to his thighs and he pushed through the green froth to stand with his back to Draco's.

"Why aren't they attacking?"

"They don't like water," Malfoy replied, pressing his back against Harry's. Potter leaned his head back against Draco's for a moment and chuckled.

"They hate water, yet they live in a swamp?"

"Not originally. They were mountain creatures until... you know."

"Voldemort, yeah."

One bugbear began to make grunting, snarling sounds and gestured at the others. Malfoy pounded a spell at it and it flew backward into a tree and lay still.

"Anyone else want to volunteer to take charge?" Draco called. To Harry, he said, "Stunners don't work on them."

"What does?"

"Avada Kedavra."

"I won't kill them!" Harry protested.

"For pity's sake, Potter, your bloody Gryffindor morality is going to kill both of us one day."

"But not this day."

"Well, probably not. They're only bugbears." To illustrate, Draco raised his wand and grinned. "Watch this." He cast, muttering, and one of the bugbears suddenly went berserk and clubbed his nearest companion. The bludgeoned bugbear howled in pain and slashed his attacker with a jagged bone knife. In moments, several of them were involved in a muddy brawl. Malfoy laughed in delight. "They're really susceptible to the Imperius Curse."

Harry frowned. "That's horrible."

"I'm a horrible person, Potter. I thought you knew that."

"No, you're not."

A huge rock flew at them and Harry knocked it casually aside.

"Other than having them kill each other, how do you propose we get rid of them?" Harry asked.

"What's wrong with having them kill each other? Don't answer that, you bloody altruistic Gryffindor, you. Actually, I'm just waiting for our diversion."

"Diversion?"

"Here she comes now," Draco said casually as Cho Chong's voice carried to them. The bugbears froze and then began an excited grunting, as if the prospect of tender, female flesh whet their appetites.

"You're using Cho as bait?" Harry snapped.

"Sure. Don't worry; your girlfriend is no weakling. In fact, I'd consider her to be a--"

"She's not my girlfriend."

The bugbears moved en masse into the trees, heading for Cho. Malfoy began picking them off while wading quickly out of the pond.

"They're more vulnerable from behind," Draco explained.

"So are you!" Harry cried as a spear thrown by a straggler sailed toward Draco's back until Harry blasted it off-course.

"I trust you to keep them off me," Malfoy said simply. Harry found the best methods to stop the creatures were to slam them into objects or bash them over the head--they seemed to be immune to sleep, stun, and immobilization spells. He didn't ask what Draco was using, since he feared the effects were much more permanent.

Harry heard Cho shout and knew the bugbears had reached her. Malfoy climbed out of the water and darted through the trees with Harry on his heels. They reached Cho and Luna to find three bugbears gyrating in the air where Luna had levitated them. Another lay still at Cho's feet while two others menaced her.

A green light from Draco's wand hit one and a burst from Harry's sent the other winging away from Cho to pound into a nearby tree. Luna released hers and they slammed into the ground. Two of them lay motionless and the third picked itself up and scrambled into the wood. Malfoy and Potter spun warily with wands ready, but the remaining bugbears seemed to have given up the fight.

Harry gripped Cho's shoulders.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded and enveloped him in a relieved hug. It surprised him, considering his earlier rejection. He patted her back reassuringly. He met Luna's gaze over his shoulder. She looked puzzled.

"Let's get out of here before they regroup," Draco said harshly. Harry looked at him in surprise, but Malfoy was already striding away.

ooOoo

They quickly collected brooms and gear and resumed their trek. Malfoy set a blistering pace that soon had Cho complaining angrily as she climbed over rotting tree stumps and waded through mud.

"Does he have to walk so bloody fast?" she snarled at Harry after Draco had disappeared for the fourth time. Harry knew he'd be back shortly to give them another disapproving silver glare and urge them onward.

"He only wants us to get there before nightfall," Harry explained.

"Why are you always defending him?" she demanded.

Harry glared at her.

"Stay here and take a bloody break!" he said. "I'll go talk to him."

Without waiting for Cho's response, he stalked after Malfoy and quickly caught him on his return.

"Can't you persuade your girlfriend and the loopy one to hurry?" Malfoy asked mildly.

"For the last time, she's not my girlfriend and it's obvious you're pushing us ridiculously fast. What's the hurry?"

Malfoy reached up and patted Harry's cheek as if he were a cute pet or little child.

"I just want to get there, Potter."

"Why?"

Draco leaned closer to murmur in Harry's ear.

"I'm sure you know why."

Harry had finally had enough of Malfoy's mercurial mood swings. He pushed Draco away forcibly.

"Malfoy, you've got to stop treating me like your goddamn plaything!" he snapped.

"I thought you liked being my plaything, Potter," Draco said, though his eyes glittered dangerously.

"Well, I don't!" Harry said angrily. "I think I need..." He struggled for words. "I deserve better--"

A mask of ice seemed to slip over Malfoy's features. Harry instantly knew he had said the wrong thing.

"You're right," Draco said with finality before Harry could explain. "You deserve much better than me." With that, he turned and vanished like a panther knifing into the shadows. Harry swore and hammered his fist into a nearby tree.

"That's not what I meant, you pigheaded Slytherin son of a bitch!"

But Draco was gone. Harry renewed his vow to tie the silver-haired bastard up as soon as they reached Hogwarts.