Dragon's Kiss

You could have heard a pin drop as Draco slid the compartment door closed. Harry and Ginny sat down upon one of the worn cushions of the train seats; Draco sprawled across the bench opposite them, his eyes slightly darker than they usually were. Ginny sat next to Harry, hands in her lap, twisting, face pale. Obviously she had thought that the whole 'let's-follow-Draco!' plan had just been one to pass the time. Now they were London-bound with neither ticket nor money...and at the station would be Draco's parents. Can my day get any better? Harry wondered, frowning at the window as the scenery blurred with the train's quick pace.

Draco stopped examining his nails to glance up at them. "So...back to my original question," he said, voice like ice. "Why were you following me?" Ginny whimpered. Harry couldn't understand why she was so upset.

A few seconds passed. Then Harry realized Ginny was not planning on answering the Slytherin's question herself. He sighed, then sat up straighter in his seat.

"We were bored," he replied, looking Draco in the face.

"You were bored," Draco repeated. He was now twirling his wand between his long, pale fingers. "You were bored..." he waved his hands in the air as though trying to make sense of something difficult to grasp. "What, pray tell, makes me so interesting?"

Harry sighed again. He had a serious headache. Not only had going along with Ginny gotten him stuck on a train going farther and farther from Hogwarts by the minute, he was possibly being delivered into the hands of the man who worked for the creature that had been after Harry since he was born. It all was, in essentiality, not the way Harry wished to spend Christmas break. Worse yet, he stuck on a train with Draco. Deciding not to answer, he turned his gaze back to the scenery.

Ginny said nothing either, though not for the same reason as Harry. She was struggling with a question that had been building up inside of her since the night before, when she had heard the story of Hermione's fall. Why was Draco the one to bring Hermione into the Hospital Wing? She wondered. He hates her with a passion...why not just leave her out wherever she was to die? Wow...that sounds kind of melodramatic Gin, she thought, giggling to herself. Sobering she realized that once upon a time, it was something that the Slytherin could have been capable of. Now she wasn't so sure.

She curled her knees up to her chest and sighed, a quiet sigh that no one heard but her. And of course...it is always about Hermione. She frowned and tossed her hair over her face so that neither boy could see her expression.

It didn't matter- Ginny was not a person who was easily read. Her emotions flitted and fluttered about to the point where no one- not even she- could decipher them.

Draco watched the redhead for a little while, hoping to unlock some mystery as to what she was thinking. Giving up, he turned his attention to an easier prey: Harry Potter never hid his emotions-they were always right where Draco could find them. He knew immediately as he glanced over what the other boy was thinking. Why did I help Hermione out?

The silver-haired boy rubbed his temples. He'd been thinking the same thing for a while too. Tempted though he was to ask if either of the two Gryffindors knew anything about the Dragon's Kiss spell, he refrained. There were some things even minimal Slytherins didn't do...like asking help from know-it-all Gryffindors. He sighed, and frowned, and turned his attention to the window. He had no real idea why he wasn't bursting with evilness...he had the boy his father wanted within arms reach- and yet he did nothing. He felt nothing either- and this bothered him.

Still frowning, he twirled the hand holding his wand again, and started back as black fireworks suddenly exploded from the tip, singeing his eyebrows and his hair slightly. The shocked expression on his face would have made Harry burst into peals of laughter were he not so downcast. The expression that followed it set Harry immediately on guard.

Draco was the one person Harry knew- besides Hermione and Ginny- who hid their emotions. Not as if he knew where to look for emotions anyway- but Draco certainly had never revealed any up-front. The emotions on his face right now were anything but hidden- and the one that was playing like a Muggle movie across Draco's face clearly spelled out fear. Two blinks later and the look was gone, replaced with his usual stone-like appearance. Harry's emerald orbs followed Draco's arm as the other boy slipped his wand back into his sleeve, and sat back against the cushions- seemingly oblivious to the fact that Harry and Ginny were still there.

Ginny too had seen the silver-haired boy's reaction to the fireworks. She, however, understood it far more than Harry seemed to- this she supposed came from the fact that she was from a Wizarding family, and had been raised by parents who had survived the Dark Ages when Voldemort was in power. If she had retained any information from her parents' stories, it was one thing... black fireworks were bad. Very bad. Usually foreshadowing something even worse than the mere sign of black fireworks. Black fireworks had been seen on the day Tom Riddle graduated from Hogwarts, and seen the day before the Potters were killed, and...and...they were just bad.

She shivered slightly and drew herself even further into a ball, as far away from the Slytherin as she could get. She didn't know what was going to happen- or when- or why- but she knew one thing, and one thing for sure...Following Draco had been a very bad idea.

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Lucius Malfoy paced back and forth in his study, his face crumpled in an ugly scowl, and his fist curled into balls on either side of his body. Where is that boy? He raged internally. Time there was when he'd be the first off the train, anxious to come home and help me serve...now he doesn't even come home...The scowl turned into a snarl. Ah...but I know what has happened to him...he's stopped fearing me- or gone soft...or both. Lucius stopped pacing and went over to the mantle. Kneeling, he picked up a spark and held it glowing in his palm. I will have to do something...for the boy's sake. He cannot grow up to be like another...another...Muggle sympathizer. He crushed the spark in his hand, feeling the red-hot fire lace up his arm, the flames heating his pale face. Growling, he threw the crushed remains maliciously back in the hearth, and sat back on his heels, his black cloak blooming behind him in an unseen breeze.

Puzzlement taking over his rage (at least for the time being), Lucius lifted a hand- palm up in front of him- and paused to listen. An eerie song filled the air, and from his hand there came a roaring blue-black fire, consuming the space in front of him, blinding him with its brilliant light.

In the flames lay, suspended, a pretty young girl with brown hair and pale skin. And sitting next to her was his son, holding on hand gently in his, talking softly upon deaf ears. Lucius went white with rage. He knew that girl...that awful Mudblood...she was one of Potter's friends! Dating the redhead with all the freckles...Arthur's son. And there was his son, the pride of all he had, sitting there and COMFORTING her? He should be killing her, torturing her, making her scream for mercy! He rose, delirious in his rage, fingers curling around an imaginary throat as he heard his victim's wild screams...

His son would pay...and at last Lucius knew how to make him. Grabbing his wand, he stormed out of the room, the blue fire still glowing bright behind him.

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Hermione watched Lucius leave, the heavy oaken doors slamming shut behind him. She neither moved nor spoke from her place in the fire, but she had no need for ears and eyes. She could hear quite well all the same. And better yet, she could hear his thoughts. Her closed eyes clouded with worry, for herself, and for Draco- though she didn't know why she was so concerned about the Slytherin.

Scratch that- she did. And why she cared so much about him scared her. She shook her head free of thoughts from him and began to sink back into that wonderfully blissful state where nothing bothered her- nothing worried her. Where there were no Dracos, no boyfriends, no problems with love...nothing but sleep...and of course dreams.

She slept fitfully that night, dreaming of black fireworks and pale hands, reaching for her throat. And lastly, of ruby red drops of blood, spilling like tears down her front, washing away...washing away...

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Ron sat in front of the Gryffindor fire, perplexed. He had searched every place he could think of for Harry and Hermione, but they were nowhere to be found. He wondered what could have gone on in the few days that he was out...surely they'd have left him a note had they chosen to leave for the holiday...He scrunched up his face and ran his fingers through his red curls, staring deep into the fire.

Suddenly, he snapped his fingers and stood up. Gin must know where they are! He decided, stretching sore muscles and heading up to the girls' dorm. He paused in front of Ginny's room and stood rather uncomfortably outside, rather unwilling to knock. He knew very few people in that dorm- and if Ginny wasn't there... The need to talk to his friends overwhelmed this and he knocked on the door with a great boldness. For a few seconds it was quiet, and then at last someone came to answer the door.

She was on the tall side, with short black hair and green eyes that narrowed when she saw him at first- as though trying to imagine where she'd seen him before. Ron shifted uneasily as she took him in, and then nodded, as if affirming some private thought.

"May I help you?" she asked politely.

"Um..." Ron scratched the nape of his neck and looked at the floor, his uncomfortable-ness seeping back into his body. "Is Ginny Weasley there...by any chance?" he asked.

The girl paused for a moment, brow furrowed.

"You do know who Ginny is...right? She's my sister, she looks kind of like me...?" He let the question hang in the air. The girl nodded.

"I know her...though not very well. She doesn't stay up here much..." the girl shrugged. "I actually haven't seen her since yesterday night...I missed breakfast see and-"

"You haven't a clue where she is either?" Ron interrupted. The girl looked visibly affronted, and stepped back a little, as though trying to show him the emptiness of the room behind her. She spread her hand wide and shrugged again.

"Like I said...we don't talk very often," she looked at him. "Was that it?"

Ron hesitated. Finally he asked, "Did she mention...anything about going home for the holidays...anything at all?"

The girl sighed. "Look, why don't you come in. I've told you we don't talk that often- I barely even know her name and I'm sure she doesn't remember mine or Elise's...but since you're her 'brother' and all that good stuff, you can go ahead and search through her trunk...maybe it'll give you a clue." She stepped by to let him in.

"Thanks...Um, I didn't catch your name."

"I didn't give it," the girl replied. She pulled on her winter cloak and fumbled with the fastenings. "Look...I've got to get to Hogsmeade before my pass expires...do you need anything else?" Ron shook his head no. "Okay then. Be sure to shut the door when you leave." And with that, she was gone.

"Okay- thanks," he called, making his way over the piles of clothes and junk on the floor to the far wall, where he could clearly see Ginny's favorite stuffed fwooper sitting on the bedspread, the bright colors highlighting it against the Gryffindor red. He stopped in front of her trunk and flipped it open. He had no real idea of what he was looking for...a note perhaps? Ginny was the kind of person who'd leave a note and not say anything verbally...but there was no note. There was absolutely nothing.

Flipping back and forth on his heels, Ron closed the heavy, battered trunk lid and frowned. This was a time to look things over seriously. Harry and Ginny and Hermione were all missing, leaving no trace as to their whereabouts. Maybe I'd better go see Dumbledore...I mean, if something's happened to Harry...and to Ginny...and to Hermione for that matter...

With that he stood and, with a nod of decision, picked his way back out of the dorm room and headed out in search of Dumbledore's office.