Snakes and Lions

Gold and Honor

When he got back to Gryffindor, Harry went straight to his dormitory to check on Susara. The first thing he noticed was that the warming device had gone cold. In an untidy squiggle beside it lay what seemed to be a snake made of gold. For a terrible instant, Harry was afraid Susara had died, but when he touched the motionless snake form, he discovered it was just a thin skin of soft gold, which crumpled under the slight pressure of his fingers. Harry recalled that his torclinde book said that a torclinde's shed skin was purified gold from its early meals. Harry looked wildly about the room, and spotted Susara sleeping in the west window, which had probably been sunny, a short while earlier.

"Susara?"

"Tired."

Harry scooped Susara up and tucked her into his shirt to warm up. "I'll get you more gold," he promised.

Susara seemed to feel better after swallowing a Galleon. She curled around Harry's neck and went back to sleep. Harry settled himself in the window to examine the shed skin.

As he fingered the soft gold, he developed a desire to do something with it. This merged with his earlier thought of giving Draco a token. Certainly, he could make something from the gold for Draco. Now what, he thought, would represent me to Draco? Not a lightning bolt. I couldn't. I can stand being called that, now, but it's still death, in a way. It's the Killing Curse. I need something more ... fun. Harry rolled the gold between his fingers, and thought.

At eleven o'clock, Harry went to bed and drew his curtains. He already had his cloak hidden under the covers, and his present for Draco was clutched in his hand. At midnight, Harry slipped out of the room, and then the tower, and made his way down to the Chamber of Secrets.

Draco was already there. He looked unusually rumpled, but very awake. He pulled out his wand when he spun to face the sound of Harry's approaching footsteps, and for a moment, his eyes were as bright and dangerous as when he was casting the Bone Burning Curse.

"Easy," Harry soothed. His voice came out slightly shaky.

"Sorry." Draco put away his wand, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "I went through the entire list, this evening."

Harry nodded. "I have a confession."

Draco scowled. "This might not be the time."

"I'll risk it." Harry looked submissively down. "I spied on your meeting with Snape, this afternoon."

Draco looked annoyed, but not furious. Harry tried a slight smile. "You must be exhausted."

"It's starting. As soon as I'm not twitching from the power, I'll be sleepy. I'm not going to sleep, though."

"Why not?"

"Because this might be our last visit."

Harry sighed. He took the token from his pocket, but kept it wrapped in his hand. "Susara shed her skin, today," he said.

"Oh. Pretty, isn't it?"

"I decided to make something from it."

Harry held out his hand to Draco. He could tell from the heat in his face that he was blushing. "This is for you."

Draco looked at him curiously. After a moment, he held out his hand, and Harry dropped the token in it. A smile grew on Draco's face as he looked at the bit of shining gold. It was formed into a broomstick, about an inch and a half long, with the shapes of the twigs scratched into its tail, and a small "L" pressed into the underside of the stick. Harry had asked around the common room for a pin back, and Lavender had given him one from a lapel pin of which she had lost the front. Harry had fused the pin to the midsection of the broom, then magically hardened the result.

"So you can remember me," Harry said, "and the bats, and the icicles -- whatever happens."

Draco nodded, the smile fading from his face in the same slow way it had started. He ran his fingers across the broom, then pinned it to his robe.

"Could you kill me?" he asked. "If you had to?"

"I don't know," Harry answered hesitantly.

"I don't know that I could kill you, either."

Draco looked so intense that Harry found himself smiling.

"What?" Draco demanded.

"We have a really strange way of ...." Harry couldn't bring himself to say "being sappy," and he didn't know what else to say. "You saying you're not sure you could kill me," he tried; "it comes across like Hermione saying she will always be there for me, or Ron saying I'm family, except it's just so...."

"Malfoys are not known for their affectionate natures," Draco replied loftily, but with a hint of a smile.

Harry thought. "I suspect I have an affectionate nature, restrained by acquired paranoia and a complete lack of childhood socialization."

"Analyze me that deeply, and I'll start practicing curses on you."

"Yes, Draco."

Draco snorted. "A suitable tactic." He sat down, leaned back, and stretched his legs out in front of him, kicking away his crumpled school robe to make room. His face was expressionless as he studied Harry.

"What are you looking for?" Harry asked, folding his arms across his chest to stare back.

"Nothing. I was thinking I don't feel righteous any more, and it's rather a relief. I never knew it was that horrible. Do you all run about in that state frequently?"

Harry snorted. "Not really. It is horrible, and it's important to not ... to learn to be honorable without it, I suppose. I seem to have the knack. Hermione needs to work much harder at it, but she is learning."

"Perhaps you are less honorable."

Harry shrugged.

"Huhn." Draco straightened and stopped taking up so much of the couch. He looked evaluatingly at Harry, and the look turned to a sneer. "It was the Imperius Curse, wasn't it? You asked about it, and he kept you for a lesson."

Harry didn't say anything. Draco smirked. "Unforgivables, Potter? Tsk, tsk."

Harry reddened. "I wanted to know...."

"If you could overcome it in a snake, I know. But if that was all you had done, that would not be Dark Arts."

"Snape thought I should try the other side of it. To understand what I was fighting."

"Was it helpful?" Draco asked solicitously.

"I hate to say so, but yes. It was very helpful. The view you get from casting it is quite different from what you get having it cast on you."

"And who did you cast it on?" Draco asked lazily. "Snape?"

"Just on the snakes."

Draco looked genuinely angry. "You did that to Susara?"

"What would that prove? I needed snakes I hadn't met, before."

"Ah." Slowly, Draco relaxed back, again. "I think I'll forgive you," he said. His smile broadened. "But you must pay me a penalty."

"A penalty," Harry repeated incredulously.

"Yes. Take off your shirt."

"What?" Is he going to hit me?

"Take off your shirt, and hand it to me." Draco smirked. "Don't look so alarmed, Potter. I won't do anything to you -- just to the shirt."

Hesitantly, Harry took off his robe. He always wore additional clothing underneath it for the Chamber, which was rather cold. For some reason, perhaps a sense of occasion, he had worn the good black trousers, and the red and gold silk shirt. He fumbled with the buttons on the cuffs, then the two nearest the neck, and pulled it off, realizing as he did so that Susara was still around his neck, as Draco had forbidden him to wear her. He tried to pretend he had been doing yard work, and was just incidentally shirtless, but the snake, and Draco's deliberate, unreadable look, once down and up his body, made that difficult. Draco held out his hand.

"Give it to me."

Harry handed him the shirt and crossed his arms over his chest. "It's cold down here," he complained, "in case you hadn't noticed."

"You'll have it back in a minute." Draco laid out the shirt on the table, aligning it carefully. "Fetch us both a drink, while you're waiting."

Harry, unwilling to turn his back on what Draco was doing, fetched the liquor with Accio, then poured it into the snifters that had been stashed beneath the table.

"Come here," Draco said suddenly. He had drawn out his wand. "Across from me, so I can see your face."

Harry moved to the far side of the table and went down to one knee facing Draco, so their eyes were at about the same level. Draco stared intently into his face for what seemed to Harry like a very long time.

"Draco..."

"Shhh."

Draco's gaze dropped to the shirt. He touched it with his wand. The bright red shifted to emerald green. He touched it again, at cuffs and collar, turning those sections to black, but leaving the metallic pattern in gold.

Draco held the shirt up to check his work and smiled in satisfaction. "There," he said mockingly, handing it to Harry. "I get to see you in green -- a perfect match for your eyes, yet, as I made it so myself. And it stays that way -- at least until I return -- so everyone can see you are a Slytherin boy."

Harry lost no time in getting the shirt back on. He still felt cold, and the silk was cold from lying on the stone table.

"All right," he said, in a flash of annoyance. "Yours, then."

"Excuse me?"

"Give me your shirt. And you're getting back something that's not that damned black."

Draco removed his shirt -- actually more of a belted long tunic -- gracefully, and stood in perfect ease without it. Harry changed the tunic itself to a soft grey-blue, but wasn't as certain what to do for an accent. Remembering how Draco had looked less pale in Gryffindor, he started by changing the collar to crimson, but it overwhelmed the subtle blue tones. He changed it to maroon, then to a dusty rose. Settling on the rose, he made the cuffs match.

"There," he said brightly, handing it back. "Oh, and the belt." He took the belt and changed it to a dark bronze. "Much better."

Draco frowned at the garment before putting it on. "Pink?" he questioned incredulously.

"It brings out what little color you have. A lot of red does, too -- I noticed when you were in my dormitory -- but pink suits your delicacy better."

Draco managed to scowl for several seconds before bursting out laughing. "You know you've chosen a color -- that blue -- my father wears often."

Harry shrugged. "I expect it goes as well with his eyes and hair as with yours."

"I suppose," Draco conceded. He stifled a yawn, sat down on the couch and rubbed his eyes. "Bleh." He motioned to the cognac. "Drink up. I want to finish the bottle, tonight."

Harry eyed the half-full bottle. "Are you mad?"

"Of course." Draco smiled. "Really, we have hours."

"You want me pissed."

Draco raised his pale eyebrows questioningly. "Do I? Perhaps I don't want you drinking while I'm gone."

"Oh?" Harry picked up a glass.

Draco shrugged. "No, really I do want you pissed. Perhaps because it was so awful, last time, and this is safe." He yawned. "But I can't have much, or I'll fall asleep. Damn Snape."

"Don't suppose you'll be in any Muggle towns over vacation..." Harry said wistfully.

Draco snorted. "If I am, I won't be bringing you back treats."

"Not even mild poisons?" Harry teased.

Draco sat bolt upright. "Take this seriously!" he shouted.

"I was joking."

"This isn't a joke!" Draco snarled.

"Sorry, I --"

"Harry, listen to me," Draco said earnestly. "Take this seriously. When I come back, you ask to see my arm. No matter how good an entrance I make, or what I say, you do not trust me until then."

"And what does that --"

"See this?" Draco held up the bottle. "'Poison', you said. Yes. I could change this only slightly and it would kill you."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I don't think Voldemort would like that. He wants to kill me himself."

"Don't count on it," Draco growled. "Anyone can lose patience. Now, promise me."

"I promise I won't trust you until I see your arm." Harry said solemnly. He chuckled. "Though I think tonight is the first time I ever have. You could have taken the Mark last fall, as far as I knew."

"Why won't you be serious?!"

"Dragon, best case I don't see you for a week and a half. Worst case, like you said, this is the end. Why do you want me to be serious?"

"Oh." Draco sat back and took a sip of the cognac. He frowned. "Good point."

"Pity we can't go flying."

"Mn." Draco leaned over and topped off Harry's drink. Harry noticed, with amusement, that Draco did not top off his own. "Just as well, perhaps." Draco leaned back. "If I get through this..."

"Yes?"

"Perhaps we should think of something more constructive to do with our time."

"Probably," Harry agreed. "Though we've both done some good transfiguration work, tonight."

"That accounts for a few minutes."

"A few minutes more than I would normally do. And it took more than a few minutes to make that pin." Harry was silent for a minute. "I've been thinking ...."

"Really? Whatever caused that?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "About this Potions project -- Don't look annoyed, I just meant the Potions project, not what I did afterwards..."

"And?"

"Well, maybe we could do other things like that. I mean, you don't think you're good at Transfiguration, but you merged the chairs, and altered my shirt --"

"That's just changing a single aspect of something, not turning it into something else. I'm good at that."

"And I'm just learning it. And we did the Liber Geminus which is pretty complicated combined charms and potions. And the portkey."

"I'll admit, we've done some constructive things --"

"No, listen! We lost all those Charms and Transfiguration notes, why not ask if we can do some sort of project to make it up? Or better yet, a demonstration of what we've already done? The teachers like that! Professor Snape has been considerably more friendly to me, the last month, and it's partly because of you and Susara, but also because I've been displaying an interest in Potions."

"Let's talk about it when I get back," Draco said.

"Maybe we could even get to fly at night, if we we're doing something with Hagrid."

Draco flushed. "That might be worth doing something with Hagrid," he admitted. "When I get back, Harry."