Rating:
G
House:
The Dark Arts
Characters:
Draco Malfoy Harry Potter Rubeus Hagrid
Genres:
Inspirational General
Era:
The Harry Potter at Hogwarts Years
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire
Stats:
Published: 12/05/2007
Updated: 12/05/2007
Words: 3,192
Chapters: 1
Hits: 255

Maybe You're Right

GenvieveWoolf

Story Summary:
A story inspired by the title (provided by April in a plot bunny thread). It's about how there's a spark of good in the worst of people and a nasty streak in the best of people.

Chapter 01

Posted:
12/05/2007
Hits:
255


"They're sort of broad and fat for toadstools," Rubeus Hagrid instructed, "and they sit deep in the loam..."

Draco Malfoy leaned toward Harry Potter and whispered, "The more he goes on about them, the more they remind me of him."

Harry resented the comment, but he didn't risk missing Hagrid's instructions by answering.

"...So, when you've each got a pail full, you can come back. I'll be waiting by the fire. Don' go out of shouting distance; they don' grow tha' far back under the trees anyway."

With a grim nod, Harry picked up his pail and turned toward the Forest. He knew he and Draco were supposed to stay together, but he didn't bother to see if the other boy was following as he made his way into the wood. All too soon, however, Draco made his presence impossible to ignore.

"This brings back memories. Of my first detention. Was it yours, too? We had to go into the Forest after dark that time, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Harry muttered. "You screamed like a girl and I nearly got killed." He heard Draco scrambling over the underbrush to catch up, so he turned around to make sure the Slytherin didn't try to hex him while his back was turned.

"I did not scream," Draco growled.

"Sure. Whatever you say. Now look out, or you'll trample the Shields." Harry knelt on the forest floor and began transferring the dull brown Shield Toadstools into his pail.

"Look, Potter, it's you're fault we're in this mess, so how about we just fill my pail first and then you can work your way out?"

Glaring, Harry spat, "First, it was not my fault! Second, don't you dare appeal to the fact that my ethics are higher than yours. You can fill your own pail."

Draco sneered and turned away. Harry shook his head and wondered grimly how much more he would have to endure before his bucket was full. The toadstools weren't very big, and they didn't usually grow more than six in a group; it would take about a hundred of them. Most of the warm spring Saturday would be gone before he was done.

Draco left him alone for the better part of an hour, but when Harry's pail was about half-full, he tripped and fell head-first into the twigs and leaves on the ground. When he got up, he saw that the toadstools had spilled everywhere. On closer investigation, he couldn't for the life of him see what he had tripped over. There were no rocks or awkward roots sticking out where he had walked.

"You!" he said, turning on Draco.

Draco smiled innocently. "Please, no pictures; no autographs."

"You used a Tripping Spell on me, didn't you?"

"Honestly, if you can't even admit that you tripped.... Such a big head."

"You want a big head?" Harry's tone was dangerous.

"I think you'd better pick up those mushrooms if you want to get out of here while it's daylight."

Turning back to the fallen pail, Harry grumbled, "They're toadstools, not mushrooms. Don't you ever listen?" He hated the thought that he was wasting time, but on the other hand, he did like having something to occupy his mind besides the upcoming final task of the Triwizard Tournament.

As if he had been reading Harry's mind, Draco said, "Hey, didn't they keep the Tournament dragons around here? Maybe we could find the spot they kept them and hunt around a bit."

"What for?"

"Come on. Everyone knows that dragons hoard valuables and sleep on them. Sometimes stuff gets embedded in their scales. So, maybe something fell off during all that pre-task business."

"You're tugging my wand," Harry said. "It's just an old muggle's tale, right?"

"Where do you think muggles got the idea? It's true. Or are you just scared to go farther into the Forest?"

Actually, Harry knew the exact place the dragons had been kept, but he certainly wouldn't tell Draco that. If he did, Draco might figure out that Harry had known about the dragons beforehand. But if he was telling the truth about dragons and treasure, maybe he could go back later and search the area for himself. Maybe he could tell Hagrid he wanted to borrow a Niffler for an extra credit project. "Of course I'm not scared. I just don't want to be out here any longer than necessary."

"Right." The sarcasm in Draco's voice was impossible to miss. "Well, I'm going to have a look."

"Hagrid told us to stay together."

"He's told us lots of rubbish this year. Doesn't bother me. I mean, what's he going to do?" Draco set his pail down under a large black walnut tree and headed deeper into the wood.

"Malfoy, don't." Harry wasn't concerned for Draco, but he didn't want to get into more trouble for not staying with him. When the other boy didn't answer, Harry called, "Come back! Draco Malfoy, if you don't come back here right now, I'll tell Hagrid what you're up to."

Draco threw Harry a venomous look. "Well there's a great Gryffindor lion for you. Run off and tell someone else. If you're so concerned that we have to stay together, why aren't you coming?"

"You idiot." Harry watched as Draco continued on his way. I'll be an idiot too, if I follow him, he thought. But I can't just let him go, and it does seem pretty small to go tell Hagrid. At last, muttering insults, he caught up to Draco and fell in step with him. "If it starts getting dark, we're going right back."

"Yes, mother." Draco smiled. It didn't look friendly.

After half an hour's tramping, Harry decided he'd rather let Draco find the right location so they could get it over-with and finish their detention. "Draco?" he ventured. "Let's try up this way a bit."

At first, Harry thought Draco would retort that he was leading this expedition, but the other boy merely shrugged.

In the space of about ten minutes, Harry managed to very carefully lead Draco to the clearing they were looking for, without Draco's realizing he was being led.

"This has got to be it," Draco said, looking around as if he had just purchased the piece of property. "Let's split off to cover more ground."

Harry couldn't help being a little excited as he cast his eyes around the scorched forest floor, but he wondered what time it was. His watch had stopped working when he'd got it wet in the second task, and he didn't have a new one yet.

Suddenly a glimmer caught his eye. There was something in the dead leaves at his feet. Harry bent to pick it up, not daring to hope it was actually something valuable. He wasn't in need of money, of course, but his thrill of discovery was not dulled in the least. The object appeared to be a large silver button, or maybe a small brooch. The weathered figure of a badger could still be made out. "Hufflepuff," Harry breathed. Maybe this button had come off the jacket of a member of Hufflepuff house. "Hey, Malfoy," he said, looking up. Then he paled. "Draco!"

Just beyond Draco was a creature Harry had never seen before in any book, let alone waking life. It was as big as a man and covered in coarse, dark hair. What little of its face was visible looked brutal.

Draco looked at Harry for a moment as if he were sure that Harry was trying to scare him. Then he turned and saw the monster. A split second later, he was running toward Harry. "Run, you empty-headed sap!"

Harry didn't need telling twice. He took off the way they had come. He could hear Draco running close behind him, and beyond that, a great crashing that could only be the creature he had seen, now in hot pursuit.

Were it not for the imminent danger, Harry would never have run so fast through the woods: there was constant danger of tripping on hidden roots or running into branches. But now he held nothing back, and he doubted that Draco would either. Suddenly, he wondered why Draco hadn't tried to fight the creature with his wand. Sure, it was frightening, but wouldn't magic be able to best this...whatever-it-was?

Risking a glance over his shoulder, Harry saw that the beast was a good way back. He fumbled with the pocket in his robes for a moment, dropping the button inside and pulling out his wand. Taking cover behind a tree, he leveled his wand at the great ugly thing that was chasing them.

Even as Harry cried, "Impedimenta!" Draco shouted, "No!"

The spell hit the creature in the chest. It pulled up short and Harry began running again when Draco caught up to him.

"Don't try to use magic on it!" Draco said so harshly that he might just as well have told Harry he'd just ruined their chances of making it to their fifteenth birthdays.

"Why not?"

Draco seemed to want to save his breath for running. "Just don't," he said.

Up ahead, Harry spotted a large hole under the torn up roots of a fallen tree. It was probably a den of some kind. "Let's get in there! I don't think it'll be able to get in after us."

Harry skidded to a halt and slid feet-first into the hole, but Draco hesitated to follow. "What if there's something living in there?" he asked.

"It can't be any worse than that thing!"

Draco looked back to see that the creature was mere yards away. "Maybe you're right," he said, and crawled into the hole.

Harry found himself in an earthy tunnel. "Lumos," he said, holding his wand just above his head. There wasn't much to see; just roots, rocks, dirt and a few insects.

"Get back further," Draco said, his voice missing its usual superior confidence.

Harry was reluctant to go any deeper into the tunnel, but he didn't particularly want their pursuer to be able to reach in and get hold of either of them, so he scooted along a bit more. Then he could hear the creature growling and scratching at the tunnel mouth. Harry's heart pounded. "What is it?"

"It's a giant wolverine. They hang out near wizards because they eat magic."

"They...eat it?"

The wolverine bellowed in rage and Draco scrambled back against Harry.

"Hey! Watch out." Harry reached his legs even further into the tunnel and moved away from Draco. "Now, what do you mean, they eat magic?"

"Well, they'll eat other things too, but they like magic best. They're not magical creatures to begin with, but if they eat magical plants, animals or objects, they take on some of the powers of what they eat."

"Including wizards?" Harry asked nervously.

"Er, yes, actually. Anyway, if you try to use a spell on it, the spell might have some effect on it, but in the long run, it just makes the wolverine stronger. And that same spell will be even weaker against it next time."

"Great. So now what do we do?"

Draco turned his wide eyes away from the tunnel entrance, where the wolverine was still trying to gain entrance. "Set up house, I guess. We aren't going anywhere for a while. Maybe we should see where this leads."

"I'd rather not. Not yet, anyway. I want to catch my breath at least."

"Fine."

Suddenly, Harry swore. "This is all your fault, you realize?"

"Don't start."

"Why not? As you said, we aren't going anywhere for a while! It was your stupid idea to go off into the Forest when we were supposed to stay by the perimeter. I haven't any idea where we are, after that mad run through the woods. Even if that thing goes away, we'll be lost."

"Like you had any idea where we were before that mad run, as you put it. Anyway, you're the one who shot magic off at it. Even if we find a way to get rid of it, it will be harder thanks to you."

"I had no way of knowing--"

"I know," Draco said maliciously, "you have no way of knowing much of anything, seeing you were raised by muggles. You didn't know about the dragons, and you didn't even know what a giant wolverine was. Do you even know what a wolverine is? An ordinary one?"

Harry shrugged. "That, only smaller?" he said, gesturing toward the snarling noise which was growing only louder the longer it went on.

"Brilliant."

"No, you're what's so brilliant. We could be all through our detention by now. But thanks to you, we're stuck here waiting to be killed when that...that whatever finally claws its way down to us."

Harry received a punch in the gut for that. He tried to suck in enough breath to say a spell, but Draco grabbed his wrist to hold the still-lit wand stationary.

"Don't cast any spells. That wolverine can lap up the residual magic and get even stronger."

"Convenient, that," Harry muttered before he brought up his left fist to connect with Draco's chin.

A minute later they both lay panting on the tunnel floor with several cuts and fast-blooming bruises apiece. It was hard work fighting in such close quarters, Harry realized as he felt around for his wand. He found it and re-lit the tip, illuminating the tunnel again. The giant wolverine seemed a lot closer, its digging more eager. Obsessive, almost.

"Move back," Draco said in a tired, but commanding voice.

"Don't give orders, Malfoy."

"Don't be a prat. All right, look: if you're too scared to move further in, I'll go first."

"Oh, shut up. Besides, you can't get by me--the tunnel's not wide enough."

"I'll crawl over you if I have to."

"Yuck. I'll move." Harry crawled a few feet further into the tunnel.

"We really ought to see where this leads."

"Probably to something really nasty. Although, I can't think what could be worse than sitting here with you."

"You're lucky, Potter. You get to sit with a Malfoy--someone from a long, pure line of great wizards. I have to sit with a half-blood muggle-loving near-squib."

"Great wizards," Harry snorted. "You're a right dung-heap, Malfoy. All you do is insult people. You must get so bored when you're with people you actually like. No one to insult."

There was a pause during which the wolverine's efforts seemed disturbingly near again. Then Draco said, "You're one to talk. As if you don't enjoy making scathing remarks."

Harry was taken aback. "What are you talking about?"

"Name one thing you've said to me since we've met that wasn't intended to be brutal or that wasn't laced with sarcasm. Go on, try!" When Harry didn't answer right away, he added, "I amend that: name one thing you've said to me today that was less than hateful."

At first, the challenge seemed too ridiculous, but as the relative silence stretched on, Harry began to think back over his conversations with Draco. True, Draco hadn't been very civil either, but the more he thought about it, the more he comprehended that he hadn't said one very kind word to Draco all day. Maybe not all year. In fact... Harry couldn't remember ever saying anything nice to Draco. Not unless he had been joking or using sarcasm--or putting on a front for teachers.

"You know..." Harry began. He let his wand sit on the floor of the tunnel so its glow was dim. He didn't want Draco to see the shame that must be showing plainly on his face now. "I, er...maybe you're right. I guess I do tend to respond in kind when you...er...."

Draco made a disdainful noise, barely audible over the wolverine's efforts.

Harry scooted a little further down the tunnel and Draco followed.

"Look, I'm not trying to get an apology out of you," Draco said, directing his gaze at the tunnel wall. "I just wish you'd stop being so...so insufferably antagonistic when we're in a fix we need to get out of. I mean, can't we just get out of this before you start ripping into me for getting us into it?!"

The offer to excuse the lack of an apology was not lost on Harry. He nodded. "OK. But what can we do? I mean..."

"We could see what's at the end of this ruddy tunnel..."

Harry sighed. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Again. I'll go first." He gripped his wand grimly and crawled headfirst down the tunnel.

After a few minutes of crawling, when the wolverine's activity was a dull rumble behind them, Harry found himself sliding into a much more open space. He held his wand aloft and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw dark, shapeless forms around the walls of the room he found himself inside.

Draco stuck his head into the room. "What?" he whispered. "What is it?"

Laughing in relief at the sleepy eyes that blinked up at him, Harry said, "It's a nest of Nifflers! I think they're some of the same ones Hagrid used for our lesson."

One of the Nifflers lumbered over to where Harry knelt on the floor and stood with its digging paws against his arm.

"I'm sure they're the same ones," Harry said, grinning now. "This is the one I used."

"Well, ask him how we get out!"

Scooping up the cuddly Niffler, Harry said, "I need you to take me to Hagrid."

The Niffler touched its nose to Harry's, then wriggled out of his arms and darted toward a tunnel on the other side of the room.

Harry looked back at Draco and shrugged. "Well, let's go."

A lot of crawling later, the two boys emerged into the late afternoon sunlight on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They could see smoke from the fire where Hagrid was roasting meat for one of his outlandish pets.

"Thank you much," Harry said to the Niffler, not sure whether he really understood.

The Niffler sat back on its fuzzy haunches and looked at Harry.

"Looks like he's begging," Draco commented.

Suddenly, Harry remembered the button in his pocket. "Oh, I forgot. When we were in the dragon clearing, right before I saw that wolfish-whatsit, I found a silver button. It's in my pocket. It was your idea to go look, so you can have it if you want, but..."

"Give it to him."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I don't think I'll want any reminders of this adventure."

Harry smiled and held out the button to the Niffler which gave an excited chirp as he snatched it up. Then the furry animal disappeared back into the tunnel.

The boys walked back toward Hagrid's fire, none too eager to explain what had happened.

"Listen, Draco..." said Harry, "if Hagrid asks about all these scrapes and bruises, I think we should just tell him they're from when we were chased through the woods and crawling through the tunnels, all right?"

Draco's mouth curved into a slight smile. "Maybe you're right," he said.

The End