The Dragon Games

Over the next few weeks, Harry and Draco were bogged down with homework. Harry noticed that Draco seemed to be avoiding him, and he was getting quite concerned. Draco tended to disappear at random times, frequently arrived late to class, didn't eat much, and didn't seem to be sleeping much, either. The only reason Harry knew this, though, was because he himself was sleeping less and less every night.

The abnormal Malfoy behavior was beginning to concern Harry. He'd never had Draco avoiding him before- only throwing insults at him. Now, whenever he saw him in the halls or during lunch, he would disappear before he could talk to him.

Hermione hadn't had any more incidents with Pansy, but often she would complain of getting sharp pains in her head. Each time that happened, Ron would insist upon her going to see Madam Pomfrey.

Finally, four weeks into their first term, Harry found a note on his bed one afternoon from Draco, telling him they would be playing that Saturday. He became anxious, and the remainder of the week dragged on.

At last, Harry awoke at eight o'clock Saturday morning to find that Draco was already gone from his bed. He sighed and quickly got dressed.

This time, he was going to find out what Voldemort had to do with the games - if he had something to do with them.

"You're awake," Draco said, surprised as Harry entered the room. He looked as if he had managed to get some sleep last night.

"Uh huh," he nodded. "And you're actually speaking to me."

"I wasn't ever not speaking with you," Draco said, ignoring Harry's tone while lighting more candles.

"You've been avoiding me for the past couple of days!" he said indignantly.

He has, hasn't he? I haven't just been imagining it?

"Whatever you say," Draco muttered. "Sit. I want to get this level over with; I'm not looking forward to having Weasel on my arm the whole time."

Harry stared at him for a moment, but Draco didn't look at him. Finally, he joined him on the floor.

They concentrated, holding their breath, and soon arrived in the white room. Both boy's flinched as they heard the Dragon's screech, knowing what was coming next.

The pain was ten times worse than Harry remembered as the gash on his chest was opened up again.

"The good news, Potter," he heard Draco mutter, "is you won't be the only one with this scar."

That's one way to think of it.

The two boys stood up and Harry caught sight of Ginny running towards Draco.

"Oh, Draco! I've missed you!" she cried, nuzzling him.

Draco groaned. "Go away."

"You're so silly," Ginny giggled, grabbing onto his arm. "What are you two doing?"

Harry rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to speak at the same time as Draco.

"Playing a game," they said simultaneously.

They looked at each other.

"Oh bloody hell!" Draco groaned. "She just wasted a question!"

"But we didn't ask it!"

"I don't think it matters; we're in the Chamber of Truth. As long as someone asks a question, no matter who it is, it counts." Draco sighed. "Weasel, do me a favor and don't ask any more questions."

"But," Ginny pouted, "why not?"

"Because you're wasting our bloody turns!" Draco shouted at her, pushing her away. "Now that's two you've wasted! Sit down and shut it!"

Harry grimaced at how Draco was treating her, but knew it was for the best. Ginny folded her hands across her chest and shut her mouth.

"What does Voldemort have to do with this game?" Harry asked quickly.

Draco pondered for a moment. "Almost everything. He knows I'm here, if that's what you mean."

I knew it!

"Would you believe me if I said I don't intend to hand you over to Voldemort?" Draco asked him, seemingly sincere.

Harry stared for a moment and thought, Huh?

"Maybe," he said. "Do you intend to?"

Harry watched as Draco rolled his eyes at him; the former Slytherin clearly thought he would take his word for it.

"No," Draco sneered. "Now tell me, what's bothering you so much that you can't sleep?"

How does he know? And why is he asking?

"Well, this game, Voldemort, you, the Mortuus Sermo, Ginny," he listed, realizing that a lot was on his mind. Ginny shot him a glare. "Hermione being attacked, prophesies being destroyed, people trusting me to take care of them. The list goes on and on."

"Jeez," Draco muttered. "I had no ide-" He was interrupted by the door sliding open to reveal another room.

"Try to get her to wait in here," Harry said with a tilt of his head towards the littlest Weasley.

Ginny was beginning get antsy, starting to come out of her anger from when Harry and Draco had yelled at her for speaking.

"I can try," Draco grimaced. "Hey, Weasel-Bee."

"Yeah, Draco-err-Dee?" Ginny said rather lamely.

Draco closed his eyes for a moment, as if praying for patience. "Why don't you wait in here for me? It's a lot safer," he tempted her.

"No! You can't leave me all alone," Ginny said. "And plus I can't be without you."

Draco took in a deep, steadying breath, trying to hold in his impatience.

"It's okay," Harry said, sighing along with him. "We'll work it out."

They stepped through the door and ended up on a large grassy hill. On the ground lay two swords. Harry picked one up, knowing it was better to be armed sooner than later.

"Draco, no!" Ginny whined, seeing Draco stepping towards the last sword. "You'll hurt yourself if you try to swing that thing around."

When he ignored her and picked up his own sword, she yanked on his arm.

"Put it down!" she ordered.

"Geroff!"

Ginny batted her eyelashes flirtatiously. "Come on, do it for me?"

Harry sighed and looked over the edge of the hill. Below was a long grassy field that was covered in thousands of men, all with swords.

"Uh... Malfoy..." Harry said, overwhelmed.

"Move! What? Go away!" Draco stood next to him and peered over. "That looks..."

Ginny peered down as well. "What is everyone doing down there?"

"Do we have to fight them all?" Harry asked.

"I think- ouch, no dammit!- we have to," Draco said, fending Ginny from his face.

"Right," said Harry. "Are you going to be able to with her?"

"Not easily," Draco admitted.

"I thought so," he said.

"I'll handle it," Draco insisted. "Even if I have cut her down a size."

"What?" he asked, appalled.

"I'm kidding!" Draco assured. "I won't cut off your honey's legs or anything."

"I'm not Harry's!" Ginny spat out. "I'm yours, Draco."

"Yeah, whatever," Draco said.

"Well, then let's do this," Harry said.

The three started down the hill and the moment they came into view, a handful of the men spotted them and started at them.

Harry and Draco rose up their swords and Ginny coward behind Draco, grabbing his waist.

The men, as it turned out, weren't much of a fight. They went down easy enough. The only thing that was starting to drive Harry mad was that they never seemed to stop coming. In addition, Ginny, who was starting to realize that she wasn't in any danger, was starting to distract Draco again.

"You can kill them with your eyes closed!" she said, trying to kiss him.

Draco dodged her and took down two more.

"You're so strong!" Ginny said with glee.

"Do you ever stop talking?" Draco yelled at her. "Potter, did she ever drive you this mad?"

Harry grinned at past memories. "No, we were a lot more civil."

"Draco-Dee!" she giggled again. "I like that nickname for you."

"DO NOT call me Draco-Dee!" Draco ordered.

"Then what can I call you? Baby? Sweetheart?"

The blonde grimaced, trying his best to ignore her, and Harry could tell it wasn't easy for him. "Why won't these guys go away already!?" he shouted.

"I don't know," Harry said, starting to get exhausted. "They're never ending!"

"Get off!" Draco ordered to Ginny. "Yeah, but they keep attacking us! We can't just stop, they'll kill us!"

Harry and Draco were stuck. They kept attacking, but they were growing weary. Not to mention that Draco was having an even harder time of it, trying to ward off Ginny who nearly got his hand cut off twice.

"Malfoy, what are we going to do?" His head was spinning from exhaustion.

"I-I don't know," Draco said, taking up his sword and giving a very half-hearted swipe.

"We can't keep this up," he said.

He was starting to feel ill, but the men kept coming, and there was just as many from when they started.

"What about the Dragon?" he asked.

Draco didn't respond for a moment.

"Alright!" he finally said. "Back up the hill! Now!"

The two of them ran, but Draco had to go back and get Ginny, who had stayed in confusion.

The men didn't follow them up the hill, and both boys were breathing hard when they reached the top.

"Did we even make a dent in their army?" Draco asked, peering over.

"Doesn't look like it," Harry said, taking a deep breath.

"Draco, you're all dirty," Ginny whined.

"So are you," Draco said, not looking at her.

"How do we call the Dragon?" Harry asked.

"Dragon?" Ginny squeaked.

Draco put a hand to her mouth. "We just have to summon him. You have your pendants, right?

"Yeah," Harry said, un-tucking them from his shirt.

"Good, well, we're just going to say- ouch!" Draco yelled and looked at the girl, completely appalled and baffled. "You bit me!"

Ginny grinned. "You were covering my mouth, silly."

Draco turned to Harry, giving him a 'can-you-believe-this-girl' look. He shrugged.

"Well, anyway," Draco muttered, giving her a slight glare, holding his hand where she had bit it. "We summon the Dragon by saying something along the lines of 'Dragon, we've gotten lost on our journey, help us to get on track.' And he comes."

"Well, let's do that."

Draco sighed, clearly not up for the idea.

"What?"

"It's just... what if we need him again?" Draco asked.

"Well, we need him right now, and don't we get another time?" Harry asked. He agreed with Draco about being careful, but he also knew that if they fought for much longer, they wouldn't last.

"Sort of." Draco sighed. "Look, let's just get this done. We've wasted a lot of time doing nothing."

"Right."

The two said the line and they heard the screech of the Dragon, and both of their chests seared in pain.

"Oh, that bites," Draco muttered from the pain.

Ginny grabbed a hold of Draco's hand as she looked into the sky. Harry and Draco looked up to see the Dragon - a Hungarian Horntail, no less- settling down in front of them.

"Gamers, you've called me to your side. What is your question?" The Dragon's voice was the deep voice that had been talking to them the whole game.

He didn't know what to ask, so he let Draco handle it. Ginny was too stunned to talk at the current moment, so that wasn't going to be an immediate problem.

"What exactly are we supposed to do in this level?" Draco asked.

The Dragon chuckled for a moment. "Really, gamers, you must ask me this? Well, so be it. You must venture your way through the mercenary zombies and find the center of the field. There you will find a portal that will take you up to where you will be asked a question and a trial will be set forth. Good luck to you."

The Dragon flew off.

"Mercenary zombies?" Harry asked. It sounded like some sort of video game Dudley would play.

"Well, you heard the Dragon," Draco said. "Let's get to it."

Harry noticed that Draco seemed like he wanted to get away from something as quickly as possible. He wasn't sure if it was Ginny or himself, as Ginny had become deadly silent due to her shock.

"Shouldn't we try to find the center from here?" he asked. "After all, we can see pretty much everything."

"Oh yeah," Draco said. "Good idea."

Harry spotted a beam of light far off in the distance.

"Over there," he pointed.

Draco nodded and they took off, prepared to fight their way towards the light.

"Weasel! Get behind me!" Draco ordered her.

"But you can't see what's coming after me from behind."

"Potter's got my back," Draco mumbled. "Just don't rush off again."

"Anything you say," Ginny said softly, but still with a terrified squeak.

Finally they had reached the light, and Draco pushed Ginny who was very weary in first. She disappeared in a bright flash, and the two boys stared.

"Oh, this is nice," Draco said, closing his eyes in bliss.

"Huh?"

"Nothing's hanging on me, nothing's whining at me," Draco grinned.

"Just move it," Harry said, laughing at him.

"Just let me enjoy the moment!"

"We don't have time," Harry said with a smile.

Draco sighed and gave him an unreadable smile just before muttering something under his breath and walking into the light. He flashed off, and Harry walked in after him, appearing in a small darkened room.

"Here is a trial, Gamers. Think hard and imagine every dark and horrible thing you have ever experienced. Do not exaggerate or belittle it or I will know," the voice told them.

Harry and Draco shot each other looks before they both closed their eyes and began to concentrate.

"Now stop," the voice echoed.

They both opened their eyes. Harry looked over to see Ginny practically clinging onto Draco in pure fright.

"Ahead of you will appear two doors. Go to the door in front of your partner and enter. You will face your partner's worst memories."

---

Hermione met Ron outside by the lake that morning after breakfast. She had put on her best clothes and even tried to do her hair differently, but she kept getting frustrated and soon gave up. Ron himself had spent ten minutes in front of the mirror trying out different things with his hair.

The two were sitting, holding hands, and talking about nothing in particular. Hermione set her head on Ron's shoulder as she yawned.

"Are you tired?" he asked, watching her.

"A bit," she said. "I woke up from a bad nightmare last night."

"Nightmare?" Ron asked.

Hermione picked up her head. "Yeah. Pansy and the other two had me suspended in air and they were tossing me about, knocking me against things."

"That's awful!" he exclaimed.

"It was just a dream," she shrugged.

"You sure?" he asked. "You could tell the Headmistress about it."

"I think she has had enough of my false alarms," she said lightly. "Especially when they turned out just to be headaches and not dooming spells."

"You can't be too careful," he told her. "I don't want you to get hurt."

Hermione smiled broadly, Ron smiled as well.

"Hermione," he started, leaning his head towards hers.

"Yeah?" Hermione asked, short of breath, realizing he was about to kiss her.

"I-"

Hermione jerked away in pain. There was a scream of laughter, and a cruel voice whispering something in a language she couldn't identify.

"Hermione?" Ron asked. "What's wrong?"

The voice stopped, the pain stopped.

"Didn't you hear that?" she asked. Had it just been in my head?

"Hear what?"

"Someone was muttering something, and they were laughing at me."

"Don't worry, Hermione," Ron said, helping her stand. "We're going to put a stop to them."

Hermione nodded as he led her towards the hospital wing.

---

Hermione was lying in a bed, Ron standing over her.

"Madam Pomfrey will fix you right up," he assured her.

"Thanks Ron," she smiled.

Her smile encouraged him a little, and told him she was going to be fine. He took her hand, and she closed her eyes for a moment. Ron suddenly felt her whole body twitch in pain, and her face was in an expression of pure horror.

"Hermione!" he cried.

She stopped twitching.

"I'm okay," she told him.

"Did you hear the voice again?" he asked, not believing her.

Hermione nodded, and suddenly he had an idea strike him.

"I'm going to go take care of something," he told her.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, unsure.

"I'm going to solve a problem," Ron answered. "I'll be right back, okay? No worries."

He cupped her face for a moment, gave her a reassuring smile, and then took off out of the hospital wing.

Ron searched through the castle and finally found who he was looking for in the crowded entrance hall because breakfast had just finished.

"Pansy!" he yelled through the crowd, wildly pushing his way towards her.

Pansy looked wide-eyed as he got nearer, and Blaise and Millicent started to shrink back, but he pulled out his wand.

"You two!" he shouted at them. "Not so fast! I need a word with you three."

The whole entrance hall was watching the scene, but he didn't notice anyone else.

"What's gotten into you, Weasley?" Pansy grumbled.

"You know perfectly well, you bastards!" Ron shouted. "Take it off her!"

"Take what off whom?" Pansy asked innocently.

"I'm not afraid to curse you, Parkinson!" he yelled. "Take it off, now!"

"I really don't know what you're talking about. Do you Blaise, Millicent?" she asked, getting Ron's attention on them.

"We don't have a clue," Blaise grumbled.

Ron snatched him by the robes. "Hermione doesn't deserve this from you three! She didn't do anything to any of you! Take off the goddamn spell!"

Blaise looked horrified as Ron raised his wand.

"Put your wand down," Pansy said, holding out her own.

Ron rolled his eyes. "I'm not frightened, Parkinson!"

"Why are you so upset?" Pansy crooned. "All we did was give your girlfriend a new friend."

"What did you do to her?" Ron asked through gritted teeth.

Ron and Pansy now had their wands on each other, and Millicent was hiding behind Blaise.

"It's just a little curse," Pansy sneered. "It'll only damage her mind."

"Only?! Go to hell, Pansy!" he shouted, which only made Pansy smile evilly. "You're going to take it off!"

"Oh Weasley, I wouldn't even if I could." She shrugged. "I'm afraid that was a one way spell."

"You're lying!" Ron hissed.

"So what if I am? What are you going to do about it?" She mocked.

Livid, he raised his wand to curse her when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see the Headmistress looking grim, staring sternly at Pansy.

"Excuse me, Mr. Weasley," Aiyana said. "I'm very sorry to interrupt your spell, but I need to see Miss Parkinson, Miss Bulstrode and Mister Zabini up in my office."

Ron blinked. He wasn't getting in trouble, but they were.

"Come along," Aiyana told them.

Pansy, Millicent and Blaise slowly followed her out and Ron sighed.

Well, at least she'll take care of it, he thought, slightly upset that he wasn't able to get revenge on them.

He sighed and turned to head back up to the hospital wing and came to find everyone staring at him. He looked for Harry, but found he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Where in the world has he gone off to?