The Dragon Games

As Harry stepped off the train, he heard a loud cry of "What do you mean, he's coming with us?" from Ron.

"I told you five times already," Hermione said as she stepped off the train behind Harry.

"I thought you were joking!"

Draco and Harry exchanged looks, and Harry turned to Ron.

"Don't worry about it, Ron," he said. "He'll leave all of you alone, I promise."

"It's bloody insanity, that's what it is," Ron muttered. "What's gotten into your head, Harry?"

Draco smirked with a raised eyebrow to Harry, who looked down, trying not to blush.

"It's only for the first few days," he said.

"Ron, really," Hermione said crossly. "We'll stay out of his way, and he'll stay out of ours."

"Yeah," Draco drawled. "What Granger said."

"Don't you talk to me!" Ron said grudgingly.

The five found Lupin waiting for them at a far corner of the station. He looked tired, having recently gone through a werewolf transformation the day before, but his eyes were still curious and on Draco, clearly wondering why he was there.

"Have a good train ride?" he asked them.

There was a murmur of yes's from everyone but Draco.

"Good." Lupin nodded. "Harry, I'm going to need to talk to you when we get to your house."

"Alright," Harry nodded.

Lupin paused again, his eyes flickering to Draco once more, looking unsure.

"Harry, you are aware that... Malfoy appears to be-"

"Yeah, he's staying for a while," Harry said quickly. He had forgotten to tell Lupin about the change of plans.

"Bogus," Ron hissed under his breath.

"I see," Lupin said, frowning. "Well, we'll be on our way then."

---

The ride back to Grimmauld Place was very quiet, mainly because if anyone spoke, Ron would end up shouting something about 'insanity'.

When they arrived, they all took in their suitcases, and Harry told Lupin he had to get Draco settled in first.

"Nice place," Draco said, as Harry led him away.

"Thanks," he said, quite conscious of Draco monitoring his house.

He brought him up to a guest room which was small for Draco's standards, but cozy.

"This is your room," he said, opening the door.

Draco looked around, taking everything in, his eyes lingering on the quite peculiar pictures of goblins on the walls. The blonde turned back to him.

"Where are you sleeping?" Draco asked almost innocently.

Harry chuckled, feeling himself turn red at the very thought. "Just down the hall."

"Oh really?" Draco said, placing his stuff down.

"I'm rooming with Ron," he said slowly, partly wishing he wasn't.

Draco's face fell a little with that piece of information. "That's not a very good plan."

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"How am I to sneak into your room at night if Weasley's there to scream his head off when he finds us?"

Harry laughed and shook his head. "I guess you won't be sneaking anywhere."

"Oh, we'll see about that," Draco grinned. "Now go run along and take care of Lupin's business, because I want some Harry time."

Harry felt his insides squirm. Harry time?

"Right," he said sheepishly. "Just make yourself at home."

Draco winked at him, clearly enjoying the effects he had on him. "Oh, of course," he grinned. "And a little Weasley sabotage wouldn't be too far amiss either."

Harry just shook his head and left Draco, shutting the door behind him.

He found Lupin in the kitchen putting away food. Harry took a seat and stared up at Lupin, who just took notice of him.

"Lupin," he said, "what's going on?"

Lupin sighed and shut the fridge, pulling up a seat across from Harry.

"We've tracked down two more people from the prophecies," he said slowly.

"Good," Harry said. "Well, that's progress."

"Molly and Arthur went to retrieve them a few nights ago."

"So that's where they went?" Harry asked.

Lupin nodded. "And I'm sure you heard about what happened to the man who was staying here?" He sighed, aggrieved at their loss.

"He was murdered," Harry said. "Kreacher and Dobby told me. Kreacher scared him out of the house."

Lupin looked solemn. "I wasn't aware of the last bit. Nevertheless, we need to start preparing, Harry."

Harry frowned. "Preparing for war?"

"Yes," Lupin said. "And we need you to tell us what to do."

Harry stared for a moment, letting the words sink in. If he was in charge and he screwed up, more deaths would come. Hadn't he screwed up enough to prove to Lupin that he couldn't handle the responsibility?

"Why me?"

"Harry," Lupin sighed.

Lupin's irritation irked Harry more: How could he be in charge of all this? He couldn't be.

"No, I'm serious!" he said, standing up. "You seem to be doing a fine job of this by yourself!"

"Calm down, Harry-" Lupin stood up, trying to calm him.

"No, I'm done making all the decisions! You can make some on your own," he said, shaking his head. "I don't want to be in charge of any more people dying."

"Look, it's late. Why don't you go get some sleep and we'll talk about this in the morning."

"No!" Harry said, sternly. "If you want to discuss things, then sure, I'll do that. But I am NOT going to start giving out orders again."

"Harry you can't run-"

"I'm not running from anything," he hissed. "Goodnight."

He stalked off, feeling Lupin's eyes watching him as he went.

Yes, he may have overreacted, but he was just so tired of everything being his fault when things went wrong.

He went into his room and slammed the door shut. Ron wasn't in there yet. He yanked off his clothes, got into his pajamas and lay down to sleep, pulling the covers over his head. After a few minutes of tossing and turning and finding sleep impossible, he threw the covers off and got out of bed.

Not sure where he was headed, he found his way directly into Draco's guest room. The blonde frowned as he entered the room and immediately rushed to him. Harry threw his arms around Draco, holding him tightly.

"Harry, what's wrong? What happened?" Draco asked softly.

"Everything is wrong!" he said. "This war, secrets, me! Everything."

"You are not wrong," Draco said assuredly, looking him in the eyes and kissing his temple.

"I've screwed up everything! I can't be a leader! I'm a coward! Too afraid that I'll let people down again!"

"You. Are. Not. A. Coward," Draco insisted. "You were a bloody Gryffindor, Harry."

Harry scoffed. "What does that even show?"

"It shows that you are strong and brave, even if you don't believe it. Look at me."

Harry looked at him, his hands still around him.

"I believe in you, alright? I'll help you get through this," Draco whispered. "I promise."

He whispered "thank you" a million times into Draco's ear as he held onto him. Draco's words made him stronger, his promise comforting. He never wanted him to leave.

He pulled Draco into a kiss, watching the boy's winter-eyes flutter closed. He found consolation in each brush of skin against skin, in each gentle touch and fierce kiss. Their lips met in harmony and Draco's tongue prodded into his mouth. He let out a soft moan as Draco pressed against him. Their tongues collided awkwardly at first, but grew more at ease as they got the hang of it.

They pulled away to catch their breaths and Harry couldn't help but laugh. A few moments ago, he had felt like the world was closing in on him, and now, everything was just a buzz of happiness.

Draco grinned back, pressing his forehead against Harry's and running a hand through his hair, breathing hard.

"I think you have a fetish for my hair," Harry noted affectionately, realizing every moment that Draco could, he was petting his hair.

Draco grinned broadly. "You caught me," he said warmly, kissing him quickly on the lips and then pulling away. "Feeling braver now?" he asked, and then eyed him carefully, grinning. "Among other things?"

Harry went a deep shade of red and looked at him, flushed. "You shouldn't be allowed to affect me like this."

Draco grinned. "Back at you, Harry," he purred, making Harry shiver.

A soft knock came at the door and a voice followed, clearly not wanting to be there. "Harry, are you in there?" It was Ron.

Harry looked awkwardly at the door and back at Draco.

"Er, yeah," he answered.

The two moved away from each other, but Ron didn't open the door.

"Is Draco there with you?"

"Yeah, Ron."

"Well, I'm going to bed. Try not to wake me up when you come in."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few," he shouted back.

Ron's footsteps shuffled away.

"Man," he breathed out in relief. "That would have been awkward."

Draco nodded, looking angrily at the door. "I don't understand why you consider him to be such a good friend."

"Oh, don't start this again," Harry said, laughing. "I don't question your choice in friends, you don't question mine."

"You are my only friend, Harry," Draco said slowly. "I mean, well... my only real friend."

Harry frowned. "I am?" he asked, saddened at the thought. Everyone deserved friends- even someone as pompous as Draco.

"It's not that big of a deal," Draco dismissed. "It's just that me and people don't get along particularly well. Everyone either hates me and pretends to respect me, or worships me to get into my power and money. I'm used to it."

"That's still depressing," Harry said softly.

Draco shrugged and kissed him lightly. "Go get to bed before Weasley comes back."

"Alright." Harry sighed and kissed him again, then left out the door.

---

Harry awoke at four in the morning. Ron was sleeping in the bed next to him, and the house was eerily silent.

He heard a soft noise come from the hallway and pulled on his glasses, going to investigate. He took his wand and muttered "lumos," and the hallway lit up. The beam of light showed Draco, who was taking something off the wall, and he had a letter in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, bewildered.

Draco started and dropped the thing he was taking down.

"Shit!" Draco turned to see Harry. "Oh, Harry, it's just you. Damn you scared me."

"What are you doing?"

"Oh," Draco said as he picked up the object. "I was just... er... stealing something?"

Harry's face fell, thoroughly confused. "So you're not even going to try and lie about it?"

Draco's face stayed blank. "Guess not." He sighed. "It's important, Harry... If they see it, everything will be ruined."

"See what?" He frowned. "What are you taking about?"

Draco held up the item, and he noticed it was the Weasley's clock from the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley must have brought it with her while she was staying.

"Why are you taking the clock?"

Draco paused and took a deep breath as he ran a hand through his soft blonde hair.

"I don't want to tell you this." Draco sighed. "So just look closer."

He took the clock from Draco and examined it. His face dropped in horror, for the clocks two hands that were connected to Molly and Arthur Weasley were clearly, unmistakably, undoubtedly pointed at the newest inscription added to the clock that Moody must have suggested in light of the war: dead.

"I-I-I" he stammered. He slid his back against the wall and fell to the floor in a hard crash.

Draco stooped down next to him. "I'm sorry, Harry," he said softly.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but nothing would come out. A lump was forming in his throat so that it seemed like he'd never be able to speak again. Everything was falling apart around him; his heart seemed to have stopped, and Draco just seemed to be a fuzzy outline of a human being.

"It's going to be alright," he heard Draco breathe into his hair.

He realized that his arms were wrapped around Draco in an embrace, and he was crying.

"How?" he whispered. "How can everything be alright?"

His only family was gone. Nothing was going to be right again. The ones who had given him his first home, given him his first real birthday and Christmas. The ones who had taken him in and loved him.

Draco stroked his head, whispering to him things he couldn't understand. He sobbed into Draco's chest, and the boy didn't push him away, just let him cry, as if he understood his pain.

Finally, he didn't know how much later, he pulled away from Draco, who kissed his forehead and looked at him with an honest face.

"We'll get them back for this," Draco said firmly. "We'll get revenge, Harry."

"Who did this?" he croaked, holding back more tears.

"My father," was Draco's cold answer.

Harry felt ill. He hated Draco's father more than anything.

"Come on, Harry," Draco said. "Let's get you back to bed."

"No." Harry shook his head. "I want to play the Games."

"Now?" Draco asked, concerned. "You sure?"

"We have to finish soon, Draco," he said softly, becoming determined. "We have to destroy Voldemort."

Draco nodded. "Let's go set up."

Draco helped him to his feet, and both boys took up a load of candles to the attic.

"Is this safe here?" he asked. "I mean, because we're not in the Room of Magic?"

With each passing moment, he felt as if the room were closing in around him, but he pushed all thoughts of Molly and Arthur from his head. He had to forget, had to stay strong. He couldn't face this now, because he didn't know how.

"It might be a bit more of a bumpy ride," Draco said as he started to place candles around the room, "but it's safe enough."

"Draco," Harry said slowly.

"Yeah, Harry?"

"Never mind," he said. "I'll ask during the game."

"You could ask now," Draco said, turning to him. "I won't lie to you."

"I know," he said. "But I just can't think of anything else to ask right now."

"Alright," Draco said.

All the candles were quickly lit and the two boys sat in the center of the room, knees touching. They began to concentrate on the white room of truth.

Harry felt himself being lifted off the ground and tiny sparks of electricity hitting his skin. At first it didn't bother him much, but after a while, it felt like his skin was on fire, being hit by a ton of little whips digging deep into his flesh, but leaving no scars.

When they reached the white room, his skin still stinging in pain, the cry of the Dragon sounded. The pain raced across his chest, only this time, the pain felt like a release.

"I'm never going to be used to that," Draco groaned, rubbing his arms. He stood up and held out a hand for Harry, and he took it.

"Ask away," Draco said to him.

Harry nodded. "What did you mean it would ruin everything if they saw the clock?" He asked, and the pain of losing them came flooding back.

"The Weasley's are connected to all of this, and it would crush them knowing that their parents are dead. They have to be in the right state of mind for this to work," Draco answered.

Harry nodded, but he was still confused. How were they connected? Was there something Ron was keeping from him? The reason Draco was upset when he said he hadn't been talking to Ron?

"Ron doesn't trust me," Draco said. Harry didn't know where he was going with this. "Is that because you haven't told him anything that's been happening with the Game or the questions?"

"Yes," he said solemnly, feeling guilty. "Ron and I haven't told each other anything since this summer when his brother visited him."

Draco nodded, looking upset.

"Why does Ron have to trust you?" he asked. The harder he concentrated on the question, the less room his mind had to wander to the pain.

"Because of the Prophecy," Draco said. "The Prophecy that Ron is connected to is tied to this Game, and if he doesn't trust me, he won't believe it when I tell him I'm on your side."

"Prophecy?" Harry asked. There is a prophecy about Ron?

"It's a Prophecy about seven children who have inherited special magical qualities that are key to this war," Draco explained.

It dawned on Harry how really huge this was. Why hadn't Ron said anything?

"You just used your third question," Draco commented.

"Oh, sorry, then you get the last two," he said, for he had opened his mouth to ask another question.

"I only need one," Draco said. "Go ahead, ask another."

"Is that why your father killed... their parents?" Harry gulped.

"Yes and no. He killed them because they were with two other people in the Prophecies, and he killed them because he wants all the Weasley's dead."

"Oh," he said, hatred filling him again.

"Will you not tell Ron and the rest about their parents, for me?" Draco asked, practically pleading.

"I..." Harry said, looking into Draco's silver eyes. "I won't, I promise."

"Thanks," Draco said.

A door opened to their far right, and he noticed it looked awfully dark beyond it.

"I have another question for you," Harry said. "When we get out of here."

"Okay," Draco nodded.

The two stepped through the door.

They were on a dark swampland, a slight mist covering random places. The grass was dark green, and everything seemed oddly spooky. There were wisps of ghosts and spirits, and Harry heard cackling coming from a moor in the distance.

"Eerie," Draco muttered.

Harry nodded. He felt sick. Sick from crying, sick from the pain in his chest, and sick for abandoning his friends like he had been, and this dark gloomy place only made things seem a lot worse.

From behind them, they heard a little girl's voice.

"Hello." She had an angelic, innocent voice.

They turned around to see two twin girls about eight years old, and they were glowing. They both wore identical white gowns full of ribbons and bows, and the only way Harry could tell them apart was that they both held different objects in their outstretched palms. The girl to his right held a red box, and the girl to his left had a gold box with a big blue ribbon tied around it.

"Hi," Draco said, taken aback.

Harry just stared at the little girls.

"Welcome to level six, dears," said one girl.

"Only one more level to go," said the other.

"Just one?" Harry said, surprised.

Both girls giggled.

"Shh," said the girl with the red box. "Let us explain."

Harry and Draco went quiet and watched them closely.

"I am Holly," said the girl with the red box.

"I am Sarah," said the other girl.

"We're here to give you two gifts," Holly smiled. "One for each of you."

"One gift is just for your own appeasement," said Sarah.

"And the other is a gift to lead you to your next level."

"One is a spell."

"And one is a key."

"The spell is for one of you only," said Sarah.

"And the key will be picked by the one who doesn't get the spell," Holly grinned.

"The question for the spell is: What do you want most right now?" Sarah asked.

"Who will answer this question?" Holly asked.

Draco looked at Harry, and Harry looked at him.

"You get the spell, Harry," Draco said softly, taking his arm gently.

"You sure?" Harry asked.

"You need it more than me right now." Draco nodded. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," Harry said, and leaned up and kissed his soft lips.

Holly and Sarah giggled, and Harry pulled away to look at them.

"You two are boys, silly," Holly said, wide-eyed.

"Okay... Awkward," Draco said, staring at them.

"Don't worry about it," Harry said quickly to the girls.

Sarah and Holly tilted their heads and shrugged.

"Are you ready to answer the question?" Holly asked.

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "The thing I want most right now is to not know about Molly and Arthur's death." Harry looked over to Draco before continuing, "So that I can't break my promise, and so that I won't feel like this right now."

Holly nodded. "Alright. I cast upon this spell for you, but it will fade away in three days time."

She muttered something, and in a flash, Harry had no memory of their deaths. He felt like he had been dumped in a bucket of warm water, and only knew that he was in the Game with Draco and that there were two girls asking him another question.

"Now, which box will you choose?" Sarah addressed Draco.

"One key will lead you to the world under," Holly said.

"And the other will leave you lost with the ghosts forever," Sarah continued.

"We will give you four clues, and you may ask two questions," Holly explained. "But in this game, one of us lies."

"Typical," Harry muttered, reminded of a fairy tale he had once heard of somewhere.

"The first clue," Sarah continued. "Red is tied to a keyhole."

"Second is: Blue is tied to the center hold door," Holly smiled. "And the center hold knows no lies."

"Finally, the gold loves the moors," Sarah said.

"We have to figure out who's lying," Draco said, looking at them.

"If Holly's the one that lies, she would have lied to us earlier. But then, so would Sarah have. And neither of them really lied about the color of the boxes, but one of them had to have, or no one would lie and that wouldn't make any sense," Harry trailed off.

"Harry," Draco said. "Don't do that. Let's see." He paused. "Holly, are you holding the red box?"

The two girls smiled and looked at each other.

"Oh, you're a crafty one," Sarah smiled. "Go ahead, Holly, tell him."

"Yes, of course, I'm holding it. Can't you see it is so?"

"Okay," Draco said. "Sarah, are you holding the gold box?"

"No." Sarah shook her head. "As you can see, it's more than one color, dear."

Draco frowned. "Okay... I think Holly is telling the truth, which means the gold box is right."

"But... She's right, it is more than one color," Harry said, frowning. "And if the center hold does know lies, then technically, it would be Holly who would be the liar."

"Harry," Draco said, "you're confusing me."

"I just want us to get this right," Harry said. "We have to think about this from all angles."

"Maybe we go on impulse?" Draco said. "If you can handle that?"

"I-" He paused. "Do what you like; you get to pick the box."

"Well, I need your help." Draco sighed. "Red or gold?"

"Umm... red... no, gold..." He sighed.

"I say gold," Draco said, reaching for it.

The girls were both grinning like mad.

"Are you sure?" Holly asked.

"It could be the wrong box," Sarah smiled.

"Shit!" Draco cursed. "Alright, red, let's go with red."

"Really?" Holly asked.

"Such a brave move," Sarah said, batting her eyelashes.

Draco pulled his hand away again.

"Okay," Draco said. "I'll go with red..."

He watched Draco snatch the box from her hands, as if to not give himself time to rethink.

"Very well," Holly smiled. "We shall meet you at the end of the moor. There you will find the key hole at the center hold."

The two girls vanished, and Draco started to open the box.

"It's a key," he said, lifting up a gold simple key.

"Well," Harry said, "let's get across."

The two headed towards the moor, and they started to feel themselves sinking into the ground. Harry looked down to see his legs ankle deep in a pool of murky water.

"That's disgusting," Draco grimaced. "These are my best pants."

Harry hid a smile. "Keep moving."

He took Draco's arm for support and started to move forward.

From below, a white figure passed through his body, and he felt like he had been dumped in ice water. The figure floated in front of them and crossed its arms. The ghost was tall, curly-haired, and had on ancient chain mail.

"Turn back," the figure said in an echo-haunting voice.

"Why?" Draco asked, crossing his arms too.

"This way leads to the world under," the ghost said solemnly. "I don't think you wish to head there."

"Actually, we do," Draco said. "So move, because I don't fancy passing through you."

"Why would you want to go to the world under?" the ghost asked, appalled.

"We're playing a game," Harry said before Draco could say anything sarcastic.

"Oh," the ghost said. "More of your kind."

"I guess," he said, confused. "So, if you could like, help us or move out of the way-"

"I have to go," the ghost whispered. "It's coming for you." With that, it started to float off.

"What's coming?" Harry called after it, but it kept going.

He glanced at Draco, who was looking around.

"Let's get moving," Draco said hurriedly. "I don't think what's coming is going to want to play tea party."

Harry nodded and both started to trudge through the water, which was steadily getting deeper as they walked.

"Maybe we should try another way," he suggested, realizing they'd be swimming soon if the water got any deeper.

"Yeah," Draco nodded. "I don't swim."

Harry frowned. "You mean you don't or you can't?"

Draco didn't say anything and turned for another direction.

"I can't really swim either," Harry said. That was partly a lie, though; he had picked up a lot from the Triwizard Tournament.

"Well, let's try this way," Draco said.

They turned to their right and came upon firm land again when there was a loud cry of something horrifying.

"What was that?" Harry asked, turning about wildly to see what made the noise.

"Harry..." Draco's voice was trembling.

He turned to see what Draco was staring at. It was a large beast, foaming at the mouth. It had big yellow eyes the size of a Bludgers and long, shaggy hair.

"Run!" Harry shouted.

The two boys ran for their lives, weaving in and out of mists because they didn't trust it, and jumping over ditches. They heard the creature bounding after them, snarling and shaking the earth as it went.

Harry felt his leg snap as he fell into a pool of water.

"Shit!" he cursed.

Draco, who was right next to him, swung around and tried to get him up.

"My foot is stuck!" he hissed.

"Get it unstuck!" Draco said, fumbling, trying to help.

The two boys pulled and pulled and finally yanked Harry's foot free. They took off running again, and Harry ignored the sharp pain in his foot as he ran.

The creature was closer now, and he could hear its deep breathing.

"Distract it!" he said.

"How?" Draco asked as they continued to run.

"You go towards that wall," he said, pointing to the one on Draco's left, "and I'll go towards this one."

Draco glanced at the two massive curving stonewalls Harry indicated. He saw that it would be very easy to get the beast to slam into before it could come to a halt.

"Knock him out?"

"Yeah!"

Draco nodded and the two boys took off in separate directions. The beast followed Draco, and Harry watched in fear as the boy reached the end of the wall, and rushed back towards him. The beast hit the wall with a very loud crash because it couldn't turn quite quick enough, and it tumbled over itself, giving a loud screech as it went.

Draco caught up with Harry, and the two started to run along the wall, soon running straight into the two girls standing in front of a small gold keyhole. They stopped, doubled over with their hands resting on their knees, and tried to catch their breath.

"Oh... sweet... Merlin," Draco breathed.

"That was close," Harry puffed.

The two girls were smiling obnoxiously at them, and Sarah still had the gold box with the blue ribbon in her hand.

"Try out your key," said Holly.

Draco gave them a glare but turned the key to the keyhole. Harry held his breath as Draco fiddled with the key. He heard the sound of the brass key clinking on its matching keyhole before Draco turned to him, a frown on his face.

"It doesn't fit."