When the Snow Melts

Another Shooting Star

He backhanded her, sending her sprawling across the cobblestone. "Stay out of this you wretched woman," he snarled. "I'll deal with you in a minute."

He released the spell on Lucius, waiting impatiently for the man to collect himself and provide him with an answer. Lucius pushed himself up into a sitting position, spitting blood out of his mouth with a distasteful expression on his face.

"It is as my wife has said," Lucius stated, his voice slightly breathy from the pain. "We discovered his unnatural perversion and disowned him. You may do with him as you see fit."

Narcissa gave a terrified little squeak, her eyes filling with tears.

Harry struck solid ground, reality slamming into him as his head swam, lost to the pain he felt throughout his body. He tried to assess the damage, but his thoughts were wandering and incoherent. The stars above him were disappearing into blackness as he lost consciousness.

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Harry was not at breakfast the next morning. Draco wasn't too terribly surprised by his absence. It made sense that Harry would be avoiding him. He had caused the boy a great deal of pain.

When lunch time came and Harry still hadn't appeared, he started to feel a bit guilty. He didn't want Harry gone from his life, he just needed to come to terms with everything. It was hard to look at him knowing their relationship was doomed to heartache. No amount of love could make that reality any less painful.

Granger boldly sat herself down in front of him, surprising several of the Slytherins, himself included. He squirmed a bit under the intensity of her stare.

"Where are you keeping him?" she questioned darkly.

Draco was thrown off guard by that question, his heart skipping a beat in his surprise. He had been certain that the first thing Harry would have done would be to return to his friends for comfort. If he wasn't with them, then where?

"I'm not keeping him anywhere," he snarled back, but he was growing slightly fearful now, his heart fluttering a bit at the ramifications of her statement.

They glared at one another for a while before Granger stood and stormed back to the Gryffindor table to have a very animated conversation with her boyfriend.

A slow trickle of dread began to settle in the pit of his stomach as he tried to remember everything he could about last night. Harry had stepped off the roof, free-falling like some crazed adrenaline junkie before taking off in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Draco had assumed that he needed to burn off some steam, but what if something had happened? What if he never made it back?

Draco found he wasn't very hungry anymore. He tore through the castle and its grounds, searching out all of Harry's usual haunting grounds, hoping the boy was lurking somewhere safe, but Harry was nowhere to be found. There was no use in avoiding the truth any longer; Harry had to be somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. Why was it always that damned forest?

He couldn't very well go looking for the boy on his own; he didn't even know where to start. It seemed inevitable that he would have to ask for help, he just resented the fact that it had to be his help. Professor Hagrid and his slobbering mutt were always the ones to find students who had got themselves lost in the Forbidden Forest. For Harry's sake and to quiet the wild beating of his heart, he would swallow his pride.

The giant was standing outside his hut, getting things prepared for the first lesson of the day. There wasn't any time to waste, so Draco just cut to the chase, his words running together in a great big rush. "Harry's in trouble. We had a fight last night and he flew off towards the Forbidden Forest and no one has seen him since."

The Professor just stood there dumbfounded as his words sunk in. "Harry's in trouble?" he questioned in confusion, snatching on to the one thing that made any sense.

"Yes," Draco growled in irritation, a sense of urgency making him restless with worry. "Somewhere in the Forbidden Forest."

He startled, his eyes growing wide with panic as he dropped the lesson materials he had been setting up and whistled for Fang. He grabbed the great big beast by his face, peering into his eyes. "Find Harry," he commanded before letting him go. The dog took off at a run, Professor Hagrid following close behind. Draco had never run so hard in his life, his lungs burning with the effort, his legs cramping and protesting. It was only his panic that kept him moving forward. If something happened to him... he couldn't shake the image of Harry's tear-soaked face as he stepped off the roof. He didn't want that to be his last image of the boy alive.

Fang's baleful howl echoed through the forest. Draco's heart beat a bit faster as he charged towards the sound, oblivious to the branches clawing at his clothes and face. The first thing he saw was blood, lots of it, and then Harry's pale face, eyes staring up unseeing into the clouds above. Draco stood frozen in shock, his mind and body refusing to function.

"He's still breathing," the giant assured him, lifting the boy into his arms. "But just barely. We need to hurry."