Angels and Devils (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter 11. Mistakes Happen

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at Harry's slightly desperate tone, but nodded.

"Then all we have to do is keep this under control until then," Harry decided. "Is there anything I should try and avoid at all costs? I'm probably going to make a complete prat of myself over the next few weeks, but is there anything that could make this worse?"

"Don't touch me," Malfoy said without needing to think. "Veela mating is chemical; if you touch me in the state you're in we could be in real trouble."

Harry nodded.

"Anything else?" he asked quickly and glanced up as a rumble of thunder rolled across the sky.

"That's it," Malfoy replied and suddenly grinned, "I look forward to your antics. They've been most entertaining so far."

Harry groaned and stood up. It was going to be an uncomfortable couple of months.

"Are you going to tell everyone about the wings?" he asked, needing to know.

"I think it'll be far more entertaining if the rest just think you're losing your mind, don't you?" Malfoy replied with an evil glint in his eye. "Besides, you keep my secret and I'll keep yours. There are those who would like a liaison with the house of Malfoy and would take advantage of my condition. I would rather not have to deal with that."

Harry faced Malfoy as he also climbed to his feet. He looked into his adversary's storm grey eyes and for a brief moment wished that they were not enemies. With a short nod he acknowledged that they understood each other, and then he looked back at the sky.

"We should get back inside," he decided quickly, "it's going to rain."

Without another word the pair set off across the open ground towards the castle. The heavens opened when they were about halfway there and Harry pulled the hood of his cloak up quickly, grateful for the shelter. There was a bright flash and fork lightening lanced out of the sky almost as soon as the water began to fall. It was followed instantly by a roll of thunder.

Harry looked around and then at Malfoy knowing that they both realised how dangerous their situation was: they were in the middle of a piece of flat ground and were the only raised objects in a thunderstorm. Lightening liked magical things, which was one of the reason Hogwarts had several very large lightning rods, but they were too far from the castle to be safe. As one the pair began to run.

Harry felt the build-up of static in their vicinity as his very well-developed sense of danger kicked in. He didn't hesitate. His wings ripped through his clothes as if they weren't there and he threw himself at Malfoy, wrapping the Slytherin in a tight embrace as his wings closed round them in a protective shield.

The lightning struck his highest wingtip a fraction of a second later and pain lanced through Harry at the impact. Most magic his wings could repel, natural forces were more difficult. He paid for opposing the lightning, nowhere near as much as if he or Malfoy had been hit directly, but enough.

It wasn't as if he hadn't felt pain before, it was almost second nature to him, but even so Harry lost it for a while. He had no idea what he was doing, and everything was a blur. When he came back to himself, he was lying flat on his back looking at the sun coming out as the storm headed towards the coast. The clouds seemed to be moving too fast to be natural and Harry wondered what the hell had happened. His wings were folded away, he ached from head to foot, and one arm was being crushed by another body.

There was a groan from beside him and Harry looked over to see Malfoy picking himself up from where he was laying on his limb. He could not fail to notice that his fingers were firmly entwined with long pale ones not his own. As Malfoy sat up, Harry looked past the dishevelled wizard to their joined hands. Malfoy seemed to realise at the same time and snatched his limb away swearing loudly.

"Potter," the other boy yelled loudly and scrambled to his feet, "which bit of don't touch me did you not understand?"

"I wasn't trying to touch you," Harry protested his innocence and felt every part of his body complain as he sat up, "I was just trying to prevent you being fried. We just got struck by lightning if you missed it."

An icy glare was aimed right at him, but Malfoy could hardly argue with the logic of the argument. It took Harry a couple of seconds to realise that his companion was staring at him rather hard and not quite as angrily as he had started.

"Malfoy," he said slowly, a little worried by the abrupt change in his companion.

That snapped Malfoy back to reality.

"Oh bloody hell," he said loudly, "it's started already. I told you if you touched me we were in trouble. We need to get to the hospital wing now: if we're lucky Madam Pomfrey can stop this before it goes any further."

Harry chose not to argue and hurried after the Slytherin as Malfoy stormed towards the castle.