Author: zness
Title: Falling Slowly
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Draco was lying in a pool of his own blood in the last car of the Hogwarts Express. A short retelling of "Half-Blood Prince".
Warnings (if any): Teenage boys
Total word count: approx. 2,500
Falling Slowly
Draco was lying in a pool of his own blood in the last car of the Hogwarts Express, thinking he had too much of it, especially since it all came from his nose. He wondered if, without the Petrificus Totalus locking his body up, he would have bothered to heal himself and get out.
A rustle of fabric sounded behind him and suddenly warm hands were on his face.
“Are you all right?” Lips moved in front of his eyes. Draco couldn’t respond, but the person above him figured out the curse quickly enough.
The effects of a fifteen-minute beating and its aftermath caught up with him, and Draco turned his head to one side and vomited.
“Watch the shoes, they’re new.” A woman’s face topped with pink-streaked brown hair appeared next to him. “Let’s get you fixed up.”
The woman muttered a few spells, and the pressure-pain in Draco’s nose faded in a burst of heat spreading through the rest of his bruised body.
Draco sat up. His vision swam, and he fought the urge to stay on the floor.
“Come on, Malfoy.” She held out a hand to Draco, but he ignored it and got to his feet.
As he shuffled to the sliding door, the woman asked him, “Who did this to you?”
Draco remained silent.
“I am an Auror. Though it’s not strictly in my department, I can make sure that whoever did this to you will be brought to justice.”
Draco recognized the woman now. She was Andromeda Black’s daughter, the half-blood his mother did not talk about.
“Brought to justice,” Draco repeated.
“You bet,” the woman – Tonks – said brightly. Draco blocked Crabbe’s violent grin out of his mind and looked at Tonks’ forehead.
“I didn’t see anyone,” Draco said.
Tonks sighed. “Slytherins. Come on, to Hogwarts with you.”
Draco left the car and wondered who had noticed he was missing.
He got his answer when he saw Potter at the end of the corridor, eyes wide behind his glasses before he ran out of the train.
~*~
The letter arrived the next morning, pale yellow parchment headed with the Malfoy family crest. Draco tore the wax seal and read the curved, slanted handwriting. It was his mother, urging him not to fail, to ask Professor Snape for help with his project, to escape if he must.
He responded with a brief note thanking her for the surprise box of toffees he found folded in with his school robes, asked how his mother’s garden was faring, and that he hoped she would visit Father soon.
YOU ARE READING
𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐔𝐒 2008
Fanfiction⚠︎This is not mine, for offline purpose only to satisfy my need and i also want to share it with all of you in case you haven't read it This is a collection of drarry stories "Animagus Exchange" from hd_inspired 2008 on livejournal Art Cover Credit...
