When The Sword Falls - (A Drarry Fanfic)

Together (Part II)

Draco

I was still turning the gloves over and over in my hands, unable to believe that Harry had gotten me such a priceless gift. Instead of feeling ecstatic, I felt horrible - I hadn't thought of getting him a present in return, simply because I hadn't been aware of how near Christmas had been.

Suddenly, it seemed like a veil had been removed from my mind - I remembered all the Christmas carols Harry had been singing, all the Christmas sweaters he'd worn - I dimly remembered that Ron and Hermione had been wearing sweaters too, if the lacy-looking thing that Ron had donned on was considered a sweater - all the cookies he'd made, seemingly out of random.

"I'm so stupid," I said, shaking my head in disbelief.

Harry grinned at me. "It's okay - you're quite oblivious to subtle hints."

I sighed. As usual, the all-knowing, all-boastful Draco Malfoy had messed up again.

"I feel so horrible - I didn't get you anything -"

Harry shushed me before I could finish.

"You gave me the best gift of all - a chance. That's more than I can ever hope to repay you for."

I fell silent, eyes still looking down at the gloves in my hands. Gently, Harry took them away from my restless fingers and held them out to me, to be worn.

I looked up at him, uncertain.

"You'll be okay," Harry repeated, smiling at me gently.

He believed in me, and that was all the motivation I needed.

I pulled the gloves on, feeling the leather mold effortlessly into the shape of my hands. I wriggled my fingers, and although the hide was a little stiff, my hands were still able to work and move seamlessly. The crystal plates on the pads of my fingers felt cool to my skin, and when I rubbed the gloves together, blue sparks jumped up from between my fingertips.

"How do they feel?"

I wriggled my fingers some more, then looked up at Harry.

"Kinky," I replied, smirking at the flush that appeared on both of his cheeks. "Very kinky, actually."

"I didn't know you had a glove fetish."

"More like a leather fetish."

Harry looked surprised and a little wary - I laughed at the look on his face.

"This isn't going to - ah - change our relationship, is it?"

I winked. "Maybe."

Harry's eyes bulged out of his head. I grinned at him, then turned my attention back to the gloves.

"I don't feel any different," I admitted, studying the gloves this way and that, admiring how the firelight caught and danced across the smooth, black scales.

"How does your power work?" Harry asked, sounding uncertain for once.

I grimaced. "It really just happens when I'm hungry - then all I have to do is touch the person to be able to feed from them. I haven't actually experimented on anything else - I don't even know if there is anything else."

Harry looked thoughtful. He held his hand out to me, palm facing upwards.

"Give me your wand."

I raised an eyebrow at him before pulling my wand out of my back pocket and handing it over.

With a quick flick of his wrist, he flung my wand away, towards the other side of the room.

I watched it sail across the air, my mouth open in shock.

"You - why -"

Harry turned back to me and pointed at the wand. "Try getting it back."

I stared at him, thinking he must've knocked a few screws loose in his head. I started to walk over to retrieve my wand when Harry tugged me back, looking at me like I was the one with a few loose screws.

"No, I meant with magic. Try getting your wand back without using your wand. Does that make sense?"

I shook my head slightly.

"A wand is just an object for us to channel magic into - wands are like your gloves. They control what we have, lessen the dosage. Just think of your gloves as an extension of your body."

I understood perfectly, but a sense of trepidation still clouded my mind.

What if things went wrong?

I lifted my hand and concentrated on my wand. I felt foolish - I didn't know how to summon the energy, and I was sure that I was going to be standing there for an hour, looking like a clown. I glanced at Harry uncertainly. He gave me a reassuring smile and nodded.

"Accio wand!"

I wasn't expecting any sort of reaction. You could imagine the shock on my face when a series of blue sparks spurted out of the pads on my fingertips, zig-zagging towards where my wand lay. Before I could say anything, or attempt to stop the magic, the sparks had made contact with my wand -

- disintegrating the wood with a small pop! and tsssss. 

I stared at my fingers with a mixture of horror and awe.

Harry went over to where my wand was lying just a mere few seconds before, maybe hoping that some of it could still be salvaged, but I knew from the look on his face that he didn't really have much hope.

"It's gone, isn't it?" I asked, and Harry nodded regrettably. I sighed. 

"But don't you know what this means, Draco?"

I looked up at him, puzzled, and saw the way his eyes shone.

"What?"

"You don't need your wand to do magic. And it means you can control your power!" 

I smiled slowly, nodding.

It wasn't much, I'll admit - I still had lessons with Dumbledore on controlling my power - but it was a step in the right direction.

I couldn't help but feel that maybe things would be alright, after all.