Thestrals and Thunderbirds

Chapter 2: A Three Headed Dog

Harry's P.O.V

Our first day was one of the most exciting days I'd ever had, next to meeting Catori of course. Classes were interesting and, from what I could tell, Draco enjoyed them immensely. But by the end of the day we were both exhausted and decided to head straight back to the common room before dinner. 

That's where our day got even more intriguing.

"Damn it! We missed the stairs!" Draco cursed, watching the stairs to Gryffindor Tower move to the other side of the giant hall. I shrugged and pulled him with me up another set of stairs that should have been a longer way up. 

"Harry! We can't go up there, it's the third floor corridor. That's out of bounds unless we want to die a painful death!" He pointed out, quoting Dumbledore just as we got off the staircase and it moved away. "Well, now we have no choice." I said, dragging Draco with me down the hallway. 

We were half way to the next set of stairs when we heard footsteps. "Filch!" I hissed, looking for a way out. I spotted a large door and yanked at the handle. "It's locked, what do we do?" I asked, desperately looking for another way out. Draco sighed and took out his wand, pointing it at the door. "Alohamora." The lock clicked open and we slipped inside, shutting the door behind us. 

"Phew! That was close, what's that spell you used?" I asked Draco. He put his wand back in his pocket and leaned against the door. "It was a simple unlocking spell is all. Easy magic I learned when I was eight." I raised an eyebrow at him. Eight was quite early to be able to perform complete spells. 

We kept our ears to the door, listening for Filch, but instead I picked up on a low growl. Slowly turning my head I came face to face with an enormous dog. It's three heads snarled and inched forwards. 

"Draco... RUN!" I yelped, shoving the door open. We stumbled out of the room and slammed the door behind us, making sure that the lock was firmly in place. 

"Merlin's beard. That was a three headed dog. It had... three heads..." I muttered to myself, shaking my head and pacing. 

"I don't- I- why would they keep that in the castle?" Draco wondered out loud, his voice shaky. I tried to take a step towards him, but collapsed to the floor in shock. 

"Harry! A-are you alright?!" Draco inquired, rushing to my side and sitting down next to me.

I blinked and nodded my head, "Y-yeah, I'll be fine... that was just a bit of a shock is all..." A bit. We had just discovered a potentially dangerous creature living in the castle that had looked ready to chomp off our heads with it's three. 

"I'll say! C'mon, let's get back to the common room before Filch comes back. Can you walk?" My friend asked, standing and offering his hand. I nodded and took it, not noticing that I didn't let go when we started walking. 

I'm pretty sure I was still holding it when we got to the Gryffindor common room.

Draco's P.O.V

Harry held my hand all the way back to the common room- not that I minded- that's what friends do, right? 

We were both pretty shaken, so we hastened up to our dorm room where we could- hopefully- be alone. Luckily Ron and Seamus weren't back yet. 

"What the bloody hell was that thing?!" Harry exclaimed, falling back onto his bed and throwing his book bag onto the floor. I shook my head and lay down beside him. 

"I-it had three heads. Three. How can that even be possible?!" 

For whatever reason I seemed to find this remark hilarious and burst out laughing. 

"What? What did I say?" Harry asked, rolling onto his side to look at me. I was crying from laughter and by now had a stitch in my side, but I couldn't stop myself. 

"Have you been hexed or something?" He tried to sound serious, but couldn't stop a smile from creeping onto his face. 

I finally caught my breath and turned my head to look at him, "N-no, ha- it's just funny that you'd say that it's impossible for a dog to have three heads and yet we live in a world where dragons and giants exist!" With that I started laughing again this time Harry joined me. 

"T-this is bloody ridiculous! We o-only just got here a-and we've already nearly been killed!" He giggled. I nodded in agreement and continued laughing until I heard a pecking at the window. Sitting up, I saw that it was an owl. My father's owl. 

All the laughter left me and I slowly padded over to the window to let the bird in. It cooed and nuzzled my hand before holding out it's leg for me to retrieve the letter. I undid the string with shaking hands and read what my father had written.

Draco,

I am severely disappointed in your being sorted into Gryffindor. I don't even know what to say. I am sure that you are aware of the consequences this choice will bring, and you know that you cannot avoid them. No son of mine will be sorted into a house of mudbloods and traitors without punishment. 

See you at Christmas

I felt my cheeks heat up and tears well in my eyes at the thought of what my father was going to do to me. It was going to be the stick for sure, maybe even the whip, and there was nothing I could do about it. There was never anything I could do about it.

Harry had stopped laughing when he realized I had and was now sitting up on the bed, watching me intently. 

I sniffled and wiped away my tears before putting on a smile and giving the owl a treat. It accepted graciously and flew off into the evening air. 

"Draco? What is it? What's wrong?" Harry asked softly, walking over to me and glancing down at the crumpled paper in my hands, "May I-" I closed my eyes and let him take the parchment, waiting for his reaction. 

"Merlin... Draco I- I had no idea. Is that why you barely ate yesterday?"

I nodded silently.

"Stay with me. At Christmas, I mean. My parents would be more than happy to have you."

I stopped crying and opened my eyes. "Really? Could I?" Harry smiled slightly and pulled  me into a hug. 

"Of course."

"Thank you."

Welp that was a crappy chapter but oh well... I won't be able to post for a couple days cuz I'm going camping but I'll try and get a new chapter out ASAP :D

~Orchestral Beats