A/N: I don't own these characters !

Love in a Form of a Dragon.

Faster and deeper into the Forbidden forest ran a helpless boy from his nightmares. The moon was in it's partial waning state casting a faint glow to the darkness surrounding him. There were eerie shadows and prodding yellow and red eyes peering through the darkest corners of the forests that turned in the direction of where the boy had ran. But he could care less, for his mind was already filled with haunting echoes of the screams and pleadings of victims who had been mercilessly killed for opposing the evil, conniving, and vicious Dark Lord, that stands to threaten the wizarding world today.

He was a 6th year student at Hogwarts with so much school work to worry about. And yet lately, his nightmares had been frightening him again, driving him mad and over the edge, nearly causing him to take his own life just to break free.

It was also the weight of the world on his shoulders. Feeling as if he were the only one meant to fight the Dark Lord. He knew it wasn't true, but with all of the publicity and his past victories against he-who-shall-not-be named, had made him almost certain that it was his destiny. In a way it would be considered so, he still wanted to avenge the death of his parents and fellow peers that also suffered the wrath of Voldemort, but lately, fear had just started to dawn on him. He felt helpless and weak minded and has no idea how to go about and plan another final victory against evil. He felt like he was the only one worried about it. Which made him figure it was all up to him.

But then again, he is just a kid after all, trying to enjoy life and adolescence. So why is it that he couldn't be like the other kids, careless and free living life as there was no tomorrow ?

Because he is special…

Because he is Harry Potter.

* * * * *

Harry had awakened to yet another horrifying dream and with his tired mind already occupied with troublesome thoughts, he wanted to break. But had thought that he couldn't do it in the dorms. He silently crept downstairs to the common room where he decided to sit in front of the dying fire to cry to himself in peace. He was just about to bring up his knees when a creaking coming from the stairs startled him and made him angry.

"oh just leave me alone !" he cried out, not even knowing if anyone was there at all, it could've been one of the Gryffindors' pets for all he knew. Harry jumped to his feet and bolted out of the portrait door leaving a very irritated fat lady mumbling curses under her breath. Harry ran and ran until his feet had carried him to the front doors of the school and dashed out into the Forbidden forest.

The dewy cold grass nipped at his bare feet having them stained with mud and water of the early fall rain. He was aware of the fact that he was headed into the forest, but he didn't care. He let his tears flow in heaps and fought to control his breathing from his harsh sobs, but the freezing damp air flowing into his lungs, made him feel like he was drowning. He grabbed the sleeve of his pajamas and ran them under his glasses to wipe at his tears, and when he did, his foot had caught into a thick root of a tree, sending him crashing down to the ground. He tried to move his leg, but cried even more from the pain. He gave up and buried his head into the mossy ground.

~*~

All around him was quite and still. He hated it, it was too eerie. He noticed a bunch birds fly out frantically in the distance behind him which sort of satisfied him. But then, made him wonder what it was that was lurking behind. He flapped his wings once, still trying to get used to them, and folded them behind. His silver eyes peered into the darkness and scanned the forest as he walked on ahead. He stopped shortly and heard a soft whimpering noise.

Someone crying ?

He picked up his bulk and trotted slowly towards the direction of the noise. As he got closer the sobbing grew louder. He became vexed. Because if the sobbing did belong to a person (which had to be) then he could've been found out, and he had just perfected his new animagus form. So that wouldn't have been any good, and he wasn't planning on registering his animagus form anytime soon.

He noticed the sobbing had died down and stopped again in his tracks. A shriek sounded off in place of the sobbing disturbing all wildlife around him. He raised his head towards the direction of it and instincts made him to run towards it.

~*~

Realization had just hit Harry as he slowly lifted his head, that he was in the middle of someplace dangerous that he shouldn't be in. He cursed to himself when he patted his pockets for his wand but found that he had left it on his bed side table. He got up slowly wincing at the pain in his ankle and stood up on his good foot. He dusted off his now muddy pajamas and limped towards the direction of the castle.

He looked up every now and then at the spidery branches of the dead trees that have shed their leaves for the fall, then threw glances over his shoulder when he thought he heard something trailing behind. He was scared, it wouldn't have been anything if he had his wand on him. But now feeling completely vulnerable without it, had to keep his eyes alert for any approaching danger.

He had wished that he hadn't done such a thing, running into the forest in the middle of the night. And he hated the fact that he was being such a coward all of the sudden. Feeling like a coward for denying his destiny and placing himself in further danger, thinking he could escape from it all. But he was wrong, and felt so ashamed. Gryffindor wasn't about running away and hiding all your life from your fears, Gryffindor was about finding the strength from within to stand and fight, and face it all ! He sighed sadly to himself.

God, I'm such a Slytherin…

Harry was almost out, he didn't realize how much he had ran inside the forest. He could almost swear that he had probably reached the heart of it. He rubbed his arm from the chilling air and sniffed, then suddenly, felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise with fear.

Harry heard something crack behind him for what must've been the third time he was there, but this time, sounded real close by. He started to panic and scanned the forest behind him.

There was nothing there.

But when he turned back around, he was met with a pair of glaring, sinister yellow eyes belonging to a big slimy creature shaped like a sting ray. Harry gasped and yelled as he fell back.

The creature hissed and began advancing towards him. Harry was backing away frantically and looked around for anything to defend himself with. His only means for a weapon was a tree branch nearby on the ground. Harry had steadied himself to leap for the branch and kept eye contact with the creature. The creature's mandibles flickered in and out of his mouth spitting and oozing saliva all over the place. It launched itself at Harry, but Harry had rolled away grabbing the branch, then jabbing into the middle of the creature when it threw itself at him again. The creature stopped to inspect the wound and Harry smiled wearily.

That faint smile soon faded, when the creature melted the stick inside it and began edging towards Harry again. His breathing became hard and prepared himself for the worst. The creature stretched himself wide to wrap around the boy until a shimmer of silver came from out of nowhere and rammed into the creature sending it flying across the forest At first, through the crack of his arms that he brought over his head, Harry thought the mass of silver had been a unicorn, but when he slowly brought his arms down, eyes wide and mouth open in awe, the brightly shining silver bulk belonged to a creature far more beautiful than a unicorn. Harry couldn't believe his eyes.

…and his luck.

The creature was a dragon, but not like any of the kinds Ron's brother Charlie-the dragon expert-had ever told him about. It was a white dragon, and what made it more unique beside the color was that it had white feathered wings instead of the usual scaly bat-like ones normal dragons seem to always posses. It's bright silvery white color was now the only thing illuminating the darkness around.

It stood there gracefully, short forearms bent slightly in front of it and ivory claws spreading wide, ready to slash at a moments notice. It's back, Harry noticed, had a trail of pearly white scales that reflected off the light of the moon and shimmered like pearls underwater. The scales shimmered from it's head down to it's long tail.

It was warding off the ugly slimy creature away from Harry. It growled then huffed, flaring out it's nostrils and emitting clouds of white smoke in front of it's snout. The creature recovered and hissed again, it launched itself at the dragon and stuck to it's side. The dragon roared furiously then clamped it's mouth shut on it and tossed it aside again. Harry took cover as the dragon took in a deep breath of air and exhaled and inferno out at the creature. The creature squealed in panic as it caught fire and rolled around frantically to put himself out. Half burnt and defeated, the creature finally gave up and glided into the forest.

The dragon winced as it stepped forward then turned it's head to inspect it's injury. Harry frowned sadly as he watched the angelic beast lick it's shoulder to where a dark fluid was spreading on it's white fur. Harry gathered enough strength and limped toward the dragon. The ethereal creature saw him coming and growled at Harry. Harry flinched and stepped back.

Of course, what was he thinking, it was a dragon after all. Even if it did save him from that nasty creature, it may still want to eat him next. Harry began to panic.

Why not let me bite your ass off Potter ?

"n-no wait y-you're hurt…I-I just want to help you…" he said and the dragon made a noise that sounded like a grunt, then turned back to licking it's wound.

Oy…that thing got me good, shit I hope it doesn't get infected…

Harry noticed that the dragon hadn't done anything to him and tried again. "let me see it ?" he said softly and cautiously approached the dragon. It snarled at him again, but Harry was unfazed.

Ugh…Potter just go away !! What the hell were you doing out here anyway ?? Draco thought. He felt his energy slipping away then sat on the ground. His injury was eating at his shoulder and fought to keep his consciousness.

Damn ! If I faint now I'll turn back for sure ! Then Potter would know it's me…no ! what are you doing ??

"I won't hurt you…just want to help" he said looking into the dragon's silvery serpent eyes. Harry ripped off part of his sleeve and wiped some of the slimy creature's poison off. The dragon then let out a cloud of smoke.

Ouch !!

"there…that should be a little better now…although I should take you to see Hagrid, he can help fix this up for you" Harry said tenderly as he began to stroke the dragon's soft short hairs. Draco jerked away, but his animal instincts made him melt at Harry's gentle stroking. The dragon huffed and shook it's head. Harry smiled then caressed the back of it's head.

"you like that don't you…" he said while giggling. Draco felt like a kitten and purred.

Oh yeah…Draco thought and Harry laughed again. His laughter died down as he began to admire the dragon from up close.

"thanks for saving me…" he muttered and Draco snickered.

Hahaha oh Potter, you owe me big…that's wizard's debt you know…oooh that feels good…but wait ! He doesn't know that it's me so I can't get him back !! Damn it ! I saved him for nothing !!

"wow…you're really something else. Gosh Charlie would flip out if he saw you…but no, I don't think I have the heart to tell him about you."

Yeah you better keep your mouth shut or else !! Hey…were you crying ? Uh oh my energy's draining, can't keep this up any longer…

The dragon suddenly lashed out it's head and struggled to it's feet, Harry stepped aside and watched it take off into the woods. When it disappeared out of sight, Harry felt empty. The feeling made him somewhat sad.

"woah, that was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, it's got to be really rare or something…" Harry thought as he kept his eyes in the direction of where it had disappeared in.

"it was surprisingly friendly though, I think. Unless it was too weak to eat me or something" Harry shuddered then turned back towards he direction of the school.

"wonder if I get to see it again… well no use hanging out here. Better go and see Madam Pomfrey…ow my ankle !" he muttered to himself and limped off.

~*~

Draco let a huge sigh of relief as he reached the front doors of the school. He went inside and slid down a wall and slumped to the ground from being so exhausted. Taking up animagi required a lot of energy, and he had just accomplished his task of becoming one. A white hot pain lashed through his shoulder and hissed at his wound that he had taken for saving his arch rival.

"oh god…I just saved Potter and I get this ? It wasn't worth it so why did I even bother…" he snorted.

"well he tried to fix my injury and he didn't exactly leave me out there… ah you're getting soft on me Draco…who cares, he owes me his life now hahaha" he snickered then grabbed his shoulder.

"better go see Pomfrey…" he stood up and staggered towards the hospital wing until he suddenly saw someone else coming from that direction.

"shit it's Potter…" he noticed the other boy was limping and headed back. He narrowed his eyes and cursed.

"dammit !! If I go there and sees my injury, then he would suspect something !! Shit !!" Draco saw his vision blur and the pain had increased.

"aw man…I won't last till morning…" he sucked his teeth in.

"only one thing I can do…" he said as he hurried to the Slytherin dungeons to wait there until Harry was tucked away in his dorm for sure. It seemed as though Harry felt discouraged to go get his injury fixed now, so Draco thought he would go instead. And if Harry decided to see Pomfrey in the morning, then he would be already gone. Draco sighed to himself.

"yeah good plan"

TBC…