Title: Masquerade
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: HarryxDraco
Rating: PG (higher rating in later Chapters)
Author's note: My first HP slash fic. I just finished HBP and thought the HarryxDraco moments were just the sex. /freaky slash fangirlyrant
WARNING: May contain spoilers for Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince
Disclaimer: Don't own them, chracters belong to J to the K Rowling. Yo yo .
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Masquerade
"What are you up to again, Harry?" Hermione asks suspiciously.
"Just wanna check out what Malfoy's doing up there in the Room of Requirements," Harry answers while he slips on his invisibility cloak. Hermione let out a defeated sigh.
"But don't forget Slughorn's memory," she says before she and Ron leave for Hogsmeade for another Apparition lesson.
Harry nods to himself and hurries up the stairs until he reaches the 7th floor. He slows down and tries to make no noise when he turns around the last corner and sees the young girl which must be Goyle. 'So, Malfoy must be in there, since Goyle is guarding the corridor. Sneaking that Polyjuice Potion to transform Goyle into a girl was pretty clever. ' Harry approaches the young girl, still under his Invisibility cloak, and whispers into her ear
"What a sweet little girl you are." Goyle let out a squeal while the brass scale he was holding drops to the floor and shatters to pieces. He runs as fast as he can and is soon out of sight. Harry smirks when he halts in front of the blank wall behind which he imagines Malfoy cowering in a corner after hearing Goyle shatter the scale.
After some attempts and a whole variety of the sentence 'what the hell is Malfoy up to in there' Harry opens is eyes again, but there is still no door. He sighs and slumps down at the wall. "Think Potter, think," Harry hisses trough clenched teeth rubbing his temples hard.
After a while he gets up again, trying once more to get into the hidden room. He mumbles another sentence and after three walks past he opens his eyes to find himself in a small room without any windows and just one small gas-lamp lit. He is still invisible when he suddenly hears a sobbing noise.
In the right corner on the other side of the room stands Draco Malfoy. He looks paler than usual and his shirt is unbuttoned to the half. Harry doesn't move and listens to Malfoy's quiet whining. "He's gonna kill me. I'm gonna die, I know it. No one can safe me…" He slumps to the floor sobbing, his hands covering his face. Harry feels his stomach clench by the sight of the usually proud Slytherin and for the first time since he met Malfoy he feels even the slightest bit of pity for him.
He wants to comfort the boy and before he knew what he was doing the Invisibility Cloak slips off his shoulders and onto the floor. He approaches the blonde boy slowly not to scare him. When Draco suddenly looks up his eyes widen and he jumps to his feet, trying to brush the tears out of his face. He taps his pocket in search for his wand. "Damn," he hisses under his breath. He must have forgotten it. Harry stops dead in his tracks and looks at Malfoy.
"What the hell are you doing here?" the blonde boy screams hysterically. "And how did you get in here anyway?"
Harry contemplates what to say, but since Malfoy has nothing to harm him he answers,
"I wanted to know what you're up to."
Draco furrows his brows, still shocked that out of all people Harry Potter found his hidden place.
"What do you mean, 'What you're up to'? Were you spying on me!?"
"I saw you talking to Snape the night Slughorn had his Christmas party…. just by accident of course, I didn't follow you or anything…" Harry hits himself in his mind. 'Great Potter, try acting even more obvious.' An uncomfortable silence settles between them. Harry never saw Malfoy in such a state. After all, they are enemies, he can't just ask Malfoy what he was crying about. While Harry's mind was racing Draco broke the silence.
"So, now you saw me, Potter, crying like a baby. I'm in your hands. What do you want for keeping this to yourself?" Harry thought about hundreds of possibilities how he could torture Malfoy, but before he knew what he was saying he opened his mouth
"I wanna know the reason why you were crying."
"What?" Harry thinks and Draco asks beyond belief at the same time. Harry blinks a few times, avoiding Draco's eyes.
"That's all you come to think of, Potter? This is your chance."
"Well, it's just, you never seemed like a person who cries. More like an arrogant, cold-hearted prick." Harry expected the blonde boy to complain, but all he did was smirking sadly. Harry went on
"Besides that, I still don't know what this is all about. You and this room.. and stuff…" Harry trails off while Draco sits down again, his back on the wall mentioning Harry to take a seat next to him. Harry looks at Malfoy suspiciously, before he moves and sits down.
"Ask right away, Potter, I'm in a good mood today, you should take advantage of it." Harry sneers about that paradox and thinks about what he could say. Then he remembers the argument between Malfoy and Snape.
"What is that Unbreakable Vow? And why did Snape give it to your mother?" Draco inhales sharply before he answers, the surprise about how much Harry seems to know visible in his light grey eyes. The boy answers, trying to conceal as much as possible about his duty.
"There's something I have to do and Snape promised my mother to help me do it. He gave her the Unbreakable Vow, which means if he fails in fulfilling that vow he's gonna die." Harry gasps slightly. 'Snape would never risk his life for a student. Not even Malfoy'. Harry thinks for a second while Malfoy waits for him to speak up, wanting this to be over quickly.
"What is it that you have to do? What does Snape have to help you with?"
Draco's eyes narrow.
"I can't tell you. I would be dead by tomorrow if I told you."
He draws his legs up to his chest, his chin resting on his knees. At this moment the Slytherin looks like a young boy who just lost his beloved puppy but at the same time his face appears older than it did ever before.
"You know, Potter, I really envy you," Draco continues and Harry glances at the other boy in disbelief.
"Yeah, sure." Harry mutters, but Draco ignores the boy's remark and goes on.
"You refused to be my friend in our first year, remember? I was angry at you, and when your popularity increased I became even more angry." Harry raises his eyebrows. During all this time the two boys knew each other they never shared more than sneered comments and a whole variety of insults. Why is Malfoy talking to him with such honesty now?
"Well you always insulted my friends and said you dispised us. Especially me." Harry replies. Draco merely sneers and suddenly Harry sees, in the faint light of the lamp, tears dripping down the Slytherin's face. To his surprise Harry feels bad to make the blonde boy cry again, so he tries to comfort him as good as he can.
"If you would have tried not to be all stuck-up and insulting it would be easier for people to get to know you…" Draco's head jerks up.
"Nobody wants to know me. No one ever tried, since I was a child. You don't know what it means to be Lucius Malfoy's son." His voice is filled with bitterness and he pronounces the name of his father in mocking tone.
"Lucius Malfoy, the Death Eater, and his son who will take his place soon." Draco tried to suppress the sobbing, but Harry noticed it nevertheless, shifting uncomfortably.
"Since I was a child he teached me to praise You-Know-Who and to despise everyone who was against him. I did what he told me, I mean, I was just a child and he was my father, I believed him. I wanted him to be proud of me. I just wanted him to…to…"
Draco trails off burying his face in his hands. Harry doesn't know what to do.
'At least do SOMETHING' he tells himself. Finally he overcomes any sense of discomfort and moves his hand to Draco's forearm, touching it ever so lightly.
The boy stirs at the feeling of Harry's hand on his arm and looks up to meet Harry's eyes, his own eyes red and his cheeks damp. Harry feels a weird sensation in his stomach, but tries to suppress it. After some moments, during which Draco must have had an inner monologue about what to do, he brushes off Harry's hand roughly, looking aggressive.
"I don't need your pity, Potter, thank you." Harry gets angry and furrows his brows. A rage builts up inside of him and the words come out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
"Why can't you just appreciate it when people care about you!?"
With that he gets up opens the door and gets out of the Room of Requirements, leaving a confused Draco behind.
