Title: Draconis Angelicus
Author: ScarletSerpent
Disclaimer: All of Harry Potter belongs to the terribly brilliant J.K. Rowling. I would never be able to come up with such an amazing story on my own. It all belongs to her, she is my HERO!
Rating: This is rated R for future chapters.
Warnings: This, my friends, will be SLASH in the future. People, this means boylove. If you do not like that kind of thing, then this is not the story for you. Also there is warning of depression, which could get serious in future chapters. Again, this is all in future chapters.
Summary: Harry is back at Hogwarts in his 6th year and he faces some of the most difficult challenges yet. He wakes up one night to another creature trying to sneak into his room. But, is this creature dangerous? And who is controlling it? Future SLASH. H/D in future. Please R&R!! Thank you so much!
A cool mist gathered around the luminous castle, settling on each nook and cranny like an exquisite blanket. The trees of the Forbidden Forest shimmered, their branches hardly drooping with the light weight of the moisture. It sifted between the tightly packed trees, nestling to the ground beneath, shrouding various bushes and vines from sight. It sat there, a blanket of coldness, waiting in the darkness.
As if on cue, a snake-like thread of moisture rose from the mist almost imperceptibly. The fine silvery snake curled upwards through the mists towards the uppermost towers of the castle. It twisted around the top of the Gryffindor Tower, the oddly warming coldness seeping into the crack between an old window frame and the glass inside. As more of the moisture made its way into the boys' dormitory the room became cold and silent.
"I am here," Harry Potter turned in his sleep, hearing a voice whisper against his ear, it sounded so oddly familiar.
Suddenly the mist began to turn and twist, a wind inside it violently breaking loose. A whirlwind of moisture quickly took form as it writhed to life. It whirled into a tight tunnel and the silvery beads began to take on the shape of a creature. As it came close to a recognizable shape, the whirlwind disappeared.
Harry Potter sat up, his breath steady and controlled, his wand pointed where the figure has just been taking form. He looked at the now empty air in front of him and then down to the wet patch of the floor below it. As he lowered his wand to his side he noticed a small object shining in the moonlight streaming through the window. Studying it, he stood, stepping towards the object in the center of the puddle of moisture. Was it left behind by that thing? Was it a portkey? Harry shivered at the prospect, he didn't want a repeat of the Triwizard Tournament. But, if he didn't find out what it was then somebody in the dorm would undoubtedly find it later. Damn, leave it to Voldemort to know he would rather be killed than have someone else put at risk.
He crouched down, wriggling his toes in the cold moisture beneath him. It looked perfectly harmless, a pearly white stone set in silver, a cold, gleaming chain wrapped beneath it almost carefully. It glowed, an iridescent white and as Harry turned his head to get a closer look he realized that it was changing. He stiffened, ready to attack if something were to happen. But, nothing happened, and as he gazed at the stone expectantly it glowed brightly, Harry was taken by the sight. It pulled him closer, and he thought he saw a flicker of a shape moving inside of it. The mists inside the stone faded and dulled, becoming a simple opal again. This time, however, there was something inside of the stone, barely covered by the misty opal of the stone: A Dragon.
Harry pulled away from the stone, reeling backwards, his head hitting the bed. His mind spun as he closed his eyes, willing the object away. He cracked his eye open, wishing the floor was as bare and dry as usual. It was still there. Closing his eyes again he sighed, resting his head against the mattress behind him. This could not be happening. Objects of such obvious value do not just magically appear out of an obscure mist in the middle of the night, not even in the wizarding world.
Why couldn't anything normal ever happen? He shoved his head into his hands, pulling at his face slightly in an attempt to wash away the strangeness he felt. Except that he didn't feel strange, he felt, comforted, like he wasn't alone. That couldn't be the right feeling, could it? He had just been nearly attacked in the middle of the night by a... er... a something. Well, he hadn't actually been attacked, but it was close enough, wasn't it? No, the thing hadn't even come close to him, it had stayed right there, in the middle of the room, not even remotely threateningly.
He sighed, his position on the wooden floor was becoming uncomfortable. This was perplexing, but he needed to stretch, his muscles had become tense and cramped. He pulled himself forward, grabbing the wetted carpet to steady him. It felt better to extend his back from it's cramped position. He groped around the floor, his glasses had fallen off when he had pulled away from the opal. His fingers found something cold and metal, and even without his vision he knew what it was. Well, that ruled out the option of it being a portkey as he hadn't been transported. There was no familiar pull behind his navel, and he breathed out heavily, not even realizing he had been holding it.
His fingers curled around the talisman, and he continued to fumble for his glasses. After a few moments he had found them, lying a couple of feet from the rapidly drying spot on the rug. It was colorless, and left no stain behind, and the rug was no longer cold. As he put on his glasses he felt the necklace, warm against his hand. It was warm. That was strange, it had been lying in a puddle of cold water just moments before. He must have been more tired than he thought.
Having put his glasses on he pushed himself up and walked towards his bed. As he sat on the bed, he pulled the disheveled blankets from the floor onto the bed, pushing them into a heap. He pulled his legs up onto the bed, sitting cross-legged beside them. He fingered the talisman in his hand, turning it around in his hand unconsciously as he mulled over the events of the past hour. This was going to keep him up all night, he could tell. Oh well, it wasn't as if he ever got much sleep anyway. He prepared himself for a long night of contemplation, it most certainly would be a long one.
He had no idea that someone else was preparing to do so at the same time, congratulating themselves on having gotten to the famous Harry Potter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By morning the mist had cleared, leaving the leaves and grass with a hint of dew, sparkling in the morning sun. The sunlight shone into the sixth year Gryffindor boys' dormitories, shining into the unopened eyes of the residents. They mumbled, waking to the brightness behind their closed eyelids. Harry snapped to attention at these waking sounds, the long period of wakefulness having temporarily dulled his senses. His hand closed around the necklace lying on his bed in front of him, pulling it up to his face. He looked at it one more time, and slipped it carefully around his neck. It would be easily hidden by his robes during class, but what about now? He wasn't about to take it off, it felt like a part of him now, he felt obligated to wear it.
"Harry? Harry, mate, you awake?" Ron Weasley spoke groggily through the partition separating the two boys.
"Yes Ron, I'm awake, just getting dressed now." Harry replied, deliberately making his voice sound thick and unfocused.
Harry prepared for breakfast, it was the first month of school, but he had swung easily back into the throng of Hogwarts life. It was a continuous circle of getting up, putting on a fake smile, and trying to pretend he cared. He struggled to focus on the task at hand, getting on his robes without ripping them. He felt clumsy and unbalanced from his continuous lack of sleep. Not sleeping was the easy part, he couldn't sleep most of the time, it was just too difficult to sleep in the first place. Getting up and out, however, was proving to become significantly more difficult as the year wore on. Each day was agonizingly slow, each week was even longer, he didn't even want to think about it.
"Ron," Harry called as he pushed aside the hangings that separated him from his roommates. He had pulled them closed halfway through the night, when he had heard Ron get up to go to the bathroom and didn't fancy getting caught staring at a strange piece of jewelry that had magically found it's way to his room. No, he didn't feel up to explaining it, it would just cause his friends to worry more, he didn't want them to be concerned. They had done so much for him already, they should really be happy.
"Ron," Harry called again, realizing his roommate hadn't replied. "Ron?" He pulled aside the hangings of Ron's room, peering inside.
Ron was lying on the bed, his head buried in the pillows, snoring lightly. His red hair shifted slightly with each breath he took, it looked more disheveled than usual. He had the blankets pulled up to his neck, but there was clearly a reddish-purple mark right there on his neck. Harry didn't need to take closer examination, he knew what it was. Ron had obviously forgotten to magically hide it the night before. Ron and Hermione had been 'secretly' dating since the beginning of the summer. However, they were the only ones who were under the impression that it was a secret, as half the school knew about it.
Harry laughed to himself, pulling his hand through his own mussed hair unconsciously. "Ron, you prat, get up!" Harry shoved him slightly. He heard Ron breathe in again, and then out, just as evenly as before. This was going to take a bit more effort. Harry placed himself next to Ron, stepping closer to the bed, and said in a shrill voice, "Ronald Weasley! Get up this instant young man!"
Ron jumped from his bed, looking around in wide-eyed horror, completely startled out of sleep. He spotted Harry, standing beside his bed with his hand on his side, smirking mock-evilly at him. "Harry!" He whined. "Why'd you do that? You could just give me a little shove and say 'Time to get up Ron!' But, no, you have to shout in my ear!" He shivered. "You sound exactly like my mother you know, it's scary."
"Ron, you have obviously never tried to wake yourself up," Harry informed him, throwing the grumbling boy his robes and exiting the room, pulling the hangings closed behind him. "And if you go back to sleep," He continued as he heard Ron lay back down. "I will get Hermione to come in here." He heard Ron shoot out of bed and begin to fumble with his robes. That was always an effective threat, Hermione managed an even better impression of Mrs. Weasley and she was actually serious.
Seconds later, a robed, de-hickeyed, and much more awake Ron stepped out from behind the hangings. "Well, come on Harry, we haven't got all day," He joked as Harry pulled him towards the Gryffindor common room.
"No, we don't, we have Double Potions today, and I can just imagine Snape if we're late again. 'Thirty points from Gryffindor for being late! Next time it will be a detention Potter.'" He did a scarily good impression of the Potions Master the day before. "So, yes, breakfast now. Wouldn't want to keep Hermione waiting, would we?" He said slyly.
Ron blushed bright-red, the tips of his ears burning in embarrassment. "What're you talking about?" He tried to cover up for himself and Hermione.
"Don't be a twit, I'm your best friend. I know that there has been something going between you two on for quite a while now." Harry replied glancing sidelong at his friend.
"Er... well... yes," Ron was trying to cover his blush with his arms by pretending to fix a stray hair. "How did you know?!" He finally gasped, exasperated, looking fully at his friend.
"Ron, I'm your best mate! And so is Hermione, how could I not know?" Harry raised his eyebrow questioningly.
"Well, I... erm... I guess we just didn't think that you would notice, you've been a bit, er, preoccupied lately." Ron replied, gazing at his friend worriedly.
"Even I'm not that dense Ron, you sneak off every night!" Harry shot back, trying not to be offended by Ron's blatant statement. He hadn't been very observant lately, he had been preoccupied. He tried not to think of Sirus again, it didn't make it any better to think about these things, they couldn't be changed. 'Sirus,' Harry thought, sinking deeper into his mind. 'I'm so sorry... It's all my fault.' He felt guilty for letting himself not think about it the night before. The necklace and the mist had shocked him out of it for a while. At this thought he felt the cold metal against his skin warm up suddenly, as if it were trying to comfort him in some small way. It worked, Harry felt the grief subside a bit, and he realized that Ron was talking to him.
"...so sorry we didn't tell you mate, we just weren't sure if it was going to work out, and we didn't want to bother you with that kind of thing after..." Ron was saying before Harry interrupted him.
"It's okay Ron, I don't mind, I know it wasn't personal." Harry brushed off the apology, even if it did hurt a bit, it didn't matter. "However, you should know that..."
"Ron!" Hermione came rushing up to her boyfriend, hugging him fiercely. She caught herself quickly and gave Harry a hug as well. "Harry!" She added, for effect. The entire common room rolled their eyes, when would these two figure out that it was not a secret?
Harry glanced at Ron who was looking around the common room, seeing, for the first time, their reactions to Hermione when this happened. The tips of his ears turned bright red as he ducked his head into his robes. Hermione looked at him, concerned, and raised an eyebrow discreetly. He figured it out, finally. Hermione smiled a bit and then pulled his head from his robes. She kissed his cheek in front of the entire common room, this boy was as thick as they come, but she loved him anyway.
Harry laughed, he hadn't thought that she knew, but then again, she was Hermione. He began to clap slowly, congratulating them on finally telling everyone what they already knew. Suddenly he heard another set of hands clapping, Seamus Finnigan was also laughing and clapping. The whole room was clapping by the end and even Ron was laughing, albeit a bit bashfully. He took Hermione's hand and made a magnificent bow before following Harry out of the common room and into the corridor.
"Well, that was a surprise," Ron commented thoughtfully as he held Hermione's hand.
Harry and Hermione looked at each-other and burst into a fit of giggles. "Ron," Harry gasped between laughs. "Even the Slytherins know by now, you prat!"
"Oh..." Ron looked embarrassed again, as he watched the other people react to he and Hermione. They all had a knowing look on their face, although the reactions were different between Houses.
"So, the Weasel and Mudblood are finally engaged?" A voice drawled behind them. "It would figure that a Pureblood like you would go and ruin it by marrying a mudblood like her. Couldn't you do better than that? She isn't even attractive!"
"Malfoy..." Ron whirled on the shorter boy. Draco Malfoy's face was turned in his trademark sneer, daring Ron to say anything.
"What, Weasel? What are you going to do? Stare at me until I crumble into dust?" Malfoy replied, smirking at the infamous trio.
Ron turned redder than he had been moments ago in the common room. "Malfoy, I'm gonna..." He never finished his sentence.
"Sod off, Malfoy," Harry interrupted him. He didn't feel like getting into this today. Malfoy was just trying to get them riled. He had been strangely quiet lately. Oh yes, his insults were thrown at them with as much vengeance as usual, but Harry could see through his carefully placed mask. He had been watching Malfou for years and there was no hateful gleam in the boy's eyes as of late. It must have had something to do with his father being imprisoned by the Ministry. He was nothing without his precious family name to hide behind. Without Lucius Malfoy, Draco was just a mean-hearted boy who had lost his father.
Harry took Ron by the arm, and pulled him forcefully away. "Let's go," Harry said, it wasn't a request.
"What Potter? Not up for a fight? Let Weasley fight his own battles." Malfoy sneered.
"Yeah, Harry, what is going on? You love seeing Malfoy get pulverized." Ron looked at Harry.
'Not today.' Harry thought to himself as he pulled again, harder, on Ron's arm. "He's not worth it Ron. Let's just go."
Harry looked at Malfoy. Malfoy was, to say the least, a bit shocked that Harry was telling his friend not to kill him right then and there. Weasley wouldn't have had much trouble doing it at least. He was at least six inches taller than Draco, and was more heavily built. Draco considered this, not realizing that he was showing his confusion clearly. Why was Potter trying to protect him? Could he know? Of course not. Of course he couldn't know. Could he?
Harry was watching the emotion flickering across Draco's face plainly. It was disconcerting to see the Draco Malfoy plainly showing his emotions for the world to see. In fact, it was highly intriguing. Harry watched and found that Malfoy was registering confusion above all other emotion. What was he confused about? Oh right, Harry had stopped Ron from nearly killing him. Malfoy suddenly looked worried, and jerked his head upright, meeting Harry's gaze for a moment before slamming down his mask again.
"What Potter? See something you like?" How stupid! He had let Potter see him so clearly, it was highly upsetting. He hit on the one thing that he thought Potter might not like, after all, everyone knew now that Draco was gay. He had 'come out' the day after his father left. Or rather, Blaise Zambini had come out for him, telling everyone about their short-lived fling in the beginning of the 5th year. Nobody feared Draco as much without his father. That is, until he managed to curse Zabini with the help of a certain rare book of curses from his father's large library. He was getting confused again.
He turned to Potter, intending to smirk. But his smirk was lost as he looked at Potter. The other boy was looking at him thoughtfully. He pulled Ron and Hermione away, and turned them towards the Great Hall. And then, Harry Potter did the unexpected; he turned around quickly and winked at Draco Malfoy.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*
Disclaimer: All of Harry Potter belongs to the terribly brilliant J.K. Rowling. I would never be able to come up with such an amazing story on my own. It all belongs to her, she is my HERO!
Rating: This is rated R for future chapters.
Warnings: This, my friends, will be SLASH in the future. People, this means boylove. If you do not like that kind of thing, then this is not the story for you. Also there is warning of depression, which could get serious in future chapters. Again, this is all in future chapters.
Summary: Harry is back at Hogwarts in his 6th year and he faces some of the most difficult challenges yet. He wakes up one night to another creature trying to sneak into his room. But, is this creature dangerous? And who is controlling it? Future SLASH. H/D in future. Please R&R!! Thank you so much!
A cool mist gathered around the luminous castle, settling on each nook and cranny like an exquisite blanket. The trees of the Forbidden Forest shimmered, their branches hardly drooping with the light weight of the moisture. It sifted between the tightly packed trees, nestling to the ground beneath, shrouding various bushes and vines from sight. It sat there, a blanket of coldness, waiting in the darkness.
As if on cue, a snake-like thread of moisture rose from the mist almost imperceptibly. The fine silvery snake curled upwards through the mists towards the uppermost towers of the castle. It twisted around the top of the Gryffindor Tower, the oddly warming coldness seeping into the crack between an old window frame and the glass inside. As more of the moisture made its way into the boys' dormitory the room became cold and silent.
"I am here," Harry Potter turned in his sleep, hearing a voice whisper against his ear, it sounded so oddly familiar.
Suddenly the mist began to turn and twist, a wind inside it violently breaking loose. A whirlwind of moisture quickly took form as it writhed to life. It whirled into a tight tunnel and the silvery beads began to take on the shape of a creature. As it came close to a recognizable shape, the whirlwind disappeared.
Harry Potter sat up, his breath steady and controlled, his wand pointed where the figure has just been taking form. He looked at the now empty air in front of him and then down to the wet patch of the floor below it. As he lowered his wand to his side he noticed a small object shining in the moonlight streaming through the window. Studying it, he stood, stepping towards the object in the center of the puddle of moisture. Was it left behind by that thing? Was it a portkey? Harry shivered at the prospect, he didn't want a repeat of the Triwizard Tournament. But, if he didn't find out what it was then somebody in the dorm would undoubtedly find it later. Damn, leave it to Voldemort to know he would rather be killed than have someone else put at risk.
He crouched down, wriggling his toes in the cold moisture beneath him. It looked perfectly harmless, a pearly white stone set in silver, a cold, gleaming chain wrapped beneath it almost carefully. It glowed, an iridescent white and as Harry turned his head to get a closer look he realized that it was changing. He stiffened, ready to attack if something were to happen. But, nothing happened, and as he gazed at the stone expectantly it glowed brightly, Harry was taken by the sight. It pulled him closer, and he thought he saw a flicker of a shape moving inside of it. The mists inside the stone faded and dulled, becoming a simple opal again. This time, however, there was something inside of the stone, barely covered by the misty opal of the stone: A Dragon.
Harry pulled away from the stone, reeling backwards, his head hitting the bed. His mind spun as he closed his eyes, willing the object away. He cracked his eye open, wishing the floor was as bare and dry as usual. It was still there. Closing his eyes again he sighed, resting his head against the mattress behind him. This could not be happening. Objects of such obvious value do not just magically appear out of an obscure mist in the middle of the night, not even in the wizarding world.
Why couldn't anything normal ever happen? He shoved his head into his hands, pulling at his face slightly in an attempt to wash away the strangeness he felt. Except that he didn't feel strange, he felt, comforted, like he wasn't alone. That couldn't be the right feeling, could it? He had just been nearly attacked in the middle of the night by a... er... a something. Well, he hadn't actually been attacked, but it was close enough, wasn't it? No, the thing hadn't even come close to him, it had stayed right there, in the middle of the room, not even remotely threateningly.
He sighed, his position on the wooden floor was becoming uncomfortable. This was perplexing, but he needed to stretch, his muscles had become tense and cramped. He pulled himself forward, grabbing the wetted carpet to steady him. It felt better to extend his back from it's cramped position. He groped around the floor, his glasses had fallen off when he had pulled away from the opal. His fingers found something cold and metal, and even without his vision he knew what it was. Well, that ruled out the option of it being a portkey as he hadn't been transported. There was no familiar pull behind his navel, and he breathed out heavily, not even realizing he had been holding it.
His fingers curled around the talisman, and he continued to fumble for his glasses. After a few moments he had found them, lying a couple of feet from the rapidly drying spot on the rug. It was colorless, and left no stain behind, and the rug was no longer cold. As he put on his glasses he felt the necklace, warm against his hand. It was warm. That was strange, it had been lying in a puddle of cold water just moments before. He must have been more tired than he thought.
Having put his glasses on he pushed himself up and walked towards his bed. As he sat on the bed, he pulled the disheveled blankets from the floor onto the bed, pushing them into a heap. He pulled his legs up onto the bed, sitting cross-legged beside them. He fingered the talisman in his hand, turning it around in his hand unconsciously as he mulled over the events of the past hour. This was going to keep him up all night, he could tell. Oh well, it wasn't as if he ever got much sleep anyway. He prepared himself for a long night of contemplation, it most certainly would be a long one.
He had no idea that someone else was preparing to do so at the same time, congratulating themselves on having gotten to the famous Harry Potter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By morning the mist had cleared, leaving the leaves and grass with a hint of dew, sparkling in the morning sun. The sunlight shone into the sixth year Gryffindor boys' dormitories, shining into the unopened eyes of the residents. They mumbled, waking to the brightness behind their closed eyelids. Harry snapped to attention at these waking sounds, the long period of wakefulness having temporarily dulled his senses. His hand closed around the necklace lying on his bed in front of him, pulling it up to his face. He looked at it one more time, and slipped it carefully around his neck. It would be easily hidden by his robes during class, but what about now? He wasn't about to take it off, it felt like a part of him now, he felt obligated to wear it.
"Harry? Harry, mate, you awake?" Ron Weasley spoke groggily through the partition separating the two boys.
"Yes Ron, I'm awake, just getting dressed now." Harry replied, deliberately making his voice sound thick and unfocused.
Harry prepared for breakfast, it was the first month of school, but he had swung easily back into the throng of Hogwarts life. It was a continuous circle of getting up, putting on a fake smile, and trying to pretend he cared. He struggled to focus on the task at hand, getting on his robes without ripping them. He felt clumsy and unbalanced from his continuous lack of sleep. Not sleeping was the easy part, he couldn't sleep most of the time, it was just too difficult to sleep in the first place. Getting up and out, however, was proving to become significantly more difficult as the year wore on. Each day was agonizingly slow, each week was even longer, he didn't even want to think about it.
"Ron," Harry called as he pushed aside the hangings that separated him from his roommates. He had pulled them closed halfway through the night, when he had heard Ron get up to go to the bathroom and didn't fancy getting caught staring at a strange piece of jewelry that had magically found it's way to his room. No, he didn't feel up to explaining it, it would just cause his friends to worry more, he didn't want them to be concerned. They had done so much for him already, they should really be happy.
"Ron," Harry called again, realizing his roommate hadn't replied. "Ron?" He pulled aside the hangings of Ron's room, peering inside.
Ron was lying on the bed, his head buried in the pillows, snoring lightly. His red hair shifted slightly with each breath he took, it looked more disheveled than usual. He had the blankets pulled up to his neck, but there was clearly a reddish-purple mark right there on his neck. Harry didn't need to take closer examination, he knew what it was. Ron had obviously forgotten to magically hide it the night before. Ron and Hermione had been 'secretly' dating since the beginning of the summer. However, they were the only ones who were under the impression that it was a secret, as half the school knew about it.
Harry laughed to himself, pulling his hand through his own mussed hair unconsciously. "Ron, you prat, get up!" Harry shoved him slightly. He heard Ron breathe in again, and then out, just as evenly as before. This was going to take a bit more effort. Harry placed himself next to Ron, stepping closer to the bed, and said in a shrill voice, "Ronald Weasley! Get up this instant young man!"
Ron jumped from his bed, looking around in wide-eyed horror, completely startled out of sleep. He spotted Harry, standing beside his bed with his hand on his side, smirking mock-evilly at him. "Harry!" He whined. "Why'd you do that? You could just give me a little shove and say 'Time to get up Ron!' But, no, you have to shout in my ear!" He shivered. "You sound exactly like my mother you know, it's scary."
"Ron, you have obviously never tried to wake yourself up," Harry informed him, throwing the grumbling boy his robes and exiting the room, pulling the hangings closed behind him. "And if you go back to sleep," He continued as he heard Ron lay back down. "I will get Hermione to come in here." He heard Ron shoot out of bed and begin to fumble with his robes. That was always an effective threat, Hermione managed an even better impression of Mrs. Weasley and she was actually serious.
Seconds later, a robed, de-hickeyed, and much more awake Ron stepped out from behind the hangings. "Well, come on Harry, we haven't got all day," He joked as Harry pulled him towards the Gryffindor common room.
"No, we don't, we have Double Potions today, and I can just imagine Snape if we're late again. 'Thirty points from Gryffindor for being late! Next time it will be a detention Potter.'" He did a scarily good impression of the Potions Master the day before. "So, yes, breakfast now. Wouldn't want to keep Hermione waiting, would we?" He said slyly.
Ron blushed bright-red, the tips of his ears burning in embarrassment. "What're you talking about?" He tried to cover up for himself and Hermione.
"Don't be a twit, I'm your best friend. I know that there has been something going between you two on for quite a while now." Harry replied glancing sidelong at his friend.
"Er... well... yes," Ron was trying to cover his blush with his arms by pretending to fix a stray hair. "How did you know?!" He finally gasped, exasperated, looking fully at his friend.
"Ron, I'm your best mate! And so is Hermione, how could I not know?" Harry raised his eyebrow questioningly.
"Well, I... erm... I guess we just didn't think that you would notice, you've been a bit, er, preoccupied lately." Ron replied, gazing at his friend worriedly.
"Even I'm not that dense Ron, you sneak off every night!" Harry shot back, trying not to be offended by Ron's blatant statement. He hadn't been very observant lately, he had been preoccupied. He tried not to think of Sirus again, it didn't make it any better to think about these things, they couldn't be changed. 'Sirus,' Harry thought, sinking deeper into his mind. 'I'm so sorry... It's all my fault.' He felt guilty for letting himself not think about it the night before. The necklace and the mist had shocked him out of it for a while. At this thought he felt the cold metal against his skin warm up suddenly, as if it were trying to comfort him in some small way. It worked, Harry felt the grief subside a bit, and he realized that Ron was talking to him.
"...so sorry we didn't tell you mate, we just weren't sure if it was going to work out, and we didn't want to bother you with that kind of thing after..." Ron was saying before Harry interrupted him.
"It's okay Ron, I don't mind, I know it wasn't personal." Harry brushed off the apology, even if it did hurt a bit, it didn't matter. "However, you should know that..."
"Ron!" Hermione came rushing up to her boyfriend, hugging him fiercely. She caught herself quickly and gave Harry a hug as well. "Harry!" She added, for effect. The entire common room rolled their eyes, when would these two figure out that it was not a secret?
Harry glanced at Ron who was looking around the common room, seeing, for the first time, their reactions to Hermione when this happened. The tips of his ears turned bright red as he ducked his head into his robes. Hermione looked at him, concerned, and raised an eyebrow discreetly. He figured it out, finally. Hermione smiled a bit and then pulled his head from his robes. She kissed his cheek in front of the entire common room, this boy was as thick as they come, but she loved him anyway.
Harry laughed, he hadn't thought that she knew, but then again, she was Hermione. He began to clap slowly, congratulating them on finally telling everyone what they already knew. Suddenly he heard another set of hands clapping, Seamus Finnigan was also laughing and clapping. The whole room was clapping by the end and even Ron was laughing, albeit a bit bashfully. He took Hermione's hand and made a magnificent bow before following Harry out of the common room and into the corridor.
"Well, that was a surprise," Ron commented thoughtfully as he held Hermione's hand.
Harry and Hermione looked at each-other and burst into a fit of giggles. "Ron," Harry gasped between laughs. "Even the Slytherins know by now, you prat!"
"Oh..." Ron looked embarrassed again, as he watched the other people react to he and Hermione. They all had a knowing look on their face, although the reactions were different between Houses.
"So, the Weasel and Mudblood are finally engaged?" A voice drawled behind them. "It would figure that a Pureblood like you would go and ruin it by marrying a mudblood like her. Couldn't you do better than that? She isn't even attractive!"
"Malfoy..." Ron whirled on the shorter boy. Draco Malfoy's face was turned in his trademark sneer, daring Ron to say anything.
"What, Weasel? What are you going to do? Stare at me until I crumble into dust?" Malfoy replied, smirking at the infamous trio.
Ron turned redder than he had been moments ago in the common room. "Malfoy, I'm gonna..." He never finished his sentence.
"Sod off, Malfoy," Harry interrupted him. He didn't feel like getting into this today. Malfoy was just trying to get them riled. He had been strangely quiet lately. Oh yes, his insults were thrown at them with as much vengeance as usual, but Harry could see through his carefully placed mask. He had been watching Malfou for years and there was no hateful gleam in the boy's eyes as of late. It must have had something to do with his father being imprisoned by the Ministry. He was nothing without his precious family name to hide behind. Without Lucius Malfoy, Draco was just a mean-hearted boy who had lost his father.
Harry took Ron by the arm, and pulled him forcefully away. "Let's go," Harry said, it wasn't a request.
"What Potter? Not up for a fight? Let Weasley fight his own battles." Malfoy sneered.
"Yeah, Harry, what is going on? You love seeing Malfoy get pulverized." Ron looked at Harry.
'Not today.' Harry thought to himself as he pulled again, harder, on Ron's arm. "He's not worth it Ron. Let's just go."
Harry looked at Malfoy. Malfoy was, to say the least, a bit shocked that Harry was telling his friend not to kill him right then and there. Weasley wouldn't have had much trouble doing it at least. He was at least six inches taller than Draco, and was more heavily built. Draco considered this, not realizing that he was showing his confusion clearly. Why was Potter trying to protect him? Could he know? Of course not. Of course he couldn't know. Could he?
Harry was watching the emotion flickering across Draco's face plainly. It was disconcerting to see the Draco Malfoy plainly showing his emotions for the world to see. In fact, it was highly intriguing. Harry watched and found that Malfoy was registering confusion above all other emotion. What was he confused about? Oh right, Harry had stopped Ron from nearly killing him. Malfoy suddenly looked worried, and jerked his head upright, meeting Harry's gaze for a moment before slamming down his mask again.
"What Potter? See something you like?" How stupid! He had let Potter see him so clearly, it was highly upsetting. He hit on the one thing that he thought Potter might not like, after all, everyone knew now that Draco was gay. He had 'come out' the day after his father left. Or rather, Blaise Zambini had come out for him, telling everyone about their short-lived fling in the beginning of the 5th year. Nobody feared Draco as much without his father. That is, until he managed to curse Zabini with the help of a certain rare book of curses from his father's large library. He was getting confused again.
He turned to Potter, intending to smirk. But his smirk was lost as he looked at Potter. The other boy was looking at him thoughtfully. He pulled Ron and Hermione away, and turned them towards the Great Hall. And then, Harry Potter did the unexpected; he turned around quickly and winked at Draco Malfoy.
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