A/N: After the battle in Deathly Hallows, Harry and Ron didn't return to Hogwarts. I know that. But, in order for the plot of this fic to work out, I had to make a few exceptions. I'm sorry if anything in this fic contradicts anything you've heard or read elsewhere. There might also be some OOC-ness in certain characters. Anyway, enjoy the fic! :)
~L~
Disclaimer: I can assure you that Harry Potter does not belong to me. Ha, I wish!
Summary: When Harry returns to Hogwarts, a class project infuses him with a student; one he never expected to feel this way about before. As their relationship evolves and they become more entwined with one another, it becomes clear that bad things are headed their way.
Slash. Drarry ensues. Rated M for sexual content in the later chapters.
Under the Harvest Moon by Carl Sandburg
Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers.
Under the summer roses
When the flagrant crimson
Lurks in the dusk
Of the wild red leaves,
Love, with little hands,
Comes and touches you
With a thousand memories,
And asks you
Beautiful, unanswerable questions.
It was dark. Although Harry's eyes were wide open, he still could not see anything other than a plethora of misty darkness that filled the room he found himself in. Slowly and cautiously, Harry sat up and gently felt the ground surrounding him. It was rough, and appeared to be built up of many small, thin, brittle things. It felt, to Harry, like a collection of autumnal leaves who, as their time had come, drifted gently and gracefully to the ground, where they had made their new home. Harry tried desperately to remember where he had been just a second ago before he wound up in this vast place, but nothing sprang to mind. So how have I managed to end up here? Where is 'here' anyway? All Harry could recall was an emotion; one so strong that it engulfed him entirely. Fear.
"Hello?" Harry called softly, although he knew it was no use. He was alone. He could sense it. Suddenly, a quiet but distressed voice filled the room. It sounded to Harry as if it were coming from afar. "Please wake up," it said desperately. It sounded like a male; a young adult male. The words he spoke were bursting at the seams with emotion. Harry felt pity to whoever these words belonged to.
"Who's there?" Harry asked hopelessly, now springing to his feet in order to try and find the source of the mysterious voice. The leaves covering the floor crushed and crumbled under his heavy steps.
"I miss you. I need you here with me," the voice said once more, now breaking as if on the verge of tears.
"Who are you? Who are you talking to?" Harry replied, though he was fairly certain the person couldn't hear him.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
The sound of leaves compressed under feet filled Harry's ears, although he was standing quite still. Someone was approaching Harry, with increasingly rapid pace.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Harry stood rooted to the spot as fear engulfed him once more.
"Who's there?" he called to the mysterious approaching figure, blinded to Harry by the darkness.
"Remember," a soft voice called, although entirely different to the earlier male. It must belong to whoever is coming towards me, Harry thought to himself.
"Who are you?" Harry asked, his voice growing louder in an attempt to cover up the tones of fear laced within his words.
"Remember!" the voice called once more, and Harry was suddenly overcome with a flood of remembrance. He collapsed to the floor and cradled his head in his hands as the memories came rushing back to him.
Harry lounged lazily with his head in his hands in the Potions classroom as Professor Slughorn babbled on about an obscure healing potion. Harry had tuned out Slughorn's voice for the last ten minutes. He couldn't wait to get out of this classroom for good.
"Right, class. This week, we'll be doing paired projects," Slughorn said merrily. Harry sighed as he realised he would be alone, as Ron and Hermione would probably work together. Since they became boyfriend and girlfriend, they were practically inseparable.
"You will study a potion of your own choice with your partner. You will look at the ingredients, brewing method, effects, uses, and also you will knock up a batch yourselves. Also, I will choose your partners for you." At this, the whole class let out a sigh of disappointment. Mutters of anger spread though out the classroom. "Listen! Listen!" Slughorn called and the whispers died down. He began to read out a number of student's names. Ron was paired with Seamus, and Hermione - much to her dismay - was paired with Pansy Parkinson. Harry eagerly awaited his partner. Finally, Slughorn called out his name. "Harry Potter?" Harry raised his hand and Slughorn nodded in recognition. "You'll be with Draco Malfoy."
If Harry was paired with Draco a few years ago, he would have been very disappointed and angry due to Draco's dubious nature. However, ever since the student's return to Hogwarts, there was something... different about him. He no longer went out of his way to tease Harry and his friends. He no longer made snide remarks or rude comments. In fact, he just kept out of Harry's way. Harry wasn't really sure of the reasoning behind this, but he suspected it had something to do with his father being locked up in Azkaban and, with Voldemort being defeated, the pressures of following his family and being a Dark Wizard eased. Anyway, Harry couldn't exactly complain. The boy who once tormented and irritated him an obscenely large amount now simply avoided him unless contact was necessary.
As the lesson ended, Harry made his way out of the classroom, and felt a nudge on his back. He turned to see Draco standing right behind him. "Potter. A word?" he asked. Harry nodded and followed him to an empty corner just outside the potions classroom. "I want a good mark for this project, Potter. Maybe I'm not your ideal partner for this. But Slughorn has put us together, and we can't do much to change that." Harry had to admit, he was somewhat surprised at Draco's determination. All of the years before, Harry had assumed that Draco did not care about his class work. Clearly, though, a lot had changed for him since the Battle of Hogwarts, just as it had for Harry himself. He had no intentions of causing a scene and refusing to work with Draco. That would only open up old wounds; wounds that were slowly healing. Harry had no intention of doing that.
"I want a good mark just as much as you do, Malfoy," Harry replied.
"I think we should get a head start on the project. Slytherin common room after dinner tonight?" Draco asked.
"I'll be there," Harry said, and he turned to catch up with Ron and Hermione.
The day went by rather quickly, and dinner was soon ready. Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way to the Great Hall. Ever since potions earlier, Hermione hadn't stopped complaining about her project with Pansy. "It's not her company that I'm dreading," Hermione explained as they sat eating their dinner. "It's just that I don't think she's going to put in the effort, and I'm going to have to do it all myself."
"Well, Hermione, to be honest, I think you could easily do this project by yourself. You don't need Pansy's help for it," Ron interjected.
"Yes, Ron, but I don't want Pansy getting a better mark than she deserves! It's unfair," Hermione replied.
"Well, don't make the project very good then, and Pansy won't get a good mark!" Ron suggested.
"Then I won't get a very good mark! Gosh, Ronald, you don't think things through, do you?" Hermione replied with a hint of anger in her voice. Ron rolled his eyes and turned to face Harry.
"Girls, eh? I don't think we'll ever understand them," he said, earning an angry glance from Hermione. Harry nodded in agreement. Things weren't going at all well for him in the aspect of girls.
In fact, after the Battle of Hogwarts, things hadn't gone at all well with Ginny. She expected Harry to simply come running back to her in a loving and passionate embrace, but Harry didn't quite feel the same anymore. Whenever he looked at her, he didn't feel the love he once felt. He still loved her, of course, but now it was more like a brotherly love. All of the previous emotions of love had simply vanished. Harry didn't quite know why his feelings had gone, but he suspected that it had something to do with being away from Ginny for all of those months. Nothing happened between them after the Great Battle, and Harry quite wanted to keep it that way. Ginny, however, wasn't quite on the same wavelength. Harry was immediately snapped out of his trance by the very girl herself, who had come to sit next to Harry on the dining table.
"Hello, Harry," Ginny said happily as she sat down and began picking at her food. Harry could have sworn that there was an almost flirtatious tone in her voice.
"Hi there," Harry replied unenthusiastically, scraping the remains of food onto his fork. He glanced over at the Slytherin table to see Draco rising alone to leave. He decided it was time to go, too. Putting his knife and fork down and picking up his book bag from under the table, he abruptly announced that he had to leave and took off after Draco.
Harry quietly followed the blonde to the entry of the Slytherin common room. He was eerily reminded of his sixth year, during which he frequently followed Draco in order to find out what he was doing. That had all ended abruptly, however, when Harry used the 'sectumsempra' spell on Draco, causing more injury than Harry had wished upon him. He shook the memories away and decided to announce himself as he did not know the password and didn't particularly want to be locked out.
"Malfoy?" Harry said loudly so that the other boy could hear him. Draco stopped and turned around to see Harry standing a distance away from him.
"Have you been following me, Potter?" Draco asked, a mocking tone to his voice.
"I didn't know the password," Harry explained. Draco quickly tilted his head to the side as if to say 'follow me'. Harry picked up his pace and caught up with the blonde as they stood in front of a seemingly normal dungeon wall. However, Harry knew from his second-year visit that this was no ordinary wall.
"Black Mamba," Draco said clearly, and a passage swiftly appeared in the wall in front of them both. Draco made his way through first and Harry followed closely.
As Harry reached the Slytherin common room, he knew something was wrong. Little groups of people sat dotted around; some older students, and some younger ones. They appeared to be happily chatting or getting on with their work. However, as soon as Harry stepped through the entrance, many stopped what they were doing and glared right at Harry. He felt his face flush with all of the unwanted attention. Harry immediately realised why they were glaring at him in such a malicious way. Many of their parents, family members or friends had probably been put in Azkaban when Voldemort was defeated. Some might have even been killed in the Great Battle. They lost their family or friends because of the boy standing in the middle of their common room at this precise moment. Harry felt exposed, embarrassed, and suddenly rather queasy. He wanted nothing more than to leave and return back to the comfort of the Gryffindor common room.
"What the hell is he doing here?" one younger student asked angrily, pointing in Harry's direction.
"He's with me, Daresworth. Mind your own business," Draco snapped back at him. Harry was suddenly filled with a sense of appreciation and admiration for Draco. He turned to face Harry, and said in a hushed tone "Come on. Let's go to my room. Something tells me we wouldn't get much work done down here." Harry nodded in agreement and followed Draco up a narrow staircase until they reached a wooden door. Draco opened it to reveal a regularly large room containing two beds embellished in green sheets. In between the beds was a rather large, wooden wardrobe, which seemed to match the wood of the bed frames. Next to each of the two beds was a small chest of drawers, once again adorned in wood that matched the beds and the wardrobes. It was spacious for a two-person room.
"Who shares this room with you?" Harry asked Draco inquisitively.
"Blaise, usually. He'll be out tonight, though, so you don't have to worry about him," Draco explained. Harry nodded as he walked around the room, taking a close look at the furniture. He glanced out of the window next to the bed Draco now sat atop. The grey exterior of the lower levels on the opposite side to Hogwarts was visible. That's probably because the Slytherin common room's in the dungeons on the bottom floor, Harry thought to himself. He was suddenly glad that the Gryffindor common room was situated where it was. Not much light made it into Slytherin, and it was also cold and damp; completely the opposite to the cosy warmth of Gryffindor.
"This is my bed. You can sit on Blaise's," Draco said, gesturing towards the bed sat next to his own.
"Are you sure Blaise will be okay with that?" Harry asked doubtfully.
"Probably not. But I won't tell him if you don't," Draco said, a menacing tone lacing his words. Harry smirked as he sat atop the other bed. Draco immediately rose, and knelt down to reach under his bed. He pulled out a relatively large, black trunk, fastened together with a large, metal padlock. Draco pulled his wand out of his pocket, pointed it at the lock and muttered the words "Sera dimittere." Immediately, the lock disappeared, and Draco lifted the box open. Inside, Harry could see, were many bottles of Firewhiskey.
"You do realise those are banned in school?" Harry said in a surprised tone. Draco merely shrugged and pulled out a bottle, holding it in Harry's direction. "You want one?" he asked casually. Harry's instincts were telling him not to take it. If he got caught, he could be in serious trouble. Besides, he had only had Firewhiskey a couple of times, and they were a while ago. What if he didn't like it anymore? Then again, Ron insisted that he drink it more often. Draco looked at him inquisitively. Harry knew he had to make a decision hastily. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, he reached forwards and took it from Draco's grasp. He popped the lid open, and took a sip. Harry cringed slightly at the fire-like sensation as he swallowed it. However, he had to admit, it did leave a sort-of warm feeling afterwards, and Harry liked it. Draco lifted a bottle for himself, replaced the box and sat atop the bed once more.
"So... Potions..." Harry said indifferently.
"I was thinking we should do a potion called Wiggenweld Potion. It acts as an antidote to certain potions, and is used more commonly as a healing potion..." As Draco began to speak, Harry felt himself zone out. The more Firewhiskey he drank, the more difficult it became to carry on listening to Draco talk about potions, as he lost concentration and became distracted by various other things. Soon, Harry had become overtaken by boredom. He couldn't listen to Draco any longer. Filled with the courage the Firewhiskey had given him, he decided to speak out.
"Look, Malfoy, I'm sorry, but I can't concentrate. Maybe we should start tomorrow or something," Harry said apologetically. Draco laughed.
"I knew I shouldn't have given you that Firewhiskey, Potter. It has a tendency to give people the courage to announce things they wouldn't have said previously." Harry smiled to himself. Something inside Harry told him that the time spent in Draco's room wasn't going to be so bad after all.
They ended up talking about all sorts of things - Quiddich; lessons; people. Harry never knew that Draco had made such good company. Come to think of it, Harry had never had a proper conversation with him. He felt bad for judging Draco before properly talking to him, as the night had proved that all of his previous assumptions about Draco being a thoroughly nasty person had been wrong, and he seemed like a genuinely decent person. And as time went on, Harry drank more and more of Draco's Firewhiskey. He was filled with more courage to break down social barriers, and became more willing to ask questions that never even crossed his mind before. And, by his third bottle, Harry had plucked up the courage to ask Draco the question that had been crossing his mind the entire evening.
"Malfoy?" Harry asked as he lay on Blaise's bed staring at the ceiling, an empty bottle of firewhiskey gripped tightly in his hand.
"Potter?" Draco said in reply. He was clearly more used to Firewhiskey than Harry, so it had less of an effect on him. He still seemed to talk with natural flair, and his tone was certainly not as uneven as Harry's.
"I was just wondering... Why were you such a jerk?" Harry said, and Draco let out a surprised laugh.
"No, no, no, I'm being serious. Tonight you've been so... Well, nice to me. Why did you act like a git before when deep down, you're a decent guy?" Harry asked. This time, Draco replied with silence. After a couple of seconds, Harry sensed something was wrong. "Malfoy?" he asked, turning on his side to look at him. Draco now sat on the side of his bed, looking at the floor, his face as hard as stone. Harry couldn't quite tell his emotions.
"Malfoy?" he said again, this time softer. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that." Still, no change from Draco. Harry knew that somehow he'd offended him. The Firewhiskey in his system gave him the friendliness and courage that he hadn't had previously, and before he really knew what he was doing, he made his way over to the blonde boy and knelt in front of him so they were face to face. Draco now looked up from his lap and gave Harry a look as if to say What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?
"Draco," Harry said firmly, looking him in the eye. At this, Draco's expression softened into a subtle look of surprise, and Harry realised that it was the first time he had called Draco by his first name. However, it was still obvious that Harry's question had caused some outlet of emotions in him, even if he couldn't tell what emotions they were. Harry now decided to sit beside Draco on his bed. Draco seemed to stiffen uncomfortably as Harry took a seat next to him, but he didn't ask Harry to move. Harry assumed that Draco wasn't really used to being this close to others.
"You know, I got you all wrong. I thought I had you all sorted out, but I was so wrong. You seem... Well, nicer than before. You seem..." Harry paused, and decided it was better not to finish that sentence. Draco was looking at Harry with a mixture of confusion, surprise and amusement on his face. Harry looked back at Draco, and his eyes couldn't help but wander to the clock situated on the wall next to Draco's bed. "Bloody hell, Malfoy!" Harry said, springing off of Draco's bed and rapidly gathering his belongings together.
"What? What's wrong?" Draco replied.
"What's wrong? I should have been in bed an hour ago, that's what's bloody wrong! Oh, god, I'm gonna get in so much trouble for this!" Harry took a deep breath, calming himself down before turning to leave the room.
"I'll see you out," Draco said, jumping up off of his bed and opening the door to his room. He crept out and down the narrow staircase into the common room, where he quickly scanned the room to see if anyone else was there. Luckily, it was empty, so he made his way to the exit. Before leaving, Harry turned to Draco and mouthed a quick 'Thanks' which was returned with a brief nod, as if to say 'You're welcome'.
As soon as he left the Slytherin common room, Harry reached inside his bag to see if he, by some stroke of luck, had left his cloak of invisibility in there. To Harry's relief, it was folded at the bottom of the bag. He wrapped it around himself as he made his way over to the Gryffindor common room. Before arriving, he took off the cloak and replaced it in his bag. He told the Fat Lady the password, and she swung open rather fractiously due to being woken up. Harry crept up the stairs to his dorm, hoping Ron was asleep so he would avoid questioning. Unfortunately, his hopes were thoroughly let down, and Ron was wide awake and perched eagerly on the end of his bed as Harry returned.
"Harry! Were you with Malfoy all of this time? How was it? What were you doing?" Ron whispered to Harry as he made his way to his own bed.
"Leave it, Ron. I'll explain tomorrow. I want to sleep now," Harry said evasively before quickly changing into his pyjamas and slipping into bed. Before he drifted off to sleep, he inwardly smiled at the thought of making a new friend in Draco. Who would have thought? Harry said to himself as sleep swept over him once more.
End of Chapter 1
A/N: I've had a bad experience with reviewing that has left me, frankly, a nervous wreck. It took a lot of courage for me to post this! So please, don't leave any horrible reviews. I like constructive criticism comments, but please keep nasty things to yourself. It would be much appreciated :) anyway, thanks for reading; I'd love to read your reviews! I understand not much has happened yet, but it will all pick up soon. Next chapter should be up shortly!
~L~