"...Did she say she had three hundred separate curses put on the door?"
"..."
"I'll take that as a no."
"..."
"Malfoy?"
"..."
"Malfoy."
"..."
"MALFOY YOU PRAT."
"WHAT DO YOU WANT, POTTER!"
"YOU."
"..."
"...to answer my question."
"FINE. YES. HAPPY NOW?"
"WELL NEXT TIME, JUST ANSWER ME FASTER!"
"..."
The two boys glared at each other then sighed, edging apart from each other. Sighing, Harry pushed his spectacles back into place, muttering darkly. Draco chose to harrumph and cross his arms, looking away, sitting in the corner.
"Hermione!" Harry pounded on the door. "For the love of Merlin, please open this door already!" Silence. Frowning, Harry took three steps back, muttering. "I did not spend five years of learning to get stuck in a miscellaneous broom closet with my nemesis...Bombarda!" His wand spat a few golden sparks before sputtering out fantastically.
"Where'd you learn that spell, Potter?" Draco spat. "An asylum?"
"Yes, Lockhart personally taught me that one," Harry grunted, trying to push at the door. No such luck. Sighing, he turned around. "Well, Malfoy, we're stuck." Scoffing, Draco stuck out his tongue and continued to sulk. "Would you mind getting off your arse and helping me by any chance? Just saying."
"I would mind," Draco replied haughtily. "Unlike you, I'm not about to humiliate myself like a stupid Squib."
"You're just saying that because you've never survived a death curse," Harry gritted his teeth, now attempting to wedge the door open using his wand as a lever.
"Oh, I certainly have, and it's called 'Care of Magical Creatures' and taught by a clumsy, idiotic oaf. Sound familiar?" Draco sneered.
Harry grunted. "Nope. Now if you'll excuse me, I care about getting out of here, and if you're just going to talk, then I'm leaving this conversation before you provoke me into hexing your nose off."
"Ooh, Potty-poo's going for my nose, boohoo," Draco taunted, "I'd be more afraid if you were aiming for the Astronomy Tower. Your aim is shit."
"Yes, seen the fact you've nabbed so many Snitches from me," Harry replied coolly.
"Why, you-"
"Oh, did I hit a tender point? I'm sorry, maybe I should have insulted your messed up Death Eater family instead," Harry rolled his eyes. "Enjoying your legal slaves still? I heard Hermione planning a raid to free all your house-elves. Better watch out where you throw your clothes, Draco."
"I'll kill you-" Draco snarled, standing up.
"Come and try it," Harry replied, not turning around.
"Die!" Draco growled, pulling out his wand. "CREPITUS!" Without flinching, Harry simply stepped aside.
A bright red beam of light shot from his wand and hit the door. It shuddered for a moment, then stopped moving and suddenly a slew of iron bars appeared in front of it.
"I was hoping your attempt to kill me would damage the doors, but damn, were you planning to put me in jail or something?" Harry asked dully.
"Shut up! You're supposed to be suffering the worst kind of pain and misery!" Draco hissed.
"Like what, getting a Dark Mark?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"I do NOT have a Dark Mark!" Draco seethed, "but if we are going to stay here for long, maybe you will end up with a nice, lovely, permanent bruise-"
"Oh, so you dooo know what a Dark Mark is. Totally not suspicious," Harry rolled his eyes.
"Grrr!" Draco growled, then sighed and sat down. "I hate you, Potter."
"Oh, I love you too, Draco," Harry strode over to inspect the door, "my, how strong and impenetrable these iron bars look...why, I think they look good enough to hold out felons for twenty years..."
"Oh, you mean like your scummy godfather?" Draco hissed, crossing his arms.
"Or potentially your father," Harry smirked.
"YOU BASTARD!"
"I've been wanting to say that for a loong time," Harry sighed. "So, how's things going for you with Crabbe and Goyle, eh? Heard you lot have been having fun, trouble-making as usual..." Draco sulked. "Oh, don't be like that, Draco. I'm just asking out of politeness, not because I'm trying to rile you up."
"Really?" Draco raised an eyebrow.
"Pfft, no."
"Mature," Draco frowned, crossing his arms and sighing. "Believe it or not, I don't have as much fun as Mr. Golden-Boy Gryffindor."
"Seriously? You call me that?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Whatever. It's not like my life is all pink and fluffy, either."
"You wouldn't understand," Draco mumbled.
"Oh, no, I do. Really, I only know better, though. Because shutting yourself up into a hole of depression really won't do anything." Harry brushed back his hair, sighing. "I really need a haircut soon. Point is, Malfoy, just because you think you have to do everything by yourself because your mummy and daddy have told you to follow your family doesn't mean you really do."
"I don't follow anyone's instructions," Draco snarled.
"Whoa boy. But seriously, Draco, you don't have to be a Death Eater because your family has dug a deep hole into the dark side and refuses to come out. You're sixteen, you know, you have time to change."
"Bullshit," Draco retorted. "Anyway I am not-"
"Believe what you want," Harry sighed. "I'm not going to force you. All I'm saying, if you ever get tired of the Dark side, then just leave it, Malfoy. There was a time when if you dared sit in the same room as me I'd start itching to fight you and peel off your face. But I don't want to anymore. I've stopped caring about petty things like that. Honestly, Draco, if you hadn't been a prat to Ron, I don't think we would have had such a bad relationship in the first place." Harry sighed and ran his hand through his messy hair again. "Such a bother...I really should just ask Hermione to shave me bald."
Draco harrumphed, but stayed silent for a few moments as Harry began to cast rusting spells on the iron bars, to little avail.
"Damn!" Harry swore. "These seem like they want to stay."
"Potter?" Draco turned.
"Yeah?"
"Did you really mean that?"
"Mean what?"
"You know...about the whole, be-a-traitor option."
"Oh, that. Yeah, I guess I'm pretty serious about that. Why?"
"Nothing. Just, you know, if I ever get bored maybe I'll just decide to watch you and Weasley be incompetent at everything you do."
"Thanks, Draco, that's real decent of you."
"...Are you touched in the head, Potter?"
"What? No! What makes you say that?"
Suddenly, the two boys heard a creaking sound. Turning towards the door, they watch in awe as the iron bars suddenly rusted and vanished into grey dust and the heavy doors swung open with a labored creaking sound. Standing in the hallway with her arms crossed was none other than Hermione, tapping her foot.
"So, have you two learned your lesson now?" Hermione demanded.
"What? Pfft. Potter's such an arse he couldn't see two feet past his nose," Draco replied, slapping Harry with the back of his hand.
"Yeah, you're lucky Hermione's here, cause I'm giving you five seconds to run away like the cowardly ferret you are before I disarm you so hard," Harry replied briskly.
"Ha! Catch you on the flipside, Mudbloods," Draco replied, turning down the hallway. "Bet you wish you were as good at catching Snitches as me, Potter!"
Hermioned rolled her eyes. "Boys," she sighed. "I guess you two really are too immature to make amends. Sorry."
"It's fine, Hermione," Harry replied cheerfully, "it's not you, Malfoy's just genetically a prat. A really stubborn, idiotic prat with no hope."
Sprinting around the end of the hallway, Draco gasped for breath and stopped. Just then, he felt someone seize him by the shoulders and start shaking him back and forth excitedly.
"You didn't snog?" Pansy demanded.
"Shut up," Draco rolled his eyes, "he would never let me hear the end of it if I gave in first."
"Dammit, Hermione, you make a lousy matchmaker," Harry sighed, "if you had just given me more time I would have gotten him to-"
"More time? Hmph!" Hermione snorted. "One of you just needs to put his damn pride away!"
"If that means letting him get more Snitches, that's a no," Harry mumbled.
Just some notes about Draco's characterization. I wanted this first chapter to be an easy read so people can know what to expect, but there's a little more I want to say about the way I write Draco and Harry's relationship in this.
I think I wrote this because I like Harry Potter and queer pairings and I've always had a love/hate relationship with the Draco/Harry ship itself.
On one hand, Draco is kind of terrible person (not that he doesn't change, of course). He's a bigot (undeniably), he will do anything to emotionally trigger Harry, he's spoiled, he's a bully, he is careless of other people, and he does it all because of jealousy. Frankly, J.K. Rowling herself finds it had to think of him and Harry being able to reconcile to the point that they're friendly friends. That isn't very hard to believe, if you consider all of Draco's emotional abuse and plots to trip up Harry and the dark deeds he's willing to turn to (he didn't manage to murder Dumbledore, but he did do a lot of blackmailing and manipulated Madam Rosmerta and joined the Inquisitorial Squad).
He paralyzed Harry, broke his nose, and was thinking of us the Cruciatus Curse on him in defense. And not to forget when he makes fun of Hermione for being Muggleborn, acts insensitive about Neville's parents, dresses up as a Dementor, and makes Harry go hunting after Sirius. This guy is just a self-destructive tornado who continues to make things terrible for other people around him. I frankly never found this side of him attractive. That's my personal opinion, so that's how I felt.
But then again he's not just a one-note good-looking but shitty person. He does lie to protect Harry's life from Lucius, even if he tries to rejoin the Death Eaters immediately after Harry saves him. He tell Crabbe not to kill Harry and he does feel bad for Crabbe afterwards. A lot of his personality problems stems from feelings of inadequacy, and the household he grew up in did not help. His father gets jailed and he has to kill Dumbledore and he's not sure whether he can trust his former favorite teacher, Snape, anymore.
This guy clearly does care about his father, but to the end, he CANNOT kill Dumbledore-he even resorts to Harry's ol' Disarming trick, out of pure desperation. More added pressure does not really help his insecurities and actually this is where he starts to realize stuff and split apart from the doctrines he used to embrace. He does make a change and try to be less...compensate-y? Asshole-y? IDK, but he does change. And there's something about his decision to do so that was surprising and brave. This guy has grown up being an asshole- why would he want to backtrack and admit he was one, especially since all the other assholes are so closely interconnected to him and can easily kill him, painfully?
And it's not like it's not an entirely unshippable pair. Who can forget that precious moment where Draco missed a Snitch that was right next to his ear because he was insulting Harry? Or that moment where Harry saves him from Fiendfyre and they ride out together on a broomstick? Or...uh...
Oh, forget it.
I just...I want to have a fun frenemy pairing, and I love the Harry Potter universe as a setting in particular, but I want to make sure everyone knows what would be problematic about Drarry itself. Because I agree with what JK Rowling said about cautioning attraction towards Draco. But I want to be able to have nice things. And I think it's okay to have a few guilty pleasures here and there as long as you know what's problematic about them (if they are problematic, sometimes it's just a little embarrassing but nothing to be ashamed about).
Do you understand?
Gahhh I give up.
Enjoy the rest of the story.
And leave a review if you feel the same way!
-Raven.
