THE FRIENDSHIP OF RIVALRY
Notes:
Disclaimer - I do not own the setting of Harry Potter or any of the characters; those are the property of J.K. Rowling. I have however added a few new names, given that this story is centered on the time after Harry and Draco have graduated.
This story is a male x male slash so please don't read it if you don't like to read these types of fanfics. For those who do not know, male x male slash is when the story is told around the relationship of two boys or guys, meaning this is a gay fanfic settled around the main characters of the story.
You might note in the future chapters that I have deviated a lot from the books and movies because, to be honest, I do not like it when my favorite characters die. But I have left some deaths as they are, but only when it brings the characters closer together. (That doesn't mean there won't be any drama though.)
I have decided to write each chapter between the points of views of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, hence the fact that I provide the name of the person next to the chapter. I may also provide the point of view of other characters when their actions or thoughts are important with regards to the storyline, but I will clearly indicate this to avoid confusion.
Thank you for those who have reviewed so far and who are following this story, I realized that chapter 2 was a bit short, so I decided to publish chapter 3 as well in order to say thank you.
Chapter 3: Preparations (Harry)
One week later – August 31st
Their preparations were finally ready and Harry found himself standing awkwardly in front of the Malfoy Mansion as rain drenched his clothes. He obviously knew a few spells to shield against the rain, but his thoughts were preoccupied with a film of brutal distorted memories that seemed to have taken over his mind. To Harry it seemed like he was once again hearing Hermione's tortured screams as the Cruciatis curse was performed on her, he again buried Dobby in the sand after the house elf had saved their lives and he relived the feeling of loss as he saw the people he loved and cared for, being killed all around him.
He trembled as he once again felt the fear when he realized that he was the final Horcrux. Hands roughly gripped his shoulders and a familiar voice slowly pierced his dreamlike state. "What the bloody hell Potter? Are you trying to weasel yourself out of working with me by catching your death in the rain?!" Harry found himself being dragged inside the gates and up some stairs before he was pushed into a room. He could barely focus on the furniture in the room before Draco unceremoniously stripped him down and pushed him into the bathroom where the shower turned itself on.
Without any notice Harry found himself pushed into the shower where the warm water finally broke through the last remnants of his abused senses. He stood under the warm spray until he felt in control of his senses once again. Then he stayed there even longer when he realized that Malfoy could have easily dried him off with a spell. Granted it wouldn't have had the same calming effect, but it would have been a lot quicker and less work.
Harry leaned against the shower wall as the warm spray cascaded onto his back. He glanced at his body and winced at the thought of Draco seeing the scars that riddled his body. Then again, Malfoy wouldn't ever lower himself to watching the body of another man, Harry was sure of that. The tons of girls that Malfoy had dated, actually attested to the fact that he was most definitely straight.
The thought made him feel less embarrassed about the fact that he had literally just been stripped by Draco Malfoy, but a niggling feeling of sadness seemed to have taken its place. "Oh no, you don't!" Harry scolded himself and promptly buried the feeling away as deep as he could. "There is no way that, that would ever work, never mind the fact that it could never happen!"
A soft knock on the door interrupted his musings and Harry quickly jumped out of the shower and got dressed. "Just a minute!" he said as he threw on the pants and shirt which Draco had apparently left for him. A few seconds later Harry almost found himself walking straight into Malfoy as he rushed to exit the bathroom.
The blond placed his hands on the brunet's shoulders as he steadied them both before looking Harry straight in the eye. "I'm sorry. I thought that you wouldn't be plagued by what happened in this house if we didn't go into that section of the building. I rarely even go there myself for the same reasons. I never expected that you would relive the stuff that had happened here in such a vivid manner."
Harry felt his eyes widen in surprise. "How did you know what I was experiencing?" Draco dropped his arms and turned to the side while dropping his head awkwardly. "I kind of experienced it with you somehow when I touched your shoulder to try and snap you out of whatever daydream you were in when you didn't answer my question. That elf, Dobby… You buried him yourself?" Harry nodded as he guiltily glanced away. Draco would probably think that it had been his fault that the elf had died.
After all, he probably wouldn't have died if he had stayed with the Malfoys. "Thank you." The brunet's head snapped up in surprise. "What?" The blond shook his head solemnly. "I am thanking you for the fact that you had freed him from my father's service and that you had buried him properly when he died. He was a courageous elf and he had often protected me from my father's wrath when I was young. My father had developed a feeling of hate towards him since then and I had always been afraid that he would go one step too far. Dobby's deepest wish had always been to protect those he cared about and he had fulfilled that wish. He truly was courageous till the very end."
Harry looked at Malfoy and he could swear he saw a slight smile on his lips, even though his eyes also portrayed the sadness he felt. It was really strange to see a Malfoy with emotion but it could also just have been a trick of the light. He didn't know what to say after that though since it felt strange to be thanked for doing something that was right, so he opted for a casual response. "I did it because I wanted to. Dobby was a friend and I wanted to give him a proper burial. I felt that I would be able to thank him that way."
Malfoy nodded then motioned for him to follow him. Harry followed the blond through the bedroom door and walked into what seemed to be a huge open-plan living area. An office took up most of the space on the right-hand side of the room and it had a huge collection of books on shelves that took up space on the walls around it. In the center of the office space, in front of a window, there stood a huge desk and office chair with a couch that took up space in front of the desk.
A coffee table had been placed near the couch, making it clear that it was where Malfoy usually sat when he studied or read. The rest of the room held a sitting area, a small dining area and what seemed to be a small kitchen with a fridge. Oddly enough, the entire space wasn't decorated in only greens and silvers as Harry would have expected from a Slytherin, but instead, it held the same range of colors his own home did.
Harry smirked at the thought, but as much as he wanted to tease Malfoy about his decorating choices, he knew they had a whole lot of preparations that they still needed to do if they wanted to be ready to board the Hogwarts Express the next day. Malfoy said something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like "H.J.P", but Harry knew he had to have heard wrong as a flight of stairs started spiraling down into the ground.
He followed Malfoy down the gloomy stairs which opened up in a huge underground room. The ritual circle had already been drawn on the one side of the room while two vials waited for them on a table next to it. Harry glanced to the other side of the room and saw that it held a potions lab complete with books and bottles with questionable contents. There was also a range of cauldron sizes and ladles. "You know, if Snape were here, he would probably drool if he saw your extensive potions lab."
Harry started to smile at the thought but Malfoy's snicker interrupted the moment. "You probably didn't know this Potter, but Snape is my godfather and he personally built up this potions lab for me as my 'coming of age' present. Harry felt his jaw drop for a moment until he saw the smirk on Draco's mouth. "You're kidding me, right?"
Harry knew Malfoy wouldn't joke around about such things, but his mind was seriously kicking against the idea of believing Draco. "I mean come on; this is Severus Snape we're talking about here." Harry thought to himself. "Well Potter if you are through with trying to get over your shock, you might want to remember that we are running on borrowed time here since your impromptu shower hadn't been calculated in on the time this ritual will take to finish."
Harry blushed slightly at being caught out, but he nodded and grabbed one of the vials, then stepped into the circle with his wand ready. Malfoy followed his lead and did the same while taking his place opposite Harry. Both counted to three before uncorking and then downing the contents of the vials. Harry grimaced at the taste of the contents and saw that Draco was doing the same before they threw the vials outside the circle.
"You know Potter, I never would've imagined you trusting me enough to drink something I have concocted and may have poisoned," Draco said with that trademark smug smile of his. Harry laughed before answering, "Well you do realize that you could have killed me on numerous occasions since last week, so I'm not worried." Draco just shook his head in response then both of them fell silent as they prepared themselves to chant their piece.
As the chanting started, each man removed himself from the world until they could only hear the other's voice in the distance. The ritual required them to chant the verse while the potion worked its way through their bodies. As the potion dissolved from their bodies, they would have to form the image of how they want to look like, in their minds, without losing their place in the chant or mixing up the verses of the chant. Once the image has been accepted, they would change the chant to a longer and stronger chant that would help them to keep their acquired form until they desired to discard it. In their case, it would be once the culprit or culprits had been caught.
