For The Will Of It

Chapter 3: Eristic

By pantheradraconis

"Hey mate, Wake up!"

"Uhhmmuuh"

"Come on, we have to get on to breakfast or we'll be late for Care of Magical Creatures."

"Wha?" Harry rolled over on the couch, just balancing himself on the edge. "Just 5 more minutes, Dudley doesn't need breakfast."

"Who? Oh right...Wake up!" Ron nudged Harry in the side, causing the sleeping boy to fall off the couch with a loud bang.

"Ow!"

"Sorry."

"What'd you do that for? What time is it?" Harry looked around for a clock of any sort, but couldn't find one.

Dean Thomas leaned over the couch, staring at Harry, still slumped on the floor. "Time for you to get off the dang floor. What are you doing down there?"

"Checking for wrackspurts." The boy mumbled.

Harry got up from the floor, grabbed his bag from Ron and headed out towards the dining hall; Ron and Dean looked at each other and laughed, soon following after Harry.

After breakfast and a very slow-moving Care of Magical Creatures, Harry went up to Hagrid.

"Heya, Harry." The over-sized man walked with the young wizard to his hut and made a cup of tea for the two of them. "Yeh need to talk, eh?"

"Uh, yeah. I.. umm... don't know quite how to start."

"Start at the beginnin' is what my pop always said."

"Well... err.... How do you get someone to talk to you?" Harry sipped the watery substance and forced himself to swallow the warm liquid somewhat reminiscent of water and honey.

"What yeh mean? Like a girl? I guess yeh just tell her she's perdy and..."

"No, no, nothing like that." Harry moved awkwardly in his seat, trying to calm his nerves a bit. "I mean a friend, like, how do you get them to talk about what's bothering them?"

"Oh, well, a friend should just open up. If yeh ask the right questions, the right answers come out. I guess it's all about timin', yeh got to talk to 'em when the moments right."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks Hagrid." Harry stood up, pulling his bag over his shoulder, and smiled at the grounds keeper. "I gotta go, see you tomorrow."

"I hope I helped yeh."

"Very much. See you later."

Harry walked out of the hut with new ideas shoving their way to the front of his mind. This morning wasn't a total waste after all. For a minute there Draco was answering his questions, they didn't argue too badly, and no wands were brought out; it must have been a success!

The young boy hurried into the castle wondering how he could get Draco to talk more. He would have to capture the blond alone because he'd never open up with Crabbe and Goyle around. Harry turned another corner when he heard cries echoing from the nearby bathroom. It was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom; she must be whining about something, like how no one likes her. Well, Harry was feeling like he could make anyone happy right now, so he walked into the bathroom calling for Myrtle. It was than that he heard the cry was not a young, female ghost, but an overwhelmed, blond wizard.

"Draco?"

Draco was leaning over one of the sinks, tears streaming down his face. When the older boy looked up at Harry he quickly ran into one of the stalls. Harry looked towards the small door wondering what to do. Then Myrtle said, "Why'd you have to do that, Harry? You don't visit me for ages and then you come in here and scare off my new friend. Is it jealousy? Hmm?"

Harry turned his head from the stall up towards the ghost, just now registering her being there. "What happened to Draco? Is he hurt?"

Myrtle's face turned sour, but answered the young wizard anyways, "In a manner of speaking, yes, he has been hurt. The same way I was hurt for years. It was terrible, this school. Everyone picking on me, calling me 'four-eyes' and..."

"Yeah, okay, but what happened to Draco?"

The blond walked out of the stall with his eyes slightly red, but his regular stance and somewhat-smirk all steady. "Get out of here Potter."

"I heard you crying, what happened?"

"Hah, I wasn't crying. Now get lost before I make you."

"What are you talking about, Draco? You were just leaning over the sink, your cries echoing into the hallway! What makes you think you could really convince me otherwise?"

"You obviously didn't see everything that happened."

Harry scowled at Draco's skill at directly nullifying questions. "Okay, what did happen?"

"You see, I came in here to practice the Res Rei Verto spell for Transfiguration. My head wasn't completely clear due to my father being in jail, in case you have forgotten, so the spell stimulated a chemical reaction in my brain, in turn causing my eyes to water. Stress and imbalance cause reactions like these when performing transformation spells. Any git would know that if they paid attention in class."

Harry's brain was in overdrive trying to work out exactly what the older boy had just said to him.

"I assume you probably don't understand a word I'm saying now, so while you're sitting there drooling over the English language, I'm going back to my common room, where there are people with actual intelligence to converse with."

Draco moved to push past the other wizard, but Harry regained his composure and leaned into the blond. "We need to talk."

"I just told you, I'd much rather speak with Crabbe and Goyle than a half-witted Gryffindor."

"But Crabbe and Goyle don't know what you're up to either."

The Slytherin moved a few steps back to register the other wizard. "Are you still going on about the Room of Requirements? I've been doing my studying in there so that no one would bother me."

"Then why are Crabbe and Goyle keeping look out for you?"

"Crabbe and Goyle are never around when I go in there."

"Yes they are, they've just been using Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves."

Draco wasn't expecting Harry to have figured out quite as much as he had. The boy couldn't have possibly deciphered it all on his own. Where was he getting his information from? "How can you know all of that?"

"Huh? You mean, you aren't going to deny it?"

"Oh, well, I didn't say it was true, I'm just wondering how you would be able to figure all of that out. I mean, who are you talking to? Who is giving this ridiculous story?" Draco's stature had been brought down a bit; he was now leaning slightly more on his left leg and his smirk had disappeared from his face.

"I have my sources, but none of them are people. No one knows that I've spoken with you about all of this."

"Huh, not even Weasel and the mudblood?"

Harry's face turned red with anger, but he held himself back; the second time that week he had managed not to attack Draco on his friends' behalf. "They know you've been in there, they know it's Crabbe and Goyle outside, but none of us can figure out why. I'm not going to tell them about talking to you either."

"Why not? Is this supposed to be some sort of secret rendezvous?"

"Is that a joke or.."

"Of course it's a joke. Merlin, Potter. Stop trying to hit on me every second we're alone together. If I had known you were such a fag, I would have kicked you out of here much sooner. Now get out of my way."

"You're just an ass, Malfoy."

"Oh, are you finally back to treating me like your superior? Maybe you should add a Mister to the front of that name." Draco walked past Harry and opened the door. "And for our next meeting, don't forget the handcuffs and whipped cream."

Again Harry was left speechless and confused. He needed to figure out what was up with Malfoy, and fast. Leaving the bathroom he headed down to the library to do some research.