A Wand For Life
Chapter 4: Rival Surprise
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the canon characters therein. Some parts of this story are true to the books, others are half-truths since I could not find all the suitable information, and still others are things that, also due to lacking information, I made up. Just so you all know.
X.x.X
Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter had been sitting at the pub for a good five minutes, awkwardly sipping their drinks. Harry had gone for a simple butter bear while Draco had gone for the more volatile Fire Whiskey on the rocks. Both had been casting sideways glances at each other, looking away as soon as the other also decided to look over. It was as if there were some sort of bubble around the unlikely drinking companions as even Tom wasn't sticking around them. This was strange because normally Harry was found deep in discussion with Tom about some obscure subject or another. Now the barkeep was pointedly avoiding the two.
Harry suddenly downed what little was left of his butter beer and called Tom over.
"Same thing I presume, Harry?" Tom asked, his eyes flicking to Draco suspiciously and cautiously which Draco noticed and caused him to scowl. This solidified Harry's decision.
"No, Tom, a double Fire Whiskey, please." Harry replied, casting one more look at Draco who only betrayed his surprise with a slight rising of his left eyebrow. Tom, however, was not so subtle. The bartender's eyes widened and his mouth drooped open momentarily before he recovered and nodded. As soon as he was out of earshot, the blonde wizard turned to the dark-haired one.
"What are you on about? Fire Whiskey is too strong for you, Potter." Draco sneered. As if to emphasize something, Draco downed his remaining whiskey in a gulp, wincing only slightly at the burn going down his throat and warming him. Around the same time Tom returned with Harry's drink and Draco ordered the same thing. Harry looked down at his double and then back at Draco. The blond was the reason he was doing this. The boy's hope was that he could coax Malfoy into a more pliable mood so that they could have an actual conversation. This Fire Whiskey was going to be Harry's ticket to relaxing enough to actually speak to the prick.
"How do you know, Draco? This is the first time we've had a conversation without shouting curses at each other, and not just the verbal kind." Harry said, shooting the taller boy a shy grin. Draco merely scoffed before heading off to find a low table back in a corner, in the dark. Harry shook his head and followed the blonde. As his chair scraped against the floor, Harry winced. He noticed that Draco did the same, though the boy across from him said nothing.
The unlikely pair stared at spots just behind the others shoulder for several, long moments. Harry sipped his drink, then Draco did. A cough from Draco was followed by a shifting of Harry in his chair. It continued like this for many minutes before Harry finally had had enough. The Boy-Who-Lived placed his drink on the table with more force than strictly necessary, grabbing Draco's attention. Their eyes met, angry gray and sparking green locked together and it was almost as if a connection was made. Each knew, essentially what the other wanted and it was strangely the same: to make the endless cycle of fighting, end.
"Which team do you follow in Quidditch?" Harry said with no preamble. The two had come to a silent agreement to try and make this tentative friendship work. Harry and Draco weren't even sure if it was a friendship yet. It was more of a trial of getting along but Quidditch was a safe topic to discuss as long as the teams weren't bitter rivals, which would be Harry's luck.
Draco contemplated the question for a moment, enjoying the look of slight concern on Harry's face which grew the longer Draco didn't answer the question. Finally the blind took pity on the boy sitting across from him and let out a long, drawn-out sigh and answered.
"I'm a fan of the Prides, or the Pride of Portree if you didn't know." Draco said. The Malfoy watched Harry's reaction carefully. As much as he was unsure of this relationship, or if it was even a relationship, he didn't want to screw it up before it even began. Harry's expression was a smile and bright eyes. That was a good sign.
"I know the Prides. They played my team, the Falcons, last year when no one could see what the bloody hell was going on." Harry laughed. He hadn't really seen Draco liking a team so out of place as the Prides. They were so out of the way and Draco was so…in society. "Why the Prides? Where are they from again? Somewhere in Scotland?" Harry asked, genuinely curious. Draco scoffed, secretly pleased at the attention from the Boy-Who-Lived.
"The greatest place in Scotland: the Isle of Skye." Draco replied with no elaboration. He purposefully didn't comment on Harry's team to needle the former Gryffindor. The former Slytherin did remember the game that Harry had mentioned. He had been there and hadn't been thrilled by the waste of money. He had sat watching virtually nothing and had been irritated with the Ministry the entire time. Then again, he was perpetually irritated with the Ministry so there was nothing new there.
Harry looked at Draco skeptically and silence fell between the two once more. Harry played with his drink, swishing it around in circles uncomfortably, while the blonde man sitting opposite him stared pointedly at a seemingly particularly interesting and very empty chair. Both were deep in thought and a very similar thought was the focus of both boys: 'This meet wasn't exactly what either of the boys had had in mind'. The messy-haired boy opened his mouth at the same time as Draco.
"Listen, I—"
"Potter, I—"
Their mouths shut at the same time just as they had opened but Draco opened it again, determination in his steely gray gaze.
"Potter…Harry," Draco began, putting particular emphasis on the fact that he was saying his former rival's first name rather than his last name. "I know what you wanted to get out of this and I would be a liar if I didn't say I agreed with you, and I so detest liars; so, I want to apologize, another thing I detest. Apologizing is almost the same as admitting weakness. That aside, I want to apologize for my part in the Dark Lord's plans, the actions of my father, and my daily torture of you throughout school. I was coerced into the ranks of the Death Eater's though I know that is no excuse and I cannot really take responsibility for my father's actions, and, while I can say something about needling you throughout Hogwarts, I won't elaborate since it was just so much fun seeing you squirm a bit." It was the most the Slytherin had ever said to the Gryffindor at once and Harry was a little taken aback. Draco Malfoy was apologizing? To him? He couldn't believe it and he suspected Ron and Hermione wouldn't either. Something in Harry's expression must have showed something of what the boy was thinking because Draco started looking at Harry with a questioning expression.
"What? Do I have a unicorn horn growing out of my forehead? Or are you sick?" Draco asked, with long, exasperation in his voice. His long, slender fingers began drumming on the old wood of the table. It took several moments for Harry to recover enough coherent thought to reply to Draco's almost annoyed questions.
"No. I just never thought I'd see the day that I would get an apology from the great Draco Malfoy." Harry said, leaning back into his chair and taking another sip of his fire whiskey.
"Yeah, well, don't get used to it." The blond said with indignation while looking away, his cheeks coloring ever so slightly. In the dark of the pub the coloring wasn't noticeable, at least Draco hoped.
"Don't worry, I won't get used to it. But, I forgive you." Harry said, earning a surprised look from Draco who tried to open his mouth to reply. The messy-haired boy raised his hand to stop Draco from speaking. "And…I owe you an apology as well." Draco's gray eyes widened and his mouth parted a fraction as Harry continued. "I gave as much ridicule and ribbing as I received. And I should apologize as much as you should." His tone was definitive, as if the conversation was over.
Apparently it wasn't.
"You shouldn't have to apologize. You were rightfully suspicious." Draco shot back, leaning forward on the table.
"Why not? When we were just kids it wasn't suspicion; it was purely petty dislike that morphed into my suspicion." Harry explained, leaning forward as well, putting only a foot or so between the two boys' faces. Each of the wizards was smirking, amusement in both the gray and green eyes.
The pair stared at each other for nearly ten minutes before both blinked and looked away with small smiles on their faces. Harry downed the rest of his fire whiskey and leaned back against his chair again, looking at Draco with a new regard for his former rival. Draco toyed with his drink glass and stared at it, avoiding Harry's gaze with an ironic smile on his face, though it was Harry who broke the silence.
"Listen, I should probably get going. I have some studying up to do for some exams." Harry said, slowly standing. Draco stood as well, sliding his chair back before leisurely taking his feet and sticking out his hand to Harry.
"Exams? I thought you were out of school." Draco said as Harry took his hand and shook it cordially.
"Out of Hogwarts maybe, but I'm training to be an Auror. There are exams for that." Harry explained heading to the door of the pub, Draco a few steps behind him. The door opened on its own accord and both the wizards walked out, donning their traveling cloaks.
"That would make sense." Draco said, stopping as Harry stopped. "Listen, as much as I think this is a strange set-up, it wasn't a terrible afternoon; what are you doing on Wednesday? I happen to have a break in my own studies that day." Harry's eyebrows shot up in surprise before a smile spread across his face.
"I could do something on Wednesday; what did you have in mind? And what are you studying for?" Harry replied.
"How about lunch, here, around noon? I'm planning on being a medi-witch." Draco suggested.
"A medi-witch, huh? I think that suits you. I'll see you Wednesday at noon then." Harry said with another smile before turning on his heel and quickly vanishing into thin air. Draco couldn't help the small smile that twitched at his usually frowning lips. While he wasn't sure what to think of Potter at the moment, he had to admit that the savior of the wizarding world did have a sort of flair about him.
