Together (Part 1)
And that's how it began. What followed involves much more detail than deserves the tedious pages it would take to tell, but suffice it to say that, as I said in the beginning, Draco had Harry wrapped around his skinny little finger. And for weeks afterward, he continued to keep Harry guessing. Pining. Doubting. Agonizing. If it hadn't been a secret, if Harry could have told the world that he and Draco Malfoy were boyfriends, it might not have been so bad.
But since he couldn't, Harry found himself planning his daily life around the next possible moment that he would get to be with Draco alone (the idea of mixing their social circles, even in the calmed aftermath of post-civil war, was still unthinkable) and even when these moments came, he was never really sure what they meant until he was alone with Draco. Then, Draco was all his, and he knew there was no one else in his world but he, Harry Potter.
Meanwhile, on an otherwise uneventful day, as Harry met Ron going out to the Quidditch field-casual practices had started up again with the warmer weather-he found his best friend pale and stunned.
"What's with you?" Harry asked playfully, drooping an arm around Ron's neck and pretending to slog him in the stomach.
"I found out who did it," Ron said, his voice numb. He did not seem to notice Harry's friendly roughness. Harry was shocked and stood quite still, oblivious to the teammates who stopped nearby to listen, interested.
"Who was it?" Harry's throat felt dry, and a familiar, dull anger beginning to pulse in his gut.
"Pansy Parkinson." Ron turned to face him, and Harry had the distinct impression that the shock on Ron's face must mirror his own.
"Pansy?! Why?!"
"Why? Can't you guess?"
"Oh yeah, I heard about that," Seamus interrupted. Dean and Angelina were nodding. "Angie here's been sayin' all year she was fancying you."
"That," Angelina added, "and she's always hated Hermione. Jealous you know. She couldn't get into Ancient Runes," she said knowingly. "It was a real disgrace; at least in her family."
"That…is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!" Ron shouted, as if the news had just come to his ears for the first time. He suddenly looked more like himself. "It's got to be something else. She's covering for someone."
"Perhaps. But I know one thing…" Harry turned, surprised and a little chilled to hear the cold, matter-of-fact voice of his ex-girlfriend. Ginny sidled up next to Ron and met Harry's eyes, but there was no hint of anything other than calculating determination in them. "I'm going to find out for sure, even if I have to dissolve every bone in her body."
Harry rounded the stone staircase, narrowly avoided walking into a useless nook, cursed and turned around, squinting at the dungeons. He knew the Slytherin common room was somewhere down here…the search, which had already lasted almost twenty minutes-it had taken him just that long to find the stairs in the first place-had increased in him a sense of building ferocity. He must find Draco and talk to him; Draco had to have known something about this! Hadn't it been Draco who suggested the possibility of a rival in the first place? Harry had known Draco to be chums with Pansy, and more. Could he really pretend he'd not at least foreseen this development? And how could Harry have been so stupid?!
"You can take the man from the Death Eaters, but you can't take the Death Eater from the man," Harry muttered as he felt angrily along the opposite wall. He took a deep breath; impatience would get him nowhere when dealing with the creative, magical labyrinth that was Hogwarts. The candles on the wall flickered eerily, and he was struck by the silence of the dungeons. It seemed as if not a soul ever came down there.
"How can anyone stand it down here?" He said more loudly this time, just to hear the sound of a human voice. A moment later, he thought he heard the sound of conversation as if coming through the wall under one of the torches.
"Hello!" he yelled in a commanding voice, which might have been comical if he'd thought about it. The sounds traveled down the dark hallway that opened ahead of him, which he had not noticed before, thinking there was nothing but a wall. Harry set off with the hint of a growl in his throat.
After a short walk, he saw a dark green curtain, pushed through, and found himself in the haughtily-decorated Slytherin common room. Several Slytherins, including Blaise and Millicent, stared silently at him. Glancing back over his shoulder, Harry saw a heavy, oak door where the curtain had been.
"I came for Draco," Harry said to his audience. A cough came from somewhere, but he looked past them rather than at them; he hoped he looked as no-nonsense as he'd been determined to be before he found himself surrounded by the most unpopular house in the school.
"Oh, that's all right then. I'll just serve him right up for you, shall I? Care for a glass of wine while you wait?"
Millicent laughed sharply amongst the titters as Blaise strode forward, and Harry was struck by the sinister (beauty?) grace of Blaise's composed sarcasm; it showed itself in his walk as much as his voice. Harry didn't move, allowing Blaise to get as close as he liked. Blaise's lithe body, however, and his hard, amused stare, was somewhat disarming…god, I can see why Draco's so taken with him, Harry thought before he could shake the impression away. This wasn't turning out so well…
"Harry? What the hell are you doing here?"
Harry was relieved, when he turned, to see Draco looking quite irritated-and surprised-behind him.
"Draco, your new boyfriend was just looking for you. He wants to know if he can have a few minutes with you alone…" the Slytherins snickered, and Harry blushed.
"I need to talk to you."
"Yeah, so do we, Draco," Blaise said, turning his searing gaze mercifully away from Harry. "I'd love to know when you were going to tell us that Potter has special access to our dorms." He folded his arms.
"Yes," Millicent chimed in. "We're not sure how we feel about the fact that anyone can just stroll in, anytime he wants…"
"I'm thinking perhaps we should change the password, and maybe this time you'd better earn our trust back, before we give it to you again," Blaise said teasingly, and Harry felt Draco's wrath before he saw him approach, standing between he and Blaise.
"I'm sorry, I could have sworn I heard you say something about giving ME the password?"
Blaise merely smiled; apparently he was used to Draco's quiet anger.
"You may want to rethink that, seeing as how I'm the only one who has the power to determine the location of said quarters-"
"Yes, yes, we know. All about how your father paid off Snape. Nobody cares anymore. I bet that magic doesn't even work," Millicent put in obstinately, and Harry thought for a second he was going to have to drag Draco bodily from the room before he cast something horrible on everyone. Draco's wand hand twitched, and Harry felt surreptiously for his own as he saw Blaise reach for his. Blaise's eyes narrowed.
"Nobody was talking to you, you half-blooded whore," Draco hissed with a dismissive toss of his head. He surprised Harry, however, by turning to him as if nothing had ever happened. Harry realized that the hostile banter must be commonplace in this house; they'd learned not to take any of it seriously for more than a few seconds. "You were saying, Harry? How did you get in here, by the way?" Draco still looked annoyed.
"How should I know? Found my way, I guess."
"You mean you didn't let him in?!" Millicent and Blaise now looked truly shocked; the other Slytherins had grown quiet and returned to their activities, but Harry knew they were all listening intently.
"Can't we talk somewhere else?" He was growing impatient and uncomfortable; he was not in the mood to solve two mysteries and did not want to lose focus on the more important one.
"What do you need to say to Draco that you can't say in front of us? We don't keep secrets from each other," Blaise put in, his voice suggestive. Harry glared. "We're quite intimate here, Potter. Especially where Draco is concerned."
"Shut up, Blaise. Potter, I don't have time for this-"
"Potter?" Harry couldn't help protesting, even while he heard the hint of a whine in his own voice. You're acting like a wounded lover!
Draco merely raised an eyebrow before he continued.
"What is it? I'm extremely busy, if you must know."
"Oh yeah? Doing what? Fucking Cormac McLaggen? Or maybe fooling around with Zabini here before your next class?" Harry felt heat rising to his cheeks, almost oblivious to the surprised laughter he heard from Blaise. "I came down here to find out what you knew about Parkinson; preferably, where she is, so I can drag her by the hair and leave her at the mercy of Hermione. She doesn't know who she's toying with, Draco. You must know that."
"What the hell are you on about?!" Now Draco really looked angry. If Harry hadn't been so upset on behalf of Hermione, he might actually have regretted upsetting him; not just a few hours before he had missed Draco so terribly he'd been able to do nothing but mope around in his own room. "Nevermind;" Draco was saying, "I don't have to listen to this. I'd advise you to get out right now and go back up to the perch where you belong. Or you can stay down here, for all I care. I have things to do. I'll see you."
"Draco! PANSY POISONED HERMIONE!" Harry shouted, his fists balled up as he chased Draco's retreating back. Draco turned, and looked truly confused. "You heard me! You liar! You fucking liar! You told me you knew nothing about it. And I protected you!" Harry's cheeks burned as he heard hearty laughter all around him now. There was more behind his rage, though, and try as he might deny it, he knew it was going to come to the surface-Shut up and leave, his inner voice advised calmly. Get out, calm down, talk to him about it later. But Harry couldn't stand it; all his pent up frustration and the hurt of Draco's hot and cold behavior was stirring up the agony that had accumulated since he first returned to Hogwarts.
"I don't know anything about it, Harry. I have no idea what you're talking about. I seriously doubt…"
"She did, Draco. She was jealous of Hermione, because of Ron-"
"Now who's telling lies? Pansy, pining after a blood traitor?"
Harry whirled on Millicent, and his wand shook in his hand as he cast some automatic, unintelligible spell at her terrified face. Blaise dove and shoved her out of the way. Draco was suddenly blocking Harry's view, and all he could here was angry shouting from all sides. He had the vague impression that the number of spectators had increased, as he felt stares and whispers behind him.
"LET ME HANDLE THIS!" Draco was screaming hoarsely, as if enraged that anyone would take action without his explicit permission.
"Harry! WE'RE BEHIND YOU!" Ron yelled from behind Harry.
"Stay back!" Harry shouted, turning, and ignored Ron's shocked expression. "This is between me and Draco." He turned back before he could listen to Ron's protests, but not before he'd gotten a glimpse; it seemed suddenly that the entire school was pouring into the hallway behind Slytherin dungeon, and there was no longer any sign of either the door or the green curtain that had magically separated it away from the rest of the floor.
"That's right, Harry!" Draco screamed, his face now patched with red. "You want to have it out with me?! Let's have it out! I want to hear it!" Draco was in his face now, and Harry would later remember feeling nothing but the old feelings of revulsion and hatred as he felt his fury matched by his oldest enemy's. "What's this really about? You're so fucking honest; how about a moment of honesty? Did you make up this stupid story just so you'd have an excuse to come barging in here, demanding answers from me…"
"Harry's not making anything up, Malfoy. You'd better answer for what's happened to Hermione before-" Harry pushed Ron back. A part of him half expected Ron to trample him and make straight for Draco…but Ron stayed just behind him, and Harry could feel him seething.
"Pansy's been sent to the HeadMistress's," a small, female voice that Harry did not recognize said from somewhere behind him. But he didn't care. The Slytherins had gathered behind Blaise, who stood, all with wands pulled, glaring behind Draco. If Harry had been in his right mind, he would have understood the soberness of the situation. It's all out war all over again…
Suddenly, it did hit him; now that Draco was the one demanding answers, Harry found he had no idea what he wanted to say. The situation around Hermione seemingly dissolved, it suddenly felt absurd that he had come here, intruded, brought the entire school to see the spectacle…and how was he going to explain his behavior to McGonagall, who was bound to find out?
Turning on his heel-with great effort of will-Harry walked out of the room. The crowd of students parted slightly to let him through.
"DON'T YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!" Draco roared. Harry kept walking, but he felt Draco pursuing him, shouting threats and sounding as if he were losing his composure. He made it up to the top step before he felt a hand clench painfully at his shoulder, and he spun around, wand pointed at Draco's chin. Draco's was already pointing directly into his left eye. His chest heaved and his breath came out in pants.
"That's right, Harry Potter! Let's have it out! You can't walk away from this. What? You think you have a right to whatever the fuck you want? You think you have a right to me?!"
"Back off, Draco. I'm finished with you." Harry tried to sound calm, but blood pounded in his head. This was really bad…
"YOU'RE?! FINISHED WITH ME?!?! YOU THINK YOU CAN BREAK UP WITH ME?! I'VE BEEN THROUGH WITH YOU!" Whispers, gasps and some obnoxious chuckles filled Harry's ears like a tornado. "YOU NEVER HAD ME, HARRY! Admit it! That's what pisses you off, isn't it?! Do you know how many times I've FUCKED CORMAC SINCE THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU?!?"
"FUCK YOU, DRACO!!!" Harry screamed, out of control, and was humiliated by tears rushing to the corners of his eyes. He was going to kill someone in another second. His hand shook, but his wand drooped the slightest bit. Draco stepped closer, spitting into Harry's face with the force of his words.
"That's right, Harry!!! Can you imagine that? Want to know how many times I've been in Blaise's bed since just this afternoon? But you don't want to hear this, do you? You don't want to believe that anyone could ever turn down the Boy Who Lived-"
"Fuck you, Draco Malfoy," Harry said in a lower tone this time, truly hurt. He dropped his wand with a clatter on the stone hallway and turned blindly, walking briskly in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. This time, he knew, Draco would not follow him.
"Go on, Harry! That's right, walk away with your tail between your legs. Now everybody knows about your little crush. Hope you're happy!!!" Harry couldn't be certain, but he thought he heard a break in Draco's voice. He was too humiliated, too crushed and defeated by the power of his own emotion, however, to believe it. He no longer understood what Draco was shouting, although he was painfully aware that other voices had now entered the fray, and some of them directed derisively at his back. But whatever was happening in the hallway, it wasn't his problem anymore.