Disclaimer-I don't own Harry Potter guys.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to review and I am aware that I make the odd spelling error and such (I am a muggle after all) but I'm too lazy to go back and correct them so you'll just have to excuse it.
Now on with the chapter…
Chapter 4-Of Lovers Past
Mounting his broomstick, Harry looked up at the blonde haired figure above him before kicking off the ground. He flew up and speedily caught up with Malfoy.
The Slytherin came to an abrupt stop and hovered in the air looking incredulously at the Gryffindor.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He hissed at the green-eyed boy.
"I fancied getting some air." Harry replied as he hovered close by. "What's the problem Malfoy? There's plenty of room for both of us."
"Whatever." Draco replied halfheartedly before zooming off through the air again.
It didn't take Draco too long to realise Potter was following behind him. Annoyed he dived downwards back to the ground. His feet landed perfectly and he gracefully stepped off of his broom. Not a moment after, Potter landed beside him and Draco growled in frustration.
"What now?" Draco hollered as he glared at the golden boy.
"I just thought maybe we could…talk." Harry mumbled pathetically.
"Have you recently taken a bludger to the head Potter?" Draco asked rhetorically. "In case you'd forgotten you and I do not talk so just bloody well leave me alone."
Malfoy stalked off back to the castle and Harry sighed as he watched him leave; he really wasn't getting anywhere with his mission.
Climbing back onto his broom, Harry rocketed upwards again and soared through the sky. He wasn't entirely sure why he was so keen to solve the intricate puzzle that was Draco Malfoy; he just knew that he had to. There was a tiny voice inside him constantly whispering for him to help the death eater's son, a voice that was gradually getting louder.
When the temperature got a little colder and the wind began to feel as though it was biting into his flesh, Harry returned to the castle and put his broomstick away before going to the Great Hall for dinner.
He sat beside Hermione and opposite Ron and was having a casual discussion with them both before remembering that he was angry with his two best friends. When he did recall that little detail he planned to suddenly ignore them but when Ginny walked in he realised he was going to need Hermione's help.
The pretty redhead smiled at Harry as she past before sitting with her friends down the other end of the table. They all leaned their heads in together and Ginny whispered something that caused the other girls to giggle and look over in Harry's direction.
"Um, Hermione?" Harry asked. "I kind of need your help with something."
"If it's about Malfoy…" Hermione began but Harry shook his head.
"It's not." He told her. "It's something else."
"What is it mate?" Ron asked through a mouthful of food.
Harry hesitated slightly; he couldn't possibly ask Hermione for advice on how to deal with Ginny in front of her older brother.
"You know what, it doesn't matter." Harry said as he cast Hermione a significant look that she understood to mean that they'd discuss it later.
She changed the topic to distract Ron from questioning Harry further and they continued to eat. Predictably, Ron and Hermione began bickering about something completely ridiculous and Harry took the time to look across the hall at the Slytherin table.
Once again Draco was seated apart from everyone else hardly touching his plate of food. He sensed Potter's gaze on him and lifted his head to glare at him darkly. The look was supposed to make Potter recoil and avert his eyes but he seemed totally unabashed as he continued to observe the blonde.
For a short while Draco tried to ignore the emerald green eyes that were trained on him but it made him feel far too uncomfortable and he was soon on his feet and storming out the hall.
Hearing footsteps behind him he whipped his head around and drew his wand expecting to face Potter. However, it was not the boy-who-lived he found himself pointing his wand at but Professor Lupin.
The werewolf stepped closer to him with a curious expression on his face and Draco promptly lowered his wand.
"Is everything alright Draco?" Lupin asked concernedly as he surveyed his pupil.
"All is fine sir." Draco replied not quite meeting the older man's eye.
"Are you sure?" Lupin asked. "You haven't seemed like yourself for some time now."
"I'm fine." Draco told him.
"If you ever need anyone to talk to Draco, I am here." Lupin said kindly.
"I'm fine." Draco repeated a little more forcefully. "Why can't people just leave me alone? First saint Potter's sticking his ugly nose in then that loony Lovegood girl and now you. Who's next? Neville Longbottom."
Lupin looked at him strangely when he mentioned Harry's name but Draco was too wound up to notice and after getting out his little rant he carried on his way back to the Slytherin common room.
Walking briskly down the corridors, Remus Lupin made his way to Snape's office. He rapped his knuckles twice on the door and waited for the Potions Master to permit him entry.
When he heard him call for him to enter he stepped inside and softly closed the door behind him. Severus Snape looked up from his desk and greeted the werewolf with his customary sneer.
"What do you want Lupin?" He asked as he wrote a spiky black D on a student's abysmal essay.
"Have you noticed any change in either Harry or Draco lately?" Lupin asked as he invited himself to sit down.
"No." Snape replied briskly. "Thank you for stopping by Lupin now I'm sure you can show yourself out."
Lupin was used to Snape's cold attitude and merely rolled his eyes as he made himself more comfortable in his chair.
"I believe the two of them are deeply troubled by something." Lupin said.
"Well of course they are." Snape replied tersely. "Potter has the Dark Lord out for his blood and Draco's father is in Azkaban whilst his mother is slowly drinking herself to death."
"I think it's something else." Lupin told him. "Something to do with each other."
"You seem to be under the impression that I care Lupin." Snape said snidely. "I can assure you now that I don't."
"Liar." Lupin replied causing the Potions teacher to look up.
The two Professors stared at one another, Snape glaring into Lupin's honey coloured eyes and Lupin drowning in Snape's black pools. Snape was the first to break eye-contact and returned his attention to the parchment in front of him.
"I know you care about people Severus." Lupin told him. "Draco and Harry included."
"I don't want to see them dead." Snape said. "That is all."
"What about me?" Lupin asked quietly.
"What about you?" Snape retorted harshly.
"Do you still care for me?" The gentle werewolf asked. "Like you used to back when we were students."
"That was a long time ago." Snape pointed out as he hid his face behind his curtain of black hair.
"Now Severus, that didn't answer my question." Lupin commented as he left his seat and came to stand behind the other man.
"What do you expect me to say?" Snape asked still not looking at him. "You left me remember? For that mangy mutt of all people and let's not forget the fact you almost ate me."
"You can hardly blame me for that." Lupin argued.
"I don't. I blame Black." Snape told him. "But you still left me."
"Don't you dare blame this all on me Severus." Lupin fired back sounding uncharacteristically angry. "When you learned the truth about my lycanthropy you could hardly look at me let alone bring yourself to touch me. If I tried to touch you you'd flinch away, if I made to kiss you then you'd turn your head. Can you really blame me for leaving you for someone who could accept me for what I was?"
Snape didn't answer, not that he'd been expecting him to, he just continued grading his papers acting as though Lupin wasn't there. After a while, Lupin left the ex-death eater turned spy to it and headed back to his own office.
Once dinner had finished, Harry, Ron and Hermione headed back to Gryffindor tower. Neville challenged Ron to a game of chess and the two boys sat down to play which was the perfect distraction the other two needed to get away and talk privately.
They climbed out of the portrait hole and found themselves an empty classroom. After locking the door and casting a silencing charm upon it, Hermione perched herself on a desk and faced Harry.
"Ok, tell me what's going on." She said.
"It's Ginny." Harry replied with a slight groan. "She asked me to go to Hogsmeade with her and I said yes but…I think she thinks it's some sort of…date." He whispered the last word fearfully.
"Well if you're worried about what Ron thinks you should…" Hermione began but trailed off when Harry shook his head.
"It's not that." He told her as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I mean Ginny's pretty and everything and I like her but…not in that way. She's like a little sister to me."
"Then why did you agree to go out with her?" Hermione asked as she frowned at him.
"I didn't mean to." Harry replied. "She put me on the spot and I panicked. Now I don't know what I'm supposed to do. If I try and sort it myself I'll end up hurting her feelings and she'll cast her bat-bogey hex on me."
"Look, how about when you meet up with Ginny, Ron and I tag along as well." Hermione suggested.
"What good will that do?" Harry asked her. "It'll just be like a double date."
"Don't be ridiculous of course it won't." Hermione told him as a pink tinge took hostage of her cheeks.
"Herms, everybody knows you're hopelessly in love with Ron, there's no point in denying it." He said.
"That's not true." Hermione objected. Harry just cocked an eyebrow at her. "It's not." She insisted. "Ron doesn't realise how I feel."
"Ok fine, everyone besides Ronald knows." Harry agreed. "But still, if you two tag along with me and Ginny it's just going to be like a double date."
"I suppose you're right." Hermione admitted. "I'm sure Neville would be happy to hang around with us. Then it will be like a group of friend's thing."
"Yeah, yeah that could work." Harry said with a smile starting to relax.
"But you'll still need to explain to Ginny at some point that you aren't interested in her." Hermione told him causing Harry to tense up again.
"Any chance of you doing that for me?" Harry asked meekly.
"Harry Potter, you've faced Voldemort, death eaters, dragons and dementors yet you're too scared to turn down Ginny Weasely?" She asked as she shook her head at him.
"Well you've faced death eaters and stuff too." Harry said. "But you still don't have the guts to tell Ron how you feel."
"Fine, let's make a deal." Hermione told him as she moved off the desk and stood behind him with an air of determination about her. "If you tell Ginny that you aren't interested then I'll tell Ron that I am."
"Deal." Harry said holding out his hand.
She gripped Harry's palm in her own and they shook on their spoken agreement. Harry smiled at her before heading out of the door and Hermione suddenly wished she had kept her mouth shut rather than make such a deal.
Meanwhile, Draco was alone in his dormitory looking at the black tattoo that marred the pale flesh of his arm. Feeling sick, he hurried to the adjoining bathroom and knelt by the toilet before vomiting into the bowl. He gasped and spluttered before another chunk of puke journeyed up his throat before splashing into the loo. Briefly wondering what he was puking up, since he hadn't eaten properly for a few days, Draco grabbed for a few pieces of tissue and wiped his mouth.
Heaving himself up he flushed the chain and watched his vomit swirl away down the toilet. Taking a few deep gasps of air he walked to he sink and swilled his mouth out with water from the tap, washing his face in the process. He then cleaned his teeth to get rid of the foul taste that still lingered in his mouth.
Teeth clean and breath fresh, he glanced back down at the ugly mark on his arm. He held his arm under the tap and turned the water on full force before reaching for a bar of soap and frantically scrubbing at it. His skin was red raw and the water was now scalding hot. With a yelp he wrenched his arm away before turning the tap off. He toweled his arm dry with such force that he left himself with friction burn.
Moving back to the dormitory and sitting down on his bed, the blonde looked once more at his arm. To his disgust his skin was an angry shade of red with the black dark mark still staring up at him.
To Be Continued
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