Chapter 7: Potion Papers and Parchments
As they approached the castle, Draco became more aware of how odd it would look for him to be holding the hand of Harry Potter. He knew they needed to let go before someone would see them, but he had the hardest time dropping the hand that seemed to anchor him to the planet.
He knew not if there would ever be another opportunity like this, and he also was unsure of what Harry's action truly meant. Friends didn't hold hands, especially not two male ones, but he was almost certain Harry was straight.
However he could not bring himself to end this blissful moment of happiness.
When they finally got to the courtyard, Draco let go and allowed his hand to drop once more to his side, losing the warmth the heat between them had caused.
Neither wanted to part still, though they had spent hours together.
Thinking quickly, as Draco began to turn and murmur a goodbye, Harry called out, "I still haven't finished that bloody paper."
Draco laughed, and Harry relished the sound; he had never heard him sound so at ease. "Yes, because somebody's the slowest writer in all of Hogwarts. Not to mention, you had three days to work on it and you didn't even write your name on the paper."
Harry smiled, loving the easy banter between them now that it was no longer malicious. "You got me there, but either way, I still have to finish it tonight and I think Snape would suspect something if the whole paper was well written and then suddenly my poor excuse for writing as a conclusion."
Draco smirked once more. "Well I can't argue with that iron-clad logic," he said sarcastically, though secretly his heart was beating a mile a minute at the mere thought of spending more time with Harry. "And you really do need my excellent potions skills." He said this with his usual air superiority but he reached out his hand as he did, softly grasping the fingers of the boy before him.
Harry gave them a gentle squeeze, murmuring, "I'll see you in the library after supper?"
He said it as a question though by his tone, Draco recognized that Harry already knew the answer.
He nodded, feeling the rough fingers in his hand once more before walking to the dining hall without another word.
...
Ron ate without Lavender that evening, and Harry enjoyed having his friend's attention for once. Hermione was far less quiet and it almost felt like it had in the earlier years, without the drama and romance and the only worry Harry had was about Voldemort himself.
Harry rolled his eyes, Voldemort was way more drama than Lavender, though he almost preferred his company. Almost.
It was different from the other years because Harry was hardly able to pay attention to the Gryffindor conversation as he continually felt the piercing stare of grey eyes on his face, though he constantly fought the urge to look over there himself.
Harry was nodding quietly, pretending to listen to Hermione ramble on about how excited she was to move on from studying Gillyweed to Venomous Tentacula.
He looked up briefly again, making eye contact with glistening silver eyes as both boys looked back down at their plates, both embarrassed to have been caught staring.
"Harry," Hermione said accusingly, shaking his arm impatiently.
"Sorry, yeah, Venomous Tentacula, it's going to be great," he said as enthusiastically as he could muster. Hermione rolled her eyes but continued with her story.
Finally, supper was finished and Harry could go to the library.
"I'll see you guys at the common room, I still have to finish this rubbish paper," Harry said, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.
"Blimey, Harry, I feel like we haven't seen you all day. Don't you want to work on it in the common room? That way 'Mione can help." With this, Hermione rolled her eyes and glared, as if to say poor, helpless boys, but Harry could see the pride on her face that Ron thought so highly of her.
"No, I'd probably just get distracted," Harry said, trying to hurry the conversation along so he could meet Draco.
"He's right, Ron, besides, I can't always write your essays for you both," Hermione said, secretly glad for the excuse to be with Ron alone.
Harry nodded, and before Ron could protest further, he half ran out of the dining hall, calling a quick, "Catch you both in a bit," over his shoulder.
Breathlessly, he flew to the library and threw himself into a chair in the back, setting his parchment and ink up on the table. He drummed his fingers impatiently on the table, endeavoring to look busy but failing miserably.
He hadn't noticed Draco had walked up until he heard the silky voice. "Impatient to get started, Potter? I never knew you had such a passion for potions," Draco said, a smirk playing on his lips.
Harry couldn't help but grin innocently up at him, and once again Draco was left breathless at the striking beauty that was Harry.
The Gryffindor gestured to the seat across from him, and together they finished the paper within a matter of minutes. Neither was quite ready to leave yet so they stayed, discussing a wide range of topics from potions, which Draco had a real passion for, to Quidditch.
They stayed away from talking about the Dark Lord for Harry was still unsure where Draco stood though he hoped he was no longer under his influence.
Abruptly, Draco changed the topic once more. "I never did apologize, for, uh, breaking your nose beginning of this year," he said, chewing his lip nervously. He wanted to avoid the powerful stare of the green eyes but he found himself unable to tear his gaze away.
But Harry's answer surprised him. "Seriously?"
Draco looked at him confused, about to open his mouth in question, but Harry beat him to it.
"I almost kill you twice in a single year and you're worried about my nose?" He grinned at him and Draco felt a smile twitch his own lips.
"Draco," the name still sent tingles through the Slytherin, "please don't worry yourself about this. It's over, done. We've both started over, remember?"
Draco nodded reassured by his words, but his smile turned dark as they reminded him of something else, his impossible task that he couldn't escape from simply by 'starting over'.
Harry sensed the change but said nothing, trying again for a reassuring smile. He hesitantly reached a hand out across the table, resting it halfway between them, but Draco only looked at it and did nothing.
Pausing a moment, Harry retracted it, wondering what had changed so suddenly.
Harry stood, sensing their time together was over, and he hoped desperately they were not back to where they had started.
Draco stood with him, unsure of what to say. He didn't want him to leave yet. He was so tempted to tell him everything; if anyone could help him, he trusted Harry the most, but he knew the Chosen One had enough problems with Voldemort and he didn't need Draco's too.
So Draco stood there, pleading with the Gryffindor with stormy eyes, but Harry frowned slightly and twisted his hands in front of him.
"Guess I'll see you around, Malfoy," and Draco knew he had lost the only good thing in his life.
...
"Ron, shut up, will you?" Harry said, attempting to maintain attention on Professor McGonagall at the front of the classroom.
He saw Blaise snicker next to Malfoy as he overheard Harry's comment but Draco made no movement, still as marble looking at the paper in front of the classroom.
Ron had been talking about the Harpies game for the entire class but Harry could not focus on the meaningless chatter, his mind was occupied by the blonde sitting two rows in front of him.
He saw Blaise lean over and whisper something to Draco to which he nodded slightly.
Ron continued to rant about the close game when McGonagall cut him off.
"Mr. Weasley, is there something you wish to share with the class?"
"No, Professor," Ron said looking down at his lack of notes, his face as red as his hair.
Blaise coughed on a laugh at this. "Mr. Zabini, since you and Mr. Weasley are having a particularly difficult time focusing, perhaps you need a change in partners. Ronald, change seats with Draco."
"Professor-" Ron looked like he was about to be sick but the witch simply put up a hand to show she did not want to hear about it.
He angrily shook, grabbing his book and parchment and sulking to the desk now occupied solely by Zabini.
He sat down heavily as far as he could get from the other body and looked studiously forward, not acknowledging the other's existence.
Draco, meanwhile, was slowly walking towards Harry, guiltily looking at the floor. He still felt remorseful for the night in the library yet he hadn't spoken to the Gryffindor since.
Draco was so afraid of letting himself get close to someone, or worse still, letting someone get close to him. Especially Harry.
Softly, he sat in Ron's now vacant chair, glancing briefly at Harry's face, but Harry was looking down at the parchment in front of him, scratching something down in his chicken scrawl writing.
Draco placed his own parchment and resumed writing as well as the professor continued to teach.
Draco glanced up again but Harry was still ignoring his presence.
Subtly, making certain McGonagall's back was to them, Draco pulled out another piece of parchment.
On it, he wrote, Are you going to ignore me the entire class? Hesitantly, he slid it across the table to where Harry could read it.
Contemplating a moment, he wrote his response directly below Draco's. You pulled away from me, remember? I thought we were friends.
Draco watched the strong hand as it moved swiftly across the paper, tendons and veins showing as the hand continued.
Draco took the paper back and looked at it for what felt like a very long time. What Harry said was true, he knew that the selfless thing to do would be to pull away from Harry and not let this progress any further, but unfortunately he was very selfish.
You're right. I'm sorry. Draco slid the sheet over and watched the green eyes scan his line over and over again. He bit his lip and looked up into the clear silver ones briefly, giving a half smile before looking down once more and writing his own line below Draco's.
As he pushed the parchment once more to Draco, the blonde reached over, brushing his fingers along Harry's hand, looking pleadingly into the forest green eyes before reading Harry's writing.
Thank you, Draco.
...
