Thanks for the reviews/faves/alerts…they mean a lot to me. Last chap's reviews got me laughing…beauty and the beast…a closet sap XD
I'd love it if you'd take me to 50 reviews now…
Disclaimer- I don't even live in the UK…
"Draco, I'm bored!" Harry yawned the next afternoon. It was raining outside, the sky was a dreary dark grey.
"Well, I wasn't the one who told you to take a two month holiday!" Draco said, not looking up from the huge tome that he was reading.
"What do you get from reading so much?!" Harry cried out exasperatedly.
Draco shrugged, still not looking up, "It keeps boredom away at least…"
"But I am bored and I don't want to read anything!" Harry said, failing to keep the whine out of his tone.
"Merlin, you sound like a child! What would you have done if I wasn't there?"
Harry blinked, "Err…I really dunno…"
Draco looked at him incredulously, "You had no plans? Absolutely none?"
Harry grinned sheepishly, "I was thinking of going out somewhere on a vacation, but I've dropped the plan now."
Draco smirked, "You can leave the house. I won't do anything."
"But I hate traveling alone..."
Draco folded his hands across his chest, "You don't like reading, you don't like traveling, what do you like then?!"
"Quidditch," Harry answered immediately and Draco sighed.
"Feel free to use my pitch to enact a match…again."
"But I'm bored of doing that too!"
"Then get back to your job!" Draco snapped.
"You're so useless!" Harry snapped back.
"Excuse me, but its not my job to entertain you!"
"I was just asking for some suggestions!"
"And I gave them to you! What should I do if you're so interest-less!"
"That's not even a word!" That was the first retort that came to Harry's mind.
"Oh just shut up!"
"If you're so intolerable as a ghost I wonder how you were when you were alive!"
"He wasn't that bad really…" said a voice and both of them whirled around.
A tall black boy was standing in the doorway, "Sorry, didn't mean to barge in like this. Your house elf let me in."
"Blaise…" Draco's tone was flat.
"This is unexpected," Harry said, clearly stunned to see a former classmate after so many years, and that too Blaise Zabini of all people, "Please, sit down."
Blaise did so, gazing at Draco all the while.
"Thanks for coming, Blaise." Draco said, glancing at Harry.
Blaise looks at Harry too, "Its no big deal."
Draco made no response and Blaise cleared his throat and continued.
"Your father told me that you have a new house owner. I didn't know it was Harry though. Your dad also mentioned that…its been almost three weeks and you still haven't…"
The uncomfortable silence was tangible. Harry couldn't help but notice how the two were sneaking glances at him every now and then.
"Is anything the matter?" he spoke up finally. The tea that Dobby had brought in had become cold.
"Nothing" Draco said abruptly.
Liar. But Harry didn't want a confrontation in front of Blaise.
"Harry, I'd like to speak to Blaise alone please." It was more of an order than a request. His tone didn't leave any room for argument.
"Fine," Harry muttered, striding out of the room. He went straight up to his bedroom, feeling slightly bitter. What was it with Draco? Why did he suddenly start acting all secretive? Does he not trust me? Harry started pacing around his bedroom.
After a while, Draco slid into Harry's bedroom through the floor.
"Harry." He said when his presence went unacknowledged.
Harry stiffened, "Don't bother telling me what went on down there…"
"I came to tell you about it actually…" Draco sounded slightly hurt. Harry looked up at him in surprise. "I can tell you weren't expecting this…"
Harry was embarrassed, "I- sorry…"
Draco sighed, "Don't be."
"So?" Harry prompted when Draco didn't say anything.
"I had told you that my friends had stopped visiting me as the years passed, remember?"
Harry nodded.
"By friends, I meant Blaise and Pansy…and sometimes my parents too. And well, they didn't stop visiting me, I asked them to stop…"
Harry was perplexed, "Why?"
"I didn't want to be reminded of what I was missing out on! And I hated seeing those tears and sympathetic glances each time they came! I was sick of it, and hence I told them to stop visiting. And if they did persist, I usually didn't show myself…"
Harry was quiet, he thought it was prudent not to comment before he knew the whole situation.
"And then my parents sold this house…god, how I hated them for it. Hell, if I couldn't bear being with Blaise, how would I stand some other unknown person! It wasn't easy being dead and not dead as well! So, I decided to kick them out. Thus began a sort of cycle, old owner gets kicked out, sells the house to a new person and that person gets kicked out as well. I was sending out a clear message that I wanted to be left alone…
"I invited Blaise today, because I wanted to apologize to him for behaving so. I had invited Pansy too, but she decided not to come…" Draco still wasn't looking at Harry.
"And?"
"He did ask me why I was behaving so, if I had finally accepted the fact that I was dead…"
"You answered him?" Harry questioned quietly.
Draco nodded, head snapping up to gaze at Harry, "Yes, I told him I had. It didn't matter if I was alive or dead. He asked me if you had something to do with it. I told him its because you never treated me as a ghost. That whenever you're around, I feel alive again…"
Lightning forked across the sky, suddenly brightening the room. Harry held Draco's gaze…
"I won't run away anymore, Harry…"
"You are such a fool…" Harry said softly, "pushing away the ones closest to you. First, they had to deal with your death and second, when you did decide to remain back, you hurt them again! That is so selfish of you!"
Draco grinned sheepishly, "Heh, that's me, isn't it? Self-centered, arrogant and cold."
"For the first time, I agree with you completely."
"Thank you…"
"Eh?"
"You made me realize what a complete arse I had been. It didn't matter to them either if I was a ghost. It was just me being thick."
"Surprising, I agree with you once again!" Harry started laughing, and Draco joined in. The sound of their laughter reached down to the living room where Blaise was still sitting. It was strange that a complete stranger had managed to get through to Draco when he himself had failed. He made Draco feel alive again, did he? A small smile played on Blaise's lips, he wondered what would've happened if Draco had been at Hogwarts.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Harry's voice broke into Blaise's amusing thoughts.
"It's alright," the boy said, getting up, "I guess I'd better get going."
"Oh nonsense, you've just arrived," Harry said, "would you like something to drink?"
"No, thanks. I really should-"
"Stay, Blaise. We have a lot of catching up to do."
Blaise looked at Draco, then sat down again, "Coffee please…"
Another chapter done! I'll be honest…I don't like writing sappy Draco…blergh.
Um…and zerocrash, can you please point out the misprint of the last chapter?
Reviews are loved!
Cheers!
