A/N- Hi, I'm back! And absolutely ecstatic with the response for the last chapter! So Thank you to: Aquata, HaruHaruGD, Harlie Rayne, Hoshineku, ChaseAwayMyFears, FloppyWandedDementorBuggerer, and the Anonymous Reviewer! I don't know your name, but I would still like to thank you XD
Chapter Nine- A broken nose
Around lunchtime the next day, a first year Gryffindor nervously handed a roll of parchment to Harry, stating that it had been sent by Professor Snape. Harry had thanked the child, despite the fact that it was from Snape, and the little problem that the kid kept glancing at his long fringe, hoping for a glimpse of his famous scar.
He did not unroll the parchment, as the boy did not leave. He just stood there, nervously twitching his hands, until Harry impatiently asked him what he wanted.
The boy pointed down the noisey corridoor. "Isn't that your boyfriend?"
Harry turned around. Draco was standing still, uncharacteristically allowing Ron to shout at him. Several students from all the houses had joined him, and a crowd was gathering. It was odd that he hadn't heard this earlier- Ron's voice had risen well above the humm of the crowd.
"You stupid Death Eater! You fucking Malfoy prick! You stay away from Harry, you hear me?" Harry was furious. He actually wished that Draco would respond; Ron was keeping up a monologue the whole time Harry was trying to get through the crowd.
When he finally forced his way through, he was absolutely livid. Draco hadn't even opened his mouth to respond, not even once, and people were still joining in.
"Ron! What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"Sorting out Malfoy." Ron spat, as if he thought Harry would approve. It was completely illogical.
"Why? He doesn't need 'sorting out'." Harry was trying to get into his friend's line of sight, but the ginger boy just kept looking around him.
"Yes he does! He must have slipped you a potion!"
Draco laughed darkly. "Unlike you, Weasley, I don't need one."
It was the first sentence Harry had heard from the blonde, and Harry felt an uncharacteristic surge of pride.
"How dare you! Are you implying I forced Hermione to love me?"
"No. She's just too nice a person to properly look at your faults." This was where, in the past, the word mudblood would turn up. The brunnette Gryffindor was ecstatic; Draco was being nice about her.
"However, all I see is a twat that wont except that his best friend is gay. Some friend you are."
Ron could not think of a retort; he knew the blonde was right. But he didn't want to give in. The fact that he'd lost an argument with Malfoy (Which wasn't an argument such as discussion where Ron was confused that Harry was dating Malfoy.) only served to infuriate the red-haired Gryffindor.
Before either Harry or Draco could react, he swung his arm back, then pushed it forward to connect Draco's nose, the sickening crunch, making some of the many spectators wince.
Harry reacted instinctively, moving to shield Draco before letting out his anger, his magic beyond angry, and a wave resulted, the power only hitting Ron, who sailed above all of the other students, moving diagonally until his back hit a wall.
Ignoring the fear he had successfully installed within the audience, he turned around, withdrawing his wand. With one hand, he gently gripped the blonde's chin, and pointed the wand at his nose.
"Episkey." Draco's nose appeared fixed, and Harry gently tapped it to make sure. Draco didn't react to this, and Harry wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
He'd forgotten the charm to get rid of dried blood, so the Gryffindor took some tissues from his pocket, muttering augumenti to wet them. As he was cleaning off the blood, he heard Draco laugh harshly.
"Now both of them have punched me in the face."
Harry laughed, and kissed the end of Draco's newly fixed nose. "Yeah, except when Hermione did it, you deserved it. And that was in third year. Far too long ago to affect you now."
"Mr Potter! Mr Malfoy! Dumbledore's office, now!"
"We may as well live there." Draco commented. They started to walk, and Harry noted Madam Pomfrey levitating Ron to take him to the hospital wing. It made Harry feel guilty, but only a little. No-one punched his Draco and got away with it. And he'd done the damage without really thinking, so it wasn't like he'd tried to hurt him. However, he knew he'd feel really bad talking to Ron later. In the past, no matter how pathetic the argument, he'd always felt bad afterwards.
They arrived promptly at the office, and the door was already opened; Dumbledore was expecting them. When they entered the office, Snape and Lupin were sat close together, Snape writing notes on a piece of parchment. Neither looked up when the two boys arrived, until a severe faced Dumbledore gave his greeting of 'Lemon Drop?'.
Both of them shook their heads; even Draco wasn't fond of the strong sour sweet.
"Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy. How interesting that you're back here so soon."
"Not by choice." Harry mumbled.
"Don't be rude, Harry." Remus said without looking up. Snape finished the last sentence with a neat dot of ink, then they both sat back, giving Harry and Draco an anxious but impressed look.
"Sorry."
Remus nodded.
"Mr Weasley has a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder, a multitude of bruises and a severe concussion. Would either of you care to explain?"
Draco stared at his feet, embarrassed, and Harry sighed. Clearly he would be the one to tell the tale.
"He punched Draco in the face. So, I lost it."
"Very detailed, Harry. Elaborate, please."
"Haven't you already heard it from somebody else?"
"Yes, but I want to hear it from you." Harry suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
"Of course you do. Starting from 'Once Upon A Time'?"
Dumbledore smiled slightly. "Not quite. Though if you could inform us of what caused Mr Weasley to strike Mr Malfoy, it would be greatly appreciated."
"Right. Well, a first year handed me a roll of parchment, then wouldn't leave. So I asked what he wanted. He pointed out Draco, who was being insulted by Ron. I went over there, 'cause I wasn't just going to let him get away with it. He wasn't making any sense. His arguments were disjointed and nonsensical, some weren't even relevant. We both talked to him, he realised Draco was right, couldn't think of a response, and punched him in the nose."
"So, you returned the favour." The headmaster stated.
"No. Well, not really. I didn't touch him. He just made me really angry. He was acting like right twat, and I wished he would just piss off, then I sort of let it all out, and he hit the wall."
"Language, Potter." Snape was completely shocked, but that did not stop him from finding fault with Harry's explanation.
"I don't see any damage to your nose, Mr Malfoy. How hard was the punch?" Dumbledore frowned. Poppy had not mentioned having to heal Malfoy, something she undoubtably would have included if he'd been badly injured. Minerva had said his nose was broken though; maybe she hadn't seen clearly?
"Broke it. I think. It made a horrible sound, and there was blood everywhere."
"Blood everywhere. It was far worse when you broke mine." Harry snickered. Draco had always had a flare for the dramatic.
"You broke Harry's nose? When was this?" Remus was concerned.
"Sixth year."
"That was a particularly violent year for both of you." Snape added.
"Yeah, well. Thank merlin I hadn't used that spell on Ron back there. I wasn't thinking at all."
"You used it on me, but you wont use it on Weasel?" Draco was insulted.
"I didn't know what it did. If I had known it would nearly kill you, I wouldn't have used it. You know that." Harry had gone back to looking guilty. He had always been very sorry he'd used the spell, only knowing it was meant for enemies.
"Yeah, right. You hated me then."
"You know that's not true."
Draco tried to respond, but couldn't. That sentence was so close to Harry saying that he had liked Draco, even in his 'Death Eater year'.
"If we could get back on topic, boys. Did Madam Pomfrey heal you?"
"No. Harry did."
The adults turned to Harry with renewed expressions of interest. He just shrugged in response.
"I remembered the spell from when Tonks fixed my nose."
"That's astonishing. Using healing magic with a spell you've seen once."
Harry shrugged again. He hadn't thought of its level of difficulty. He had just wanted to fix up his boyfriend. Remus looked at him with pride. It must have been nice for him to hear a little of Harry doing something good.
"Unfortunately, boys, I cannot condone violence among pupils. It was an argument between friends and rivals, not a life-threatening situation. Such a reaction was not acceptable from yourselves or from Mr Weasley. All three of you will be serving a detention with Proessor Snape within the next two weeks."
"Two weeks?" Harry had been given a great number of detentions in the past, and they were rarely so far away from the date of the offence.
"Yes. I assumed that neither of you would wish for detention alongside Mr Smith."
"He has two weeks of detention?" Draco sniggered.
"Yes. While you two were the subjects of the picture, he knowingly took and submitted a picture of sexual content to a class of students. It was necessary for him to be punished for this."
Both the Slytherin and his Gryffindor companion nodded solemnly, though their amusement was not entirely masked.
"Oh, Potter? You and Draco are going to London on saturday. I assumed you still had yet to read the parchment. I explained the trip to others that were grouped with you after you had both left."
"Ace. Yes, I haven't read it. But I was going to."
Snape smirked. Properly smirked. "Of course you were, Potter."
"I was. If I had time. And remembered."
"Which means he probably wouldn't have." Draco's smirk was quite similar to his godfather's.
"Thanks a bunch. I thought you were meant to be on my side." Harry pulled a face at the blonde.
"Only when you're right."
The bell rang, signalling the beginning of afternoon lessons, and both boys automatically reached for their timetables. The problem for Harry wasn't so much remembering his lessons as working out if there was anywhere he needed to be. He was only taking three NEWT's, DADA, Transfiguration, and thanks to his Snape's book back in sixth year, potions.
He quickly noted he didn't have a lesson for another hour. The one lesson he had that afternoon was defence, and he had done Professor Dakren's homework two days ago.
Placing the paper back into his pocket, the Gryffindor turned back to Dumbledore. The Hogwarts headmaster waited until he had Draco's attention too before speaking once more.
"I'm sure you both have work to be done. I need to speak to Professor Snape and Lupin. So let's just say that you two will not be sent here again anytime soon, and we'll leave it at that."
Harry simply nodded, and Draco offered a more polite 'Of course, Sir.'. Then they left the office together, heading straight towards the library without thought. Neither of their common rooms would have been particularly welcoming, anyway.
*0o0o0*
Unlike many other young couples in the library, Harry and Draco concentrated on the books, pleased to have such a normal moment, sat beside each other, and yet completely absorbed in their individual reading material.
Though the Gryffindor was not impressed when he saw the cover of one of the many books Draco had picked up.
'Harry Potter, the life and the lies.' The blonde had seemed to find it funny. Harry was a little concerned that the book apparently had quotes from him in it; he hadn't even known there was a proper bloody book about him.
When the bell went once again, Harry was a little sadened. He had to go to defence, and he would much rather have spent the entire afternoon in the library with Draco.
They silently packed up their books, calm for the first time in days and headed to Defence Against The Dark Arts.
A/N- I am sorry that this chapter is rather short DX Especially since the response to the last chapter was so positive. However, I do offer a preview of the next chapter!
You're going to get: 1- Remus teaching again.
2- Harry, Draco, Blaise and Seamus shopping in Muggle London. I hope this is at least something to look forward to.
Please leave a comment, I adore all your little remarks, reviews and general opinions!
