Warnings: Slash, boys kissing boys, the works
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or its characters…that's all J. K. Rowling's doing…don't yell
AN: Why this chapter is up so late - I had writer's block
Why this chapter is up so late (extended version) - I had absolutely no clue what to write, and on top of that I was busy with work so I didn't spend much time on the computer. Then, out of the blue, the plot bunny just…hit me... Well, actually it was a branch that hit me in the head while I was thinking about the story…which then caused Ace to burst out laughing and call it a 'plot branch'. For those of you who don't know who Ace is…let's just say he's my best friend. In any case, I started writing…with the readers in mind. I've gotten a few comments telling me the chapters should be longer. Well, it just works a lot better for me if I make the chapters short, but I will try to up the length. Those of you that aren't bored yet and STILL reading what I have to say…this is for you. An extra-long chapter with hopefully a lot of fun
'Please let this work, please let this work.' Harry chanted in his mind, holding one last newt eye over his bubbling cauldron. If he did everything right then, after adding this last ingredient the potion should be turning green. Of course, he wasn't entirely sure if he did everything right but by the looks of it things were going much better than usual.
" Now or never." The Gryffindor mumbled to himself, dropping the newt eye into the translucent liquid. To his surprise, the potion started slowly changing color, reaching a deep forest green, causing the boy to grin to himself. "It worked…I can't believe it worked."
"Neither can I, Potter." The potions master grumbled, who had just approached the benches, making his usual tour through the classroom. He eyed the potion wearily with an expression composed of confusion and suspicion. "The side-effects will be dreadful…even you should know not to add so much Wizard's Nettle. " he added, to which Harry pouted slightly. " Well…it's not exactly right…but it'll work right? So it should count." The boy replied with a nod. He only got another sneer in reply before Snape moved on to the next cauldron.
It took a while for the fact to sink in, that, Snape didn't even yell this time. Or give him detention. Or make him stay late and clean up the lab. This would go down as a small victory in Harry's book. He'd have to remember to thank Draco later…maybe it wouldn't be so bad staying with him after all…if he could continue to act civil of course. There was still the problem with Ron, but he had made up his mind to confront him at lunch.
As the Gryffindor thought to himself, he almost didn't notice the blonde glancing sideways at him. He mouthed another quick 'thanks' before turning his gaze to the professor who was now starting on his lecture, cloak billowing behind him as always. Somehow, Harry always imagined Snape in a superman costume at the sight…and he did seem like the type to wear a cape just…not tights. The boy chuckled to himself, noting that if he imagined Snape in the costume the class wasn't half bad.
It didn't take too long for lunch to roll around and as Harry walked towards the great hall he mentally prepared himself for a grueling one-sided argument with Ron. When he entered the large room he could spot Draco arguing with Pansy out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but laugh. Well, it looked like neither of them were going to get a quiet lunch. Sadly he was sure Draco was going to have it much easier than he…after all, fighting with an annoying classmate was one thing. But fighting with an annoying, pig-headed, insult-throwing friend? No- best friend?
Still, he was snapped out of his thoughts by a familiar voice calling his name.
" Harry! There you are. I wanted to talk to you." Hermione called out when she spotted the Gryffindor, causing him to jump slightly. She got up to meet him halfway into the great hall, seemingly wanting to prevent him from getting close to Ron. " Seamus and I talked to Ron last night…I think he's a bit more open-minded now, but I think he's still going to get angry if you try to explain things to him. About that Harry, why are you staying with Malfoy? Did Dumbledore tell you anything else?" Hermione was asking, excited and chattering as always.
Harry frowned at that. He didn't exactly want to go into explaining why he and Draco were sharing a set of rooms, not even sure how Hermione would react to that. " Ah. Well…no, Dumbledore didn't tell me anything else." The raven hared boy mumbled. It wasn't a lie, it was just not telling the whole truth. He knew he could trust her, but he didn't even know the situation himself, so he wouldn't say anything until then. " And what do you mean, talked to Ron? I thought he wouldn't listen to anyone." He added, somewhat confused.
Hermione looked slightly uncomfortable at that. " Well..Seamus hit him." She replied with a small shrug. Harry had to hold back a laugh. " I see…well, I'm going to try talking to him…wish me luck." He added then, starting to walk towards his usual spot with a sigh. He paused when he was across from Ron, not sitting down yet. " I'm sorry Seamus hit you...can we talk?" he asked then, watching the red hared teen look up with something dangerously close to insanity. " Fine." The other spat out, standing to pace out of the great hall, not even waiting for Harry. The Gryffindor let out a small sigh before following.
Draco spent almost the entire day on the empty Quidditch field. He didn't bother going to the rest of his classes, since both Harry and the Weasel missed two in a row; it was already obvious that they were out arguing with eachother. But a two hour long argument? He let out a small sigh as he dodged another bludger. Playing this game was so much easier when you had wings...
He didn't even know why he was out here, he didn't need to fidget over Potter, yet here he was, dodging bludgers aimlessly just waiting for…he didn't even know what he was waiting for, but he wasn't about to spend half a day in boring classes without Potter to annoy.
Flying was hard to control. Sometimes he fell if he lost concentration…his wings were hard to control, he'd fall almost to the ground before his subconscious kicked in and saved him. The first time he thought he was going to die and was cursing himself through the fall for forgetting his wand. What good would a Malfoy be if he was killed by falling on a Quidditch field. Stupid Veela.
Then again, everything about these 'new abilities' was hard to control. Come to think of it, the only time he was ever at ease now was around the Gryffindor…Somehow all the abilities just…calmed down around him. It still annoyed him to no end that he was stuck with Potter, but he found it was a lot easier just being civil.
It was also annoying that he was always so uncomfortable and freezing when the other wasn't around, but that was more because the idiot had gotten himself attacked and activated some of the Veela traits early. All in all he supposed it was better this way, to have some idea of what was coming then to have it all sprung on him the day he turned seventeen.
Harry was just trudging outside to the Quidditch field wanting to get some fresh air. The argument with Ron hadn't lasted too long, but afterwards he'd spent his day running around the school looking for him since the boy just ran off. He needed a break, and the Quidditch field was just the place. What he didn't expect to see there was the blonde Slytherin, flying around with the bludgers loose. There was one bludger that looked particularly close to hitting him before the boy avoided it.
" Malfoy. Are you trying to kill yourself because I can think of much less messier ways." Harry called out to the other, to which Draco turned, startled. He drifted back to the ground with a roll of his eyes, his scale-like wings folding behind him with a magical shimmer. " I was not trying to kill myself Potter, that's just your observational skills missing most of the action." The blonde retorted.
Harry didn't really listen to the comment however, as he was reminded of that attack from Crabble and Goyle by the pair of red wings. He'd spent a while wondering who those wings could have belonged to and had actually never seen Draco with them. Now he realized that the Slytherin was actually the one who saved him. " Are..you still alive?" the Slytherin added, raising an eyebrow at the other's vacant expression.
" Cool." Harry mumbled, moving forward and reaching out to brush his fingers past the feathers. The wings looked so…comfy." They look like scales…but it's soft." He added with a small smile, that fading instantly as he accidentally plucked one of the feathers off. He stared at the small red feather left in his hand with dread. " Aw. Crap. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it, are you okay?" Harry started, causing the Slytherin to roll his eyes again. " It was an accident, I could try to fix it with a spell but I think the side effects wouldn't be good and.."
" Potter." Draco said, since that seemed to be the only way to get his attention. It's like losing a hair…it doesn't hurt, I didn't even notice it, and it happens all the time, just like your owl, stop….flailing like that." He added, pausing for a moment to let the information sink in before continuing with a sigh. " Don't you have class right now?"
Harry harrumphed at that. " I could ask you the same thing!" he said indignantly, crossing his arms as he raised an eyebrow. " You go first," the Gryffindor demanded sternly. " Fine. I was playing Quidditch to warm up because I was freezing and I got bored of class so I skipped, your turn." Draco answered flatly, gesturing vaguely with one hand as he spoke.
" Yeah…I skipped too…this is becoming a condition..we're both going to end up as dropouts." Harry mumbled more to himself with a hint of dread in his voice. " Anyways." He cleared his throat before speaking. " I tried talking to Ron again and he..well, said something that kind of worried me and then..took off. I've been looking for him since..Searched all over the place too, nothing.." the raven hared boy added with frown. " Go on." Draco prompted, mildly interested.
" Well, at first he was just being a git but then I think everything started to sink in and he realized that I was in fact not 'conspiring against him'.." Harry started, putting a mocking twist on the word 'conspiring'. " So then he got the idea that you tricked me into staying with you because you want to hand me over to Voldemord and then decided that he was going to go and 'fix everything for me' and frankly the 'fixing' part is the one that has me worried." He finished, slightly out of breath from saying all of that in one go. " He's delirious I don't know what he'll try to do.."
" Fixing it implies that he'll interact with either you or myself to set this little plan of his into motion, which he hasn't done yet, meaning he's still 'plotting' and considering this is Weasel we're talking about…I'm not worried." Draco drawled, rolling his eyes yet again. Harry paused for a moment at that, shrugging slightly. " I guess you're right…and I can't find him anyway…should we just go back? It's no use heading to the last…ten minutes of class now." He added with a sigh.
" Why were you freezing anyway? Don't you control fire, and wouldn't these keep you warm too?" Harry asked, curious, still holding the small red feather. The Gryffindor had hung onto it, even after Draco had told him several times that it didn't hurt and to just stop panicking. " We can see waves of magic and have more control over that than wizards, that's it. The ability to control fire is a reflection of our mate's support. No support, no controlling fire." Draco answered bluntly, walking briskly ahead of him. They were both headed back to the rooms after one final, unsuccessful search for Ron.
" Oh." Harry mumbled, feeling slightly guilty. In a way, he didn't want to make anyone suffer or anything like that, but he still wanted a choice in the way he lived. This whole Veela thing seemed too…final. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear his mind of the thoughts. " So you're just cold all the time then?" he continued with a small frown. " Most of the time, yes. Without our mates we will literally freeze to death…unfair, isn't it?" he added, voice emotionless.
" Yeah…but being told you either have to be with a person that was your enemy ever since you can remember and has treated you like dirt or kill them isn't fair either." Harry retorted with a huff, speeding up his pace to match the other's.
" You chose me as your enemy."
" You were mean."
" You were stupid."
" No I wasn't"
"Yes you were."
"Nno" Harry retorted, dragging out the word and making it seem like it contained two syllables instead of one. " I wasn't"
" Yes. You were Potter. And don't you say you weren't. We'll start sounding like five-year-olds soon."
Harry chuckled at that. " Start?" he added with a small laugh.
It was strange how at ease he could feel around the Slytherin now, but he couldn't say that he minded the change. The whole 'be his mate or kill him' thing was still making him uncomfortable, but he'd decided to just take things one at a time. For now, the focus was on just getting used to sharing a set of rooms with Draco, and that was going quite well. When he wasn't being so pig-headed, the other was actually pretty good company.
When they'd gotten down to the dungeons to the portrait of Nicholas Flammel that guarded the entrance to their rooms, Draco mumbled the password, raising an eyebrow expectantly when the painting didn't budge. " For what it's worth." The portrait started. " I feel sorry for you." The man mumbled before the painting slid to the side to reveal the room.
" What was that about?" Harry asked, confused, trying to think of what the man could have meant. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a low, guttural growl that was more menacing than any he'd heard before, and it was coming from the blonde. " I don't know what he meant, but that Weasly of yours somehow got into our rooms, his stench is on everything." The Slytherin added, stepping through the door with a murderous expression.
" Wait, what?" Harry added as he followed, confused. " How could he, he doesn't know the password…he couldn't have gotten in-..RON?" Harry started, and then finished with a small, shocked gasp as he found the Gryffindor sitting on their couch, arms crossed and glaring at Draco. " How…why…what are you doing-" he started, but was now cut off by a very angry Veela.
" Weasley. I think you're a bit lost. Get out, before I hurt you." Draco said, his tone icy as he glared at the obnoxious teenager on the couch. What bothered him most was not the intrusion but the fact that everything now smelled like him. Since some of his abilities had awakened his sense of smell was much stronger, and though he found Harry's scent somewhat soothing, this one was abysmal.
" Actually, I'm not lost, I live here now…" Ron answered indignantly, adding on a small smirk as he continued to glare at the Slytherin. Harry blinked at that, shaking his head. " I'm sorry, I just hallucinated there, what?" he started, at a loss for words. What, did the other just wake up and decide to switch rooms, just on a whim??
" Yep. I went to Dumbledore, told him all about how Malfoy's trying to manipulate you and suggested that you need my help, so now I officially live here to keep him away from you…and here's the letter from Dumbledore in case you thought it was too good to be true…face it Malfoy, you can't kick me out now." He added, sticking out his tongue to the Veela while holding up the piece of folded parchment from the Headmaster.
Harry and Draco were both silent for a few moments, Harry trying to stop himself from screaming and Draco trying to stop himself from murdering the boy. " Where are you even going to sleep?" Harry started then, hoping to reason with him. " This was designed for two people y'know, and you can't have the couch since that's where I do my homework.." he pushed.
" That's okay, I already figured that out, all my stuff is already in your room, we can share a bed right Harry? " Ron added with a nod. " We're dreaming, right, this is just a nightmare?" the blonde whispered to Harry, dread clouding his voice. " I wish." The other replied with a sigh.
" Great, now Ron disappeared too, where are they…do you think they're fighting still." Hermione was saying, pacing around the Gryffindor common room, a large book in her hand. Since there was not much she could do to help harry at the moment she was trying to do research on that strange, dragon-like creature she'd seen with him earlier.
Seamus, who was sitting in one of the chairs, sighed loudly. " I don't know…I just hope that that punch set Ron straight…he can be so hard-headed sometimes.." he added, though silently he just wished he'd hit him harder…that boy was really being an idiot now.
" It's really late…are you still going to stay up to try to figure this all out Hermione?" he asked then, stifling a yawn. He only got a small nod in reply, as the girl was already immersed in one of the books. " Allrighty then, I'm going to go get some sleep…if we're lucky, we'll wake up tomorrow to find this was just one really weird dream." He added then, though he knew that wouldn't happen.
Draco Malfoy was pacing around his room, the letter from Dumbledore clutched in his hand. He'd been trying to find some loophole, something that would allow him to kick that annoying Gryffindor out of their rooms for good, but to no avail. He was only getting more and more frustrated, and the fact that everything carried Weasley's scent was making him nauseous.
Just then, there was a soft knock on his door, accompanied by Harry's quiet voice. " Draco?" The Slytherin raised an eyebrow, but went over to open the door, only to find a red-eyed, frowning Harry with his covers bunched up under one of his arms. " I'm sorry. But he's driving me insane…can I just stay here for the night, please? I'll sleep on the floor and make no noise, promise, it's just, he snores and he moves constantly and kicks…really hard, I think I have bruises." The raven hared boy added, his voice tired and grouchy.
Draco scuffed slightly, but stepped aside to let the other in. " I don't sleep, not as much as you anyway, so there's no reason for you to sleep on the floor…and if anything, I'll be the one keeping you up." He added though he didn't mind having him there. There was strength in numbers after all, and this was the 'we hate Weasly and want him skinned alive' club room now.
" We have to get rid of him, and soon, you have to talk to Dumbledore." Draco started then as Harry crawled up on the bed with a small yawn. " Why me? 'm tired." Harry replied in a mumble, grabbing a pillow and fluffing that up slightly.
" Well, I don't mean now, in the morning, and because he likes you, he'll listen to you..we can't possibly have him stay here." The Slytherin hissed, though trying to keep his voice calm. Malfoys didn't panic. Harry just grunted in return, plopping down on the pillow tiredly.
Well past the middle of the night, both boys were curled up on the bed, Draco stretched out with his wings folded beside him and Harry almost draped over him, lying on one of the wings instead of a pillow since those were much softer and much more comfortable anyway. However, both were wrenched from their sleep by a sharp, loud, messy noise penetrating the walls of their room. Draco groaned in frustration as he recognized Weasley's voice while Harry performed a quick tempus spell, revealing that it was barely five AM.
" Oh God, what now?" Harry groaned.
" Why is he wailing like that?" the Slytherin complained. Dragon Veela didn't sleep much, but when they did it was much like cats, being woken up from their sleep was horrible.
" I don't know…it's like he's trying to- wait…is he…is he singing?" Harry gasped, wondering what in Merlin's name would possess him to do this at five AM in the morning.
" Nope…right now he's singing…soon, he'll be dying."
AN: Well, at about the middle of this chapter, I stopped writing because I got horribly sick . with a stupid throat infection and fever that kept me down forever...it's one am yet again, I have school and work tomorrow and I am supposed to be studying for my French quiz tomorrow too…but yeah, I'm doing this… XD