A/N: I meant for this to be out Christmas Eve as a present to you all, but I was busy and lazy and didn't write it then. So now it's just a general holiday gift. HAPPY HOLIDAYS! :D! So I haven't mentioned Hedwig since like Harry was at Privet Drive. We'll just assume that she accompanied Harry to the Burrow and that the letter Ron and Hermione sent Harry his second day at Draco's was sent with her. And after that she was just off being a cool bird and such. Forgive my lack, though. And thanks to all read/review/follow/favorite! :D!
Of Dragons and Ravens
Chapter 9: So It Begins
The last few days before their departure to Hogwarts were spent idly. They'd already packed their trunks for school, the house was clean, they'd mastered control of their wings and were getting control of their ability to fly, they'd arranged time to meet at King's Cross with Harry's friends and surrogate family, Draco had paid for continued use of the house through the year. There was nothing else to do.
They laid in bed their last day home whiling the time away. They allowed their wings out again, enjoying the short bit of time where they'd have the freedom to be so. They couldn't showcase them at school, after all.
"It's going to be funny not sharing a bed with you anymore," Harry commented, stroking Draco's wing softly.
Draco shivered slightly at the touch. Their wings were becoming less sensitized after all this time in constant contact with each other, but it still sent a heightened sense of pleasure through them.
"Yes, it will," Draco mused, with a reciprocal stroke through Harry's hair.
He'd have to figure out a way to increase his and Harry's level of exposure to each other while at school. Just being in a few of the same classes and seeing the other in the Great Hall for meals wasn't going to suffice anymore. Not with their bond.
"We'll have to work out a way to see each other more often in general," Draco continued.
"Right. The only classes we share this year are Potions, Defence, and Transfiguration," Harry recalled.
"We each have two breaks, as well," Draco reminded him.
"But only one of each coincide," Harry reminded Draco in turn.
"That is true," Draco mused.
It wasn't enough time. Maybe he could switch his other break to coincide with Harry's, too. But then he'd likely be taking away one of his classes. That wouldn't work.
"We'll figure something out," Draco told him.
"Mmm," was Harry's sole response as he snuggled further into Draco.
They continued to lay like that, snuggled together, wrapped up in each other, until their stomachs reminded them they'd eaten very little that day. Then they simply moved their closeness to the outdoor swing with their meal. It was late that afternoon when Narcissa found them thus.
"Well don't you two look cozy," she said.
Though her visit was unexpected, her appearance didn't worry the boys. She was one of only three that were still keyed into their wards. After that first visit, Draco had rescinded everyone's welcome save Granger, Weasley, and his own mother. Had anyone else approached their home, they would have been alerted.
"Hello mother," Draco greeted her, extracting himself from Harry's embrace to stand and welcome her properly with an embrace of their own.
"Mrs. Malfoy," Harry said respectfully as he stood and bowed his head slightly.
Draco knew Harry still wasn't quite comfortable around his mother. Harry had felt her lack of acceptance at their first meeting, and despite her slightly warmed attitude at their second, he was still wary of her. Draco also knew she wouldn't warm up completely yet. Harry was still a danger to her son.
"What brings you by, mother?" Draco asked her when the pleasantries were through.
"I came to bid you farewell," she said. "As your father has all but disowned you at this point, we will not be coming to King's Cross station tomorrow to see you off to school. Therefore I thought I would come to say goodbye tonight."
Draco was slightly surprised at this. Not that he'd thought about it a great deal, but he'd never not had his parents there to see him off. It would be odd this year with their absence.
"I also came to warn you. I want you to be careful this year, Draco. I imagine your father's friends will have their children keep an extra eye on you, if they have not planned something more. I want you to watch out for yourself. And you, too," she directed at Harry. "I want you both to be safe and protect each other. This will not be your easiest year."
"I've never had an easy year," Harry reminded her. "But I will be careful, and we'll look out for each other, I promise you."
"Good," she said. "Well, I must be going then. I told Lucius I was just popping off for a bit to pick something up, so I need to go out and buy something now. I will see you later, darling. Good luck at school this year, the both of you."
She finished by pulling Draco into another hug, but surprised both of the boys when she turned and did the same to Harry. He returned the embrace awkwardly until she released him.
"Good luck and I will see you both when you return. You are coming home for Christmas, aren't you?" she asked them.
The boys shared a glance and Harry shrugged before Draco turned back to her.
"I suppose so. We hadn't discussed it actually, but we most likely will," he told her.
"Well good. Let me know and I will have the house ready for your arrival upon your return," she said.
"Thank you," Draco replied warmly. "We appreciate the effort you've put into all of this."
"It was my pleasure, darling. I'm glad you both like it. Now, I really must be on my way," she said and with a farewell gesture she departed.
"Well that was kind of her to come by," Harry commented.
"Yes," Draco said quietly.
They stood in silence for a moment before they returned to their swing. The rest of the night was spent in quiet conversation. They mostly mused about this coming year and what they might expect from everyone, students and teachers alike. They didn't think it would be welcome news to any involved.
The next morning found the boys in a mess of bed and bodies. They were a tangle of arms and legs and wings and sheets and comforters. They'd never slept so wildly before, but today apparently something was different.
"It's like our wings know they won't be this close again for awhile," Draco said with a scowl as he and Harry tried to separate their feathery appendages again. They were being extraordinarily difficult this morning.
"I know," Harry replied with a similar frown. His wings had never been this clingy before. He tried stroking them to calm their attachment, but to no avail. He'd be giving up soon on trying to dislodge himself from Draco.
"Looks like we'll be stuck together for a bit longer today," Draco sighed, having clearly come to the same conclusion as Harry.
"Let's just go eat before we get ready, then. We still have a few hours before we have to Apparate to the station," Harry suggested. They could shower and dress after they convinced their wings to untangle.
They made their way to the kitchen, walking not much closer than they usually did, really. They were almost always within a few feet of each other; they were just a foot or so closer and physically joined now.
Once they'd gathered something to eat, a much more difficult task now, and settled down to eat all but sitting on top of each other, Harry felt Draco's wings slacken their grip on his own. It seemed they'd relaxed once he and Draco had stopped fighting them. But Harry didn't try to extract them completely yet. Let them have their last bit of time.
They ate with companionable chatter and when they finished, Harry was able to remove himself from Draco's lap without resistance from their wings. It seemed each set had finally accepted the loss of the other.
Draco went to bathe first while Harry tidied the kitchen and brought their trunks to the door. Though they shared a room and a bed, they were never very intimate. They changed in front of each other, but they'd been doing that for years thanks to Quidditch. Though there was a level of appreciation to it now. There was just something deeply intimate to Harry about knowing the body that he was looking at belonged to him almost as much as his own did. He knew Draco felt similar. But their physical closeness had yet to progress past some intense snog sessions and even those had minimal exploration of hands.
Harry wasn't exactly experienced. He'd first kissed Cho fifth year, but that hadn't gone anywhere. Turned out she was still too torn up about Cedric to have a relationship with anyone else, let alone the bloke that was there with him when he died. Sixth year Harry had taken to dating one girl second term. It was only then that he'd finally resurfaced from within his own head from mourning Sirius. The girl had been a fifth year Hufflepuff, so while she was cute and enjoyed kissing and holding hands and spending time together, passions had been all but dulled between them. Harry hadn't minded. He hadn't been looking for anything serious or heated anyway and it'd given him the chance to discover what did and didn't please a partner. He put that knowledge to use when kissing Draco. The girl versus boy pleasure division hadn't arisen yet.
But he was beginning to think he wanted something more. He wasn't sure if it was his normal hormones or the fact that Draco was his mate, but Harry craved a deeper level of intimacy with him. Not necessarily sex yet, but something more than kissing.
While Harry sat musing, Draco had finished his shower and came down to tell him they could switch now. When they were both clean and dressed, they dwindled the remaining time away chatting about inconsequential things, but there was no escaping the nervousness they both felt. They didn't quite know what to expect when they got onto the platform. They were ready for whatever it was, though.
They arrived at the station 5 minutes before they were to meet the Weasleys and 20 minutes before the train left. They were delaying stepping onto the actual platform until the Weasleys showed up with the Grangers. Draco knew it would settle Harry's nerves monumentally to have his friends by his side, not that Draco's presence didn't quell a great deal of his fears, too.
They were receiving a good few odd looks from muggles and Draco wondered if it was at their linked hands, entwined fingers and all, or the fact that they both had rather large birds in cages accompanying them. Draco knew homosexuality wasn't greatly accepted in the world, wizard or muggle. If that was their problem, they'd have to get over it. Harry was his mate and he would not sacrifice giving either of them comfort just to appease the sensibilities of the mindless masses.
If the birds were the problem, they'd have to get over that, too. They were lucky he and Harry had restricted them to cages instead of letting them fly free. Harry's Hedwig and his own Merlin were both trained owls and knew better than to cause a scene even if they were free.
The wizards that passed them sported looks that were a lot more calculating, suspicious, or outright surprised than odd. He supposed even with the Prophet's warning, some had not believed that they were together. There were a few that looked hostile, though. Seems they both believed and hadn't liked the news. Draco would make sure to watch out for those.
When the Weasleys arrived with the Grangers, they all made their way onto the platform. It was busy as usual and with an increased flurry of bodies as the train left in 10 minutes and everyone wanted to get in their final goodbyes and last minute warnings or advice and checks that nothing was missing. The bustle didn't cease when the party stepped onto the platform, but it certainly changed.
Chatter took on a new tone and those same mixed looks Draco had noticed outside the platform were still present. Some even had the audacity to point in accompaniment to their gossip. Draco almost marveled at the complete lack of etiquette that came with spreading and confirming rumors. And as the new addition to Harry's usual group, Draco knew that he, moreso than Harry, was the main focus of those rumors and recipient of that hostility. That was good, though. He'd rather it be him than Harry. Besides, let these people know that he was still worthy of speculation, still a threat to be reckoned with.
Harry squeezing his hand alerted him to the fact that his less than kind thoughts toward the masses around them were probably directing negative emotions through their bond, which Harry didn't need right now. Draco smiled at him in turn and quieted his thoughts and hopefully calmed his emotions with them.
Harry said his final goodbyes to the Weasleys and the Grangers and made his way onto the train with Draco, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in tow. They found an empty compartment and settled in, though Harry could feel Draco was uncomfortable. His mate had been getting more used to his friends over this month, but Harry knew that he still didn't really enjoy their company. Harry thought this was more out of principle than the fact that Draco thought they were truly horrible people.
Ginny was a bit worse as she still barely masked her open hostility toward Draco. Harry thought she only held her tongue because she knew he wouldn't approve. She ignored Draco more than anything, suspecting her complete dismissal of him would stir Draco's ire more than her belligerence. Neither did as Harry knew Draco dismissed her just as completely.
As the train travelled on, Harry suspected Draco really wanted to go find some Slytherins to sit with, but didn't want to relinquish Harry's company. But he would have to eventually, if only to do his Head Boy rounds. Hermione, as Head Girl, would accompany him.
Harry felt Draco's mood sour a bit more when Neville, Dean, and Seamus arrived to join them in the compartment. The latter two were more like Ginny with their almost open loathing of Draco, but they had yet to speak on it, though Harry knew it was only a matter of time. Neville appeared slightly cowed by Draco's presence, but Harry thought Neville's presence was a quiet show of solidarity to stand by his friend and protect him if necessary. Neville was just like that and Harry truly appreciated him for it, even if his heroics were misplaced.
Draco ignored the lot of them. His left hand remained entwined with Harry's right, but Draco's right hand and arm were holding up his head by the chin while the blond stared sightlessly out the window as the world passed by. He was there simply because Harry was. Harry wondered how Draco behaved when alone with his own friends.
They were having an entertaining conversation about Quidditch versus Irish football when Seamus appeared to decide he was tired of Draco's silence.
"So Malfoy," the Irishman drawled, as much as he could given his accent, anyway. "What do you think about Quidditch? I suppose it strikes your fancy a lot less since you never win at it."
Draco said nothing, just continued staring out the window as if he was never addressed, though Harry felt Draco's awareness rise in the back of his own head. Draco just chose to ignore Seamus.
"Oi, Malfoy," Seamus tried again. "I said what do you think about Quidditch?"
When Draco still refrained from answering, Seamus moved to poke or shake him. It was then that Draco turned, annoyance clear in his eyes.
"Touch me, Finnegan, and lose that arm," Draco said to him.
His tone wasn't quite venomous, but it was apparent to all that it could quickly get there. And then Draco's face cleared and he returned his gaze out the window as if nothing had happened.
Seamus did not take kindly to this and moved to make another remark when Harry cut him off.
"Leave it, Seamus," he said.
Seamus was not usually this hostile, but like all Gryffindors, given normal circumstances, he hated Draco, with good reason. Draco had made a sport out of torturing Gryffindors since first year. Frankly, so had all Slytherins, but Draco had been the worst of their year. And now to end up as the mate of the undisputed Gryffindor leader? He clearly wasn't ready to accept him with open arms just yet.
Seamus settled back with a scowl thrown in Draco's direction, but continued the earlier talks with the rest of the group. Draco didn't seem to be upset by the exchange, but Harry sent some comforting feelings anyway. Draco responded by squeezing Harry's hand slightly, but in no other way acknowledged the gesture. Harry sighed but once again immersed himself in the talks of the people around him.
When it was time for Draco and Hermione to go on their rounds, Harry felt a small ache of absence. They had spent so much time together recently and they still weren't used to being apart. But Harry ignored it. He'd have to because 1- Draco had to do his rounds and there was no justifiable reason for Harry to go with him and 2- because they'd be a lot further apart for a lot longer than this once they got to school. He'd have to get used to it.
Draco walked the train corridor idly. There was no sign of trouble brewing yet. He hadn't seen too much mischief on the train since fifth year, his first year as a Prefect. That had been the Weasley twins' last year there and they were known for their rambunctious fun. No one had even come close to taking their place since their departure.
Draco suspected the trouble he knew was brewing this year to be aimed at him and Harry, though. It was only a matter of time before someone decided to prank or otherwise try and harm them. This would be the perfect opportunity to try for a first attempt- they hadn't reached Hogwarts yet so weren't under the careful scrutiny of teachers and staff or nosy portraits and Draco was alone walking the hallways and perhaps would not expect it. It would only be an idiot Gryffindor or all stars-and-moonshine-eyed Hufflepuff that believed that last, though. Draco expected everything.
He was just walking past a compartment filled with fourth year Gryffindors when it opened a crack and something was thrown out after him. Black smoke erupted from the projectile and Draco immediately recognized a Weasley Wizarding Wheezes patented "Dark as Night."
Draco flattened himself against the wall as some hex, elementary he was sure, flew past where he had just stood. He dropped silently to the floor and shot an Immobulus at the source of the hex. Immediately someone let out a yelp and then the sound of a body hitting the floor was heard. Raised voices were then heard as the rest of the compartment apparently came to check on their fallen friend and angry shouts were accompanied by more spells and hexes fired in random directions in hopes of hitting Draco. None of them did, but several more Immobulus-es from Draco had several more fourth year Gryffs on the floor. A wave of Draco's wand had the smoke clearing and he raised himself from the ground to see just who had the gall to attack him.
He was interrupted in his inspection by the sound of feet running down the corridor, and Harry shouting his name. He looked up to see Harry and Weasley racing toward him, Harry wings out, wand up, and battle-ready. Draco supposed his adrenaline rush had alerted Harry to the potential for danger. Or maybe it was all the yelling.
But Draco's own wings were twitching in his back now. They hadn't come out for the attack because he hadn't considered the fourth years a real threat. But despite the fact that they had learned to adjust without the presence of Harry's, they still craved the company. Draco decided to keep them in; it was already bad enough Harry's were out and making a further scene to everyone now poking their heads out of various compartments. He needed to calm Harry enough to get him to retract his, as well.
"Draco, are you okay?" Harry asked, half frantic, half angry.
He likely was shocked to see that Draco had been right about people wanting to do them harm. Especially so soon. He looked down at the attackers then and Draco felt his anger flare white hot. He apparently hadn't expected people from his own House to do anything besides disapprove.
Draco left him to it. It was good. Let Harry get a good eye-full of just what they could expect this year. And if this was what Gryffindors would do, just imagine what would come from less noble Houses.
Draco only intervened when he saw Harry's talons emerging. It wasn't that serious, this time. He grabbed Harry and pulled him into an embrace so he could whisper softly in his ear.
"Harry, calm down," he whispered. "I'm fine, see? Retract your wings, Harry. You're drawing too much attention to us."
"Good," Harry said back, ignoring Draco's hint to whisper. "Let them see."
Tension radiated off of Harry in waves. Draco did not think that was a good sign.
"And let them take this as a warning," he continued, actually raising his voice so everyone watching could hear. "This boy, Draco Malfoy, is mine. You. Will. Not. Touch. Him." He punctuated his words with a glare in all directions. "And if you try, you will answer to me."
Damn. Harry was clueing everyone in to the fact that they were on the awares. Draco preferred some secret aces in the hole to surprise people with when they tried something. He'd have to calm Harry now lest he show them how strong they were or the fact that they could fly. He sprouted his own wings and let them curl themselves around Harry's. Harry visibly relaxed within his embrace.
"Harry," he said, stroking the raven's feathers to punctuate, "I. Am. Fine. Please, we need to get you back to your compartment."
"Fine," Harry relented reluctantly.
They extracted themselves and Draco watched Harry walk back to their compartment with Weasley in tow, wings still out and dangerous, glaring at everyone he passed. Draco sighed and retracted his wings before eyeing all their spectators.
"You may return to your compartments now. There is nothing to see here," he said to the crowds.
He did a Mobilus corpus on the five fourth year Gryffs and levitated them back into their compartment before noting the names on each of their bags. He would report them to a professor when they got to Hogwarts like a good little Head Boy instead of exacting revenge on them, which he saw as a personal right as a wizard affronted. He probably had some grounds for taking revenge under Veela law, too, but he wasn't sure.
Granger came upon him soon after, panting from her exhaustion from apparently having run there from the other end of the train. She must have heard the commotion or gotten word from someone who had.
"Malfoy, what happened?" she panted.
"Some fourth year Gryffs attacked me, I immobilized them and levitated them into here. I've taken their names down to report to McGonagall when I return. Harry came and caused a scene, but he should be okay now, even though he'd fairly aggravated," Draco said before rubbing his hand over his chest lightly. He felt Harry's turbulent emotions coming through their bond in waves still.
"What?!" Granger squeaked before her eyes narrowed and she looked down at just who the fourth year Gryffs were. As a school leader and from the Gryffindor House no less, she likely saw the miscreants as her personal responsibility.
She pulled out a small scroll and noted the names of the attackers. Draco imagined she'd give them a harsher punishment than even McGonagall.
"Anyway, I'm leaving them here and going back on my rounds now," Draco said.
Granger just nodded absently and continued scrawling notes on her scroll. Draco left her to it and headed out of the compartment.
The rest of his rounds were looking uneventful, though he noticed many people peeping out their compartment doors at him. When he passed the car with Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, Millicent, and Theodore, they all gave him a quick look, some accusatory, some appraising, but he noticed Pansy giving him a longer looker than the rest. It was clear she intended to have a talk with him. Soon. He gave her a small nod and moved on.
He returned to the compartment with Harry and noticed Finnegan looking at him appraisingly, too. He ignored it. He had nothing to prove to any of them. The rest of the ride to school passed almost quietly.
Harry was just short of seething. How dare someone attack Draco. And Gryffindors at that. Harry was frankly ashamed of his own House right now. They were quite lucky he was not in a position of power at the school and could not punish them as they deserved without breaking school rules. Though he thought he remembered Draco mentioning something about Veela being protected under Veela law when it came to defending and taking revenge in regards to one's mate. He'd have to look that up later.
When they exited the carriage, he wanted to storm through the gates of Hogwarts, dragging Draco behind him. But Draco was walking at a leisurely pace, acting as if nothing in the world was bothering him, and with his hand still laced with Harry's, forced Harry to walk more sedately, too.
They still got looks and points and other gestures, but these were the least of Harry's concerns. He was much more interested in seeing Draco's attackers aptly punished. But he knew he'd have to at least wait until the end of the Sorting. All the teachers were occupied at the moment, so he filed in with the rest of the upper years into the Great Hall. But he wasn't about to be separated from Draco right now. Either he'd be sitting with the Slytherins or Draco was about to join the Gryffindors.
He portrayed this sentiment with a meaningful look and a hard squeeze of Draco's hand. Draco looked him in the eye and sighed before first glancing over at the Slytherin table longingly then walking to the Gryffindor table with Harry. As expected, the Gryffindors did not take kindly to this insult. They were quite uproarious, and even Ron's and Hermione's Prefect and Head Girl statuses could do nothing for it. Harry had had enough for one day. When glaring them into submission failed, and even his yelling didn't have enough of an effect, he simply dragged Draco from the Hall. Bugger dinner there. They'd eat in the kitchens. Food was better there anyway since the house elves always made to order. He could see the new Gryffindors and congratulate them later.
Harry dragged his mate toward the kitchens and Draco just let himself be hauled around. Harry didn't even want to contemplate why he hadn't suggested they go sit with the Slytherins. He imagined the response there would have been 10 times worse than the Gryffindors' had been.
When they got to the kitchens, the house elves were of course falling all over themselves to be serving wizards and could hardly wait to accommodate them with whatever they wanted to eat. Dobby was the worst of them, as usual. He'd initially been a bit wary as Draco was once his former young master and he had residual tense feelings for the Malfoys, but he cheered right up when he was told Draco was in fact mated to the great Harry Potter.
"Would Harry Potter be wanting anything else, sir? Steak? Mashed potatoes? More chicken breast? Raspberry danish? Treacle tart? Dobby knows that Harry Potter loves his treacle tart, sir!" Dobby exclaimed.
"No thank you, Dobby," Harry said when the excited elf finished. "I'm fine for now. Did you want anything else, Draco?" he asked his dragon.
"No, I'm fine as well, thank you," Draco said to Harry with a slight inclination of his head at Dobby.
Their meal passed as peacefully as could be expected when there were nonstop house elves bustling all around you. Then there were the constant cheers emitted from above with what was no doubt the Sorting Ceremony. Harry felt better knowing he was eating before the spiteful crowd, even if he missed Dumbledore's opening speech and the Sorting Hat's new song.
With his full belly and calm feelings and no further threat to his mate, Harry's possessiveness for his mate's company slackened. He supposed, now, he was willing to separate from Draco so they could return to their own House dorms. Even thus, he had no intention on going upstairs until the feast was over. He hoped Draco wasn't missing any important Head Boy duties, but even if he was, Harry knew Hermione would handle them all spectacularly and fill Draco in on all that he'd missed later.
When the dessert dishes returned to the kitchens, Draco told Harry he had to go now. He had to lead the first years to the dorms and keep everyone else in line. Harry sighed but relented. The feast was over, after all. They arrived outside the Hall as the students were filing out.
Draco stepped over to where Parkinson, the other seventh year Slytherin Prefect, was leading the new Slytherins towards the dungeons. She nodded at him slightly and Harry couldn't tell if she was acting in her Prefect capacity or as Draco's friend.
Bulstrode chose that moment to step up and speak to Draco.
"And where do you think you're going?" she asked him. "You clearly chose your lot when you chose to sit with the Gryffindorks."
"And even they wouldn't have him," Nott added with a sneer. "He chose his side in many ways." This last was said with a short glare at Harry.
This exchange angered Harry for several reasons. First, they shouldn't be saying such things in front of the first years, or any of the younger years period. They were all an impressionable lot and could be swayed to hate simply because they saw their older counterparts doing it. They'd need no other reason than wanting to emulate what they saw in hopes of being accepted. Second, they couldn't kick Draco out of Slytherin simply because he was mated to Harry and chose to try to sit at the Gryffindor table with him. He was still a Slytherin. What's more, he was the head Slytherin. And third, Veela didn't choose their mates; fate did. Given half a choice, with circumstances how they had been before this summer, neither he nor Draco would have chosen the other as a mate. They had simply hated each other too much for that, even though they'd had no good reason to. But they'd decided young to hate and being the stubborn prats they both were, had only fueled the animosity for years after.
Draco was taking the remarks a lot better than Harry was; at least, on the outside. His face had shut down into his customary public Malfoy sneer. This was the cold Draco. The ice dragon. Nothing got past that veneer. It all froze to death before it could penetrate. On the inside, his anger was on low boil. Harry wasn't quite sure if it was at the implied insult to himself or the fact that they had called him a traitor to his House or the jibe that even the Gryffindors would not accept him. Maybe a combination of all three. Maybe something more. In any case, Draco was mad.
"I assure you Nott, Bulstrode, that I am still all Slytherin and fully intend to show the newest members of my House where they will reside for the next seven years and give them an introductory chat before I go up to my Head Boy quarters," Draco drawled.
Harry noticed the stress on his title, though. He was conveying to his apparently former cronies that he was still in charge here, still in a position much higher than them and with the capability to do them harm should they feel the need to act out further. Harry appreciated the fully Slytherin tactic.
It looked like his dragon had this situation well in hand. Harry thought he'd better get up to the Gryffindor Tower soon or he'd miss everyone going in and he'd be left outside without the new password.
"Draco, I'm heading up," he said, calling attention to himself accidentally.
Well, it was probably better they remember he was there. Wouldn't do for them to forget the object of their hate. Draco turned to him and nodded slightly before coming over and kissing him goodbye. Harry knew this was as much a statement to anyone watching as it was a farewell to him. He supposed Draco knew what he was doing. Harry turned and climbed the stairs. He was more than a bit nervous to see what his own House had in store for him.
A/N: If it's the Head Boy's/Girl's job to help usher firsties in to and from the boat (I don't remember; been awhile since reading the series) we'll pretend it's not, kay? I like Draco where he is at the moment. And I had so much more I meant to put into this chapter. Half the stuff that just rolled off my fingers I'd never planned on or meant to happen some other way. That's the risk you take when you just write. But now we have material for next time, eh? Thanks to my continued reviewers and Nami who reviewed anonymously! I'm glad you enjoy this. :)