A/N: And the drarry action begins! Are you excited, because I am over the moon about this, I've been waiting over 38k words for this. For those of you who have stuck along until now, thanks so much, I love you to bits.
Thanks for all the reviews and comments as well, I appreciate those.
I do need a favour though, I need to know if you guys will want lemons in future chapters. I was planning to drop a few scenes of that kind in some chapters then I changed my mind. And changed it again. Need to know what you guys want because I can't make up my fucking mind!
Thanks :)
P.S Harry and Ron take Divination (Professor Trelawney takes everyone into her class).
{HPDM}
Cause I wanna be someone worthy of your conversation.
Leeward Side
Josh Pyke
Word count: 4431
Harry and Ron sat in the musty classroom at the top of the tower that was Divination. It was a particularly warm afternoon that had students loosening their ties and unbuttoning their shirts in frustration. Perhaps it was merely a warm afternoon or maybe it was the roaring fire in the hearth. Either way it was particularly hot in the classroom.
"I must say," Professor Trewlaney said as she unwrapped her scarf from around her neck. "I was not expecting such a big turnout but you know what they say: the sky's the limit."
"I'm pretty sure that saying has nothing to do with Divination and everything with muggles," muttered Harry.
Ron nodded. "It's only to be expected of course."
Parvati Patil motioned for them to be quiet and the two boys settled down for the longest lesson of their lives.
Harry loosened his tie and popped open the first two buttons of his shirt. His cloak lay discarded on the back of his chair. It was simply stuffy in the room but when Hannah Abbot had asked Trelawney if they could open the windows she firmly cautioned them against it claiming it would cause the essence of their foresight to flutter away to the verdant grass of the Quidditch pitch. Ron had sniggered, about to say something about this but the Divination professor had fixed him with a firm glare and he had kept silent.
Unfortunately, now that she had mentioned Quidditch, Harry found himself unable to focus on the lesson. Even as Trelawney began handing out packs of tarot cards per pair all Harry could think was that the Slytherin team had been getting much more practice this term than the Gryffindor team which incidentally, he was in charge of. They had booked the pitch for nearly every day of the week last week and Harry had even glimpsed them flying once.
They would not be as easy to beat this season.
He'd left most of the managing in Ginny's hands which he'd thought at the time was a good idea (not that he didn't think so at the moment) and they'd only managed to practice a total of five times since term began which was two months ago. Usually he busied himself with the coaching aspect and the new recruits had been getting better, he just wasn't sure if it would be good enough to beat Slytherin.
The first match was in a few days.
On the bright side, he'd heard that Malfoy had been benched. Not that he took pleasure in others' displeasure (even though Malfoy deserved it) but as much as he was loath to admit it, Malfoy as seeker was a force to reckon with and with everything on his plate, he wasn't sure he was in the right shape to take him on. He could imagine how much gloating the Slytherins would subject him (and the rest of Hogwarts) to if he lost.
That single thought was what made Harry vow to train even harder today evening because through some miracle he was choosing not to question, Ginny has managed to get them the pitch for practice.
"Harry," Ron was saying.
"Yeah?"
"You alright there?" asked Ron taking the elastic off the pack of cards. "I thought you were having another-"
"Vision? No," he said. "What are we supposed to do?"
Ron eyed him warily. "Well, Trelawney wants us to predict each other's future using these tarot cards."
"What?" he said. "Haven't we been predicting futures since first year?"
Ron shot him a pointed glance. "Yeah, same thing I was saying before I realised I was talking to myself."
Harry winced. "Sorry, I just spaced out."
Ron waved it away in a strangely chivalrous manner. "What were you thinking about?"
"Quidditch," Harry confessed.
Ron's expression was one of understanding. "Slytherin have been getting loads of practice under that Stone bloke."
"Same thing I was thinking," Harry said opening the page in use of tarot cards because Trelawney had looked up from her reading to check that everyone was focusing on their assigned work.
"Brown, Patil!" she called. "Since you seem so invested in reading each others futures you can be the first to present them to the class five minutes to time." Harry thought he heard Ron sigh in relief. "Followed by Potter and Weasley."
"Ugh. This woman needs to take it down a notch," he grumbled.
"You did predict her imminent death in fourth year," Harry pointed out.
"She was getting on my nerves," Ron declared. "I wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine."
Harry couldn't say he would blame Ron for that. The Divination professor had a habit of predicting his death any chance she got. Apparently she disliked it when the action was reciprocated.
"Anyway," Ron said making a show of laying the cards on the table and unrolling a piece of parchment. "I heard Malfoy's been benched."
Harry nodded as Ron passed him the cards. Years of not paying attention during classes had made them experts at pretending to do work. "Yeah, got Stone pissed or something."
"Arrogant prick deserves it if you ask me," Ron said lowering his voice when he spotted Trelawney rising from her seat.
"I know," Harry said lowering his head so close to the book his nose nearly touched the pages. "But I don't want to have to rely on that to get a win, you know what I mean?"
"To be honest, no." Harry rolled his eyes. Of course Ron wouldn't see it that way. "A win's a win."
"But how will I know if I've gotten any better if I don't put myself against one of the best flyers in the school?"
Ron's nose wrinkled. "Best? Have you lost it, Harry? Is this some sort of hallucination?"
"Credit where credit is due," Harry said.
"Sure, credit for successfully buying his way onto the team. It's pretentious and flamboyant but I can respect it," Ron said with a cough to mask his words as Trelawney stopped by their desk to take a look at what they were doing.
"But to actually suggest he's any good?" Ron whispered when she went over to check on Seamus and Dean. "Harry, it's complete rubbish!" Harry knew Ron would never agree with him on the subject. Malfoy may be a vile human being but he was an expert flyer.
There was no denying that.
"Whatever, let's get to work on this, we have approximately fifteen minutes," Harry said. "You shuffled them wrong."
Ron shrugged. "Sorry mate."
He didn't sound very sorry.
Harry sighed as shuffled the cards afresh then dealt Ron three cards then the same for himself.
"Okay, it says here we're using the Tarot de Marseille," Harry said referring to his textbook. "I'll go first."
He picked the card to his left and turned it over. "For the past you've got the fool," he said as Ron began to scribble something down on his parchment. He looked up the entry. "Which translates to madness or bewilderment." He looked up.
"Well that explains what happened in fourth year." At Harry's look of bewilderment, he added, "When I thought you'd stuck your name in the Goblet of Fire."
Harry nodded.
He turned the middle card.
"The sun," he said, "which stands for prison." He left out the part that said poverty because he didn't think Ron needed to be reminded of that. "I reckon someone's got it in their clutches."
Ron frowned. "That's really creepy, Harry."
Harry laughed and turned the last card.
"The devil-" Ron have a sigh of resignation- "which stands for illness."
"That could be any bloody thing," Ron said. "Can't these cards be any more specific?"
"Ron," Harry admonished, "don't disrespect the cards."
Ron snorted. "More like they disrespected me. Sick, please!"
He turned Harry's first card. "The moon: betrayal or falsehood," he said which Harry thought he could relate to various aspects of his life. "I doubt we could count the number of times that happened."
"Next one," he said eager to be done with it.
"Alright, alright," Ron said. "Don't rush it, this is a very delicate process by the way."
He picked the card that say on the centre.
"Look what we've got here: The Hanged Man," Ron said. "Even the cards are with Trelawney." At Harry's insistence that he go ahead and read it Ron turned his attention to his text book. "Prudence or popularity- what? What's a hanged man got to do with prudence or popularity? I swear, there's something wrong with these cards Harry and it isn't the macabre images."
Harry couldn't resist a grin
"Ok. Last one," Ron said. "The Popess who represents enlightenment and passion." Ron grinned as Harry wrote that down. "Good times are ahead wouldn't you say?"
Harry punched his arm.
"I can get some without a pack of cards telling me it's going to happen," Harry said because he could, he just didn't try very hard.
As promised Lavender and Parvati had to read their findings five minutes to the end of the class but no one really paid them any mind and Harry was only glad that the class was over before he and Ron had to read theirs because Trelawney couldn't stop correcting them for making the wrong readings.
The two boys raced up the steps to the Gryffindor common room to dump their books, change into their flying leathers and collect their brooms before they headed down to the Quidditch pitch. To their surprise the rest of the members of the team had already arrived and were listening to Ginny instruct them on what strategy they would use in the upcoming match.
"Oh, Harry," she said when she spotted him at the back. "I was just explaining to the team why we should change our formation this season," she said like she needed to explain herself.
"Carry on," Harry said.
And she did for at least five minutes before they got in the air and began to fly and Harry had never felt more relaxed.
{HPDM}
"Get up, Draco," someone was saying.
He felt a heavy weight settle on his legs and a hand tap at his bare back.
"Draco. Fuck, get the hell up, Draco."
"What is it this time, Blaise?" he mumbled shifting his body away from the boy.
All he wanted was to get a little more sleep. He hadn't slept well in ages and he felt like he would pass out of he didn't get enough sleep again.
"It's the day of the match or did you forget again?"
"Mmmh, Blaise," he whined. "Stop that..."
Blaise didn't stop trying to tickle his underarms.
"Draco, will you get up?" demanded the Italian boy. "I want to eat breakfast already. The match starts in two hours."
Draco snuggled deeper into the mattress. "Malfoys don't... forget..."
"Oh for Merlin's sake," Blaise said shifting his position so that he was on his knees, each of them on either side of Malfoy's body. He gripped the blonde's arms then turned his body so that he was lying on his back. He prodded his cheek.
"Malfoy," he said. "Quit whining and get up, dammit."
"Blaise, I was wondering if I could borrow-" Theo said then stopped at the sight of the dark-skinned joy above Malfoy. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked with a slight smile.
"Go away, Theo," Blaise said throwing a pillow at him.
The blonde ducked and walked off. "Have fun, Zabini."
"Fuck," he muttered.
Draco meanwhile was wriggling underneath him attempting to get comfortable and mumbling incoherently about his duvet gone missing.
"Draco Lucius Malfoy," he said prodding his cheek with each syllable, "you will get up this- shit!"
In a flash, Draco's head turned and there was a flash of white before Blaise withdrew his hand with half a yell. "Did you just bite me?" he demanded nursing his throbbing index finger. "What the hell-?"
"Blaise, you have the dirtiest mouth," Draco said his eyes fluttering open lazily.
He wriggled once more and managed to look innocent while doing it.
Blaise swore again. "First the silencio then this, I swear to you Draco-" he got out his wand and Draco paled.
"Blaise," the blonde began.
"Oh no," Blaise said. "Not this time. Auguamenti!"
"Merlin's fucking sagging tits!" were the words that resounded through the Slytherin dungeons. "I'm going to fucking kill you, Blaise," Draco swore.
The dark haired boy sped out of the dungeons as fast as he could leaving Draco alone and dripping wet in the common room for all the first years to gawk at.
"Oh go stuff some toast in your mouths," he said with a huff before climbing up the stairs.
It was half an hour later that Draco made his way up the stairs to the Great Hall. It was much warmer out of the dungeons but still cold, somehow he was glad he wouldn't be playing today.
"Draco," Pansy said motioning for him though she was sitting at the same place they always did.
"Morning," he said.
"You look like shite," Blaise commented as Pansy pushed a mug of tea in his direction.
"Thank you," he said earning a smile despite the sarcasm in his voice, "you don't look much better either."
"Boys," she admonished with a suppressed smile. "I heard there was some action today morning..."
Blaise was suddenly interested in his plate of scrambled eggs and Draco stopped eating, a piece of dry toast lodged in his throat. Hadn't he put marmalade on it?
"Hey, Draco," Bulstrode said as she walked past him.
He managed a pained smile as he forced the toast down.
"Well?" pressed Pansy.
"It's all Blaise's fault," said Draco pointing his fork at him.
Had they not been sitting on opposite sides of the table, Draco didn't think he would've been able to resist having a go at him.
"I am innocent."
"That is a lie, Blaise," Pansy said. "Even I wouldn't believe that."
"I was trying to wake the bastard up," Blaise said. "He was going to miss Stone's emergency meeting."
"Which he has anyway," Pansy pointed out.
"Indeed," he conceded. "But that's not the point."
"Really?"
"You seemed to be having fun," Blaise said.
"I was half asleep!"
"If you want to get technical about it..."
"Alright. Why aren't you at Stone's emergency meeting?" she asked.
"I'd hate to miss breakfast with you two," he said. "Besides, what would our subjects do if we didn't show up?"
"It would be quite the conundrum," agreed Blaise sipping from a glass of grape juice.
"Come on, Draco, you know how he'd just love to kick you off the team," Pansy said loading more fruit onto her plate.
"He would if he hadn't already," the blonde said stabbing at a sausage.
"What?" asked Pansy.
"Shut up," Blaise said.
"He did," Draco said grabbing a bun and slathering it with some butter.
"This won't be good," Blaise said.
"Slytherin's going to lose to those wankers," Pansy said.
"The masses were looking to you as their leader," Blaise said.
"Oh shut it you."
"Why aren't you complaining about her language?" demanded Blaise.
"Who said I was complaining?" asked Draco with a wink in the olive-skinned boy's direction.
"See?" Blaise said throwing his hands in the air. "This is precisely what I mean, you're never direct."
Sensing she was missing something Pansy cleared her throat. "Can we talk about the fact that you're benched?"
"There's nothing to talk about," he said tearing off a chunk of the brioche and popping it into his mouth. "I'm benched."
"Don't look now but Potter's staring," Blaise said.
Draco's heart sped up and refused to slow down. "Is he?" he asked turning in his seat to have a look.
"I said not to look."
"Well you shouldn't have," Draco said licking his lips.
He thought he saw Potter flush but he couldn't be sure because his eyes had suddenly become cold and distant.
He must still be upset about last night, thought Draco sullenly.
Maybe calling his friends Weasel and Mudblood hadn't been the wisest move at the time but old habits died hard, the words had just slipped out of his mouth.
"Where were you last night?" asked Blaise looking up from his plate.
Draco turned away from Potter with a little too much reluctance and regret and forced himself to look at Blaise who with his untimely question had managed to pique Pansy interest.
"You were out last night?" she asked. She leaned in over her sparsely populated plate and whispered, "Was it Bulstrode?"
"What?" asked Draco nearly spitting pumpkin juice all over the table. "Of course not."
"Then who is it?" asked Blaise. "Not Nott surely."
Draco frowned.
"What makes you think I'm gay?" he asked.
"Aren't you?" replied Blaise his eyebrows raised.
Draco didn't dignify that with an answer. Instead, he went back to eating his breakfast and wondering why he couldn't get rid of the butterflies in his stomach.
{HPDM}
"Harry, stop staring," Hermione said.
Unfortunately, he couldn't. He'd come down early for breakfast and chosen the spot next to Hermione (not so he could glance inconspicuously at the Slytherin table every now and then because that was preposterous) which it turned out Ron- despite going out with Lavender officially- was not pleased with. Malfoy had come in late and ever since he had stepped into the room Harry was finding it difficult to do anything without surreptitiously throwing glances in his general direction. It was as though something was tugging at him, forcing him to keep looking there.
Must be the bond.
He was really hoping it wouldn't make it a constant habit to interfere with his normal day to day activities.
"Staring at what?" asked Ron turning around.
By this time, to Harry's relief, Malfoy had already turned back to his friends with whom he continued conversing. He seemed in a much better mood though it wasn't a change the rest of the Slytherins seemed to have noticed. To them all was it should be, as it had always been.
Was this the bond too?
Must be.
Either way, Harry was still angry, bond or no bond. Despite Draco having done it many times, Harry could not just sit by and let the Slytherin insult his friends. Ron and Hermione deserved better than that and if Malfoy couldn't see beyond blood purity then working anything out with him would be impossible.
"Snape. Harry's still upset over those twenty points," Hermione supplied.
He was not. "I-"
"Well, he'll be sure to make up for it by catching the snitch, won't you?" said Ron.
Of course he intended to catch the snitch and win the game. That wasn't a question but- why was Hermione smiling as though she knew something?
"If you're done, I really think we should get going," she said pushing her plate away. "The match starts in two hours doesn't it?"
"Yes," Ron said pushing away his used utensils as well. "Can't wait to hear that speech, mate."
It wasn't a great speech, not by a long shot but Harry had never been good at giving speeches, not really. The Dursleys had made sure to make him feel from a young age like every word that came out of his mouth was one too many. He just made sure to let the team know that he'd been watching them and that they were in good form (they were) and that Slytherin didn't stand a chance (they'd been trying for five years after all, why not make it six?).
Overall the team was well pleased with this and eventually the cheering of the crowds got louder and Lee Jordan's voice could be heard introducing the players. It was time to line up.
As the seeker, Harry stood at the very back across from Draco Malfoy who was making it a point not to look his direction. He seemed a bit stiff, Harry noted, like cardboard but- wait, Harry thought he'd been benched. What was he doing on the lineup?
"Thought you wouldn't be making an appearance today," he commented.
Draco didn't even deign to look his way.
"You know what they say, you can't send a boy to do a man's job."
Yes, but wasn't that a muggle saying? How did Draco know it? He was about to say just as much when he felt a stab of pain in his forehead. He barely had time to contemplate it as Lee's voice faded out and the other players began to mount their brooms.
"Another ten points to Gryffindor!" Lee yelled as the Slytherin keeper let the quaffle through the hoops. "A lesson to you kids, money can't buy talent."
Harry's eyes seemed to search the pitch for Malfoy's form if only to see his reaction to the comment. Gryffindor were in the lead with seventy points and Slytherin were not far behind at fifty. There had been no sign of the snitch yet and Harry had even thought of chasing wind just to see if Draco would follow but each time he'd been thwarted by a bludger or another score for either team. He was perched lightly on his broom, high above the other players with one eye out for the snitch, the other on the game.
He felt another stab of pain, his had reached for his scar then he began to feel woozy, his vision became blurry.
"What's this," said Lee, "it seems Harry Potter has spotted the- no, false alarm, he's falling, fast-"
His words were cut off as Harry's vision went black and he soared to the ground.
{HPDM}
Draco paced outside the hospital wing his hands stuffed in his pockets, his lower lip nearly chewed to nothing. He had caught the snitch, just as Potter tumbled to the ground, but in the grand scheme of things it seemed to matter little because all he could hear in his mind was that his mate needed him. Now.
He could hear Pompfrey bustling around inside and wished terribly that he could be there too, what if it was serious, what if Ha-Potter had suffered major injuries?
Draco began to pace.
He wasn't sure what he would do if Pompfrey didn't let him in soon.
"You can come in now."
Draco breathed a sigh of relief but the feeling was quickly washed away when he saw Potter's head, left arm and right thigh wrapped in bandages. "What-?" he asked resisting the urge to run to the bed. It would be unseemly.
"He sustained various heavy injuries but he will recover," she said clearing up her tools. "No more than five minutes."
Draco nodded although he intended to stay longer. He sat at Potter side, his hand firmly on his laps and inhaled deeply. The scent of sweat, wet grass and sandalwood clung to him, Malfoy couldn't resist taking a whiff.
"Malfoy?" he heard.
"Potter," he said leaning back.
The dark haired boy struggled to sit up but Draco put a hand on his chest- against his better judgement. "You need to rest."
"I know but-"
"You're hurt, Potter," Draco said.
"What are you doing here?"
"You're forgetting I'm your mate." The answering silence was enough to make him continue. "I can't exactly control the urge to... comfort you, Potter!"
He had sat up eventually causing Draco to take his arm off his chest. He wasn't sure why but he felt a strong pull towards Potter, the need to touch him again.
"And I'm- I'm sorry about Weasel and Mudblood," -being your friends he almost added but hastily put in when he saw Harry's expression: "About calling them that, I mean.
"Oh. That's good," Potter mumbled. He gazed around at the Hospital Wing clearly at a loss as to what to say. Draco found himself stuck in the same situation.
He surveyed Potter's expression and tamped down on the urge to reach out, it was getting stronger each day. Potter, the damnable bastard merely sat there and ruffled his hair.
"What?" Potter asked when he saw the look on Draco's face. "I'm not allowed to-"
"I would strongly advise against it," Draco said.
Potter nodded, his eyes ghosting over Draco's lips before returning to his eyes. He seemed to be debating something, something Draco appeared to be having mixed feeling about. He leaned forward and the blonde couldn't help but mirror his actions.
"How about this?" he breathed. "Call my friends what you called them again and you can forget about any sort of... agreement between us. Clear?"
Draco was stunned for a moment but it passed as his mind registered exactly what he thought had been about to happen. Had he lost it? Potter would never think of... he would never even get that close to him if the bond wasn't there to influence his actions. Merlin, he could be so stupid sometimes.
"Harry?" Hermione sputtered in utter shock her eyes flying between him and Draco. "What-?"
Potter instantly pulled away from Draco and it was as though he was no longer there. Potter only had eyes for Mud- Granger as he attempted to explain what had been going on.
"I'll leave this in your capable hands," Draco said rising from his stool.
He had just about had it with Potter acting like he was nothing and was not about to stoop so low as to take it.
A/N: Review, follow and all that jazz, it makes me extremely overjoyed and I can't thank those who have already done so enough. You deserve more than my honeyed words which is why I'm going to get to work on the next chapter.
Love you.
silent-assassin x