Chapter 9: Back To Normal

Harry looked out the window of his room and sighed. All of their schoolmates would be back by lunch time, and he and Cedric would have to go back to their normal routines, meaning minimal contact with the brunette.

"Harry?" Cedric said sleepily as he sat up from the bed.

Harry gave his boyfriend a small smile before looking out of the window again. Cedric stood, sat behind Harry, and wrapped his arms around him. They stayed silent for a while. They were both dreading today, then end of the holidays, returning to their normal lives and hiding their relationship from most of the world.

"We should get ready." Cedric suggested and Harry nodded. "Hey, it's not the end of the world. We'll still see each other and thanks to you, we can talk to each other whenever we want."

Harry gave the Hufflepuff a smile.

"We have a few hours until everyone arrives. What do you want to do?" He asked.

"How about we go for a walk?" Cedric suggested and Harry agreed. They began with walking around the corridors, and then moved to the grounds. Harry stopped when he spotted Hagrid's Hut and frowned, realizing the fate that would eventually befall Buckbeak.

"I heard about what happened to Malfoy." Cedric said. "Did he really squeal like a girl?"

Harry and Cedric descended and entered the area behind Hagrid's Hut. There they found Buckbeak, tied to a tree. The two approached and bowed towards the hippogriff. Buckbeak bowed back and Harry began untying him.

"Harry, what're you doing?" Cedric asked.

"Buckbeak hasn't flown since the incident." Harry said as he climbed onto Buckbeak. "If you don't want to come along, then stay here."

Cedric looked at Harry for a while before sighing and climbing behind him. Buckbeak got a running start before taking off. Cedric wrapped his arms firmly around Harry's chest, while the Gryffindor smiled at him. They flew over the forest and lake and Cedric eventually relaxed. They flew for five minutes before landing again. Harry didn't want to tie up Buckbeak again, but he had no choice. He gave Buckbeak two rabbits and promised he'd try to fly him again soon.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Dumbledore will find a way to save him." Cedric reassured Harry as they headed back for the castle. Harry knew Dumbledore was capable of many things, but even he wondered how the old wizard would fare against the wrath of Lucius Malfoy, someone who was able to convince the Hogwarts Board of Governors to suspend him.


Draco and his friends walked down the hall towards their common room. While his friends chattered about their vacation, Draco was nervous. He hasn't figured out how he felt towards his old friend, but he knew it wasn't hate or disgust.

"Pure-blood." He said and the wall leading to the common room opened.

Walking inside, he spotted Joseph on the far side of the room, sitting on a lounge chair, reading a book. His eyes glanced up to the blonde for a short while before returning to the pages in front of him. While he stood there, his other friends walked around him and greeted the raven.

"They forced you to sleep in the Gryffindor dormitories?" Pansy asked with a disgusted look.

"What'd you expect from Dumbledore?" Blaise stated. "Bet you wish you had left now, huh?"

"Other than being forced to sleep in another person's bed, it was rather pleasant not having to hear Pansy go on and on about her boyfriend." Joseph replied, receiving a light smack on his arm. "I assume all of you haven't forgotten about the Potions Essay?"

"We didn't forget." Pansy remarked. "We also realized that you'd be done with it by now."

"As long as you don't mention a single word about your holiday to me." Joseph replied as he summoned a bundle of parchment. Pansy took them and everyone else, excluding Draco, followed her to the desks.

"That was a smart move." Draco said after a long and awkward silence. "Pansy would've gone on and on how she and her boyfriend spent the holidays in Switzerland." Joseph merely nodded, his eyes never leaving his book. "Thank you, also, for the gift. It was very thoughtful."

"Draco, don't do this." Joseph said and the blonde gave him a confused look. "We can act like we're friends around our parents and everyone else, but you don't have to talk to me anymore."

"I still want to be your friend." Draco nearly shouted. "I don't hate you nor do I see you differently. I know you're still the same person who I've come to know as a true and irreplaceable friend."

Joseph looked at him and eventually nodded, but Draco still felt uneasy because when his friend looked at him, instead of the calm or friendliness those amber eyes always held when they looked at him, they were now filled with uncertainty. But mostly, Draco wondered why he felt strangely after saying the word 'friend.'

"Joseph, you tosser." One of his housemates said as he approached them. He was around the same height as he was. He had a fit physique and a slightly tanned complexion, with blue eyes, and unkempt, short, brown hair that gave the Slytherin a natural attractiveness. "You caused me a lot of trouble this holiday."

"Whatever do you mean, Theo?" Joseph asked and Draco's eyes widened.

He couldn't believe that the person in front of him and the person who the girls fawned over and talked about on the train for their good looks was Theodore Nott, a person who a few months before looked as thin as Potter when he first met him.

"Well, my father has always encouraged me to make friends with 'the right people.'" Theo began as he sat on the armrest of Joseph's chair. "I had sent him letters on how I had become friends with the son of Stephen and Alyssa Duskgem. We eventually had dinner with your parents, and you weren't there, making my father question me."

"What do you want me to do, write a letter to your father about all of the hours we spent in the library and how we're stationed next to each other during Potions?" Joseph asked sarcastically with a smile.

Draco watched the exchange between the two. He wondered why he felt slightly uncomfortable about how familiar Nott was to the raven and when Joseph gave a genuine, unguarded smile, something he hadn't done in a while, and it wasn't directed at him, Draco felt a pool bubble in his stomach.

"On the bright side, I got the MESP's revised potion recipes." Theo stated as he brought out a book with a brown and gold cover. "Want to go over it with me?"

Joseph agreed, said a quick goodbye to Draco, and walked out the common room with Nott. Draco stared after them, the pool in his stomach growing with each second.


"Harry, how was your holiday?" Hermione asked as she greeted Harry.

"It was fine, Hermione." He replied.

"Just fine?" Hermione asked with a knowing look.

"I'll tell you later." Harry whispered. "I'm still going to get back at you for your present, though."

Ron came in and greeted his best mate with a hug.

"Should we start on that Potions Essay?" He asked.

"I've, actually, already done it." Harry answered, which shocked his two friends. "I had a lot of free time."

Ron sighed and went to go ask Neville to join him in the library.

"Did Cedric help you write your essay?" Hermione asked.

"Turns out, he's only slightly more adept at potions than me?" Harry replied with a smile. "Joseph actually helped me."

Hermione was surprised and Harry recounted the events of his holiday to Hermione.

"Well, I'm glad you and Joseph have taken a mutual liking to each other." Hermione said.

"What did you do for him, though?" Harry asked. "He said he'd eventually tell me, but I have a feeling the key to helping him is what he's not telling me." Hermione looked unsure, staring at the floor. "Please Hermione, he's done so much for me. I'd like to be able to help him too."

"I can't divulge that information Harry, you know that." The brunette replied. "But it involved with helping him with Malfoy as well."

Harry was confused. He wondered what Hermione had meant by that, but his train of thought was disrupted when Hagrid sent a letter saying that Buckbeak had been sentenced to death.