Fire and Ice
Chapter 12
An Unexplainable Avoidance

Would you believe me,
If I said I didn't need you?
'Cause I wouldn't believe you,
If you said the same to me.

Harry's first instinct when he woke was to curl tighter into his blanket, escaping both the cold and the pain in his head. He groaned after a moment when he realised neither were even slightly alleviated.

He slowly became aware of his surroundings as he stretched out. The smooth fabric of the covers on his skin – wait, why wasn't he wearing anything? – and the unusual size of the bed; normally his arm fell over the side plenty earlier than that. It was about then he realised the bed he was in was most definitely not his and began to panic when he realised he didn't know whose it was, nor how he got there.

"Potter." he blearily opened his eyes, relaxing marginally at the cool, familiar voice. He looked around the room, wishing he'd done this previously and relishing in the décor and environment he had so quickly become accustomed to. He cautiously sat up, movements slow, in an attempt to prevent the head spinning nausea he was experiencing. He was surprised when he was successful and sat up straighter, looking to Draco who had an eyebrow raised expectantly.

"Well? What do you remember?"

'Nothing.' was Harry's first thought, but he concentrated, desperate to have a better answer. "You changed our drinks to rum, because the girls were making a display of themselves... you dragged me out of the hall because Snape was suspicious..."

"Anything else?"

"Nope."

"Not even seeing Black and Lupin... making a display of themselves?" he said with a wicked grin. Harry assumed that Draco was laughing at the disbelieving expression he no doubt wore. "Well, if that wasn't able to make it's way through the alcohol fueled have, I doubt anything else could have." he said breezily.

"...Like what? What happened."

"Nothing happened." Draco told him quickly. "After that we bought some supplies in Hogsmede, went to my party, went exploring the grounds looking for Merlin, got rained on, came back, went to sleep. You were rather rude and when told you could have the floor commandeered my bed."

Harry frowned. He couldn't believe he didn't remember any of that. "It sounds like an eventful night. I'm sorry I missed it." He said finally.

"Yes well, we can't all be seasoned drinkers straight away, some need practise, you're obviously one of these people."

Draco, he now realised, was dressed in his Quidditch robes. "Do you have training this morning?"

"This afternoon, yes. It's nearly two, you've missed breakfast and lunch, Dear me, people will be terribly suspicious about you. Drinking and getting into bed with Slytherins. Naughty, naughty."

Harry was still fixated on Draco's Quidditch robes and tilted his head to the side as he took in Draco's casual stance.

"You realise I won't go easy on you this year because we're friends now?"

"Of course. In fact, since we're friends, I'll stop going easy on you." Draco grinned and Harry couldn't help but smile at the simple unguarded expression lighting up the blonde's features.

"Going easy on me? Surely you would have changed that when I was constantly beating you?"

"You obviously don't understand the implications of my plan. Never fear, in time, it will all be clear to you." Draco bent down and pulled his broom out of his trunk, before returning his attention to Harry. "I really must insist you leave before I return, as much as that is a breach of my hospitality, it's far too domestic for my liking to return home to someone in my bed. Especially such an uncomfortable sharer as you. I couldn't work out if you were trying to cuddle me or kill me." Draco shook his head and didn't spare Harry's horrified expression a second glance before making his way out of the room.

Thoroughly embarrassed, Harry threw on his clothes from last night, glad he had gotten changed here and wouldn't have to walk the halls in his suit at least.

As he was pulling his shirt over his head, there was a gentle knock on the door, before Hermione poked her head in. "Good afternoon, Harry. Where on earth did you get to last night?"

"Apparently exploring the grounds looking for Merlin with... Malfoy." Harry corrected himself, before pausing to wonder why he didn't want to call him Draco in front of Hermione. "How was the rest of the night?"

"Fine. Ron spent a good period of time entwined with Lavender, then told me he understood why I kissed girls." she smirked, somewhat spitefully, an expression that was far too Slytherin for her features. "I had no idea he was that inexperienced."

Harry shrugged, though he was fully aware. Ron had spent years hooked on Hermione, he was personally glad Lavender was proving a slight distraction at least. "It sounds like I didn't miss much then."

"No you didn't." Hermione said after a pause. "Pansy invited us down to Hogsmede for dinner tonight. I accepted, of course. So we're coming back here to head down with them at five, alright?"

Harry nodded, too tired to offer her a more sophisticated answer and she nodded, closing the door behind her. Harry stretched and his mind wandered back to Draco and his Quidditch robes. He nodded to himself and began to make his way back to the Gryffindor common room. They could get in two hours of impromptu practise. There was no way he would lose that cup this year.


Harry was trying his best to stay awake as they made their way down to their Slytherins' room later that day. He had run a positively gruelling training session and was looking forward to bed, rather than head out. He was joining them despite this, of course, following along a bickering Ron and Hermione.

"Well, no one made you come. You could have stayed with Lavender."

Ron made a face. "Hermione, you guys are my friends, I couldn't leave you to a bunch of Slytherins to spend time with a girl."

"I personally think we get along just fine with those Slytherins, we certainly don't require you to accompany us. Feel free to use this time for your girl."

"She's not my girl, she's a girl."

"Is she aware of this? I am sure she'd like to be if not."

"Oi, just drop it, okay? I'm coming out, even if I am still not a fan of this befriending Slytherins idea."

Hermione scowled, but let the conversation cease. They reached the Slytherin room and Pansy answered them, greeting Hermione affectionately, before she called to Blaise and Draco to hurry up.

The boys made their way out and Harry found his eyes drawn to the familiarity of Blaise's hand on Draco's lower back as he gestured him out first. He frowned, unable to imagine the same gesture between himself and Ron. He would likely settle for a quick pat on the back of his shoulder. Blaise's hand lingered a moment too long, before he followed the blonde out of the portrait.

The walk into Hogsmede was surprisingly tense, the girls doing most of the talking, Harry constantly failing to catch Draco's eye. Harry wasn't sure why he was being ignored but he was sure as hell going to find out! So when they made it to one of the new little restaurants that lined the streets of Hogsmede, he swiftly took the seat beside Draco before it could be arranged otherwise.

A brief flutter of irritation passed over the blonde's face before he returned to his calm, apathetic mask. Harry considered Draco's face; it was certainly handsome, he'd listened to the girls in his year – and previously, girls in the years above him – talk about how handsome he was. But what occurred to Harry was that it was so rare to see unguarded expression grace his features. Draco's pale, angular face was so commonly set in a bored, yet obviously aware expression, rarely letting more than a sneer or a cruel smirk get past that.

Harry of course, knew better. Occasionally, Draco would ease up on this facade. The blonde could be tricked into laughing, occasionally a smirk – more cheeky than cunning would betray his attempt to keep his emotions tied down. He wondered briefly how many people saw this side of Draco. His memory wandering back to the castle told him that it was fairly likely that Blaise did.

His attention turned to the dark boy who was sitting on his other side, with none of the same self control as Draco, making it perfectly clear he was horribly offended at being seated between two Gryffindor boys. His face was softer, Harry – objectively of course – decided it wasn't as conventionally handsome as Draco's. He also noticed it didn't have the same guarded expression most Slytherins would cement to their features. Pansy was normally seen with the same haughty, superior expression as Draco, allowing emotions to slip past only for selfish purposes. She used innocence to get out of trouble, angry to provoke fear, sexuality to charm and seduce. Harry couldn't tell if her method or Draco's was more effective. Harry looked around their table at the mismatched group. Ron sat between Blaise and Hermione, looking equally disgruntled as the dark boy. Hermione and Pansy were engaged in excited chatter, much to Draco's dismay as he attempted to gain the latter's attention to more subtly ignore Harry. The brunette frowned, curiosity disrupting his contemplation. He was still yet to figure out what the Malfoy's problem was. There was no reason for the blonde to be ignoring him and he was surprisingly offended by it. Running his hands through his hair and sighing, he leaned casually back in his chair.

"How did Quidditch training go, Malfoy?" he asked, the accentuation on the last name going unnoticed by all but the blonde.

"Fine." he replied, voice clipped, as he opened the menu, feigning disinterest. "We have a really strong team this year. I'm not worried in the slightest. You may as well hand me the cup now. Try not to cry when we need to shake hands after the final, I'll have to refuse you as my friend from then on if you do."

Harry grinned, reading what he assumed was an unintentional hidden message. Draco didn't want to give up his friendship. Somehow, he had wormed his way into what he had assumed was an impenetrable heart. Whether he liked it or not, Draco wanted him around – for awhile yet.

"That's alright, by extension, try not to refuse me as a friend when your delusional daydream of winning is extinguished."

Draco raised an eyebrow at him before returning silently to the menu, choosing to address the table rather than the brunette beside him. "Honestly, we would be better off eating at school, I don't want any of this.

Pansy scowled hitting him across his hip with the back of her hand, causing him to give an indignant yell.

"Stop being a brat more like, Draco. The point is to be out of that castle for once, food wasn't the most important thing on the agenda."

He sat back in his chair, folding his arms and glaring at the girl, but allowing most of the evening to continue offering little contribution. Blaise tried consistently to get his attention, yet failing this, settled for some basic discussion with Pansy, avoiding acknowledging the three Gryffindors where possible.


Eventually, Pansy came to realise that all the enthusiam around the table was gone and silently cursed Draco for his bratty silence. She was certainly going to have a talk with that boy when they returned home! She frowned, realising she still needed to confront him about his disappearance the following night and wondered briefly if his sullen behaviour had anything to do with that. Hoping desperately to get somewhere with the boy, she called for the bill, glaring at the relaxing of shoulders from around her. She watched as Harry cast half-hearted glares toward the blonde, who was inspecting his nails pretending not to notice.

As they paid and stood to leave, she noticed Harry grab Draco by the arm and pull him back.

"I just need to grab some new quills, Malfoy, weren't you saying yesterday you were running low on ink? Come on, we'll just drop in and we'll catch up to you guys."

The blonde looked positively livid and Pansy was shocked at the raw emotion on his face. Composing himself, he nodded, gesturing the others away with a wave of his hand. Pansy went to walk away and then quickly excused herself to get some chocolate from Honeydukes. She kissed Hermione once, making the girl blush and told them she'd see them back at the castle and slipped away toward the shop, keeping her eyes on them until they turned a corner and she cast a quick disillusionment charm on herself before creeping back toward the boys and slipping into the small alley beside the building the boys were stopped in front of and peeked her head around to watch.

They were standing, stubborn and silent, Draco's raised eyebrow daring Harry to make the first move. Finally, the brunette, far less immune to Draco's bratty Slytherin tactics than she was, cracked.

"What on earth are you ignoring me about?"

"Ignoring you? Please," he sneered.

"How else do you explain the fact that you barely said a word to me all through dinner?"

"In case you didn't notice, Potter, I barely said a word to anyone, I don't appreciate being taken on outings when I was informed I was attending, not asked, Pansy whining that I had to come until I caved when I am far too tired after a late night and exhausting training session to want to spend time with anyone. Quit the insecure melodramatics, they don't suit you."

Pansy frowned, knowing Draco didn't usually feel the need to justify himself to anyone. Yet here he was, explaining these things to Potter to make him feel better? Her eyes narrowed. Things had gotten far too out of hand. She had meant to put a stop to this! Yet seemingly her little act of seduction wasn't enough to distract her blonde for very long at all. Perhaps, she contemplated. She needed to continue her efforts. It couldn't hurt her cause, and though last time he hadn't been quite up to his usual standard, the sex was still plenty enjoyable. Especially since her little brunette was too shy to move past the kissing they were doing. Judging by her reaction to her actions the night before, she would stay too shy for a long while.

She was tempted to try and coax her into doing more, thinking it could be fun to steal the girl's innocence, but she also needed to concentrate on Draco. Keeping him away from Potter was far more important than a personal conquest.

At the end of the day, Hermione was a fling, a manipulative and political move. A nice enough girl, but she was just using her to adjust her social standing. Draco on the other hand. She sighed, as the boys, Potter grinning stupidly, Draco shaking his head in exasperation walked up the street toward the castle. Draco, she was madly in love with.


Harry yawned over his breakfast the next morning, stretching and lazily buttering his toast. He didn't bother to glance over to the Slytherin's table, after their brief confrontation the previous night he felt perfectly comfortable regarding his friendship with Draco and was content on eating his breakfast after his pleasant sleep in. His mind wandered to the homework he had to do, trying to decide what needed immediate attention and how much he could put off for a bit longer. He was snapped out of his daze when an unfamiliar owl landed gracefully on his shoulder, a small scroll of parchment attached to it's leg. It hooted softly, extending the leg until Harry took it, before flying off to return to the owlery.

Untying it, he unrolled the parchment.

Mr. Potter,

Your detention will be rescheduled for Sunday nights, 6:00pm sharp. This begins today Do not be late. I expect your work to be complete before this.

Professor Snape.

Harry groaned in displeasure, all his homework being pushed back as his further reading and practice for Occlumency took the forefront. He had been putting it off as he was making little progress and found the whole thing rather frustrating, but now he had no choice. Sighing, he finished his toast and brushed the crumbs from his hand before making his way toward the common room to get a start on his work.

The day dragged on as he finished reading the chapters he had been assigned to read this week. He had a more thorough understanding of the theory now, though he was no closer to accomplishing it in practise. He was becoming more successful at clearing his mind, pushing someone out of it was an entirely different story. Professor Snape insisted the fact that Harry could feel his presence suggested he was becoming more aware of his mind and it's patterns and hence could recognise an invasion, which was the first step to rejecting a foreign mind. Harry however, was sick of seeing his memories replayed and was becoming increasingly worried that something he didn't want to share would be exposed.

As he knocked on his professor's door that night, it was with apprehension. He was still not confident in his ability to shield his mind and was dreading the brutal attack it would suffer tonight. He came in as instructed to see Snape leaning back in his desk chair, observing Harry over entwined fingers.

"I see you received my owl?"

"I did, sir. May I ask why the change of time?"

"No real reason, I checked your timetable and noticed you have no class first thing Monday, so I thought the extra sleep would be beneficial to you when recovering from our sessions. We can change back if you prefer...?"

"No no." he said quickly, stunned at the regard being shown for his health and well-being. "I was just curious, Sundays work fine for me. I umm, read the chapters assigned."

"And?"

"I feel I better understand the theory, but I feel no closer to achieving the practise. When I try to clear my mind and consciously close it I don't feel anything."

"Occlumency isn't something you feel. It's an awareness. With Occlumency shields operating at full strength, you would find that your concentration improves, as your thoughts are more controlled and will cease to... wander. Thought processes will be more clear and defined, I assure you, when you first successfully occlude, after the initial shock settles, you will be relieved, as the chaos of the mind is organised and follows a more controlled pattern. You won't feel it exactly, but you will know. It is impossible not to notice."

Harry nodded, to show his understanding, but was secretly disappointed. He had been hoping that he would be told there was no way of knowing when he was successful and that he would discover that he had unknowingly succeeded. He should have realised it would not be so easy. Nodding again, he lifted his eyes to meet Snape's.

"Shall we start then?"

"Okay then." Harry replied reluctantly, rising after his professor. With a wave of his wand, the furniture was pushed to the walls leaving an open space in the centre of the room.

"Now, compose yourself. Clear your mind and attempt to bury those thoughts you wish to hide. Concentrate on pulling everything in, as far as you can. The first step is to gather your mind tightly, then to shield it." he waited a few moments, watching as Harry closed his eyes and screwed up his face in concentration. Satisfied he had allowed the teen enough time, he pushed his awareness forward, more gently than during the lessons he had provided in the boy's fifth year. He was beginning to believe maybe he had been too hard on him back then.

Harry felt the push against his consciousness and tried desperately to gather himself closer. He needed to learn to do this! His heart leapt when he thought he was succeeding, only to sink once more as the flashbacks assured him that his mind was instead pushed closer.

First year Harry stirred his potion with determination. He'd show this man he was not just a celebrity, this was the first time he'd been given a real chance in his life and he wasn't about to let some bitter professor ruin it for him!

He was in the Chamber of Secrets, facing an adolescent Tom Riddle explaining he was Lord Voldemort. Betrayal coursed through his veins and his eyes darted to the red-head he was here to save, plots formulating in his head as to how to get her and get out of there alive.

Dobby met him the morning of the second task, placing the gillyweed into his hands and he was hoping against hope that this worked.

It was Christmas, Sirius was handing him an untidily wrapped present and Harry smiled at him, heart bursting with affection for the closest thing to real family that the world had given to him.

He was sitting on the bed in the Shrieking Shack, a thoroughly drunk Draco explaining how his father was insisting he marry Pansy...

"NO!" Harry yelled, forcing him back, pulling the memory closer and hiding it. He wouldn't let Snape see that, he wouldn't. Draco didn't allow people to see him so vunerable, that was just for Harry. He didn't even feel embarrassment over the chaste kiss they had shared, just desire to protect Draco's pride. Confused by his sudden wave of possessiveness, he didn't hear Snape's words until hands on his shoulders snapped back his attention.

"That's more like it, Potter! You need to protect your thoughts, you need to want me out of your head. Sit for a moment."

Harry readily obliged, thoughts reeling as he concentrated on focusing. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I have a headache."

"That would be due to the force with which you pushed me out. Generally a first success at Occlumency is much weaker than that. That would have put considerable strain on your mind, it's remarkable that you are still conscious."

Silently agreeing, Harry helped himself to a glass of water. He tried to follow his thoughts, feeling simultaneously more overwhelmed and more organised.

"It will take some time for your mind to adjust to the change. As your shields strengthen you will find it easier to ignore. The initial transition can be slightly disorientating, but you will notice the relief once you orientate yourself to the change. Would you like to continue or shall we leave it?" Harry glanced up at his Professor, surprised that hew was being given any choice in the matter. "It will not do well to exhaust yourself. Your hesitation speaks for itself, we shall conclude for now. I want you to practise Occluding for an hour a day. Focus on that feeling of pushing me away and drawing yourself in. It is crucial that now that you are aware you commit yourself to strengthening that."

Harry nodded, walking to the door without another word to leave.

"Oh, also, Potter?" Harry turned to face his professor, raising an eyebrow, head throbbing. "I considered your proposition regarding Mr. Malfoy... I thought perhaps it would be suitable to invite him along when we begin some practical lessons once you master your Occlumency. It is perhaps inappropriate for me to assist you in applying and defending against the things I will be teaching."

Despite the pain in his head, Harry had it in him to smile, before closing the office door behind him. It was still early, though most students were in the common rooms already. He made his way unconsciously to the common room, trying to shift out of his disorientated state before returning to his friends. He needed to keep his lessons with Snape secret, he couldn't allow them to catch on. He recalled the DA and decided he needed Hermione's help with that. She would help them gather some members and he assumed that most of them would still have their coins. Maybe they could get in contact that way.

Realising he'd reached the common room, he made his way in joining the others on the lounge. He suggested his thoughts to Hermione and she enthusiastically began planning and over the week spread the word, establishing they would hold meetings in the Room of Requirement every Monday after dinner. Harry glanced over to the Slytherin table and saw Draco and Pansy sitting on either side of a fourth year boy, speaking in whispers. Draco looked up and Harry grinned at him, Malfoy nodding in return.

With the war on their doorstep, he'd felt so useless. Now though, he thought with a smile, maybe this was a start