Author notes:
Italicized words are character thoughts
Italicized & boldfaced words are dream sequences or memories
Boldfaced words are in text reading materials (like books or letters)
000 Represents a shift in character perspective
0~0~0 Represents a shift in scene (often followed by the date the new scene takes place if it is on a different day than the prior scene)
Chapter 12: New Beginnings
Sunday, 1/26/1997
Harry awoke in his Gryffindor bed his heart racing and his cock painfully hard. He could still feel the ghosting touches of dream Malfoy's fingers as they lathered him in increasingly intimate regions. The sound of his voice breaking in pleasure as Harry brought him off. The pleasurable pain he'd felt when Malfoy had bitten his shoulder as he came. Harry reached up as if expecting a real bruise to have materialized there.
Harry's arousal wasn't abating. He hadn't cum since that unfortunate run in at the room of requirement and his frigid morning showers were simultaneously increasing in painfulness and decreasing in effectiveness. Yesterday he had remained under the icy torrent until his fingers pruned and he'd still maintained a semi-erection for most of the morning. 'Thank Merlin for wizard space enchanted pants.'
"Oi, Seamus throw me that sock over there." Dean yelled from across the room.
"Nice catch!" Seamus called, "If Harry doesn't fix his flying problem maybe you can fill in as seeker." He joked.
"Hey, shut yer mouth about things you don't know anything about, Seamus. You weren't there yesterday, it was no laughing matter." Ron spat from his bed.
"Yeah? Well I heard he fell from his broom. I get that he is the quidditch captain and I mean no disrespect. He is a great seeker, when he manages to stay on his broom. But his seeking ability isn't going to count for much if he doesn't fix whatever his problem is this time. How many times has he fallen off his broom now? At least three times immediately come to mind. This is a recurring problem. As quidditch captain he has a responsibility to the team to put our best chances for winning above his private desire to keep playing. I don't need to know the details of what's wrong with him this time to understand that much. Besides, Dean said he hasn't been flying all term. Isn't that a little suspicious to you?"
"Seamus," Dean's voice interjected, "Just leave it, I'm happy being chaser and even if Harry did stop flying Ginny would be seeker."
"This whole conversation is pointless. Harry is not quitting quidditch. He was just having an off day. He will be fine and we'll slaughter the Hufflepuffs in the next match. Just wait you see."
'Ugh, clearly my roommates are awake.' Harry inwardly sighed, trying not to feel hurt that Ron seemed to be the only one who didn't think he should quit the team, but happy that at least that meant that Ron was over his tissy fit from yesterday.
'So much for my usual plan of a discrete cold shower while everyone is still asleep.'Harry cursed himself for oversleeping. 'If I'd woken up an hour ago I wouldn't even have had that stupid dream and I wouldn't be in the bloody predicament.'
Harry contemplated his options. He could wank himself in the privacy of his curtains, but that felt awkward knowing that his friends were up and about just feet away and might at any moment come to wake him. Not to mention that wanking would require thinking about Malfoy, a reality he still hadn't quite reconciled himself to.
He could attempt another cold shower in the 6th year boys loo, but now that was swarming with his dorm mates and he'd have a fun time trying to hide his erection in an open air shower with a bunch of other boys his age who would undoubtedly misunderstand its source.
Plus he didn't really feel like facing his roommates just yet. Not when they had just been not so subtly suggesting that he would remove himself for the team if he was a good captain. 'Fuck that, I've had to give up enough for this bloody Veela curse.' Harry thought bitterly.
The only option that left was going somewhere else. Harry knew he was going to go back to the room of requirement. The residual embarrassment he would feel at returning to the scene of his shaming revelation to Malfoy would pale in comparison to the embarrassment he would feel being caught wanking or being hard in the boys' showers by his roommates. The choice was easy when you put it in such clear cut terms. Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak which he kept under his bed pillow and slipped out of his four poster as discretely as he could.
As he descended down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room he reflected on the dream again and on the bond in general. His suspicion that the bond was sentient grew with each day. When he first started sleeping in his dorm with his roommates present he noticed that the dreams ceased to make him cum. He had theorized that maybe it was a possessive Veela thing that he was supposed to climax around other people in the same way that he couldn't climax thinking about other people.
But he was beginning to think it was more devious than that. The nature of the dreams, the effusion of feelings, caresses, kisses and foreplay seemed intended to inspire more than lust. Waking up hard was a continual frustration as well. At least before he could look down on his messed pants in disgust and then move on with his day. Waking up unsated meant that he had to do something about it.
He was horny and all of the solutions involved Malfoy. Either he needed to fantasize about him and toss off, an unpalatable idea; he need to actually be intimate with him, a laughable idea; or he needed to go somewhere to dream in private and hope that the Veela dreams would show mercy on him and give him release. Harry knew his life had truly gone pear shaped if the wet dreams he had lamented just days before was now his favored option.
As Harry invisibly stepped out of the Fat Lady's portrait he was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the warmth of his scars or the quiet pattering of following feet.
000
Draco had been waiting outside of the Gryffindor common room for nearly three hours. He was a patient man, but honestly this pushed the bounds. 'It's nearly ten, does Potter even plan to eat breakfast.' In vocal support of his displeasure Draco's stomach growled angrily. He quieted his rebellious belly with a non-verbal silencio. Making noise would negate the effectiveness of his disillusionment charm and the last thing he needed was some nosy Gryffindork asking him why he was stalking their portrait hole. He didn't have the kind of excuse he was willing to share.
He resisted the temptation to tap his foot as the minutes continued to pass by and more and more students who weren't Potter stepped out of the portrait hole and passed Draco without a flicker of notice. He would get Potter alone and he would make Potter spill about what had happened on the broom yesterday and about all the other symptoms he was hiding. Draco was sick to death of being the only one left in the dark about the details of the bond and by Merlin he was going to make Potter talk today.
The portrait hole opened again, but this time no one appeared to exit. Or so it seemed until Draco caught a glimpse of a well-worn trainer. 'Well speak of the devil.' Draco thought smugly as he followed his prey. His heightened Veela senses made following the sound of Potter's graceless stomping trivially easy and Draco was only surprised when he found himself yet again in front of the room of requirement.
'I'm going to have to time this perfectly.' He thought. 'Even Potter won't be stupid enough to leave the door vulnerable to my entry twice.'
When the door opened Draco kept as close to Potter's back as he thought he could without alerting his rival to his presence. He couldn't say why he was bothering to conceal himself anymore. After all the whole point was to confront Potter, not spy on him, but Draco wanted to reveal himself on his own terms not because he was clumsy enough to be caught.
Draco held his breath and swept past Harry with a seekers speed and grace while the door clanged shut.
Draco prepared to dramatically and triumphantly remove his disillusionment charm but the finite caught in his throat as he took in his surroundings and realized that they were in the room from last time. The same violet curtained four poster, white leather couches, silver damask wall paper, and gigantic fireplace that Draco had lived in for two days after their previous encounter here. The same bed that Potter had dreamed of him on and that he had subsequently pleasured himself to thoughts of Potter on.
The same bed that Potter was crawling onto that very moment. Malfoy's heart clenched. The visual was so unexpected that it overwhelmed him. He'd imagined Potter in that bed so many times since that day. He'd dreamt of him both while awake and asleep. Fantasizing about what the two of them might have been doing on that bed in Potter's vision and what dreams Potter might have had since. He'd wondered how dreams would compare to reality and then hated himself for allowing such thoughts.
'It's just the bond. This is all just a symptom of the bond. That's why I'm here. This is why we need to talk. I need to know what symptoms he is having. Besides the obvious that is.' Draco looked up at Potter again. He was shifting back and forth on the bed as though he were having a hard time getting comfortable.
000
"Dammit." Harry cursed out loud as he forced himself off the bed. Neither the unpleasant revelation that his roommates thought he should quit quidditch or the long walk to the room of requirement had made the slightest dent in his arousal and being back on this bed was having rather the opposite effect. All of the visions and sensations he'd had last time he was here were flooded back to him with such realism that he could almost swear he could hear Malfoy's labored breathing and smell his vanilla chamomile scent.
"I'm going crazy." Harry wished that he had just gone for the cold shower option. His roommates wouldn't have thought that much of him having a boner in the morning. They were teenagers too. "Ugh, why did I bother coming here?" When he looked up he was surprised to see a new door had appeared in the wall. Curiousity pulled him into the new room and he found a lavish bathroom complete with a tub that could rival the prefect's bathroom and an obsidian and glass shower that could easily fit ten people.
"Perfect." He stripped his clothes of without ceremony and approached the shower. The water poured down from the ceiling like warm rain. Harry was tempted to just luxuriate in it, but a warm shower wasn't going to help him with his problem. He cranked the knob as far as it would go and shuddered as his warmth was ripped from him in an icy torrent of freezing rain. His skin felt like it was being stabbed with tiny invisible blades and he ached all over.
He glanced down hopefully and was dismayed to find his erection resilient against the swift temperature change. It bore the cold as though warmed by the heat of its own need. Harry pressed his forehead against the shower wall and slammed his fists against it in frustration. Unable to bear the icy pain on his back any longer he turned the temperature back to the balmy summer rain it had started at.
Defeated, Harry reached for the soap and lathered his hand. He knew he'd have no trouble coming up with the requisite mental images. After all it had been less than an hour since he had woken with the sense of Drac- MALFOY's fingers wrapped around him.
'I can't start thinking of him as Draco.' Harry chastised himself even as he began to stroke himself to visions of his former enemy warm and wet and with him. He remembered the kisses, the sensitive spot on his neck that he hadn't known he had until dream Malfoy had sucked on it. The feel of Malfoy's soapy fingers and the bite of his teeth against Harry's heated skin as he moaned through his orgasm.
Harry came in long white strips that contrasted starkly against the obsidian backing of the shower. Harry's whole body tingled.
"Eight days is too long." Harry panted, leaning against the shower wall to keep from falling.
000
'This isn't happening again.' Draco's mind screamed. 'No, that is NOT how this is going down. He's not going to flee and ignore me for a week. I need to leave. Now. Before he gets dressed or figures out I'm here.' Draco slipped silently out of the bathroom trying to ignore his body's reaction to the erotic image of a nude, climaxed weakened Harry Potter bracing himself against a wall covered in his seed. 'We can have this chat some other time. When we are less… indisposed.' He reasoned.
Draco turned the doorknob that led out to the corridor and nothing happened. 'If the door is warded against opening for me… I'm stuck here. I can only leave when Potter does. If I can't slip out behind him I could be trapped here forever.' He realized frantically. Was it worth the risk? Should he just show himself and be guaranteed the ability to exit. He needn't let on that he knew about what happened in the bathroom just now. So long as he managed to compose himself that is.
'Yes, I can do this. I WILL do this. I'll take this as an advantage. Potter is upset right now. The bond is obviously affecting him if he has to come to the room of requirement to wank.' Draco couldn't help at that thought. He felt unduly pleased that he wasn't the only one feeling that compulsion. 'He's vulnerable right now. I can MAKE him talk to me.'
Draco's plotting was interrupted several minutes later when the man in question strode into the room and plopped unceremoniously on the white leather chair closest to the fire.
Draco allowed himself a few silent moments to admire the way the water saturation tamed Potter's typically wild hair and then another few moments after that to compose himself as he pushed those counterproductive thoughts aside. 'Now is not the time to being thinking about what happened in the shower.' He chided himself.
When he felt certain that he had successfully battled down all vestiges of arousal he vanished his disillusionment charm with a silent finite and when even that failed to capture Potter's notice he cleared his throat loudly.
The green eyes that bore into his soul the next moment and the surge of feeling their gaze roused in him left Draco wondering if maybe he was the vulnerable one at the moment.
000
"Malfoy." Harry imbued the word with as much derision as he could muster.
"I'm not here to fight." Malfoy raised his hands, immediately on the defensive. Though, Harry noted with surprise, unarmed. "I just want to talk. I heard… I heard that you fell off your broom yesterday."
"And I'm sure you were very upset by that news." Harry snorted. "I'm sure you'd like Slytherin's chances for the cup if I were out of commission, but sadly I'll have to disappoint you. I'm perfectly fine and you should know that I'm anything but a quitter."
Malfoy looked almost stricken by the accusation and Harry replayed his words in his minds wondering what it was he said that had managed to offend Malfoy enough to cause him to make that face. Malfoy's floundering mouth opened and closed without words.
"Oh get to the point, Malfoy. Why are you here? How did you even get in here? I specifically warded the rooms against your entry."
Malfoy found his voice then. "I came in when you did. I was behind you in the seventh floor corridor. I followed you here." He answered the first question and Harry paled at the implication.
'He's been here the whole time…' Harry's brain wanted to shut down. 'Will my mortifications never cease?' He wondered.
"Just have your laugh and sod off, Malfoy. I have better things to do than amuse you." Harry rose to his feet and took a step towards the door. Malfoy jumped from his chair and intercepted him.
"Wait." Malfoy's voice seemed to plead. "We NEED to talk."
Harry sighed impatiently. "There's nothing for us to talk about." He crossed his arms stubbornly but ceased attempting to leave.
"How can you say that? You almost died yesterday."
"Fine, I'll rephrase that. There's nothing I'd like to talk to YOU about. Is that better?"
"No, no it's not better. Dammit Potter, why are you so impossible? Can't you see I'm trying to be nice here. I was worried about you. You almost died yesterday, because of symptoms from our bond. We need to discuss this."
Harry tensed in suspicion. "What makes you so sure that my fall is related to the Veela bond? Maybe I just lost my grip."
Malfoy met his gaze scornfully. "You're one of the best flyers Hogwarts has seen this century. You wouldn't just fall off your broom for no reason. Since there were no rogue dementors or defense against the darks arts teachers around it was easy enough for me to extrapolate that the bond was at fault. Now tell me what happened so that we can make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Did you just compliment me?" Harry smirked.
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Only you would fish for compliments in the middle of a conversation about survival Potter, but yes I remarked favorably on your flying ability. Let's try not make a big deal of it."
"So if I'm one of the best fliers in this century does that mean you're admitting that I'm a better flyer than you?" Harry teased, risking retaliatory mocking as he became increasingly optimistic that Malfoy hadn't seen him in the shower. 'Surely if he'd seen me he would have thrown that in my face already. That's the sort of low blow that he would use to win a confrontation like this.' Harry thought reassuringly.
"I've managed not to fall off my broom since the bond was initiated so take that for what you will." Malfoy retorted and Harry's amusement faded as his face hardened back into its previous hostility.
"Dammit." Malfoy pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry. I swear I'm not here to antagonize you. You're just so..." He waved his hand "mockable, but I will try to contain myself if you will. I haven't fallen off my broom because clearly you and I are experiencing different symptoms. I think we would both benefit from laying our cards on the table and seeing what we can make of it."
"Why would I trust you with the details of what I'm suffering when I don't even talk to my closest friends about it?" Harry asked.
"Because like it or not we're in this together." Malfoy answered, pausing for a moment as he seemed to hesitate over his next words. "Also, in the interest of full disclosure and as a show of good faith I should tell you that it is looking less and less likely that this bond is going to be dissolvable. Snape's too nice to just say that to me out straight and he'd never throw in the towel if there were even the slightest chance for success," Harry snorted at the description of Snape as nice, but Malfoy pressed on as though he didn't notice. "but I know my godfather well enough to read between the lines. He no longer has hope. He doesn't actually believe that we'll be able to break this he's just continuing his research out of a sense of duty to me because he promised. While that is good of him, you and I need to prepare for reality. If you and I are going to be permanently stuck together in this pseudo bond we are going to have to find a way to live within the restrictions and symptoms of this Veela magic without going crazy or falling off our brooms to our deaths. I think that the first step to doing that is being honest with each other. We can't fight against this effectively if we are always at each others throats. Fighting is counterproductive and frankly may very well make things worse. These bonds are weird like that."
By the end of Malfoy's speech all of the blood had drained from Harry's face. He slumped back into the chair by the fire and stared despondently into the flames.
000
"Can we please talk about this?" Draco probed again after Harry had remained silent for several minutes. He didn't bother to mentally correct himself when he realized he was thinking of him as Harry, if they were going to try being friendly with each other than thinking of each other with given names was probably a step in the right direction. "It doesn't have to be terrible." Draco added, hating the pleading tone that was creeping into his voice, but pleased that it at last managed to rouse a response from Harry whose head had shot up to look at him.
"How can you say that?" Harry looked aghast. "What about being forever bonded to you could be described as anything but terrible?"
"Okay, now you're just being rude." Draco snipped back. Tired of conducting this conversation from across the room Draco stalked over to the matching arm chair directly across from Harry and sat down.
"I'm not saying we have to be traditional Veela mates or heaven forbid lovers, I'm just saying we don't have to be enemies. We could help each other. You could tell me why you fell off the broom. I can promise not to use the pheromones against you again. You'll notice I haven't done it again since that day in charms. That lecture you gave me, it got through. You made me realize that I've been shitty to you over the years, and thanks to the bond I actually feel contrite about it. Yes, believe it or not Draco Malfoy is capable of caring. See that's me sharing one of my symptoms with you. Now it's your turn."
Draco's admission invoked an interesting mix of surprise and amusement across Harry's face.
"So what? Now that you know we're stuck together you want to be friends or something?" Harry asked.
"Not exactly, I think it would be dangerous for both of us if we publicly acknowledged each other as friends. No, what I'm proposing is that we stop fighting each other, that we help each other combat averse symptoms when we can, that we be honest with each other about the bond, and that for the time being we maintain a façade of animosity in public."
"If we're just going to pretend fight anyway why not just really fight and save ourselves the effort of pretense?"
"Because fighting you hurts me, okay? I felt really bad after that day in charms and I've been on edge since the last time we were here." Harry flushed at the first reference to the wet dream incident.
"Could have fooled me. You've been ignoring me ever since we were last here. Why the sudden desire to get chummy now?" Harry asked.
Draco took a deep breath and prayed for patience. 'You promised Luna you would give this your best effort.' He reminded himself.
"My sudden desire to 'get chummy' stems from my epiphany that ignoring you makes you fall off brooms to your death. Are you an idiot or something? This isn't a choice Potter. We either get along or this bond is going to destroy us. A truce with you is a matter of self-preservation. Merlin, are you always this suspicious when people offer you kindness? Don't worry, I haven't been infected by a sudden wave of good will towards Gryffindors in general, I'm not under an Imperius curse, and I'm not planning on using you as some stepping stone to the top. If anything you've ruined any future ambitions I may have had. Do you have any idea what the Dark Lord would do to me if it came out that I was allied with you? That my soul is bonded to yours, even incompletely? What he can do to my family who he has continual access to? Never the less I'm offering to help you. I'm trying to make this better. You have everything to gain by a friendship with me and I have everything to lose. Yet here I am, humbling myself, AGAIN, by offering you my hand in friendship. Are you really going to reject it a second time even when you know that you could die if we don't cooperate with each other about this bond?"
Harry's shoulders slumped. "Fine, what would this alliance entail?"
Draco smiled at his victory. "Well first off I'd like you to tell me the truth about what happened to you on your broom yesterday."
Harry sighed but acquiesced. "My scars, the ones you gave me when you initiated the bond, well they're called Veela marks and they react to you. Specifically, they react to your proximity to me. When I'm away from you they grow cold. When I'm far away from you they ache painfully. When I'm really far away from you they hurt so badly that apparently I pass out. Yesterday the quidditch pitch just happened to be really far away from you." Harry finished without once meeting Draco's eyes.
"How is it that we are only discovering this now? Was yesterday the first time you passed out?" Draco asked. Harry nodded. "That's strange. It's the middle of winter I'm always in the castle unless I'm at my own practice so the relative distance to the pitch shouldn't have been that different yesterday compared to the other times you've practiced since we bonded."
"Yesterday was the first time I've flown during quidditch practice since the bond." Harry admitted. "The pain I feel at the pitch is…substantial. Normally I make up an excuse to conduct practice from the ground, but we have a game coming up next month against Hufflepuff and my team would think it was weird if I never flew." His voiced trailed off. "I should have listened to my body. Me nearly falling to my death was the result of me ignoring my better instincts." Harry conceded.
"No, you nearly falling to your death was the result of you keeping secrets from me. I'm not a monster you know. If you had come to me and told me about your scars and how they were affecting you than I could have gone outside during your practices. I could have stayed close enough to the pitch that the bond wouldn't hurt you. You should have asked me."
"Oh yes, I can just imagine how that conversation would have gone down. 'Oi Malfoy, I know that we've utterly and completely loathed each other for the last six years and that so far you have used every insight into our Veela bond to invent new ways to torment and publicly humiliate me, but what the hey in for a knut in for a galleon as they say. I figured since you already know so much already I might as well just let you know all of my vulnerabilities. I'm sure you wouldn't use them against me. I mean our past experiences with one another in no way suggest that you're the sort who would use the knowledge that you possess an innate ability to cause me pain at will maliciously. Nope, and there's absolutely no past indictators that you might use underhanded means to sabotage me to win at quidditch either.' Oh yes, it's definitely my fault for not trusting you, not your fault for not being trustworthy."
"If you feel that strongly about keeping it a secret from me than why are you telling me now? It's clear from the derision dripping from your voice that your opinion of my character hasn't undergone a sudden revolution in my favor." Draco's eyes darkened in anger.
"Yeah, well I don't have much of a choice now do I? As you have repeatedly pointed out I almost died yesterday. While quitting quidditch might have allowed me to avoid this conversation for a little while if what you said about Snape is true, if this bond really is permanent, than it's not like I could have avoided revealing this forever. This proximity requirement has some poses some very real problems. Easter holidays are in two months, if the level of pain I felt out on the pitch is any indicator than you going home to Malfoy Manor would probably kill me."
"Then I'll stay at Hogwarts." Draco promised. "See, that wasn't so hard. We're coming up with solutions together already."
"Fine, but that will still only carry us until summer. Staying at Hogwarts over the summer isn't an option. Especially not if you plan to keep our bond a secret from your family. I was really resting all my hopes on Snape finding a cure by then."
"Can you please stop referring to the Veela bond like it's a curse or a disease. It's not something that needs a cure."
"Oh please not you too. Honestly, I don't think I can bear it if even you want to give into this."
"You wish. No, I'm not saying I want to 'give into this' I'm just saying I resent you treating it like some contagious infection I've afflicted onto you. I am a Veela now after all. Even if you aren't really my first choice for a mate I still can't help but feel offended when you refer to the bond as though it is something revolting. But now I'm curious. Just who have you been talking to who has told you that you should just give in?" Draco was suddenly frightened by the realization that his secret wasn't as contained as be had believed. 'How many people has Potter told about this? Does he not see the need for discretion?'
"Hmm let me see, Pomfrey, Dumbledore, Snape. Sure they don't come right out and say 'just consummate and get it over with', but it's obvious that they think resistance is futile and the book Snape gave me about coerced Veela mates when I went to talk to him hasn't really painted an optimistic picture on the success of fighting the bond either. I'm beginning to believe that what we have really is unprecedented. It seems that there has really never been a bond that neither party wanted before. The Veela magic, while sentient enough to craft itself to maximize its own effectiveness at tormenting me, doesn't seem to be smart enough to realize that we don't want this. Maybe that's the point, maybe its meant to draw unwilling mates together. That makes more sense than any other explanation I could think of. It's so messed up. We don't want this and it's just going to keep prodding us for the rest of our lives." Harry buried his face in his hands.
"I haven't even told my best friends the truth about what happened between us after our duel. What can I say to them? That I'm soul bonded to Draco Malfoy, that I'll never be able to have a romantic relationship for the rest of my life, that I'm slowly but surely going insane… Hermione is worried enough about me already. Even when she just thought I was having nightmares about my dead godfather it practically brought her to tears. I can't burden her with the truth." Harry finished glumly.
Harry looked so distraught that Draco felt a visceral urge to hold and sooth away his sadness. 'That's the Veela magic talking. Harry would only be more upset if you reached out to him with Veela bond coerced compassion.' Draco admonished himself as he fought the compulsion to reach out and pull Harry into his comforting embrace.
"I'm sorry and I know that this isn't much of a consolation, but I want you to know that I had no idea that I could be transformed into a Veela like that and if I had any control of the situation I certainly wouldn't have bonded you on purpose."
Harry let Draco's apology soak in before responding. "Thanks, hearing that given the choice you would have chosen death over enslaving me is oddly reassuring. I don't mean to blame you for all this. It's my fault for almost killing you. I shouldn't have cast a curse that I didn't know the effect of. This bond is my punishment for using Dark magic. Cause and effect. A divine retribution for misdeeds. Muggles call it karma." Harry gave a bitter half laugh.
"Karma." Draco moved the word around his mouth as though tasting it. "Muggles and their silly superstitions. But if it is real, if this bond really is our comeuppance for our crimes against each other than maybe if we suffer the punishment together it doesn't have to be as bad. I promise that going forward I won't use my powers against you and I'll start watching the Gryffindor practices and games so you can fly without having to fall to your death. So do you think we can be friends?" Draco extended his hand out, trying vainly to hide his fear of rejection, but Harry didn't leave him hanging this time. The Gryffindor met him halfway and their hands clasped tightly.
"Thank you," Harry answered. Draco's face flickered in confusion. "for not being a total prat about everything that has happened, everything you've seen. I'm glad I wasn't wrong about you."
Draco remembered the lecture in the charms classroom where Harry had lambasted him for having failed to be the better person Harry had believed him to be and flushed at the compliment of Harry's renewed faith in him. Knowing that Harry didn't think he was a monster, incapable of compassion or feeling, filled him with a warmth an inexplicable warmth in his chest. It was several minutes before either boy thought to retract their hands.
