Life seemed to have returned to normal; well as normal as it ever was for Harry Potter. He was back on speaking terms with his best friend and he was excited for the upcoming match. Something still didn't feel quite right but he pushed that feeling down. It was probably just apprehension for Slughorn's party or something.
The party was to be this Friday and the match against Slytherin then the following day. Harry had asked Luna if she still wanted to go with him as they had planned to before Christmas but she turned him down. Whilst she was apologetic, it was clear to Harry she was quite happy. Neville had asked her to go as his date. Harry had to admit it made him happy too; they would make a sweet couple. He was a bit worried about fighting off girls again however.
He probably wouldn't have gone at all if he didn't need to get that memory for Dumbledore.
The match at least he was really looking forward to. Something told him this match was going to be special.
In the end Harry asked Ron to go with him. He didn't want to risk upsetting him again by leaving him out and he was preferable to Romilda Vane. They were getting ready up in the dorm, joking about Ron's hideous dress robe which he had worn to the Yule Ball and just messing around.
"I'm glad we're back to normal. I did miss you mate, when you stopped talking to me." Harry said. He noticed that Ron's face dropped a little.
"Yeh, shall we get going then?" Ron's lame attempt to change the subject was not missed by either of them. Harry hadn't broached the subject all week, though he had to admit that he was curious. Now that he had brought it up however he didn't want to let it drop that easily.
"You gonna tell me what it was all about?" Ron turned his back to Harry. He was fiddling with the collar of his robes.
"No, it'll start another argument. I think it's better if you, we, move on." Harry couldn't remember the last argument to have another, but he accepted Ron's words and dropped it, for now.
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Hermione seemed a little irked by the time they reached the party. She was stood on her own by the drinks and elaborate ice sculpture.
"Where's Viktor?" Harry asked politely. Hermione motioned with her head towards the centre of the room where Slughorn stood. His hand was on Krum's elbow who looked thoroughly pissed off. He looked up and saw them standing with Hermione. He said something to Slughorn who also looked round.
"Harry, my boy!" Boomed Slughorn, dropping Krum's arm he made a beeline for him. "I was wondering when you'd get here! The star of the show! Come, I must introduce you to some dear friends of mine." He placed a large hand on Harry's shoulder and led him away. Upon looking back he saw that for once, Ron didn't seem to mind not being noticed by Slughorn.
He was introduced to so many people over the next hour they all began to merge into one, despite their fame. He barely had time to say hello before he was whisked off to see the next. Currently, Harry was engaged in conversation with one of the most beautiful women he had ever met. She had glossy auburn hair and fair, blemishless skin. Her eyes were dark and almond shaped, but there was something more to her than that. It was the way she smelt.
She smelt like broom wood and summer and apples all rolled into one. Harry was so lost in a daze, letting her melodic voice wash over him, that he didn't even notice Slughorn had left him there. He was staring shamelessly at her and she didn't seem to mind in the slightest.
"Harry I was-" Ron broke off mid-sentence as he too stared at the woman before them. "Wow." His mouth was hanging open but it gave Harry enough of a start to close his own. He could see Hermione and Krum weaving through the crowd also.
"Harry, is this your friend?" She practically purred his name. He was momentarily lost again as Ron spluttered but then Hermione was there. She had a hand on his elbow and was dragging him, very forcefully away. She then went to fetch Ron too.
"Honestly, what do the two of you think you are doing?! Gorping like that? Oh and you can close your mouth too." She poked Krum in the ribs who promptly looked away from the mysterious woman.
"We went doing anything Hermione, why'd you drag us away?" She scowled.
"You can be so stupid sometimes, the pair of you! What did she smell like?"
"Apples and brooms." Harry said. "Mint tea." Said Ron. They looked at each other confused.
"She smelt of peonies to me. That was amortentia she was wearing." Krum piped up. Hermione beamed proudly at him before turning her glare back to them.
"You were both stood there, completely out of it, staring at that Veela. Why she feels the need to wear amortentia too is beyond me, but she is most defiantly dangerous. You hear me?" She whacked Ron round the back of the head; he had been gazing across the room again.
"Yeh, look I ought to go and find Slughorn again. See if he's drunk enough." Harry said. Ron and Hermione nodded as he turned to leave. Krum held out an arm to Hermione. He led her off to the dance floor leaving Ron stood all alone in the noise of the party.
It turned out that Slughorn had not drunk enough. He continued to parade Harry round from guest to guest. Harry was just thinking that this party was more boring than even he had expected when something happened to spice it up a little.
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Draco could hear laughter. And music. It was bubbling down the corridors. It was a world he felt so separate from, the freedom and joy. It was never even a world he had really belonged in. He would catch snippets of voice carried by the wind and think every so often Is that Potter's voice? Is that him laughing up there? He had no real reason to be wandering the castle. The cabinet was fixed and the date was set and yet here he was. He told himself it was just to stretch his legs, to explore the castle once more, but he didn't believe it. No, he wanted to experience a little joy, even if it was not his own.
Without conscious thought his feet led him to the dark tower. The wind was wickedly cold but it was dry at least. He pulled himself up onto the same battlement he had shared with Potter. He could do with some of the other's warmth now.
Of course that is impossible. Why would be sit hip to hip to you now?
He did before.
That was before. You ensured things went back to the way they were.
It doesn't change the fact it happened.
Doesn't it? There is no one but you who knows the truth. You made him believe it had never happened.
He could still remember.
Do you really want that to happen?
Do you really want to be alone forever?
You think he would have stayed by your side forever? You were nothing more than a project, another thing to be saved.
He could have done. I guess now I'll never know.
Draco couldn't help but envisage it however. How life could have been by Harry's side. He saw a world free of Voldemort and the restraints of his current life. He saw a remote house where neither of them would draw too much attention. He saw them reading together in silence or lying under a tree. He saw a world of complete peace containing just the two of them. It was sad, that he could see no world for them that contained other people.
The voice remained in his head, belittling him for his fantasies but he found he was able to tune it out tonight, which was surprising, considering how much it sounded like his father. Providing all went to plan on Tuesday evening the Dark Lord wouldn't feel the need to use legilimency on him. If the plan failed, well, he was a dead man either way. These quiet thoughts would be the best he could have for a long time.
He scrunched up his sleeves and stared at the fine white lines white crisscrossed his forearms. They had never healed fully despite the magic, Draco realised his body didn't really want to be healed. The Dark Mark was scarred too. Here the raised lines were stained black not white but they were still visible. Each line seemed to represent another failure in his life, another weakness. That mark however represented his greatest weakness; his inability to be strong and do as he pleased. To defy his family and do what he now realised was right. Instead he continued onwards, doing what he knew was wrong because it was the only thing he knew how to do. He twisted in an endless cycle much like that snake he bore.
His scars were all self-inflicted, unlike the mark on Harry's leg. It only just occurred to him that he had scarred the boy-who-lived with powerful magic too. If the Dark Lord found out he'd probably kill him but at this point it just seemed like another thing on a long list.
He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that when Flich's voice echoed behind him he nearly toppled from the battlements.
"Thought you'd go for a midnight stroll, huh boy? You're not weaselling your way out of this one. Come on, now." The glee in his voice was evident.
"I was taking some fresh air from being in Slughorn's party. I have every right to be up." The lie came smoothly and he could see Flich falter a little.
"Well, I shall escort you back to Professor Slughorn." Just like that Draco felt his stomach drop as though he really had fallen from the battlements. He couldn't actually go into the party. He couldn't see Potter and his date for one thing, but he couldn't be caught up with no reason either. He began to splutter a response but Filch seized his robe and pushed him towards the trap door.
"Get your filthy hands off me." He managed to say before falling gracelessly from the top of the ladder.
.
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The party was going well but the night was wearing on and Harry still hadn't secured that memory. He was madly trying to think of a backup plan to secure the memory. He'd followed the man round all evening and noted to his dismay that Slughorn had switched to Butterbeer halfway through the night.
Slughorn was also in fine spirits and surrounded by people. Harry suspected his mood would change rapidly once he brought up horcruxes and did not want to do so in such a public space. There was a sudden scuffle by the door.
"You can take your hands off me now squib. I'm here am I not?" Malfoy's voice echoed across the suddenly empty room.
"I found this boy wandering the corridors Professor, claimed to be one of you guests. He don't look like he was though, does he?" Flich was gesturing at Malfoy's plain robes and then everyone else's dress robes. There was a smile on his face as he sneered at Malfoy. Inching to the left a bit, Harry was able to see Draco too. He looked pale and tired, the perfect blonde hair messed up. Harry was just thinking that he should feel happy that Draco was finally being reprimanded for something when the grey eyes flicked up to his own, and then he stopped thinking at all.
A sudden dizziness washed over him as he collapsed into a heap on the floor.
.
.
The quiet room erupted as Harry crumpled. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a shock of red hair followed by a bushy mane push through the crowd, but he was too fixated on the place Harry now laid, hidden by legs.
What just happened? Was it my fault? Oh merlin, what if the memory charm just broke? Shit. Shit shit shit.
Draco knew he ought to take this chance to escape the party but he couldn't. He needed to know. Unbidden, his legs carried him forward to the edge of the circle. Harry's eyes were closed and his glasses were askew. Granger was leant over him, listening. She drew in a shaky breath as she sat up and nodded at Ron.
"He's okay." Her voice came out shaking. Draco let out a sigh he hadn't realised he had been holding and that small noise was enough to draw her attention. Her eyes narrowed as they met his, burning with a fierce determination. She stood and marched towards him. Her nails sank into the sleeve of his robes and for the second time that night he was dragged off.
Outside of the party room, she rounded on him.
"I know what you did. You modified his memory. I don't know why but I know that you did. I don't think that's right so unless you give me a bloody good reason I will be telling Harry what I know when he comes round. That is, if he hasn't remembered all ready."
"Not only are you too clever for your own good, you're too clever for everyone else's too." She just stared at him. Draco left out another sigh. He seemed to be doing a lot of sighing of late. "He is better off this way. Come on, do you really think us being friends would have ended well?"
"I know that he was happier before you did it."
"Really? What I seem to remember was him having his leg cut in half and falling off the ladder in the dark tower, I remember Weasel refusing to talk to him and making him miserable. He has seemed absolutely fine every time I've seen him over the last fortnight."
"Then you and I have seen him at different times. The last time I saw him this down was when Sirius died. He can feel something is missing even if he doesn't know what. I don't like you. I don't understand why Harry likes you. I just know that he does." The pain in Draco's chest was mounting. Everything he had been trying to block out over the last two weeks was flooding upon him now.
"Don't tell him Hermione. He deserves better than me." He turned to leave but Hermione grabbed him. She yanked him round.
"That's not-" She broke off. Draco was crying, actually crying, in front of her. He pulled his arm free and walked away, leaving Hermione feeling very confused and alone in the corridor.
