Chapter Thirty-Eight

Doing Just Fine

Katie:

The blast of fresh air nips at her nose, delightful in it's coolness after a day of rigorous study indoors. Snow crunches under her feet and Katie feels a burst of restless energy surge through her as she heads down to the Quidditch pitch. With her NEWTs fast approaching she hasn't been able to get in as much practice as everyone else (much to Ron's disgust as he loudly tells her every chance he gets).

Though, Katie supposes she can't complain too much. It was Ron's berating of her that prompted his sister to suggest getting together for their own little practice sessions when Katie's schedule allowed.

As she heads on out to the pitch she spies a figure standing out in the snow and grins, glad that Ginny is already waiting for her.

A muffled thwack echoes over the grounds, oddly muffled in the falling snow. She sees a small ball go flying across the pitch, and frowns. Why on earth was Ginny working with the bludgers?

Except, as she nears the figure, she realises that it's not Ginny.

'Er, hey Harry,' she says, staring at her captain with raised eyebrows.

'Hey,' he grunts, not looking at her as he swings the bat at the approaching bludger.

It makes solid contact, and the small but dangerous ball goes flying off again. He must of charmed them to return, because not a moment later it's flying back toward him.

'I'm uh, just waiting for Ginny,' she says, though he hasn't asked. 'We're going to get in some practice. Since I haven't been able to attend a lot this week.'

'Hm,' he says, and the bludger goes flying again.

She bites her lip, worry niggling at her as he all but ignores her. Was he angry that she had been missing practice? An awkward silence stretches between them, and she shuffles her weight from foot to foot.

'I didn't know you were considering being a beater,' she says, if only to break the silence.

'I'm not,' he says. Thwack.

'Oh. So…just practicing for fun then?'

'Nope.' Thump.

'Oh…' she frowns at him.

He must be freezing. For whatever reason he hasn't bothered with his Quidditch gear, standing instead in a pair of jeans and a thin, threadbare shirt. He brings the bat back into position, gaze never wavering from the bludger off in the distance. He's pale, but then he's standing half frozen in the snow so that doesn't really surprise her.

'Uh, are you okay?' she asks.

'Fantastic,' he grunts.

'Cool…okay,' she says. 'Just, uh, you seem sort of—' crack. '—stressed.'

'Do I?'

The answer is clearly sarcastic, and he almost stumbles with the force of the next hit. He's out of breath and panting, his flushed face standing out against the paleness of his skin.

'You…uh…wanna talk about it?' Katie asks.

'Nope.'

'Right. Er, okay then. Well, I'm just gonna go get ready, then.'

'Hm.'

He still doesn't look at her and she can only hope that it's not her. While she and Harry have never been great friends, she'd like to think they got on well enough. After all they'd been playing Quidditch together for six years.

She shakes her head and tries to put it out of her mind. Despite the way everyone else behaves, what Harry thinks of her isn't her problem. She can deal with one brooding sixth year being PO'ed with her. Besides, she has far more important things to worry about. Like her NEWTs exams.

She sighs and starts going over her notes for Astrology in her mind.

When she comes back out Ginny is here, making her way through the snow toward Harry. Katie grimaces and, with a resigned sigh, sets back off across the snow. Maybe Ginny can figure out why Harry is so angry with her.

'—something going on?'

'Why would there be something going on?' asks Harry, still in that same low, sarcastic voice.

'Because you're standing out here in the freezing cold hitting bludgers,' says Ginny dryly. 'C'mon Harry, somethings obviously got you worked up. Tell me what's wrong.'

He turns suddenly. 'What's wrong? What's wrong is I just got dumped, okay? Except, we weren't ever really together, were we? So I wasn't actually dumped I was just…rejected.'

He turns away from Ginny and swings hard. The bat connects and the sound that echoes out across the pitch is concussive. The bludger explodes. Katie flinches even though she's standing several feet away.

Then worry spikes and she races forward.

'Fuck!' Harry yells, turning and tossing the bat away across the field.

'Bloody hell, Harry,' Ginny exclaims.

'Are you guys okay?' Katie calls, jogging toward them.

'I'm okay,' says Ginny, glancing over at her briefly before her gaze goes back to Harry.

Katie stares at him, shock still surging through her, the cold air making her breathless.

'I— Sorry,' he says, ducking his head. 'I'm sorry.'

'Feel better now?' Ginny asks dryly.

He shuffles his feet in the snow. 'A bit, actually,' he says honestly, and then drops his gaze again. 'I really am sorry. I didn't mean it.'

'Well I didn't think you did it up on purpose, but seriously Harry,' she shakes her head. 'You've got to get a handle on this.'

He winces. 'I know,' he says quietly. 'I was just…' he sighs and runs a hand over his face.

'Did you talk to—' Ginny cuts herself off, glancing sideways at Katie.

'There's no point,' says Harry, that broodiness creeping back into his expression. 'He's made it pretty clear he doesn't want anything to do with me.'

Katie blinks. He? Harry is upset because he got rejected by a boy? She stares at the two of them, stunned that they're even talking about this in front of her.

Ginny looks like she wants to say something, but her eyes flicker over to Katie and she chews on her lip. Katie realises that they think she doesn't know what they're talking about. She was still walking over to them when Harry mentioned being rejected. They don't realise she heard the conversation.

She swallows, and busies herself with looking through the Quidditch equipment box for the quaffle.

Ginny steps forward and gives Harry a brief hug. 'I'm sorry,' she says in a soft voice.

He shrugs her away, glancing sideways at Katie. 'Yeah,' he coughs and clears his throats. 'Uh, thanks. I should…I should probably go.'

'Try not to blow anything else up,' says Ginny, shoving Harry's shoulder playfully.

'Yeah,' he says sheepishly and runs a hand through his hair. 'Sorry. Again. It's been a shitty few days.'

'I know,' says Ginny, smiling softly at him.

He trudges away through the gentle flurries of snow.

'So,' says Ginny turning back to face Katie. 'Now that we've been traumatised by our captain, want to get this practice started?'

Katie glances after Harry. 'Uh, yeah. Sure. Hey, is he okay?'

Ginny shrugs. 'He'll be fine. He's just brooding is all.'

Katie raises her eyebrows. 'I didn't know that…' she trails off, biting her lip.

Ginny looks at her, cocking her head. 'Didn't know what?'

Katie shakes her head and rubs her hands together. 'Nothing,' she says. 'It doesn't matter. Let's get up in the air before we freeze.'

Ginny grins. 'Hell yeah.'

Katie smiles and throws her leg over her broom, balancing the quaffle in her hand. Best to just forget she ever heard that conversation. At least she now she knows that Harry isn't upset with her.

Blaise:

The door slams open and Draco stomps in with his usual scowl, looking a bit less pristine than usual. In fact, he looks exhausted, and Blaise wonders how much sleep he's been getting. He's been late into the dorm every night since they got back from Christmas break, and according to Greg he's gone in the morning before six.

Blaise had thought it was something to do with the fight Draco and Theo had—seeing that Draco has ignored all of them ever since it happened. Yet now, as Draco trudges over to his bed, rubbing his eyes and looking like he could sleep for months, he wonders if there's something else going on.

Draco drops his bag by the end of the bed and then collapses face first into his pillow without even bothering to pull shut his curtains.

Blaise raises an eyebrow. Across from him, Greg pauses in his mission to demolish a bag of marshmallows and frowns at his long-time friend. Vince, on the other hand, doesn't even look up from the latest edition of Robeless that he's been drooling over for a solid hour.

Blaise catches Greg's eye and tilts his head toward Draco. He doesn't bother trying to get Vince's attention (or Theo's, who aside from being engrossed in an essay, hasn't even looked at Draco since The Fight).

Greg glances at Draco's prone form and sighs. 'Er, Draco?' he asks. 'You okay?'

Blaise gives him a thumbs up. Greg flips him off. They both wait for the inevitable explosion of Malfoy temper. Except…instead of bursting up out of bed to rant and rave about whatever injustice has befallen him, Draco merely rolls over to stare up at the canopy of his bed.

'I'm fine,' he says, tone despondent.

Greg shrugs. 'Okay,' he says complacently, the bag of marshmallows crinkling as he digs back through it.

Blaise makes a face him. He tilts his head back at Draco and gestures for him to keep going.

Greg rolls his eyes but gives in. 'Just, uh, it doesn't seem like you're okay.'

Draco closes his eyes. 'I'm fine,' he repeats, sighing.

Greg shrugs at Blaise. Blaise jerks his head toward Draco. Greg shakes his head and points back at Blaise. Blaise makes a face and mouths "best friend", pointing at Greg. Greg glowers.

'So,' he says, and clears his throat. 'Uh, what happened? You want to talk about it?'

'Does it look like I want to talk about it?'

'Er, no.'

'Then fuck off. I said I'm fine.'

'Now that we've established that Malfoy is fine,' Theo sneers, 'maybe you could all shut up? Some of us are studying.'

Blaise sighs. He and Greg both glance over at Draco, but, surprisingly, Draco doesn't even bother responding.

Blaise snorts. 'Oh sure,' he mutters sarcastically, 'you're fine. Nothing is bothering you at all.'

Silence falls as Draco refuses to rise to the bait. Blaise drums his fingers across the front cover of the book he'd been trying to convince himself to study.

'I saw Potter earlier today,' says Vince out of no where.

Blaise raises an eyebrow and glances over at him. He's still perusing his magazine, but now his gaze keeps flicking over to Draco.

The jibe works. Draco tenses, grabs his pillow and pulls it over his face.

Vince pretends not to notice. 'Seemed pretty upset,' he continues. 'Guess Perfect Potter isn't so perfect.'

'Who gives a fuck,' Draco growls into the pillow.

'Ah,' says Blaise. 'Well that explains it. You and Potter are on the outs again.'

It doesn't really make sense, but it has the desired reaction. He presses the pillow into his face and lets out a frustrated yell (muffled by the pillow)

Theo sighs loudly. 'You know,' he says. 'If you're planning on suffocating yourself there are more effective—and less disruptive—ways of doing it.'

Draco sits up, throwing the pillow aside and glowering at Theo. 'If I wanted an expert opinion on how to off myself I'd ask you,' he snarls in a particularly cutting voice. 'But for now I'd prefer if you'd kindly mind your own fucking business.'

Theo looks up from his essay with a narrowed gaze. 'Then maybe keep your emotional outbursts to yourself.'

'I'm not the one who—' Draco cuts himself off. 'You know what? I don't fucking care. I don't care about you and I don't care about fucking Potter.'

He yanks out his wand. Theo flinches, but Draco isn't pointing it at any of them. He flicks his wand at his curtains and they swish shut around his bed, the obvious quiet of a silencing charm going up following on it's heals.

Blaise shrugs. 'Well,' he says conversationally, and accios one of Greg's marshmallows. 'We tried.'

'Don't know why we bothered,' Greg mutters. 'He's been in a bad mood all day.'

Vince snorts. 'He's been in a bad mood all week.'

'Did you really see Potter earlier?' Blaise asks Vince.

Vince shrugs, turning his magazine sideways. 'Maybe,' he says. 'Pretty obvious that's the problem though, isn't it?'

He's not wrong. The day before yesterday Granger gave Blaise a pointed look as she bypassed him in Charms. He's just hoping she doesn't bring up how badly he's loosing this bet. Unfortunately for him, it seems that whatever had been going right between the two had now most definitely shifted into the "bad" category.

Though they weren't outright fighting—or, at least not like they used to—there was an obvious tension between them, and had been since classes had resumed.

Blaise sighs. Stupid Draco.

'What d'you think happened?' asks Greg. 'You think Potter found out about…' he trails off, his gaze flicking nervously to Theo and away again.

Blaise shoots him a glare and Greg winces. Theo, to his credit, doesn't flinch.

'You're the only one he's talking to,' Theo points out without looking up, his voice low and thick. 'So you tell us.'

Greg makes a face. 'He asked to borrow my inkwell.'

'Yeah, well, that's more than any of us,' mutters Theo, trying and failing to keep the resentment out of his voice.

'Oh come on,' says Blaise, tossing aside his book and summoning another of Greg's marshmallows. 'When are you two going to kiss and make up, huh? All this tiptoeing around you and him and Potter. It's getting a bit tedious don't you think?'

'Tell him that,' Theo snaps.

'Aren't you two best friends or something?'

Greg raises an eyebrow and Blaise waves him off. Keeping track of Draco's BFF's has never been high on Blaise's to do list.

'When have we ever been best friends?' Theo asks, baffled. 'Draco doesn't have friends, Zabini. He has followers.'

'Hey,' says Greg.

'Watch it, Nott,' growls Vince, finally looking up from his magazine. 'I'm no follower.'

'Yeah, you are,' says Theo, throwing down his quill and glaring at the lot of them. 'And that's exactly the way he likes it. Friendship isn't something that Draco comprehends, okay?'

'He's always been a pretty good friend to you,' says Greg defensively. 'Letting you stay over whenever you needed to. Never asking why.'

Blaise admires his boldness, and shifts slightly so he can pull out his wand if this dissolves into a fight (as it so often does these days).

Anger flashes across Theo's face, but guilt and shame are quick to follow and Blaise suspects those emotions are the only reason the room doesn't erupt into hexes. Theo instead surges to his feet and, in an almost exact imitation of Draco, throws himself in bed and whisks the curtains closed.

'You know,' Blaise calls. 'Greg's got a point. And if Draco doesn't have friends how come he's been so friendly with Potter lately?'

Theo, of course, doesn't answer.

Blaise sighs and leans back in bed.

'Why do you do that?' Greg sighs.

Blaise shrugs. 'Boredom,' he says. 'Besides, are you telling me you're not curious?'

'No,' says Greg. 'And you shouldn't be either. Stop picking fights with them. Things are tense enough as it is.'

'Yeah, and why do you think that is? It's been like this all year, and Potter has to be the reason.'

'Who cares?' asks Greg. 'Just let it go, would you?'

Blaise frowns at him.

The thing is, he can't let it go. Aside from the satisfaction of beating Granger in this bet (which, yeah okay, had started out as a joke), he can't help but feel that if he is right, if Draco and Potter have somehow managed to put aside their differences and become friends, then there might actually be some hope for the rest of them.

After all, the rivalry between Slytherin and the other houses had already eased up. If it stops completely, Slytherins might actually start to get treated like everyone else; and if we get treated like the other houses, if they start being seen as just students and not straight up evil…well, then they might actually have a chance at getting out of this war alive.


A/N: So I kinda dropped off the face of the Earth and I'm sorry. However, I'm happy to say that my health problems have all but resolved themselves. I still need to take things slow for the moment as I'm still catching up on a lot of sleep loss, but things are getting better.

I want to thank everyone for being so patient with me and for checking in on me. I appreciate it so much.

You'll be happy to know that I've been working on DDM when I can, it just took me far longer than I thought to get this chapter together. While I'm still getting back to normal, I'm not going to make any promises on how quickly chapters will be released, but I promise it'll be faster than the three months it's been since the last one.

I hope everyone is doing okay in the current situation with COVID-19. I know things are a bit scary at the moment (depending on where you live), and I hope this cheers you all up a bit.