CHAPTER 5- Sincerity

Like any other day, they'd just gotten back to school for their fifth year at Hogwarts. Hermione thought this year would be even more stressful as (hopefully) her friends would see these exams as somewhat more important than previous years. Organised was her middle name. Every book required for her classes were already fully read and the spells she might need were already practiced.

Upon recalling this event, she'd forgotten which exact class she'd been in when a note was seamlessly slipped onto her desk. Notes in Hermione's case never seemed to end well for her. Remembering past incidences, she'd opened a note without being prepared which had ended in her coming face to face with insults and jinxes.

Wand at the ready, she slowly opened the note. To her surprise, it was completely ordinary. Just writing on a page.

"Meet me in the Library after dinner."

She frowned, an unknown note that could lead her to her doom. Her first task was to figure out who'd want her dead, so she glanced around the class. Only one person stood out to her. As her peers were busying themselves with work, grey eyes stared at her as if they were looking for something. Draco Malfoy's grey eyes. He nodded at her, like he was urging her to agree to his meeting. That would surely be a death sentence, however she gave into her curiosity and her frown instantly deepened. Nodding back at Malfoy, she shifted her attention back onto the work, and shoved the note into her pocket.

She'd thought about asking her friends for advice, but she had a rough idea as to what they'd say. Ron would stupidly accuse Malfoy of being a death eater again, while Harry would-

"Stupidly?" Ron shouted with a red face, interrupting her story. Hermione glared at him, "it's my story Ronald, not yours. I can call you whatever I want." Breakfast was nearly over, the tensions were rising. Pausing for a moment, Hermione felt Harry's anxiety as he picked at his food. She supposed she'd finish the story another time.

"I have a hard time believing this actually happened. Malfoy isn't the apologising type." Ron bit back, smiling proudly at the insult. All Harry knew was that in a matter of minutes he'd be shackled to Malfoy, he didn't care if Hermione thought Malfoy had changed, although he wouldn't be so stupid as to call Hermione a liar. "I don't know why you're defending him, don't tell me you like him."

Ron babbled on until Hermione smirked at him. "For your information, I'm not the one who kissed him." This made Harry squeeze his eyes shut, lowering his head onto the table, trying to forget everything that had happened. "Shut up already, this isn't about you!" Ginny stated with conviction, he'd thank her later for being the voice of reason.

The time Harry was dreading was here. Dumbledore had his wand out, calling the name of both boys to step forward. Shrinking inwardly, he couldn't find the courage to stand. Without warning, two pairs of arms pulled him up.

"Get up Harry!" "Come on now!" Identical voices began as he was shoved forwards. Of course, it could only be Fred and George. A hand on either side of him gripped him tightly. "Don't worry about the Slytherins Harry, we've got your back." Said George, the twins walking behind him. "And if they try anything, we'll be sure to test our newest product on them." Fred continued.

Casting his head back, Harry felt sincerity radiating through their forceful shoves, keeping him walking. All he could do is smile a "thanks guys." Fred and George were like family to him, their support never went unnoticed. Maybe he could do something nice for them once Christmas arrives.

Now, to focus on the challenge ahead. He hadn't noticed how still the Great Hall had become, distracted by Fred and George's help. He stood before the Headmaster and turned to face Malfoy's challenging stare. Many students had left for class, only Harry's friends and members of Malfoy's gang remained. "I'd like everyone to know that no one wanted it to come to this." Harry said to the crowd, deeply frowning to himself.

"Mmm, I know someone who wanted this." Malfoy mumbled, rolling his eyes over to Parkinson who worn a strained attempt at a neutral face. At any moment, she looked as though she might burst into hysteria. "I admit it, I did cast a spell, but I didn't make you obsessed with each other!" Parkinson's voice rang strong. "Obsessed?" Harry repeated, positively terrified.

Malfoy nodded at Harry, almost smirking as he concluded, "that settles it, Potter's obsessed with me." Which is when an argument broke out, yet again. Soon the bickering was silenced by Dumbledore taking his wand out, pointedly ignoring the crowd. "Now that I have your attention, hold out your wrist." Dumbledore said. The boys exchanged looks of hesitation but before Harry knew it, Malfoy held his left arm out.

"Come on now HARRY, don't be shy." Mocked Malfoy raising his eyebrows. All Harry could do is reluctantly hold his right arm out. "You only did that DRACO, so you'd be able to use your right hand." He said through gritted teeth. His life flashed before is eyes. What would his life be now? Having to walk around with Malfoy peering over his shoulder constantly. That would be torture itself. There was always something evil out to get him at Hogwarts. Guilt poured over him. Another innocent person dragged into his mess. Even if said person was Malfoy, he genuinely didn't want him to get hurt.

With a wave of the headmaster's wand, his voice rumbled the spell, "LIGATUS CARPI!" A gloomy grey chain snaked around his wrist, binding his arm to the most infuriating person he'd ever met.

Watching the chain, he could see the individual links slithering together. This is it, he'd made up his mind. If he weren't going to drag Malfoy down into danger with him, he'd have to get this chain off them before it was too late. In the meantime, he'd have to find a way to communicate with his friends without alerting Malfoy, keeping him safely in the dark. Unfortunately, he'd only realise this at a much later date. "Nothing is as good as it seems, and nothing is as bad as it seems. Somewhere in between lies reality." (Lou Holtz)

Being bound so close together, he could feel the hairs on Potter's arm, setting his nerves on fire. Draco felt his patience grow thinner by the second. Intuition told him that this day wouldn't be the worst of what was instore for him. They'd stumbled out of the Great Hall into a busy horde of students, unmindful that he was physically attached to someone.

The Gryffindor had basically dragged him through the crowd making his wrist erupt in burning pain from the friction. Stupidly designed stairs came next. Getting onto one step safely looked like an impossible feat. Still, they somehow managed to get to class, tripping up the staircase and falling through the door to Charms. Charms was the only class Slytherin, and Gryffindor had previously shared together. Professor Dumbledore had the smart idea to change the timetable to make the two houses share classes the evening earlier.

They hadn't spoken to each other except for the occasional grunt of frustration since the curse was cast. One side of the room welcomed Draco with familiar Slytherin faces, even the sight of Pansy made him want to smile. However, he began to be pulled away from them. Confused, he looked down to see Potter dragging him away, taking full advantage of the distraction.

Planting his feet firmly to the floor, he braced himself for the impact on his undeserving wrist. After another tug that tried to tempt him forward, Potter lazily turned to him.

Sucking in a sharp breath, Draco began "Do you really believe I'm going to sit THERE?" After seeing the Gryffindor rub his forehead in frustration, the fight in Draco died down. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be." Then went back to pulling on his wrist.

Quickly he gave up and allowed Potter to lead him to an empty desk inconveniently in the middle of the pack of Gryffindor's. As he awkwardly unpacked his bag with one hand, he noticed Potter slumped against his arm, not moving. "Forget your textbook Potter?" Teased Draco, getting his quill ready to take notes. From the corner of his eye, he caught the other boy smile -an incredibly small smile.

Charms seemed to drag on for an unholy amount of time but a matter more pressing kept him distracted. Every time he went to write, he could feel his left arm move as stupid scarhead talked to his stupid friends. It took just over 10 minuets for the Slytherin to snap. He yanked his left arm, forcing the other boy's arm to follow. "Are you incapable of being still?" Glancing down at Potters part of the desk, he found it strangely empty. "You're not even writing anything."

"I cant write with my left hand." Draco laughed at the answer, he remembered back when he'd be unfortunate enough to be paired with him and saw his terrible handwriting. It might be funny to see how bad his handwriting could get. Placing a quill in front of Potter, he dared him to write with the raise of an eyebrow.

A true Gryffindor would never back down for a challenge.

Chicken scratches would be a compliment to how left-handed Harry Potter wrote. "I can't even describe what you just wrote as words." He sniggered, gazing over at the Slytherins side of the room. "Told you." Said Potter, looking rather embarrassed. "I can't write without- ""-You could barely write anything readable anyways, what difference does this make?" Draco interjected with a grin painted on his face.

"Guess you'll have to do the notes for me." Potter threw the quill back and it barely dodged rolling onto the floor. "Guess you'll have to fail the class because I'm. Not. Sharing." Potter stared pointedly at him. "We'll see about that Malfoy."

Draco hummed in response and went back to taking notes, hurrying to catch up. Before his eyes, a black jagged line crossed through his notes. Annoyance began to brew, he tried to ignore everything in his proximity. Dragging his hand back, he felt something elbow him -harder this time- creating another scribble. Smashing his quill flat onto the table, he'd really had enough of this nonsense and shoved back at Potter.

In hindsight, he shouldn't have shoved the boy so hard because he ended up falling off his chair which left no time to bask in Potters bad luck. He'd forgotten they were attached.

The only thing keeping him from falling was the chain as he half dangled off his chair. All morning Harry had tried to ignore the frustration he always seemed to feel around Malfoy, it made him want to punch him half the time. But the pent-up emotion he harboured eased as he saw how Malfoy was struggling to hold onto the corner of the desk. The boy's knuckles had turned white as Harry was pulled upright, using the chain like a rope. He couldn't keep the colour off his cheeks.

Shock was replaced with a stinging pain that struck the back of his head. "Ouch…" Harry groaned, closing his eyes. Someone put a hand on his shoulder and shook his eyes open. Malfoy straighten him up and examined his face with a tilt of his chin. Seemingly satisfied with what he saw, the boy faced Professor Flitwick and lied his way through an explanation. Something about accidently loosing balance made the Professor leave them alone.

They relaxed back down into their desk, Malfoy dressed in what looked like a pout. "I'll write our notes, so don't mess up my work again."

"Thanks."

"Whatever."

During the boy's free period, an issue neither one of them had considered. The bathroom.

They had been meandering through the many tall halls and hadn't agreed on a destination to spend third period. Harry desperately wanted to ignore it, but he knew that in the end it was fruitless. "Malfoy, I need to. Uhh…" He racked his brain with how to begin as the Slytherin came to a stop at the mention of his name. Feeling like he'd waited too long thinking about what to say he tried to recover. "Uhh…" He repeated, at a loss for words.

"I don't know what Uhh means Potter."

Plucking up the courage and managed a, "toilet." There was a pause in the air, Malfoy seemed to freeze into a block of ice. Shaking off his frozen state, Malfoy gave him a small nod and they set on their way to the nearest bathroom. What happened next seemed a little violent. Malfoy kicked the door open, startling the group of third year Hufflepuff's boys. The door took a further beating as it was slammed shut. Harry had to wonder how the dusty old door kept standing. Without having to say a word, the third years were ready to leave.

Fear struck into the very souls of many at the sight of a Slytherin, let alone a pissed off one. This Slytherin happened to be infamous. "Clear out if you know what's good for you." Demanded Malfoy. The third years obediently scurried out at his request. They were truly alone for the first time that day. Deeming a stall would be easier, Malfoy stretched out his arm as far as it would go and turned his face towards a stone wall. "This was bound to happen eventually." Malfoy said in a soft tone. "We're both boy's so it doesn't really matter, right?" If this were his attempt at comforting him, he'd failed miserably. "Yeah." Harry replied quietly.

Embarrassment stuck to his face the entire time. He lost track of time. Once he was finished, he went to wash his hand, his eyes glued to the floor. Only when the door was opened for him did he lift his head to be greeted by Malfoy, politely motioning for him to go first.

"Thanks."

"Whatever."

Dinner rolled around. Since they'd spent lunch with the Gryffindor's it was only fair that Harry let Malfoy sit with his friends. As Malfoy practically bounced over to the Slytherin table, Harry could feel the whispers start. It was like they were hissing at him. Parkinson rushed to sit opposite them, her chin propped onto her hand like she was showing off. "So, how was your day boys?" Parkinson leaned closer to Harry, as if she were trying to smell his fear. Never in a thousand years did he imagine he'd look to his enemy for help. Unfortunately, is so called enemy had busied himself with struggling to fill his plate. "Need any help?" Mocked a group of Slytherin fourth years. Grimacing, Malfoy held up his knife dirtied with mashed potato. "Go on then, make yourself useful." Parkinson helped, shoving a spoon to the group.

And so, they did. Harry couldn't tell if he was annoyed or impressed.

A/N- Oops the apology was cut short, don't want to be too nice to you. Maybe we will come back to story, lets see if Hermione gets time to finish it. This was very challenging for me to write since we've forced them together now. Now they are really shackled together. Gradually the dynamic is going to change but I'm going to stick with their individual motives. Harry's being his hero complex and Draco's desire to not be like his father. We'll see how it plays out.

Thank you for anyone reading, reviews are always welcome and if you have any suggestions or thoughts on what you'd like to see next don't be afraid to comment under this chapter.

Anyways, see you next week my loves :)