All Summer Harry pondered what Draco had said. He knew there must have been a reason for the duality of Draco's and was now kicking himself for not confronting him earlier. Draco had been much more pleasant for the small remainder of term. He still sneered and acted like Harry was something nasty under his shoe, but it never got physical and his insults were more restrained. It was also easier knowing that Draco didn't actually mean what he said.
Harry started to get a vague idea that he wasn't sure would work or be worth it, but no matter how many times he dismissed it, it kept coming back to him. He and Draco had talked and had a decent conversation away from everyone else, and when people had approached, Draco had hid. If they took that concept, would it make sense if they did it again? He knew it would have its risks, but in the end, he decided to let Draco decide if it was worth it for himself. It wouldn't be Harry that was risking anything, so it should be up to Draco. Harry couldn't help wondering if he was even worth it, and the fear had him reconsidering constantly.
The Summer itself had several twists and turns, including a demented House-elf and a wayward Floo trip that resulted in him seeing Draco again. Not that Draco saw him, as he was hiding in a cupboard at the time. He thought about talking to Draco there in Flourish and Blotts, but Lucius Malfoy appeared too quickly, and Harry decided to wait until there was no chance of him showing up.
He hid in a cabinet and listened to their conversation. Draco was complaining about him to his father, and Harry wondered if it was because he felt like he had to, or if he was lying to Harry at the end of last year and didn't want to be friends after all.
"I would remind you that it is not—prudent—to appear less than fond of Harry Potter, not when most of our kind regard him as the hero who made the Dark Lord disappear," Mr. Malfoy told him. At that moment, a stooping man appeared and started talking to Mr. Malfoy.
Harry watched Draco as they talked. He didn't understand. What was the truth with Draco?
He also saw him later that day, in Flourish and Blotts, where they had one of their famous fights.
He figured that he would next see Draco on the Hogwarts Express, but the day arrived with mixed feelings as Harry as he had finally enjoyed the summer but was really excited to get to Hogwarts. The Weasleys all stuffed into the battered Ford Anglia and were at Kings Cross Station with hardly a minute to spare. They rushed across the station towards the platform, with Harry and Ron bringing up the rear. The others vanished behind the bricks, but Harry and Ron instead crashed right into an invisible barrier.
After a brief argument, they were in the air in a semi-invisible car. They crashed for the second time that day into the Whomping Willow. Harry briefly saw Draco's blonde head at the Sorting Ceremony before Snape caught up to them.
It took several months for Harry to get Draco on his own. Every single time Harry saw Draco, he was flanked either by Crabbe and Goyle or at least two other Slytherins. After Harry had met Lucius over the Summer, he knew that he was not someone to be toyed with, and he didn't want the news that Harry and Draco were meeting up to get back to the elder Malfoy.
Of course, once the Chamber of Secrets was opened, Harry had a brand-new problem to contend with. The three friends dove into the new mystery with relish and Harry's Draco problem was put on the back burner.
It wasn't until Christmas break an opportunity arose. The trio had brewed a Polyjuice Potion to question Draco under false pretenses, which Harry privately opposed but didn't dare mention. He went along on the off chance that he could get Draco alone.
At first, it didn't appear to come to fruition, but after they were done taking Hermione to the Hospital Wing, Harry realized, Draco was completely alone in the Slytherin Common Room, Hermione was not around, Crabbe and Goyle would be indisposed for a bit longer, all he had to do is get rid of Ron.
"Hang on, I just realized, I don't remember a question for the homework, I'm going to go ask Hermione before curfew."
Ron visibly shuddered at the thought of doing work over the break, he was going to wait until the last second to do it. "Better you than me, mate."
Harry couldn't believe how easy it was.
He walked down towards the Dungeons trying valiantly to remember where to go. Why did the corridors here have to be so confusing?
Just as he was starting to give up hope, a blonde head turned the corner and paused upon seeing Harry. "What are you doing down here, Potter?" He called down the corridor with false bravado.
Harry smiled, it was braver than he felt. "Looking for you, actually." That stunned Draco into silence.
They walked up to each other and stood about a foot apart, neither knowing where to start. It was awkward, they hadn't been alone since Draco's teary confession.
"I was just looking for Crabbe and Goyle." Draco blurted out.
Harry couldn't help a slight blush. "Yeah, er…" Should he tell Draco the full truth or just part of it? Maybe it wouldn't be so good to test their friendship before it really even began. "Last I saw they were eating…" That was truthful enough.
"Figures." Draco snorted lightly.
"And…" what was he doing? He shouldn't tell Draco about what he, Ron and Hermione had done yet. "I... was looking for you." There that was truthful and the point.
At Draco's questioning look, Harry continued. "I've been thinking, about what you said last year, and well, I think we can still be friends. If that's what you want. We just have to do it in secret."
Draco's head quirked, but he looked intrigued. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, in front of everyone else, we still fight and carry on like how we have, but we break off from our friends and meet up in secret, and that way, your father would have no idea, and if anyone catches us, we can just say we're fighting."
Draco stared at Harry for a long moment, a smile slowly lightening his face. "And you would be alright with that?"
Harry took a slight step closer. "If it means getting to be friends with you, even if nobody else knows it, then yeah."
They smiled at each other, and Harry had never seen a wider smile on Draco's face.
"I was in Knockturn Alley, this summer," Harry confessed. Draco looked startled. "I was in Borgin and Burkes, when you were there. I hid in a cabinet. I heard your father say that it wouldn't look good if you weren't my friend."
He tried to keep the accusation out of his words, but he might not have succeeded. "No, he said that it would be best if I didn't act as if I hated you. I guess that you missed the part where I asked. He said that I was not to make friends with you, but I shouldn't make a point of saying how much I hate you in public. I don't, by the way, hate you. He said that I should continue as I have been for now, but not let my feelings cloud what must be done. I don't know what he means by that," he added at Harry's confused look.
"I don't understand."
"That's ok, it's Slytherin stuff. Things a Gryffindor couldn't possibly understand." This was said teasingly, with a sparkle in his eye. Harry laughed, and Draco joined in.
The moment stretched, and Harry realized they had somehow gotten rather close.
"What are you doing now?" Draco asked.
"Whatever you're doing," Harry said back, and were they leaning towards each other?
"There you are!" Just like that, the moment was shattered into millions of pieces. It was Crabbe who had spoken, he and Goyle had just turned the corner. If they were seconds later, the situation couldn't be salvaged, but Harry saw in Draco's eyes the same plan he had reflected.
Unseen to either invading boy, Draco moved his arms to make it look like they had been shoving. "Oh look, Malfoy, you're saved, backup's here!" Harry said furiously, hoping he hadn't misread Draco's look.
Apparently, Crabbe and Goyle realized Draco was in a volatile situation, for they ran, or how they ran, the last expanse until they came to Draco's side. "Like I need backup to take on you, Potter." His bodyguards must have caught the implied order, as they stood on either side, flexing their muscles and cracking their knuckles menacingly. Harry slowly backed up, knowing that his moment with Draco was over now they had company.
"Still, hardly seems like a fair fight, we'll have to take this up another time." Crabbe and Goyle probably didn't hear the inflection, but Harry knew Draco did by the miniscule nod he gave.
A safe distance away, Harry turned and walked away, hearing Draco demanding where Crabbe and Goyle had been.
The next morning at breakfast, a school owl landed in front of Harry with a sealed letter clutched in its talons. "Who's writing you?" Ron asked after swallowing his mouthful of egg.
"Dunno," Harry said, although he had a pretty good idea. He didn't want to open it under Ron's watchful eye, so he stuffed it in his robe pocket. Ron gave him a strange look. Harry shrugged, unable to do anything else.
Surreptitiously, he vaguely looked around the Hall with an intent to catch Draco's eye. When he did, Draco raised an eyebrow, his eyes going down to where the letter was. Harry raised his eyebrow and indicated his head, asking if it was from him. Draco inclined his head once, a positive nod.
Ron wanted to go visit Hermione after breakfast, and Harry saw an opportunity to read the letter and possibly visit with Draco. At the Entrance Hall, Harry said, "I'll go get her a book and meet you there in a bit."
"What about the book she had yesterday?"
"This is Hermione we're talking about. How much do you want to bet she's already finished it?"
Ron nodded seriously, "Good point. See you, soon."
He arrived at the dormitory before he opened the letter. He was glad he knew it was from Draco because it wasn't signed.
Enjoyed our exchange yesterday, are you available to repeat the experience tonight? Indicate either way with your head at lunch. If so, there's an abandoned classroom near where we became friends. Meet me there.
The two lines that hardly qualified as a letter were written in a messier scrawl that wasn't Draco's normal handwriting. Harry thought it was rather clever, vague enough that anyone who happened to catch sight of it wouldn't know what it meant, but he could clearly decipher the meaning. Maybe sending each other letters like that would help with them not being able to meet up frequently. It was something to consider.
Draco had told him to nod his head at lunch if he was available, but he decided to send a note as well. He scrawled See you then on a spare bit of parchment, grabbed a random book, hid the letter from Draco in his bedside cabinet, and headed up to the owlery.
When he got to the Hospital Wing, Ron and Hermione both started questioning where he had been the second they saw him. Harry dodged their questions with vague answers and quickly changed the subject to Hermione. When he handed her a new book, she exclaimed, "Oh, thank you, Harry, I just finished the other one this morning!"
Ron and Harry traded looks, barely concealing their grins and Harry's whereabouts were all but forgotten. It wouldn't work every time, however, he needed to come up with better excuses.
His first test came after dinner, when he and Draco were supposed to meet. Ron was talking about the meal, as he tended to do after every dinner when Harry decided on what to say.
"Ron, I think I'm going to take a walk, some of that dessert was kinda heavy. Want to come with?" It was a gamble, but if he knew his friend…
"Nah, mate, I'm going to go sit in front of the fire, you go get all the exercise you want. Game of chess when you get back?"
Harry nodded, trying not to look too pleased. He slowly made his way vaguely towards the front doors until Ron was out of sight before making his way towards the Dungeons. He found the classroom he assumed Draco was referring to easily enough and went about finding a nicer place to sit. It looked like it hadn't been used for several years, needed a good dusting, but there was an armchair behind the teacher's desk. He figured Draco would demand that, so he would offer it first.
He really should have been sorted into Slytherin.
He was beginning to wonder if he had gotten the wrong place after all when the door finally opened, letting in Draco. "Sorry," he said, "Greg and Vince were harder to get rid of than I expected." Harry wondered for a moment about whom he was referring before remembering Crabbe and Goyle's first names. They had always seemed more like bodyguards than friends but perhaps he had gotten that wrong.
"I didn't really get the idea that you were friends?" Harry asked carefully, indicating the armchair he had done his best to de-dust.
Draco sat with all the grace and regality of a prince and Harry pulled up a student's chair across from him. "What is that supposed to mean," Draco demanded, frown on his face already. "Are you trying to imply I don't have any friends?"
"No!" Harry exclaimed quickly, "I just didn't think you were that close to them, that's all."
"Well you can let go of that notion," Draco said as if he didn't hear Harry. "I have lots of friends, and unlike you, I have friends in other Houses, and other schools. From all over the world, just because I have to deal with their stupidity doesn't mean that's all I have to contend with."
"Alright, alright," Harry interjected as soon as he could, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."
Draco's glare slowly faded, and Harry made a mental note not to touch that nerve again. Would they ever be able to have a conversation without one of them upsetting the other?
Eager to change the subject, Harry said, "So, did you ever find out why your Dad does not want us to be friends?"
After he said that he worried he had touched a nerve again when Draco drew himself up, but all he said was, "Father." At Harry's confused look he added, "He's my Father, not Dad. And…" He gave Harry a contemplative look, "How much do you know about the War?"
It was Harry's turn to frown, "Not much. I know about Voldemort," Draco flinched. "And that my parents fought him, and that he killed a lot of people, but that's about it."
Draco nodded slowly, looking like he was deeply contemplating something. "Potter-"
"Harry," Harry interrupted.
Draco smirked but carried on, "Harry, it wasn't just the Dark Lord versus the rest of the world. He had followers that truly believed in his message of blood purity. These followers were called Death Eaters, and they were very loyal to him…" Draco was struggling, for the first time Harry had known him, to put something into words, but Harry had a good idea what his point was.
"Your Father was a Death Eater." It was a statement, not a question, and a cold front seemed to engulf the room. Harry was surprised he couldn't see his breath in front of him.
"That's never been proven!" Draco said quickly and heatedly. "After the Dark Lord fell, the Death Eaters were rounded up, at least most of them, but they caught a lot of innocent people that were just enchanted to follow Him."
"Your Father was one of the innocent ones?" This time he asked, trying to keep the skepticism out of his voice.
At this, Draco sagged in on himself. He looked at the wall on his right and Harry wondered if he would even answer. As he was trying to think of something else to say, Draco whispered, "I don't know." He turned back to look Harry in the eye. "That's what he's always told me, and he was cleared by the Wizagomont, but the way he talks about Him, 'the Good Old Days'...I wonder, but I don't know for sure and that's the truth! I just know he doesn't want me associating with you. It might just be because you're a half-blood."
Harry wasn't sure where to start his questions. "I thought most wizards were half-blood or less? Doesn't that not make sense if there aren't a lot of Purebloods left?"
"If you ask my Father, that is all we should be dealing with. Anyone with blood less than pure isn't worth talking to."
"But you don't think that?"
"No. I still think that there are benefits to keeping the different levels of blood status separate when it comes to schooling and such, but that doesn't mean that everyone who hasn't non-magical ancestry deserves to be killed...like He believed." Harry wasn't sure that was all that much better, but perhaps they could work on that.
"You called Hermione a Mudblood earlier this year," he commented with a touch of anger in his voice.
Draco looked contrite for the first time. "I knew she wouldn't really know what it means, but did you hear what she said to me? I got angry. I had to do something, and it just slipped out."
"That's not an apology."
"You want an apology? Fine. I'm sorry, Harry that I insulted your friend after she insulted me. I can't apologize to her though, you don't understand what my Father will do to me if I'm seen being less than a perfect son, and that includes consorting with Weasleys, mu-ggleborns, and you."
They sat in silence. "How bad is it?" Harry finally asked. "What will he do to you if he finds out...about us?
Draco sighed and sat up in his chair. "Honestly, I don't know the full extent. I think it's best if I don't find out."
"But-"
"Harry. I knew what I was doing when I accepted your friendship. I'm willing to take the risk, but we do need to be careful."
"Alright. I promise I will be." Draco nodded, and they sat in silence again. "What's the Wizengamot?"
Draco snorted. "See? That's exactly why we need to have separation. Not knowing what the Wizagomont is. It's our governing entity, they make laws and uphold them. They are the centralization of our government, perhaps the most important component. How can you not know about the Wizagamont?"
Harry exhaled loudly through his nose, "I grew up in the muggle world. How should I know what anything is unless someone tells me?"
"But your parents should have-oh." Draco went paler. "What do you mean you grew up in the muggle world? Didn't your family know you're a wizard?"
"They did," Harry sighed. "My Aunt and Uncle, my mother's sister and her husband, raised me. And they knew I was a wizard, but they purposefully didn't tell me. Wanted to stamp it all out." The last part was said under his breath, but he knew Draco heard him.
Draco bit his lip. "I guess that explains that ugly sweater you had, I wondered. See that just proves my point. Muggles don't understand our world and, how could they? They can't explain it to their magical children and then we have all these ignorant people with wands and magic, power to kill, maim, make bad choices, even do seemingly harmless things that are actually bad, because they were never taught differently. Whoever put you with Muggles really dropped the quaffle."
"But here we are, talking, and we're both learning." Draco appeared thoughtful. "I agree with you on the last point. I mean, I shouldn't have gone to the Dursleys, I'd have been happier anywhere else, a Muggle orphanage would've been better. But there are good Muggles, and isn't more important that they raised their children to be kind, and have good manners, and be compassionate to others? That's a better benefit to society, and if they learn to be good, then they won't go out and start killing people in the streets once they're out of Hogwarts. And isn't that what Hogwarts is for anyway? If you exclude the Muggleborns and Half-Bloods from learning about Magic and how to control it, then you're definitely going to get a bunch of sociopaths going out and killing people, accidently or otherwise. Do you know how many times I've used magic without realizing it? What if that had gone on and I couldn't control it? How many people could I have hurt by not coming to Hogwarts? That's why it's wrong to exclude anyone from their birth-given right to learn magic if they have it." By the end of his impassioned speech, Harry was red in the face, breathing heavily and standing.
Draco was staring at him, mouth open slightly, and Harry was suddenly embarrassed. Draco had managed to explain his viewpoint without raising his voice or insulting his entire way of life. Sort of. If they couldn't get past this, perhaps there wouldn't be much point to their friendship after all.
Harry sat back down slowly, trying to control his breathing. He clasped his hands together and stared at them held together in his lap.
As if he knew what Harry was thinking, Draco said, "You've...given me a lot to think about...Harry." And he smiled. And Harry realized why he would keep coming back, keep hoping to bring Draco around, keep trying to make it work between them. Draco was absolutely beautiful, and if he was that beautiful on the outside, what was on the inside would have to be even better. They just needed time, to talk together, and have a little understanding and someday they might make an incredible team together.
Draco had beliefs that Harry just couldn't contend with, and vice versa, but he was worth waiting until they could work out their differences. Harry knew it.
After that, Draco asked if there was anything about the wizarding world he hadn't heard about or didn't understand. It was an opportunity Harry had been waiting over a year for. At first, he started with simple things related to school and a couple years after, like if there were wizarding universities, and they slowly built up to trading various insights about their different world.
Harry was hungry to hear about anything to do with magic, but after their disagreement, Draco seemed fascinated to hear about the Muggle world. He was enchanted by the idea of electricity and found that Muggles had made so many replacements for magic endearing rather than idiotic.
"So, wait," Draco said, "I thought E-lect-tricity was what they used for energy, why is pet-ro used for cars?"
That question stumped Harry. "Er, I'm not entirely sure. Maybe when cars were first being made they had just discovered petrol and wanted to use it? Or maybe the technology wasn't advanced enough at the time to use electricity in cars. Someone should work on it."
"Hmmm." Draco agreed, seemingly contemplating that. Harry wondered what wizards used for energy and was just about to ask the question when the answer hit him like a bludger to the face. Magic.
He hit himself in the forehead and Draco laughed at him, but didn't ask what brought that on.
Blushing and hoping to distract him from asking why he did that, Harry quickly interjected, "So I have a confession to make." At Draco's raised eyebrows, he continued hesitantly, "You know all this stuff with the Chamber of Secrets, and Slytherin's Heir and all that? Yeah, well, Ron and Hermione got it into their heads that you are the Heir…" Draco seemed to preen at this, and Harry winced at the thought of what he would do when he confessed the rest of it. "And well, er, we sort of brewed a Polyjuice Potion and snuck into the Slytherin Common Room to try and get you to confess. I'm sorry, I didn't know how to dissuade them without telling them the truth and I knew I couldn't do that. And it was before we became friends." He said all that very quickly, hoping to get it over with.
Draco drew himself up to full height in his seated position, becoming more enraged the longer Harry talked. Harry ducked his head, wincing, cringing away out of habit and tensing for the explosion.
It never happened. At least not the anger. Instead, he exploded in laughter. Harry looked up with trepidation. Draco was leaning over, holding his stomach he was laughing so hard.
"You-you, ha ha ha!" Draco struggled to breath, "you were Vince and Greg, weren't you? That's why they were acting so strange. They were you! Oh, this is too good!"
Harry couldn't help but let a smile begin on his lips at Draco's enjoyment. Whatever humiliation came from this was worth it.
"So, you two came into the Common Room with all the grace of a fire salamander in a candle shop, thought I'd just blurt out I'm the Heir, and ran out- oh because you started to change back. Let me guess, you didn't know where the common room was, so you just wandered the dungeons. Oh, this is rich."
Harry blushed harder but let him have this one, after all, he kind of owed him. His decency was tried hard as it took Draco a long time to get over the hilarity of the situation.
"...And his hair started turning red!" Draco concluded half an hour later, or at least it seemed like. Harry groaned from his seat that he was leaning across.
"Yeah, yeah, it's hilarious. Are you quite done yet?" That just sent Draco into further peals of laughter.
Eventually they settled down and the mood became more somber. They discussed rules for their friendship and came up with several that they were both comfortable with.
If you can't show up due to other people, there will be no hard feelings. All fights that happen are so no one catches on. There will be no true fighting when alone together. Personal comments about parents are off limits in fights. Fights will not get physical beyond tripping; no one will get seriously injured. We have to continue calling each other names. We must call each other's friends names, even if we both don't like it.
They talked late into the night. So late, that it was well past curfew by the time either of them bothered to check the time. Draco swore when he saw it. "...We're going to get caught, oh this was your plan all along, wasn't it, Potter? Well you're gonna get caught too. Didn't think of that, you-"
"Woah, woah, Draco, calm down. You're forgetting, I've got a jail out of free card." He pulled his invisibility cloak out of his bag, waiting for Draco to guess.
"That's right! I had forgotten about this lovely little thing." Harry laughed and draped it over himself, only his head showing.
"I figured this would be a good way for us to sneak around." Harry said. "May I escort you to your common room, my liege?" He accompanied this with a small bow.
Draco laughed and bowed back, it was wonderful to see him so playful. All that laughing must have been good for him. "You may, my good sir." Harry held out his arm and up his cloak, and Draco ducked under both.
"Now remember, we're invisible, but we're still solid and people can still hear us, so we need to be quiet." Draco was slightly giddy so it bared stating.
"I know, I know, now be quiet. I'm enjoying being invisible." Harry snorted and the two of the dissolved into giggles that reoccurs every couple minutes, hastily followed by the sounds of them shushing each other.
They finally reached the Common Room and a slightly awkward silence stretched between them as they stood to face each other. They smiled softly at each other and Draco said, "Harry, thanks for suggesting this, and letting the past be the past. I had a great time tonight. I'll send you a letter later. When can you meet up again?"
"I dunno," Harry vaguely muttered back, "Once Hermione's out of the Hospital wing it'll be a lot harder for us to meet up, she is the brains of the operation, you know."
"You don't say! I never would have guessed." Harry was beginning to appreciate Draco's sarcasm, it had its uses.
"How about tomorrow, same time, same place? If you can't show, you can't show." Draco grinned in response. He looked up through his lashes at Harry, swaying slightly side to side.
"That sounds nice. I can't wait." They were close, so close, too close. Draco's arms wrapped around him hesitantly, as if he were as unsure how to do this as Harry. That couldn't be right, could it? Draco's arms were warm, and he felt so happy being encased. If all hugs were like this, they were absolutely lovely.
Draco turned his head towards Harry as he started pulling away. His lips connected with Harry's cheek in a sweet, wonderful kiss. It was over quickly, and Draco was practically running from the corridor, but Harry found it too incredible to regret. Someone had kissed him, someone wanted to show him real affection, that was one of the best things that had ever happened to him.
He had a hard time not skipping and whistling on the way back to the Common Room.
Harry got some serious flack for being out past curfew by Ron, who spent almost all of the morning until the post came berating him. Harry didn't think it was a particularly big deal, as he repeatedly told Ron.
When the post came, another school owl bore a letter from Draco, not that Harry told Ron that. Instead, he said, none of your business when asked who it was from. Ron's temper exploded at that and he stomped off, the first time in history he had abandoned a meal, but Harry himself was too upset to care very much.
Draco met his eye when he looked and for a second a concerned look crossed his face. Are you ok? It seemed to ask. Harry did one nod, yes, he answered and decided to go see Hermione.
Unfortunately, Ron had gotten there first and had been filling her in on Harry's shortcomings of the last twelve plus hours. Hermione was, in a word, concerned.
"I just don't understand why you're not telling us where you were," Hermione said rather shrilly, the tears in her eyes was a deciding factor for Harry.
He was still upset with them for not letting him be alone, but Hermione crying was something he couldn't deal with. "I was with someone. Alright?"
"Someone?" Hermione leapt on. "Who, Harry?"
Harry sighed. There was no dissuading her. "My new pen pal." He pulled out the letter from his pocket.
That shocked them and there was silent for just a moment. "You still haven't said who this pen pal is and why you're suddenly writing to them." Hermione said, almost reasonably.
"I don't see why I have to tell you."
"We're you're best friends!" Ron burst out, "if you're not going to tell us who are you going to tell?"
"No one." They both still looked confused and hurt so Harry let out a long-suffering sigh and continued, "Look, isn't it ok that I just have one thing to myself? We don't have to tell each other everything, and we can still be friends, best friends, but I shouldn't have to explain everything I do to either of you. Just let me have this one thing, ok?" Ron and Hermione exchanged looks. Harry hated it when they did that but at least this time the end result was positive.
"I guess you're right, Harry."
"Yes, we're sorry Harry. I hope you'll be able to tell us some day, but I suppose it's alright if we don't know."
"Great. Do you know when they're releasing you, Hermione?"
Harry ended up not meeting Draco that night, but he managed to get the message across to Draco in the Hall at dinner.
The rest of the break passed without either of them seeing the other beyond tough words in the corridors. Hermione and Ron stuck to him like glue, making sure Harry never had an opportunity to sneak off. It was unintentional, Harry thought sardonically.
The letter Draco had written him became his only solace, until at least the next letter. He read it every night and slept with it under his pillow. It was safe because Draco had found a spell that made it appear to read something else to anyone else who tried to read it.
Harry,
I'm so sorry about my past transgressions, again. Sometimes, when I'm lying in bed trying to sleep, I think about things that I've done, to you or otherwise, and I cringe. The...slug...incident shall we call it is particularly hard for me. I'm sorry I called one of your best friends a ...well you know. And I want you to have it in writing that I am.
I've been thinking a lot about what we talked about, about the separation of blood status. I can see your point, but at the same time, I've been raised to think a certain way, and this is one of the things that has been pounded into me since before I could talk. I hope that you can accept for now, that I'm thinking. I think you'll be ok with that. I don't entirely know that things are as perfectly clear cut as I believed before we talked. I think I want to hear more about what you think about this. I wish I could talk to other people about this, but I can't be seen questioning things, yet. There may come a time when I'll think differently, and I hope you can be patient until that time.
Next time you and I have a meeting we need to go over everything that happened last year. We didn't really get to it in the hospital wing. I've heard some insane rumors, and I know for a fact that you had a Dragon at one point. Was it Hagrid's, or was he just holding it for you? I wouldn't put it past you. Famous Harry Potter, always getting away with everything and getting accommodations for it to boot. There were some really wild rumors about whatever happened at the end of the year too. I have a feeling whatever you did was somehow worse than even the most ridiculous implied.
Well, I'm going to get to bed. I'd wish you a good night but by the time you'll get this it'll be tomorrow morning at breakfast. So, have a good day Potter. Can't wait till I see you.
Draco
P.S. Who am I kidding, good night, too.
Harry wasn't entirely sure what he meant in the PS, either that Harry wouldn't have a chance to read it until night or did he know that Harry would reread it every night before bed? He hoped it was the former.
Harry didn't manage to break away from Ron and Hermione for the rest of the break, and before he knew it, school itself was keeping them apart. The teachers seemed to be trying their best to make up for the weeks without any homework.
Harry and Draco themselves made up for it by sending each other letters, sometimes daily, sometimes several times a day, rarely with days in between. They started thinking that someone would notice the school owls constantly going between the two, so they came up with a way for them to hand each other notes in the corridors by pretending to bump into each other. They would have to follow this up with traded insults, but they quickly found that that could be fun in itself, now that they knew it wasn't meant.
Most people still avoided Harry, and the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets continued. Harry began staring into the faces of the people who tormented, ignored, or avoided, wondering if it was one of them. It was because of this that he realized how small his circle of friends was.
So, he started talking to students in other houses and grades. He figured it would be a good cover for finding time away from Ron and Hermione anyway. He started out asking a third year Ravenclaw when he would be done with a book he was reading, and he ended up giving Harry some good advice for his Transfiguration homework. McGonagall made a point of saying that she liked what he said in his essay and was glad he was paying more attention to his school work.
That brought on another realization. He ended up writing an entire letter to Draco about it.
D-
I realized something the other day when McG said something about my essay, and I want to talk about it to someone. Honestly, this is sort of personal, so make sure that spell holds on this one in particular, alright?
So, I've told you a little about the Dursleys. Hopefully it won't shock you to hear that they don't like me doing well in school. When Dudley and I were first starting school, we did about the same, but once Dudley realized there was work involved, he gave up and I started doing better. At first, it was alright, but then I started doing much better, and the Dursleys didn't like that their "precious Diddy-dinkuns" - yes that's a real thing they called him- was doing better than that "nasty boy" - what they referred to me as.
So, they started punishing me whenever I got better scores than Dudley. For a while I just cut back a bit on how well I was doing, but Dudley got worse too because enough time had gone by that he was seriously falling behind. Then they wanted to hold him back a year and I got a beating-Harry scratched the last word off until it was completely illegible- punishment worse than any of the others, for that. So, I decided to start doing Dudley's homework for him and letting him cheat off me in the tests. He got better, and I had no time to do both of ours, so I got worse.
After all that, trying hard for someone else, not seeing the results, I guess I forgot how to try for myself. I was so burnt out when I got to Hogwarts, but this place is really incredible. I know you're probably rolling your eyes at me, but we're studying magic! "Yeah, Potter that's the point," you're probably saying. But I wasted a whole year and a half not learning everything I possibly could. So, I think I'm going to start trying again.
H.
It was almost like a diary entry it was so personal. He hadn't set out writing the letter knowing all that would come out, and he considered simply burning the parchment. He ended up sending it anyway. Draco immediately responded that he was glad Harry was going to try harder, and offered to help in whatever capacity he could. He told Harry in his gentle but not condescending way that what the Dursleys had said was wrong, and Harry had as much right to an education as anyone.
At first it was hard to break the habit of not trying in school. He started to think of it as Ron versus Hermione in the parts of his brain when he argued with himself, and Hermione usually won. Ron and Hermione themselves couldn't have taken the change more predictably or contrarily. Hermione ecstatic, and Ron horrified.
Harry realized pretty quickly that Hermione's over the top studying and obsessive revision was exhausting and started to retreat back to his old ways.
Then she was petrified.
Harry felt overwhelming guilt and began studying again, but this time he was on his own. He felt even more overwhelming guilt that at least he had more time to be with Draco.
The rest of the year passed, as years tend to do. As years at Hogwarts were beginning to go, there was an adventure with death-defying stunts and peril. Ginny Weasley turned out to be the one releasing Slytherin's monster, a Basilisk, on the students but she was possessed by a sixteen-year-old Voldemort, who was apparently named Tom Riddle.
There was just one part of the story that Harry was dreading having to tell Draco. All of this had been started by his Father the previous Summer, and to make it worse, he had freed the Malfoy's family elf, Dobby.
On their last meeting before the end of school, Harry told Draco the full story, starting with hearing the voices and ending with Ginny waking up in the Chamber.
"I can't believe I missed all of this!" Draco exclaimed, right after Harry was done with his tale. "It all seems so obvious now." The room they had been meeting in had changed a lot since they had first inhabited it. There was another chair, although mismatched, across from Draco's, the student desks had been stacked as a wall giving them privacy and time to hide should they hear someone coming, and the dust had been removed from the room by a cleaning charm Harry had found in his studies.
"Yeah, Draco, there's one more thing, and I think you should hear it from me…" Draco nodded and sat up in his chair.
"Draco...it was your Father that gave the diary to Ginny in the first place. Remember that fight he and Mr. Weasley had at Flourish and Blotts? He used that to slip the diary into her cauldron. This whole thing was his fault."
Draco sat in stunned silence and the longer he sat there, the more uncomfortable Harry felt.
"There's more." Draco's eyes widened. "The house elf that had been stalking me all year was your elf, Dobby. And I freed him, Draco."
He almost said he was sorry, but he really wasn't. He would be if it made him upset though. It did.
"What?"
"I tricked your father into freeing him. I put the diary in one of my socks, your father threw it off, and Dobby caught it. He's free, now."
"What? That- I can't- no, Potter that-" He jumped up and started pacing. "I can't believe that you did that! That's like spitting in my face. How could you?"
Harry slowly got to his feet. "I don't know how you treated him Draco, but your Father was kicking him. And he told me all about how his family treated him before I knew he was yours. It sounded bad."
"That doesn't matter!" Draco almost yelled, "it's none of your business what goes on in my home, Potter. And we would have let him go if we knew he was spilling family secrets, but you tricked my Father into it, didn't you? That's a dishonor against me, personally, and I bet you don't even know that, because you're clueless about Pureblood Tradition. You know what, this isn't working, Potter, just stay away from me." And with that, he stormed out of the room.
Harry was stunned. He knew Draco would be upset, but not that angry. Angry enough to end their friendship?
Now Harry was angry.
He didn't get a chance to see Draco privately and the note he sent was returned in shreds. He did visit him, Ron and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express, but it was not a friendly visit. In fact, he was much more vicious than usual, and it came just short of getting physical when Ron's brother Percy showed up to check on Ginny, who was in their compartment.
"Oh well," Harry thought a bit bitterly as he watched Draco's blonde head disappear out the compartment. He was still angry but wanted to work things out. "Better luck next year."