This is dedicated to the ppl who are reading this. And there will be a happy ending, don't worry - as for what it'll be, well, keep reading ;)
'S'all JK's and the WB's
Unexpected
Part Six
"Is there a reason I'm not understanding this?" Harry asked, frowning at his notes from the Charms class that afternoon. Looking over at him, Hermione raised her eyebrows and took the parchment from him.
"Probably because it doesn't make sense," she said, sighing theatrically. "Here, lend my notes and copy them down."
"Wow, thanks," Harry said, grabbing his quill and scribbling them down quickly. It wasn't often Hermione let anyone so much as look at her work, so he wasn't going to give her chance to change her mind. He didn't notice as Hermione leaned over, and nearly jumped out of his skin as she whispered in his ear.
"So you and Ron sorted things out, then?" Harry looked at her, then swallowed, feeling heat rise to his face.
"Er, yeah." He glanced over at the red-head, talking with Seamus and Dean, looking far happier now. He was glad of that, and would be gladder still if he could get the damn memory of that kiss out of his head. Ah, well, he'd go find Draco later - that'd solve that. He grinned, still blushing, and looked back to his paper, copying down Hermione's ridiculously neat writing.
"Thinking of Draco," she asked, smiling. "Ah, its sweet, you know. Young love," she added, giggling.
Rolling his eyes at her, he grinned. "Why is it that you're so interested in my love life? Why don't you go get your own?"
It was Hermione's turn to blush, now, and she looked up at Harry smiling shyly. For a moment, all those fantasies about being the most fancied boy at school came back, but then she spoke. "I plan to. And maybe it'll get someone off your back," she added, and Harry wondered who she meant.
Maybe that's what she and Snape were talking about? He wondered idly, then looked up at Hermione, still blushing lightly, writing notes. Nah. Can't be. Can it? He shook his head slightly, deciding it couldn't be - it was far too gross. How could anybody go for Snape?
Finishing writing up his notes, he read through them. It seemed easy enough. Just some simple locomotion charms. Taking his wand from his pocket, reading the notes carefully, he pulled a goblet to him and spoke the spell.
"Kinesia." The goblet gave off a puff of smoke. Maybe it wasn't so easy, after all. If only he'd been paying attention, maybe that would've helped.
"You're saying it wrong," Hermione said, not looking up from what she was writing. Glaring at her, Harry looked at the notes again, then opened his book and looked the charms up in there. It took a few tries, but the goblet eventually moved a few centimetres.
Sighing, Hermione pulled the goblet over to herself. "Really, Harry. That was very unimpressive. You'll have to try harder than that." Raising his eyebrows, Harry waited for her to do better. She didn't disappoint. As she spoke the word of power, the goblet did a figure of eight and then moved toward Harry.
"Show off," he muttered.
"You have to visualise how you want it to move, Harry, weren't you listening to Professor Flitwick?"
"Er," Harry said, then closed his book, standing. "I'm going to go find Draco."
Looking at him very disapprovingly, Hermione shook her head. "This test is important, you know, Harry."
Shrugging, Harry tried to smooth his hair back a bit, trying to look presentable. "I'll do it when I get back. Didn't you say it wasn't for a few days?"
"It's next week. But you obviously need to practice, Harry!"
"I'll be back in an hour, okay? Then I'll do loads of revision." She sighed, but went back to her work. Walking out of the common room, Harry pulled his robes more tightly around himself. It was getting cold now, as well as getting dark earlier. He paused outside the Slytherin common room, wondering whether he should just go straight in. He knew the password, but it'd be too weird to walk in there, with all the other Slytherins about.
It turned out not to matter, because the portrait swung open, and Pansy Parkinson walked out, looking at him in surprise.
"Oh, you're going to see Draco?" Harry nodded, and she looked at him for a few moments, frowning. "You better not hurt him, you know," she said in a scathing, untrusting voice.
"I have no intention to," Harry said, scowling as he entered the common room. Draco might be alright, but he still didn't like the rest of the Slytherins.
He'd been right. It was strange, very much so, as he walked into the common room, surrounded by Slytherins he hardly recognised, as well as those he recognised all too well from Potions and Care of Magical Creatures. Forcing himself to ignore them, he spotted Crabbe in the corner and went over to him.
"Where's Draco?" He asked, and was surprised to see Crabbe give a soft smile. Maybe there was hidden layers to the two seemingly-bully boys, too.
"He's upstairs, helping Goyle with his revision," he said. "But they won't mind being interrupted." He added, with another smile.
Harry walked away, shaking his head. It was strange, how prejudice clouded your judgement of people, made you convinced they were a certain sort of person even though you didn't know them. Draco wasn't a bastard, and Crabbe wasn't as dim or mean as he'd thought. Who knew what other things he could find out if he kept an open mind?
Opening the door to the dormitory quietly, Harry smiled to see Draco, sitting cross-legged on the bed. His eye was always drawn immediately to the blond boy, no matter what else was going on. He was so beautiful, candle light shining on than golden hair, giving a little colour to his pale skin. And he was grinning at Goyle as he was trying to do the same spell Harry had just had trouble with. The idea that Draco was Hermione to Harry's Goyle troubled him somewhat, so he cleared his throat to make his presence known. Draco looked up quickly, suspicious for a moment, then smiled, relaxing as he saw who it was.
"Glad you came around, Harry," he said, then waved a hand at the puffskein they were practising the locomotion charm on. "Are you any good at this?"
"Er, not really," said Harry, going over to sit on the bed beside Draco. "I've just been going over it with Hermione..." He trailed off and pulled out his wand, hoping he had suddenly mastered it and could show Draco how good he was.
Right, visualise how I want it to move. Concentrating hard, Harry decided the fluffy, yellow pet should move in a figure of eight, as Hermione had made the goblet do. That shouldn't be too hard. Licking his lip, he gripped his wand firmly.
"Kinesia," he said, and blushed when the puffskein moved just a few inches, but Draco looked impressed.
"That's not bad," he said, then looked up at Goyle. "You want to try it?" Goyle looked from Harry to Draco, distinctly uncomfortable, then stood.
"Better go back downstairs," he muttered, muttering some excuse as he went.
Draco moved do lean against the wall and smiled at Harry. "Things sorted with Weasley now?"
Harry looked at Draco, and for some reason felt strangely reluctant to tell him exactly how they had gone. "Yeah, I think so. I don't know why he did that - told you we were together, I mean. But it doesn't matter." Harry moved over to lay his head in the crook of Draco's shoulder and put his arm around him. He felt Draco's arm move around his waist.
"I suppose not," Draco said quietly. He was still upset by it, Harry could tell, but wasn't sure what to do about it. Glancing up at the other boy, he smiled, then sat up properly, to move blond locks from ice-blue eyes.
"I meant it, you know. I do love you." It felt weird to be saying it. If anyone had told him a month ago that he'd be saying that to Draco Malfoy, he'd have thought they were mad. But here he was saying it, and meaning it. And it was worth it for the wonderful smile Draco gave him.
"Thank you," he said, little more than a whisper. He sounded awed, and he looked at Harry intensely, scrutinising every inch of him. "No-one's ever said that before. I mean, they wouldn't, but-" he paused, and chuckled nervously. "I wonder sometimes, if people are really my friends, if they really like me, or if its just because of my name and my father. They feel they have to." He paused again, then shrugged. "I suppose it shouldn't bother me so-"
"Of course it should," Harry said. "It bothers me, too. You know - being the famous Harry Potter and all. I guess Hermione - and Ron -" he blushed again. "-like me because of who I am - but everyone else, I dunno. I guess we just have to trust our instincts, and hope for the best."
Sighing again, Draco pulled Harry back into a hug. "At least I know you really like me," he said. Harry leant into his embrace, enjoying it.
"Yeah. We have each other."
"What more do we need?" Draco said, leaning his head onto Harry's, speaking into his hair. Harry agreed almost wholeheartedly, but for some reason, Ron's face floated into his mind...
Man, I'm cruel :D More soon :)
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