Chapter Four ~ Narcissa's Nightmare
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Draco looked at Harry with a mischievous smile on his face, his silver eyes twinkling. Before Harry could comment on his good mood, or ask what he was up to, Draco let go of Harry's hand, put his hand behind Harry's head and pulled him in for a long, deep kiss.
"They would've stared at us all night till we did that," he explained when they came up for air.
"Who needs an excuse?" Harry replied with a grin and kissed Draco again.
Harry smiled at Draco reassuringly and turned to face his two best friends. Ron's mouth was hanging open in shock, his freckles standing out against his pale skin. His mouth kept opening and closing like a fish. Harry wasn't sure if he was trying to breathe or trying to say something. Hermione was no better. She had that look McGonagall got just before she gave someone detention. Her lips were pursed together in a disapproving frown but her eyes held a tinge of sadness, like she was disappointed in Harry. Harry felt terrible. This was worse than the anger he had expected from them. His friends furiously arguing against him getting involved with his archrival (former archrival, Harry reminded himself) was something he could deal with. It was this quiet acceptance, their strained tolerance of his perceived transgression that was harder to bear. Harry felt like he was letting them down in some way but that was ridiculous, he told himself. He hadn't done anything wrong but he could see why they would think that.
"It's okay, Ron, Hermione," Harry said softly, and then, noticing their twin looks of disbelief, "It really is okay. Draco (Ron gasped as Harry used his first name) is a good person. No really, don't interrupt. (Harry held up his hand to stop Hermione from saying anything) He had to act the way he did. His parents too. Voldemort wouldn't just let them walk away from the Death Eaters. They had to keep up the façade of ……Death Eaterish behaviour. The only alternative was death. Please give Draco a chance. I know you could be friends with him." Harry stopped talking, there really wasn't anything else to say. They would either accept Draco or continue hating him.
"Ron, I really am sorry about all those insults about your family. Please believe me when I say I really didn't mean it. My father really admires your Dad. And Hermione, I'm sorry for all the times I called you a Mudblood. I have nothing against Muggleborn witches and wizards. After all, Harry's Mum was born into a Muggle family." Draco smiled tentatively at them.
Harry shot him a grateful smile. Ron and Hermione were still just sitting there and staring. Harry decided that they had done all they could do (for the moment anyway) and started to eat. Draco followed his example and soon Harry, Draco and the other Gryffindor's were talking and laughing like they had been doing it for the past six years. Every now and again Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione. They had started eating and looked like they were having a very intense private conversation. Harry directed his attention away from them and back to the general conversation that was going on around him.
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Draco was relieved at how quickly the Gryffindor's had accepted him as part of the group. He was certain that the Sorting Hat's change of heart had something to do with this. They obviously thought that if he were meant to be in this group, then they would accept that. Ron and Hermione still had not said a word to him, but he had expected that. They couldn't be expected to welcome him into their lives with open arms, not after all the years of insults he'd been slinging at them. Draco sighed. He wished it all could have been different.
He glanced over at the teacher's table. His parents were chatting happily with the other teachers. Draco smiled, glad that the teachers were so accepting. He couldn't put it off any longer. He had to look over at his former house's table. They were all staring at him like he was the enemy (which I suppose I am now, he thought, now I know how Harry and co felt). At least he wasn't alone anymore.
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Hermione understood Ron's reluctance to accept Malf- Draco into their group. She had felt the same way at first, but then she had noticed how cute they were together. They practically finished each other's sentences. It was weird the way life turned out. Hermione had been shocked when Harry had nonchalantly announced that he was gay, but it had made sense. He was 17 years old and had never had a girlfriend, hadn't even shown an interest in a girl, well except Cho Chang, but that had just been a crush and was over before it had really started. Hermione was just glad that out of her two best friends she had fallen for Ron. If it had been the other way around, and Hermione had fallen in love with Harry, then she would be feeling pretty rotten right now.
Hermione watched as Harry and Draco laughed at Seamus' crack about a threesome (she didn't want to know where that had come from!). Draco gently brushed Harry's hair out of his eyes and Hermione smiled at him. Draco smiled back. It was a start, she thought. He did seem to be good for Harry. Ever since Cedric had died, Harry had been different. Even though that was more than two years ago. Harry had bounced back but he'd never fully recovered from Cedric's death. Then there were the next two encounters with Voldemort that Harry had endured. These had left their mark on him as well. The Harry Hermione saw tonight was the old Harry, the carefree Harry both she and Ron had missed.
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Ron had furiously tried to convince Hermione that he was right but she would have none of that. He hated it when she got into one of those 'I'm always right' frames of mind. Ron stabbed a potato with his fork. She probably was right, he thought irritably, she nearly always was. Ron supported Harry when he had revealed that he preferred guys to girls. That was fine. But Harry dating (God, I hope they're not doing it!) Malfoy was just too much to take in right now. Ron had listened in stony silence as Malfoy (he refused to think of him as Draco) apologised for all the things he'd said about the Weasley family. It was all very nice, but surely Harry didn't believe it. Ron sighed because he knew Harry did believe it. Harry's not stupid, he thought, surely he would know if Malfoy were not sincere, especially since they appeared to have spent so much time together lately. Hermione had been trying to convince him of this fact for the past fifteen minutes. He noticed that she had joined in the conversation with the rest of the table.
Ron studied Harry and Malfoy together. Malfoy had a quiet, almost peaceful, air about him and Ron noticed how considerate he was towards Harry. All those little loving gestures that Malfoy didn't appear to realise he was doing went a long way to convincing Ron that he meant Harry no harm. You couldn't fake that look in his eyes either, Ron thought. Malfoy's silver eyes shone with love for Harry. At that moment Draco looked over at Ron and caught his eye. Ron gazed at him as Draco smiled tentatively at him. Ron decided to trust Harry's judgement and smiled back.
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Later that night, Draco was next door in his parents living room talking. After a while, he noticed they were getting tired. The strain of the entire situation showing on their faces.
"I'd better be going now," Draco said, "I'll see you in the morning." He kissed his mother on the cheek and then walked over to his place. It was quiet in their apartment (as they'd jokingly started to call it). Too quiet, Draco thought anxiously. He crept silently up to the bedroom door and looked around through the partially opened door. He noticed Harry's black hair on his side of the bed. It looked like Harry was sitting on the floor beside the bed, leaning against the wall. Draco walked into the room and around to Harry. He saw that Harry was looking at a book and there were a few tears silently running down his face. Draco hurried over to his lover's side and sat down beside him.
Harry looked up at him in surprise and looked a little embarrassed to be caught crying like this. Draco gently wiped the tears from Harry's cheeks and looked down at the book that caused Harry so much pain. Draco gasped. It was a photo album, full of photos of smiling people waving madly out at Harry. They were mostly of a dark haired man who was obviously Harry's father the resemblance was that strong and a woman with red hair who must be Harry's mother. Draco wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders and just held him close. He couldn't begin to imagine what it must be like to not know your parents.
"I was just wondering what they would think of the two of us being together," Harry eventually explained.
"I'm sure they'd be happy with anything you did, as long as you were happy," Draco replied softly, kissing his lover on the forehead. "Will you show me your photos?"
"Sure," Harry answered, sounding glad that Draco wanted to know about his family. Harry turned back to the first page and they started slowly turning the pages, looking at each photo. Harry's parents look so happy and in love, Draco thought sadly, it's such a tragedy that they never knew their son and he never knew them. Draco felt tears well in his eyes.
"I miss them so much, but some times hurt more than others, like when I want to share something with them. Things like when I first played Quidditch, or when I realised I love you," Harry said forlornly.
They sat that way for a long time, the album open to Harry's favourite picture – one of himself as a baby, held by his mother with his father sitting next to them. Just before midnight, Draco squeezed Harry's shoulder.
"Let's go to bed, love," he said, pressing a kiss to Harry's temple. Harry nodded and put the album back into the bottom drawer of the bedside table. They stood up and got ready for bed, both of them just wearing pyjama pants. They got into bed and snuggled into the middle, Draco lying on his back and Harry lying on his side resting his head on Draco's chest and his arm across his chest. Draco put his arm around Harry's shoulders and held him as he fell asleep. Draco lay awake for a while longer, thinking…
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Harry woke up the next morning to find himself alone in the big bed. He yawned and climbed out of bed. He wandered into the bathroom, which was empty. The living room was also unoccupied. Harry was at a loss of what to do. He left their 'apartment' and stood in the corridor. This was so strange, he thought uneasily. He walked down to the door to Narcissa and Lucius' 'apartment' and stood outside the door. He wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't bring himself to knock on the door. Draco's probably just gone down to breakfast and he didn't want to wake me, Harry thought scolding himself for being so jumpy.
Just as he was about to turn away he heard someone scream on the other side of the door. Harry knocked on the door - he had to make sure they were okay. Luckily he had picked up his wand before he left the bedroom, it was his constant companion these days, apart from Draco that is. The door opened to reveal a very worried Draco. Harry was ushered into the room. He noticed that everyone in the room, including Draco and himself, were still in their pyjamas. Lucius and Narcissa were sitting on the sofa. Narcissa was clutching Lucius' arm and sobbing into his shoulder.
"Mum had a nightmare," Draco whispered to Harry, "she dreamt that Voldemort came to Hogwart's and started duelling with you in the Great Hall. Voldemort was about to hit you with the killing curse when I ran in front of you. It hit me and that's when she woke up. She said it seemed so real, but she's never had prophetic dreams before, not like you've had. So it can't be real…can it?"
"I usually dream about things as they happen, not things that happen in the future," stated Harry calmly, "but that's not important now. Did your mother know when this dream took place?"
"Uh, she didn't say," Draco said, turning towards his mother. He walked over and knelt in front of Narcissa. "Mum, I know this is hard, but I need you to think about this. In your dream, what day was it? It could be important." Harry, still standing back at the door, could see Narcissa trying to answer her son's question.
"Halloween, it was Halloween," she finally managed to choke out. Draco stood up and returned to Harry's side.
"That's only a few weeks away," Draco said nervously, eyeing his mother's fragile emotional state.
"Listen, you stay here with your mother until she feels better. I'll go and see Dumbledore and find out what he thinks about all this. I'll meet you in class, okay?" Harry said firmly, barely waiting for an answer before he kissed Draco and left the apartment.
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Draco was pacing around the room. He really, really hoped that this was nothing more than a particularly vivid bad dream. Oh, who are you kidding? he thought angrily, Voldemort is going to come here and try to kill Harry and end up killing me. And then he'll probably kill Harry anyway, he thought dejectedly. At least we have this warning, if it is a prediction. Harry and I will be ready to duel with Voldemort, I'm not going to let Harry go through this alone, he thought with a surprising calmness.
Dumbledore and Harry burst into the room. He watched passively as Dumbledore crossed to Narcissa's side and began quietly questioning her about her dream. Harry was by Draco's side and was holding his hand. Draco smiled at him, grateful for his support.
"I thought we were supposed to meet in class?" Draco asked Harry.
"That was the plan," Harry grinned, "but Dumbledore took off for here as soon as I stopped talking so I came back with him. Besides, you are no where near ready." Draco looked down at himself, still wearing only his pyjama pants, and grinned. They moved closer to the other three so they could hear what was happening.
"Narcissa," Dumbledore was saying, "I know this is hard, but I really need you to tell me what happened, in as much detail as possible. For Draco's sake, please let me help you." Narcissa took a deep breath and started talking.
"We had just sat down for the Halloween feast. Draco and Harry were sitting over with the Gryffindor's. You had just finished your speech and sat down when the doors burst open. Vol…Vol…You Know Who strode into the room. All the students had backed away from him and were huddled up the other end of the room. (sob) Draco was with them but Harry was walking towards You Know Who. They were talking but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Harry was pointing his wand at…him and he must have done a spell but it bounced off You Know Who and hit Severus. I think it must have been Stupefy, because Severus fell down, although I guess it could have been Avada Kedavra (sob). Then You Know Who pulled out his wand and he…he sent the killing curse to Harry but Draco…(sob) Drac…(sob) Draco ran in front of Harry. He was screaming…something and then (sob) he was gone. The killing curse had hit him (sob)" It was clear that Narcissa couldn't go on. She clung to her husband, her heart wrenching sobs filling the room.
"Thank you Narcissa. I know that wasn't easy," Dumbledore said as he stood up. "Boys, collect Hermione and Ron and come and see me in my office. Ah, but perhaps put on some clothes first, Draco, hmm." With a grin at Draco's reddening face, he was gone.
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A couple of hours later, the four of them were sitting in the library around a table covered with books. Ron and Hermione were sitting opposite Draco and Harry.
"This is like a double date," Harry said in amusement. Draco turned to him.
"If this is your idea of a fun date, then you have a lot to learn, lover," he drawled. Ron groaned, so they had done it. That was too much information. Hermione just laughed at both of them.
"At least we get out of classes," Ron said enthusiastically. This time Hermione groaned.
"But we're missing out on so much work. At least we're getting extra credit for Defence Against the Dark Arts," she replied.
"It's only one day," Draco said.
"And," Harry added, "depending on what we use to defeat Voldemort, we'll get extra credit for those subjects too."
"What do you mean?" Ron asked curiously.
"Well, if we have to make a potion, we get extra credit for Potions or if we use a charm, we get credit for Charms. Understand?" Harry asked. They were researching various things to do with Narcissa's dream. Dumbledore had given them permission to skip their classes so they could find a way to defeat Voldemort once and for all. He had also given them unlimited access to the Restricted Section of the Library. They had divided the task up into four areas so they weren't wasting time looking for the same thing.
Draco was looking for antidotes or something similar for Avada Kedavra (although they all thought this was futile, they felt they had to at least try).
Ron was looking for a way to try and keep Voldemort out of the school.
Hermione was trying to find out why, in the dream, Harry's spell rebounded off Voldemort and hit Snape.
And Harry was trying to find different curses to use when duelling with Voldemort. Draco looked up from the book he was reading.
"Umm, I don't know if this is anything but it says here that there is a case of Avada Kedavra not resulting in death in 1879…but that's all it says," he said with a sigh as he scanned the page. The others had looked hopeful when he'd started talking, but now returned to their own reading. Draco started searching through the other books, looking for another reference to this incident.
"Hey, this book is pretty interesting," Ron said, sounding surprised.
"What are you reading?" Hermione asked inquisitively. Ron looked sheepish.
"Hogwart's, A History," he replied. Hermione and Harry burst out laughing. Draco looked up in confusion, not understanding the joke. Harry, seeing Draco's confusion, explained.
"Hermione must have read that book a dozen times or more and is always telling us we should read it. Of course we never have, until Ron just now." Draco smiled appropriately but didn't really get it. It was obviously one of those 'you had to be there' kinds of jokes.
"I can't find any more about the 1879 thing," Draco said standing up, "I'm going to go check the Restricted Section." The others nodded and returned to their research.
Harry was reading some particularly interesting curses in his book 'The Idiots Guide to Curses' when a scream came from the direction of the Restricted Section. Harry recognised it at once as the scream of a book being removed by someone not permitted in the Restricted Section. He got up and made his way over to the section. Draco was shoving the book back on the shelf and looking shaken.
"That thing scared the hell out of me," he said, a bit dazed. Madam Pince was storming towards them.
"What is going on here? Mr. Malfoy, you are not permitted to enter the Restricted Section of the Library," she said sternly.
"Yes he is," Harry defended him, "I gave you the note Professor Dumbledore gave me."
"Yes," she said, "he gave you the note, only you are permitted in this Section." With that, she walked back to her desk. Draco and Harry looked at each other and shrugged.
"Which book did you want, love?" Harry asked while looking at the rows of books dedicated to the Dark Arts. Draco pointed to the book he wanted to look at and Harry picked it up. They walked back to the table and sat down. Harry passed the book to Draco and it started shrieking again. Harry took it back and it stopped. He opened it to the table of contents and Draco moved closer to him so he could read it too.
"Now, this is more like a date," Draco said with satisfaction as he put his arm around Harry's shoulders, "sitting close to the one you love, snuggling up to read a book about the killing curse, ugh. Not very romantic, is it. Turn to page 231, please." Harry flipped through the pages until he found the right one. He watched Draco's face while he scanned the page, he was obviously knew what he was looking for.
"Aha!" Draco said when he had found what he was looking for. "Read the second paragraph from the bottom," he instructed Harry. Draco played absently with the hair on the back of Harry's neck while he waited for him to process the information in the book. Ron and Hermione were looking over curiously. Draco watched Harry's eyes widen as he finished reading.
"Oh my god! I can't believe it!" he exclaimed.
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Dumbledore sat in his office making alternative plans for the Halloween feast. He had wanted to believe that this was just a bad dream as much as the others. However, the vividness of Narcissa's dream and the reports he had been getting from his people in the field that indicated that Voldemort was headed in this direction, had convinced him to plan for attack just in case. He had decided that the feast would take place in each of the four house common rooms. The students were safest there and the teachers would be divided up between the houses to supervise. Of course the heads of the houses would be required to be in their own house common room, thus Severus would be in Slytherin and out of harm's way. The only people in the Great Hall would be Harry, Draco, Ron and Hermione, and himself of course. This was going to be the hardest battle yet, Dumbledore thought. Voldemort has had a chance to grow even more powerful. But little does he know that Harry has grown in power too, even Harry does not realise how powerful he truly is. This battle will truly show us what he is made of.
He hoped Harry, Draco, Ron and Hermione would be able to find a way to stop him once and for all. Dumbledore was of the same opinion as Draco – that it would come down to Harry and Voldemort in a final showdown. That was why he had sent them to the library, so they could all be as prepared as they could for the attack. Harry had been up against Voldemort every year he had been at Hogwart's. However, they had never had this much warning before, and Dumbledore had never given them permission to miss their classes in order to do research in the library. Harry and Voldemort had always been fairly equal opponents, neither able to completely defeat or kill the other. Dumbledore hoped that the extra knowledge of the Dark Side and various curses that Harry was finding would give him the additional force required to defeat Voldemort, once and for all.
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~to be continued~