~ Chapter Four : Golden Sparks ~
Ravenclaw Common Room
Hermione and Ginny sat in the far corner of the Ravenclaw common room arguing rather fiercely about whether or not they should tell Harry what the gold sparks signified.
Hermione felt rather strongly that they should let nature take its course whereas Ginny felt that Harry had a right to know what was happening to him.
"You can't let him walk into this completely blind," Ginny hissed at Hermione, neither of them particularly wanted the other students to hear this. Considering all the houses were now mixed up, no one knew who to trust anymore. Hogwarts was like a whole new world.
"He's not blind, he's seeing Malfoy in a new light now," countered Hermione.
Ginny snorted.
"He doesn't need to know this. If he knew about this now, it could ruin things totally. It's too soon," Hermione continued heatedly. "He's not ready."
"He needs to know! Then he can make an informed decision!" Ginny insisted.
"What decision? This is a matter of the heart, not the mind. There is no decision to make. This is going to happen no matter what we do, so it should happen naturally, without us interfering," Hermione said forcefully.
"Fine! Fine. Whatever," Ginny said, finally appearing to give up. "Want to play a game of chess?"
"Sure," Hermione agreed. She knew the argument was far from over but she was willing to let it go for now.
Slytherin Common Room
"So what did Granger say about the sparks?" Draco asked as he and Harry entered the common room after lunch. The common room was pretty busy now that it looked so comfortable so Harry and Draco silently agreed to go upstairs to the dorm room they shared with Justin and Seamus.
"She said she'd look into it," Harry replied, his eyes not meeting Draco's.
"What?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes as he noticed Harry's evasiveness.
"What?" Harry repeated, feigning ignorance as he fiddled with his belongings on his bedside table.
"You're hiding something. I can tell. Tell me what it is or I'll." For once, Draco floundered.
Harry grinned tauntingly. "You'll what?"
"I'll.I'll." Draco suddenly smirked. "I'll tell everyone that you have a crush on Pansy!"
"You wouldn't!" Harry gasped.
"Try me," Draco said, arching one eyebrow.
Harry gazed levelly at him. "Do it and I'll tell everyone that she's not my type."
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, wrinkling his brow in confusion.
"She's female," Harry elaborated lightly as he straightened his text books up on his chest.
Draco stared at Harry, for once at a loss for words. "You're..you're gay?"
"Uh huh," Harry replied, enjoying Draco's reaction. "But don't worry, I'm not going to pounce on you."
Draco licked his lips and felt oddly disappointed at Harry's statement although he wasn't sure why. He pushed the feeling aside and returned back to the original conversation.
"Don't think these distractions are going to work on me, Potter. Tell me what Granger said right now," Draco said, sounding frustrated.
"Okay, okay," Harry said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "She told me to..touch you again to see if it happened again, but it didn't."
"Oh," Draco said with a teasing grin, "sure. It wasn't that you wanted to touch me, Granger made you to touch me. Don't worry, I believe you."
"What the hell are you going on about now?" Harry asked as he pulled his pyjama's out of his drawer and started to change into them.
"Nothing. Why are you getting into your pyjama's? We just had lunch," Draco smirked, highly amused.
Harry looked confused for a moment before changing back into his robes. He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the canopy.
"Do you know anything about these sparks, Malfoy? You grew up in a wizarding family, surely you know a bit about it?" Harry asked curiously.
Draco (lying across his own bed on his stomach) wrinkled his nose adorably. "I can't think of anything. But then, my father only ever taught me dark magic."
"Speaking of dark magic, back to our conversation about Wormtail, I really thin-" Harry started to say.
"Wormtail?" Draco interrupted.
"Peter Pettigrew. His nickname is Wormtail," Harry explained.
"Oh, why Wormtail?" Draco asked.
"He's an animagus. Ironically enough, a rat," Harry said with contempt. "Anyway, I think we should talk about how we can catch him. Sirius has been on the run for long enough."
"I think we should talk about how we can become animagus," Draco said imperiously.
"Oh so we have to talk about what you want to talk about, do we?" Harry said challengingly.
"Of course," Draco replied with a smirk. "Don't think just because I'm surrounded by Griffindors and Hufflepuffs, that your redeeming qualities have rubbed off on me."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Harry said derisively. "Look, I really think we can do this but I can't do it without you."
"You can't do it without me, huh?" Draco said, a teasing glint in his eyes.
Harry groaned, "Get fucked, Draco."
"Oooh, you'd like that, wouldn't you," Draco said, leering at Harry.
"Be serious, please! I have a plan but I need you to help me get into Malfoy Manor," Harry said, rolling over onto his stomach so he could look at Draco. The blonde merely looked annoyed at Harry's persistence.
"I said no, Harry. Besides, how on earth would you get into the Manor? You're public enemy number one over there," Draco asked, frowning over at Harry.
"Two words - Polyjuice Potion," Harry replied.
"Christ, you just won't let this go will you. Fine. Hypothetically, let's say we did do this. You take Polyjuice Potion and we go to the Manor. Then what?" Draco demanded.
"Then..then we find Wormtail and bring him back here," Harry said lamely. He obviously hadn't thought the plan through.
Draco rolled his eyes. "And what happens when we run into my father, or worse, Voldemort?"
"We'll go along with it and when they go we'll find Wormtail and bring him back here," Harry said.
"We'll go along with it," Draco repeated incredulously. "And what if Voldemort decides that then is the right time to initiate us as Death Eaters? Then what?"
Harry looked startled. He sat up slowly. "Why would Voldemort do that?"
Draco closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. "My god, you are naïve. What makes you think Voldemort hasn't already tried to initiate me? What makes you think he won't take any chance he gets to try it now that I've refused?"
"You refused? Why?" Harry asked, looking confused.
"As I said on our first night here, I don't answer to anyone," Draco said simply.
"And you think he'll try to force you to join if you go to the Manor?" Harry asked, needing clarification.
"Yes," Draco replied.
"What were you planning to do at the end of the year if you can't go home for the summer holiday?" Harry asked.
"I hadn't worked that out yet," Draco muttered.
"Let me get this straight because I'm getting a bit mixed up. You have rejected the dark side and Voldemort, does this mean you are now on the light side?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Perhaps," Draco replied ambiguously. "I'd still like to talk about becoming animagus."
"Nice try at changing the subject but I want to talk about this. How about if we both take Polyjuice Potion?" Harry suggested.
"No! No no no no no. How many times do I have to say it? It doesn't matter who we look like. If we go to the Manor and we don't have the dark mark, they'll mark us. Do you want that?" Draco asked.
Harry thought for a moment. He rolled over onto his back and stared blankly. He rubbed his hand over his left wrist and thought about what it would be like to have the dark mark there. He thought about what it would mean to Sirius to be free and he thought about what it would mean to him to have his guardian free.
"I don't care about the dark mark. Sirius is more important than that," Harry said firmly.
Draco didn't look too shocked. It was typical of Harry to care more for others than for himself, and also for Harry to not care about rules or convention.
"You don't have to come with me," Harry said quietly. "Just help me find the Manor. I'll do the rest."
Draco stared into Harry's green eyes for a long moment, contemplating the suggestion. It was now obvious that Harry was determined to do this no matter what anyone said.
"I'm going to come with you, but I think we should both take Polyjuice Potion," Draco said firmly.
Harry looked surprised but grateful for the support. "How are we going to make the potion? I don't want to involve Hermione in this, she'll just try to talk me out of it."
"You forget, Harry. I'm the top of our class in Potions," Draco reminded him.
"Right. So, what do we need?" Harry asked.
They discussed the potion and the ingredients they would need to steal.
"We'd better make a lot because if we're really going to do this, we have to do it right and that means meeting up with a few of the Death Eaters I know who live in this area to convince them that we really want to join," Draco said calmly.
"But we don't want to join," Harry protested. "We just want to get in and out of Malfoy Manor. If we get caught and they try to mark us then so be it but-"
"We can't just waltz into the Manor!" Draco said, scandalised. "They'd do more than just mark us, they'd kill us. We have to make them think that we want to join. Then at Christmas, we can go to the Manor and-"
"Christmas! But that's months away!" Harry complained.
"It is the only way. Unless things go well and they want to initiate us before then," Draco said. "The trouble with that is that we might not be able to get back in time for classes on Monday."
"Fuck classes. This is more important," Harry said firmly.
"Okay," Draco said warily.
"Why are you agreeing to this?" Harry asked, seeming to suddenly realise who he was talking to.
"What? Oh, well, you're right. You need me for this and besides, I can't let you do it alone," Draco's voice became softer towards the end of his little speech. Like he didn't want to admit it.
"What are we?" Harry asked. "I mean, we were enemies, I guess. But now..what are we? Are we friends?"
"It's been less than 24 hours, Harry," Draco said, gazing across at Harry.
"Have you noticed that we've started calling each other by first names?" Harry asked softly.
"Yeah," Draco replied.
"So what are we?" Harry asked persistently.
"Do we really have to put a label on it?" Draco asked exasperatedly.
"Yes, we do," Harry replied with a grin which rapidly turned into a smirk. "Tell me or I'll have to tell Pansy that you like her."
Draco groaned. "Don't you dare! It's taken me four years to convince her that I don't like her. Besides she's not my type."
Harry raised an eyebrow quizzically at him.
"She's female," Draco replied seriously. Harry stared back at him, unable to speak.
"It's dinnertime," Draco said lightly, enjoying Harry's response to his announcement.
The boys stood up and glanced at each other awkwardly.
"We'd better go," Harry said, not quite meeting the blonde boy's eyes.
"Mmm," Draco agreed.
The two boys left the room and headed towards the Great Hall. As they walked through the corridors, their hands sometimes brushed against each other. Both were incredibly aware of the sensation, but neither of them knew what to do with the feelings it generated.
As they entered the Great Hall, Draco headed for the Slytherin table whereas Harry headed for the Ravenclaw table. He dropped down onto the seat beside Hermione.
"Hey Harry, how has your afternoon been?" she asked him cheerily. Ginny also looked at him with interest.
"Fine. Did you manage to discover anything about that thing we discussed earlier?" Harry asked, wary of all the people listening to their conversation.
"Not really," Hermione replied vaguely, ignoring Ginny poking her side.
"Oh. Well, let me know if you find out anything. I'd better get over to Slytherin," Harry said before getting up and heading for his own house.
~to be continued~
Ravenclaw Common Room
Hermione and Ginny sat in the far corner of the Ravenclaw common room arguing rather fiercely about whether or not they should tell Harry what the gold sparks signified.
Hermione felt rather strongly that they should let nature take its course whereas Ginny felt that Harry had a right to know what was happening to him.
"You can't let him walk into this completely blind," Ginny hissed at Hermione, neither of them particularly wanted the other students to hear this. Considering all the houses were now mixed up, no one knew who to trust anymore. Hogwarts was like a whole new world.
"He's not blind, he's seeing Malfoy in a new light now," countered Hermione.
Ginny snorted.
"He doesn't need to know this. If he knew about this now, it could ruin things totally. It's too soon," Hermione continued heatedly. "He's not ready."
"He needs to know! Then he can make an informed decision!" Ginny insisted.
"What decision? This is a matter of the heart, not the mind. There is no decision to make. This is going to happen no matter what we do, so it should happen naturally, without us interfering," Hermione said forcefully.
"Fine! Fine. Whatever," Ginny said, finally appearing to give up. "Want to play a game of chess?"
"Sure," Hermione agreed. She knew the argument was far from over but she was willing to let it go for now.
Slytherin Common Room
"So what did Granger say about the sparks?" Draco asked as he and Harry entered the common room after lunch. The common room was pretty busy now that it looked so comfortable so Harry and Draco silently agreed to go upstairs to the dorm room they shared with Justin and Seamus.
"She said she'd look into it," Harry replied, his eyes not meeting Draco's.
"What?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes as he noticed Harry's evasiveness.
"What?" Harry repeated, feigning ignorance as he fiddled with his belongings on his bedside table.
"You're hiding something. I can tell. Tell me what it is or I'll." For once, Draco floundered.
Harry grinned tauntingly. "You'll what?"
"I'll.I'll." Draco suddenly smirked. "I'll tell everyone that you have a crush on Pansy!"
"You wouldn't!" Harry gasped.
"Try me," Draco said, arching one eyebrow.
Harry gazed levelly at him. "Do it and I'll tell everyone that she's not my type."
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, wrinkling his brow in confusion.
"She's female," Harry elaborated lightly as he straightened his text books up on his chest.
Draco stared at Harry, for once at a loss for words. "You're..you're gay?"
"Uh huh," Harry replied, enjoying Draco's reaction. "But don't worry, I'm not going to pounce on you."
Draco licked his lips and felt oddly disappointed at Harry's statement although he wasn't sure why. He pushed the feeling aside and returned back to the original conversation.
"Don't think these distractions are going to work on me, Potter. Tell me what Granger said right now," Draco said, sounding frustrated.
"Okay, okay," Harry said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "She told me to..touch you again to see if it happened again, but it didn't."
"Oh," Draco said with a teasing grin, "sure. It wasn't that you wanted to touch me, Granger made you to touch me. Don't worry, I believe you."
"What the hell are you going on about now?" Harry asked as he pulled his pyjama's out of his drawer and started to change into them.
"Nothing. Why are you getting into your pyjama's? We just had lunch," Draco smirked, highly amused.
Harry looked confused for a moment before changing back into his robes. He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the canopy.
"Do you know anything about these sparks, Malfoy? You grew up in a wizarding family, surely you know a bit about it?" Harry asked curiously.
Draco (lying across his own bed on his stomach) wrinkled his nose adorably. "I can't think of anything. But then, my father only ever taught me dark magic."
"Speaking of dark magic, back to our conversation about Wormtail, I really thin-" Harry started to say.
"Wormtail?" Draco interrupted.
"Peter Pettigrew. His nickname is Wormtail," Harry explained.
"Oh, why Wormtail?" Draco asked.
"He's an animagus. Ironically enough, a rat," Harry said with contempt. "Anyway, I think we should talk about how we can catch him. Sirius has been on the run for long enough."
"I think we should talk about how we can become animagus," Draco said imperiously.
"Oh so we have to talk about what you want to talk about, do we?" Harry said challengingly.
"Of course," Draco replied with a smirk. "Don't think just because I'm surrounded by Griffindors and Hufflepuffs, that your redeeming qualities have rubbed off on me."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Harry said derisively. "Look, I really think we can do this but I can't do it without you."
"You can't do it without me, huh?" Draco said, a teasing glint in his eyes.
Harry groaned, "Get fucked, Draco."
"Oooh, you'd like that, wouldn't you," Draco said, leering at Harry.
"Be serious, please! I have a plan but I need you to help me get into Malfoy Manor," Harry said, rolling over onto his stomach so he could look at Draco. The blonde merely looked annoyed at Harry's persistence.
"I said no, Harry. Besides, how on earth would you get into the Manor? You're public enemy number one over there," Draco asked, frowning over at Harry.
"Two words - Polyjuice Potion," Harry replied.
"Christ, you just won't let this go will you. Fine. Hypothetically, let's say we did do this. You take Polyjuice Potion and we go to the Manor. Then what?" Draco demanded.
"Then..then we find Wormtail and bring him back here," Harry said lamely. He obviously hadn't thought the plan through.
Draco rolled his eyes. "And what happens when we run into my father, or worse, Voldemort?"
"We'll go along with it and when they go we'll find Wormtail and bring him back here," Harry said.
"We'll go along with it," Draco repeated incredulously. "And what if Voldemort decides that then is the right time to initiate us as Death Eaters? Then what?"
Harry looked startled. He sat up slowly. "Why would Voldemort do that?"
Draco closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. "My god, you are naïve. What makes you think Voldemort hasn't already tried to initiate me? What makes you think he won't take any chance he gets to try it now that I've refused?"
"You refused? Why?" Harry asked, looking confused.
"As I said on our first night here, I don't answer to anyone," Draco said simply.
"And you think he'll try to force you to join if you go to the Manor?" Harry asked, needing clarification.
"Yes," Draco replied.
"What were you planning to do at the end of the year if you can't go home for the summer holiday?" Harry asked.
"I hadn't worked that out yet," Draco muttered.
"Let me get this straight because I'm getting a bit mixed up. You have rejected the dark side and Voldemort, does this mean you are now on the light side?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Perhaps," Draco replied ambiguously. "I'd still like to talk about becoming animagus."
"Nice try at changing the subject but I want to talk about this. How about if we both take Polyjuice Potion?" Harry suggested.
"No! No no no no no. How many times do I have to say it? It doesn't matter who we look like. If we go to the Manor and we don't have the dark mark, they'll mark us. Do you want that?" Draco asked.
Harry thought for a moment. He rolled over onto his back and stared blankly. He rubbed his hand over his left wrist and thought about what it would be like to have the dark mark there. He thought about what it would mean to Sirius to be free and he thought about what it would mean to him to have his guardian free.
"I don't care about the dark mark. Sirius is more important than that," Harry said firmly.
Draco didn't look too shocked. It was typical of Harry to care more for others than for himself, and also for Harry to not care about rules or convention.
"You don't have to come with me," Harry said quietly. "Just help me find the Manor. I'll do the rest."
Draco stared into Harry's green eyes for a long moment, contemplating the suggestion. It was now obvious that Harry was determined to do this no matter what anyone said.
"I'm going to come with you, but I think we should both take Polyjuice Potion," Draco said firmly.
Harry looked surprised but grateful for the support. "How are we going to make the potion? I don't want to involve Hermione in this, she'll just try to talk me out of it."
"You forget, Harry. I'm the top of our class in Potions," Draco reminded him.
"Right. So, what do we need?" Harry asked.
They discussed the potion and the ingredients they would need to steal.
"We'd better make a lot because if we're really going to do this, we have to do it right and that means meeting up with a few of the Death Eaters I know who live in this area to convince them that we really want to join," Draco said calmly.
"But we don't want to join," Harry protested. "We just want to get in and out of Malfoy Manor. If we get caught and they try to mark us then so be it but-"
"We can't just waltz into the Manor!" Draco said, scandalised. "They'd do more than just mark us, they'd kill us. We have to make them think that we want to join. Then at Christmas, we can go to the Manor and-"
"Christmas! But that's months away!" Harry complained.
"It is the only way. Unless things go well and they want to initiate us before then," Draco said. "The trouble with that is that we might not be able to get back in time for classes on Monday."
"Fuck classes. This is more important," Harry said firmly.
"Okay," Draco said warily.
"Why are you agreeing to this?" Harry asked, seeming to suddenly realise who he was talking to.
"What? Oh, well, you're right. You need me for this and besides, I can't let you do it alone," Draco's voice became softer towards the end of his little speech. Like he didn't want to admit it.
"What are we?" Harry asked. "I mean, we were enemies, I guess. But now..what are we? Are we friends?"
"It's been less than 24 hours, Harry," Draco said, gazing across at Harry.
"Have you noticed that we've started calling each other by first names?" Harry asked softly.
"Yeah," Draco replied.
"So what are we?" Harry asked persistently.
"Do we really have to put a label on it?" Draco asked exasperatedly.
"Yes, we do," Harry replied with a grin which rapidly turned into a smirk. "Tell me or I'll have to tell Pansy that you like her."
Draco groaned. "Don't you dare! It's taken me four years to convince her that I don't like her. Besides she's not my type."
Harry raised an eyebrow quizzically at him.
"She's female," Draco replied seriously. Harry stared back at him, unable to speak.
"It's dinnertime," Draco said lightly, enjoying Harry's response to his announcement.
The boys stood up and glanced at each other awkwardly.
"We'd better go," Harry said, not quite meeting the blonde boy's eyes.
"Mmm," Draco agreed.
The two boys left the room and headed towards the Great Hall. As they walked through the corridors, their hands sometimes brushed against each other. Both were incredibly aware of the sensation, but neither of them knew what to do with the feelings it generated.
As they entered the Great Hall, Draco headed for the Slytherin table whereas Harry headed for the Ravenclaw table. He dropped down onto the seat beside Hermione.
"Hey Harry, how has your afternoon been?" she asked him cheerily. Ginny also looked at him with interest.
"Fine. Did you manage to discover anything about that thing we discussed earlier?" Harry asked, wary of all the people listening to their conversation.
"Not really," Hermione replied vaguely, ignoring Ginny poking her side.
"Oh. Well, let me know if you find out anything. I'd better get over to Slytherin," Harry said before getting up and heading for his own house.
~to be continued~