Dinner ended all too soon and Hermione and the rest of the others were instructed to guide their houses back to the dorms. The other prefects from 6th year had already gone with Professor McGonagall to receive the timetables they were to hand out tomorrow at breakfast. Harry had wandered off earlier to avoid Colin and mumbling something about going to read. The air was filled with chatter and the castle seemed brighter at having its children home.
"Gryffindor, please follow me," Hermione said loudly standing beside Dean and Ron who were yelling similar things to a few straggling first years.
Hermione, deciding that they had everyone's attention left the great hall and led them up the great marble staircase in the front hall smiling nostalgically at the astonished murmurings of the first years as they navigated through the various staircases and hallways.
"Watch that trick step there," she would stop to say, or something similar, occasionally. This warning seemed to do well because she only had to rescue one small boy who resembled Neville a great deal.
After an incident with a rather moody suit of armor and a temperamental changing staircase they arrived at the common room. The first year's eyes were already wide as dinner plates and were looking around quizzically at what seemed to be a dead end they had been led into.
"Hello dears," the pink lady said with a smile on her face and waving at them.
"Now than," Hermione said to the whispering crowd in front of her. "The password this month is 'grated lacewings',"
The hinged painting swung forward obliged by the password and the first years all muttered excitably. Hermione smiled as she heard some of the kids exclaim importantly that they knew about this from their siblings. She waited for their chatting to abate and she led them inside.
"Girls dormitories are up the stairs to the right, boys to the left. The stairs know where to take you so don't worry about not finding your rooms. Your trunks have already been brought up and are at the feet of your beds. You'll have free time until tomorrow when I'll lead you back down to the main hall where you'll receive your schedules. Any questions?"
No one raised any objections and they all looked eager to go check out their rooms so Hermione let them go and they slowly trickled away to their dorms, the less excitable ones with siblings filtering out last. Ron smiled at Hermione and left to help them get acquainted in their rooms.
"Oh Hermione, you're a lifesaver, I'm not one for public speaking," Dean said from beside her. Hermione smiled kindly back and assured him it was no problem. She looked around at the students crowded around in the common room and falling into the red squashy chairs around the fire, chatted a bit with Dean before saying she was going to go to bed.
"Say goodnight to Harry for me will you?"
"No problem, goodnight Hermione,"
Hermione walked up the stairs and entered her dorm which she shared with Parvati and Lavender the other fifth year Gryffindor girls. They were all laughing and talking to a background of a radio station someone had tuned their wands too. They were arranging their things and putting posters and pictures of young wizards who Hermione was assured were "positively swoonworthy" up on the walls. Hermione, who had decorated her portion of the round room long ago rolled her eyes at the girls and then went into the adjoining bathroom to take a nice warm shower.
Harry padded softly through the dark halls with his invisibility cloak wrapped around him. After leaving the table he had gone up to his room and retrieved his cloak and had been wandering around the school since. He didn't know what he was looking for but he soon found himself following Draco Malfoy. He had he stumbled across him in one of the dungeon hallways after hours. They had long ago passed the Slytherin dormitories and down into passageways Harry had never been to before seeing as this was enemy territory. He still didn't know quite what he was doing but that fact that Malfoy was up to something and was out of bed illegally fueled his nagging suspicions and he traipsed on.
Malfoy's light skin and hair seemed to glow in the dim light of the hallway so Harry had no trouble following him, his gait easily matching the blonde's long silky strides. He had the stance of one sure of himself and it only aggravated Harry further every time he was near him. Somewhere in the deep, deep recesses of Harry's mind dwelled the fact that he was jealous and the realization that Malfoy was indeed as formidable as his act portrayed. But that was locked somewhere deep, deep inside in a very ugly place that Harry had no intention to look, ever.
He resented Malfoy, his snide attitude towards anyone he deemed not worthy. What was he playing at? The boy needed a good smack in the face was what. Harry itched to be the one to deliver the good solid blow of reality but he knew somehow that it would take much, much more than that to throw Malfoy off his high horse. He knew little about the Malfoy family but what he did understand was that pureblood pride was ingrained deep in their minds. He grimaced just thinking about it.
Eventually Malfoy started looking behind him more frequently and Harry found he had to pay more attention so pushed away his malicious thoughts. He would stop suddenly and hold his breath afraid he had been found out every time Draco whipped around, his silver eyes searching seemingly every inch of ground behind him. It was eerie to have someone look right through you he decided the fifth time Draco turned suddenly in several minutes. He stopped longer this time with a calm but suspicious look on his face. Looking directly at Harry. Harry let out his breath slowly and as soundlessly as he could. Draco brushed a lock of silver blonde hair behind his ear and squinted angrily and than came walking suddenly at him. Harry quickly sidestepped falling against the wall repressing a laugh as his heart rapped painfully against his chest in fear of discover. Draco's eternally calm façade disappeared as he swept his hands out in random directions and it was immeasurably humorous.
"I know you're there, I've heard you following me all this way. Reveal yourself," He announced in a formal tone, Harry scrunched his face at this and wondered who on earth might have the interest to follow Draco that he wouldn't use his usual snappy drawl. Malfoy stood silent after he spoke and his ears perked as he listened intently. Suddenly his form lunged in Harry's direction and he jumped. Narrowly escaping, but not before Malfoy's hand brushed against the shimmery material of his cloak creating a flux in the air. Malfoy's eyes widened as he caught the flash and he lashed out with more fervor narrowly missing Harry every time.
Harry had to give it to Malfoy, he didn't miss a beat, he was hot on Harry's tail every step. Harry realized he was making a lot of noise now, jumping here and there and heavy breathing and decided to risk just plain sprinting away with his remaining energy. He jumped out of the way as Malfoy lunged at him and in the time it took him to recover Harry dashed down the hallway as fast as he could. What he didn't notice was that in his hurry and the darkness his glasses had slipped off his nose from all the jumping he'd been doing and crashed to the floor sending a crack writhing up the glass.
Malfoy, hearing the pounding footsteps receding around the corner turned to go after it but he hadn't gone far before he found a pair of black rimmed oval glasses, with his eyes that were adept to seeing in the dark. He gritted his teeth as he picked them up when he vaguely recognized them and then turned his lips up into a sly grin.
"Potter," he muttered clutching the glasses painfully hard in his hand before turning the way he was heading before and continuing down the dark hallway with a smirk on his lips and a spark in his platinum eyes. A lock of his hair fell down around his eyes again and he brushed it back instinctively. Over the summer he had given up on his slicked back look deciding it 'just didn't work' for him. The result had been a short cut with slight bangs and it all fell naturally framing his soft, angled face. The effect had been stunning and he found it served his purposes much better than his old look had. But then of course he wouldn't be a Malfoy without his Veela-like flaxen silver hair. He knew he was gorgeous and flaunted it like he had been taught to do.
'You're cut from the Malfoy mould' his father used to say in his occasional light-hearted drunken father-to-son talks, the only time Draco was ever summoned other than for reprimanding or his rigorous Malfoy family 'training'. Most of his childhood was a monotonous blend of being looked after by the house elves or various nannies. He went through a lot of nannies; it was hard to live in the Malfoy house for very long without 'learning too much'… His mother was usually around but his father was sure to keep her quiet most of the time by indulging in her muggle drug addiction. 'You will be proud and act like it' he'd say in his 'talks'. Draco grew up hearing the words and to say the least – it did wonders for his self-esteem.
Despite all this Draco had a great respect for his father, so menacing, so in command. He didn't know any different and he figured all families unlike his were weak. This is the way he had been taught. The only doubt he'd ever had in his mind about his father is why such a powerful man bowed down to a defeated, decrepit old dark wizard. Even Potter could take care of him. It's not that he didn't agree with the Dark Lord's ideals, he just didn't see how someone so un-human such as him should be the ones to lead him. It was the only time he ever saw fear in his father's eyes. Wild unbridled fear that took over his father's whole persona. It disgusted Draco who had always looked at Voldemort as some trivial power seeker. Malfoy's aren't afraid of anything.
As he walked the hallway turned into more of a tunnel and it got darker and darker until he reached a dead end.
"Funo porta voca," he said and the grimy dirt encrusted wall folded back revealing a dark room.
"Lumos," he said holding up his wand.
"Draco," a deep raspy voice said in way of greeting.
"Where's my father?"
"He – couldn't make it," the speaker's lips curled into what seemed close to a menacing smile.
Draco raised an eyebrow at the figure standing in the middle of the barren stone square room, a tall creature with scaly skin and sinister eyes wrapped in a pitch black cloak. Voldemort himself was standing in a room far below the Hogwarts castle.
Harry rushed into the Dorm closing the door behind him and collapsing with his back propped up against the door. He was breathing heavily and sweating profusely and he soon realized he couldn't see properly. He swore colorfully and thumped his fist to the ground. He had been caught. His heart beat wildly from the close escape. He shut his eyes hard and gritted his teeth, reprimanding himself for losing his glasses.
Besides that he's had to abandon his purpose and hadn't been able to follow Malfoy. What could he be doing so late at night down in the dungeon hallways far below the castle? Harry admitted to himself he'd never been past the Slytherin common room in the dungeons and had no idea what was down that pathway. Malfoy might have been going to the baths, the Slytherins were a bit loony, Harry wouldn't put it past them to have their bathrooms miles away from the common room. He got up and pulled off his invisibility cloak and walked over to his bed, suddenly aware of Ron's eyes on his back. He sat on his bed and looked over at his friend.
"Where were you?" Ron asked.
Harry shrugged before speaking, "Tailing Malfoy in dark hallways in the pit of the school and narrowly escaping capture and certain death at the mercy of my arch rival,"
"So the usual?"
"Pretty much,"
Harry grinned as Ron smiled sleepily. Harry looked off at the ceiling, which was blurry and dark before his eyes.
"What was he up to?" Ron continued.
"What was who up too?"
"Malfoy!" Ron raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, him, I don't know. Like I said I had to escape, he heard me,"
"Where are your glasses?"
Harry hesitated and bit his lip. Ron could tell even while half asleep in a dark room that Harry wasn't wearing glasses.
"I- I've decided to stop wearing them," He was grateful for the darkness as Harry was a horrible liar and he was flushing and looking down at the ground.
"Oh all right," Ron said with a yawn. He turned over and shortly after Harry heard snoring coming from his friend's bed. Harry smiled distractedly at his friend's short attention span before flopping back against his pillow fully clothed sighing. Maybe Malfoy wouldn't recognize the glasses at all. Harry scoffed at his own idealistic thinking. He knew Draco wouldn't forget. He knew that the blonde's dreams were plagued as were his. Every night he'd see the boy in his dreams, smirking at him, no matter what the context, though he always felt the presence strongest when Voldemort was - Harry repressed a shudder and pushed those thoughts from his mind. No, there was no way Draco would forget. Harry, despite his pondering, soon found himself fighting to keep his eyes open but it was a losing battle as he drifted off into a nightmarish sleep.
Draco cried out in his sleep and rolled over with a moan before tossing to the side with another discontented groan. Sweat covered him in beads, his hair and silky pajamas plastered to his alabaster skin. His legs were wrapped hopelessly in his smooth sheets and his blanket lay forgotten on the stone ground. He tossed several more times before yelling out loudly and throwing his left arm up in the air, clutching it so tightly that his nails dug in drawing blood and making pale white circles around the impact. His eyes suddenly shot open and he sat up abruptly breathing heavily.
His chest heaved up and down as his eyes flicked disconcertingly around the room watching every shadow and form around him. The blood dripped off his fingers trickling down his arm and he looked down wide-eyed at his arm and slowly released his wound. He wiped the blood away with the assailing hand searching underneath for the mark that plagued his dreams so often these past nights. Finding nothing he fell back in exhaustion on his pillow. Staring unblinkingly up at the worn stone ceiling clutching his arm to his side and gasping for breath.
He swallowed and closed his eyes briefly his heaving breathing abating slowly. He felt his heart beating fast against his arm crossed over his chest and he became very aware of the pounding sound of his blood beating through him. He turned on his side ignoring the crimson blood smeared across his sheets as he did so. Images from his nightmare flashed before his eyes and he grit his teeth closing his eyes as he dug his fingers into his arm again causing more blood to run down and drip off his elbow. He focused on the dull ache of his arm and brought himself out of his mind quelling the visions. Once again his pulse slowed and he relaxed his grip on his arm. He sat up leaning against his bruised arm and raised his free hand to his face brushing his hair out of his wide bloodshot eyes, leaving a streak of crimson in his luminescent locks.
Draco, who had finally collected himself, reached beside his bed for the water jug and poured it with a shaky hand before taking a tentative sip. He sighed and finished off the cup of water bringing moisture back to his mouth. He glanced around and for the first time noticed the blood smeared over everywhere he'd touch and the drops around his arm. He sighed and placed the cup back on the stand beside his bed.
The sparsely decorated room was barely in view in the dim light. It was a small room containing only a table and chair, an elegant green velvet canopy bed and a side table. Draco's school trunk stood at the foot of his bed and a worn oval green carpet in the centre of the bar floor. Unlike the Gryffindors common room there were enough rooms in the damp dungeons to give each student their own small room. The Slytherins weren't very social creatures anyways so it was probably for the best.
Draco turned his attention back to his predicament,
'They've never been that strong before,' he thought to himself his eyes widening just with the vague recollection of his dream. 'At least that blasted Potter wasn't there this time laughing at me,'
He got up and stumbled to the adjoining bathroom and looked in the mirror. He ran his bloodied hands and arm under the water and surveyed himself in the mirror. His eyes had deep gray bags under them and were devoid of their usual sparkling charm. His hair was tousled and bloody and when he'd finished washing his hands he reached up to try and flatten his hair down.
"You look like hell dear," a sleepy voice issued from the mirror.
Draco grimaced; he hardly ever heard anything but compliments from the enchanted mirrors throughout the wizarding world. He looked down and realized his gashes were still bleeding freely and he went back to his bed and retrieved his wand off the side table to stop it. He surveyed the ten small half moon slices in his arm and the resulting bruised areas around them. He was no mediwizard and despite his useful ability to stop the bleeding he couldn't take away the wound. They would scar adding to his menagerie he had acquired throughout his life.
Draco sighed and headed back into the bathroom pulling off his shirt as he went and dropped it on the floor. He slipped out of his pants and boxers and stepped into the shower. He adjusted the temperature and proceeded to massage the dried blood out of his hair.
His mind drifted as he washed. His automatic thoughts were not 'Why are the dreams getting worse,' it was more 'Why was Harry Potter not in it,' He knew why his dreams were stronger. Voldemort was growing in strength and Draco had had direct influence from his just that night, that wasn't the puzzling part.
Draco summoned up Harry's face in his mind, the way his deep green eyes scowled at him with a look of pure hate. His minds eye automatically put him in a stance of protection with Weasley or that other bushy-haired mudblood Harry was so familiar with hidden behind him. He wasn't surprised that Harry was protecting, the Golden boy, hero of the wizarding world. Draco scowled and forced his mind off the subject.
He remembered finding Harry's glasses earlier that night and the thought cheered him, his eyes glinting dangerously. He'd caught him in the act. Before when he'd had no proof it had agonized him to no end. Harry Potter sneaking around under everyone's noses. Breaking rules left and right with no consequence but not this time, this time Draco had the upper hand and he'd use it to his best advantage. He was a Malfoy and as such he learned at an early age how to play his cards. He smirked and reveled in the feeling of the clean water cascading off his nose and shoulders. Revenge was sweet and it was almost time to reap the profits.
Harry woke up the next morning with his scar beating in pain again. He held his fingers against it and frowned trying his best to ignore it. He looked around and reached for his glasses on the bed table. His hand floundered around for a moment groggily before last night's incidents clued in and he groaned and fell back on his bed. His clothes were digging in to his skin making foreign red trails in it and his cloak was twisted around him strangely. He sighed and decided to make the most of what few hours he may have left before breakfast and the first confrontation with Malfoy.
He grabbed his wand (from a highly uncomfortably placed pocket lodged in his back) and whispered a spell that would fix his eyes. The spell caused him to close his eyes when the world came racing back into crystal clarity making him dizzy. Harry had known this spell for some time and Hermione had offered many times to fix his eyes for him but he had always declined. He didn't know quite why. He supposed it was because he wanted to be like his father and somehow felt closer if he looked in his image. He didn't know why his father wore glasses either but it was good enough an excuse for him to wear his. Now it seemed strange for the word to be in focus but the black rims of his glasses not framing his view.
He rose and went about his usual mornings tasks, finishing just as Ron woke up.
"Morning Harry," Ron mumbled, sitting up and stretching as he did so. "What're you doing up so early?"
"Couldn't sleep," Harry answered truthfully. "I'm not going to breakfast today, I'll see you in class,"
"Harry, you don't even know what class you have first. You have to get your schedule at breakfast,"
Harry smiled and held up a parchment that had his schedule printed on it.
"I'm way ahead of you Ron," he had gone to the 6th year prefects and retrieved his schedule already. Though he had to admit he hadn't thought of it until he met them in the hall when he'd gone down to the common room to look for Hermione (who he'd been unsuccessful in finding) and they reminded him. Ron shrugged.
"Whatever, more food for me," He smiled and scratched his side and yawned one more time before getting up and grabbing his newly washed clothes (the house elves did everyone's laundry once a night, a fact that Ron was very grateful for, though if you asked him he'd blush and stutter and change the subject as quickly as possible. Ron had only two pairs of his school robes and was very sensitive about the fact that hee couldn't afford to buy new ones) Clothes in hand he walked into the bathroom to freshen up.
Harry settled back on his bed with The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five and skimmed over the spells they'd be learning this year. Or at least it appeared that way. In reality he wasn't looking at the book but was lost deep in thought. He winced mentally at himself for being so weak as to avoid Malfoy. But he couldn't bring himself to face him. Not when he was guilty. Well he had always been guilty before, he rephrased that. Not when he had proof that he was guilty.
The fact that Harry had been breaking rules had never really seemed real to him because he never was caught. But not this time… There was only so long he could avoid Malfoy, in fact after his first class after breakfast (Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs) he had to make his way down to the Dungeons with, as always, the Slytherins. And even worse he'd stalled his confrontation to be in front of Snape. Harry groaned, this was going to be a long day.
Draco sauntered in to the main hall fighting the urge to look over at Harry. It wouldn't exactly be natural if Draco Malfoy walks in to the room and immediately sneaks a look at Potter, he had a reputation to keep you know. No, he would wait. It worked to his advantage in the long run anyway. Letting Potter sweat it out as Draco took long strides toward his chair on the other side of the room.
He held down a snide smile and reached his destination sitting beside Pansy Parkinson who immediately started flapping her eyelids and babbling about something or other in a sugar sweet voice. He repressed the urge to hurl and pried Pansy's fingers from his arm giving her a death glare. She vaguely noticed and grimaced but than decided to ignore it and continued chatting aimlessly to Blaise Zabini whom was sitting beside her. Draco duly noted that Blaise wasn't very happy about the arrangement either and he shot her a sympathising look.
He turned and chatted lightly with a fellow fifth year that sat across from him focusing his willpower to keep from a triumphant smile. He finally decided Potter had had enough and looked up as if in thought to fix Potter with a specially formulated look. Unfortunately his hours in front of the mirror were wasted and his jaw dropped open involuntarily as his eyes met with an empty space, 'only that Weasel and the mudblood, what a coward'. He clenched his teeth and the world around him seemed to go quiet. He was seeing red when Pansy tugged on his sleeve with an angry look on her face.
"What!" he roared. Pansy raised an eyebrow.
"Just noticing that you seem to be a bit too interested in the Gryffindor table this morning Draco," she whispered looking around her shiftily. Her eyebrows narrowed menacingly and her eyes twinkled with anger. "I would hate for you to have to go back home for a – reminder from your father. Now shut up and stop making a fool of yourself,"
It was only than that Draco realised he had shouted "That coward!" out loud and all of the students and faculty of Hogwarts were staring at him. A cough sounded through the silence and a few nervous shuffling noises. Draco clenched his hands but regardless, red dots appeared on his high cheekbones accordingly.
"I'm leaving," he murmured mostly to himself.
With that he stood up and stormed out of the room, his footsteps echoing in the silence. He opened the large mahogany, wooden door that separated the hallway with the huge eating hall and wrenched it open disappearing behind it. On the other side he couldn't help but notice that talking erupted after his sudden disappearance. He took off in the general direction of the dungeons fuming. 'What a coward, that Potter. Now I know he's guilty, not that there was ever any doubt before'
He stormed down the hallway, his feet taking him instinctively higher in the castle rather than his mind's intent, lower. He didn't notice as Sir Cadogan yelled "I say, you there! Where are you going in such a hurry lad?" When he finally came out of his thoughts to look around he noticed he was on a path that he usually took to get to Gryffindor tower (not one of the fastest routes, but Draco didn't know that seeing as it wasn't a place he frequented often). He smirked, 'excellent, just what I need right now, a little Potter beating'. He went with renewed fervour and reached the corner that would take him to that annoying Pink Lady who liked to hang around the door. He had just started to wonder how he was going to break in to the Gryffindor common room when he ran straight into someone who was coming around the same corner.
There was a yelp and the impeding object in front of Draco bounced off and fell to the ground. Draco smirked at the typical Gryffindor clumsiness before a spark of trepidation flicked across his features at how it might look him being here in front of the Gryffindor common room. It was than that he was pulled from his speculating by a frightened gasp from in front of him. A familiar green shine looked back at him and he clenched his fist and his face fell into his familiar look of contempt.
"Potter," he sneered.
"What are you doing here Malfoy?" came the unusually cool response. Draco felt his eyes widen for a split second before he scowled again. Potter had never had this cool air around him before. Then he remembered that those piercing green eyes were waiting for an answer and he was caught off guard even more, which was very un-Malfoy of him. This had to stop.
"What were you doing in the dungeons last night Potter?" direct, to the point, sure to get a reaction. He got what he wanted; His opponents eyes flashed in apprehension and the eye contact broke as Harry looked instinctively for an escape route.
"I wasn't in the-" Harry began.
"Don't bother Potter, I've got all the proof I need. Do you know how many dark arts curses require a personal item of the – victim?"
"Give my glasses back Malfoy!" damn Gryffindors, hard to predict, all that bravery popping up all over the place. I hate Gryffindors.
"So you admit it?"
He faltered as he planned his next sentence carefully.
"-We – both know it," Harry said finally. "Might I ask what you were doing down in that corridor? I'll remind you that even if you told on me you'd still get in trouble for being out of beds," trust Perfect Harry Potter to find the flaw in my plan, thankfully that meant he was grasping at straws and he's still at a disadvantage with his little toy. Yes that's a good card to play.
"I think a detention is fair exchange to see you caught, and with an invisibility cloak? My, my Potter, I don't think the professors would be too pleased about that," Harry winced.
"You'd be surprised," he countered.
"Oh, I realize you have Dumbledore up your sleeve, but what do you suppose Snape would think?" A weak point but he hoped Harry's loathing of Slytherin's head of house would smooth over the fact that Snape had to answer to Dumbledore. It worked because Harry grimaced and his scowl darkened.
Draco allowed himself a triumphant smirk before reaching out a hand and pushing hard against Harry's left shoulder until he was pinned up against the wall. The green eyes leapt in surprise and Draco pressed harder. Harry tried to squirm out of his grasp but only resulted in aggravating the quickly bruising spot.
"Watch yourself Potter," Draco said his voice filled with malice. He pushed hard against Harry's shoulder once before letting go and whipping gracefully around and heading back to his dormitories all in all pleased with himself.