Author's Note: So, so, so sorry about the very long delay. When I said I
was going to take a little, teeny-weeny break, I did not expect that. All
my teachers decided to squeeze in tests and bucketload of work before
winter break. And then I couldn't work on it during the first two weeks of
break because my family and I went to visit my mom's side of the family,
consisting of four aunts, four uncles, six boy cousins, four girl cousins,
my two sisters, my mom, my step-dad, and my grandfather. And my two
youngest cousins (five and eight, girl and boy, respectively), are totally
insane and my sisters and I practically took care of them the whole entire
visit there. Not that I don't love them. Just not very conducive to
writing.
But, hey, I posted two chapters!!
A couple people have asked me this so I'm going to set the record straight: Yes, this is going to be slash. Yes it's a Draco/Harry pairing. But no, I have no idea when. (sorry!)
To LizaSJ@aol.com and withset: I'm sure you'll see some of your ideas in this chapter, or, if not, in future ones!
To Edana: Thank you for your reviews! My one and only reviewer for Snapshots! By the way, everyone go out there and read her work! Her HP fics are absolutely beautiful and so is her original fiction!! Read it!!
To Rerisu: I wanted so much for you beta these chapters, but my email went wonky and I got mad. Next one?
Anyway, you probably don't care, so...read on! ::crosses fingers and hopes readers didn't up on me:: Thanks to all my reviewers, esepcially the ones who gave me so many wonderful ideas.
Okay, wait, I lied. For anyone who didn't reread chapter 3 because I changed it...a lot, they should; I added Draco and Dumbledore's meeting to chapter 3 instead of making it a whole new chapter as I originally intended.
CHAPTER 4
Draco stifled a yawn as he tried to pay attention to Professor McGonagoll's lecture. He sat in the back of the classroom at a desk by himself. The Ravenclaws were all studiously taking notes, some of them practically drooling at all the new information.
Draco rubbed his eyes tiredly and dipped his quill in his ink bottle.
~*~*~*~
[the previous night]
12:13
Draco stifled a groan as he turned his head to the right, checking the time on his clock. The last time he had looked, it had read 12:04. And before that, 11:49. And before that, 11:32. And after tossing and turning for over an hour, Draco finally admitted to himself that he was not going to be getting any sleep that night.
He sat up in his bed, propping one of his pillows up on the headboard to lean on. Across from him, he could hear the snores of one Vincent Crabbe. To Crabbe's right was the sporadic mumblings of Gregory Goyle. And to Draco's right was the silent bed of Blaise Zabini.
Draco opened his bed curtains and immediately shivered at the cold air of the dungeons. His thermals helped a little, but not much; Draco pulled the blankets closer to his body. All the other boys had left their curtains open and Draco shook his head in amazement. But then again, the blonde boy did get cold rather easily.
Draco sighed silently and stuck one foot out, placing it on the cold, stone floors. He couldn't help the shiver that ran up his body, but he determinedly stuck his other foot out.
He immediately pulled the trunk of clothes from under his bed. He lifted the lid and found, laid out on the top, the very thing for which he was looking. His fur cape. His mother must have known that he would get cold in the Slytherin dungeons and made sure that it was placed at the top. Draco smiled.
He threw the cape over himself and immediately began to feel warmer. After fishing around in the trunk for a few moments, Draco finally found what he was looking for, pulling out a pair of socks and slipping them on over his half-frozen feet.
He grabbed his wand off his nightstand, tucking into the inner pocket of his cape, before exiting the room. The dungeons were beginning to feel a little stuffy and he wanted some fresh air. Draco could tell the moment he reached ground level. The air seemed fresher, less stale, and it was warmer.
He wanted to see the gardens his mother had told him about, but he didn't know where they were. He didn't want to summon Peeves for Draco didn't have the energy to threaten and browbeat the poltergeist. Instead, he walked down the corridors, looking at the portraits and statues, but carefully etching each place into his mind so as not to get lost.
Draco stumbled upon the the quidditch trophy case by pure accident. Seeing the pictures of people zooming in the air suddenly made the blonde wish that he had brought his broom for a spot of flying. Flying always did help him relax. Well, almost always.
He studied the pictures of the House Cup winners, looking for the faces of his mother and father. However, Draco discovered that in his parents' five years of playing quidditch, they had never won the Cup. The Gryffindors did.
Draco was peering intently at a picture of James Potter when he heard a noise behind him. He whirled around, whipping out his wand.
He found himself pointing it at a little house elf. A smiling house elf, to be specific.
"Dobby!" Draco smiled back, his eyebrows both shooting up in an expression of surprised happiness.
"Little Master Malfoy," Dobby bowed.
Draco tucked his wand back into his cape and knelt down so that he was eye level with the house elf.
"Just Draco, Dobby. How many times must I remind you?" Draco mock-scolded, his eyes merry.
"Yes, Master Draco. Dobby remembers," Dobby answered.
Draco gave Dobby an affectionate pat. Draco was eight the first time he had told Dobby to call him by his first name. Dobby was horrified and had begun bashing his head upon the bookshelf in Draco's room. Draco hadn't brought it up again until the summer after his first year at Durmstrang. When Dobby had tried to hurt himself, Draco threatened to give Dobby a chocolate frog. Since then, Draco tried again and again to get the house elf to call him Draco. So far, Dobby would only call him Master Draco; and only after prompting from the blonde. Still, Draco perservered, determined to have Dobby call him by his first name eventually.
"How have you been, Dobby? I'd heard you were at Hogwarts."
"Oh, Master Draco. Dobby loves Hogwarts. Headmaster treats Dobby very good. Pays him. And gives him days off. Dobby is very happy," Dobby nodded emphatically.
Draco's eyes softened at Dobby's words, "I'm glad, Dobby."
"Dobby is glad, too. Does Master Draco know that the great Harry Potter is here?"
"Yes, Dobby. I know that."
"Dobby gives him socks every Christmas. Just like to Master Draco."
Draco surprised the house elf by giving enveloping his small body in a hug, "Thank you for the socks, Dobby. I love them. I'm wearing them right now. See?"
He lifted his trouser leg to show the knitted socks.
"Dobby is happy Master Draco likes the socks. Dobby had heard words in the kitchen of Master Draco's coming to Hogwarts. Dobby is very excited to hear that."
"Yes, I'm glad to be here, too, Dobby," Draco's smile was tinged with a hint of sadness.
"Is Master Draco sad? Dobby will make Master Draco hot chocolate. Master Draco still loves chocolate?"
Draco laughed quietly, giving Dobby another pat on the head, "Yes, some hot chocolate does sound good."
And the two walked off towards the kitchen. A few minutes later, the swish of cloth was heard and moonlight glinted off a pair of glasses.
~*~*~*~
After some hot chocolate, Draco had returned to his room. He had sat in bed, writing a letter to his mother, until his alarm went off.
Crabbe woke with a start, practically chocking on a snore. Goyle mumbled loudly, his arm swiping at some invisible thing in the air. Zabini slept on.
Draco silenced his alarm clock and folded the letter neatly, stuffing it in an envelope, before getting out of bed to take a shower.
~*~*~*~
Draco was shaken out of his reverie when he heard the collective groaning of the class. Actually, the collective groaning of the Slytherins.
"No complaining, class. Just because it's the first day back from break doesn't mean that you get to slack off. Now I want you to read chapter 21 and write an 11-inch analysis. Class dismissed."
Draco was still putting away his materials when two large shadows fell over him.
He had managed to avoid to two brutes that morning. He was finishing his shower as they started theirs and he had dressed before they had finished. He had shown up early for breakfast and opted for a muffin, choosing to eat on the way to Charms rather than in the Great Hall.
Now it seemed he could no longer hide from them.
"Crabbe. Goyle."
"Malfoy."
"Draco," he corrected, his voice cold
"Sorry. Draco."
Draco inwardly cringed. They even spoke with the same voice.
"You two go on to the Great Hall. I'm going to take a nap."
"You want us to bring you something to eat?"
Draco blinked in surprise. Had Goyle just come up with an idea? Maybe the lack of sleep was getting to him.
"No. Just eat lunch. I'm going to the dungeons. I'll meet you two at the Great Hall fifteen minutes before Care for Magical Creatures starts. If I'm not there, go to the dungeons and wake me up. Got it?"
"Sure, Draco," and the two Slytherins left.
Draco finished putting his things away, noticing he was the only student left in the classroom. He slung his bag over a shoulder and left as quietly as possible.
"See you on Wednesday, Mr. Malfoy."
Professor McGonagoll's voice stoppped him at the door.
"Yes, see you on Wednesday, Professor McGonagoll," and Draco swept out of the room.
~*~*~*~
Draco woke up, feeling much more refreshed. Ah, the wonders of a quick nap.
He had about ten more minutes until Crabbe and Goyle were to fetch him, so he decided to go up to the Great Hall. He was feeling a little hungry, anyway.
The two Slytherins were wolfing down their food at an alarming rate when Draco came upon them. He sat down across from them, facing the other three tables, as they grunted some semblance of a greeting. He grabbed a bagel from a basket, cut it neatly in half, and smeared some cream cheese on it, before settling down in his seat to survey the other students.
The Ravenclaws were at the table closest to the Slytherins. A group was gathered at one end, all huddled over a pile of books, parchments, and quills, arguing among the themselves. At the other end were the shy ones, each with his or her head buried in a large tome. The rest of the Ravenclaws sat at the center of the table and were talking quietly, laughing.
Boring.
Draco shifted his eyes to the next table. The Hufflepuffs. At the end of the table, closest to the door, a tall girl, Hannah something-or-other, if Draco remembered correctly, was showing a group of first, second, and third years how to make origami cranes and flowers out of prettily patterned paper. At the middle of the table, the head boy Justin Finch-Fletchly was surrounded by a gathering of girls. He looked rather uncomfortable attention, but Draco could see his appeal. The Hufflepuff was tall, a head of gold hair with blond streaks, a pair of pale blue eyes, and a light sprinkling of freckles. At the other end, closest to the professor's table, the other Hufflepuffs were gathered, making jokes, gossiping, and conjecturing about the next quidditch match between the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws.
Ah, the Gryffindors. Just the thought of them made Draco smirk. He had gone through his father's old things when the man had run off with Voldemort. His father had been a Slytherin and had, therefore, hated the Gryffindors. Draco had found numerous artifacts of pranks pulled on the Gryffindors, especially against one James Potter.
And, yes, there was Potter. Draco found him right away. He was at the center of the table, flanked by an awkward but tall red-head (must be a Weasley, Draco thought to himself) and a bushy, brown haired girl.
Draco stared hard at the bespectacled, until the Boy Who Lived lifted his eyes to him. Their eyes caught and Draco lifted on delicate, blond eyebrow in a salute. Potter blinked and bowed his head minutely in his direction, no evidence of a smile or a frown on his face.
~*~*~*~
Draco sauntered down the corridors in the direction of Hagrid's hut, his two shadows trailing him. He stepped onto the freshly fallen snow when he heard voices to his right.
Three students decked in black robes with red and gold scarves stopped abruptly when they saw him. Goodie, Gryffindors.
And then Draco noticed the tousled black hair, glasses, and faded scar. He smirked. Even better, Potter and his friends.
"Malfoy."
"Potter."
TBC
But, hey, I posted two chapters!!
A couple people have asked me this so I'm going to set the record straight: Yes, this is going to be slash. Yes it's a Draco/Harry pairing. But no, I have no idea when. (sorry!)
To LizaSJ@aol.com and withset: I'm sure you'll see some of your ideas in this chapter, or, if not, in future ones!
To Edana: Thank you for your reviews! My one and only reviewer for Snapshots! By the way, everyone go out there and read her work! Her HP fics are absolutely beautiful and so is her original fiction!! Read it!!
To Rerisu: I wanted so much for you beta these chapters, but my email went wonky and I got mad. Next one?
Anyway, you probably don't care, so...read on! ::crosses fingers and hopes readers didn't up on me:: Thanks to all my reviewers, esepcially the ones who gave me so many wonderful ideas.
Okay, wait, I lied. For anyone who didn't reread chapter 3 because I changed it...a lot, they should; I added Draco and Dumbledore's meeting to chapter 3 instead of making it a whole new chapter as I originally intended.
CHAPTER 4
Draco stifled a yawn as he tried to pay attention to Professor McGonagoll's lecture. He sat in the back of the classroom at a desk by himself. The Ravenclaws were all studiously taking notes, some of them practically drooling at all the new information.
Draco rubbed his eyes tiredly and dipped his quill in his ink bottle.
~*~*~*~
[the previous night]
12:13
Draco stifled a groan as he turned his head to the right, checking the time on his clock. The last time he had looked, it had read 12:04. And before that, 11:49. And before that, 11:32. And after tossing and turning for over an hour, Draco finally admitted to himself that he was not going to be getting any sleep that night.
He sat up in his bed, propping one of his pillows up on the headboard to lean on. Across from him, he could hear the snores of one Vincent Crabbe. To Crabbe's right was the sporadic mumblings of Gregory Goyle. And to Draco's right was the silent bed of Blaise Zabini.
Draco opened his bed curtains and immediately shivered at the cold air of the dungeons. His thermals helped a little, but not much; Draco pulled the blankets closer to his body. All the other boys had left their curtains open and Draco shook his head in amazement. But then again, the blonde boy did get cold rather easily.
Draco sighed silently and stuck one foot out, placing it on the cold, stone floors. He couldn't help the shiver that ran up his body, but he determinedly stuck his other foot out.
He immediately pulled the trunk of clothes from under his bed. He lifted the lid and found, laid out on the top, the very thing for which he was looking. His fur cape. His mother must have known that he would get cold in the Slytherin dungeons and made sure that it was placed at the top. Draco smiled.
He threw the cape over himself and immediately began to feel warmer. After fishing around in the trunk for a few moments, Draco finally found what he was looking for, pulling out a pair of socks and slipping them on over his half-frozen feet.
He grabbed his wand off his nightstand, tucking into the inner pocket of his cape, before exiting the room. The dungeons were beginning to feel a little stuffy and he wanted some fresh air. Draco could tell the moment he reached ground level. The air seemed fresher, less stale, and it was warmer.
He wanted to see the gardens his mother had told him about, but he didn't know where they were. He didn't want to summon Peeves for Draco didn't have the energy to threaten and browbeat the poltergeist. Instead, he walked down the corridors, looking at the portraits and statues, but carefully etching each place into his mind so as not to get lost.
Draco stumbled upon the the quidditch trophy case by pure accident. Seeing the pictures of people zooming in the air suddenly made the blonde wish that he had brought his broom for a spot of flying. Flying always did help him relax. Well, almost always.
He studied the pictures of the House Cup winners, looking for the faces of his mother and father. However, Draco discovered that in his parents' five years of playing quidditch, they had never won the Cup. The Gryffindors did.
Draco was peering intently at a picture of James Potter when he heard a noise behind him. He whirled around, whipping out his wand.
He found himself pointing it at a little house elf. A smiling house elf, to be specific.
"Dobby!" Draco smiled back, his eyebrows both shooting up in an expression of surprised happiness.
"Little Master Malfoy," Dobby bowed.
Draco tucked his wand back into his cape and knelt down so that he was eye level with the house elf.
"Just Draco, Dobby. How many times must I remind you?" Draco mock-scolded, his eyes merry.
"Yes, Master Draco. Dobby remembers," Dobby answered.
Draco gave Dobby an affectionate pat. Draco was eight the first time he had told Dobby to call him by his first name. Dobby was horrified and had begun bashing his head upon the bookshelf in Draco's room. Draco hadn't brought it up again until the summer after his first year at Durmstrang. When Dobby had tried to hurt himself, Draco threatened to give Dobby a chocolate frog. Since then, Draco tried again and again to get the house elf to call him Draco. So far, Dobby would only call him Master Draco; and only after prompting from the blonde. Still, Draco perservered, determined to have Dobby call him by his first name eventually.
"How have you been, Dobby? I'd heard you were at Hogwarts."
"Oh, Master Draco. Dobby loves Hogwarts. Headmaster treats Dobby very good. Pays him. And gives him days off. Dobby is very happy," Dobby nodded emphatically.
Draco's eyes softened at Dobby's words, "I'm glad, Dobby."
"Dobby is glad, too. Does Master Draco know that the great Harry Potter is here?"
"Yes, Dobby. I know that."
"Dobby gives him socks every Christmas. Just like to Master Draco."
Draco surprised the house elf by giving enveloping his small body in a hug, "Thank you for the socks, Dobby. I love them. I'm wearing them right now. See?"
He lifted his trouser leg to show the knitted socks.
"Dobby is happy Master Draco likes the socks. Dobby had heard words in the kitchen of Master Draco's coming to Hogwarts. Dobby is very excited to hear that."
"Yes, I'm glad to be here, too, Dobby," Draco's smile was tinged with a hint of sadness.
"Is Master Draco sad? Dobby will make Master Draco hot chocolate. Master Draco still loves chocolate?"
Draco laughed quietly, giving Dobby another pat on the head, "Yes, some hot chocolate does sound good."
And the two walked off towards the kitchen. A few minutes later, the swish of cloth was heard and moonlight glinted off a pair of glasses.
~*~*~*~
After some hot chocolate, Draco had returned to his room. He had sat in bed, writing a letter to his mother, until his alarm went off.
Crabbe woke with a start, practically chocking on a snore. Goyle mumbled loudly, his arm swiping at some invisible thing in the air. Zabini slept on.
Draco silenced his alarm clock and folded the letter neatly, stuffing it in an envelope, before getting out of bed to take a shower.
~*~*~*~
Draco was shaken out of his reverie when he heard the collective groaning of the class. Actually, the collective groaning of the Slytherins.
"No complaining, class. Just because it's the first day back from break doesn't mean that you get to slack off. Now I want you to read chapter 21 and write an 11-inch analysis. Class dismissed."
Draco was still putting away his materials when two large shadows fell over him.
He had managed to avoid to two brutes that morning. He was finishing his shower as they started theirs and he had dressed before they had finished. He had shown up early for breakfast and opted for a muffin, choosing to eat on the way to Charms rather than in the Great Hall.
Now it seemed he could no longer hide from them.
"Crabbe. Goyle."
"Malfoy."
"Draco," he corrected, his voice cold
"Sorry. Draco."
Draco inwardly cringed. They even spoke with the same voice.
"You two go on to the Great Hall. I'm going to take a nap."
"You want us to bring you something to eat?"
Draco blinked in surprise. Had Goyle just come up with an idea? Maybe the lack of sleep was getting to him.
"No. Just eat lunch. I'm going to the dungeons. I'll meet you two at the Great Hall fifteen minutes before Care for Magical Creatures starts. If I'm not there, go to the dungeons and wake me up. Got it?"
"Sure, Draco," and the two Slytherins left.
Draco finished putting his things away, noticing he was the only student left in the classroom. He slung his bag over a shoulder and left as quietly as possible.
"See you on Wednesday, Mr. Malfoy."
Professor McGonagoll's voice stoppped him at the door.
"Yes, see you on Wednesday, Professor McGonagoll," and Draco swept out of the room.
~*~*~*~
Draco woke up, feeling much more refreshed. Ah, the wonders of a quick nap.
He had about ten more minutes until Crabbe and Goyle were to fetch him, so he decided to go up to the Great Hall. He was feeling a little hungry, anyway.
The two Slytherins were wolfing down their food at an alarming rate when Draco came upon them. He sat down across from them, facing the other three tables, as they grunted some semblance of a greeting. He grabbed a bagel from a basket, cut it neatly in half, and smeared some cream cheese on it, before settling down in his seat to survey the other students.
The Ravenclaws were at the table closest to the Slytherins. A group was gathered at one end, all huddled over a pile of books, parchments, and quills, arguing among the themselves. At the other end were the shy ones, each with his or her head buried in a large tome. The rest of the Ravenclaws sat at the center of the table and were talking quietly, laughing.
Boring.
Draco shifted his eyes to the next table. The Hufflepuffs. At the end of the table, closest to the door, a tall girl, Hannah something-or-other, if Draco remembered correctly, was showing a group of first, second, and third years how to make origami cranes and flowers out of prettily patterned paper. At the middle of the table, the head boy Justin Finch-Fletchly was surrounded by a gathering of girls. He looked rather uncomfortable attention, but Draco could see his appeal. The Hufflepuff was tall, a head of gold hair with blond streaks, a pair of pale blue eyes, and a light sprinkling of freckles. At the other end, closest to the professor's table, the other Hufflepuffs were gathered, making jokes, gossiping, and conjecturing about the next quidditch match between the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws.
Ah, the Gryffindors. Just the thought of them made Draco smirk. He had gone through his father's old things when the man had run off with Voldemort. His father had been a Slytherin and had, therefore, hated the Gryffindors. Draco had found numerous artifacts of pranks pulled on the Gryffindors, especially against one James Potter.
And, yes, there was Potter. Draco found him right away. He was at the center of the table, flanked by an awkward but tall red-head (must be a Weasley, Draco thought to himself) and a bushy, brown haired girl.
Draco stared hard at the bespectacled, until the Boy Who Lived lifted his eyes to him. Their eyes caught and Draco lifted on delicate, blond eyebrow in a salute. Potter blinked and bowed his head minutely in his direction, no evidence of a smile or a frown on his face.
~*~*~*~
Draco sauntered down the corridors in the direction of Hagrid's hut, his two shadows trailing him. He stepped onto the freshly fallen snow when he heard voices to his right.
Three students decked in black robes with red and gold scarves stopped abruptly when they saw him. Goodie, Gryffindors.
And then Draco noticed the tousled black hair, glasses, and faded scar. He smirked. Even better, Potter and his friends.
"Malfoy."
"Potter."
TBC