-------
Author: Black Heart
Title: Perplexed Alliance
Rating: PG 13+ - low level swearing
Author's Note: H/D slash, beware, muahahaaaaaaa!!!! Uh.yeah.R/R!! ^-^;;
Disclaimer: Characters, names, places, etc belong to JK Rowling. Plotline belongs to ME.
******* EXTRA NOTE: I just want to thank my reviewers soooo much!!!! *HUGS ALL ROUND* You really made me proud. I'll get round to noting ya'll back soon, okies? *******
-------
CHAPTER 6
-------
The next day at breakfast, Dumbledore made an announcement.
"As you all know, due to the conflict occurring in the wizarding world, Hogsmeade trips were cancelled at the start of the year, with the exception of Halloween, when teachers would supervise you all. I am afraid that, in the future for third years and upward, this exception will also be cancelled until Voldemort is defeated and peace is once again restored."
Murmured conversations broke out, amongst angry cries and yells, and many promising future troublemakers stood up furiously, nobody really paying attention to Voldemort's name. Not one student really seemed too afraid about their safety in a place usually so pretty and peaceful, such as Hogsmeade.
Dumbledore waved his hands, begging for attention.
"Again, I have more news. Due to increasing danger, we have hired 15 ministry wizards to aid in the guarding of Hogwarts."
Many conversations erupted here, mostly concerning fears that perhaps Dumbledore was losing confidence in his powers if he needed 15 ministry wizards to aid him. Or rather he WAS losing his powers, and needed the extra wizards.
"However. I assure you I intend to keep this school strong and intact even if I have to do it with my bare hands. Hogwarts is a school, a place for my students, and you all belong here with your classes, learning and being educated in the ways of a witch or wizard. So classes will continue, no matter what the circumstances are outside our school grounds.
"And so I have a proposal. The seventh years that will be graduating towards the end of the year are most welcome to stay within the Hogwarts grounds for however long they wish. The war is too risky to send my freshly graduated students into the world; they would attract the attention of Voldemort and his followers. Again, I ask of you if you would instead wish to live within Hogwarts for as long as your heart desires. Seventh years, please send up green sparks if you wish to endeavour such an offer."
Harry's mind lurched at the possibility of staying at Hogwarts well after he had graduated.
Ron poked his shoulder. "Well?!" the Gryffindor asked.
Harry looked around. All the seventh years seemed to be considering the idea, talking amongst one another.
"Yeah. I'll do it. But I wonder what we'd do in a school if we don't need to learn?" Harry retorted.
"Worry about that later!" Hermione cried, and, surprising everyone in the Hall, stood up and sent a shower of green sparks into the air.
"Well that was uncharacteristic, Hermione!" Harry grinned, and stood up next to her, and also sent up a shower of sparks that illuminated the lenses of his glasses.
"Well then," Ron laughed, stood up, put an arm around Hermione's waist and accidentally sent up purple sparks, then quickly corrected himself.
The hall stared at the three friends. Head Boy, Head Girl and the only male Weasley left in the school.
Slowly, one after the other, Seventh years were standing up, sending emerald sparks glittering everywhere. Only one table had none standing. The Slytherin table. Not one student had stood.
Silence. The sparks slowly faded out, leaving the Seventh years standing and staring at the Slytherin table. Harry's eyes clouded in dismay.
And then a figure stood up from the bench. His black robes hung from his figure, seeming to flurry out around him from an airless wind; a mess of silvery hair fell in thick locks from the head that was bowed. He raised his face and Harry caught his breath. Draco's eyes looked dead: dead as stone, the grey orbs round circles of granite - nothing more. His mouth was dry and cracked, yet his appearance bowled Harry over in either intense passion or fear - he couldn't work out which. Draco looked pure evil - pure, solid, black evil. Clad in the robes of a Slytherin with a table full of sneering students supporting him, Draco walked from his seat and stood before the Head Table. Harry's heart thudded in apprehension, knowing that something was about to happen: Draco's steps were sure, careful and softly placed; his Quidditch boots seemed to be made of silk; Harry could almost see his toes working carefully, spreading out as they made to the ground. Draco didn't look like Draco. He looked like a blonde Tom Riddle.
Draco reached the High Table, and stood there, silent. Then, suddenly, he gave a laugh; it burst from his mouth and echoed around the silent Hall, yet it was a laugh that was warm and full of mirth. The sneers flickered and died out. Slytherin held its breath. Draco's appearance dissolved from evil to a mystery. Harry's slowly-forming feeling of foreboding burst into wisps of wonder as he watched.
Draco bowed before Dumbledore, straightened up, his wand arm pointing to the heavens. He smiled at the wand held in his slender, moon-faced fingers, and sent a massive array of emerald sparks into the air. The sparks took the shape of a lion with a snake around its neck.
All Slytherins stood up, enraged, yelling and hissing in anger, but Dumbledore merely smiled, stood up and waited for silence. Many emotions were showing for Draco. Hate, surprise, acceptance, and even a wild sort of infatuation in one case.
"Thank you, Draco, and all other students. You may sit."
Draco returned to his chair at the Slytherin table. Anyone near him eyed him furiously, and edged away from him. He mumbled something to the table, and a fresh array of sneers and shallow grins once again were etched upon the face of the Slytherin. Harry wondered who he was leading on: the school, or Slytherin.
"In offering your presence at this school for years to come, I must first forewarn you that you must work for what you eat, once you have graduated. Many will assist Hagrid in his work, and there shall be one student per teacher to aid with classes, should there be enough students staying. Some will replace Filch and help with the cleaning of the castle, as Filch and Mrs Norris will retire at the end of the year in a cottage in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest."
Cheers erased any mixed emotions currently held before. Everyone, it seemed, was glad to be rid of Filch and that confounded cat. Harry had the sneaking suspicion that Filch's cottage would become a frequent target for anyone with an extreme sense of humour. He grinned and pitied any who would suffer the future consequences, and his mind recollected the chains Filch had threatened him with in Harry's second year.
"Some of you, however, will assist the ministry wizards and Aurors guarding our school. You will be the 'Hogwarts Aurors', the special force created to specially guard Hogwarts and no other school. Forms will be handed out in class, asking your final response for staying at Hogwarts, and the position you wish to enlist for. Now, to your classes! Chop chop!"
-------
"What about you, Harry? I'm going for a Hogwarts Auror," Ron said, chewing the end of his sugar quill, squinting at the piece of paper listing the jobs they could do once they had graduated.
"You bet. I've already filled it out," Harry grinned, and waved the neatly folded piece of paper. Ron laughed and haphazardly folded his crinkled piece of paper.
"Well I'm trying out for the Transfiguration helper," Hermione retorted.
"No worries, you'll get in. You're brainy, you're Head Girl and a teacher's pet," Ron replied and surprised everyone by slipping an arm around Hermione's waist.
"Ron!" Hermione hissed, giggling madly. "Not in the corridors!"
Harry didn't really pay attention, because, stalking up the corridor was Draco, his robes billowing out behind him.
Harry felt time cut short as the Slytherin got closer, and when Draco finally caught his eye, Harry had stopped walking, his arms limp by his sides, a breeze caressing his face and blowing his bangs about. Draco's face didn't show any emotion, none at all. People in the corridor seemed to multiply within the blink of an eye and by the time Draco had almost reached the Gryffindor in front of him, people were bustling about, knocking into the Gryffindor and barely giving him room to breathe; everyone was almost running, and they were simply blurs to Harry as his senses shuddered to a halt. Draco had to shove at people to get past without tripping up; his gait slowed, and as he reached Harry, he stopped for a second, and then began walking again. The Slytherin pushed into Harry, their right shoulders locked, the side of Harry's chest shoved up against Draco's, but he didn't dare to look at the blonde. Instead, he focused his eyes forwards, staring at the heads milling around him, his lips parted and dry from an unfelt wind. Time stopped. Everyone stopped moving. A bird stayed in mid-flight as Harry looked out the window, the people around him almost dead, conversations halted as silence reigned. A warm, salty droplet of sweat jumped and slid down Harry's forehead. Draco's head was millimetres from Harry's own, but they would not hold eye contact. Harry could hear Draco's breathing; feel the warm skin cased in fabric rammed against him. They were so pushed up, Harry could feel Draco's nipple pressed against his and the feeling made Harry shiver: the tremble started somewhere in his crotch until it swelled to his stomach and exploded up his spine, making him shiver visibly. He heard Draco give a soft moan, and felt a hand brush his. Harry closed his eyes and slid into a stupor that consisted of Draco and nothing else: the wind, the storm, the tidal wave of energy flowing between them escalated, the euphoria of it all ruptured Harry's heart into shreds, sending it scattering into the wind as his throat seized up, heard a louder groan from Draco as their legs intermingled, thighs squashed; and, in a hoarse voice, he asked Draco, "do you feel it?"
In a voice barely audible, Draco replied, "Yeah. Yeah I feel it. I meant for it to happen. I've never...touched anyone, like I've touched you: and I meant 'touch' as in more ways than one. Harry... I thought you deserve this for all you've done: your friendship means a lot."
"We've only just got started," Harry replied, his mouth open as he breathed in and a blonde head slid closer to his -
With a roar, yells and conversations slammed back into their world and Draco, his eyes wide, pulled off Harry and kept walking. Harry turned, sweat racing down his head, his heart hammering painfully against his ribs. His whole body trembled and he was full of this new emotion: it controlled him, ran his thoughts, until Ron's voice came screaming in over the crowd: "HARRY! YOU ALRIGHT?!"
Harry pushed past people into the next corridor where Ron was waiting. He looked over his blushing, trembling, wide-eyed friend.
"What the hell happened?" Ron asked, his voice half awe, half surprise.
"...H-Harry?!" Hermione asked and prodded Harry's arm with her finger.
"Oh, uh, it was Draco..." Harry said, seeing his best friends but not really taking them in.
Ron narrowed his eyes. "New pal wanted another Quidditch practice? Y'know, I'm sure he's a spy for the Slytherin team. Even if the games finished a month ago and we got the cup..." Ron pondered.
"N-No...he just...had something to show me," Harry replied, his mind not even there, and walked off, alone, down the corridor. Ron stared after him.
"Maybe Malfoy just broke the news that he was in love with his beloved 'Potter'," Ron joked bitterly, quite jealous.
He didn't know how right he was.
------- Please review!!
Author: Black Heart
Title: Perplexed Alliance
Rating: PG 13+ - low level swearing
Author's Note: H/D slash, beware, muahahaaaaaaa!!!! Uh.yeah.R/R!! ^-^;;
Disclaimer: Characters, names, places, etc belong to JK Rowling. Plotline belongs to ME.
******* EXTRA NOTE: I just want to thank my reviewers soooo much!!!! *HUGS ALL ROUND* You really made me proud. I'll get round to noting ya'll back soon, okies? *******
-------
CHAPTER 6
-------
The next day at breakfast, Dumbledore made an announcement.
"As you all know, due to the conflict occurring in the wizarding world, Hogsmeade trips were cancelled at the start of the year, with the exception of Halloween, when teachers would supervise you all. I am afraid that, in the future for third years and upward, this exception will also be cancelled until Voldemort is defeated and peace is once again restored."
Murmured conversations broke out, amongst angry cries and yells, and many promising future troublemakers stood up furiously, nobody really paying attention to Voldemort's name. Not one student really seemed too afraid about their safety in a place usually so pretty and peaceful, such as Hogsmeade.
Dumbledore waved his hands, begging for attention.
"Again, I have more news. Due to increasing danger, we have hired 15 ministry wizards to aid in the guarding of Hogwarts."
Many conversations erupted here, mostly concerning fears that perhaps Dumbledore was losing confidence in his powers if he needed 15 ministry wizards to aid him. Or rather he WAS losing his powers, and needed the extra wizards.
"However. I assure you I intend to keep this school strong and intact even if I have to do it with my bare hands. Hogwarts is a school, a place for my students, and you all belong here with your classes, learning and being educated in the ways of a witch or wizard. So classes will continue, no matter what the circumstances are outside our school grounds.
"And so I have a proposal. The seventh years that will be graduating towards the end of the year are most welcome to stay within the Hogwarts grounds for however long they wish. The war is too risky to send my freshly graduated students into the world; they would attract the attention of Voldemort and his followers. Again, I ask of you if you would instead wish to live within Hogwarts for as long as your heart desires. Seventh years, please send up green sparks if you wish to endeavour such an offer."
Harry's mind lurched at the possibility of staying at Hogwarts well after he had graduated.
Ron poked his shoulder. "Well?!" the Gryffindor asked.
Harry looked around. All the seventh years seemed to be considering the idea, talking amongst one another.
"Yeah. I'll do it. But I wonder what we'd do in a school if we don't need to learn?" Harry retorted.
"Worry about that later!" Hermione cried, and, surprising everyone in the Hall, stood up and sent a shower of green sparks into the air.
"Well that was uncharacteristic, Hermione!" Harry grinned, and stood up next to her, and also sent up a shower of sparks that illuminated the lenses of his glasses.
"Well then," Ron laughed, stood up, put an arm around Hermione's waist and accidentally sent up purple sparks, then quickly corrected himself.
The hall stared at the three friends. Head Boy, Head Girl and the only male Weasley left in the school.
Slowly, one after the other, Seventh years were standing up, sending emerald sparks glittering everywhere. Only one table had none standing. The Slytherin table. Not one student had stood.
Silence. The sparks slowly faded out, leaving the Seventh years standing and staring at the Slytherin table. Harry's eyes clouded in dismay.
And then a figure stood up from the bench. His black robes hung from his figure, seeming to flurry out around him from an airless wind; a mess of silvery hair fell in thick locks from the head that was bowed. He raised his face and Harry caught his breath. Draco's eyes looked dead: dead as stone, the grey orbs round circles of granite - nothing more. His mouth was dry and cracked, yet his appearance bowled Harry over in either intense passion or fear - he couldn't work out which. Draco looked pure evil - pure, solid, black evil. Clad in the robes of a Slytherin with a table full of sneering students supporting him, Draco walked from his seat and stood before the Head Table. Harry's heart thudded in apprehension, knowing that something was about to happen: Draco's steps were sure, careful and softly placed; his Quidditch boots seemed to be made of silk; Harry could almost see his toes working carefully, spreading out as they made to the ground. Draco didn't look like Draco. He looked like a blonde Tom Riddle.
Draco reached the High Table, and stood there, silent. Then, suddenly, he gave a laugh; it burst from his mouth and echoed around the silent Hall, yet it was a laugh that was warm and full of mirth. The sneers flickered and died out. Slytherin held its breath. Draco's appearance dissolved from evil to a mystery. Harry's slowly-forming feeling of foreboding burst into wisps of wonder as he watched.
Draco bowed before Dumbledore, straightened up, his wand arm pointing to the heavens. He smiled at the wand held in his slender, moon-faced fingers, and sent a massive array of emerald sparks into the air. The sparks took the shape of a lion with a snake around its neck.
All Slytherins stood up, enraged, yelling and hissing in anger, but Dumbledore merely smiled, stood up and waited for silence. Many emotions were showing for Draco. Hate, surprise, acceptance, and even a wild sort of infatuation in one case.
"Thank you, Draco, and all other students. You may sit."
Draco returned to his chair at the Slytherin table. Anyone near him eyed him furiously, and edged away from him. He mumbled something to the table, and a fresh array of sneers and shallow grins once again were etched upon the face of the Slytherin. Harry wondered who he was leading on: the school, or Slytherin.
"In offering your presence at this school for years to come, I must first forewarn you that you must work for what you eat, once you have graduated. Many will assist Hagrid in his work, and there shall be one student per teacher to aid with classes, should there be enough students staying. Some will replace Filch and help with the cleaning of the castle, as Filch and Mrs Norris will retire at the end of the year in a cottage in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest."
Cheers erased any mixed emotions currently held before. Everyone, it seemed, was glad to be rid of Filch and that confounded cat. Harry had the sneaking suspicion that Filch's cottage would become a frequent target for anyone with an extreme sense of humour. He grinned and pitied any who would suffer the future consequences, and his mind recollected the chains Filch had threatened him with in Harry's second year.
"Some of you, however, will assist the ministry wizards and Aurors guarding our school. You will be the 'Hogwarts Aurors', the special force created to specially guard Hogwarts and no other school. Forms will be handed out in class, asking your final response for staying at Hogwarts, and the position you wish to enlist for. Now, to your classes! Chop chop!"
-------
"What about you, Harry? I'm going for a Hogwarts Auror," Ron said, chewing the end of his sugar quill, squinting at the piece of paper listing the jobs they could do once they had graduated.
"You bet. I've already filled it out," Harry grinned, and waved the neatly folded piece of paper. Ron laughed and haphazardly folded his crinkled piece of paper.
"Well I'm trying out for the Transfiguration helper," Hermione retorted.
"No worries, you'll get in. You're brainy, you're Head Girl and a teacher's pet," Ron replied and surprised everyone by slipping an arm around Hermione's waist.
"Ron!" Hermione hissed, giggling madly. "Not in the corridors!"
Harry didn't really pay attention, because, stalking up the corridor was Draco, his robes billowing out behind him.
Harry felt time cut short as the Slytherin got closer, and when Draco finally caught his eye, Harry had stopped walking, his arms limp by his sides, a breeze caressing his face and blowing his bangs about. Draco's face didn't show any emotion, none at all. People in the corridor seemed to multiply within the blink of an eye and by the time Draco had almost reached the Gryffindor in front of him, people were bustling about, knocking into the Gryffindor and barely giving him room to breathe; everyone was almost running, and they were simply blurs to Harry as his senses shuddered to a halt. Draco had to shove at people to get past without tripping up; his gait slowed, and as he reached Harry, he stopped for a second, and then began walking again. The Slytherin pushed into Harry, their right shoulders locked, the side of Harry's chest shoved up against Draco's, but he didn't dare to look at the blonde. Instead, he focused his eyes forwards, staring at the heads milling around him, his lips parted and dry from an unfelt wind. Time stopped. Everyone stopped moving. A bird stayed in mid-flight as Harry looked out the window, the people around him almost dead, conversations halted as silence reigned. A warm, salty droplet of sweat jumped and slid down Harry's forehead. Draco's head was millimetres from Harry's own, but they would not hold eye contact. Harry could hear Draco's breathing; feel the warm skin cased in fabric rammed against him. They were so pushed up, Harry could feel Draco's nipple pressed against his and the feeling made Harry shiver: the tremble started somewhere in his crotch until it swelled to his stomach and exploded up his spine, making him shiver visibly. He heard Draco give a soft moan, and felt a hand brush his. Harry closed his eyes and slid into a stupor that consisted of Draco and nothing else: the wind, the storm, the tidal wave of energy flowing between them escalated, the euphoria of it all ruptured Harry's heart into shreds, sending it scattering into the wind as his throat seized up, heard a louder groan from Draco as their legs intermingled, thighs squashed; and, in a hoarse voice, he asked Draco, "do you feel it?"
In a voice barely audible, Draco replied, "Yeah. Yeah I feel it. I meant for it to happen. I've never...touched anyone, like I've touched you: and I meant 'touch' as in more ways than one. Harry... I thought you deserve this for all you've done: your friendship means a lot."
"We've only just got started," Harry replied, his mouth open as he breathed in and a blonde head slid closer to his -
With a roar, yells and conversations slammed back into their world and Draco, his eyes wide, pulled off Harry and kept walking. Harry turned, sweat racing down his head, his heart hammering painfully against his ribs. His whole body trembled and he was full of this new emotion: it controlled him, ran his thoughts, until Ron's voice came screaming in over the crowd: "HARRY! YOU ALRIGHT?!"
Harry pushed past people into the next corridor where Ron was waiting. He looked over his blushing, trembling, wide-eyed friend.
"What the hell happened?" Ron asked, his voice half awe, half surprise.
"...H-Harry?!" Hermione asked and prodded Harry's arm with her finger.
"Oh, uh, it was Draco..." Harry said, seeing his best friends but not really taking them in.
Ron narrowed his eyes. "New pal wanted another Quidditch practice? Y'know, I'm sure he's a spy for the Slytherin team. Even if the games finished a month ago and we got the cup..." Ron pondered.
"N-No...he just...had something to show me," Harry replied, his mind not even there, and walked off, alone, down the corridor. Ron stared after him.
"Maybe Malfoy just broke the news that he was in love with his beloved 'Potter'," Ron joked bitterly, quite jealous.
He didn't know how right he was.
------- Please review!!