Chapter 10 - Damn Potter

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If the Great Hall was quiet before, now it was silent. Completely silent.

He felt like there were a thousand tiny, invisible ants crawling over his skin. A ripple moved up his spine. He was feeling every hair on his neck move and shift in the non-existent breeze. It seemed his senses had increased a hundred fold.

Through the ice-shattering silence he heard the soft 'clink' of a fork being set on one of the magical golden plates. Ravenclaw table, one of the second years. He could hear his own heart thundering in his ears. The creak of a Hufflepuff bench as a 4th year shifted uncomfortably.

His lungs were suddenly too small. He couldn't take a deep enough breath. He was suffocating, drowning without water.

It was a spell. A hex. Why weren't the professors helping him? Why wasn't Professor Snape rushing over and taking hundreds of points from the Gryffindors for such blatant rule breaking?!

He couldn't stop staring at those deep green eyes. Normally so shaded to him, suddenly they seemed to ask a thousand questions. Why was he here? Why had he changed? *What* had changed? Was he okay?

Draco snapped out of it. Concern? Concern for him? A Malfoy? Certainly not! He was a *Malfoy*. Malfoys were *not* pitied.

It was like plummeting down from a cloud, his senses returned to normal. His mask lifted back in place. How long had he stood there? It felt like hours, but it must have only been minutes, maybe only seconds.

He was a *Malfoy*, dammit.

"What's the matter, *Potter*? There's certainly no need to catch flies in your mouth when you have perfectly good food on your table."

Draco relaxed, feeling more comfortable in the familiar routine of taunts and bickering. Arguing with Harry was second nature. They would exchange insults. Things would go back to normal.

But Harry didn't respond. He watched Draco. He was looking at Draco like he *knew*, like he knew all the things Draco didn't and wouldn't say. And that look changed to curiosity. Not hate. Not loathing. What the hell was wrong with him? Didn't he understand the game? Didn't he understand the rules?

He couldn't change the rules mid-game.

"What's the matter, ferret? Care for a bounce or two?"

Draco sneered. Weasley. How dare that prat interfere?

"Mind your own business, Weasel. Go back to snogging your Mudblood girlfriend."

"What's the matter, Malfoy? Have you gotten so repulsive even your housemates can't stand you?" Ron spat back, gesturing at the new Slytherin student currently sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"Hey now, keep me outta this. Innocent bystander, ya know?" Duo laughed it off, trying to ease the tension.

"Just making sure you don't lift the silverware. Wouldn't want the schools finery being pawned off to pay for your wretched family's next meal."

"Shove off, Malfoy!" Ron threatened, standing up, fists at the ready.

"Whoa, whoa. Oooooooooookay. Hey, Drac, why don't you show me to where the Slytherin dorms are?"

Draco turned his attention to the new Slytherin student. How had he gotten so off track? That was exactly why he came over in the first place.

Damn Potter.

"Yes, of course. Care to come with me?" Draco said politely, gesturing towards the door.

"Alright." Duo said agreeably. He quickly turned back to Heero. "Find ya later?"

"Hn."

"That's my Hee-chan."

^___^___^___^___^

Harry watched the two walk away. What was with Draco? He had seen his mask shatter. Over what? It had only been a second, if that, but it had felt like hours looking into that panicked face.

Noise in the Great Hall immediately shot up as the two passed through the doors of the Great Hall. Rumors and speculation ran wild and unchecked through all four houses. And, of course, the students gobbled it up like candy.

Harry turned back and chanced a glance at their own new student. He wondered what other surprises awaited them this year.

^___^___^___^___^

"What was all that about back there?" Duo asked as they walked through the empty hallways.

"Nothing."

"Ah. Well, that certainly explains it," Duo said with a laugh. He gave Draco an assessing look that practically screamed of knowledge and secrets. Apparently, he had been more obvious than he realized. Damn.

Damn Potter.

"What's it like?" Duo asked, curiosity barely held in check.

"What is *what* like?" Draco prompted, confused.

"Doing magic!"

Draco came to an abrupt halt, causing Duo to stop a step or two ahead of him. "What?!"

Duo turned around, a goofy, almost childish grin in place, "Doing magic, what's it like?"

Still confused, Draco asked, "You mean, you've never done magic?"

"Hell no, didn't even know I could until a few hours ago. Very cool."

"What about your parents? Didn't they do magic?"

Without even a blink, Duo replied, "Dunno, never met them."

Draco studied his new roommate. A mudblood? No. Not in Slytherin. His parents could be anyone.

No parents, though… Just like Potter. His brain, ever ambitious, ran through a thousand different scenarios that made this new knowledge work to his advantage. To get closer to Harry.

What?

Since when did he… Damn Potter!

Duo was looking at him strangely. Great. Some first impression. Losing his mind in front of his new housemate. Great. Bloody Fucking Great.

"Let's go." And he walked off quickly in the direction of the dorms, not bothering to make sure Duo had followed.

In a matter of minutes they were in front of what looked like a plain, normal, rather boring section of stone wall.

"Is there a reason we're stopping and staring at this oh-so-very-attractive section of wall?" Duo asked, again with a laugh. Really, did this git find everything funny?

"Yes. This is the entrance to the Slytherin dorms. Only Slytherins are allowed to enter. You say the password and the door opens."

"Password? What password? I wasn't given a password!"

Draco smirked, he really was clueless. "That's why I brought you. I am a prefect, actually Head Boy to be precise, so I *have* the password. Professor Snape owled me before school term with it," he rattled off with his trademark air of superiority.

"Well, are you going to just stand there preening or are you going to let us in?" Duo commented, clearly unimpressed.

Draco glared. "Snake skin."

The wall moved, sliding over and revealing the Slytherin common room.

"This is the common room. It's used for studying and socializing."

Duo nodded absently as he looked around, taking in every detail. Draco moved across the room and down a set of stairs, Duo a few short steps behind. "Down here are the dorm rooms. To the left there are the girl's dorms. This way leads to ours."

Duo took note of the layout and followed quietly behind Draco. He paid attention as they passed three doors without pause.

"Those all lead to the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st year dorm rooms, respectively. This one is ours." Draco stated, opening the 4th door.

They stepped through quickly, Draco pausing a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darker dorm room lighting. All of the Slytherin dorms were dimly lit. But the rooms themselves were always much darker. It allowed for more privacy, and, of course, secrecy.

"Down the hall are the other dorm rooms, 6th, 5th, and 4th." Draco droned on rather mechanically, keeping an air of pompousness and disdain as he concluded the tour. He wasn't sure he liked this new student.

But apparently Duo wasn't listening, as he bounded through the door and immediately headed for one of the beds.

"Shi-chan!!!!!" Duo squealed as he pounced onto one of the beds, the one directly to the right of Draco's, to Draco's severe annoyance. Duo appeared to scoop something up in his hands.

From his vantage point, Draco really couldn't see what it was. He desperately wanted to ignore the surge of curiosity that seemed to spring up from somewhere inside him. What the hell was wrong with him lately? Curiosity about that damn Potter, now this! Almost against his will he found himself stepping towards the bed to see what it was Duo held in his hands.

Damn Potter!

Duo noticed this, although how he could with his back turned away Draco would never know, and turned around holding his hand out. "Want to see?" He opened his palm to display a small, sleek, very black cat. With wings… bat wings?

"Oh. My. God! Where did you get that? Do you even *know* what that *is*? Do you have any idea how *rare* that thing is?" Draco stated, unable to keep the awe and disbelief from pouring out.

"Who? Shi-chan? He was a gift…"

"Shee … chan? You *named* it?!"

"Well, of course I named him! He really likes the name too! Don'tcha, Shi-chan?" Duo purred that last bit at the elegant feline. Shi-chan purred right back, rubbing itself along Duo's scratching finger.

"*That* is a Hellcat. A miniature Hellcat, but still…"

"A Hellcat? Well, that's something I don't understand. Is he like, really *real*, or ya know, just some elaborate magical wind-up toy?"

"Wind-up toy?"

"Yeah, ya know, toys you wind up and they move around for awhile and then they stop, and then ya gotta wind 'em up again so they start moving again." Duo rattled, or more like babbled.

"Hmm… must be some muggle thing." Draco pondered before dismissing it. "It is nothing like that. *That*," Draco stated, pointing at the cat, "is very real. It was probably a figurine, which is why it is so small, and then it was enchanted and given life. Now it is as real as we are. It takes an *extremely* powerful magic to give an object life. And it can only be given a real life to something that actually exists. Which is why you so rarely see it."

"Oh." Duo pondered that for a moment, "What is a Hellcat?"

"I'm not exactly sure. As far as I know they are, or *were*, only fairy tale and rumor. Supposedly the first Dark Lord created them from pure magic. It's said they are very powerful and very violent. The Dark Lord used Hellcats to attack his enemies in a most gruesome fashion. But when he was finally killed the Hellcats disappeared with him and have never existed since then." Draco said with a bit of awe as he watched the apparently docile cat walk up Duo's arm to his shoulder.

"Hmmm. Interesting." Duo stated, seeming not the least bit afraid of the vicious, violent cat curled up on his shoulder. "So, now what?"

"What do you mean, 'now what'?" Draco countered with annoyance.

"Well, now I know where the dorms are, aren't you gonna show me around?"

"Like what?" Draco said, clearly annoyed, he was not this stupid git's personal tour guide!

"Um, where are the Gryffindor dorms at?"

"What?! How should I know?"

Duo looked at Draco strangely, almost as if he were stupid. Damn, this new student was annoying!

"Haven't you been at this school for like 6 years?"

"Of course." Draco was not seeing the point.

"And you don't know where your self proclaimed rival house sleeps?" Duo asked, clearly amused by something.

"Well…" Now that he really thought about it, it certainly would be advantageous to know…

"Well, c'mon," Duo said, hopping up. "Let's go find it then!"

And with that, Draco found himself being forcibly dragged from his dorm room.
^___^___^___^___^

/ I can do this. It's no different from any other school. I talk with my friends all the time. I. Can. Do. This. /

Heero glared at his plate. He knew he should make conversation. Damn Duo. He always made it look so easy.

"Where are you from?" A girl with brown, somewhat bushy hair asked.

"Japan." Stick with the facts. Don't elaborate.

"Really? How fascinating! Do you speak Japanese as well?" she asked, clearly interested in asking many more questions.

"Hai…" She looked at him with mild confusion, "…yes."

She pursed her lips slightly for a moment. "H-hai, that means 'yes' in Japanese?"

Heero nodded. Maybe this wouldn't be so difficult after all.

^___^___^___^___^

Draco and Duo walked quietly down the hallways. Or rather, Draco was walking quietly, Duo was stopping every few feet to chat with the portraits. He seemed to get some warped amusement out of it.

"Would you come on already? It's not like we have all night."

"'kay," Duo agreed, turning back to say his farewells to the painting. "See'ya 'round, Sir Zarka" Duo made a slight, rather jester-like bow, before catching up with Draco. "This place is so cool! How can you be so stiff! Something stuck up your…" Duo's eyes drifted to Draco's backside suggestively.

Draco flushed. How dare he suggest… "How dare---"

"Aye, aye, don't swing that way, huh?" Duo laughed.

Draco didn't know what to say. So he didn't.

"Where are we going exactly?" Duo asked.

"To the west wing. That's the direction the Gryffindors normally head in."

Duo nodded his head in approval.

They soon made their way into a room full of staircases. Looking down, Duo could see they continued for many, many floors beneath them. Looking up, they appeared to go up twice as far. Duo stood in awe, caught speechless once again.

Draco grinned ever so slightly. Even with his vast knowledge of the magical world, he had been just as awed the first time he had seen all these staircases. He smirked. He'd also been given the shock of his life the first time they had moved on him.

"This way," he said to Duo, starting to walk up one of the staircases. Duo, still awed, merely nodded and followed.

Halfway up the stairs Draco, heard the telltale creaking of the stairs, just before they shifted. With an evil smirk, he moved to grab hold of the railing.

The stairway gave a shudder and then lurched, sending Duo into an undignified heap in the middle of the staircase.

"What the---"

"Oh, sorry, forgot to mention. Sometimes the staircases like to move." Draco stated, as if it were of no consequence.

Duo picked himself up off the floor grin, "Cool!"

Draco blinked. That was not exactly the reaction he had expected. Duo just grinned at his confusion. "This place is so cool!"

Draco scowled. He really didn't understand Duo at all.
Draco moved up the last of the steps as the staircase came to a stop. He didn't get very far before he was accosted with some type of coloring potion. His entire front side was plastered in blue gooey stuff! He huffed in indignation and immediately looked around for his attacker.

"Peeves!" he yelled angrily at the guilty poltergeist hovering a few feet away and several feet up in the air, hands still full of colored balloons.

"BuWAhahahaHAHAahahaaHA!" Duo cackled from behind him. "A paintball!"

"A what?"

"A paintball! Oh, gods, haven't seen one of those in ages. Haven't USED one in forever!" Duo chuckled, still highly amused.

Draco turned back to Peeves, twice as angry as before. Now he had been laughed at. "You!" he yelled.

Duo, who was finally noticing the cause of his extreme amusement and Draco's fury let out a rather girly, if not completely undignified, shriek. "A GHOST!"

Draco turned back around, eyebrow quirked ever so slightly, "No, a poltergeist, there's a difference. This one is particularly annoying."

"This *one*? There's more than one?!"

"Yes, but Peeves," gesturing to the pale, nearly transparent figure in front of them, "is the worst."

"I'm offended!" Peeves stated, in an overly pompous tone, complete with upturned nose and dramatic turnabout, before drifting off down the hall, most likely to attack some other, unsuspecting students.

"Stupid git." Draco grumbled before murmuring a cleaning spell, which, of course, prompted Duo to glomp him, much to Draco's horror.

Duo tugged at his robes, inspecting the now clean material. "Oh, soooooooo cool! I want to do that! When do I learn that? No more laundry days for me!!"

Draco shoved Duo off him. "Good lord, don't you have any manners? It's a rather simple spell. I am sure you'll learn it sooner rather than later. " Draco paused as if accessing Duo, which in fact he was. "Then again…"

He decided to leave off the insult. No point ruffling the new student's feathers this early.

Duo, it seemed, just ignored his comment altogether and went back to his annoying, stupid little questions. "So these ghosts---poltergeists, are all over the school?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes."

"Would one of them know where the Gryffindor dorms are?" Duo asked with a grin.

Draco turned to Duo, previous annoyance forgotten. "Yes," he said with a conspiratorial grin. "They would."

^___^___^___^___^

Harry watched as Hermione grilled their new student. Languages weren't part of the Hogwarts curriculum. So, of course, Hermione, excited to supplement this gap in her education, was trying to make up for lost time. Unfortunately, she was trying to do it all in one dinner.

Harry decided to rescue Heero before Hermione completely alienated him.

"Enough 'Mione. Let him eat already." Harry interrupted, flashing a friendly grin at the new student.

Heero didn't grin back, but something akin to relief and gratitude reflected in his eyes as he nodded ever so slightly in acknowledgement.

Harry turned back to Hermione. "Really, 'Mione, did you ever even stop to introduce yourself?"

"OhMYGosh!" she exclaimed, face flushed with embarrassment. She turned back to Heero with her hand held out. "Hermione Granger, pleasure to meet you."

"Hn. Heero."

^___^___^___^___^

"This is it."

"Thank you, Baron." Draco said, even as the Slytherin House ghost floated away.

Duo and Draco eyed the portrait from their vantage point, several yards away. The portrait of the Fat Lady was barely visible. No point getting caught, now that they were this close.

"Okay, so now what do we do?" Draco asked, not exactly sure what the braided boy had in mind.

"Hmm. Well, obviously we want to get inside, right?" Duo stated, as much to himself as to Draco.

"Well, she's not going to let us in without the password." Draco replied, gesturing at the Fat Lady.

"Hmm…" Duo seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Wait here."

Draco watched as Duo strolled up to the Fat Lady. What was he doing?! Duo stopped in front of the portrait and… Draco could *not* believe it! He was *talking* to her! Just like before! What was the stupid git's obsession with talking to portraits?! Draco couldn't believe they wasted all this time so that Duo could have a chat with the portrait!

Was the Fat Lady blushing?

What was Duo telling her?

Draco watched and Duo made some gestures with his hands, now the Fat Lady was laughing! Draco watched as Duo continued talking and making gestures. Obviously, it was some outlandish story.

Draco took a closer look at the Fat Lady. She was blushing!!!

And she was opening the door!!!!

Duo waved at Draco to come over. Draco walked over, and the two of them walked into the Gryffindor common room without so much as a fuss.

"How did you do that?"

Duo grinned, and then winked at Draco.

He flirted! He flirted with the portrait! Brilliant! Truly Brilliant.

Draco made a slight bow of his head, acknowledging the excellent tactic.

Duo just grinned.

"Okay so what now? We destroy it, right?" Draco stated, with no small amount of glee at the very thought. Finally, payback.

"Oh no! Of course not!" Duo said. "Too obvious, remember? We were the first ones to leave dinner. Much too obvious!" Duo stated with a very wicked grin on his face. "This is strictly recon."

"Re-con?"

"Information gathering! How can you possibly have waged this supposed House War of yours without an intimate knowledge of its inner workings? Hmmpphhfff! Amateur!"

"Excuse me!" Draco said with indignation, how dare---

"C'mon! You can pout later. Let's check out the rooms."

They crept up the stairs and first tried the rooms on the right. "No good. Girls rooms." They went back across and tried the rooms on the left. They checked every door they passed. Duo was obviously looking for something specific. Although what exactly Draco wasn't sure. On the 4th door he found out.

"Ah-ha!"

Duo walked all the way into the dark room. The House elves hadn't started a fire yet, probably because the Gryffindors were all still at dinner.

"How can you tell?" Draco was still not sure what Duo was looking for, and this room looked the same as all the others. None of the students had been up to unpack, so it was impossible to tell whose bed was whose.

Duo point to a bed, but Draco still didn't see. He scowled and shook his head ever so slightly, indicating he still didn't see whatever it was Duo saw.

"That trunk doesn't have a name, the others do. So that must be Heero's trunk since ours are on loan from the school and wouldn't have names on them. Plus if you look closely you can see his wolf laying there just behind the pillow.

Draco fought the urge to gape. How had he taken all that in, in a matter of seconds? In a dark room! He reassessed the other boy. There was a lot more to him than Draco first thought.

It might be nice having a real friend, an intelligent one.

^___^___^___^___^

"Do you want to walk with us back to the dorms?" Harry asked Heero. "It's a bit early but it will give us some time to settle in."

Heero nodded. He still wasn't completely comfortable with conversation. Especially with strangers. He also realized he would be living with these people for several months. He'd better get used to it.

The four got up, Ron grabbing one last cupcake and shoving it in his mouth, before heading to the door.

Heero created a mental map as they walked. He wouldn't get lost.

"So…" Harry wasn't sure how to start a conversation, it was obvious Heero wasn't much of a talker, but he didn't want him to feel isolated either. "Where did you practice magic before here?"

"Didn't."

Hermione gasped, "You haven't practiced magic before? And they put you in 7th year?"

"Hai."

"Well, how do they expect you to keep up? That's ridiculous! You can't learn 6 years worth of magic in just one!"

"Hn. Dumbledore told us we would be in a separate tutorial for the first 3 weeks before joining the regular classes."

"Still! You can't possibly learn everything you need to know in 3 weeks!"

Heero shrugged, not exactly sure how much he should say. Dumbledore hadn't been very clear about why they were here and Heero was pretty sure it wasn't to get a magical education.

^___^___^___^___^

Duo ran and flopped onto his bed, Shi-chan flying off his shoulder and into the pillow beside his head. "That was great!"

Draco grinned; it had been fun. It felt odd, but he had liked it. He fell onto his bed, still grinning.

"So…" Duo started.

"So?" Draco asked.

"Gonna tell me what that scene at dinner was all about now?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit."

"Just Potter and his fan club."

"The boy with glasses?"

"Exactly, Harry-fucking-Potter."

"Fan club?"

"You don't know who Harry Potter is?" Draco sat up and looked at Duo, how could anyone not know?

"Nope. Not a clue. Never met him before in my life." Duo said, not bothering to sit up.

"Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, Boy-Who-Defeated-Voldemort… well mostly. Harry Potter, everyone's hero."

"Except yours?"

"No! I don't need Harry Potter! Stupid git!"

"Uh huh."

Draco glared. Duo was being annoying again.

"Why do you hate him so much?"

"Because…" Why did he hate Harry Potter?

"Not a real solid reason."

"Well… it's a long story."

"I'm not tired, are you?"

"Fine. It starts when Harry was hit with the Avada Kedavra curse…"

^___^___^___^___^

"So let me get this straight. You and the rest of the Slytherins *hate* Gryffindor because they are the ones that have always been against this Voldie guy, who came from Slytherin. This Voldie is a nasty little shit that thinks all muggles and mudbloods should die, yet he's a mudblood himself? And somehow, no one knows how, Harry managed to cripple this really powerful creepy shit when he was still in diapers. And now, Harry is in Gryffindor, so you basically hate him on general principle?"

"Yes."

"And *you* don't even know if you really agree with this Voldie guy anymore, you just pick on Gryffindors because you always have?"

"Um…"

"And you have a crush on this Potter?"

"WHAT?!?! NO! I do NOT like Harry!"

"Harry, huh?'

"Potter, I meant Potter! Why would I like him?!"

"Because he has gorgeous green eyes?"

"He does not…"

"Sexy, fresh out of bed, ruffled hair."

"His hair is *not* sexy!"

"Puny, rather wimpy build…"

"It is not puny! It's lean and muscular!"

"Uh huh."

"Bloody hell."

Damn Potter.
^___^___^___^___^___^___^___^___^___^___^___^___^