HaHaHa, thanks to the following people that suffered by reading my writing:
shiroiryu144- Hee, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much. ^_^
Redmeadow
Jeanniiee- ::tosses you a chocolate covered Draco::
Dreamweaver6- Nee, cool name. ^.~
Wychglow- Hee, well you don't expect Draco to get down on a knee and beg Harry to teach him about caring do you? ^.~ That's not our favvie Slytherin at all.
The Demonic Duo – Ahh, thanks sweetie! ^_^ ::wraps a chocolate covered Harry up and hands him to you::
Poka dotMochi-pon - ::tosses you a chocolate covered Harry::
Eien- Ahh! I love you! You gave me an idea on how to improve. :: I ish a dork:: XD
Ddz08- Hahah, thanks, I tried to keep it original.
DreamerofHope
Sayuki
DarkPeppermint – I'll tell you what… Since you're enduring two stories of writing… You can have a Chocolate Covered Harry and Chocolate Covered Draco!
Blu Misterie – But you're chocolate Covered Dracos will get lonely without their chocolate covered Harrys… ::sighs:: Nobody wants Chocolate Covered Harry!! ::Sees chocolate covered Harry crying in the background and goes to glomp him::
Also, anybody that has a LiveJournal send me your user name! I'm going to invade your Journal, mmkay? No actually I started a LiveJournal Slash Community, but for some reason whenever I put a link into the story, I lose all my writing except for like 195 words. XD Anywho, the people that have LJ, the community's user name is
slash_writer
Check it out.
My user name is vegetaztwin.
Chapter Six- Hope In The DarkHarry stared into the darkness, feeling slightly surprised. Mr. Weasley was standing over him, a finger on his lips, giving him a sign to be quiet.
Harry nodded, slipped out of bed, and followed the oldest Weasley, feeling slightly perplexed.
They went down into the kitchen, where Mrs. Weasley was already preparing breakfast; despite the fact the sun hadn't even kissed the horizon yet.
"Mr. Weasley, what's going on?" Harry questioned, suppressing a yawn.
"Dumbledore wants to see you this morning, before you go to see the Malfoy boy." Arthur Weasley spoke, feeling much more calm then he felt. "You're to go the normal way."
'The normal way' had become by Floo Power. A few days after Draco had been injured, and Harry had shown no signs of stopping his visits, the headmaster had set a fireplace in the library up to the Floo Network.
"Okay, but why?" Harry asked, as Mrs. Weasley set a plate of pancakes down in front of him.
"I'm not really sure to be honest." Mr. Weasley replied as he bit into a sausage.
Harry sighed a little, knowing he wasn't going to get a better answer then that. With a slight feeling of disease, he began to pour syrup over his pancakes.
*~~~~~~~~~*
Harry arrived, choking on ashes, to see that Dumbledore was already waiting for him. The headmaster was sitting calmly at a table in the library, sipping a cup of orange juice as though he didn't have a care in the world.
"Good Morning, Headmaster." Harry spoke, still coughing a little.
"Please, please, seat down Harry." Dumbledore replied. "I'm taking it that Molly stuffed you and you aren't hungry?"
Harry gave a smile and a nod, relieved to see that Dumbledore was still joking around. Maybe the meeting wasn't too serious then.
"Now I'm sure why you're wondering why in the world I would call you out at such a nasty hour of the morning. And to give you your answer, it's because the new Headmaster of Durmstrangs would simply not re-schedule our meeting to tomorrow. He insisted that we meet tonight. I would have much rather met you with tonight Harry, but this morning was the only time I had available to do so."
Harry stared at the Professor for a moment, and then shook his head for a moment.
"Now the second thing I'm sure you're wondering, Harry," Dumbledore continued, his eyes twinkling. "Is why I wanted to meet with you, correct?"
"Is it about Voldemort?" Harry questioned.
"What isn't about Voldemort these days, my dear boy?" Dumbledore asked, with a sigh. "It's not directly about him, but it definitely does involve him. This meeting is about your new-found friend, Mister Malfoy."
"Draco?" Harry spoke, his heart immediately speeding up a few paces.
"Indeed. It seems he's landed himself in a spot of danger, you could have probably already guessed that however. You probably knew this also: He's wanted as a Death Eater. I was discussing this with him last night, and it seems that that is part of the reason Lucius Malfoy injured him. His father was trying to force him to become a Death Eater, and from the sounds of it Draco doesn't really know what he wants to do with his future."
Harry felt his heart sink in his chest a little. Draco wasn't sure if he wanted to be a Death Eater or not...
Something suddenly snagged in his mind however.
"That was only part of the reason, sir?"
"That's correct. The other part Draco was a tad vague about... I believe that he brought up some family issues..." Dumbledore replied. "After Lucius hurt him, Draco of course had very few options of places he could go to. Many people would recognize him, and his father would be scouting for him. That is why he went to the Leaky Cauldron."
Harry thought back to when Lucius Malfoy had stormed in four days ago... and then looked up at Dumbledore.
"Sir, at the beginning you said I could have guessed that much on my own, and you were right. I pretty much knew that Lucius had hurt Draco after his visit, and... I did believe that Draco was already a Death Eater until Hermione took his shirt off and there was no Dark Mark... But what you're telling me is nothing new. So why else did you call me here?"
Dumbledore smiled at Harry.
"You're a clever boy. Ms. Granger must be rubbing off on you. There is more I need to tell you. Mister Malfoy does not know this part and I'm going to request you do not tell him either. I will inform him when the timing is right, for his own safety. Can I have your word Harry?"
Harry nodded, clenching his fists, wondering what he was going to learn...
"I am assuming you remember the Prophecy you learned about in your fifth year? You also know that there are other Prophecies in the care of the Ministry of Magic. However, not all Prophecies fall into the hands of the Ministry of Magic. In fact most of them don't. Mostly it's simply because the seer does not realize they are having a Prophecy. As you have seen with Professor Trewlaney most of the seers have no recollection of their Prophecy. Only around twenty percent of seers actually remember their Prophecies. Then around another ten percent will think that their Prophecy was some sort of fluke. So you can easily see how hard it is for the Ministry of Magic to keep track of Prophecies. Of course they have ways to detect Prophecies... But it's still hard to record them, if the Seer does not have the Prophecy again or doesn't remember it."
Harry listened to all of this, not understanding how it connected to Draco Malfoy.
"Around eight years, I had somebody come to me with a Prophecy, but made me swear not to turn it into the Ministry of Magic. I was forced to agree. The Prophecy spoke of a child that could have the power to sway the balance of the Light and the Dark. Not change it, but sway it. This child would give the side it chose to be on an advantage against the other. It did not guarantee the success of that side, but... I guess you could say every little bit counts. This is the reason Lord Voldemort wants Draco Malfoy as on of his supporters. Draco Malfoy is the child the Prophecy spoke of."
Harry felt his mind go numb.
"But Headmaster, you said the Prophecy was given to you eight years ago! That was before Lord Voldemort was resurrected..."
"But this Seer, like myself, believed that Lord Voldemort would find his way back to power. Harry, I'm sure you're very surprised by all this. I'm not asking you to try and win Draco over to the Light, but I want you to do what you feel is right. If you feel that Draco Malfoy is not trustworthy, I'm not going to force you to be friends with him. He walks a lonely path, I'm afraid, and will decide what he believes is right, even if it's not what you or I would do. That's why, Mister Potter I'm going to leave you with the same advice that Mister Malfoy is now following...: Do what your heart tells you to."
*~~~~~~~~~~*
When Draco woke, Harry was already there. The Boy-Who-Lived was sitting calmly next to his bed, staring at him, as though he had never seen him before.
"What's wrong Potter?" he asked, sitting up.
Harry jumped and flinched at the same time, upon hearing his name. Draco stared at him, disbelieving that the Gryffindor was so shaken up.
"Nothing Draco..." Harry replied in half a whisper.
Draco swung his body around, so he was facing the other boy.
Harry looked up, and looked at Draco.
He really looked at Draco. For probably the first time he had seen him. He looked past the calm; cool collected self, and saw into the eyes of a child who had been wronged.
Draco looked so much more fragile sitting there on the bed, in the white hospital clothes Madam Pomfrey had provided. His skin looked pale and frail, his hair was a mess, but it looked natural.
He wasn't the same Malfoy.
And Harry didn't know if that bugged him or not. He was still the same Slytherin in a way. He hadn't changed at all. He was still bossy, arrogant, and rude when he wanted, it was just simply the fact that Harry was seeing him in a new light. He had seen past the outer shell that Draco had worn into his very soul. True, he wasn't warm and gushy. But it was the fact that there was a reason that Draco was uncaring. And that was simply enough for Harry. It was just the fact that there was a chance that Draco could be good, instead of all evil that made Harry want to be around him. To nurture that little chance of being good, into a full-fledged goodness. It wasn't even the whole swaying the Light/Dark chance thing... It was just what Harry's heart was telling him to do. Save Draco from the Darkness that was threatening to consume him.
"Harry?" Draco asked, a slightly confused look on his face. "Did you just go brain-dead with wishing you could look half as good as me?"
Harry grinned for a moment, and then shook his head.
"Draco, you want to go some play Quidditch?"
"Are you off your rocker Potter? We'll end up killing each other." Draco replied.
"Listen to me for a moment, would you Draco?" Harry questioned. "When you were just sitting there, I saw something about you I had never seen before or overlooked or whatever. It's a part of you that wants to be set free. It's a part of you that objects to this whole Dark Slytherin act. It's not a big part, mind you, but... I don't know... I want to help that part of you, Draco. I think that's why I kept coming back. I think that's why I'm here now. There's a part of you that simply doesn't want to be a Death Eater, and that's enough for that part of you, just the simple not wanting to."
Draco was just staring at Harry now.
"You're insane. I have to get the nurse, you must have some of those ashes from the Floo Power stuck in your brain, Potter."
Draco stood to go, but Harry grabbed his hand.
"Let go Potter..." Draco whispered.
They were inches away now. The hand that wasn't holding Draco's brushed nervously against the Slytherin's back. Harry leaned in a little, and could feel Draco slightly quivering.
"Harry! Harry, mate, where are you?"
Draco broke away from Harry, regaining his composure at hearing Ron's voice.
Harry stared for a moment, left standing alone. He felt strange... For a moment he had been sure that they were going to... kiss.
"I'm in the Hospital Wing, Ron." Harry called out into the hall.
Draco fell back onto the bed, feeling dazed. Harry glanced at him, but neither of them said anything as Ron came into the room.
"There you are! I was up in the Library, Dad said-"
"Yeah, yeah. I finished up in the Library." Harry said, cutting Ron off. "Why are you here anyway, Ron?"
"Oh." Ron replied, staring at Malfoy for a moment, who hadn't moved at all. "Well Mum, sent me to invite Malfoy over to the Burrow for the rest of vacation. Says that Dumbledore thought it was okay. I said it was bunch of garbage, because Malfoy would never come to our house, isn't that right Malfoy?"
"What?" Draco asked, looking at hearing his name.
Ron rolled his eyes.
"My Mum invited you to our house. Just say no, so I could get home already, okay, Malfoy?"
Harry and Draco were silent for a moment and then the Boy Who Lived turned to look at the Slytherin Prince.
"I think it's a good idea. It's better then staying here for the next three days, Draco." Harry said quietly.
"You think it's a good idea?" Ron burst out, clearly surprised.
Draco stared at the two green eyes that seemed to be slicing through his soul... and before he knew it, he had spoken...
"Okay,"
Author's Note: Review or email at vegetaztwin@hotmail.com