Chapter 18
The ears and tails were gone by the next day, but every so often Severus' nose would twitch, and all day Methos had a strong craving for carrots.
It was time for the 6th year double potions with the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. Severus was so glad he couldn't get migraines anymore. His immortal healing took care of that for him. Otherwise, he'd be fighting another right about now.
The assignment for today was various healing potions and each group had a different potion. Hermione and Ron were making burn salve, Draco and Harry (partnered to together because Pansy had ordered his complete exile and no Slytherin could talk to him in public. Everyone overlooked the fact that they wanted to be together,) were making a sanguine potion to replace lost blood. Neville was with Goyle. How that happened Snape would never know, but he gave them the simplest potion he could think of, one that was impossible to blow up.
He was wrong.
Neville, having a particularly bad day, had reverted back to his old clumsy self. The first hour was already over by the time it happened. The cauldron, obviously suffering because the bottom was to thin, exploded, sending pieces of molten shrapnel and scalding water all over the place. Most of the class had time to move out of the way. Harry and Draco, who were at the station next to Neville, were not so lucky.
The water caught Harry's arm and a bit splattered on his face, where is arm couldn't cover. A piece of shrapnel imbedded itself in his hip, and another in his thigh. He fell to the ground.
Draco caught a piece of cauldron to his face, cutting from mid jaw to forehead in a crescent across his temple. He caught another in his arm and in his shoulder, and the water hit his legs. He collapsed next to Harry in great pain and very disoriented.
Harry saw and cried "Draco!" Ignoring the pain in his arm, hip, and leg, he maneuvered to hit neat Draco's head. "Draco?" Draco grimaced, obviously in pain.
"Harry? You're hurt!" Harry smiled.
"No more than you. Stay down, you really shouldn't move." He grabbed Draco's hand in a strangely intimate gesture.
"Issit bad?" Harry shook his head. He knew what Draco was referring to. His face.
"Nah. If anything, it'll improve your sex appeal." Draco's mouth twitched on his uninjured side, a smile. Snape materialized next to them.
"Dear Merlin! We need to get you to Madame Pomfrey now. This is beyond my ability to heal at the moment. Can either of you walk? Wait.don't answer. Of course you can't." Adam Pierson burst through the door.
"What happened? I heard an explosion."
"I'll tell you on the way to the medical wing. Hurry. Grab Potter and watch his leg." Severus went to pick up Draco but before he did Harry leaned in and kissed Draco softly.
"Hang in there, luv. We'll be alright." Draco smiled and closed his eyes as Severus lifted him and the two professors carried the smaller boys to the hospital wing. The rest of the class began to clean the dungeons, including Neville and Goyle who were safely hidden under the lab table. Pansy spoke first.
"Did you see what Potty did? I always knew he was a poof. Serves them right, those perverts. " Had she been looking she would have seen Ron go bright red. "I'll bet the Gryffindork seduced Draco, confounded him, turned him gay. That's why his father left him. Couldn't bear the shame of having a poofter for a son."
Hermione, who had been restraining Ron, let go and glared at Pansy herself. Pansy was digging her own grave and Hermione was all to happy to let her, however, She had pushed Hermione too far. And she never realized that if it did come to blows, her Slytherins wouldn't support her.
"You know, I've always known that wizards and muggles are different.different abilities, different cultures, different mindsets, but even muggles have been able to overcome such idiotic prejudices as this. You are such a hypocrite to claim superiority when your very actions deem you inferior."
"What did you say?" Pansy demanded..because she didn't believe or didn't understand nobody was sure.
"Let me put it in small words you can understand. You are lower than house elves, lower than Squibs, lower than pond scum. You are lower than Muggles." The last was carefully annunciated and said with such force that Pansy flinched before she realized the insult. He breathed in, seemed to inflate, and stormed out of the room. Nobody followed.
"What a bitch." Hermione fumed.
"You said it," Crabbe commented from where he was working with Blaize to sweep up the floor of the cooled cauldron fragments. Ron, the only one who heard, looked at him calculatingly for a long moment before returning to his cleaning.
***
The good news was that neither Draco nor Harry were in serious trouble due to their injuries.
The bad news was that they were just outed to the Gryffindors, so the whole school knew by dinnertime. Little did they know that their lives were going to become a lot more complicated.
Harry's main injuries, the shrapnel, was easily treated and he was healed, but was cautioned not to walk much or even attempt to run yet.
Draco now had a scar on hic face in the shape of a crescent moon framing his face. It was light and near impossible to see, but it was there nonetheless. Harry was right. It did amplify his sex appeal.
That night they slept in Draco's rooms, blissfully unaware of what they would face the next morning.
***
The next day dawned bright and clear and unseasonably warm. Harry smirked to himself while he was in the shower. 'Percy must have gotten lucky that morning.'
He had, but that was beside the point.
Harry's smirk grew as he felt Draco come up behind him and wrap his arms around him. Draco kissed the back of Harry's neck.
"G'morning, love."
"Morning, gorgeous." Harry said as he turned around in the embrace. Their lips met in a cloud of steam.
They were almost late for breakfast.
Normally a latecomer to breakfast caused no big fuss. People overslept and were late all the time.
When Harry and Draco entered there was complete silence. Confused, they shrugged at each other and went to their tables. Harry sat next to Ron, who smiled comfortingly at him.
A fork dropped.
People began to talk again.about Draco and Harry.
"What's going on?" Harry asked his friends. They looked a bit uneasy.
"Harry." Hermoine began, "They know about you and Draco."
"What!?" He hissed. His pendant, hidden under his robes, flashed brightly.
"After the explosion, you kind of panicked and wouldn't let go of Draco. Before you two were taken to Madame Pomfrey, you kissed him. Pansy's been talking."
Harry paled, his eyes suddenly not visible behind his glasses. He jumped when Draco suddenly sat next to him.
"Harry."
"They know. I know."
Pause
"I can't go back there."
"Stay here."
"That'll confirm it."
"And coming here in the first place, didn't? Don't worry about it. We can't really hide it anymore."
"We could-"
"Wouldn't work."
"How about-"
"Nope."
"We could-"
"Not a chance."
"There's nothing we can do?"
"No."
"So we've just been outed and are doing nothing."
"Seems to be."
"It'll be dangerous."
"It was dangerous before. We can make it."
"~~~~gryffindor optimism~~~~"
Harry laughed and hugged Draco with one arm.
Nobody commented.
Nobody really gave them a hard time after that.
Pansy did.and a few Ravenclaws.
But the Gryffindors backed their Golden Child.
The Slytherins backed their Prince.
TBC
The ears and tails were gone by the next day, but every so often Severus' nose would twitch, and all day Methos had a strong craving for carrots.
It was time for the 6th year double potions with the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. Severus was so glad he couldn't get migraines anymore. His immortal healing took care of that for him. Otherwise, he'd be fighting another right about now.
The assignment for today was various healing potions and each group had a different potion. Hermione and Ron were making burn salve, Draco and Harry (partnered to together because Pansy had ordered his complete exile and no Slytherin could talk to him in public. Everyone overlooked the fact that they wanted to be together,) were making a sanguine potion to replace lost blood. Neville was with Goyle. How that happened Snape would never know, but he gave them the simplest potion he could think of, one that was impossible to blow up.
He was wrong.
Neville, having a particularly bad day, had reverted back to his old clumsy self. The first hour was already over by the time it happened. The cauldron, obviously suffering because the bottom was to thin, exploded, sending pieces of molten shrapnel and scalding water all over the place. Most of the class had time to move out of the way. Harry and Draco, who were at the station next to Neville, were not so lucky.
The water caught Harry's arm and a bit splattered on his face, where is arm couldn't cover. A piece of shrapnel imbedded itself in his hip, and another in his thigh. He fell to the ground.
Draco caught a piece of cauldron to his face, cutting from mid jaw to forehead in a crescent across his temple. He caught another in his arm and in his shoulder, and the water hit his legs. He collapsed next to Harry in great pain and very disoriented.
Harry saw and cried "Draco!" Ignoring the pain in his arm, hip, and leg, he maneuvered to hit neat Draco's head. "Draco?" Draco grimaced, obviously in pain.
"Harry? You're hurt!" Harry smiled.
"No more than you. Stay down, you really shouldn't move." He grabbed Draco's hand in a strangely intimate gesture.
"Issit bad?" Harry shook his head. He knew what Draco was referring to. His face.
"Nah. If anything, it'll improve your sex appeal." Draco's mouth twitched on his uninjured side, a smile. Snape materialized next to them.
"Dear Merlin! We need to get you to Madame Pomfrey now. This is beyond my ability to heal at the moment. Can either of you walk? Wait.don't answer. Of course you can't." Adam Pierson burst through the door.
"What happened? I heard an explosion."
"I'll tell you on the way to the medical wing. Hurry. Grab Potter and watch his leg." Severus went to pick up Draco but before he did Harry leaned in and kissed Draco softly.
"Hang in there, luv. We'll be alright." Draco smiled and closed his eyes as Severus lifted him and the two professors carried the smaller boys to the hospital wing. The rest of the class began to clean the dungeons, including Neville and Goyle who were safely hidden under the lab table. Pansy spoke first.
"Did you see what Potty did? I always knew he was a poof. Serves them right, those perverts. " Had she been looking she would have seen Ron go bright red. "I'll bet the Gryffindork seduced Draco, confounded him, turned him gay. That's why his father left him. Couldn't bear the shame of having a poofter for a son."
Hermione, who had been restraining Ron, let go and glared at Pansy herself. Pansy was digging her own grave and Hermione was all to happy to let her, however, She had pushed Hermione too far. And she never realized that if it did come to blows, her Slytherins wouldn't support her.
"You know, I've always known that wizards and muggles are different.different abilities, different cultures, different mindsets, but even muggles have been able to overcome such idiotic prejudices as this. You are such a hypocrite to claim superiority when your very actions deem you inferior."
"What did you say?" Pansy demanded..because she didn't believe or didn't understand nobody was sure.
"Let me put it in small words you can understand. You are lower than house elves, lower than Squibs, lower than pond scum. You are lower than Muggles." The last was carefully annunciated and said with such force that Pansy flinched before she realized the insult. He breathed in, seemed to inflate, and stormed out of the room. Nobody followed.
"What a bitch." Hermione fumed.
"You said it," Crabbe commented from where he was working with Blaize to sweep up the floor of the cooled cauldron fragments. Ron, the only one who heard, looked at him calculatingly for a long moment before returning to his cleaning.
***
The good news was that neither Draco nor Harry were in serious trouble due to their injuries.
The bad news was that they were just outed to the Gryffindors, so the whole school knew by dinnertime. Little did they know that their lives were going to become a lot more complicated.
Harry's main injuries, the shrapnel, was easily treated and he was healed, but was cautioned not to walk much or even attempt to run yet.
Draco now had a scar on hic face in the shape of a crescent moon framing his face. It was light and near impossible to see, but it was there nonetheless. Harry was right. It did amplify his sex appeal.
That night they slept in Draco's rooms, blissfully unaware of what they would face the next morning.
***
The next day dawned bright and clear and unseasonably warm. Harry smirked to himself while he was in the shower. 'Percy must have gotten lucky that morning.'
He had, but that was beside the point.
Harry's smirk grew as he felt Draco come up behind him and wrap his arms around him. Draco kissed the back of Harry's neck.
"G'morning, love."
"Morning, gorgeous." Harry said as he turned around in the embrace. Their lips met in a cloud of steam.
They were almost late for breakfast.
Normally a latecomer to breakfast caused no big fuss. People overslept and were late all the time.
When Harry and Draco entered there was complete silence. Confused, they shrugged at each other and went to their tables. Harry sat next to Ron, who smiled comfortingly at him.
A fork dropped.
People began to talk again.about Draco and Harry.
"What's going on?" Harry asked his friends. They looked a bit uneasy.
"Harry." Hermoine began, "They know about you and Draco."
"What!?" He hissed. His pendant, hidden under his robes, flashed brightly.
"After the explosion, you kind of panicked and wouldn't let go of Draco. Before you two were taken to Madame Pomfrey, you kissed him. Pansy's been talking."
Harry paled, his eyes suddenly not visible behind his glasses. He jumped when Draco suddenly sat next to him.
"Harry."
"They know. I know."
Pause
"I can't go back there."
"Stay here."
"That'll confirm it."
"And coming here in the first place, didn't? Don't worry about it. We can't really hide it anymore."
"We could-"
"Wouldn't work."
"How about-"
"Nope."
"We could-"
"Not a chance."
"There's nothing we can do?"
"No."
"So we've just been outed and are doing nothing."
"Seems to be."
"It'll be dangerous."
"It was dangerous before. We can make it."
"~~~~gryffindor optimism~~~~"
Harry laughed and hugged Draco with one arm.
Nobody commented.
Nobody really gave them a hard time after that.
Pansy did.and a few Ravenclaws.
But the Gryffindors backed their Golden Child.
The Slytherins backed their Prince.
TBC
