Title: Dungeons and Distractions v2.0
Author: Mizzy
E-mail: mizzy_2k@yahoo.co.uk
Rating: PG-13
Homepage:
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary: "Grab my wrist!" Midnight martial arts, invisible kissing at midnight, and Professor Dumbledore trying to smuggle in illegal immigrants? What's a boy to do in a mixed-up muddle of a mixed-up world?
Author's Notes: I got inspired in the middle of a wrist grabbing session with some of my role-playing maties to start this up again. Have altered some small details to make it fit with the OotP canon world, and have corrected my rather drunken overuse of semicolons. Sorry about that, darlings. Read on, read on. I promise-promise-promise to do my best to finish this story.
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Part One - "The Love Augurs"
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Harry sucked in his bottom lip nervously, chewing on it as he padded along the corridor to his next lesson. He couldn't think rationally after what had happened last night. The hysterical part of his mind was blathering at him that no one could think properly after something like that. Harry supposed blithely that it wasn't exactly his fault.
Takes two to tango, Potter.
Forcing himself to keep calm, not wanting to go into General Studies with the furious blush he'd borne last night, Harry Potter shook his head in an attempt to dispel his muddled thoughts. Trying to gamely concentrate on where he was going, he only narrowly missed stepping on the disappearing step on the third floor's staircase, like he'd done last night in his flight.
Last night…
Harry shivered as the memory came back in glorious technicolour with surround sound. The whole situation had been weird in the first place, even after a year of it, not being able to see yourself or anyone else, being attacked by something you couldn't see...
He sighed, a soft breathy rush of air, deciding to place all the blame firmly on who-so-ever it was that had had the dumb idea of it all in the first place. As he continued along the corridors, he reached the ladder leading up to his next lesson and he remembered exactly whose fault it all was.
Professor Trelawney.
Completely disgruntled, he slung his satchel over his neck and savagely climbed up the ladder to the lesson.
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Draco Malfoy had been sat on one of the pouffes nearest the back of the room and had witnessed Harry's entrance into the class dispassionately, a small frown curling his lips. Stupid muggle-lover. The teachers always favoured him over everyone else, just because Harry's forehead had been a little bit of a stumbling block for the Dark Lord. He folded his arms casually, and turned away gently. Staring was one thing, being able to observe the enemy, but being caught staring was just plain stupid.
Not like there were many more people to catch his staring. The General Studies OWL was a new qualification, for those wanting to still gain a wider knowledge of subjects they hadn't studied or wanted to take a little further without it being at the high NEWT difficulty level, and not many students had chosen it. So few had picked it that the class was compromised of all four houses jumbled together. Draco had chosen it to get away from Crabbe and Goyle, if he was to be completely honest, and although he may have preferred to pick up an OWL in Arithmancy or Ancient Runes, he had to admit that the General Studies class was interesting, and did have an unexpected benefit.
Professor McGonagall had instructed that Divinations was not to be part of the General Studies lesson, and the newly-reinstated Professor Trelawney had objected vehemently, saying seeing the future was a very useful talent for a battle. Furious, Trelawney had asked if she could arrange something else which would aid the students, something that wasn't on the General Studies curriculum, but would significantly help in the upcoming war…
No one had quite suspected that the frail-looking professor had got in touch with a few of her oriental wizarding friends and now the General Studies students had also been given extra lessons at midnight – in martial arts.
At first Draco had been a little disgruntled, he didn't want to learn some stupid muggle fighting technique, but after a suitable demonstration he'd reassessed his view on it tremendously. For the lack of any other suitable description word, it was cool. And, as his father had added in a rare owl from Azkaban, it would suitably help their conquest against Lord Voldemort.
The blond sniggered softly to himself as he looked up again, lazily scanning over the other students as they settled down for the lesson. He quite remembered Potter's startled reaction at the beginning of the sixth year when Professor Dumbledore had brought Potter into his office and revealed how the Malfoys had been secretly working for them for a long time now, only upholding their connections with the Dark Lord as a subterfuge. He'd enjoyed the small appraising look the raven-haired boy had suddenly given him and liked the fact that he'd managed to give his rival's world a little shake, if not turned it completely upside-down.
"Hello, children."
Professor Trelawney's soft voice floating down from the front of the classroom disrupted Draco from his thoughts and he lazily lifted his gaze, training it on the teacher respectfully.
"Today we are going to do a little numerology." She held up her hand to stop the groans that were being made by Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan – the only two Hufflepuffs who had chosen to do General Studies. Draco quite suspected they chose it because it involved the least physical exertion, and was quite amused on their sakes because of the midnight lessons it was the one that involved the most strenuous activities.
Of course, after what had happened last night… Draco kept his gaze trained on the teacher, letting his thoughts drift.
"Of course, we aren't doing the more advanced numerology, only the grammatica house changes that we all know are relevant in the love life of a young wizard," Trelawney continued.
There was a little bit of tittering from the Ravenclaws, and from Lavender Brown and the Patil twins who had chosen the wide-ranging subject because of the teacher.
Draco forced himself to pay attention. His love life as such as it was was one of the things that was making his normally-stable life to spin wildly out of orbit.
"So, today, we will fill out our numerology charts, to the best of our ability. Your birth dates, favourite colours, moods, family heritage and such… That should be the easy part. I will help you on the harder calculations," Trelawney continued. Dean Thomas put his hand in the air and Trelawney held up one hand again. "Dean, the point of this all is we are going to see who in this class would make a compatible couple."
There were more giggles from the girls and more than a few reluctant groans. Draco hoped ferverently he wouldn't get a muggle as his so-called match. Even though it was all completely fake anyway, there were those who worshipped everything the Divinations teacher said, and it would not do his reputation much. Nor would it help his smoke-screen at school if the rumour got out that his perfect match in heaven was a muggle.
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Harry frowned at the roll of parchment in front of him and he scratched away at it with his quill. The parchment flaked under his furious scratching, and the ink soaked through onto the tablecloths, but Harry blindly ignored that fact. There were *reams* of data to be filled in, and the math equation things at the end looked more scary than anything they'd done before. Harry thanked his lucky stars (which he'd found out were Sirius the Dog Star, which had saddened him for a long time until Hermione gently pointed out it was like Sirius was looking down on him even now, and Avortuna Major, supposedly a very lucky but dangerous star) that he had chosen to do General Studies. He could be doing Numerology full time, like Ron, or Legilimency, like Hermione (which he suspected she was being taught so she could help Harry with his Occlumency attempts.)
Harry looked up, his gaze flickering over all who'd stayed this year to do General Studies. The Patil twins, Lavender Brown, Pansy Parkinson, Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Neville Longbottom, a couple of Ravenclaw girls Harry knew by sight but not by name and the biggest surprise of them all – Draco Malfoy. Harry supposed that it was by his father's instruction with this big plan they had for deceiving Voldemort. Not that Harry wasn't glad of the fact that the Malfoys were actually good. He just wished that Malfoy didn't have to be so mean to him. "For the cause," Draco had sneeringly replied when Harry had asked him about his attitude towards him for the last four years.
The martial arts part of the course had surprised them all, but all of them had embraced it fully and with a good attitude to it all. They had one lesson a night every weekday in a different martial art and all with the advanced and dense training patterns had become quite proficient at it. Monday was the Tai kwon do night, Tuesday was training with the Japanese Bo (a wooden pole which was just over six foot in length) Wednesday was Ai kido, Thursday was karate and Friday was the day they all split up to do different things.
Professor Trelawney had chosen for Harry to do something spectacularly weird – a mixture of techniques from the four disciplines but to do it invisible – citing that she thought in the future that invisible fighting would hold a part for him. Of course the whole invisible thing was part of the trouble. He'd been fighting with the same person, for that much he was sure, for the last three months, and…
Harry shook his head. What had happened last night had blown his mind. Completely. Shaking his head, he bent down over his work and scratched away at it, hoping to get it finished. Perhaps this love numerology augur thing would help him discover exactly what had happened last night.
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Flashback
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Harry had to stop himself from swearing out loud as a jab from seemingly nowhere and he stumbled to the side, holding his ribs. Closing his eyes he listened softly, using the techniques he'd been taught to recognise the other's movements. He knew his opponent was male, strong, fast, and lithe and that was about all he knew. Sensei Matani oversaw their session as such – Professor Trelawney had given them strict instructions… Although they could say small things, they were NOT allowed to interchange such information that would reveal their identities to each other. She'd explained this in a round-about way, alluding to some rot about the enemy being faceless or something. She was the one who had cast the spell to make them invisible for the session.
He rolled to the side as he felt something whistle through the air and he brought up his Bo defensively, smirking in satisfaction as the other's Bo made a satisfying thud against his own. Remembering his kick from Karate Harry lashed out with his foot, leaping to his feet he was happy to hear the sound of the other's Bo rolling away and out of his opponent's grasp. A quick whispered startled oath was released from the other's and it distracted Harry as he tried to recognise the tone of the voice. That second's delay cost him his Bo too… A well-aimed hit took it out and threw it across the room. Unfortunately he couldn't see it so picking it up again wasn't an option unless he literally tripped over it.
Taking a deep breath, Harry launched himself forwards, feeling a surge of adrenaline as his opponent parried almost every move he made and tried to gain the upper-hand. Somewhere their training went out the window and in the confusion Harry had slammed the other to the floor. He felt arms grab his sides unsteadily and he was flipped over. Over and over they rolled until Harry felt a sudden pain in his head and starts burst before his vision. His head had been slammed into the wall. Wincing, Harry retaliated instantly, lashing out even as the other tried to valiantly hold onto him. He managed to wriggle out of the grasp a little and swore again as his opponent grabbed hold of his spare wrist.
With a grunt of frustration Harry lashed out, somehow managing to grab hold of his rival's free wrist. Struggling wildly they both managed to get to their feet and the situation struck Harry as funny. Obviously it struck the other as funny too as they both suddenly cracked up laughing. They'd been in this similar situation in Ai kido last week – a double wrist grab or something – and it had spawned the Divination classes' catchphrase "Grab my wrist!"
Obviously that thought had struck the other as well and he – for the voice and physique of the other belied that much recognition at least – muttered softly (almost sardonically): "Grab my wrist."
Somehow amongst all the confusion their heads must have almost been touching. Harry could feel their breath grazing his skin and his eyes slid shut briefly. He was breathing hard and it wasn't because of the physical exertion of their fighting. He felt dizzy and the breathing of his opponent washed over him. Frightened he almost clung to the other, terrified but elated at the same time.
In his bewilderment he had barely registered the other had stopped fighting too and somehow… Harry didn't exactly know how… The other's hand rested on his cheek softly as if he was frightened he was going to disappear. Harry took a sharp breath of air, wondering why the room was spinning wildly. He didn't have to winder long as soft lips claimed his, tentatively moving over his own. Startled, Harry stood there mutely for a second enjoying the burning feeling, before gasping as the other moved abruptly away. Feeling bereft of the contact Harry without thinking grabbed out and wildly made contact with the other. Moving forwards and relying purely on instinct he ignored the part of his brain that was screaming at him reminding him this was a boy and he didn't know who it was. He reached out, searching, and was rewarded with a soft startled moan as he found the other's lips with his own. It was all Harry could do to remain upright as the other frantically returned the kiss, entwining their hands in Harry's hair. Harry leant into it, trying to feel as much of it as he could before they inevitably had to break apart for oxygen. That moment came too soon and Harry took another deep breath his entire world dizzy and blurred before somehow it all began again and frantic lips claimed his and he was only slightly aware that the other had lowered him onto the ground. Their lips met yet again, and the kiss deepened as heart-rates escalated and Harry was almost drowned in the new sensations and raging feelings as his entire world exploded from the intensity of it all.
"Time to finish, boys," a lazy voice said and the voice broke them apart hurriedly. Harry staggered to his feet, his brain still a pile of mush.
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Harry frowned as he quickly filled in the rest of the easy details, aware of a delicate blush colouring his normally bland features.
"Harry, why are you blushing?" Seamus asked suddenly, inquisitively. Harry cursed the Irish boy for his uncanny ability to point out the one thing you didn't want noticed and frowned before replying.
"It's too hot up here," he said quickly. It wasn't exactly a lie. He was feeling rather hot and bothered from the memory of last night.
Fortunately Seamus took his stammered explanation at face value and returned to his parchment, frowning before raising his hand for Professor Trelawney's help with the final calculations.
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Draco scanned the piece of parchment in front of him. Fortunately he'd taken numerology last year and been quite surprised with how naturally it had come to him. He scanned over his calculations with a calculating eye and knew that the final answer was completely correct. And from what he'd heard of these love augur things, then your so-called 'perfect partner' was supposed to have exactly the same number. Draco scowled at the numbers before letting his gaze drift up to the class. The rest seemed to be having trouble with the end calculations and Trelawney was over at Potter's table. Seamus Finnegan had appeared to try and set fire to their ditzy Professor's robes and Draco suppressed a snigger.
Letting his gaze drift back down to his parchment his mind returned to the memory of last night… His cheeks started to burn involuntarily and he tried to suppress the thought that the person – the boy – who had turned his whole world and heart upside down was someone in this class. Draco crossed his fingers and hoped it wasn't Neville Longbottom. He could at least avoid that particular humiliation…
Mind you, Draco thought languidly, if it was Longbottom he was a really good kisser…
Shaking his head abruptly, Draco scowled. He could do without that kind of thought. That was a one-off and was never going to happen again. His thoughts drifted off lethargically and it must have been about fifteen minutes later when Professor Trelawney clapped her hands together excitedly.
"Right, class, I've checked everyone's calculations and they're all perfect," she enthused proudly. Draco looked down and he noticed his parchment had disappeared. Scowling he realised while he was off day-dreaming the professor had collected it back in. He resolved to pay more attention in class and watched curiously as she looked through the papers, noting a couple of things on a scrap of parchment.
"Oh, my," she muttered once, staring at two of the parchments in great bewilderment. "No… carry the one… multiply by five… They're both perfectly correct. Curious. Very curious."
Draco strained to listen as she muttered and raised his eyebrows. Exciting muttering broke out between the girls.
"I've finished," Trelawney said dramatically, rising to her feet. "And we have a couple of non-surprising results, and one result that is very, very curious and doesn't often happen, only between the great couples destined by the stars themselves."
Lavender, Padma and Patil squealed in excitement and looked embarrassed as Trelawney raised an eyebrow at their behaviour.
"The two couples that match quite well in this class would be Hannah Abbott and Dean Thomas…" She looked over the top of the parchment at the classes reaction. Hannah blushed furiously and dipped her head down while Seamus poked Dean in the ribs with a wide smile gracing his lips. "I wouldn't tease him too much, Mr. Finnegan." Seamus went silently and looked at her sharply. "You also had quite a close number match indeed… with Miss. Brown."
Seamus gaped at her, his mouth working furiously but no sound was coming forth. Lavender blushed a bright crimson and Dean was looking at Seamus smugly before catching Abbott's curious glance and looking away, blushing.
"But…" She held up one arm for emphasis, the glittery fabric of her robe falling down and shimmering in the dull light. "This result is surprising, but for the two concerned… This kind of result has only happened twice through my years at Hogwarts – both with couples that have remained very strong and very together."
"Who were they?" Padma Patil asked, her brown eyes shining with complete admiration for the teacher.
"James Potter and Lily Evans… and Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa LOOKUP," Professor Trelawney said, her voice tinged with amusement. "These names ring a bell I presume?"
The class turned to stare at Harry and Draco alternately. Harry looked intrigued from the information – any information about his parents intrigued him greatly. Draco, on the other hand, just stared back at them flatly. He knew this already – his parents had told him countless times.
"So who are the two in our class?" Parvati asked, staring raptly at Professor Trelawney.
"Why, I think it's rather odd for this to happen, but the equations don't lie, and have never lied before," Professor Trelawney said. Draco rather suspected she was just teasing the three girls whom she knew were her fans.
"Who is it?" Lavender pressed.
"Isn't it obvious?" Professor Trelawney smiled coquettishly, putting her head slightly to the side. "Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy."
"WHAT THE HELL?"
Two simultaneous exclamations as both of the boys sprung to their feet.
"That's completely… wrong," Draco said, feeling a little sick. Harry Potter, his destined love… Oh fuck…
The entire room was in consternation. Lavender almost recalculated her impressions of Professor Trelawney on the spot, but she looked at the two papers and sets of calculations.
"They do look right," she said into the silence. There was a thud as Harry sat down, looking truly astonished and just plain shell-shocked. Seamus patted his arm gently.
"Oh come on, Harry, it could have been worse," the Irish boy consoled. Harry's head flew up to stare at him. "It could have been Snape," he added, grinning. Harry let out a strangled sob and buried his head in his arms.
Draco, on the other hand, remained out of his seat and furiously stomped over to the front table. He grabbed Harry's augurs and stared at them for a long time. The class watched in half-horror, half-amusement as Draco scanned over the calculations. By the time he was finished he looked almost gaunt, ashen-faced.
"Bloody hell," he said finally, dropping the parchment with a look of disgust. Muttering broke out among the students. Draco scowled and they went silent again. He crossed the room and mutinously sat down, folding his arms in shock and disgust.
Harry was having completely the same problem. He couldn't believe it was true… No way, no how, not at all… Malfoy? A traitorous part of his mind pointed out that he did kiss another boy the day before and that person could very theoretically have been Malfoy and he had enjoyed it.
Harry let out another strangled sob which was thankfully swallowed by the bell, resounding and covering up his groan. Professor Trelawney dismissed everyone and true to form Malfoy was the first out, blushing furiously. Harry blinked as he realised he was the last student in the room. Cautiously he approached Professor Trelawney.
"Can I…" He paused, taking a deep breath uncomfortably aware he was blushing ridiculously. "Can I borrow these?" He asked hurriedly. Professor Trelawney smiled softly.
"Of course, Harry," she said, beaming at him. "I always had a notion about you two," she added. Harry stammered his goodbye and made a frantic escape. Professor Trelawney smiled softly to herself, then frowned. The fourth years were coming next and Ginny Weasley was going to break a crystal ball. She got to her feet and made a mental note to give the redhead the cheapest one before allowing herself another indulgent smile. Maybe this would help with her reputation around school.
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Hermione looked up in confusion as Harry ran into the main hall, rather breathless and clutching some parchment. Ron saw him and waved.
"Over here, Harry," he called.
Harry nodded and approached them, frowning as he realised the news of the result was already making its way around school and he was already being regarded with a couple of curious and disbelieving stares.
He walked over to Hermione and dumped the two parchments in front of her. She blinked and picked them up.
"Harry, these are love augurs with one of the names covered up…" She said, frowning. "Did you do these in divination today? End up with anyone interesting?"
Harry frowned. This wasn't the result she was expecting.
"What?" He asked curiously.
Hermione wrinkled her nose. "I don't have much faith in divination, but numerology I do have faith in… Love augurs are always incredibly accurate."
Harry groaned and buried his head in his arms again.
"Lets have a look," Ron said conversationally. "I've heard of those." His gaze scanned the parchment and his jaw dropped. "Perfect numbers!" He said wonderingly. "Who is it Harry? You have a match, wow, that's really rare!"
Hermione grabbed the parchments from Ron hurriedly. "Let's have a look again," she said firmly, scanning over the calculations. "The calculations are exact! Who is it Harry? Inquiring minds want to know!"
Harry just let out a strangled groan again.
Hermione sighed and lifted out her red revealer that she'd purchased from Diagon alley ages ago. Then she gasped and swore out loud.
"Harry," she gasped softly. "Oh no! You must feel dreadful!"
Harry nodded slowly, feeling sick. "I do… it can't be right…"
"But it is," Hermione said softly. "I'm sure… you can bring him round to liking muggles eventually," she added dubiously. Harry glared at her, folding his arms.
"It's just…" Harry pulled a face. "It can't be right," he added hopelessly. "It can't be him… It can't…"
"Him?" Ron has just caught on to the conversation. "HIM?" He snatched the parchment back from Hermione and stared at it in complete puzzlement. "Well, that's sorted it, Divination is completely bollocks."
Hermione immediately defended the love augur. "Ron, those kind of calculations don't lie… Think of the great wizarding partners throughout history it matched with! Fhurrer the Bold and Ethelenn the Ready!"
"Orrun the Unwashed and Ulrike the Ugsome," Harry retorted sarcastically, relating the names of two infamous wizard criminals.
Hermione launched a dark look at Harry, who was starting to look a little more cheerful - possibly, she reflected, of the mental image of him and Malfoy rubbing themselves in glow-in-the-dark mud and holding up Zonko's with nothing but a rubber parrot and half a packet of blood lollipops - and continued her diatribe. "History doesn't lie, Ron, and the percentages are too high for it to be coincidence!"
Ron pulled a face, looking pale. "I know… but Malfoy?"
"You're not the one who has to…" Harry pulled a similar face as Ron's.
"Harry," Hermione said firmly. "Ignore this. It's only ninety-nine per cent of all cases, anyway. You could be a one per cent. You can love whoever you want to. No one else can control your heart."
Harry considered this for a minute, feeling better. "Thanks, Hermione," he said softly, smiling for the first time since the whole thing started. Then he frowned.
"What?" Ron asked, noticing the frown.
"It still doesn't help the rumours going around, does it?" Harry asked, feeling pale and shaken.
Ron and Hermione shook their heads in complete unison.
"Nope," Ron replied softly. "Not at all."
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