Chapter Two
"You know," Draco Malfoy began, "whenever I dreamed of being with a guy, I always thought it would be Harry. I never guessed that I wouldn't have to bend down to kiss my lover!"
Ron looked at him.
"How did I become your lover?" Ron asked.
Draco shook his head.
"Sometimes, you can be so daft, Ron! First of all, we sleep together and if that isn't good enough, lover basically means 'I love you!'" he said.
"You love me?" Ron asked.
Draco shook his head, holding back the laughter.
"Yes," he said.
Ron smiled. He looked away as he blushed. He saw Hermione at the entrance to the school and he jumped.
"Draco! Don't we have a quidditch game today?" Ron asked.
They exchanged glance.
"Fuck!" Draco exclaimed.
He crawled out from beneath the tree.
"Come on, Weasley!" He called.
Ron came out slowly but impatient Draco rushed off to get his quidditch robes on. He was captain now and was supposed to be at the pitch before or with the rest of his team. "Mudblood Massacre!" Draco exclaimed and rushed into the Slytherin tower. He rushed down the stair to his room. The boys' rooms were in the dungeons and the head boy's was the farthest down, which was his destination. He quickly changed and grabbed his Cloudcleaver, the newest broom model, fresh off the market.
By the time he got to the quidditch pitch, Blaise Zabini, a beater from his team, and Ron were the only two missing. A few seconds later, Blaise showed up and laughed at Draco.
"Whatcha been doing, Malfoy?" he asked. "Did you go off fuckin' someone and forget to fix your hair?"
"Oh sod off!" Draco exclaimed.
Blaise liked to pretend he was better than Draco was. He was a great gooney only when he wasn't pretending that he was better (meaning he wasn't). Ron came onto the field slowly. His hair was not windblown or anything. Draco guessed the boy didn't rush.
Harry didn't look at Ron. He simply began to give his team a pep talk. Draco didn't really do anything. His team didn't believe in pep talks.
As Madam Hooch blew her whistle, he exclaimed, "Lets bruise some bodies!" His teamed raised their broom with a mighty "yeah" and hopped astride their brooms. Draco blocked out every sound. He simply searched for the snitch. It was almost as if he was blind to everything else, but that was how he played the game. He had tried following Harry but he learned that was how you didn't see the snitch the hard way. He saw a twinkle up above him but a body stopped him.
Harry hovered before him.
"I am going to hurt you!" he exclaimed.
"Merlin, Potter!" Draco exclaimed. "What happened to keeping your head in the game? You wanna lose?"
Harry laughed.
"No, that's your job!" He exclaimed.
Draco was amused.
"So, been studying up on your comebacks, have you!" Draco said.
He looked up to find the snitch was gone. Draco started to sail to the other side of the field. Harry followed him. Draco looked back and grinned. He sped towards a bludger. He would think that Harry would know better, but Draco wasn't too disappointed in the lack of competition. Draco swerved around the bludger as it was right in front of him. Blaise took a swing at Harry right after. Harry just barely avoided it.
Draco spotted the snitch again. He dived. Harry saw it too and went after it. Harry managed a swifter, steeper dive. Draco leaned lower on his broom, speeding up. It was his chance to win. He couldn't bear to lose.
Harry was inches from it but his broom swerved and flipped him. He held onto his broom with one hand, hanging from it. Draco closed his hand around the snitch. No one seemed to see. Feeling sorry, Draco placed the snitch in the hand of Harry that wasn't holding onto the broom. The whole Gyffindor team and a few of the Slytherins saw it but by the time Professor McGonagall and Jordan Lee did, it looked like Draco was trying to take it from Harry.
"Oh what is the Slytherin Captain, Malfoy doing now? Why Harry Potter has the snitch and it looks like Malfoy is trying to take it from him!" Jordan Lee exclaimed into the microphone.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape walked onto the pitch. Harry managed to swing himself astride his broom and descended to the ground with the snitch in hand. Draco landed too after looking at his team. They were glaring. The ones who were dumbfounded had talked with the team and now they all knew.
"Young Potter, are you all right?" Professor McGonagall asked.
He nodded.
"Can you tell us what happened up there?" she asked.
"My broom bucked and Malfoy caught the snitch!" Harry said.
"We don't approve of liars, Mr. Potter!" Professor Snape said and turned to Professor McGonagall. "He should receive detention!"
Professor McGonagall turned to him.
"He is my student, Severus. I will deal with him as I see fit!" She said.
He rolled his eyes.
Draco watched with interest. Honest Harry, he thought, too honest for your own good. "Hello, Minerva," a voice said. "What is the problem?"
Draco turned around. Professor Dumbledore walked towards them. Most of the people had left but some people lingered including the team players.
Professor McGonagall replayed what she saw and what Harry had told her. He nodded. Dumbledore signaled to the teams. They gathered around behind Harry. The Slytherins went behind Draco. The teams exchanged glares.
"I think it is possible that Slytherin might have won," Dumbledore said. The Slytherins smirked.
"But," he said and the smirks faded like water held up next to the sun. "Something happened to Mr. Potter's broom. We do not know how it happened. So, we will have a rematch in three weeks after winter break!"
They all groaned. Everyone did not want to do this over again. Draco had caught the snitch for the first time in his life and it counted for nothing. The teams left the field rancor.
Slytherins actually won the game! Ron thought. He had been thinking that for the whole day. Had it had been someone else being this repetitive, he would have hurt him or her for being so sodding annoying. Well, maybe he wouldn't hurt them, but he would sure try his best with words if all else failed.
He looked at Hermione. She was doing her Arithmancy homework.
"Hermione, a TV, I think you called it, has pictures that move and talk, right? They're like mini-plays?" He asked.
She nodded and Ron looked up towards the ceiling.
"It would be cool to have one now!" he said absently.
She grunted.
Ron took no notice. He picked up his DaDA book and turned the pages until he found the one he needed. He sat and wrote up his three-page report on why ostracizing a hellhound is more important than killing it.
Harry stared at the ceiling. There was nothing to really do. He didn't feel like himself. The last thing he remembered was reading Hermione's book. Then, he found himself here, in his room. What had he been doing? He didn't want to ask because he was worried someone would find him crazy and lock him up. He had to figure it out or no one would.
He looked at Dean and Seamus. They sat on Seamus' bed and looked at a naughty magazine. They laughed and Harry shook his head. He would never do that. The way he was the worst thing he had done, par-say. In his book, he wasn't supposed to be different. He was supposed to be like every other boy, having no scar, nemesis, or an ex-boyfriend. Then again, he wasn't alone. There was Ron and Draco too. The two of them together upset him, made his stomach turn.
Harry jerked and placed his hand on his head. He saw green, felt wind rushing forward, and heard his own voice scream "get out of my head!" He saw Draco, the snitch. He remembered screaming again, fighting with someone he couldn't see, and almost falling off his broom. Finally, he saw Draco fly over and then hand him the snitch. Everything went dark.
He opened his eyes. Dean was gawking at him where as Seamus had passed out, the magazine slumped on the floor. His arm was dangling off the bed.
"What?" he asked.
Dean looked from him to Seamus and got up. He rushed to the door. "I am going to go get Ron," he said quietly.
Harry could hear the sound of Dean's feet running down the stairs.
Ron watched Dean scramble down the stairs. It was a lot more attention grabbing than Fred and George chasing Angelina Spinett so they could copy her homework. Dean was paler it seemed, but Ron could not tell. He would have thought he would have been able to, as Dean was black.
The guy ran up to him.
"Harry... gone mad..." he said through ragged breath.
Ron gave him a weird look for being out of breath.
"Harry's as sane as a land gnome!" Ron exclaimed. "Wait... that's not right... well anyway, he is pretty sane!"
"Just come on! I will explain," Dean said, calming down. "He had one hell of a spasm. Something is wrong with him!"
Ron followed Dean into the room. Harry had his face into the pillow. Seamus was in a stunned position that jolted Ron.
"He went star-craven' mad!" Dean exclaimed. "He turned to Seamus and his face was all bloody-looking with eyes like a weasel and his hands kept up like an eagle's claw surrounding a fish. They came to a point. He made some sort of inhumane sound and then..."
Dean took a deep breath. He looked as rattled as Ron was.
"...He looked normal," Dean finished.
Harry rolled over and looked at them.
"If I wasn't supposed to hear any of that, it is too late," he said.
Ron looked at Dean. Dean scrambled back over to Seamus.
"Harry, something's wrong!" Ron said.
"Well, I think that's obvious, you git!" Harry exclaimed.
"Should we tell Dumbledore?"
Harry shook his head.
"No, but check with Malfoy. Ask him what I was doing during the game. I know we had one!" Harry said. "I saw it five minutes ago!"
"You saw it?" Ron asked, confused.
"Yes, I bloody saw it!" Harry replied.
Ron ran off. He wanted to get Draco, only he felt like he NEEDED to get him for Harry. Ron didn't remember that he shouldn't approach Draco in front of Draco's friends. As a matter of fact, Draco wasn't with anyone. He was walking by himself.
"Harry needs to talk to you!" Ron cried.
Draco shook his head.
"He has already given me enough trouble!" Draco exclaimed.
"He doesn't know what happened! He wasn't himself!" Ron cried.
Draco shrugged.
"Are you sure it isn't just his real self coming out?" Draco asked.
Ron rolled his eyes. He grabbed Draco by his sleeve. For a "girly-guy", Ron was strong. Then again, Draco was good at verbal fights and punching and little else. So he couldn't exactly try to stop him. About five minutes later, Ron was exhausted and let go, but by then, Draco was coming willingly.
Draco paraded through the Gryffindor common room like he owned it and up the stairs.
"Um..." Ron said.
Draco turned around.
"That's the girls' dormitory!" Ron told him.
Draco blushed a light pink- all his pale skin could manage.
"I knew that! I just wanted a little excitement!" He said.
Ron glared at him, feeling very insulted. Draco came back down and took the other stairs. He put his hand to a door.
"No," Ron said.
Draco looked at him, his eyebrows knitted.
"Why not? Whose room is this?" Draco asked.
Ron shook his head.
"Just don't," he said.
Draco opened it anyway. Rats crawled out over his feet. He screeched and slammed the door. The rats turned into liquorice wands.
"What the bloody Hell?" Draco exclaimed.
"That would be my brothers' room!" Ron replied.
Draco gave him a look.
"Why don't you lead now!" he said.
"That was what I was doing until you ran ahead of me!" Ron exclaimed.
Ron led him up to Harry's room. When he opened the door, Seamus was conscious and chewing Harry out.
"Okay, you stupid prat, what'd you call me up here for?" Draco asked.
Harry smirked.
"You would make a great butler, Malfoy, doing exactly as you just said: coming when you're called. Of course, a dog does that too!" Harry commented.
Draco clenched his hands into fists, wand tucked inside his cloak. It would take him almost five seconds to grab it.
"Seamus, Dean, can we please have sometime alone?" Ron asked.
They gladly edged out of the room. Seamus rushed back in and grabbed the magazine. Then, he turned and left.
"According to you from the game, you wanted me to die, but you got yourself pretty close! If your broom hadn't pulled out of that dive, you would have killed yourself running into the ground!" Draco told him.
Harry took a deep breath.
"Ron, tell Malfoy what Dean told you!" Harry exclaimed.
'Why can't you?" Ron exclaimed. "You were there!"
Harry gave him a look and Ron took a deep breath. Draco laughed.
"If You-Know-Who got you, Ron, you wouldn't last and neither would Harry with you giving in like that!" Draco exclaimed.
Ron angered but told him anyway.
"So you want me to help him?" Draco said. Ron shrugged.
"Do YOU want me to help him?" Draco demanded.
"Yeah..." Ron said slowly, looking away.
"Potter, you are coming over to my house for winter break!" Draco said.
"Why? How would that help?" Harry asked.
Draco rolled his eyes.
"Because everyone feels better after running down the street stark-naked yelling 'Victor Krum rocks my socks!'" Draco exclaimed.
Harry looked at him.
"No, you prat, my family has the best Dark Arts artifacts. Dark Arts artifacts are the best way to locate Dark Art spells and identify them!" Draco said.
"Hermione would have to come too!" Harry cried.
Draco shook his head.
"No!" he said firmly.
"Why?" Harry asked.
Draco opened up his hand and began counting off his fingers. "One: I hate her. Two: I hate her. Three: I bloody hate her. Four-" he started. "Malfoy, we get the point!" Harry exclaimed.
"Wait! I am not done yet!" Draco cried. "Now, four: she's a mudblood. Five: my house has wards against mudbloods!"
"I would put that under number four,' Ron said.
Draco and Harry ignored him.
"Next Sunday, six-thirty in the morning, outside!" Draco exclaimed and walked out. Ron ran after Draco. "That was very nice of you!" Ron said resting his hand on Draco's shoulder.
Draco didn't say anything and the portrait swung open to let him out. Ron still followed. He was determined.
"You deserve a treat," Ron said.
"Don't want one," Draco mumbled.
Ron rushed ahead, blocking his path.
"Do it for me!" Ron begged.
"Fine," Draco said. "What do you want to do?"
Sunday... should Harry despise the day? He did not know. It was a disaster waiting to happen, he was sure. Yet, something told him this could be very beneficial. Another thing, though, was that Hermione could probably figure this out on her own for him but this year, her mind was... well... gone. There was no other way for Harry to put it. He always thought he was the traumatized kid not her. She had been like the angel bringing light on her wings and taking away the pain and suffering. She was a person he had always depended on although he liked to think there was no one he depended on or could. This was different; she was different. The world had changed before his eyes over a summer.
Harry bit his lip. Another thing that bothered him is he never really found a way to be happy. It was so sorrowful to him. He liked to think he had done no one any wrong and in fact, he couldn't think of a time he had. He might have but he couldn't remember. Ron had found it and Hermione hadn't. He saw what affect it had on her. Harry had no wish to lose his mind. He needed some way to entertain himself. That was quite hard for Harry. Quidditch was a way but no one was probably willing to play with him and Professor Flitwick had his broom.
Harry bent over his bed and looked through his trunk. He had gone over to his father's house, growing up, over the summer with the Weasleys. From there, he had found a journal that his father had kept. Harry hadn't read very much of it as he hated to read and he had been busy.
Now, he opened the book and it made a crackling sound as if it was a new book. Harry flipped through a couple pages and began to read.
Journal of Mine,
I was walking with Sirus, the tough chap, today. A girl passed by. Oh, she is amazing! Her hair is Chestnut and her eyes, hazel. What it would be like to kiss her apple, flowery lips. Her name is Lily Evans. A heart of gold. Another student of despicable taste, Serverus Snape, was there. He dropped his stuff and she helped him. I laughed and she gave me a bloody awful stare. That slimy git! I will hurt him. Sirus is good with the punches and me with the words. We can take him. If only she will look at me. Maybe it will catch her eye. Maybe she will come on Heaven's wings, down the golden stairs from the utopia called Heaven from which she came, and talk to me. I am afraid she will hate me. I know I will say something cunning but will she like it?
It was where his father had fallen in love with his mother. He thought of how everyone had told him how strong his father was. Yet, he found that when it came to his mother, his father was weak.
Harry realized he was crying and used his sleeve to wipe the tears from his face. He took a deep breath. Harry glanced to the door and flipped through for another entry.
Ron woke up. Something had unsettled him form his sleep. He had gotten back not too long ago to the dorm, as he had gotten back late. Something was in the room. There was wind. There was more.
He looked below. The window was open. The moon was translucent, shining dimly. A figure stood next to the window. Ron leaned forward to get a better look. The bed creaked and it looked up.
The thing, if he dare even call it that, was horrifying. A hump it had developed on its back. Its face, its hair, its ears! The thing was something frightening to uphold. Its hair was wild and black like the night, almost shaggy. The eyes were a ruby red, if he dared even describe it as anything close to pretty. The hands, oh the hands were drawn up into points. They were bloody daggers that had just finished a kill. The distressed sneer held a look all its own that embezzled all beauty that was ever known. Ron was most horrified to think that probably only minutes ago it had been Harry.
He leaned forward. It looked up at him. It stared into his eyes. Just behind those glinting eyes was a boy in a glass cage. The boy beat upon the translucent walls. He could not get out and no one could here him. He slumped down against the icy-cold wall. No one could help him. He was lost and alone.
An unsettled Ron found his second-hand wand from within the cloak of his presently dressed self. Ron pointed his wand at the thing that had taken away his friend. What it was, what it was doing was not quite unknown as it clumsily tried to climb out the window that was over ten stories above the ground.
"Stupefy!" Ron cried, his voice slightly hoarse and unsounding.
A tiny blast came from his wand and hit the thing like a flea.
"Stupefy!" he shouted this time.
The thing slumped over the window. Ron jumped off the bed and grabbed the slowly returning Harry from plunging to his death. He caught sight of Harry's broom hovering just outside the window and brought it in. He shut the window and "dropped" Harry's limp body onto Harry's bed. Ron watched as Harry's wide-open stunned eyes took on their green luster. Ron's heart slowed and he sat on the floor, watching, waiting, and hoping for it not to happen again.
"You know," Draco Malfoy began, "whenever I dreamed of being with a guy, I always thought it would be Harry. I never guessed that I wouldn't have to bend down to kiss my lover!"
Ron looked at him.
"How did I become your lover?" Ron asked.
Draco shook his head.
"Sometimes, you can be so daft, Ron! First of all, we sleep together and if that isn't good enough, lover basically means 'I love you!'" he said.
"You love me?" Ron asked.
Draco shook his head, holding back the laughter.
"Yes," he said.
Ron smiled. He looked away as he blushed. He saw Hermione at the entrance to the school and he jumped.
"Draco! Don't we have a quidditch game today?" Ron asked.
They exchanged glance.
"Fuck!" Draco exclaimed.
He crawled out from beneath the tree.
"Come on, Weasley!" He called.
Ron came out slowly but impatient Draco rushed off to get his quidditch robes on. He was captain now and was supposed to be at the pitch before or with the rest of his team. "Mudblood Massacre!" Draco exclaimed and rushed into the Slytherin tower. He rushed down the stair to his room. The boys' rooms were in the dungeons and the head boy's was the farthest down, which was his destination. He quickly changed and grabbed his Cloudcleaver, the newest broom model, fresh off the market.
By the time he got to the quidditch pitch, Blaise Zabini, a beater from his team, and Ron were the only two missing. A few seconds later, Blaise showed up and laughed at Draco.
"Whatcha been doing, Malfoy?" he asked. "Did you go off fuckin' someone and forget to fix your hair?"
"Oh sod off!" Draco exclaimed.
Blaise liked to pretend he was better than Draco was. He was a great gooney only when he wasn't pretending that he was better (meaning he wasn't). Ron came onto the field slowly. His hair was not windblown or anything. Draco guessed the boy didn't rush.
Harry didn't look at Ron. He simply began to give his team a pep talk. Draco didn't really do anything. His team didn't believe in pep talks.
As Madam Hooch blew her whistle, he exclaimed, "Lets bruise some bodies!" His teamed raised their broom with a mighty "yeah" and hopped astride their brooms. Draco blocked out every sound. He simply searched for the snitch. It was almost as if he was blind to everything else, but that was how he played the game. He had tried following Harry but he learned that was how you didn't see the snitch the hard way. He saw a twinkle up above him but a body stopped him.
Harry hovered before him.
"I am going to hurt you!" he exclaimed.
"Merlin, Potter!" Draco exclaimed. "What happened to keeping your head in the game? You wanna lose?"
Harry laughed.
"No, that's your job!" He exclaimed.
Draco was amused.
"So, been studying up on your comebacks, have you!" Draco said.
He looked up to find the snitch was gone. Draco started to sail to the other side of the field. Harry followed him. Draco looked back and grinned. He sped towards a bludger. He would think that Harry would know better, but Draco wasn't too disappointed in the lack of competition. Draco swerved around the bludger as it was right in front of him. Blaise took a swing at Harry right after. Harry just barely avoided it.
Draco spotted the snitch again. He dived. Harry saw it too and went after it. Harry managed a swifter, steeper dive. Draco leaned lower on his broom, speeding up. It was his chance to win. He couldn't bear to lose.
Harry was inches from it but his broom swerved and flipped him. He held onto his broom with one hand, hanging from it. Draco closed his hand around the snitch. No one seemed to see. Feeling sorry, Draco placed the snitch in the hand of Harry that wasn't holding onto the broom. The whole Gyffindor team and a few of the Slytherins saw it but by the time Professor McGonagall and Jordan Lee did, it looked like Draco was trying to take it from Harry.
"Oh what is the Slytherin Captain, Malfoy doing now? Why Harry Potter has the snitch and it looks like Malfoy is trying to take it from him!" Jordan Lee exclaimed into the microphone.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape walked onto the pitch. Harry managed to swing himself astride his broom and descended to the ground with the snitch in hand. Draco landed too after looking at his team. They were glaring. The ones who were dumbfounded had talked with the team and now they all knew.
"Young Potter, are you all right?" Professor McGonagall asked.
He nodded.
"Can you tell us what happened up there?" she asked.
"My broom bucked and Malfoy caught the snitch!" Harry said.
"We don't approve of liars, Mr. Potter!" Professor Snape said and turned to Professor McGonagall. "He should receive detention!"
Professor McGonagall turned to him.
"He is my student, Severus. I will deal with him as I see fit!" She said.
He rolled his eyes.
Draco watched with interest. Honest Harry, he thought, too honest for your own good. "Hello, Minerva," a voice said. "What is the problem?"
Draco turned around. Professor Dumbledore walked towards them. Most of the people had left but some people lingered including the team players.
Professor McGonagall replayed what she saw and what Harry had told her. He nodded. Dumbledore signaled to the teams. They gathered around behind Harry. The Slytherins went behind Draco. The teams exchanged glares.
"I think it is possible that Slytherin might have won," Dumbledore said. The Slytherins smirked.
"But," he said and the smirks faded like water held up next to the sun. "Something happened to Mr. Potter's broom. We do not know how it happened. So, we will have a rematch in three weeks after winter break!"
They all groaned. Everyone did not want to do this over again. Draco had caught the snitch for the first time in his life and it counted for nothing. The teams left the field rancor.
Slytherins actually won the game! Ron thought. He had been thinking that for the whole day. Had it had been someone else being this repetitive, he would have hurt him or her for being so sodding annoying. Well, maybe he wouldn't hurt them, but he would sure try his best with words if all else failed.
He looked at Hermione. She was doing her Arithmancy homework.
"Hermione, a TV, I think you called it, has pictures that move and talk, right? They're like mini-plays?" He asked.
She nodded and Ron looked up towards the ceiling.
"It would be cool to have one now!" he said absently.
She grunted.
Ron took no notice. He picked up his DaDA book and turned the pages until he found the one he needed. He sat and wrote up his three-page report on why ostracizing a hellhound is more important than killing it.
Harry stared at the ceiling. There was nothing to really do. He didn't feel like himself. The last thing he remembered was reading Hermione's book. Then, he found himself here, in his room. What had he been doing? He didn't want to ask because he was worried someone would find him crazy and lock him up. He had to figure it out or no one would.
He looked at Dean and Seamus. They sat on Seamus' bed and looked at a naughty magazine. They laughed and Harry shook his head. He would never do that. The way he was the worst thing he had done, par-say. In his book, he wasn't supposed to be different. He was supposed to be like every other boy, having no scar, nemesis, or an ex-boyfriend. Then again, he wasn't alone. There was Ron and Draco too. The two of them together upset him, made his stomach turn.
Harry jerked and placed his hand on his head. He saw green, felt wind rushing forward, and heard his own voice scream "get out of my head!" He saw Draco, the snitch. He remembered screaming again, fighting with someone he couldn't see, and almost falling off his broom. Finally, he saw Draco fly over and then hand him the snitch. Everything went dark.
He opened his eyes. Dean was gawking at him where as Seamus had passed out, the magazine slumped on the floor. His arm was dangling off the bed.
"What?" he asked.
Dean looked from him to Seamus and got up. He rushed to the door. "I am going to go get Ron," he said quietly.
Harry could hear the sound of Dean's feet running down the stairs.
Ron watched Dean scramble down the stairs. It was a lot more attention grabbing than Fred and George chasing Angelina Spinett so they could copy her homework. Dean was paler it seemed, but Ron could not tell. He would have thought he would have been able to, as Dean was black.
The guy ran up to him.
"Harry... gone mad..." he said through ragged breath.
Ron gave him a weird look for being out of breath.
"Harry's as sane as a land gnome!" Ron exclaimed. "Wait... that's not right... well anyway, he is pretty sane!"
"Just come on! I will explain," Dean said, calming down. "He had one hell of a spasm. Something is wrong with him!"
Ron followed Dean into the room. Harry had his face into the pillow. Seamus was in a stunned position that jolted Ron.
"He went star-craven' mad!" Dean exclaimed. "He turned to Seamus and his face was all bloody-looking with eyes like a weasel and his hands kept up like an eagle's claw surrounding a fish. They came to a point. He made some sort of inhumane sound and then..."
Dean took a deep breath. He looked as rattled as Ron was.
"...He looked normal," Dean finished.
Harry rolled over and looked at them.
"If I wasn't supposed to hear any of that, it is too late," he said.
Ron looked at Dean. Dean scrambled back over to Seamus.
"Harry, something's wrong!" Ron said.
"Well, I think that's obvious, you git!" Harry exclaimed.
"Should we tell Dumbledore?"
Harry shook his head.
"No, but check with Malfoy. Ask him what I was doing during the game. I know we had one!" Harry said. "I saw it five minutes ago!"
"You saw it?" Ron asked, confused.
"Yes, I bloody saw it!" Harry replied.
Ron ran off. He wanted to get Draco, only he felt like he NEEDED to get him for Harry. Ron didn't remember that he shouldn't approach Draco in front of Draco's friends. As a matter of fact, Draco wasn't with anyone. He was walking by himself.
"Harry needs to talk to you!" Ron cried.
Draco shook his head.
"He has already given me enough trouble!" Draco exclaimed.
"He doesn't know what happened! He wasn't himself!" Ron cried.
Draco shrugged.
"Are you sure it isn't just his real self coming out?" Draco asked.
Ron rolled his eyes. He grabbed Draco by his sleeve. For a "girly-guy", Ron was strong. Then again, Draco was good at verbal fights and punching and little else. So he couldn't exactly try to stop him. About five minutes later, Ron was exhausted and let go, but by then, Draco was coming willingly.
Draco paraded through the Gryffindor common room like he owned it and up the stairs.
"Um..." Ron said.
Draco turned around.
"That's the girls' dormitory!" Ron told him.
Draco blushed a light pink- all his pale skin could manage.
"I knew that! I just wanted a little excitement!" He said.
Ron glared at him, feeling very insulted. Draco came back down and took the other stairs. He put his hand to a door.
"No," Ron said.
Draco looked at him, his eyebrows knitted.
"Why not? Whose room is this?" Draco asked.
Ron shook his head.
"Just don't," he said.
Draco opened it anyway. Rats crawled out over his feet. He screeched and slammed the door. The rats turned into liquorice wands.
"What the bloody Hell?" Draco exclaimed.
"That would be my brothers' room!" Ron replied.
Draco gave him a look.
"Why don't you lead now!" he said.
"That was what I was doing until you ran ahead of me!" Ron exclaimed.
Ron led him up to Harry's room. When he opened the door, Seamus was conscious and chewing Harry out.
"Okay, you stupid prat, what'd you call me up here for?" Draco asked.
Harry smirked.
"You would make a great butler, Malfoy, doing exactly as you just said: coming when you're called. Of course, a dog does that too!" Harry commented.
Draco clenched his hands into fists, wand tucked inside his cloak. It would take him almost five seconds to grab it.
"Seamus, Dean, can we please have sometime alone?" Ron asked.
They gladly edged out of the room. Seamus rushed back in and grabbed the magazine. Then, he turned and left.
"According to you from the game, you wanted me to die, but you got yourself pretty close! If your broom hadn't pulled out of that dive, you would have killed yourself running into the ground!" Draco told him.
Harry took a deep breath.
"Ron, tell Malfoy what Dean told you!" Harry exclaimed.
'Why can't you?" Ron exclaimed. "You were there!"
Harry gave him a look and Ron took a deep breath. Draco laughed.
"If You-Know-Who got you, Ron, you wouldn't last and neither would Harry with you giving in like that!" Draco exclaimed.
Ron angered but told him anyway.
"So you want me to help him?" Draco said. Ron shrugged.
"Do YOU want me to help him?" Draco demanded.
"Yeah..." Ron said slowly, looking away.
"Potter, you are coming over to my house for winter break!" Draco said.
"Why? How would that help?" Harry asked.
Draco rolled his eyes.
"Because everyone feels better after running down the street stark-naked yelling 'Victor Krum rocks my socks!'" Draco exclaimed.
Harry looked at him.
"No, you prat, my family has the best Dark Arts artifacts. Dark Arts artifacts are the best way to locate Dark Art spells and identify them!" Draco said.
"Hermione would have to come too!" Harry cried.
Draco shook his head.
"No!" he said firmly.
"Why?" Harry asked.
Draco opened up his hand and began counting off his fingers. "One: I hate her. Two: I hate her. Three: I bloody hate her. Four-" he started. "Malfoy, we get the point!" Harry exclaimed.
"Wait! I am not done yet!" Draco cried. "Now, four: she's a mudblood. Five: my house has wards against mudbloods!"
"I would put that under number four,' Ron said.
Draco and Harry ignored him.
"Next Sunday, six-thirty in the morning, outside!" Draco exclaimed and walked out. Ron ran after Draco. "That was very nice of you!" Ron said resting his hand on Draco's shoulder.
Draco didn't say anything and the portrait swung open to let him out. Ron still followed. He was determined.
"You deserve a treat," Ron said.
"Don't want one," Draco mumbled.
Ron rushed ahead, blocking his path.
"Do it for me!" Ron begged.
"Fine," Draco said. "What do you want to do?"
Sunday... should Harry despise the day? He did not know. It was a disaster waiting to happen, he was sure. Yet, something told him this could be very beneficial. Another thing, though, was that Hermione could probably figure this out on her own for him but this year, her mind was... well... gone. There was no other way for Harry to put it. He always thought he was the traumatized kid not her. She had been like the angel bringing light on her wings and taking away the pain and suffering. She was a person he had always depended on although he liked to think there was no one he depended on or could. This was different; she was different. The world had changed before his eyes over a summer.
Harry bit his lip. Another thing that bothered him is he never really found a way to be happy. It was so sorrowful to him. He liked to think he had done no one any wrong and in fact, he couldn't think of a time he had. He might have but he couldn't remember. Ron had found it and Hermione hadn't. He saw what affect it had on her. Harry had no wish to lose his mind. He needed some way to entertain himself. That was quite hard for Harry. Quidditch was a way but no one was probably willing to play with him and Professor Flitwick had his broom.
Harry bent over his bed and looked through his trunk. He had gone over to his father's house, growing up, over the summer with the Weasleys. From there, he had found a journal that his father had kept. Harry hadn't read very much of it as he hated to read and he had been busy.
Now, he opened the book and it made a crackling sound as if it was a new book. Harry flipped through a couple pages and began to read.
Journal of Mine,
I was walking with Sirus, the tough chap, today. A girl passed by. Oh, she is amazing! Her hair is Chestnut and her eyes, hazel. What it would be like to kiss her apple, flowery lips. Her name is Lily Evans. A heart of gold. Another student of despicable taste, Serverus Snape, was there. He dropped his stuff and she helped him. I laughed and she gave me a bloody awful stare. That slimy git! I will hurt him. Sirus is good with the punches and me with the words. We can take him. If only she will look at me. Maybe it will catch her eye. Maybe she will come on Heaven's wings, down the golden stairs from the utopia called Heaven from which she came, and talk to me. I am afraid she will hate me. I know I will say something cunning but will she like it?
It was where his father had fallen in love with his mother. He thought of how everyone had told him how strong his father was. Yet, he found that when it came to his mother, his father was weak.
Harry realized he was crying and used his sleeve to wipe the tears from his face. He took a deep breath. Harry glanced to the door and flipped through for another entry.
Ron woke up. Something had unsettled him form his sleep. He had gotten back not too long ago to the dorm, as he had gotten back late. Something was in the room. There was wind. There was more.
He looked below. The window was open. The moon was translucent, shining dimly. A figure stood next to the window. Ron leaned forward to get a better look. The bed creaked and it looked up.
The thing, if he dare even call it that, was horrifying. A hump it had developed on its back. Its face, its hair, its ears! The thing was something frightening to uphold. Its hair was wild and black like the night, almost shaggy. The eyes were a ruby red, if he dared even describe it as anything close to pretty. The hands, oh the hands were drawn up into points. They were bloody daggers that had just finished a kill. The distressed sneer held a look all its own that embezzled all beauty that was ever known. Ron was most horrified to think that probably only minutes ago it had been Harry.
He leaned forward. It looked up at him. It stared into his eyes. Just behind those glinting eyes was a boy in a glass cage. The boy beat upon the translucent walls. He could not get out and no one could here him. He slumped down against the icy-cold wall. No one could help him. He was lost and alone.
An unsettled Ron found his second-hand wand from within the cloak of his presently dressed self. Ron pointed his wand at the thing that had taken away his friend. What it was, what it was doing was not quite unknown as it clumsily tried to climb out the window that was over ten stories above the ground.
"Stupefy!" Ron cried, his voice slightly hoarse and unsounding.
A tiny blast came from his wand and hit the thing like a flea.
"Stupefy!" he shouted this time.
The thing slumped over the window. Ron jumped off the bed and grabbed the slowly returning Harry from plunging to his death. He caught sight of Harry's broom hovering just outside the window and brought it in. He shut the window and "dropped" Harry's limp body onto Harry's bed. Ron watched as Harry's wide-open stunned eyes took on their green luster. Ron's heart slowed and he sat on the floor, watching, waiting, and hoping for it not to happen again.