Disclaimer: I own nothing! Nothing I tell you! Young and Proud is owned by Ace of Base and the characters are owned by J. K. Rowlings, who needs to hurry up and finish the 5th book.
Thank you and other stuff to: I'm ssssoooo sorry that it's been over 4 months since I updated this story. My apologies to anyone who was waiting for this, I know how awful it is to wait to see what happens. I do want to thank everyone who reviewed chapter 1, I love you all^_^
Blair- Ack! I hope you didn't die while I was taking my time in writing it!
Madison- Ummm.... sorry... I know that you don't like Draco, but I'll try and post the other one soon.
Lady Indis- Glad that you liked it, and I hope you like this chapter too.
Sienna of Lothlorien- Sorry that I didn't write fast, but I hope you like this chapter.
Kuroi Shi - I'm glad that you thought it was cool(normally you can't use cool in the same sentence as me......)
Chapter 2: The Wrath of Sleeping people
[No matter what you say
no matter what you do, we are united]
After racing back to the castle and tossing Ron and Hermione's presents in his trunk, Harry hurriedly grabbed Draco's presents and his invisibility cloak. He threw it on and waited until a few first years opened the portrait of the Fat Lady, and hurried out into the hallway. He consulted the Marauder's Map. Mrs. Norris and Mr. Filch were on the 5th floor, close to the Ravenclaw dorms, Snape was pacing around his office, and Peeves was happily making a mess out of the library. All clear. Perfect.
Tucking the map into his pocket, Harry started towards the main staircase and to the hospital wing. The staircase wasn't very crowded, but it was more so then he would have liked. He was halfway down when he felt a click and the staircase started to swing in a different direction then in which he was going. Sighing, he sat on the edge of the platform, waiting for the stairs to swing him where he needed to be. He froze as he heard the pitter-patter of feet behind him, and voices that he knew well enough.
"Hermione told me that she and Ron are worried about him," came Lavander Brown's voice. "She says he hasn't been himself since school began, but I don't blame him one bit. You know, Cedric and all."
"True Lavander, true," returned the spunky, but unusually sedated voice of Seamus, "but Ron told me that Harry might be seeing someone. He has been coming in to the dorm room late for a while now."
A squeal. "Seeing someone! But who?! It can't be anyone in our year or house or we would have heard about it. Oh! What about that Ravenclaw girl....umm..... what was her name? Chang! Cho Chang!"
"Cho?" Seamus's voice was doubtful. "No, she's still upset about Cedric. Well, it can't be a Hufflepuff, they're still not friendly towards Harry. It could be a Ravenclaw I suppose."
"No, Padma would have told Parvati. But, but that would mean.."
"A Slytherin! No! Harry would never!" Seamus paused. "But, would he? No, not Harry."
"Hermione does say that he's been secretive. Must be a Slytherin! But who? Millicent and Pansy are just.. eww.."
"Ha! I don't think Millicent knows what the male race is, besides, Harry would never fall for her. Pansy's too busy hanging off Malfoy to even notice."
"That leaves Blaise Zambini." Lavander blinked and smiled. "I guess that Blaise isn't that bad, a lot better then the rest of those Slytherin dogs. What 'til Parvati gets a load of this!"
The staircase changed at that moment, and Harry used the opportunity to sprint away. Once out of the stairwell he shook his head. Great, with Lavander thinking that Harry was going out with Zambini, soon the whole school would think so too.
'How the hell did Lavander manage to get into Gryffindor?' Harry mused to himself. 'She belongs in Hufflepuff!'
He continued shaking his head and mumbling to himself until he stopped outside the door to the hospital wing. He wanted to go in and see Draco, but there was a heavy reluctance pulling him back. They had been enemies for over five years now. A few minutes and dreams wouldn't be able to fix that. What if everything didn't work out? Harry had been waiting for months to find out who this special person was, and now that he knew, he wasn't sure if he should get to know them, or to go on with life without them.
Inside the hospital wing, Draco was having the same thoughts. He had always been everything but polite to Harry, and he was positive that nothing that he could ever do would make him forget that. And even if they did work something out, the rest of the school would find it weird and awkward to see the great 'Golden Boy' with the son of one of the most notorious death eaters. Harry was trying to protect everything that Draco always thought he would destroy. But now the decision was heavily weighed.
Outside the hospital wing, Harry took a deep breath, and stepped inside, slinging his invisibility off at the same time. The small box that contained the bracelet felt heavier by the minute, and now Harry was wondering if he should even give it to him. He slowly walked towards Malfoy's curtained room, walking softly so he wouldn't wake him if he was asleep. He had the feeling that Draco was a very light sleeper, and he didn't want to put up with the wrath of waking someone up. He pulled the curtain aside after he gave a soft knock on the fabric to let Draco know that he was coming in.
What he saw was a sight that he kept in his memory forever. Draco was staring up at the ceiling, his eyes barely focused. A thin stream of light was streaming in from a window next to his bed, illuminating his pale and pointed features. A ghost of a smile was on his lips, almost like he was trying to smile, but had forgotten how. Altogether, he looked like some type of mythological creature, or even a fallen angel. The sight was breath taking, a moment that could never be forgotten.
"Sorry, I didn't hear you come in," Draco said a moment later, sitting up as he was pulled from his reverie. "I do that sometimes, when I don't have anything better to do and.." He trailed off. 'Great Draco! Now your babbling about stupid stuff and Potter thinks your an idiot!'
"It's okay," Harry replied, secretly sorry that he had disturbed the scene at all. "Umm, I brought you a few chocolate frogs from Honeydukes. They always cheer me up when I'm sick or injured, or any other time that I happen to be in here for whatever reason." 'Good job Harry, talking about dumb things.... that was really smooth.'
They both paused for a moment. Anyone who could witness the situation could clearly see that both of the boys we nervous, and had an almost passionate look in their eyes when they looked at each other. Harry broke the silence first by handing Draco the back of chocolate and sitting down by the bedside.
"So, how has it been in here?" Harry asked, trying to start some conversation with his former enemy turned... well, he wasn't exactly sure what Draco was now.
"Simply boring. I don't know how you can stand to be in here so often and not go crazy," was the rushed response. "That Pomfrey lady drives me crazy, and is always shoving horrible concoctions down my throat."
"She's honestly not that bad if you're nice to her. It's just been troubled times lately, that's all. Normally, she's the gentlest soul you could find west of the Mississippi."
"West of the Mississippi?"
"American muggle saying, don't ask me what it means. I heard it on some American talk-show, Opera or Opra.... something like that."
"Talk-show? On the cordless?
"No, on the telly. My cousin Dudley was watching it one day on cable TV. I thought it was the dumbest thing that I had ever seen, but it beats having nothing to do all day except for chores."
"Potter, nothing you said made the least bit of sense to me. TV? Telly? What are those?"
"Oh." Harry was almost dumbstruck for a moment. He could barely imagine a life that didn't have TV in it, and Draco didn't even know what a telly was. It was very sad that even though Wizards and Muggles had married together Wizards had never accepted that some of the better things of muggle life. "Well Draco, a telly and a TV are the same thing. They're boxes in which you watch stories that are acted out, and.... well it's hard to explain to someone."
"Stories acted out? Are there people inside these boxes?"
Harry stifled a laugh. "No, images are broadcasted through wavelengths and arrive into a TV set and are transformed into the images." Did that make any sense? Maybe Draco and Hermione should have a talk. Hermione knew practically everything about the Wizard world, so she probably knew the Muggle world inside and out.
"Oh. Oh! You mean a television. My aunt and uncle the states have one of those. Very interesting how some people live their lives over there. Americans, can't live with them and you can't live without them." (Author Note: I am American, and it's an inside joke, not a racial or "country" slur)
Harry wanted to hit himself. Not only had he made a stupid mistake in under estimating what Draco knew about Muggle culture, but also he had made himself look like a fool while he was doing so. He sighed, and turned over the card that he had received in his Chocolate Frog. Morgana again, no surprise there.
"So, anything interesting happen since yesterday?" Draco asked in a desperate attempt to start up another conversation. Harry shook his head. "No assassination attempts on Hogwarts golden boy or the golden trio?"
"To early into the school year for that," Harry answered. "Voldemort won't attack me towards the end of the year as he always does."
Draco flinched when Harry said Voldemort's name. Unpleasant memories of the summer before began to stir in his mind.
I don't want to be branded. Not by him!
The memories were far and in-between, for his father had put some sort of makeshift memory spell on him. He didn't want him to remember anything except for the pain that was punishment for being who he was. A Malfoy. The last Malfoy.
"Sorry, I didn't think that you would mind if I said his name," Harry said softly. "Lot's of people don't anymore." Which was true, because Hermione and Ron had both conquered their fears of saying his name.
"It's not your fault," Draco responded in an overly strong voice which Harry instantly saw through. "It's just, certain things happened over the summer vacations, and well, I really don't like to think about them that much."
"Then I'll never mention it ever again."
"Thank you."
Silence descended on them once again, each of them too nervous to think of what to say. A light blush settled on Harry's face, thinking that he was too dumb to think of anything to say. When Draco saw the light pink warm up Harry's cheeks, he himself was embarrassed.
"Great, now I feel like an idiot," Harry mumbled, accidentally stating how he felt out loud."
"That's because you are an idiot Harry," Draco responded, a started laughing at Harry's folly.
Harry sat up straight and gave Draco a weird half smile/ half shocked look.
"What? Did I say something offensive?" Draco asked, putting on a mask of concern, something Harry had never seen him do except for in the dream.
"You, you called me Harry," Harry stated in a shocked voice. "You've never done that before." He paused. "I mean, it's okay if you call me that, I'd really prefer if you'd call me that. You don't if you don't want to, but you just did and-"
"Harry," Draco said, putting a finger over Harry's mouth as if to quiet him, "you're babbling."
Harry started turning a deeper shade of red then he already was. Draco hadn't moved his hand, and thoughts were starting to form in Harry's mind. Very naughty thoughts, if you get this author's meaning.
'Ack Potter! Get your head out of the gutter!' Harry mentally scolded himself. 'This is Malfoy we're talking about. You barely think that he's alright.'
"Is it okay if I call you Harry?" Draco asked him once he had removed his finger from Potter's intoxicating lips. 'Intoxicating? Draco, stop being a pervert, and get your eyes off of his sensual lips. Sensual? Damn, I got it bad.'
"Yeah, you can call me whatever you want," Harry responded. On better recollection of who he was talking to, he added, " as long as it's not Git, Stupid, Ass, or anything else like that."
"Damn, you have me figured out pretty well," Draco almost laughed. "But I'm afraid, Mr. Potter, that I have yet to figure you out. No matter how hard I try."
Harry smiled, and wondered if Draco even knew half the truth. He himself had spent a better part of the end of his vacation profiling the person in his dream. So much that he felt like a stalker. All he had needed was a face, and now he had one. Now he knew who the person in his dream was, and he was happy that he would finally be able to find some happiness. But Ron and Hermione...........
"Is something wrong," Draco asked when he noticed a troubled look come onto Harry's face.
"No," Harry lied, but thought better of it. "Actually, yes. Ron and Hermione... what are they going to say?"
Draco didn't say anything, but a dark look came onto his face. This is what he was afraid would happen. The Mudblood and the Weasel, Harry's best friends, and Draco knew that they wouldn't exactly be jumping for joy if Harry ever told them that he would secretly be seeing him. Draco's thoughts froze for a minute. What if Harry didn't want to see him, and was just here out of pity? He had already lost his pride and dignity the summer before, but to lose Harry would be worse then both of them put together.
"I don't know what they would say, but I know that they wouldn't exactly be happy for you," Draco finally answered in a whisper. "I know that this doesn't sound like anything that I would ever say, but I think that you should tell them."
"You wouldn't mind?" Harry answered; this day was a record for shocks that he was getting.
"I don't think that you should keep anything from them, no matter how much we don't like each other. Secrets between friends only create distance, and I know how much they worry about you already."
"Yeah, the do. A little too much I think. But what would I tell them? 'Hey Ron, hey Hermione, I've been having these dreams about Malfoy, and I started seeing him. It's cool with you guys, right?' Draco, that sounded stupid just by saying it."
"Tell them the truth. No more no less, I wouldn't expect anything else from you, Harry Potter, and neither should they."
Draco stopped talking, and at that moment decided on something that he knew he would regret later. Harry was very important to him. But he knew he would rather see Harry happy with Ron and Hermione then sad with him.
"You know that this won't fly with them," Harry whispered, reluctant to tell them. "Knowing Ron, he would never talk to me again."
"Harry, I've made up my mind, and this is what you are going to do," Draco began, in a voice reminiscent of his old commanding tone. "You will go to them and tell them the truth. If they are against it, I will never bother you or them again. If they are okay with it, only then may we be together."
"Why would you want to do something like that?" Harry almost exclaimed. "Then I might never get to see you or be with you again."
"Because I want to see you happy. They're your best friends, I'm one of your worst enemies. Now go and do it, the longer you take, the longer it hurts."
Harry stood up reluctantly, not wanting to follow Draco's command. It would be so much easier if he didn't tell Ron and Hermione, but he knew Draco was right. Secrets would only make them further away.
"I don't have to tell them," Harry tried.
Draco shook his head, and pointed for Harry to leave.
"Good-bye for now Draco, I promise that this isn't the end, and that I'll be back."
"Good-bye Harry."
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