Chapter 2 - Taking Action
In his bedroom, Draco was beginning to act on the first step of his plan. He was writing a letter to professor Dumbledore.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
I know that my mother has already written to you outlining our circumstances at home. By now I am sure that you have read it and have discovered the problem that I have.
I cannot possibly sleep in the Slytherin dormitory at school anymore. I feel it would be a threat to my safety. I have come up with a proposition. Perhaps this year the prefects could have a common room to themselves? That way, I will not be around those who wish to harm me. I have a plan, and I feel that I will be quite safe once it has been put into action, but until then I know that most of the Slytherins (with the exception of Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, who are against the dark side) would love to see me dead and would not hesitate to help me along.
I plan to let it be known that I am fully supportive of the light side; I plan to renounce my old name and show everyone the real me. I know it must be hard for you to believe that I am happy about the imprisonment of my father and I cannot offer you any proof, except that I guarantee you will see the difference in me when I return to school this year.
There is also something else I feel you may be able to help me with. I wish to become friends with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. For five years I have tormented them, hating myself for it every minute. I wanted to be friends with them – they are genuinely nice people – but it was impossible. I thought you might be able to help convince Harry and the others that I am not who they thought I am.
I would appreciate your help in this matter.
Yours sincerely (and hoping you had as good a holiday as I did),
Draco Black
Although Draco had not officially changed his name, he knew that it would be changed soon enough, so he figured he ought to get used to it.
Having written the letter, he sat back and smiled.
The next day, Draco and his mother went to the Ministry of Magic to legally change their name to 'Black'. After that, they went to have lunch in a muggle shopping complex, having never had the liberty to do so before. While Narcissa spent hours in a muggle clothing shop, trying on all sorts of clothes, Draco slipped out of the complex and into a side alley. He was a bit nervous at first; it looked dirty and unsafe. But he soon became fascinated. He stopped outside a building which had pictures painted all over it; pictures which were not moving. Unable to stop himself, he walked in, gaping at the walls which were entirely covered with sheets of paper containing many different designs, big and small.
"What takes your fancy?" Draco jumped at the voice behind him. A slobby muggle man was standing there.
"Uh… what is this place?" he asked. The man looked incredulous.
"Tattoo parlour." He grunted, clearly thinking Draco was mad.
"And what exactly is a tattoo?" Draco wondered aloud. The man did not bother to answer. He merely pointed at his arm, where there was a picture of a flaming skull. Draco nearly recoiled. He did not like the look of that image; it was similar to the Dark Mark.
"You want one?" The man questioned.
"Oh… ah… no, I don't-" he stopped, gaping at a magnificent image of a black dragon on the wall. "I want that." He said, pointing.
"Are you sure? That will be pretty painful, you don't look like you can take much pain." If Draco was unsure, being labelled as a sissy had strengthened his resolve. He nodded, firmly.
"Draco, darling, wake up! It's time to get ready!" Narcissa's voice floated up the stairs.
Draco bounded out of bed; today was the first of September. He was going to Hogwarts, where his plan could continue. He was excited, but also nervous about trying to become friends with Ron and Hermione, but even more nervous when it came to Harry. He wondered at this. [A/N: but we don't! ;)]
He pulled off his clothes and walked into his en suite, turning the hot tap in the shower on and filling the room with steam.
Once he had finished washing, he wrapped a towel around his waist and stood with his back to the mirror. He turned his head and admired his lower back; the scab had come off, and he had a small black dragon on the small of his back. He smiled at it, and proceeded to dress carefully: he needed to make a good impression.
On the train, Draco decided it probably wasn't a good idea to confront anyone, so he chose a compartment by himself. However, he was out of luck. He had barely had five minutes to wonder whether anyone would accept him when he heard a familiar voice.
"Absolutely not!" It growled. "I would rather stand in the hall the whole trip."
Draco's heart clenched; it was Harry.
"I know, Harry, but there are no other seats on the whole train! We have to sit down somewhere!" Hermione sounded disgusted at the thought.
Draco decided to use this to his advantage. He walked over to the door, pulled it open, and stared at them. They stopped arguing immediately. When he made eye contact with Harry, something snapped in him; he could not look into those eyes. He blushed and looked down.
"Look, I know I have been an unfair dickhead, but, well, you're welcome to sit in here. I would actually appreciate a chance to talk with you all," Draco mumbled, wrenching his gaze from his shoes to look Hermione in the eye. She was his best hope. He could feel tears start to form in his eyes as he remembered all the times he'd called her a mudblood. "I'm sorry," he whispered and looked away.
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at one another, speechless. Surprisingly, it was Ron who shrugged, and dragged their stuff into the compartment.
"Don't mind if I do," he said, throwing his case onto the rack above the chair. Seeing the looks of shock on his friends' faces, he added, "But you've got some explaining to do, Malfoy," saying the last word with a bit of a snarl.
Draco sighed, wiping his eyes, and watched the floor while he spoke.
"Firstly, my name is no longer Malfoy, it's Black."
Harry gasped. The pain of Sirius' death was too recent. He could feel tears prick his eyes. He was about to lunge at Malfoy, and scream how dare he defile that name, but at that moment Malfoy looked up at him. His eyes were watery; there was obvious sadness and distress in his face, but something else also. Was that hope, and… trust?
Harry remained silent, and Draco proceeded to tell them his entire life story. He cried shamelessly, but when he started to talk about the night Lucious was taken to Azkaban, he looked at Harry, adoration and admiration in his eyes.
"You saved us," he whispered. As he looked into Harry's eyes Draco realised there was something about Harry which was different this year; his hair was messy as always, but longer. He had obviously exercised in the summer; he had become rather muscly. Draco realised with a gasp that Harry no longer wore glasses, and he realised that Harry was extremely attractive. He gasped and ran out of the compartment, into a toilet and locked the door behind him.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were too shocked to say anything. Hermione was the first to recover.
"Well, I don't know about you two but I actually believed him. I mean, it's a bit elaborate for a joke, isn't it?"
Harry and Ron nodded, stunned.
"I hate to say this, but I think he's quite better looking now that he's changed his clothes and messed up his hair a bit. I guess the lack of a sneer helps a lot too. And the lack of name calling," she continued.
Ron snapped out of their stupor. Ron yelled "Oi! You can't say that in front of me! Your boyfriend, remember?" before realising what he'd done and covering his mouth, looking expectantly at Harry.
Meanwhile Harry appeared not to have noticed. He was staring at the place Draco had been sitting. What's wrong with me? Am I going to believe him that easily? But there was no lie in his eyes. No sarcasm, no spite. He was being truthful, and trusting. And was there something else too?
"NO!" he shouted without realising. He blushed. "Just thinking," he said, in answer to their shocked looks. He would not think about that possibility… He had to find out who he had been dreaming about first. But for now, I think it's time to tell them.
Harry took a deep breath, and said: "Listen, I gotta tell you guys something, I hope you don't hate me, but I only realised it a few days ago." Ron and Hermione looked at him, silently urging him on. "I'm gay." He said flatly.
Ron and Hermione burst out laughing. "Harry, we know! You always check out guys more than girls," Hermione said. Harry suddenly noticed that Ron and Hermione were holding hands. He looked pointedly at their entwined fingers and they both blushed, separating themselves.
"About time! Wow, congratulations guys!" Harry said enthusiastically. "When did this happen?"
"Ummm… well, we…. kind of… a few…days ago…" Ron muttered, blushing furiously.
"Harry, why did you say you only realised you were gay a few days ago? What happened?" Hermione asked, tactfully changing the subject. Harry noticed, but decided to let her get away with it.
"Oh, well…uh… don't get mad at me, but I've been, kind of… having dreams… about guys…" He mumbled.
"Yes? And? Anyone in particular?" Ron prompted.
"Well, I never see their face, but I know it's the same guy. He's wearing a dark cloak with the hood pulled up. He says "Don't hate me, Harry," and touches my cheek. Then I…" He trailed off, mumbling the last few words under his breath.
"You what, Harry?" Hermione said with an uncharacteristic evil grin on her face.
"I get hard." He said softly.
"Huh? Can't hear you mate, you'll have to speak up." Ron said, catching on.
"I GET HARD!" Harry shouted, just as the compartment door slid open. It was Draco. He looked slightly flustered at hearing those words, but he seemed to recover and said, "We're pulling into Hogsmeade," collecting his stuff and hauling it out into the hall.
Harry, Ron and Hermione hurriedly pulled on their robes, and grabbed their trunks just as the train came to a stop.
"I have a few changes to announce." Dumbledore said after his initial words of welcome and usual warnings. There was an excited murmur, but no one was too loud, because they were too content after having filled their stomachs with the start of year feast.
"This year, I have decided to try to reinforce the unity within this school. For this reason, I have decided that half of all the Slytherins in each year level will swap dormitories with half of the Gryffindors in each year level. The same will happen for Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. There will also be four new prefects this year, one from each house. They are Blaise Zabini, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Terry Boot and Harry Potter. Will all the prefects please lead the way to the house common rooms and then make their way back to the great hall to meet me? That is all."
Harry sat, stunned, until Hermione and Ron dragged him from his seat up to the Gryffindor tower. Harry walked in a daze, wondering why on Earth Dumbledore had chosen to have four more prefects, unless he thought he was going to need the help…
Back in the great hall, Harry Ron and Hermione stood chatting with the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prefects, while Draco, Pansy and Blaise sat in a corner, talking quietly. Pansy would shriek every so often, and hug Draco, and Blaise was simply looking murderous. Harry guessed he was telling them his life story also. But as he stared into the back of Draco's head, Draco turned around and his silver eyes bored into Harry's. Harry could feel himself losing all sense of time and space, soon all of his vision was filled with silver. He found himself in his dream again, but this time the boy – no, man – in his dream was not wearing a hood. It was Draco. "Don't hate me, Harry," he said, and cupped Harry's cheek in his hand, before turning and walking away.
Harry came to only to find himself in a very embarrassing situation. He was on the floor, with a growing problem in his pants. Hurriedly he got up and sat at a table, hiding his problem from sight. But not fast enough for a blond haired boy, whose eyes went wide and who blushed before turning away.
Dumbledore entered before anyone had a chance to ask Harry what had happened, and he began to talk. Both Harry and Draco felt that listening was the last thing they wanted to do, as they were wondering about that strange interaction, but they both forced themselves to anyway.
"You will all be sharing a common room this year, separate from the rest of your houses. This is not only to promote unity and strength, but to learn from each other. You are the best witches and wizards in your year level, and you must learn to be strong. I believe that Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy in particular will be a particularly strong fighting pair. You will train in pairs to duel, as two wands are better than one. You will share a dormitory with your partner. Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy will be a pair. Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, another pair, Mr Zabini and Miss Parkinson, Mr McMillan and Miss Patil, Mr Boot and Mr Finch-Fletchely, Miss Abbot and Miss Brocklehurst. You will now follow me to your new living area. Your things have already been brought in."
Draco had to hand it to him, Dumbledore really did know how to make subtle adjustments. He had ensured that he and Harry would be working together to promote their friendship… or was it something else? There was something in the way Dumbledore's eyes twinkled when he announced that Draco would be working with Harry. Did he know something they didn't?