Chapter Six
Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.-Nietzsche
Draco woke to the sound of a someone yelling "WHAT!"
"Shh," said a quieter voice. "You'll wake him up."
"I'll wake him...I don't bloody well care if I wake him up! The medication your on must be going to your brain!"
"Don't be so melodramatic."
"Melo..Melodramatic! I think I'm entitled," the voice said taking on an aggrieved tone. "I come up here to see how my best friend is doing, and he tells me without any kind of leadup. Hey mate I've decided to befriend our mutual worst enemy. And you expect me to take that calmly!" He said, voice rising considerably.
"No of course I didn't. I expected you to be mad but eventually realize that your my friend and you shouldn't try and stop me from making other friends, no matter how much you dislike them."
"No matter how much we dislike them. We Harry. We've disliked him since first year."
"So we didn't like him when we first met him, that doesn't mean anything. We didn't like Hermione when we first met her either. Think what we would have missed if we hadn't gotten to know her better."
"I can't talk about this anymore I'm leaving. I hope your arm feels better."
"Ron...Wait! Shit!" There was a small silence and then a rustle of sheets.
"So, uh, what do you think about this, you've been pretty quiet."
"Well he has been behaving differently lately, but I don't know, he's still Malfoy. I don't think that I can just forget all the bad history between us, just like that."
"You don't have to, I'm not asking you to be his friend, just accept that he's my friend. He promised to be civil to you and Ron. If he can do it then you should be able to."
"But why Harry? Why do you all of a sudden want to be his friend?"
"Because it's better than the alternative."
"And what's that?"
"Not being anything to him."
Draco drew in his breath sharply, hoping they hadn't heard him in the silence that followed Harry's statement.
"Harry if you have a crush on him I understand, he's very attractive, but..."
"No, it's not that it's.. there's always been something between us, it's like we were destined to be in each other's lives. I was drawn to him the first time I met him. It's not a sexual thing." At least not completely, he thought to himself. "It's more like I recognized him somehow. I can't really explain it but I can't imagine my life without
him in it. Besides he's different now, he's no longer under the control of his father. We've never known the real Draco, we should at least give him a chance. You should make an effort to try to get to know how he really is."
"Harry if you feel so strongly about it, I guess I can try. I'll talk to Ron."
"Thanks, Hermione."
"You get some rest, it's a Hogsmede weekend tomorrow you know."
"I know," Harry said, an odd tone in his voice.
Draco sat back in his bed and thought for a long time about what he'd heard.
The next morning Harry made his way slowly up to his room. He was dreading the inevitable confrontation with Ron. But to his surprise he heard raised voices and saw that Ron wasn't even in the room.
"He told me during the game that he rented a room. I don't think he means for you to two to sit and have a nice chat. All he wants from you is to get in your pants."
"He was just trying to get you worked up and it obviously worked. So what if he just wants to get in my pants, maybe I just want to get in his pants. I don't see why you should care either way."
"Of course I care, your my best friend, I don't want to see you hurt," Seamus said laying a hand on Dean's arm.
"I know," Dean said in a soft voice staring deeply into Seamus's eyes.
"Dean I...," Seamus started to say, but Harry cut him off.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Harry said sharply.
Dean looked over at Harry, then back at Seamus. "No were finished. I'm sure you two want to be alone, so I'll go," he said as he started out of the room.
"Wait Dean, there's something that I wanted to talk to the two of you about. You may want to sit down."
Dean sat on the bed beside Seamus, he can't know can he, he thought, his stomach in knots.
"It's about Draco.." Seamus interrupted before Harry could finish.
"What a surprise, what's not about Draco that's what I'd like to know. Wait a minute did you just call him Draco?" Seamus asked.
"Yes," Harry said walking from one end of the room to the other, his hands twisting nervously. "That's what I wanted to talk to you guys about. Draco and I talked last night. We decided to put away this rivalry of ours, we've both grown tired of it. We're going to try to get to know each other, maybe eventually become friends. We thought that maybe we could make it a double date today, so we could all get to know each other a little better."
Seamus just stared at him, while Dean's face lit with a smile.
"That's great Harry, I was thinking that if Draco and I started dating then it would be good if Seamus and him got along since he's my best
friend."
Seamus stood up finally able to speak. "But it's Draco Malfoy and your Harry Potter. You can't be friends it's just not natural. I mean this
is Draco Malfoy, he's evil!"
Both Harry and Dean rolled their eyes.
"He is not evil. He's pompous, arrogant, snobby, vain, and mean sometimes. But he's hardly evil. If that were the criteria for evil, half
of Hogwarts would qualify. He's seventeen years old for Merlin's sake! You sound just like Ron." Harry said exasperated.
"Look it's just, I... If you want to be friends with him that's your business." He turned to Dean "and if you want to..to date him that's also your business. Just don't expect me to be Malfoy's biggest fan all of a sudden," he said with a frown sitting down on the bed. Both Dean and Harry smiled. "Great it's a date."
Later that night Harry was sitting in the common room doing his Dark Arts homework when he heard a harsh whisper.
"Ron go do it, right now!"
"All right, all right I'm going," Ron said in an exasperated tone. Harry looked up to see Hermione pushing Ron towards him. Ron walked up and sat down beside him.
"Hi Harry."
"Um, Hi," Harry said cautiously. He was hoping that Ron wasn't mad at him anymore.
"Look I just wanted to apologize. I've no right to tell you who you can be friends with, and as long as Malfoy stops insulting Hermione and me I'll try to be civil."
Harry just gaped at him, unsure that he was actually hearing this.
"You mean, you're not mad? You're going to try to be civil to Malfoy? Is that really you Ron? No it can't be, you must have taken polyjuice potion. Who are you really?" Harry asked, refusing to believe that this mild tempered boy was his friend Ron.
"Bloody hell Harry," Ron yelled his face turning red as he stood up. "You're my best friend, I'd do anything for you, even put up with Malfoy! Besides," he said sitting down sulkily, "Hermione said I had to."
At this Hermione just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. All three of them knew that Hermione was the brains of the group, she could usually talk them into doing anything by reason of superior intellect.
"Sorry Ron, I know you're a great friend, but sometimes you really surprise me. I can't believe how lucky I am to have a friend that's so understanding."
Both boys blushed and looked uncomfortably at this unmanly show of emotion.
"So you want to play a game of chess," Ron asked trying desperately to get past the awkward moment.
Harry smiled and put aside his homework.
"I'd love to."
Meanwhile Draco was not having such an easy time. "Look I don't see how it's any of your business who I'm friends with."
"None of my business. NONE OF MY BUSINESS. Considering I'm your best friend, your only real friend to tell the truth, I think it is my
business, when you decide to make a friend out of nowhere. But more importantly it's HARRY FLIPPING POTTER! You know, messy haired Gryffindor with glasses, kicks your ass at quidditch every year, has a bad hero complex, you've been Archenemies for SIX BLOODY YEARS."
"Archenemies? Please. Don't be so melodramatic, you make it sound like were in a comic book," Draco said in a droll voice. It was really very
amusing to see his usually calm and collected friend so out of control.
"I'm not in the mood for you humorous little comments at the moment, Draco."
"So you admit that it was funny."
"Ahhhh. Draco if I didn't like you so much I would really hate you."
"Well obviously. Now lets stop with this stating of obvious facts and this very out of character rant. I want to know what your so upset about. If I remember correctly, you were always questioning my hatred for Potter and my, what did you call it," he said tapping his finger to
his lip while he looked up at the ceiling. "Oh yes, my unhealthy obsession with him. I'd think you'd be happy that we've decided to put aside our childish rivalry."
"I would be if you had just stopped it there, but no, you had to go and decide to make friends with him. I mean if I decided to go and have a sex change to become a girl, because I'm a boy in case anyone was confused, and didn't tell you, wouldn't you be mad."
"Er, well I would be surprised certainly, but I don't think it's quite on par with my becoming friends with Harry."
"Harry!" Blaise snorted. "For Merlin's sake now your calling him Harry."
"Well since were going to be friends I'd hardly think it would be appropriate to call him Potter."
Blaise stopped pacing across the room and sank into the couch with a resigned air. "It's just,.. I'm your best friend, you do something huge
and out of character like this without even bothering to tell me. It's like I don't even know you anymore."
"Look if your worried he's going to replace you as my best friend rest assured, it's NOT going to happen. I mean he's a Gryffindor for Merlin's sake.You know that the mere thought of a self sacrificing deed triggers my gag reflex. Also he almost always beats me at quidditch, and you know I'm a terrible loser. I'm bound to be quite pissy with him for at least three days after every game. I mean were complete opposites. But as trite as the saying is it's true, opposites attract. It will definitely be a
like/dislike relationship," he said with a smirk. "But Harry and I will never be as close as you and I are. Because no matter how much someone likes fighting, it's always better to have someone who shares most of the same beliefs with you." He turned back towards the mirror on the wall. "Now enough with all this moping, I have a date tonight and I need you to tell me which one makes me look more spectacular. The green conveys my Slytherin pride but the black says that I'm a sexy bad boy rebel with no regard for rules. Which do you think is better for a first date?"
This is the Draco we all know and love Blaise thought with a smile.
"Definitely the black."
"My thoughts exactly."
Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.-Nietzsche
Draco woke to the sound of a someone yelling "WHAT!"
"Shh," said a quieter voice. "You'll wake him up."
"I'll wake him...I don't bloody well care if I wake him up! The medication your on must be going to your brain!"
"Don't be so melodramatic."
"Melo..Melodramatic! I think I'm entitled," the voice said taking on an aggrieved tone. "I come up here to see how my best friend is doing, and he tells me without any kind of leadup. Hey mate I've decided to befriend our mutual worst enemy. And you expect me to take that calmly!" He said, voice rising considerably.
"No of course I didn't. I expected you to be mad but eventually realize that your my friend and you shouldn't try and stop me from making other friends, no matter how much you dislike them."
"No matter how much we dislike them. We Harry. We've disliked him since first year."
"So we didn't like him when we first met him, that doesn't mean anything. We didn't like Hermione when we first met her either. Think what we would have missed if we hadn't gotten to know her better."
"I can't talk about this anymore I'm leaving. I hope your arm feels better."
"Ron...Wait! Shit!" There was a small silence and then a rustle of sheets.
"So, uh, what do you think about this, you've been pretty quiet."
"Well he has been behaving differently lately, but I don't know, he's still Malfoy. I don't think that I can just forget all the bad history between us, just like that."
"You don't have to, I'm not asking you to be his friend, just accept that he's my friend. He promised to be civil to you and Ron. If he can do it then you should be able to."
"But why Harry? Why do you all of a sudden want to be his friend?"
"Because it's better than the alternative."
"And what's that?"
"Not being anything to him."
Draco drew in his breath sharply, hoping they hadn't heard him in the silence that followed Harry's statement.
"Harry if you have a crush on him I understand, he's very attractive, but..."
"No, it's not that it's.. there's always been something between us, it's like we were destined to be in each other's lives. I was drawn to him the first time I met him. It's not a sexual thing." At least not completely, he thought to himself. "It's more like I recognized him somehow. I can't really explain it but I can't imagine my life without
him in it. Besides he's different now, he's no longer under the control of his father. We've never known the real Draco, we should at least give him a chance. You should make an effort to try to get to know how he really is."
"Harry if you feel so strongly about it, I guess I can try. I'll talk to Ron."
"Thanks, Hermione."
"You get some rest, it's a Hogsmede weekend tomorrow you know."
"I know," Harry said, an odd tone in his voice.
Draco sat back in his bed and thought for a long time about what he'd heard.
The next morning Harry made his way slowly up to his room. He was dreading the inevitable confrontation with Ron. But to his surprise he heard raised voices and saw that Ron wasn't even in the room.
"He told me during the game that he rented a room. I don't think he means for you to two to sit and have a nice chat. All he wants from you is to get in your pants."
"He was just trying to get you worked up and it obviously worked. So what if he just wants to get in my pants, maybe I just want to get in his pants. I don't see why you should care either way."
"Of course I care, your my best friend, I don't want to see you hurt," Seamus said laying a hand on Dean's arm.
"I know," Dean said in a soft voice staring deeply into Seamus's eyes.
"Dean I...," Seamus started to say, but Harry cut him off.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Harry said sharply.
Dean looked over at Harry, then back at Seamus. "No were finished. I'm sure you two want to be alone, so I'll go," he said as he started out of the room.
"Wait Dean, there's something that I wanted to talk to the two of you about. You may want to sit down."
Dean sat on the bed beside Seamus, he can't know can he, he thought, his stomach in knots.
"It's about Draco.." Seamus interrupted before Harry could finish.
"What a surprise, what's not about Draco that's what I'd like to know. Wait a minute did you just call him Draco?" Seamus asked.
"Yes," Harry said walking from one end of the room to the other, his hands twisting nervously. "That's what I wanted to talk to you guys about. Draco and I talked last night. We decided to put away this rivalry of ours, we've both grown tired of it. We're going to try to get to know each other, maybe eventually become friends. We thought that maybe we could make it a double date today, so we could all get to know each other a little better."
Seamus just stared at him, while Dean's face lit with a smile.
"That's great Harry, I was thinking that if Draco and I started dating then it would be good if Seamus and him got along since he's my best
friend."
Seamus stood up finally able to speak. "But it's Draco Malfoy and your Harry Potter. You can't be friends it's just not natural. I mean this
is Draco Malfoy, he's evil!"
Both Harry and Dean rolled their eyes.
"He is not evil. He's pompous, arrogant, snobby, vain, and mean sometimes. But he's hardly evil. If that were the criteria for evil, half
of Hogwarts would qualify. He's seventeen years old for Merlin's sake! You sound just like Ron." Harry said exasperated.
"Look it's just, I... If you want to be friends with him that's your business." He turned to Dean "and if you want to..to date him that's also your business. Just don't expect me to be Malfoy's biggest fan all of a sudden," he said with a frown sitting down on the bed. Both Dean and Harry smiled. "Great it's a date."
Later that night Harry was sitting in the common room doing his Dark Arts homework when he heard a harsh whisper.
"Ron go do it, right now!"
"All right, all right I'm going," Ron said in an exasperated tone. Harry looked up to see Hermione pushing Ron towards him. Ron walked up and sat down beside him.
"Hi Harry."
"Um, Hi," Harry said cautiously. He was hoping that Ron wasn't mad at him anymore.
"Look I just wanted to apologize. I've no right to tell you who you can be friends with, and as long as Malfoy stops insulting Hermione and me I'll try to be civil."
Harry just gaped at him, unsure that he was actually hearing this.
"You mean, you're not mad? You're going to try to be civil to Malfoy? Is that really you Ron? No it can't be, you must have taken polyjuice potion. Who are you really?" Harry asked, refusing to believe that this mild tempered boy was his friend Ron.
"Bloody hell Harry," Ron yelled his face turning red as he stood up. "You're my best friend, I'd do anything for you, even put up with Malfoy! Besides," he said sitting down sulkily, "Hermione said I had to."
At this Hermione just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. All three of them knew that Hermione was the brains of the group, she could usually talk them into doing anything by reason of superior intellect.
"Sorry Ron, I know you're a great friend, but sometimes you really surprise me. I can't believe how lucky I am to have a friend that's so understanding."
Both boys blushed and looked uncomfortably at this unmanly show of emotion.
"So you want to play a game of chess," Ron asked trying desperately to get past the awkward moment.
Harry smiled and put aside his homework.
"I'd love to."
Meanwhile Draco was not having such an easy time. "Look I don't see how it's any of your business who I'm friends with."
"None of my business. NONE OF MY BUSINESS. Considering I'm your best friend, your only real friend to tell the truth, I think it is my
business, when you decide to make a friend out of nowhere. But more importantly it's HARRY FLIPPING POTTER! You know, messy haired Gryffindor with glasses, kicks your ass at quidditch every year, has a bad hero complex, you've been Archenemies for SIX BLOODY YEARS."
"Archenemies? Please. Don't be so melodramatic, you make it sound like were in a comic book," Draco said in a droll voice. It was really very
amusing to see his usually calm and collected friend so out of control.
"I'm not in the mood for you humorous little comments at the moment, Draco."
"So you admit that it was funny."
"Ahhhh. Draco if I didn't like you so much I would really hate you."
"Well obviously. Now lets stop with this stating of obvious facts and this very out of character rant. I want to know what your so upset about. If I remember correctly, you were always questioning my hatred for Potter and my, what did you call it," he said tapping his finger to
his lip while he looked up at the ceiling. "Oh yes, my unhealthy obsession with him. I'd think you'd be happy that we've decided to put aside our childish rivalry."
"I would be if you had just stopped it there, but no, you had to go and decide to make friends with him. I mean if I decided to go and have a sex change to become a girl, because I'm a boy in case anyone was confused, and didn't tell you, wouldn't you be mad."
"Er, well I would be surprised certainly, but I don't think it's quite on par with my becoming friends with Harry."
"Harry!" Blaise snorted. "For Merlin's sake now your calling him Harry."
"Well since were going to be friends I'd hardly think it would be appropriate to call him Potter."
Blaise stopped pacing across the room and sank into the couch with a resigned air. "It's just,.. I'm your best friend, you do something huge
and out of character like this without even bothering to tell me. It's like I don't even know you anymore."
"Look if your worried he's going to replace you as my best friend rest assured, it's NOT going to happen. I mean he's a Gryffindor for Merlin's sake.You know that the mere thought of a self sacrificing deed triggers my gag reflex. Also he almost always beats me at quidditch, and you know I'm a terrible loser. I'm bound to be quite pissy with him for at least three days after every game. I mean were complete opposites. But as trite as the saying is it's true, opposites attract. It will definitely be a
like/dislike relationship," he said with a smirk. "But Harry and I will never be as close as you and I are. Because no matter how much someone likes fighting, it's always better to have someone who shares most of the same beliefs with you." He turned back towards the mirror on the wall. "Now enough with all this moping, I have a date tonight and I need you to tell me which one makes me look more spectacular. The green conveys my Slytherin pride but the black says that I'm a sexy bad boy rebel with no regard for rules. Which do you think is better for a first date?"
This is the Draco we all know and love Blaise thought with a smile.
"Definitely the black."
"My thoughts exactly."