4. Delicious Tiny…
"What the hell were you thinking when you were choosing your classes, Malfoy?"
Harry's eyebrows were knitted together and he was querulous. He was holding Draco's timetable in his hand, looking very much enraged. The two boys were on their way towards the Arithmancy classroom.
"What do you mean, Potter?"
"What do I mean?" Harry's ever-green eyes widened. "Well, I mean that you've chosen Advanced Potions and Superfluously Complicated Potions. Are you completely mad? And Occlumency? Well, at least I know something about that, but how many lessons do we have to bear with Snape? Dark Arts Artefacts and Bound Magic. And Snape again. How atrocious!"
"I happen to like my godfather. But look, there's one class with Hagrid, too."
"Sexual Behaviour of the Magical Creatures?"
"Well, something to entertain you," Draco grinned, "As long as Hagrid doesn't include his own sex life on the schedule."
Harry felt a strong urge to slap the Slytherin in the head, but swallowed his irritation the best he could. "Well, um, I didn't even know there was such a… er… randy subject available."
"Yeah, bet that know-it-all Granger probably concealed it from you and Weasley, not wanting you to waste your time on something as interesting as that. After all, she's kinda prudish, isn't she?"
Harry glared, but couldn't deny the possibility of truth behind Draco's words. Instead, he returned to examine the timetable again. "And what, may I ask, includes P.W.W.W. and W.F.D.?"
"Oh, they're short for Political Wiews in the Wizarding World and Wizard Fashion Designing. Seriously, Potter, I wonder what you've managed to gather in your schedule, if you're not aware of at least half of the subjects obtainable here."
Harry pouted. "I chose what Ron chose. And… um… Hermione made the choices for Ron."
Draco raised a brow, but didn't say anything. He didn't have to, his expression saying it all.
"Don't look at me that way, Malfoy," Harry snarled.
"Okay," Draco simpered, but didn't look away.
Harry massaged his closed eyelids. "Malfoy…"
"Just teasing you, Potter," Draco said. "Anyway, we're here."
Harry waited as Draco knocked on the classroom's door and pushed it open.
"Showtime," he smirked.
Harry gave him a lopsided grin. "Yeah. Showtime."
It really was with great amount of genuine amusement that Harry and Draco entered the Arithmancy form room. The seventh year students that were gathered from all of the four houses were gazing at the pair intently, having now two things to stare and wonder.
First, there was the fact that Harry Potter had just walked in with none other than Draco Malfoy, and obviously on a tolerable mood. The Gryffindor walked a couple of steps behind the Slytherin, who made his way elegantly across the seats to give Professor Sinistra a note from Snape.
Secondly, there was this odd change in Draco Malfoy's appearance. Not that his naturally handsome features would have suffered from any real change –it was just that his whole emergence seemed to have become more attention-drawing than usual. The eyes, the smile, the fair skin, the delicate hair… The grace of his posture… There was not one person in the class who didn't stare at him in a confused but adoring way.
Draco strolled next to Blaise, tossed his books on the table and slumped down on his seat.
"What?" he asked the silent course group.
There was an audible ruffle of canvas and clatter of dropping quills. Students were clearly snapping out of their daze, being very embarrassed.
Harry seated himself close to Draco, across the aisle and next to Hermione, smiling goofily. "May I follow from your book, Hermione, since I usually don't take this class?"
"What?" Hermione looked as if a Muggle trailer lorry had just driven over her. "Harry, what are you doing here? And… And why did you come in with Malfoy? What's wrong with Malfoy, anyway? He looks oddly… er… never mind."
Harry stifled a snigger. "You think Malfoy's oddly handsome today?"
Hermione blushed. "Well… Um… I didn't say that. Er… Tell me this instant what is going on, Harry!"
Harry felt a little rebellious for some reason and decided to tease Hermione. Leaning lazily back in his chair, he crossed his arms and adopted a casual tone in his voice, picking up Hermione's school book.
"Oh, I'm just Malfoy's guardian," he said, sounding indifferent. "Hey, this Arithmancy really looks cool."
"G-guardian?" And don't change the subject," Hermione stammered. "Well?"
Harry smirked. "I poured away Malfoy's medicines and now he's starting to show off his Veela charms. I must make sure nobody jumps him."
Hermione looked baffled. "Any longer version offered?"
"Maybe later."
"Harry!"
Chuckling lightly, Harry began to tell in an undertone the whole story to Hermione. His cheery air disappeared gradually, when he remembered what an insufferable job he had ahead of him, and in the end of his tale, he was outright frowning.
"Oh, but that's just so horrible, Harry!" Hermione was sympathetic. "How do you think you can handle this?"
"I don't know," Harry sighed. "For a moment, I thought it might be fun to see people's faces when they saw me and Malfoy walking around as if being friends, but now I see the whole picture clearly again. How the hell am I going to survive, without losing my sanity?"
"Um, have you thought about learning more about the Veela?" Hermione asked tentatively. "I have this very good book which…"
"Mione, I'm fine without any extra literature," Harry smiled.
"Class, are you paying attention?" Sinistra snapped from behind her desk, clearly annoyed talking to the mere walls. "Mr. Malfoy, if you would please explain me which series of numbers will perform the Fidelius Charm, and how they should be positioned?"
Draco quirked an eyebrow and looked at the Professor with his graceful 'are-you-serious' –look.
"Four, seven, seventeen, twenty-three, fifty-seven and eigty-one. Arranged hexagonally, activated with Combining Charm and placed on both the person and the protected object."
Harry listened with awe –he had not the slightest idea what they were talking about.
"Very good," Sinistra said, his mouth twisting with irritation. "Ten points for Slytherin."
Blaise patted Draco's back in a friendly manner, and Crabbe gave a gentle punch on his arm from the seat behind him. Harry had never seen such behaviour, and obviously Draco hadn't either, if taken for the expression on his face. However, the situation didn't seem to be serious. Just some staring and some decent touching. But all the same, Harry followed the happenings like a dutiful protector, playing idly with the feathers of his quill.
"And who of you can tell me how to attach the Fidelius hexagon into an object?" Sinistra continued, and Harry was none too surprised to see Hermione's hand shoot up.
The rest of the class went on rather peacefully, yet occasionally Sinistra had to remind her students that there were more important things in life than to stare at Draco Malfoy's pretty face. Draco pouted at this, and Harry chuckled, whereas the rest of the students were merely embarrassed.
The lunchtime arrived soon enough. Harry wasn't happy of the fact that he now needed to sit in the Slytherin table, but he was so hungry that he ignored it the best he could, only concentrating to watch that none of his table companions tried to poison his food.
Every second minute, Harry looked over at the Gryffindor table. Ron was sitting there with Hermione, Seamus, Dean and Neville, all of them looking at his direction with disbelieving eyes. Harry decided that Hermione must have told them at least the basic situation. Harry smiled timidly at his best friends, and received a thumbs-up from Ron.
Draco reached over his left arm to get the milk can. "Can't drink my coffee without milk."
"Milk?" Harry said, making a face. "Eurgh! Sugar it has to be. Three spoonfuls of sugar."
Draco looked disgusted. "Sugar? Who on earth would spoil a good, hot, steaming cup of coffee with sugar?"
"I would," Harry said, "And it would still taste better than your mixture of coffee and milk!"
"What's wrong with milk?" Draco asked, pouring a long dash of white liquid in his cup. "It's very healthy, lots of vitamins added, plus gives you calcium. Sugar instead…"
"…is sweet and good and enjoyable, where as milk always tastes rich and rotten and corrupts the coffee aroma."
"You have no elegant manners whatsoever, Potter," Draco drawled. "We put milk in both tea and coffee, in the Malfoy family. Like real English families do."
"Well excuse me for not having a bloody real English family to grow up with," Harry narrowed his eyes. "I ever got a taste of coffee when it was cold, having stood there in the cold pan overnight, and sugar definitely made it taste better."
"Drama Queen."
"Asshole."
Draco and Harry turned away from one another, both very annoyed. It wasn't going very well between them. But what had they expected then? Harry turned his eyes at the head table where Dumbledore sat with the other teachers. The old wizard gave him a faint smile, and Harry nodded. He would manage this. He would manage Draco Malfoy. But when seeing Professor Snape's acidic frown, he wasn't sure if he would survive Draco's timetable.
"What the fuck are you doing, Goyle!"
It was Draco, who suddenly swirled around and punched Gregory Goyle in the nose.
"Don't fucking do that ever again!"
"What happened?" Harry peered over Draco's shoulder at Gregory, who was sitting on Draco's other side. The chubby sidekick was now whining loudly, holding his eye and nose, some blood dribbling from between his fingers.
"He squeezed my ass," Draco spoke from between his teeth. "That stupid disgusting git SQUEEZED MY ASS!"
The whole Slytherin table turned to look at Gregory and Draco in silent confusion -except for Harry, who began to shake with silent laughter.
"Shut the fuck up, Potter, this is not funny," Draco snarled.
"Oh, but I think it is," Harry chuckled.
Draco elbowed Harry viciously in the ribs and Harry moaned, however unable to choke his sniggers. Draco growled and turned his attention back to Goyle.
"Gregory! I demand an apology! You do not, under any fucking circumstances, grab my ass. Do I make myself clear?"
Gregory whimpered and Draco kicked his shin.
"DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"
"I'm so sorry, Draco… I'm so sorry…"
"You should well be," Draco growled. "Make sure that never happens again."
"But you have such a delicious tiny…"
"You don't want to finish that sentence, Greg," Draco warned.
Harry howled with laughter.
"Potter!" Draco seethed, and turned to glare at the Gryffindor.
"Y-you have s-such a d-delicious t-tiny… Ouch!" Harry wheezed, laughing mercilessly at Draco's expense, and Draco punched him in the ribs another time.
Draco did not have any classes after four in the afternoon. Harry was most pleased, since he was still suffering from minor heart complications after three hours of Severus Snape's Occlumency lessons. The day was sunny, even if windy, and Harry really felt like he needed fresh air.
"Malfoy, I think you can manage without me for a while. I really need a break from you."
"Of course I can manage," Draco said, "Just go and find those Gryffindor friends of yours. I can see you're dying to let them know why you're suddenly hanging around with the most stunning and hard-to-approach bloke of this school."
"Honestly, Malfoy…" Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, owl me if you are in trouble."
"Yes, since I have nothing better to do than find a quill, parchment and an owl when I'm fighting to keep my pants on."
"Ha ha, very funny. But seriously. I don't want my goody-goody reputation tarnished with an accident that happened to a Malfoy," Harry grinned.
"Potter, in case you haven't noticed in your self-importance, you are the accident that happened to me."
Harry scowled, but wanted to retort anyway. "Who are you to blame me of self-importance, you egocentric, narcissistic dandy?"
"Dandy? Dandy?"
"Yeah, dandy!"
"That word really doesn't suit a Malfoy!" Draco cried.
"Well, perhaps you're not a real Malfoy, then!" Harry smirked.
Draco's eyes flashed with anger, his corner teeth starting to grow sharper. Harry recoiled.
"Okay, not dandy. Not dandy. Just don't grow those fucking teeth, alright?"
"Afraid of me, Potter?" Draco simpered.
"No, just don't want my brand new school robe bloodied."
"Oh, and who's the dandy one now?" Draco mocked.
Harry groaned. "Okay, I'm leaving. Just fucking stay out of trouble, will you? I don't wish to get expelled on my final year."
"Wonder why that hasn't already happened, since you're so bloody stupid," Draco mused irritably.
"Trying to outsmart me with your pitiable sarcasms, clever clogs?"
"Ooh! That hurt! See that you won't get lost in your witticism, Potter," Draco's eyes glinted with amusement.
Harry sighed in irritation and turned on his heels. "I seriously need fresh air…"
"And a shower…"
Harry gave Draco a finger over his shoulder and left for the Entrance hall.
Harry met Ron and Hermione by the lake. They seated themselves on a blanket under a tree, and Ron wrapped a scarf more tightly around his neck. Harry had guessed right –Hermione had explained the main situation to the redhead already.
"I promise you, we'll figure a way out of this," Ron patted Harry's shoulder.
"A way out, eh?" Harry huffed.
"There must be a way," Hermione reasoned.
"Yeah," Harry grimaced, "Hey, I know! The sun is the elixir of life for the Veela, right? Let's lock Malfoy in the dark dungeons. Let's not allow him to see the sunlight ever again. He'll drain to death!"
"Harry!"
"WHAT?"
Hermione looked at her best friend fiercely. "I'll just pretend I didn't hear that coming from your mouth."
Harry bent his head in loss and began to fidget with his hands. "Sorry. I'm just… a little upset, to say the least."
Ron was sniggering. "I thought it was a great plan."
"You know, Harry," a sudden idea struck Hermione. "The book I told you about… I took a glance at it and… well…"
"I knew you would do something like that," Harry grinned. "That's why I didn't bother to do it myself."
Hermione showed him a tongue. "Anyways, I read that the Veela will trim down their charms when finding a mate. Do you know if Malfoy has found a potential mate, Harry?"
"I guess not, taken for the way he was acting last night. He was as much as hysterical of being the target of approaches. And when Goyle squeezed his ass today…"
"Well I can't blame him for that," Ron said, shuddering. "Gregory Goyle, of all people…"
"Hmm… Rather weird that he hasn't found anybody," Hermione continued her musings. "He knows that half of the school has been drooling after him for years, even without the Veela charms, and yet he's afraid of bonding."
"Are you referring to a possibility that Malfoy's not yet done it with anyone?" Ron grinned.
"Ron, Malfoy is a half Veela for crying out loud. He can only bond once. Of course he's a virgin."
Harry flushed. "Can you use the word 'virgin' when talking about a boy?"
"Of course you can," Hermione shrugged. Then a bright smile enlightened her features. "See? I just offered you a solution! You only need to find Malfoy the right girl, and you'll shortly be free of your duty."
"Eurgh!" Harry looked nauseous. "I'm not Malfoy's pimp or anything! Besides, I think he'd kill me if I tried anything like pairing."
"Doesn't he want to bond, then? Doesn't he want to find a companion and settle down?" Hermione asked.
"I take it that he doesn't," Harry sulked. "Obviously he just wants to make my life a living hell."
"Well, in case you didn't know, Harry, Veela need to bond. Yes, they really need to bond in order to stay alive. They must do it before the age of twenty-five," Hermione explained. "If not, the sunlight, which is otherwise so vital for them, will burn them into ashes, and they'll die like vampires under daylight."
"The book told you this?" Harry grinned. "Gee, I might really want to take a look at it."
Hermione hit him in the head with her schoolbag.
…TBC…
A/N: Okay, this is going to be a H/D fic, if anybody had uncertainties. *grin*
A/N II: Oh, and things are gradually getting heated… just wait… *wink*