Title: Life, as Experienced Through Your Fingers
Author: Gold-Snitcher
Chapter Four: Perfidia (1)
-
"Draco! Harry was looking for you" Seamus cried when Draco found his way back to his dorm.
"Was he"
"Yeah, I think he wanted to say good-bye. Did he find you" Seamus asked, and then had to repeat himself when Draco just looked around as if he were in deep thought.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. He found me" Draco said absently, dropping his bag by the door and sinking gratefully into the couch.
Seamus nodded and then grinned. "Friday we're going to get smashed" Seamus declared.
Draco rolled his eyes. "But we did that last weekend" he whinged.
"Well, this weekend we need it."
"We needed it then, too. Or so you said" Draco reminded.
"Yes. Well. It's possible to be in dire straights for two weekends in a row with alcohol being the only cure."
"Of course."
"Fuck off."
"You first."
"Bastard" Seamus whined before throwing his hands in the air, and then an evil glint entered his eyes. "So. Did you kiss him good-bye" If Draco had been drinking something he would have promptly choked on it.
"Did he kiss who" Blaise asked as he sauntered into the common room and dropped onto the couch beside Draco. "Who are you kissing now, Draco"
"Harry" Seamus said and Blaise looked suddenly serious.
"Did you" he asked, and something in the tone made Draco frown.
"No. Not even close. He just came to say good-bye when I was practicing" Draco said.
"Oh for love of..." Seamus was about to whine but Blaise glared at him.
"Finnigan, don't make me have to sick Weasley on you."
Seamus nodded obediently then grinned again. "Friday we're getting smashed" he declared, to which Blaise glanced at Draco and they shared a look.
"Didn't we do that last week" Blaise asked.
"Yes" Seamus answered. "And we're doing this weekend, too."
"Oh" Blaise said, trying to hide his amusement. "Okay. Glad to see we're getting a bit more creative.
………………………
Draco looked up when Blaise slid into the seat beside him at breakfast. "I didn't think you would make it out of bed this morning" he stated, only to be swatted with a serviette.
"Sorry" Blaise muttered as he picked the serviette off of Draco's shoulder. "You didn't make much of an effort to wake me" he sulked and Draco rolled his eyes.
"So, screaming at you, shaking you, ripping the covers off your comatose form, throwing your beeping alarm clock at your head and slamming the door isn't counted as much of an effort? Right. Next time I'll add cold water to the list."
Blaise blanched. "You wouldn't."
"Yes. I would" Draco said and bit into an apple. "Anyway, where is Harry's art trip to"
"Harry and Dean. The art class is heading over to France for a week. They're back on Wednesday" Blaise said as he munched on his cereal.
"None of my classes are going on a bloody trip" Draco sulked causing Blaise to laugh.
"Now now. That's part of the reason why Seamus made his prescription of alcohol. He hates being left behind."
Draco rolled his eyes, he had forgotten about the Irish boy's plans. "Is there any malady that Seamus doesn't cure with alcohol" he asked, and Blaise shrugged.
"Not that I'm aware of. Anyway, will you tell him that I can't make it" Blaise asked with a puppy look on his face.
Draco scowled. "One, why do I have to tell him, and two, why the hell can't you make it" Draco asked and Blaise grinned.
"Well, I don't want to get lectured now, do I? He won't lecture you seeing as you're not the one who's bailing. And in answer to your second question, see that girl over there" Draco followed Blaise's finger and caught sight of a blonde girl grinning and laughing at another table with a bunch of her friends. "That's Pansy. And come Friday, we're going to be an item."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Awfully confident. You haven't even dated her yet."
Blaise simply shrugged"Yes, but we will on Friday, and come on, you don't think she could turn me down, do you" Blaise said, Draco was about to retort but he stopped himself. Too easy, he thought, and only shrugged.
"So, no Dean, no Harry, no Neville, no you. And Ron's family is coming down over the weekend so that means Seamus and I are going to get completely smashed in our own residence. This is pathetic."
Blaise patted his back. "On the up-side..."
"What" Draco asked when Blaise trailed off.
"Nothing. I was going to try to say something to make it all seem less pathetic than it sounds but there isn't anything to say. It is pathetic."
"Thank-you."
"No problem."
……………………
Draco woke-up and sighed. As soon as his eyes opened he was certain that he would be unable to get back to sleep. He was fairly certain that the dream had something to do with the Moonlight Sonata and a little boy brooding and ... his father. Draco sat up and rubbed his eyes. He hated being awake at odd hours with nothing to amuse himself with.
Cursing softly under his breath he swung out of bed and, putting his housecoat on, wandered out to the common room. Unconsciously he headed to make himself some cocoa and by the time he was aware of what he was doing he was sitting on the window ledge looking out towards the small wooded area that was not too far from his res. It looked like a winter wonderland, with snow clinging to the branches of the trees and covering the ground. He sighed and stared out at it for a while. It seemed somehow fitting for him to be woken by his father only to be confronted by a frozen world.
He sighed again and turned his thoughts towards Harry who had once occupied this very position. He wondered if the boy was often woken in the night and made restless by dreams. He smiled and rested his head back against the wall. Thinking about cat stretches and snapped bow hairs and crooked smiles.
…………………
"I'll have you know that I do not appreciate you saying things like that" Draco stated with a haughty air, Snape only raised an eyebrow at him.
"I will say what I like, Mr. Malfoy, so long as it's true."
Draco huffed and slumped. "Fine, then. How should I correct it"
Snape eyed him darkly and then smirked. "Quite simple, really. One takes a small rest." Draco sighed in relief. He was exhausted. Lately his sleep had been sporadic and, due to unwanted memories, he was often unenthusiastic during meals. With classes being dull (he was certain there was some plot among the staff to drive him mad) Draco was at wit's end and could not concentrate. This was not too bad except when he had piano, which he, unfortunately, did.
"That's a relief. I was almost certain you would prescribe more playing."
"Not this time, though more practice often cures many musical maladies."
"So, you admit there is a time to rest"
"Perhaps" Snape said and settled onto a piano bench, eyeing him with dark eyes. Draco found himself intrigued. Despite the frightening resemblance to his father when it came to musical preferences and ideas on "proper" playing techniques, he was, in truth, rather perplexing. One moment he would seem very much the bitter git that Draco was more than willing to accept, but there were moments (rather brief moments, though) when Draco caught a hint that there was perhaps something more complex about the man. Draco's only thought was the man had issues, and he had often left it there.
"Fine then, be elusive. What shall we talk about" he asked, looking closely at the dark sneer that seemed to have slipped onto his professor's face almost unconsciously.
"We will not talk. This is not a lesson in gossip. Nor is this a long break. We'll start back in a few minutes." Draco bit his tongue and closed his eyes thinking that 'brooding' summed-up an awful lot in his life.
…………………..
Friday came and Draco found himself fidgeting throughout the day. This was completely unlike him and he clamped the urge down, though when he was not consciously thinking about it he found himself tapping.
Seamus was highly amused when he started tapping in history and nudged him, dropping a note on his desk. When Draco opened it, leaning back in his chair and holding the paper under his desk it read simply"Told you so." and Draco sneered.
When Professor Binns was not looking he crumpled the note and promptly through it, smacking Seamus in the back of the head with it. Draco found that he felt quite a bit better and was able to refrain from tapping for the rest of the class.
……………………
"It's not funny" Seamus whinged but Draco didn't stop laughing. When he had calmed himself he sighed and took another sip of rum before grinning widely again and chuckling. "Bastard" Seamus added, to which Draco only shrugged.
"Well, it's not as if I... wait, I forgot what I was going to say" he mumbled and stared down through the top of his bottle as if he could find his thought in there.
"Thinking about Harry" Seamus teased, and Draco scowled threateningly at the Irish boy but the glare was ineffective because the alcohol had him seeing double and the glare was focused on the wrong Seamus.
"Aww, nuffing to be 'shamed of" Seamus slurred. Draco wondered if it was a sign of how drunk he was that he could still understand the other boy. "He's a sweet one. Just be careful" Seamus added, and Draco huffed in aggravation and stood-up quickly, wobbling a little as he attempted an indignant pace back-and-forth for the length of the sofa on which he had previously been sprawled.
"I'm sick of everyone telling me to 'be careful' and constantly alluding to something and never telling me! How the fuck am I supposed to know what to do if I don't know what happened! But everyone says they're sworn to fucking secrecy and that really pisses me the fuck off because I need to know"
Seamus shrugged and sat back. "It's because of Tom (2)" he stated, and Draco blinked before sitting down quickly, wondering if the boy would perhaps continue. He wondered why there was a voice in his head telling him to go away, that this needed to be told by Harry, or at least someone who was sober, but instead he leaned forward, taking another swig of rum.
"Tom"
"Yes. He used to room with Harry. That was ... a year ago? No two. Well, doesn't matter. They roomed together. Well, you know how it goes" Seamus finished, and Draco frowned.
"No. Actually I haven't the foggiest" he said, and Seamus looked at him.
"'kay, I'll tell you. But first you must bring to me the rum and I shall drink of it heavily as I recount." Draco handed his bottle over and snuggled into the sofa, wondering if the world would stop spinning any time soon. It didn't. "Well, Tom was a bastard now, wasn't he? We didn't see it at first. Harry kept it hidden."
"They were going out" Draco asked, and Seamus' face slid quickly into a disgusted scowl.
"Give the boy some fecking credit. No way. But they roomed together, and Tom would say stuff. Mean stuff, you know? But Harry never said anyfing, just brushed it off. Tom was for piano, but he really resented Harry because ev'rone knows he's brilliant.
"Well, for a while it was fine, it was just insults traded between them whenever they were in their dorm room. Easily solved, Harry wouldn't go there 'till it was necessary. Then it started to escalate. I mean, Harry's not a bloody wimp so he started to come right back at Tom." Draco smirked imagining some of the exchanges. In his mind, Harry won every time.
"I dunno when. But it changed. Tom went a bit crazy. I mean, he was always a bit strange but he was very good at playing the sweet and loveable guy. He had pretty much ev'rone fooled, even me. But not Ron, and not Harry. But Tom got weirder. He had a group he always hung with, you know, a bunch of cronies and the such."
"Who were his friends" Draco asked, curious.
"Aw, you know. Crabbe and Goyle but mainly Peter."
"McLain"
"You know him" Draco huffed but nodded. "Bastard, that one" Seamus said and drank some more. "Well, I didn't learn any of this until after Tom left."
"S'kay. It's still more'n me" Draco said.
"Right, well. I dunno when but they did stuff. You know, sorta tormentin' Harry. Little things to get under his skin. Stuff in his bed, weird messages. I don't know the specifics except for one thing. They stole Harry's violin. One thing about Harry, his instruments and his art supplies are his life. Don't mess with them. Well, they did. I forget what they did. Smashed it for one, and something else. Can't remember. Rather sick, if you ask me. There was a message but I can't remember ... some threat ... Harry was furious."
"Did the teachers know" Draco asked; his anger was giving him an immense headache.
"Well, Harry told them but there wasn't much they could do. There was no real proof. I mean, up to that point it had just been yelling matches, and all the threats were anonymous. The teachers tried, they promised to keep an eye out, but teachers tend to be daft, don't they"
"What happened" Draco had a bad feeling.
"The fights escalated. I recall a couple where Harry ended-up a little bruised, but that wasn't the worst of it." Draco's fists were clenched and he was unconsciously gritting his teeth. "Tom set something up. I don't recall. Something. Harry went back to his room to change during lunch. Tom wen' afferr him. He cornered Harry in their room and had the door locked. Harry tried to fight him but, Tom was a lot taller and he was a lot more muscley."
"Did he do it" Draco asked, finding it difficult to breathe. "Did he rape him"
"Well, that was his intention. Ron and Blaise, who were th'only ones who had figured out what was happening, noticed that Harry wasn' at the table, and that Tom wasn' either. They went running up to the dorm, but they couldn't get the door open to Harry's room. They could hear him screaming his head off and struggling. It would have happened, but Harry's pretty stubborn. Tom had him on the bed but Harry did something. Can't remember what. But he knocked Tom unconscious and got the door open and th'rest just sorta played out. I mean, Tom got expelled and charged wiff attempted rape, but Harry's been really jumpy since then. That's why I was surprised to see how he is, s'pecially with you. I mean, with the rest f'us it's different, 'cause he knows us, but he doesn't really like getting close to others."
Draco felt oddly warm with this thought and he couldn't contain a grin. "So that's why he has a room to himself"
"Yup" Seamus said, a bit sleepily, and he yawned and then was automatically passed-out.
…………………
When Draco opened his eyes he immediately closed them again. His mouth tasted as if a thousand demons in grungy socks had run-through it and the only thought in his head was "Water." He smiled when a glass of water was plunked down on the table in front of him.
"You didn't have to drink all the alcohol, you know. You could have saved it for the inevitable 'next time'." Came a voice he knew he should recognize. And, after a moment, he did.
"Blaise."
"Yes. But before you do anything else, take these. Then I suggest you get yourself over to the bathroom as quickly as possible. There will be repercussions after all of that rum. Believe me." Draco wanted to nod, he really did, but something told him that maybe that wasn't the smartest of ideas and he was inclined to agree with that voice. Instead he snatched the offered Aspirins and drank the water. Becoming immediately aware of the repercussions, he cursed and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door and leaning over the toilet.
He was never going to drink again in his life.
……………….
When he had finished with his shower and was at least on speaking terms with the world, Blaise had dragged him down to a late lunch.
It didn't take long before Draco realized that Seamus kept looking at him with worry. Draco wondered why. He shrugged and pushed his plate away. "One more bite and I might be forced to resume my post" he mumbled, and Blaise cackled, earning him an evil glare that could have killed him, if glares were able to do that sort of thing. Blaise was happy that they weren't.
"Fine. Lets head back, then. Coming, Seamus" Seamus nodded slightly and Blaise frowned, watching the boy walk quietly before them. Seamus was not like that, even with a hangover Seamus flirted and insinuated and taunted. There was something wrong and Blaise wondered what had happened to the Irish boy. "Draco" he asked when they were out of the meal hall and a good few paces back from his friend. "Did something happen to Seamus"
"Dunno. Not that I'm aware of" he said honestly and wracked his brain as they headed back to the room. As he was stepping into the common room the reason became painfully clear. "Oh Lord" Draco murmured and Blaise immediately frowned at him. "We were both really drunk last night" Draco said, trying to ease his friend into understanding.
Blaise smirked. "Did he seduce you? Is that what you're afraid of"
"No. We were talking and ... the conversation it just..." Seamus came back into the common room at that point, a book in his hand and looked between Blaise and Draco with a hesitant expression that was split between fear and guilt.
Blaise suddenly went white. "Did he tell you" he asked, very quietly.
"... Yes" Draco admitted, and Seamus tensed as if he were about to run.
"The whole story" Blaise asked, still in a calm and quiet tone that was very unnerving.
"As much as he remembered and could speak coherently." Draco kept his head down, slowly comprehension of what he knew and how Harry would react was dawning. Now that he was sober, he felt horrible. This was a full-out betrayal of Harry and listening and prompting made him just as guilty as Seamus was for telling. He needed to clear this up if he wanted to have any hope with the dark- haired boy.
"Shit, Finnigan. I thought you understood what a promise was. I thought you knew to value your friends and protect them." Blaise was snarling the words and Draco couldn't help feeling even more crappy than his hangover had left him.
Seamus snarled back, equally angry. "Fuck you, Blaise. Draco needed to know. He needed to hear it and nobody was telling him. Everyone keeps saying they want to see Harry happy but in order to do that nobody is willing to do what it takes."
"What it takes" Blaise snapped. "This is Harry's past and therefore it's his right to tell it! Or even if you were going to do it, you might have done it sober and given it the respect it deserved! Or had Ron and I there because we're as close to the truth as you can get without going directly to Harry! How could you" Blaise sighed and shook his head. "No. I don't even want to know. You know what you have to do, Finnigan."
"No, Blaise" Seamus' voice was pleading, and the expression on the boy's face startled Draco.
"He needs to know what's happened. When he gets back you're telling him. Just you, and then he can figure-out how what to do with you. You'll be lucky if he stays your friend. I'm doing you a favor; Harry's a lot nicer than I am. Right now, I'm flippin' angry and I think it would be better if you went away for a while." Seamus nodded, he was very red and he was shaking. The Irishman walked hurriedly passed him and Blaise and slipped out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.
………………..
The weekend seemed to pass-by faster than anything, and yet drag-on. It was a duality that Draco was neither appreciative of, nor comfortable with. Harry was coming back on Wednesday and if Draco had been hoping his classes would distract him, he was wrong. The tapping continued, but this time he had a completely different reason to do it.
And if Draco thought he was doing poorly, he could only imagine how Seamus was reacting. Besides one conversation on Sunday where the Irishman expressed his fear of losing Harry as a friend, a feeling that was warring with his thought that he deserved whatever punishment might come his way, Draco had not seen Seamus anywhere, not even meal hall. He caught brief glimpses of the now elusive boy in some of the classes that they shared, but Seamus had taken to sitting by the doors, as far back as possible.
An odd silence had fallen over their dorm as well. Even Neville had miraculously refrained from knocking over furniture. Crabbe and Goyle had taken-over the common area because no one else had to heart to socialize anymore, each either trying to retain their fury or fear, sometimes both. Like in the case of Ron who was fiercely protective of his friend and hated the idea of having Harry return to something like this after a vacation. Neville had pointed out that things always did tend to turn to shite once one returned from holiday, but he had received several rather intimidating glares and decided that silence was in fact best, and promptly fled the room, making a point of avoiding the small coffee table.
So when the sun rose bright and orange on Wednesday morning, there was a hidden sense of relief that was blocked by a sense of panic. Classes for each of the boys were slow, grim torture that seemed even crueler than the Iron Maiden. Draco took a moment to muse as to whether it was worse than having salt poured on to your foot and having a goat lick it off until the flesh peeled away and the goat was still licking at your bone. He'd heard that they had used that in Italy on witches for a while. He was still toying with the thought on his way back to his dorm when he found that the door could only open part way. He squeezed in through the opening and was confronted with what he had feared.
The door had been partially blocked by a bag, one that Draco remembered seeing in dim light, hanging off the shoulder of the boy who was now looking quite pale and staring at Seamus, who still had that guilty look that Draco had become accustomed to. Time slowed, slower than it had been moving before, which Draco had thought was impossible, or at least, had hoped. Harry turned and fixed Draco with a blank look that was somehow worse than any angry look could have ever been.
Draco wished that he could find his voice and break the silence which was quite deafening and was well on its way to giving him a migraine. Instead he blinked, which was, he thought, quite eloquent for a moment of such high duress. Seamus was moving his mouth as if he were intending to speak but had not quite settled on an opening line, but Harry chose that moment to turn back to Draco and, in a voice that was eerie with its calm said"So you know."
"Yes" Draco sighed.
He really didn't know. There was only so much that one could ever understand was a drunken second-hand rendition of a story, but it was true. Draco knew, at least a little.
He wished that he could say something that would make it go away, that awkward feeling that had been growing in him, that guilty, depressed look on Seamus' face, that hollow, betrayed glint in Harry's eyes. Everything. But he couldn't, and before he could even try, Harry nodded and, picking up his bag, walked to his room and closed the door.
………………..
By the following day, Draco had turned his quiet guilt into indignant fury. He had, after all, had every right to hear what had happened, Harry was not only his roommate, but also his friend, (Draco hoped to add boy-friend as well, but that remained to be seen).
Admittedly, Harry also had every right to be upset, both with Seamus (who he had chosen to ignore) and Draco himself (though Harry seemed to be avoiding him with something akin to guilt in his countenance).
Weren't they old enough to sit-down and talk about it all rationally? Harry had been absolutely silent since his return. He had taken-off with his violin case (which Draco was fairly certain contained Little Mischief), and had refused to eat dinner, and, so far as Draco knew, breakfast as well. At this rate, nothing would ever be resolved. And damn it all, did Draco ever want it to be resolved, because then he could move-on to the next step, which was much more rewarding, at least in Draco's mind.
By Friday, Draco could barely stop the tapping. He had also picked-up the habit of twirling his pencil between his fingers and was completely unable to concentrate on any of his lessons. He was happy that it was Friday, and he at least had the weekend to recuperate.
By Sunday he had given-up on the idea of completing his homework in a satisfactory manner and had instead made a last effort to just complete it in any way possible.
It was then that Blaise threw open the door to their bedroom and stomped over to Draco's bed where he was perched amidst a great sea of books and papers and notebooks and writing implements. Blaise towered over him for a few moments before sitting down on Draco's map of the world that he had been using to complete his history work.
"Are you going to do something about this" Blaise asked, and for a moment Draco just stared at him. He was reasonably satisfied that he was not gaping; Malfoy's did not gape, no matter how gape-worthy the situation was.
"What" he managed, with a hint of indignation that he was quite proud of.
"About Harry, Draco. Are you going to just sit here and fuck around or are you going to talk to him" Draco was shocked to find that his mouth had dropped open a bit, and he quickly rectified this, deciding to sniff instead and he glared at Blaise.
"What about Harry" Blaise rolled his eyes and fixed him with a 'You're kidding, right?' look. "I'm serious. In case you haven't noticed, he's angry."
"No. He's worried."
"What"
"Draco, one day I will educate you on all the strange quirks of each of our wondrous roommates, but right now there is a boy who is avoiding everyone and really is quite stressed and needs help. I'm here to ask you whether you are going to do anything, or if the task lies to me."
Draco could only blink. "I don't follow" he muttered and Blaise rolled his eyes and huffed.
"I really didn't think I would have to spell it out to you..." He sat for a moment and then huffed again and took on the patient countenance of a teacher educating a very slow pupil. "Look, Harry is worried sick that you hate him right now, something which your moping about and avoiding him has only proven, at least to him."
"What? He's been avoiding me"
"So, he's been hiding in his room with the door locked"
Draco shifted guiltily. "Well, he hasn't been going to meals..."
"Yes, on Wednesday night, and Thursday morning. But after that? How would you know" Again Draco shifted. He had stopped going to meals when it seemed clear that Harry wasn't. "He was shocked, as anyone would be, and didn't know how to react. At lunch on Thursday he arrived, a bit late admittedly, but still, he was there. He apologized and all was well, except when he realized that you weren't there, and then you could tell his mind set about creating a probable chain of events that led to your not being there ... He really is quite insecure."
"He's a fucking prodigy"
"Draco, Harry doesn't look at that way. There are things that he enjoys very much, and those things he does. That he does them well doesn't matter because he would do it anyway. But that's not the point. The point is he's afraid that you're disgusted with him because of what happened with Tom and you no longer want anything to do with him."
Here, Blaise paused to let this news sink-in, and Draco twiddled with a pencil and sighed and bit his lip, because it seemed impossible that both he and Harry could be thinking the same things about each other, and both of them being wrong about the other. "Is it true"
"Of course not" Draco cried, the thought was completely ludicrous.
"Then, as a plea from Ron and I"
"Ron"
"Yes, and I. Will you talk to him and set him right or should we let him down lightly"
"No! I'll talk to him. It's just ... he's not mad"
"No. He's not. True, he is ignoring Seamus, but I think a bit of his anger in that situation comes from the fact that Seamus is the one who told the story to you and thereby drove you off. Though, a majority of it is because of the betrayal. But he's not mad at you."
"But I'm the one who prompted Seamus."
"Look, your little guilt trip is quite charming and sweet but you're missing the point. People are inquisitive; they can't help it. You had a right to ask. If you'll recall, you asked me before. The fact that you asked was not wrong, you were concerned and wanted to help, but Seamus had promised Harry, and each one of us as well, that he would never share what happened unless he was told that he could. Seamus is the one who broke the promise. He should have said that it was Harry's place to tell you, or at the very least said that he couldn't but he'd pester us until we said it was okay." Draco huffed; the logic seemed both accurate and flawed. "Don't worry about Seamus, though. Harry doesn't hold grudges against his friends. Which is another reason why I'm here. He won't resolve anything with Seamus without resolving this shit with you, first."
Blaise patted him on the shoulder and then glared at him. "If you hurt him, I'll get you back." Draco nodded wondering why he was relieved to hear this.
……………………
By Monday, Draco's indignant fury was not only completely gone, but was replaced by a strange sense of concern for the dark-haired boy who was drifting through the halls and refusing to meet his eye. Draco realized the cause for that strange guilty look Harry had, and he, in turn, felt guilty.
In advanced strings Draco managed to catch Harry's eye and, when that seemed to go okay, slipped a note to him with a request to wait after the lesson.
The lesson passed very slowly, and at one point the teacher had asked if they indeed needed a metronome when Draco was doing such a fine job, and when the bell rang, Draco was certain he had never moved faster in his life. He packed his music away quickly, walked over, grabbed Harry's elbow and proceeded to tug the boy out of class. That Harry didn't protest or tense he would realize later, and be up for half the night wondering why, but at the moment his destination was set and he intended to get there quickly.
When they arrived at the small classroom, one of the few that were unoccupied with loitering professors, and gossiping students, Draco spun Harry around and looked at him seriously. He was looking to make sure that Blaise was right, and he found more than enough proof.
Harry didn't say anything, only looked at him with a hesitant look, and chewed on his bottom lip. This Draco found incredibly distracting but he reminded himself of the problem at hand and instead hoped to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
"I'm sorry." Since he had never in his entire life apologized to anyone for anything, it seemed incredibly strange that it should now come so easily to him but looking at Harry, there was no doubt where the inspiration had come from. Now, Harry blinked in confusion and looked at him quite seriously.
"For what" he asked, after a moment.
"For getting Seamus to tell me. It wasn't right. I was just ... uhm..." He trailed off, not quite ready to say that he was worried, and instead stared at the floor that had suddenly become rather interesting. When he glanced up there was a gleam in Harry's eye that he hadn't seen there before.
"I'm not angry" was the reply, and Draco smiled a little, but Harry still looked nervous, and so Draco moved to the next step.
"If you ever want to talk about it..."
"But you've heard everything already."
"Not really, Seamus was more than a little drunk and ... Look, I don't mean to pry, I think I've done enough of that, but ... aren't you angry" To this, Harry blinked, it was clear that this was the last thing he was expecting.
"Er ... At who"
"Tom"
"Er ... I was, for a long while I really was and sometimes ... ... Are you angry with me" It came out of nowhere and Draco was startled, then he smiled and shook his head.
"How could you think I would be? You didn't do anything wrong."
"Well ... it was just that Tom said that ... and Peter..." He took a deep breath and looked away and Draco couldn't stand the pained look on his face and took the steps that lay between them and gently turned Harry's head back to face him. Harry still avoided his eyes and muttered something.
"What" Draco asked, a little breathless.
"When enough people say something enough times ... it seems true, sometimes..." Harry whispered.
"...What did they say to you"
Harry huffed quietly as if he could never explain all the things they said, but then he whispered"They called me a slut."
Draco gritted his teeth. He wanted to punch something. "Harry, listen to me. You could never be that." He wanted to add that a virgin could rarely be construed as a slut, but chose to bite his tongue, he wasn't sure if Harry would appreciate the bits of knowledge that he had picked-up from their roommates in his quest to get to know the dark-haired boy better. "You could never be a slut."
"I don't know ... it seems so stupid but ... I started to think..." Draco hugged the boy and Harry did tense, and Draco wondered why. Harry seemed to realize this and took a step back. "Sorry" he muttered, and took a deep breath. "Sometimes I remember..." Draco understood and sighed before an idea came to him.
"Come on" he said, tugging on Harry's hand that he had snatched. "Let's go."
"Where" Harry asked as he followed Draco out.
"Trust me." Harry grinned and followed Draco through the halls.
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TBC
This is just a personal note. On the 20th of December at 8:30 a.m. I became an aunt. I have a little niece by the name of Shaye and I just wanted to mention it because I'm really excited.
Thank-you so much for all of the reviews and encouragement!
Note: I realize that there is a lot of consumption of alcohol during these passed few chapters. I thought I would just address this in case anyone was wondering or getting irritated with it. First, keep in mind the time that has passed within each section. Admittedly, this chapter takes place a week apart from the other, but the rest had a pretty good time-span between it, so it's not as if our boys a little alcoholics (though you never know with Seamus) From here on there is a shift in attention, in case you didn't notice by the end, and things will change. So, the large alcoholic gatherings are set to be decreasing!
This chapter is dedicated to TsukiBlue because of the constant reviews and for deeming me worthy to be on a fav-author's list. She was one of the first people who put me on the list! You rock!
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TEASER:
Draco and Harry flee the coup (ie. Escape from school)
Trouble in Paradise
Draco has an inspired epiphany
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1. Based on the Glenn Miller song that was on constant repeat during the making of this chapter, but also because of the wondrously pertinent definition, according to the ever-popular Oxford English. Perfidy: Deceitful breach of faith or betrayal of trust. This refers both to Seamus and Tom.
2. Yes, I know some people may be rolling their eyes, but Tom Marvolo Riddle, aka. The Evil Dark Lord Voldemort, will always hate Harry Potter. I'm fairly certain it's been written in stone somewhere. Why mess with a good thing?