Chapter 2: Advice...or some form of the like
"Care to commence our fun-filled evening already?" Blaise asked, near running to catch up with his friend, who was half way down the stairs to the dungeons already.
Draco, not in the mood to transform into a more contented one, slowed down to Blaise's preferred pace against his will. "What did you have in mind?" he asked nonchalant in the least.
"Well…what do you feel like doing?" he edged the blonde on with a twinge of hope. This was the most responsive he's been in a while.
"Sleep," was the blonde's response, stifling a yawn before entering the Slytherin common room. So much for reacting.
"Didn't you sleep enough during your classes today? Come on," he took Draco's arm in his and led him to his own room. "I have lots of fun stuff to cheer you up," he replied, and with that Blaise uncovered cases upon cases of butterbeer.
Draco mildly smiled at the gesture, "and how did you manage sneaking all of this in?"
Blaise smiled and shrugged, "Did a favour or two for the owner." Having no incentive to chat further, Draco picked up a bottle, only to have it taken away by Blaise. "No…have this one," he insinuated, giving him the bottle he had previously opened.
Draco shook his head and placed it down, "I might be sleepy but I'm still Draco Malfoy, you know. There is no way I will drink something spiked with Veritaserum or some other truth potion…especially if you made it, I could overdose."
"Oh…of course," Blaise cringed, handing him back the fresh bottle he desired earlier.
Draco smiled and took a swig, "I know you too well…all of you conniving Slytherins too well, you shrewd wankers."
Blaise uncomfortably smiled at the insinuation, "Well I tried. At least you're drinking nature's veritaserum."
"Oh but it would take far too many of these to get me drunk enough. Believe me," he added soberly. "Besides, even butterbeer isn't natural," he assured.
His Slytherin confidante shrugged at his mistake. "Has Draco taken to the bottle recently to drown his sorrows?" he casually asked, sinking down into his chair. From this view he could see the vague look of submission on his friend's face. His hands were placed rather firmly on the bottle in front of him, as if it was stabilizing his mentality, which was barely apparent currently.
"I don't have sorrows to drown but, just so you know, I have been drinking to curb my insomnia," Draco answered matter of factly.
Blaise prompted the blonde to sit but he waved his hand to decline. "No wonder you're so tired lately. When did the insomnia start?" he interrogated.
"It's never been absent, but since last year it really started to affect me. Just a month ago, I realized how these sweet streams of lethargy could help me sleep…" he confessed, leaning up against the wall next to the door.
"Drac, sedatives won't help your body. You need to find another way to get to sleep…or do stay up. Seriously, the alcohol is what is making you sleep in class. You didn't have a problem with that last year," Blaise persuaded.
The gaunt frame across from him shifted back to his feet. "True. If you can find a legal way to get to sleep, please feel free to enlighten me. Now, I'm sure you have enough gossip to share with the other blood-suckers and I should be getting my History of Magic homework done," he ended curtly.
"Are you sure?" Blaise replied warily. If he pushed too far, Draco would snap and he knew he was Draco's last connection and he did not want it severed.
The blonde only nodded before grabbing two more bottles and opening the door. Blaise cringed but cleared his throat, "Um, Drac?"
Draco only turned his head back, indicating his attention. "Who is going to fill in for you as seeker? Skipping out on the last two weeks practice really hasn't helped…and this weekend we're against Gryffindor…" he drew out cautiously.
"Whoever," was all the Slytherin replied before leaving to his own private room.
Blaise threw his hands up with exasperation and headed down to the common room to deliver the news.
"Someone please explain why I get stuck with the half-wits who don't know a thing about the subject at hand, girls who do nothing but play with their hair or drool over Harry while we're working, and semi-comatose enemies for projects that are worth a lot of points?" Ron rashly asked the Potions book in front of him.
Harry smiled at the insane reaction and put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. "At least you're stuck with someone who knows potions. You must admit; Draco is better than any of us are."
A hefty sigh, "True," Ron admitted, "but having him barely awake during the recent classes doesn't fit with him being utterly knowledgeable on the current focus."
"Well if he stays awake long enough, he'll have the thing done in an hour and you'll get an E for sure," Harry persuaded.
Ron rolled his eyes and took a quick look back, "Doubt that would happen though. Sorry, I was so immersed in the shock factor of Snape's choice, I missed who you were with…?"
"Dean. The fight with Seamus I guess was apparent even to Snape," Harry assumed. Who couldn't have realized? Opposite sides of the room for every class, a separate end of the table at meals…neither even acknowledges each other's presence. There were bets but no one has yet to win because neither wants to divulge anything about what happened.
"And which potion did you get?" Ron asked.
"Snape finally gave us a break, veritaserum," Harry replied, very pleased with the easy potion.
The green eyes lit up, "Hey, when you test out the veritaserum on him you can ask him what happened with Seamus! I still think I'll win with my theory," he said confidently.
"Somehow I don't think Seamus declared his love for Dean and then tried to kiss him," Harry reasoned.
Ron sighed, "Oh come on. Your theory just plain sucked, you're being paranoid. Seamus isn't going to join forces with you-know-who. At least you got Dean as your partner to be safe. I, on the other hand, truly got someone on the dark side…"
"Well…at least you're not stuck with Neville," the brunette silently snickered at their bright friend's plight.
Ron smiled and his mind flew to the possibilities, "Gods, imagine what would happen if Neville made the potion…"
"Hermoine let someone else do any part of a project? That thought couldn't be rational even in dreams!" Harry replied, shaking his head. The look of Snape's discontent over their conversation that he caught out of the corner of his eye lead the Gryffindor to duck his head back in the Potions book.
The redhead once again looked behind him to see the drained Draco hunched over the table, arm languorously hanging off the side. He was still confused as to how he couldn't have noticed this happening earlier; but he was sure of one thing. Draco didn't hear the partner assigning or else he would have heard a whine, snicker, or even a sigh…some type of negative feedback from the Slytherin. He wasn't the best at potions; short attention spans didn't function well in most subjects. Also the bit about being partnered with your enemy; he would have something to say about that.
Snape's retreating form lead Ron to rise and head over to Draco's table; after his initial shock they still had to assign a time to meet and get this done. Kneeling down beside the listless form, the Gryffindor quietly called Draco's name and started pinching the cold, fallen arm next to him.
The Slytherins to Draco's right and across the aisle to the left quickly glanced down at Ron but soon went back to their own thoughts. The whole year waited in the common room for Blaise and without a plea, he spilled everything to the Slytherins. After a decisive agreement as to who would fill Draco's seeker position, they had nearly forgotten about the gossip behind the blonde's exhaustion, nor did they seem to care as much either.
The blonde's eyebrow furrowing immediately signaled that he was somewhat awake. Slightly tensing and stretching the muscles in his back and shoulders, Draco relaxed and opened his eyes. The sideways slate gray eyes still pierced Ron's blues and a look of perplexity was directed to him. The protective barrier, even right after being awaken that he possessed, made Ron smile sadly. Ron tilted his head and rested it on the table so his line of sight was direct with the Slytherin's.
"In case you didn't hear, Snape's made us partners for the project on wit-sharpening potions," Ron quietly informed the blonde, who was oblivious of the reason for his presence. Draco closed his eyes and nodded in recognition.
Without making much effort, Draco looked around as much as he could, wondering why the redhead was still staring at him. "So…when is it due?" he drew out, slowly lifting his head as he realized more conversation was needed to suit the Gryffindor.
Ron repeated the action, but stayed down, "End of the week, but do you want to meet sometime tonight?"
Draco nodded and replied with a yawn, "Come down to the dungeons at 9. I'll be waiting outside."
"Sure," Ron agreed, nodding his head. Looking around to catch Snape busy at his desk, he slowly got up and slid back into his own seat.
He figured he shouldn't disagree with Draco at this point. He hasn't bothered to make his life hell recently so taking the extra walk to the dungeons would be some form of repayment. Doing his best, refusing to glance behind him in fear of seeming brainless or meddling when he caught his eye, Ron acquiesced to his wants and placed his attention on the Slytherin again.
His head went back to its previous position on the table, stationary. His arm, however, moved to the table and he was slightly wiggling a pale finger in front of assumed open eyes. Ron didn't bother critiquing the action; he figured he'd done enough of that recently.
Jolting awake at Snape's dismissal, Draco locked eyes with Ron, who was accidentally watching him again, and gave a small nod before leaving the redhead and all of the Slytherin socialites.