A/N: Yaay, next chapter! Thanks much for the reviews, to those who did; I evengave a few respuestos at the end of the story.
Chapter Two: It doesn't have to be called haunting...
What? What? Draco was staring as the old man slowly descended back into his seat. Professor Snape whispered something in the headmaster's ear, which he received with a grave nod. Draco could see the man's shoulders heave and sag as he gave a deep sigh, and then his bright blue eyes focused on the plate in front of him.
Draco turned to look at his house's table- or should he say his former house's table- watching as Pansy Parkinson buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. Two fellow Slytherin girls were rubbing her back sympathetically, but Draco could feel no sympathy for the girl. He seemed to be the only one that noted how fake the sobs were. The girl was in fact filled with agitation of a different sort.
"So…Malfoy- Malfoy's dead?" Draco turned back to look at the red-haired boy who'd spoken. "He's really dead? How"-
"No. He- they said he'd just disappeared." Hermione's eyebrows were scrunched in an agitated fashion. Draco was slightly surprised at how seemingly distraught the Golden Trio was. Harry was just staring at the spot where Dumbledore had been standing, his mind racing.
"He came to me in a dream," Harry muttered under his breath, so low that Draco was rather sure he was the only one to hear it.
"What'd you say, Harry?"
Harry finally moved his eyes away from the spot they'd been fixated on, to have them rest on Ron. "Nothing, Ron. I'm…I'm not particularly hungry right now. I think I'm going to go- out for a moment." Harry stood up and walked out of the great hall before his friends could stop him, Draco following in his shadow. The blonde turned back once more before exiting, noticing Professor Trelawney's eyes fixed on- it couldn't be him, could it? It must have been Harry.
Harry stopped outside at the foot of the stairs, knowing he couldn't really go anywhere before finding the password for the common room. He turned back, facing the direction from which he'd come, and squared his shoulders. "Malfoy," he called, as if he were speaking with somebody an arm-length's away. "Malfoy," he called louder. "Was it you?"
Draco stood in front of Harry, close enough to touch him. "It was me," he replied, nodding enthusiastically. "It was me," he called out again. Harry's eyes were moving around the room, as if he were trying to peer through darkness for the lost boy. "Harry, it was me," Draco screamed, and Harry's eyes stopped moving.
"Draco," he whispered, shivering slightly. The last time he'd spoken with a dead person, Harry'd been in the company of the Dark Lord, and even then they'd been merely shadows of the people Voldemort had killed. This was an actual spirit. "I can't tell what you're saying." Whether or not Harry was ready for this, the Gryffindor in him was telling him to push on with it.
Draco opened his mouth to speak again, and realized this really was a predicament. How was Harry supposed to hear him? He thought back to his time on the train, and realized the only time the boy had really heard him was when he was asleep. "Harry, you have to go to sleep," Draco called out in a voice he thought was loud. However, Harry just started and looked around again.
"Malfoy, I can't hear you," he said, frustrated. "What are you"- Harry was interrupted by a stampede of well-fed students exiting the great hall and coming his way. He was deeply disappointed, and didn't understand how he was supposed to communicate with Draco.
"Harry, come on," Hermione called out from her spot on the steps. Harry looked around once more, as if he'd catch a glimpse of a transparent boy in the crowd, before joining Ron and Hermione. "What were you doing?"
Harry shook his head, not wanting to tell his friends about this situation quite yet; he didn't know how they'd take it. "Just thinking," Harry replied, shrugging his shoulders. They walked away, but Draco stayed where he was, looking for his fellow Slytherins out of habit. He followed the group down to the dungeons, wanting to have a sense of normalcy, no matter how unrealistic.
Once they were at the entrance, Draco paused to watch them all enter the room. He suddenly remembered the armchair, and the horrible yet incredibly joyful noise- Something was coming his way. Draco looked back and saw the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, and was startled at how different he looked. The same way that Harry and the others had seemed full of something incomprehensible, Nearly Headless Nick seemed… exactly the opposite?
Draco started walking, wanting to enter the common room. He heard a startled and slightly confused "Oh!" and knew Nick had seen him. "Who are"- Draco, however, had panicked, and risen up to find himself in the Gryffindor common room, right next to Harry. Harry was staring in to the crackling fire, and Draco was filled with exasperation. Harry was never going to fall asleep if he kept mulling over his encounter with Draco.
Draco took the time to look around this common room, noting that it was pretty similar to the Slytherin one, except it seemed warmer with all shades of red in the furniture. He walked closer to the fire, slightly shaken by the fact that the heat felt entirely different from how it did before- he still felt a pang in his being, but now it left an empty feeling in his gut. Did he still have a gut?
Harry was finally standing, and Draco followed him into his dormitory. He looked upon the other sleeping Gryffindor boys as Harry changed for bed, and felt a fleeting sense of amusement when he realized that he could easily go into the girl's dormitory if he so pleased. But Draco had never really been one for that sort of thing.
He turned back to Harry and watched as the dark-haired boy pulled back the covers before settling into the mattress, his head resting on his hand as he stared at the top of his four-poster bed. He slowly and methodically took of his glasses, set them down, blinked twice, and rubbed his eyes wearily with his right hand.
Harry was growing tired, and sleep was slowly descending upon him, but Draco was losing patience. When Harry was in a state of half-sleep, Draco decided he was unconscious enough and stood over the boy, preparing to try entering his dreams again. He stared into the green eyes, now unshielded by glasses, and thought of how he'd gone into him before. He bent down over the half-asleep boy, who's eyes were still half-open, and was startled when he thought he heard a voice.
"Malfoy?" Draco looked down at the boy below him, surprised. He hadn't spoken, but Draco was sure he'd heard Harry. He then realized that it was Harry's thoughts that he'd heard.
"Harry," Draco whispered, praying the boy wouldn't wake up. "Harry, it was really me in your dream."
"So you really are dead then?"
Draco paused before replying. "I don't know. I- I can't remember; when I try it's like my brain fogs up."
"Why are you haunting me?"
Draco stared at the boy indignantly for a moment. "I'm not haunting you, Potter. I'm just following you."
"Well, why?"
"Because you're the only one that can hear me, and therefore the only one that can help me figure this out."
"You mean help you, like, move on or something? I don't know anything about"-
"I don't know if I'm supposed to move on, Potter. I think I might have almost"- The jangling seemed to crash in upon Draco's thoughts again, and he almost lost it. "I'm scared, Harry. I'm lost, and I don't know what's going on." He could feel Harry's sympathy for him.
"I- I'll try to help you, Malfoy, but… I'll try to help you."
Draco looked down at the boy once more, seeing that his eyes were fully closed. "Thanks, Potter," Draco replied, pulling away from the sleeping boy. Harry gasped and his eyes fluttered open, but Draco mentally smothered him with all of his power, willing him to fall asleep again. Draco knew that if he woke up, he would fall asleep again. He was pleasantly surprised when he found that it worked, and that Harry was fully asleep.
Draco walked away from the bed, thankful that Harry was going to go along with all this when he could have refused. He walked out of the boys' dormitory and into the common room. He stopped when he realized that, as a shadow of the boy he once was, he could go anywhere, for surely spirits didn't sleep. He felt a moment of excitement, knowing that Hogwarts was unfolded for him, and then gave a sigh, or as close to one as he could get.
He turned and walked towards the fireplace, taking a seat in front of the hearth. He sat and stared at the dying fire as the sun slowly came alive again on their side of the world.
Oh my goodness I have reviews!
KrystaGurl04046-Thank you! I should hope it reminds you of a ghost story, because..well..he's sort of a ghost. :D
Artemis- The only reply I could think of to give this would give the whole story away, and I hope I didn't give it all away with that remark, anyway. Oh no! Ah, well, we'll see. Maybe I'm overplaying it to throw you for a loop... hmm..
jasper-the-talking-cow- I love cows! And I love that you find my story interesting! Thank you thank you thank you!
Slayergirl1362- I wrote more! Yesss!
HandsOff- Ooh, he is sexy, and for that reason he wasn't killed OFF.
Again, thanks for the reviews! They gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling, and filled me with all sorts of delight! I love you!