Disclaimer: Harry Potter and co. belong to JK Rowling etc etc amen.
Warnings: Slash, melodrama, questionable use of song lyrics
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Right well, first things first – damn! I can't believe I was that careless! I often forget that you aren't in my head and don't know what I assume! I'm going to go back and re-write the last chapter a bit to fix this up but I doubt you want to re-read the whole thing for one or two sentences! Here it is: Whenever Narcissa and Draco are in a public place Draco has his glamour on and his green eye hidden.
Now, with that said, this chapter is dedicated to Short Fat Fag and critic unknown for pointing my mistakes out to me!
XoX
Chapter 7: Getting to Know You
Draco felt his eyes wandering towards Harry on their own violation. He was all Draco could think about, all Draco could see, all Draco could smell –he was everything.
His mother kept shooting him knowing looks and distracting the two newcomers from concentrating on him and his unusual silence by filling any gaps in the conversation with jokes and laughter – if he hadn't respected his mother before he certainly did now.
"So Harry," Narcissa said, smile firmly affixed to her face, "tell me about yourself. What does the hero of the wizarding world do when he's not hiding from the media?"
Draco's head shot up at the mention of his mate's name.
Harry was blushing most becomingly and seemed at a lost for words. "Well, umm… I like Quidditch."
The part of Draco that wasn't totally obsessed with and devoted to The-Boy-Who-Lived – an admittedly very small portion of his being – laughed at the answer. A teenage boy, interested in Quidditch? Who ever would have guessed?
His mother wasn't fazed though, she just kept talking. "You don't say. You play seeker for Gryffindor, don't you? I've heard you're amazing on a broom – well actually I heard something more along the lines of 'That bloody Potter beat me again!' but it rounds out to about the same thing. Got a favorite team or player?"
Draco flushed at the mentions of the temper tantrums he'd thrown at Malfoy Manor and resisted the very tempting urge to kicking his mum. Not only would it be rude, it's probably prompt the evil women to start waxing on about some of his more colorful complaints.
"Umm…" said Harry, "not really, Ron likes the Cannons."
Draco snorted involuntarily and then paled as everyone in the room turned to look at him.
Narcissa was making frantic gestures for him to continue behind Tonks and Harry's backs, so he did.
"Do you share all of your best friend's interests, H... P-potter?" Damn, he'd almost called Harry by his first name outside of his head, "What about the Wigtown Wanderers or the Holyhead Harpies? Even the Moose Jaw Meteorites?"
Harry shrugged and Draco felt cheated somehow.
"I don't know," Harry said simply, "I guess maybe Puddlemere United – Oliver's their keeper now."
Draco felt himself bristle and had to forcibly stop himself from releasing a growl, "Oliver?"
"Yeah, Oliver Wood – he was the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team for forever! How could you not know?"
Draco relaxed slightly – everyone knew that the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain had a thing for Percy Weasley. "Oh him," he said, "sorry, didn't recognize the name – I guess I was too busy with my sycophantic followers when he was at school."
This brought a very satisfying titter of laughter from all three other occupants in the room.
"Sycophantic?" Narcissa asked, giggling helplessly.
"Well, mother, if you'd ever visited me at school you'd know exactly what I was talking about." Somehow, it didn't sound as accusing as it could have.
XoX
Harry Potter was alone in a room with Draco Malfoy.
He couldn't help but wonder if something was up, Narcissa had pulled Tonks out of the room the first chance she'd had and now he was stuck in an uncomfortable silence.
It wasn't that he expected Malfo – Draco to kill him or anything. No, he trusted Dumbledore enough to know that he wouldn't let the 'savior' be done away with by his school rival. And it wasn't as though Draco had done anything specifically wrong yet really – just sat there and looked anywhere but at him.
This was stupid.
"This is stupid," Draco said, echoing his thoughts in a surprisingly timely fashion. "Look, Potter, I'm sorry."
"W-what?"
"I'm sorry, I've been a total bastard to you over the years and I want to apologize. I guess you've figured out by now that I'm here because I don't want to be a Death Eater like my father, right? Well, if I'm not on the Dark Lord's side then I'm on your side so we should at least be able to talk without strangling each other." Draco's face was full of hope as he looked at Harry and Harry couldn't find it in him to refuse the other boy.
"Yeah, alright – truce then?" Harry asked uncertainly, absently fingering the frayed edge of his shirt.
Draco smiled and Harry felt part of himself sit up and take notice. Draco Malfoy really was as beautiful as he said he was, who knew?
"Great. Wonderful," Draco said happily, "want to do something or… something?"
XoX
Narcissa sat with her niece staring at the ruined Black family tree and sighed.
"I'm sorry," she said suddenly, "I've been such a fool these past years. I thought that… That somehow letting Draco have two parents would make things better, but it didn't. I've been a horrible person, to you, to Sirius… To everybody."
Tonks smiled sadly at her aunt and hugged her.
"It's alright… Auntie Cissa," Narcissa smiled wanly at her niece for trying, "I forgive you, as would Sirius. You did what you thought was best for Draco."
Narcissa laughed.
"Did I? Did I really? Or did I do what I thought would eventually give me back my Rowan? Do you know anything of Veela Bonds, niece or mine? Their power over both Veela and mate? How all-consuming your love for your Veela mate becomes?"
"W-what?"
"Rowan was a Veela, Nymphadora, Draco is half-Veela."
"How do you know?" she asked, "Has he shown the signs? He should have a mate and the Allure and… countless other things!"
Narcissa smiled at shook her head, "He has all of it – weaker versions perhaps, but all of it. And a mate. A mate who he has already fallen deeply for."
Tonks watched her aunt's breakdown with wide eyes. "Who?" she whispered.
"Life is cruel, don't you think? It shows you Heaven and then throws you into the pits of Hell. It dangles all you've ever wanted in front of you on a string, perhaps even letting you get a taste, and then yanks it back."
"Who is it, Narcissa?" Tonks asked again, louder this time.
"Harry Potter, of course." Narcissa answered with a bitter laugh.
XoX
Harry and Draco had made their way to the attic of Grimmauld Place and were talking.
"And, for some reason," Draco was saying, "I thought it would be an absolutely brilliant idea to dress up as a Dementor. I don't know why now, it was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life."
Harry laughed, "Well casting my Patronus at you seemed… Pretty stupid afterwards, everyone else thought it was cool in the end though so I just played it off like I'd meant it to go like that."
Draco snorted and picked up one of the cucumber sandwiches that his mother had brought in shortly after they'd settled down to talk.
"So," Harry said, after recovering his own sandwich and chewing thoughtfully for a moment, "why are you and your mother here and not at Malfoy Manor? Was the whole 'not Death Eater' issue so pressing?"
Draco winced. Because I want to spend the rest of my life worshiping you? Because you're everything I've ever wished for? Because I love you? "Because Lucius wanted me to be a Death Eater – soon. Sooner then mother and I had expected, really. We – or at least I, thought I had at least until my seventeenth birthday."
"And I take it you're more then a little adverse to the idea?"
"Adverse?" Draco smiled, "Yeah, you could say that – big word for a Gryffindor, Potter."
Harry smirked, "Right, because the top student is a Sly – oh wait, that'd be Hermione, who, if I remember correctly, is a Gryffindor."
Draco pouted and Harry nearly kicked himself when he found the expression endearing – a truce was one thing, admiring physical appearances was another – the smile had been neither here nor there.
"I'm second in class," he said sulkily.
Harry nodded and smiled, remembering Hermione's cries of outrage when Draco had beaten her on both the Potions and – suprisingly – Charms OWLS.
"Well," said Harry, making his tone as condescending as humanly possible, "that's better then nothing, isn't it?"
His jibe earned him a mock glare and a fit of giggles.
XoX
Harry was back in the hallway again. Remembering the last time he'd visited the dream world he quickly set off to find the other boy. Who knew how long they'd have together tonight?
"Hello!" he called cheerfully, "Are you there?"
Laughter drifted to his ears and he turned to see the shadowed face of the other boy.
"Harry," he breathed, reverence plain in his tone as his hand stroked down Harry's cheek, "Merlin, you're so beautiful."
"You know who I am?" Harry asked, startled.
"O-of course, don't you know who I am?" The hand that had been stroking his cheek retreated, clutched to its owner's chest.
"No," Harry said plainly, "I can't even see your face, beyond your eyes. And, while we're on the subject, you have the most gorgeous gray eyes I've ever seen – they're one of a kind."
The other boy seemed hesitant now. "I… I can see you now though," he said, somewhat desperately, "I can see you plain as day – your eyes, your hair, your lips, your nose, your scar… everything."
"I'm sorry," Harry said, shrugging hopelessly, "your features are still shrouded to me."
The other boy nodded slowly, sadly. "I see…"
Harry woke with a start; surprised to find a single tear had made its way down his face.
XoX
Draco lay, slightly curled and on his side, bitter tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Harry had been so clear, so beautiful, in his dream. He had shone like a beacon in the hallway, his mismatched eyes had lit when they'd finally noticed Draco standing behind him.
But he hadn't really, he hadn't seen Draco's face and didn't know he was Draco's true love, his only love.
What greater heartache could there be?
Draco sighed and pulled the cotton sheets and down cover more firmly over his shoulders. Perhaps he and Harry had made progress in the real world as well, but he could already tell their relationship wasn't heading where he wanted it to. There was no romance in the future, a friendship at best and that only if he played his cards right.
Maybe, he thought, I'll just let him go. He'll be better off without me anyway.
The thought drove a stake through his heart, wrenching it in two as surely as the slut's kiss had earlier.
XoX
Author's Notes: I'm sorry about the wait for this chapter, it was really hard to write and I apologize for it's subsequent shortness. I could have gone on longer – pages longer – and the original chapter was eleven pages long. I eventually cut some scenes out and moved some of the added on 'next morning' bits to the next chapter – expect them then.
Yay for over 200 reviews! And remember, muses do not survive on bread alone!