Chapter 17: Draco Malfoy's Essay
The next several days passed quickly, Saturday's Quidditch try-outs went well they found several line-ups that worked well, Ginny promised to let them know at breakfast on Tuesday what her final decision was. Everyone was fairly certain which position they were going to play, except for Harry and Draco, they knew one of them would be seeker but they had no idea who Ginny would choose. So they were all anxious as they sat at breakfast that morning, "Come on Gin, just tell us what their playing already," Ron whined for the hundredth time that morning.
"Okay, okay, well I have gone over this from every angle, but I have finally made a decision," she paused, dragging it out to irritate Ron. "So here's what we are gonna do, Ron your gonna play keeper, Luna and Tuesday are gonna be beaters, Neville and I are chasers…"
"Ginny, come onnn."
"The third chaser, will be Draco and Harry you will be seeker, cuz honestly Harry you're a rubbish chaser." She smiled at him apologetically.
"Yeah, I know, he really is," said Draco. He then quickly ducked as Harry launched a handful of scrambled eggs at him. Unfortunately, for her, Pansy Parkinson was walking past the table at the time, and the eggs hit her in the face.
The entire hall went deathly silent, and the Headmaster rose. All eyes turned to him, he cleared his throat, "Professor Potter, we do not allow the throwing of food, and Professors are not exempt form that."
"Sorry, sir," Harry said turning bright red.
"Quiet all right, let's not let it happen again."
Harry nodded, and Draco leaned over and said in a voice loud enough to be heard through the entire hall, "Nice shot though, mate." And all of Merlin House broke into hysterical laughter. Draco felt for the first time that he was being accepted for who he was and not for who his father was.
When they finally managed to stop laughing they rose and headed out of the Great Hall, to their morning classes. The rest of the school was left gaping at the changes that the members in Merlin House had undergone in just one week. When the sixth years entered defense they were unsure of what to expect, Harry, and his group had made friends with Draco Malfoy, and that was completely unexplainable, and they didn't even act like friends anymore somehow they seemed to have formed a family.
"Please place your essays on my desk, and take a seat, at the risk of sounding like Professor Umbridge, we will not be using our wands today. During the next two classes you will be taking an exam to gauge what you know and don't know. Today's part will be the written exam and next weeks will be the practical. I want to stress that these tests will not be graded, they are simply to determine what areas need work." He passed out the papers and sat down at his desk to read though the essays, the first several were unimpressive, but the fifth essay, was outstanding.
Until recently I would have said there was nothing that I would find worth fighting for. In fact, I actually wrote this essay once already, the day it was assigned, in that essay I detailed all of the reasons that I thought that would get me a good grade. I realized after I wrote that essay that maybe there was a reason that I did not feel that my life was worth fighting for. So I began to watch the people around me, and I thought about what you said, Professor, you could have refused to answer, Pansy was just trying to provoke you, but you said that you would fight for love. I tried to make a list of all of the people in my life that I had ever loved; I did not come up with a single name, not one. So I picked four other students from my house and I wrote out a list of all of the people that they loved, all of the people that I knew of, I imagine that there were more than I included. I was overwhelmed with jealousy, I wanted to know that feeling, and watching those students together, I knew that if anyone would ever give me a chance it would be them, but I had been horrible to them in the past, and did not no where to begin to try and repair the damages, so one of them did it for me, he accepted me as a friend an and equal. I ask Professor, for their forgiveness, and for the forgiveness of all of my housemates, they are not the only people I have wronged but I have to start somewhere. So please, show them this essay, and make sure that they understand, that I, Draco Malfoy wish to fight Voldemort so that I may learn about love, and the good things that I have seen in those people, who without knowing it offered me hope and a reason to live. And let them know that I humbly beg for their forgiveness. And I ask that if they can indeed forgive me, they help me to make amends to all of those I have wronged. And also thank you Professor, and Neville for saving my life and giving me a second chance.
Harry looked up for the stack of papers on his desk, and stared at Draco, for the first time he realized exactly how much the boy had changed, it seemed a lifetime ago, that Harry had pulled him to his feet on Platform 9 ¾, it had only been two weeks, not even that. For the first time, Harry looked at Malfoy's aura, to find out more about his personality, he saw an array of color much like the ones he and his other friends possessed. Deep blue, warm red, yellow, light blue, teal, white, silver and a hint of pink. He wished for a second that he had looked sooner, so that he could have seen it change as he knew it must have. He shook his head, to clear his mind and turned back to the essays. Ron's was good, although nothing compared to the emotion in both Hermione and Neville's papers. Dean's was okay, Seamus and Susan's were good and Pansy's was just a waste of paper.
Harry looked at his watch and realized it was nearly time, for class to be over, "Quills down please, turn your parchments in and you may leave, we will be using wands next lesson. For those of you in my House, we will have a meeting in the common room immediately after dinner." It was time to tell the others what they were getting into by casting their lots with Harry.
"Is that just for sixth years? Ginny is supposed to meet me after dinner," Dean asked, looking more than a little peeved.
"No, I'm sorry, Dean it's not, you will have to meet her another night, although we have Quidditch practice tomorrow, and the dueling club starts on Thursday."
"She's not dating you, Potter, you can't control everything she does," Dean retorted angrily.
"That's the difference between us then, I wouldn't want to control her, whether we were dating or not," Harry responded without even looking at Dean. Dean's face twisted in rage, sensing trouble Seamus, Lavender and Pavarti grabbed hold of him and began to drag Dean away.
As they left the room, they could hear, Seamus say to his friend, "You don't want to mess with him, mate."
"Why not, what's he going to do give me a detention?"
"Don't be stupid, Dean," Lavender said joining the conversation.
"She's right," Pavarti said, "Harry wouldn't deal with this like a Professor, and you know it."
"I'm not afraid of Potter, I may not be a match for him but, I could block his spells long enough for him to come to his senses."
"Didn't I tell you not to be stupid? He wouldn't be using spells either, that boy has some serious muscles and he looked ready to pound your face in."
In the classroom still, the Merlin House sixth years were watching Harry wearily, then he spun almost faster they could see and punched the wall. Mouths dropped open; there was a dent in the stone. Hermione, Draco and Neville exchanged looks, all knowing full well why Harry was so mad. Ron didn't notice, he had turned from Harry toward the door looking like he wanted to go after Dean himself. Harry spoke sheepishly, "You guys go ahead to transfiguration, I guess its time to I stop into see Madame Pomfrey, god I hate that place, but I think I shattered most of the bones my hand, and I can't heal that on my own."
"Harry, your not the only one who can heal you know," Neville said.
"Your right would you mind, Neville?"
"Not at all." And moments later they were off to transfiguration, Harry's hand as good if he had never broken it.