Chapter 4
Sunday went by quickly as the students tried to finish up any homework that they hadn't done the Friday before. They were scattered throughout the castle, some in the library, some in the Great Hall, some in their dorms or wherever they could work. Just like all the others, Harry was by the lake, scribbling down his own homework and was hoping to finish it by the time lunch rolled around, so that he could go visit Draco.
He attacked his DADA homework first, then Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology and lastly Potions, which he was going to ask Draco for help on. Although Potions was like cooking, Harry just couldn't do it. However, he could cook as he had been doing that forever. He liked cooking almost as much as he liked flying.
By lunchtime, Harry finished everything and went to put his books back in his dorm. Harry entered the common room to find most of the 6th year Gryffindors huddled around the fireplace and chairs. They all looked up when Harry entered, and stared at him.
Harry looked them over before remembering the scene at the Three Broomsticks. He quickly looked at the ground and walked to the steps and up to his room, where he left all his books except for Potions on the bed. As he went back down the stairs, Harry overheard the group talking.
"Is that really Harry?" He heard someone ask.
"I think so… or at least supposed to be him," Ron said, and then there was a silence.
The raven-haired boy sighed and tried ignoring the looks he was getting as he walked down the stairs. He looked mostly at the ground, hoping for them to leave him alone, but it was all in vain.
"Harry?" Hermione asked quietly. Everyone looked at her, then at Harry, with a questioning look. They were all so quiet that you could hear a pin drop and the crackling of the fire.
Harry shook his head, "Your Harry died the moment he went back to the Dursley's. I've got to go now, it's lunch time." He sighed as he crawled through the portrait and walked down the stairs to the Great Hall, where Draco was standing to the side, leaning on the wall.
"You're a bit late." Draco said, taking Harry's book from him, and together they entered the room.
"When I went to put my books away, up in my room," he started as they sat down at the Slytherin table, "Most of our year Gryffindors were gathered around the couches and chairs. I came back down and stood on the steps listening to them for a while before coming down, and Hermione stopped me." Harry shrugged.
Draco nodded as he filled up his plate then Harry's. "I see. Were they mean? In anyway?"
Harry shook his head as he swallowed some food. "No, not unless you call calling out my name mean. Oh and speaking about that, do you think you could help me with the potions homework?"
He looked at the blond and smiled. He was glad that they could put their past behind them, as they had not had a good one. They grown closer since Harry's accident, but the raven-haired boy wouldn't change the past for anything. He liked it how it was.
"Sure," Draco's voice brought him out of his reverie. "After lunch then, by the lake?" He looked at Harry, who nodded and they both sat quietly, eating their lunch.
Harry and Draco worked on Harry's homework by the lake, rather in the school, where it would be warmer. They liked it outside; it was cool, but not too warm, as it was near the end of October. After they finished, the boys stayed by the lake and watched the waves come in and out.
"Hey, this weekend why don't we go to muggle London and get your new wardrobe?" Draco asked, tugging on Harry's sleeve. They were sitting against a tree, next to each other.
"Ok, but I don't think Dumbledore's going to let us." Harry looked at the blond, who shook his head.
"Who said anything about Dumbledork? We'll ask Uncle Sev." Draco smirked, pulling the raven-haired boy closer to him. He giggled, curling up to Draco and nodded.
"That's fine… but can we invite Remus too? Please!" Harry asked, looking up at the blond and pouting. Draco groaned in his head, thinking to himself, 'That pout has to be the cutest thing! I just want to ravish him completely.'
"Sure, we can invite Lupin too." Draco sighed as Harry smiled and hugged the blond around the waist. "You better go write to him now, so he has time to reply and come here."
Harry nodded and climbed to his feet, holding out a hand for Draco to take. He was pulled to his feet, holding on to Harry's Potions book. They walked quickly back to the castle and to the Draco's room for some extra parchment. Harry wrote a quick note to his surrogate godfather he adopted after Sirius.
Moony,
Would you like to go out this Saturday with Draco, Professor Snape and I? Reply back.
Harry
Harry pulled the blond out of the room and they walked to the owlery, talking between them. On the way there, everyone looked at them, watching their every move. They still didn't get the way that Harry and Draco could just talk like everyday friends.
He called for Hedwig and she came down, perching on his arm. She nipped at his ear as he gave her an owl treat before tying the letter to her leg.
"Take that to Moony," Harry said to her. "Please, as quick as you can." She flew off through the window and Harry walked back to Draco, who was standing in the doorway. "Ok, we can leave now."
They left in favour of the Great Hall for dinner, where they found most of the students and teachers. Harry walked quickly to his regular seat at the Slytherin table while Draco walked his usual slow pace, taking his time to get there. During dinner Draco, Harry, Pansy, Blaise and a few of the others that liked Harry, chatted about the weekend and the up coming weekend.
By now, Harry could eat half of the food on his plate piled on by Draco. Harry was also, gaining weight, slowly but none the less, gaining it. He was still short, mostly because of living in a cupboard for 11 years of his life, and a bit malnourished, once again because of the cupboard. But he was coming along nicely.
Most of the students hung around for a bit, talking with friends or catching up on homework. They stayed there for about half an hour before leaving and retiring to their common room. Harry walked up to the Gryffindor Tower, escorted by Draco.
"If you need anything, come down alright?" Draco said, looking pointedly at the Gryffindor. Harry snickered as the blond glared at him and Harry nodded, "I mean it, come to my rooms. You know the password."
Harry smiled at him, "I know. And I will come if I need too, k?" He cocked his head at Draco and giggled at the blond. He shook his head and tugged the raven-haired boy into his arms for a quick hug. Harry hugged him back before pulling away.
"Goodnight and I'll see you tomorrow, if I don't come down." Harry said to the blond before he whispered the password to the Fat Lady and went into the common room as Draco left for his room down in the dungeon.
The raven-haired boy sighed in relief when he saw no one insight. And just as he was about to go up the stairs to the boy's dormitories, when someone whispered his name from the couch. He blinked and looked at the couch, seeing the bushy brown haired girl that was once his friend. As he moved closer, he saw that she had a photo album in her lap. She was staring at the moving pictures of her, Ron and Harry, a sob came out and her body shook.
"Hermione," he whispered back, catching the girl by surprise. She gasped and her head shot up from where it was looking at the book. Hermione looked over the back of the couch, seeing Harry.
"Harry," she breathed. Then it happened at once, more tears started down her face as she saw him now. He wasn't the same as he had left; she remembered what he said earlier that day. "Oh Harry, I'm so sorry! I wish I seen it before!" She started babbling on and on about nonsense things, but it was almost like it didn't matter, just as long as she got it out. Hermione's body shook, almost violently as she sobbed and wrapped her arms around her stomach.
Harry watched her, before looking down at the book in her lap and moved to sit down next to her. "Shh, it's ok, it's fine." He wrapped an arm tentatively around her sobbing shoulders and she leaned against him softly. Harry comforted Hermione until her sobs were down to small shudders and hiccups, every now and then.
The raven-haired Gryffindor boy leaned Hermione against the couch before disappearing up the boy's steps. He finally reappeared a few minutes later, with a blood pop in hand before sitting down next to her again. "Now," the green eyed boy said, conjuring a throw blanket wandlessly and covered them up. "Let's look at that book of yours, or is it mine?" He teased lightly as he nudged the girl sitting next to him.
"This ones mine," she looked up at him, giving him that knowing smile. "Each of us has one silly, and I thought I'd look at mine after I saw you today."
They sat in each other's company, looking over the photo album. And as they were looking it over, their eyes started drooping before finally closing and were off to sleep-land.
The next morning when the other Gryffindor students came down to the common room, they found Hermione and Harry curled together on the couch and the book now set-aside on the table. They were whispering about each of them not wanting to tell Ron, as he would blow the whole thing out of proportion. The students grew quiet and stared at him, as they all saw Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville walk down the stairs.
"Hey, where's Hermione? And why is there no one on the couch, that is like the place to sit." Ron questioned, looking over at Lavender and Parvati, two Gryffindor girls that shared a dorm with the said girl.
"Well, she didn't come back up last night. She came up with us, did her nightly routine then grabbed a book and went back down stairs." Lavender shrugged then went back to talking with her friends.
The guys looked at each other and shrugged before moving to sit on the couch. When they finished moving around, Seamus grew bug eyed at Ron and Neville.
"I found Hermione," he managed to choke out before laughing.
"What?" Ron looked questioningly at the Irish bloke. Seamus looked at Dean, who was next to him and nodded at the couch. And once more they started laughing.
Ron finally got the hint and turned around, looking at the couch. And there they were. Hermione was laying on her back, close to the edge her head on a pillow, while Harry was curled up around her, with his head on her chest.
"Bloody hell!" He yelled, backing up, stumbling over the table and almost landing in the fire. "Who is that with her? He looks familiar but I can't put my finger on it."
Ron's yelling disturbed Hermione and Harry's sleeping, but it was their fault that they fell asleep in the common room. Hermione was the first one up, stirring quietly as so not to wake the raven-haired boy next to her. But due to Ron, Harry was already woken up.
"Geez Ron, you could've been quieter," Hermione rolled her eyes, looking up at her redhead boyfriend.
"You're stupid Ron, and kind of blind. Who else would I be?" Harry groaned to Ron, shifting closer to 'Mione and wanting to go back to sleep, as he doesn't get enough with his nightmares.
Ron glared at the two, as Hermione shifted around to sit up before snapping his fingers at them. "I think I got it… a bloke from another school."
Harry poked his pillow as she moved and Ron snapped. The raven-haired boy rolled his eyes, "Blimey, Ron! It's me, Harry as in Harry Potter, your best friend."
Ron dropped his glare and looked like a fish, his jaw hanging open. The rest of his dorm mates chuckled at the red head and sat down to watch.
'You'd think that this was a soap-opera.' Hermione thought before she giggled and proceed to tell Harry what she thought. The boy looked up at her with surprise before bursting into giggles, agreeing.
"What's this soap opera you two are talking about?" Ron said as he sat down on the table.
"Just insanely boring drama shows, on a TV," Hermione replied to him as Harry settled his head in her lap. "You know Harry that you're going to have to get up. It is a Monday and we have classes."
He looked up at her with puppy dog eyes and whined, "But mummy, I don't want to go to school today! I wanna stay home and bake cookies with you!"
"Oh you did not just do that!" Hermione said with a straight face before cracking up laughing along with all the other Muggleborns that got the joke.
Ron, who looked slightly sad, said, "Might want to go change so we can get to breakfast."
The two on the couch nodded and got up, stretching out the kinks that worked their way into their bodies. They left for their right rooms, taking a quick shower and went about doing their morning ritual. Almost everyone had gone to breakfast by the time the two came back down with their rucksacks.
"We ready to go?" Ron asked, looking at Hermione who was looking in her sack to make sure she had everything. He saw her nod and looked at Harry, who just finished looking and nodded too.
They made their way through the portraiture and down to the main hall, where they ran into Draco. The blond was looking around the students, hoping to catch his crush, as he didn't come down that night.
"Harry," called Draco, moving through the students quickly. "There you are!" The blond caught him in a hug before pulling back and looking him over. 'Ok, so no blood, nothing looks broken… I'm glad. Maybe he got to talk to his Gryffindor friends last night.'
"Hey Draco!" Harry smiled and hugged him back before taking a small step back to look at him. "Everything's fine! Nothing bad happened, promise. I was with Hermione all night." The raven-haired boy said, bouncing slightly. The Slytherin cocked an eyebrow at said girl before looking down at the hyper boy.
"Did you eat a blood pop fast and so early in the morning?" He asked, accusingly. Harry grinned and stood on his tiptoes, pecking him on the cheek.
"Blood pop?" Ron and Hermione echoed, looking questioningly at Harry, who was looking at the Great Hall doors longingly.
"Let's go eat. Please?" He looked at them, pouting slightly.
Draco sighed and nodded, "Let's go, might as well get this over with." He watched Harry smile and happily bounce into the room, going over to the Slytherin table and sitting down in between Vince and Blaise.