Harry had thought about everything over the weekend and still hadn't come to any conclusions. He was so conflicted by everything. Malfoy had been terrible to everyone recently, but was that due to the slip up with the drugs that he mentioned? When his sponsor stopped helping him? He had been so quiet at the start of the year, maybe he was doing well then? Maybe if he got well again he wouldn't be so aggressive?
But that didn't excuse his behaviour, did it? Another side of Harry argued. He had always been a bully. He had always called people names and looked down on muggle borns and people poorer than him. He was an idiot for starting drugs in the first place. Why not just stay out of it and let him ruin his own life.
But then what was this about running away from home. Then telling Harry "Don't let me go home". What was he trying to get away from? Was Bellatrix there? Or someone else? Or was he just being a drama queen? But if he was just being a drama queen, he surely wouldn't lower his Malfoy standards to sleeping with someone twice his age just for a bed to sleep in? Where were his doting parents during all this?
It seemed Malfoy didn't remember seeing Harry that night which Harry was quite relieved about. It also gave him the time to think about everything and gave him some cards to play if he felt he needed them. He had seen Malfoy only at a couple of meal times over the weekend and though he acted pretty normal in front of everyone, Harry could see some tension in the way his jaw was clenched, in the way he folded his arms around himself as if to protect himself, in the way he scratched at his inner elbow and pushed food around his plate, barely eating anything.
In the next couple of days in classes, Harry could see him get more and more agitated. He was struggling to concentrate, and could barely sit still, he was chewing his nails and from what Harry could see, was avoiding everyone as much as possible.
Or at least until one afternoon just after class in the courtyard, where Malfoy sat furiously scribbling out an essay, no doubt one he had fallen behind on over the last few days when he wasn't doing so great. Harry sat with Ron, Hermione and Neville across the other side. They all chatted but Harry kept glancing up at Malfoy, watching him closely.
"Potter!" A voice suddenly called out. They turned and saw McLaggen walking up to them. "Looking forward to Quidditch try-outs this year" he boomed. "When are you holding them?"
"Oh um, I haven't actually decided yet, but I'll make sure you know when I do" Harry said quickly.
"You trying out again Weasley?" Cormac turned to Ron "I don't know that you'll be so lucky this year, I've got a new broom and have been training all summer" he bragged.
Ron's face began to turn red already, his irritation at the other obvious. "I guess we'll see on the pitch McLaggen"
"Well no hard feelings eh Weasley? I hope to see you there too Granger" Cormac winked at Hermione, then swaggered away.
"Prick" Ron grumbled.
"Oh just ignore him Ron" Hermione rolled her eyes "You're a fantastic keeper, he's not going to beat you"
Harry watched as McLaggen walked round the courtyard, walking in Malfoy's direction and Harry steeled himself to get involved.
McLaggen walked into him, knocking Malfoy's ink over his essay. Malfoy turned to him with fire in his eyes, standing up and pushing McLaggen square in the shoulders, not that it did much with Malfoy being weakened from the drugs and not eating these last few days.
"Earth to Harry" Harry was suddenly aware of Hermione saying.
Harry glanced at her.
"What are you staring at - oh not this again!" Hermione moaned, seeing McLaggen and Malfoy now hissing at each other, nobody within earshot.
Malfoy began to turn back to his essay, when Cormac grabbed his shoulder, spinning him back around and saying something. Harry couldn't hear what it was but judging by the smirk on Cormac's face and the instant rage on Malfoy's, it wasn't good.
Malfoy whipped out his wand, and McLaggen did the same, both lifting them and starting to shoot hexes at each other, both dodging and blocking the other's spells.
Ron swore and the four Gryffindor's jumped up and ran over, Ron instantly disarming McLaggen and Harry disarming Malfoy, the four Gryffindor's then pointed their wands at the two unarmed students.
"Give me back my wand this instant!" McLaggen demanded of Ron.
"Not until you both calm down" Ron said, and Harry could tell he was taking delight in having McLaggen disarmed.
"What the hell is going on this time?" Hermione demanded.
Malfoy and McLaggen both locked eyes, glaring at each other.
"Oh nothing" McLaggen smirked "I was just trying to offer some help to Malfoy here with his essay, but it seems like he has an unhealthy addiction to fighting"
Malfoy narrowed his eyes at that and Harry realised that McLaggen, Finch-Fletchley and Smith must all have some sort of knowledge about the drugs, if that word play was anything to go off of.
"Is that true Malfoy?" Hermione asked him.
Malfoy just continued to glare at McLaggen, then looked away and gave a slight jerk of a nod.
The rest of them were stunned that Malfoy had admitted to being in the wrong, especially Harry who had watched McLaggen come up and provoke him. They must be blackmailing him, Harry thought frowning.
"Okay well 20 points from Slytherin" Hermione said dubiously.
Cormac smirked and gave the Gryffindor's a nod, taking his wand from Ron and walking out of the courtyard.
"You're not going to have any points left at this rate" Hermione scolded Malfoy.
"What's it to you?" Malfoy said coldly. "You took your points, you did your goody-goody duties, now give me my wand and fuck off"
"What is your problem this year?" Harry snarled at him, angered by his attitude.
"Oh I don't know Potter, maybe it's all the blood-traitors and mudbloods who can't give me a minute's peace to get some work done" Malfoy suggested snidely, eyes sparking with anger.
"You're a broken record Malfoy" Ron said, looking down his nose at him "Come on, he's not worth the time of day to listen to" and Hermione and Neville followed him away.
There was a second's silence as Harry and Malfoy glared at each other.
"My wand, Potter" Malfoy gritted out, holding out his hand.
Harry looked at the hand, the hand that had reached out for his a few nights ago and asked to be saved. Then Malfoy had to turn around and viciously insult his friends.
Harry stepped forward and placed the wand in Malfoy's hand, not letting go of the handle for a few seconds. He leaned in a little.
"You might want to inject a little common decency into your attitude there Malfoy. Or you might find yourself taking your twelve steps straight out of Hogwarts" Harry said dangerously, out of earshot of everyone else. Then he walked away. Not missing the look of fearful, shocked understanding that crossed Malfoy's face.
"What was that about?" Ron asked him as he rejoined the group in the other corner of the courtyard.
"Just telling him to stop picking fights" Harry said, shrugging.
- 0 -
Miraculously, it had worked.
Over the next few weeks, they didn't have to break up a single fight. Harry didn't know if Malfoy had calmed down since he'd taken his drugs away from him and he'd potentially ridden out any withdrawal. Or if Harry's threat was the sole reason for Malfoy's behavioural change. Whatever it was, Harry was glad.
McLaggen, Finch-Fletchley and Smith weren't picking fights as much either, maybe as Malfoy now took to walking with his fellow Slytherin's again, rarely being seen on his own.
There was one incident where Harry and his friends had rounded a corner and seen Malfoy on his own, further down the corridor. Finch-Fletchley was heading towards him, and the trio paused to see how it played out. They could see Justin pull out his wand before saying something to Malfoy, but Malfoy ignored him, walking on, towards where the trio were, though he hadn't seen the Gryffindor's yet. Justin followed him, continuing to smirk and talk. Malfoy continued to ignore him and Justin gave up, saying "coward" just loud enough for the trio to hear, and walked in the opposite direction. Harry fully expected Malfoy to turn around at that and try and curse him, but he just closed his eyes for a second, keeping on walking away. He got closer to the trio and looked up, meeting Harry's eyes for a second and a look of fear passed over them before his mask slipped back into place and he just walked past them silently.
Ron and Hermione's eyebrows had shot up as they watched Malfoy go past them without a word.
"Well that's new" Ron said, once he was out of sight.
"What did you say to him in the courtyard that day, Harry?" Hermione asked, nonplussed. "He's not fought anybody since then"
Harry shrugged at his friends but quirked his lips up in a wry smile.
"I kind of have something to hold over him, I may have threatened him to stop causing trouble" Harry said innocently.
Ron's face broke into a grin.
"No way! What do you have on him?" he asked eagerly.
Harry thought about it for a second, he was tempted to tell them considering how awful Malfoy had been to them but he couldn't help but think of how upset and ashamed Malfoy had been, of all the things he'd told Harry. He had an addiction that he was trying to fight by himself.
Harry ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know if I can tell you, it's something that I would be ashamed to hold against anybody, but when he was so rude to the two of you, I just couldn't help it"
Ron and Hermione both looked at him for a second. Ron was disappointed, Hermione looked concerned.
"Is he okay?" she asked, and Harry admired her ability to care for everyone.
"Who cares!" Ron exclaimed. "He's a piece of shit!"
Well, it was hard to disagree with that.
- 0 -
The following week, Harry held the Quidditch tryouts, making his way down to the pitch with Ron who was grumbling about having to listen to McLaggen's bragging.
They got to the pitch to find a bunch of students there. Some to try out, and some to just stand, gawp and giggle at the 'chosen one'. Harry rolled his eyes at them. One day he hoped he would get used to this, or better yet, that they would all get bored of fawning over him and let him have some peace.
"Potter!" Harry rolled his eyes again as McLaggen's voice boomed behind him.
"Yes McLaggen?" Harry asked with forced patience.
"When are the keepers going on? Shall we go first? I think it would be best for me to put Weasley here out his misery" he smirked at Ron.
"You wish McLaggen" Ron growled at him, the tips of his ears going red.
Harry sighed. "We'll start with the chasers, then do the beaters, and then you'll get your turn"
"Fine" McLaggen smirked. "We'll let Weasley keep hoping for a little long- what is going on there?" McLaggen had broke off and was looking past Harry, across the pitch.
Harry and Ron turned to see the Slytherin players also heading out onto the pitch.
"What the fuck are they doing here. We booked the pitch!" Ron exclaimed angrily. He began storming over and Harry let out an exasperated groan and ran after him, heading to talk to the Slytherins as well and sort this out. McLaggen followed behind him, along with a couple other Gryffindors.
They came up to the Slytherin's, who had walked towards them too, raising their eyebrows and glaring. Harry took a second to look directly at Malfoy, who instantly shifted his gaze to the ground. Harry felt a small amount of satisfaction at that.
He turned to the Quidditch captain, Marcus Flint. "We've booked the pitch for try outs, you need to leave"
Flint tutted, smirking. "No need for the aggression Potter, I'm sure we can hold ours afterwards right everyone? We might just hang about though since we're already dressed, you don't mind do you?"
"Yes we mind" Ron snarled. "Get off the pitch, we don't want you spying on us!"
Flint looked past them at the first years, all giggling and mucking about. "Oh I don't think you have any danger of us learning anything useful" and the other Slytherins, except Malfoy, all laughed and a few started filing up the stairs into the stands, right where the Gryffindor's would be playing.
"Fine, stay, waste your own time" Harry said dismissively, turning away to head back, noticing how McLaggen walked forward past Harry. He glanced back to see him catching Malfoy's arm, whispering something into his ear, unnoticed by Flint and the others who had moved ahead. Malfoy looked at McLaggen with an emotionless face, before wrenching his arm out of his grip and following the others up to the stands.
Harry turned back around to keep walking with Ron, as McLaggen jogged back up to them. "I hope that won't put you off Weasley, like it did when they made up that song about you" he taunted, then kept jogging on, waving to the Gryffindor girls in the stands, who all giggled, flicked their hair and waved back.
"Just ignore him, he just loves the sound of his own voice" Harry told Ron.
They went through the tryouts, chasers first, Ginny as always was incredible and Harry was glad that they were still good friends after they had ended things. He blushed, remembering how Ginny had been the one to point out to him that he was in fact, gay. Having caught him drooling over the male Quidditch players far too many times for it to just be an admiration. Harry had realised she was right and came out to his Gryffindor friends, who had accepted it happily and supported him. He and Ginny had then fell easily into being friends, especially when Quidditch came around. He picked his three chasers, Ginny, Demelza and Dean. Beaters were Ritchie Cootes and Jimmy Peakes. He would be the seeker again. Now for the keepers.
Ron went first, saving ten out of ten shots by the chasers, Ginny sitting out to not be biased. Harry clapped hard, smacking Ron on the shoulder and grinning. Ron looked relieved. McLaggen went after, he had saved nine out of the ten so far, if he got this last one, they would go for a tie-break. Beside Harry, Ron looked sick.
Demelza flew up for the tenth shot, launching the quaffle strongly at the left hoop. McLaggen dived for it and missed by a good metre, shooting way too high. Some people laughed and a few cheered for Ron, Harry clapping him on the back, welcoming him onto the team. Ron looked shocked then beamed, cheering as well. McLaggen flew down to them.
"I demand a re-shoot!" He shouted.
"You missed McLaggen get over it, you'll be our reserve keeper" Harry told him.
"No way, somebody must have jinxed me, I definitely would have caught that otherwise!" he snarled.
"Don't be a sore loser McLaggen" Ron smirked at him.
McLaggen huffed then stormed away. Harry glanced up into the stands to see Malfoy smirking at McLaggen's retreating form, and Harry couldn't help but wonder if McLaggen was right, maybe someone had jinxed him.
Harry finally called his team and reserves over, minus McLaggen who had stormed off back to the castle, talking them through what would happen this year and when their first practices would be. Flint then came down onto the pitch.
"Alright Potter, it's our time now, clear out" he said in a bored tone.
"Whatever Flint, we're done anyway" Harry said.
Flint turned to the Slytherin students. "Alright, seekers first, get up front" he called.
Harry paused to look back at the seekers, and was surprised to see that Malfoy wasn't there. He scoured the crowd for him but the white-blonde hair was nowhere to be seen.
"It's your lucky day boys" Flint said to the three that stepped up. "Apparently we're getting some new blood this year so I want to see your A-games, got it?"
Harry turned back around, and walked into the Gryffindor changing room, confused and shocked. Malfoy had dropped out? It made no sense. He had got dressed into Quidditch robes, come down, and then didn't compete? Harry remembered McLaggen grabbing him and talking to him, and remembered that day in the courtyard when Malfoy had taken the blame for their fight, had McLaggen just blackmailed him to quit Quidditch? If that were true then this was more serious than he thought, and Harry felt a little bit of guilt creep in. Malfoy already had enough on his plate, with his addiction and McLaggen blackmailing him about it, and on top of that Harry had threatened to get him expelled.
He sighed as he walked to the showers. The October holidays started this weekend so he'd have a few days at the Burrow to clear his head, then he might try starting again with Malfoy on the right foot.