Posted: 11-17-05
In Your Dreams
Chapter Four: Beginnings of Trust
Sweat slid down the side of Harry's hot face as he leaned over the bubbling cauldron to stir the liquid inside. Twenty-seven clockwise turns, three counter clockwise… add in two pinches of crushed Angelica leaves…He took special care in counting each turn, not wanting to screw up the potion in any way. They'd been working on the Convallaria Healis Potion for over an hour.
According to Snape, the Healis Potion was the Lady Tears Poison's opposition. Since the only difference between the two was the copious amount of the Lily of the Valley, Snape was brewing the poison for them to see and the students were all working on the Healis Potion.
It was better that way at least, since no one would want someone pulling a prank on someone else with stolen Lady Tears. That had been Ron's first sigh of relief when he heard what the Advanced Potions class was brewing.
Still, in the back of Harry's mind a nasty voice was saying Snape appeared awfully familiar with brewing Lady Tears as he glanced up to the Professor's desk. He tried to shake it off, insisting it was because Snape was a Potions Master and the poison was in his curriculum. Harry finished the second stirring and glanced sideways at his Potions partner for further instruction.
The blond Slytherin was carefully deflowering a sprig of periwinkle, separating the petals from the flower into a filter paper. Without looking up, he folded the filter back into a funnel and handed it to Harry.
"Go rinse these out with water," He said, running his index finger along the directions in his Potions book. "We add them in five minutes, along with four drops of Dragon's Blood."
Trusting Malfoy at least in the subject of Potions, Harry stood and went over to the Gargoyle's head fountain to do as told. Even though Malfoy hadn't directed much attention to Harry – which really was fine by him – he talked to himself in an undertone, often adding useful slips of information such as the effect of an ingredient and why it was being used. Perhaps Snape was correct in saying Malfoy was gifted in Potions.
He returned to his work area where Malfoy had already prepared the Lily of the Valley, now finely chopped into a neatly formed pile. Handing the periwinkle to Malfoy, Harry watched as he checked over the instructions again.
"Haven't you memorized them yet?" Harry joked.
"Funny, Potter. I'm double-checking," Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Even your Muh – Granger does that."
Harry looked at the blond curiously. He hadn't called Hermione a Mudblood. Why? Why was he being so.. civil? Was it because of what he'd said on the train?
"Yes, my Granger does do that," He responded lightly. He wouldn't be one to look a gift-horse in its mouth. Before Malfoy could say anything, he added quickly, "It's time for the periwinkle and Dragon's Blood."
Malfoy glanced at the timer up on Snape's desk and took a quick step closer to the cauldron, emptying the filter over the edge. Harry added in four drops of blood next to him. They watched the periwinkle petals sink into the simmering opaque murk.
"Thirteen clockwise, seven counter, Potter," Malfoy told him. Harry stirred the potion again, looking at the ingredients left on the tabletop while mentally counting.
"Is the Lily of the Valley the last one then?"
"Yeah. After we put it in, we're supposed to let it simmer for another ten minutes. Professor Snape should be done with the Poison soon so we'll be able to see it then," Malfoy answered.
They lapsed into silence, waiting to add the Lily, Malfoy looking down at his textbook, Harry around to the other groups. With Snape not going around the room, things had gone pretty well. If Neville were here, he probably could have brewed the Healis Potion quite well.
As Draco scooped the lily off of the cutting board, the potion turned from its previous dark murkiness to an iridescent pale blue. Harry gave it a final stir and looked at Malfoy.
…:D:…
"You should be nearing completion of the potion by now. As you add the lily, you may come up and look at my brew of Lady Tears Poison." Snape called from the front of the classroom. Draco spared Harry a glance as they both moved around their table to go up front. Granger and Millie were also going up front to see the Lady Tears. Really, he was breathing a sigh of relief. All throughout brewing the Healis, he'd been glancing at the Gryffindor between sending him to rinse things, fetch ingredients, or stir the cauldron. He could feel the boy alternately looking at him and that only made his mind wander off even more.
Up at Snape's cauldron, the four of them looked into it with interest. The poison was sort of smooth and watery, nothing like the Healis's creaminess. Draco studied the color as well while Professor Snape ladled a spoonful and emptied it back in. The Healis was a pale blue while the Lady Tears was almost clear – like actual tears.
Surprisingly, Granger kept her mouth shut, instead nodding thoughtfully to herself before heading back to her area to quickly write something down.
Draco nodded to Professor Snape and headed back to his own cauldron, feeling Harry behind him following. He filled a labeled vial with their Healis and handed it to Harry without looking at him. Their fingers brushed slightly as he took it from him, sending Draco's brain off on a hormonal spree. He almost held on too long to prolong the contact – almost leant forward…
Harry turned around with the vial, breaking the contact to go hand it in. 'Damn,' Draco cursed himself as he watched after the hero Gryffindor.
Watching his undone shoelace swing and fall with each step, the blond left the Great Hall. Lunch had been quite boring sitting by himself, but he'd suffered through. He seemed alienated from everyone, they'd all made and had friends so fast…
He supposed it was for the best really – otherwise he'd surely not be excluded if it were not so?
"Really, McGonagall doesn't have to give us so much homework – how else are we going to –" A voice up ahead scoffed. The blond looked up as another cut the first one off.
"Not here, Rellik."
"Evenstar, what are you doing around here?" A third voice, female, sounded behind him. Zeke turned to see a raven-haired girl striding toward him. The only girl from the group he'd met on the Hogwarts Express, with the other two people just feet ahead of him.
"I don't know, Blithley. I guess I got lost." He answered, taking her cue to use last names. He glanced around to see why she would bother. Apparently he was lost; he'd wandered all the way to the labyrinth of dungeons where, of course, the Slytherins would be.
The girl watched him coolly with her green eyes a moment before nodding to herself and motioning up ahead, "Come on."
Zeke looked ahead, confused about what she meant before simply following her to where the two boys were.
Upon seeing the newcomers, Devin Tillithor raised an eyebrow him. Rellik did nothing from where he leaned against the stone wall.
"Hey you two, were you waiting for me?" Alexa smiled facetiously.
"You know we wouldn't just leave you." Rellik answered, messing up his short hair.
"We wouldn't have bothered if we'd known you'd bring Gryffindors along with you," Devin said, scowling at her.
"Devin, that's uncalled for – you liked Zeke just fine before we were sorted." She said curtly. He rolled his eyes and grudgingly nodded.
Way to make him feel welcome. Zeke stood next to Alexa, listening uncomfortably as they argued. Rellik seemed very much the same way, content listening from his place on the wall. Zeke thought back to the Hogwarts Express when he'd sat with the three before him. They'd made him feel welcome, apart of something…
"Alright, alright – he's not that bad," Devin conceded. "But that doesn't change the fact that we saw him speaking to Potter after the Welcoming Feast." His eyes narrowed dangerously at the blond he was protesting. Rellik watched them quietly from behind Alexa now, where he pet her hair.
Zeke knew his talking to Harry would be brought up and he'd have explaining to do. Harry Potter's reputation at Hogwarts clearly preceded him and it was obvious on the train that the three Slytherins before him didn't like Potter, Devin especially. It really wasn't fair that his first friend in Gryffindor – whom he really liked – was hated by the only other people to show any interest in him – whom he really wanted to be friends with.
"He was just being nice." Zeke told them.
Devin rolled his eyes, "That's really all he can do. Be nice, like the Gryffindor he is."
"We were heading off to our Potions class – Gryffindor has it with Slytherin, right Evenstar?" Rellik finally spoke up from his spot behind Alexa and him.
"Yeah…" Zeke said carefully, secretly relieved Rellik had brought up next class – anything to derail Devin from going into a rant again.
"Coming then?" Rellik and Alexa started walking in the direction of the classroom, Devin rolling his eyes before following suit.
Zeke stared after the trio, completely confuddled for two seconds before hurrying to catch up to them.
…:Meanwhile:…
Harry sat across Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, watching all of his friends laugh and talk about random insignificant parts of life; just having fun. It was certain times like this that Harry was able to forget everything and just enjoy being with everyone, without worry of his prophesy. Then again, it showed him what he would miss out on if he failed, who was in danger, what was being taken away from people with every attack because he wasn't ready.
Sirius would never again be able to laugh or talk about Quidditch certainly.
"Mr. Potter, could I have a word with you outside the hall?"
Harry's attention snapped to Professor McGonagall standing behind Hermione and Ron. Her face gave away no indication of whether she was bearing bad or good news. Standing up, he gave Hermione and Ron a half-shrug and followed McGonagall out of the Great Hall.
"Don't worry, Mr. Potter," She said as the door closed, halting her steps just outside. "It's not bad news."
Harry nodded and waited for her to explain, curling his fingers to his wrist to play with the sleeve of his robe.
"In light of Dolores Umbridge's," her mouth tightened into a grimace at the name, "Quidditch ban on you being lifted, and being as you are a senior member on the team, I have decided to grant you team captaincy."
Harry gripped his sleeve, staring at the elder witch in surprise. She thought it wise to make him captain? And Professor Dumbledore was allowing this, even with saying last year he thought Harry had enough to deal with – wait. Were they just making him captain to make up for not making him Prefect?
"Why-? I'm sure there are other members wh-who would be a wiser choice – Katie – "
"Potter, you are the wise choice. You're an exceptional player, you've been on the team for five years and Miss Bell would wholeheartedly agree with my decision. Now, we have a few open positions so I'll expect you to be setting up trials sometime soon, and you should be putting a sign up sheet in the Commons tonight. Let me know how you wish to go about it by the end of the week," Professor McGonagall informed him. She handed him an official-looking pin. He glanced at it, noting quickly the red-and-gold four square background behind two crossed broomsticks. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Potter. And congratulations."
With a curt nod, McGonagall continued up the staircase, probably to her office or classroom.
Harry stood outside the Great Hall for another minute, alternately watching after his Head of House going up the stairs dumbly and looked down at the captain pin in his hand, his mind racing at the news she just gave him. Captain! He turned around and headed back into the Great Hall, going straight to where Ron and Hermione still sat at the Gryffindor table.
He sat down quickly and unceremoniously, meeting their questioning looks with a dazed one of his own.
"Well, what did McGonagall want?" Ron piped up.
"She… gammequidtchcpn." He said, stumbling over the words, looking at them as if they'd understand.
"Come again?" Hermione asked. Wordlessly he handed Ron the Quidditch captain pin McGonagall gave him. Ron took one glance at it before jumping up.
"BLOODY HELL HARRY!" He yelled, gaining attention from half the hall.
Hermione pulled Ron back down to the bench and looked at the pin. She looked at him with a small smile and said very matter-of-factly, "I knew you would get captain, Harry. You deserve it."
"Deserve it? 'Mione, Harry's Quidditch Captain! That makes him practically a prefect! Hey," Ron looked at Harry in awe, "You're my captain. That is, if you'll let me back on the team…"
"Don't be lame, Ron – "
A hand clapped down on his shoulder, causing him to swivel his head to the side. Seamus grinned down at him.
"Did I just hear Ron yell you're captain? Congrats, mate!"
"Thanks, Seamus." Harry smiled. Snapped out of paying attention to Ron, he looked along the table, noticing several other people now waving to him or giving thumbs up in congratulations.
"So have you thought about trials? I think I want to try for chaser.."
"Uh…oh. I'll post a sign up sheet tonight. I haven't thought about a specific date yet, I just found out as it is." Harry answered. Dean came up and shouldered Seamus.
"Alright, I'm looking forward to it!" Seamus called back to Harry as he walked off with his best friend.
After a few more minutes of Ron gushing over the shiny Quidditch pin, the trio headed off to class, only being stopped once or twice for a student to congratulate Harry.
Directly after dinner that evening, Hermione broke off from Harry and Ron – still excited over Quidditch and off to post the sign up sheet – and found Professor McGonagall's office with ease. Her search in the library had remained fruitless, though she'd found a few mentions of Shadow Shifters, there'd been nothing worthwhile. She had found one detailed report in the history of the Ministry of Magic, back when they'd officially classified the Shadow Shifters as XXXXX. There'd been a landmark case where one, Ruminos Galaenfyr, had attacked a boy who eventually gave into the dark magic and killed four people. There was, however, no specific mention on what the Shadow Shifter had done to the boy. But this was a start, Hermione felt.
She raised her hand and rapped gently on the door's panel, hearing a crisp, "Come in."
Opening and stepping through the door, Hermione smiled at the strict witch behind the mahogany desk, who actually returned the smile. Hermione was her favorite student, even if she was fair to everyone.
"Miss Granger, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Professor, I was hoping you could allow me to have a library pass for the Restricted Section."
"For – "
"Oh! Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. And perhaps some of the journals," Hermione answered. It was partially true, she wanted to check books on dark creatures, and also see what she could find on Harry's incidents. And then, any extra defense that could help Harry…
'Oh, Harry,' Hermione thought. 'Everything peculiar always happens to you.' Hermione's attention was brought back to her Head of House handing her a signed slip for the Restricted Section. She took the proffered note with a "Thank you!" and left McGonagall's office with a confident stride, intent on the library.
Down in the Slytherin dungeons, Draco was lounging at his favorite chair in front of the massive fireplace, deep in thought. He felt utterly conflicted; news of Potter's becoming Gryffindor Quidditch captain had traveled fast. As he himself had received the captain pin for Slytherin, he was annoyed he apparently hadn't beaten Potter at even that. But the more – and he was absolutely nauseous to acknowledge this – amiable-to-Potter side was bursting at the opportunities this created: shaking Potter's hand every match, having to meet with him to discuss dates and practice times…
"Draco, you look lost in thought, I figured I'd save you." Blaise said, dropping down into the sofa to the side of Draco's chair.
"Yeah," He murmured a reply, looking around. Pansy was with three girls in the nearby corner, talking and laughing, but otherwise, the Common room was rather peaceful and quiet. "How Gryffindor of you, Blaise. So where's Millicent?"
Blaise shrugged his shoulders, not seemingly bothered by the Gryffindor comment. "Studying, I think. I didn't disturb her because she would have roped me into doing my homework or something."
"Oh, bloody… homework." Draco groaned and closed his eyes. "I forgot about my Arithmancy."
"Draco, how could you! For shame, Professor Vector will surely give you detention for a week! Oh –" Blaise's dark eyes lit up. "With Hagrid." He started laughing.
"Blaise, don't be foul." Draco rolled his eyes. Honestly, Vector would do no such thing. "I'll just do it before I go to sleep."
"Ah, you're right, but that's for the Gryffindor comment. Really though, Draco," Blaise leaned forward seriously on the sofa. "What have you been doing in the library so much, to forget homework, since it's obviously not homework itself?"
"Defense. It's my weak subject." Draco said casually. Not a complete lie; he was researching Shadow Shifters and defense on his dreams, and Defense really was his weak subject. So far, his search was going well, not as well as he'd hoped, but as well as it could without looking in the Restricted Section and Malfoy library. Blaise almost looked as if he didn't believe him, opening his mouth to retort when Pansy the Pug seated herself on the arm of Draco's chair and draped herself around him. Grimacing, he surreptitiously removed her arm from his shoulder and leaned away from her.
"Did I hear Defense over here? Do either of you know what happened with Saint Potter?" She asked, oblivious to Draco's movements.
"Who knows? The Shifter probably sent Potter a mental hex or something." Blaise tossed out.
"A teacher wouldn't hex a student like that, especially not Potter. Nor with witnesses." Draco countered logically. Inside, Blaise's words struck a chord; a mental hex definitely not, but a mental something.. like a vision. It fit well with what Raenyr was saying about seeing into people's minds…
"Oh, well. You heard he was made captain right, Drakie?" Pansy asked, probably trying to recapture his attention. She seemed to have noticed by now that he'd removed her arm and so took to leaning closer.
"Yeah," Draco said, rolling his eyes to Blaise. Couldn't this hag take a hint? "We've all heard by now, what with his buffoon Weasel shouting at lunch."
"I didn't really think they'd make him captain, I think Bell would have been a better choice." Pansy continued. "Really, Potter? He's only back to the team as it is because Umbridge is gone and Dumbledore's back. Such a golden goody-two-shoes.. I wouldn't be surprised if – oh! What if all of this is just pay-off for him? He's bribing the staff or – EW!" Pansy squealed. "Sexual favors!"
By now the gaggle of girls Pansy had been talking to had migrated over and they all squealed with Pansy at her absurd suggestion. Blaise burst out laughing – at his face, or at the mere idea of Potter and Dumbledore together, Draco wasn't sure – and nearly fell off the couch. Draco, on the other hand, felt his cheeks grow warm in anger and a faint ringing in his ears. What the hell was she doing, insinuating such false, utter.. rubbish! He felt no control over his arm as he harshly nudged Pansy off the arm of his chair, causing her to cry out in shock as she landed on her butt on the cold floor.
In a fluid motion, Draco stood and oh-so-loathingly offered Pansy his hand. He couldn't really believe he'd pushed her off the chair for talking badly about Potter. He'd felt such a rush of anger, such an urge to shut Pansy up…
He helped Pansy stand up, commenting as casually as one would on the weather, "You should watch yourself, Pansy – chair arms aren't much of a seat."
"Yes," Pansy agreed, a bewildered yet somewhat suspicious look crossing her face. "Well, we'll talk later, I'm sure Drakie. Come on, girls." They followed the bumbling pug out of the commons, still giggling over her comment on Potter and over Draco helping her up.
'Idiot, simpering girls. They're more harm than good,' he thought repulsed, glaring after them.
"Now, Drake, you didn't happen to notice how Pansy ended up on the floor, did you?" Blaise asked amusedly.
"No, Blaise I didn't." The Slytherin answered, turning to look at his friend. "And you didn't either, did you?"
"Oh, no, no I didn't," A smirk lit his face, saying quite the opposite. "But it was funny all the same. You know, if you don't like the chit, you shouldn't bother helping her up either. It only brings her back for more."
Sighing, Draco sat back down in his chair, "Yes but you see, treating her badly would get back to her father and in turn my father, so I can't tell her to just shove off."
"You could always use your Malfoy charm to threaten her not to tell." He suggested.
Out of the corner of his eye, Draco noticed three First years come in to the Common room laughing, one mentioning Pansy's name.
"There are bigger and better things to use that for." Draco murmured. The First years came closer and he recognized them; Rykor and Tillithor, the two boys, had approached him the night of the feast. Tillithor seemed most adamant about getting to know the Draco Malfoy, rival of Harry Potter. There was something in the quiet demeanor of Rykor that interested Draco also. And of course the right type of flattery gets you everywhere, Draco felt, and these two were not amateurs in that respect. They'd been able to find their way into Draco's good graces much easier than any of his fellow Sixth years, with the exception of maybe Blaise.
"Hey, you three!" He called them over. "What's this on Parkinson?"
"Ah, Malfoy, it was just a prank." Tillithor smirked.
"Indulge me."
"She walked past the wrong suit of armor at the wrong time," Devin started. "And got attacked by pug-faced pygmy puffs? It will only last for three more minutes –"
"Next time, be more inconspicuous about these things or I'll deduct points." Draco smirked. "That will be all."
When they'd backed off a safe distance, Blaise laughed, "Are you letting them off?"
"Hey, if they want to target Pansy, it's alright with me." Draco laughed. "Besides, they're not bad. Got on my good side."
"Ah, the First years from the feast?"
"That would be them." Draco stood back up. "I should go do my Arithmancy. See you later, Blaise."
Once out of sight, Draco hurried up the stairs to his dormitory (his own, being a Slytherin prefect) and forcefully shut the door.
..:Dreamland:..
Draco stood alone in the Entrance Hall, looking around in confusion. He had the feeling he was supposed to be somewhere, that he was missing something important. Seeing the great doors to the Entrance Hall were open, he took a few steps towards it. As he drew closer to the sliver of light let in through the crack, he heard faint roar. Somehow, Draco just knew this is what he was missing – the roar was coming from the Quidditch pitch, sounds of an extremely large excited crowd.
He rushed out of the castle in the direction of the pitch, speeding up into a run so as not to miss anything more. Looking down while running, Draco saw that he was already fully dressed in his Slytherin Quidditch robes and gear. The crowd's cheering grew as he entered a side arch into the corridor leading out into the field. Passing the final arch into the pitch, Draco looked around the stands. The yells stopped and the pitch was deserted, save for one figure flying around the air, circling the pitch, doing laps hoop to opposing hoop - a figure now easing its way down to him on the field. As the flyer drew closer, Draco could see the obvious red Quidditch robes and then the messy black hair, then the shining Firebolt broom which the rider straddled.
Harry Potter made a smooth landing near him and took the precious few steps it took to stand directly in front of him. Draco paused, taking in Harry's wind-blown clothes before bringing his eyes up to meet the Gryffindor's bright eyes. This – this was indeed his Harry.
"Draco," he started, brushing his hand up coolly through his hair, Draco's eyes following every movement. "Play a Seeker's game with me?"
"A Seeker's game?" Draco repeated slowly, looking around the pitch as if his broom would appear out of thin air, or someone had left theirs by mistake so he could use it. "I don't have my broom, Harry."
The corners of Harry's mouth drew up into a mischievous smile. "We don't need our brooms for this game."
A/N: Just in time for the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! Hope everyone has a good time seeing the movie.. and see it multiple times!
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