Disclaimer: Never in a million years.
In a perfect world
I'd be very bored
Because all that coal
Would be turned to gold
Which meant the fire
Burning oh-so bright
Would shine an eerie yellow
With no cheery red in sight
-This Perfect World- Issalee (Mine!)
smile when you don't mean it
issalee
Draco was curled up in a plushy armchair, next to a fireplace in one of his many living rooms. He was rereading the book on Urians for what must have been the fortieth time. He still couldn't believe most of the information.
His glamour had already worn off, and couldn't stay on for more than a few moments. His hair was now down to his shoulders, and he kept it tied loosely back with a rubber band. His eyes were beginning to turn silver, not their normal, dreary gray. He could feel stronger too, and every night, he would flex his wings in the privacy of his room, and feel an incredible urge to fly. The wings were white, at the moment; a blank canvas, waiting to be drawn on. He didn't like them white. And he still had to worry about his mate; in another week or so, the blood would be running freely through his veins and he'd be able to locate them rather quickly…oh, joy.
The door opened suddenly, and his head popped up. Ginny looked at him, her mouth in a small 'o'. She was clutching a small bag in her hand, and when he looked pointedly at it, she smiled sheepishly.
"I was going to Floo over, but I decided to have them come in and sit and talk. It would reassure them, more."
"Can I stay?" Draco asked suddenly. She looked surprised, but nodded slowly.
"All right, but Mum and Dad wrote me to say they have business with the Order tonight. It will just be the Golden Trio—your archenemies."
He quirked an eyebrow as if to say so what? Ginny sighed and walked over the, placing the bag of powder on the mantle. "They'll be here in a moment; I only just changed the plans, but Ron won't waste any time."
She sat in another chair, glancing every now and then at Draco.
He didn't seem bothered by it all; in fact, he was back to reading his book, legs curled underneath him, his head propped up on one arm and the book lying on the arm of the chair as he read.
A sudden whoosh! Startled her out of her thoughts. She looked to the fireplace just as her brother stumbled out. A moment later Hermione followed, with Harry bringing up the rear. All of them smiled when they saw her, but Draco, whose chair was at the side of the fireplace, went by unnoticed. He watched with a bemused expression on his face as Ron began ranting.
"And can you believe it, Mum and Dad won't let you come home! Isn't that unfair, Gin?" He looked beseechingly at her.
Ginny shook her head. "It's quite alright, Ron. In fact, yesterday Carina Zabini, the Ernestine sisters, Pansy Parkinson and I took a dip in the pool out back. Although it was freezing, it was fun."
"Pansy!" Ron roared. "That—that—that—"
"That what, Ronald?" Ginny said, her voice suddenly icy. "I'd like you not to insult my host's guests in front of him. I thought you had better manners than that."
"He's here?" Hermione said, suddenly looking very ashen. Ginny motioned behind them, and as one they all turned. Draco raised a hand in greeting before returning to his book. The trio stood, shocked.
Ginny worked to stifle a laugh as Harry turned back to her. "He didn't insult us!" The poor raven-haired boy was obviously confused. "He didn't say a word!"
Ginny shrugged. "Yes, he tends to shut his mouth often. You merely provoked him, I suppose."
"With what? Our presence?" But Hermione didn't say it spitefully. Rather, she was taken with the books dotting the wall. Her eyes were wandering every so often to an old-looking tome with gold lettering on the side, clearly bearing the words A Witch's Guide to Lycanthrope.
"Where's he keeping you, Gin?" Ron had managed to get his voice back and his glare was now boring a hole into Draco's head. The blond didn't seem to notice; he was very interested in the book in front of him.
"I'll show you." Ginny stood and made as if to walk out. "Anyone else coming?"
"I'll stay." Harry blushed as they stared at him, including Draco. "If anyone needs to contact us, someone's got to be able to talk to them."
Ginny nodded, a plan already formulating in her mind. "Of course. Nice to see you, Harry. And I'm terribly sorry for the way I've been treating you these past few days."
Harry shrugged it off. "It wasn't a big deal, Gin. Ron said you were probably going through a long and tedious time of month thing."
Ginny glanced at her brother, who shrank back slightly. "Did he now?" She had to work hard not to giggle as she led her brother and Hermione out of the room, leaving Harry and Draco behind.
And alone.
In a room.
Together.
Somewhere, Fate was cackling madly with glee.
Harry sat down in Ginny's vacated seat. Draco had given up the pretense of reading, and was now brooding as he stared into the fire. Harry would have been fine with the silence, but there was a niggling thought in the back of his mind.
"Er…Malfoy."
"What?" The blond didn't turn to look at him, but if Harry had peered a bit more closely, he would have noticed that Draco was watching him from the corners of his eyes.
"Well, I—Hermione, that is, brought a few interesting subjects to light after Ginny went."
Draco turned to look him full in the face, obviously amused. "Granger told you about the feud? Ginevra and I researched that ages ago. It wasn't a very interesting topic; it was more idiotic than informative, if anything at all is true."
Harry nodded, suddenly struck dumb by the noticeable change in the other boy's features. Draco suddenly seemed more defined in a way no mortal human could ever be.
"See something interesting, Potter?"
Harry shook himself out of his reverie as Draco smirked. "So much for you changing your ways," he said bitterly.
Draco shrugged. "I'm only—human."
Harry caught the hesitation and raised an eyebrow in a perfect imitation of Draco; so much so that the other boy burst out into laughter; and his laughter was not to be scoffed at. For one so mentally and sometimes physically abused in his childhood, laughter was where he was allowed to pour out his emotions, both good and bad.
Harry gazed in shock at him until he suddenly relaxed, and started to laugh along with him. Draco wheezed a little as he straightened up.
"Well, Potter, maybe you do have a sense of humor after all. And here I was thinking that you were just a stiff, cold relic of flesh and blood."
A grin worked its way across Harry's face. "Well, well, well, look at the pot calling the kettle black."
Draco sneered. "I am not a pot. If anything, I am a magnificent, gold cauldron with edges of silver and charms all over me."
Harry covered his face with a hand, then peeked out through the fingers. "Malfoy, you're comparing yourself to a hunk of metal."
"That I am."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Merlin, you are conceited. In a perfect world, then, I suppose you'd be totally different?"
"Yeah, right. I'd be exactly the same." Draco deadpanned. But then his face turned somber. "But you know, there's no such thing as a perfect world."
"Really?" Harry said, suddenly curious. "Why is that?"
Draco shrugged. "Can you imagine the person who has to watch over this perfect world? Someone has to make sure everything goes right, and they may have to resort to a few dirty means to do so. They'll probably go mad, having to sit and maintain the world in its perfection every single day."
There was a long silence as they both mulled over this, before Draco spoke up again. "Besides, I'd be bored as merde."
This sent them both off into a flurry of laughter, which was how Ginny, Hermione and Ron found them when they walked back in a moment later. Ginny hid a satisfied smirk while Ron gagged. Hermione looked shocked at first, but then gradually an amused look covered the whole of her face. She and Ginny had been teetering on the edge of this possibility for ages now, anyhow.
As Ron steadily turned purple, Harry managed to wave to the fireplace. Hermione got the motion first and turned to Ginny, beaming.
"We're leaving now, Gin, before Ron decides now is the perfect time to try out homicide. Bye," she said, and the bushy-haired witch grabbed Ron by an arm and dragged him over to the fireplace. She took the Floo powder from the mantle, threw some in and stepped promptly inside.
"The Burrow!" she called, and as she and Ron vanished in the roaring green flames, Ginny swore she could see Ron scrambling to get back out. She turned to Harry who, was calming down, and smiled widely.
"Well. It seems like you're having fun."
"Yeah, well…maybe Malfoy isn't such a pompous arse." Harry said carefully.
"Oh, no, he's still pompous." Ginny interjected. "You just have to learn to see past that. When you get past his sour, awful, terrible exterior, he's not quite so twisted on the inside."
Draco scowled. "Infuriating wench."
Harry proffered a smile. "And you have her for the rest of the summer. More's the pity she didn't stay the whole time."
Ginny glared at the two of them, but both kept perfectly straight faces as they stood from their chairs. Harry extended one of his hands, a tense smile on his face. "I don't suppose this erases all those years, but it was fun while it lasted."
Draco stared at the hand for a moment, a sudden apprehension in his stomach before he grasped it firmly. "Yeah. It was."
The two boys stayed like that for a moment, eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth as though they were staring each other down, but then both simultaneously let go of the other's hand. A flicker of dread passed through Harry as he broke eye contact.
"See you later, Gin, Malfoy." He walked into the fire, and cried "The Burrow!"
Both Ginny and Draco watched him go with their faces perfectly emotionless.
Blaise moved the carved piece of wood a space over and smiled in satisfaction as it knocked another out of the way. "So they sort of—clicked, you said?"
Ginny glared at him irritably from her position across from him; they were on the floor, and she was lying on her stomach. "Haven't I said that six times before, Zabini?"
It had been three days since the visit, and Draco had been acting oddly since then. Feeling rather worried, Ginny had spilled to the Slytherins, all of whom were gathered in the large library, doing some odd task.
"Don't anger her, Blaise." Theodore Nott flipped his broom over and proceeded to polish the other side lovingly. "She hexed me yesterday just because I asked her if that was her natural hair color."
Pansy glanced at him from over the top of her book. "Yes, well you're an idiot."
"What?" Theodore looked thoroughly confused.
Carleigh and Carina were experimenting with some Potions on the floor, watching as they bubbled and giggling gleefully every so often. Chloris was sitting next to them, recording the effects on a roll of parchment and offering the odd suggestion. Carina glanced over at her brother.
"Blaise, we've gotten past the point already. Go on, Ginevra." She ignored Ginny's scowl at the name.
"You don't ask girls about their hair color!" Pansy said to Theo. "It's rude and only those without manners do it!"
"I didn't mean it to be mean," Blaise apologized to Ginny, who merely looked at him with deep loathing as he knocked another one of her pawns aside. "It's just, I find it hard to believe that people who have been enemies most of their lives will just—click."
"Are you saying I don't have manners?" Theo demanded hotly.
"Of course." Ginny said, smiling wickedly as she took one of Blaise's knights. As he frowned, she continued. "I didn't think of it either, but Hermione and I were trying out some virtues last year, and patience was one of them."
"Patience is not a virtue." Carleigh interrupted. "Do you know how long I've been patiently waiting for those Omniculars I sent in three Wizard-Os box tops for? Ages and ages."
"What I am saying is that you need to decide on whether or not you should phrase your questions properly."
"I asked her about her hair color, Pans, not whether or not she was a virgin."
Ginny leaned across the chessboard as she recounted Blaise's last move by taking his rook. "All I'm saying is when Draco's done with his transition, he's gonna feel attracted to Harry, whether or not he's his mate. They're just too good with each other."
"But they're enemies!" Blaise pointed out, letting a smile of his own escape as he captured Ginny's bishop. "They could never get along!"
"What I am saying, Theodore, is that the question is insulting to certain people!"
"Pansy…are you doing this because you're afraid I found out you're really blond under there?"
'Well, we were enemies until now." Ginny countered, taking the Slytherin's own bishop. Blaise grinned at her, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"So what are we now?" He laughed while Ginny blushed.
"I am NOT BLOND." Pansy was glowering so hard at Theo it was a wonder the room didn't burst into flame. "And are you implying that I'm stupid?"
"Check." Ginny mumbled, in an attempt to sway Blaise's advances. He frowned deeply and looked back at the board. "Listen to me, Blaise, if they were together, would you accept them?"
The boy didn't answer, and she guessed he was thinking about his next move. She was right, as in another swift movement; he had placed her in check. With a puckered brow Ginny gingerly moved her queen. She then flipped over onto her back as she waited, listening to the sounds in the room.
"If you think I'm stupid, then you think Draco's stupid, because he's blond too!"
"So wait…you are blond, then?"
"Urgh! Boys, there's no use even trying to reason with them!" Pansy raised the book to hide her red face as Theo smirked triumphantly. Chloris handed him a potion and mimed drinking it. Blinking suspiciously, he did so, trusting the quiet girl.
In a moment, his mop of brown (?) hair had turned a dirty blond. Carleigh, Chloris and Carina collapsed into helpless laughter, followed soon by Pansy as Theo frantically attempted to use his wand to return his hair to normal.
Ginny opened her eyes, and was startled to find a pair of blue-green ones staring back at her. Blaise grinned roguishly. "I'd accept that idea as much as I'd entertain one of me and you."
He stood and walked into one of the obscure back aisles. Ginny watched him go, blushing delicately. She looked down at the chessboard and her eyes grew wide, just as Blaise's head popped out, still smiling.
"Oh, by the way—"
"Don't gloat," she interrupted. He smiled brightly.
"Checkmate."
Draco looked up as Ginny and Chloris entered the room, each clutching a heavy book. It was Saturday.
"What're you doing?" He questioned them. Ginny looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I think the real question is, what are you doing?"
Draco glanced down at his hands, a little guiltily. The truth was, he had been sitting in the same chair in the same random parlor, toying with the same exact thoughts. Life was getting a bit repetitive.
"Thinking," he said finally. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Well, we're actually doing something. Chloris and I were just going to get started on our…what did you say they were, Chlo?"
The brunette tipped her head to the side, and the small, wire-rimmed reading glasses she was wearing tipped also. "We're getting started on our research for Animagi, seeing as Ginevra is one of those lucky few who got the letter saying she was ready to try it."
Ginny scowled. "Don't call me Ginevra."
"Really?" Draco said. "I got the letter too, although I was unaware that anyone besides me did. Did anyone else get it?"
"We all did, prat." Ginny dumped her book on a desk in the corner, sneezing lightly as the dust reached her nose. "And Harry, Hermione and Luna sent me letters saying they got theirs too."
"Loony got in?" Draco asked. "Surprising."
"Don't call her Loony!" Ginny admonished. "It's not right, everyone does it to be mean—"
"I started it, and not to be mean!" The blond seemed a bit miffed. "I've known Loony since I was six. She is a Ravenclaw, and until her mother died and caused what my parents thought of as a scandal, she was a potential bride. I called her Loony because I couldn't be bothered to say Luna."
Both Chloris and Ginny seemed shocked by this, but the former recovered first. "Well, Ginevra and I were just about to check up on forms we'd like to use. You'd better do so too."
Draco waved an airy hand. "Don't want to. What's the use of being an Animagus if you can't even use it for fun? They'd find out about you if you pulled anything like that."
Chloris looked at him as though he were stupid. "We're not telling them our actual forms, idiot. We just need to learn a small form to hold for five minutes, as is the required time, and we'll never use it again. We have other uses for these forms."
"Like sneaking into someone's bedroom to set off a Stunner Bomb," Ginny said dreamily. "Oh, and Chlo, don't call me Ginevra."
"Don't call me Chlo."
"Done and done."
Draco shook his head, amused. "So what form did you pick?"
"That's what we were about to do, prat!" Ginny said petulantly. "Pick our forms! We told you that when you asked, remember? You'd do well to pick yours also."
"Ah, but my dear Ginevra," Draco said, perching his chin on his fist. "I have already picked a primary and secondary form. For the first, I shall be a magnificent eagle! For the second, a ferret shall do."
The two girls choked.
"A ferret!" The gasped simultaneously.
Draco nodded. "No one would expect it of me, and besides, they are very good at being sneaky. I could wander all of Hogwarts and no one would say a word."
Ginny shook her head. "You're crazy."
He raised an eyebrow. "And aren't you the one who's planning the first step of many illegal escapades with that secondary form? What a terrible Gryffindork you are."
"I'm not the only one doing it!" The redhead spat out. "Hermione's primary form is an otter, and her secondary is a cat! Harry's primary—" She stopped, suddenly ashen. "Ooh, sorry, but I'm under orders not to say."
"From who," Draco said bitterly, obviously hoping for such information. "Your precious Order?"
"It sounds to me," Chloris said quietly, "Like you would like to have known Potter's form."
"Why have you been mooning since he left?" Ginny added.
Draco stood quickly, banishing the image of those shining emerald eyes that had appeared in his head from his mind. "I have not been mooning, Ginevra. Malfoy's don't moon."
"They don't invite Gryffindors or Weasleys over to their houses without any evil plots afoot either." Ginny pointed out.
The blond Slytherin left the room, growling, and with Ginny shouting "Don't call me Ginevra!" behind him. As the door swung shut, a grinning redhead turned to Chloris.
"D'you see what I mean?"
The brunette shook her head. "Carleigh is the one that gets the guys. I'm the behind-the-scenes person, but even I can see where this is going."
A wicked gleam lit up in Ginny's eye. "Do you want to play matchmaker, Chloris?"
The Ernestine twin took Draco's vacated seat, a thoughtful smile on her face as she answered.
"With pleasure…Ginevra."
This was one of my fav. chaps. to write. I had Muchos Muchos Funundos while writing this. Reviews make the halo round my head spin! (And my ego inflate as big as a blimp, but...meh.)
