Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There are also references to various ways that children have endangered themselves and then a threat of impending onscreen violence. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: I needed to write a Draco-Centric fic and then gift that fic to a different House. The head of my house ordered me to give it to Gryffindor. However, Aya, my darling bird, I thought of you the whole time I was with them. I swear.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 15); MC4A (Year 4)
Individual Challenges: Ravenclaw MC (x3); Gryffindor MC (x2); Durmstrang MC (x2); Magical MC (x7); Lunar Era; Short Jog; Old Shoes (Y); Bucket Listing (Y); Setting Sail; Booger Breath; Green Ribbon
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 15 – Assignment 03
Subject (Task No.): Muggle Art (Task#5: Write about sacrificing something for someone else.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Fantastic Beasts [100](Someone who doesn't look it but is extremely dangerous); 365 Prompts [313](A rumor spreading); Auction [D19-A1] (Gift Fic w/ Draco)[Gryffindor]
Other MC4A Challenges: Ship (Ferret's Fireworks)[SpBig (Baked Goods; Fruit/Berries; Glass/Cup; Ribbon/Cord; Tea); 1E (Cupid's Arrow)]; Chim [Dextrin](Gender Bend); Garden [Ship Ahoy! (Ferret's Fireworks); Fire [x3](AUReserve; Hold the Mayo; AllAboutFamily); TWT (Genderqueer Draco Malfoy)[Task#1](Juice)
Representation(s): Genderqueer Draco Malfoy & Desi/Fem Harry Potter & Autistic Luna Lovegood; Found & Blended Family; Different House AU; Draco Malfoy/Fred Weasley/George Weasley (Pre-Ship)
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: n/a
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: FR (Satisfaction); O3 (Oath)
Word Count: 1266 words
(^^)
Whiffle
(^^)
The three of them had not been friends at first.
Draco and Harini had initially butted heads on every single thing they could have possibly argued about (and a few more besides). Because Sirius had been estranged from much of his biological family, they had had only met a few times a year ever since Sirius had been acquitted of the crimes he had been accused of and had celebrated his freedom by promptly taking custody of his goddaughter as her parents had intended. That did not stop each brief visit from turning into some kind of fierce competition in whatever way the two could manage.
And they always found some way of competing against one another. The adults in their lives had been amused by the creativity that the pair showed in what they used to compete with. It had been less humorous when the pair had been found racing their brooms in the worst storm of the season just the summer before they started Hogwarts. Both Narcissa and Sirius had had to add calming draughts to their cups of tea after that incident, and for the same reason.
The fact that they both got sorted into Ravenclaw did nothing to help ease the natural competitiveness between the two cousins. In fact, it had just given them yet another area to compete in. Ravenclaw tended to either drown in the overwhelming wealth that came along with having two highly ambitious swots who knew how to work the system well, or they would see a sudden plummet of their points because those same swots had been caught yet again doing something that while not strictly against the rules, it was definitely implied to have been.
The House of the Eagles learned quickly to not invest too much emotion into the swings.
They also held a mandatory House meeting towards the end of Draco and Harini's first year where they unanimously agreed that the pair would never be allowed to try out for the Ravenclaw quidditch team. They submitted their agreement in writing to their Head of House, who just accepted the ruling gratefully. Filius Flitwick had been harboring a growing fear of what might happen if they had joined the team. Repairing the stadium would have been an arduous task and might have required outside resources, depending on what the inevitable incident might have been.
Adding Luna Lovegood to the mix had the benefit of soothing the rougher edges of Draco and Harini's relationship. While Draco and Harini were cousins through their mutual relation to the House of Black, Draco and Luna were much closer relations by blood. Xenophilius' mother Galena had been a Malfoy before she married Throckmorton Lovegood. Abraxas grumbled about his sister's foolish heart being indulged by their father until the day the Dragon Pox had claimed his life.
Luna had slid into place between the other two like a wand into a holster. She tempered the competitive natures of them, while at the same time balancing out their recklessness. The entire house breathed a bit easier when the chaotic point swings began to drop off.
Everything was fine until Luna's belongings started to go missing. Shortly afterwards, a couple of third-year girls had needed to visit the Hospital Wing due to some rather painful boils that had shown up on their palms and had started to spread up their arms. A rumor spread that it had been Draco (as his father had been a known member of the Dark Lord's inner circle) who had cursed the girls, but no one could prove it, especially since the half of the tower that held the girls dormitory was warded against any boys entering.
No one had truly considered the Girl-Who-Lived as a potential culprit. After all, Harini Potter was a sweet girl and a bit on the quiet side when not arguing passionately with Draco Malfoy. Not only that, but despite her being raised by Sirius Black since she was nearly six, she was still a Potter by birth and had vanquished the Dark Lord when she had been just fifteen months old. (Nothing got Harini to roll her eyes harder than the suggestion that she had done anything that resulted in that. It was a ridiculous suggestion and not remotely credible.)
The way the school saw Harini completely changed in her fourth year at Hogwarts. They had two other schools visiting for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Someone from Durmstrang had thrown a dinner roll at Luna because she had been talking about her favorite topic (obscure and rare magical creatures). The roll never made contact. Harini had whipped out her wand and turned it to an extremely fine ash before it could. Only then had she set aside the goblet of pomegranate juice she had been sipping as she had listened to her friend.
As if they had practiced it, Harini and Draco had risen at the same time. With a shiver, those watching who understood the formal customs of European purebloods realized that Harini was in perfect form as Draco's second. Her green eyes were as cold as the emeralds they resembled as she held her wand at ready to defend Draco or enforce his will if necessary. The ice blue hair ribbon holding Draco's hair together at the nape of his neck fluttered slightly in a nonexistent breeze that would later be suggested as being either his or Harini's magic flexing in the agitation that neither wix showed.
"You will apologize to my cousin," Draco stated in the same tone of voice that one might use for saying that the sun rose in the east or that water was wet. The burly wizard crossed his arms in front of him, adopting a surly expression like he would refuse out of hand. He spat out some phrase in what sounded like it came from the non-Slavic North. It could have easily have been an apology as it could have been an insult.
Without missing a beat or even twitching like she was hiding a flinch, Harini said something in the same language. The surly boy looked surprised by a Hogwarts student know his language. Draco didn't look like he was surprised by it. Nor did he concede the role of first for the confrontation. In fact, for the first time, it appeared as if the two wixen who had been the fiercest of rivals even while being best friends were in perfect sync.
A shiver of terror rippled throughout the student population of the room. Their competitions had already become the stuff of legends in the three and a quarter years they had been at Hogwarts. They traded off the top spots in all their subjects as they broke record after record. That was all while they were working against each other.
What were they capable of if they worked in tandem instead?
One of the other Durmstrang students (the famous seeker for the Bulgarian national quidditch team) kicked the bread-tosser under the table. Broken out of his shock, the wizard stammered out an apology to Luna in heavily accented English. Draco nodded regally after Luna had cheerfully accepted it. Then, still working as one, both he and Harini returned to their seats.
Only once they had resumed their own meals did the rest of the room relax.
(And if a pair of twins at the Gryffindor table were suddenly debating in their own silent method about the wisdom of trying to seduce a specific blond who was two years younger than them, well, then no one would be the wiser, would they?)