Chapter 3:
Two weeks later, Harry shuffled nervously into the Great Hall. Today was the day the Goblet of Fire would pair them with their partners. All the students taking reproductive studies were assembled for the event.
"Harry!" called Ron. "Over here!"
Harry quickly made his way towards Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. "Merlin, I'm nervous for this," he said as he joined his friends.
"Me too, mate," said Ron. "I can't wait until this is over with."
"Look you guys, I think we're getting ready to start! Dumbledore's just arrived!" said Ginny excitedly. Unlike Harry and Ron, Ginny and Hermione seemed more excited than nervous. The Great Hall grew silent as all the students watched Dumbledore make his way to the podium, the Goblet of fire sitting on it's pedestal in front of him.
"Welcome everybody. Before we get started with the sorting, I just wanted to make a few things clear. As I'm sure Professor Douglas has already informed you, you will be expected to live and work together with your partners for the remainder of the school year. Once the Goblet has sorted you, it will be final. There will be no switching of partners. Also, Professor Douglas will be offering counseling to those of you who find it impossible to live with eachother. Now, please line up single file. I want you all to write your full names on a piece of parchment and drop it into the Goblet. After everyone is done, the Goblet will begin spitting out your names in pairs, this will be your partner. Please note that it is possible to have partners in different years as well as same sex partners. So now, let's begin!"
The students all lined up single file and one by one dropped their names into the goblet. After they were finished they all huddled closely around the Goblet watching and waiting for it to spit out the first names. After what seemed like an eternity, the Goblet flared brightly and the first names were spit out, Dumbledore caught them and read them loudly so all the students could hear.
"The first pair is Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood! Please, after your names are called find your partner and go to the back of the Hall."
A somewhat disappointed looking Neville looked around until he spotted Luna, who seemed spaced out as usual, and they made their way towards the back of the hall. After this first pairing, the Goblet began spitting out names in a steady rhythm, giving the students just enough time to find eachother and move to the back of the Hall.
"Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas."
"Virginia Weasley and Blaise Zabini."
"Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger."
"Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil."
"Cho Chang and Zacharias Smith."
"Padma Patil and Gregory Goyle."
"Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy."
A loud gasp echoed throughout the Great Hall. Dumbledore turned white and adjusted his glasses as he reread the parchment making sure he had called the correct pairing.
"No!" shouted Harry.
"It can't be!" yelled Draco. "I refuse to be paired with him! This is a mistake!"
Dumbledore shook his head as he reread the piece of parchment in his hand again. "No, I'm afraid this is not a mistake boys, the Goblet doesn't make mistakes," he said, more to himself than to the rest of the room.
"But Professor, we hate eachother! It must be a mistake!" said Harry.
"No, I'm afraid not. Now Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, please join eachother and go to the back of the room, we will discuss this later." said Dumbledore sternly.
Harry and Draco glared at one another as they walked to the back of the Hall, where they stood as far away from one another as possible.
Ron and Hermione made their way over to where Harry was standing, but didn't say anything to him. They just stared at him in shock, and was that... disappointment he saw on Ron's face?
"What?" Harry hissed at them.
Ron gulped. "Nothing mate, it's just... why would the Goblet pair you with him? It's supposed to pair the most compatible people together, so why would it pair--"
"How should I know, Ron!" snapped Harry angrily. "We've got to be the least compatible people on the planet. It has to be a mistake, so stop looking at me like that when your own sister got paired with Blaise Zabini!"
"Shh, you guys please! Harry listen, do you think V– Voldemort had anything to do with it?" whispered Hermione.
Harry shrugged, it hadn't occurred to him, but it was possible. A confundus charm had been placed on the Goblet during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, confusing the Goblet into picking Harry as a Tri-Wizard Champion, so why couldn't something like that have happened again?
"I dunno," Harry whispered back to her. "But I'll talk to Dumbledore after we're finished here, hopefully he'll be able to sort this out," he said, but he didn't look very confident.
After the sorting was finished, the students were given the locations of their new living quarters. They were told to gather their belongings from their dorms at once and begin moving into their new rooms. While the rest of the students were busy moving, Harry made his way to Dumbledore's office.
"Butterbeer," he muttered at the entrance, then quickly hurried up the stairs and knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Dumbledore called out, and Harry entered. "Ah, Mr. Potter, yes, I was expecting you, please take a seat."
"Professor, please, this has to be a mistake!" Harry began immediately. "Malfoy and I aren't – aren't compatible! I think the Death Eaters may be behind this. Voldemort probably wants Malfoy to spy on me for him, maybe even kill me, so you've got to do something about this --"
"Harry," Dumbledore interrupted him. "Calm down, nothing like that is going to happen. The sorting wasn't a mistake and Death Eaters had nothing to do with it. After the Triwizard Tournament I put extra precautionary spells on the Goblet. There is no way that even Voldemort himself could have put a confundus or any other spell on the Goblet, it is no longer possible for any wizard to do that. Now, I don't know why the Goblet chose to pair you with Mr. Malfoy, but I know it wasn't a mistake."
"But –, but it has to be!" shouted Harry. "There is no way we are compatible, we hate each other!" he said as he stood up and angrily stomped his foot on the ground.
"Calm down Harry! Now please sit back down, I must ask you something, it may be embarrassing but... do you prefer males over females?"
Harry flushed red as he took his seat again. "I – I don't know, I've never really– I suppose I do," he said at last as he admitted it to himself as well as to Dumbledore. Harry knew deep down that he preferred boys, he always had, but he'd never admitted it to himself. He found some girls to be attractive, but he really didn't have any desire to have sex with them, or even kiss them. Cho had proved that to him.
Dumbledore smiled at him kindly. "It's okay Harry," he said gently. "Same sex relationships aren't looked down upon in the wizarding world as they are in the muggle world." Harry nodded. He had heard this before and he knew it was true, but he had grown up in the muggle world and this was hard for him to admit to himself.
"Harry, for whatever reason, the Goblet paired you two together. And I think you'd be doing yourself and Mr. Malfoy a disservice if you didn't try to find out why."
Harry nodded, even though he wasn't quite sure that he had the same faith in the Goblet's wisdom as Dumbledore did.
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Harry panted as he lugged his trunk up the final stairs leading to his and Draco's living quarters, which were located in a tower near the back of the castle overlooking the lake. He stood for a minute and took a deep breath as he prepared to enter.
"Potter!" said a voice behind him. Harry turned to see Draco climbing the steps his wand pointed at his trunk, guiding it as it flew in the air a few steps ahead of him. With a flick of his wrist it landed gently on the ground near the door. "Was that you dragging your trunk all the way up these stairs! Why the hell didn't you just use magic? Oh wait, I forget how incompetent you are. You probably can't master that spell," said Draco haughtily.
Harry flushed at his stupidity. He was just so used to lugging it around during summer break that it had never occurred to him to use magic. "Bite me, Malfoy," he said and angrily opened the door before levitating his trunk the remaining few feet into the room. Draco followed them in, his own trunk levitating ahead of him.
Harry looked around him in amazement as he entered his new living space. He was standing in a spacious common room, complete with a fireplace on one end, a coffee table, sofa, two comfortable looking chairs, and a big window with a beautiful view of the lake. On the other end Harry could see two bedrooms, with a bathroom in between them.
"Cool," said Harry. "This is like our own flat!" he glanced at Malfoy who was walking around the room with a look of disdain on his face as he ran his fingertip over the mantle of the fireplace.
"I'm sure it's great by your standards, Potter. But not by mine. Look at this," he said holding up his blackened fingertip. "This place is filthy, we'll have to have the house elves up here to clean it immediately!"
Harry rolled his eyes as he entered one of the bedrooms. It was big and contained a single bed, a dresser and two end tables. It also had a window in it, which offered an amazing view of the lake. He walking through a door on one side of the room which opened into the bathroom. The bathroom had two sinks a large mirror, plenty of cupboard space, a toilet, and a bathtub/shower combination. On the other side of the bathroom was another door leading to the second bedroom. Harry opened the door and peaked in. The second bedroom appeared to be identical to the first one and Malfoy was already in there inspecting it with the same disdainful look on his face he'd worn in the common room. Harry shrugged and decided to claim the first room as his. He went back to it and began unpacking his things. A few minutes later he heard a shriek from the bathroom.
"You have got to be kidding me!" cried Draco. "Our rooms join into the bathroom! That's just great, I'll never feel comfortable showering in here now!"
Harry just sighed and once again rolled his eyes at Draco, trying his best to ignore him as he continued to unpack his things. Finally he finished and stood back to admire his new room. It was done in Gryffindor colors, with a red and gold comforter on the bed, a Gryffindor banner above the headboard, and a few of his favorite quidditch team posters on the wall. He grinned to himself. This place was perfect, he threw himself upon the bed and sighed contentedly. He felt so grown up in here, like this was his own flat. Maybe this project wouldn't be so bad after all, he thought to himself. Then he remembered who his partner was, and groaned.
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Later that night as Harry was heading to dinner Hermione and Ron caught up with him.
"Well? What did Dumbledore say?" they demanded. Harry cringed and turned away from them, shaking his head.
"He said it wasn't a mistake," Harry said quietly. "He's put spells on the Goblet that make it impossible for anyone to mess with it. The Goblet paired me with Malfoy of it's own free will because it thought that out of everyone in the school, I was most compatible with him," he admitted reluctantly to his best friends. He looked up and caught the looks Hermione and Ron exchanged with eachother, a mixture of disbelief and disappointment. Without another word Harry turned on his heal and headed back to him and Malfoy's flat, all of a sudden he wasn't very hungry. Ron and Hermione didn't try to stop him as he left.
A/N: Things get more interesting between Harry and Draco in the next chapter. If you like what you've read so far please review.