Harry was greeted by Malfoy's patronus when he entered the classroom they used as their meeting place. The blond had his back to the door and looked round when Harry shut it.
"Your patronus looks perfect. Nearly lifelike the way it attacked me," Harry complemented.
"Sorry," Draco said, smiling slightly. Malfoy smiling genuinely at him was enough to make him grin back. It was so rare Harry was taken aback whenever it happened. The dove dissolved in to the air. Harry strode over to the table covered in parchment with Harry's scrawl and Draco's neat, loopy writing all over it. Harry opened his bag and added to it. It looked like they had a bit of sorting out to do. Luckily, they had dated everything as they went along and all it took was a quick spell to get everything in order. Harry was surprised to see it had been nearly six weeks since they began. He said this to Malfoy, who only shrugged and muttered 'feels longer' before picking up their checklist. Harry frowned but chose to ignore his sudden coldness.
"Let's get started then, what do we need to do?"
Harry and Draco worked on their project, mostly keeping their conversation topics around it.
"How long have we been working on this now? Must be time to stop," Harry grumbled, dislodging his glasses to rub his tired eyes. Why did textbook font and Malfoy's writing have to be so damn small, it gave him sore eyes in minutes. Harry watched Draco check his bare wrist and grumble to himself before casting a tempus charm. Harry gave him an inquisitive look.
"Lost my watch," Draco explained briefly. Harry felt a pang of guilt for still having it. He covered up his uncomfort by teasing Draco.
"Aren't watches 'horrible muggle contraptions'," Harry asked, trying to mimic Draco's tone of voice the best he could. Harry's face crinkled in amusement when Draco glared at him.
"Firstly, if that was an impression of me it was terrible," Draco started and Harry gave him a mock hurt look, which Draco ignored. "Secondly, that watch was a gift from my parents and is more of a piece of jewellery. Not that you'd understand." Draco wrinkled his nose in disgust and Harry threw a balled up bit of parchment at his face. He made a mental note to give Draco's watch back as soon as possible and prayed that Draco didn't hex him too painfully.
After supper Draco went up to the dormitories in a daze. Since the dream he had after leaving Potter at the hospital wing, Draco promised himself he wouldn't ever be friendly towards him again. Yet, he had still gone to work with him. They were just working together. They were there because they had to be, not because they wanted to be. Then why, when Potter complimented him on his patronus, did he want to smile and why did warmth flood through his body as if he were proud to have been given a compliment? Draco made sure he was a cold towards Potter as he could be through the rest of the hour. He wouldn't let stupid emotions get the better of him. Unfortunately being cold around Harry wasn't as easy as it sounded. His niceness was infectious and to be honest Drace did actually like him as a person. When he wasn't being saintly or arrogant or annoying.
Draco fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes. His dream slowly invaded his idle mind, albeit a little bit disjointed. Warmth filled his stomach and he felt himself smile as he remembered how he had felt along Harry's chest for bruises for longer than was necessary, how his fingers had followed that trail of dark hair lower and lower until- Draco sat up quickly and shook the thoughts hurriedly from his mind. This was ridiculous. He forced himself to push the thoughts away, his heart beating hard in his chest. He needed to get some dreamless sleep potion as soon as possible. His dreams were getting weird, and, quite frankly, scary.
They were almost scary enough for him to question his sexuality. Again.
"What is with you, Malfoy?" Harry asked him when he scowled at yet another random object in the room. A bad mood seemed to have settled over him over the past few days.
"Me?" he retorted.
"Either decide if you want to be friendly or not. You were the one who insisted that we work together again and yet you're the one sulking and refusing to talk to me."
"I am not sulking, Potter," Malfoy snapped. His features then softened and he almost looked regretful. "Sorry," he said sincerely and Harry was taken aback. "I just don't want people thinking we're friends."
"We are though," Harry interjected. Draco shot him a look. "Okay, okay." Draco sighed.
"It's not that I don't want to be friends, or that I'm ashamed to be friends with you, it's just... I don't want people talking about us. I think we've both had enough of being the centre of gossip for a lifetime." Harry nodded, not able to keep the huge grin off his face that Draco actually wanted to be friends, as ridiculous as it seemed to be so happy over something so small.
"I understand," he said, resisting the urge to do something stupid like hug Draco. Draco gave him a thankful glance and they got to work. Harry wasn't really paying attention to the project and was instead deep in thought.
An idea struck him and he grinned mischievously. He strode over to where Draco was pouring over a book and slid it from under his nose.
"Hey!" Draco reached out to slide the book back but Harry shut it.
"I want to try something with you," he said, dragging a stool over and settling down opposite Draco. Draco rolled his eyes but didn't protest.
"Okay, what?" he asked warily.
"Well, after Voldemort-" Draco visibly winced at the name "-finally left my brain, he left some... side effects. Basically, I'm good at legilimency and can connect with people's minds and talk to them through a link. I haven't really tried it properly before but it should work."
"So I'm just your guinea-pig then? And anyway, I'm not really sure I want you in my head." Draco eyed Harry cautiously.
"It's not like that. You should be able to control it quite easily. It means we can talk without actually talking, if that makes sense."
"You're not going to let me continue working if I don't agree, are you?" Harry shook his head and grinned when Draco sighed. "Fine. What do I have to do?"
"We have to hold eye contact and you have to listen to me." Draco brought his eyes up to Harry's. They held the eye contact for a few moments before Draco blinked furiously and looked away.
"Sorry," he muttered and Harry wondered if his eyes were deceiving him because Draco was blushing. His cheeks were tinged slightly pink and his eyes were trained on the table. Harry had never seen as much colour in Draco's face. Usually he was practically in greyscale with his pale skin and hair and grey eyes. Harry thought him blushing was very interesting and almost endearing.
"It's okay. We don't have to try this if you don't want to." Draco looked up at him.
"Let's try again. I'm actually quite intrigued to what it would be like." Harry fixed his eyes to Draco's cold grey ones. He focused on their black centres and stretched his mind out to Draco's.
Malfoy? Can you hear this? Malfoy? He repeated in his mind. Suddenly Draco jumped and rubbed his head, looking bewildered.
"I guess you heard that then," Harry said and laughed softly at Draco's expression.
"Yeah. That was really weird," he replied, still frowning.
"Try and talk back this time," Harry told him and they locked eyes again. "Just hear my voice and focus on where it's coming from."
Malfoy? If you hear this, respond back.
Hi, this weird hear Draco's response stuttered across Harry's mind sounding like an out of tune radio. It sounded as if he was being talked to down a tunnel or underwater.
"Your sentence isn't coming through properly," Harry informed Draco, who huffed.
"Shut up and try again then," Draco snapped. Harry grinned at his enthusiasm and focused again.
Is this better? Draco asked.
Yes, much, Harry answered him, surprised at how quickly the link was improving.
It's not really solving any problems, though. The link stuttered and faltered towards the end of the sentence but Harry still heard all of it. It still sounded like Draco was yelling at him from down a tunnel but it was much better than when they first started. Harry was surprised how good it was. He's tried talking to Hermione through it (naturally she was very interested in his 'ability' and was desperate to try out all her theories) but it barely worked and only allowed a few snippets of sentences and was very quiet. They'd soon given up after a few attempts to improve it. Maybe because Draco was also very well practiced in occlumency it was more effective.
Harry brought himself out of his thoughts and answered Draco.
How come?
Instead of people seeing us talking they see us- The link broke because Draco couldn't keep it up any longer. Harry knew it would be harder for him to sustain it.
"They see us not saying anything and staring in to each other's eyes, which is almost definitely worse." Harry laughed and a smile ghosted over Draco's lips.
"Fair point. Although if you're willing to keep at it, we should be able to talk without making eye contact and, eventually, from different rooms."
"If you've never really tried it, how do you know?" Draco asked.
"Hermione made me read about it," he replied, pulling a face. Draco's mouth quirked in what could be called a smile.
"Let's stick at it. It could be interesting," Draco said, his tone noncommittal but his words giving away how keen to improve the link he was.
"Okay, but not today. I'm getting a headache." Harry settled down to work on the project and Draco found his place in the book he was looking at. They chatted casually as they worked and Harry was pleased to see that Draco was in a better mood. He was easier to deal with.
Harry felt happy when he went to lunch and his friends noticed.
"You're unusually happy after enduring an hour with Malfoy. I take it he's gotten over his sulk," Hermione said when he practically bounced up to their table.
"Yeah, I managed to bring him round. That and we talked to each other through our minds," he said as casually as he could, eagerly awaiting Hermione's reaction.
"You did what?" she exclaimed and Harry couldn't stop a massive grin spreading over his face.
"I used the link and it worked really well and I could hear whole sentences and Malfoy wants to work at it so we can talk without eye contact and-" he paused to draw breath. "-and then he can stop being so worried about people thinking we're friends." he waited for Hermione to take it in and reply.
"Wow. I wonder why the link was better with him than with me," she mused.
"That was all you got from that?" Harry asked, surprised at her comment even though the question had crossed his own mind.
"No, I'm happy that you managed to get it to work and pleased you and Malfoy have sorted things out between you, but you've got to admit it is odd that it worked so well after our failed attempt."
"I guess. Maybe I've gotten stronger. Perhaps we could try again and it might work better."
"Perhaps, but I doubt much has changed since we last tried." Ron and Seamus joined them then and Harry was swept up in a conversation about Quidditch so they stopped talking about the link. Harry forgot all about it until later that evening.
Harry was sat curled up on his favourite chair in the common room when Hermione dropped a pile of books onto the table near him and settled herself down in the armchair near his. Harry eyes the books cautiously.
"I've been reading up about the link and, interestingly, it appears to be stronger with people who are connected on an emotional level or in couples. Why it is stronger with Malfoy I don't know. Perhaps he is just better at legilimency than I am." Harry took in the information, not wanting to linger on the point about couples. He inwardly pulled a face and guessed it was the latter of the possibilities and their 'closeness' had nothing to do with it.
"Right. Shall we try again, just to see?" Hermione nodded and turned to face him. They locked eyes and both strained their minds to each other.
Hermione? Can you hear me? Hermione? Harry said through the link, awaiting a reply. Hermione shook her head.
"I can hear you just about but it's pretty much the same as it was before."
"I'm probably just tired. Try again in the morning?"
"Sure, but I doubt it will make much difference." Hermione pushed a book from the stack towards him. "Look at chapter three, Communication. it's not precisely what you have but the principle is the same." she gathered up the rest of the books and, after wishing him good night, went up to her dormitory. Harry eyes up the book and sighed. He picked it up, turned to chapter three, and began to read.
Whatever your mode of communication, be it advanced telepathy between twins, mind linking or other kinds of legilimency that actively link two conscious minds together, communication is possible. It will take time and effort to refine it and strengthen the bond until conversation can be held between the two parties and occasionally the link can stretch over a considerable distance and the communication will still be clear. On one remarkable occasion, a set of twins with a very strong mind link could still communicate when they were twenty miles apart. The identical twins, however, had a very strong bond due to a rather difficult life. This is extremely rare, nevertheless.
The strength of the communication relies on two things: the relationship of the participants and the type of bond. For a temporary mind link the relationship of the participants must be on an emotional level for the communication to be sustainable and clear. This is why the strongest links are either found in people who can relate easily with each other or couples.
Harry stopped reading. he decided that, seeing as he and Draco had only just started linking their minds it was too early to tell whether the 'communication' was going to be clear. At the moment it stuttered and sounded like they were underwater. He wasn't sure he liked what he was reading very much either. Sighing, he closed the book and went up to his dormitory.
Draco leant against the table. He'd been in the classroom for about five minutes. Draco went to glance at his watch yet again, forgetting he wasn't wearing it. After days of hunting for it and when he'd tried to use accio countless times, he accepted that it was lost forever. It really was very annoying. Where was Potter anyway? It wasn't like the Gryffindor to be over ten minutes late. He sighed and decided to start working without Potter. Five minutes in he looked up to make a statement to Potter and remembered he wasn't there. Draco was surprised by how used to making passing comments to Potter whenever he felt like it he was. If someone had told him he would be almost close to being friends with the Gryffindor a few years ago he would have laughed, or more likely hex them.
Draco jumped when the door banged open. He looked up in time to see Potter wince and shut the door behind him.
"Sorry," he mumbled. Draco studied him. Although he appeared calm, Draco could see where he'd been dragging his fingers through his already unruly hair and Draco didn't want to push him in case the anger bubbling under his skin came through. Draco frowned at him.
"What's up?"
"What do you mean? I'm fine," Potter replied.
"So I presume by the treatment it got, the door did something to offend you?" Draco asked smugly. Potter looked at him before flopping onto the stool next to him and let his head fall on to the table with a thunk. Trust Potter to be melodramatic about everything.
"Are you going to tell me or just sit there and sulk?" he asked with a smirk. Potter jerked his head up to look at him.
"Look who's talking!" he answered with a grin. Draco found it infuriating how Potter grinned at absolutely everything.
"Tell me over the link?" he suggested, eager to work on it. Draco had a bad habit of wanting to master anything he tried and, to tell the truth, he was interested about it. Draco ignored the way happiness bubbled in his chest when he thought about being able to talk to Harry whenever he liked, especially without his infuriating Gryffindor friends listening in.
Harry looked up at Draco and he stifled a gasp when an intense gaze met his. He really did not like eye contact one bit. He forced himself to hold it, though, until the annoying niggle in his stomach subsided and he lost the urge to look away.
It's Ginny, a voice filled his head once again and Draco was surprised by how clear it sounded compared to last time.
Yeah? He asked. What happened?
What? You're actually interested? Draco sighed in annoyance.
Yes. Spill it, Potter. Harry frowned.
That actually sounded like you that time. Basically she came up to me and started trying to be really apologetic and said I'd had enough time to think about it and- The link faltered and broke. Harry rubbed his eyes, probably feeling the same tiredness Draco felt from sustaining the link for so long. Harry looked up and Draco locked eyes with him, determined to finish the sentence.
-and said she was okay with you, but I had to choose who I wanted to spend more time with. Draco broke the link; the weight of it too heavy to hold any longer.
"Who-" he hesitated but pushed himself to ask; he had to know. "Who did you choose?"
"You, of course," Harry answered immediately. Draco's stomach tied itself into a knot.
"What?" he asked, although it came out as more of an exclamation. Harry smirked-almost fondly-at him.
"Ginny and I have grown apart and I just don't have it in me to care about her anymore." Draco was shocked. He knew Harry had been arguing with the Weasley girl but he was sure they were destined to be together. Not that he believed in destiny or fate.
"You used to be pretty close," Draco said, remembering how he was sitting with the Weasley girl after they had their first hour of work together.
"I know, but we started arguing over you." Draco was shocked.
"So it's my fault?" he asked.
"Partly," Harry answered, smiling. "No, not really. I got fed up of her being kind of clingy and we're just finding it hard to settle back to normal. I still love her, it's just not the exciting, almost forbidden love it was at the beginning. Without the war to distract us, I guess we're just not as compatible as I thought we were." Draco nodded, trying to understand. Harry looked genuinely upset and tired. "What about you and Pansy?" Harry asked, abruptly changing the attention to Draco.
"What about us? She fancies me and I'm not interested." Harry raised an eyebrow and moved his lips into what looked suspiciously like a rather Slytherin smirk. "And don't you dare say 'who would fancy me'," he warned. Harry's jaw dropped in mock insult.
"I would never!" it was Draco's turn to quirk an eyebrow.
"Really?" he challenged. Harry laughed,
"Seriously though, girls are such a pain. Why do we like them?" he joked. Draco didn't dare say he wasn't sure that he did. He hadn't even crossed that bridge with his friends, bar Blaise. Harry looked back down at the workbook but Draco continued to study him.
Draco knew better than anyone that people changed over the war and he would be stupid to believe that he had any influence over Harry and Weasley's relationship but it did seem odd how Weasley seemed so jealous that he and Harry spent time on the project with him. A tiny voice at the back of his mind suggested Harry could be bi and his stomach flipped in response. A louder, much angrier voice told him to shut up and stop being so stupid. It told him he was in risk of becoming one of Potter's stupid little followers if he kept this up. Sighing angrily, he picked up a textbook and forced himself to read instead of notice that Potter was looking over at him in concern.
I'm not really sure how I feel about my own portrayal of Ginny in this fic and to be honest Harry is probably being a bit of an arse about it but I wasn't really sure how to get them to break up without it being due to Draco because tbh that's a bit harsh and over done. Plus Harry would never cheat. Lemme know what you think.