Disclaimer: see prologue
Guide: "Talk", Thoughts, ~letters and other written stuff~
Rating: M for sexual themes and language, slash in later chapters
Betas: jointheclub and Makoto Sagara
Update of beta-ed version: 19h July
AN: Thank you for the new reviews, alerts and favourites ^_^
-~-~- Altair -~-~-
-~-~-by Still waters are deep-~-~-
-~-~- chapter 8 – New schedules and old friends -~-~-
Tuesday, 2nd September 1997, Room Zero
When Harry started to wake after his first night spent in Room Zero, he was not aware at first that the comfy warm pillow he was snuggling into, in the hopes of returning to sleep, was actually the chest of his new roommate and Altair partner, Draco Malfoy, with whom he was currently sharing the purpleheart wooden bed he was sleeping in.
Getting nearer to wakefulness, Harry noticed that his very comfy pillow was accompanied by a steady rhythmical sound, which he found rather calming. Not fully awake, he did not recognise the sound as a steady beating heart. Only some moments later did he notice that his pillow was actually rising up and down too. Just like the chest of a breathing person, Harry thought. Finally realising that his pillow was actually in reality not a pillow at all but the male human chest of his bed partner, he shot open his eyes.
After some calming breaths, Harry took in his current situation. His head was laying on Draco's chest right where the other boy's heart was. That explains the calming sound from before, Harry thought. His left hand was also placed on Draco's chest but on the right. His other hand lay on a pillow somewhere over Draco's left shoulder. Harry also noticed that both of their legs were intertwined and that Draco had his left arm draped around his waist. We both must have moved towards each other sometime during the night, he mused, since instead of sleeping on either side of the bed, they were now laying in the middle of the bed. At least Malfoy won't be able to lay the whole blame on me since he moved towards me too.
Looking up at Draco, Harry noticed with relief that Draco thankfully was still asleep, since Harry's morning erection was currently pressing into Draco's left thigh, whereas Draco's arousal was pressed against Harry's hip.
Being cuddled together would have been bad enough on its own, being so close to each other. With both of us currently sporting morning wood, it does not help the matter at all. And to top the situation because of this nice little spell which was placed on our bed, both of us are also naked under the covers, making the situation even worse, he thought.
These thoughts led to Harry letting out an annoyed "Argh", not knowing that this exclamation woke up a previously sleeping Draco. Therefore, he had worsened his current situation even more, making it impossible to quietly crawl out of the bed before his bed partner would wake up.
Since Harry had not noticed that Draco was awake now, he was surprised when Draco greeted him with a drowsy "Good morning, Harry", since Draco was not completely awake yet. Surprised and embarrassed, Harry only muffled a "Morning" in return, trying to hide his rather red face in Draco's chest, like one would have done if it actually had been a pillow.
"Is there a reason why you are cuddling into my chest?" Draco asked Harry in a teasing voice.
"Uhm, no?" Harry more asked than said, not able to look at Draco's face but stopped cuddling his chest at least.
"Okay," Draco simply said, starting to move a bit to get out of bed and ready for the day of classes. Only then did he realise that they not only were cuddled up, by which he was not bothered at all, but that they also were sporting a morning erection each. So, this must be the reason why he seems rather embarrassed, Draco thought.
Wanting to make Harry feel at ease around him, he said to the other boy: "Don't tell me you are embarrassed because of our morning erections? It is only natural for us to have them. So don't worry about it. I don't." When Harry still seemed to be uncomfortable, he continued. "Come on, Harry. It could be worse. Imagine if you'd been paired with a girl instead. This way, we at least are in the same predicament."
"Urgh, this really would be worse," Harry answered, finally calmed down a bit after waking up erected in the arms of Draco Malfoy and was now able to look Draco in the eyes. Harry thought about what would have happened if he had been paired with someone like Cho Chang. Most likely they would believe that I would have been turned on by them and would want to rape them or something as ludicrous as that, and then, they would have begun to cry. Or I could have ended up with one of the terrifying fangirls, and they would have seen it as a sign to try to force me into something I did not want instead, he thought with a shudder.
"So, can I get up now?" Draco asked jokingly. When Harry did not start moving right away, he added: "Or do you want me to help you get rid of your problem first?" He gave Harry a wink.
That made Harry move, fast. Letting out a hasty "No", he immediately got up from Draco's chest and moved over to his side of the bed, watching as Draco stretched a bit before he left the bed to go to the bathroom. His sleep wear from yesterday was back on him as soon as he had left the bed.
While Draco was safely away in the bathroom, Harry decided to get rid of his morning erection. I would prefer a good wank, but I can't risk Malfoy walking in on me. That would just be so embarrassing, especially after what happened some minutes ago. So, I need to imagine how McGonagall would look in a bikini to solve that problem. I wonder if Draco is wanking in the shower right now, Harry mused, his cheeks turning a nice shade of red at the thought.
Getting up from the bed, Harry walked over to the walk-in closet to pick out his clothes for the day. Since it was a school day, there was not much to decide on, so Harry simply grabbed a clean uniform and cloak, as well as the first pair of briefs and socks he found. When he went back to the bedroom, Harry noticed that on his bedside table lay a scroll of parchment. Looking over at Draco's side of the bed. he saw that Draco had received a similar paper.
Throwing his clothes down on the bed, Harry was surprised that they did not vanish as soon as they touched the bed. The spell must only take effect when someone is wearing the clothes. Otherwise, the bedcover would not be able to stay on the bed. Maybe... Harry wondered, taking a quick look at the bathroom door to make sure that Draco was still in there before he sat down on the bed, his feet still touching the ground. And just like he had thought, his clothes were thankfully still there.
Checking if his other thought was also right, he, testing the waters, lifted up both of his feet. Still clothed. Then, he placed them both on the bed, and that was when his clothes vanished. So as long as my feet aren't on the bed, my clothes won't vanish. Good to know. Setting down his feet on the ground once again, his clothes returned and he finally picked up the scroll of parchment that still lay on his bedside table.
When he unrolled the parchment, he heard the bathroom door open and looked over, only to see Draco walking towards the closet clad solely in a towel. Draco is really rather fit. The one year's abstinence from Quidditch didn't hurt his figure at all. He is still as muscular (not too muscular, mind you) as during his time of Quidditch , Harry thought. Noticing that he had been staring at Draco's nearly naked body, Harry shook his head and forced his eyes back to the parchment in his hands.
It had his name, house, grade, as well as the current school year at the top and was followed by the usual class schedule (AN: their complete schedules can be found at the end of the chapter, just scroll down) he had gotten in the previous years, the only difference being that this schedule also included his chosen Altair electives.
"Uhm, Mal-Draco, do you know why we have our new schedules delivered to us already? If I remember correctly, all of the seventh-years have always received their schedules on the first day of classes in the Great Hall like the rest of us," Harry asked him, remembering a bit too late that they had agreed last night to start calling each other by their first names.
Draco, who was buttoning his shirt, walked out of the walk-in-closet and answered Harry: "I guess that the schedules they hand out in the Great Hall are only a disguise, so that not only the younger years do not notice that anything strange is going on, but also to protect the anonymity of those of us who are taking Altair electives. The schedules we will receive later most likely won't have our Altair courses on it."
"Not that this is a great help in our case. Really, out of all the thirty-nine rooms, we had to get assigned to the only one that screams to everyone: 'The occupants of this room are taking Sexual Magic classes. Please make their life a living hell'".
"Come on, at least the spell Professor Black casted prevents them from announcing it to the whole school, or even the Prophet," Draco said to lighten the mood.
"True. So, what other classes are you taking beside the electives we have in common?" Harry asked Draco to get his mind away from overthinking the situation and worrying about it too much. It is not like I can change the fact that I am assigned to Room Zero anyway. And better being compatible enough to have been assigned to this room and to hopefully be able to brew the Shërim Mendjen* than not having gotten a compatible partner at all.
Having finished buttoning his shirt, Draco walked over to his bedside table to pick up his schedule while he started to answer Harry's question. "I am also taking DADA, Potions, Herbology, Charms, Runes and Arithmancy. I would have liked to also take Warding but, unfortunately, you chose neither Ancient Runes nor Arithmancy as electives."
"I would have applied for Warding too, if could. I don't know why I took such a useless elective as Divination in the first place. Warding really sounded interesting. But I hope that some of it can be achieved with Ritual Magic."
"You really are lucky then that only one of us needs to have gotten an OWL in Runes for us to be able to take this one, otherwise we would have ended up with Sexual Potions and Basic only."
Having finished reading his new schedule, Harry said, "It seems like in the end Ron being mad at me has its advantage too. I would not have known how to explain to him that I won't be able to do anything with him today even if my faked schedule says that I don't have any classes at all on Tuesdays."
"I think even Weasley would have figured out that you most likely would have to be in one of the Altair classes, with us being assigned to Room Zero and all."
"Good point," Harry said ,now cheered up and smiling at Draco.
Having finished dressing and with Harry in a better mood, Draco took his bag and walked towards the door. "I will go on ahead. We will have to leave through our common rooms anyway. Besides, I have Runes at a quarter to ten today before we have Basic Trance-sexual Magic in the third period. See you then," he said in parting before he left the room.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
After Harry had taken a shower and was dressed for the day, he went down to the Altair common room, where to his surprise Hermione and Ron were sitting near each other without fighting.
Walking over, he greeted his two friends carefully, not sure if Ron would start another of his rants.
"Good morning," Hermione greeted him with a big smile on her face.
"Morning," said Ron looking nervous. After Hermione gave him a little nudge, Ron went on. "Ehm, yeah. Listen, Harry, I want to apologize for my behaviour yesterday. It was not right of me to scream at you only because you decided to sign up for Altair electives. It is your own choice if you want to take them, even if you had to end up with Malfoy of all people."
Not wanting to have Ron mad at him any longer than necessary, Harry decided to accept the apology. Nevertheless, he had to ask: "Apology accepted. But what brought about the sudden change?"
"Uhm, Neville talked to me yesterday and made me realise that I was unfair to the both of you."
"Okay," Harry said unbelievingly. I would like to know how Neville was able to calm down Ron this fast. Normally it takes days, if not weeks for Ron to cool down again.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Flashback, the night before in Ron's and Neville's room
"I can't believe that those two rats signed up for Altair electives behind my back," Ron complained loudly when he entered Room Sixteen. "No, Ron, I'm not breaking up with you so that I will be free to take sexual magic classes," he said in a high voice, trying to imitate Hermione and failing rather badly.
"As if; the bitch even seems to be happy to be paired with that Slytherin Zabini." Ron made both Slytherin and Zabini sound like a very bad insult. "I bet she already knew that he would be her partner, or why else would they be together on the train? And Harry is no better. I thought he was my friend, but what does he do? He pairs up with Malfoy of all people. I had thought that he was happy that I and Hermione got together."
Neville, who had entered the room together with Ron and had no choice but to listen to Ron's loud rant, got the feeling that Ron was not so mad about the fact that both of his friends had signed up for Altair electives, but that he rather still was not over his breakup from Hermione and was blinded by jealousy.
Wanting to calm Ron down and see reason, he got up his Gryffindor courage and said in a calm, gentle voice: "Uhm, Ron? Could it be that you are maybe not really angry about them having signed up for Altair electives but are more upset the fact that Hermione broke up with you? At least, it seems like that to me."
"Of course I am still upset about the breakup!" Ron screamed at poor Neville. "Really, why could she not have done as I said and forgot about the whole sexual magic thing and stay together with me?" he asked rhetorically. Nevertheless, Neville still answered him.
"Come on, Ron, you know better than I that Hermione would never be able to say 'No' to a chance to learn a new kind of magic. It isn't in her nature to do so. And you do not even know if Zabini really is her Altair partner. With how many subjects Hermione is taking, it would not surprise me if those two simply could have the most classes in common. As far as I know, Zabini is taking about eight NEWTs classes. Hermione takes as many as him, doesn't she?"
When Ron nodded his head, he continued. "So, most likely, they are simply sharing a room because they have the same amount of classes. The rooms are assigned by compatible schedules, so it is not surprising that they are sharing a room."
"That could be it, but why did she still break up with me then?" Ron's voice picked up in volume and got more irritated the more he spoke.
"I don't know. Maybe she had applied for Altair electives and didn't want to cheat on you or she simply wanted to concentrate on her NEWTs without any distractions. You know how important school is to her," Neville said, trying his best to keep Ron fairly calm. "I would not be surprised if she will get back together with you after the exams are finished," Neville continued. He actually did not believe what he just said, but if it helped to soothe Ron's temper, he was not above lying - especially if he had to live with that person for the next year. Even if both of them had their own little room, they would be spending some time together.
When Ron heard the last part, his face instantly changed into a happy expression, nevertheless he had to ask: "Do you really think that?"
"Yes, Ron, I do," Neville lied, happy that Ron seemed to be that naive.
Calmed down now and feeling hopeful, Ron asked as an afterthought "And why then did Harry break up with Ginny? It can't be for the same reason as Hermione. He is not such a study-freak as her. Ginny tried to hide her sadness rather well, but I bet she was heartbroken about their breakup"
"Oh, Ron, Ginny was not sorry at all about their breakup. Neither was Harry actually. Ginny told me herself that both of them came to realise that they loved each other more like brother and sister than lovers. So it was a good thing that they had not done more than hand holding and small kisses."
"She really told you that?" Ron asked disbelievingly.
"Yes, she did."
"Maybe I should apologize to them. But Harry had not told me that he had signed up for Altair electives."
"Come on, Ron, you can't really be mad about this. If I was better in Potions, I would have signed up for Sexual Potions myself. You know, there is this Potion, Shërim something, which can cure the after-effects of the Cruciatus. Both Hermione and Harry were asking me about one of the ingredients of this potion shortly after the war. I would not be surprised if both of them tried to get into Sexual Potions because of this potion. Harry especially seemed rather interested in this one," Neville said, remembering their discussion.
"That sounds like something Harry would do. He can't seem to get rid of his saving-people-thing. So, I guess I better apologize to them tomorrow morning"
"That would be the right thing to do. Good night, Ron." With this, Neville moved away from Ron to his own bedroom on the left side of the hallway.
"Night," Ron answered, already deep in thought. It was a long time before Ron fell asleep that night with all the thinking he had done.
End Flashback
-~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Great, let's go to breakfast then," Ron exclaimed, getting up from his place on the sofa next to Hermione. Walking over to the male Gryffindor door, he continued speaking. "See you in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione."
After Harry had started to follow Ron through the door his friend had left the room just now, he remembered that he had wanted to ask Hermione if she had also received her own bathroom. Seeing that he would not get a better opportunity to ask this question, considering that the room was currently empty and that there would not be anyone under seventeen around to prevent him from speaking about something related to the Altair, Harry turned around and called Hermione back.
"Hermione!"
"Yes, Harry?" she said, stopping and turning around to face him too.
"I forgot that I wanted to ask you something," Harry said and started walking towards Hermione so that he did not have to shout through half of the room. "Did you by chance receive your own bathroom?"
"No, I am still using the common one in the tower. Why do you ask?"
"Uhm, me and Draco got our own bathroom, and I thought that it had something to do with him being Head Boy. So, I assumed that you too got one of your own," Harry admitted reluctantly. "Must have something to do with it being Room Zero then."
"No wonder neither me nor Ron saw you going down to use the bathroom before, if you have one up there. You really must let me have a look at your room later."
"I will have to ask Draco about it first. It is his room too." And I do not really want you to see the hexagonal dungeon room or, heaven forbid, find out about the spell placed on the bed. That would just be too embarrassing, Harry thought.
"Alright," she said. Taking a look at her wristwatch and realising that it was already after eight o'clock, she said to Harry: "We better get going. My first class starts fifteen minutes earlier so I have to be there at 8:45. And it is already three minutes after eight o'clock." With that, she hurriedly walked over to the female Gryffindor door, leaving Harry standing alone in the Altair common room.
At least Draco and I weren't the only ones to receive our schedule early. Somehow, I don't believe that Hermione even has a free period this year if one of her classes needed to be scheduled early*. But considering that last year she only had six free periods altogether, and Basic already takes up three of them, I should be more surprised that she doesn't need a Time-Turner again. With these thoughts, Harry slowly walked towards the Great Hall. Since his first lesson of the day was at a quarter to eleven, he had no reason to hurry like Hermione.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Shërim Mendjen: Albanian for healing/recovery of the mind, see chapter 1 for further information
scheduled early: As you will see below between the first and second as well as between the fourth and fifth period there is not a break in-between them to change rooms, since they are designed to be double periods. Hermione, because of her full schedule, has two single periods at that time and therefore her first class must start early so that she will be on time for her second class.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Here is their schedule. I hope the formation is all right and that you can figure at the abbreviations for some of the subjects on your own. If D or H is written behind a subject than that means that only Harry or Draco is taking this subject. As it is a Tuesday, next chapter will have two of the Altair electives or at least one.
Time. . . . . . . . Monday . . . Tuesday . . . Wednesday . . .Thursday . . . .Friday
9:00-9:45 . . .Trans. (H) . .Free . . . . . . Potions . . . . .. . Runes (D) . . . Herbology
9:45-10:30 . .Trans. (H) . Runes (D) . . Potions . . . . . . Runes (D). . . . Herbology
10:45-11:30 Herbology . . Basic . . . . . . Sex. Pot. . . . . . .Arithm. (D) . . Potions
12:30-13:15 Charms . . . .Free . .. . . . . .DADA . . . . . . . . Basic . . . . . . . Arithm. (D)
13:15-14:00 Charms . . . . Free . . . . . . . DADA . . . . . .. . .Basic . . . . . . . Arithm. (D)
14:15-15:00 DADA . . . . .. Ritual . . . . . .Charms . . . . . . Trans. (H) . . . .Free
AN_2: If you were wondering why I included Ron's talk with Neville, it is because I plan for Ron to grow up during this fic. As you have noticed he still is immature.
Next chapter: Meet the professors Greige