Chapter 5 Roommates.
"Alright everyone," Headmistress McGonagall spoke, noting the arrival of Professor Albatross with none other than Draco Malfoy. "Now that Professor Albatross is here, I will take my leave. Treat him with respect, and let's have a good year. Professor?" She gestured for her colleague to take the floor.
Everyone turned as the professor gracefully glided to where the Headmistress stood.
"Yes, well, first order of business will be the room pairings. I believe Headmistress McGonagall mentioned our goal of promoting unity and cooperation earlier this evening, and I intend to do just that. Rooms in Dumbledore Spire are arranged suite style, with pairs of two person bedrooms on either side of an adjoining bathroom. It was our intention to place one students from each house in each room grouping. However, since only 3 Slytherin students returned for the 8th year, only 3 rooms will be arranged this way. The rest will still, however, contain a mixture of the 3 remaining houses." Some of the students around him groaned, or quietly whispered.
"Why do we have to have assigned rooms like were little kids. They should just have let us bloody pick." Ron was complaining in Harry ear again. Harry hoped this wasn't going to become the norm for the year, or it was going to be a very, very long year.
"I don't think it'll be too bad. I think it'll be fun to get to know some of the other guys better. Besides, there's only 2 Slytherins in with the guys, chances are good we won't get stuck with 'em" Neville chirped merrily.
Harry took in the room. All in all, there were about 40 kids. There seemed to be a fairly even number of Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors. Many of them seemed to be kids who had previously been in Dumbledore's Army. The ones who helped fight in the war, Harry thought miserably to himself. The three lonely Slytherin kids hung back towards the wall. Pansy was whispering furiously to a bored looking Blaise, but Draco just stood there, silent as ever.
"The first room grouping will consist of," Professor Albatross's voice broke in, "Zacharias Smith, of Hufflepuff and Terry Boot, of Ravenclaw in suite A," Harry groaned again. Why had that useless git Zacharias Smith come back. "And in the adjoining suite B will be Draco Malfoy, of Slytherin, and Harry Potter, of Gryffindor." As Harry's jaw dropped to the earth, he could swear he saw the slightest smirk on the new Potion Master's face.
This. Could. Not. Be. Happening. Worse that having that git Zacharias in the next room was sharing his room with DRACO MALFOY.There had to be some mistake, the is no way McGonagall would have allowed him to be placed with his worst enemy. I mean he had stuck up for him earlier, but that was just because it had been the right thing to do. Right? Actually being forced to live with the prick was another thing entirely. "Professor?" His voice broke questioningly.
"If you have any questions or concerns I will address them when I've finished handing out room assignments." The pale man impassively replied before continuing to read aloud names.
They were trying to kill him after all, Draco thought frantically. How could they put him with Harry Potter of all people. His heart was beginning to race again, but there was nothing he could do about it. He'd already almost just gotten caught, how could he think about that again. He mentally shook himself. He was trembling all over. He tried to take a deep breath but it seemed like he couldn't pull enough air into his lungs.
"Dray-dray," Pansy cooed in her sickly sweet voice, "You okay?"
He took a few more deep breaths to stabilize himself before speaking. "Yeah Pans, everything's just bloody brilliant." He snapped angrily at her and stalked off towards his new room.
Geez, he seems mad. Pansy thought dumbly to herself.
After stalling in the common room for a while, finding out who was rooming with who, Harry finally decided it was time to head to his much dreaded room. He sighed and marched to his suite.
He came in to find Draco sitting at one of the two desks reading. Harry guessed from the elegant green and silver décor and presence of Draco's things that he had chosen the left half of the room. Whatever, it didn't really matter to him anyway.
As if reading his mind Draco looked up at Harry at this moment. "Oh," he said shyly, "I hope you don't mind, I took this side." He stared back down at the desk.
"No, it's cool." Harry started to think how cute it was to see this side of Draco, but once again he pushed the idea away before it could take shape, and instead redirecting his attention to unpacking.
While Harry was putting away his things, Draco looked over at him. He hadn't had much of a chance to take in his sight on the train, considering his eyes had pretty much been glued to the ground. But now as he watched his new roommate flit about he took notice of just how broad Harry's shoulders were, how toned and muscular his arms were. Had they always been like that? He searched his memory, but drew a blank. Whenever he tried to recall the past only his worst moments surfaced in his mind. He went back to observing Harry's sturdy figure, mentally comparing it to his own small, delicate features. He eventually came to the conclusion that Harry Potter was indeed a very handsome, manly man, which startled him a little bit. Why am I thinking so goddamn much about how bloody handsome Potter is, he bit at himself. He left out a soft groan and absorbed himself fully in his book.
