I've Got Time and No One Near
By NessaNebula
Disclaimer: I own nothing from Harry Potter, all credit goes to J.K. Rowling.
Hello everyone! Thank for so much for the favorites, follows and reviews. I appreciate them greatly :) Here is chapter two of I've Got Time and No One Near.
The songs for this chapter are:
My Girlfriend's Boyfriend by herspaceholiday
Now by Joywave
Everything was white.
Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger sat in a companionable silence, gazing into the crackling flames of the fireplace that warmed Gryffindor Tower. Their homework lay strewn across the table before them, long forgotten, though this was more likely to pose a problem for Ron than Hermione. Harry had bade them goodbye and departed for the prefect's bathroom a half hour prior, and they had dismissed their essays in favor of a heated dispute over how best to deal with Umbridge.
Hermione proposed going straight to the Headmaster while Harry was preoccupied in the bathroom, arguing that as Harry seemed unwilling to approach Madam Pomfrey with his predicament, it was doubtful he would confide in Dumbledore, what with the man's obvious distance from Harry the past few months. While Ron was not adverse to the idea, he expressed much more eagerness at his plan, which amounted to little more than unleashing the Unforgivable Curses on Umbridge ("C'mon, 'Mione, if anyone deserves them it's her!"). Ron's suggestion was hastily discarded as Hermione's glower threatened to burn a hole in his forehead.
Their comfortable silence was broken as a figure clambered noisily through the portrait hole, and they looked up to see Harry, whose hair was slightly drippy and expression disgruntled. He dropped into the empty chair next to Ron, shrugging his bag off and offering a distracted smile to his friends.
"Harry!" Hermione said tentatively, "how is your hand? Did the mertlap essence help at all?"
"Yeah," Harry said, voice slightly monotonous from his fatigue, "yeah, it did. Take a look." He extended his hand towards the pair, and Hermione took it, her thumb brushing over the reddened skin where, earlier that evening, the words 'I must not tell lies' had shone angrily through Harry's own blood.
"Harry," Hermione began, "we've been thinking-"
"Wait a moment," Harry interrupted, "you aren't going to believe what happened in the bathroom." Over the next five minutes, Harry recounted everything Malfoy had said and done (for reasons unbeknownst to himself, he left out the bit about the flag), and by the time he finished and sank back into his chair, Ron's jaw was hanging open and Hermione's eyebrows had risen so high they were almost one with her hairline.
"Well?" Harry said loudly, and when Ron's gormless expression didn't falter, he snapped his fingers briskly under Ron's nose.
"Harry, don't tell me you agreed to that?" Hermione look worried. "When has Malfoy ever proven himself trustworthy?"
At this, Ron's expression morphed from shock to outrage.
"Agreed? As if! Mate, tell us you hexed the git to Kingdom Come."
Harry opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and imitated quite admirably Ron's face from the moment prior.
"Well," Harry said meekly.
"HARRY!" Ron and Hermione chorused, and it would have been comical if their faces hadn't been so grim.
"Hermione, he's right," Harry said hastily, hoping Hermione's logical side would perk up on his behalf. " We should stop the childish rivalry, we can't fight like kids forever...y'know," he finished lamely, realizing rather belatedly he was repeating Malfoy's words.
"Mate," Ron said, undisguised exasperation in his voice, "Malfoy is bad news. I don't know what the snake told you to make you this confused-"
"I've told you everything he told me," Harry said crossly, feeling a slight flush creeping up his neck. The longer his friends berated him, the more his embarrassment grew. They were right; he had been a fool for taking Malfoy's words at face value.
"What he told you was utter bollocks," Ron snapped. "Malfoy's been nothing but trouble since we met him four years ago. No one changes that quickly, especially not him.
Harry looked at Hermione, hoping she might come to his defense, and slumped against his chair in defeat when she simply looked at him, her expression unyielding.
"He's right, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "I think you should keep your distance from Malfoy. Don't listen to him, he's just trying to rile you up."
"How, Hermione, is asking to be friends supposed to rile me up?" Harry asked, his eyelids beginning to droop. The adrenaline from his strange encounter with Draco Malfoy was evaporating, and the exhaustion from earlier returning quite rapidly.
"Well, I just mean," Hermione began, but Ron placed a hand on her arm, and she fell silent, looking at him in surprise.
"Harry," Ron said, his voice more gentle than before, "we've been by your side since first year, and we've seen all the nasty stuff Malfoy's capable of, just as well as you have. I don't know what he's playing at, trying to strike up a truce with you...but Hermione's right, mate. Leave him alone."
The trio sat in silence for several moments. Ron had given Hermione's arm a squeeze before settling back in his own chair, pointedly ignoring the baffled looks the other two had given him.
"Yeah," Harry said at last. "You're both right. I think I was just...I dunno, a bit out of it when Malfoy approached me. I just need some sleep."
Ron and Hermione nodded eagerly, both visibly relaxing as it seemed Harry had finally seen reason. Harry stooped and opened his bag to place the Invisibility Cloak inside, and gave a slight start when he saw the small white flag, nestled against a roll of parchment. Despite the conversation he'd just had with his friends, the evening spent with Malfoy had taken on a dreamlike quality in his mind. He thumbed the sleek wood that the small square of cloth was fastened to, and then placed the cloak over it. He bade his friends good night, and set off for his four poster bed, hoping that after a good night's sleep, the peculiar events of the day would prove to be no more than a strange dream.
break
As the first hints of dawn broke over the castle grounds, and birds twittered and took flight, Harry lay bleary-eyed in his bed, the last vestiges of sleep disappearing as his dorm mates began to stir. His sleep had been fitful, his wish to wake up to a clean slate unfulfilled. The problems of yesterday remained, no less confusing. Umbridge, Draco Malfoy... what was he to do about either of them? He hadn't the faintest inkling of how to handle the old toad, but Malfoy shouldn't present too much of a problem. No, not at all, really. Harry sat up in bed, feeling slightly heartened.
Harry Potter had faced Voldemort, a basilisk, dementors, Voldemort again...and he thought he couldn't cope with Draco Malfoy? His brain must have been in a fog last night, making him blow everything out of proportion. All he had to do was ignore the blond. So simple.
'There,' Harry thought, growing more cheerful. 'Malfoy's taken care of. Now Umbridge.'
His mind became blank. He wasn't sure what he could possibly do to make sure the professor was dealt retribution. He didn't feel comfortable confiding in Dumbledore at the moment. He had thought the Headmaster was partial to him, enjoyed his company. Dumbledore's slightly cold disposition towards him as of late made him wonder if he was mistaken.
Harry stared aimlessly, his cheerfulness waning. He could hear his friends getting ready for the day, talking excitedly of the weekend. Hoping their enthusiasm would rub off on him sometime today, he drew back the curtains of his four poster, feeling cold about the day's prospects despite the sunlight flooding the dorm.
break
"Harry," Hermione said, a determined edge to her voice, "we really think you ought to talk to Dumbledore about what Umbridge has done to you. It's completely unethical, probably illegal-"
"Hermione, no."
"But Harry-"
"No."
Hermione pursed her lips but fell silent. The trio sat in the Great Hall enjoying breakfast, and Hermione had attempted for the second time that morning to persuade Harry to seek the Headmaster's help. Harry had barely entered the common room earlier when she had staged her first, undoubtedly of many, attacks on him. When Harry had rebuffed her, she had appealed to Ron, who had turned a deaf ear to the proceedings.
Ignoring Hermione's glare, he poked at his eggs, letting his gaze wonder over the hall. Everything seemed louder and brighter this morning. The pompous voice of Ernie Macmillan, the royal blue of Cho Chang's Ravenclaw necktie, the molten silver of...of…
Harry's eyes snapped back to the Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy sat facing him, a smile on his face. The same smile Harry had seen last night, large and welcoming, his straight white teeth even more dazzling in the early morning brightness of the Great Hall. Harry swallowed and furiously searched the smile for the malice and ill-will he'd come to associate with the blond, and to his disappointment, came up empty handed. Rather than returning Malfoy's smile, he turned himself quite deliberately away from the Slytherin's table, and forced a forkful of cold and rubbery scrambled eggs into his mouth. He did not see the blond's smile falter, or the shadow that passed over his face.
break
Much to Harry's dismay, the day dragged on and on. Every lesson so far had been theoretical, and in very little time his hand was cramping horribly from the copious amount of notes he had taken. Halfway through Transfiguration, he had noticed Malfoy giving him another smile, this one far more tentative than the first. Harry immediately turned to Hermione and said too loudly, "I missed that last bit, give me your notes." Hermione gave him an annoyed glance as everyone looked at Harry, and he felt the heat in his cheeks as he determinedly avoided looking at Malfoy.
The final class of the day was Potions, which Gryffindors unfortunately shared with Slytherins. Harry could feel Malfoy's eyes on him as he chopped his valerian roots with too much vigor, and he was starting to feel angry. Why couldn't Malfoy leave him alone? Malfoy was a slimy snake, he had always been a total arse. Snakes couldn't be trusted…
'Ron and Hermione are right,' Harry thought, for probably the tenth time that day. Malfoy's intentions were far from benevolent, of this Harry was suddenly certain. He glanced over his shoulder, and to his chagrin, met Malfoy's gaze almost instantly. Rather than playing dumb, he held Malfoy's eyes for several seconds, and felt rage bubbling up inside of him when that infuriating smile began to appear. Harry gripped his silver blade and roots tighter, lest he succumb to his desire to rush Malfoy and thrust his head into his cauldron.
After he had submitted a vial of his potion for grading, he gathered his things and made his mind up on a whim. He knocked his jar of dried scarab beetles over, scattering them onto the stone floor. He waved Hermione away when she approached to help.
"I'll catch up with you and Ron in the common room. It's fine," he insisted, and Hermione turned and left the dungeon. Harry watched her go, and waited a few seconds after her departure before rounding on Malfoy, who was packing up his ingredients alone.
"I don't trust you," Harry said bluntly, slightly surprised that Malfoy's open expression didn't even flicker.
"You're not known for your subtlety, did you know that Harry?" Malfoy asked, his tone dry.
"Don't call me Harry. My friends are right, you can't be trusted, and you've got something up your sleeve-"
"Harry," Malfoy said, with exaggerated emphasis, "you seemed more than fine with our truce last night. Of course your friends don't like me, but I'm not asking them to. I'm asking for a second chance with you. I want you to agree to this on your terms. Don't let them dictate everything you do."
Harry stood there, uncertain. The sudden onslaught of anger at Malfoy was dissipating, little by little. He felt slightly guilty for even considering Malfoy's words. Surely Ron and Hermione had Harry's best interests at heart? But...Perhaps Malfoy was right about one thing. Just because his friends were too set in their ways didn't mean he had to be as well. Harry was tired of the constant discord between himself and Malfoy. Why did he need the others' permission to be mature and take a step in the right direction?
Before Harry could reply, Malfoy cleared his throat and held Harry's gaze when he looked up.
"Meet me in the prefect's bathroom tonight at 9. I'll answer any questions you want to ask me. I'll be waiting."
Harry opened his mouth, but Malfoy quickly made for the door and called out, "Have a good weekend, Professor Snape." Harry gave a start and quickly swept his supplies into his bag, exiting the room at top speed before Snape could take points for dawdling.
The remainder of the afternoon passed by quickly, and Harry tried and failed to focus on his homework. He felt guilty when Ron and Hermione tried to engage him, as he had decided almost immediately after leaving Potions to tell them nothing of his conversation with Malfoy. He was in no mood for more lectures and Ron's anger.
Dinner seemed to end before it had even begun, and Harry was soon making his way to the blasted toad's office. She greeted him with an exceptionally fake smile today, and he settled himself in for what he hoped was his last evening of the cruel and unusual punishment.
His mind kept straying to Malfoy's request. He had decided soon after the talk that he would indeed meet Malfoy, but as the minutes ticked past and blood trickled down his fingers, doubt began to creep in. What if it was a trap? Harry and Malfoy had stumbled upon each other by accident yesterday, but Malfoy had all of today to plan an elaborate scheme with his cronies.
"Mr. Potter," Umbridge's voice broke through his thoughts, and Harry flinched as she took his bloody hand into her fat ones.
"I think the message has...sunk in, don't you? You may leave."
Harry quickly stood and shouldered his bag, taking his leave before Umbridge could decide otherwise. He made his way through the empty halls towards Gryffindor Tower, his hand shoved in his pocket despite the painful friction of the fabric. He had made up his mind.
After crawling through the portrait hole, he made a beeline for his dorm, giving a nod to his friends as they called out to him. He deposited his belongings onto his bed and fished out his Invisibility Cloak and Marauder's Map. After giving a mutter and a tap of his wand to the latter, he perused it until he found the prefect's bathroom. He felt mingled disappointment and eagerness when he spied the dot labeled Draco Malfoy nestled in the room. He was alone.
Stuffing his cloak and wand into his pocket, he descended the stairs and made his way to the corner where Ron and Hermione sat.
"Hey," he said, as they turned to him. "I think I'm gonna go to the prefect's bathroom again. Soak my hand in the murklurp essence, y'know?"
"Harry!" Hermione said happily, turning away from him. "Sit down, I have a surprise for you."
Hesitantly, Harry took the empty armchair beside her as Hermione rummaged by her feet. His hand was stinging like mad and he was growing impatient to interrogate Malfoy.
"Cheer up, mate. It's the weekend!"
He forced a quick grin as Ron looked at him.
"Here you go!" Hermione sat a blue ceramic bowl onto the table before him, and he peered inside to see a pale yellow substance. "I went to the prefect's bathroom while you were in detention and brought you back some mertlap essence."
"Oh." Harry felt annoyance and dismay bloom inside of him. His plan was foiled. "Um, thanks...Hermione. That was nice of you." He hesitantly withdrew his hand and submerged it in the murky liquid, groaning inside as Hermione beamed at him.