Chapter Six: Finding the Sky
(This chapter is from the point of view of Draco Malfoy)
"I don't think we're supposed to be doing this," I said lightly as Harry fiddled with the lock on the broom cupboard in the Gryffindor Quidditch team's locker room.
"Got it," he said triumphantly as the lock clicked open. "We won't touch any of the players' brooms, only the school's cruddy ones. Here are a couple of old Shooting Stars. Come on," he said, handing me a broom and leading me back out onto the pitch.
"We're going to get in trouble," I predicted, even though I had come to be under the impression that I was safe from Dumbledore as long as whatever wrongdoing I was involved in also involved Harry. Because he wanted Harry to like him, to put it simply.
"Well no one has said we couldn't do this, so not too much trouble, I'm sure," he replied happily. "Now come on, you mount it like this, and keep your grip like this so you don't slide off. You walk as smooth as a cat, so I'm not worried about your balance. But don't get up to high until you're sure you won't slide off sideways. Now, you just kick up off the ground." He did so, and hovered there a couple of feet off the ground. "Come on," he beckoned with a confident smile. "Don't worry about leaving the ground-just think of it as finding the sky, and let go."
I took a deep breath, gripping the broom handle so tightly my knuckles turned white, and kicked off the ground. I felt a rush of exhilaration coarse through me, as the wind rustled my robes and hair and the ground sunk away beneath me. "I like this," I said quietly to Harry, who was rising up into the air with me.
"Let's do a loop around the field," he suggested, pulling away and heading toward the Quidditch pitch. I followed, exulting in the freedom of the air. And I took to it like I'd never taken to anything before. The loop around the Quidditch pitch quickly became a race, which became something else altogether. In no time at all, we were swooping around each other like birds, instincts on fire with awareness of each other, and we flew into twisting spirals that led into breathtaking dives. Our eyes would lock, and his emerald eyes were always blazing brightly, a wild grin on his face. And we wouldn't look away until it was impossible to keep going or else crash, and we pulled away.
This went on, insane and beautiful, until a voice broke in, nearly startling us into a collision. Harry led back down to the ground, landing in front of the very stern figure of Severus Snape.
"And what exactly do the two of you think you're doing? Draco, your uncle would be very displeased to find you breaking rules twice in your first two days," he said severely, and I cowered, the last bit of an elated flush draining out of my face. Snape was in the Dark Lord's Inner Circle with my uncle, and would occasionally stop at Malfoy Mansion with news or to travel together to a meeting. In the few times I'd met him, I'd found him frightening.
"Who says flying is against the rules?" Harry said just as severely, unimpressed by the Potion Master's glare. "I was just teaching Draco. He'd never flown before." The words might have been a bid for sympathy, if Harry's tone and gaze weren't so direct and challenging.
"Mr. Potter," Snape said coldly. "Are you suggesting that Mr. Malfoy had never flown, and you had him attempting those absurd stunts I witnessed?"
"Yeah. He's a natural. We wouldn't have gotten hurt. We can feel each other," he said, gesturing toward the sky. I bit my lip to hide a smile, following his gaze up toward the fluffy white clouds and clear blue sky. Undeniably, I wanted Snape to go away so that Harry and I could go back to flying. I wanted to spend the rest of my life in the air, where I was finally free.
"Well, I've certainly heard enough," a female voice said from beside the Quidditch locker rooms. We all turned surprised eyes on Professor McGonagall, who stared calmly back. "I'll leave their punishment for breaking into the locker rooms and using school property without permission to you, Professor Snape," McGonagall said lightly. "But I believe that both of you boys should come to tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch team next week." And with that, she turned and strode off toward the school.
"As you are obviously the instigator of this idiocy, Mr. Potter, I will see you for detention in my office after the evening meal. Put those brooms away and go study something," he ordered, before turning and striding off in the same direction as McGonagall.
"Yeah, I know you told me so," Harry said jovially as he walked back toward the locker room, where he put the brooms back in the cupboard. "But did you hear McGonagall? Do you think we have a chance at tryouts?" he wondered aloud. "If we're amazing, McGonagall might make them take us on. And we are. So she might," he said, grinning.
"Yeah, and I'd take a Bludger to the head. Probably from my own team," I said sarcastically.
"Nah, I don't think Fred and George would do that. They care too much about the House Cup to take out their own Chaser. But I've played Quidditch with them, and they always know exactly what the other is doing. It's hell to work against. But now I've got you, so we could probably take them," Harry rambled happily as we walked back toward the castle.
"Do you want to try out for the team?" I asked curiously.
"Well, I was going to anyway, but now I want you to go with me. You don't have to, but you're a natural on a broom. And once we're on the team, we can go flying anytime we want, and say it's for practice or whatever," he said cajolingly, and I laughed.
"Alright. But if they hit me in the head with a Bludger, I'm blaming you," I informed him, and he grinned back. And that look alone told me that he would knock anyone who tried off their broom.
(AN: So, a short Draco chapter for a change. I loved the idea of Harry teaching Draco, who'd never been on a broom, how to fly. And Draco was a natural :] I love it. Okay, this chapter was mostly just for me, but it did give me a chance to sort of skim the surface of Harry and Draco's bond. And to give myself an idea for what the next chapter will be about, since I have no idea what the hell is actually going to happen in this story, past what I've already written at any given point. I can't figure out how to jump to their fourth year, which is when it will get interesting. I just need to get a few key points over, things that matter and will show how it'll be in the time I skip. And I haven't decided what those are or how I'm doing it. But the next chapter will be important. I think. Anyway, review and leave your thoughts on my insanity. Please. I really need some input. I'm venturing toward the evil cliffs of Writer's Block.)
