Harry woke the next morning with a plan. He wanted to jump out of bed and get his confrontation with Malfoy over and done with, so he could get any idea of the boy out of his mind and be done with this whole confusing ordeal, but Madame Pomfrey told him he wasn't yet ready to go. So he made a master plan.
He knew that Malfoy wouldn't talk to him about it, so he decided to be someone else. There was buckets and buckets of leftover Polyjuice potion Hermione made during their Horcrux hunt so he thought that would be his best way to get Malfoy alone.
1) Sneak out past Madame Pomfrey
2) Get to Ron and Hermione and let them in on the plan
3) Polyjuice potion himself into Blaise Zabini
4) Try and get into the Slytherin common room by tagging along with some frightened first years.
5) Ask to talk to Draco in his room
6) Find out
7) Get out
Harry convinced himself that the plan would work as long as he did it step by step. The first and possibly most challengin of them was getting past Madame Pomfrey, who was watching him like a vulture that had way too much caffeine. Under the sheet of his bed he pointed at a student who was visiting a second year Hufflepuff, who seemed to have tried to bewitch her hair into being straight and it had caught on fire, and whispered the incantation that placed a temporary sleeping hex, and she dropped to the floor. Naturally, Madam P. rushed to her aid and he made a run for it, thankfully unnoticed by a fussy Madame Pomfrey. He ran towards the Gryffindor common room, tripping multiple times with his broken arm and ribs, yowling in frustration and pain. When he finally got to the portrait hole, he clambered in and ran to Ron and Hermione, who, to no ones shock, were exchanging cutsey cliched lines between snogs. When they saw him, he looked a right state, and Hermione began fussing. Harry thought she was becoming more and more like Mrs. Weasley everyday.
"Harry, what on earth are you doing out of the hospital wing? Your bones were severed, you shouldn't even be out of bed! What in the world would possess Madame Pomfrey to let you out! I'll be having a word with her about his!" She furrowed her brow and lightly brushed his wounds with her wand and whispered a spell that only Hermione would know, and his broken bones felt like nothing. "That doesn't hold for a long period of time, Harry, why wont you tell us whats going on?"
Harry looked bewildered "Because I can't get a word in edgewise with you!" He grinned, "Thanks, 'Mione. Okay, Ron, you remember when you punched Blaise Zabini in the game, and he started bleeding?"
"Yeah, why?" Ron asked curiously, grinning as he fondly remembered giving the Slytherin Keeper a good whack for his Mudblood comment about Hermione after the game ended and both teams were irritated by the postponal of the match.
"Where're your gloves?" Harry looked around wildly.
"I'll go get them" Ron ran up to the dorms.
While he was gone, Harry filled Hermione in on the plan and she looked at him, obviously irate.
"Why do you need to know so badly?" She queried, "I thought you were going to let this one go!"
"I just need to know. You know the leftover Polyjuice potion? I need enough for one hour" He stated and smiled at her soothingly.
"...Fine, Harry, but please, for my sanity, be careful" She sighed and went off to get the potion.
When they both came back he gulped back the putrid potion and fled down to the dungeons, his features slowly turning to dark, with sharp features and mean eyes. He grew about three inches and his transformation was complete. He skulked outside the dungeon entrance to the Slytherin common room and strode up behind two petrified little first years who stuttered out the password as Harry sent them an unjustified glare.
As the door swung open, he took the lead into the room and tried not to look too bewildered by the silent and cold atmosphere of the room, paired with the green and gold decor, made him feel uneasy.
"Blaise! Darling!" Pansy Parkinson sang from across the room, cutting the silence that Harry was drowning in. He almost didn't repond to this call before he remembered who he was and swiveled around to see Parkinson throw her arms flamboyantly around his neck and pout. Looking at her from so close he was reminded of a piglet. "Do you know what's eating up my beloved Dray-dray?"
Harry fought the urge to vomit and cleared his throat "Maybe it's the fact you keep calling him 'Dray-dray'" he muttered drily. She looked cut.
"Aw, my two favourite boys are mad at me, it seems." She began to get into a strop, sulking and looking like an angry kitten at him.
"Sorry, Park- I mean, Pansy, I'm just tired tonight. Where is Draco, could you tell me?" He asked her wearily.
"In his room, of course, you know that!" She looked at him sideways and frowned, "Are you alright? You're not at all yourself!"
Harry laughed nervously "Don't be silly, Pans, I'm fine!" He quickly departed to the dormitories. He saw no sign of Malfoy until he reached a door marked; "Malfoy". Harry rolled his eyes, of course, he has his own separate room. He knocked anxiously on the door.
"Enter." a voice from within the room called. Harry swallowed his nerves and felt a wave of confidence flow through him. I mean, he thought, I'm the one who's outsmarting him! He opened the door and entered cooly. To his shock he saw Draco Malfoy, his grey eyes stricken with despair and depression, sitting, hunched over on his bed, wearing torn jeans.
"Mal- Draco, what... are you doing?" he asked, staring stupidly to the blonde boy, who looked up at him. Harry studied his face. His eyes were secretive and deeper than the lake where the giant squid presided. His lips were a barely visible rose colour, and his features were extremely defined, now burned into Harry's mind.
"Blaise. This would be the sevenhundredth time I've had to explain it to you." Draco Malfoy drawled. Harry looked at him sheepishly and waited for him to continue. "You think I can go out there? I am shamed. The absense of my father's letters has drawn a hole in my air of superiority. Everyone can see it, you understand that. You and Pansy are the only ones left who respect me, and Pansy has tried to get my trousers off everytime we've been alone together. Since the Dark Lord's downfall, which for some reason the majority of our peers is blaming on my family, I have no authority over the idiots in this house. That stunt you pulled on the snitch the other day." he glared, "If Harry Potter died, I could not live. He saved my life, unless you do not remember that either, Zabini. I do not take such an act lightly, even if demonstrated by one who is my sworn enemy." he concluded. Harry's eyes widened and he was left speechless. Draco...wanted to save him?
"So...uh..." he was lost for words.
"Blaise, you're usually not this tongue-tied. What is wrong with you?" he enquired impatiently, "You hardly seem yourself" Shitshitshit, Harry thought. His mind was racing and his mouth couldn't keep up.
"D-Draco, is that all? Is there something you're not telling me?" Harry looked into Malfoy's eyes and saw in his expression that he was hiding something. His usually glaring and smirking face flashed with genuine fear, which then mellowed into a faraway look of indifference.
"Why on earth would you say that?" he purred, not looking at Harry "You think I am hiding something from you?" He didn't say no, Harry noted. He persued it.
"I believe we've been mates long enough for me to be able to tell these things about you. Understand, I will listen without judgement" he stated cooly. Malfoy looked up at him with wide, tired eyes.
"You have proven yourself trustworthy, but there are some things I can't tell anyone, Blaise, please understand" he begged, in a harrassed voice Harry had never heard before.
"I wont leave until you tell me. Maybe I can help!" Harry asked, frustrated. Malfoy looked at him wearily, appearing deeply troubled. "Please, Draco"
"Fine." Draco sighed, "You know how I stayed with Potter so that I could talk to him about the snitch incident when he regained conciousness? Of course you do, you said I was wasting my time when I got back" Draco shot him an accusing look, "Well I lied when I said I did nothing but wait. Potter did come around" Harry gasped lightly and tried to look unaffected. He didn't remember a thing about this! "I don't think he remembers a thing, and I'd like to keep it that way" he seemed to be taking a break from his story, right when Harry was on the edge of insanity, desperate to know what he said when he woke up. His mind whizzed though the options.
"What did he say, Draco" Harry coaxed.
"He said nothing." Malfoy whispered, "He didn't say a thing" Harry was silent. Then what was the big deal? Harry laughed internally, Hermione wasn't going to be happy about his wasting the Polyjuice potion. "It's what he did." Harry's insides seized up and his eyes widened again. "He..he looked at me, smiling. I thought he was going round the bend, he looked so happy to see me. Potter sat up in his bed and I asked him if he felt alright, of course, I had to keep the contempt in my voice, I'm not about to lose my reputation with the Gryffindors" Draco laughed, in his tenor voice, a soft trill, that made Harry blush "And he leaned into me as though he were going to tell me a secret, and... he started to..." Malfoy looked away and Harry saw a tinge of pink stain his paper-white cheeks.
"...What did...Potter do?" Harry tried to whisper but it came out in more of a hiss.
"...He kissed me, Blaise." Malfoy hissed back, his face growing more and more red. Harry nearly passed out at this news. I'm not gay, he thought furiously, I am not. He's lying, I know he is, that liar! How dare he say that about me! "He kissed me... and I didn't stop him. We... did that... for around 15 minutes." He looked away, his face now completely red. Harry's mouth fell open and tried to reason with Malfoy.
"Are you sure? Maybe you got hit in the head by a bludger or something..." he asked hoarsely, less of a question than a desperate explaination.
"Of course I'm sure, idiot! You think I would lie about something like this? You think I make it up for fun?" Malfoy snarled scathingly. "I...I don't know what it was. But I will make sure Potter never finds out." he muttered.
Harry felt faint and needed to sit. He took a seat and found that his eyesight began to get worse. A spark of fear shot through him and he saw his hands begin to turn the tanned colour he was accustomed to. Malfoy was still looking away, and Harry thought this was a good time to let himself out. He reached for the door feverently, his scar slowly etching itself back into his forward, and his hair changing back at a dangerous speed. As he was half out the door, Malfoy spun around.
"What's the rush, Bla-" His face drained of the colour Harry had seen before, and his eyes widened with astonishment. Harry knew he had seen the scar, and he made a run for it, covering his face, his borrowed Slytherin robes flowing behind him.
