Warning: Slash
Disclaimer Notice: I own--awww, jeez! Just refer to other chapters, I'm tired of sounding like a broken record!
Guide: Refer to other chapters
Chapter 14 – Back to School
Harry sat staring out the window watching as the scenery flew past in great multitudes of color. He turned upon hearing the compartment door open and felt a great rush of joy. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins were standing there.
As usual, Hermione dashed over to him and encompassed him in a bear hug. Harry thought he would pass out from lack of air and as though sensing this she let go and gave a meek, "Hi."
With that one word, the ice was broken and it felt to all of them as if nothing odd had happened over the summer. But the moment was short.
"How did you get here, Harry?" Ron asked, sitting down. Hermione, Ginny, and the twins followed suit.
"Tom dropped me off by way off apparation and then went just as quickly. We both agreed it would be best that the fewer people who saw him, the better."
Fred's mouth was agape and noticing this he shut it quickly and said, "Voldemort brought you here himself? But why didn't he have one of his Death Eaters bring you?"
"Because he doesn't want any of them to know…except Lucius, Snape, and Draco."
Ron growled, "Since when have you started calling Malfoy 'Draco' ?"
"Since now, Weasley." Spoke a voice from the compartment doorway.
All eyes turned to look upon the blond leaning against the doorframe. He pointed a finger to a spot next to Ginny.
"Is that seat taken?" Ginny numbly shook her head. "Ah, good." And then he plopped down next to the little red head.
Harry looked at him curiously and asked where Crabbe and Goyle were.
Draco shrugged and answered, "They were boring me to death. Honestly, between teaching a twig and them to sing, you'd have better luck with the twig."
Harry grinned. "True."
Ron was beside himself with anger. "Get out of here, Malfoy!"
Draco looked at him scornfully and said, "No."
The red-head's face was turning into the color of a beet and seemed to be ready to jump off the deep end.
Fred and George looked between Harry and Draco and George asked the unneeded question. "Friend?"
Harry nodded. "Yep."
Both twins held out a hand to Draco. "Hello, Draco, you already know us and we already know you but we do believe this is the first time we've ever been on friendly terms." Draco grinned and shook both of the offered hands. Ginny and Hermione had taken up the same way of thinking as the twins and shook hands also, without one word from Draco about touching a Mudblood, but Ron on the other hand…
Harry hadn't any idea of what he could say or do to calm Ron down. Then it hit him.
"Draco," he asked, "what's your favorite quidditch team?"
Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Potter, how many times do I have to tell you? The Chudley Cannons, of course!"
This got Ron's attention at once. "You like the Cannons?"
Both teens eyed each other warily, until Draco's face split into and easy smile and he asked, "Which player's your favorite?"
After all the tension had left did they touch on more sober matters.
"How are you going to see Voldemort during the school year?" Hermione knew that a bonded pair were very nearly inseparable and that they had to at least spend a few hours a day alone together.
Harry laughed, "That was one of the main reasons why Tom was so reluctant to let me go. But don't worry, we have it all worked out –" And Harry explained to them that this year he was going to be Snape's "apprentice" and so that would allow him to stay in the dungeons with Snape and floo to Voldemort whenever he wanted using the fire in the Potion Master's private quarters and vice versa.
Ron looked horrified. "You mean…you're not staying in the dormitories and you have to stay with that greasy git now?"
"Hey!" Both Draco and Harry snarled.
"He's not a git, just…strict." Harry said. He knew Sirius would have probably died of shock from hearing Harry defend Snape.
Ron noticed how upset his friend was and backed away from the subject saying, "Sorry."
Harry sighed, answering, "It's okay."
The tension was broken by the trolley lady. Draco decided to buy something for each of his new friends as a sort of peace offering and a way to apologize for being an evil prat. They were accepted most graciously.
Later on in the journey, Fred and George left to go spend some time with Lee Jordan, and Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom came in to replace them.
Luna seemed not to notice Draco and breezed by him to sit on the other side of Ginny. Neville, however, paled and seemed to freeze in place.
Draco, taking pity on the poor boy, motioned to the seat next to Hermione and said, "That one's free."
Neville gulped and sat down,
By the time they were near halfway to Hogwarts Neville had loosened up some but still stammered here and there when he talked about his summer,
Blaise Zambini had also made an appearance looking for Draco. He raised an eyebrow when he found Harry and Draco talking amiably and rose both eyebrows when Draco asked if he wanted to join them.
He said he would think about it, left, then came back with his owl in tow some ten minutes later saying the he had eaten all his chocolate frogs and wondered if they still had any.
Harry tossed him one, knowing that wasn't the real reason he had come back, and Blaise sat down to eat it gratefully.
Hanna Abbot, Ernie Macmillan, and Justin Finch-Fletchy, came by next to chat and had reluctantly accepted Draco and Blaise as part of the ever widening group of friends surrounding Harry.
The next visitor was the strangest ever. A girl with dark brown hair opened the door and swept in glaring at Harry. Emerald green met smoky gray in a starring contest until Harry became firmly annoyed and asked who she was and why she was upset with him.
"My name is of no importance, but you are Harry Potter and so, that being said, you had better watch your back!"
She then spun around on her heel and left as abruptly as she had come.
Ron licked his lips and said in a weak voice, "She's mental."
The rest of the compartment nodded and before long it was time to get off the train and find a carriage.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco entered one, while Blaise, Neville, Luna, and Ginny entered another.
XXX
When they got out of the carriage they looked up in awe at the castle and began the familiar trek up the stone steps and into the Entrance Hall then continued on to the Great Hall.
The group split up to go to their respective tables each waiting impatiently for the Sorting to begin so they could eat.
Everything went as tradition called for. The Sorting Hat's song…the stool…Professor McGonagall reading the names off the list.
But one name in particular caught Harry's attention when he saw who the person was that the name belonged to.
"Aconite, Terra."
It was the girl from the train! She gracefully climbed the steps and sat on the stool while the hat was placed on her head.
"Slytherin!" The hat shouted, and she walked toward her house table.
At that moment a folded piece of paper floated onto the table in front of his seat, Harry looked up to see Draco give him a wave. Harry picked up the paper and unfolded it, it read:
"She's an Aconite! That explains everything! They're a bit like my family and worship the Dark Lord like a god, but none have ever become a Death Eater. You better watch your step, Harry. The Aconite Family is probably angrier at you than any other supporter. They've apparently trained their daughter to think that you're enemy #1 and you have got to go. Be careful!"
Harry gulped and looked up somberly from the letter to look at the blond. Draco was staring at him and Harry nodded to show that he understood.
Why, oh why, do so many numbers of enemies never seem to be decreasing? I get Draco over to my side and now there's some pip-squeak pixie to take his place. Well, maybe my charm will work like it did last time. Harry raised his eyes and didn't have to look hard to find familiar smoky gray eyes glaring back at him. Or maybe not.
He passed the note to Ron and Hermione. They both looked at him in alarm but neither was able to say anything because Dean and Seamus had sat beside them.
"So, I wonder who the new DADA teacher is this year." Seamus said.
As one they all turned to look at the table and saw an old wizard looking at the proceedings with seemingly bored eyes.
"Lively one, isn't he?" Dean asked.
After the Sorting Dumbledore stood up and made the regular announcements and said that the new DADA teacher's name was Professor Gill Gordon. And he also said that Snape had chosen an apprentice and the apprentice was Harry Potter. There was a lot of shocked looks and murmuring at this. Everyone thought Harry Potter had been terrible at potions. Which he was, but that was the cover story for his being in Snape's personal quarters.
Then came the feast and after that bed.
XXX
Harry almost followed his friends up the staircase when Professor Snape's voice rose above the crowd.
"Potter, follow me!"
Harry turned and did just that. He led them through many passageways and corridors through the dungeons and finely they stopped at a portrait with a gleaming silver cup that was tipped over on its side and seemed to be spilling blood over a green table cloth. Harry refused to shudder.
"Sangreal." Snape whispered and the portrait slid open. The Potion's Master led him inside.
"Now, Potter, I expect you to remember the way here and the password. Am I clear?"
Harry looked up at him. "It might take me awhile but I'm not sure I'll forget the password in a hurry." He said truthfully. Besides, I can always use the Marauder's Map to help me out.
Snape nodded in acceptance. "Good, now let me give you a tour so you will be in no doubt where I draw the line of the rooms you may not enter and the things you may not touch."
"Yes, sir."
There was a living room, a small kitchen for fixing midnight snacks, Snape's personal lab, Snape's personal library, a bathroom, Snape's room, and his room.
And that's where he was left to settle in.
Harry looked around. There was a four-poster bed, a desk, a bookcase, a dresser, and…not much else. But he was fine with this. He had privacy and it was a lot more than anything he would have been given at the Dursleys'.
He unpacked his truck that he found already there and stretched out on the black quilt. All and all, he felt that this would be his best year yet.
The Boy-Who-Lived fell asleep with a smile on his face.
XXX
So, how do guys like Terra? Yep, you guessed it, she's the new terror on the horizon for our poor boy hero. I've also got a couple of other terrors planned so don't worry about it being completely fluffy.
If you're wondering about Gallant, don't worry about that either. He'll show up again right soon.
Also, if any of you are wondering about Draco's easygoing nature and turning all goody-two-shoey, he's just happy because he knows Ron and Hermione are loyal and he doesn't have to hide his good side like he had to do when he had only Slytherin friends to talk to. Now, he can be himself and when he realized that a great rush of relief hit him and so he got all nice and giddy. But he's still both a Malfoy and a Slytherin so of course, his sassy attitude is still there. He and Ron will be hostile to eachother for awhile. (I think, sometimes I can never figure out where this thing is going and other times it's like I have a built in crystal ball. Oh, well.)