Dream Connections
Chapter 6; Part 2
Pansy quickly made her way through the crowd to greet what was left of the Gryffindor crew. As she arrived in their midst, she took a deep breath in attempts to calm her nerves. "Hello, Gryffindorks." She paused as they scowled at her, but continued by turning towards her Irish dream. "Hi, Seamus. Welcome to the Slytherin common room. Make yourselves at home." She waved off most of the group, smiling as Seamus looked at her bewildered. Then she reached out to touch Hermione's arm. She knew if this plan was going to work at all, they'd need her cooperation. "Granger, I would like a word with you."
Ron tried to follow Pansy and Hermione as they weaved through the room of party-goers, but lost them as they reached the stairway to the girls' dormitory. He sighed heavily as he watched them disappear and turned to catch up with Dean and Seamus.
"What is it, Parkinson?" Hermione frowned at Pansy, obviously expecting the worst.
"Look, Granger... Hermione. You care a lot about Harry, right?" She paused and waited for Hermione to answer. She watched as Hermione nodded cautiously, then began again. "Well, I care a lot about Draco. It's probably not in the way you think, either. Dray and I have been best friends for about forever and I know him better than anyone else. I want only for him to be happy, you understand?"
Hermione nodded dazedly and Pansy knew she was wondering where this was going. "Well, if Harry was damn near in love with someone, you'd do anything in your power to help him out, correct?" Hermione nodded again and Pansy continued. "Well it's the same with me and Dray. Right now he is damn near in love with, and you can't tell anyone this, your Golden Boy Harry."
Hermione gasped and spluttered before choking out "You're joking right?!"
"Afraid not, Hermione. The one and only Draco Malfoy is completely nutters for Harry Potter. I know you're probably wondering why I'm divulging this information to you. Well, you see, you are the only Gryffindor we semi- respect and trust. Ginny, of course, is a close second. Now, she has been helping me and Draco with a little plan that we have. She doesn't quite know what's going on, but she has been quite the little helper."
"What are you going on about, Parkinson?"
"Pansy." Pansy interjected. If they were going to be friendly, they'd need to use first names. As far as she was concerned, their stupid feud was over.
Hermione paused and after a moment began again. "Pansy, I still don't know what you're trying to say."
"C'mon, Hermione. I know you're smart enough to figure out what's going on. You saw what happened downstairs. Ginny and Blaise on the couch... Well, Blaise screwed up the original plan and so we had to take him out the picture. That's where Ginny and the new plan came in."
Pansy sighed as she realized in order to get Hermione's cooperation she'd have to start from the beginning. "Look, let me start this from the beginning. Dray realized he was gay a while ago. He also has an intense dislike for the Dark Lord. I don't like the bastard either for that matter. Anyway, Big Daddy Malfoy found out over the summer and kicked poor little Draco out of the family. He ended up staying with Professor Snape for the remainder of the summer, and while there, he discovered that he had feelings for your dear Harry."
Pansy paused to let all this information sink in before resuming her story. "So, we got back to Hogwarts and Dray was hell bent on getting the Boy Wonder. He wasn't sure whether Harry was gay or not, so we devised a little plan in order to find out. Blaise was supposed to simply befriend Harry and find out, but he screwed us over for some reason unknown to us. He kissed Harry right in front of us. Dray just about exploded and I had to appease him by changing the botched plan into something we could work with.
"The way we figure it, Blaise is pissed at Dray for some reason or another, or he's just stupid. So, knowing that Ginny liked Blaise, we decided to hook them up." Pansy figured she didn't have to tell the complete truth. "We couldn't have Blaise going with both of them though, so we had to make sure Harry saw them. Dray was all worried that we'd hurt Harry's feelings, but I assured him Harry'd be better off with him picking up the pieces." Hermione frowned at Pansy but didn't say anything. Pansy supposed she was withholding judgment till the end of the story.
"So, as you can see, that part of the plan is going accordingly. We hope that Dray can start some sort of friendship with Harry that will develop into a relationship. You must understand that I just want Dray to be happy and that we don't believe that Blaise has any real feelings for Harry." Pansy now looked at Hermione expectantly. It was her turn to speak.
Harry couldn't believe that this was happening to him. It was just his luck, he supposed. He really liked Blaise and he had thought Blaise felt the same way. Was Ron right about him? Was this just a Slytherin plot to put him to shame? Well, if it was, they succeeded. Harry felt like a fool.
Harry slowed from his fleeing run to an aimless meandering around the castle. Not knowing where he was going, he ended up slumping into a windowsill in an unused classroom. He pressed his forehead against the window pane and let the tears simply roll down his face. He was only there for a quick moment before he heard footsteps in the door.
Harry figured it was probably Ron or Hermione coming to cheer him up. A sudden thought came over him though. It might be Blaise coming to apologize and to beg for forgiveness. Well, he thought, he isn't going to get it.
Harry, thoroughly prepared to berate whoever was in the doorway, turned with his mouth poised to speak. It hung slack, however, when his gaze fell upon the figure that stood shadowed by the door. He closed his mouth slowly and tried to muster up some kind of energy to be rude. "What do you want, Malfoy? Come to rub it in my face, have you?" He sneered at the shape that moved slowly toward him into the light from the window.
As Draco's pale face came into clear view, Harry let out a small gasp. The usual cold glare was missing. He looked almost sympathetic. He couldn't care, Harry thought in disbelief, could he? "I've come to do no such thing... Harry. What Zabini did was unforgivable. It was disgraceful not to mention hurtful. I've come to apologize on his behalf."
Harry snorted in derision. "That'll be the day. Come off it, Malfoy. I know you don't give a shit about me. You're nothing but a cold-hearted bastard who lives to torment me. And now you're trying to tell me that you're here to extend an apology for someone who hurt me? I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm not a complete idiot." He saw something that looked like pain flutter through Draco's eyes and started.
"Harry, I know I haven't been the nicest guy over the years." Draco paused as Harry snorted again. "Okay, so that's an understatement... Just give me a chance. People change, Harry. Besides, what do you really know about me?"
"You have given me no reason to believe that you can change. You have hated me ever since we got to this school." Harry glared at Draco, challenging him to say differently.
"I never hated you. I was jealous and more than a little annoyed, but I never hated you. When you chose Weasley over me, you hurt my pride. I had to retaliate, that's just the way things work." Draco took a step towards Harry and sighed as Harry pulled his legs up close to his chest. "I wanted to be your friend from the beginning. I still want to be your friend. Look, if nothing else, at least speak to me civilly. Can we be friends, Harry?"
Draco extended his hand toward Harry, hoping against hope that this time around he'd accept the gesture. Harry sighed as he took Draco's hand. "I don't trust you, but I can at least try to put things behind us. Now, did you really come to apologize for Blaise?"
Draco nodded silently and sat down on the windowsill next to Harry. "Zabini is an arse, Harry. He doesn't care about anybody but himself."
"Like you?" Harry accused pointedly.
"Ah, touché, Mr. Potter." Draco smiled. "Believe it or not, I do care about other things than myself. There are just very few of those things."
"I suppose Pansy is one of them." Harry suggested lightly. He was a bit curious about the true depth of their relationship and figured now was the time to find out.
"Yes, Pan has become very dear to my heart. She is one of the few people I care about." Draco shrugged nonchalantly before continuing. "I guess you tend to get close to someone when you are engaged to them."
"So you are engaged to her then?" Harry inwardly felt a twinge of disappointment, but felt his hopes lift once more when Draco continued.
"No, we are no longer engaged. She's more of a best friend to me at this time. Certain occurrences this past summer resulted in the termination of our engagement." Draco sighed and laid his head against the wall.
"What certain occurrences would these be, if I may ask?" Harry prodded carefully, not sure how sensitive Draco was about the subject. It seemed serious though, and he was interested.
"I was... uh... disowned... by my father." Draco stumbled over the words as if they still seemed a bit unreal to him.
"But, why?" Harry asked in surprise. Draco always seemed to be the perfect little Malfoy. He had no clue as to what could go wrong there.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Are you sure, because, if we're going to be friends we shouldn't keep secrets." Harry knew he probably shouldn't push Draco too much, but he couldn't help it. He was so curious.
Draco smiled slyly at Harry as he realized what he'd said. "So we're going to be friends, eh, Potter?"
"I guess so. As long as you don't try to kill me or embarrass me or something."
"Don't worry, I won't. I'm a changed man. 'What's in a name' my arse, that wretched name held a lot. I'm definitely going to miss the prestige, but I can't truly say I'll miss much else."
"Whoa, that is serious. What about your mother?"
"My mother is one of those people I truly care about. She means a lot to me. Besides, she isn't truly a Malfoy. She's a Black." Malfoy grinned smugly at this revealed information.
"Oh, I know about that. She was Sirius' cousin. Tonks' aunt, right?" Harry smiled at the look of shock on Draco's face. "Didn't know I knew so much about your family, eh?"
"Been researching me, Harry? Find something you like?"
"Not especially, most of the Blacks were horrible people. There were few exceptions, like Sirius and your mom's sister Andromeda."
"I suppose so. I never really knew Auntie Andromeda or Nymphadora. I'd heard about them and met them a few times though. Nymphadora seemed really nice and she has a cool thing that she can do."
"I know... Ginny adores it. I keep telling her her hair looks better purple, but she insists on changing it pink all the time. Oh and she'd lynch you if she knew you called her Nymphadora. She only goes by Tonks now."
"I can understand why." Draco laughed loudly and was soon joined by Harry. "Nymphadora, honestly. What kind of a name is that?"
Draco suddenly looked at Harry with heightened interest, however. "You mentioned cousin Sirius as good."
"Yeah, he was a great man. He was my godfather, y'know." Harry smiled fondly in remembrance. "I miss him a lot."
"Where is he?" Draco frowned.
"Dead. Your other auntie, Bellatrix, killed him right in front of me." Harry's face clouded over and his eyes filled with tears as he remembered that night.
"I'm sorry, Harry. I had no idea. I never liked Auntie Bella anyway, she seemed like a complete nutcase." Draco reached out to pat Harry on the back.
"I don't want to talk about it." Harry turned away from Draco and stared unseeingly into the dark classroom.
"Don't be like that, please. Talk to me." Draco pleaded. He and Harry had been making such progress. He didn't want Harry to shut down on him now. "Think of it this way. He is with his best friends now."
"Yeah," Harry said glumly, "without me."
"None of them left you purposely."
"But it was all my fault. All of them." Harry wrapped his arms around his waist. "They died trying to save me. Sirius came to my rescue after I did something really stupid and Bellatrix stunned him and sent him through the veil."
"The veil?" Draco sat forward suddenly. "Surely you don't mean the veil in the Department of..."
"Yeah, that veil." Harry huffed dejectedly.
"Well then," Draco was positively beaming. "There is a way to get him back!"
"What?!?!!" Harry jumped from the windowsill and whirled around on Draco. "Don't toy with me! Are you sure there is a way?"
Draco nodded enthusiastically. "My father told me about it before. There is only one way. I'm willing to help if you want to try."
Harry seemed to glow as he ran forward and threw his arms around Draco's neck. He pulled back slightly enough to kiss Draco's cheek, then removed himself and did a double back flip.
Draco traced the place where Harry had kissed him thoughtfully. Harry had kissed him... He was so happy he could hardly think straight. Wait till he told Pan... Pan... the party!!!
"Harry, the party! Your friends are still there. Let's go enjoy ourselves and then we'll start planning tomorrow." Draco got up from his space on the windowsill and joined Harry in the middle of the room.
"Friends then, Draco?" Harry grinned stupidly at Draco as they walked to the door.
"Definitely." Draco smiled at Harry's use of his first name. "Oh, and Harry..." He smirked at Harry, "You look very sexy tonight." With that, he headed back to the dungeons, leaving a stunned Harry to catch up.
"So, you're really saying that Draco Malfoy likes Harry Potter and that all this is a plan to get them together?" Hermione stared dazedly at Pansy Parkinson, not sure she understood exactly what Pansy had been saying.
"Exactly. Now, what I wanted with you was first of all to end the feud between us. Second, I am requesting your assistance in the plan. You don't have to do a lot. Just, at least find out how Harry truly feels about Dray behind the feud." Pansy looked pleadingly at Hermione.
Hermione sat down on the edge of the nearest bed. "This is a lot to take in, but I suppose I'm willing to end the feud. It was really stupid anyway."
"Good, and will you help us?" Pansy extended her hand toward Hermione sincerely.
"Definitely." Hermione grinned evilly as she took Pansy's hand. "Now I want in on this plot. I always knew that tension between them was sexual."
Pansy laughed along with Hermione as they made their way back down to the party. Hermione spotted the top of Ron's head over the crowd and pulled Pansy in that direction. "Hang out with us for the rest of the night, okay?"
"Okay." Pansy smiled widely. She'd never had many female friends before and she thought that Hermione was going to be an excellent friend to have. But first, let's get Ginny and Blaise out of here.
They headed over to the couch only to find the couple passed out. "Go get Crabbe to take Blaise up to the dorms, Hermione. We'll take Ginny and lay her on Draco's couch." Pansy indicated toward the wall where Crabbe and Goyle were leaning.
Upon Hermione's return, they lifted Ginny off the couch and carried her to the entrance of Draco's chambers. Pansy said the password and the dragon moved out of the way. "Wow, nice quarters." Hermione mumbled.
"Better than yours, Gryffindor?" Pansy shot easily as they deposited the sleeping girl on the couch by the fire and covered her with a blanket.
"Not on your life, Slytherin." Hermione shot back. "Now let's get back to that party."
They danced and drank for a while before Pansy nudged Hermione and nodded toward the entrance. Harry and Draco had just come inside. Draco looked quite pleased and Harry was looking at Draco strangely.
Hermione stopped dancing with Ron and pulled Pansy away from Seamus who was a bit put out as they left. "Hey, Harry." Hermione said as they stepped closer. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm feeling a bit better." Harry grinned at his best friend. "I've made a new friend and we're going to get an old one back. I'll tell you about it tomorrow."
Hermione looked at him questioningly but then turned to Pansy. "I've made a new friend too, Harry. You know Pansy Parkinson. We've decided to bury the hatchet and get a fresh start."
"Nice to meet you, Pansy. I hope we become great friends." Harry bowed as Pansy giggled furiously. "Now, let's party!"
"Harry." Draco leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear. "Let's get out of the crowd for a while... come with me to my chambers."
"Okay, Draco. As long as you don't try anything funny." Harry teased Draco as he led the way over to the stone dragon.
"C'mon, Potter, I don't bite... hard." Draco smirked at the shocked look on Harry's face. He spoke the password and led the way inside, satisfied at Harry's intake of breath. "Nice, isn't it?"
"I'd say. It's just as nice as Hermione's. Hers is the same set up, but a lot more cheerful with the windows and all..." Harry trailed off as he came around the couch to see Ginny laying there.
Draco saw Harry turning red and hurried over to see what was wrong. When he saw Ginny on the couch he immediately felt the need to put their relationship at ease. He'd grown fond of the Weaselette and didn't want to mess things up any more for her. "Harry," He said softly, rubbing Harry's back comfortingly, "she didn't know about you and Blaise. You can't be upset with her. She really liked him and saw her opportunity. I'm sure if she'd known, she wouldn't have done this."
"You're right, Draco. If I'd told her about it, she wouldn't have done this. She's like my little sister. I can't stay mad at her. It really hurt though." Harry hung his head and walked away from the couch.
Draco followed and wrapped an arm around Harry. "I know it hurt. I'll help you get through it though. Okay?"
Harry turned to Draco thoughtfully and smiled. "Okay, Draco."
Watching the smile form on Harry's lips sent a strange feeling to the pit of Draco's stomach. He felt butterflies as he leaned forward. He wasn't exactly sure it was the right thing to do at the time, but he kept going.
As their lips met, Harry let out a soft "oh," before leaning farther in. He pressed his lips against Draco's soft ones eagerly. The kiss felt so right as Draco wrapped his arms around Harry, bringing him closer.
Harry wasn't sure how long the kiss went on before they broke for air. He sighed dreamily as Draco took a step back. A hand brushed across his lips as he closed his eyes. The feeling of Draco's lips moving against his remained.
Draco's fingers fluttered over Harry's face. He is so beautiful, he thought. He leaned forward to kiss him again when he heard the grinding of the dragon.
"So that's where you went!" Hermione said as she entered the room with Pansy, Dean, Seamus, and Ron. "We thought now would be a good time to leave. We came to collect Ginny and then we'll be off."
Harry's eyes had still been closed when they entered. He now opened them reluctantly. "Okay. I'm coming, you guys."
Ron carried Ginny over his shoulder out the door, Hermione following, as Seamus kissed Pansy's cheek softly. "I'll see you later, Pan." Pansy blushed wildly as she stuttered her goodbye.
"At least we know he's not gay now." Dean grinned as he followed Seamus out the door.
"Goodnight, Draco." Harry whispered as he walked past Draco, headed for the door.
Draco reached out to touch Harry's hand as he said goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Harry nodded as he left. "So, Dray. How did things go? You looked a bit friendly right there." Pansy teased once the dragon had closed behind the Gryffindors.
"And what about you and Mr. Ireland there?"
"Well, I guess you could say ending this feud has its advantages."
"Damn right, Pan." Draco smiled as he thought of their kiss. He didn't notice that he had his fingertips pressed against his lips until he heard Pansy commenting again.
"Holy crap, you kissed him! Didn't you?!"
"Maybe I did."
"Bullshit, Malfoy. Seriously?"
Draco just smirked at his best friend.
"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, Pan. Right now, I'm going to bed. We have big things to plan tomorrow."
Author's Note: Hey peoples! I'm really sorry it took so long to get this up. I've been away on vacation and everything... No excuse, right? I agree. So go ahead and throw rocks at me, I deserve. Just make sure they're not big ones, okay? Anyway... Big thanks to all my reviewers... Starting now, I'm going to answer your questions to the best of my abilities without giving away the plot. So review if you want your question answered or if you just want a shout-out. Big ups to my beta reader/ roommate, N.C. PsyChick... PEACE OUT MY HOMIES!!!!!!
P.S.: REVIEW, BIOTCHES!!! lol