Chapter 2.
It was the Friday of the second week of term that Harry made contact with Malfoy again. This was not unexpected. Hogwarts was a different place this year. The student population was noticeably smaller which was worrying because it had never been entirely large to begin with. Those that did remain were significantly more…twitchy than they were before the war. Parts of the castle were still in ruin and it didn't take a lot for sections to crumble and the rubble to fall against itself, creating crunches and crashes that echo down hallways. Nearly no one in the vicinity didn't jump and draw their wands whenever it happened. The student body seemed to have taken one of two stances in this post-war climate: stick together, or stick to their own. Whilst Harry was clinging to all of his even most distant friends, Malfoy had taken to moving around solo, travelling through the shadows and seemingly only leaving the dungeons for lessons and meals. Even the mealtimes were few and far between and despite Harry's best efforts at cornering the boy, he hadn't seemed able to manage it yet.
So it was on the Friday of the second week of term that Harry left their third Potions lesson with the new teacher, Professor Frader. He was a very tall and very wide man who had taken to the Slytherins like a duck took to water (that is to say, extremely well). Unlike Professor Snape, he wasn't as biased against Gryffindors, but there was a certain warmth in his eyes that shone when he spoke to a Slytherin that was absent for Harry and his friends. Walking out the classroom, Harry made his way down the corridor of the dungeons to a tapestry of a morbid looking scarecrow surrounded by trees which were, ironically, full of crows. It hid a well-known shortcut for the older years, and it was currently buzzing with activity, crows cawing angrily and the scarecrow waving its twiggy arms, trying to swat at them. Pushing it aside quickly, Harry was met with the sight of three beefy Slytherins from the year below pummelling a smaller figure into the wall, laughing and taunting the boy as they hit him.
"Oi!" Harry called, whipping out his wand and running over to the gang, his soldier instincts kicking into overdrive. The three looked up at him and stared when they recognised him, before yelping and trying to run away. "Stupefy, stupefy, stupefy." He yelled, stunning all three of them before casting an incarcerous to bind them. He looked over at the boy he just saved and breathed in sharply when he saw the bloodied, unconscious body of none other than Draco Malfoy. "Bollocks." He muttered to himself. He knelt down next to Malfoy's still figure and checked to see that he was still breathing and not dangerously bleeding out anywhere. His chest was moving shallowly, but it was moving and Harry located the largest source of blood coming from a nasty looking gash under the Slytherin's hair. Knowing that head wounds almost always looked worse than they were, but equally couldn't be underestimated, he gently slid his hands inside the blond's robes and felt around his rib cage, checking for broken bones. Having found none, Harry deemed it safe enough to move him and levitated all four of them up to the Head's office, closer than the hospital wing, and left a scribbled note on a piece of parchment, stuck to one of the attacker's foreheads;
"These three just beat up Draco Malfoy. Taken him to hospital wing, unconscious and losing a lot of blood.
H.P"
He asked the gargoyles to get McGonagall down and then ran for the hills, making sure he didn't bump Malfoy's head on anything as he did so. When he reached the hospital wing he pounded on the doors until Poppy Pomfrey opened them, shrieking hysterical complaints about how the noise was bad for the others in her ward. Harry merely shouted her down and rushed over to the nearest available bed, plonking Malfoy down on the mattress and then turning back to the Mediwitch.
"I know I'm the last person you'd expect to bring Malfoy in, of all people, but he was beaten up pretty badly by three Slytherin seventh years. I've left them stunned and bound outside the Headmistresses office. He's lost a lot of blood and was knocked unconscious, from either blood loss or a hit to the head, I don't know. I didn't arrive early enough to see, he was already out by the time I got there." Madam Pomfrey stood there looking stunned for all of a second, then went to work, waving her wand over Malfoy, casting diagnosis spells and healing charms and sending Harry off to find the right type of potion to give him. When Madame Pomfrey finally said that Malfoy was stable, Harry sank into a bedside chair in relief. He hadn't realised how tightly wound he was until he saw Malfoy, face now relaxed instead of pinched, breathing softly, curled up on his side in the hospital bed. His face was slightly pink from the blood-replenishing potion that Madam Pomfrey had given him, and he seemed almost cherub-like with his now-clean blond hair, blooming complexion against the surrounding white bedding. He was startled out of his musings by a crisp Scottish accent cutting through his thought process,
"Mr. Potter, I should think it appropriate that you go back to your lessons now." Professor McGonagall said as she swept into the wing.
"With all due respect, Headmistress, I'd rather stay here till he wakes up. I need to talk to him."
"With all due respect, Mr. Potter, I'd rather you got to your next lesson. Mr. Malfoy won't be going anywhere and will still be here at the end of the school day. I appreciate the help you have been to Poppy, but your duties end now. I will send a Patronus ahead of you so Professor Flitwick knows where you have been." McGonagall clucked, leaving no room for argument. Harry dropped his shoulders and hung his head.
"Yes, Professor." Sending one last worried look towards the boy in the bed, Harry sloped out the Hospital Wing to make his way to Charms. On his way, a silver cat sped past ahead of him and into the classroom further down the hall. Harry pushed open the door in time to see Professor Flitwick nod to the cat as it dispersed into silver fog. "Sorry I'm late Professor Flitwick, sir." Harry called as he moved to join Ron and Hermione at their desk.
"No, no, that's quite alright Mr. Potter. Please, do take a seat." Harry slumped down into the spare stool next to his friends as Flitwick turned back to the blackboard to continue his lesson on, funnily enough, the Patronus charm. Half of those in the class (those who had been in Dumbledore's Army) weren't listening and were chatting quietly to their friends.
"Harry, where have you been?" Hermione asked, looking Harry up and down to check for injuries, "Is that blood on you?" She asked, pointing at a dark patch on his robes that ran from his shoulder down to his elbow, and also to his hands which were covered in the stuff.
"Scorgify." He murmured, waving his wand absently at his robes and hands. "Not mine." He replied, "Malfoy got beaten up, I took him to the Hospital Wing." Ron's 'Oh Merlin' was said in unison with Hermione's 'Oh my God'.
"Is he okay?" Hermione asked, after sending a bemused look at Ron. Harry smiled weakly,
"You two really are a couple, aren't you?" He teased, and grinned when he got the blush from the pair that he had been aiming for. "He's fine. I stayed and helped until he was stable, but then McGonagall turned up and told me to leave." Hermione nodded, then paused to think.
"This is our last lesson of the day…I'm assuming you won't be coming back to the Common Room with us." She stated. It wasn't a question. Harry smiled gratefully at her.
"Yeah, I've got a stop to make first, but I'll be a while I think." Ron opened his mouth to ask where he was going first, but Hermione elbowed him and hissed under her breath,
"He's old enough to make his own decisions, Ronald. Let him be." After another grateful look to Hermione, Harry turned back and settled in to the comfortable blank, mindless stare he had developed purely for lessons such as these in which he had to at least pretend to pay attention.
~.oOo.~
Draco Malfoy groaned as he woke up in a familiar feeling bed to see a familiar looking ceiling and feeling a familiar pain that was always associated with this place. The Hospital Wing. He groaned again at this realisation, and flung his arm over his tired eyes dramatically before groaning the third time at the pain that action caused.
"Never thought I'd see the day when I heard what Draco Malfoy would be like in bed." Draco's head snapped up at the sound of a voice, wincing in silent agony as his entire body ached like he'd been trampled by a small herd of elephants. Oh wait. He had.
"Potter?" He gasped, incredulous when he saw him sitting on a chair next to his bed, smiling but with a look of concern in his eyes. Mentally shaking himself, Malfoy recovered his pureblood instincts and sneered at the raven-haired boy. "Never thought I'd see the day when Harry Potter insinuated that he'd like to hear what I sounded like in bed." Draco smirked further when his words had the desired effect and Potter went bright red in the face and spluttered before forcing out,
"I insinuated no such thing, Malfoy, I have no reason to wish to see you in that sort of…situation." Draco gave him a gaze that just oozed 'deny it all you want, I know I'm gorgeous.'
"Why are you here Potter?" Draco sighed, looking around at his surroundings to emphasise the 'here'. His eyes fell across a table next to him that was piled high with sweets and chocolates from Honeydukes. He stared. And stared. And stared. Then he pointed at them and whipped his head back round to Potter who was leaning back in the chair, arms crossed, looking smug. "What are these?"
"Sweets." Potter replied simply, shrugging with a wicked gleam in his eye.
"Why do I have them?" He snapped, glaring at Potter suspiciously. Potter sighed and leant in, putting his elbows on the edge of the bed and resting his chin in his hands.
"Because, Malfoy, I find that an abundance of sweets helps anyone recover faster. At the end of my first year, when I woke up after getting rid of Quirrell, Dumbledore was sitting in here with me with a pile of sweets half the size of that, sent by my friends. It certainly made me feel better. Plus, in third year Lupin taught me that you can never go wrong with some of Honeyduke's finest chocolate when you're feeling a bit shaken up." Potter sent Draco a meaningful look and Draco realised that his hands were trembling slightly. Casting one more suspicious look at Potter, Draco dived into the pile and pulled out a huge bar of chocolate. He broke a slab off and shoved it in his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in weeks, his eyes rolling back in his head in pleasure as the chocolatey goodness melted on his tongue.
Harry sat back again and watched Malfoy eat, an amused smile playing at his lips at the sight of the Draco Malfoy, practically having an orgasm over a bar of chocolate. 'Malfoy…orgasm…' Harry blushed and violently shook his head out of the gutter, shaking the disturbing fantasies from his mind and the even more disturbing realisation that he didn't find them disturbing. "So," Harry started, trying to steer his brain away from the look on Malfoy's face and how much he'd love it if he were to make that face directly because of him rather than just the sweets he brought him. "Why didn't you fight back, Malfoy? I know you know plenty enough spells to hex all three of them to oblivion in one swipe, and that's excluding dark magic." Malfoy gulped and placed the chocolate back on the table, looking now like he was about to throw up.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Potter." He said shakily, trying, and failing, to clear his face of expression and adopt the blank look he'd been wearing for the last fortnight.
"So you'd rather put yourself down and harm your pride and ego than tell me the truth?" Harry asked, eyebrow cocked.
"I thought I told you that I don't know what you're talking about." Malfoy snapped, lifting his nose into the air and setting his jaw in defiance, but not meeting Harry's gaze. Harry shuffled the chair closer and leaned in.
"Why are you so docile, Malfoy? You haven't said a single thing that's actually offensive to me since last year. What happened to the old Malfoy who wouldn't think twice about chucking a crucio at me?" He goaded, aiming for a reaction. Malfoy met his eyes and glared a glare that promised a painful death.
"That Malfoy left when you killed the Dark Lord and both his parents were locked away for life." His voice was completely contradictory to his countenance; toneless and flat, void of the emotion that his glare betrayed.
"That shouldn't have happened, I'm sorry." Harry shook his head at the memory of the injustice of the situation, "I tried to intervene and show the court that Narcissa saved my life, but they wouldn't let me anywhere near it. They said it was too dangerous and locked me in a warded room until all the trials were over. Then I was packaged off to my relatives before I could even say goodbye to my friends. But what I'm asking is why that Malfoy went away. No offense, but you never seemed the type to suddenly have an epiphany and change your ways for the better."
Malfoy looked at him with a level gaze for a long time, his stare flicking from one of Harry's eyes to the other constantly. Harry could almost see the cogs turning behind his pupils, weighing the pros and cons of telling the truth and seeing if he could trust Harry or not. "If I were the type of person you couldn't trust Malfoy, I wouldn't have saved you from those seventh years."
"You saved me?" Malfoy asked, eyes going wide and disbelief colouring his expression.
"Well, why did you think I was here?" Harry asked, annoyed. It was impossible to just get an answer from this boy!
"I don't know, you practically live here so I figured you walked in after falling over your abnormally top-heavy head, saw me lying here and took pity. For all I knew, the elephants got bored and lumbered off and I was found by a teacher and brought here." Malfoy was scowling and Harry was caught between being pleased that some spirit had come back into the boy and annoyed at his words. He shook his head.
"I found them hitting you, stunned and bound them, left them outside McGonagall's office and levitated you here." When Malfoy didn't' seem any more believing, Harry began listing; "I then helped heal you by getting the right potions that you needed. Then I was forced to go to Charms with your blood all over me. I left, ran to Hagrid's hut, because I know he always has a secret stash of sweets, then came back here and have been waiting for hours for you to wake up. It was because I was worried for you, not pitying you." He exhaled sharply through his nose. "Now will you please tell me why you didn't fight back, or at least why you're walking around on your own if you know that some Slytherins have a problem with you?"
Malfoy looked at Harry again and the silence stretched on and on until Harry decided to resign himself to yet another period of staring matches. Just as he sat back in his chair and shuffled a bit to get comfortable, Malfoy spoke, in a voice that was barely above a whisper, a strangely vulnerable look on his face.
"There's no point in walking around with people." He dropped his gaze to his fingers that were worrying at the edge of the duvet, "Even if I did, if I was ambushed or attacked they wouldn't help. They'd run away. I'm not going to fight because no one would fight for me and perhaps that a defeatist attitude, perhaps that's not Gryffindor enough for you, but I have grown weary of battles. I'm…tired of them."
Well that was a sentiment that Harry could certainly sympathise with. He stared at the blonde in front of him, suddenly seeming as delicate as he had on the night Dumbledore died. "Why do you think that?" Harry asked softly, upset that anyone could think that no one would help them if someone started beating them up in front of them. The war hadn't been won for more fights to break out, for more people to become isolated, for more discrimination.
"Because when you see your mother put away in prison when she didn't deserve to go, you tend to lose faith in people." Malfoy scowled, but he didn't stop. "When you lose faith in people you tend to lose hope and when you've lost hope you've not got anything left apart from bitterness and an inordinate amount of self-pity considering you were on the losing side of the war."
"And when you're a Malfoy and you have self-pity you get self-loathing for having self-pity." Harry finished for him, understanding the situation. "But even then, it's just not in your nature to give up your pride and let someone beat the brains out of you. What about all that self-preservation stuff you Slytherins preach about?" Harry encouraged, hoping to get a further insight on this situation. Malfoy was definitely more amenable to talking about his emotions than Harry had thought, and he wondered if the war had really sucked all the Malfoy out of, um, Malfoy.
"When your name is defiled and half of your family heirlooms are seized you forget about things such as pride." Malfoy quipped, "I don't have anything left to lose."
"Long-term suffering does that to you." Harry nodded in agreement as he remembered his days before he knew he was a wizard. Each day was just the same as the last, robotic and mechanical as he worked his way through; he had nothing to lose, but no chance to gain. It was a bottomless pit. Finding out about magic was the safety net that had caught him. But what net did Draco Malfoy have? "I'm not going to lie, Malfoy, I much prefer you without your pride and ego. You're a nicer person who uses their sarcasm for jokes rather than insults. But I don't like seeing you so broken – no let me finish." Harry held up his hand as he saw Malfoy's pride flare back to life in his eyes as he opened his mouth to defend himself. "I don't like seeing you so broken because that's what you are, Malfoy. You don't stick up for yourself. You've changed into this nicer person but you won't let anyone close enough to show it. You're different now, but you're better for it. Just because you've lost some of your Malfoy-pride doesn't make you any less of a person. I think you're more of a person. You just have to show other people that."
"How?" Malfoy asked, so quietly that Harry almost didn't hear it. Harry grinned.
"Eradicate your previous reputation. Who cares if the Slytherins think you're being a pussy, being kind to people is better than insulting them and their families. Be nice for once, and you'll see some changes. You might make some friends." Harry's heart started to pound and he pasted a carefully constructed leer on his face, "You might even get a girlfriend."
"Don't want a girlfriend." Malfoy muttered under his breath, but Harry heard it. His heart thudded harder.
"Or, y'know, a boyfriend, whatever suits you." Malfoy's complexion tinted slightly and he looked up from underneath his eyelashes, eying Harry nervously. It was a weird expression to see on the Slytherin's face, and not wholly unattractive. Quite the opposite really, and Harry internally groaned as he felt his possessive side reach out and swaddle Malfoy up inside of him. He was steadily developing a more than friendly interest in the blond before him and he just knew that his wish of a simple year, surrounded by friends and family and no drama, had just gone up in a poof of smoke. 'Got to let him know you're available' his possessive side told him, 'you know, for er, support purposes. Let him know he's not alone and all that' he tried to convince himself. It was a lost cause, really. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." He found himself saying, "If it helps at all I'm, um, I'm bi. So. Um only you and Ginny know. Oh and Barney, my snake."
"The Weaslette?" Malfoy asked cautiously. Harry didn't take offense at the name, figuring it was part of Malfoy's vocabulary now and had practically adopted Ginny's name in his head.
"I had to tell her why I didn't want to get back together with her." In for a penny, in for a pound, he figured. If he's spilling his secrets to Malfoy then he might as well spill all his secrets. Malfoy frowned, looking mightily uncomfortable and obviously embarrassed out of his mind, but his curiosity won out and he asked,
"But you like girls…?"
"Not as much as boys." Harry grinned, watching as Draco nodded stiffly with his cheeks steadily colouring. "Tell you what, Malfoy." Harry said, a plan forming in his head. "Why don't you start by hanging out with Ron, Hermione and me? We're the least expected people for you to acquaint yourself with, so maybe that would get rid of your old reputation the quickest? Plus, the sorts of guys that beat you up earlier would be far less likely to approach you if we're around." He grimaced, "The amount of hero worship here is disgusting. Plus, it's sickening to be around those two when they're such a loved up couple." At this Harry's grimace set into a definite scowl. He wondered if it was obvious that he was jealous. "And it would be nice to have someone around who knows my secret. Ginny's all very well and good, but she is in the year below, and it's harder to hang out with her than it is in comparison to the other two. Our timetables are completely different, as are our friendship groups. We barely see each other and as there's no need to specifically make time for each other as we're not dating…well we just don't bother." He trailed off as he realised that Malfoy most probably didn't care about whether he and Ginny still socialised with each other or not.
Looking up at the blond from where he had been staring at his twiddling thumbs, Harry saw that Malfoy looked like he was about to protest so he held up his hand to silence him. "Just think about it, yeah? If you want to, just come and sit at our table for dinner tonight, I'll tell Ron and Hermione and any other Gryffindors so they understand, and they will. It'll take courage, but most things do. A little bit of pressure can give you strength sometimes. That's what I discovered last year, during the war. When you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders you can only do one of two things. One; give up, two; take strength from it. Number one was never an option. I know you think that you've hurt in a way that no one can understand, but I can. Pretty much everyone in our year can; we all fought the war together. You're not alone, Malfoy." Harry stood up, "Think on it for a bit. Eat some chocolate and get your wits back together, Madam Pomfrey has already given you the okay to leave whenever you feel up to it." Harry paused, reached out a hand slowly enough that the blonde could see it coming and squeezed his hand gently ('Good lord, does he wash his hands with baby lotion?' Harry caught himself thinking. They really were the softest hands he'd ever felt. 'Bloody posh git'). "If you can't manage it, then that's fine, okay? We'll figure something else out. You have options this time; no one's forcing you to do anything." He turned around and walked over to the doors. Pulling them open, he looked over his shoulder, "I'll see you later…Draco." And enjoying the look on M-Draco's face, he opened the door and left swiftly.
~.oOo.~
Harry went back to Gryffindor tower and waited patiently for a few hours until almost all of the eighth and seventh years were in the room. Ron and Hermione had been questioning him ever since he got back, asking him what had happened between him and Malfoy. He had refused to say anything until everyone had come back before dinner though. Now that most of them were, he stood up on the coffee table by the fire and coughed to clear his throat.
"Um, everyone!" he called and the chattering cut almost immediately to an eerie silence. The silence unnerved him, reminded him too much of the war and he could see it in the faces of the crowd as they shuffled and sent nervous looks amongst themselves. He wondered how many of them had been tortured by the Carrow twins for not shutting up quickly enough. "I have, a, err, favour to ask you all."
"Anything for you, Harry!" Seamus called, always the quickest to bounce back, and his cheery Irish accent raised the mood back and the Gryffindors relaxed as one body. Whoops and cheers of agreement followed in short order and Harry smiled in gratitude to the Irish boy but replied,
"You might not say that when you hear what it is I want." The crowd muttered and exchanged nervous and excited glances amongst themselves. "Please can you all hear me out before you react? It's…pretty big." There were nods of subdued consent. "Right. Well recently, I've been talking to Draco Malfoy. I know! I know, crazy right? But listen for a bit, first. He's…changed. He's not an arrogant prick anymore, his parents are both in Azkaban, one of them unrightfully so, he's lost his pride, his confidence and he wants to change. I know most of you are probably sitting here thinking that he deserves it, but he's really not a bad bloke. And everything about the war ending was so that prejudice would be stamped out, that means giving people second chances. I thought it would be good if he got rid of his bad reputation by hanging out with people no one would expect him to. So…I sort of told him to come and sit with us at the Gryffindor table for dinner. It might not happen though, I just wanted to ask you all not to shout and jeer at him if he did. He wouldn't necessarily have to sit anywhere near most of you, really just Ron, Hermione and me, so you don't need to be nice to him, just…civil. Please? I won't ask anything of you again if you just give him a chance."
The room was silent for a few moments before Neville, good old harmless Neville, stood up and said to the room at large. "It's not a problem with me, Harry."
"Yeah, I sat with him in the thestral ride over, he was actually sort of…funny." Ron added.
"He needs people to be kind to him." Hermione said.
"And no one deserves to be left alone with no friends and no one to turn to." A third year said.
"If you say we can trust him then we will, Harry Potter." A first year squeaked. All of a sudden the whole of Gryffindor house was erupting in agreement, shouting out that they would do everything they could to make sure that no one harmed a hair on Draco Malfoy's head. It was all so much more than Harry could have asked for that he was forced to sit down in stunned silence. When the room had quietened down a bit and everyone was left looking at Harry he said,
"You guys are the best housemates anyone could ask for. This is above and beyond the Gryffindor kindness that I expected. Thank you."
"Anything for you, Harry!" Seamus repeated to the laughs of the Gryffindor's. Harry smiled. The crowd dispersed and Ginny waded her way through to him.
"I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for what I said at the beginning of term, Harry." She said, sitting down next to him. "I haven't apologised, and I know you're just doing the right thing. I trust your judge in character. And if he turns out to be an alright guy…then, well, he's not bad looking." She grinned at him slyly, jabbing him in the ribs playfully. Harry laughed.
"I've already noticed that he's not bad looking." He grinned back, "And he's available and he's available to men at that. Exclusively." Ginny looked scandalised.
"How on Earth did you figure that out in two weeks?"
"An afternoon, actually, and only an hour at that." Harry's grin just got wider and wider. "I saved him from some thugs. Once he knows who he can trust, he's quite willing to open up really. And who can resist the charms of Harry Potter? I saved the world, twice. Didn't you hear?"
"Oh, Harry you player!" Ginny giggled, swatting him on his arm. "Well, I'll see what he's like at dinner, then I'll tell you if I can approve of him or not."
"Thanks, Gin. For being so understanding and being so cool about this all." He hugged her, "You're a great little sister. The best I could ask for." She sniffed and stuck her nose in the air,
"Of course. I wouldn't let you expect anything less." They both laughed and soon the whole of Gryffindor house had taken to the corridors and were stalking down to the Great Hall, talking excitedly amongst themselves about having a Slytherin in their presence during the meal.
~.oOo.~
Draco Malfoy was nervous. No, Draco Malfoy was very nervous. In fact, one might call him a nervous wreck. He was standing outside the doors to the Great Hall, shifting from foot to foot and rubbing his hands together anxiously. He was going to do it. He was going to do it. 'Come on Draco, pull up some of your old pride, you know you're just stalling now. Just go in and do it.' He pushed open the doors and walked into the still half-empty hall. The Ravenclaw's were sitting at their table, always ones for punctuality, and the Gryffindor's were sitting at theirs, never ones to be late for a meal. The moment he walked in every single Gryffindor head whipped around to stare at him. Then, to his immense surprise each face suddenly broke into a smile. Harry stood up and waved him over, making everyone shuffle down the bench slightly to accommodate the extra person. Grateful that the Slytherin's hadn't deigned it late enough to dine yet, Draco made his way over to the bustling table full of smiling faces.
"I don't know how you do it Potter. You're a miracle worker." He said as he sat down to tens and tens of welcomes from various people he had never even spoken to before.
"Harry." Harry said, "Call me Harry, Draco." Draco smiled,
"Okay then. Harry."
Harry blushed as he felt the happy tingly feeling of having Draco call him by his first name rush steadily through his veins and warm him from the inside out. He coughed and then swept his arms out wide, gesturing to all the people around him. "Welcome to Gryffindor, Draco. Everyone agreed to be nice, so don't worry, we won't bite."
"Yeah, but we might roar." Seamus added from across the table before starting to roar and howl with Dean, waving their wands madly in the air and producing far more realistic lion roars than they were managing. Draco looked at them with wide eyes, before the corners of his mouth twitched up into the beginnings of a smile.
"I've always wondered what it would be like to sit at Gryffindor's table. It's always looked so vibrant and lively, from the other side of the hall." Draco said, starting to grin as Seamus knocked Dean's goblet of pumpkin juice over Ginny's plate and Gin retaliated by pouring hers over the Irishman's head.
"Yeah and Slytherin's table looks like it has spikes on the benches that go up your arses." Ron called out loudly, and everyone collapsed into fits of laughter again.
"Though some people might enjoy having something shoved up their arse at the dinner table." Harry murmured quietly into Draco's ear, taking great pleasure at the shiver that it caused to run down the blond's body. He scooted closer to Draco under the pretence of reaching over for the mash potatoes, making their knees and thighs touch.
'Is Harry Potter flirting with me?' Draco thought to himself, unbelievingly. Then Harry reached over Draco's lap to tap Ginny to get her attention and subtly, but definitely on purpose, brushed over his crotch as he did so. Draco's breath hitched in his throat and he had to cough halfway through the conversation he was holding with Granger about the best way to brew Dreamless Sleep Draughts in order to hide it. 'Yes. Yes Harry Potter is most definitely flirting with me.' For the rest of the meal Draco felt a warm, happy feeling inside of him. Maybe it was because he was accepted here. Maybe it was because the atmosphere of the Gryffindor table was so cheery. Maybe it was because the happiness of the Gryffindor's was so contagious. Maybe it was because he knew he was wanted. Maybe it was because he knew he was wanted by Harry Potter. Or maybe it was because he was wanted by Harry.
~.oOo.~
"Hey guys!" Seamus called out to the table. Gryffindor was the only table still full in the Great Hall. The Slytherin's hadn't seemed to even notice Malfoy's absence from their table and had quickly finished their meal in near silence and then all marched back to the dungeons. The Ravenclaw's had all left to finish their homework, probably, which left only a few straggling Hufflepuff's at the table as the rest had disappeared to do…whatever it is Hufflepuff's do.
"Yeah?" Harry called, feeling giddy with happiness. Throughout the meal Draco had really come out of his shell and had even been returning some of his subtle flirtations. For instance, right now their legs were twisted around each other's; ankles locked around the other's, hands resting gently side by side between them on the bench.
"I say we throw an impromptu party in the common room to commemorate Draco's initiation into Gryffindor!" It was amazing what an hour could do and everyone at the table within the vicinity of Draco had come to like him once they held conversations with him that didn't include insults and hexing. They had all taken to calling him by his first name and vice versa (apart from Ron and Ginny whom Draco couldn't seem to help but call Weasel and Weaslette. Ron took it in good humour and continued to call Draco, Ferret in retaliation). They had decided that he was different to the other Slytherins (easier to think that than realise that their generalisation of the entire house was wrong) and that he had been good and brave enough to become an honorary member of Gryffindor.
There were multiple lion roars and wolf howls of consent in reply and Seamus grinned from ear to ear at the acceptance of his idea. "Harry, you have to get the booze, yeah?" He said in a lower voice, leaning over the table, sending nervous glances over at the teacher's table. "You have the most connections with the house elves." Harry nodded, smiling, still giddy and not caring what he had to do, so long as it meant that he could spend more time with Draco. "Oh, and mate?" Seamus leant in further and lowered his voice even more. "Unless you want the whole house to know, I'd tone it down with Draco. You're looking at him like he's a piece of rare meat. Or the snitch," he shrugged, "Whatever."
Harry flushed bright red and spluttered as Seamus leant back smirking. "How – I – but – I wasn't that obvious, was I?"
"You were to Seamus and me." Ginny piped up. Draco looked up when he heard the two people on either side of him speaking.
"What was what to Seamus and the Weaslette?" He asked, looking between the three.
"Nothing." Harry said quickly, sending Seamus a glare that made the Irishman hold his hands up in surrender. He did the same to Ginny, but the sister-of-six-brothers took the opportunity presented to her and baited him. Through his annoyance, Harry was pleased, deep, deep, down, that they were on good enough terms for her to not even hesitate to piss him off on purpose.
"We were saying that your guys' groping of each other through dinner was highly obvious to us two." She smirked evilly as both boys blushed. Draco tried to move his hand away from Harry's, but Harry grabbed it blindly, glaring at Ginny the whole time.
"No, don't." He said, turning his attention to Draco solely, voice low enough that only he would hear over the din the Gryffindors were making, planning the party. "They won't say anything, and they won't judge. Please don't push me away." Harry looked into grey eyes imploringly until he could visibly see Draco's stubbornness melting under it.
"Okay." He said simply and let Harry hold his hand loosely under the table.
"Alright everyone! Let's go!" Seamus called when he saw the last Hufflepuff leave. Gryffindor policy; first to arrive, last to leave. Everyone clambered up off the benches, and Harry dropped Draco's hand only to tug at his elbows and led him down to the hidden entrance to the kitchens, while the rest of the Gryffindor's ran up to the tower as quickly as they could.
He pulled Draco to a halt outside the portrait of the fruit bowl and tickled the pear. Draco looked bemused so Harry explained as the fruit turned into a doorknob,
"Hermione discovered it in fourth year. She showed Ron and me." Entering through the door, Harry heard a short puff of air move past him as Draco exhaled at the replica Great-Hall, barring the pots and pans, huge stone hearth and tiny elves busy with cleaning up after dinner and getting ready for the next day's breakfast.
"Master Harry Potter, sir! How may Winky be helping you, sir?" Winky appeared in front of them, a bottle of Butterbeer in her hand, as was her signature look.
"Winky! Just the elf I was hoping for." He called as he saw her, "Actually I and the other Gryffindor's are throwing an impromptu party and we were hoping you could supply the drinks for when the younger years go to bed, if you get my drift." He winked. Winky looked at him with wide eyes when her face cracked in two with a large, thin smile that made her eyes crinkle closed so much they looked almost human sized.
"Of course, Master Harry Potter, sir. I am to obey your orders. This way please." She said and pulled him over to a corner of the kitchen by his sleeve.
"Thank you Winky. I knew I couldn't trust any other elf than you." He said gratefully, laying it on thick. Winky nodded, proud, and opened a well camouflaged door which revealed a huge chamber filled with wine racks that held nothing but a combination of Butterbeer, Firewhisky and something Draco said was called Dragonale, which was a drink even stronger and more potent than Firewhisky with triple the burn. Winky then produced a few bags which had enlargement, lightening and muffliato charms cast on it so they could carry the hundreds of bottles it would take to satiate the Gryffindors, without so much as a clink from inside.
"Brilliant. You're a star, Winky." Harry said when they had filled the bags to as full as they could. He gave the house elf a dazzling smile and then left with Draco in tow.
"Did you just flirt with a house elf, Harry?" Draco asked incredulously when they were well out of earshot of the kitchens. They had already made it halfway back to Gryffindor tower, thanks to the usage of plenty of short cuts.
"No, I was just…'overly polite'. It always does help a bit. And it's not like I'm interested in them anyway." He paused as they reached the stairs that led up to the portrait hole. "Besides, I already have my sights set on someone." He grinned impishly at Draco, who went slightly pink, and then turned and started the hike up the stairs.
When Harry opened the portrait hole his eyes were slaughtered with the sight of red and gold decorations and a loud booming of music someone had put on. He quickly leapt inside with Draco behind him, and slammed the portrait over the entrance again, lest the music escape too far into the castle and disturb the teachers. It was only 9 o'clock, so most of the house was still up. A few first years with a weaker disposition had already turned in, and the other 11 year olds were dropping like flies. He and Draco put the bags behind an over-stuffed arm chair and split to find Seamus or Dean.
~.oOo.~
"Harry, could I talk to you for a sec?" Ginny tapped Harry on the shoulder, pulling him away from the conversation he was having with Dean about when to bring their alcoholic treasure out.
"Sure." He agreed, smiling, and excused himself from the conversation. Ginny led him over to an empty corner which was far away from all the music and chatter of the Gryffindors.
"Okay. I can't help it, Malfoy is brilliant." She said grinning, "Seamus just hexed his hair blue, so Malfoy transfigured Seamus' nose into a pig snout. It's just like how Fred and George were at school!" Harry beamed and said proudly,
"I told you he'd changed!"
"Yes, and I'm sorry I didn't believe you the first time." She nodded solemnly, "But I completely approve if you two want to get into each other's pants." With a grin and a spluttering Boy-Who-Lived, Ginny left to go chat with her friends from the year below.
"You alright there?" Harry whipped his spluttering head around to see a blue-haired Draco looking worried, but extremely put out with his new hair colour and (he couldn't help it, he really tried to hold it in, he did) burst into peals of laughter. "Oh great!" He threw his hands up in exasperation, "Even you're laughing at me. I really must have gone to the dumps if I have a Gryffindork laughing at me."
"I'm sorry." Harry panted out between giggles. "It's just so…funny!" And with that he was gone again, dissolved into fits of hysterics. Draco rolled his eyes and grabbed the other boy by the elbow and marched him over to a sofa by the fire where Hermione was sitting.
"You owe me three Galleons." He said to the witch when he shoved Harry in front of her.
"Really?" She said in wide-eyed horror, then she frowned, "But I could have sworn he wouldn't laugh…He hardly even laughs when Ron and I are the subjects of Seamus' pranks, he knows we'd get angry…" She gave Draco a long, calculating stare and then sighed, rummaging around in her pockets. "Here." She said, thrusting her hand out and shoving three large, gold coins into his outstretched one.
"And you owe me a remedy as well." He said, looking at her with one arched eyebrow.
"God, yes, yes, it's coming, it's coming, hold on let me think. Honestly, you've changed, but in a way you're still exactly the same." She muttered to herself.
"I know how to change your hair back to lellow." Ron stumbled over with a half-drained bottle of Firewhisky in his hand. He frowned, "Lellow. Lellow. Le-yellow!" He shouted, smiling proudly.
"Ron, where did you get that whisky from?" Harry asked. Ron waved over his shoulder in a vague gesture of direction to the pile of bags Harry and Draco had brought from the kitchen. Harry and Draco exchanged a nervous glance. "Ron, did you tell anyone else where you got that from?" Ron leaned in close to Harry's face smiling.
"Nah. It's my secret stash, isn't it?" he beamed, "But I told you, because you," he prodded Harry's chest with his finger, "you're my mate, aren't you?" he then snickered as if he was telling the world's biggest secret. Harry rolled his eyes even though he was grinning.
"Weasley, why don't you just go back to doing…whatever it was you were doing?" Draco said, recalling that the only things he'd seen the youngest Weasley son do were dance badly, shout, and lie on the floor.
"No, no…" Ron muttered to himself, "I had something I came over for…and something to do…" He frowned. Draco just sighed and turned back to Hermione.
"Can you fix my hair or not?" He asked impatiently. Harry sniggered. "What? Do you have something you'd like to say to me, Potter?" Harry leaned in to Draco's ear and murmured lowly,
"I can't believe I didn't notice how camp you were before. If I hadn't have already known, I so would have guessed you're gay." Draco just pulled a face, muttered 'stereotypes' under his breath and turned to look at Hermione again.
"Well?" He demanded.
"That's it!" Ron shouted. "I can turn your hair back!" He coughed to clear his throat, got out his wand and started waving it in an important matter. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow –"
"Ron! No!" Hermione leapt up and pushed Ron away and snatched his wand from him. "That spell was designed for rats not humans; you have no idea what damage that could cause if you cast it on the wrong subject!"
"Besides, it doesn't work." Harry snorted at the crestfallen look on Ron's face when he couldn't find his wand in his hands or robes.
"Hey. Scabbers was a human, he doesn't count." Ron argued then he swayed on the spot and fell onto an armchair, unconscious. Hermione just rolled her eyes and muttered a spell under her breath, waving her wand in Draco's direction. Instantly the blue seemed to recede into his roots until only his original blonde was left. She glanced at her watch.
"It's ten to one, I'm going to go to bed. I have my Head Girl, boy and Prefects Saturday meeting tomorrow – err, today." And with that, she shooed some of the younger years to bed as well, leaving only a few sixth years, most of the seventh years and all of the eighth years.
Harry grabbed the bags from behind the armchair and brought them back over to the sofa where Draco was sitting. He put the bags down by his feet and slumped onto the sofa, casually throwing his arm around the back of the cushion he was leaning on and letting his hand rest on Draco's far shoulder.
"You know as much as blue suited you, I think I enjoy the blond Draco more. It suits your personality better." Harry grinned.
"Oh please don't start on the blonde jokes." Draco said, narrowing his eyes slowly. Harry put a victimised look on his face,
"Me? Tease you? About the fact that you had blue hair? Perish the thought!"
"Oh shut up."
"Harry." Harry heard a hiss from next to his ear and turned his head only to have a black tongue flick in his face.
"Barney!" He cried happily. Barney slithered around Harry's neck and down the arm that was now around Draco's shoulders. The snake leant in and flicked his tongue into Draco's ear.
"Bloody hell!" Draco screamed and jumped back into Harry's open arms. "Control your snake, Potter!" Harry smirked at Barney and hissed a quiet 'thanks'. Barney nodded and slithered off and coiled up a few feet away in front of the fire. Harry wrapped his arms around the jumpy boy who was now sitting in between his legs as Harry leant against the arm of the sofa.
"Draco Malfoy, proud Slytherin, scared of snakes?" Draco hissed indignantly but didn't try to pull away from Harry's embrace.
"Me? Scared? Hah! I just don't appreciate tongues in my ear." Harry grinned internally at the difference one evening with people who actually wanted him around had made to the blond. Already he was getting snappish and snarky, like an owl with ruffled feathers. Harry never thought he'd be pleased to see a moody Draco Malfoy, but he was. He leaned in and placed his lips up against Draco's ear.
"Do you not?" He whispered, "You sure about that?" He slowly let the tip of his tongue trace the shell of Draco's ear and when a shiver passed through the Slytherin's body he nibbled gently on his earlobe as a reward for good behaviour. Draco made the tiniest and shortest of noises, sounding like it got caught in his throat on the way out and Harry's heart hurt from adoration of the blond in his arms. Draco sighed gently through his nose and pressed back against Harry's chest. There was the sound of a throat being cleared and Harry looked up from where he was pressing kisses against Draco's arched neck.
"Hey, Harry." Seamus said in an amused voice.
"What do you want?" He asked, annoyed, despite the devilish grin on Seamus' face that told him that something fun was about to happen. He pressed his lips against the crown of Draco's head as he had tensed at being seen and was suddenly very still and very quiet. Draco relaxed slightly at Harry's kiss and even managed to get the guts to turn his head and glare at Seamus as well. Seamus continued, not even slightly deterred by both of their unimpressed looks.
"Time to start the real party, eh?" Harry grinned at that and whooped, squeezing Draco once around the waist before standing to grab the bags he and Draco had under his feet. Spilling the contents into his place on the sofa, by the time all but one of the bags were emptied, the sofa had been dominated by booze.
"You really outdid yourself this time." Seamus whistled, impressed. "Let's crack 'em open!" He called and showed the rest of the room the alcohol. Everyone howled and roared and crowded around the sofa, grabbing a bottle per person. When everyone had gone back Harry opened the last bag that he had kept hidden, to reveal two Butterbeer, two Firewhisky and three Dragonale bottles. He grabbed the Butterbeers, cracked the lids off with a simple spell and handed one to Draco who had settled back into the same position as earlier.
"Cheers!" Harry called happily.
"What are we toasting?" Draco asked, clinking the neck of his bottle together with Harry's all the same.
"Your initiation into the lion's den." Harry smiled and chugged a good quarter of his beer. "Hey, you know what would be fun?" He asked.
"What?" Draco asked cautiously, sipping at his drink.
"Rennervate." He said and waved his wand at the unconscious Ron. Instantly, Ron opened his eyes and sat up groggily, holding his pounding head in his hands. "Hey Ron!" Harry called and picked up a bottle of Firewhisky, "think fast!" and he chucked the bottle to the redhead. Thankfully, Ron's keeper skills kicked in and he just about managed to catch the bottle. The two on the sofa watched as Ron's tired mind registered what the bottle was, grinned, opened it and took a swig happily. After the obligatory face-pulling at the burn, he stumbled up from his place and staggered around the room, getting his sealegs right before talking to Ginny. Harry and Draco watched with interest as the girl grinned mischievously and directed Ron to the entrance of girls' dormitory. They amused themselves for a few minutes watching Ron try to get up the stairs and sliding down every time they turned into a slope. If nothing else, he was a determined drunk. Their fun ended when a younger student came out of her room to sleepily glare at him. She turned on her heel and a few minutes later Hermione took her place, shook her head disappointedly at Ron (who was beaming and slurring at her) and followed him up to Harry's dormitory. Harry and Draco returned to talking and Harry vowed to himself to give them at least an hour before he went to bed. Not that he thought Ron was in any particular state capable of shagging, but better to err on the side of caution.
Once the Butterbeer had run out, and both boys were feeling decidedly warm and fuzzy, they decided to skip the whisky altogether and go straight for the Dragonale to do shots. From the first shot Harry took he could practically feel the alcohol go straight to his head. By the time they had drunk a third of the bottle, he was starting his ministrations to Draco's neck again.
"Spin the bottle!" Seamus shouted, effectively breaking Harry and Draco apart. There were a few cries of consent as most people had either gone to bed or were passed out on the floor. As Harry and Draco stood and zig-zagged their way across the room, Seamus muttered a charm on the bottle and then placed it in the middle of the circle of people who were playing.
"Harry! You got the alcohol, you go first!" Dean called with a wicked glint in his eye. Harry leant in and spun the bottle, ignoring the slightly hungry stares he got from most of the girls there. The bottle spun around three, four, five times and then stopped facing Draco sitting next to Harry. Seamus and Dean smirked at each other and high fived behind their backs.
"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!" The crowd chanted cheerily, all intoxicated to some extent from the wizard alcohol. Harry looked at Draco with unfocused eyes and smiled softly. He grabbed the blond's arms and tugged him in until he was forced to straddle the Gryffindor's lap. Harry slid one hand onto Draco's hip and ran the other up his back until it cradled the back of his head, his fingers entwined in golden hair. Draco took Harry's glasses off and laid the frames on the ground next to them and then leant in as Harry gently tugged his face closer. The crowd watched with baited breath as Harry's and Draco's lips connected, disconnected then connected again.
Fireworks were shooting in Harry's head, causing the black behind his eyelids to explode into little bursts of white. Thinking back, Harry realised it was probably the alcohol (as it was, his lips were so numb from the booze he couldn't really feel Draco's on his at all), but drunk as he was he thought that kissing Draco was the best thing ever and he greedily pushed up closer to him and ran his tongue across his bottom lip, silently asking for entrance. Without any hesitation, Draco opened his mouth and allowed Harry's tongue in to stroke his own tentatively. Both boys were breathing heavily through their noses and were letting out little keening noises as they tasted the ale on each other's breath.
Without thinking past 'more more more', Harry tugged Draco's hips down to grind their crotches together and moaned embarrassingly loudly as clothed hardened flesh met clothed hardened flesh. The alcohol hadn't numbed that then. Without breaking their kiss, Harry turned them over and pushed Draco into the floor, settling between the blonde's spread legs, rocking slowly against his groin. Harry pulled away only to move his lips onto Draco's neck and finally do everything to it that he'd been trying to do the whole evening, leaving red and purple love bites as he nipped and licked the taut skin. Draco mewled and ran his hands through Harry's untamed hair, then tugged his head up to meet Draco's lips again.
There was a polite cough from behind them and the boys froze. They pulled their mouths away from each other's and Draco looked up at Harry nervously, biting his lip. Harry smiled down at Draco with foggy eyes, though he tried to seem as sober and reassuring as he could. He crouched back on the balls of his feet and pulled Draco up as well, the momentum of the action forcing Draco into his arms.
"I take it that you like me back then?" Harry murmured into Draco's ear. Draco smirked and nodded with a raised eyebrow as if to say 'obviously', before they both turned, grinning stupidly, to look at the circle of people around them.
~.oOo.~
Chapter End.