Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Any recognisable characters, setting and scenarios are owned by the wonderful and amazing J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros and other suchlikes. I am making no money and am doing this for purely entertainment purposes, don't eat me. Also, many jokes in these belong to my humorous friends who will possibly eat me if I don't give them credit.
A/N: I grovel like a house elf and beg you on my hands an knees to forgive me for taking so stupidly long to get this done! Like, seriously Laura what have you been doing? Well, I've had exams and have been snowed under with work. It's not really a very good excuse but it's all I've got. This chapter hasn't had my usual beta again. I miss her, and she is still lost to the wilderness somewhere as I sit hoping she's alright. Any mistakes you may find are probably mine so please don't hesitate to tell me. The next chapter is half done already so I promise not to keep you waiting too long! I give a sock to a house elf for every single review!
The Three Broomsticks was very nearly at full capacity, but at the night wore on it gradually emptied to allow breathing room. Ron and Hermione were sat very close together and were whispering something to one another. Hermione was fairly tipsy, and so she was giggling like she was eleven.
"I'm going to go get a drink guys, want one?" Harry asked, mainly out of politeness. He felt like he needed some air. They'd claimed a bench to themselves but the room was hot and stuffy, which was unusual for this time of year and considering the weather outside.
"Actually, I think I'd better not." Hermione turned and said to him seriously. She may be giggley, but she certainly wasn't stupid, "I'll just- RONALD!"
Harry wasn't quite sure what had gone on, and a part of his mind told him he didn't want to know but Ron just grinned at him playfully.
"G'won then. One more Butterbeer?"
"Yeah. I'll pay." Harry said and went to get up out of his chair, un-creasing his jeans as he did so.
"Thanks mate!" Calling up to him, Ron was putting a pile of empty glasses which belonged to various people in the corner of the table. Presumably there was a spell which automatically cleared the glasses to the kitchen, but even that seemed too tired, not to mention the staff.
When Harry approached the bar, every stool was full of people he'd never met. The Hogwarts students had taken a large chunk of the room and so most of the other people were cramped up around the bar. The only person Harry recognised around that area was a shock of blonde hair sat right at the end of the bar on it's own. For a while, Harry stood and debated whether it was better to stand between strangers or Draco and after a while he thought it was probably better to go with a stranger. Less dangerous.
"Harry!"
On instinct Harry spun round and put his hand to his wand. It hadn't been long since he'd had to stay on edge at all times and it was a hard routine to get out of.
There was a murmur of laughs from the table where Seamus was sat with many of his friends.
"Whooa! Was only wantin' a butterbeer, you eejit." Seamus laughed and rolled his eyes, before chucking him a galleon which Harry caught easily between his thumb and forefinger.
"One for me too!" Dean called as Harry began to walk away.
Rolling his eyes, Harry made his way to the bar and despite his earlier inner monologue he found himself stood to the left of Draco anyway. He edged his way to the bar and stood a little behind him.
Just then, Harry actually realised that Draco was sat here all on his own. How did he miss that? He'd been watching Draco, Blaise and Pansy all night. Pansy and Blaise had seemed totally at ease, if not in their element while Draco had looked like an outsider. He'd looked like Harry felt and so Harry had sat observed him for hours. That was why he had watched him, he assured himself, the only reason why.
Draco looked smart, in a shirt and tight jeans, but his hair was a little ruffled and he almost had a bit of a pink tinge to his cheeks. Probably from the alcohol, as Harry had seen him have a good amount and variety of drinks so far.
"What?" Draco asked petulantly.
"Oh, erm… I'm just ordering." Harry replied, stumbling over his words. He wasn't sure how Draco had known he was there and it was a little disconcerting. It made him wonder whether Draco had known he was watching him nearly all night.
"Order, then."
Harry waved over the young girl who was behind the bar. She looked thoroughly harassed and turned to tell him to wait his turn but when she caught his eyes, she looked like she was about to faint.
"I, erm. Hello! I'm sandy. I- I- I- Thank you. You're perfect and I- Erm…" She was babbling and she looked like about to start squealing or something ridiculous.
"Sandy! Just serve the man!" There was a deep bellow from behind her which brought her back to earth. She seemed to ground herself, although Harry could see her hand shaking as it held the notepad and pen.
"Yes. Sir, what can I-? What can I get you?" Sandy kept tripping over her words and she looked a little awe struck.
"Four butterbeers, if you don't mind." Harry asked, very politely as always. He'd always been polite, side effect of living as a near slave of the Dursleys he supposed.
"Of course I don't mind! Right away!" The excitable girl practically screamed at him.
Harry heard Draco snicker and saw his head shake lightly. He was resting on the bar with both elbows so that his shirt was pulled tight and you could see his spine. Trying very hard not to made a rude comment, Harry rolled his eyes and settled down to wait.
"So, why all alone?"
"Oh, Potter. So nice that you care." Draco bit back sarcastically. He took another swig of his drink and it was very nearly finished.
"Excuse me?" Harry called over, and the waitress spun around once more and very nearly ran over to him, "Another, please?"
"Yes, of course!" She very nearly screamed once again and practically skipped away to the back of the bar to continue filling out orders.
"So, why're you alone?" Harry asked again. He wasn't being mean, as Draco probably presumed. Not at all, in fact he was curious. To him their friendship group had always seemed so close, maybe not in the same way as his friends but still just as close.
"Why should I tell you?" Draco retorted, still facing the opposite direction to Harry.
"Because I just bought you a drink." Harry replied. This was becoming their usual now, full of sarcasm and sparing no kind words but lacking any real venom. When Draco wasn't being purposefully hurtful towards him, Harry found his sarcasm funny. He smiled a lopsided smile at the back of the boy's head.
"Oh, for fucks sake. Pansy and Blaise are having one of their couple moments, they haven't noticed I'm gone yet." Draco replied, he sounded a little resentful but Harry couldn't tell whether that resentment was aimed at him or his friends.
"Oh. You do like butterbeer, right?" Harry asked, suddenly aware that he'd never once seen Draco drink anything other than firewhiskey and coctails when it came to alcohol.
"I've never had it. It's not exactly a classy drink." Draco's voice was haughty and proper. It seemed as if even the firewhiskey had little effect on his verbal abilities, unlike Harry who was slurring a little.
"It tastes good though." Harry assured him.
The person who had been sat to Draco's right stood up and left, so Harry took the opportunity to sit down.
He carefully smoothed out his jeans and tee shirt, feeling ridiculously scruffy next to Draco who looked immaculate.
"So, why are you alone?" Draco asked.
"Buying drinks." Harry replied simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Really, because I'd have never guessed." Sarcasm was driping with every word and contrary to normal, Harry found it rather funny. Harry chuckled softly but when he did Draco turned to look at him with a confused look on his face, as if he'd just spoken Elfish. Perhaps not, Draco was the kind of person Harry could imagine learning to speak Elfish. Troll, then.
"Did you just laugh at me?" Draco was totally incredulous and a little shocked.
"No, I'm er… Laughing with you."
"Oh, Potter. You managed to completely misunderstand that question." Draco turned back to lean over his empty glass again and Harry noticed that his tone wasn't scorning at all. It was almost like he was talking to a slightly stupid friend.
For a long time he just stared at Draco, trying to figure him out. Harry realised right about then, that he didn't really care for being enemies with anyone anymore. And Draco would be a good start on his list of make-rights.
"Hey Draco?"
"It's Malfoy."
Harry very nearly rolled his eyes. "Seriously?" Draco nodded. "Right then. Malfoy, can I say something to you?"
"You've been saying things to me for a while now, why do you feel the sudden urge to ask?" Draco drawled at him. "Yes, you may."
Summoning up all of his Gryffindor courage, or possibly stupidity, Harry rushed the words out like a whirlwind of letters.
"I'mreallysorry."
Draco looked up at him then, caught his eyes and span round on the old bar stool. Looking at him carefully, Draco seemed to scrutinise every inch of Harry, which made Harry feel intensely uncomfortable. Eventually, (and to Harry's relief) the blonde haired man seemed to find whatever he was looking for as he went back to hunching over his drink.
"What for?" He asked, and from what little Harry could see his expression was pained, "You're the hero."
Harry thought about it. He was sorry for a lot, actually.
"I'm sorry I judged you. I'm sorry I very nearly killed you. I'm sorry I never thought that you weren't just evil. I'm sorry your parents aren't with you because of me. I'm sorry for everything I've said and I'm sorry for never giving you a chance."
Draco sat there for a long while, presumably thinking over what Harry had just said.
"I'm sorry too. For everything. Apart from calling you stupid, because you are." Draco said, clearly trying his very best to offend him in order to change the subject.
"It's okay. I don't want enemies anymore, you know?" Harry asked, having none of the conversation changing.
He felt like they'd just taken a massive step, a leap in fact. Right at that moment, Harry felt like he could really start to get along with Draco now. Although, he wasn't really Draco anymore. Everyone had noticed the difference in him, Draco was sated and a lot less pompous than before. If Harry didn't know better, he'd have thought Draco may have actually grown up a little.
"I've never wanted Enemies, Potter." Draco replied easily.
"You hid that well." Trying to lighten the mood into the banterous teasing they'd settled into, Harry found himself wanting to kick himself for that comment.
"My family, he had my family. You know what he was like. Of course I didn't want enemies, you fucking idiot." Draco very nearly spat at him.
"I know… I was just you know, joking." Harry said.
He looked over to smile at Draco apologetically, but the man was still staring fixedly at his drink.
"Jokes are supposed to be funny. You realise that?" Draco looked up now, finally.
Harry saw his grey eyes for what felt like the first time, they were sparkling and open. Totally filled with every thought Draco was having and Harry felt himself being pulled in by them almost hypnotically.
"Yeah. So-"
"Here's your um… Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt!" The waitress nearly wailed at Harry in apology.
"No, it's fine." Harry said, fishing out some of his galleons and sliding them across the table to her, "Keep the change."
Draco kept himself fixed on his drink, even as Harry handed him another and took the other four from the waitress who was telling him just how good and kind he was.
"Thanks." Harry heard Draco say, as he started to walk back to his table.
"You're very welcome, Draco." Harry replied, retesting the use of first names.
"It's still Malfoy."
This time though, when he said it he turned round and flashed a dashing smile at Harry. Taking extra care not to drop any of the glasses, Harry tried to return the smile but failed and found himself dazedly traipsing back to his seat
Draco was spinning, but totally still. He felt like his ears were going to burst from silence and the lights were too bright for him to see through the dark. He couldn't breathe and his heart was pumping as fast as a racing broom. There was an enormous pressure all around him yet he couldn't feel anything at all. Every sense was overloaded and asphyxiated at the very same time and it was overwhelming him entirely.
Then there was a voice that cut like a knife through every dimension. Rasping like there was little air and hissing like a snake, it was only noise at first. Jumbled sounds.
"I never left you, boy." The voice hissed and shivers of ice ran through Draco as he recognised the tones, "You can't ever escape me."
The voice became louder and louder until it sounded as if it were about to consume him a-
Suddenly Draco could feel again, a sharp sting on his cheek. Raising his hand up to his face, he tended to the stinging patch of skin on his face. When Draco opened his eyes he saw a huge pair of nearly black eyes staring down at him.
"That's the third time this week. And it's Thursday." Blaise told him accusingly but very quietly, "Are you ready to tell me about these nightmares yet?"
It had been weeks now. Eight weeks into the school year and Draco's nightmares were getting progressively worse. Each night he could feel Voldemort a little more clearly. Each night his dreams were more vivid. Each night it got harder to pull himself out of the dream.
Draco shrugged as he heaved himself into a sitting position and lent back on his hands but at the same time as shrugging he nodded minutely.
Blaise, ever the perceptive and great friend noticed the nod and made himself comfortable on the bed. He snatched on of Draco's pillows, propped it up against the footboard and crossed his legs under Draco's dislodged duvet. Seated and ready to listen, Blaise sat expectantly.
"It's nothing really, Bla-"
"No, shut up. It's not nothing, don't lie to me. You've been scared of your own pillow for weeks. What is it?" Blaise snapped impatiently. The problem was when Draco tossed and turned it woke Blaise up, who was an unnaturally light sleeper. Obviously it was starting to get to him a little.
"It's… You Know Who." It was a simple statement but saying just made it real to Draco. He couldn't even bring himself to call Voldemort by his name. Now the war is over it was commonplace to hear the name spoken aloud by people other than The Order of the Pheonix but it still scared Draco. It used to be that when they said his name while touching their Mark it would call him to them, and even now he was gone it was a terrifying thought. In the back of every one of his followers minds was the fear of him coming back. Whether it was masked by hope or purely fear, it was there in all their conscious thoughts.
There were long moments of stony silence as Blaise stared at Draco who was still shaken by the dreams.
"C'mere you great pussy." Blaise said softly, his words at odds with his caring tone. He held his arms out and Draco gladly went to sit next to him. He lent on the boy's shoulder and felt comforted immediately.
They sat for a long time like that. Draco had always felt better around his friends, especially his best friends. They could act like there was nothing to worry about and it made him feel like it could possibly be true. This wasn't working too well this time, though. Just like in 6th year, Draco felt like he was the only person in the world who could understand even though he knew if he gave them a chance his friends would damn well try.
A great sigh emerged from somewhere deep withing Draco and it made his shoulders rise massively to dig into Blaise's sides. Blaise snorts and ruffles Draco's hair a little like he was a puppy who'd just bought him a bone. Draco protested and punched Blaise lightly.
"He's dead you know." Blaise said, switching to attempting being emotional. It really didn't suit him.
"It doesn't feel like he is. It's like he's back and he's coming for me. I can't wake up no matter how hard I try. It's more realistic each time, it's like it builds." Speaking slowly, Draco tried to explain what he was feeling.
"He's not here though, so you're just being stupid." After a moment Blaise choked out what he thought to be comforting.
Draco looked at him and rolled his eyes dramatically.
"Oh, I'm so glad I came to you about this Blaise. You're so comforting." Draco drawled sarcasticly.
Emotions had never been either of the boy's strong points and they prided themselves on never sitting around and moping like fourth year Hufflepuffs.
Draco was enjoying the comfort from Blaise but it really wasn't a comfortable position so he moved to mirror his position on the headboard opposite him.
"Well, if you want comfort the Huflepuffs are over the hall." Blaise grinned.
They laughed to themselves for a while before they were interrupted by the soft creak of a door and someone failing at trying to sneak back in quietly. The person was in the room but nobody could see him, so Draco knew all too well who it was. Harry was always coming back late recently and it was becoming a ritual that they be the only three awake. Of course Harry had absolutely no clue as to why exactly they were awake at all hours of the night.
"Oi, Potter. Good shag?" Blaise called across to the boy. Draco still hadn't told his friends about their truce the first weekend of the year. It was okay though, because as far as Draco could tell Harrys friends hadn't heard much about it either.
"What?" The boy practically hissed at them, although he didn't actually hiss because they could understand it. Draco had always fancied being able to speak parseltongue, there was something darkly alluring about it. Who wouldn't want be able to hiss unspeakable things to people who would never know what they said?
Behind the anger was genuine confusion though, which was often on they boy's face when he was speaking to the pair. After a moment he seemed to actually grasp what Blaise had been implying.
"I didn't just have sex with anyone!" Harry defended himself as he walked over to the bed they were sat at and stood by the side of it, "Wish I did though, mate."
Blaise's jaw visibly dropped for a moment at the casual comment and ridiculous audacity of Harry. Draco had to stifle a laugh and he looked up at Harry who was grinning at Blaise and looking very pleased with himself.
"Since when were we 'mates'?" Blaise questioned, looking totally outraged.
Harry simply shrugged and sat down on the bed in the space between them and crossed his legs.
"So Potter, why no shagging?" Draco asked, playing along with whatever Harry was doing because it was hilarious to watch Blaise edge away like Harry's sudden craziness might be infectious.
"Ah, you see my little friend-"
"The She-Weasel?" Blaise interrupted, trying to annoy Harry.
It didn't work.
"That's the one. Anyway, I've barely seen her at all this year so even if I wanted to I probably couldn't get a shag out of her if I wanted one." Harry explained.
At that, Draco was absolutely intrigued. He'd always presumed everything was hunky dory in the life of The Chosen One.
"Don't you like her?" Draco questioned, the curiosity evident in his voice.
"What is going on?" Blaise snapped from his corner of the bed.
"Oh, sorry. It slipped my mind to tell you but Potter and I don't hate each other anymore." Draco informed Blaise, casual as anything. "Well, we've agreed not to act like we hate each other anyhow."
"I think the agreement was actually to stop being enemies." Harry added.
Taking a moment to soak this information in Blaise's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the boys.
"Still, he doesn't have to come and crash our little… Slumber party!" Blaise was flustered, and the words slumber party obviously slipped out before he'd really thought about it. Blaise didn't like sharing his best friend and obviously saw Harry as some kind of competition.
All three of the boys burst out into uncontrolled laughter. The sound was muffled by them trying to keep quiet but they heard someone stir a little and then there was a great groan from somewhere in the room. This only served to add to the hilarity of the situation.
"Well… I think we'd… better go to bed." Blaise spluttered out between fits of laughter.
"No, wait." Snapping himself out of his laughing fit, Draco turned on Harry, "Spill, Potter. What's this with the ginger?"
Harry raised his eyebrows at Draco and when Blaise leaned back in to hear the conversation he chuckled quietly.
"Jesus, you guys are eager for gossip."
"Who's Jesus?" Both boys asked simultaneously.
At this Harry totally lost it, to the point where he couldn't breathe properly through silent laughter. He wheezed and silently wailed while Draco and Blaise just watched.
Obviously this was a muggle joke, Draco thought. He really had no idea about muggles at all, and he found that increasing amounts of people were familiar with such inside jokes. It wasn't something Draco had ever really cared about, and he was determined to continue this trend.
"Anyway, bedtime." Harry said suddenly and he got up to wander off to bed.
"HARRY!" The high pitched voice rung around the corridor and Harry stopped dead.
Ginny stormed up in a flurry of red hair and heavy footsteps. She stood opposite Harry with her hands on her hips, eyes alight and face deadly serious. Her hair was hanging everywhere all over her face and she seemed to pin Harry down to the spot with nothing but a stern look while the rest of the school continued to walk past.
"And where exactly have you been?" She demanded and Harry was almost a little too scared to play dumb. Almost.
"Erm, Breakfast then Potions and I'm on my w-"
"You know what I meant." Ginny's glare was almost as scary as her mother's.
Harry had been avoiding her for a while. He wasn't exactly sure why, but if he was plainly honest with himself he did have some idea. During the war he'd wanted nothing more than a boring girlfriend, who he could grow old with and have boring children and live a generally boring life. That's what everyone expected of him and he'd thought that was what he'd wanted. However, now that he could have all that and it was just so available to him. It was a little too boring. A little too easy. A little too expected.
"I've… I've been really busy with newts and homework and trying to settle in. I just haven't had a spare minute." Harry explained cautiously.
Ginny's face went from having a twinge of empathy at the mention of newts to outright disbelief. She knew Harry too well to believe he'd ever do any real homework unless Hermione was on his back about it and apparently she'd been seeing Hermione a lot.
"Three weeks until Christmas, Harry. Three weeks. I'm giving you three weeks because I love you Harry, or we'd be over right now. Don't fucking ruin it." With that she turned on her heel and stalked off back in the other direction.
Oh dear…
If he upset Ginny, Ron would kill him and Hermione would give him that look that said she knew something he didn't. Harry didn't know which was worse. Right then he didn't particularly feel like going to Defence Against The Dark Arts and spend an hour babbling to Ron about Quidditch scores, and how it's terribly unfair they're not allowed on house teams. He felt like going and lying on his bed in his dorm with his curtains drawn and sleeping the rest of the day away until dinner.
Slapping himself internally and telling himself he'll enjoy it once he's there, Harry started walking across to the DADA classroom.
On his way he saw a certain ghoul that was whooshing around the corridors and making first years squeal as he nearly slammed into them. He had somehow covered himself in rainbow coloured wet paint that was dripping down onto the floor and causing a mess in amongst the racket. Harry chuckled to himself as he was sure Filch would appear any minute to scream and shout at Peeves. He'd eventually resort to threatening him with The Bloody Baron no doubt.
Peeves begun to sing a song about how beautiful rainbows were and younger years edged around him like he was going to infect them with rainbow paint. Ever the Gryffindor, Harry decided to walk straight through the cleared area Peeves had made in the corridor. He even walked at a leisurely pace, just to spite him. He was everyone's least and most liked ghost at the school with his childish ways.
As he got halfway through Peeves span around and glared at him, but Harry just winked as people looked on in awe. Obviously peeves didn't appreciate this and he soared over to dance around Harry and block his way, so it was a shock to them both that when Harry tried to push him out of the way he simply went straight through him.
Peeves the Poltergeist, Harry, and all the onlookers were totally stunned for a moment. They just stood around and stared, processing what had happened with mouths agape.
"What's going o-" Filch rounded the corner and people quickly bustled to where they'd been going to but then he saw the rainbow mess, "PEEVES!"
The scream pierced the corridor and snapped both boy and ghost out of their trance like stare. Peeves veered around the corner and giggled madly while still dripping rainbows everywhere. Harry went to go as quickly as his legs would take him to his next lesson as Filch chased his biggest fiend.
Harry decided as soon as he'd entered the Defence room that he'd tell Hermione and see what she said. He should probably tell her about the dreams too, while he was confessing. Possibly he'd leave out his truce with the Slytherin's as Hermione had done little but complain about her least favourite dorm mates.
Before any of that, he had a long morning ahead of him. In Defence Against The Dark Arts the class were set about curing cursed Pixies, only problem is they were cursed to try and hurt them. Sure enough Seamus' was set alight within a few minutes and not so surprisingly anymore, Neville was the first to get it better. Hannah Abbot tried to sweet talk hers into being nice and Padama actually managed to make hers stop and think long enough to stun it. The entire lesson went by before much more progress was made and they were told they'd continue the next day. By the end Harry should have almost forgotten the incident with the not-so-solid Poltergeist however it clung to his mind and wound it's way into most of his thoughts. He was definitely telling Hermione at Lunch.