Author's note: Yay it's another chappy! But I'm kinda lost now, cuz I could take 2 alternate paths to go down for this story. One choice would result in a much quicker ending (as in pretty soon) and the other choice would lengthen the story by quite a bit. I'm just wondering what you guys would prefer? Want me to get over with this story and start a new one? Or continue putting effort into this one for a longer time? I'll listen to your opinions soooo R&R and tell me what you think! ^^
Acceptance
Chapter 20
Time of our Lives
Time went by quicker than expected after the Blaise incident and Draco had fully recovered after two more weeks. At last, I could bring my baby home again. Draco was happily scampering and jumping around me as we headed to the common room on the day he was discharged. I was glad to finally see him being so energetic. It was torture to watch him curled up in agony on the infirmary bed for that long, horrid month. However, I was still concerned for Draco. Madam Pomfrey told me in private that although he no longer felt any pain in any part of his body, Draco's stomach had been greatly weakened by the severe blows to it. The slightest thing could trigger immense pain, be it overeating, under eating, food poisoning, or even a light hit or some sort of pressure upon it. It was going to torture him terribly, much more than any stomachaches he had before. The average person might be able to bear the pain, but not little Draco. Upon hearing this unsatisfying information, I vowed to keep a closer watch on the young Slytherin and protect him from any form of pain or harm.
"Harry! Harry! Open door! Open door!" Draco exclaimed, hyperness overwhelming him. I laughed as he desperately tried to push the huge door open but to no avail, the only thing moving was his feet, making him look as if he was moonwalking on the spot. I obediently turned the knob and opened the door. Immediately, Draco bounded in and made his grand entrance, shouting and waving his little arms frantically, "GRIFFDORS! DRACO HOME!" I watched in amusement as all my fellow housemates glanced toward the door and stopped whatever they were doing. Then suddenly they all burst out in cheer and 'ambushed' the little Slytherin with welcoming hugs and all. Elated at how much they missed him, Draco made the effort to hug every Gryffindor he saw. This undoubtedly took a while…
"Yo, Draco! Looks like you finally got yourself outta that nasty ol' infirmary," Dean grinned, ruffling the blonde's blond hair (pun intended! XD) Draco nodded his head at least five times before jumping up to hug him. Man, he really was hyper and happy to escape his one month confinement. The Gryffindor girls had swarmed towards him again and resumed all the hugging and kissing. Honestly, I was quite shocked to see how Draco took delight with all this attention and mushy stuff. At the back of my mind, I was imagining teenage Draco pushing all the girls off him in a situation like this. Because it wasn't just girls, it was GRYFFINDOR girls. Hell, if a Slytherin girl got a punch for hugging him like that, a Gryffindor girl would get a one way ticket to hell. I thanked my lucky stars that it was three year old Draco we were handling here.
"Hey, Harry!" Hermione waved, walking towards me. I smiled and raised my hand in acknowledgement, then returned my focus to the crowd in front. I had to make sure I could still see the little blond head among the sea of girls. "You thinking of something?" Hermione asked. "Nope, just glad to see Draco is being very welcomed here in the Gryffindor common room," I lied. I was in truth, thinking of something else as well…
"Well of course he's welcome here! Everyone loves him! It's like they've all been brainwashed and forgotten that this was supposed to be Malfoy the Slytherin bully," Hermione giggled, then continued, "so he's fully recovered now, right?"
"Um…" I pondered if I should tell her the truth, but as usual, her death glare had scared me enough to come clean with her eventually. She frowned a little, but assured me that she'd help me keep a lookout for Draco and keep him safe as well. Then she began berating me again, in a friendlier way of course, just because she was Hermione Granger the responsible one, and I was Harry Potter, the retarded one.
"I don't understand why you even have to think whether you should tell us. We're your friends, Harry. Anything happens, you tell us, okay? Come on, what are friends for?"
"You're right, Hermione. I'm sorry."
"You should be. Anyway, let's go wake Ron up. He turned in super early today and he's the only one who doesn't know Draco's back. Honestly, I really admire his ability to stay asleep despite the ruckus we're making out here."
"I'd have to agree with you there."
With that, I squeezed through the crowd and picked Draco up. He was still hyper and giggling so much that I could feel him vibrating in my hands. Hehe…that's weird…he's vibrating…
"Aw, why're you taking him away?"
"I'm sure Ron would like to get some of him too, ladies. The fat douche's still asleep! Don't worry, you'll get to play with Draco later!"
Draco settled down slightly but a wide smile was still fixed on his face. "Harry, Draco is soooo happy!" He beamed. I pinched his cheek and began teasing him, "are you? So you like hanging out with the chicks already? You abandoning me for them, eh? You little poof!"
Draco started rolling around in my arms and kicking at me, telling me to shut up as he laughed at how my face was forced into a fake envious expression. I found myself laughing along. I was filled with such joy with this little guy around. I was thankful upon realizing how lucky I was to be the one to care for him. Every morning, I get to see his bright, cheery face, he'll say "good morning" in that adorable voice of his, then I'll always have him by my side at every class, he even pokes me when I'm not paying attention, which is actually quite cute. When I'm down, he tries his best to cheer me up and it usually works because he's just too adorably irresistible. I love him, and now he loves me too. We'd always me there for each other now. Basically, everywhere I go, I'll see him. Even if I have to go some other place, I'll always return to my dormitory, and he'll be waiting, waiting for me, telling me…"welcome home, Harry" …Draco; he makes Hogwarts even more like home to me than before.
We entered our room and found Ron just getting up. "Ron, how could you be asleep when we're partying outside?" I hurled a tissue box at him. –what? It was the nearest object around!
Ron grunted in response, "Well how could you be partying outside when I'm sleeping…"
"FWUCK YOU, RON!"
Ron's eyes widened in shock, recognizing the innocent swear immediately, while MY eyes widened in shock due to the sudden swear that I had long forgotten Draco had picked up from my bastard of a best friend.
"Draco Malfoy, you chubby little fuck, you didn't tell me you were discharged!"
"Whatever, fwuckin Ron! Draco home now! Hug meeee~!"
Ron hugged Draco and started tickling him, making the little Slytherin giggle again. Damn, if those two weren't swearing, I would have liked to call Draco's return to the Gryffindor common room a pure, nice family reunion. Oh heck, it already was awesome enough.
"C'mon you fools, let's join the others outside," I grinned, ushering them out. Almost instantly, the Gryffindors came flooding towards their new celebrity again and I knew the fun would last for at least a couple more hours, ultimately leaving us all tired out and ready to fall asleep in class the next day. Isn't that just totally awesome? I was confident everyone didn't really care either; they wanted to hang out with their favorite little Slytherin while they could. Besides…for all we know, Snape's ageing potion could just be ready tomorrow. And all this fun would stop. Everything would just be a mere memory. Worst of all, Draco himself would probably remember none of it.
"Harry!"
I snapped out of my trance, realizing I was spacing out alone at the door. Draco was waving at me, being carried by Seamus. "Harry come play too!" he repeated, giggling as he waved frantically. The rest of the Gryffindors seemed to have taken his side and began echoing "yeah Harry you douche!" and "yeah come here, you ass!"
I smirked, shaking my head, "trying to suck up to Draco eh?"
I approached the boy carrying Draco with a sneaky grin creeping upon my face. Seamus laughed nervously when he saw my wand appearing behind my back, "whoooaaaa Harry, watcha gonna do?"
"Yesh Harry, whatcha doing?" Draco asked.
"You'll see. Tell me, Dray, what kind of flower do you like?"
"Um, Draco dunno. Rose?"
I nodded and aimed my wand at Seamus, everyone went "OHHHH~" in unison as I shouted some random spell, "ROSICAN POOFICUS!"
Nothing happened. Seamus looked around and felt all over his body until he was sure he was still normal-looking, then found the confidence to point at me and go, "HA! Some amazing spell, Harry!"
Just as suddenly as he spoke, Draco began clapping as he exclaimed, "ROSE!" Soon, Seamus' head had begun sprouting roses and his hair turned into leaves. "ROSE BUSH!" Ron mocked, laughing hysterically. The whole Gryffindor house began roaring with laughter as they began prancing around trying to pluck the roses from Seamus' head. "Stop it!" he cried. "I don't wanna go bald when I go back to normal!"
"Who said anything about going back to normal?" I sniggered.
"HARRY POTTER YOU CHANGE MY HAIR BACK RIGHT NOW –AH! WHO PLUCKED MY ROSE!"
"Draco got flower! Harry for you! For you!"
Everyone couldn't stop laughing and mocking Seamus for the whole night. This was probably the best night us Gryffindors had ever had, and credit goes to Draco, of course. Damn, now I really don't want him to go back to normal.
If only time could stop…
for him…
for me…
and for all of us...