Author's Note: Hello again, my totally awesome readers :D Just to answer some questions, Draco's friends do care about him, but they were just kinda afraid to see him, like Harry was initially. Yes, of course they wanted to visit him, but were unsure of what to say or do in his presence, slytherins aren't exactly good with such things…haha ^^;; Okay, finally here's the chapter you've all been waiting for…Harry and Draco meet again! But what happens when they do? LOL enjoy this chapter and please review before you leave~ For the past 2 chapters, I've been getting only 4 reviews per chapter…which isn't exactly what I, or most other authors would call…inspirational haha. Sorry but as long as you're reading this story and hope to see it continue, I would really really encourage you to review ^^ Thanks loads~
Acceptance
Chapter 34
We Meet Again
"See ya after training, guys!" I exclaimed, waving to my friends. Everyone had gathered in the Room of Requirement for their second DADA training course. It looked like it was going to get intense, but I brushed it aside and began to worry for my own training. Hell, where was Dumbledore? I remained standing in front of the brick wall which was SUPPOSED to let me through, but I had no idea how to make it open up. So I did the only thing that came to my mind, "RON!"
"Bloody hell, mate, can you stop shouting my name EVERY SINGLE TIME you're faced with some random situation?"
"SORRY!"
Well, looks like that didn't turn out too well. I guess I'd have to change my reaction to things, enough of calling for Ron who obviously can't do anything to help. Maybe I should switch to calling for Hermione instead…
Just then, I heard the familiar rumbling noise and felt mild tremors at my feet. The entrance had made itself visible to me and I walked inside nervously. The first person I saw was Dumbledore, but soon after, my eyes drifted towards the person behind him.
"Draco…"
"Potter," he nodded in acknowledgement.
The icy coldness in his eyes had returned, but somehow they were foreign to me. I wasn't used to seeing these eyes anymore, I missed the bright and cheerful eyes I used to see every day. Dumbledore sensed the awkward tension and declared the beginning of our training immediately, "okay, now I'm going to pretend to be Voldemort and cast all sorts of random spells at you, of course not the Avada Kedavra FOR NOW, but believe me, we'll get there. It's actually very necessary and the ministry doesn't need to know about us using forbidden curses lest they prevent us from continuing our training. We need this training, the whole of Hogwarts does. The last thing we need is the ministry meddling with us at such a crucial time where the dark lord could be on his way this very moment. So, both of you get into position, you've done this before, Harry. You and Draco can decide on what kind of stance you want to take that you're both comfortable with."
I turned to look at Draco, who wasn't even facing me. This wasn't going to work if he didn't even want to communicate with me.
"Um…Draco?" I tried.
"What, Potter?"
"Dumbledore told us to decide on a battle stance. Any suggestion?"
"I'm fine with anything."
"Okay, so…how are we going to do this?"
Draco merely shrugged his shoulders, the whole time staring at a brick wall. I felt the weird awkwardness again and was almost near puking. I hated that feeling like hell. It's like when a teacher puts you with a stranger and both of you have to work together on a project, but nobody's saying anything. But I was trying! Draco just didn't seem to want to have anything to do with me, like what he said back in the infirmary…Upon remembering that horrid memory, I glanced down at my feet in misery. So there we were; a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, two enemy houses, standing rooted to the ground, one facing the wall, one facing the floor. Yup, this was absolute awkwardness, and I had no idea how long this was going to last. I knew I shouldn't have expected too much for our second meeting, but I had hoped for some sort of ACTUAL communication this time. If we couldn't even come to an agreement about something as basic as a battle stance, how the hell were we supposed to defeat the dark forces together?
"LOOK OUT!"
Before I knew it, Draco had dashed in front of me and blocked a spell which was headed in my direction. I felt a gust of wind and a bright white light engulfed my vision as the two spells collided. Draco had counter-cursed a sudden spell that I didn't even sense. Who fired the…?
"Focus, Harry. Remember what I told you; ABSOLUTE focus," came the voice of Dumbledore, his wand still pointed at me. Damn, I scolded myself mentally. I was supposed to be the alert one, on the lookout for Draco, but I wasn't even focused enough to defend myself. I looked up nervously at Draco, who stared back at me, disgust burning in his eyes. At least it appeared to be disgust, but I could have sworn…there was some other emotion within the two silver orbs, blocked by a mask of hatred.
"I'm sorry, Draco."
"Just pay attention next time, will you, Potter…"
"Yeah, I will."
He was still so cold towards me, I didn't like it one bit. But I guess I should have known better than to hope to hear anything along the lines of "Harry, don't die!" or "Harry careful! Dun get hurt!" Gone were those days, right now, I needed to convince myself that this was no longer the adorable three year old Draco who needed my care and attention. This was Draco Malfoy, teenager, Slytherin, who hated me. But we were going to have to cooperate anyway. Why was I finding this so hard...?
"POTTER!" Draco shouted again before blocking another spell from hitting me. Okay, I better stop spacing out before he gets mad, I don't need him to hate me any more than he does now. The Slytherin walked towards me with a gleam of annoyance in his eyes, "how many times do I have to save you to make you realize that spacing out in battle is going to cost you your fucking life?"
"I'm sorry!" I retorted. This time, Dumbledore fired a shot at Draco's back when he was facing me.
"Duck!" I yelled. Draco didn't obey, but instead turned around in shock at the sudden spell that was inches away from hitting him. Both of us lifted our wands but it was too late, the spell had hit us and sent us tumbling to the ground. I didn't know where Draco was hurt but personally the spell was shot right at my head and the impact from hitting the ground was making me dizzy as hell. "Are you okay, Draco?" I sat up, looking around frantically, worsening the dizziness. Without warning, I felt something collide with my arm and push me aside. A second later, I realized that a spell had hit the ground where I had initially sat. My vision focused and I saw that it was Draco who had pushed me aside to save me from the spell. Hell, he was good.
Then Dumbledore began firing spells a little more wildly, but pretty much aimlessly, and we had to stay on our feet to dodge them. Countless times, I saw Draco nearly get hit, which pulled me into a state of panic, which then resulted in me almost getting hit as well…until Draco blocked the spells for me. I felt freaking useless at this training session, and I knew Draco was perfectly aware of that.
After a couple minutes more of dodging and blocking, the lesson was over. Dumbledore ushered us over to him. With an arm around us each, he gave an exaggerated sigh and told us that we didn't perform as well as he had expected, but also that this was our first lesson together and he could understand how hard it was for two rival houses to work together. Nevertheless, he hoped that he could see us do better the next day, and advised us to talk things out and discuss battle stances and whatnot. His keywords were constantly ringing in my mind; Focus and Teamwork.
The elderly headmaster led the way out of the secret room and we saw that the rest of the class was also taking their leave. All were looking absolutely exhausted and much more tired out than the first DADA lesson. Somehow, I was convinced that Draco and I were in worse shape. We were actually HIT by real spells and really attacked by an opponent, although Dumbledore said he went easy on us with weak spells and slow attacks. STILL…
Dumbledore had disappeared among the sea of heads before us pretty soon and eventually everyone else was out of the Room of Requirement, leaving Draco and I strolling slowly alone at the back. I couldn't help but feel nervous around him. Bloody hell, I had just humiliated myself countless times during the training session and proven myself to be the useless, know-nothing Potter whom he despised to the very core. Damn, this would have been much easier if he remembered…if he was still the same little Draco I took care of… Yeah, I know they in truth were the exact same people, but it just felt different, indescribably different…
"Potter," came Draco's voice. I halted in my footsteps and turned to look at him. He had slowed his walking pace down and made no attempt to catch up to me.
"Yeah, Draco?" I asked.
"Um okay, enough with that first name thing. What happened to the old formality of last names huh?" He snapped. Somehow I wasn't offended or anything, I was just eager to hear what else he had to say. Even if our conversation had to be full of argument and consisted mainly of insults directed towards me, I wouldn't mind, it beat having him give me the cold shoulder.
"What the hell happened back there?"
"You mean the spacing out? Hell, I do that all the time."
"Well, you should stop doing that, it's fucking stupid."
"Yeah, I know, I'll try to change that, Dray."
"Okay, okay, what is it with the names? You never used to call me anything but Malfoy."
"I don't know, I figured we should stop acting like enemies if we're going to be training together."
"This started before training even began, Potter."
"You don't like me to call you by your first name?"
"No I- I mean- well…it is my name but- YOU using it is just…"
"Draco…?"
I looked at the Slytherin worriedly. Draco was stammering and looking really tense. Was it a sensitive topic? Did he really hate me so much that I was strictly forbidden to call him anything besides his last name? He shut his eyes for a brief moment before holding his composure once more.
"It's nothing, just don't talk about it."
"Sorry…"
"You don't have to be sorry. Anyway, practice today was kinda crappy, so you better be more alert next time.
"Yes, Draco!"
I bit my lower lip in embarrassment, realizing I seemed abnormally eager to obey his every command. Even Draco appeared shocked. But then I noticed his facial expression, he was about to laugh, I could tell, but he hid it before it even had a chance to show entirely. I managed to catch a small smile as he turned around to leave to his next class. I didn't even realize we were already at the door.
"Hmm, guess I'll see you tomorrow, Draco," I said, watching his back getting further away from me. I had to try to give our conversation a proper ending. I caught sight of his hand making a backwards waving gesture. That was it…?
I sighed, turning to leave in the opposite direction. Then I was taken by surprise when I heard a voice respond to mine in the cold, dark hallway.
"Yeah, bye, Harry."