Chapter 10
Harry didn't get a chance to speak to Draco until several days after he was announced champion.
"You're holding the lead." Draco said tersely, as they approached the blast-ended skrewt together.
Hagrid, by some twist of fate, had paired up the fourth years with partners from another house in order to take the skrewts for a 'walk', and luckily Harry and Draco had ended up together.
"No. You hold the lead." Harry said stubbornly.
"I might look at it as an apology present." Draco said slyly
"Really?"
There was a pause as Draco wrestled with his desire for a real present and the need not to end up being dragged around the grounds by a giant lobster.
"Yes." he said heavily.
"Fine then." Harry said grumpily, picking up a length of leather, then cautiously approaching the skrewt.
"Where exactly are you going to fasten that?" Draco asked
"No idea." Harry replied, dropping his arms to his sides, frowning. "I don't fancy getting burnt, or bitten, or-"
"Whatever those suckers are for." Draco added, as Dean Thomas yelped nearby, clutching his arm.
"I think we can talk now," Harry said, glancing around to where Seamus was trying to pull Hagrid's attention from what appeared to be a fight amongst a pair of skrewts to his friend's burnt arm.
"Ooh Potter," Draco said, sneering "being a Slytherin has made you quite the rebel. Talking in class, well I never!"
"Shut up." Harry said, not rising to the bait. "We need to talk about how your name got into that cup. I think it could have been Moody."
"He's definitely a nasty character," Draco said sceptically, motioning for Harry to follow him as he edged out of view from Hagrid behind his hut "but why would Dumbledore hire someone so dodgy to protect you? Oh wait," he rolled his eyes "hiring dodgy characters is his speciality. I forgot."
"Well we don't know if Moody's even here to protect me." Harry said "And we don't know that Dumbledore knows I'm - well, you are in danger. What about Snape?"
"Sev wouldn't -" Draco began
"He wouldn't hurt you," Harry cut him off "but you know how much he hates me. And do you really think he's loyal to Dumbledore."
Draco frowned, hesitating.
"Exactly." Harry said triumphantly.
"We still can't rule Moody out though," Draco said grumpily "or anyone else."
"We should probably get back to the class," Harry said hesitantly after a pause where there were no longer panicked shouts coming from the other side of the hut.
"What am I going to do about this stupid tournament?" Draco blurted out suddenly, meeting Harry's eyes. "I'm no better than anyone else in defence against the dark arts!"
"That's not true," Harry said uncomfortably "you're just as good as me and Hermione. And you'll have us to help you, and Ron too."
"Ron hates me." Malfoy admitted "He won't believe that didn't put my name in the cup."
"He - he really thinks that?" Harry said, hurt.
"Yeah." Malfoy said glumly "Some friend you have."
Draco pushed open the wooden door hesitantly, pausing at the hubbub coming from inside. He'd just been called from his potions class for some kind of publicity photo shoot.
"Come in, come in!" someone called out, and Draco found the door handle being wrenched from his grasp as he stared up into the round, grinning face of Ludo Bagman.
"We're just doing the photo shoot now!" Bagman said cheerily, ushering him into the small classroom, where Diggory, Tart Delacour, and Krum were standing in front of an irritated looking camera man.
"Come come now!" the little man snapped, waving him over irritably, but Draco perked up. Photographs. That was something he could do.
For the next ten minutes, Draco alternated between smiling winningly into the lens like he thought Potter would, and alternated it with his best 'brooding hero' expression, whilst Diggory grinned awkwardly beside him, Delacour preened and posed, and Krum grunted and scowled. After that, the weighing of the wands commenced, and Draco's stomach dropped into his shoes like a stone.
"I - uh - need to get my wand." he said suddenly as Ollivander looked at him, mouth open as he was about to call Draco forward.
"You don't have it with you?" the old man frowned
"Forgot it." Draco said, making for the door, scowling at Delacour's derisive snort.
"Well I suppose we can do the others next, no matter!" Bagman said happily.
It was a full fifteen minutes before Draco returned, and when he did, no one looked very happy with him.
"What was the hold up?" Bagman said, rather less cheerily than before.
"Couldn't find it." Draco said unhelpfully, holding out the wand to Ollivander, who began a small speech on its properties.
In reality what had happened was that Draco had had to wait for Potions to end before he could get the holly wand from Harry. It had been clumsy, having to ask for a word in private with Pansy, Greg and Vincent right at Potter's side, but he couldn't run the risk of Ollivander finding out that Harry Potter was using, and was perfectly attuned to Draco Malfoy's wand.
The last part of the publicity meeting was an interview with Rita Skeeter, a Prophet reporter who Draco hadn't met before, but he knew her name and reputation through her dealings with his father.
"I'm not being interviewed in a cupboard." he said flatly, as Skeeter tried to beckon him into one. "We can do the interview here."
"Quite right!" came Dumbledore's voice from nowhere, and Draco's heart stilled in fear as he turned to lock eyes with the headmaster. As if the bright blue eyes were magnetic, he couldn't seem to look away. "Harry can do his interview in the classroom with the other champions." he smiled benignly at Draco, who dragged his eyes to the ground, and followed the headmaster back into the room.
"Right." Skeeter said uncomfortably, settling on a stool and glancing across the room where Dumbledore was speaking with Crouch. "Well then -" she gave him a bright, false smile "- let's begin!"
Draco sat up straight and crossed his legs, trying to get comfortable on the stool.
"How do you think your parents would feel if they knew you were competing in the Triwizard tournament? Proud? Worried? Angry?"
"I - " Draco began, then stopped.
"Yes?" Skeeter prompted
"I don't do Quick-Quotes interviews." Draco said, frowning at the acid-green quill that was already scrawling across the parchment on Skeeter's lap.
"Oh come now Harry, there's no need to worry - hey!" Skeeter snatched the parchment back from Draco, who had turned it to read exactly what the quill had been writing.
"Whilst my face is undoubtedly charming," Draco said wryly "I resent you calling my scar disfiguring."
"Harry-" she started
"Listen, Skeeter," Draco snapped "I know how you operate. I'm warning you, if you edit my words you'll sorely regret it."
"Of course, of course!" the woman tittered, though her eyes hardened somewhat.
"I'm not sure how my parents would feel about this," Draco said "but I'm sure they would be worried, yes. No doubt they'd be angry too - after all I'm not of age so my name shouldn't have been put in the cup."
"Now now Harry, everyone loves a rebel-"
"Doubtless." Draco said coldly "But I didn't put my name in the cup, and if I read otherwise in the Prophet tomorrow morning-"
"Yes alright!" Rita snapped, then seemed to catch herself, smiling gracefully at Draco. "I notice you didn't mention whether your parents would be proud. Would you say that you think of yourself as a disappointment to them?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, if I live to see the end of the first task, hypothetically I'm sure my parents would be proud. However, they're dead," he said pointedly "shouldn't we be focussing on reality?"
"Is everything alright over here?" Dumbledore said pleasantly, having approached Draco from behind again.
"Quite." Draco said, standing up. "I think we're done."
"Excellent!" Dumbledore beamed, turning to address the rest of the room "If we're all done now, you may go back to your lessons - or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner."
Draco was no sooner out of the classroom before he was accompanied by Harry, who seemed to slip out of the shadows.
"Can I have my wand back?" Harry asked
"Wait until the bloody headmaster isn't watching, Potter!" Draco growled
"Oh." Harry said sheepishly, glancing back to where Dumbledore stood, and was alarmed to see him watching the pair with a thoughtful glance. "We have to be more careful." Harry whispered, half to himself, foreboding gathering in his chest.
Draco frowned, then glanced over his shoulder just before they rounded the corner. "He can't know. He's probably only just seen us together for the first time. Here." he passed over Harry's wand, and received his own in return.
"Still." Harry shuddered "It feels like…" he tailed off, feeling silly.
"What?"
"His eyes." Harry smiled, embarrassed "It feels like he can see right through you - read your mind."
For a moment, Harry could see the scornful expression forming on Draco's face, but then his eyes widened slightly, and his expression turned to one of horror.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, alarmed
"Dumbledore could be a legilimens like Severus!" Draco whispered, looking upset at the thought "I should've - I never-"
"Hang on - a what?" Harry asked, confused
"A mind reader."
"Dumbledore can read minds?" Harry said, stricken "He'll know - he must know about us!" Already, in his mind he was imagining all the incriminating things the headmaster must have seen in his head over the years.
But Draco was shaking his head "It needs eye contact. "
Harry's heart lifted. He didn't think he'd looked the headmaster in the eye this term.
"As long as you…" Draco tailed off, then closed his eyes in despair.
"You looked at him, didn't you?" Harry said flatly
"He didn't - I'm sure I would have felt - he would have said-" Draco babbled, looking upset.
Harry sighed. "Well, we can't know for sure. He'll probably call you to his office if he does suspect something though."
"Crap." Draco said, and stopped walking "Potter, you'll need to coach me on what to say. We should skip class-"
"He won't just whisk you off to his office," Harry said reasonably "we'll have enough time to go over everything."
"What if we don't?" Draco asked, his voice rising, his green eyes flashing "There's no way you can anticipate the answer to every question, what if-"
"I can't know everything he'd ask you, that's true." Harry admitted, biting his lip "But calm down-"
"Calm down!" Draco spat, and for a moment Harry thought he was going to start shouting. Then he took a deep breath and fell against the wall, sliding down it until he was sitting on the ground.
"I can't handle this." Draco whispered, and Harry looked left and right before crouching down beside him. "I can't!" He said, as Harry opened his mouth. "All of this - I can't even bear to think about what the first task is going to be, never mind the second - or the third, if I'm still alive to see it - no -" he stopped Harry from talking, raising his hand. "People have died, in this tournament!"
"It's supposed to be safer." Harry said "And I'll help you, as much as I can-"
"Easy enough for you to say!" Draco snapped "Are you enjoying sitting on the sidelines for once!"
"No." Harry replied, trying to keep his voice calm and reassuring "I think I'm beginning to understand how Ron and Hermione must feel every year. I'm not sure which is worse. But try - try - not to worry." he looked Draco in the eye, who bit his lip and looked at the floor. "I know its hard - the stupid tournament on top of everything else, but unlike everyone else, there'll be two of us working on every task. I'll help as much as I can."
"As if Granger and Weasley wouldn't have helped you." Draco said miserably "Two of us? The others will have whole schools trying to help them. I'm not blind, Cedric is the Hogwarts favourite. They look at me like I'm some kind of usurper!"
"So, you might fail every task. So what?" Harry said bracingly, deciding to dispense will comforting lies. "No one will expect you to win, you're too young - "
"Of course they'll expect me to win!" Draco said emphatically, looking incredulous. "Have you forgotten? I'm Harry-Freaking-Potter! I conquer dark lords, and save people's lives, and -"
"So what!" Harry said sharply, hoping to knock him out of his diatribe, because he was starting to sound hysterical. "I can tell you, first hand that most of the stories you've probably heard are exaggerated. But even if they weren't, who cares? So you lose - do you really care about what people think?"
"Yes!" Draco snapped defiantly "I bloody well do, I have a reputation to uphold-"
"No you don't! Stop being ridiculous! I never bothered with looking good, and you don't have to keep trying on my behalf. And your reputation?" Harry laughed emptily "That's my business now."
Draco didn't answer, but stared silently at his shoes for a moment.
"Alright?" Harry said softly
Draco let out a long breath he'd been holding, blowing the hair from out of his eyes. "I suppose." he said grudgingly
"Come on then." Harry said, standing up, and Draco got to his feet.
"We're going to be late for lunch." Draco observed.
"Not my fault you picked a bad time for a tantrum." Harry quipped, as they began their walk down to the hall.
"Malfoys do not throw tantrums!" Draco snapped half-heartedly.
"'Course they do." Harry said "It's a skill every Malfoy has, I'm sure."
Draco merely shook his head, but Harry could see he was trying not to smile.
…ooo000ooo…
"You miss him!" Hermione said impatiently "And I know he misses you-"
"Miss him?" said Draco "I don't miss him!"
Draco rolled his eyes and tried to walk away, but Granger only scurried after him "Harry don't ignore me!"
They were in the Three Broomsticks, and Draco was more than looking forward to a nice cold Butterbeer after enduring Hermione's well meaning scolding for the entirety of their Hogsmeade trip.
"I don't miss Ron!" Draco said, scowling as he took a seat at a table "And if he misses me so bloody much, he can get a grip on reality and apologise - I've done nothing wrong!"
Hermione gave him a despairing look as she hung her cloak over the back of the chair opposite him. "I'll get us Butterbeers." she said, shaking her head "But don't think I'm letting go of this."
"Wouldn't dare to think that for a moment." Draco muttered at her retreating back.
"Alright, Harry?" boomed a loud voice, and Draco nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Er - hello." he said tentatively, turning to face Hagrid, who was beaming broadly.
"Are - are you alright?" he added nervously, as Hagrid rather obviously looked around, as if for eavesdroppers. Finally, apparently satisfied, he leant down to whisper in Draco's ear, who did his best not to flinch away.
"Meet me tonight at me cabin. Wear your Cloak."
Draco stared at him in bewilderment as straightening up, Hagrid said loudly "Well, nice to see yeh, Harry, but I'd best be goin' now." and he departed.
"What was that about?" Hermione said as she sat down, frowning after Hagrid's back.
Draco pulled his Butterbeer towards him and took a long, deep drink before relating the short conversation.
"I wonder what he's up to?" Hermione said, then sighed "He really shouldn't be encouraging you to go out after curfew. I'm not sure that you should go, Harry."
Draco let out a little sigh of relief. Spending time with the beast of a man was harrowing enough at times, without doing it after dark and in a one-to-one meeting. "I think you're right." he said, trying to sound rueful "It's probably something dangerous." He took another sip of Butterbeer.
"Really?" Hermione said "I didn't expect you to agree with me!" she actually sounded quite shocked, and Draco bit his lip. He had to be more careful! Of course Potter would never turn down an opportunity to wander around the grounds after dark breaking school rules!
"I just -" he searched for an excuse, but came up empty handed "I thought you might be right. You know," he carried on, conscious he was on the verge of babbling "what with the tournament, I've got enough on my plate without worrying that Hagrid's doing some illicit potion-making business in his outhouse."
"More like illicit cross-breeding." Hermione said seriously "It worries me, where he got those Skrewts from."
"I don't want to know." Draco replied, shivering.
"Remember Norbert," said Hermione "I hope he didn't get the Skrewts from anyone similar."
"No." Draco agreed, thinking Who the hell is Norbert? "Er-" he cast around for a change of subject "so, you want me to go and see Hagrid then?"
"No, I don't think it's a good idea." Hermione said firmly "But I do think that you should owl him about it. It could be important."
"Duck." Draco said, covering his face with is arm and turning away.
Hermione obeyed, using Draco's head for cover. "Skeeter." she hissed in disgust as Rita Skeeter and a bevy of followers made their way over to a table on the other side of the pub.
Draco scowled. More than anything, he wanted to confront the disgusting excuse for a reporter, but he didn't need her doing another report which could be worse than the last one.
He didn't think he'd ever been so humiliated in his life. Skeeter, true to her word, hadn't changed a single word he'd uttered in the interview, but it had still been excruciatingly embarrassing. And he still had people quoting it to him in the corridors.
"I'm not sure how my parents would feel about this," Harry says shakily, a tear glistening in his startlingly green eyes "but I'm sure they would be worried, yes. No doubt they'd be angry too - " he looks up defiantly, lip quivering in vulnerability, but still unafraid to speak his mind against Dumbledore's controversial action of allowing young Harry to compete. "after all I'm not of age so my name shouldn't have been put in the cup." …
"Yes, if I live to see the end of the first task," Harry, aged 12, says, his voice quivering with fear "I'm sure my parents would be proud. However, they're dead," he says softly, wringing his hand "shouldn't we be focussing on reality?"
Harry is clearly uncomfortable about talking about his parents. I can only guess at the pain, turmoil and possibly mental disturbance behind those mesmerising green eyes….
At that moment, Draco spotted Harry and perked up. He was making his way through through the crowd towards the bar, Pansy, Theo, Vincent, Greg and Blaise in tow. He was just thinking of an excuse to go over to the bar - Harry would know whether or not he should go to see Hagrid - when he heard Hermione giggle.
"What?" Draco turned to see Hermione shaking her head, a smile on her face.
"You and Malfoy?" she said, grinning.
Despite himself, he felt his cheeks warm up. "No! It's not - I just need to ask him something!"
"Right." Hermione said sceptically "You know, you never did explain to us what you were doing behind that tapestry."
"Talking." Draco said, through gritted teeth
"Really?" she said, raising an eyebrow "So there's no feelings between you? Not that I approve anyway," she said, taking a sip of her Butterbeer "he's a nasty piece of work, no matter what he looks like."
Draco wanted to slap her. "We're not involved." he said, with what he hoped was an air of finality.
"But surely you fancy him?" Hermione persisted "I mean, it's since you've started talking to him that I started noticing…" she tailed off.
"What?" Draco snapped "Did I suddenly start prancing around like a dandy?"
She laughed. "No! Just, I noticed you looking at him more - and Cedric, you definitely fancy Cedric!" she leant forward eagerly just like Pansy when she was searching for an especially juicy piece of gossip.
Draco looked at her shiftily, considering how much it would hurt to just give in as opposed to enduring her relentless questions and knowing looks, but even that gave him away.
"I knew it!" Hermione squealed
"Shut up." he muttered, closing his eyes. When he opened them Hermione was beaming at him, and he couldn't resist a small smile in return. "He doesn't feel the same anyway." he said quietly.
"I think he might." she contradicted "He watches you all the time too."
"He does?" Draco said, thrilled.
"Yes. And you were both grinning away when you came out from that passage behind the tapestry - after all that talking you were doing." she added slyly, and Draco scowled.
"I was talking about Diggory."
"Hmmm." Hermione said.