CHAPTER 66
I'm glad that the previous chapter was well received and not hated, so thanks you guys the encouragement meant alot!
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CHAPTER 66
Grabbing him by his collar, Harry punched his face over and over again unmindful of the cries and screams that came from Zacharias Smith whose face was now bloody beyond recognition. He felt the sickening crunch of bone underneath his hand and knew that he had shattered the boy's nose. His anger and hatred overtook his mind and he found himself unable to stop as he heard the smaller boy whimper "Please…"
"Oh God! No! No! What have I done?" Harry said, and felt a horror so great that he withdrew into his own mind, shaking his head over and over again to squelch the overwhelming feeling of self-loathing and then he screamed and suddenly woke up from sleep!
Sitting up, he quickly checked his fists for signs of blood as a reflex and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that they were clean. 'Just another nightmare' Harry thought and felt his head throb, looking around himself he realized that he was in Draco's room and was lying on his bed. He remembered last night's embarrassing events and cringed at the crazy things he had done.
Shit, for all those many chocolate cauldrons he had consumed happily, he was now paying a heavy price, he had a terrible headache and there was a sharp pain behind his eyes. Seeing Draco continue sleeping peacefully beside him, he decided to go back to sleep him-self, hoping feverently that the hangover would have dissipated by the morning.
Falling back against his pillow he suddenly felt a wave of nausea crash over him and trying desperately to hold it in, he got up and ran to the bathroom and promptly vomited into the flush toilet finally managing to wake up Draco with the retching noise.
Draco woke up blearily to the disgusting sound of someone puking and realized it was Harry. He quickly put on his slippers and ran out of the room going straight into Blaise Zabini's room. Walking over to his medicine cabinet he found a bottle containing a Hangover potion and ran back to his room.
Knocking on the bathroom door he heard a weak "Come in" and stepped in to find Harry leaning weakly against the basin facing the mirror with his back turned to Draco.
"Here, drink up" Draco said, proffering the potion bottle under his nose from behind him and Harry extended his hand, taking it without turning around drinking slowly from it, experiencing immediate relief.
"Thanks" he said and leaned against Draco's front looking less sick "Never again" he vowed groaning, his back pressing against Draco's chest "Never again am I going near anything that has Firewhiskey" he said and laughed softly.
"Feeling Better?" Draco asked, watching him in the mirror in front of them and eased up when he saw him nod.
"I'm sorry, I'm so messed up right now" Harry said and shut his eyes, not daring to look at Draco, "I know you don't want me near you right now so just give me a couple of minutes and I'll leave."
Draco felt a tightening sensation in his throat and tried to blink away tears "I hurt you real bad last evening didn't I? Totally bailed on you this entire month."
When Harry did not answer him but pressed closer to him, Draco whispered "I'm sorry" and bowed his head in shame.
"Don't be. The one I'm angry with is that idiot Smith, he had no right to invade our personal lives like that, trust me Dray, I wasn't angry with you. I could guess your confusion and fear easily because I felt the same way, maybe I was a bit hurt but I was willing to let it go."
"You've changed so much Harry since you first came here, you were totally able to stand up for yourself and confront those bastards so effortlessly, you have no idea how proud I am of you."
"I know that" Harry said, opening his eyes, but when Draco looked into them he saw with surprise, a hint of unhappiness in them as if he were actually sad about the change and he wondered why Harry would feel like that.
Harry himself was reliving the nightmare he had had only minutes ago and bit his lip when he remembered the viciousness of his attack, the anger that had felt so real, so close to the surface, and he prayed that he never lost that much control over himself in real life.
"Do you forgive me?" Draco asked and looking anxiously at him, when Harry laughed and said "The moment you gave me that hangover potion I became your eternal slave, screw forgiveness!"
Draco drew in a deep breath and chuckled, "Drunkard" he said affectionately and ruffled his hair feeling so much lighter than he had felt this entire month.
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It was funny how Harry had never noticed before how Draco's smile made him feel so warm inside and was suddenly acutely aware of it now as they studied in the library with his head resting on his outstretched hand which was lay on the table in front of them.
He was totally feigning an interest in the spell Draco was talking about and was actually staring transfixed at those pink lips, "Harry? You in here?" Draco asked, tapping his head bemusedly as he saw Harry's lost look. "Try to pay attention yeah? I'm not about to repeat myself."
Harry looked away from those stunning grey eyes with difficulty and tried looking intelligently at him instead, managing to say "Huh?"
"Alright, break! Let's take a break. Tell you what, why don't you go to the kitchens and grab us a bite to eat? I'm starving but too lazy to go myself."
"Um, sure yeah…" Harry said, scrambling up and hiding his red face from Draco "Give me ten minutes" he said and fled the room.
Running towards the kitchen while berating him-self on being so obvious he suddenly heard Darren call out to him from somewhere behind him. Turning around he waited till his brother was standing in front of him and looked quizzically at him.
"Hey, I wanted to ask you about something" Darren said, and Harry hoped it wasn't about the whole gay, not gay episode.
"Sure ask away" He said crossing his arms in defense waiting for the inevitable.
"Is everything okay with you?"
"Why? What happened?"
Darren fidgeted with his robes for a minute and then said "Ginny yelled at me last night for not being there for you when you needed me and I just wanted to know what was bothering you and see if you still wanted help."
"Um she probably referring to the mess with Smith" Harry mumbled and looked uneasily at Darren.
"Ah! The gay thing? Well forget it Harry, none of us believed it. Zacharias has hated me for a long time now and probably took it out on you. Seriously when I first heard about it I laughed for like an hour and the reason I didn't want to ask you about it was coz it was so weird you know. I'm sorry that I didn't know you were actually hurt about it; want me to go beat up Smith?"
Harry shifted uncomfortably and wondered what Darren would feel if he told him that Smith had hit the nail in the head with his accusations and that Harry was busy daydreaming about his best friend's lips these days.
"I'm over it now Darren. It was just initially that I found it hard but it's cool now" Harry said, thinking about how every time he saw Smith nowadays he only had to hold his arms wide open and look meaningfully at the boy to make him run away as if he were being chased!
"It's been a rough month for me too, we've started this thing called Legilimency where we can read other people's minds and it's so bloody difficult, maybe that was another reason I wasn't paying attention to you" Darren said apologetically.
Harry listened to him and brightened up when he realized he could actually help Darren with this, so he said very tentatively "Um Darren I could help you with Legilimency, I actually know a little about it so maybe we could practice together?"
"Harry…look, reading about it is totally different from actually being able to do it, anyway don't worry, Dumbledore himself is teaching us so we'll figure it out eventually. Oh and tell Ginny that it's all cool between us now, see, I kind of like her and wanted to ask her out when she chewed me out about this mess, so please clear it up with her okay? Thanks Harry" he said and walked away before Harry could respond.
Harry just stood dumbly and realized that he was clenching his fist so hard his nails had almost broken skin on his palm! Steadying himself, he slowly walked towards the kitchen thinking a bit maliciously about how Ginny had called his brother an ass only a few days ago and was so far from accepting any sort of proposal from him.
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The next month the four champions were called into Dumbledore's office and were briefed about the third task which seemed to be pretty straightforward; enter a maze, fight obstacles in it and whoever reached the trophy first would be the winner.
They had been about to leave the office when Dumbledore called Harry back and said he wanted to speak to him alone. Feeling apprehensive, Harry waited till the others had left and turned to face the Headmaster.
In his eyes Harry saw curiosity and a hint of suspicion, "The Merpeople told me about what had happened under the lake Harry; apparently you were pretty amazing at holding off the squid with the rope till they came to help."
Harry kept a perfectly straight face trying to fight off the rising panic and said "I was desperate down there Sir, it was the only thing I could think off doing and had the Merpeople not come when they did, Cedric would have been a goner."
Dumbledore looked at him silently over his half-moon spectacles and then nodded "I suppose you're right Harry, well it was a job well done and I felt you deserved a little praise. Anyway you better get back to class now before it begins."
Harry thanked the man and turned away quickly, almost running to get to the door, the thought of being recruited into his little group honestly terrified him.
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Mon Cherie,
Draco,
How have you and Harry been? The teachers here at Beldane were just discussing how we miss having the two of you young ones impress us with your genius at defense, you should consider writing to Professor Odin since surprisingly he seems to be missing the two of you the most!
I'm writing in reply to your letter that you had sent me a while ago asking me about the rings that the inner circle of death eaters had worn. Well, all I can say right now is that you're absolutely correct, those rings did indeed exist and I happen have an entire folder on them!
It will take me a couple of days to get a hold of it since it's currently tucked away in some corner of the archives in the dungeons below, so wait patiently till I can find it. Also, please be careful Draco, I don't know what it is you want to accomplish with this information but it sounds dangerous!
Just know that both you and Harry are still young and no matter how good you are, being cautious can never be a bad thing. Take care and write more often.
Yours,
Miss Reynalds.
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