THE FRIENDSHIP OF RIVALRY
Notes:
Disclaimer - I do not own the setting of Harry Potter or any of the characters; those are the property of J.K. Rowling. I have however added a few new names, given that this story is centered on the time after Harry and Draco have graduated. The plot is entirely mine.
This story is a male x male slash so please don't read it if you don't like to read these types of fanfics.
Key:
"Thoughts"/"Telepathy"
"Speech"
~Parseltongue~
-"flashback"-
Chapter 23: Teachers and Trials (Draco & Harry)
Both Harry and Draco couldn't help but feel stumped at the situation they have been dumped into. Harry itched to go rescue Remus, but he knew it would do more harm than good with the vow they had made. Draco didn't look like he was faring much better at the thought that Severus had run off to go rescue Remus alone.
"Come Draco, Professor McGonagall will probably call for us any moment now so why don't we head there for now." Draco nodded and Harry took his hand to lead him out of the office. He fixed both doors as they walked and locked the door before heading to the Headmistress' Office.
They barely made it down more than two corridors before they saw a Patronus flying towards them. The cat immediately clued them in on who sent it and they waited for it to come towards them. The cat stopped in front of them and sat down before relaying its message.
My Patronus will relay its message, depending on whom it finds. If it has managed to stop you before you leave the school, Severus, which I doubt, then I would ask that you reconsider your plans. A few other teachers will accompany you if you still want to go through with it.
But if it reaches Harry or Draco first, then I fear that Severus has already left the school and that means that I do not have any other choice, but to allow you to be the stand-in teachers as Severus requested until he gets back with Remus. I would have done it in a heartbeat if the circumstances were different as well, but I know the two of you probably never intended to become teachers.
Either way, please meet me in my office. The door will open to you. I will need your opinion on whether or not we should contact the Auror offices. You have worked there and so your experiences may be able to provide some valuable input.
Harry and Draco looked at each other as the cat Patronus disappeared. They didn't really have anything else to do so they made their way to Minerva's office. It didn't take long since it was now, way past curfew. They made their way through to what used to be Dumbledore's office.
Minerva sat behind the desk, but both Harry and Draco could see her look up in angst as they approached, before her face fell as the implications dawned on her. She didn't allow it to faze her, however, since she squared her shoulders and stood up before motioning to the seats in front of her desk.
"I take it that Severus has already left the school. I know that you would have stormed out here to rescue Remus as soon as you found out Harry and I know that Draco wouldn't allow his Godfather to go alone, without a reason. So I take it that Severus must have tricked the two of you into making a vow to stay safe." They nodded silently and the headmistress sighed.
"He was always excessively worried about the two of you even when he had to treat Harry like he did. I swear I would ground the man if I could, but his magic is stronger than mine." Minerva got a faraway look on her face before she sharply turned to them. "I will require the two of you to help me hold him when he gets back. That stubborn man has to learn that the war is over and that means that he can't keep on doing as he likes. He may be a Slytherin but he's been getting more Gryffindor by the day!"
Harry and Draco couldn't help but snicker at the woman's words, but the image of Severus in a Gryffindor uniform would kind of scar them for life. "So you want us to take over the teaching posts Professor?" The cat Animagus nodded. "Yes, I will give you a day to get settled, but that is all I can afford. From now on, please call me Minerva; you are definitely not students here anymore."
The two men nodded. "Here are the schedules and books. I always keep copies for each class, just in case something happens. You never know when a student will accidentally blow up a class or set it on fire. Harry and Draco grimaced. As much as they loved the respective classes, it would really be a bad thing if something like that were to happen.
"Draco, I will require you to take over Severus' other duties as well. He brews potions for the infirmary and also for St Mungos. Here's a list of the potions and their quantities. I would ask Harry to help you, but we all know how he is with potions." Harry grimaced. It wasn't his fault. Anyone who said that potions were like cooking, seems to forget that at least with cooking you don't blow up an entire room if you accidentally add in a few extra ingredients.
Harry grimaced. During his earlier visit the Slytherin founder's exact words were "For the good of mankind, I beseech you to never step into any potion's lab, even again." Apparently, he had been watching the students during potion classes and the bloody portrait had even gone so far as to convince Hogwarts herself to lock the doors if he dared to even wander around close to the potions room with the intention of brewing something.
Minerva finished explaining everything as Harry's thoughts wandered and they made their way back to Salazar Slytherin's quarters. They didn't get very far though, as someone chose that moment to stun them from behind before knocking them out.
Harry woke up on an unfamiliar bed with a raging headache and he slowly opened his eyes. He felt the warm presence of someone lying next to him, but hissed speech, made him relax. ~It's alright Master Ian. Both you and Master Dante are safe. Master Salazar told me that the boys named Jean and Theo are your friends, so I will let them explain.~
Harry let out a groan as the words of the emerald snake registered. A pair of arms slowly helped him up and handed him a potion. "Drink this Harry; it will help for the pain. Draco is sleeping next to you; we didn't want to separate the two of you." Harry nodded his thanks as he sniffed the potion before he drank it. He might not be good at potions, but he knew how the main ones smelled.
It was a simple pain potion. "What happened?" Harry opened his eyes to see their two friends standing next to the bed. He really needed answers. "Theo and I were placing a few prank traps when we heard a scuffle and decided to go see what it was. We certainly didn't expect two Gryffindor Seventh-years trying to drag you into their common room. Naturally, we couldn't let that happen so we stunned them and levitated you to our rooms. They're still out cold, so it's up to you on how you want to handle it."
Harry shook his head and sighed. "I'm really going to have to do something about these attacks while Draco and I teach here." He looked next to him and completely missed the look of shock on the faces of both pranksters. "You're going to what?!" Harry turned back to them to explain, but he laughed when he saw their grins.
"No, we will not be letting you get away with any pranks, at least not while we are on duty." The two boys softly laughed, but their heads turned to Draco when he groaned before opening his eyes. He looked around and saw Harry first. "Get me my lawyer Harry."
The rest of the group frowned in confusion. "Why would you need your lawyer Drake?" The Malfoy grimaced, but Harry could see a slight smile forming around his eyes. The blonde looked between them before answering. "So that I can sue that bloody Nightbus since it seems like it ran me over."
Harry rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile. "We were stunned and almost dragged into the Gryffindor-house rooms and you are cracking jokes. I really need to question your sense of humor on this one." Draco fully grimaced. "Yeah well, you can't be the only weird one in this relationship."
Harry froze at Draco's comment, but Draco just put his hands up. "Hey, what's life if you can't be different?" Harry couldn't help but laugh at this. "So you are saying that you would rather be considered different than anything else?"
Draco thought for a second then grimaced. "Yeah, on second thought, I think I will leave being different to you. I have a reputation to uphold after all." Harry, Jean, and Theo couldn't help but laugh at this and Draco pulled out his trademark smirk. A muffled groan wiped the laughter from the room though and everyone turned serious.
"I guess we'll have to go see why the Gryffindors were trying to kidnap their idol." Harry grimaced at Draco's words. But they got off the bed and moved to the door anyway. The two lions paled when they saw them and Harry couldn't help but give them an evil smirk. Draco suddenly bumped him lightly on the shoulder. "You better stop that or I might just leave the torturing to our friends so that I can drag you up to our room."
Harry bumped him back but he had seen how the two lions paled even more, at the mention of torture. "As much as I would love that Drake, I think we need to teach the students about what happens when they attack their teachers at Hogwarts." The two students start to thrash about in denial until Jean canceled the silencing spell that had been placed on them.
They immediately started talking together. "We're sorry, we didn't know. Mark Dillon forced us to do as he said. He caught us nicking stuff from Filch's office and he threatened to tell him about it if we didn't do as he said. We didn't want to get on Filch's bad side, so when he explained that we just had to take you so that the Gryffindors can make sure that you aren't under some kind of love spell."
Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "They are speaking the truth." He lowered his hand and looked at the Gryffindors. "You are going to return the things you stole, even if you have to do it anonymously. But before that, how about we find out exactly what is going on."
He looked at Draco and the blonde nodded before they both turned to look at the two boys. "What are your names?" The two lions answered without a pause. "My name is Gary Newton…and my name is Troy Pion." Harry nodded as he wondered why the names seemed so familiar. It only took a moment before he started laughing.
Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy but he just shook his head and waited until he could catch his breath. "You mean to say that the two of you were the students that thought you could steal a dragon egg by transfiguring yourselves into dragons?" The two boys nodded in embarrassment as the rest of their group broke out in laughter.
Draco lightly slapped a lion on the back. "I must admit, we all thought that was a great prank, but no one knew who did it until we heard about two snakes chasing a bunch of Gryffindors around while the Gryffindors were actually shrieking like a couple of girls. Professor McGonagall came into the Great Hall and changed you back and we heard you got detention for an entire year."
Gary grimaced. "Yeah, we didn't know at that time that it is impossible to change yourself into a legendary magical creature through transfiguration. We tried to ask our friends to change us back, but they were so scared of us that they didn't even stop to wonder why two snakes would be in the Great Hall. Now we're both registered as an Animagus, but the snake form stuck."
Harry shook his head at the pleased smiles on the Slytherins' faces. It didn't take a mind reader to know that they found the situation extremely fitting, but they had to get back to the problem at hand. "I want the two of you to 'kidnap' us like you were going to do, but this time we won't be stunned. We will all have a shield charm on us, just in case."
Draco nodded, but the two lions looked slightly scared. "What if they do something to you?" Draco laughed before Harry could answer. "We have been trained as Aurors you know and we were both in the position to become Head Auror before we quit, so I am pretty sure we can handle ourselves."
The two lions nodded and Theo canceled the binding spell before handing them back their wands. Harry placed a hand on each shoulder. "Next time someone tries to blackmail you, just come to us, we can help. And if there are any other students that you know are being blackmailed or bullied, then please let us know so we can help." The two boys sighed as Troy spoke up. "There are a few Gryffindors that has been following him, but not out of their own free will. We try to warn all first-years to stay away from him, but it doesn't always work until it's too late."
Harry nodded, but a hissing voice suddenly interrupted his thought. ~Harry, can you hear me?~ Harry stepped back from the two lions and allowed his eyes to glaze over. ~I hear you, Blaine, are you okay? What about Severus? Has he made any progress?~
Harry wanted to worry, but the excited tone in Blaine's voice told him plenty. ~Yes snakeling, we are both doing well. Severus has found the trail and we tracked it to a small manor house not too far from Hogwarts. It seems like the students were trying to stay at a place where nobody would even think to look. We wouldn't have found it if your Godfather hadn't left his wand behind though. How are things over there?~
Harry bit back a grimace as he relayed everything that happened since the duo had gone in search of Remus. ~Please tell Severus that we won't allow anything to happen to Draco and that you two must stay safe.~ The snake scoffed at the words but passed the message on anyway. Harry waited for a little until he felt Blaine in his mind again.
It was clear that the snake had found something amusing because he snickered before he spoke. ~The potions master says that you better look after yourself as well otherwise Remus will skin him alive and if you don't then he will revive you before killing you himself and then chopping you up for potion ingredients.~
Harry couldn't help but laugh even though he knew Severus could actually be quite serious. He looked at Draco and nodded to indicate that the blonde's Godfather was alright. "They found him, now they have to wait for the right time to strike."
He turned to Jean and Theo. "Can I ask you to gather a medicine bag for us while we face the Gryffindors? A friend of ours could get hurt and I want us to be able to go help him as soon as possible." The two pranksters nodded and immediately made their way to the infirmary.
Harry then turned to Gary and Troy. "Come on, the sooner we get this over and done with, the better." They nodded and walked again while he quickly grabbed Draco by the hand to pull him close. The blonde's arms immediately encircled his waist in return and they kissed hungrily. They kept their arms around each other as they came up for air. Draco jerked his head towards the door and Harry took a deep breath before he nodded.
He really wanted to tell Draco to be careful, but he knew the man could handle himself extremely well, so he just followed him out. They stopped at a secret alcove hidden close to the Gryffindor entrance. "I need the two of you to casually chat in front of the entrance, then when we walk past, mouth 'stupefy' as if you are whispering the spell, but keep your wands hidden so that no one will notice that your wands didn't flare up with a spell."
The two boys nodded, but Harry could see the fear in their faces. They didn't seem to like the idea. They moved to their positions and Harry pulled Draco back to wait for a few minutes. "You know, I forgot to tell you earlier, but Blaine and Leah told me that I can teach you the ancient magicks if you and Cyan want to, even though Cyan might have his own brand of magicks to teach you. Where is Cyan by the way?"
Draco softly laughed. "Cyan seems to be charmed with Leah. I think it's because he didn't have any companions when my parents locked him away. I don't want anyone to see him so I think Leah decided to keep him company." Harry nodded with a smile before checking the time. He then cast a shield around them as they stepped out of the alcove.
They walked past the two Gryffindors and when they saw the boys flick their wands, Harry and Draco both collapsed as if stupefied. Gary and Troy cast a levitation spell on them and levitated them into the common room where the bullies were sitting and taunting a few first years. Harry expanded his magic and focused it on his ears so that he could determine exactly what was going on.
"Call the entire house into the common room." The other students jumped up to follow their orders and Mark stepped over to kick Draco in the face. It took every strand of will power that Harry had, not to jump up and curse the boy, but he knew that the shield would have absorbed the blow before it even touched him.
The rest of the students filed in and gasps were heard as they noticed the two people lying on the floor. Mark apparently didn't like it. "Be quiet and listen up. Harry Potter would never date a snake, let alone his arch-rival, so Malfoy must have somehow cursed him or slipped him a love potion. Now I intend to show this by casting the counter-curse and the Harry Potter will be on our side one again."
Harry mentally rolled his eyes. Mark Dillon apparently didn't remember that they have been stupefied, but it played into his plans so he didn't make a move until he heard Mark shout 'Finite Incantatum'. He jumped up and stupefied the boy while Draco stupefied his followers.
They really didn't make bad guys like they used to anymore.
Thank you for reading. I'm sorry this chapter took so long. The university rush regarding editing is finally over so now I can concentrate on bringing you chapters again.