Chapter 8

The eighth-year males were in the common room, discussing things like Quidditch, and their possible animagus form. Since they had just finished the theoretical aspect of their lesson last time, they'll be trying to transform in their next meeting. Harry was glad that they had all gotten over their differences. Anthony was dating someone else in their seventh-year who he seemed to really like, but it was still slightly awkward for Harry to be alone with him. He then turned to Draco, who sat next to him talking to Blaise about his possible form. He'd gone through several, and his friend looked like he was about ready to jump into the hearth. The portrait opened, letting in the students who had just returned from Potions club. Theo and Joseph seemed engrossed in their conversation while heading for the rooms. Just as they passed couch, Blaise stood, grabbed the taller Slytherin, and pushed him onto his original seat.

"You're it" he said with a smirk before bolting out of the common room.

The Head Boy stared at the door, then to Draco, who had his arms crossed and was pouting, and eventually looked at Harry.

"He was going through the list of animals he could be and why" Harry explained. "He had gone through twenty before you arrived."

Draco went through several more with Joseph before heading to his room to retrieve something.

"You've noticed it too, right?" Joseph asked and Harry turned to him. "He's slowly becoming like his old self, without the bits that make you want to hex him."

Harry chuckled, but he did notice Draco changing over the past few weeks; he began getting more confident, started initiating conversations, he was even able to stay alone for short intervals before starting to worry.

"It's thanks to you" Joseph said, and Harry looked at the Slytherin disbelievingly.

"You've been with him the longest" Harry said.

"True, but the best I could do was calm him down" Joseph returned. "You're the one who got him to open up again."

Harry went through the events of the past few weeks in his mind; when he began trying to get close to Draco, he was closed off and always on guard. He slowly became more relaxed with Harry and once he was completely comfortable with the Gryffindor, it seemed that Draco was more comfortable with everyone else. He talked about Quidditch with Ron in only a few hours after his apology, magical creatures with Luna, and ministry reforms with Hermione. Harry smiled. He liked to think that he was the one that helped Draco recover so quickly. He liked to think that he was the one Draco needed.

An owl flew into the common room, drawing everyone's attention. It perched itself on the armrest on Joseph's side of the couch, and the Slytherin took the letter before giving the owl a treat. Harry saw the mouth of the taller raven turn into a thin line as he read the letter.

"Bad news?" the Gryffindor asked.

"Not sure yet" Joseph replied, tucking the letter into his robes and standing. "I need to see Professor Snape. Tell Draco I'll be back by dinner."

Harry nodded and Joseph left. As Harry wondered what the letter was about, Draco returned. Harry explained why Joseph left, and the blonde nodded in understanding.

"What are you going to do about the Gryffindor tryouts?"Draco asked.

"Well, I've already asked those who signed up to do some flying exercises" Harry stated. "It helped me figure out who had more control over their brooms, and which positions they'd be suited for. I've narrowed them down, but there are still a lot of them."

Harry took out the list of people he considered for the new team and Draco moved very close to read it.

"Why not have mock Quidditch matches?" Draco suggested. "There are twenty-one players on here; you can have a round robin. That way, you can determine who's best at what. Not to mention, you need to look for someone to be the next captain."

"Not a bad plan, but I can't keep an eye on all of them during the matches" Harry stated.

"Bring Ron, he is your co-captain" Draco said. "He knows what he's talking about when it comes to Quidditch, even though the team he chooses to support says otherwise"

Harry chuckled and hey pitched the idea to Ron, who thought it was a great idea.

"Why don't we have Draco with us?" Ron suggested, surprising the two other males. "He has a really good eye for players, and he can help us make a decision if we can't come to an agreement on a player."

The two Gryffindors looked at the blonde, who considered the proposal for a few minutes. "I'm fine with it if Harry is."

"I'll schedule things for tomorrow afternoon, then" Harry said.

Harry stayed with his two friends, informing Draco on which roles each of the players were suited to, and the three of them made the three teams, trying to keep the overall skill levels balanced. He then excused himself to see Madame Hooch about the tryouts and reserving the Quidditch Pitch. He was heading back towards the common room when he saw Professor Snape scolding two students.

"If I ever catch you two trying to hex each other again, you will have detention for the rest of your stay in this school" he spat, and both students shook with fear. "Leave, and twenty points from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."

The students scurried off and Snape turned and stared at Harry. "What is it, Potter?"

Harry wondered if he should ask Snape. One part of his brain objected to it, seeing that Snape was in a bad mood. But if there was one person who would always give Harry their completely honest opinion, whether it was asked for or not, it'd be Snape.

"Sir...I've been wondering...if you think that I could become a...healer?" Harry asked nervously.

Silence followed with Snape giving Harry the signature Slytherin blank expression.

"Finally gotten over your hero complex, have you?" he remarked.

"I just want to be able to do good without having to fear for my life, sir." Harry returned.

Snape stared at Harry silently for another minute before simply saying, "It's not impossible."

The Potions Master turned and left without another word, and Harry was speechless. Even though he had asked for Snape's opinion, Garry didn't think he'd get a good one. He assumed Snape would've said more along the lines of "I see that your ego has grown so much since defeating the Dark Lord that you think you can become a healer after a year of studying, unlike Mr. Duskgem who has been working towards that dream his whole life," or "You? A healer? I'd sooner put my life in the hands of a dementor," or Harry thought that Snape would fall over himself while laughing hysterically at the thought of the Gryffindor working with potiona daily.

But Snape said it was possible for him to become a healer. He knew he'd have to work on this harder than anything else he had in his life, but he was ready to put in the work.

The round robin was nearly complete; the last match was underway and Harry, Ron, and Draco flew around the pitch, assessing each player. It was a harder job for Harry because he had to look for a new team captain. He placed his top three candidates in each team and hoped they took the initiative to lead their teammates. The first one, Michaels, had a good mind for strategy, but wasn't outspoken. He kept telling everyone who missed or lost possession of the quaffle that 'it was alright.' A leader does need to care about his team, but he also needs to be harsh when it comes to criticising them. It'd be easy for the team not to take him seriously. Irons was placed in the second team and he was an excellent flyer, making him one of the best candidates for chaser or beater. The problem with him was his huge ego; he kept telling his teammates to pass the quaffle to him and granted he scored majority of their team's score, he was quick to blame someone else for his screw ups. If he was captain, it wouldn't take long for his team to turn on him and beat him to a pulp. As much as he wanted to see that, Harry wanted a cohesive team and to win the Quidditch Cup, plus leave the team a captain that'll be able to lead them properly.

The third match began and Harry noticed something different; the team opposing Michaels' was in formation and constantly changed throughout the entire match. He then spotted the cause; O'Byrne, his final candidate for captain. During the initial tryouts, O'Byrne didn't stand out as much as people like Irons or Michaels, but he showed that he was adaptable. Harry put all of them through tests to see which position they'd be best in and O'Byrne was great at all of them, a sort of Jack of all trades, master of none. He led his team with ease and it seems like they were willing to follow. The final match confirmed that he was the perfect choice. The two seekers were finally closing in on the Snitch when Draco flew next to him.

"Satisfied?" he asked and Harry nodded.

"You're not really a spy, are you?" Harry asked jokingly.

"I'd rather work with mandrakes without earmuffs than spy for those idiots" Draco said, making Harry chuckle.

Harry watched the blonde with a smile as he flew away, but it faded when he saw a bludger heading towards him. "Draco!"

Draco turned in time. And he manoeuvred out of the way so he wasn't hit square in the face, but the bludger still grazed his cheek and pushed him off his broom. Harry made his Firebolt go as fast as it could, chasing after Draco. The blonde was getting closer and closer to the ground. Steeling his nerves, Harry placed both his feet on the Firebolt, steadying himself, and once he was close enough to Draco, he pushed off it, grabbing the Slytherin in the air and wrapped his arms around him. They landed and rolled for a short distance. Harry groaned and opened his eyes, and saw that everyone was rushing down and landing. Harry sat up and checked on Draco, extremely relieved that he didn't get any more injures.

With Ron's help, Harry stood up while carrying Draco before turning to the players."Great game, everyone. We'll have the names of those who made it into the team posted on the bulletin board by Friday."

After asking Ron to see that the players put away the brooms and equipment, Harry rushed the unconscious male in his arms to the Hospital Wing.

Harry sat on a chair next to the bed Draco was lying unconscious on. Madame Pomfrey had applied some potion to the cheek the bludger grazed and cast a spell to heal their bruises from the fall. She had said that Draco was alright, but she wanted to keep him in the Hospital Wing until the next morning. Ron stopped by some time ago to check on both of them. Harry assured him they were both fine, and the two Gryffindors went over who to pick for their team for a while before Ron left. Harry stared at Draco; he looked extremely peaceful, despite everything that had happened to him in the past hour. The door opened and Harry heard footsteps getting louder. Joseph came into view, anger evident in his eyes. Harry opened to explain what happened, but Joseph stopped him.

"I know what happened, I was there" he said.

"Then why'd it take you so long to get here?" Harry asked.

"I had to take care of the problem" Joseph replied.

Harry gave him a confused look, and was about to ask what he meant when he heard the doors to the Hospital Wing opening again and several people rushing.

"Poppy, can you do something for this boy?" McGonagall asked. "His friends found him hunched over in a corridor and refuses to open his eyes."

"He had just come back from the Gryffindor team tryouts and had met us in the Great Hall to eat, headmistress" a student said. "He says that if he keeps his eyes open, he sees frightening things."

As Madame Pomfrey checked the student, Harry peered out of Draco's ward and saw one of the better beaters from today's tryouts.

"He seems to have ingested something" Poppy said after diagnosing the student. "Took a while for it to take effect. I'll have Severus come up immediately."

Harry turned to the taller raven-haired male in Draco's ward. Joseph shut the curtains, and cast some privacy charms before taking out a small, empty vial from the sleeve of his robes.

"Why not let him see hellish things even when he closed his eyes?" Harry asked..

"Even I'm not that heartless" Joseph replied. "And Professor Snape would've immediately found out it was me if I did. I still would've been punished, no matter how much he agreed that bastard deserved it."

This was a strange sight to Harry. The head boy was always composed and rarely let his feelings show. Even when arguing with someone who was personally attacking him and his friends, he always kept his replies calm and concise, and his face blank.

"So, why did he deserve that?" Harry asked.

"You'd think that after spending a year on the run, you'd have a better perception of your surroundings" Joseph remarked. "He was the one responsible for that bludger heading towards Draco."

Harry was surprised, really. Embarrassingly enough, towards the end of the match when he had made his decision, he focused more on Draco rather than than the players. But it was still shocking to him that someone aimed for Draco.

"Don't be so surprised, Potter" Joseph remarked. "Just because a person's in Gryffindor doesn't mean they won't play dirty. And not everyone is happy about the fact that there are people who were on Voldemort's side that aren't in Azkaban."

Harry was aware. "I know, and I'm sorry I've put Draco in this situation. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"There's nothing. You may leave"Joseph replied bluntly before taking the seat next to Draco's bed.

Harry felt partially guilty for what had happened to the blonde and wanted to make sure he was alright, but he didn't want to test the taller Slytherin's patience.

"Well, if you need help, you know where to find us" Harry said awkwardly.

"I've been with Draco longer than anyone else has in this school" Joseph stated. "I'm sure I can keep him safe."

As Harry walked back to his dormitory, his heart ached, the words of the other raven said weighing down on him. The thought that he put Draco in a position where he could've been hurt made things worse. But what made his heart ache the most was some of those last few words; 'I've been with Draco longer than anyone else has…' What did he mean by that? Did he mean together as friends or…in a romantic way? Harry tried to quiet his thoughts and calm his heart.

'Maybe it'd be better for all of us if I just forget about these feelings, and move on.'