Betrayals, Truths and Family
Chapter 13: A Friend Meets the Twins
It was the following morning and Harry had managed to sleep somewhat peacefully, thankfully. There was a knock on the door and he called them in, both surprised and extraordinarily happy to see Draco entering his room. They smiled at each other as Draco sat on the edge of Harry's bed.
"How did you sleep?" Draco asked.
"Okay, thanks. And yourself?"
"Good, thank you. The beds in this place are very comfortable," Draco said.
"And the beds in your own home aren't?" Harry said, smirking slightly.
"Oh, they are. Don't you worry about that. But the beds here are just a tad more so, in my opinion. Though be sure not to tell my parents that," Draco looked at Harry pleadingly.
"And what will you give me in exchange for not telling your parents that you think our beds are more comfortable than theirs?" Harry smirked more at Draco's wide eyes.
"Why are you such a Slytherin now?" he whined, and Harry chuckled.
"I have always been a Slytherin, Draco, just in Lion's clothing. The hat wanted to place me in the House of snakes, I just begged it not to," Harry said, finally pulling himself up so that he was sitting against the headboard.
He chuckled again at the look of shock on Draco's face.
"You were meant to be in Slytherin?" Harry nodded and giggled slightly as Draco looked at him, eyes burning with a furious curiosity, "Then why didn't you get sorted into Slytherin?"
"Well, I was told by everyone I knew from the Wizarding World at that point, which was about two people, that all Slytherins were evil, and that the man who killed my parents was from Slytherin. I also had the pleasure of meeting a little blonde boy who wanted to be placed in that House, and was then placed in that House, who was very mean to me and the one friend I had made that was the same age as me, and when we encountered each other in Diagon Alley, he was mean to the first friend I ever made, so I decided Slytherin was out of the question for me. I do now, however, wish that I was sorted into Slytherin anyway, maybe things would have been different, better. But I can get re-sorted, maybe. We'll see. I definitely don't want to be around my… well, them anymore," Harry explained.
Draco looked at him rather apologetically, "I-"
"No, Draco. It's not your fault. Most of my decision was really based on what others had told me, and well, everything else. Not you. It wasn't your fault. Never your fault. I should have realised that children, especially all of the children in your House, weren't evil. You're children, and whilst I know that children can do bad things, I have never seen any of you do anything that can remotely be classed as evil. It is all just ridiculous, in my opinion, now that I've had some time to think about everything,
"I mean, it is stupid because the Light claim that the Dark are all prejudiced monsters, but don't realise that they are being prejudiced themselves. Or they do but they don't care because they believe they are the ones in the 'right', so it doesn't matter," Harry shrugged.
It really was all ridiculous when he thought about everything.
"Hm, well, I am sure that with time, and effort, on all of our parts, we can make the Wizarding World safer, and happier, and more prosperous. But we'll see, I suppose," Draco agreed.
"We can certainly try," Harry said, climbing out of bed and walking over to the door to his en-suite to get ready for the day ahead. He didn't even completely close the door behind him so that he and Draco could keep talking.
Harry couldn't stop the smile from spreading on his face as Draco led him to the dining room for breakfast.
"So, have you thought of what you want yet, for both things?" Draco asked.
Harry thought he sounded almost desperate, no matter how much he tried to hide it.
"Nope," Harry grinned as Draco turned to look at him with a pleading look, "There's nothing I need at the moment,"
"Then what do you want?" Draco practically whined, though he tried to act as if he wasn't.
Harry thought it was hilarious.
"Nothing," Harry said, although it wasn't entirely true.
There were things that he wanted but Draco wasn't able to give them to him. He was still just a child himself, along with Harry. They had no power to do the things Harry needed, or wanted done so that he, and everyone else he cared about, could be safe, and happy.
But they would get there, eventually… he hoped so anyway.
"Surely you must want something, Harry," Draco said gently, a small smile on his face.
"Nothing that you can give me, Draco. No matter how hard you try. But I will keep thinking of something I want or need, and let you know. Or I could just…"
"No, not happening. You are not telling a single soul any of what my mother told you, or my parents what I said this morning about your beds," Draco said fiercely, and Harry just grinned at him.
"Find something to give me on your own then, and you will have my silence," Harry said cheekily before striding into the dining room, trying not to laugh as he heard Draco whine again.
His dad, granddad, and the older Malfoys were already there and he smiled at all of them, greeting them as he sat in his usual chair next to his dad and Draco slumped next to him.
"Good morning, Harry. How did you sleep?" Severus asked, smiling at his son.
"Okay, thank you. You?" Harry beamed at his dad.
"I slept well, thank you," Severus said.
They eat breakfast whilst making small talk, and it is nice for Harry who was trying not to think about anything too much really.
"Harry, Fred and George have written and asked if they could come round for a few hours to get away from their family for a while. Are you okay with having them over?" Severus asked.
Harry looked at him, a smile on his face, "Yeah, that would be great, thank you,"
"Okay, I will send a house elf to them when we are done eating,"
Harry couldn't help but grin at Draco who was paling rapidly at the thought of the twins coming to the home.
"No. Harry, please, no, don't tell them," Draco begged.
"I won't tell them… yet," Harry said, a playful smirk tugging at his lips.
Draco, who was in the process of sighing in relief, sucked in a breath, "I really need to find you some treats," he muttered.
Harry laughed, not noticing how everyone was smiling proudly at him.
"What is this all about anyway?" Tom asked curiously.
"Well, you see-" Harry was cut off by an annoyed Draco.
"No. You will say nothing, to anyone, ever," Draco said, almost fiercely, but Harry could sense his embarrassment also, and it made him chuckle.
"I was joking, Draco. I'm not going to tell anyone, for now. I promise,"
"No, you won't ever, because I will find you the best presents you could ever ask for, and you will never tell any embarrassing stories about me,"
"Well, sure, but it might be nice for your kids to know what a hilarious child you were Draco,"
Draco just glared at him, and he chuckled some more.
"No, they won't know either,"
"Draco, honey, I don't think anything will stop myself or your father from telling our grandchildren stories about you when you were a child. You might be able to stop Harry, but never us," Narcissa said, a smirk on her face.
"Nor me," Severus said, grinning, "You have never made the three of us promise not to tell anyone, Draco, I don't think you should make my son promise not to either,"
"Oh my God, are you all going to tell everyone?" Draco looked genuinely scared and Harry was worried they had gone too far.
"Draco, are you okay? I promise I won't tell anyone, ever. I'm sorry," Harry said, worried that he had ruined everything.
Draco looked at him, concerned, "Harry, no, you're okay. I'm just being over-dramatic. You've done nothing wrong, okay? We're fine. You're fine,"
"Are you sure?" Harry asked quietly.
"More than sure," Draco said, and Harry took a shaky breath of relief.
The twins arrived about half an hour later, each holding the hand of a house elf, and Harry proceeded to drag them both, and Draco out of the dining room and into the garden. They sat on the ground under the tree that Narcissa had found him at the day before.
"So, how are things at home?" Harry asked the twins as he settled back against the trunk of the tree.
"Wonderful," Fred groaned.
"Really extraordinary," George sighed.
"What's occurring?" Harry asked, though he wasn't completely sure that he wanted to know.
"Not much to be honest. It is rather boring. Mum, Ginny, Ron and Hermione keep sneaking off or having secret conversations, dad joins them sometimes also. But we haven't been able to catch any of it," Fred said.
"We have really just been hiding in our room and working on some of our pranks," George said.
"And doing our homework," Fred groaned again.
"Bill and Charlie are home, though, so that is good," George said.
"Yeah, they actually spend time with us," Fred nodded.
Harry smiled at them knowingly.
"How are you doing, Harry?" George asked.
"I'm… okay, thanks. Getting there anyway," Harry said.
They both nodded but looked at him with eyes that told him they understood.
"And, young Malfoy, how are you?" Fred asked the blonde, who looked shocked at being included in the conversation.
"I'm okay, thank you," Draco said, his voice polite.
"Marvellous," Fred beamed, "So, do you two want to help us with some pranks? We need ideas, and potion recipes, and everything,"
Harry nodded, grinning, Draco's eyes narrowed slightly.
"What's in it for me?" Draco asked.
George smirked, "Well, first of all, you will be recognised as someone who helped us with this prank product. And, when we have successfully been able to open our shop, or when we have gotten to the point where we can sell these items, we will let you have royalties for any products we create with your input,"
"Percentage?" Draco said.
"Ten percent," Fred said.
"Twenty five," Draco argued.
"Twelve," George said.
"Twenty," Draco.
"Fifteen," Fred.
"Eighteen," Draco.
"Sixteen," George.
They all fell silent for a couple of minutes in which Harry was rather amused at the looked being passed between the three.
"Deal," the three of them said at the same time, shaking hands.
"Honestly Draco, they would have done it for twenty," Harry laughed.
"And I would have done it for ten," Draco said.
They all laughed together for a moment before Fred and George took parchment notebooks, quills, and ink bottles out of their jacket pockets and they all got to work planning some pranks.
It was fun. And Harry was glad to see that Draco was enjoying himself also.
Honestly he had never seen Draco laugh that much and his laugh was magical, musical in its sound. And Harry didn't think he had laughed so much before either. But that was the way of the twins. They brought laughter, happiness, and joy wherever they went. Their pranks weren't mean, they were fun for all involved.
And he was grateful for them. He was grateful that he had people in his lives who could make him laugh despite the fact that all he wanted to do was scream, or break down.
He was grateful that they included Draco, despite their pasts. And that Draco was getting on with them.
It was definitely one of the best days of his life, but he could also see it pave a way for more wonderful days of true friendships and laughter.
He hoped so anyway.
Hiya, I hope you are all well!
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, I know it isn't much interaction between Draco and the twins, but fear not, you will get to see more of them together as the story progresses. As well as some of the pranks they came up with ;) though, if you would like to suggest some prank ideas then feel free to give me some, I am more than happy to hear some ideas and such.
So yeah, in answer to the question I posed last update, I am 24, though I feel a lot older most of the time with my health issues, and mentally and emotionally. But that is life I suppose, haha. I really am curious as to what you assume about me based on my work, but I have no clue what to ask next to be honest. So just... what are your random assumptions about me, I guess? I don't know. You don't have to play along if you don't want to, this is just a little fun I want to have because I am bored out of my mind.
I have a Facebook group called Maraudering_Paige which you are all welcome to join if you would like to and are able to. It is where we can talk about Harry Potter, fanfics, life, share memes, and more. It is also where I have an update schedule and where I will be keeping you up to date on what I am working on, both original works and fanfics. So if you are interested then I am more than happy to accept anyone into the group.
I hope you are all having an amazing day!
Kind regards,
Paige xx
