Chapter 50 :
Harry was walking with his hands behind his back, standing tall and straight to fit his new unwanted inky look. He had a sneer on his face, that he refused to admit was actually a pout. Everyone was looking at him weirdly, following his passage with disturbed, gobsmacked appearances.
Envious of his elegance, he tried to convince himself.
Suddenly, in the course of his parading, the young Potter saw his friend near the Library. By force of habit, he hid behind a corner and called out inconspicuously :
"Theo ! Over there ! Over there !"
The other boy turned around and came to him with a dubious stare :
"You know we don't really have to hide anymore, right ? Everyone knows we are friends by now."
"I know," sighed the Gryffindor boy. "but I can't help feeling the World is doomed if other people see us. Like- like they aren't ready for it or something like that..."
"Oh well," Shrugged the Slytherin with a smirk. "I don't mind it anyway. It makes our encounters spicier."
Harry blushed bright red at his innuendo, making Theo grin at this delightful view.
"Y-yes, w-well, have you found a date for the Yule Ball ?" Asked the embarrassed green eyed boy, changing the subject.
The young Nott let out a heavy sigh at this question, looking in the far away distance :
"I have been asked out by an... acquaintance, let's say."
"Oh, okay. Is it a bad thing... ?"
Theo glanced longingly toward his friend, but quickly shook away those thoughts :
"No, it's not." He answered. "Who are you going with ?"
"I'm going with Luna." Beamed Harry. "I didn't want to go at first -because of what happened with Malfoy...-. But going with her sounded like a lot more fun than even finding an actual date, so I accepted !"
"Well, at least one of us will have fun..."
"Do you want me to rescue you from your date... ?" Worriedly asked the smaller boy.
"No, no need. I'm just being overdramatic." Softly smiled his friend. "More importantly, what are these scribbles on your face ? I've been watching them since earlier and I just, really don't understand the point... ?"
"This is an ink mustache a la Salvador Dali." Presented Harry with a deadpan. "Courtesy of Ron and Hermione's anger at my spying on them."
"Hm. You look ridiculous but..." Deeply considered Theo. "It's somewhat cute in a way... ?"
The young Potter rolled his eyes, admitting with a pout :
"At this point, I'm just glad Ron stopped Hermione from going too far. With all the forbidden knowledge in her head, it could have been much, much worse."
Draco was deeply concerned by his new incapacity to leave his dorm. If he had been glad at first that Nott's revenge was a mere hair coloring prank, he now had to admit that the jerk had hit him right where it hurt : his Pride.
As a member of the Slytherin House -their Prince even!-, he had always borne their splendid colours with his head high and his back straight. Green. Silver. A simple color scheme that implied so much more than it said. The discreet but dynamic beauty of these shades... The way they highlighted his grey eyes and subtly emphasized his noble bearing... Everything in the Slytherin House's chromatic depiction made him the perfect representation of the more traditional side of the Wizarding World : majestic, august, wise and strong. Just like the load-bearing corner that he aimed to become for this Society. A profile that even his Family's peerage failed to convey so well. And Nott had, by this seemingly merciful prank, destroyed all of his credibility as the Malfoy Slytherin Prince.
Gold... Red... A brash, vivid and aggressive palette that was the antinomy of all that Draco aspired to be. The glaring contradiction between this aberration and the Slytherin's Dogma put him in an internal struggle he had never experienced before : shame. A painful, pulsating thing that contorted his Noble Heart into an ugly and despairing mess of anxiety and darkness. This unbearable disgrace made him unable to face his fellow Housemates, much less the rest of the school.
Pansy had tried to reassure him several times, to tell him that it was him, Draco, that mattered and not the hue of his hair... That he was still himself, still the Slytherin Prince, no matter the tint... ! But Draco knew the Truth : if he had suffered when protecting Potter from the bullying from this House, it was nothing compared to what he would suffer now that he wore the atrocious colours of the Gryffindor. It was one thing to go against the more popular viewpoints of the Slytherins, and another thing altogether to so blatantly betray their very Roots.
And so, he didn't dare leave his room anymore. It was only tucked in his bed, hidden behind the heavy draperies, that he felt safe anymore. Pansy was the only one who knew about his hair, and that said a lot about how much he loved her that he ever told her. Even Crabbe and Goyle were unaware of his plight despite sharing his dorm.
Draco had yet to speak to Nott since the stain the aforementioned had left on his beautiful platinum locks, but he could already feel that he was on a deadline. This was a punishment : he was supposed to carry this humiliation in the light of the day, to own up to the consequences of his wrongdoings. If he had the audacity to continue to conceal himself in the shadow, then even their friendship wouldn't stop Nott from making of him another Perks Case.
That jerk had only spared his life to see him die a dog death.
AN: Here it comes, the start of Draco's struggles lol
So I'll disappear for a while and come back later, like usual. I have to work quite a bit to be able to update this story again. ^v^ See you next time!
