Don't Answer Me

A week later, the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry woke up to the kind of October morning one doesn't get very often. They had had a bout of cold weather earlier that week, and while this Saturday morning was chilly, it wasn't downright cold like it had been for the past four days. The sky was absolutely cloudless and a brilliant blue, and the trees in the castle court yard still held most of their leaves, blazing crimson, gold, and fiery orange.

Ron and Harry woke up in excellent spirits, determined to spend the better part of the day outside goofing off. They got dressed quickly, rushing to the Great Hall for breakfast. They sat down at their table, Ron beside Hermione, who was already waiting for them and drinking her second cup of coffee for the day. Ron kissed her on the mouth as she turned to say good morning to them both, and she blushed wildly. Ron smiled.

"Morning, Hermione."

"Morning, Ron, Harry."

Harry grinned. "Morning." He sat down opposite the pair. "I'm famished! Better eat up, Ron, it's gonna be a busy day."

Ron, always one step ahead of everyone else when it came to food, already had his mouth full of poached egg and ham. He gave Harry a thumb's up and a grin.

"Oh, what are you two planning on doing today? Lots of studying, I hope."

"Studying?" Ron sputtered. "What are you TALKING about, woman? Have you looked outside this morning, it's gorgeous. Kind of like you, only not as brilliant." Ron smiled, showing his teeth.

Hermione knew better. "Nice try, Ron, but you and Harry are both behind again, and you need to get caught up."

"We'll get caught up tomorrow. Today, we regress to first year level and run around like madmen," Harry said, laughing. Ginny slid into place next to him on the bench, and Harry put his arm around her. "Morning, Ginny."

"Morning all, morning handsome," she said, turning to face Harry. She then proceeded to attack Harry's lips with her own, kissing him passionately for a minute. Hermione rolled her eyes, Ron made gagging noises. This was a weekly ritual for Harry and Ginny, ever since Harry had told them that he was gay, designed solely to make Hermione and Ron uncomfortable as payback for all the public snogging they did during the summer at Grimmauld Place. Dean Thomas, whom Ginny had been dating since the previous May, was upset the first time he saw it happen, but Ginny explained everything to him. Now when it happened, he usually goaded them on.

This morning was no different. "More tongue, Ginny! That's my girl!" Dean laughed.

As they pulled away from each other, Ginny and Harry laughed at the expression on the other pairs faces. "I will never tire of that! Harry, when I'm old and married and you're pleasantly settled with some distinguished gentleman, can we still do that to make them uncomfortable?"

"Count on it," he replied. Ron rolled his eyes.

"So what are we doing today, Hermione?" Ginny asked, turning to the elder girl. "Still going to Hogsmeade like we planned?"

"What?" Ron exclaimed. Hermione had the good sense to look ashamed. "You were trying to get us to get caught up on homework and you two were going to go spend the day having fun in Hogsmeade?"

"Well, Ron, you two are behind, and I'm not."

"But you always help us with our homework when we're behind! You can't leave!"

"It's a moot point anyway since you two are going to, in Harry's words, regress to the level of first years and run around like madmen, right?" she added, arching an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah. I forgot."

"Short term memory problems already, older brother? Too bad," Ginny said, serving herself another helping of porridge and sliding in to the seat next to Dean.

Just then, the owl post came, hundreds of owls swooping in bringing letters and packages from home. Hedwig swept in and dropped a letter and a copy of the Daily Prophet in to Harry's lap, and a big package for Ron, who looked surprised.

"What's Hedwig doing bringing me a package?" he asked.

"Your dad wrote me earlier in the week asking me to send Hedwig because he had a surprise for you that was too big for Pig to carry. This must be it."

Ron unwrapped the plain brown paper, and opened the package. He read the note his dad had enclosed out loud. " 'Dear Ron, I thought you and Harry and your other friends might enjoy having this. I got it in trade from another ministry official who has a cousin in America, and he knew that I'd like it. He said it was some kind of ball, but it doesn't look like any ball I've ever seen. Have fun with it. Love, dad.' Hmm, let's see what it is." He lifted a brown-red leather object out of the package and held it in his hands. "What is it, and what do you do with it?"

Neville, Dean and Seamus, who were sitting close to them, scooted down. "Wow," Dean exclaimed, "an American football."

"Football?" Ron wrinkled up his nose. "I was raised in the wizarding world, but even I know that footballs are round."

"No, just our football," Seamus said. "That's an American football."

"Well what do you do with it?" Neville asked. He'd apparently never seen one either.

"I'm not sure, but I think the object is to pass it around and tackle each other. I've never seen an American football game before though," Dean said.

"Well, what do you guys say of a day of passing a ball around and tackling each other then?" Ron asked the group of boys. They all agreed excitedly that that sounded like a brilliant idea, and they decided to grab a few more sixth years to even out the sides a bit. Dean went over to Hufflepuff to invite Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Seamus grabbed Terry Boot from the Ravenclaw table.

They joined their housemates at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later. "Justin and Terry are in, but with them that's still only seven people."

"We'll figure it out. It's just for fun anyway."

They all got up from the table. "So, twenty minutes and we meet in the courtyard?" Harry asked.

"Sounds good."

Hermione turned to Ginny. "Want to delay our trip to Hogsmeade for a bit?"

Ginny laughed. "What, do you think me insane? Turn down a chance to watch a bunch of sixth years run around and make fools of themselves? Never! Besides," she added in a whisper, "they're hot when they act like that." She winked at Hermione.

"Alright then, go grab everything so we're ready to leave straight from the game of pass and tackle," Hermione said.

***

"Thank God, a quiet day to myself! I thought they'd never leave." Draco sat down against the side of the castle and took a few deep breaths. He picked up one of the books he'd brought outside with him, and began to read.

Being alone was a luxury he rarely had, even this year as he tried to distance himself from most of the people in Slytherin house. It seemed that no matter what he told Crabbe and Goyle, they were always at his side. He'd finally gotten away from them today by telling them that he really had to work on his potions homework, and that they shouldn't waste the day hanging around the castle waiting for him. Crabbe and Goyle decided that a trip to Hogsmeade would be a good thing, and Draco, so happy to have time to himself, had given them a couple of galleons a piece to buy a few bottles of butterbeer to bring back with them.

His peaceful day was interrupted by a loud 'BANG' against the side of the castle and a shout.

"DUCK!"

Draco looked up in time to see a reddish brown object fly into the castle wall, and he shrugged his shoulders and moved slightly to avoid being hit. He picked it up and examined it, unsure of its nature. When he looked up, a very pink cheeked Harry Potter was approaching him at a slow jog.

"Missing something, Potter?" Draco held up the object in question.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Neville doesn't know his own strength anymore."

"What is it anyway?" Draco asked. He handed it to Harry.

"This? An American football."

"And what exactly are you doing with it?"

Harry nodded towards the group of young men waiting for him. "We're just passing it around and acting like kids. Dean calls it tossing around the pigskin."

"Oh."

Harry stood there for a minute, thinking about something.

"Potter, you're blocking my light," Draco said, holding up his book so Harry knew that he was, in fact, busy.

"Oh, right. Well, sorry about the interruption." Harry turned and walked away, turning once more to look back at Draco, who made a show of keeping his head down towards the book.

In reality, Draco was slapping himself mentally for thinking of how good Harry looked in that pair of jeans. 'It's Harry Potter, Draco, you stupid sod. We don't think those things about him!'

"Took you long enough, mate!" Ron yelled across the courtyard. "What happened, did Draco try to give you a lecture on sunny day activities?"

"Ha ha, very funny, Mr. Granger." Ron scowled at the nick name he'd acquired from Harry since dating Hermione. "Listen, I think we should ask Draco if he wants to play."

Seamus groaned. "What the hell, Harry, you two dating or something? No we shouldn't ask Malfoy to play!"

"Why not? Your team needs a fourth player." They had divided into a team made of Harry, Dean, Justin, and Terry, and the other team of only three was Ron, Seamus, and Neville.

"We're doing just fine with only three players, thanks anyway," Seamus offered.

"Come on, Seamus, this could be a good thing," Ron said. "We could 'accidentally' tackle him and beat the crap out of him. He couldn't even complain, because that's what the game's about, being tackled."

Neville laughed. "That's a great idea."

"Civil, remember?" Harry said to Ron.

"Civil what?" Dean asked.

"Oh, I promised Harry I'd be civil to Malfoy from now on."

"I knew it!" Seamus laughed. "You two ARE dating, Harry!"

"Sod off, Seamus, just because I'm gay it doesn't mean I want everything that walks on two feet and has a pair on them," Harry laughed. "Besides, you're just jealous that I don't want you."

"Whatever you want to believe that gets you through the day, Potter."

"Hey girls, we gonna play or have high tea?" Terry asked.

"I vote for high tea!" Dean said in a perfect falsetto.

"Knock it off, guys. Seriously, I think we should ask Draco if he wants to join us. Think of it as interhouse relations. And if he gets out of line, you can curse him, Neville." Neville grinned as Seamus gawked in disbelief.

"Why him?" Seamus exclaimed. "I'm the one who should get to curse him!"

"He thinks I'm prettier than you, Irishman!" Neville replied.

***

"Oh good lord, what are they doing now?" Hermione shielded her eyes with her hand, watching the group of boys banter back and forth about something.

"I dunno, but I'd give my potions grade for a pair of extendable ears to find out what they're talking about." Just then they heard a falsetto, coming from Dean Thomas, with emphasis on the word 'tea' which they could just make out.

"Tea?" Ginny asked. "What are they talking about tea for?"

"You do understand the concept of a group of teenage boys playing ball of some kind, don't you? It's more physical than a quidditch match, which means they have more reason to verbally abuse each other."

"Yeah I get that, Hermione, but what was the whole tea thing about?"

Hermione sighed. "How the hell should I know, Ginny, I was watching their bums, not their mouths!"

***

Draco sat, watching the group of young men with the football through lowered eyes. He didn't know why, but his book seemed much less interesting since they had shown up. He tried to read, but found himself watching their game instead.

Longbottom had the ball again, and he passed it, right in Draco's direction. This time Draco got out of the way just before the football would have hit him in the head, and he heard Harry yell, "Watch out!"

Once again, Harry jogged over to Draco, and the blonde had the ball waiting for him.

"You know, Longbottom's a danger to everyone here with that arm," Draco said dryly.

"You think you can do better?" Harry asked, a small smile forming on his lips.

"Is that an invitation?"

Harry nodded. "If you want to join us, you can. But you'll be on Ron's team."

"So if I decide to play this silly game, I have to play on the Weasle's side?" Draco asked.

"Just think of it as an excuse to try and beat the shit out of me, Malfoy." Harry raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "What's wrong, Draco, afraid of a little game of football?"

"Ha, Potter, you wish. What do I have to do to play this game?"

Harry looked Draco up and down. "First, get rid of the robes. It's no fun to try and beat you if you're only going to trip over yourself." Draco removed his robes, revealing a dark blue fleece pullover and a pair of jeans. Harry laughed at him. "Well, well, the snobby pureblood owns Muggle clothing. Isn't this interesting."

Draco looked at Harry, their eyes level. Harry had to bat away thoughts of how good Draco looked in that color of blue, how it made his grey eyes stand out. "For your information," he retorted to the brunette standing in front of him, "these jeans are Ralph Lauren, who just happens to come from a wizarding family. Muggle clothing, my ass." Draco started to walk to the assembled group of sixth years that were waiting for Harry to return with the football.

"And what a fine ass it is," Harry added.

Draco stopped short and turned abruptly. "You did NOT just say what I thought you said."

"Hurry up, you two! Quit flirting with the enemy, Harry!" Seamus yelled. "We'd like to finish this sometime this weekend!"

"Potter..." Draco growled.

"Oh relax, Malfoy, I'm not making fun of you. Can't a guy tell another bloke when he thinks he has a fine looking bum?"

"Only if he... wait, did the mad Irishman just tell you to quit flirting with me?" Harry grinned while Draco sputtered, "You're flirting with me? You fruit!"

"Turn around and walk, Draco. I flirt with everyone these days, it means nothing. But I was serious about your ass."

"You're gay."

"Don't act so surprised."

"Just don't start hitting on me, scarhead. You're not my type."

***

"Hermione, this is boring!" Ginny whined. "Come on, let's go, they seemed to have stopped, and we can make a run for it while... wait a minute, is that Draco Malfoy?"

Hermione peered in to the distance. "I don't believe it. They're going to let Malfoy play."

"Ooh, I hope they tackle him and beat the crap out of him!"

"I'm sure that's part of the plan, Ginny," Hermione said.

"Uh, is Draco wearing jeans? Look at him, Hermione, he's hot!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're just shocked from seeing him in something other than school clothes. Now, Ron, he's the fine looking..."

Ginny interrupted with loud gagging sounds. "Don't finish that thought! That's my BROTHER you're talking about. Eew! Just eew!"

"You're making gagging sounds at me when not two minutes ago you were saying that Draco looks hot in a pair of jeans?"

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "He's not my brother," she said simply.

***

"Alright, Malfoy, if you have to play, then here are the rules," Ron said. "First, gimme your wand."

Draco scowled. "I am NOT giving you my wand!" he barked.

"You will if you don't want it broken," the red head replied. Draco stared at Ron, who had his hand outstretched, then handed the other young man his wand.

"Good boy. Second, there really aren't any rules. Just no dirty moves, like hitting a guy in the family jewels to get the football from him." Draco nodded, and Ron continued. "Third..."

Draco interrupted. "I thought you said there were no rules."

"OK, I meant no rules for us. But there are probably hundreds for you." Harry scowled at Ron, who rolled his eyes. "Kidding, kidding. Listen, let's just have a good time. Malfoy, you're on my team."

As Ron, Seamus, Neville, and Draco walked away, Draco turned to Ron. "So how do we know if we win?"

"Win?" he asked. "I'm not sure, we didn't get to that part. This has mostly been an excuse to run around like twelve year olds and knock people down."

"Yeah, you sure you're ready for that? I'd hate for you to mess up that pretty manicure you've got there," Seamus laughed.

Draco ignored him. "So we just pass the ball to the other guys on our team, and try and tackle people on the other team who have the ball?"

"Pretty much," Ron said.

"Good thing I've been working out then," the blonde said, running in to the middle of the other team.

***

Ginny and Hermione watched for about an hour before deciding to leave for Hogsmeade. She chose a point in the chaos when the guys, sweaty, pink cheeked, and gasping a bit for breath, had chosen to take a short break. While Seamus and Terry ran to get water for each of them, Harry and Ron walked over to the girls.

"What do you think, ladies?" Ron asked.

"I think I'm just glad none of you have broken any bones yet," Hermione said.

Ron swatted her playfully on the butt. "Oh hush, Hermione. I saw you looking at me and drooling earlier. You think I'm sexy," he drawled.

"I think that you boys are boring me, and it's time for your sister and I to go to Hogsmeade now," Hermione countered with a small smile.

"If it makes you fell any better, older brother, I don't think you throw like a girl. OUCH! Hey!" Ginny yelped as Ron punched her arm.

"Alright, you two, break it up," Harry said. "Bring us back some butterbeer, will you please?"

Ginny held out her hand. "Money please."

Harry grinned. "You women, you're going to be the death of me." He took some galleons out of his pocket and handed them to Ginny. "Butterbeer for all of us, and munchies too."

"Chocolate frogs!" Ron yelled.

"And enough pumpkin pasties to make us throw up," Dean called, walking past the four friends with water bottles. "Come on, Harry and Ron, we want to finish this game before next week."

"There's our cue." Ron and Harry turned to walk back to where the other sixth years were waiting for them. "Have fun!" they each yelled over their shoulders.

***

Ron, Seamus, Neville and Draco were huddled together twenty feet away from Harry's team, trying to work out a strategy.

"I say we just tackle them!" Seamus said excitedly.

"Too simple," Ron replied.

"And besides, there's no grace in just tackling them like a bunch of brutes," Draco added.

"This isn't about grace, Malfoy," Seamus sneered. "It's a game of pass and tackle. Thus the 'tackle them' strategy."

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but Malfoy's right," Ron said. "We need to watch them, see how they move, THEN go in for the kill."

Neville gulped. "The kill?"

Draco rolled his eyes. 'How did that git ever get sorted in to Gryffindor?' he thought to himself.

"Yeah. And there's someone here who has watched Harry move for the past five years." Ron glanced at Malfoy.

"What the hell are you implying, Weasley?"

"Oh relax, blondie. You're both seekers, of course you know better then the rest of us the way Harry moves when he's playing a game."

"And you're lighter and faster than the rest of us too. You're really the only one of us who can stay with Harry for any amount of time," Seamus added.

"Anytime you girls are finished over there!" they heard Dean yell.

"Alright, I'll stay with Harry. But if anything gets broken, I'll hex all of you," Draco said.

They resumed the game, each of them working up such a sweat in the warmer October weather that they had all stripped off their jumpers and were wearing t-shirts. Neville, though he was the tallest of the group, hadn't gotten comfortable with his new height, and kept tripping, mostly over Seamus, who was by far the burliest of the bunch. After the fifth time it happened, Seamus punched Neville in the arm several times for good measure.

"OW! Seamus, that hurts!" Neville yelped.

"Well quit tripping over me. I'm on your team!"

At this, Draco couldn't hold back his laughter anymore, and doubled over, gasping for air until Seamus came along side him and hit him in the arm several times.

"What was that for, you ox?" he shouted.

"For laughing at us. Now PLAY!" Seamus yelled at the smaller blonde.

Draco took off after Harry, his arm still smarting where Seamus had hit him. 'I'm going to get him for that one,' he thought. He heard a loud whoop behind him, and turned to see Ron running down the lawn with the football in his arms. When Ron saw Justin heading at him, he tossed the ball easily to Seamus, who ran the other direction a few steps to get out of Dean's reach, who was guarding the Irish boy fiercely. Seamus ran in a zig zag pattern around the lawn, avoiding Harry and Terry (and just managing to stay out of Neville's way), when he saw Dean coming right at him.

Seamus saw that Draco was wide open, and yelled to him, "Malfoy!"

Draco watched the football sail through the air to him, and he caught it as easily as he ever caught the golden snitch in a quidditch match. Running the same direction that Seamus had been going, Draco carried the ball for about forty feet before seeing Harry right in front of him, coming out of nowhere. Without thinking, Draco called out, "Weasley! Ball!" and tossed the ball to the red head, who caught it without problem.

But Harry had built up too much momentum, and he tackled Draco just as the Slytherin released the ball. With a muffled, "Oomph!", the two young men landed on the soft grass, Harry sprawled on top of Draco, trying to regain his breath. Harry shifted his weight so that he wasn't crushing Draco, but the wind was almost completely knocked out of him, and he had trouble moving. Once he could speak, he looked down at the young man underneath him.

"You Ok?"

Draco didn't speak immediately, but coughed a couple of times as he regained the use of his lungs. He gasped for air and opened his eyes, only to find himself looking straight in to the green eyes of the Gryffindor on top of him.

At that moment, the world stopped for Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.

Something connected as they looked in to each other's eyes, and a chill went through Draco's body; as he shivered, Harry felt the vibrations and the same chill Draco had felt started at Harry's feet and went up to his disheveled hair.

Harry noticed for the first time, having never been quite this close to Draco Malfoy, that Draco's grey eyes had charcoal and blue flecks in them, and they held a spark of something that Harry couldn't name: enthusiasm for life, determination to be the best, or something completely different, Harry couldn't say what. And just as he was forgetting himself in the moment, Draco was doing the same thing. Harry's eyes reminded him of the color of his quidditch uniform and the Slytherin crest on his black school robes. He found that he could see the innocence at the very center of Harry's soul just by looking in to the emerald orbs. He raised his silvery eyebrows, understanding dawning on him. He found that he didn't want to get up off the soft grass, he just wanted to stare in to Harry's eyes for another moment.

"Draco?" Harry's voice was soft but gravelly. "Are you OK?"

Draco remembered himself then, and pushed up on his elbows as Harry scrambled to get off of him. Ron had noticed that the two of them hadn't been seen for a few minutes, and ran up to them just as Harry and Draco were sitting up. He offered a hand to Harry, who took it and stood up, still breathing hard from his fall.

"You Ok, Harry?" he asked his best friend.

"Yeah, Ron, fine. Just knocked the wind out of myself and Malfoy." He offered a hand to Draco, who was still leaning on his elbows.

Draco took the offered hand, and a shock like that of an electric current ran through them. Harry's black eyebrows raised, and Draco shivered violently, gasping again. He dropped Harry's hand and turned to go back with Ron. Harry also turned around to go the opposite direction, but after a few steps, he stopped, craning his neck around to peer over his shoulder.

Harry was shocked to find Draco looking at him over his shoulder, a look of desperation on his thin face. His grey eyes, Harry could tell even from this distance, were murky with confusion. He understood; he felt it too.

**If you belive in the power of magic

I can change your mind**