Boys on the Radio

Chapter 5

And I Know, Life will tear you apart

And I know, the darkest secret of your heart

The night with Draco was all Harry could think about as he lay in bed for a few hours, not going to sleep. When he finally fell asleep, he had vivid dreams of Draco. He tossed and turned and when he awoke, it was as though he had never slept at all. Harry was grateful it was the weekend.

Sometimes, throughout the course of the day, Harry seriously had to go back and ponder upon the night's events and decide whether it had truthfully occurred or not. Such bliss could not be earthly. It had been one of the most exciting and exhilarating nights of his life.

At lunch, Harry daydreamed of Draco, barely eating anything. He kept staring at the Slytherin table, in thought of only Draco, and their private pleasures. Draco, too, seemed to be eyeing him occasionally, though Draco seemed to be making an effort to not make it so obvious.

Ron and Hermione, seemed to once again notice his odd behavior, and as usual, questioned him about it. But of course, Harry had no real answers. Harry remembered he had told himself he would make a better effort with his two best friends, so Harry tried to act as normal as possible.

In the later evening, Angelina Johnson approached Harry. She wanted to talk about the new keeper for Gryffindor and so on, which did interest Harry, but took him by a surprise as well. He had forgotten Oliver Wood had left and they now needed to replace a keeper. Angelina seemed to be obsessed with finding a keeper just as good as Wood, and who worked well with the rest of the team.

"We do have to keep winning after all," Angelina said as an afterthought with a bright smile. "Of course we have the perfect seeker."

"Thanks Angelina."

"I heard that foul git Malfoy has gotten better over the summer though and swears he'll beat us," Angelina said.

This angered Harry. Draco had not even had a chance to play Quidditch over the summer and the fact that people were spreading false rumors to make them have their usual fights was quite ridiculous. In the time they had spent together, they had barely mentioned Quidditch.

Harry simply gave her a silent nod. It wasn't as if he could possibly defend Draco.

*************

Draco sent word to Harry to meet him at the same place, only after dinner. It wasn't as if there'd be much risk as no one had classes or anything. They had the Invisibility Cloak after all so it made no difference either way. Draco sighed as Pansy entered his dormitory. Once again Draco was reminded of the injustice that the girls could enter the boys' dormitory, but not the reverse.

"Hey Draco," Pansy said, smiling at him, making it obvious she was ever so happy to be with him. "You know what I just heard?"

Oh God, does she think I care?

"No, Pansy," Draco said, with forced patience.

"I heard Potter was making fun of how Professor McGonagall scolded you the other day for not paying attention," she said, as though she had truly only told him for his own good. But because it was Pansy, Draco was positive she had wanted nothing more than to get a rise out of him.

The odd factor was that if this had been told to Draco only a few short months ago, Draco would have pouted and been upset and spent an hour despising Harry, as he had regularly done before. But now, Draco did not even believe Pansy. He realized now, the feud between the two of them was an illusion to some degree, fuelled by the expectations of other students. Draco had not been paying attention as he had been writing a note to Harry.

Draco wondered briefly if Pansy had made the whole thing up herself. It was quite possible. But then again, as much as she admired him, he truly did not know if she would lie to him. Draco concluded some other random Slytherin had made up this information. It was quite an annoyance really.

"Oh okay," Draco said, barely trying to contain the fact that he did not care very much.

"You all right, Draco? You seem so different these days," Pansy said, in a motherly fashion.

"Oh yes, I just need a bit of a .... lie in," Draco invented fast.

Pansy eyed him in a peculiar fashion and then left.

************

After dinner, Harry rushed up to the Astronomy Tower to meet Draco again. He barely had time to get his Invisibility Cloak and make up a pointless excuse to Hermione and Ron why he had to leave them but he didn't care. He would be with Draco. That was what mattered at the moment.

As he reached their usual spot on the tower, Draco stood there, with one of his trainers against the wall, standing there as usual, looking bored and as if he had been waiting for hours. Draco smiled at him.

"Got my note, did you?" Draco said. He looked pleased to see Harry.

"Yes ... And I hear you've been practicing Quidditch extra hard over the summer ..."

"Really? Don't speak to me, Potter! I hear you were talking about how Professor McGonagall told me off the other day!" Draco said, and they were both enjoying themselves immensely now. Both knew neither story were true.

"She did?"

They both laughed together for a few moments.

"Pansy told me that. She came into the boy's dormitory harassing me," Draco explained, as though reminiscing about a terrible memory (which Harry reminded himself, it probably was).

"Ah ... Angelina Johnson, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, told me you were training extra hard all summer and were desperate to beat me and our rivalry had apparently only gained strength. I forgot to mention that you went down on me just last night," Harry said, smiling widely. Draco laughed.

"Well, we can forget such unimportant memories," Draco said, rather sarcastically, and they laughed again.

"What to do today, eh?" Harry said, finally.

"Yes ... I'm a bit bored of getting drunk ... makes me tired," Draco said, as an afterthought.

"Really?" Harry said, very sarcastically, and quite bitterly. "Strange."

"Don't mock me, Potter," Draco said, smirking.

"And what a lovely evening it is," Harry said, ignoring Draco's last comment.

"I have an idea, actually," Draco said, suddenly, smiling.

Harry looked at Draco. Whatever it was, Harry felt it was a risky adventure, sure to get them expelled. The thought was... exhilarating.

Draco made Harry retrieve his broom and come back. Then, Draco said they would be using only one broom to get where they were going. Draco put a disillusion charm on Harry and throwing the Invisibility Cloak over them, Draco set off. Harry was holding onto Draco tight, which made Draco feel absolutely wonderful, as though he could fly around like this for an eternity ...

"Draco, are we almost there?" Harry asked, after what must have been at least an hour.

They were soaring in the clouds.

"We're going to descend in a few minutes, Harry," Draco said calmly.

After a moment or two, Draco began descending. They were going to a perfectly Muggle area, so Draco would have to explain to Harry they would be using no magic at all. They landed right behind a grocery store, and Draco cautiously surveyed their surroundings, and as no one was around, he threw the cloak off of them.

"We're in a Muggle town," Draco explained to Harry. "No magic or anything ..."

"What are we doing here?" Harry asked. He looked quite confused. Draco didn't blame him.

"This is a Muggle village near my home. I didn't want to come back near here, but my father doesn't come to the Muggle village much at all," Draco explained. "But stay cautious, okay?"

Harry nodded. "But what are doing or getting here?" Harry was still bamboozled as to their purpose there.

"During the summer, I used to buy grass and smoke it. It was what kept me sane," Draco said quietly.

"Drugs kept you sane?" Harry said, in obvious disbelief.

"You have to do them to understand, Harry. There's more to it than what they tell you," Draco said. "Come on. I'm going to show you another world."

Harry charmed the broom to make it invisible to the Muggle eye, as the Invisibility Cloak would be awkward to handle if he had to carry the broom inside it. Then he followed Draco. Draco seemed to know exactly where he was going, and the kind of environment they were in. It looked as though they were in a rather poor area, as most of the buildings looked very old, and the houses were small and some very unfurnished.

It seemed to be a shady part of town. It was dark. There were graffiti on many walls, and characters who walked by were quite shady and looked as though you wouldn't want to disturb them. Draco kept warning Harry to stay close, which he was instinctively doing anyway. Draco made a few sharp turns and finally stopped at the end of a street. A dirty looking boy, who looked a bit older than them, but not by much, stood at the end of the street, and recognized Draco, and signaled them to come closer.

They did.

"'Lo, Richard!" said the boy not exactly pleasantly. "Who's he?"

"Oh my friend ... Jason. We just want to get some grass fast," Draco said. Harry exchanged looks with Draco.

"You know the deal," the boy said.

Draco took out a twenty pound note and gave it to the boy.

"Right this way," the boy said nodding, and they entered the backyard of what must have been the boy's house through a wooden gate.

"Got some grass for you, rolled up and all, just like cigarettes," the boy said.

Draco was almost embarrassed by Harry. He had to teach him how to properly smoke, and then how to properly smoke a joint. They sat in the back of the alley where they had arrived, after they had bought the grass, smoking it. Draco had gotten Harry a very low amount, so Harry wouldn't hurt himself. After all, Draco didn't know Harry's tolerance.

After they had been smoking a bit, Harry looked a bit zoned out. He looked focused but unfocused, alert but unable, inviting but uninviting. It was though Harry had traveled into an alternate dimension, but was somehow in limbo between realities.

"Draco ... this is amazing," Harry said, as though it was a battle to form those words, but at the same time, no trouble at all.

Draco had a much higher tolerance level, and at this point, was feeling barely anything except for a slight buzz.

"I'm glad you like it," Draco said, smiling.

Harry was laughing ... and laughing ... and laughing; it was almost disturbing. Draco slapped Harry across the face eventually, but Harry barely noticed.

"Draco .... Look! Look at that ... over there ..." Harry was pointing at a point in the wall next to an N in a line of graffiti.

"Lovely. I think you've had enough for now," Draco said.

Harry seized Draco by his collar, and was smiling a smile completely unnatural to Harry. His eyelids were bloodshot. "Draco ... you are so hot."

He said those words as if he had just made a stunning discovery.

"Look at your eyebrows ... I think I can count every little strand of ... hair," he said the final word in a dreamy fashion.

Oh, what a day.

*************

Harry woke up. Where was he? Harry opened his eyes more. It was daylight. He was in his bed at Hogwarts. But at what point, and how had he gotten there? The last he remembered he was with Draco, smoking grass, and it was a bit of a meddled memory. He had remembered passing out. He had no recollection of traveling back to Hogwarts. Draco must have brought him back ...

The rest of the four-poster beds were empty. It must have been light. Judging by the amount of sunlight, it must have been noon. And at that moment, Ron appeared in their dormitory.

"Finally up? Hermione had me come up and find you. I know you came in late ... We were so worried, you have no idea. Where were you?" Ron looked pale, but quite demanding.

"I ... uh, fancied a bit of a walk," Harry said finally. He was too tired to invent something plausible.

"Harry ... I'm your best mate. What's going on?" Ron sounded sympathetic, but so demanding of an answer. But Harry understood it was out of pure care that he even bothered.

"Ron ... I .... I ..." Harry began, but was cut off.

"Awake, are you?" Hermione had now come up. "Harry, we were so worried about you! Where were you last night?" Hermione sounded so worried, and even worse than Ron.

"There was something I had to do. You guys, I will tell you soon, okay?" Harry tried to sound convincing. Ron and Hermione exchanged looks.

"We have lots of homework," Harry said, jumping up.

*************

Draco had missed breakfast by a long shot. He barely awoke in enough time for lunch, in which Blaze and Pansy surrounded him, demanding to know which girl he had been with, and why it had not been one of them. Draco tried to ignore them.

"I'm really tired," Draco grunted. He barely had energy to be angry. He was so tired. He had flown Harry and he back and took Harry to his bed before he had had a chance to have a lie down himself.

"Were you and Potter dueling? I heard he got in late," Blaze suggested.

Draco became more alert, and nearly shook in apprehension. "Maybe," he said slyly.

"I'm surprised he's in one piece," Pansy said, in an admiring look.

"That filthy Potter. Yes, I hit him really high," Draco said, and smiled to himself.