The Pieces Fall Into Place

"Welcome to the N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Professor Pippin was the new DADA professor. Most students were wary of her because past experiences showed that DADA professors could mean a lot of trouble not to mention that they could be totally and completely stupid. But she seemed all right, and after a few days, the students warmed up to her.

"Let's not waste time. Now, you have all learned the Unforgivable Curses correct?" A low murmur of agreement passed through the class. "I want to do a quick review of them and then move on to more forgivable curses." Professor Pippin was afflicted with a lame sense of humor. Corny jokes and bad puns were her specialty.

"First up, the Imperius Curse. A little reminder ought to refresh those rusty memories. Take turns with your partner and practice the curse. Remember! Control! I don't want anyone getting hurt. And please use a little prudence when choosing your commands. Nothing like Run around the room with your pants on your head or some such nonsense."

Harry stood and faced Draco. With a sneer on his face, Draco brought his wand up. Draco wasn't about to let Saint Potter go first. This was his chance for some revenge for putting his father in Azkaban, even if the dementors weren't there. "Ready Potter?"

"Do you're worst Malfoy." Harry readied his wand. He knew Draco, and didn't expect him to play fair. There was no way Draco was going first.

"Imperio!" Both of them were thrown back and slammed into desks. Nobody really paid any mind because they were too busy with their curses, and who was to know that it wasn't just some trick performed while under the curse? Harry and Draco knew and got up from their place on the floor. Draco brushed off his robes and Harry fixed his glasses, which had snapped again. But by now, Harry had memorized the 'occulus repairo' spell so broken glasses was really no problem. They looked at each other with confusion. Why didn't the curse work? Neither was in control of the other and they both felt fine. All worries and cares still in their place. Presently, Professor Pippin called the class to attention and the rest of the period was spent taking notes on the Killing Curse and the Cruciatus Curse both of which Draco desperately wanted to 'practice' on Harry.

The rest of the days were similar to that one and spent in classrooms learning how to work with partners and the like. Harry was ecstatic when it was time for the first quidditch practice of the season. Katie Bell was the new captain and she was almost a mirror image of Oliver and Angelina. She had the team start practicing early in the year to get them all into shape. Ron had given up his Keeper position and Andrew Kelson, a fourth year, was his replacement. Fred and George's piss-poor substitutes had also dropped out for David Burnshaw and William Blake, both of whom showed great talent. Ginny was now a chaser as well. All around, the team was very decent, although Katie's first work out gave everyone a work out. Harry felt better than ever since getting partnered with Malfoy. After practice, Harry just flew around and watched the waning sun set letting his mind go. There had been so much happening to Harry in past weeks and it was nice to just let them go and feel the breeze whip through his hair as he lazily flew around the quidditch stadium. Harry headed back for the dormitory, the cares of the world forgotten for a moment.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco lay on the rooftop gazing up at the stars. He had needed to escape from the world and this was his private spot. No one knew about it, or at least no one knew how to get to it, except for him. He closed his eyes and felt a warm breeze caress his face and his restless soul was somewhat momentarily content. The world still definitely sucked for pairing him up with Potter, but unlike inside the castle where it took the gold prize, here it was just some fleeting annoyance. The stars twinkled down at him and Draco lazily played a game he used to play as a toddler. He connected the stars into shapes. The fond memories of his childhood caused the slightest trace of a smile to grace his face. With a deep breath, Draco stared back out into space and his mind sunk back into oblivion, his thoughts floating between revenge on Potter and the plum pudding from dinner. If anyone had seen him, Draco appeared to be an angel lying there with his broomstick at his side, momentarily pausing on his heavenly ride.

Draco brought out his wand and absently twirled it while lost in his thoughts. Then, a burst of light appeared, and Draco found himself inside. Inside where he could not say, but definitely not on the castle rooftop. He walked around and tried to find someone. This place was similar to Hogwarts, but different somehow. Draco wandered down the corridors and finally found a room. Inside this room was a multitude of things. On one side he saw a broomstick, pictures of people, a miniature Hogwarts model, a large mirror that showed reflections of people not present, and many other things along those lines. The other side of the room however was empty. It was totally and utterly devoid of anything. Draco lifted one of the photo albums and scanned through them. They were of Granger, Weasley, the big oaf Hagrid, a wizard and a witch who both greatly resembled Harry holding a baby. More and more people like Dumbldore and Snape were also there. Draco noticed something, as the pages went on, the darker and darker the paper framing the picture became. Dumbldore, Hagrid, Granger and Weasley were framed with white while Snape was framed in dark gray. Draco flipped to the last page and saw a picture of Voldemort surrounded by dementors. This was framed in a black so pitch dark that it seemed to consume everything on the page. Frowning, Draco put the book back down and exited the room. He patted himself down to see if his wand had been teleported with him. He found a wand in his pocket, but when he pulled it out, he knew immediately that it wasn't his. His wand was made of black oak and dragon heartstrings. This one was much lighter in color than his. Draco decided that if twirling the wand had caused him to be teleported, the twirling it might bring him back. He waved the wand around, feeling slightly foolish. Nothing happened. Draco let out a mild oath and wondered what to do. A light bulb went off in his head. The Priori Incantatem spell. With a flick of his wrist, Draco found himself...still stuck inside. Now a slightly more forceful oath. Draco didn't know what to do. There was no way out and he was stuck here with a wand that wasn't even his. Draco sunk down against the wall and sat there. The cursing grew louder and more colorful as Draco ran out of ideas.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry jolted from the half sleep he had been in. Did he just hear Malfoy's voice? But that was impossible. Harry was sitting inside the Gryfinddor common room and Malfoy couldn't possibly have the password. He looked around at the other people in the common room. They didn't seem to hear Malfoy. Harry decided that this was all due to a combination of drowsiness and the Bertie Bott bean that he had just ate. He knew he should have trusted Hermione when she said that eating that bean would be bad. Harry closed up his Charms book and bid Ron and Hermione good night.

*~*~*~*~*~*

After just a few minutes of sitting there, Draco heard a voice. He didn't jump (he never showed fear if he could help it). The voice sounded familiar in an odd sort of way. It was a rather poncy, goody two shoes voice thought Draco and immediately placed it with Potter. Potter was apparently telling people goodnight although he couldn't understand why he was hearing Harry of all people not to mention the bizarre conversation he was having. Draco got back up. He had never been very big on patience or waiting. He began to roam the corridors again in hope of finding a door out. After walking around for what seemed like hours, Draco found a door and with a big WHOOSH!, found himself back on the rooftop.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The next day Draco gracefully stalked into Transfigurations and sat down. Harry was already in his seat. Draco saw a wand placed on his desk and recognized it immediately as his. Wordlessly, Draco withdrew the wand in his pocket and placed it in front of Harry.

Professor McGonagall stood up in front of the class and stated that "today, we will be learning how to transfigure pens into swords. Like so...."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Several weeks passed and Draco and Harry developed the wondrous ability to communicate monosyllabically even though they were partners. The hatred grew mostly due to the forced contact, but it was contained behind a wall of mental ice. Harry found relaxation and release from classes by hanging out with Hermione and Ron even more than before, although Hermione and Ron weren't all that pleased by having their couple relationship become a trio even more than before. Draco was his usual sneering, smirking self.