Harry And Draco Chronicles

Chapter 3: The Aftermath

"Potter and Malfoy!" Peeves belted.

Seamus spit out his drink, spraying Justin Finch-Flechley with pumpkin juice.

"Naughty, naughty, you got caughty" snickered Peeves, doing flips in the air as the people below gawked at Harry and Draco with disbelief on their faces.

"That's enough Peeves," said Dumbledore, remaining calm.

Peeves stopped smiling and gave Dumbledore his most serious face. "Oh yes, Your Headship. I am so sorry for laughing; it's very inconsiderate of me. "

He hung is head in shame as he floated towards the door. When he was out of Dumbledore's range of sight, he looked back at Harry and Draco, giving then both a boastful smile.

"Well, let's finish this wonderful food before it gets cold" said Dumbledore. But no one ate, their eyes stayed glued to the two boys.

Finally, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and said "You all heard Dumbledore, back to your meal."

Everyone slowly went back to their meal, staring at their plates and then glancing up every now and then to look at Harry and Draco.

Seamus turned to face Harry. He opened his mouth and was about to say something, when McGonagall yelled at

him. " Mr. Finnegan, that includes you too."

A few minutes had passed when Draco got up from his seat and quickly walked out of he room. Harry wanted to go after him, but he couldn't move, his feet stayed bolted to the floor.

After the uneasy meal was over and the plates had been cleared, Harry tried to escape before anyone could ask him anything, but Professor McGonagall stopped him in the hallway. She was about to lecture him, but she let him go, after seeing the embarrassment on his face.

Harry stood in the halls, pondering where he could escape. Going back to Gryffindor Tower was out of the question; he knew that Parvati and Seamus would be up there, waiting eagerly to accost him.

He roamed the deserted halls of the castle for half an hour, straining his ears for any signs of Peeves' cackling voice. After realizing that his walk was doing nothing to relieve his anxiety, Harry decided to visit Draco and see how he was doing.

As he ran down the hall that led to the dungeons, excited to visit with Draco, Harry slammed into Mr. Filch, knocking the man to the ground. "Filch, I'm so sorry" he said, offering the man a hand.

Filch pushed his hand away and got up of his own accord. "You should watch where you're going." He glared at the boy with disgust on his face

"And where are you off to in such a hurry?" asked Filch, with disgust in his voice. "Meeting Draco for another rendezvous, are we?"

Harry turned the other way and sprinted all the way back to Gryffindor Tower. As he climbed through the portrait hole, Seamus walked towards him.

"Harry, Harry are you and Draco really an item?" he asked.

Parvati tried to hold him back, but he moved her hand out of the way and continued to follow Harry up the steps to the boys' dorm, badgering him with questions. Having had enough, Harry turned around and shouted, "Leave me the fuck alone!"

******

Harry lay in his bed, dreading the arrival of his classmates from their Christmas break. He had spent the past couple of days imagining all the horrible rumors that Peeves and Seamus would be telling everyone. But he convinced himself that Ron and Hermione would not take the news too badly.

He knew that Draco had been rude to them in the past, but the Slytherin had changed his ways; he now held his tongue while in the presence of his friend.

However, there were times when Draco let his temper get the better of him and ended up having a creaming match with Ron, but overall he was civil.

Harry stared at the ceiling, content that his friends, would accept his decision to be with Draco. I hope, he thought.

Harry was busying himself with thoughts of his friends' reactions, when a hand reached into the curtains and grabbed his shirt collar, pulling his body forward. "What the hell" he shouted.

Ron's freckled and frantic face was now inches away from his own. "Are the rumors about you and Draco true?"

Harry struggled to get out of Ron's hold; the other boy was starting to choke him. "I'll tell you when you let go of me"

Ron let go of his shirt and glared down at him. "Well?"

Harry lay back on his bed, looking from Ron to Hermione, who was sitting on the next bed waiting for his answer. He took a deep breath and said, "Yes, the rumors are true."

Ron threw his hands in the air. "Harry, what the fuck!" he yelled. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing" said Harry calmly.

"No, something has to be wrong. This is a joke right? Harry please tell me this a joke you just made up."

"No Ron, it's not a joke."

"Harry, are you high? How the hell could you be dating Malfoy, he's Satan!" Ron thought his yelling would arouse Harry emotionally, but it didn't, he remained unfazed. "Have you forgotten the things he's done to you, me and Hermione, all of us?"

Harry looked away.

"Harry this is the same Malfoy whose father wants you dead, you do remember that, don't you?" He looked at Harry for a response, but the boy continued looking at the window.

"You better not go to his house for dinner because you know what they will be serving?" he asked. "You! You'll be on a silver platter with a big, fat apple in your mouth and Lucius will be serving you to You Know Who."

The thought of himself being served to Voldemort like a roasted pig brought Harry back to reality. But he told himself that Draco was nothing like his father, he had changed. He finally looked as his friend. "Ron, don't be so dramatic."

"I am not being dramatic". Ron turned to Hermione, who had not yet spoken a word. "Geez Herm, you seem a little too calm about this, what have you got to say?"

"I don't know what to say, I guess I'm just trying to soak it all in" she said slowly. Actually, she had been suspecting that something like this would happen, for quite some time.

She had long observed the way Harry and Draco always seemed to be looking at one another during class and all the strange little notes that Harry had been receiving from an owl she did not recognize.

She also noticed how he would always be sneaking into the common room late at night with his hair disheveled and strange red marks on his neck.

Ron furrowed his eyebrows and stared at her in amazement. "Oh yeah, thanks for the enlightenment, Herm. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?"

"What do you want me to say, Ron?"

"I don't know, maybe 'Harry what the fuck's wrong with you,' maybe that."

"Well, it's Harry's decision."

Ron was now pacing the room. "I can't believe what you're saying. Am I the only sane person here today? Hello! Have the two of you forgotten the past five years?"

Hermione hadn't forgotten the past year to remember that it was free of Draco's rude comments. She had to admit that the last time she heard a vulgar remark come out of Draco's mouth was about a year ago. Since then, he hasn't bothered calling her a Mudblood, and he's even eased off of Ron.

Her thoughts led her to last year when, during an unexpected heat wave, Ron's hair started to curl from the heat and humidity. He spent the whole day looking like he was wearing a big, red afro on his head. Everyone snickered at the sight of him, but Draco kept his comments to himself.

Hermione walked over to Harry and sat on the edge of his bed. "Do you love him?"

Ron stared at her in disbelief. "What kinda question is that? Of course he doesn't. He'd have to be mad

to--"

"I don't know, sometimes I feel like I might" interrupted Harry.

That statement brought an uncomfortable silence amongst the three friends, until Ron screamed, "What? Oh, my God!"

"Ron, keep your voice down," said Hermione.

Ron crossed his arms against his chest. "Why should I? Everyone's already talking about it." He then turned to Harry, "You didn't sleep with him, did you? Cause Peeves is telling everyone you guys did it."

Harry didn't answer his friend; he looked down at his hands.

"Harry! Oh my God, you did. I-I think I'm gonna be sick." Ron started making gagging sounds in the back of his throat. "I can't be in here anymore, I have to go." He walked out the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Don't worry about him, he'll come around" said Hermione. She leaned in close to him, smiling coyly, as she asked, "So, how was it?"

"How was what?"

"You know, with Draco".

"Hermione" exclaimed Harry, blushing profusely.

"I don't want the gory details, I just want to know if you feel like you made the right decision."

"Yes, I made the right decision. I was ready for it," he said grinning. "It was really nice." Harry sat up on the bed and the smile on his face widened as he began to talk about his night with Draco. "Oh Hermione, there were candles everywhere, rose petals on the bed, and he fed me strawberries."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, evidently impressed by Draco's gestures. "Wow, who would have thought Draco was a closet romantic."

"And he was really good, too."

"Yum, the gory details" said Hermione,

"No, that's not what I meant. Yes, he was good, he was great actually" said Harry laughing to himself. Hermione slapped him on the elbow. "But what I meant was that he was so gentle, real sweet, he took his time with me."

"I'm happy for you." She reached over and took his hand in hers. "But be careful, okay. I know that Draco hasn't been his mean spirited self for awhile, and you're happy right now, but you have to remember that his father is in cohorts with You Know Who."

"I know" said Harry, looking away.

***********

The next couple of weeks were very daunting for Harry, having to deal with the whole school gossiping about him and Draco; they were now the hottest topic on everyone's lips. "Draco and Harry are dating? Bring out my ice skates cause hell has officially frozen over," Harry heard a Ravenclaw say.

Every time he would enter the Gryffindor common room after classes, he would see Seamus whispering to a large group in the corner of the room. Harry knew that they were talking about him because the group would suddenly become silent whenever he walked past them.

However, Harry's most humiliating incidents always involved Peeves. While all the students were sitting down to dinner, Peeves floated into the Great Hall, carrying something in his hands. He interrupted everyone's meal by shouting; "I've got some Potter and Malfoy sex tapes for sale! Watch some hot boy on boy action!"

"Peeves!" shouted Dumbledore. "That is extremely inappropriate, please leave now."

"Yes, Your Headship" said Peeves, heading for the door. But then he turned around again and said; "If anyone wants to buy a tape, see me in room-"

"Get out of here" yelled Dumbledore, getting to his feet.

Harry hid his face in his hands as the whole room erupted in laughter. Some of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs stood up from their chairs, craning their necks to get a better view of his reddening face. "It'll be all right" Hermione leaned over and said to

him.

Harry was extremely grateful that he had the support and understanding of Hermione. He knew that he could always talk to her, and she would not judge him. Ron was a different story; he made it perfectly clear to Harry that he did not want to discuss anything pertaining to Draco. He and Ron's friendship had become a bit strained over the past couple of weeks; the red haired boy now preferred the company of Dean and Neville.

*******

Harry found that he could deal with all the gossip and Peeves' little song and dance routines, but he was extremely pained when Draco started avoiding him. Whenever he would spot Draco in the halls, the blond boy would quicken his steps and lower his head to avoid Harry's eyes. In fact, he and Draco had not spoken to each other since Christmas day.

Harry also found it hard to watch how the other Slytherins were treating Draco. During meals, Draco was always sat alone at the end of the Slytherin table, none of his housemates looking, or even talking to him.

When they would wait outside Snape's classroom, Draco would be standing by himself, his fellow Slytherins talking loudly to themselves several feet away. His cronies Crabbe and Goyle also found someone new to follow around school.

Even Snape seemed to have turned on Draco, who was once his pet. Usually Snape enjoyed tormenting and embarrassing Neville, or anyone of the Gryffindors that were in his class, but he now directed his hatred towards Draco.

Once, when taking attendance in class, Snape bypassed Draco's name. The whole class noticed the indiscretion and buzzed in small talk until he told them to shut their yaps.

When the class was assigned to work on a floating spell, Snape paired up students to work on the experiment, but he purposely overlooked Draco. The boy spent the rest of the class working by himself in the corner.

*******

Harry finally got a chance to speak to Draco when he went to watch the Slytherins' quidditch practice. He sat in the stands and watched as the Slytherins' new team captain yelled at his players, telling them they weren't good enough to play against the Hufflepuffs. Harry had heard that Draco was stripped of his team captaincy a few days prior and was also demoted from seeker to chaser.

Although Draco made a wonderful chaser and scored many points for his team, none of his teammates helped him when opponents tried to knock him off of his broom or hit him. Nor did any of the Slytherin beaters come to his rescue when a bludger was coming towards him. It was rumored that Draco remained on the team because his father supplied them with brooms.

Harry was watching the practice, when Draco got hit in the face with a bludger, causing him to fall off his broom. Harry ran down from the stands as fast as he could, to see if Draco was all right. Just as he reached the field, he saw Draco's teammates leaving for the locker rooms, not taking a second look back at the injured boy.

Harry ran up to Draco, who was sitting in the grass, holding his nose to stop it from bleeding.

"That was no accident," said Harry, "That beater hit the bludger right at you." He looked at Draco's bleeding nose and said "Are you okay, do you want me to help you to the hospital wing?"

Draco didn't look up at him. "No, I'll be fine."

"How can they do that to you? I've been watching them, they purposefully want to hurt you" said Harry. "Like during the games, no one helps you out. You should tell one of the professors what's going on, before you get badly injured."

Harry looked at Draco, anticipating a response, but he did not say anything. "If you won't say anything to anyone, then I'll do it for you. I could speak to Dumbledore."

"Shut up."

"What?"

"I said shut up," yelled Draco, getting to his feet. "This doesn't concern you."

"But it deals with you and that concerns me. I'm worried about you," said Harry. "I just want you to mind your own business."

"But Draco!"

"Harry, don't make this harder for me than it already is. Just let me deal with this on my own."

Harry took a step towards him, but he pushed him away and walked off the field.

*******

Harry was sitting in the common room with Ron and Hermione, finishing up some Potions homework, when Seamus burst into the room.

"Oh my God, oh my God" said Seamus as he stumbled through the portrait hole. He was out of breath and his face was red. "Give me a moment, will you" he said to everyone. "I ran all the way up here from downstairs."

Everyone watched patiently as Seamus put his hands on his knees, gulping for air. They had all become accustomed to seeing the boy stagger into the common room with some startling news about other students.

"Okay, I was in Professor McGonagall's office awaiting my detention" he began. Seamus was given detention for wandering around the castle at midnight; he was heading to the Astronomy Tower to spy on snogging couples. "When all of a sudden Lucius Malfoy comes storming into her office. He practically kicked the door down, he was that angry."

The crowd of students put down their homework and stared at Seamus. "Even though Professor McGonagall told me to wait in the hall, I could still hear them fighting. And man were they loud! Malfoy was yelling at McGonagall, saying that she should keep a closer eye on the students in her house."

"He said that he didn't like her students going around bewitching his precious son and tempting him." Harry started to feel several eyes slowly turn and look at him.

"He was cursing at her and everything, calling her all sorts of four letter words and all. But then Dumbledore came down the stairs and told me to get back to my room" he said, looking disappointed.

"But guess what the most interesting part was?" he asked, looking around the room. "Lucius Malfoy is pulling his son out of school!"