Changing Air

.....

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TWO!" Professor McGonagall yelled at the top of her lungs. The students in the hallway thought her head would explode seeing the deep redness in her face. The two students sitting on the floor forgot where they were.

"Bu-" The Boy Who Lived tried to tell her it wasn’t his fault, but he was cut short.

"I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!" This was the maddest Harry had ever seen her. He was almost to the point of worrying for his life. "COME TO MY OFFICE. NOW!" This left Harry and the other boy speechless. The cat had not only caught their tongues, but had cut them off. They slowly got up, and followed the angry woman through the brake in the crowd. The silence was so intense that you could here a pin drop. No one said anything, not even the Slytherins. Harry looked to his friends, who gave him an encouraging smile, but it didn’t make much difference. He could she Ron’s expression, one that said good job and that was awesome! He moved to Hermione’s, which said you both got what you deserved.

As they scuttled along the hallways, they made their way to her office. If looks could kill, Minerva McGonagall’s surely could. Her eyes were bulging, her forehead wrinkled, and her cheeks flushed with anger. Under any other circumstances, the two sixth year boys would have been laughing a fit, but not this time. As she slammed the door shut in her office, they took a seat and waited for points being taken away from their houses, but she merely stared at them.

After a few moments of silence, she spoke. "You two have been here for six years." She emphasized the word ‘six’ as if she had pure hatred for the word. "During that time, there have been countless fights between the two of you. The students have had enough of that. The school has had enough of that, and I am positive, more positive than I have ever been in my long and tiresome life that I have had enough of that!" Harry felt himself shrinking in his chair, to the size of a small child, being scolded by a parent. He looked to the other chair, and saw the boy who he had been fighting with. Draco Malfoy’s hair was ruffled as if a hurricane had come through it, blood was streaming slowly down his chin, and he looked much the same as Harry did, scared of what would happen this time.

"But it wasn’t-" Draco tried to make out, but couldn’t continue with his sentence because the professor gave him a cold stare.

It was as if she could read his mind, and finished his sentence. "wasn’t your fault? Of course it was. It was both your faults, and I am tired of you two blaming the other. Now both of you are going to be disciplined, but no points will be taken away." At this, Harry and Draco both seemed surprised, if not flabbergasted by this statement.

"What do you mean, you won’t take any points away?" Harry finally asked. His question was received with another cold stare, and he felt the drop of sweat flow down his forehead and stream down his nose.

"Exactly what I said. I will not take points away. I have a punishment much worse, which I believe both of you will agree with me. I will not take this matter to the headmaster, he doesn’t have time to deal with you. Too much time has been taken on this matter already." An odd smile formed itself onto her face. It was between a grin and a smirk, and it made the two boys terrified to think of what could be going on in that head of hers. "You will not get a detention either. Well, not the usual detention, but a different one. Both of you will be locked into a room, for a day."

The reaction on Harry and Draco’s face were to die for. They were both horrified, and it was hard to tell who was more disgusted and revolted with this punishment. ‘How could she?’ Thought Harry. Draco was thinking, ‘Hell is a place on earth.’ But whatever they thought of the punishment, they could do nothing about it. McGonagall continued to speak. "You two will be locked in a room for an entire day. You will only get a minimal amount of food and water, the door will not be unlocked until twenty four hours later. You will be unsupervised, and no one will leave the room for anything, be it a sudden ‘illness’, or for classes. Leave. You will both report to this room after dinner. Don’t bother bringing anything but yourselves, school work, and your clothing. You are dismissed!" They were both slow to move, still distraught over their punishment. But neither one of them needed to be told twice, fearing the wrath of their professor, and fled the room without another word.

Harry turned left, and Draco turned right, each heading for their own common rooms and dormitories. Not a word was spoken between them as they left. Harry thought about the punishment as he made his way through the halls which he had spent the last six years of his life roaming about. He had had a lot of history here, and he had never had a worse punishment. This one topped the list, it was worse than scrubbing the dungeons, searching the forbidden forest, or even answering Lockhart’s fan mail. He cringed to think about an entire day with the second lowest scum of the earth. He had felt that he should be the first one to know that Voldemort was the lowest. He hated Draco. In their first year, he had disliked Draco, and throughout all the years of him calling his friends ‘poor’ and ‘mudbloods’, his dislike turned to hatred.

.....

Draco was having similar thoughts. He wanted to kill Harry for what he had to go through. He turned to the painting of the Salazar Slytherin himself, and spoke the password, "Devil’s Dragon." It swung open, and he climbed through the portal. The common room was not filled, but some students were scattered on the chairs and couches. He made his way to the bathroom, not answering the questions of his peers. He looked in the mirror and saw his bloodied face, and though, ‘Damn he got me. But then again, I got him pretty good too...’ He washed his face, and took a shower seeing how the sun was starting to set, and dinner was coming closer.

After washing up and getting dressed in clean cloths and robes, he made his way to dinner, with a sullen expression covering his face. He carried with him some homework books and a sketch pad in his bag. He questioned bringing the sketch pad with him, but he didn’t care what Potter thought. He knew it was going to be a boring and annoying twenty four hours, and he was prepared to make sure he extended it to Harry as well.

.....

Just as Draco had done, Harry too had taken a shower and changed into a clean set of cloths. Upon entering the common room, his two best friends hurried to him, Hermione worried about the cut on his lip, Ron congratulating him on giving Malfoy a black eye. He had told his friends about the punishment, and they both gave him sympathetic smiles but both told them different things.

Hermione, being a perfect, told him that he got what he deserved. "After all, you did start the fight..." She had told him. Ron gave her an angry look.

"I did not, he insulted my parents, and he deserved every punch and jab I gave him!" This conversation did not last long, however, seeing as how Hermione stormed off as neither one of them would listen to her.

Harry headed to the Great Hall, with his friends by his side. Hermione did not agree with him on whose fault it was, but continued to give him her support. Dinner consisted of pork and beef, and pasta with a primavera sauce. Harry chewed the food slowly, not looking forward to spending a day with Draco. He had brought with him a cloak in case it was cold, a few books he needed for his homework, and a quidditch book which he had gotten from Hermione for Christmas.

Students and teachers began to leave the hall soon after, and Harry got up reluctantly and walked down the corridor, saying goodbye to Hermione and Ron. He found the door with ‘Minerva McGonagall: Deputy Head Mistress’ printed on it, and his expression turned to disgust. He knocked, and found her sitting at her desk, still looking angry at the events that had happened previously.

A moment later, Draco had come in too, and the professor began to scold. "As I said before, I am deeply disappointed in both of you for your behavior. Professor Dumbledore has given me authority for whatever punishment I so wish, so follow me." She got up and left the door, Harry and Draco following at her heels. The walked for what seemed to be forever, both of the boys dreading their fate. The found themselves at an unfamiliar hallway, and they turned to look at a large wooden door. "This is where you will be staying for the next day." There was a funny tone of satisfaction in her voice, and she opened the door, revealing a new chamber.

It was a square room with two beds, one at either side. On the far end of the wall was a large fireplace, and a table sat in the middle of room. The room was decorated with a blue paint, and both beds were covered with large blue blankets. In one corner of the room, a door led to a small bathroom. "Welcome to your new home. I will be back tomorrow night. Don’t kill each other, or a new, harsher punishment may be created." And without another word, she stepped outside the room and the door shut behind her, magically locking itself shut for twenty four hours.

.....

"You are an asshole, you know that?" Harry yelled at Draco. He was sitting on his bed, extremely annoyed with the situation. He was going to miss quidditch practice because of Draco, and he was also going to have to spend a day with him. He wondered if his life could be anymore messed up.

"And you, are a egotistical shit head." he responded, as he opened his book, A Vampire’s Life, which he was reading for Defense Against the Dark Arts. He found himself reading the same line over and over again, too annoyed to get anything done with Potter in the room.

"You know something, Potty? This is all your fault. If you hadn’t had your little tantrum and outburst in the hallway and started that fight, we wouldn’t be in this mess."

"Screw you!" Harry too, was reading a book, his on quidditch. But he found the fire much more interesting. "Why don’t you go shove that book up your ass?’

"Well, it’s a bit to big, but it would fit perfectly up yours." Draco quickly responded. For the next few minutes, silence hung in the room, leaving Harry staring at the fire, and Draco staring at his book.

.....

"Oh Minerva, you can be quite resourceful when you put your head at it." The old headmaster told the professor. "I congratulate you on your creativeness."

"Albus, I am just so tired of all this fighting between the two." She sighed as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Yes, it seems Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy are continuing the fight between the houses. Do you remember James and Severus? It was just the same as it is now."

"Oh yes. They were worst enemies. And now, his son and Malfoy... Why must it continue. I just hope this will finally help them become peaceful."

"Minerva, I hope it will. You know as well as I do that it must... I fear it is already too late. His father is a terrible influence on him, I wish I could do something about that..." Dumbledore felt tired and sad at this, it always happened. There were always the ones which they could not help; Peter Pettigrew for example. The old professor just hoped that he would be able to break through to him, but if he could not, he hoped at least Harry could try. He knew that Harry had a good heart.

"All we can do is hope. His father should be put in Azkaban for all the things he has done... have you ever found any evidence?" She asked him, a worried expression across her face.

"I have, but I don’t know if it is enough, Snuffles is on that case now..." he trailed off. He had sent Sirius off on another mission, and hoped he would come up with something useful.

"Well, I am starting to worry, you know how Harry and Draco try to tear each other's throats out each time they lay eyes on one another..."

"Minerva, have some faith. What’s the worst that could happen? They are two 16 year old boys..."

"Exactly, but as you said, this may be just what they need. Exactly what they need..."

.....

"Oh FUCK YOU!" Draco yelled. Harry had insulted his father, and although he agreed with him, he would never admit it.

"You first. You are a sorry excuse for a wizard, and a human at that. You are just a bigot, and an asshole!" Harry yelled back. Draco became enraged and took a swing at Harry. His fist missed Harry, and Harry’s quick reflexes helped him land his next punch right in Draco’s stomach. Draco fell back on his bed, but quickly got up, not wanting to give up.

"You piece of-" Draco hollered, as his next punch landed Harry’s jaw, causing Harry to knock the table. "Shit" He finished. They were both fuming mad. Harry just stared at him, and walked to his bed, and sat down, leaning against the wall.

He could feel the pain in his jaw. He said nothing, but his stare was concentrated on a single spot on Draco’s head. He thought, ‘if only he had been born seven years later, I could be free of this fucking asshole.’

Draco was thinking similar thoughts, only he was wondering why Harry had to have ever been born. He hated him so intensely. ‘Why do we always fight’, he thought to himself. ‘Because he’s an asshole, and he always starts it.’ He knew that wasn’t true.

"Why are you such an asshole?" Harry found himself asking Draco.

Draco thought about the question. He had asked himself that question several times, replacing ‘asshole’ with ‘such a mean person’, but it was all the same. He had told himself it was because of his father. This was the way he had been taught. "My father." His lips created the words.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"‘Why’ what?" Draco responded.

"Why are you an asshole? What could your father have possible done to you that would make you an asshole?" Harry answered.

"Well, if you still had your parents, and your father beat you if you put one foot out of line and your mother doesn’t even care for you, let alone love you, I think you would be like this too."

Harry was speechless. He had never thought of what Draco’s father could be like, he had always thought of him as a evil doer, but abusive, he had never known. "I’m-" He found the words too hard to say, especially to this person. "I hope that punch didn’t hurt to much."

"It didn’t hurt." he lied. Why would he tell his enemy that he had really hurt him. He just hoped that it didn’t bruise... to much. "Did that punch in the jaw thing hurt?"

"Yea, I guess it did." Harry said.

"Good."

"And here I thought, just maybe, you could show some ‘goodness,’ and I use that term loosely, in your heart" Harry asked.

"Well, there is some, but why would I show it to you. There’s just so much truth, remorse, and emotion a Malfoy can show in a day..."

"Great observation. I’m going to sleep." Harry stated as he let out a yawn. He drew the covers and found his way inside.

"Thanks for the announcement." He blew out his candles, and got into his bed as well, sighing at his current predicament.

As the lights went out, both of the boys closed their eyes and drifted into sleep.

.....

"... no... no... NO!" Harry bolted straight up. It was another nightmare. He had seen Voldemort deliver the Cruciatus Curse on another wizard dressed in a black robe, and then he had woken up. He found his hand clutching his forehead, a common reaction to any of his dreams.

"What was that about?" Draco asked. Harry hadn’t realized he had woken him up. Draco had heard the whole thing. He had heard Harry muttering something about something which he couldn‘t quite hear, and then it had progressed to ‘no... no... NO!’

"Just a dream..." Harry answered, not wanting to let Draco know about them.

Draco’s curiosity got the better of him and he asked, "About..." He looked at Harry who was sweating from whatever he had been dreaming about.

"You really want to know?" Harry asked, and Draco nodded. "I dreamt that Voldemort cast the Cruciatus Curse on someone, and then killed them. So the body should turn up soon." He blurted out, almost regretting he had done so. He found himself asking, ‘why should I tell him’, but it was to late to stop.

Draco didn’t know what to say. "Does it hurt?"

"Usually. And it happens when Voldemort does something..." Draco had never heard of this before, but then again, he had never known about it. He decided to drop the subject, and go to sleep. The pain in Harry’s scar was now fading and he realized how tired he was.

"Can I ask you, have you ever met him, Voldemort I mean." Harry asked. Draco had a worried expression on his face.

"Yes, my father has brought him to the house, and I have met him once..." Draco answered truthfully.

Harry wondered why Draco had met him... did Voldemort usually meet with powerless teenagers? "Why did he meet you?

Why did he meet me? Draco wasn’t sure. He had his suspicions; he didn’t think You-Know-Who visited all ‘potential’ death eaters, and he didn’t think he was something special. He was just glad Voldemort didn’t want to give him the dark mark just yet, so he never really thought about it. "I don’t know."

Harry thought about his answer. The more he thought about Voldemort, the more he hated him. He had taken so much away from Harry. "I hate him..." Harry said under his breath.

Draco heard him, and added, "I hate him too, Harry..."

"Everyone around me has died. Everyone else who is still alive tells me it isn’t my fault. Colin was my fault. Cedric was my fault. My parents died because of me, my Godfather was imprisoned because of me. And yet still, everyone tells me it isn’t my fault." Draco took his eyes off the fire and raised them to Harry’s, he could see the hurt in his eyes. "There is a simple way to end this all, but I am too cowardly to take it. What does that say about me..."

Draco knew what he was talking about. If he killed himself, he could end it all. Simple, Voldemort wouldn’t be after him anymore, and his friends wouldn’t die. Draco had even thought about it himself, for it would have been an easy way of getting rid of his father. No more abuse, no more pain, no more sorrow. But he hadn’t done it because he didn’t want to die. "You’re not cowardly... Killing yourself wouldn’t help the situation, and you know it. I know it." And both their eyes reached towards the fire, looking at the flames flicker in the dark, watching the ashes raise, then fall. The orange shade toughing every object in the room.

.....

Morning came, and it was all to early for the two boys sleeping in their room. Harry had the usual headache which he found came after a bad night sleep and a certain pain in their scar.

Draco had not had a good sleep as well, and besides the first time he awoke, when Harry’s scar had hurt, he had found himself not being able to sleep. This was not an unusual occurrence for him, as he had found he was afraid to sleep, there had often been times which he came to class with black circles under his eyes, from the lack of sleep he had the night previously. But he wouldn’t admit the cause of this fear to anyone, not even himself.

Draco pulled his shirt off and turned to his bag to pull a clean one out. As he turned, Harry’s eyes wandered to his back, and he found two long scars lining from his right shoulder to his left hip.

"What is that?" Harry asked. Draco quickly pulled his shirt on, and tried to ignore him.

"That, is what happens when I ‘step’ out of line." That was all he said.

He looked to the table which was empty just a moment ago, and two trays of food had been magically transported to the room. Harry turned on his bed and faced the table, so hungry that he would have been willing to eat an elephant, but maybe a small one. He picked up a piece of toast and chewed on it slowly as he lifted a fork of scrambled eggs to his mouth.

"This isn’t exactly prison is it?" Draco remarked as he picked up a piece of bacon and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Yes, but I think that they could of given us a room with a view, maybe some windows... and this food isn’t what I would call satisfactory either." Harry laughed and found himself surprised when Draco did as well. He noticed he was acting very differently than what Harry would call... normal for Draco. He was asking himself, ‘why would he be doing this?’ and ‘why is he acting so... civil?’

"Yes, but then again, this is Hogwarts, they let about anybody in, so I am not too surprised that this is what they call a ‘punishment’." He said.

‘There it is, the same old Draco again.’ Harry thought to himself. "And I thought you had changed." Harry said.

"What do you mean? Changed? Me? Now that would be too inconsistent for even me, wouldn’t you think?" Draco cracked, happily joking, rather than talking about the pain which had been such a major part of his life.

"There is that sense of humor that I so remember." Harry said. "Now, back to that other comment you made. Why do you think Hogwarts shouldn’t let just anybody in?"

Draco thought about this. ‘Why did I say that?’ He didn’t know. "I guess it’s what my father taught me. Why should we have to share magic with muggles. Magic belongs to us, it is what makes us different, and better." Was that what he really meant? ‘Or was that my father?’

"As I said last night, YOU are a bigot."

"I guess you’re right. I just don’t believe that muggles should be allowed to practice magic. Why can’t we keep this to ourselves?"

"And what right do you have to say who can, and cannot practice magic?"

"I don’t." Draco knew he was right, but he was too stubborn. "Okay, you have a point."

"You see, it was YOU who have been wrong all these years." Harry was gloating over the fact that he was right, and Draco was wrong. It wasn’t everyday that Draco admitted he was wrong.

"And who would of thought that you were to ‘noble’ and ‘goody goody’ to gloat? Well, the famous Harry Potter is not as gallant as we all thought!" Draco grinned as he finished his egg and took out his sketch pad and drew.

.....

Time passed quickly for Draco and Harry. There was no more fighting like the night before, but they did get into some heated arguments, one of which who was the better Seeker.

As dinner came and passed, Harry found himself happy that he could get out of this ‘prison’, but he realized he didn‘t have such a bad time. He wondered what Ron and Hermione were doing, but then he knew the answer. They were probably arguing as usual. Draco had spent the day drawing, which he was thankful that Harry didn’t ask to many questions, but Harry had asked what he was doing, and he told him the truth.

After another hour, the door creaked open, and the faces of Professor McGonagall, and Professor Dumbledore.

"Ah, it is good to see that neither one of you are dead..." Dumbledore trailed off.

"Yes, Harry would have been just too easy." Draco joked, and Harry found himself smirking at his comment.

"Well I see that your sense of humor hasn’t suffered. Now I hope this taught you both an important lesson."

"Of course Professor. We promise never to fight in your presence again." Harry heard McGonagall sigh and was delighted to hear her next words.

"Well, since you two have served out your punishment, you are free to go." Harry waited until Draco left the room sensing that Professor Dumbledore wanted to ask him something.

"So Harry, did you have a pleasant time in with Draco?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, it wasn’t a holiday, but it wasn’t bad." He answered. It was the truth.

"I am glad to hear it. He is going to need a lot of help. It seems his father is quite involved in the Dark Arts, as you know, and I know he will need all the help he can get to stay away and not follow in his father’s footsteps." With this, Dumbledore got up and motioned to Harry that he could leave. Harry walked out the door, saying goodbye with his books in hand, and left without another word.

.....

As Harry greeted his friends back in the common room, they were both happy to see him.

"Harry, so, I hope you gave that old git a good punch in the-" he was cut short by Hermione, who gave him a slap over the head.

"You know you should not be promoting violence to your best friend." She sensed the tension in her best friends’ eyes and then added, "You wouldn’t want Harry to have to go through that all again, now would you?"

Harry nodded and Ron decided to give it a rest, "So, anyways, what did you do the whole time?"

"Well, we did fight last night, and we each threw a punch or two, and after that, we came to a sort of agreement."

Ron looked as if he felt betrayed. "How COULD you!" He yelled. "You made friends with that insufferable FERRET!"

"Ron, we aren’t really friends, consider it as an understanding." Harry tried to explain.

"Well, as long as you and he don’t become too ‘understanding’. You know how he has made fun of my family for years. I believe he deserves to die." Ron said.

"Ron! You know you didn’t mean that!" Hermione yelled at him. This wasn’t exactly the homecoming Harry pictured.

"Just stop!" Harry yelled. "Now Ron, that was a bit harsh, don’t you think. He is an asshole, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to die. And Hermione, you sound like you two are married. Why must you always fight with him?"

"Because I can’t stand to hear him say such things." And that was that. They ate the rest of their meal in silence.

Harry was happy that the argument stopped, but he could still see the tension. He wished the world was peaceful, that all fighting could stop, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. He had faced Voldemort all his life, starting with the first encounter, fifteen years ago, and till most recently, his fifth year, when Voldemort managed to kill two second years. He knew that this year would be no different, and so he prepared himself for the worst.

He looked at his friends, who now were in a detailed conversation about cheese and the abilities needed. Harry heard Hermione say that logic and planning was needed, and Ron was saying that trickery and intelligence were more important. Harry got up, and said he was going to bed.

He made his way to his dorm, happy to sleep in his own bed. He got under the covers, blew out the candle, and closed the curtains. His eyes slowly closed as sleepiness overcame him, and he fell into a dream. But for the first time in a while, instead of a dream involving death or evil, he dreamt a blissful dream...

.....