Horoscopes and Rescues

Horoscopes and Rescues

By Passo

Thursday, October 2
Leo (July 21 - August 20): Not all misfortunes that befall you are truly terrible. Some might be real eye-openers. Be careful in recognizing those that are blessings in disguise.

Harry Potter closed the day´s issue of The Daily Prophet and reached for his orange juice.

"You know, if only Cho Chang would miraculously miss the snitch on Saturday and give Ernie MacMillan a chance to grab it, Hufflepuff might actually win the championship... if they defeat Gryffindor." Ron Weasley was involved in a lively discussion of Quidditch with Dean Thomas from across the table.

"Yes, but that´s nearly impossible. Chang´s too good. MacMillan´s no match for her. And what about Slytherin? We´re playing them today. Malfoy has improved a lot since..."

The name struck him before Harry tuned them out. Yes, indeed, Draco Malfoy had improved quite a lot in the past two years. He actually developed into a Seeker with admirable reflexes and won many a game for Slytherin. Lucky for Harry, he had still managed to win every game they had with Slytherin. But he would have to watch out for Draco later. If Gryffindor lost today´s game, they would lose their winning advantage. Meaning, they´d have to work hard on amassing more points in the next game with Hufflepuff if they aimed to win the championship.

Harry stood up. "Dean, it´s time. We have to change."

"Okay." Dean stopped his argument with Ron and followed Harry. "See you guys later!"

"Hey, good luck guys! We´ll be cheering for you." Ron and the others gave them a few good-natured slaps on the back for luck before the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team headed for the locker rooms to change.

As Harry watched the skies from the side of the Quidditch pitch, he felt a little flutter of anxiety in his belly. He could see Draco and the other Slytherins conversing and planning last-minute strategies. The blonde Seeker seemed to be arguing with Malcolm Baddock, one of the Slytherin Beaters, about something. After a while, they seemed to have reached a decision and joined Madame Hooch at the center of the pitch.

"Hey, guys..." Harry turned to his teammates for a last minute pep talk. "Let´s just all play our best here. We´ve practiced a lot and I know we can win. I trust you all."

"Right on, Captain." Colin Creevey gave Harry a mock salute and grinned. Harry had recruited the sixth year boy two years before after he had discovered that Gryffindor´s number one Potter fan played a mean game of Quidditch as a Chaser. As for Colin, nothing would have made him happier than to be in the same team with Harry Potter.

The other players echoed their "Aye´s" before Harry led them to pitch. The Gryffindor team faced their Slytherin counterparts as Madame Hooch outlined the basic rules and last minute reminders, as was the tradition. Harry caught Malfoy´s eye. The staring match ensued until Harry finally looked away. Draco smirked, considering himself the victor of that little battle. After a few minutes, Madame Hooch blew the whistle and the players kicked off to the sky.

Ron Weasley´s voice filled the air:

"The Quaffle is in the possession of Slytherin Chaser Blaise Zabini and--Oh! A clever steal there by Dean Thomas... pass to Creevey, oops! There goes a bludger! Creevey ducks and... GOAL! That was a fantastic shot! Ten points to Gryffindor!"

Harry peered through his glasses, searching the skies for the snitch. He could see Draco not far off. The blonde was keeping an eye for him while looking for the snitch. Harry made a twenty foot dive to the left field, thinking he saw a flutter of gold. False trail.

Below them, the crowd was going wild. Gryffindor was up by thirty points. Dean had scored twice more while Slytherin had yet to make their first goal. The Beaters were becoming more ruthless, particularly Malcolm Baddock. The burly Slytherin angrily batted a bludger to Dean but the Gryffindor cleverly avoided it.

Harry turned around, determined to catch the snitch. As he searched the area near the stands, it happened. The crowd saw it before he did. Concentrating heavily in looking for the snitch, he was never able to hear their collective gasp as Baddock threw a bludger to his way.

Harry never had a chance. The bludger hit him at his right shoulder, dislocating the joint and knocking him from his broom. Harry screamed in pain as he fell. Only his years of practice saved his life as he managed to hold onto his Firebolt by latching his right knee onto it. The crowd sighed in relief, only to be replaced by screams as the same bludger came hurtling back to Harry, hitting his leg and separating him from the Firebolt.

Harry nearly passed out as he fell. The cold wind hit his face, reviving him a little as he plunged to the ground. Despite his situation, a swish of green and gold below him caught his eye. Draco! The Slytherin was far below, looking up at him in shock.

With no energy left, the Gryffindor Seeker gave himself up to the pain and blacked out.

***

Harry woke up with a start. He blinked his eyes owlishly. The world was a grey and white blur and his head felt like it was splitting in two. He reached for his glasses on the bedside table, only, his table wasn´t there. Panicking a little, he groped the sides of the bed, wondering where the hell he was.

"Here." Someone put his glasses in his hands. The voice sounded vaguely familiar.

He put on his glasses. Instantly, his vision cleared. He was in the hospital wing, lying on one of the cots. He sat up and turned to the person beside the bed and got the shock of his life.

"Malfoy!" He narrowed his eyes, instantly suspicious. "What are you doing here?"

"Plotting your death," the Slytherin answered sarcastically. "What do you think, Potter? Of course I was waiting for you to wake up."

Harry didn´t even think of how unusual that answer was. He immediately noticed the bandages around his naked torso and felt the soreness of muscles he didn´t even know he possessed.

"What happened? What day is it?" he asked, raising his eyes to Draco´s blue ones.

"You fell off your broom," Draco said shortly. "It´s still Thursday, but it´s nearly midnight, though. You´ve been out the whole day. A bludger hit you twice and you fell from nearly eighty feet. You almost died but I caught you before you hit the ground."

"You did?" he gasped. Harry didn´t think that Draco would ever do that for him. "You saved my life?"

"I´m not a monster, Potter."

"That... that wasn´t what I meant." Harry smiled at him. "Thank you. Thank you for saving me."

"Well, I´m not a saint either so don´t go around thinking I do this all the time. I just happened to be there." Draco´s frown returned.

Harry grinned. He couldn´t help but be amused by Draco´s response. The implication that he might be a nice guy clearly made the Slytherin uncomfortable.

"So, Malfoy, why would someone like you take the trouble to watch over me at midnight?"

"My reasons are purely personal." Draco leaned closer to Harry and placed his hands on the bed, trapping the Gryffindor. He slowly smiled, enjoying Harry´s discomfort. Putting his mouth dangerously close to Harry´s ear, so close that Harry could feel his lips on his skin, Draco whispered his reply.

"I won." He drew back. "I caught the snitch just before you got hit. I wanted to deliver the good news myself."

Speechless, Harry could only gawk as Draco strutted out the room.

***

Friday, October 3
Leo (July 21 - August 20): They say that a branch has to sway with the wind to save itself from breaking. A lion is made of sterner material. Don´t be afraid to swing your own way.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Hermione touched his shoulder, concerned. "You shouldn´t be walking around so soon after injuring yourself. I´m sure Hagrid and Professor McGonagall would gladly excuse you from class."

"Nonsense! I´m perfectly fine. I´m just a little sore, that´s all." Harry replied.

"Then why are you scowling like that? What´s bothering you?" Ron inquired.

"I lost. We lost because of me." Harry was surprised that he didn´t feel that disappointed with himself. He expected to feel more upset. It had been a while since he failed to catch the snitch for Gryffindor. The last time had been in third year when Cedric beat him to it. But then, the dementors were there to distract him. He was disappointed then. Now he just felt dead.

"Harry, you can´t win all the time. It´s okay to lose a few games once in a while. That doesn´t make you a bad Seeker." Hermione said in her soothing voice.

"I know." He was suddenly irritated. "I just can´t accept the fact that I lost to Malfoy. Malfoy! Of all people..." Harry steamed silently.

"Well, that is something to feel upset about," Ron agreed, chewing his sandwich thoroughly. "But don´t worry. Even if he´s one hell of a Seeker, you´re still way better than him. The Ireland National Team can´t wait for you to graduate just so they can get their hands on you."

Harry smiled slightly. "Thanks, Ron. But that doesn´t remove the fact that Gryffindor would have to work doubly hard in the next match with Hufflepuff. To win the championship, we´d have to accumulate a lot of points before I can catch the snitch. And that´s assuming that Hufflepuff and Slytherin both lose to Ravenclaw."

"We´ll just have to see what happens, won´t we?" Hermione said philosophically. "Now, hurry up and finish your breakfast. We have exactly ten minutes to get to Care of Magical Creatures."

The trio walked towards the field near Hagrid´s hut and arrived there five minutes early. Most of the other students were already there, Gryffindors and Slytherins keeping to their own crowds. Harry spotted Draco leaning against a fence, chatting amicably with Pansy and the other Slytherin girls. Far behind him, a small group of Great White bulls with huge twirling horns grazed quietly in the field.

At that moment, Hagrid emerged from the hut. He was smiling and carrying a box of something which looked like a bunch of white feathers. Then he spotted Draco from across the field. Instantly, Hagrid dropped the box and started running, shouting something desperately at the blonde boy.

But Draco was too far to hear or even notice Hagrid. Before the horrified eyes of the whole class, one of the bulls charged towards Draco, red eyes glowing and smoke coming from its nostrils. The great white hooves silently beat on the grass. Draco had no chance to react. Curious at the stares to his direction, he was about to turn and look behind when the bull picked him up and dragged him away with its horns.

Terrified screams and cries echoed in the air as not a few students passed out in shock. Draco himself was silent. His face was parchment-white with fear as he hung there tangled amongst the twisting horns.

Harry didn´t even think about what he was doing. He just decided that he couldn´t stand there with the others, doing nothing and staring helplessly at the horrid spectacle. Instantly, as soon as the he saw the bull drag Draco up, he ran towards the barrier and took the fence in one jump. He didn´t even consider the danger of what he was planning. All he knew was that Draco was in danger and he simply had to do something about it.

He watched the bull gallop around the field. It was turning towards the direction of the fence again. Draco was clutching onto the horns for dear life. The right horn looked like it had pierced through his robe but Draco himself looked unharmed--just scared stiff and trapped above the bull.

Harry climbed onto the fence again, bringing him to the level of the bull´s horns when it comes. The bull didn´t even seem to take notice of him as it approached, loping madly over the grass with no sense of direction. As it drew beside him, Harry reached out, clamped his hands around Draco´s arms and pulled hard. He heard the sound of ripping cloth as Draco´s robe tore from the bull´s horns and he fell towards Harry, making the two of them crash to the ground. Luckily, they landed on the safe side of the fence.

Draco didn´t want to open his eyes. He just lay there, hearing erratic heartbeats, trying to convince himself that he was safe. The whole ordeal--from the bull dragging him off to Harry´s spectacular rescue--had lasted only a few minutes. But there, while he was above the raging bull, each second felt like a lifetime.

"Ummm... Malfoy, I can´t stand."

Then Draco realized that he was sprawled on top of Harry Potter, his face squashed on the Gryffindor´s chest. The heartbeats he had heard were not his own. He scrambled off the other boy, checking his body for injuries while Harry tried to raise himself up. After making sure that he was generally okay, apart form a few scratches and bruises, Draco faced his rescuer.

"This makes us even, you know."

"Huh?" Harry had no idea what Draco meant by that statement.

"I saved you. You saved me. We´re even, Potter. Let´s call it quits, okay?" Draco stated calmly.

Harry just stared. He nodded after a few moments. Eventually, Draco walked off to his Slytherin friends and into a worried Hagrid. It turned out that the Great White bulls were extremely territorial and Draco´s leaning on the fence heavily offended them. Draco waved away Hagrid´s apologies and just requested that he be allowed to return to the Slytherin dorms to change his torn robes.

Harry kept his eyes on Draco´s retreating back. Even in danger, he was just as cold as ever.

"I would´ve settled for a thank you," he whispered.

Draco entered the castle and disappeared from sight.

***

Saturday, October 4
Leo (July 21 - August 20) : Advice is very good, especially when it comes from wise and great friends. But some decisions have to be made alone. Have the presence of mind to make the right choice.

Harry couldn´t keep still. He had felt restless since yesterday. He was tremendously bothered with something--particularly a tall, blonde, and handsome Slytherin boy.

There was something off with Draco. It wasn´t anything he said or did during class or when eating in the Great Hall. There was just something strange with the way he and Harry seemed to be thrown together in dangerous circumstances for two successive days. Granted, the accidents themselves could´ve been just that--accidents. But Draco´s reactions... Instinct told him that there was something wrong with the way he held himself away defensively from Harry.

Around two years before, Draco and Harry had stopped insulting each other publicly. They seemed to have come to a mutual decision that exchanging verbal abuse in front of everyone was useless and really quite infantile. Any barbs said from one to the other were done so in private, away from the students´ ears. Since then, their public rivalry was merely continued through challenging stares, academic activities, and of course, the Quidditch pitch.

Harry assumed that he and Draco had reached a sort of impasse--a condition wherein they would never treat each other as friends but would behave towards each other in perfect civility. He thought that their old fights were long gone. But Draco was holding on to the old hatred. He refused to cooperate politely.

And since two years ago, as far as Harry knew he never did anything particularly harmful or embarrassing to Draco Malfoy, he wondered at the source of the other boy´s hate. Dislike was too mild a word to describe the abruptness of Draco´s treatment, or his words.

So, while everyone was at the pitch cheering for the Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw match, Harry decided to seek Draco and ask him exactly why.

Harry took out the Marauder´s Map and looked for Draco. There! He spotted a dot labeled Draco Malfoy moving around the library, quite alone. Even Madame Pince was out watching.

In a few minutes, Harry was in the library. He looked around. The tables were empty. That meant Draco was somewhere browsing amongst the shelves. A quick search revealed that Draco was in the History section, sitting on the floor and thumbing a large, dusty volume. He looked up as Harry approached.

"What do you want, Potter?"

"I just wanted to ask you something." Harry sat on the floor, a foot away from the Slytherin.

Draco smirked. "Well, then. Ask away."

"Why do you hate me?"

Draco´s hand stilled. He stared at empty air for a few minutes as if looking for an answer that couldn´t be found.

"I don´t hate you," he finally said, refusing to look at Harry.

"Then why do you dislike me so much?"

"Dislike you?" A blonde eyebrow rose.

"You go out of your way to make me feel bad. I don´t hate you, Draco. I don´t even dislike you. I just don´t understand why you do or say those things."

"Potter, there are times when you just have to keep your mouth shut." Draco shoved the book into the shelf and stood up. He was about to walk away when Harry stopped him.

"I want to know." The green eyes bored into blue.

It was as if something broke. The blank expression in Draco´s face disappeared. His eyes flashed dangerously as he snarled.

"You really want the truth? Fine, I´ll tell you the truth. You scare me, Potter. I don´t like you because you make me feel so frightened that I just want to hate you!" Draco breathed hard, spent with his outburst.

Harry stared at him, shocked. "Why?" He couldn´t think of anything else to say after that.

Draco pulled his arm away resignedly. He was afraid this time would come. Now there was no way to get out of it unscathed. He threw all caution to the wind and decided to tell the truth.

"I´m scared of the way you make me feel." The blue eyes glittered madly as he spoke. "No one, not even my father, can control me. But you... You can make me feel, hate, anger, jealousy, and need--all in one go. You get under my skin without even realizing it. And I resent that deeply. That´s why I try to stay away from you. And whenever I can´t help it, I try to incite the same feelings in you. But you know what´s so annoying? It doesn´t work! You listen there and nod calmly afterwards. And the fact that you don´t care at all... that distresses me more than you can ever imagine!"

Harry gaped at him after the monologue. He had expected Draco to say something but never something like this.

"Are you satisfied now?" Draco seemed to have calmed down a little. He was looking down at the floor, refusing to meet Harry´s eyes.

"There´s nothing wrong with feeling sometimes," Harry said softly. Slowly, hesitantly, as if he was afraid that Draco might reject him, he touched the blonde´s chin and raised it. They stared at each other. "You don´t have to be cold your whole life."

"Is that how you see me?" Draco smiled bitterly. "A cold fish?"

Harry chuckled. "I wouldn´t if you would let something show from under that thick hide of pride you wear all the time."

Draco grinned. He couldn´t help it. The laugh was infectious. But it wouldn´t last for long. The smile disappeared to be replaced by a troubled frown.

"Now that you know... what do you intend to do?"

"I´m not sure," Harry answered. The ghost of a smile played along his lips. "What do you want me to do?"

Draco didn´t answer. He stood there silently, afraid to speak. He was feeling suspiciously warm again. Harry always made him feel strange.

"Draco," Harry murmured. "When you said I made you feel need, what did you mean by that?" He took Draco´s hand in his own. "What do you need?"

A few seconds of silence stretched between them.

"You," Draco said simply.

Harry released him and stepped back. Something black and empty leapt in Draco´s chest, threatening to engulf his whole being. So this was how rejection felt.

But Harry didn´t go. He just stood there, smiling. "Well, here I am."

The empty space burned and was slowly replaced by joy. A funny, radiating kind of joy. Draco couldn´t believe what he heard. He never knew that dreams could turn to reality this way.

He stepped towards Harry, closing the gap between them. They stood eye to eye, chin to chin. Their breaths mingled between them, creating a spark only they could feel.

"You know, that´s a very dangerous offer." Without giving Harry a chance to reply, Draco leaned just a little and claimed Harry´s lips.

Their kiss was soft, tentative. In a while, it deepened to match their passion as Harry wound his arms around Draco, holding the Slytherin close to him. In the space of a heartbeat, he knew that he was trapped. He would rather die than let Draco go once more.

The kiss ended tenderly, naturally. They smiled at each other, feeling extremely silly, fluffy, and corny. They both knew that they were on the threshold of something beautiful. Something new. All they had to do was take the courage to enter.

"Harry?"

He gazed at the blue eyes that were now turned to him with trust.

"I´m no longer scared."

"I know."

Their heads bent towards each other once more. At that instant, they heard the roar of the crowds and the chanting of hundreds of students. Harry peered out the window.

"It seems that Ravenclaw won."

"Oh!" Draco pouted. "I thought they were cheering us."

Harry laughed. "Mind if I kiss you now?"

"I don´t see anyone objecting."

So he did. And they did. It turned out to be a long Saturday afternoon.

Sometimes, all one had to do was ask.

-fin-