The New Lightning Bolt

Chapter Ten

Hairdos That Do

After getting back from the conference and having many more pictures taken of him, Draco Malfoy went to check up on Harry Potter. It was true he could just connect their minds and evaluate him himself, but there was an issue he wanted to discuss something personally with him. He walked into the Hospital wing to find the Weasel and the Mudblood questioning him. Draco decided that Harry looked bored. No, no, no! He corrected himself by concluding Potter looked bored. Not Harry, but Potter.

Get it straight, Malfoy told himself.

Harry looked over his friend's heads to see him standing in the doorway unsure if he wanted to come in. Harry looked immensely relieved to see him. Why? He couldn't think of any other reason than to distract himself from the questions of Ron and Hermione.

Get what straight? Harry asked.

Malfoy looked surprised for a second then covered it up with a scowl.

Keep out of my head, Potter.

Why are you here?

Just came to see my handy work.

Harry made a mental growl that startled Draco. Get lost.

What crawled up your ass and died?

A ferret with an over inflated ego.

Although I am insulted I must once again congratulate you on a response with more than three words.

"What the fuck do you want Malfoy?" Ron said as he turned around. While Hermione was filling Harry on what homework he missed Ron noticed Harry looking over his head in the distance.

Draco reached into his robes and pulled out his wand and noticed that Hermione and Ron jumped up and did the same. He rolled his eyes. I was just going to tell them what I wanted. What a bunch of losers.

Harry growled more ferociously and snapped his fingers to get his friend's attention. They turned their heads, but kept the wands outstretched. Harry pointed down and Hermione immediately gasped and went to pick up her precious books that fell unnoticed from her lap as she stood up to defend Harry. Harry tried to get Ron to lower his wand, but he was too damn stubborn.

"What the hell do you want, Malfoy?" Ron asked menacingly.

Call him off, Potter, Draco thought to him.

Answer him.

I wanted to talk to you privately.

Harry grabbed the piece of paper he had been explaining his window escapade on and wrote down what Malfoy wanted. He snapped his fingers and handed Ron the note. He read it.

"Fat chance, Malfoy. You aren't going anywhere near Harry after the stunt you pulled." He motioned towards the door with his wand. "Go," he ordered. Hermione nodded her head in agreement.

Call him off, Potter.

Harry waved his hand at the parchment in Ron's hand, but he crushed it up after reading Harry's word.

He won't listen and unless you want your already jacked up hair neon green I suggest you listen to him.

First, my hair is not jacked up and second, I don't take orders from a weasel.

Stop insulting my friends, Swirly.

Madame Pomfrey came into the room levitating bottles to see Ron Weasley's wand raised at Draco Malfoy. She just got momentarily distracted and the incantation she was smart enough to put on the bottles, this time, broke. The new shipment of Snape's potions headed towards the floor. With the reflexes of Seekers and the ability to do wandless magic without incantations, Draco and Harry sprung into action with flicks of their wrists. The bottles stopped half an inch of the floor. Madame Pomfrey's ass was saved once again from the wrath of the Potion Master.

"He can do wandless magic, too?" Hermione gasped as Malfoy pocketed his, or rather Voldemort's, wand.

Harry rolled his eyes and casted a sorting charm on the bottles for Madame Pomfrey. He then summoned the piece of paper from Ron's fingers, via hand, and started to write his thoughts.

Could you two leave us so that I may talk to Swirly in private?

He handed Hermione the note, which was automatically snatched up by a furious Ron.

"We are not leaving you alone with this fucking monster!" Ron roared.

"Mister Weasley, do mind your mouth and please put your wand away," Madame Pomfrey said as she snapped out of her thoughts of Malfoy's pretty cowlick by Ron's screaming. "Mr. Potter needs his rest and visiting hours are over. You make see him tomorrow morning."

"Fine by me," Ron said as he started to crack his knuckles menacingly at Draco.

What a loser.

Draco magicked the paper out of Weasley's hand into Madame Pomfrey's. In his neatest handwriting he could muster without actually using a quill he wrote:

I was wondering if I might be able to talk to him for five more minutes. We promise to behave.

He gave her an innocent smile and ran a hand through his swirl. Oh how she loved his hair. Without really registering what she was doing, she ushered Ron, Hermione, and herself out the door to give him and Mr. Potter some privacy. Draco turned to look at Harry who was rolling his eyes.

What?

You charmed her with your hair, how gay.

Ah yes, I do believe that is a "privilege" we talked about. You could have done the same thing by being innocent and broken looking. She would have taken pity on you and would have done anything you asked her.

I don't have "privileges," Malfoy.

Fine, go ahead and deny it, but I won't. This is the thing I have been waiting for...

What...jacked up hair?

No, Scar Head, opportunity. I now-

You know what?

Is someone going to get thrown out a window again for interrupting me?

Ha ha no. I was going to say that it must suck not being able to control one's hair.

Why are you talking about that? You have no ntrol over your hair!

Oh, but I do. I just choose to leave it looking messy.

Psh. Yeah right.

No seriously.

Prove it.

Harry took both his hands and brushed his hair back using some of his magic. When he was done his hairdo was that of Draco Malfoy's before the swirl incident.

See?

That is definitely not the hairdo for you, Potter.

I just did it to prove my point.

Draco looked at his hair for a couple of minutes and had an idea.

Potter, mind if I change your hair?

What are you going to do?

I am going to improve your looks.

I don't trust you.

Oh come on. I promise I won't do anything bad. Please.

I think that is the first time I heard you say please, Malfoy.

Don't make me say it again.

What are you going to do?

You'll just have to trust me.

I'll only concede if you let me change yours.

What?!!?!?!

Fair trade.

No one touches my hair but me.

And Madame Pomfrey...besides you can always change it back if you don't like it.

Um...

Please.

Fine, but if I don't like it, and even though I can change it, you still are going through the window.

Fine.

You first.

Draco jumped up onto the bed where Harry was sitting and straddled his lap. He placed his thumbs over Harry's eyes and magicked them shut.

Why did you do that?

So you don't peek.

You could have asked me to just shut my eyes.

Where's the fun in that? No exploring my surroundings, you hear?

Fine, but that sounded bad.

Draco shut off his mental link with Potter and started. The first thing he did was run his fingers through his hair and cut some of it off in the process. He levitated the falling hair so it wouldn't alarm Harry. He cut the back short and left the top long where he spiked it with some charms.

Now, Draco thought to himself, what color should I die the tips? Red would look good on his dark hair, but I don't want to deal with anything Gryffindor unless I have to. Green would accent his eyes very much and since he doesn't have his glasses any more it would seem perfect, but I doubt he'll want anything Slytherin on h... wait a minute. Silver! Even though it's Slytherin, silver would be the perfect color. He's going to look like a hunk when I'm done with him...WHAT AM I SAYING? Thank god he can't hear this. He is already a hunk.

Draco screamed at himself for those thoughts and mentally slapped himself about a hundred times. He took the tips of Harry's hair and rubbed silver magic hair dye on all of them. He discontinued the mental shut out and sat back on Harry's legs to evaluate his work. The levitated the hair over to the wastebasket.

Are you done?

Not yet.

He took some of the front hair and gelled it over his eyes somewhat to give him a more mysterious look and he disarranged the spikes to give him a true controlled messy look.

Done.

Harry's eyes were allowed to open after he said that word and the sight of Malfoy staring at him intensely greeted him. Harry hoped that he hadn't done anything bad. He reached up a hand to touch it, but Malfoy slapped it down.

You do mine and then we'll look into a mirror at the same time.

How do you know I won't cheat?

I trust you.

You do?

Sure, Potter. And plus if you do cheat I will throw you out the window.

Harry rolled his eyes and they switched positions. Draco grabbed Harry's wrists.

What?

Oh don't mind me, I am just making sure your hands don't stray to touch your hair.

Whatever.

Harry did what Draco did to him and magically closed his eyes. While Draco doing Harry's hair, Harry came up with a plan of what to do. So he closed off his mind and set to work. He dyed the ends of Malfoy's hair silver and faded it up into his natural blonde color. It looked, well, different, but a good different. Definitely good. He touched some silver into the swirl and Harry could see why Madame Pomfrey was so gaga over it. The silver he used was very shiny.

The next thing Malfoy hadn't consented to, but he felt that it would finish the deed. Get your mind out of the gutter. He took his hospital shirt and concentrated very hard and transfigured it into an earring, but not just any earring. It was exactly how he pictured it and he knew he could never have done it without the intense power that came from wandless magic. He could feel Draco trying to question him about why he stopped, but he ignored it because of the mental block.

The earring was a silver chain with four piercing studs and when they were in the chain would hang down a bit. He took the backs of the four studs off and magicked the earring along Draco's left ear. He took some time placing them exactly the same amount of space apart and then magicked the backs to the back of his ear. They aligned themselves with the studs and waited for the command to be brought together in one swift motion.

Harry held his right hand over Draco's left ear and his other hand came to rest on his neck. He felt Draco tense with nervousness and his hands gripped Harry's wrists a little harder.

Now, Harry thought and all four studs went through Draco's ear. He jumped. Harry had his hand over Draco's ear to heal and sooth it. In a couple of seconds it was healed and he wouldn't have to spend a month of disinfecting it every day.

Done.

He opened his eyes to scowl but the sight of a shirtless Harry on top of him stalled him. He snapped out of it soon enough.

What did you do?! That hurt.

Get over it and come see what I did.

Harry got off Draco and led him to the hospital bathroom, where they both gasped. Harry ran his hand up the back of his head where Draco had cut/shave with his magic. It felt oddly satisfying to have a hair cut. His spikes were awesome. Draco admired the dye job. He liked how it didn't just stop an inch from the ends but bled up to his natural color and the earring gave a certain edge to him.

Good job, Malfoy.

Naturally.

Do you foresee a window accident in my future?

No. You did better than expected.

What did you expect?

A joke hairdo, but I never thought I could look anymore handsome.

You're welcome.

Draco turned to look at Harry. Thank you.

"Boys!"

She gave us more than five minutes.

They walked out of the bathroom and Madame Pomfrey turned around and gasped. She took in the scene before her and almost melted. She snapped out of when they gave each other a raised eyebrow over her actions.

She cleared her throat. "Mr. Potter, where is your shirt?"

Draco turned to take a better look at Potter without his shirt and was surprised to see lots of muscles. It went all down his back and his front, but he was disappointed to see gauze wrapped around the torso. Bloody gauze.

"While you have it off come here and let me check your wound."

He complied and Draco followed. It was completely healed thanks to Professor Snape's potions, but there was a white scar running diagonally across his stomach.

"Oh dear," Madame Pomfrey said running a finger across it to see if the skin would hold under pressure. "I tried not to leave a scar."

Harry just shook his head and shrugged in a 'it doesn't matter' way. He wiped a hand over it and hid it with a glamour charm.

Madame Pomfrey shook her head and said that he was dismissed. "If it should cause anymore pain, come here straight away. Do you understand?" Harry nodded. "Good, now off you go it is past bedtime and you have classes tomorrow."

Harry and Draco nodded in appreciation and left. They walked in silence until they got to a point where they had to separate ways.

What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?

I'll tell you in the morning.

Ok.

Night.

Night.

Harry climbed into bed smiling because when Ron and Hermione woke up tomorrow they were in for a surprise.

Thanks for the earring. Harry heard Draco say.

Welcome.

***

Harry woke up and groped for his glasses. Why do I keep doing that? He looked around and Ron wasn't there. The other boys were asleep and would be until five minutes before class. He went into the bathroom and fixed his hair. Draco was right about it improving his looks. He liked the way he looked. He got dressed and went into the common room to look for Ron but he wasn't there nor was Hermione. A couple of people looked at him strangely and he heard a couple of whispers about him being the new kid. The way Draco made the hair cover somewhat of his eyes definitely made him mysterious.

The Great Hall was exactly the same, no one knew who he was except one person at the Slytherin table.

Harry? I mean ... Potter?

Yes? He said as he glanced over on his way to his table. Girls were all around him and the guys were looking on enviously with the occasional drool.

I did a nice job.

You did. No one knows who I am. I see the ladies think I did a nice job as well.

They do. They especially like the earrings.

Good, Harry thought to him as he sat down.

Where are your followers?

I don't know where my friends are.

Speak of the devils.

Harry looked up to find Ron and Hermione entering the Great hall with looks of concern. Harry listened to their conversation as they sat totally unaware that Harry was a few seats over.

"I don't know, Herm. He wasn't in the Hospital Wing and when we went back to the dormitories he wasn't there."

"You should have checked his bed first before we set off to go visit him," Hermione said.

"Malfoy had something to do with this and I know it."

Harry felt Draco in his mind watching Hermione and Ron try to explain where Harry was. He felt him laugh and Harry laughed with him, though no sound came out.

"Malfoy didn't do anything, Ron."

"How do you know? Where is the little bugger anyways?" Ron said twisting around in his seat. "Well, would you look at that?"

"What," Hermione asked twisting in her seat? "Oh, my."

"Oh, my what?" Ron asked sounding offended.

"That hairdo does do him, doesn't it?" Hermione said gawking. "That earring it delicious."

"Hermione!"

Draco was laughing very hard from viewing this and decided to make it more interesting. He glanced up from one of the many girls surrounding him that he was pretending to listen to and looked directly at Hermione. He smiled and winked. She blushed and turned around quickly.

"Why that little son of a..." Ron said starting to get up.

"Ron, please. Sit down," she said grabbing his hand.

Potter, hear this.

Harry went into Malfoy's mind and listened to the conversation going around him.

"Oh, Draco you look so good. Do you know who that tall, dark, and handsome one is over there? Too bad he's Gryffindor, I would take you both on."

"Me too."

"Me three."

Draco smirked. You up for it, Potter?

"Harry Potter!" Hermione screamed from the high table. He whipped his head around and exited Malfoy's mind to see Albus Dumbledore pointing at him and Hermione looking like she would kill him when she got over there. Apparently when he wasn't looking Hermione went to ask Professor Dumbledore where he was.

"Harry?"

He whipped his head around once more to look into the disbelieving eyes of his best friend. He smiled. The rest of the school was having a hard time trying to process that their piece of man candy was now even hotter.

Hermione came up behind him and hugged him very, very hard. "You scared the living daylights out of us when we couldn't find you." She let go and he gasped for air. She seemed to be reminiscing when she came out of it and punched him very hard. "That was for watching us making a fool of ourselves worrying about you."

"I like your hair, Harry," Ron said as stared at it in awe. Harry mouthed a thank you while rubbing where Hermione hit him. "It was about time you got a hair cut, no offense."

Harry shrugged and waved a "none taken" hand.

"The chicks are going to be all over you Harry. Who did that to you?" Hermione asked running her hand up the side of his head. It tickled to Harry, but pissed Ron off.

Ron cleared his throat. "We better get moving or we'll be late for Potions."

"Oh dear," Hermione said picking up her school bag. "We should go!"

Harry rolled his eyes, but is friends didn't see because of the mysterious hairdo. They exited the Great Hall where eyes followed Harry out and a few catcalls too. He grinned which seemed to trigger some whistles.

***

Class began as Snape entered the room in his usual dramatic way.

"I want you to get into partners and begin the following potion." He flicked his wand and instructions appeared on the board. "Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy," Snape said and the whole class fell silent waiting for what was to come. "I expect no fighting or transferring of magic to happen in this class room ever again. It took a lot of time transfiguring all your classmate's belongings back to how they belonged and I don't want it to happen again...ever. Do you understand?"

They nodded.

"Good. Now get to work," he barked.

The class went into action though most of their concentration was on the two hottest males Hogwart's has ever seen. Spills and mistakes were happening left and right, which irritated Snape to no end. "Pay attention," he would yell from time to time, but this would only result in more screw-ups from the class as their precious view was snapped back to work.

***

Harry lounged in a chair by the fire in the Gryffindor common room trying to put his finger on what he was feeling. Two weeks had gone by and the attention was slowly drifting from him, but Malfoy was getting more attention than ever. It seemed that Hogwarts was glad to have a new hero and the fact that he couldn't talk made more of a difference. The girls were swooning over him and he seemed to be enjoying it. The feeling was definitely jealousy. Envy.

It didn't make sense to Harry. He always did stuff to get attention, but when he got it he would shy away from it. He used modesty as a weapon. But when he shied away from it this time the people didn't think it was cute, they just turned their attention to Malfoy. It didn't make sense.

The fact that the Minister of Magic had yet to announce the place of execution for his favorite crazed bastard didn't make sense either. He said during his speech a week, but the week turned into two and is going on to three.

"You alright, Harry?" Ron asked as he checkmated Hermione's king for the third time.

He nodded. He had been practicing writing in the air the past couple of weeks and found it was quite easy to do.

I think I am going to walk around a bit.

Ron read the floating message. "You want company?"

Harry shook his head and erased the message. He exited the portrait hole alone and headed to the Headmaster's office.