How to Save a Life

Harry woke, as usual, with his cock hard and throbbing for attention. He listened carefully for sounds of activity from his room mates and, when satisfied they were all still soundly sleeping, he scurried to the bathroom.

He stripped himself quickly of his clothing and stepped into the shower. Before his body was even wet, he had his hand fisting his cock with urgency, his arousal heightened by the thought that he could be discovered at any moment. After only a few minutes of frantic rubbing, he was biting his lip hard to keep from crying out as his cum spurted onto the tiles.

As he watched his seed wash down the plughole he felt the usual sense of emptiness that overtook him at these moments. To begin with it had been self loathing, plain and simple. But now there was more to it, sure he still felt disgust, but there was sadness mixed in with it now and this overwhelming feeling of loneliness.

Hearing sounds of movement coming from the bedroom, Harry shook his cloud of depression off as best he could. He wrapped a towel round his waist and exited the shower just as Seamus walked in. The Irish boy flashed a warm grin at him.

“Morning Harry, you’re up early.”

Harry could have sworn that he saw Seamus’s eyes travel down to his crotch as he spoke. He flushed and tried to smile back.

“Yeah, just couldn’t sleep.”

Harry then scooted past his friend back into the dormitory. Scrabbling for his clothes, he dressed in his uniform as quickly as possible and, grabbing his robes, he headed out of the room before Seamus returned.

It was true that Harry hadn’t been able to sleep that well, but there was another reason for his early rising. It was all part of his plan to deal with, what he had dubbed ‘the Ginny situation’. Harry was naive, but not even he believed that Ginny Weasley would give up that easily. And with all the emotional maturity of a teenage boy, he had decided the best course of action was simply to avoid her.

There were very few students in the Great Hall when Harry entered and he felt a sudden shudder rush though him. Last night, at the Welcome Feast, the hall had been full. But now, with it so empty and silent, he kept imagining he could see bodies everywhere; Tonks, Remus, Fred and so many more, only their eyes were open and looking at him filled with reproach.

“Mr Potter.”

Harry turned to face his Headmistress, so relieved to have been dragged from his thoughts.

Professor McGonagall saw the troubled look in Harry’s eyes but said nothing, only resolved to keep an eye on the boy. She had always thought Dumbledore had put too much responsibility on his young shoulders and she felt a slight twinge of guilt that she might be about to do the same.

“Yes Professor?”

Harry smiled at his old head of house and looked at her expectantly.

“I would like you to come to my office after your breakfast Mr Potter; there is something I wish to discuss with you.”

“In trouble already Potter,” a voice drawled before Harry could respond.

He turned round and found himself looking at the smirking face of Draco Malfoy.

“You look tired Malfoy, late night?” Harry shot back.

Malfoy’s smirk widened, so much so that Harry began to think it was actually a genuine smile.

“I will also need to see you and Miss Parkinson, Mr Malfoy. I will give you 30 minutes to eat and then I expect you to come to my office. Mr Potter, I will expect you 15 minutes after that. Do not be late.”

With that parting shot, Professor McGonagall swept away from them without waiting for a reply. Harry turned to offer his own smirk to Malfoy and that was when he noticed a very odd thing.

Not only was Malfoy accompanied by his usual band of cronies, it seemed he had the whole of Slytherin House waiting patiently behind him. Raising an eyebrow at the long column of students, Harry turned to the blonde boy at its head.

“Fancy yourself as the Pied Piper then Malfoy?”

The blank look on the other boys face told Harry that his joke had gone unrecognised. Malfoy scrunched up his nose and stared at him with his piercing grey eyes.

“Surely you have learned by now that your muggle references are wasted on me Potter?”

Though it became apparent that he had, in part, understood what Harry was driving at, as he turned to his housemates and waved them on towards the Slytherin table. Pansy had remained at his side and Harry now turned his attention to her. He noticed that her hand was clutched tightly to Malfoy’s arm and her eyes still had that wide and nervous look that he had seen the day before on the train.

“Pansy, how are you?”

It felt strange to Harry that he had known this girl for 7 years and yet this was the first time he had ever addressed her by her given name. He was rewarded with a small smile from the girl.

“I’m ok Harry. I wanted to thank you for yesterday.”

Harry shrugged her thanks off.

“It was nothing, don’t mention it,” there was almost a plea in his voice at this last remark.

“Nonsense Potter,” came Malfoy’s crisp tones. “You were quite clearly Pansy’s knight in shining armour and for that you have the gratitude of Slytherin House – for what its worth to you.”

Harry couldn’t quite decide if Malfoy was mocking him or not, but decided that the look on Pansy’s face was genuine enough so he let it go.

Harry watched as the two of them headed off to their table, Pansy’s hand still holding tight to Malfoy as she turned round and flashed a brief smile at him.

“What the hell was that about?”

Harry turned round to find a red faced Ron staring at him, anger evident in his eyes. He bit down the angry retort that was on the tip of his tongue and spoke to his friend calmly instead.

“I was just saying morning to them Ron, there’s no need to look like that.”

“Why the hell would you waste your breath on scum like that,” Ron almost snarled at him.

Harry sighed, “They spoke to me Ron, and I could hardly ignore them.” Harry paused and thought for a moment before continuing.

“You really should let it go Ron, the war is over and they aren’t the enemy.”

Ron looked at him with such an expression of rage on his face, that Harry felt sure he was going to explode.

“I can’t believe you’re fucking defending them Harry. Have you forgotten who they are? What they did?”

Ron’s voice echoed round the hall and drew the attention of all its occupants. Harry looked at his friends’ angry face and suddenly felt very tired. He reached out a hand and placed it tentatively on Ron’s arm.

“I don’t want to argue with you Ron; can’t we just agree to disagree on this point?”

“No, you can’t have it both ways Harry, you have to pick a side!” Harry’s hand was flung off Ron’s arm with such force that he staggered back slightly.

“I don’t HAVE to do anything Ron, not anymore.” Harry spoke so softly that it was almost a whisper.

“They killed Fred, have you forgotten that?” Ron’s hands were grabbing the front of Harry’s robes by now.

Harry struggled to hold on to his temper, he felt nothing but disgust for his friend at that moment. He couldn’t believe that Ron has sunk so low that he would use Fred’s death as an excuse for his behaviour. Taking hold of Ron’s hands firmly and removing them from his robes, Harry looked his friend in the eyes.

“They had nothing to do with Fred and you know it. Don’t you dare use that to justify your behaviour. Now sit down and shut up, before you show yourself up even more than you already have.”

Before Ron could respond, Harry had turned away and was now stalking his way over to the Gryffindor table, not noticing the grey eyes that followed his every move.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco watched the argument from the other side of the Hall with a faint sense of hope rising inside him. He tried to repress it, tell himself it didn’t mean anything, but a little voice at the back of his head kept saying the same thing, over and over –Potter had just defended him. He had just had a row with his best friend in the middle of the Great Hall and it had all been because the Weasel had insulted Draco and Potter had defended him.

He watched as Potter sank into his seat at the Gryffindor table and noticed how the flush of anger on his cheeks made his eyes seem to glow, even from this distance. That pleased Draco; he had noticed last night that those green eyes didn’t seem to flash with emotion in quite the way that he remembered them.

He tried to ignore the insistent nudges that were coming from Pansy, but one last sharp dig to his ribs forced him to pay attention to the girl. He knew what she was going to say and although he wanted to hear it from someone else’s lips, he also didn’t want to give himself false hope.

He turned to find the girl smirking at him and wondered, not for the first time, whether the girl had Malfoy blood in her.

“It looks like I’m not the only one with a knight in shining armour Drakie.”

“Pansy, what in God’s name have I told you about using that name in public.”

“Don’t avoid the subject Draco. Potter just defended you, and to the Weasel too. Don’t tell me you aren’t dying to rush over there and kiss him right now.”

“Potter was just being...Potter. You know what he’s like Pansy; he’s all noble and heroic. He was just defending the underdog. Don’t read anything into it, please.”

“But Drakie!” she whined.

“But nothing Pansy, Potter is straight, has a girlfriend and besides, even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t want me. Why would he?”

Pansy looked sharply at her friend, not used to hearing such defeated tones coming from him. She reached out her hand and tucked a loose piece of his blonde hair behind his ear.

“You don’t know any of that’s true, I’ve not seen him within 12 feet of the Weasley girl since we got here and I’m sure I heard last year that he had broken up with her. As for him not being gay, well we just need to find out don’t we? No point worrying about that until we know."

She paused here and placed her fingers on Draco’s chin, turning his head to face her.

“There are many reasons why he should want you Draco; you just need to let him see them.”

Draco twisted his head away from her, huffing.

“As much as I would love to continue this conversation Pansy, I do believe we have an appointment with the Headmistress. So stop yakking and get moving!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Harry hesitated outside the office door, realising that not only did he not know the password but that he wouldn’t even be able to guess anymore. With Dumbledore it had been easier to guess, a quick run through most wizarding sweets, even the occasional muggle one, and one of them would usually gain you entrance.

Just as he raised his hand to knock on the door, it swung open and Harry found himself about to tap on Pansy Parkinson’s face.

“Oh, Sorry about that” he said, blushing furiously and yanking down the offending arm.

He was met by the sight of twin smirks and wondered idly if this was something taught to all Slytherins after sorting.

“Hi Harry”
“Potter”

“Ah Mr Potter, do come in. Mr Malfoy & Miss Parkinson were just about to leave. Thank you for your time you two and do give some consideration to what I said.”

This last was said to the two departing Slytherins, who merely nodded in acknowledgement before leaving the office. Harry watched as the door closed behind them before turning to face his Headmistress.

It was very strange to see Professor McGonagall sitting behind the desk when he was so used to seeing blue eyes twinkling back at him. Harry’s eyes flicked behind her head to where the portrait of Dumbledore hung and was surprised that he was relieved to find it empty.

A further quick look around the walls showed that there was no portrait of the last occupant of this office and although Harry was faintly relieved not to find himself scrutinised by those dark staring eyes, he also wondered why it was not there. Seeing that McGonagall was watching him, Harry decided that now was not the time to ask and he turned his attention back to the Headmistress.

Just then, he noticed the glint of metal on the desk in front of him. As he looked closer he discovered that they were two prefect badges, Slytherin prefect badges.

“You took their prefect badges off them? You can’t do that Professor, it’s not fair.”

The words were out of Harry’s mouth before he could stop them and he was surprised to find Professor McGonagall looking faintly amused at his outburst.

“I can assure you Mr Potter that I have done no such thing. Mr Malfoy & Miss Parkinson decided to resign their prefectship and I was unable to persuade them to reconsider. However that is not what I have called you here to discuss.”

Harry blushed and mumbled an apology, but he couldn’t help wondering what had prompted Malfoy to give up his badge, when he so obviously enjoyed his position of power.

“You may have noticed that there is rather a tense atmosphere in the school at the moment Mr Potter.”

Harry was unable to repress a snort at this and blushed.

“I’m sorry Professor, I didn’t mean to be rude but I think that’s a bit of an understatement.”

Harry watched his Professor’s face and was surprised to find it twisted into an expression of sorrow.

“You’re right Mr Potter. I’m afraid that I completely underestimated how deep the divide between the students was. I heard what happened at Kings Cross yesterday and I’ve seen with my own eyes how the other houses are reacting to the Slytherins. I’m afraid if we don’t do something soon, that the damage will become irreparable and that people will get seriously hurt.”

Harry nodded:

“I understand what you’re saying and I agree with you Professor. But I’m not sure why you are telling me this, what can I do about it?”

“Well, that’s the thing Mr Potter. You see, I rather think that you are the only person who may be able to do anything about it.”

Harry opened his mouth to protest but the words died on his lips at a look from his headmistress.

“I don’t think you understand just quite how much power you hold over the other students Mr Potter. And it’s not just because you defeated Voldemort, although that is a part of it. But they respect you, trust you and as such, are willing to follow you.”

“So you want me to what? Go round hugging Slytherin’s in the hope that everyone else will too. I think you over estimate my abilities Professor. I’ve seen how people react to them and I don’t think there is anything I can say that will make a difference. I couldn’t even get Ron to listen to me this morning.”

Professor McGonagall smiled at that.

“And that’s just the reason that you are the only person who can do this. You might not have got through to Mr Weasley, but you tried, you wanted to. Even before I had chance to speak to you, you had already seen what was happening and knew how wrong it was. And more than that, you were prepared to stand up and do something about it.”

She leaned forward before continuing.

“Harry, you have more reason than anyone else alive today to hold a grudge against them. We’re talking about the children of Death Eaters in some cases – no one would blame you. Yet you don’t, you of all people have been the first to begin to move on, to let go of old rivalries. I don’t expect you to go around making speeches and trying to convert people, I just want you to lead by example.”

Harry leaned back in his chair, the faintest twinge of a headache behind his eyes. This was not what he had signed up for when he agreed to return to Hogwarts. He had just come of 7 years of doing what was expected of him, of having responsibilities for others and now it looked like the cycle was beginning again. He let out a faint sigh and looked up at his Professor.

“I don’t see how it will help, but I’ll do what I can.”

“And I wouldn’t ask for more. Thank you Mr Potter, I know you don’t believe this will help but I have every confidence in you. Now I think maybe it is time you were getting to your first lesson. Professor Slughorn is no Professor Snape, but he does like his students to be on time.”

Harry nodded and rose wearily from his chair. He headed towards the door and as he descended the staircase from the office, he could already feel the familiar weight of expectation starting to crush him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~