To Dance

Chapter 12: To Wake Up

Harry sat bolt upright, breathing heavily and feeling cold sweat on his skin. Gasping for breath and trying to remember the dream he had been having, he glanced around. The light coming in from the tower window suggesting it was a just after sunrise. Feeling slightly more calm, he lay back on the bed and tried to remember what he had been dreaming about. However, as soon as he tried to grasp a part of it, it seemed to evade his consciousness and after a while, he simply gave up.

Rolling over to face the day, Harry squinted at the window pouring in the vague morning rays of sunlight. He sighed, remembering tomorrow was the end of the week and he could finally find some relaxation from his recent problems. Rolling back onto his back, he stretched his arms over his head, pondering what he would do once classes ended for the day.

A sudden noise caused Harry to jerk his attention back to the window. A small black owl was hovering at the glass, tapping in mid flight to get in. Harry quickly hurried to let the small bird in and relive it of its burden in the form of a small envelope secured at its leg. Having delivered the letter, the small bird flew swiftly from the room and back into the cold dawn.

Curiously, Harry noted the letter to be for him in a vaguely familiar script. Hesitantly, he opened the envelope and let the parchment slip out to fall into his waiting hands.


Harry,
I hope if you ever get mauled by bears.....


That was all it said, with a few scribbles and completely blacked out words. There was no signature on the letter. It was honestly the weirdest thing he had ever received in a letter. If this was some sort of code he was completely floored as to what it could mean, aside from gruesome animal attacks. He tried to think of someone who would have written the letter but could think of none. Sighing, Harry, folded up the letter and placed it in the photo album of his parents which resided in his bedside table for future thought. Confirming he wouldn't get any more sleep with the dawn streaming in now through the window, Harry reluctantly pulled himself from bed to shower before breakfast.

His mind quickly changed however, when upon entering the bathroom Harry caught sight of the twins, whispering to each other. Upon hearing him enter they turned to him, getting matching grins on their features. He promptly turned around and left, deciding to instead take a shower later. Feeling there was nothing better to do, he quickly dressed and went down to breakfast.

The hall was unusually deserted from what Harry was accustomed to. However, it being so early, this didn't strike him as odd. Yawning slightly, Harry made his way to the Gryffindor table and plopped down in front of an appealing row of toast. Selecting a piece and spreading marmalade on it, Harry glanced up briefly to see who was around. A few feet from him was what looked like a slumped over person. They appeared to be face down on the table and were unmoving save for the slight rise and fall of breathing. Harry furrowed his brows as he studied the unconscious person, trying to remember who had hair that blond in Gryffindor.

More out of early morning stupidity and curiosity that actual interest, Harry picked up a crust of toast from his plate and tossed it at the slumped person. It hit the other square on the side of the head, bouncing off and leaving a few crumbs. Smiling in amusement like a young child, Harry waited for a reaction. The other figure didn't move. Harry waited for a few more minutes. Nothing. Slightly disappointed, Harry turned back to his marmalade and toast. A second later something hit him rather harshly on the side of the face. Jumping in shock, Harry quickly spun around, looking for the attacker. No one else was in the hall save for an extremely bleary eyed Ravenclaw who seemed to be confused about the milk jug.

Confused, Harry looked back down at the table to see what had been thrown at him. His crust of toast lay about a foot from his plate. Apprehensively, Harry reached out to pick it up. It was definitely his toast. He quickly looked at the slumped figure. It hadn't moved. Feeling slightly bemused, Harry turned back to his toast, the other crust still held lightly in his hand. Absently, he reached for the coffee pot. He froze as his hand closed on the handle, and another hand. Hesitantly, Harry looked up to see who had hold of the coffee pot. The slumped figure had moved. It had extended an arm to grab the coffee pot which Harry was also currently holding. Harry gave an experimental tug. He was met with an extremely strong and forceful tug, startling him and, with a yelp, he launched from his seat to extend halfway across the table, now only about two feet from the slumped figure.

As the figure raised it's head Harry realized why he was having a hard time placing the student. He wasn't from Gryffindor. He also wasn't from Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Harry stared dumbly at Draco Malfoy as the other boy glared at him though slightly bloodshot eyes. After a moment, the morning silence was broken. "My coffee." Harry took a moment to realize Malfoy had just spoken. Raising an eyebrow, Harry gave a very small tug on the pot. Malfoy glared and tightened his grip. "Mine," he growled from clenched teeth.

"Share?" Harry suggested. It seemed that at this hour in the morning the two reverted to childlike conversational tactics. Malfoy shook his head, still glaring at Harry. "Please?" Harry added.

Malfoy seemed to consider him for a moment, before looking to the coffee pot, back at Harry, and then resting his gaze on the pot, debating. After a moment he seemed to come to a conclusion and, ignoring or not registering Harry's grip on the pot, tipped the coffee into the mug closest to him, filling it to the brim with steaming coffee. Seemingly satisfied, he leaned forward and, not even bothering to pick it up, slurped a substantial about of coffee from the mug. Harry watched in fascinated horror as Malfoy grinned foolishly, his eyes drooping, before the Slytherin slumped sideways on the table, arm still outstretched and gripping the coffee pot.

Harry stared at Malfoy in disbelief as the other boy's chest slowly rose and fell. It seemed Malfoy had actually fallen asleep again. Feeling somewhat annoyed, Harry released his hold on the coffee pot, giving it up as a lost battle, and went back to his toast, brooding over the lack of coffee. A second later he stared in shock as the cup in front of him slowly filled with the black liquid and he slowly raised his head to stare at Malfoy, who was in mid yawn and about six inches from his face, seemingly having left his seat and traveled to Harry's side of the table and begun to pour him coffee in about twelve seconds without Harry noticing.

Malfoy finished pouring the coffee and then finished yawning, his eyes drooping dangerously again. Harry watched apprehensively as Malfoy clumsily put down the pot of coffee. Suddenly the blond slumped into Harry. With a slight squeak, Harry tried to lean out of the way, but instead found himself with an armful of Slytherin, again asleep and unexpectedly heavy leaning against Harry as he sat and struggled to throw him off.

"Get off!" Harry spat through his grimace as he attempted to shove Malfoy off of him. Malfoy said nothing and instead slipped to rest half of the bench and half into Harry. The Gryffindor felt his face being to burn as he stared incredulously at the blond currently snuggling into his lap. After the moment of shock, Harry's limbs seemed to understand the situation and began flailing and attempting to shove Malfoy off. "Get off! Get off you stupid git!" Harry half yelled, fuming. Leaning backwards and pushing with all his might, Harry managed to finally shove Malfoy off of him. The other boy wobbled up, somewhat sitting, before, cracking his eyes, still half asleep, seeing Harry, and falling back towards him.

"No!" Harry yelled, jutting out his arms and holding the wavering Malfoy at bay. "No! No lap for you! Go back to your own table!"

Malfoy's head lolled to face Harry, and his eyes opened slowly. Harry watched, bracing himself, as Malfoy blinked a few times, eyes still drowned in sleep. Malfoy's gaze traveled up and down Harry before finally resting back on his emerald eyes. The eyes squinted in confusion. "Harry?" Malfoy quietly said, obviously confused. Harry stared. Since when had they been on a first name basis?

"Potter," Harry supplied, trying to bring things back to reality and away from Malfoy addressing him informally and sleeping on him.

Malfoy blinked at him. He sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned heavily against Harry's arms and Harry grit his teeth with the effort of keeping the other propped up. "Harry," Malfoy repeated sleepily. Harry was finding the task of keeping Malfoy propped up becoming extremely tiring and his arms began to ache.

Suddenly Malfoy reached out and grabbed Harry, pulling him towards the Slytherin and crushing the two of them together as Harry yelped and struggled frantically trying to break from the pair of arms attempting to clamp around him and stop movement. "Let go!" He yelled, getting an arm loose and flailing it about, trying to release the other. A moment too late, Harry realized the consequences of his failing out to the side as he and Malfoy began to lean dangerously off the bench toward the floor. "No," Harry began, flinging his arm around the other direction to grab the table and finding it very inconveniently far away as he tilted farther and farther. "No, no, no. NO NO NO NO N-ACK!"

With a loud flump the two boys tumbled to the floor in a tangle of limbs, Malfoy pulling Harry closer to him and Harry clawing desperately with his free hand with a pained expression on his face. After his twentieth attempt to grapple with the floor, Harry gave up, breathing heavily on the floor, Malfoy's arms still firmly clamped around his waist. Looking down at the blond, Harry scowled, trying to shift his hips and legs in order to kick the Slytherin off him but no use, the other boy was lying on top of those as well.

Exasperated, Harry allowed his head to roll back onto the floor to rest, his eyes scanning around for people. Of course, as if to add to his troubles, the one person he least wanted to see was walking along the staff table, wearing an amused smirk.

"Good Morning, Potter."

Harry gulped, extremely aware of his position at the moment. "Good Morning, Professor."

"May I inquire as to what is going on?" Professor Snape drawled out, the smirk still tugging at his mouth.

Harry tried to swallow, finding words extremely difficult at the moment. "Morning exercises," he supplied, trying his best not to leave a question at the end of his sentence.

Snape smirked. "I see," he said, black eyes glinting. Without saying anything more, Snape turned and glided out of the Great Hall. Harry watched him leave, catching sight of the sky outside. It didn't seem like much time had passed since the sky was still pale.

Scowling, Harry dispassionately poked at Malfoy, causing the boy to squirm somewhat as he lay on Harry's abdomen. Feeling there was nothing else he could do in this position, Harry poked slightly harder. Malfoy twitched unhappily. Harry grinned in spite of himself. He prodded Malfoy sharply and he jerked, trying to escape the unwanted touches. Harry was about to prod him again when Malfoy looked up at him, scowling somewhat and slightly less bleary eyed. "Harry."

"Potter," Harry immediately supplied. It seemed they had begun a game of collaboratively completing Harry's name over and over.

Malfoy's eyes seemed to clear for a moment, and he began to blink furiously, before raising a hand and rubbing at his face feverishly. Harry watched him, wondering if he was actually waking up. After a moment or two, Malfoy looked back at Harry.

"Why am I lying on top of you, Potter?"

Harry almost laughed in happiness. Malfoy stared at his look of happiness in disbelief and confusion. "You called me Potter," Harry answered his look.

"When do I not?"

Harry was about to reply, thought better of it, and simply shook his head.
-------

"Wha- what are you doing?" Harry stammered out five minutes later, still shocked at the Slytherin's close proximity and appearance at a table which wasn't his own.

"Looking at you," Malfoy responded. Harry blinked at him, missing the insincerity of the answer. Malfoy sighed and returned to a standing position. "I'm bored and no one is around. Then you showed up. What are you doing so early, Potter?"

Harry scoffed and, having composed himself, took a bite of toast. After chewing, he replied, "I could ask you the same."

"Crabbe fell out of bed. Shook the whole room. Once I'm awake I have a hard time going back to sleep."

Harry watched Malfoy for a moment, disbelieving that the blond was being so open with him. When Malfoy seemed to pay no heed to this, Harry leaned back and studied him.

"Something interest you, Potter?" Malfoy inquired, noting Harry's scrutinizing look.

"The fact that you're not being hostile and trying to hex me," Harry replied simply. "And you're telling me about your personal life."

Malfoy yawned. "It's early. I don't function well in the mornings. I'm practically delusional right now."

Harry, in spite of himself, almost smiled. "I see."

Malfoy stretched and snatched a piece of toast himself, biting into it casually. "In fact. For all I know, I am hallucinating and talking to air and not you, making me look quite ridiculous. However, as long as there's coffee and toast, at the moment I don't care." he chewed passively and rested his elbows on the table, slouching somewhat.

It was the first time Harry had ever seen Malfoy actually act passive and nonchalant, actually slouching, which was something he never did. "You sure it was Crabbe who fell out of bed and not you? Maybe you hit your head or something."

"Ah ha," Malfoy drawled, taking another bite of toast and using it to gesture at Harry. "See, if I had fallen out of bed, I would have a great horrible lump on my head from where it collided with the floor. As far as I can observe, I have no such lump. Also, you have now mentioned it. On top of that, I now know I am hallucinating, because the Potter I know would have never asked me that sort of question so casually and shown the slightest concern in my well being. Therefore, I am, in fact, delusional."

Harry stared at the Slytherin as he continued to munch on his toast, gazing at Harry with a sort of distant expression on his face. Finishing the toast, Malfoy leaned back, brushed off his hands, folding his arms on the table, and, quite literally, slumped over to rest his head. Harry stared in amazement and horrified shock as the blond appeared to begin to take a cat nap on the table of his opposing house.

"Oi!" Harry said loudly, picking up a piece of toast and throwing it at the blond. "Go to your own table to sleep!"

Malfoy ignored him.

Harry huffed, stood up, grumbling to himself, and walked around the table so he was standing near the Slytherin. Feeling exasperated, Harry pointedly jabbed the Slytherin in the side with his foot. Malfoy grumbled and picked up the piece of toast Harry had thrown at him and hurled it at Harry's head. Harry dodged it easily and kicked Malfoy again. "Go back to your own table!" Harry snapped, losing his patience and feeling the lack of sleep crawl up on him. Malfoy grumbled but finally got up and staggered across the hall to his own table, where he promptly collapsed next to a giant pot of coffee.

Harry sat back down an picked up his forgotten toast, every now and then glancing across the hall to see if Malfoy had moved from his slumped position on Slytherin table. He half contemplated hurling another crust of toast across the hall to see if it would entice a reaction, but thought better of it when Professor Snape entered the hall and sat down at the Staff table yet again, beady black eyes surveying the Great Hall over his morning pastry.

However, now sitting in the almost empty Great Hall, Harry couldn't help but think back to Hermione's words from the previous night. He's been acting so, well, friendly. It's unlike him. Staring at the pale boy currently snoring softy into the table, Harry couldn't help but think that maybe she was right.