Gilded Soul

Draco turned the large iron lock over and over in his hands. Where had he seen the key? Of course, the room of requirement!

Draco woke up and wrote the rest of the dream down, immediately recalling the key he had seen on one of the shelves in the Room of Requirement.

He had been there several times this year already. At first it was to check and fix the large magical cabinet that would allow Voldemort’s Death Eaters into the castle, but then once he realized he no longer intended to follow orders from that mad man, it just became a place for him to go and hide for awhile. It had become increasingly hard for him to be around his Slytherin classmates over the last several weeks. They were constantly talking about things he no longer believed in, He knew given time, he would slip up, so he stayed away, which only made him increasingly lonely.

It was early again, and Draco wanted fresh air. He quickly dressed quickly and silently made his way out to the courtyard where he liked to sit and think. He thought of the best time to sneak up to the Room of Requirement and eventually settled on going after dinner. It would seem the least conspicuous. As he looked over the snow-covered ground he saw a small black splotch on the horizon. The splotch was moving slowly along the line of the lake, towards the tree. Harry.

Draco leapt up and soon enough his thought was confirmed at the splotch turned into the outline of a boy, which then took shape into one Harry Potter. Draco attempted to make as little noise possible as he crunched through the fallen snow on his way up to Harry. It was no use however. Still a good twenty feet away, Harry turned and saw Draco approach. Draco watched Harry’s body turn rigid as their eyes locked, and then Harry abruptly turned around towards the lake again. Draco continued his approach and finally reached Harry, who was now standing beside the large tree, looking out over the expanse of the ice covered lake in front of him.

They just stood there side by side for several moments, and then finally the silence was broken. “What are you doing out here, Malfoy?”

Draco smirked, “I could ask you the same.”

Silence

“I come out here to think. Your Master doesn’t like to let me sleep in.” Harry said finally.

Draco winced at the comment, “He’s not my master, he’s my father’s.”

Harry turned around at that, looking into Draco’s cold gray eyes. “It used to be that there was no difference between the two.”

Draco shrugged, “I used to believe a lot of things that I don’t anymore.”

Harry went back to looking at the lake, but looked back when he felt those gray eyes bore into his own. “What are you doing here, Malfoy?”

Draco quirked his eyebrow, “I think that might be too large a question.” At Harry’s confused expression, Draco continued, “I’m not sure what my purpose on earth is yet.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “Fine, don’t tell me.”

Draco sighed, “I can’t sleep most mornings either. I usually come out and sit in the courtyard.” He made a gesture back the way he had come, “I saw you out here and came to talk.”

“Talk about what?”

“Talk about what it would take for us to be friends.” Draco said in earnest.

Harry looked quizzically at Draco. “Did you bump your head when you fell into that lake?”

Draco almost laughed, “I know it seems ridiculous, but…”

Harry interrupted him, “Do you know what Ron would do if he caught us out here talking? Do you even understand the shit I would have to deal with, just by remaining civil as long as I have?”

“So why do you?” Draco sneered, turning away to head back into the castle until he felt a warm hand on his arm stopping him.

“You don’t have to leave.”

Draco turned and looked curiously towards the Gryffindor’s eyes, but Harry refused to meet his. Draco watched as Harry slipped a cold neutral mask over his usually expressive features and marveled at the Slytheriness of it. They stood there, side by side staring out into the lake, each trapped under the ice of their own thoughts.

--

At breakfast the two rivals sat with their backs to one another. Neither one letting on to that there had been a change between them, however small. They shared small discreet nods when passing in the corridor, but otherwise ignored the others presence. This was not much different than it had been before, but back then the nods had been replaced with scathing comments.

Classes together went much in the same manner, Draco sitting in the back with the Slytherin’s and Harry taking his place next to Hermione and Ron. Except for Potions, where Harry and Draco were still partners to make the Wolfsbane potion, which would take a month to finish. Harry silently watched the potion, scribbling down notes on his scroll whenever it made any change. Draco did the same, but also noticed that Ron would watch them from time to time over his shoulder. Draco was curious if it was his friend’s happiness or his own he was watching out for.

“Harry, I think it’s almost time for the beetle shells.” Draco said, stirring the potion slowly in a counter clockwise motion.

“Tell me when you get to ten and I’ll drop them in.” Harry said, scooping them up and holding them cautiously over the bubbling blue liquid.

“Eight…nine…ten…now.” Draco pulled the spoon from the mixture in one fluid motion, as Harry dropped the insect shells into the cauldron. Draco let them sink fully into the liquid, and then continued to stir until it turned a bright fuchsia. Draco sat back in his seat and ran his hands through his hair, looking at everyone else’s potions to see if they were in the same place, until he heard a low chuckle coming from the Gryffindor beside him.

Draco looked quizzically at Harry, whose face lit up like a Christmas tree, and whose lips were shuddering, trying to hold back his laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Draco exclaimed with narrowed eyes.

Harry transfigured one of the empty ingredient jars into a mirror and held it up for the Slytherin to look at his reflection. Draco peered into the silver glass and noticed nothing awry with his sharp pale features, or his silver gray eyes, then pulling the mirror back a little further he noticed immediately what had caused the outburst. A large mass of fuchsia potion had streaked through his hair, apparently placed there by his own hand.

Draco attempted to scourgify his hair, and while this did get rid of the potion, a large pink streak remained dyed into his once perfectly platinum hair. It also removed the hair product Draco used to sleek it back, thus leaving his hair falling around his face in a slightly disheveled manner.

Draco groaned and Harry could no longer contain his laughter, causing the entire class to once again focus on the unlikely pair. Ron muttered, “Bloody poof” which sent the whole class into raucous laughter. Draco made to get up, but found a familiar arm on his again, keeping him in his seat. Draco looked over at Harry who had almost mastered his laughter, and only had a merry grin.

“You should wear you hair like that more often.” Harry said, and at Draco incredulous look he added, “Not the pink, but the hair product, or lack thereof.”

Draco quirked an eyebrow at his remark causing Harry to blush. “I think I’ll not be taking hair styling advice from you, Potter.” He gestured to Harry’s own wild mane.

Harry just grinned and went back to logging the potion, both deep down knowing that Draco would wear his hair this way from now on.

--

After dinner, Draco went directly to the Seventh floor and watched a tapestry of ballet dancing trolls for a moment, before pacing three times in front of the opposing blank expanse of wall. A large door slowly appeared and Draco made his way quietly through it. As he passed the shelves, he came across a full-length mirror. He quickly checked to make sure his hair was still properly platinum. It had taken him an hour of scrubbing his hair the Muggle way in order to get the pink out. Still, he thought he could faintly make out where it had been. Satisfied enough, he continued his trek two thirds of the way into the room and turned left, finding the particular bookcase he was looking for.

He searched the shelf for half hour trying to find the key. I know it was right here. Between the Batbog cream and the broken cat umbrella. Draco continued his search, moving onto other shelves, and going back to ones that he had previously studied, before finally giving up. Certain that people would get suspicious if he snuck in after curfew; he made his way quickly down to the Slytherin common room, with a few minutes to spare.

Easily shooing away the unwanted affections of a desperate Pansy, he made his way into the 6th years dorm. Sitting on his bed, he pulled out the journal and noted all of the places that he recalled looking for the key. Then flipping to the back page, he crossed the first item from his list of steps to befriend Harry.

Draco lay awake longer then needed thinking about where the key could have wandered off to, being a magical item it really could be anywhere. Eventually Draco drifted to sleep with thoughts of a certain Gryffindor plaguing his mind.