Gilded Soul

Chapter 29 Square One

Draco kept his promise and didn’t press Harry for anything beyond friendship. He even tried to reel in his feelings of jealousy when he found out that Harry hadn’t broken things off with Anthony. He didn’t know why he had expected him to, but he had.

The Room of Requirement was fitted with two large beds instead of one, so that they could stay in the same room, pending something going wrong in the maze. It made sense to everyone but Anthony, who didn’t understand why his boyfriend was sharing a mysterious room with his ex. It was also impossible to explain, and when Anthony found out about their sleeping arrangement, Draco secretly delighted in the look on the other boys face.

That was until Harry made it clear that nothing was going on between he and Harry. Harry only thought of Draco as a friend now. The Slytherin wasn’t sure if this was easier or less so now that Harry didn’t loathe him, but didn’t love him either. He supposed any Harry was better than no Harry at all.

Hermione was quick to forgive Draco his transgressions, now being filled in entirely about the prophecy; she understood why the Slytherin had done what he did. Though she could understand, she disagreed implicitly and made him promise to run all further hair-brained ideas by her first. Old Draco would have told her to piss off and mind her own mud-blood business, but the new and improved Draco thanked her for her forgiveness and continued friendship.

Draco’s biggest obstacle by far was Anthony. The Ravenclaw abducted Harry during almost all of his free time, which left Draco with no real time alone with Harry, unless you counted the maze, and he didn’t.

Hermione was no help on this matter. She stuck to her opinion that if Draco hadn’t been such a prat than he would still have Harry, and that he should feel lucky that Harry was willing to even be friends with him. Draco just wanted it all to go back to the way it was before, where he could hold hands with his Gryffindor in the corridor, or kiss him casually before separating in the Great Hall. Now that he knew what is was like to really be with Harry, not just his friend, he couldn’t settle for less.

This is the situation Draco found himself in that created the next passage in his journal. ‘Taking Down Anthony’.

--

Anthony didn’t like Draco. That much was evident from the way he stood, leaning against Harry whenever the three were together. It was also clear in the way he rolled his eyes at everything the Slytherin said and the way he constantly interrupted him while he was speaking. The fact didn’t appear to be lost on Draco, but Harry thought he handled it better than he would have expected.

Harry was both impressed and a little annoyed that Draco was handling everything with such grace. Part of the Gryffindor wanted to be fought for, where the other more logical part told him that it was for the best not to create any more drama.

He and Draco had most of their classes together, where he and Anthony only shared one; Charms. Even though he tried to spend time during lessons with Draco as much as possible, it was made difficult because there were less and less group projects now that the end of the year was so close.

The end of the year.

That was another thing that worried him. Would Draco find someone new over the summer? Harry laughed to himself at the thought. He wasn’t remotely worried if Anthony dated someone else, but Draco was another story altogether. He didn’t know why even now, after everything the Slytherin had done to him, he still thought that one day, they might be together. Of course that hinged on several different factors, the largest of which was whether or not Harry would even live through the war.

His newly honed powers gave him a little more confidence on that front, but not enough to rule out his possible failure. The prophecy still gave him pause, he and Hermione had made no progress trying to decipher it and Draco seemed to be plagued with the fear that he would be responsible for Harry’s death. He talked about it constantly, to the point where both Harry and Hermione had begged him to stop dwelling on it. Fate was something they could do nothing to curb, not really.

Harry’s lessons continued with Dumbledore, and the older wizard was livid to find out that Harry had broken his promise and that both Draco and Hermione now knew everything that he did. ‘You know, Harry’ he had said ‘this discourages me from thinking I can confide in you.’ Harry knew this was complete bullocks though, because the old man never told him anything until it was too late anyway. He found out he was a wizard after having to endure ten years with the Dursley’s. He found out about the link with Voldemort’s mind after the Dark Lord used it against him. He found out about the prophecy after he was almost killed about it.

It wasn’t that he didn’t respect Dumbledore, he just didn’t believe him. He knew, mostly from dating Draco, that everyone had an agenda. Dumbledore had yet to expose his own designs for Harry and that made him slightly nervous.

--

“Goldstein,” Draco shouted across the corridor when he spotted the Ravenclaw heading for lunch. The boy looked uncomfortable to be around Draco without Harry’s presence, but he walked over to where the blonde was standing nonetheless. “Harry wanted me to tell you to meet him behind greenhouse eight. Wait for him there, he has a surprise for you.”

Anthony lit up like a Christmas tree. “Thanks, Malfoy,” he called over his shoulder, already sprinting toward the nearest exit.

Draco kept going toward the Great Hall with a smug look plastered across his sharp features. He spotted Harry right off in his usual place at the Gryffindor table. He headed over and sat beside him, casually brushing his shoulder against the black haired boys arm. “Do you have the Transfiguration homework finished?” he asked conversationally.

Harry looked surprised but pleased that Draco had sat down with him. “Mostly,” he answered, shrugging.

“You think you could help me with mine? I only have about half a meter out of the requirement completed.”

Harry raised an eyebrow, curiously. “Really? You want my help?” Draco nodded. “I can show you what I have, I guess,” he muttered as he pulled a scroll from his bag.

Draco took it and looked it over trying not to shake his head in disgust. It was all wrong, every last bit of it. The incantations were misspelled, the spell results were muddled and the handwriting was rubbish. “Thanks, Harry. That helped loads,” he said, grinning and handing the parchment back to the Gryffindor. Hermione snickered and smiled knowingly when he looked over at her.

“I wonder where Anthony is,” Harry mused. The Great Hall was full and there was still no sign of him.

“Hm, I wonder,” Draco added casually. “Did you two have a row? Maybe he’s out snogging some other bloke.”

Harry looked amused. “Doubtful. I usually can’t shake him.”

Draco had to suppress a grin at the Gryffindor’s comment. It seems things were not as blissful as they appeared on the outside, at least not on Harry’s part. His attempts at subterfuge were going as well as could be expected. It wasn’t that Anthony was a bad guy; it’s just that he was in Draco way, and therefore needed to be eliminated at any cost.

Hermione cast him another knowing look but he ignored her and turned back to Harry. They made idle chit chat for the remainder of their lunch and then Harry headed off with a wave, claiming he needed to grab something before heading to class.

Hermione gripped Draco’s arm and pulled him up and toward the exit, leaning against him conspiratorially. “ I know what you’re up to, Draco,” she whispered.

Draco looked stricken. “Up to? I’m not up to anything.”

Hermione snorted with laughter. “Really, Draco. Transfiguration homework? Dark Arts, maybe, Harry’s brilliant at that subject, but he’s rubbish in McGonagall’s class.”

Draco tried to look surprised. “He gets good marks in her class.”

“You and I both know that’s because she dotes on him like he’s her long lost grandson,” she said, rolling her eyes. Nothing rankled more with Hermione than an undeserved high score in lessons.

Draco groaned. “That essay was terrible.”

She giggled and then looked at him seriously for a moment. “You didn’t do anything bad to Anthony did you?” she asked disapprovingly.

Draco shook his head. “I just sent him to the other side of the school looking for Harry.”

“You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to win Harry back.” She winked at him and then took off for her own class.

--

Draco expected Harry back any moment. His lesson with Dumbledor should have ended and he would be making his way up to their room. Draco’s heart raced as he paced the room. It had been a sort of unspoken agreement between them not to reference anything about the way their relationship was before.

He was going against that rule now wearing only the dark green silk pajama bottoms that Harry had arranged in this very same room the first time they made love. He wasn’t going to push his luck tonight, but he was aiming for a kiss at the very least, something to tell him that his attempts were not in vain.

When Harry did arrive, Draco was leaning casually against the bedpost, arms crossed against his bare chest, staring at the Gryffindor as his green eyes took Draco in. He paused, mouth slightly open, formed into a soft ‘o’. Draco smiled crookedly. “How was your lesson,” he asked quietly, encouraging Harry to come closer.

“Fine,” Harry mumbled, eyes still trailing Draco’s lithe form.

Draco took a step forward, and so did Harry. It was like dancing, their eyes locked, their bodies moving closer together till they stood only inches apart. Draco could feel the heat emanating from the Gryffindor’s body, and he wondered if it were lust or power or both. “I want you, Harry,” Draco whispered against his skin.

Harry sighed, leaning against him, pressing his hands into the Slytherin’s waist. He leaned forward as if to kiss Draco on the lips, but he diverted at the last moment, placing a searing kiss on the boy’s cheek instead. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m just not ready.”

With that the spell was broken, and Harry fled the room, leaving Draco staring after him.

--