Stuck With You

A/N:
Many thanks to: V, Neko Taka, Afrodite, Lunadeath, Kat, Tarrin (lol! You share my affliction!), Kentucky Soul, Eadon (Something during potions...hmmm...), Goettia (Hey, your English is far better than my Spanish any day! I\'m so glad you liked it--love your energy, btw!), uris, Kawaii90, jazzylady, anathema, yana5 (don\'t worry ;p), Jerrica, and Anon ( Anon, you\'re actually responsible for this update--your last review was the kick in the rear that got me going again, lol! Thank you so much for following my story!) for all of your kind reviews!!!
* cries and blows kisses at monitor*

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Stuck With You

Chapter 7: The Great Hall


The unlikely pair walked silently through the empty halls. Harry was in a daze. He was still high on the previous moment. *Did I really kiss Malfoy?* he wondered. One look at Draco\'s damaged lip, seen through his damaged glasses, confirmed that he had.

And he had to admit to himself that he had liked it....he had LOVED it, in fact. As brief and crazy and violent as the kiss had been, it had been unlike any other Harry had experienced. His mind swirled with visions of Draco and himself alone. Alone in the dark, warm and cozy under a soft quilt. Closing his eyes, Harry imagined what he would do to Draco. His stomach flipped. He would be more gentle, he decided. Harry hadn\'t realized that Draco was actually frail in a way, under his green robes, sneers, and harsh words.

\"Potter! Do you plan on opening the door *before* you enter the Great Hall, or do you intend to walk straight through the solid wood?\"

Draco\'s words snapped Harry back to reality. He opened his eyes to find his nose an inch from the large door. He was suddenly aware of the chatter and clatter of the lunching students and faculty on the other side of the door. Draco was hanging a few paces behind Harry, not trying to stifle his laughter in any way. Harry stared at the blonde Slytherin.

\"Just because we\'re stuck like this,\" Draco said, motioning to the thin, gold rope that bound their wrists together, \"dosen\'t mean that you can wander around like an idiot--I\'m not going to look out for you, Potter, even if you are practically blind. I already have to babysit Crabbe and Goyle; my appointment is is full.\"

The happy high Harry had been feeling since leaving McGonagall\'s classroom vanished. The more familiar feelings of loathing and annoyance returned.

\"Oh, I can look out for myself, Malfoy. *You* had better watch yourself.\" Harry reached for the door handle.

\"Wait!\"

\"What is it, Malfoy?\"

\"I\'m *not* sitting at the Gryffindor table,\" Draco said flatly, folding his arms across his chest.

\"Well, *I\'m* not about to sit with your Slytherin goons.\"

\"Fine.\"

Harry pulled the door open. The boys entered the Great Hall. Lunch was already in full swing, each of the four student tables buzzing with the usual activity. Harry had hoped that the students would be used to the idea of Draco and himself being bound together by now. He was sure that there was no one left who *didn\'t* know about...the incident. But this would be the first time that *everyone* would see them at once. He expected the collective gasp and snickers, followed by a new and louder explosion of chatter.

If this binding had happened to Neville and Colin or to Crabbe and Goyle, it wouldn\'t have been a big deal at all; just another footnote to a typial busy day at Hogwarts: home to hundreds of adolescents with magic wands at their disposal. It *had* happened to Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, however--sworn enemies till the end. That is why there was so much interest.

Harry was quite used to unwanted notoriety. Draco, on the other hand, wasn\'t. He still refused to acknowledge that his father was in Azkaban, simply referring to the elder Malfoy\'s location as \"away.\" His demeanor still suggested that the Malfoys were a powerful family with influence in the Ministry even though that was no longer completely true.

Colin ran up to the pair, camera ready, \"Hey, Harry! Wow! It must be hard to...\"

Draco shoved the boy to the floor and started for the Slytherin table. Harry didn\'t smile, but he did not entirely frown at Draco\'s action either. Creevey *was* a pain in the ass, after all.

Draco sat at his house table and Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, the boys arms were stretched across the aisle.

Hermione frowned at the condition of Harry\'s glasses. He didn\'t bother to try and explain; he just handed the specs over to her for repair.

Harry stared across the table at Ron. There were angry splotches of color on the redhead\'s cheeks. Harry nibbled nervously on a , wa, waiting for his friend to acknowledge him. Ron simslurslurped his stew.

Harry could stand it no longer, \"Ron!\"

\"Wha\'...?\" Ron\'s head snapped up when Harry shouted his name in anger. \"What\'s wrong, Harry?\"

\"What\'s wrong? Aren\'t you mad at me?\"

Ron\'s brows knitted in confusion, \"Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?\"

Harry was ecstatic; Ron *hadn\'t* seen what had went on between himself and Draco in class after all. \"Well...you ignored me in Transfiguration...\"

\"Oh that! I was just really pissed--still am. Didn\'t you hear McGonagall? She subtracted points from each student who didn\'t have their wands with them for the assignment. Slytherin lost points, but *we* lost DOUBLE because there were two of *us* without wands! McGonagall KNOWS that Snape took our wands away....she\'s just trying to make a point about fighting or something.\" Ron shook his head in disgust.

\"Smart woman,\" Hermione said, pointedly.

\"Come on, \'Mione! She took points from our house for something we had no control over! It wasn\'t fair!\"

\"You *shouldn\'t* have been fighting,\" Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ron.

\"Oh God, your turning into my mum!\"

Harry was flooded with relief and was more than happy to listen to Hermione and Ron bicker--everything was *normal* for a while. He filled his bowl with stew a third time and tucked in to his meal. He was getting used to eating with one hand. A growing teenage boy would find a way to eat with out using *any* limbs at all, if he had to.

\"Ron, violence begets violence. *Someone* has to stop--...\"

\"\'Mione! Don\'t give me that crap! If my wand hadn\'t been broken in the first place, I would have been able to hex Malfoy into next week! THAT would have stopped everything!\"

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to Harry, \"That reminds me; was Malfoy touching your leg in class today? I thought I saw him doing something to you.\"

Harry started to choke on a piece of potato.


TBC......