Wear your emotions on your sleeve

The blonde stepped into the common room, after finishing his prefect duties. Greeted by his Slytherin entourage, he relaxed. His mask of arrogance slipping away. Here, he could be himself.

Mostly.

"So how many points did you take off today?" Blaise asked from the couch.

"Hopefully not any from Slytherin?" Pansy added. They grinned.

He smiled. "Actually it was two Huffelpuff's making out in a Broom shed, where I took 30 points each, for indecent behaviour." The group of began cackling. Draco went to wedge himself between Nott and Blaise on the soft, but cold leather. Crabbe and Goyle sat in the two armchairs beside. Completely absorbed in knitting,.....something. Since Pansy had showed them knitting over the holidays, the two hadn't ever stopped doing it. The blonde smiled at seeing them so free of the shackles of being perceived as tough all the damn time. He shared the same fate. Outside the common room. Always pretending to be someone he isn't. Tough, mean, an absolute menace. Their fathers were like that. So in conclusion they had to be too. The other houses would eat them for breakfast if they didn't.

"You're smiling so much...something else happened!?" Pansy squealed in excitement, lounging on the carpet in front of him.

Draco didn't create a suspense about that. "I met Potter".

"Uhhhh". Excitement flooded the room.

"And?" Nott urged him to continue.

"Well". Draco began. "He came from Detention with Umbridge and.... well she is a right nutter that woman, I can tell you that much." Malfoy would not spill about the hand thing. Maybe just to Pansy, later on. Or no one at all. It was leverage, he could need it someday. "And, his orb thing was changing colours all the time! It was nuts! Looks like Potty's always gonna look like a colour chart walking around Hogwarts". Draco mused.

Blaise snorted. "Did Snape tell you what it does?". The tall boy asked him curiously.

Draco shook his head. "Nope it's some 'confidential student information', so he couldn't." He pouted.

Theo who had been fairly quiet, chimed in. "It was supposed to be some sort of emotion potion.... so i guess the colours are a direct link to his emotional state". He finished. Crabbe and Goyle looked up from their knitting task, astonished expressions on their faces. "That makes sense" Crabbe said.

"That's...certainly an interesting theory". Draco responded.

"It does sound right". Blaise offered. The crew nodded silently, contemplating, what to do with that knowledge. Pansy seemed to be the first with cunning ideas.

She suddenly formed a wicked smile, giving each boy a calculating look. "How about we do something fun, while it lasts." Intrigued, the boys looked at her.

"What do you propose" Malfoy asked, his smile already widening. Mocking Potter had always been one of his most treasured hobbies.

"So I say, we try to get him into different moods, guessing the colours of them, and after we gathered enough evidence about those". She took a deep breath and stood up. "We always know how he's feeling, and then!" She got louder, index finger raised to the ceiling. "We taunt him with it!" She clapped gleefully.

The blonde boy raised his left eyebrow at the dramatic presentation of Pansy.

"Like for example!" She went around the couch table to stand in front of the crackling fireplace. "We say something for instance, 'Oh Potter are you jealous! Oh my! Of me? Poor Potty!!! Something like this!" She suggested happily.

The boys nodded approvingly, Draco really liked the idea. This would give him yet another trump card over Potter. He couldn't wait, to see him squirm. Pansy transfigured her trinket into a notebook. Potter's orb mocking mission/POMM She wrote down on its cover. "Bit on the nose isn't it?" Blaise asked.

"Well, so are his emotions" Pansy replied.

"Touché" Blaise answered.

"So Draco". Nott began. "What kind of colours did you see today?"

Pansy took out a quill in anticipation.

"It was changing between colours. There was red, dark green and a dark brownish colour." Draco remembered, the glowing colours over Potters head.

"He was red in the great hall too, yesterday!" Greg added.

"How was his...behaviour while it was red?" Blaise asked.

"Well he did storm out, so he probably wasn't a happy lad that time." Crabbe added.

Draco thought back to the moment with the Golden boy. He had been angry at seeing him. That much was clear. Or was it anger over Umbridge...But more importantly he had a painful injury, so.. pain and anger, Draco concluded."Anger and Pain were definitely there". He said.

"Pain?" Pansy pipped up confused, and promptly started rolling her eyes at him. "Did you two fight again?" She asked exasperated.

Malfoy sighed. "Nope not this time. His arm was hurt, so he likely tripped on the stairs, that idiot. Pansy scribbled it down.

"So anger and pain?" She said out loud to herself. "But then what is the third colour?" She mused to the boys.

"I don't know" Malfoy said, looking bashful.

"So we have red sighted twice, and as you said, he was mad as fuck at Breakfast, presumably because of the Prophet article" Blaise added. He went on. "So in conclusion, red is perhaps linked to...some kind of anger. And that just leaves dark green and dark brown for pain and something we don't know."

Pansy showed the notebook around. "If someone wants to add anything, then you're free to do so. I suggest we begin 'Potter's orb mocking mission' tomorrow". She smiled wickedly at the group. Agreement was shown on every face. Draco couldn't wait to shove Potter to his place beneath him. Tomorrow he would win the upper hand.

Herm's dittany had helped tremendously. Still, the conversation that had followed was brutal. She and Ron both couldn't understand his unwillingness to inform teachers. It had been exhausting trying to explain himself over and over again. The teachers never listened to him anyway. What would be the difference now. The whole world didn't believe him. Yeah..just, great. Just what he needed. Another person who looked him in the eye and didn't listen to any word he said. The trio walked in unison down to Hagrid's hut this morning. Birds chirped, the wind messing up his hair, It was a quiet walk. Until it wasn't.

The Slytherin's suddenly appeared next to them, on the hilly way down. Harry hoped they wouldn't trip any of them.. that would be a couple of broken bones, for sure. "So Potter, are you happy to have that giant oaf as your teacher again. I, for one, wouldn't let that beast of a man near children. It's surprising no one died yet." Malfoy's snobbish face snapped up next to him. His hair falling soft around his face, framing it. A devilish grin on his face.

"Fuck off!" Ron spat out. His body shielding Harry away from the blonde Slytherin. But Malfoy was apparently not done. Whispering something to his bully friends. Harry sensed their next move would ruin this new day. The sniggering idiots behind them were driving Harry insane They just never shut up. Arriving at the hut, greeting the rest of the class, Seamus, Dean and Neville were in deep conversation. They didn't really notice the newcomers. Harry made one step to them, but suddenly there wasn't a step. Two strong hands had pushed him in the back. Seeing the earth flying closer, Harry braced for impact. Pain flashed trough him, along with seething anger. He knew they were up to no good, as always. He got up on his feet again, mud all over his robes, seeing Malfoy grinning at him.

"What's your Problem" Ron bursts out, trying to get to the blonde. But Crabbe and Goyle were already waiting for this. Standing in the red-haired's way. Harry looked around, inspecting the situation. Hermione had her own hands full with the Parkinson girl. So Harry let himself just feel and not think. Instincts took over. Punch after Punch met Malfoy's body. The arrogant Grin would soon fade from the Git's face, Harry was sure of it. Malfoy of course, fought back. Getting in some pretty hefty punches, left and right. Bruises were perhaps already forming on their bodies.
All of a sudden, Malfoy slipped and fell backwards. Of course, ripping at Harry's robes, while at it. Pulling Harry down with him. The Gryffindor didn't waste time. Quickly sitting down on him, his fist finding Malfoy's irritated face. Cheering classmates spurring them on, above them. Harry detected them through some kind of veil. His anger taken over. Like nothing he ever felt before. Quite like it wasn't his anger at all. Harry couldn't decipher what it was. Harry's short trance was interrupted. The sight of Blood clouded his vision. The blood from Malfoy's busted lips ran over the Git's face, staining his marble skin.

"Harry ! Stop it ". Was reaching his ears. Hermione. Always the voice of reason. Malfoy had long stopped fighting. The blonde didn't have the upper hand since falling down. Harry had overdone it. Malfoy's belly heaved itself in short, ragged breaths, under him. Harry was shocked at his own madness, fuelled anger before. Now it seemed so pointless to fight this much. For what. Still, the blonde frowned up at him in defiance. His eyes calculating. Even Malfoy was probably shocked at Harry's behaviour, Harry thought. The blonde's tongue peeked out and licked over his bloodied lips. Instead of cleaning, he just spread the red liquid all over his plush lips. Now, nearly completely red. Kissable. Harry's brain stopped working.

Fuck

What

Nope ...no

Harry shook his head. He needed sleep. That's what this was....Yep. One hundred percent. He never thought about boys lips before, and he wouldn't start now. Only freaks did. With panicked breaths, the Golden boy quickly scrambled off the bruised, quiet Slytherin. A Hand grabbed his arm, heaving him up. Ron. A shocked expression on his face.

"Mate! You went absolute bonkers! He's not worth getting expelled over it man."

"Sorry Harry" beamed a voice next to him. Hagrid worriedly looked down at him. "You need to go to Professor McGonagall with the Malfoy lad to report this. I can't have yer two staying here like this.

Harry groaned, a beginning migraine forming. "Sorry Hagrid" Harry said bashfully.

McGonagall's office smelled like oranges and Pine cones. Weird combination, but Harry liked it. What the dark-haired boy didn't like, was the disappointed face of his teacher looking at him. Parkinson and 'Mione which had come with them, had already told the story in both of their favours. Hermione had really tried to make Harry look good, even though it was clear to all, that he had been the main perpetrator of the fight. After the girls had left, the room was beginning to feel tense. Now, sitting here in Silence was pure torture. The punishment would be awful. He knew it.

"Boys, I must say, I am thoroughly disappointed in your actions today. I know you don't particularly like each other" She closed her eyes in annoyance, for a short moment. "But even for you this is excessive".

Harry looked down at his lap, ashamed.

"I did think of revoking your rights to play quidditch this year". She began. The blonde and brunette both looked up with wide eyes at this notion."But". She went on. "I have another idea." She looked thoughtful. "Detention an hour every day" She glanced pointedly at the gasps, they Involuntarily let out. "For 2 weeks,by tomorrow, and by the end of it, you both have to write each other a letter, apologizing for your actions." The boys were left silenced.

"And maybe, you should start now with a short apology". She added.

Harry took a deep breath in the loud Silence, that followed McGonagall's speech. There was no way around it anyway. "I'm sorry...Malfoy". His voice was just short above a whisper.

"Me too". Was uttered back to the brunette, in a equally quiet voice.

Two weeks.

They hadn't even started yet, but Harry already wanted them to be over.