The Butterfly Effect

NOTE : 

Time Jump to Fifth Year just before the Christmas holidays, DA has already been established. Draco and Harry have been friends or something like it for quite a while. 

“Expecto Patronum!” A soft, white light shot out from Pansy’s wand and faded away. Looking put out, she lowered her wand with a snappish, “Not a word, Draco or I’ll hex your balls off.”

Smirking, Draco slung an arm over her shoulder. He knew messing with her, especially when she was in a foul mood was a death sentence but he loved rubbing people up the wrong way. “Think you can actually manage casting a hex ?”

“You’re an incorrigible bastard,” she gave him a sound whack on the arm none too gently, “I don’t even know why I bother with you.”

“Because you adore me,” he gave her a nudge, “go on, give it another go. Think about me. I’m a ray of sunshine in your life.”

Pansy snorted, muttered something that sounded like ‘the pain in my arse, more likely’ underneath her breath but lifted her wand nonetheless. He stood to the side, content with watching her struggle through the spell. Not that he'd had much luck with it, but knowing Pansy sucked at it as much as he did was comforting. He'd gotten quite good with defence spells but the Patronus remained elusive as ever. 

When Granger had first broached the idea of this stupid club, Draco had been adamant that it was a bad idea. He was even more of a stickler for rules than Granger it turned out and the last thing Draco had wanted to do was irk Umbridge more than she already was. That pink nightmare had made it her mission to covert Draco to her cause of Harry Potter Is A Liar despite his constant rebuttal. Draco had been willing to tolerate and grudgingly respect the woman but after Harry's detention, Draco had caught sight of his hand marred and bloodied and something had snapped. He had helped Granger pitch the idea to Potter, helped establish the entire thing. A quiet fuck you to Umbridge. 

Now, as he watched his fellow classmates shoot spells off, faces shining in the hope that this might keep them alive through the impending war, he felt a quiet sort of satisfaction. Maybe he did care about this sorry bunch being able to protect themselves more than he liked to admit. 

Starting the club had been tremulous. Many people were not as inclined to his presence as the Golden Trio, which was what Draco had taken to calling his Gryffindor friends. They’d been even less inclined when Zabini and Parkinson had chosen to tag along with him, but somehow it had worked out. Perhaps it was Potter’s wild optimism or Granger’s devil looks at anyone who protested or maybe it was even Weasley eventually and reluctantly vouching for them. Maybe it was the way his two idiot friends had managed to keep their insults to a minimum, ragging against people only in the privacy of the Slytherin common room.

It had worked out and remained working to his utter astonishment.

“Hello Draco,” a wispy voice said at his shoulder and Draco jumped, spinning to find Luna Lovegood staring at him with wide eyes. Pumpkin charms hung from her ears today and bangles covered her arms up to the elbow.

Another enigma. The blonde haired girl had befriended Potter at the start of the year and seemed to think that friendship by default included him. She was always popping up around him, rattling off facts about imaginary creatures or the other. He almost didn’t mind her.

“Luna,” Draco greeted as his heart calmed down significantly. “How are you ?”

“Delightful,” she beamed at him. “How are you Draco ? It feels as if we haven’t spoken in ages.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve been quite busy with homework. They are running us ragged. Enjoy Fourth Year, it's the last peace you'll get for quite a while," he told her, eyes dancing away for the briefest second as Pansy let out a yell of delight. Her Patronus had turned to a more solid beam of silvery light. No sight of an animal yet but it was stronger than her other attempts.

Deciding that was plausible, Pansy flicked her wand and the light disappeared. “Hullo, Lovegood. Alright ?”

The two girls dissolved into a conversation and Draco finally let his eyes roam the room. He caught sight of Potter almost immediately, face pulled into a dopey grin as he helped Girl Weasley. His hand was curled around hers, showing her the correct grip even though Girl Weasley had already managed to cast a corporeal Patronus. She muttered something to Potter and the dolt broke out into laughter that was entirely too loud. It looked as if the idiot had finally found someone that had caught his fancy.

This had Draco’s throat aching for some reason.

“You should tell him.”

“P—pardon ?” heart skittering, Draco’s gaze went back to Luna.

“That you can’t produce a Patronus yet, of course. Harry will help without a doubt,” she replied in her usual half asleep voice, but Draco knew of the intelligence that lurked beneath the surface. Luna had probably guessed his thoughts, as she always seemed to know more about matters of the heart than anyone else. “What did you think I was talking about ?”

“Nothing.”

Ignoring, Pansy’s wild smirk—oh how, he hated that in a moment of weakness, he’d told her of his sudden infliction towards Potter—Draco took a halting step backwards.

“I really ought to get back to my—"

At that very same second Potter’s voice called out, “That’s all for today guys. Thank you all for coming! We will meet up again after the holidays. Merry Christmas!" 

The uniform lines began to break up as everyone bundled off into groups to exit the room. As always, the Gryffindors and Draco’s friends were the very last of them to leave. Draco fell into step beside Zabini quite ready to escape to the comfort of the Slytherin common room when Pansy, ever the instigator, declared to the room.

“Let’s play Spin the Bottle!”

There were some very confused mutters about exactly what she meant. It seemed that the Gryffindors weren’t as horny as his House. Rolling her eyes, Pansy pulled out a hair clip which transfigured into a lumpy, lime green bottle with the wave of a wand. Ever the perfectionist, Granger flicked her own wand at it, smoothing the bumps in the glass. Pansy gave her a nod of appreciation. 

“It’s fun, we play in all the time! Come on, this is our last meeting until after Christmas hols.”

“Why not ?” Finnigan, who looked especially desperate for a kiss if it was in the form of Thomas, said. The poor fool was nursing an unrequited crush and Draco felt for him more than he cared to admit. “It’s alright, isn’t it Harry ?”

“Sure, why not ?” Potter echoed, bemused.

Despite better judgement, Draco found himself settling down on the ground between a flushing Granger and a carefree Luna. Pansy went about explaining the rules in a far more devious way than necessary.

“Malfoy played this ?” Harry asked when she was done, eyes flashing up to meet Draco with sheer incredulity. "Mr. Posh himself playing something so juvenile and mundane ?" 

In a moment of true childishness, Draco made a face at him. 

“Draco loves it,” grinning, Pansy passed the bottle to Girl Weasley. “You first, Weasley.”

It landed on Thomas and the red head lunged forward and pressed a quick, chaste kiss onto his lips. Draco cackled as Weasley turned positively green.

"This is not a game, I should be playing with my little sister." 

"Shut up Ron," Girl Weasley muttered, as she handed the bottle over to Thomas. "You can leave if it bothers you so much." 

And so the game went, Thomas kissing Luna, Luna and Potter, Potter and Patel. Here Draco did not, could not look at them because something horrid twisted in his stomach. 

Patel and Longbottom. Longbottom and Finnigan, to the latter's utter despair. Finnigan and Abbott. Abbott and Weasley. Weasley and Granger, Granger and Zabini. Zabini and Pansy. Then Pansy was spinning the bottle and with a resolute spin it landed on him.

"Pucker up handsome,” she smirked, making an outrageous kissy face at him. Pansy seemed to be enjoying nettling him far too much. 

Rolling his eyes, Draco leaned forward and met her halfway. They’d kissed before in a game quite similar to this and he knew exactly how she liked to angle her head before she went in. He kissed her for the count of five seconds before he pulled away. Kissing Pansy was pleasant without a doubt but most of those feelings centred on her being his best friend. There was no lust and there was no love, not in the way that was needed.

“Right then,” he span the bottle.

For a nauseatingly long second, it looked as if it would land on Weasley but then with a last spin it settled on Potter beside him.

“No,” Draco said as Potter gaped down at the bottle, eyes wide behind his glasses.

“Everyone’s else’s done it!” He would hex Pansy the very second he got the chance. 

"No." 

Pansy gave Zabini a sharp nudge and he opened his mouth, "Come on a baby peck, mate. Don't be a pussy." 

Draco would be adding Zabini too, to his list of people that needed to be hexed. Kissing Potter was one thing, kissing Potter while a group of gaping idiots watched was something else entirely. 

“Absolutely not,” Draco was already standing, brushing imaginary dust from his clothes.

“It is a bit wonky,” Weasley offered in support as his gaze darted from Draco to a flushed and uncomfortable looking Potter. “I mean they’re blokes!”

“Blokes kiss each other you know, Ronald. I mean Neville and Seamus just did!” Granger snapped out. Her first words since she’d mushed lips with the freckle freak.

“While all of this is reverting truly,” Draco drawled, “I really should get back to work, I have an essay due.”

Pansy mouthed ‘pussy’ at him which he resolutely ignored. Giving the group at large a sharp nod and studiously avoiding Potter’s gaze, Draco left the room. As he hurried down the corridor, hands trembling with need, Draco tried to shove the thought of kissing Potter from his mind. Never mind that the thought had already been lodged there stubbornly months prior to this. Truly, agreeing to be friends with that oaf was one of his stupidest ideas.

He supposed the only reason he’d backed out at kissing Potter was in an effort to save himself. He imagined that his feelings would be flashing across his face for all to see the second he broke away from that kiss. Detaching himself before anything could take on any meaning or weight in his heart was truly the best option. Already having lunch or studying in the library with Potter consumed Draco more than it should. It was a silly infatuation that would go away if Draco maintained a friendly distance. 

“Malfoy!”

Groaning, he turned around. He should've  known Potter would follow him out like the major creep that he was.

“Potter ?”

Half scowling, half flushing the dark haired boy caught up to him, face like a thunderstorm. “Did I do something ? Why didn’t you want to play the game with me ?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “What a massive blow to your ego. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn’t want to kiss you ?”

“But you snogged Parkinson!”

“I’ve kissed Pansy before. Hardly new territory.”

“Is because I’m—I’m a bloke like Ron said ?” this was asked with heated cheeks and downturned eyes.

“I’ve kissed blokes before, Potter.”

Potter’s head snapped back up and something unreadable flickered in them. “You have ? Who ?”

“Zabini, once,” Draco shrugged, tried and failed to dreg up the name of the other boy he’d snogged in the library, “some Ravenclaw. Why do even care whether I wanted to kiss you or not ? It’s just a stupid game and you don't like blokes anyways, Potter."

“Right,” Potter blew out a breath, shook his head. “You're right, I don't. I guess it’s just—”

“You haven’t been rejected before,” smirking, Draco gave him a look as the other boy’s face turned scarlet. “Better get used to it scarface, if you don’t up your game. Thomas looks about ready to steal Girl Weasley from you.”

“Ginny ?”

“You like her, don’t you ?”

Potter considered this, shrugged then sort of nodded. “I suppose.”

“Then ask her out,” Draco told him, quite selflessly in his opinion. “Don’t be your usual idiot self about it.”

“Right,” Harry grinned, storm on his face finally overtaken by the sunshine. "You're quite smart when you want to be." 

"And you're too stupid to realise that I'm smart, all the time," he returned even as his chest tightened. Draco could not stand to look at that smile and know it was for Girl Weasley. He liked her well enough, she was kind and smart and attractive but in that moment, Draco sort of hated her.

"Such a Slytherin," Potter rolled his eyes, but he was still grinning. Slytherin didn't seem to have quite as much as a negative connotation these days. 

“Right, essay then. The rest of you can moon about and snog each other while you fail terribly," he gave Potter a nod and started down the hall.

But then Potter’s voice halted him again. “Malfoy ? You know that you don't have to run away every time you get uncomfortable or overwhelmed right ? I mean, I get it. I'll be there to understand. Always." 

“Such sentimentality Potter,” Draco drawled even though the words tore at something in him. He wandered if Potter's amicabilty would last if he knew what went on in his head. 

"But thank you," he threw a small smile over his shoulder at the messy haired boy and started off to the common room.