Chapter Three
"We can't have dinner together tonight," Harry says.
Draco nods. "The Halloween feast," he says.
He sighs. "That is unfortunate," he says, "I have an idea for another thing you could try."
He waves his hand.
"Dueling," he says.
Draco chokes on his spit. "Harry, how did you decide on that?" he asks.
He says, "Well, I was reading-"
"Incredible. Didn't think you knew how."
He pouts. "Draco," he says, "Anyway, I thought it would make sense for you to duel since you like charms and mentioned hexing a couple of times."
"Not a bad idea but they do not do dueling here," he says.
Harry nods. "I asked McGonagall about it, and she said we may be able to start a club and she would be our sponsor. We would need a second one," he says.
"I'll ask Snape," he says.
His face scrunches up. "Why him?" he asks.
Draco shrugs. "He is my godfather and good with spells. If I remember correctly, he was part of creating a spell," he says. It nearly killed him.
Harry's jaw drops. "What spell?" he asks.
"Can't tell you," he says, "I will ask him about the dueling club though." Hopefully, it goes well. Last time it did not. He also didn't say he would do it in a timely manner.
"Fine," he says.
"Hello, mini-Malfoy," George says.
"G'morning, George, you're getting here late," he says.
He grins. "We finally started our plan," he says.
Draco laughs. "I'm excited to see what you did," he says. He needs some entertainment.
Fred comes and sits beside George. "Hello, miniature Malfoy," he says.
"Hello," he says.
Reggie nudges Draco's face toward the teacher's table. Almost everyone is there, except Quirrell. Reggie coos.
"Yeah. Go ahead," he says.
He flies off.
"Oh, Regulus is leaving?" Pansy asks.
He nods. "He didn't leave last night. I was a bit stressed," he says.
Blaise nods. "He was stressing me out, Draco that is," he says.
Draco rolls his eyes.
Millicent walks up to them. "Would you mind me sitting here?" she asks.
Draco moves his robe. "Please," he says. It's always good to get support. He wasn't close with Millicent in his previous life.
She sits. "It just looks like you have a lot of fun over here," she says.
"We try," he says.
She smiles.
Wasn't she annoying? He could have sworn that was the reason he didn't hang out with her.
He sighs. "How have classes been, Millicent?" he asks.
She says, "A little difficult."
"If you need help don't hesitate to ask me. I'm thinking about starting a study group in the library," he says. She doesn't seem as bad as his memory of her.
"That would be very helpful," she says.
Draco looks around the table. "Do you all know Millicent?" he asks.
They shake their heads.
"Millicent, this is Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Fred Weasley, Valara LeStrange, and George Weasley," he says. He points at them as he lists them.
She waves a little. "I'm Millicent Bulstrode," she says.
"Nice to meet you," Lara says, "Please call me Lara."
"Nice to meet you, Lara," she says.
Draco stands followed by Harry and Ron.
"Have fun in class," George says.
Pansy eats her last piece of bacon and joins them.
"Thank you, George. You have fun too. Millicent, Blaise, almost ready?" he asks. He doesn't want to leave them with a table of people they don't know.
Blaise stuffs a piece of toast in his mouth. "Ready," he says.
Crumbs fly out of his mouth. "Disgusting," Draco says. He grabs his napkin and wipes Blaise's mouth. "Finish chewing before talking."
"Okay, mom," he says.
He flicks his forehead.
Millicent eats her eggs. "Ready," she says.
They leave the great hall for classes. They start the day together, so they walk as a group.
Draco walks to his next class. Gryffindor is all seated. One seat is empty. "Patil where's Granger?" he asks.
"Ron made her cry after charms," she says.
He raises an eyebrow. "She's amazing at charms," he says.
"He was probably jealous," she says.
Probably. "Do you know where she is?" he asks.
She shakes her head. "I'll let you know if I learn," she says.
"Thank you," he says.
She smiles. She doesn't seem too bad.
They leave class and she never comes in.
"I heard she's crying in the bathroom," someone says.
"She went all the way to the dungeons just to cry?" someone asks.
Harry walks up to me. "Hello, Draco," he says.
"Hello, Harry," he says.
Ron pats Draco's shoulder. "How's it going?" he asks.
He glares at Ron. "Ronald Weasley," he says.
His eyes widen. "Am I in trouble?" he asks.
"You insulted Hermione? Are you stupid? She has never done anything to you," he says.
Ron opens his mouth.
Draco waves his wand. His mouth closes. "Do not give me excuses or anything but an apology to her," he says, "And Harry next time you see anyone bullying put a stop to it. That goes for all of you." He gestures to the Gryffindors following them. "Both of you apologize next time you see her."
They slump.
"Okay?" he asks.
They nod.
"Thank you. I'm going to go find and talk to her," he says, "Go have a good feast."
They nod.
He walks to the dungeons. "Hermione?" he calls. He has to fix this. Hermione is likely the only reason they survived as long as they did.
Silence.
He walks to the bathroom doors and knock. "Hermione? I'm coming in," he says.
Nothing.
He opens the door.
Sniffling echoes through the room.
"Hey, Hermione, I know it sucks, whatever Ronald said, but he only said it because he is jealous of how smart you are," he says. He hasn't ever been bullied by another student, but his father has often insulted him.
She opens the stall door. "It was true though. I do have no friends," she says.
"That's disappointing because I have one less if you have no friends. I guess I should have checked with you before deciding we were friends," he says. Maybe they aren't close friends, but he does think of her as a friend.
She hugs him.
He wraps his arms around her and squeezes. "Does that mean I still can consider you my friend?" I ask.
She nods.
Shuffling comes from the corridor. Draco doesn't know who or what is out there, but it sounds weird.
"Let's go to the feast?" he asks.
She lets go and gasps.
He turns. "Oh," he says. A troll stares at him.
She pulls him into a stall. The club whistles past his head. Close call. They crawl under the stalls until they're in the last one and dive for the sinks while trying to avoid a swinging club. He tries to get his wand, but it somehow ended up across the floor. He feels stupid. He lost his lifeline.
Ron and Harry come running in.
Ron yells insults then Harry jumps on its back. He shoves his wand up the troll's nose.
Ron turns his head to us.
Hermione says, "Swish and flick."
Ron does the levitation spell. The club floats higher then falls. Harry falls and scrambles out of the way.
Draco picks his wand up.
"I'm happy you're here," he says. He is. He nearly died and he hasn't even made it through the first half of year one.
"We are too," Harry says.
"Is every-" he says.
The door slams open. McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell enter.
"What happened?" McGonagall asks.
They turn to each other.
"I went looking for the troll. I figured I had read about them so I could fight it," Hermione says.
Draco's eyes widen. She lied? She lied to teachers to get the boys out of trouble?
"Draco came after me to convince me it was a bad idea. He must have told Harry and Ron because they came soon after, but we were already under attack," she says.
McGonagall sighs. "Five points from Gryffindor for this serious lack of judgment. Five points to each of you for sheer dumb luck," she says.
Snape glares at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Draco walks up to him and hugs him. He rarely did it in his previous life but hopefully it will distract him enough.
"Scary, was it?" he asks.
Draco widens his eyes and nods.
"I hope you'll reconsider doing something like that again," he says. He pats my head.
"Of course." He is a liar. He will be doing this kind of stuff constantly if his memory serves correct.
"Good. Off to bed," he says.
He lets go and leaves with Hermione, Ron, and Harry out into the corridor.
"I've never seen him like that," Ron says.
Draco shrugs. "I'm his godson. I get more rights. No one's hurt, correct?" he asks.
They nod.
"Good. I will see you tomorrow," he says, "I'm leaving before we somehow get attacked by something else.
"Draco," Lara whispers.
He opens his eyes. "Lara, what are you doing?" he asks.
"Waking you up for breakfast."
He sits up. "Fine. Go wait in the common room. I'll be down in a minute," he says.
Regulus chirps.
"Brat," Draco says.
He coos.
He sighs. The bird doesn't seem to mind being insulted...unlike Hippogriffs. He winces. He got a creature killed because he was being stupid. Reggie nips his ear. He winces and changes into his robes and tie. He goes down to the common room.
Blaise says, "Oh, you're ready."
Draco nods.
Millicent smiles.
Pansy sighs. "Why are all these people morning people?" she asks.
He shrugs. "They're insane. Even Regulus is a morning bird," he says.
She scoffs. "Crazy," she says.
He nods. He needs at least another twenty minutes to be conscious after he's awake.
They leave through the portrait. Hermione, Harry, and Ron are whispering outside the Great Hall.
"Morning," he says.
They turn to him.
"Draco," Harry says.
He says, "That is what people call me. Can we go eat?"
They nod.
Ron says, "We need to talk to you about something."
"After class," he asks.
"Lunch," Harry says.
"Sure."
They go into the Great Hall. Draco just hopes that it isn't a deadly thing.
"Draco, I know he's your godfather, but something is going on," Harry says.
Draco sighs and rubs his head. "What do you think is happening, Harry?" he asks. He's certain that Snape is not involved in this but doesn't know how to prove it to Harry.
"I think he used the troll to distract everyone and go into the room with the three-headed dog and go into the secret door," he says.
He says, "Okay. Why do you think that?"
"Because he had a scratch on his leg," he says.
Draco sighs. "Okay," he says, "Let's look into it." The scratch probably is a bit incriminating, and he doesn't have any proof to the contrary.
"What?" Ron asks.
"We should look into it. If I were to guess Dumbledore has that room locked up for a reason and if someone is trying to get past it, whether it be Snape or someone else, we should warn him, but I doubt he would listen to a bunch of eleven-year-olds. If we tell him we'll also have to admit to breaking some rules," he says.
Hermione asks, "Won't it be dangerous?"
"More than likely. That's why none of you are being forced to look into it. It's a volunteer-based project," he says, "I expect full participation from you three. You're the brave ones."
"I'm in," Harry says, "I wanted to look into it anyway."
Millicent says, "I guess I'm in, but I prefer to not be wrapped up in the dangerous parts if possible."
Blaise sighs. "Sure. Sounds more interesting than studying," he says.
"You'll still be-" he says.
Pansy says, "I agree with Blaise."
Ron says, "Sure. I'd probably be wrapped up in it anyway."
"You're going to get in trouble," Hermione says, "If I weren't there."
Draco smiles. "Good thing you all agreed," he says.
"Why?" Harry asks.
"I already have a plan."
"What is it?" Lara asks,
Draco shakes his head. "Not yet. It'll start after winter break," he says.
They nod.
"Who all is staying here?" Harry asks.
Ron says, "I am. My parents are on a vacation."
"Same here," he says. He also prefers to avoid hanging out at home.
"I guess that means I am here too," Lara says.
Draco shakes his head. "You're going to see Andromeda," he says. He wanted to find a safer place for her and stumbled across her.
Her eyes widen. "Why?" she asks.
"I need you to case their place and tell me if it'll be suitable for the summer."
"Why?" she asks.
"You're just going have to trust me on this one," he says. He doesn't exactly want to air out their dirty laundry to these people.
She eyes him. "Okay," she says.
McGonagall comes into the Gryffindor common room.
"Mr. Malfoy, why are you here?" she asks.
"Well, my father dearly loved my mother but more than that they wanted an heir-" he says.
"Okay, Mr. Malfoy. You need to let your house head know what you plan to do for Christmas," she says.
"Severus knows," he says. He told him weeks ago and Severus always knows his family's plans.
"Okay." She looks at him over her glasses.
Harry signs the paper and hands it to Ron.
"What would you do if I stayed here during the break?" he asks.
"I would hope that you would stay at the castle if you signed your house's paper," she says. She doesn't physically wink but it feels like it. She leaves.
"Bye, Lara," he says, "Make sure to contact me once a week at least. Don't overexert Artemis."
She smiles. "I will, Draco. Love you," she says.
He hugs her. "Love you too," he says. He used to dream of having a sibling and it's everything he thought it would be.
He walks back to the castle. Fred and George meet him by the doors leading to the castle.
"What is it, Fred and George?" he asks.
Fred wraps an arm around his neck. "Just wanted to check up with you," he says.
"Mhm. What do you really want?" he asks.
George wraps his arm around his neck on the other side. "We heard you're spending Christmas with us in Gryffindor," he says.
Draco nods.
"Won't McGonagall and Snape be upset?" George asks.
He shrugs. "I'm pretty sure McGonagall doesn't care, and I can convince Snape," he says. He probably won't have to. He'll just say he's doing it and Severus won't stop him.
"Interesting," Fred says.
They walk away.
He shakes his head. He never knows what they're going to do.
"It's Christmas," Ron yells.
Draco sits up. "Morning people," he mutters. He needs to relish in somehow being alive for another day.
Regulus coos.
"Morning birds," he mutters. He glares at him.
Regulus rubs his head on Draco's cheek.
Draco pets him.
Harry pulls him out of his bed he was burrowing in. He runs down the stairs and Draco walks behind him.
"We've got gifts. I'm surprised yours came here, Draco," Ron says.
He's not. Magic and McGonagall and Severus know where he is.
Ron hands Draco three packages, a couple to Harry, then takes the last few.
Ron says, "I think I know who that lumpy one is from. I told mother you weren't expecting any gifts."
Draco turns to Harry and sees he does have a lumpy package. Similar to one of his own. Harry rips his open. A thick green sweater falls out with some fudge. Draco opens his. It's teal with a silver 'D' and some fudge in a container.
Fred and George come out of their room. "Look, Harry and Draco got sweaters too," Fred says.
George laughs.
"Harry's better than ours, though," said Fred. "She obviously makes more effort if you're not family."
Draco stares at the jumper in his hands. When was the last time he got a gift? His parents didn't give him any for a few years before he died. He didn't really feel like celebrating either.
Harry opens another gift now wearing his 'Weasley Sweater'.
Percy joins them wearing a sweater with a 'P'.
His gift is 50 pence.
Fred and George look at each other.
Draco taps Harry's shoulder. He turns to him.
"Now, we can go wish their Christmas to be unmerrified," he says. He doesn't know much about the Dursleys, but he's heard enough snippets to know he doesn't like them.
He laughs. "Yeah? Where are we going to wish for that?" he asks.
He shrugs. "Maybe the Black Lake?"
He laughs. "It might work, there are a lot of strange creatures in there," he says.
"I see many of them often," he says. He swears there are mermaids, but he was told he was just seeing things when he mentioned it.
He laughs. "Thank you, Draco," he says.
"Draco, what are your last two gifts?" George asks.
Draco glances at the two presents. He opens a very small box first. "Draco, Andromeda's is brilliant. I think we'd live well here. I saw you eyeing these in Diagon Ally," he reads.
He unwraps and then opens the box. There are four rings, two silver, and two gold.
He shows the box to the others.
"Nice," Fred says.
Harry says, "I bet they'll be good to wear around."
Draco nods. He always wanted to wear rings but the one time he tried his father and some of his friends called him names. He opens the last present. It's a new quidditch broom.
At least no one had to buy their way onto the team.
Draco sighs. "Ron, how about a new broom?" he asks.
His jaw drops. "It's the newest broom don't you want to keep it?" he asks.
He shakes his head. "I don't fly," he says. Not anymore.
"Dra-," Ron says.
He stands up and goes to the room he is staying in with Harry and Ron. Another present is on Harry's bed. He leaves it and grabs the pile of presents under Harry's bed.
"Here. I forgot about these," he says.
He hands one to each Weasley and Harry.
Percy says, "Thank you."
He shows his new quill and notebooks to the group.
Fred and George laugh. They pull a bunch of pranks objects out.
Ron pulls on a pair of gloves. "What are these?" he asks.
"Gloves to ride the broom," he says, "You have to train to be on the team next year."
"How did you know you were getting a broom?" Ron asks.
"My parents get the same type of gift every year. This year I specifically told them to get one. The most expensive one was the broom so that is the one they got me," he says.
"Ravenclaw," Harry mutters.
Draco flicks his ear.
"Open your gift," Ron says.
Harry unwraps his gift. A locket is in the box. He opens the locket. "It's blank?" he asks.
"You get to decide what goes inside. I also put a spell on it so that you can have multiple pictures in it, and it changes depending on what you want to see. It is also a way to contact me. I will connect it with my rings, and they'll pulsate whenever you need me," he says.
He smiles. "It's perfect," he says.
He smiles back. He sits down and spells his rings to connect to Harry's locket.
"Now, you just think about contacting me," he says.
He nods. He wrinkles his nose and his eyebrows furrow.
Draco's rings pulsate slowly then get quicker as time goes on.
"What if I start thinking about you but don't need your help?" he asks.
"How often do you plan on thinking about me?" he asks.
He shrugs. "You're my friend it's only natural," he says.
He laughs. "I guess so. I specifically spelled them to pulsate when you need to contact me not just a passing thought," he says, "If they create problems, we can play with them some. You can also come to me when you want to add pictures so I can shrink them and put them in."
Harry nods.
"They kind of act as a phone too so if they're pulsating, I can call you and talk," he says, "The connection is kept through magic. So, we can only talk until our power is drained."
"Does it go the other way around too?" he asks.
"If something happens where I need to contact you it can work that way too...or you can just call me. I wouldn't mind that," he says. He spent a long time figuring out how to make this happen without anything exploding or heating up.
He laughs. "It might be good to have this. Sometimes the Dursleys are strict so I don't know if I will be able to contact you with an actual phone often," he says.
"I probably won't be busy this summer so go ahead and call," he says. Also, another reason to hate those people.
"What's a phone?" Ron asks.
"It's a device muggles use to communicate across long distances," Harry says.
"Honestly, that might be one thing they have on us," Draco says, "It is much more reasonable than owls although here owls make sense because we do not have the connections for the phones."
Ron nods but his face is still confused.
Percy asks, "What is this spell? I don't think I've ever heard of it."
Draco smiles. "You wouldn't have. I made it," he says. He began making it a year before his death and doubled down when he woke as an eleven-year-old. Harry is a trouble magnet he needs a way to make sure he can contact him.
Harry's jaw drops.
"I also made a couple of those pranks for you two so let me know if they work well. I do believe that you'll make better ones thought," he says. These have been a quicker development of only a couple months.
Fred and George's jaws drop.
"Since I felt like trying new things, I also made your gloves Ron and made sure your notebook will never fill up." He needed more hobbies because he got bored with his repeated classes.
Their jaws drop.
"Now, I feel bad for not getting you anything," Harry says.
He shakes his head. "I didn't get you gifts because I wanted something in return. I got them because I thought they would be helpful to you," he says. He likes making things that people can use.
"Next year and your birthday. When is your birthday?" he asks.
"June fifth."
"I'll make sure to get you something," he says.
Draco shrugs. "If you want," he says. He hasn't celebrated his birthday in a while. He doesn't really expect that to change. He stands.
"Where are you going?" Fred asks.
"I'm going to send a letter to Lara," he says.
Fred nods and walks over to George in front of Percy.
Harry and Ron follow Draco up to the room.
The package from before is still on Harry's bed.
"What is it?" Ron asks.
Harry opens the package from his bed. A silvery cloak slips out.
"A cloak?" Ron asks.
Harry puts it on. He disappears from view.
Ron gasps. "An invisibility cloak?"
Harry looks down. "Whoa," he says. He looks in a mirror and his eyes widen.
So, this is where he got it? Just appeared on his bed. "Interesting," he says. Seems like a valuable thing to just leave on someone's bed. He sits on Harry's bed and gets some parchment and a quill. He writes his letter to Lara.
"Finally, time for food," Ron says.
They go to the Great Hall.
"Welcome," Dumbledore says.
A table is set in the center of the Great Hall with trees around the hall and the professors and a few students who stayed in the chairs. Draco sits between Harry and Ron.
"Mr. Malfoy, it is a surprise to see you here," Dumbledore says.
"I go wherever the wind takes me, in the figurative sense because I cannot fly," he says. He doesn't know why but he sometimes just gets bothered by Dumbledore.
He laughs. "A true wanderer. Would a broom not assist in your levitating?" he says.
"Perhaps, perhaps not. It only helps if you are good at it. But it does not really matter because I also do not have a broom," he says. He just gave it away.
"Ah, well there are always some to burrow from the school," he says.
Quit trying to help. "No need. It would probably end up in the Whomping Willow and take damage or worse damage it. I would prefer not to owe the school anything," he says.
"Well, Mr. Malfoy, it is better to not be in debt."
"Indeed," he says, "Afterall, the biggest burden in life is having a debt one cannot repay." He would know. He had life debts before his death.
Dumbledore's eyes sparkle. "You're quite right."
"Was that a conversation or a sparring match?" someone across the table asks.
Draco wanders the same. Dumbledore seems to know something about him or suspect at least. Or maybe he just enjoys talking to people like that. He piles food on his plate. They eat and go back to their room.
Harry sneaks out of the room in the middle of the night with his cloak. Draco doesn't follow. He wants to but he doesn't have a cloak and could get in trouble if he's caught.
This pattern continues for a while until in the middle of the night Draco is woken by him shaking his shoulders.
"Draco, I want to show you something," he says.
He opens his eyes and nod. He doesn't want to, but Harry seems excited. Maybe whatever it is can also be solved so he stops sneaking around. He puts the cloak over both of them and leads them to a room with a mirror.
He stares into it for a moment. "Stand here," he says. Draco is worried because what he knows about mirrors in the magic world is not good, a lot of tricks.
He moves Draco to stand center of the mirror. The image shimmers and shows them at eighteen hugging. People cheering. The end of the war with both of them still there.
"Do you see them?" he asks.
Draco raises an eyebrow.
"My parents," he says.
He shakes his head. So, they're seeing different things, and neither is what should be reflected. It also makes Draco's chest ache that Harry is seeing his family.
"Harry, I don't think this mirror is good," he says. He doesn't know exactly what the mirror is doing, but Harry has been vacant for weeks and he thinks this is the cause. Draco sees the word 'Erised'. Desire.
He huffs. "Why not?" he asks.
"Because it's showing what we want most." Because that's what Draco wants. He wants to live past the war with Harry.
He shrugs. "So?" he asks.
"Harry, I think it is better to live in this moment than to be stuck in a fantasy of what we want. Instead of sneaking out every night, you can sleep, and we can play games and read the next day. I would prefer to have you at your best in this world than up all night wishing for a different one," he says. Some dreams can never be achieved, and others can't be by imagining it.
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore says.
Draco jumps.
"Sorry, for startling you but what Mr. Malfoy said was the truth. It is better to live in this world than in a wish. The mirror will be moved do not go searching for it again," he says.
Harry nods. "What do you see when you look in the mirror?" he asks.
Dumbledore says, "I'm holding up a new pair of socks."
Harry's eyes go to Draco.
"I see me in the library with you, the Weasleys, and Hermione," he says. He can't tell Harry about the war like this. Dumbledore is also surely lying but a deep desire is always something that is hard to share.
He smiles. "Oh," he says.
If Draco is honest, that isn't really a lie. He does want to be in the library with them. Especially, if it's after the war because that means they made it. He just wants them to live.
"The mirror will be moved soon. It would b good to not look for it again. Off to bed, boys, " Dumbledore says.
Draco nods and tugs on Harry's arm. Harry looks at him and nods. They say their goodnights to Dumbledore. Draco is happy that the mirror will not be there. He wants Harry to be here and now not hoping for something else. Maybe he should consider that too.