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Soldier's Welcome	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 25565 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; that belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am making no money from this fic.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Thirteen�A New
Way Forwards

�� So,� Ron
said, too casually, his eyes fastened on the diagram in front of him that
showed the proper way to heal the wound from a Stinging Hex�at least if he�d
taken the correct notes from Portillo Lopez�s lecture, Harry thought
half-maliciously. �Did you talk to anyone today?�

�� Harry
leaned his head back on the chair and squinted absently at the problems Hestia
had set them in Auror Conduct. For each specific situation on the chart, they
were supposed to give both their own likely response and the response the Auror
Code called for. Harry was curbing his natural honesty, because he doubted that
he wanted Hestia to die of a heart attack when she read what he would really do. A watered-down version of it
would work. �Of course,� he said. �You. Hermione. Darien West. He knows more
about Combat than I thought he did, and he managed to show me that one strike
that I can never perform when Gregory demonstrates it. I think I�ll surprise her
the next time she pits me against Malfoy.�

�� From the
corner of his eye, Harry saw Ron stiffen, probably at the mention of Malfoy.
Harry hid a hard smile as he began to write his response to the question, What would you do if you saw your partner
bleeding on the ground at the same moment as the Dark wizard you were fighting
began to flee?

�� Ron hadn�t
made this easy for him. Harry didn�t see why he should make it easy for him, in return.

�� But no one
else?� Ron was fidgeting. His notes from Portillo Lopez�s lecture fell onto the
floor, and he bent and picked them up with a low curse.

�� Why, no.�
Harry looked up with a perplexed expression that he�d practiced in the mirror
for several minutes after Malfoy left. Ron frowned at him in return. Harry
snorted and fixed his eyes on the list again, �Were you expecting a firecall or
something? Hermione spent most of the day with you, so I would have thought she
could give you a message then if she wanted to do it.�

�� Come off
it, Harry,� Ron said. �I know this was the day Ginny was supposed to firecall
you, and I reckon that you�re just trying to get out of talking about it.�

�� The anger
that struck Harry was as sharp and stinging as a bite at his fingernail that
made the quick bleed. He slammed down his sheaf of paper on the arm of the
chair, and Ron jumped, dropping his notes again. Harry might have thought it
was funny, but for the moment, the expression on Ron�s face and Ginny�s and
Malfoy�s remembered words were the world for him.

�� You set
your sister on me,� Harry said lowly. �You know we don�t talk anymore since the
breakup. You ought to be enough of an adult to handle your problems by
yourself. Especially,� he added, with slow, ripe contempt while Ron�s face
darkened to tomato, �a problem that comes from your petty little jealousy of Malfoy.�

�� I�m not
jealous of the bastard!� Ron yelled, springing to his feet. �Or at least,� he
added, when Harry just glared at him and didn�t say anything, �I wouldn�t have
to be if you didn�t treat him like a friend.�

�� He was
unconscious for two days, almost, because I pulled on his compatible magic,�
Harry said. �I drained him without his asking. He wasn�t angry about that, and
that�s worth being angry about a lot more than a decision the instructors made
and you can�t change. I told you we could change it in the future, if Malfoy
and I can�t get along as partners, but you�re throwing a fit about not being
able to change it now. I thought you
were better than that by this point in your life, Ron. I thought you were an
adult.�

�� Ron leaned
towards him. �What would you say if they partnered Hermione and me? Are you
trying to tell me that you wouldn�t be upset?�

�� Harry
pictured all the time they would spend together and winced. This was why he
wasn�t any good at staying angry with his friends, most of the time. He could
see their side�

�� And part of
him was still the scared little boy Dudley kept from having friends in primary,
he acknowledged grimly to himself. That little boy thought that if he irritated
his friends too much, they would walk away and abandon him.

�� But if he
wanted Ron to act like an adult, then he had to dismiss the boy and act like
one, too. Harry made himself sit up straight and speak quietly. �I�d be upset,
but I�d try to understand. You would have something special that made you work
together well. You�d have to, if they
paired you up this early. And I�d expect you to tell me I was being a prat if I
kept on acting like it was your fault.�

�� Ron�s hands
made the wood of the chair creak as he grasped it. �What you and Malfoy have
isn�t special,� he said.

�� I reckon
compatible magic is around every corner, then?� Harry demanded. �And that�s how
come none of the other trainees have it?�

�� I don�t
like you using the word special,� Ron said, in that stubborn tone that meant he
was simply going to ignore everything anybody said until he got his way.

�� Too bad, I
used it,� Harry said. �And I�m going to go on being partners with Malfoy, and I
want you to stop acting like a prick. You saw the way we can fight in
Dearborn�s class. You can�t stand there and tell me that that isn�t special.�

�� This is
exactly why I wanted Ginny to deal with it!� Ron shouted at him, snatching up
his notes and marching towards the door. �Because I knew that she would know
the right words and I wouldn�t!� He spun around in the doorway and pointed one
finger at Harry. �But just because I don�t know the right words doesn�t make me
wrong!�

�� He slammed
the door. Harry heard a few muffled protests from trainees up and down the
corridor, but he didn�t bother getting up and going to reassure them. He just
sat there, shaking his head and thinking how right Malfoy had been.

�� Ron was
acting like an idiot. He could barely admit that he was jealous. He saw nothing
wrong with setting Ginny on Harry, and then he got offended that Harry was
offended. He would probably run to Hermione and tell her his side of the story,
and that would cause trouble between Harry and Hermione. Or, at best, it would
catch Hermione in the middle, the way she had been during their fourth year at
Hogwarts.

�� Harry sat
and waited for regret to bubble through him. Fighting with his two best friends
was not the way he had intended to start his December.

�� But
instead, he found a smile playing on his lips, and he sat down and worked right
through the Auror Conduct problems with a clear conscience.

*

��

�� Malfoy.
Potter.�

�� Gregory
called them up to the front of the room to face each other, of course. Draco
had to admit that he went somewhat warily. Potter had made a promise, a promise
Draco wanted to trust, but so far Potter
giving his word to a Malfoy had meant nothing in particular. He might have
changed his mind over the weekend and decided that Monday should begin with a
re-commitment to ignoring Draco.

�� Draco
thought that until he got up to the front of the class and turned to face
Potter, unconsciously drawing in a deep breath as he did so.

�� And then he
caught sight of Potter�s face, and his eyes widened in spite of himself. Potter
was grinning at him. The grin had a
friendly edge to it. A desperate edge, Draco thought, as he studied Potter�s
face some more, but even that kind of friendliness was more than he had ever
been accustomed to receive from Potter.

�� I�ve been
studying,� Potter whispered. �Prepare yourself.�

�� Gregory
snapped the command to go before Draco could answer. And anyway, he thought, as
he lunged and aimed a kick at Potter�s midriff, it wouldn�t do to waste breath
on a taunt.

�� Potter spun
out of the way of the kick and then leaped forwards and jabbed out with one
hand. Draco answered the move before he thought about it. Potter was staring
too intently at Draco�s left side for him not to mean it.

�� Or so Draco
thought until Potter stepped back neatly and he realized it had been a feint
after all. Potter had learned to lie with his face some time in the last few
days.

�� Or maybe he changed his mind and decided to
put in enough effort, Draco thought dimly as Potter spun on one heel and
kicked him in the back of the leg, dropping him neatly to the floor.

�� There was
silence for long enough that Draco began to worry he�d hit something vital in
his ear and was now deaf. Then he lifted his head and realized Gregory was
staring at Potter, and the rest of the class was holding its breath, not
wanting to irritate Gregory by applauding.

�� Idiots, Draco thought as he shook his
head and worked his way back to his feet, gingerly testing his knee. It would
support his weight for the rest of class, he thought, but he would heal the injury
as soon as they left Gregory�s room and were allowed to do so. They should encourage good work, whether or
not they know the instructor hates the student who did it. Where�s their
bravery and their pride?

�� Mister
Potter has been studying,� Gregory said at last. Her voice was harsh as a crow�s,
and she couldn�t manage a smile the way she did for most people when they won a
contest�or beat Potter. She turned away with a grudging nod and focused on the
other students. �Cadwallader, Snowpoint, up here.�

�� Draco had
to conceal a smile as he turned to limp back to his place. Gregory�s partiality
for anyone but Potter had caught her by surprise this time. She had decided,
the way Snape had, that Potter would never be good at her subject, but she
shouldn�t have had that confidence. Potter was naturally better at physical
things like Quidditch, Draco thought. It was only his wariness of Gregory that
had kept him from doing better in Combat before now.

�� Someone
grabbed his arm and slung it around his shoulders. Draco turned to stare the
person into stammering embarrassment.

�� It was
Potter, who caught his eye and snorted, rolling his own. �You�ll have to do
worse than that to make me back down, after what we talked about the other
day,� he whispered, and assisted Draco back to his spot. Draco had to admit, if
only to himself, that it was easier to walk with companionship. Potter had hit
his knee harder than he knew until it started to send a pounding ache up his
leg.

�� He wondered
what would happen when Potter dropped his arm. Would he sit down near Draco,
proclaiming his change of allegiance to anyone who cared to watch, or would he
sit down by his friends again, trying to reconcile them to his growing
friendship with Draco? Draco could think of good reasons for both actions.

�� Potter did
neither. Instead, he took up a new position in the group, next to Catherine
Arrowshot, a high-strung, brown-haired girl he�d been cultivating for the past
few days. Arrowshot looked at him shyly. Potter made a joke of some kind, from
the way his eyes shone, and Arrowshot laughed.

�� Only when
Draco crossed cold stares with Weasley did he realize that the spot of floor
Potter had picked was halfway between his friends and Draco.

�� Draco was
the one who had the problem with not sneaking sideways stares at Potter for the
rest of class. A Potter who had proven himself capable of deception and diplomacy was unexpectedly
attractive.

*

�� I received
very interesting responses,� Hestia said, rifling through the sheets of paper
that they had handed her containing their answers to her problems. �Very
interesting indeed. I think we need to have a discussion of some of them.� She
looked up, and for an instant Harry thought he caught a gleam of mischief in
her eyes, but it was gone so quickly he couldn�t be sure. Besides, she had
looked mischievous when she assigned them the problems, too, and they had
turned out to be hard work.

�� Half the
class groaned. Hestia laughed. �Oh, I�m not going to have you simply talk to one another. I�ll split you up
into pairs and ask you to act out one of the situations on the list.� She
smiled sweetly. �And because you can�t always anticipate what you�ll meet when
you go into the field, I�m going to give one of you the situation, and withhold
it from the other one. The other partner will simply have to react.�

�� Now it was
a murmur of excitement instead of resentment that stirred the class. Hestia
nodded. �I also have a reason behind my choices, random as they might seem to
be at first.�

�� Harry
glanced at Catherine, wondering if he would be paired up with her, but his name
was the first Hestia�s called. �Potter and Granger, please.�

�� Harry
hesitated before he stood. He had been sure that Hestia would either pair him
up with someone completely new or with Malfoy. He couldn�t help glancing at
Malfoy, and found him watching with narrowed eyes.

�� Malfoy
raised a brow when he saw Harry watching and extended his hands palm-up, as if
to say that he had no idea why Hestia hadn�t put them together. Then he cocked
his head and nodded beyond Harry, and Harry turned hastily back to face
Hermione. She already looked sad and angry, as she had most of the morning. Ron
had explained his side of the story to her first, of course. Harry hoped, as he
moved slowly forwards to stand opposite her, that he wouldn�t have to hurt her
or do something else that would deepen the argument.

�� Hestia
handed a scrap of paper to Hermione. Harry could make out the strokes of thick
letters through the paper, but not what they said. Hermione read it, and took a
single deep breath before she faced Harry.

�� Harry,�
she said softly.

�� Is this part of the discussion she wants to
have with me? But Harry remained on his guard, because he didn�t really
expect Hermione to ignore the rules in public, or try to sabotage her own
performance in class. �Yeah?� he asked, letting his hand fall onto his wand.

�� I wish I
knew how to get you to respond.� Hermione stared at Harry with large, heartsick
eyes. �You�re drifting further and further away from us, and I don�t know how
to bring you back.�

�� Harry
stiffened, but then he saw Hestia out of the corner of his eye. She looked
pleased instead of frowning, so he didn�t think Hermione was violating the
rules for whatever the situation was supposed to be. She was probably just
adapting it, taking the chance to say some of the words she wanted to say
without revealing to everyone what had happened between them.

�� That�s something, at least. She and Ron want
to keep this private.

�� And like a
flash, the memory of one particular situation on the sheet came back to him. It
was that of an Auror trying to coax a partner who had been incapacitated by the
Imperius Curse or one of the mind-control artifacts that Dark wizards sometimes
favored. Hermione could be playing either role, but Harry was sure that that
was what she was doing.

�� He let his
wand fall into his fingers as he watched Hermione, sparing a fleeting thought
for the fact that he didn�t remember the last time his mind had worked this
quickly, this clearly, this consistently. He didn�t know what had caused it,
but he wanted to hang onto the clarity.

�� Don�t you
have anything to say?� Hermione asked. Her voice broke with frustration. She
took one step forwards, so quick and smooth that Harry hardly saw it. �Why are
you leaving us behind?�

�� I think she�s the one who�s under the curse,
Harry decided. And even if she
wasn�t, my reaction should still be the same, because either I�m trying to
rescue her and I have to ignore what she says, or I�m the one under the curse
and I won�t be paying attention to her anyway.

�� He swiftly
cast a Body-Bind, and Hermione wavered and started to fall. Harry cast a
Cushioning Charm on the ground in response, and though Hermione toppled over
like a statue, she didn�t get hurt.

�� Very good,
Mr. Potter,� Hestia said, looking pleased. �What made you decide to react the
way you did?�

�� I thought
she was either under an Imperius Curse or convinced I was under one,� Harry
said, glancing sideways at Hermione. Her face was frozen in an expression of
hurt dismay. He nearly sighed aloud, because he knew that would mean an
argument later, but sighing would rather give the game away. �She wasn�t
actively hostile, so I didn�t want to fight her, and it�s not her fault if
she�s under an Imperius Curse.�

�� Hestia
nodded. �What made you decide that was the more likely option?�

�� Her
vagueness,� Harry said. �She could have attacked at once if she thought I
wouldn�t listen to her, and she wasn�t trying to tell me something specific,
like that the people who had enchanted her were friends. Whoever cursed her
probably knew that I wouldn�t fall for something like that.�

�� Hermione
shut her eyes.

�� A good
piece of logic,� said Hestia. �Let her up now, Mr. Potter.�

�� Harry
released the Body-Bind on Hermione and turned away instead of watching her
climb to her feet. He didn�t want to see the betrayal he knew would be in her
eyes. There would be another argument�there would always be another argument,
Harry was beginning to think now�but for the moment, he simply wasn�t
interested in continuing it.

�� Instead, he
found himself seeking Malfoy�s eyes.

�� Malfoy
looked stunned. Harry scrutinized his expression carefully for some hint of
pleasure, using all the skills that Pushkin had taught them in Observation, but
couldn�t find it. In the end, he shrugged, slightly annoyed at himself, and sat
down again in his seat.

�� Maybe Malfoy�s trying to be an adult as
well.

*

�� Potter was
getting more interesting by the minute, which was the only reason Draco didn�t
roll his eyes when, once again, Ketchum partnered them in Battle Tactics.

�� They didn�t
work together in this class the way they did in Dearborn�s. They had to act as
a team not in dueling enemies�or not in dueling enemies only�but in scrambling
up staircases, dodging falling obstacles, watching for spells from Ketchum�s
second- and third-years, and protecting each other from ambush. He and Potter
pulled in opposite directions when the instructors tried to yoke them like that.
Of course they wouldn�t do well without the bond of the compatible magic
between them.

�� But now
Draco was wondering what this changed, interesting Potter might try.

�� Listen up.�
Ketchum didn�t need to extend his hands over his head and clap to get the class
paying attention to him�they already were�but he did it anyway. Draco had
noticed that the Mudblood was fond of dramatics. �This time, I want you to get
to the platform up there.� He pointed towards a floating, slender block in the
upper left-hand corner of the enormous room, already crowded by five of his
trainees. There were no staircases that led to it. �Both you and your partner
have to reach it at the same time, or it doesn�t count. Meanwhile�� He
flourished his wand, and boulders zipped out from chutes in the walls, hanging
suspended in midair as if from invisible wires. Flying torches danced among
them, changing direction at unpredictable intervals, while ropes wove lazy
patterns around them. Spikes popped
in and out of the walls. �These obstacles will be trying to stop you,� Ketchum
said casually. �And my trainees will fling spells, of course.�

�� He turned
to Draco and Potter. �Malfoy, you�re the leader this time.�

�� Draco�s
breath caught. Usually, Ketchum decreed that Potter would be the one making the
decisions, or he gave both of them equal rights. But now Potter had to do as he
said.

�� The next
moment, Draco�s curiosity to know how Potter would take this became more
interesting to him than the fact of his command. He turned his head and stared
at Potter.

�� For a
moment, Potter seemed to swallow and struggle with a sour mouthful of envy.
Then he grinned and bowed to Draco. �Lead on, captain.�

�� Ketchum
fell back. Draco enchanted the flagstones beneath him and Potter with a
muttered spell that, to his pleasure, Potter listened closely to. The stones rose
beneath them, flattening and curving, and formed a passable imitation�but only
an imitation, and therefore legal�of a flying carpet. It was a spell Draco had
studied the night before, and he trembled in gladness that it had worked. The stones
circled them up through the air towards the platform.

�� Potter
pressed his shoulder and leg against Draco�s, half-shielding him,
half-shielded, and awaited orders. Draco, his confidence making him feel
lighter than flying did, said, �Summon one of the torches, please, Potter.�

�� He got a
sideways glance for the please, but
Draco wanted to show that he could make small sacrifices, too.

��

�� Potter
nodded, and the next moment a torch was flying towards his hand�

�� Pulling a
boulder right behind it.

�� Concentrate
on what you�re doing!� Draco snapped when he saw Potter�s wand rising. He
ducked around him and used a Blasting Curse that sent the boulder flying apart
in smithereens. Potter lifted a hand and caught the torch in an easy grip, then
sent an impressed look towards Draco over his shoulder.

�� Draco�s
mouth dried out at that look.

�� He would
have to think about that later, he decided. They had circled too near the wall,
and one of the popping spikes had carved a bit of stone off the side of their �carpet.�
Draco adjusted its course with a word, and they dipped around two ropes and
straightened out in a flat run for the platform.

�� Making
perfect targets for the trainees� spells, of course.

�� Defense,
Potter!� Draco said, because he knew Potter was stronger on that. Potter nodded
and raised a shield around them that deflected the first hexes. Draco knelt
beside him and aimed his wand along the line of Potter�s hip, through a small
gap in the shields, waiting for the recoil of the compatible magic to hit him.

�� It did, but
carrying a new sensation with it this time. Draco felt as if he were wearing
Potter like a skin cloak, a second awareness around his own. He could feel the
stone carpet under a second pair of feet, another pair of lungs drawing breath,
glasses around his own eyes.

�� He didn�t
let it distract him. Instead, he muttered, �Creo
fluctus!�

�� The spell
charged out of him, not stronger than usual but faster, silkier, smoother. The
wave of mingled water and air it made caught up the torch and swept all the
trainees off the platform at once, and then doubled back and swept Potter and
Draco off the stone.

�� Draco felt
his crow of triumph stick in his throat as they whirled along for a moment,
nothing but sparkling foam and thick air and mingled fire between them and a
fall all the way to the floor, and then they landed on the platform, at the
same time, and clutched each other to keep from tumbling.

�� From below
came dazed silence and then clapping, both thin with distance. Potter steadied
himself with a hand on Draco�s shoulder and leaned across to murmur to him in
the moment before Ketchum called to them.

�� Thank you.
There�s no one else I could do that with. I know that now.�

�� Draco
whipped his head around to look at him. Potter�s smile was warm, if a trifle
aloof. He was trying.

�� Draco had no
words for his feelings and could only give a single, convulsive squeeze of his
hand.

�� His thoughts had no words, either. But his
determination to keep Potter close burst into bud like a flower, and hardened
like stone.

*

�� hieisdragoness18:
Thank you!

�� Dragons
Breath: Thank you!

�� And the magical
attack theory is interesting, but Harry had those fits before he started the Auror
program.

�� Lilith:
Yes. Harry�s accepted it far more thoroughly than he thought he ever would.

�� polka dot:
That might be a possibility, but not one that Harry and Draco are investigating
right now.

�� SP777:
Thank you! Draco is trying to act more adult than he feels�perhaps also a manipulation,
but one that will benefit Harry as well as him.

�� Harry isn�t
thinking about getting away right now, because it�s only two days since their
conversation and he and Draco haven�t had a chance to talk about it yet. Maybe
later.

�� I was very
stressed about a fest fic I was writing. Now the fic is finished (although I
hate it) and therefore I hope to have some more time to take care with these
stories.

�� Mr Spears:
It�ll be a while before the other meaning of your word comes true!

�� MewMew2:
Thanks for reviewing!

�� puresilver:
Thank you!

�� That
pre-slash warning is here because Draco and Harry become friends but not lovers
in this story. This story has sequels, and the sequels will be slash.

�� callistianstar:
Thanks! Now that Harry�s made the first step of the change, he�s decided that
he wants other things to change, so he�s flinging himself into. In that
respect, Draco is very good for him.

�� And Ginny was
so frustrated with a situation that she thought would never change that she
attacked Harry more harshly than she meant to.
- 12
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