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The Wand Game	By : ReverieWilde Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 21854 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters in it. I make no money on the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
〪o 〫O〬 o〭

November 21 1998

“Harry, you’re going to give yourself away if you don’t stop staring at Malfoy’s empty seat and moping,” Hermione said softly.

“I was hoping to talk to him this morning. But now it seems as though he’s avoiding me altogether.”

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe he simply overslept?”

Grumbling, Harry pushed food around his plate, stealing glances between the door and Draco’s vacant spot.

Hermione glanced around the Hall, noticing that it was more sparsely populated than usual that morning.

“Dean, where’s Ginny?” she asked.

“I stopped by her room to get her, but she said she wasn’t feeling well.”

“I heard the flu is going ‘round Ravenclaw,” Ron chimed in. “The sick ones aren’t allowed out of their dormitories.”

Suddenly, Harry slammed his fork down. “I can’t take it any more. I’m going to see what happened.” He got up from his place and walked out of the Great Hall. Proceeding down toward the dungeons, Harry wasn’t sure what he would do once he got there. He wouldn’t be able to get into Slytherin on his own.

As fate would have it, Professor Slughorn was rounding the corner, whistling a happy tune.

“Oh, Harry my boy. What are you doing down here on a Saturday morning?” Slughorn smiled. It was nearly impossible not to return the gesture. “Did you come down to sneak a bit of potions practice as well? I’m sorry I don’t have time to supervise you right now.”

“Uh, oh, I was just . . . “ Harry stammered for an excuse to be there.

“How did you boys find out about the big project already?”

“The big project,” Harry repeated.

“I wasn’t planning on announcing it until next week, so you’ll have to keep it to yourself. I imagine you’ll want Miss Granger for your partner. Big prize at the end.” He nudged Harry’s ribs.

“Yeah, sure,” Harry said, going along with it. “I promise not to say anything.”

“Oh, but Harry,” Slughorn’s expression became serious. “Take care. You don’t want to end up like Mr. Malfoy.”

Eyes widening, Harry quickly asked, “What happened to Draco?”

“Don’t worry, Harry. He’ll be fine. Madame Pomfrey is taking good care of him. He was down here yesterday afternoon getting in a little extra practice. Put a bit too much pulverized hellabore into his potion. I’m afraid when he stirred it, he breathed in the puff of vapor.”

“Are you sure he’s all right?” Harry asked anxiously.

“Well, last I heard he’s still unconscious--”

“Unconscious??”

“Oh, I don’t think it’s as bad as it sounds.” The professor paused and furrowed his brow. “You’re awfully concerned, Harry. I didn’t realize the two of you were friends.”

“I’m just, uh, concerned for a fellow student is all.” Anxious to go to the hospital wing, Harry made his excuses and swiftly took off down the corridor, leaving Professor Slughorn scratching his head.

〪o 〫O〬 o〭

Harry came to a screeching halt in front of the door to the hospital wing. He leaned a hand against the doorjamb to catch his breath. Slowly pushing the door open, Harry peeked inside. Only one bed was occupied. A blond head rested peacefully on the pillow.

Not seeing any sign of Madame Pomfrey, Harry tiptoed to Draco’s bed. The blond boy looked so much smaller than usual. Paler, too. Harry sat down in a chair beside him.

“Draco?” he whispered.

Draco didn’t stir.

“Draco? I hope you’re all right. I . . . was angry with you last night because you didn’t show. But I didn’t know something happened to you.”

“I’m so sorry I snapped at you the other day. I hadn’t been sleeping well. It’s been going on for a couple of weeks. Bad dreams. I know they’re only dreams. At least that’s what Hermione says.” He took Draco’s hand in his. “But they have me worried.”

Harry rubbed his forehead. “I need to talk to you. I need you to wake up. Please be all right. Please wake up,” Harry begged.

“I’m awake, Potter,” a hoarse voice muttered.

“Were you awake the whole time?”

Draco smirked, his eyes still closed. “Maybe.” He opened his eyes and looked at Harry.

“What happened? Why were you in the Potions room? Slughorn said something about a project.”

Frowning, Draco answered, “I don’t know anything about a project. I was trying to make you a calming draught. You told me you’d been having trouble sleeping. I wanted to get it finished so I could bring it to you last night.”

“What went wrong?” Harry asked. It wasn’t like Draco to screw up a relatively simple potion.

“I couldn’t remember how much hellabore I put in. I lost track because I was in a hurry. I finished the potion and brought it back to my room. I wasn’t feeling well and decided to take a nap. When Pansy came to check on me, I felt too dizzy to get up and asked Pans to send a message. Didn’t you get it?”

“Hermione came to get me around nine. Pansy’s note didn’t say anything about you being sick, though.”

Shaking his head, Draco simply said, “Pansy.” He sighed. “Anyway, at some point, I must have passed out and they brought me here.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you had a visitor. And you’re finally awake.” Madame Pomfrey’s voice startled the pair.

Draco tried to pull his hand away, but Harry held tight.

“She’s already seen,” Harry shrugged. “And you won’t tell anybody, right Madame Pomfrey?” He looked up at her hopefully.

“Tell anybody what?” she winked. “But you’ll have to leave Mr. Potter. I need to check on Mr. Malfoy. And he needs his rest.”

“Can I come back?”

“Maybe later. After supper,” she told him.

Harry released Draco’s hand and got up from the chair. He really wanted to kiss Draco. Even if it was just on his forehead. Though Madame Pomfrey had seen him holding Draco’s hand, Harry wasn’t willing to reveal any more of their relationship.

“Well, I’ll see you later, then,” Harry smiled. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“All right.”

Harry turned to walk away.

“Harry?” He turned back around. “Thanks for coming.”

〪o 〫O〬 o〭

November 22 1998

Draco was released from the hospital wing Sunday afternoon. Blaise tried to celebrate with some butter beers, but Draco wisely declined.

“Blaise, would you mind terribly switching partners in Potions?” Draco gathered up the courage to ask.

“What? You don’t want to be my partner any more?” Blaise pouted.

“It’s not that I don’t want to be partners with you so much as I want to be partners with someone else.” Draco bit his lip.

“Potter?” Blaise rolled his eyes. “He’s not as good as I am, you know.”

Draco smiled. “I know. But, it’s one of the few classes we share and I’d like to be his partner. Besides, he’s feeling a bit insecure lately.”

“What’s in it for me?” Blaise asked, in true Slytherin style.

“What do you want?”

“For starters, a good partner. I’ll not get stuck with Mandy Brocklehurst again. She’s total rubbish at Potions. And not Pansy either. Love her to death, but she treats Potions class like social hour. How about Granger?”

“I might be able to swing that,” Draco thoughtfully rubbed his chin. “Although she may not want to give up Ginny as a partner. Weasley’s gotten better,” he said, referring to Ron.

“No. But I’d take his sister.”

“All right. I’ll see what I can do.” Knowing that wasn’t all Blaise would want in return, Draco asked, “What else?”

Grinning, Blaise looked pleased to be able to hold something over Draco’s head. “Hmmm. Let’s see. What do I want?”

Sighing, Draco crossed his arms over his chest. He could see Blaise trying to come up with some outrageous request.

“Don’t fret, mate,” Blaise smiled. “All I want is a little bit of money. So I can take Harper out.”

“You spent your allowance already?”

“Mum stopped sending it. Her new husband said I was too old to be getting allowance,” Blaise grumbled.

“Done,” Draco said, and held out his hand for a gentleman’s shake.

“Remember, I want a good partner,” Blaise reminded his friend.

Draco nodded. Now all he had to do was convince Harry’s friends to all switch partners. Piece of cake.

〪o 〫O〬 o〭

November 23 1998

Draco had a plan. He and Blaise would pretend to have a fight. Blaise would go looking for a new Potions partner and somehow, Harry would have to convince one of his friends to take on Blaise. He just didn’t have any idea how to pull off his plan.

On the way out of breakfast, Draco caught up to Harry in the corridor. He subtly passed Harry a note explaining his scheme as he walked silently beside him. He wanted the partner switch to occur before Slughorn announced the new project. Granger might not be willing to switch once she found out about it.

Out of the side of his mouth, Harry said, “You look much better today.”

“I feel better.” Draco gave him a wink and hurried on ahead of Harry.

Once in Charms class, Harry opened the note and read it. He liked the idea of working on the project with Draco. Not that Ron wasn’t a perfectly fine partner, but the thought of spending long hours with Draco under the guise of school work was brilliant. Harry frowned when he read the part about Hermione exchanging Ginny for Blaise. That would take some convincing on his part. Not to mention, he’d most likely have to tell Ginny why. He’d been avoiding that.

“Something wrong, Harry? What’s that you’re reading?” Hermione asked, always curious.

“Um.” Harry decided to come out with it and be honest. He glanced around to see if anyone was listening. “It’s a note from Draco,” he said quietly. “He wants me to switch partners with Blaise for Potions.

“But that would leave Ron with Blaise. They barely know one another.”

“Actually, Blaise wants to work with you.”

“Me?”

“Or Ginny. He’s good at potion making, really.”

“You expect me to give up Ginny and compromise my grades just so you can cozy up to Draco in class?”

Harry couldn’t help but smile. “Well, yes,” he laughed. “But if you can convince Ginny to work with Zabini, you could cozy up to Ron.” Harry looked around again to make sure no one was listening in. “There’s a project coming up. I get the impression it’s a big one. Slughorn accidentally told me. Please Hermione, will you do this? I’ll even help you with your project if you want.”

Hermione sighed. Harry looked like a puppy begging for food. How was she supposed to resist that?

“You’re going to have to tell Ginny.”

“Not if you ask her to switch. Tell her you and Ron really want to partner up. She’ll understand. Draco and Blaise are going to have some sort of argument, leaving them both looking for partners.”

“Sounds complicated. And you’re going to have to tell Ginny sooner or later.”

“I’ll opt for later.”

“Coward. How on earth did you get into Gryffindor?” Hermione joked.

During Charms, Harry penned a note back to Draco telling him that Hermione was willing to try and convince Ginny to work with Blaise. But first she was going to drop hints that she wanted to work with Ron. It wouldn’t take much to persuade Ron. Hermione was better at potion making than Harry. And Hermione was much prettier. Hopefully it would all fall into place and by the time the project was announced Harry and Draco would be sitting side by side.

〪o 〫O〬 o〭

November 26 1998

Blaise and Draco walked into Potions that day arguing. They had been nitpicking one another all week, putting on a fair show for everyone. The irony was that this day’s argument had been real and they hadn’t planned to have their public falling out until the next day. It seemed that Draco was growing weary of being locked out of his own room by Blaise and Harper. Especially without notice. The boys had been arguing about it since breakfast.

“Are you going to hold it against me forever that I forgot to remove the locking charm?” Blaise threw up his hands in frustration.

“Yes,” Draco spat back. “It’s not the first time.”

“What’s the big deal? It’s not as if there’s no place to sleep in the common room.” Their voices raised as they argued.

“Those sofas are horridly uncomfortable,” Draco complained.

“I’d do it for you,” Blaise offered, earning him a stern look of warning. “It’s not my fault your boyfriend is too chicken to shack up with you for the night.”

A few of the students snickered, their suspicions about Draco confirmed. Ginny included.

That was the final straw. Draco drew his wand, stepped back and pointed it at Blaise.

“Boys!” Slughorn shouted. “Mr. Malfoy, put away your wand immediately!” The professor put his hands on his hips. “This is no way to behave in my class. Ten points from each of you. Now sit down so we may begin our lesson.”

Draco quickly spoke up, realizing, though he really was angry with Blaise, this was the perfect set up.

“I don’t want him for a partner any more.”

“Fine by me,” Blaise glowered. “I don’t want you either.”

“Well, I’m not sure you boys have a choice,” Slughorn told them. “Not unless someone else is willing to change pairs.”

Hermione raised her hand. “Excuse me Professor, but if we’re changing partners, I’d like to pair up with Ron.”

Ginny scowled. Even though Hermione had been talking about it all week, Ginny didn’t believe anything would come of it. She and Hermione had been a great pair.

“Oh, I see,” Slughorn replied. “Well, then, that would leave Miss Weasley and Mr. Potter without partners.”

Though the circumstances were slightly off, Blaise still had the presence of mind to stick to the plan. “I’ll take Weasley. I mean, Ginny.”

“Is that all right with you, Miss Weasley?” the professor asked.

Ginny narrowed her eyes. Something didn’t seem right. But she certainly didn’t want to work with Draco. At least she had spent some time around Blaise at the first wand party and he didn’t seem so bad. Of course, that would mean Harry would get paired with Malfoy. Strangely, neither of them appeared to be terribly upset.

“That’s fine,” Ginny finally answered. She and Blaise were fairly evenly matched in Potions. She could do worse.

Hermione moved to Ron’s table, while Harry sat down next to Draco. He subtly asked Draco if he was all right.

“Fine, Potter,” he grumbled through gritted teeth. He looked back to glare at Blaise, who did not return the look. Harry hadn’t realized it was a real argument until that moment.

At the end of his lecture, Professor Slughorn hinted at what was to come.

“I want you all to be on time tomorrow and attentive. I have an announcement to make that should interest all of you.”

〪o 〫O〬 o〭
- 14
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The Wand Game