• 1-Where is the 'Malfoy' in 'DA'?
• 2-Saint Fucking Potter
• 3-Life is Good
• 4-The frog must die
• 5-Unless you're afraid you'll lose?
• 6-The Battle
• 7-He doesn't hate me?
• 8-Why are you putting on this act?
• 9-No one needs to know
• 10-I agree

Chapter 6

Unless you’re
afraid you’ll lose?

Had he really done it? Had Malfoy truly said
those words? Had it just been a dream?

“I’m sorry. . .” the blond Slytherin had
muttered as he left Harry in the Room of Requirements that night; as if he had
understood the pain the raven haired boy had been suffering from, simply by
looking into his eyes.

The words had felt so. . . genuine, as if, for
once, Draco Malfoy had
dropped all that evil sarcasm and had truly felt compassion for his arch-rival.
Harry felt like dying the instant that the silver haired boy had spoken about
Cedric. The guilt had engulfed him completely. He had been so mad at Malfoy, but yet, it hadn’t been because of him that
Cedric was dead, was it?

Everything was Harry’s fault. . . but the moment he had heard
those apologetic words coming from his
arch rival’s mouth, all his pain had surprisingly drifted away. . . only to be
replaced by extreme confusion. . .

And that’s why Harry lay awake in his bed. . .
ever since that night, it had been one of the only things he could think about.

Had Malfoy. . . cared
about him? And if not, why did he even bother to apologize? What did he care if
Harry felt miserable? He had never given a damn before. . .

What if Malfoy was not really what everybody
thought he was?

Who are you kidding Harry? Malfoy is just an
arrogant git, nothing more. . .

Harry groaned as he argued with himself mentally, pushing his face
deeper into his pillow. It was now two in the morning, he had classes tomorrow
and he still couldn’t sleep because of all this confusion. Tomorrow, or more
precisely later that day, would be their second DA meeting, not to mention a
bloody DADA class, and if he fell asleep in one of Umbridge’s
classes. . . well he really didn’t want to
think about that.

I just wish I’d know why he apologised. . .

Realisation finally slapped him in the face. He felt dumb not to have
thought about it two days ago.

Of course. . . he only did
that so I’d be doing exactly what I’m doing right now.

The boy sighed in despair as he sat up in his poster bed.

I can’t sleep!

He stuck his head out the curtains discretely, assuring himself that all
the other boys in the dormitory were sound asleep. Judging from the loud snores
erupting from the surrounding beds, the fifth year Gryffindors
were in a deep and imperturbable slumber.

Harry crept silently to his trunk. Damning the squeaking noise as he
opened the lid, he searched for the secret compartment inside the chest;
searching for something in the dark was always a hard task. At last, he found
it and pulled his trusty invisibility cloak out of it, slipped it over his
shoulders and sauntered out of his dormitory noiselessly and unseen - he was
invisible after all.

How he
arrived in the lofty Astronomy tower he did not know, it seemed as if his feet
had driven him there of their own account; perhaps it was because he was so
used to coming here when he needed to think clearly.

Letting his Invisibility Cloak drop on the floor, he glanced around the
familiar room, reminiscing on his previous visits here and sighed contentedly.
He loved this place, especially the sweet breeze that danced around in the
room.

As he walked over to the corner where he usually sat, he was greeted
with the sight of a certain blonde haired boy, deep in his own thoughts. If
Harry had looked confused while he had lain on his bed, it was nothing compared
to the young Slytherin’s expression just a few meters
away.

Harry didn’t want to disturb him,
so he chose to observe the scene a little more; he found that seeing Draco Malfoy, Prince of Ice, with
such an expression was . . . fascinating. But, his silent scrutiny was cut
short as the silver haired boy raised his head and looked towards the other boy
with puzzled eyes, which he quickly covered by a sneer.

"What are you doing
here, Potter?" the arrogant boy finally snapped, attempting to sound his
harshest, having not expected someone to interrupt his pondering of dark
memories. . . having not expected someone to see him vulnerable. . .

"I came to
think," the Gryffindor answered, his honesty amazing Draco
once more.

He
didn't yell at me! No, wait, this is Potter, he wouldn’t do something *I*
would. . .

"Well I was here
first, so shove off," Draco said harshly.

"Ok," Harry
shrugged and went over to another corner and sat; he was in no mood to argue
with the Prince of Ferrets.

Draco turned his back
to Harry and went back to his musings, something that only made the Gryffindor
stare at him with curiosity.

What could a brainless git like Malfoy be thinking
about?

A few moments later, he finally decided to
figure out. "Penny for your
thoughts?" he said, making the Slytherin turn to
him.

"Excuse me?" he
asked, blinking in confusion.

"Sorry. . . Muggle saying; it means ‘what’s on your mind?’"

"None of your business.
. ." Draco finally said after staying silent for
a few minutes. No way in hell was he going to tell him about that.

"Ok then," Harry
said, looking at him strangely. Draco was amazed yet again by his pleasant attitude. Why was Harry being so nice?

“What about the Petrificus Totalus?
That’s good in battle,” Draco suggested.

"Yes, but only if
you're strong… You saw the others on Wednesday, I can't believe I’m siding with
you, but, they need a lot of work."

Unlike you. . .

Draco shrugged.
"Yeah, but that’s why you're teaching them aren’t you? You're
the-boy-who-lived-to-fight-another-day. . ." Draco
said a bit less mockingly than he had meant it to be.

"I hate that name. . .
I was just lucky!" Harry said a little too loudly. "Hey, but
you're good too."

Did
I just compliment Malfoy?

Did
he just compliment me?

The Slytherin
raised and eyebrow "Of course, but I’m not going to bother teaching a
bunch of wimps. No challenge."

"Speaking of challenge,"
Harry said, thoughtfully. "Why don’t we have a battle, a duel, a kind of demo for them? That way you’ll have your challenge. Plus, it can’t hurt them to watch two real
wizards battling."

Real wizards, huh?

Draco arched an
eyebrow further, smirking, "You want to duel, Potter? Will this be a
friendly one, or a battle to the infirmary?"

Harry smiled at this,
"Hopefully, I’ll have some chocolate ready for us."

"Wanna
bet? I bet 3 galleons that you'll end up unconscious and I’ll 'regrettably'
have an injury preventing me from going to lessons this week," he smirked.

Was
I just joking with Potter?

Harry laughed softly. Well
what do you know; Draco Malfoy
can be funny when he wants to. Harry didn't want money to be an issue
though. . .

"I don't want to bet, Draco," he finally answered. The Malfoy
boy seemed to have flinched uncomfortably at the use of his first name. Harry
couldn’t help but wonder why. . .

“Unlike you I have a
father. . . and only my father calls me that,
Potter,” he snapped bitterly.

What’s the big deal; I only
called him ‘Draco’. . .

Harry glared at Malfoy for his harsh words, but his eyes instantly softened
as he remembered the same young man’s apologetic words of two nights before.

“At least I have friends,”
Harry said softly, staring into the Slytherin’s
silver gaze. “Well, do you want to have that duel with me tomorrow or not?”
Harry cut in, wanting hanghange subjects quickly.

“Unless you’re afraid
you'll lose?" Malfoy answered, smirking, but his
eyes said other things.

"No chance, Malfoy. . . you’re on! See you
‘round!" with that, Harry left the tower giving one last glance at Malfoy as he swung his invisibility cloak his his body,
and walked casually back to his dorm.

Draco looked as Harry
disappeared under his cloak and his mood changed quickly as he had just thought
of a great curse to use on the Gryffindor. He left the Astronomy Tower smirking.

"Potter's goddown."