História Joined - Chapter 4

Draco hated to admit it, but he and Harry didn't fight as much. It was more like playful arguing. Were they becoming friends? Harry hoped so, because it would be much easier to live together. But Draco refused to admit he was becoming friends with his enemy. He tried to tell himself he was just getting used to them being together, and had accepted it, but Draco found himself becoming fond of Harry, and he hated himself for it. The way he had stuck up for him... and continued to do so, if Blaise came back. Draco started wondering why he hated Harry so much anyway. He wasn't a bad person. Was Draco just sore because Harry hadn't accepted his friendship in first year? Draco now realized that you can't make friends by bashing their other friends. Or maybe it was just built into his system. Harry's mother was muggleborn, which made Harry half blood, and the Malfoys never mixed with anyone other than purebloods. But the Weasley's are purebloods, and you hate them even more, a voice whispered in his ear. "But the Weasleys associate with muggleborns and such," he said aloud.
"What?" Harry said.
"Hm? Nothing." Draco continued to think about why he was the way he was. So much in fact, that he did not notice Harry calling his name to watch out for the knight statue in front of him.
"Ouch!" Draco said.
"You okay?" Harry said, who couldn't help chuckling a bit.
"Yeah..."
"What were you thinking so hard about?"
"Thinking? I wasn't thinking," Draco said quickly.
"It's kind of hard not to think," Harry said. "For instance, I can't help thinking 'this is stupid' in Divination."
Draco forced a laugh and continued walking, which earned him a suspicious look from Harry.
'It's a good thing he doesn't know Legilimens,' Draco thought. But then he thought, screw it. "Potter," he said suddenly.
"Yeah?"
"Can I call you Harry?"
Harry was so taken aback that he stopped dead, making Draco stumble. "Er... yeah, I-I suppose," he stammered. "Why?"
"Well, I was thinking about why I hate you so much, and I couldn't really find a good answer, so I've decided we can be friends if we want, and never mind what my father says."
"Oh- well, that's great!" Harry said, starting to walk again. "Is that why you are... how you are? Because of your father?"
"Sometimes," Draco sighed. "And other times it's just how I've been raised."
"To be a snarky git?"
Draco elbowed him. "No, just to think I'm better than other people. And also it was because I was kind of jealous of you."
"Really?" Harry said in surprise. "Why?"
Draco shrugged. "I guess all the attention you get, and always being the hero..."
"To be honest, I hate all the attention," Harry said. "And if I'm ever the hero, it's just me trying to do the right thing. For the sake of doing the right thing, not glory."
Draco nodded. "Well, you've definitely saved a fair few in the past few years here."
"Yeah..."
"How you feel about... you know, having to defeat You-Know-Who in the end?" Draco asked cautiously.
"I dunno... I try not to think about it much. Though it kind of surrounds me."
"Yeah... aren't you ever scared?"
"Of course I'm scared," Harry said. "But I don't always have a choice."
They had reached their room. Once they were in, they continued to chat about what might happen in the future with Voldemort and such. Finally they climbed into bed, their hands bound.
"Goodnight," Harry said.
"...Night," Draco said back.
Harry closed his eyes and smiled. He always said goodnight, but that was the first time Draco had answered him.

"Potter."
Harry distinctly heard his name, but decided to pretend he hadn't heard anything.
"Potter!"
The voice was slightly muffled. Harry remembered Draco, and knew he wasn't going to leave him alone. "What?"
"Your armpit is right over my face."
"Oh, is that all? Goodnight."
"Potteeer!" Draco said, laughing. Harry laughed too and moved his arm away.
"Finally, I can breathe. You need to start wearing deodorant."
"Who wears deoderant at night? And I thought you were going to start calling me Harry," Harry remarked.
"Well, Potter worked better this time."
Harry rolled his eyes.
------------
Draco woke early the next day and tried to get up, only to be dragged down again by the still-asleep Harry's weight. He scowled. It was a pain having to take Harry with him everywhere sometimes. As he was getting back in bed, a large eagle owl soared through an open window that had just appeared. It landed next to Draco on his bedside table. Draco took the letter that was clamped in its beak and opened it. "Oh no," he muttered. "Oh nooo..."
The owl hooted irritably, bringing him back into reality. "Oh- sorry, thanks for the letter," Draco said quickly.
The owl hooted again with dignity and flew off. Draco read over the letter again. He didn't know what he was going to do.
Harry began to stir. "Draco, what's that?" He said sleepily, seeing the letter and Draco's horrified face. "It's from my father," Draco said weakly. "He's... he's coming here. Today."
"He is? Why?"
"He just said he wanted to make sure things were acceptable for me at the school."
"Well that's nice of him."
Draco shifted to look at him incredulously. "Harry, don't you realize? He's going to see us!"
Harrys face crumpled in confusion until Draco gave him a look and held up their bound hands.
"Oh," he said.
"God, you're so slow, Potter," Draco said, looking at the ceiling. "He's going to kill me."
"Well... can we hide all day?"
"We can try, but I bet he'll ask to see me or something. Isn't there any way we can make this less noticeable?"
Harry shook his head. "Why can't you just tell him the truth? I mean... if it means that much to you, we can separate for a few seconds again."
Draco was touched by his willingness, but shook his head. "No. You know what he's like. He won't believe it."
"He'll think you're lying?"
"I don't know... he'll be mad."
"But it's not your fault!"
"No, but I just don't think it'll go down well with him, whether it's my fault or not."
Harry shook his head. "That's insane," he said.
Draco sighed. "Yup."

Draco took a shaky breath and prepared himself to face his father. He should be coming soon. He walked down to his Care of Magical Creatures class with Harry as Hagrid started to talk about some creature. "We can't really just run for it if we're in the middle of class," Harry said.
"No... we can try and hide in the crowd, maybe..."
Around the middle of class, there was a loud crack and Lucias Malfoy appeared on the castle grounds.
"Crap, he's here!" Draco said. "What do I say??"
"Why are you so nervous? It's your own father," Harry said. "You used to be all 'my father will hear about this'."
"I mainly said that to scare people," Draco said. "Really I hate talking to him."
Lucias strolled onto the field where the class was going on and spotted Draco. He walked over to him, and then stopped when he saw that he was holding Harry's hand.
"Hello, Draco," he said.
"Hello, Father," Draco answered nervously.
"Draco," Lucias said. "Who is that you've become friends with?"
"H-Harry Potter."
"Harry Potter?" His eyes flickered upwards to the scar on Harry's forehead like everyone did, even though he had seen Harry before.
"Really," he said. "Interesting. Draco- do you know what you are?"
"A pureblood."
"And what is Mr. Potter?"
"Halfblood."
"Very good. And that means...?"
Draco swallowed.
Harry suddenly started coughing very loudly.
"Har- Potter, what are you doing?"
"Oh no, I guess I better go to the hospital wing," Harry said, running away and dragging Draco with him.
Once they were inside the castle, Draco said, "What did you do that for?"
"Well you looked like you couldn't stand him, and frankly I couldn't either."
"Oh, well... thanks."
"Yup. Just avoid him for the rest of the day. How about we go to our room and wait until out next class?"
Draco nodded and the two retreated towards their room.