"Three thousand points from Slytherin!" shouted Crabbe, who up until then hadn't said a word.
Draco gave Harry one last dose of death-glare, then wiped his expression clean, nothing but polite surprise on his face as he turned to Crabbe. "I didn't know you could multiply."
"Can't. Added," said Crabbe around a half-roll he'd just bit off.
"Ah."
Everybody nearby laughed a little, except Goyle, who just shrugged.
Harry got the point. Draco knew best.... at least when it came to managing Slytherins.
"If you think I can help the House recover some of the points recently lost, I'm more than willing to join the team," Draco then announced, his tone making it sound like he was granting a favour, but graciously. "When are practises?"
He listened as Zabini detailed the lengthy schedule, then nodded. "Fine, fine. Now, let's discuss strategy. Because the Snitch is only worth a hundred and fifty points, and with Slytherin over a thousand down, what we need is a way to make sure the game doesn't end too soon. Well, we need that and goals. Loads and loads of goals."
"You sure you want Potter there listening in on all our ideas?" asked Zabini.
"Why not?" Draco smiled, the expression a bit thin. "It's not as though we're playing against Gryffindor."
"Next year--"
"We'll let next year take care of itself."
Zabini looked disgruntled, but he nodded.
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There was a bit of a fracas after dinner. Harry told Ron and Hermione he was going to go see Draco's room in Slytherin. Ron took it pretty well, all things considered, but insisted that he and Hermione should walk Harry down to the dungeons.
Draco pushed off from the wall he'd been leaning on. "Are you planning to follow him into Slytherin and then right up into my room as well?"
"Like I want to see your nasty common room again!"
Draco raised an eyebrow. "Again? Do tell--"
Hermione interrupted. "Listen, you know perfectly well why we're supposed to go everywhere with Harry."
"Yes, I know," Draco drawled. "I might know more than you do. Severus specifically told me, earlier today, that Harry could visit me in Slytherin. I'm certain he didn't mean you lot had to come along. Therefore, I'm competent to keep our boy here safe, oh hero of Hogsmeade. And if I can keep him safe once we're in the dungeons with all the other snakes, I'm sure I can manage to not get him killed on the way there, as well. So, get lost." He made a shooing motion with his hand, just as Snape had that once.
From Draco it looked a lot ruder, though.
"He's right, you know," said Harry apologetically. "Thanks for the offer, but Draco can... er, look out for me now that he's back. I mean, sometimes."
"At least I won't go kissing anybody when I should be watching out for Harry," added Draco.
"Yeah, well you don't have anybody to kiss, do you now?" snarled back Ron.
"Ronald!" shouted Hermione, clearly appalled. Harry thought she must be remembering how Pansy had played Draco false. Definitely, now wasn't the time to mention his lack of girlfriend.
Ron had the grace to flush, as if realising that his mouth had been running ahead of his brain. "Sorry," he mumbled. "That was uncalled for. Especially considering..."
"Forget it," snapped Draco. "Come on, Harry. Let's go."
Ron and Hermione still looked uncertain. Harry thought they'd grown too used to being his constant bodyguards. "Go have some fun," he said, wondering if they'd end up kissing each other like they had in Hogsmeade. Something deep inside him remembered, then, how he'd felt about Cho. But the feeling seemed distant, and it came to Harry that he hadn't liked anybody since, not that way. Not even close. But... he didn't want to. He had enough to be going on with. "I'll be fine with Draco."
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As it turned out, dinner with the Slytherins had given Harry an exaggerated view of Draco's ability to finesse his Housemates. Now that he'd agreed to be their Seeker, his brother had lost whatever advantage he first possessed.
Draco tripped three times on his way across the common room, once so badly that he nearly sprawled flat on his face. Worse than that, perhaps, was the way the other students just ignored him. Like he was made of air, literally. They ignored Harry, too, even though it must have been obvious Harry was trying to figure out where the tripping jinxes were coming from.
"Don't worry about it," said Draco once he was in his dormitory. Funny, Harry had always thought the Slytherins would have bigger rooms than the other Houses. But they didn't. The room for the sixth-year boys was about the same as his own, only without windows since it was underground.
"Don't worry about it?" Harry shook his head as he sat down on the bed he guessed was Draco's since it had the fanciest covers.
"No, that's Greg's," said Draco, pointing. "Sit over there."
Harry wasted no time in moving to a bed covered in a simple dark green bedspread.
"So, I didn't have time to unpack before," said Draco, swishing his wand to and fro. His new trunk, which Severus had bought him, flew open, as did the doors of a nearby wardrobe. Folded clothes began drifting through the air and tried to hang themselves up, but they ended up practically strangling the hangers.
"You haven't really broken in your new wand?"
"I never did have that spell quite down," said Draco, shrugging. "Oh well. The elves'll put it right."
"It wouldn't hurt you to--"
"Yes, it would."
Deciding he had better things to talk about, Harry switched gears. "So, about the way somebody in Slytherin keeps tripping you... Um, I'm sure if you told Severus about that, he'd find a way to put an end to it."
"I need Zabini healthy enough to play Quidditch."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "You know it's him?"
"Well, I don't know, but I know, Harry," drawled Draco, still flicking his wand to make his things go where he wanted. "There's no need for alarm. I have it under control. Zabini needs me healthy enough to play Quidditch too, you see. So he won't go too far."
"Until after the game."
"Weren't you paying attention to my strategy talk earlier? We're going to win this game by so many points that the House'll forget how much they hate me." Draco grinned, though the expression was somehow grim. "I'll be the hero for once, just as soon as I catch that Snitch."
Harry hated to be the bearer of bad tidings, but... "Uh... yeah, but what if you, you know... lose?"
Draco made a scoffing noise as he sat down next to Harry and swung his legs. "Oh, please. We're playing Hufflepuff."
"Hey, they have good players sometimes!"
"Not that I ever noticed."
Harry let it go. "What makes you think it's Zabini tripping you?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? Once I was out of the way, Nott more or less took over as a leader of the sixth-years. And then Nott gets himself thrown into Azkaban, and Zabini starts thinking that now the others will have to look to him, right? Except, straight away I come back. He's trying to make me look foolish and inept so I can't step back into my old role here." Draco shrugged. "Besides, Greg wouldn't do that to me, and Vincent isn't stealthy enough. Zabini is the only one left. Ha, I'm sure he'd have found a way to keep me off Quidditch if he could, but people would have questioned that." Draco's smile grew wide. "I'm just too good."
Harry smiled too, glad to see Draco a little bit happy about something. Though he did feel he had to point one thing out. "Maybe it's a girl tossing hexes your way."
"Maybe," Draco allowed, but he looked like he was just saying it to end the conversation.