Draco stopped speaking.
Ron shifted nervously on his feet. "Right. Look, it's just been on my mind, all right? I could hardly miss the gossip. And I just wanted to say... Um."
"Articulate as ever, I see."
"Shut up," said Ron, but without much heat. "I know being poor must be hard on you. That's what I meant to say about it. I mean, I'm sure it's a lot more difficult to... er, lose all those Galleons, than be like me, who never had them."
Draco gave a studied yet nonchalant shrug. "I suppose it would strain credulity to deny it."
Ron nodded. "And... you're sticking by Harry anyway, and... well, it's good to see. I thought for the longest time you'd double-cross him. But... um, here you are poor, and still here, and... well, I guess you're in it for good."
Draco considered that for a long moment. Then, flipping out his wand, he extended the handle towards Ron. "Truce, we'll say."
"We're not at war. That's what I meant."
"It's a gesture, you imbecile."
Ron still just stared at the wand, until Hermione gave him a little push from behind. "All right, then." He drew his own wand and holding it backwards, touched it to Draco's.
Hermione bounced on her toes a little, and kissed each of them on the cheek.
"Knew I'd get a kiss in the end," said Draco when he pulled his wand back.
Harry had to hand it to him. If Draco was disgusted to have been touched by a Muggleborn, he sure didn't let it show. Maybe Marsha had been better for him than Harry knew. Or maybe he was just being a Slytherin and not admitting how prejudiced he still really was.
And speaking of being Slytherin...
"Now that Severus knows about that Malshite business," Draco mused, "your charming little hold over me is gone. Finito. There's nothing to stop me from telling Severus all about Aran. Isn't that right, Harry?"
"Nothing to tell any longer," said Harry, refusing to be drawn. Draco wasn't going to run to Severus; Harry could tell. "Not now that I'm doing what I should have done from the first."
"You think you should have been insufferably rude from the first?" asked Hermione.
"I'll tone it down," said Harry. "A little. Maybe. If I feel like it..."
Draco practically snorted with laughter, but cut it out when Snape emerged to join them. "Something amuses you, Draco?"
Harry could see Draco thinking fast. "Ten thousand lines for Zabini. That's like aguamenti to a dying man, Severus."
"I think it's right fair of you, Professor," Ron put in, nodding. "So Harry, are you going home for the weekend, then? Hermione and I will see you later."
Once Harry was alone with his family, Snape turned to Draco. "Congratulations on your fine win," he said dryly. "The sheer suspense of that match truly numbed the mind."
Draco didn't quibble with that. "I want more chicken! And that roll! And I want to go look at the point counters! And I want to go to Hogsmeade for my chocolate frogs that somebody left behind! Can I have my allowance, Severus? Can I have a bonus for getting Slytherin all those points?"
As Draco headed back up to the castle, babbling up a storm, Harry and Snape exchanged an exasperated look.
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Coming Soon in A Year Like None Other
Chapter Ninety: A Word, Harry, if You Please
Comments very welcome,
Aspen
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Chapter 90: A Word, Harry, if You Please
http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=5036&chapter=90
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A Year Like None Other
by Aspen in the Sunlight
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Chapter Ninety:
A Word, Harry, if You Please
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"Seems like your brother's pretty popular these days," said Ron on Wednesday at breakfast as he shoved a muffin in his pocket for later. "How do you like that, him getting so much attention for the most boring Quidditch match Hogwarts ever saw?"
Harry glanced over toward the Slytherin table. Not every Slytherin had welcomed Draco back, of course, but enough had that he was really in his element again. Zabini still hated him, but with ten thousand lines to complete, he wasn't about to do anything to anger Snape yet further.
"At least the match gave me a chance to catch up on my reading," said Hermione, a little bit primly.
"You brought a book?"
"Tucked away in my pocket." Hermione lifted an eyebrow. "Ron warned me you'd said it would be a long match. And since I knew how many points Draco would want Slytherin to make up..." She shrugged. "It was pretty obvious which way the wind was going to blow."
"She read about history of magic," said Ron. "And I was so bored out of my skull that I read over her shoulder!"
"That's bored," said Harry, laughing. "So then, who's up for another fun-filled session of Double Defence? Personally, I can't wait." He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
"Harry," chided Hermione. "Enough is enough, all right? Speak in Parseltongue when you need to; that part I understand. But as for the rest? You don't have to be... well, a jerk for the sheer sake of it."
"Sure he does!" said Ron. "Um, I mean, Aran deserves it. He's been a jerk, hasn't he?"
"Two wrongs don't make a right, Ron."
"No, they make a left," said Harry, chortling.
"Actually, it takes three rights to make a left," Hermione stated, her head held high as she walked away from the table.
Harry and Ron had to hurry to catch up. "Oh, come on, let's not fight. Aran's not worth it."
Hermione pursed her lips but didn't say anything further as they headed toward Defence. Draco didn't walk with them that time. More at ease with his own House, he hung back to talk to his friends in Slytherin.
Once in class, though, he stopped by Harry's table. "Today I really do have to work with Greg. He's getting a bit desperate."
"Sure," said Harry, shrugging.
Aran wasted no time getting class started once he came in from his office at the front. "Wands away. Since some students here can't follow instructions about acceptable forms of magic, we won't be doing any whole-class practicals. I'll call students up here for individual instruction. When I call your name, you can fetch your wand out and join me to practise conjuring caninae. In the meantime, everyone is to read chapter twenty-seven and outline it. Once you're done with that, prepare a test on the material. Begin."
A collective groan rose up from the students, Slytherin and Gryffindor alike. Only the Slytherins, however, added muttered commentary to the effect that this was all Potter's fault.
"Potter's a Slytherin," said Draco in a hard voice. "Remember Quidditch? Before the game? I thought we were going to stop turning on each other."