On The Tightrope 7/48
Title: On The Tightrope ~ Unexpected News (7/48)
Author: Lire lire_casander
Pairing: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy
Rating: PG this chapter. NC-17 overall.
Word Count: 939
Beta: Lovely gurliemoviegeek. Any mistakes left are my own fault.
Disclaimer: I do not own in any form or shape these characters, JK Rowling does. Just playing with them for my own amusement and yours.
Summary: Harry Potter has saved the world, and now the world has left him out. When desperation becomes too much to bear, he finds solace in an unexpected act of salvation committed by an unexpected hero.
Warnings (overall): Angst. Intents of suicide. Dark themes. Fluff. DH-compliant, including epilogue. Takes place between the final chapter and the epilogue.
Warnings of this chapter: Angst.
Author's Note: Written for 100quills's prompt table using prompt 22. People.
The first breakfast back at Hogwarts ended up being a battle of wills between Harry and Ginny. He should have expected it when Ginny hadn't greeted him in the Common Room, but he was too busy wondering about Malfoy's whereabouts to care - the blond had vanished from the couch were he had slept before everyone had gotten ready for breakfast.
Harry entered the Great Hall alone, since Hermione and Ron had decided to go for a walk together and he felt like the third wheel. He sat down at his usual spot, absent-mindedly picking a piece of toast and his so longed for cup of coffee. Ginny was just across from him, eyeing him with a glance that was both a warning and a threat; he didn't even notice her until she spoke. "Have you already decided when to set up the sessions to choose the second team?"
"Um, no, not actually," was his reply, drowned by a large sip of black liquid. "I'm going to keep the original team, but I'm open to anyone who wants to be part of our team B."
"Anyone belonging to Gryffindor," she added, her eyes fixed on him like a hawk.
"Anyone living in the tower, that's it," he retorted, finally realizing where her comments were leading to and not liking it. "Maybe on Wednesday, it seems a fair day for everyone…"
"Are you implying that you'd allow him to play on our team?" Ginny sounded irritated; if he hadn't noticed it in her voice, he would have for the way she forked her breakfast.
"If he proves to be a good Seeker, and I know he is, then he can have a place on our other team."
"I am a much better Seeker than he is!"
Harry didn't have the chance to reply to her words, since the mail entered through the windows leaving him a small envelope just besides his plate. "What's that, Harry?" Neville asked, stepping into the conversation and thus helping his friend. Harry tore the envelope open, revealing a handwritten letter signed by the person he least expected to receive a letter from.
"Is it…?" Neville stammered, pointing at the signature.
"Snape," Harry whispered, his fingertips touching reverently the traces of the words. "He must have written it before… well… and ordered his house-elf to send it to me today."
"What does it say?" Ginny asked, her concern about Quidditch and Malfoy promptly forgotten. "It surely can't be anything interesting…"
"It is, in fact," Harry said, reading through the letter quickly. "As the last Headmaster before McGonagall, he had the power to hire new teachers for this year. And he offers me the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Through a letter?" Ginny seemed skeptical. "The man knew he was going to die, is that what you're implying?"
Harry looked at the letter, recalling the exact moment when he witnessed life escaping from every pore of Snape's body - he hadn't talked about what he had seen back at Hogwarts the day of that battle. It was all bottled up inside of him, and sometimes he wondered whether his memories were taking the best of him.
"I'm saying that Snape knew I could be a good teacher. I suspect he was aware of our DA sessions."
Ginny shook her head, sighing. "Don't tell me you're going to accept the offer."
"Why shouldn't I? I'll get paid for it!"
"But that would mean we wouldn't have time to be together!"
Harry blinked at her words; Neville stared at them in awe, and he finally dared to cough. "Erm… I'm off to the classroom. See you both there." Once he had stood up and walked out of the Great Hall, Harry started talking.
"Ginny, I already explained the situation to you. Right now, I'm not ready to have any kind of relationship with anyone. I can only befriend them; I don't want to hurt you, but the truth is I need to work out what I want before sharing it with the rest of the world."
"You told me that at The Burrow, yes," she conceded. "But I can help you figure out whatever you want; you're not alone in this, Harry."
"Really?" Harry exploded, his fist connecting with the table. "So if I decide to be friends with Draco Malfoy, will you support me?"
"But you can't possibly want that!"
"I am not able to understand what I want, yet you seem too eager to do so. Are you going to tell me what I feel too?" Harry looked at her, fury in his green eyes. "Ginny, if I cannot say what I think because it does not please you, then right now this is not a healthy relationship."
Ginny decided to ignore the warning in Harry's gaze, and went for the fall. "If everyone keeps telling you not to trust Malfoy, maybe you should listen to them. Harry, maybe we're right and you're wrong."
"For years people thought I'd die at Voldemort's hands; for years people thought I was a liar and a fame-seeker. Did you too? Maybe it's time to start acting according to what I think is good, and not what the rest of the world finds suitable. And now I don't think being with you will do me any good. We're over." Harry stood up forcefully, rage dyeing his cheeks crimson. "Now, I have to talk to McGonagall. Our first class is Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I plan to teach it."
He approached the teacher's table with the odd feeling of having betrayed an old oath, yet he had never felt freer.
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Author: Lire lire_casander
Pairing: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy
Rating: PG this chapter. NC-17 overall.
Word Count: 939
Beta: Lovely gurliemoviegeek. Any mistakes left are my own fault.
Disclaimer: I do not own in any form or shape these characters, JK Rowling does. Just playing with them for my own amusement and yours.
Summary: Harry Potter has saved the world, and now the world has left him out. When desperation becomes too much to bear, he finds solace in an unexpected act of salvation committed by an unexpected hero.
Warnings (overall): Angst. Intents of suicide. Dark themes. Fluff. DH-compliant, including epilogue. Takes place between the final chapter and the epilogue.
Warnings of this chapter: Angst.
Author's Note: Written for 100quills's prompt table using prompt 22. People.
The first breakfast back at Hogwarts ended up being a battle of wills between Harry and Ginny. He should have expected it when Ginny hadn't greeted him in the Common Room, but he was too busy wondering about Malfoy's whereabouts to care - the blond had vanished from the couch were he had slept before everyone had gotten ready for breakfast.
Harry entered the Great Hall alone, since Hermione and Ron had decided to go for a walk together and he felt like the third wheel. He sat down at his usual spot, absent-mindedly picking a piece of toast and his so longed for cup of coffee. Ginny was just across from him, eyeing him with a glance that was both a warning and a threat; he didn't even notice her until she spoke. "Have you already decided when to set up the sessions to choose the second team?"
"Um, no, not actually," was his reply, drowned by a large sip of black liquid. "I'm going to keep the original team, but I'm open to anyone who wants to be part of our team B."
"Anyone belonging to Gryffindor," she added, her eyes fixed on him like a hawk.
"Anyone living in the tower, that's it," he retorted, finally realizing where her comments were leading to and not liking it. "Maybe on Wednesday, it seems a fair day for everyone…"
"Are you implying that you'd allow him to play on our team?" Ginny sounded irritated; if he hadn't noticed it in her voice, he would have for the way she forked her breakfast.
"If he proves to be a good Seeker, and I know he is, then he can have a place on our other team."
"I am a much better Seeker than he is!"
Harry didn't have the chance to reply to her words, since the mail entered through the windows leaving him a small envelope just besides his plate. "What's that, Harry?" Neville asked, stepping into the conversation and thus helping his friend. Harry tore the envelope open, revealing a handwritten letter signed by the person he least expected to receive a letter from.
"Is it…?" Neville stammered, pointing at the signature.
"Snape," Harry whispered, his fingertips touching reverently the traces of the words. "He must have written it before… well… and ordered his house-elf to send it to me today."
"What does it say?" Ginny asked, her concern about Quidditch and Malfoy promptly forgotten. "It surely can't be anything interesting…"
"It is, in fact," Harry said, reading through the letter quickly. "As the last Headmaster before McGonagall, he had the power to hire new teachers for this year. And he offers me the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Through a letter?" Ginny seemed skeptical. "The man knew he was going to die, is that what you're implying?"
Harry looked at the letter, recalling the exact moment when he witnessed life escaping from every pore of Snape's body - he hadn't talked about what he had seen back at Hogwarts the day of that battle. It was all bottled up inside of him, and sometimes he wondered whether his memories were taking the best of him.
"I'm saying that Snape knew I could be a good teacher. I suspect he was aware of our DA sessions."
Ginny shook her head, sighing. "Don't tell me you're going to accept the offer."
"Why shouldn't I? I'll get paid for it!"
"But that would mean we wouldn't have time to be together!"
Harry blinked at her words; Neville stared at them in awe, and he finally dared to cough. "Erm… I'm off to the classroom. See you both there." Once he had stood up and walked out of the Great Hall, Harry started talking.
"Ginny, I already explained the situation to you. Right now, I'm not ready to have any kind of relationship with anyone. I can only befriend them; I don't want to hurt you, but the truth is I need to work out what I want before sharing it with the rest of the world."
"You told me that at The Burrow, yes," she conceded. "But I can help you figure out whatever you want; you're not alone in this, Harry."
"Really?" Harry exploded, his fist connecting with the table. "So if I decide to be friends with Draco Malfoy, will you support me?"
"But you can't possibly want that!"
"I am not able to understand what I want, yet you seem too eager to do so. Are you going to tell me what I feel too?" Harry looked at her, fury in his green eyes. "Ginny, if I cannot say what I think because it does not please you, then right now this is not a healthy relationship."
Ginny decided to ignore the warning in Harry's gaze, and went for the fall. "If everyone keeps telling you not to trust Malfoy, maybe you should listen to them. Harry, maybe we're right and you're wrong."
"For years people thought I'd die at Voldemort's hands; for years people thought I was a liar and a fame-seeker. Did you too? Maybe it's time to start acting according to what I think is good, and not what the rest of the world finds suitable. And now I don't think being with you will do me any good. We're over." Harry stood up forcefully, rage dyeing his cheeks crimson. "Now, I have to talk to McGonagall. Our first class is Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I plan to teach it."
He approached the teacher's table with the odd feeling of having betrayed an old oath, yet he had never felt freer.
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