Gift!fic for the lovely Sojiron
“Harry! Harry! Come on, Potter, it’s time to wake up.”
“Mmmmhhmmm,” came the mumbled reply from the tightly wound bundle of blankets currently occupying one of the six beds in the sixth-year Slytherin dormitory. Draco, who was very much used to this scene (having been part of it for six years now), chuckled lightly seeing the tuft of black hair - the only visible feature of the sleeping boy- disappear under the dark green blanket. It was time to bring out the „big guns”.
“I have tea.”
The blond boy smirked as a tanned hand appeared, blindly reaching for the cup of tea that was sitting on the night stand at a safe distance from the dark-haired boy, who would more than likely spill it on himself if he were to get it now.
“Oh no. You have to get up to get it.” Draco watched amusedly as the searching hand quickly retreated to its warm confines and all previous movement ceased. He reached for the blanket, but as he was about to pull it of the other boy, the same tanned hand appeared and latched itself onto Draco’s wrist, taking Draco’s hand with it under the covers. The blond boy felt a warm cheek pressed into his palm.
“Mmmm Draco.” Harry pulled the other boy closer nudging the hand with his nose. Draco couldn’t help but caress the warm skin and unruly hair so willingly presented to him.
“You really need to wake up or we’ll be late. And you know how Severus hates tardiness. So get your lazy butt out of bed, your tea is on the night stand.” With that he pulled his hand back and went to his wardrobe to pick out his own outfit for the day.
Two minutes later - with much grunting and yawning - Harry Potter appeared next to him. Apparently, he had managed to untangle himself from his bedclothes and - even though his eyes were still only just halfway open - he had also managed to get his hands on his tea, that he was now sipping very contently.
“You should really hurry up, we only have half an hour to get breakfast and get to class.” The green eyes instantly popped wide open and Draco could see the panic spreading through the other boy.
“Shit, that’s not enough! You really should have woken me up sooner!” With that the dark-haired boy ran into the bathroom to clean himself up somewhat.
Draco chuckled to himself. He could always get Harry with this. Actually, they still had an hour to get everything sorted out, but he had to do something to get the other boy up. He was a notoriously heavy sleeper (when he didn’t have nightmares) and he loved sleeping in. It took nearly an hour, and Draco’s persistent nagging, to finally get him to get up. After the first few times that Harry’s sleeping habits had made them late, Draco began to use tricks to force the other boy to wake up. Tea was definitely the way to go, since Harry did not seem to be able to function properly without it. But sometimes he needed to use some other incentives, as well, like telling Harry that they were already late. This seemed to work best when they had Potions first thing in the morning, since Harry tried to avoid any kind of confrontation with the Potions master. His abysmal skills at the subject did not go unnoticed by Snape and the only reason the professor turned a blind eye to most of his mistakes was that Harry was in Slytherin and his Head of House didn’t want to deduct House points.
Of course, Snape didn’t seem to dislike Harry now as much as he had six years ago. When the Sorting Hat announced that Harry Potter belonged in Slytherin, the Potions master almost fainted off his seat in the Great Hall. His face turned an alarming shade of yellowish green and he started to pinch himself to wake himself up from the nightmare he seemed to be stuck in.
Of course, Severus Snape was not the only person present who was surprised (or downright shocked) by the Potter boy’s placement in Slytherin. Draco himself had been sure that Harry Potter would inevitably end up in Gryffindor. Their first (or really second) encounter had screamed that the green-eyed boy was a noble and loyal person, who would do everything for his friends.
It happened just as they’d left the boats and waited for admittance into the castle. Draco had heard that the Great Harry Potter was on the Hogwarts Express with them and he couldn’t wait to introduce himself to the boy who was probably the most famous eleven-year-old in the world. His father had - of course - told Draco everything about the Boy Who Lived and had also strongly advised him to try to be his friend. And Draco didn’t want to disappoint his father.
So he decided to find the famous boy before they were ushered inside. But as he took his first step, there was a loud squeaking sound and something jumped away from under his foot causing him to fall backwards, ending up on his bottom in the dirt. The silence was deafening. He was supposed to appear regal and cool. He was supposed to make an entrance and show the world how superior Malfoys were. He felt his face redden.
A little dark-haired boy ran to him and caught the cause of his fall; a big, mud-coloured toad that was struggling to get away.
“You must be Trevor, right?” asked the other boy turning towards Draco, who started to open his mouth to say that he most definitely wasn’t Trevor, when the strange boy looked at him with piercing green eyes. He felt his face warm even more.
“Are you okay?”
To Draco’s surprise, the other eleven-year-old offered him his hand to help him up from the ground. Draco reluctantly accepted the help (even though Malfoys were not supposed to show weakness or need for help) and tried to get himself presentable again.
“I’m Harry, by the way. What’s your name?” Draco’s eyes widened comically as he pieced together that his rescuer was non-other but the famous Harry Potter.
“I…I know.”
“Oh, I always forget that in this world everyone seems to know me.” Potter shrugged his shoulders as if he was baffled by this fact.
“I’m Draco. Draco Malfoy.” Draco tried to make his name project all the prestige that he thought should be associated with his family.
“Oh. Haven’t we met before? In the robe shop…” Draco’s memory flashed back to the pretty green-eyed boy he had met at Madam Malkin’s. He had been so excited to finally meet someone new who was going to be with him at Hogwarts. Plus the boy had been very pretty, too. He remembered having babbled about the boy to his mother all afternoon. And now he was here, not to mention, he was the Boy Who Lived.
“Oh, that was you.” Draco said as Harry Potter smiled shyly at him.
“Come on, let’s give Neville back his Toad.” The boy grabbed Draco’s sleeve and started to pull him towards the castle. There was a group of people gathered together there, a frizzy-haired girl who seemed to be arguing with a redhead about something and a chubby, scared-looking boy who was standing very close to the frizzy-haired girl.
“Neville, we’ve found Trevor!” cried Harry as he pulled the Malfoy heir towards the little group. The chubby boy turned towards them and seemed to perk up immediately.
“Oh, you’ve found my toad! Thank you so much, Ha…Harry.” The boy blushed crimson. So it was his stupid toad that made Draco fall over. He was about to sneer at the other boy and tell him exactly what kind of people brought slimy (gross) toads to school (and what kind of name was Trevor, anyway?), but he was interrupted by Harry.
“No problem, Neville.” The dark-haired boy smiled at him jovially. “Guys, this is Draco Malfoy. We met on Diagon Alley and now here, too.”
Draco saw the redhead’s face darken considerably and a faint sneer appear on his lips. From his father’s teachings he deducted that he was probably facing a Weasley spawn. There was a feud between the two families that has been going on for more than a century.
“Draco, this is Ron, Hermione and Neville. I met them on the Hogwarts Express. They are very nice, I’m sure we will all get along splendidly.” Draco must have imagined the warning tone in Harry’s voice as a moment later he was smiling at them with sparkling green eyes.
Draco had no time to even consider objecting as a strict-looking witch ordered them to make their way into the castle. But he noticed that Harry was still clinging to his sleeve as they waited for their turn with the Sorting Hat.
He was sure that he, himself would be in Slytherin, and he had little doubt that his new friend would end up in Gryffindor. He was loyal, honest and kind, and those are disgustingly Gryffindor traits. When his turn arrived the hat didn’t hesitate a second to put him in Slytherin. He made his way to the green and silver table, where some of his friends and his housemates greeted him with smirks. Harry was not long after him and he held his breath as the hat contemplated the decision. Harry seemed to be there for quite a few minutes when the Sorting Hat announced that he was to be in Slytherin. Several people seemed to be gaping at every table.
Draco still couldn’t believe that his friend was in Slytherin when the grinning boy plopped down beside him. He had been so sure that the other boy would be in Gryffindor. Did he hide sneakiness and stealth underneath the smiles and compassion?
He couldn’t answer that question for several years, since Harry seemed to be the archetypical Gryffindor. He helped everyone, he was kind, he defended the weak and stood up to the bullies. He reprimanded Draco if he made rude comments about his other friends, he seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve and he seemed to attract danger like a magnet, too.
It was in his fourth year when Draco realised that in spite of all the Gryffindor characteristics, Harry was a true Slytherin. The Boy Who Lived was surprisingly sharp-witted, he could understand the thinking of almost everyone and therefore he knew in advance what other people would do in a situation. He was swift and fast, he seemed to have a sixth sense that told him if he was needed somewhere and he could pop up in the most unexpected places at the most unexpected times anywhere in the castle without anyone noticing him.
But the most Slytherin of all his things was his tendency to make everyone love him. He had friends in all four houses and all of his friends loved him. They were loyal to him to a fault and would have followed him into a burning room without question. Although one would think that this was sappy and Gryffindor and that it was foolish to trust anyone, it was actually the most genius plot of all. Harry created a force to be reckoned with, he was close to a lot of people, and could make them do things, and everyone seemed to love him for it.
It was truly genius, and truly Slytherin.
Leaving his memories, Draco watched with a raised eyebrow as Harry stumbled out of the bathroom, shirt haphazardly thrown on, tie hanging off his shoulders, hair an absolute mess, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth while still hanging onto his cup of tea like a lifeline. The blond boy calmly made the finishing touches on his own hair deeming the result perfect and grabbed Potter by the shoulder.
“Come here.” He dragged his own comb through the unruly black hair trying (and failing, but he would never admit that) to make Harry look presentable.
“You know it’s useless.” murmured Harry, but he stepped closer to Draco anyway, enjoying the other boy’s touch shamelessly. Draco chuckled as the shorter Slytherin made little purring sounds as he petted the surprisingly soft hair. Suddenly, a loud shrilling voice made him jump almost a foot.
“What was that?” asked Draco staring accusingly at Potter who was smirking at him.
“That was my alarm clock, it signals that now we really only have half an hour before class. Come on sleepyhead, or we’ll be late because of you!” said Harry and ran out of the dorm laughingly.
Draco shook his head; yes, Slytherin to the core.