FICLET: War Orphans - 2 (Dean/Draco)
Title: War orphans - 2
Character pairing: Dean Thomas / Draco Malfoy
Prompt: quoth the raven
Rating: PG
Word count: 663
Summary: Dean is sick of the atmosphere at Hogwarts after the war and decides to make friends with Malfoy to prove that they can all move on. He gets more than he bargained for.
AN: Part two of thirteen. Links to previous and next parts below.
Link to prompt table: here!
War Orphans - 2
They talked about Hermione’s stunt over dinner that evening. Luna was the only one to say out loud that Hermione had been right to snap, but they all more or less agreed that the gratuitous insults and pointless bashing were getting tiresome-even Ginny, who wasn’t Malfoy’s best supporter.
“I wish I’d been there,” Dean told Hermione when they left for double Transfiguration. “We’d have yelled together.”
She gave him a weak smile.
“I’m just glad I have the NEWTs to worry about.”
The incident got him thinking. He kept replaying the scene in his mind, although he hadn’t been there. The war wasn’t going to be over anytime soon if things went on like that.
He watched Malfoy for the next couple of days. The guy looked exhausted and constantly on edge. He was always alone, with an obvious space between him and his fellow human beings, even at the Slytherin table; in Charms, people only paired up with him if they were made to and he supposed it must be the same in his other classes. He thought he saw him talk with a younger Ravenclaw girl once, but that was all.
By Thursday evening he had made up his mind.
…
He made sure he wasn’t late on Friday morning’s session and entered the Charms classroom hoping Malfoy would be there, early as he usually was. A couple of students were already there, too, and Malfoy was sitting at the far end of the hemicycle. Dean remained casual, and casually walked to the back, as he always did, only this time deliberately going to sit next to Malfoy.
“No one’s sitting here?” he asked expecting no answer.
Malfoy eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t utter a word as Dean dropped his bag at his feet and sat down. Neither spoke for a minute.
“Why are you sitting here?” he heard the blond ask after a while, his voice low, almost a hiss.
“Because.” was his answer.
“Right,” Malfoy said. He was silent then, but Dean could tell he wasn’t happy nor comfortable at all. Others were trickling into the room, some looking at them twice, but Charms was the most crowded Newt-level class so they did not stand out that much; it wasn’t that odd that someone should sit next to him. Although, now that he thought about it, he wasn’t just anyone, as far as Malfoy was concerned. That was the point.
“Look,” Dean said, annoyed that Malfoy was so stiff. “Let’s not make a big deal out of this…”
“How can you bare to sit next to me, you of all people?” Malfoy hissed so that only he could hear through the hum of the other students settling down, growing louder as the room filled up.
“I just can,” Dean said, fighting back something that was threatening to creep up. “I barely ever saw you back then. You weren’t part of it.”
Malfoy looked at him warily.
“Luna thinks the same, you know,” Dean went on, ignoring him. “And anyway… I need some closure.”
He wasn’t sure where that one had come from but it felt oddly relieving to say it. Malfoy didn’t reply and remained tight-lipped, absorbing himself in his parchment and quill. Flitwick was done talking with Hermione and her Ravenclaw counterpart about some point or other of the theory. The silence between them was still uncomfortable so he had to talk again:
“Do you need the notes from last session?”
“No,” Malfoy said slowly, a little more calmly. “Granger gave me a copy of hers in Arithmancy. Thanks.”
Dean nodded, glad he didn’t have to do what he had offered as his notes were full of drawings he didn’t want to share just yet. The discussion of the research and practice they had to do began, and by the end of the session Dean had drawn a pretty big Thestral around his notes. He had caught Malfoy glancing at his drawing once, but nothing more was said.
Back to part 1 --- Part 3
Character pairing: Dean Thomas / Draco Malfoy
Prompt: quoth the raven
Rating: PG
Word count: 663
Summary: Dean is sick of the atmosphere at Hogwarts after the war and decides to make friends with Malfoy to prove that they can all move on. He gets more than he bargained for.
AN: Part two of thirteen. Links to previous and next parts below.
Link to prompt table: here!
War Orphans - 2
They talked about Hermione’s stunt over dinner that evening. Luna was the only one to say out loud that Hermione had been right to snap, but they all more or less agreed that the gratuitous insults and pointless bashing were getting tiresome-even Ginny, who wasn’t Malfoy’s best supporter.
“I wish I’d been there,” Dean told Hermione when they left for double Transfiguration. “We’d have yelled together.”
She gave him a weak smile.
“I’m just glad I have the NEWTs to worry about.”
The incident got him thinking. He kept replaying the scene in his mind, although he hadn’t been there. The war wasn’t going to be over anytime soon if things went on like that.
He watched Malfoy for the next couple of days. The guy looked exhausted and constantly on edge. He was always alone, with an obvious space between him and his fellow human beings, even at the Slytherin table; in Charms, people only paired up with him if they were made to and he supposed it must be the same in his other classes. He thought he saw him talk with a younger Ravenclaw girl once, but that was all.
By Thursday evening he had made up his mind.
…
He made sure he wasn’t late on Friday morning’s session and entered the Charms classroom hoping Malfoy would be there, early as he usually was. A couple of students were already there, too, and Malfoy was sitting at the far end of the hemicycle. Dean remained casual, and casually walked to the back, as he always did, only this time deliberately going to sit next to Malfoy.
“No one’s sitting here?” he asked expecting no answer.
Malfoy eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t utter a word as Dean dropped his bag at his feet and sat down. Neither spoke for a minute.
“Why are you sitting here?” he heard the blond ask after a while, his voice low, almost a hiss.
“Because.” was his answer.
“Right,” Malfoy said. He was silent then, but Dean could tell he wasn’t happy nor comfortable at all. Others were trickling into the room, some looking at them twice, but Charms was the most crowded Newt-level class so they did not stand out that much; it wasn’t that odd that someone should sit next to him. Although, now that he thought about it, he wasn’t just anyone, as far as Malfoy was concerned. That was the point.
“Look,” Dean said, annoyed that Malfoy was so stiff. “Let’s not make a big deal out of this…”
“How can you bare to sit next to me, you of all people?” Malfoy hissed so that only he could hear through the hum of the other students settling down, growing louder as the room filled up.
“I just can,” Dean said, fighting back something that was threatening to creep up. “I barely ever saw you back then. You weren’t part of it.”
Malfoy looked at him warily.
“Luna thinks the same, you know,” Dean went on, ignoring him. “And anyway… I need some closure.”
He wasn’t sure where that one had come from but it felt oddly relieving to say it. Malfoy didn’t reply and remained tight-lipped, absorbing himself in his parchment and quill. Flitwick was done talking with Hermione and her Ravenclaw counterpart about some point or other of the theory. The silence between them was still uncomfortable so he had to talk again:
“Do you need the notes from last session?”
“No,” Malfoy said slowly, a little more calmly. “Granger gave me a copy of hers in Arithmancy. Thanks.”
Dean nodded, glad he didn’t have to do what he had offered as his notes were full of drawings he didn’t want to share just yet. The discussion of the research and practice they had to do began, and by the end of the session Dean had drawn a pretty big Thestral around his notes. He had caught Malfoy glancing at his drawing once, but nothing more was said.
Back to part 1 --- Part 3