A Little Better - Part 2 of A Different View
Title: A Little Better (2/? of A Different View)
Author: sesheta_66
Rating: PG
Word Count: 485
Pairing/Characters: Harry, Draco
Challenges: AWDT's prompt of "Christmas Balls," slythindor100's holiday challenge #29 - Author's choice - I choose "Christmas Balls," and my GJ 100_prompts entry #097 - "Always".
Summary: Draco tries to make things a little better for Harry this Christmas.
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. They belong to JK Rowling and her publishers. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.
To see all parts of A Different View, click here.
Draco had fled Grimmauld Place an hour ago. He and Potter weren't friends. They barely tolerated each other while they both worked on rebuilding Hogwarts. So why did he feel obliged to do anything now? Potter's pain was in the past.
That day, they had gone to Grimmauld Place to gather up some items, and Draco had volunteered just to get away from Hogwarts for a couple hours. It was just his luck that he'd be there when the package had arrived. Of course Draco couldn't resist rifling through Potter's things when given the chance. Anyone else would have done the same.
The letter he had found had shattered his image of Potter. He had been raised to believe that Potter had lived a sheltered childhood, but the boy who had written that letter was definitely not a coddled child. Now Draco wondered about everything he'd ever been told, everything he'd always thought about Potter. Did he even know the man at all?
But where was he to go from here?
Draco was warring with himself. He could certainly follow his natural instincts and return to Hogwarts, put in his hours, and be done with it, be done with Potter. But he wasn't so sure he could do that now. Somehow he needed to find out who Potter really was.
More than curiosity, though, Draco felt a strong pull inside him. He had no idea why, but he felt the need to do something, to try to make things right, or at least a little better. He pictured the dreary sitting room at Grimmauld Place and made his mind up at once.
When he arrived back at the house, Potter was asleep on the sofa, the letter clutched in his hand.
"Potter, wake up!" he called.
"Wha?" Potter replied groggily.
"I have something for you," Draco offered.
Potter turned away and mumbled, "I don't need your pity, Malfoy."
"You won't get it. The past is the past, isn't that what you keep telling me?" He looked at Potter with a challenge in his gaze. "Well, I won't feel sorry for you because you had a horrible childhood, but I would like to do something for you to perhaps make up for a bit of it." He pulled a few boxes out of a bag he had brought.
Harry looked sceptical. "With what?"
"Christmas balls. I figure you probably never really got the chance to decorate when you were a boy, so I thought you might want to put up a tree now."
Draco needn't have worried about Harry's reaction, if his smile was anything to go by. He looked inside the boxes and raised an eyebrow. "Gryffindor colours?" he asked.
As he led the way to the back door to go cut down a tree, Draco shrugged. "Really? I hadn't noticed."
Part 3 - Magic
.
Author: sesheta_66
Rating: PG
Word Count: 485
Pairing/Characters: Harry, Draco
Challenges: AWDT's prompt of "Christmas Balls," slythindor100's holiday challenge #29 - Author's choice - I choose "Christmas Balls," and my GJ 100_prompts entry #097 - "Always".
Summary: Draco tries to make things a little better for Harry this Christmas.
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. They belong to JK Rowling and her publishers. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.
To see all parts of A Different View, click here.
Draco had fled Grimmauld Place an hour ago. He and Potter weren't friends. They barely tolerated each other while they both worked on rebuilding Hogwarts. So why did he feel obliged to do anything now? Potter's pain was in the past.
That day, they had gone to Grimmauld Place to gather up some items, and Draco had volunteered just to get away from Hogwarts for a couple hours. It was just his luck that he'd be there when the package had arrived. Of course Draco couldn't resist rifling through Potter's things when given the chance. Anyone else would have done the same.
The letter he had found had shattered his image of Potter. He had been raised to believe that Potter had lived a sheltered childhood, but the boy who had written that letter was definitely not a coddled child. Now Draco wondered about everything he'd ever been told, everything he'd always thought about Potter. Did he even know the man at all?
But where was he to go from here?
Draco was warring with himself. He could certainly follow his natural instincts and return to Hogwarts, put in his hours, and be done with it, be done with Potter. But he wasn't so sure he could do that now. Somehow he needed to find out who Potter really was.
More than curiosity, though, Draco felt a strong pull inside him. He had no idea why, but he felt the need to do something, to try to make things right, or at least a little better. He pictured the dreary sitting room at Grimmauld Place and made his mind up at once.
When he arrived back at the house, Potter was asleep on the sofa, the letter clutched in his hand.
"Potter, wake up!" he called.
"Wha?" Potter replied groggily.
"I have something for you," Draco offered.
Potter turned away and mumbled, "I don't need your pity, Malfoy."
"You won't get it. The past is the past, isn't that what you keep telling me?" He looked at Potter with a challenge in his gaze. "Well, I won't feel sorry for you because you had a horrible childhood, but I would like to do something for you to perhaps make up for a bit of it." He pulled a few boxes out of a bag he had brought.
Harry looked sceptical. "With what?"
"Christmas balls. I figure you probably never really got the chance to decorate when you were a boy, so I thought you might want to put up a tree now."
Draco needn't have worried about Harry's reaction, if his smile was anything to go by. He looked inside the boxes and raised an eyebrow. "Gryffindor colours?" he asked.
As he led the way to the back door to go cut down a tree, Draco shrugged. "Really? I hadn't noticed."
Part 3 - Magic
.