Rarely Pure and Never Simple

Chapter 7

A/N: Hey guyyys! So here's Chapter 7, hope you'll enjoy! And without further talking, let's get right into the story :)
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Summary of this chapter:
In which meals are shared, bonds are established, stories are told, and the origin of the points system is revealed.
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The doors to the Great Hall seemed unusually large and strangely intimidating, in a way that they had not since the night of the first-year welcoming feast. A nervous shiver wracked Draco's entire body as he gazed at the entrance in sudden fear. Was he really about to walk into that room with Harry, in front of the entire school? He was not sure why he was so anxious, only that he was, praying desperately that the hand Harry was holding was not drenched in sweat.

"It'll be fine, Draco," Harry said in a quiet voice, stepping close enough to murmur the words into his ear. "I promise. It'll all be fine."

"Sure, right," Draco agreed, voice sounding odd. Pansy and Blaise stood nearby, neither of them staring in their direction, but Draco knew they were listening in as hard as they could, the nosy bastards.

"Can I sit with you?" Potter asked, running one finger down the length of Draco's arm.

"What?" Draco stared at him in confusion, wondering if he had heard wrong. "You want to what?"

"I want to eat dinner with you," Harry smiled, appearing far calmer than Draco felt he had any right to appear in their current situation. "And I think sitting with you at your table might be a bit easier than asking you to sit at the Gryffindor table. We'll work up to that, all right?"

"Hey," Blaise smirked, "that makes us the very first students to ever get Harry Potter to sit somewhere besides the Gryffindor table at a meal."

Draco glared at the dark-skinned boy. "You had absolutely nothing to do with this, don't include yourself in my victory."

"Association, Draco," Blaise explained with a careless wave. "You know how friendship works. Your success is my success, you know this. Although, your failure is your own failure, I won't ever take credit for that. But you'll always know that your failure is your own fault and no one else's, so at least you can always take comfort in that."

"Come on," Harry grinned, tugging at Draco's hand. "We may as well just go in. Best way to do something is just to get it over with as quickly as possible."

"Fine," Draco sighed, resigned to the fact that he was now dating a bold daring Gryffindor who apparently did not have enough intelligence to be afraid when he really ought to be. The doors were pushed open with an ominous creak, one that seemed to almost screech at Draco to turn tail and run, or maybe give in to his supposed hedgehog instincts by curling into a ball right there and hiding from all the attention he was about to receive.

The moment he and Harry entered the room together, hands still clasped tightly, every conversation ground to a halt. Heads snapped in their direction as whispers began breaking out across the Hall like spreading ripples of curiosity, students craning their necks and even rising from their seats to get a better look. Glares and furious mutters were being sent Draco's direction, and he could feel himself trembling as he tried his hardest to keep his head up and prevent his gaze from dropping to the floor.

"Come on, then," Harry said softly, giving Draco a gentle smile. "Let's go sit down, yeah?"

"Right this way, Potter," Blaise grinned, and Draco wanted to punch him. How was Blaise getting so much enjoyment out of the situation when Draco was feeling nothing but terrified at all the scrutiny and obvious judgement carved onto every single person's face?

Harry squeezed his hand again as they turned toward the Slytherin table, heading for their usual spot at the very end. Dropping Harry's hand, Draco slid into a seat and Harry smiled as he took the seat next to him, leaving Pansy and Blaise sitting across from the two boys.