Book 1- My Slytherin Prince

Chapter 9

Harry woke up the next morning, feeling more rested than he had in years. Draco was already awake, packing, and it was still early in the morning. They had to get to Kings Cross after breakfast. As Harry sat up, Draco stopped packing and smiled at Harry.

"Morning Baby, sleep well?" He said, walking over to Harry. Harry nodded, smiling.

"i did sleep well. It was the best night's sleep in so long." Harry answered.

The morning went by like normal. Harry got dressed, brushed his teeth, packed his trunk, and went downstairs for breakfast. Lucius was there with Narcissa, but the other two adults were not there.

Harry wondered where Tom and Bellatrix were, but he only had a little bit if time to eat breakfast. He didnt eat much, but he never really did eat a lot anyway.

When it came time to board the Hogwarts Express, Harry and Draco found a compartment to wait for Blaise and Pantsy. Harry had to admit he was a nervous wreck, but with Draco by his side, he would never show it. Finally, Blaise and Pantsy joined them.

"What's up lovebirds?" Blaise asked as he walked into the compartment, seeing Harry already had laid his head on Draco's lap. Pantsy simply sighed. She seemed bored, but something about Draco's two best friends made him feel safe, like he knew they would be there if he needed them.

"I wonder how many people read the Daily Prophet.." Harry thought to himself. "There's definitely going to be a lot of questions when I get there. I'm sure everyone knows I'm dating Draco now."

Draco was running his hand through Harry's hair. He was in conversation with the other two Slytherins while Harry was deep in thought. Harry wondered about Ronald and Hermione, and about who the new headmaster was. He slowly began to let himself fall asleep on the ride to Hogwarts. Draco's hand never stopped running through his hair, not even when he was woken up by the blond later.

"Harry, wake up." Draco called. "We are almost to Hogwarts, and you need to change into your robes." Harry woke up, rubbing his eyes. It took a minute for him to realize what Draco had said, and he sat up slowly.

"Hm? Oh, okay Draco.." Harry mumbled. Draco also needed to change, so the two went as a pair to change together. It didn't take long for them to return, and the train arrived at Hogwarts soon after.

As all of the students entered the great hall, Everyone was quite surprised. Harry was still tired, and thought he was seeing things when he saw Professor Severus Snape in the seat Dumbledore used to sit in. He rubbed his eyes again to make sure it was real.

It was.

Snape was the new Headmaster of Hogwarts. As Harry and Draco separated to sit at their respective tables, Harry kept an eye out for Ron and Ginny. After a few minutes, he saw Ginny, but she was alone at the far end of the table.

Even as Dinner began, he saw no signs of Ronald. The twins and Hermione were sitting together, but he was afraid to go over to them. He was getting strange looks from people he knew and people he didn't know, but he didn't care right now. 

All he wanted was to be held by his boyfriend. It all made him nervous because everyone was looking at him, but no one said anything, not until a first year Gryffindor girl across from Harry spoke.

"Mister Potter?" she asked, looking at him. Harry looked up, and others around them stopped talking to listen.

"You don't have to call me Mister Potter," Harry replied, "Just Harry will do."

The girl looked nervous, but nodded.

"Okay, Harry, I just wanted to ask you something.." she said. "If it's okay." Harry nodded. He knew where this was going. "Is it true what was in the Daily Prophet?"

"It is.." Harry said. Everyone around them stopped to look at him. He looked down at his plate of food and took another bite, pretending to not have noticed all the eyes on him. "Unfortunately every part of it. For the first time, there was no bent story. It was straight facts.." he finished.

"I'm sorry for asking." The girl said, looking down at her own plate. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't upset me, you had a right to ask." Harry stated. The girl looked like she wanted to say something else, but she remained quiet for a while.

Dinner was slow and Harry couldn't wait to get to bed and unpack his trunk. He needed sleep, even if he slept the whole way to Hogwarts. He was tired, and had no explanation for it.

When dinner was over, Harry made his way to the Gryffindor tower, only to be pulled aside by Professor McGonagall. She wanted to check to make sure he was okay. Harry kept the conversation short, and refrained from asking about Ronald, who he still hadn't seen at all.

It lasted about 7 minutes before he was able to make his way back to the tower. He wanted to go to bed badly. Even as he walked into the common room and up to the dorms, people gave him glances. He went straight to bed that night. He had class early the next morning anyway.

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First class of the day was Potions with Professor Snape. It was a class he was never great at, but he had gotten better over the years. Thankfully, Draco was in all of his classes. Harry partnered up with Draco for the first big assignment of the semester, a potion to make someone's hair grow extremely long.

Harry measured the ingredients perfectly, which was the part of this class he was good at, while Draco poured, sprinkled, and mixed the rest of it. Harry felt safe with Draco, especially in a class like this.

Hermione was struggling a little with her potion, and got an A, while Harry and Draco got an A+. She was of course confused, and she seemed stressed, but Harry didn't let himself think about it too much.

Classes went by slowly all day. None of his normal friends really talked to him like they used to, but he had Draco. He didn't want to cause drama, so he kept to himself.

Before he knew it, it was Dinner time again, but he chose to sit with the Slytherins, who mostly welcomed him with open arms. He sat by Draco of course, and the rest of the great hall started whispering about it. The house doesn't define the wizard, it was something that McGonagall had taught him. He didn't care if the others got mad at him. He was going to sit with Draco.

Some slytherins were talking about the daily Prophet and the trial. Albus had been sentence to life in Azkaban, but he escaped on the trip there. Draco raised an eyebrow at hearing this. He put an arm around Harry, pulling him closer.

Draco knew Harry wasn't paying attention to the boys talking, because he could hear Harry's thoughts.

"Harry, Darling.." Draco whispered. "Harry, calm down, I'm right here. No one is going to hurt you." Harry looked up at Draco.

His expression was neutral, but he let Draco see his thoughts. He was remembering Ginny and how she cheated. He was remembering Albus and how he always had a lemon drop on him. Harry got a sick feeling at the smell of lemons now. He remembered Ron and how he was treated.

Harry didn't want to remember, but it was like he had no choice. Dumbledore had killed Draco in his dream a few nights ago. He had made Harry think it was all real, because it all felt too real.

Harry swore he would never let Dumbledore hurt Draco. Draco was thankful that Harry's mind was occupied, because he knew Harry might freak out if he knew that Dumbledore had escaped.

He knew he couldn't keep the truth from Harry forever though. He would find out somehow.