Draco watched with sympathy as Harry held out his arm for yet another noxious substance to be place on the small patch of skin Madam Pomfrey had prepared for the purpose.
At least it wasn't as barbaric as the Muggle way; Harry had explained how when he was eight he had been dragged to a Muggle doctor with a suspicion of a peanut allergy and it sounded horrendous. Having small cuts made all up your arm and then having various substances dropped on the cuts sounded prehistoric.
Madam Pomfrey had sat Harry down and charmed a square of skin on Harry's arm to glow if anything touched it that interfered with Harry's magical field. Since it was the magical properties of the substances that had caused the last adverse reaction this was the information the healer was interested in. There were anti allergy potions at the ready just in case, but if everything went smoothly it was unlikely they'd be needed.
The continual use of the charm to prepare the patch of skin was grating on Harry's nerves, but other than that, as far as Draco could tell, his lover was suffering no adverse effects.
[How many so far?] Harry's mental voice asked silently.
[Twenty-three,] Draco replied without thinking and then sent Harry a curious glance. [How did you know I was counting?]
That at least drew a slight smile from the besieged wizard as yet another potion's ingredient failed to do anything but take up time.
[You always keep track of the details,] Harry replied and Draco could feel his lover bracing himself for the cleansing spell Madam Pomfrey was employing. [I'm going to go insane if this takes much longer.]
[But at least once this is done there shouldn't be any more unwanted episodes in Snape's class,] Draco pointed out, trying to find the positive aspect of the situation.
A snort of laughter was the reply to that opinion and Harry received a penetrating look from Madam Pomfrey for his outburst.
"Anything wrong, Mr Potter?" the healer enquired in her usual business-like tone.
"No, Madam Pomfrey," Harry replied with a smile and an innocent expression that could have won an award, "thank you. Draco said something funny."
The witch glanced in his direction and Draco gave her a polite smile.
"I was commenting on how at least once this is over Harry should not cause any more incidents in Potions," Draco explained since he had no reason to hide the comment and did not wish to antagonise Madam Pomfrey. "He seemed to think that was funny."
"I think it's my destiny to cause incidents in Potions," Harry responded. "I doubt this will make much difference."
"But it will prevent any, possibly nasty, adverse reactions," Madam Pomfrey said calmly and picked up the next small container.
Draco watched Harry sober at the comment and he doubted that his lover had considered the possibility that his condition could cause anything dangerous to occur. Nasty ideas had been running about in Draco's head ever since Snape had suggested the testing, but he had tried to dismiss them.
[It's highly unlikely that an allergy could cause a big problem,] he told his soulmate before Harry could ask the questions that Draco knew were building up in his brain. [This is just Snape's vindictiveness, nothing more.]
The slight frown on Harry's face relaxed until it was almost imperceptible, but it did not go away completely.
There were four sets of substances being tried and so far Madam Pomfrey had been through those from animals, and half of those from plants. The other two categories were mineral and toxic. The toxic substances would not be placed on Harry's skin, but the healer was going to expose Harry to them in a close enough proximity to affect his magical aura.
Draco was not looking forward to that part at all. He was already sitting on his hands so he couldn't be tempted to whip out his wand to defend Harry. He had a reasonable handle on his instincts, but it never hurt to be careful.
For a few minutes the pair did not converse and Draco went back to counting tests. It was as Madam Pomfrey placed a tiny spot of something sticky on Harry's arm he felt a shift. If he hadn't been concentrating very hard on Harry he never would have noticed anything, but since his soulmate was all he was focusing on, Draco spotted it instantly. Harry had also noticed something because he looked up and locked gazed with his lover.
"I think..." Harry said uncomfortably, but that was all he managed to say.
Harry hiccupped once and the pillow on the bed on which he was sitting exploded in a burst of feathers. The white down flew up into the air and proceeded to rain down over the whole area as the three occupants of the hospital wing remained like statues.
"The sap of the singing willow," Madam Pomfrey said in a perfectly clinical tone, as if she was not being covered with feathers.
Draco found it hard to repress a smirk as he recovered from the shock of the explosion and viewed the quite ridiculous scene before him. He doubted that even Snape could have pulled off aloof and superior with white duck down gently settling on his head and Madam Pomfrey definitely couldn't.
"Sorry," Harry said quietly, blinking at the healer apologetically.
"Not to worry, Mr Potter," Madam Pomfrey replied in her normal tone, "this is, after all, why we are here."
The woman picked up one of the vials of potion sitting in the rack beside her, unstoppered it and handed it to Harry.
"Drink this," she said calmly, "and then you may assist me in removing these feathers from my hospital wing before we begin again."
Harry grimaced as he did as he was told and Draco was very glad that they did not share all experiences. It would take fifteen minutes for the anti allergy potion to clean out Harry's system and then dissipate, so they had some time on their hands. Normally a mess like the feathers could be cleared up with a swish of a wand, but with so many substances in close proximity an encompassing spell like that would be a very bad idea. That meant the avian snow fall was going to have to be cleaned up by hand.
"You too, Mr Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey said just as Draco tried to think up some excuse to not have to get down on his hands and knees to pick up feathers. "Since you are here you may as well make yourself useful."
With an unimpressed look in Harry's direction he slowly stood up; manual labour was not his idea of a fun Sunday afternoon.
[I would like to lodge an official protest,] Draco said as he surveyed the devastation, [I am here purely as moral support.]
[Say that out loud,] Harry commented and also stood up.
Draco fixed his lover with a superior stare.
[I may object,] he said, a grin gracing his features, [but I am not suddenly insane. There are only a few people in this world who frighten me and Madam Pomfrey is one of them.]
[You and the rest of the world,] Harry agreed and began scooping feathers off the bed as the healer in question began removing the offending items from her tray of supplies. [Now if Madam Pomfrey wanted to rule the world and not Voldemort we'd be in real trouble.]
Draco pulled a feather out of his hair and looked at it contemptuously before flicking it at his soulmate.
[If Madam Pomfrey wanted to the rule the world,] he replied, [the world would take its medicine quietly and surrender.]
YOU ARE READING
Gold Tinted Spectacles (Hecatemus Book #1)
Fanfiction(Drarry) Harry Potter is about to enter his seventh year, and things are not quite what he expected. He is no longer the angry boy who watched his world fall apart at the end of his fifth year, but neither has he completely found his place yet. He i...
