The Domino Effect [DRARRY]

2.

Sometimes I feel I've got to. . . run away, I've got to. . . get away - Soft Cell

The last time Harry had been in the Chamber of Secrets, he'd been looking for Ginny, fighting a Basilisk, and defeating the sixteen-year-old version of Lord Voldemort. He hadn't had time to really look around. So far, barring the distinct lack of giant snake, the place didn't look any different. He wandered for a while, finally coming across a set of heavy stone doors adorned with giant silver snakes. Harry hissed a greeting to them and they moved their heads to get a closer look at him.

After answering a few questions, Harry was surprised to be granted entrance into the room. The snakes had said it was Salazar's study, and that no one had been inside since the master himself had last been at Hogwarts. Hermione would probably have had a fit - the historical significance of the moment and all - but Harry just hoped that there was a chair, or preferably a sofa, in the room. He was exhausted.

~!~

Draco sat in front of the fire in the Slytherin common room staring into the flames. His mind was occupied with sorting through the day's events. His morning had been no different than any other morning that his team played; he had awoken, showered, dressed and gone down to breakfast. He had then joined his teammates in the Slytherin locker room for the pre-game strategy session, followed by the customary threats of bodily harm if they didn't win - from the captain -, and then had changed into his Quidditch gear and gone down to the field with the others.

As usual, Harry beat him to the Snitch; it didn't matter that it wouldn't have made a difference even if he had caught it as Gryffindor was winning 180 - 20 over Slytherin. Over half the team had graduated last year, so they had a lot of new players who weren't very good yet. He, Crabbe, Goyle, Knott and Zabini - this years captain - were the only seasoned players they had.

It was no secret that the game was dependent on the skill of each team's Seeker, but he refused to take the full burden of their defeat. Crabbe and Goyle were deadly as Beaters, but the new Chasers were green and the Keeper was never very good to begin with. Draco didn't want to hear them bitch and moan and blame him for their loss, so rather than head back to the locker room with the others, he went for a walk around the lake instead.

Now, he wished he hadn't. Finding Potter in his locker room was startling. It changed his perception of him; he was no longer Perfect Potter, the boy everyone loved. He would forever see him the way he did today, broken and bleeding. And he couldn't forget the way Harry clung to him while he cried. In fact, that scene kept replaying itself over and over in his mind. Although, the look on Snape's face when he walked in to see him holding Potter in his arms and stroking his hair... well, it wasn't something he was likely to ever forget. The man looked as if he had a mouthful of flobberworms.

The sound of the common room door sliding open jarred Draco from his thoughts and he turned his head to see Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and Zabini stroll through. They all looked a mite pissed off. Draco hoped that Snape had punished them suitably - he also hoped that his Head of House had kept his name out of it. Four against one were not good odds, not even for a Malfoy.

"Where were you after the game, Drake?" Goyle asked as he plopped heavily down on the sofa beside the blond. "We waited for you to show up in the locker room."

Draco wondered if he would have received the same fate as Potter had he not taken a walk instead. "I went for a walk, why?"

"No reason. Just wondering is all."

The others were watching with varied expressions on their faces and Draco wanted to know what in the hell had happened, if Snape had said or done anything to them yet. "Have any of you seen Snape?" Draco asked with a blank face, "He was by earlier, said he wanted to see the lot of you."