Eighth Year (Drarry Fanfic)

Just Until...

SAVIOUR OF THE WIZARDING WORLD IN LOVE WITH A DEATH EATER?!
...Hogwarts Sources claim Harry James Potter, The Boy Who Lived TWICE, may be under the effect of an Imperius Curse, Dark Magic, or a strong Love Potion and the culprit is believed to be Draco Lucius Malfoy, a 'former' Death Eater...

It was an immensely distasteful article. It stank of Rita Skeeter's putrid take on journalism. Draco forcibly swallowed the bit of scrambled eggs that had congealed in his mouth when the Daily Prophet fell with an ominous thump in front of Pansy that morning. She was the only one amongst the Eighth Years who kept up a subscription to the abhorrent newspaper. She simply adored the Gossip and Lifestyle Columns.

The glaring front page headline had left them all in suspended animation, staring at the series of incriminating wizarding photos splashed all over the front page: Harry whispering intimately in Draco's ear as they left The Three Broomsticks, Draco laughing at whatever Pansy had said as he leaned into Harry's side, Harry standing with his hand resting possessively on Draco's hip, Harry pressing what looked to be a subtle kiss to Draco's temple, Draco staring at Harry as though the latter had bloody hung the moon and stars, and so many others. It wasn't so much the pictures that was the problem, although some of them left Draco thoroughly outraged. There were quite a number of amateurish photos taken of them within Hogwarts, the one place Draco believed was safe from the contemptuous and prying eyes of the outside world. How laughably naive. Harry was definitely rubbing off on him, in more ways than one.

Harry had made no secret of the status of their relationship, despite Draco's very legitimate concerns. Harry had naively brushed it off, even chiding Draco for overthinking the situation, much to the latter's chagrin. But Draco knew better. The righteous public would never take kindly to the idea of their precious Saviour consorting with the enemy so soon after the War. And there it was now, slapping them right in the face, mere days from their innocent little outing to Hogsmeade.

The malicious lies contained in the article itself seemed to mock Draco of his short-lived happiness. In true Skeeter fashion, the disreputable reporter painted Harry to be a gullible idiot who allowed himself to be seduced, falling hook, line, and sinker for Draco Malfoy's nefarious plots to manipulate and control him. She'd even gone so far as to insinuate that Draco's ultimate goal was to use Harry to get Lucius Malfoy out of Azkaban. Then the appalling woman proceeded to rally the masses in calling for a swift investigation of the matter, have Draco removed from Hogwarts, and chucked back into Azkaban where he no doubt belonged.

It was ludicrous.

Harry Potter, the Vanquisher of Voldemort, who could shake off an Imperius Curse in the same way one would shrug off a suffocating cloak, was apparently done in by a teenaged Death Eater.

It was ridiculous.

There was also the fact that the Ministry had placed layers of Restrictions on Draco's wand as part of his probation. He couldn't so much as cast a weak Stinging Hex if he wanted to. Offensive Spells were quite literally an impossibility, much less Unforgivable Curses.

Draco struggled to tamp down on the hysterical bubble of laughter that threatened to detonate in his chest. Improbable though Rita Skeeter's diatribe may be, Draco knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the wizarding community believed every single word of it. No one would question the truth or integrity of the article, simply because of the insidious Mark on Draco's left forearm; simply because of who he was.