Bonded (a drarry story)

Chapter 3

The rest of that weekend was agonizingly slow. They had nothing to do, no friends to visit them, constant tests being ran on them, and were constantly bickering.

They continued arguing about who's fault making the potion blow up was; they argued about why they were in the Hospital Wing and whose fault that was. They argued about how much Dumbledore was helping them, Harry defending him and Malfoy criticizing him. And they complained about having to be in each other's company.

The fighting was annoying, especially for Poppy and Albus, but it passed the time, and for that, they were grateful.

Eventually, however, Monday morning rolled along and Professor Dumbledore let them resume their classes and said they were free to return to their common rooms again that night, as long as they felt alright, and as of the morning, both boys felt pretty good.

Monday morning Harry hurriedly dressed in the robes brought for him, wanting to get to the Great Hall. He grabbed his bag, which a house elf had retrieved from his room, and rushed from the Hospital Wing, without even a backwards glance or a goodbye to Draco.

He bounded down the stairs and rushed down the hall. He opened the doors to the Great Hall and scanned the Gryffindor Table. He saw the ginger and puffy-brown heads of his best friends and rushed over to them.

"Harry!" Hermione said, engulfing Harry in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, I've missed you!" She said, tears welling in her eyes.

"I've missed you too, 'Mione but I can't breathe."

"Sorry!" Hermione said and loosened her grip a little, but still kept hugging him. She pulled back and Ron slapped him on the back and said "good to have you back."

"Good to be back," Harry said as he sat down in between Ron and Hermione, feeling very happy that his life was finally going back to normal and that he was able to spend time with his best friends again.

"How have you been Harry? What happened to you? Are you alright? What about Malfoy? He's been gone too..."

"Geez, Hermione, give him a break, he just got back," Ron said, but he really wanted to know the answers to those questions too.

"Don't worry guys, I'll tell you everything. Just not right now. I'll tell you tonight."

Both Ron and Hermione looked disappointed that they'd have to wait so long but they understood Harry wanting it to be private and him needing some time to adjust back so they agreed.

They spent the rest of breakfast catching Harry up on the things he'd missed. Nothing much had happened, they'd learned a few new things in class, Slughorn had returned and thrown another party, but mostly, rumors were flying about what was wrong with Harry and Malfoy.

Some said Death Eaters had broken into the school and kidnapped Harry with Malfoy's help. Some said Harry and Malfoy had gotten into a gruesome fight and had knocked each other unconscious. Some people even said that Harry and Malfoy were having a secret romance and had run off together. For some reason, that last rumor made Harry's stomach churn uncomfortably.

But now that he and Malfoy were both back, he was sure an entire new batch of ridiculous rumors were sure to start flying. He just hoped that none of them involved him and Malfoy being together.

After they finished their breakfasts, Harry, Ron and Hermione headed to their first class, potions. Unfortunately, potions was with the Slytherins and Harry didn't really feel like seeing Malfoy after hearing about those rumors.

Harry sat in the front of the classroom with Ron and Hermione. Shortly afterwards, Malfoy walked in followed by his best friends, Pansy and Blaise. Harry made eye contact with Draco for a short second, and based on the look on his face Harry thought someone must have told him the rumors too. For a short second, Harry thought he saw Malfoy blush when they locked eyes, but Malfoy turned so quickly, he couldn't be sure.