What If? -Drarry

Part Two: Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"I don't know!" Draco jumped as Harry leapt up angrily, causing his chair to topple over behind him, and walked over to sit down heavily on the sofa, visibly fuming. Draco sat in stunned silence for a moment and watched Harry breathing heavily, arms crossed. It was their third potions session together, and Harry had been working on some questions that Draco had put together. They weren't particularly difficult, but Draco got the feeling they weren't the reason for the sudden outburst. He spoke tentatively.

"Uuh, Harry, are you-"

"No, I'm not bloody alright." His voice was bitter and loud in the small room. "I'm failing potions, I can't even wrap my head around the simplest concepts because I'm so stupid, and everyone in the school hates me because of something I didn't do. Not that that even matters, seeing as I'm going to be eaten by a dirty great dragon in two weeks time!"

"I- Dragons? You never told me it was dragons!"

"Yeah, well, it is. They're going to put me in a ring, I suppose, and watch me get burned alive for their amusement. Guess that'll give your Slytherins a laugh, at least." He laughed mirthlessly. "Give the whole school a laugh. Merlin, Ron'll be in hysterics. Did I mention that, by the way? My 'best friend' hates me. For something I didn't do."

Draco stood up and walked over to the sofa, sat down by Harry, and ran a hand through his hair. Dragons. That was bad. He had noticed Harry's increasing moodiness and stress in the build-up to the first task, and now, with barely a week to go, he couldn't even imagine what he must be going through.

Manimi had, by this point, heard the commotion and snaked over from where she had been coiled in Draco's schoolbag asleep. She rose up onto Harry's lap and brought her head up to look at him. He hissed something at her in parseltongue. The language was unlike any other Draco had heard and, as always, it had him transfixed. It seemed to wrap itself around the listener, to pull and push, ebb and flow around and inside the mind of the beholder. Despite himself, Draco was distracted from Harry's shocking news by the conversation he was witnessing, and found himself watching Harry's lips as he hissed softly, the anger gone from his voice. There was something alluring in the way he spoke, the strange patterns of his voice and the language he spoke, and the softness in his gaze as he listened to Manimi's reply.

"Draco? Are you okay?"

A matching set of green eyes were turned to him, as boy and snake looked at him. They had clearly finished their conversation, but he hadn't noticed it end. He must have been staring at Harry. He blinked and looked away, hating his face for going red.

"What did Manimi say?"

Harry shrugged. "She calmed me down. She's good at that." He smiled at the snake, who pushed her head against his as she often did with Draco. It was her way of showing affection. Draco tried not to feel jealous. Harry continued. "I'm sorry for going a bit mental there. It's just, I've been a bit stressed recently."

"Really?" Said Draco, sarcastically, turning to sit cross-legged on the sofa, "I hadn't noticed. You seemed pretty zen to me."

"Ha ha." Harry leant back and clasped his hands over his head. Manimi slinked onto Draco's lap and coiled herself into her usual 'pile'. He stroked along her scaly back absent-mindedly.

"You're not stupid, Harry. You're very talented. Just because you're struggling with potions doesn't define your overall ability, and anyway, it would be hard for anyone to do well in any subject if they were in your position. Even I would have trouble concentrating."