for the dancing and the dreaming

morning after

Harry woke up to the sun streaming through the windows and an angry, red-faced Ron standing over him.

"Ron!" Harry propped himself up on his elbows. "You okay, mate?"

Ron crossed his arms, shooting Harry a scathing glare. "Thanks for asking before you crashed in my bed for the night. I had to sleep on the bloody floor!"

"Oh." Something was wrong. Ron was his best mate, he had expected him to just take the other side of the bed. Harry didn't have some sort of contagious disease, after all.

"Now can you get off my bed, or is that yours now?"

"It's not mine, Ron, you know-" Harry scrambled off the bed, retreating to his own, where Draco was still sleeping.

Better to leave him alone, I guess. Harry told himself. Ron had some odd moods, but hopefully by the end of the day he'd be back to normal.

Turning to Draco, he shook him lightly, awkwardly, by the shoulder.

Draco shot upwards, eyes wide. "I'm awake-" A little bit of the fear drained from his eyes when he saw Harry.

"Sorry." A slow blush spread across Draco's face. "I'm just not used to anyone but Krum waking me up, and his methods are... a tad questionable."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Dumping lakewater on my head, putting his pet salamander in my bed, etcetera."

"He sounds..."

"No," Draco stopped him. "He's a good guy. Just- creative. Inventive. Keeps me on my feet."

"Oh." Harry said.

There was a pause as they both waited for the other to say something. When Harry realized that Draco was anticipating some witty comment back, he said quickly, "Would you like to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast?"

Draco nodded eagerly. "I wonder if Krum is down there already."

"Oi, Ron," Harry called over his shoulder as they walked to the door. "Meet us there!"

He opened the door, waiting for a response, but Ron said nothing. As the door closed behind him, Draco chuckled nervously. "Not in the best mood, I gather?"

"Yeah, he's not usually like this." They climbed out of the portrait hole, ignoring the glances they received. The other students weren't even trying to hide their points and stares. Draco looked uncomfortable next to him.

"So is this what being the chosen one is like?" Draco hissed, low enough so no one could overhear.

"Not usually." Harry tried to comb his hair back with his hands - he was becoming more and more aware of how much of a mess he looked. "Most of this attention comes from the fact that now everyone thinks I'm a cheat." He shrugged, painfully aware of how hard he was failing at trying to seem calm.

"Oh." Draco said, falling silent. "That... sucks."

"Yeah." Harry shrugged. "I mean, it was probably worse in second year, when everyone was convinced I was using a giant snake to attack muggleborns. Most of the student body was fully convinced that a scrawny second year was using scary dark-lord powers to try and kill people. Like, seriously?"

"I'm finding it hard to imagine why anyone would call Hogwarts the safest magical school, honestly." Draco said, laughing a little awkwardly as they reached the Great Hall. From there the whispers and stares only got worse. As they shuffled past the other students, it was quite clear that they were not happy that he had gotten his name picked.

The glances and snide comments only got worse as they sat down. In fact, the only people who seemed to be enjoying this were the Gryffindors. The Beauxbatons and Dumrstrang students seemed to think it unfair that Harry had been picked, while the Hufflepuffs didn't like that Harry was taking their moment in the spotlight. The Slytherins hated everything Harry did, so this was probably just an excuse for them. The Ravenclaws didn't seem like they particularly cared.

Harry could see throughout breakfast that Draco was feeling quite awkward. Occasionally a Gryffindor would come up and pat Harry on the back. Harry would give them an awkward smile and then go back to staring at the table like he wanted to bore a hole in it's wood with his gaze. The Slytherins were talking, much too loudly, (practically shouting, actually, to be heard from across the dining hall) about how much they hated cheaters. Hermione was sitting with Ron, who was sulking at the end of the table and occasionally glaring at Harry. That left Harry to make uncomfortable conversation with Draco. Harry couldn't help shifting around his seat and pushing his food around the plate. He probably looked like he would rather be facing Voldemort than be there. He almost felt like that, too.

-authors note-

after an eight month hiatus - we're back baby.