Chapter Text
“That’s it for tonight!” Harry informed the semi large group in front of him. “Another great class! We’ll meet again sometime next week.”
The DA, otherwise known as Dumbledore’s Army, had just finished another meeting. They were improving a lot over the past couple of weeks, having moved on from basic blocking and disabling spells to defensive and stunning spells, and Harry was happy with the results he was seeing.
As he made his way down the hall, he waved goodbye to Ron and Hermione as he also had another Occlumency lesson to attend with Snape. He was not looking forward to this, however, and would have much rather preferred teaching the DA. Nonetheless, he still had some time to spare as he idly strolled down the castle's hallways.
Until he was pulled down one of the rather dark ones by an unknown force. However, before he could draw out his wand and mutter one of many disabling spells, he was met face to face with solid grey eyes.
“Malfoy?! What the hell do you want? And why are you wandering around here so late at night?”
“I could be asking you the same question, Potter.” Malfoy scoffed. “Slytherin Prefect, and a member of the Inquisitorial Squad. Remember?”
“Right, because I’m supposed to care.” Harry retorted.
Malfoy gave him his signature sneer. “I know what you and your little Gryffindor pack are up to, so I’d think it best if you didn’t go around insulting the wrong person, Potter.”
Harry rolled his eyes. “You are such a drama queen. Will you just tell me what it is you want already?”
The Slytherin huffed. “I want in on this little club of yours.”
Harry was dumbfounded. “Are you kidding me?! Why on earth would I let you join?”
“So, you admit you’ve got something going on?”
“I admit that you’re a right git.”
“Watch it Potter.”
“Fuck off Malfoy.”
Malfoy looked about ready to snap, but then, much to Harry’s surprise, took a deep breath, closing his eyes and pinching the brim of his nose. “Look, let’s just say that I’ve been having a bit of a difficult time lately, and I figured maybe you could help me.”
Harry scoffed. “Me? Help you? This coming from the guy who got me banned from playing Quidditch,”
Now Malfoy rolled his eyes. “You started it.”
“You were insulting one of my best friend’s mom, what did you expect me to do?”
Malfoy sighed again. “We aren’t getting anywhere.”
“No, we aren’t, and I need to be somewhere, so out of the way, Malfoy.”
“Not until you agree to help me.”
“And what will I get if I do?”
Malfoy narrowed his eyes as he looked the Gryffindor over. “What do you want?”
“You’re the Slytherin.”
“Hmm, well let’s see, shall we, Potter,” Malfoy crossed his arms, thinking over the possibilities. “You help me…and I’ll keep Umbridge off your back.”
“But that benefits you too,” Harry frowned. “That hardly seems like a fair trade.”
“Well, again Potter, I ask, what do you want, then?”
Harry stood, thinking for a moment. “I want you to stop taking away house points without good reason. And same goes for detentions.”
Malfoy huffed, rolling his eyes. “Fine. But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop giving them out.”
“Then at least stop taking so many house points away. Five points is enough, fifty is a bit over dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Hey, whatever keeps you lot in line.”
Harry rolled his eyes, wanting to retort but reframing himself. “And you have to sign Hermione’s list with all the members on it.”
Malfoy scrunched up his face. “Why the hell would I do that?”
Harry gave his own little smirk at that. “Just as a precaution. Don’t worry, it’s not cursed or anything.
“Alright, whatever.” And the two shook on their new arrangement.
After they parted ways, Harry made a dash for it, making it just on time to Snape’s office.
“You’re late.” The potions professor drawled.
“What?! I’m right on time!”
“And to be on time is to be late, Mr. Potter.” He scolded. “To be early is to be on time, and to be late is unacceptable, which you almost were. So, I suggest you shut your mouth, and for the next hour or so, follow my every instruction, carefully.”
Harry sighed, but uttered “yes, sir” before beginning their lesson.
---
By the time their lesson ended, Harry was exhausted. He couldn’t wait to go back to his dorm room and crash. But one thing refused to leave his mind for the rest of the night.
What was going on with Malfoy? And why was he so interested in joining the DA? Let’s just say that I’ve been having a bit of a difficult time lately, and I figured maybe you could help me…
What the hell did that mean? Was Malfoy in trouble? Was this his way of reaching out to someone? And if it was, why of all people was he coming to Harry about his problems?
Harry hadn’t a clue, and it would be a few hours of pondering these questions before sleep finally washed over him.
--
The next day things continued on as usual, and Malfoy paid him no attention. In fact, nothing out of the ordinary happened for the next couple of days. Malfoy was still a snarky little git, but besides that, things carried on as usual. Harry was dreading his Occlumency lessons more and more, and Umbridge was becoming downright unbearable, but other than that, his life was no more or less exciting.
Until the day of their next DA meeting. Earlier that day he had informed Malfoy while passing him in the hallway of the whereabouts of the meeting, and when to meet them. Harry then began to stress over whether or not he should tell Ron and Hermione that said Slytherin would be joining them, but figured they would figure it out for themselves.
Expect for he never showed up.
Harry, in all honesty, wasn’t surprised. He figured he only pretended to want to join so that he could turn them all in to Umbridge, and he cursed himself for being so stupid as to give Malfoy the time and place of their meeting tonight. It had been a difficult lesson, as Harry had been a bit on edge the whole time, until finally, it was once again time for them all to return to their respective houses.
“We’ll continue this again next week. Don’t forget to practice!” he called out to everyone.
“You okay?” Hermione asked him as the DA members began to file out of the room. “You seem a bit on edge.”
“I’m fine, Mione.” Harry said, finally beginning to relax. “Was just worried about today’s lesson, is all.”
Hermione gave him a questioning look, but thought better of it and decided to let it go.
Just as the last person was leaving the room of requirement, Harry turned to head to his Occlumency lesson, when a familiar voice called out to him.
“And just where do you think you’re going, Potter?”
“Malfoy? Where the hell were you! I thought you went off to tell on us.”
“What? No, why would I do that? I told you Potter, I need your help, were you not paying attention? Not that that’s too hard to believe.”
Harry rolled his eyes, but was still no less confused. Needs my help? With what? “Well, I can’t help you. Practice is over, next time get here on time.”
Malfoy scoffed. “As if I’m going to be seen out in public with you.”
Harry sighed. “Well, you’re going to have to deal with it. I have plans after practice.”
“Which are?”
“They don’t concern you.”
“Oh wait!” Malfoy said, realization dawning on him. “You have remedial potions every night with Snape!” he snickered.
Harry groaned, forgetting that Malfoy had indeed walked in on one of their lessons. “Yes, Malfoy, if you must know.”
Malfoy continued to laugh. “Well then, guess I wouldn’t want to interrupt that for you.”
Harry closed his eyes, pinching his nose. “So, what do you want to do then?”
Malfoy thought for a moment. “You don’t play quidditch anymore—”
“Thanks for the reminder.”
“So, while the other Gryffindors are at practice, you can teach me.”
Harry sighed, but decided against making a rude comment. “I suppose I have nothing better to do.”
“What could possibly be more important than me?”
“You’d be surprised.”
---
Their first meeting was that following Wednesday. At around six, Harry made his way up to the room of requirement, watching the Marauders map, making sure Malfoy was actually going to show up this time. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Malfoy’s dot appeared on the map, and he was rounding the corner within a couple of minutes.
Harry quickly stuffed his map away, before greeting the fellow Slytherin. “Nice of you to show up this time, Malfoy.”
“Ha ha, you’re such the comedian, Potter. Are we going to go inside or what?”
Harry was going to retort, but once again thought better of it, and instead started pacing along the length of the corridor. I need a place to practice DA he thought over three times in his head, before finally, a door appeared. They walked in, and they found a room that looked similar to that of the DA practice room. The only difference was that the room was a bit smaller, and there were more advanced books and targets laying around the room, to better match the two occupants.
“Well, I guess we should start with what you already know?” he said, more of a question than a statement.
Malfoy huffed. “You’re the teacher. Teach me something.”
“Well, I—wait, you’re actually going to cooperate with me?”
Malfoy sighed. “Look, I don’t really want to get into it. I came here to learn something, so could we please just get to the learning part?”
So, they went over basic spells, before quickly realizing that they were both more experienced than that of the other DA members. They quickly moved into more advanced spells, fitted for more their year, covering some of the things that should have been in their curriculum, but wasn’t because of the Pink Toad. Malfoy was turning out to be a fast learner, and Harry was glad they didn’t have to spend too much time on any one thing.
All in all, the lesson ended on good terms. They didn’t really argue, and Harry was glad to be partnered up with someone who matched his skill set. Hermione was great, but she was better at the practical rather than the execution. And Ron was okay at some spells. But Malfoy really knew what he was doing, and Harry was happy to have potentially found a partner to try new things with.
“Same time next week?” Malfoy asked as they went their separate ways.
Harry nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
———
“Where have you been?” Hermione asked as soon as Harry entered through the portrait hole.
“Oh, you know… around,” Harry wanted to mentally slap himself.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
Ron, who was sitting next to Hermione, his map of the stars sprawled out in front of him, said “Yeah, mate! My Divination homework isn’t going to finish itself!”
“Which is why you better get on with it!” Hermione scolded.
Harry wanted to laugh at his two best friends, but from the look Hermione was now giving him, he decided better of it. “Relax, Mione, I was just roaming around the halls. Considering I don’t have quidditch practice anymore, I figured I’d just walk around, get some fresh air.”
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Ron beat her to it. “Aw man, has it been brutal! Angelica is ruthless!”
“Damn right!” they heard a shout from up above them.
Harry did laugh, then. “Yeah, well I’ll take ruthless over insufferable. I swear if I have to go to one more Occlumency lesson with Snape, I’m going to lose it.”
Hermione looked skeptical, Ron apologetic. “Are they not working then?”
Harry sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t feel like they are. I’m just always so tired, and no matter what I do, he manages to somehow get into my head every time!”
“Well, maybe you should stop going?” Ron suggested.
“No! Are you mad, Harry you can’t!” Hermione protested.
“I didn’t say I—“
“You want the visions from You-Know-Who to stop, right?”
“Well, yeah, but, I haven’t even gotten—“
“Then you need to keep practicing! Don’t you see? This is really important, Harry!”
“Okay, okay! Calm down, I didn’t say I wasn’t going anymore! And, I haven’t had any visions either.”
“You’re still having nightmares though.” Ron muttered under his breath.
“Hey, I thought you were on my side.”
“We are on your side.” Hermione said, standing to put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “It’s why we’re so concerned. We just want to make sure our friend is okay.” she said with a smile.
Harry smiled too, pulling her into a hug. “Thanks for looking out for me. But, really, I’m okay guys.”
“Well, I’m not!” Ron scolded the two, causing them to separate. “This Divination stuff is bloody ridiculous.”
Harry and Hermione shared a look before both laughing, causing Ron to turn red. “Well, you two better get to it. I’m off to bed.” Hermione said, first kissing Harry’s cheek, then
Ron’s, before heading up to her dormitory.
Ron rolled his eyes. “Some help she is.”
Harry snorted, taking out his own star chart. “She hates this class, remember?”
“Yeah, well so do I.”
“Yes, but she doesn’t take this class anymore. Sorry mate, we’re on our own here.”
Ron sighed. This was going to be another long night.
———
The next morning went by fairly quickly. Harry still wasn’t sure whether or not he should tell Ron and Hermione about Malfoy. What was there to tell anyways? It wasn’t like they were plotting anything. He was just giving Malfoy some extra help in DADA training.
What was so wrong about that?
Yet, he couldn’t help but to feel as if he was hiding a secret. Okay, so he is hiding a secret, but what was the harm in telling his two best friends? Hermione was bound to find out anyways, and sure, Ron may be a little bit upset about it at first, but he’d get over it eventually.
And was Malfoy really that bad?
The answer was probably yes, but Harry wasn’t so sure anymore. Granted, they’d only had one meeting together, so he didn’t have much proof to go off of. But, maybe with time things could change. In all honesty, he wouldn’t be too opposed to having a friendship of sorts with Malfoy. Would that be so bad?
You are officially losing your mind, Harry.
He’d have to lock that thought away, Merlin forbid Snape ever found it during one of their Occlumency lessons.
———
“I need to tell you guys something,”
Harry figured it was best to just tell them now, up front, rather than them somehow finding out by some other means. It had been bothering Harry all day, so he figured he might as well just rip off the bandage.
The three friends sat outside under their designated tree, out in the courtyard. It was lunchtime, but they had decided to go outside and eat instead. Since no one else was around, this was their go-to spot on nice days like this.
“Malfoy approached me about a week ago and asked to join the DA.”
Hermione’s eyes grew wide, and Ron started choking on his pumpkin juice. “Is he mad?” Ron asked.
“You can’t be serious.” Hermione said, shaking her head.
Harry nodded. “Says he needs help with something. Actually, to be more specific, he said; I’ve been having a bit of a difficult time lately, and I figured maybe you could help me. I have no idea what he means by that.”
Hermione looked thoughtful. Ron looked green. “This can’t be good.” he said.
“Actually…” Harry began to trail off.
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re going to let him join!” Ron said, this time knocking over his pumpkin juice.
“Well…not exactly?”
“Spit it out, Harry.” Hermione said with a sigh.
“I’m sort of…teaching him myself. By myself.”
“What?” both Ron and Hermione shouted, looking just as equally shocked.
“The other day, you wanted to know where I was? Well, I wasn’t just roaming around the halls,” Hermione rolled her eyes at this. “I was actually just coming back from our first one on one lesson together.”
Both Ron and Hermione looked a bit like they had just been hit in the face with a bludger. Ron looked slightly more terrified, however.
“Why the bloody hell are you helping him?” Ron finally said.
Harry shrugged. “I don’t know to be honest. He just…I don’t know.”
“But this could be a trap!”
“Or, he may actually be in trouble.” Hermione finally spoke up, drawing their attention. “I mean, think about it. You-Know-Who is back, we all know it’s true. And, thanks to Harry, we know that his father is indeed a death eater. What if he’s trying to force Malfoy down the same path? We all know the Malfoy’s are a big deal, with their blood status, among other things. What if he really is trying to reach out to someone?”
“Yeah, but why Harry?”
“Oh, honestly, Ron!”
“But they hate each other! Not to mention, he’s the reason Harry can’t play quidditch anymore.”
Hermione scoffed at that. “Look at the bigger picture here. Harry has a big influence around here, whether he realizes it or not.” she said pointedly to the look Harry was giving her. “Yes, they don’t necessarily get along, but maybe Malfoy has nowhere else to turn? Besides, he’s a Slytherin, most of them are probably of the same status as him, and even may be close family friends. There’s no way he could talk to any of them about it. And if he can’t go to any of the teachers, then who else than Harry is there? He certainly isn’t going to come to either of us with his problems.”
Ron huffed, crossing his arms. “This is unbelievable. And even if all of that is true, I still don’t understand why Harry would agree to it.”
Hermione shrugged. “Hero complex, I suppose.”
“Hey!”
“What? It’s not a bad thing!”
“It is if it means we have to associate with Malfoy.” Ron said.
“Look, he doesn’t even want to go to the regular DA meetings, hints the one on one lessons. Besides, he’s agreed not to tell Umbridge anything. As a matter of fact, he seemed pretty eager to learn something new, and, he agreed to sign Hermione’s sign up list. I don’t know what kind of trouble he’s in, but if it’s concern enough to want to come to me about it, then I think that I should help him out. I may not like him, but I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to him either.”
“You mean you actually care about that ferret?” Ron asked, appalled.
“I mean I care if he’s somehow being brainwashed by his father to follow a mad man who’s trying to hunt down and kill innocent people.” Harry shot back.
That shut Ron up, but he still wore a scowl on his face.
“See, Ron?” Hermione said. “Look, I’m not saying this is a good idea. All I’m saying is that if anyone can help him, it’s Harry. Maybe he’ll open up to him, tell him what’s going on. In fact, it could help us in the long run.”
“You mean get him on our side?” Both Harry and Ron asked, skeptically.
“Yes, exactly. Whatever is going on, he clearly doesn’t want to be a part of it. We just need to push him into the right direction.”
“Am I the only one who sees a problem with all of this?” Ron asked, solemnly.
“It’s not like you’re the one who has to hang out with him.” Harry muttered.
Hermione patted his back. “What could be so bad about this?”
“He turns out to be a spy, and exposes us not only to Umbridge, but to Snape and the rest of the death eaters, including his father and You-Know-Who.”
Hermione blinked a few times. “Okay…yes, that is a possibility. But, try to look on the bright side. Maybe you two will finally become friends.”
“Doubt it.” Ron muttered.
“At least give it a try? It be nice to go a day without the two of you bickering back and forth.”
Harry had to admit, while it was hard to imagine him and Malfoy as friends, the thought of them no longer having hexing matches in the hallway did sound quite nice. “Alright, Mione, I’ll try.”
She smiled, turning to face Ron. “Told you. Hero’s complex.”