Кассандра Клэр - Draco Veritas

And here he was. In bed, in his pajamas. Curtains drawn, staring up into the flat darkness overhead. Sleep was a faraway country he could not touch. He heard his own breathing, felt the beat of his own heart, and wondered that his body kept on going although all feeling seemed to have stopped. Inside him was a lion on a chain, and if he let it free it would bring the castle down around his ears. Some fierce inner part of him took pleasure in the image — his Magid powers gone wild, the window glass shattering in, the walls shaking apart. But most of him was grateful for the icy control that seemed to have settled over him like the jaws of a trap slamming shut. He did not know where it had come from. Draco, he suspected. But he was grateful for it.

A soft whispering noise made him jump. He rolled onto his side, and saw with astonishment that the curtains on his bed were being drawn back. He blinked as faint light flooded the darkness, and he saw the blurred shape of an arm, pulling the curtains back, a shoulder, the glint of light on fair hair.

Draco.

"Malfoy?" Harry whispered, shielding his eyes against the sudden light.

"What the — ?"

"I need to talk to you," said Draco, sounding grimly determined.

Harry felt for the glasses on his nightstand, and slipped them on.

Instantly, the world sprang into focus, and he saw Draco standing above him, holding back the bed curtains with one hand, his expression set and grim. And behind him — behind him was Hermione. She had her arms wrapped around herself as if she was cold, and her hair had tumbled forward, almost hiding her expression.

Harry heard his own voice as if it came from a distance. "I won't talk to you with her here," he said, and jerked his chin towards Hermione.

Draco looked exasperated. "Potter…"

But Hermione merely looked stricken. She looked at Harry as if he had slapped her, then looked quickly away. Harry felt a bitter sense of horrible triumph; it went away as quickly as it had come, leaving him feeling sick and ill. Something nudged at the back of his mind then, and he knew it was Draco, trying to think to him as he had been trying to do all night. Harry ignored it. He did not want anyone in his head right now.

"You heard what I said," he muttered.

Draco opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, Hermione interrupted. "Fine," she said, and her voice was slightly shrill with tension. "If that's the way it has to be to get you to listen, Harry — I'll go."

"Hermione — " Draco began, but she was gone, having turned away quickly, and Harry heard the soft sound of her footsteps as she walked quietly away. The dormitory door opened and closed, and as it closed Harry winced, feeling as if something sharp had been driven into his heart.

"Idiot," said Draco in exasperation. "What did you have to do that for?"

"You wouldn't understand," said Harry in a fierce whisper. He glanced around at the lumped shapes in the other beds — it seemed that Neville, Dean and Seamus were managing to sleep through all of this. "Nobody's ever betrayed you."

"Oh, bollocks," said Draco succinctly. "My father tried to kill me -

remember? If you really want to play at Whinging Sweepstakes, that is."

"It's not the same," Harry said in a bitter voice, knowing full well he was being a complete git about this. "Anyway, I don't want to talk about it."

"Too bad." Draco's voice was flat. "Because there's something you need to hear."

"Just leave me alone."

"No. I won't do that." Draco reached out a hand and took hold of Harry's arm. "Would you come with me — "

"I said leave me alone!" Harry jerked his arm out of Draco's grasp, and as he did, the water glass on the nightstand next to the bed trembled, shook, and flew off the table, slamming into the stone wall. It shattered, spraying glass and water in all directions. Harry glared at Draco. "Now look what you made me do," he added, with illogical fury.

"Harry?" It was Seamus' soft Irish voice, speaking from the other bed.

Harry turned his head and saw that all three of the other boys in the room were now awake, struggling into sitting positions and staring. "Is everything all right?"

"Fine," Harry said sourly.

"Is that — " Seamus broke off, sounding stunned. "Is that Malfoy over there?"

"No, Finnigan," said Draco, in a voice dropping with sarcasm. "It's Santa and his twelve tiny reindeer. You've all been such good little boys, I decided to bring you your presents early."

"I don't believe this," said Dean Thomas, his voice fuzzy from sleep. "How the hell did he get into our dormitory?"

"Apparently he came down the chimney," said Seamus darkly. "What do you say we stuff him back up it?"

"Try it and I'll break every bone in your body," said Draco in a soft and deadly voice. He still hadn't turned around to look at Seamus, but Harry could tell from the sudden change in his posture that he was very aware of the movements of the three boys behind him. "Potter…come with me.

We need to talk."

Harry looked at Draco's outstretched hand, and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not going anywhere."

Draco looked utterly exasperated. "Okay, fine." He took a deep breath.

"You asked for it….Ron," he said, his voice very firm, "is not now, and never has been, sleeping with Hermione."

A stunned silence. Dean. Neville and Seamus stared with open mouths, frozen in a tableaux that would under other circumstances have been very funny. Harry stayed where he was, sitting up in bed, frozen. Bizarrely, Neville, speaking from the depths of his bed, was the first to break the silence.

"I'm not sleeping with Hermione either. Is that newsworthy?"

"Oh, fuck the hell off, Longbottom," said Draco, but the side of his mouth twitched. He pitched his voice low, and spoke again: "Potter…?"

Harry flinched once, violently, at the sound of his name, without being able to prevent it. The next words he spoke tumbled out of his mouth without him even thinking about them, "I don't believe you," he said.

"What?" Draco looked stunned — Harry had a feeling he'd been prepared for a number of reactions, but not this one. "How can you — "

"You said what you came to say," Harry said. "And I don't believe you.

Now go away."

Draco went white, then two red spots appeared on his cheekbones. His eyes flashed. "Not until you listen."

"I'm not interested."

Draco moved so quickly that Harry had no time at all to pull away: his hand shot out and closed around Harry's upper arm, jerking him unceremoniously off the bed, swinging him around, and flinging him to the floor. Harry hit the ground sprawling, the breath knocked out of him.

"You," said Draco, breathing hard and staring at Harry as if he had never seen him before, "are a total — a total — I don't think a word has even been invented yet to describe what you are, but you are one. And a total, total one at that. Aren't you listening to me? Did you not hear what I said? Do you not care what you're doing — to her, to everyone?"

Harry didn't get a chance to reply. Suddenly, Seamus was standing between them, having moved as quickly as if he had Apparated there. He faced down Draco, looking furious. "How dare you burst in here like this, Malfoy," he said. "Are you trying to be funny?"

Draco's eyes trawled slowly over to Seamus, raking up and down him with a look of amused disbelief. "At least I can be funny when I try, you tedious little worm," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, this doesn't concern you."

"It bloody does concern me," Seamus said. "This is our dormitory, our house, and Harry is my friend. And I do believe he told you to go away.

Translated into Slytherin, that means: 'fuck off, you stupid bastard'." He took a menacing step forward. "Got that?"