Mind Over Matter
by Kayla
Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Notes: First part is Harry's POV, second part is Draco's POV. Not sure about this style of writing, sorry if it doesn't work for me.
"Watch it, Potter!" Draco snarled as he brushed by the other boy.
"Why don't you watch it, Malfoy!" Ron shot back, glaring as Draco snorted in response and walked away. "Stupid Slytherin," he muttered under his breath. "Hey Harry, you wanna put a hex on him? I bet we could come up with something really good. Turn his hair green, or make his nose grow a few inches."
Harry gave his friend a small grin. "Why Ron!" he said in simulated shock. "What would Hermione say?"
"Um...good luck, need any help?"
Harry just rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"No, seriously. How come you let him get away with stuff like that? Don't you just wanna pound him or something?" Ron carefully sprinkled some crushed beetles into their cauldron, watching as the liquid inside started to bubble.
"Sometimes," Harry admitted. "But if I did, how would that make me any better than him?"
"There you go, being all logical again. I thought that was Herm's job."
"Someone has to keep you in check when she's not around." The two boys smiled at each other.
Harry jerked back with a hiss as something dropped into their potion, splattering scorching goo onto him and Ron. He looked up to see Draco and his friends smirking at them from across the room.
"That bastard! Oh, he's asking for it now!" Ron made a move toward the group of Slytherins, only to find himself being held back by Harry. "Let me go, Harry. I'm gonna--"
"Not here, Ron!" Harry jerked his head toward the front of the room, where Snape was eyeing them speculatively.
Reluctantly, Ron subsided. "I really hate those guys, Harry," he complained in a low voice. "I mean, what if our potion explodes or something? Who knows what that was they threw in here?"
"We can hope for the best." Harry glanced over at Draco again. "And later...we'll talk about the hex."
"All right!" His mood much improved, Ron reached for the last remaining ingredient to their potion. He studied the cauldron warily, then carefully tipped in the sliced leeches. He wrinkled his nose at the odor. "Is it supposed to smell like this?"
"I...don't think so."
Ron backed up a step as the potion seemed to quiver and pulsate with a life of its own. "Um...I think I should go get Snape." He left Harry to keep watch over the mutating potion and walked quickly to the front of the room.
"My, my, you do manage to botch things up rather nicely, don't you?" Draco hovered over Harry, sneering.
Harry tore his eyes from the potion. "Shove it, Malfoy. What did you and your cronies toss in here?"
"Us?" Draco assumed an innocent expression. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Potter. Could it possibly be that you're not as infallible as you think? Maybe you and the weasel put in too many rat tails."
"Grow up, Malfoy," Harry said with a sigh. "Can't you just give the childish pranks a rest?"
Lips thin with fury, Draco glared at Harry. "Don't mess with me, Potter," he spat out.
"Excuse me? Did I miss something here? Who exactly is messing with whom?" He matched Draco's glare with one of his own.
During this exchange of words, the potion in Harry's cauldron had continued to writhe and emit a foul odor. Before Draco was able to respond to Harry, the potion poured over the rim of the cauldron and onto the floor, settling in a gooey mess around the boys' feet.
Mouth still open from his attempted retort, Draco looked down at his feet. His lip curled in distaste. "Potter!" he yelped. "Get your damned potion off of me!" He tried to move away, but the potion had a firm grip on him, gluing his feet down.
"Me? You're the one who made it mess up!" Harry tried to move, too, but his feet were as immobile as Draco's. "This is all your fault, Malfoy."
"Why you little -- cripes, it's inside my boots! Potter, you are dead." Eyes sparking with anger, he reached for Harry.
Harry suppressed a flinch as the goo started to seep inside his own boots. Strangely enough, it didn't feel hot at all. Actually, it was rather cool. And tingling pleasantly. Harry stared at Draco as the other boy grabbed his shoulders. Their eyes met, and suddenly, a cacophony of muttering, whispering voices seemed to fill the air around them.
Draco gasped helplessly, and the noise was echoed by Harry. Everything around them faded away, until finally, they tumbled over the edge into blue-green oblivion.
"...damn it, boy! Can't you ever do anything..."
"...do this right, do you understand? You're not to leave this room until..."
"...parents died, we never should have taken you in! You're nothing but..."
"...trouble! It's so simple, any idiot could..."
"Malfoy, release Potter at once, do you hear me?"
"...don't understand. Why can't you even..."
"...beat a damned muggle? What kind of..."
"...freak. That's what you are, just a..."
"...worthless. Totally worthless. I can't begin to..."
"Malfoy. Malfoy!"
Draco gasped in shock as his fingers were pried forcibly from Harry's arms. He turned his head, breaking the almost tangible connection between him and Harry. Blinking, he focused blankly on Snape.
"What is going on here? Potter? What did you do?"
Harry dragged in a shuddering breath. He could feel himself starting to tremble slightly, and his skin seemed to burn from where the heat of Draco's fingers had seeped through the cloth of his robes. He too turned glazed eyes towards the Potions teacher.
Snape shook his head in frustration when he could elicit no response from either boy. He muttered under his breath, glaring down at the mess on the floor. The mess that seemed to be...shrinking? Yes, it was. Before his eyes, the foul goo began to recede, seemingly soaked up by the booted feet still planted firmly in its center.
Snape glowered at the rest of the class, who had gathered around in a circle, watching avidly. "Back to work!" he barked out, causing the students to jump in shock, then scurry back to their own cauldrons. "As for you two...you will tell me what happened, is that understood?"
Draco glanced back at Harry. When the other boy turned to meet his gaze, he felt himself becoming lost again.
"Oh no, you're not getting caught up in that again!" Snape grabbed Draco and spun him around, grimacing at the sucking sound that accompanied the removal of Draco's feet from their previous position on the floor.
Harry winced involuntarily as he lost eye contact with Draco. A pounding headache began to build up behind his eyes, and he groaned softly. In a hoarse whisper, he choked out, "I...I can't...I don't..." He turned a ghastly shade of white, lurching backwards. Hands pressed tightly to his throbbing temples, he turned and stumbled out of the classroom, ignoring Snape's angered demands that he stay put.
Cursing softly, Snape turned around only to find that Draco had collapsed onto his hands and knees, and was currently emptying his stomach contents onto the floor. He gritted his teeth in frustration. "Crabbe, Goyle, escort your compatriot to Madam Pomfrey."
Draco was quickly ushered out of the classroom, leaving a group of bemused students wondering just what they had missed.
Hoping to be able to finish up the class without drawing any more of Snape's attention, Ron tried to slink back to his desk unnoticed. He didn't quite manage it.
"Weasly, clean up that mess!"
Ron wrinkled his nose in disgust, protesting, "But I--"
"Don't. Just...don't." Snape narrowed his eyes.
Wilting under the harsh stare, Ron reluctantly did as he was told. As he began to mop up the mess, he muttered harshly, "Boils maybe. Or warts. All over. And...and oozing pustules. With spots. Big, red, itchy spots." He almost gagged from the smell of the vomit. "Damn Slytherin."
Professor Snape wrenched the door to the infirmary open, storming inside. He stalked across the room, glaring at Crabbe and Goyle until the boys quailed under his harsh stare and fled the room. With a snort of satisfaction, he turned his glare to Madam Pomfrey.
Not at all amused, she glared right back at him. "If I might inquire, just why have you decided to barge in here like you own the place?" she asked him in a frosty tone.
Snape's eyes narrowed as he glanced down at the waken form of Draco Malfoy. "What's wrong with him?" he asked curtly.
"Him? Not a thing so far as I can tell." Hands on hips, Madam Pomfrey continued to fix him with a harsh stare.
"I see." Snape crossed his arms over his chest. "So there's no reason why he should be regurgitating all over the floor of my classroom then, is there?"
"He's not physically ill," Madam Pomfrey repeated, "but as for being sick in your class, perhaps it had something to do with the noxious smell of some of your potions?"
Snape's jaw clenched. "If you don't mind," he gritted out, "I'd like to speak with my pupil." He waved a hand towards Draco, who was watching them with glazed, unfocused eyes.
Huffing angrily, Madam Pomfrey spun about and stomped off.
"Good riddance," Snape muttered. He turned to the bed, leaning over Draco threateningly. "Mr. Malfoy," he demanded in a stern, cold voice, "you will tell me exactly what occurred in my classroom this afternoon, do I make myself clear?"
Draco blinked up at his teacher, paling even further. He shook his head to clear it a bit, then stammered, "Y-yes Professor Snape."
"Good." Snape took a seat next to the bed, steepling his hands under his chin and watching Draco intently. "What happened with Mr. Potter's and Mr. Weasly's potion?"
Draco swallowed hard. "I d-don't know," he answered, eyes darting away to stare fixedly at the sheet that covered him. "It just...oozed out and--"
"It 'just oozed out'? And what, exactly, made it 'ooze out'?" He turned up the intensity of his glare another notch.
Draco flinched. Even though he was avoiding looking at his teacher, he could practically feel those hard eyes burning through him. "Um...s-something might have...um, dropped into it," he admitted in a tiny voice.
Through force of will, Snape held back the growl of frustration that wanted to escape him. "Something? What 'something'?"
Breathing in a succession of quick, panting breaths, Draco tightened his hands into fists. Then he shifted them under the covers so their trembling wouldn't be so obvious. "It...it might have been a...c-chaos stone," he whispered, then ducked his head and screwed his eyes shut.
Snape shivered as a wave of cold air swept past him. "A chaos stone?" His disbelief was patently obvious to anyone listening, although the slight hitch in his voice as he said the words would have been more difficult to define. A most perceptive individual might have though it to be something akin to fear. But that was ridiculous, of course.
"It wasn't me!" Draco protested, finally lifting his head. "Goyle had it! He's the one who brought it to class, and Crabbe threw it in their cauldron!"
The corner of Snape's eye twitched. "And they did that all of their own accord? You had nothing to do with the situation?"
"Um..." Again, Draco ducked his head, and a pink stain suffused his cheeks.
"That's what I thought." Groaning, Snape lowered his head into his hands. "A chaos stone," he muttered. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Harry shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself. He scooted further back on his bed until he was pressed up against the wall. His head throbbed, and all he could see was a flurry of images dredged up from his past. Partially forgotten scenes that were now replaying themselves as clearly as if they had just happened.
And the voices. He could still hear the voices. Mocking, threatening, hateful, condescending. He pressed his hands over his ears, trying in vain to block them out.
An image flashed through his mind, of him huddled in a sobbing ball on the cold stone floor, cowering under the flurry of angry words being hurled at him. The sneering voice he heard made him shiver in remembrance.
'Wipe those tears off your face, boy. Be a man! Quit your sniveling before I really give you something to bawl about!'
Harry lurched out of the memory, confusion sweeping over him.
That had never happened to him.
"A chaos stone? Are you sure?" At Snape's grim nod, Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. "Drat," he muttered. "This is...problematic." He clasped his hands together, studying them intently for a few minutes. Finally, he looked up at Snape again. "How did those boys manage to get ahold of a chaos stone anyway?"
Snape shrugged a shoulder. "Apparently, young Mister Goyle appropriated it from his father's study sometime over the last break. When I questioned the boy, I was informed that he took it because it was, and I quote, 'swirly black and white, and it was just a rock, so I didn't figure anyone would miss it'." Snape rolled his eyes.
"Ah." Dumbledore sighed and rubbed his temples. "Much as I hate to say it, Gregory Goyle is, perhaps, not one of our more...intellectually driven students.
"I'm not inclined to argue with you," Snape said wryly. Then he grew serious once more. "How are we going to handle the situation?" he asked, leaning forward slightly in his chair.
"For the moment, we'll just have to wait and see what develops. If the chaos stone truly was incorporated into that potion, there's no telling how it mutated. Chaos stones, after all, are the very essence of unpredictability."
Snape nodded thoughtfully. "From what I could tell, only Potter and Malfoy were exposed to the altered potion. As a matter of fact, they seemed to have completely absorbed it somehow. We know where Malfoy is for the time being, but Potter seems to have hidden himself away."
"Did he appear at all distressed when you last saw him?"
"If by distressed you mean in pain, ill, and panic-stricken, then yes." His brow wrinkled as he recalled the incident. "Thinking back on it, both boys only developed a negative reaction when I separated them." An uncharacteristically worried expression crossed his face for a brief second.
Dumbledore saw it, and smiled gently. "I'm sure you acted as you thought best, Severus. We can only hope that the situation was not somehow exacerbated by the interference." He was silent for a moment, then said, "Keep an eye on them both. And inform Minerva of the situation as well, she'll need to be alert for any oddities in Mister Potter's behavior. Really, I suppose that's all we can do for now."
Snape stood and brushed his robes off. "Just hope for the best, hmm?"
"Indeed."
Draco stumbled past the curious gazes in the Slytherin common room, ignoring the quiet, buzzing comments as he sought out his bed.
He couldn't understand why he felt like this. Madame Pomfrey had insisted that there was nothing wrong with him, and he didn't feel sick exactly. More like he was...lost. Like something important was missing.
He shuddered, trying to shrug off the odd sensation that seemed to have draped itself over him. He was just tired, that's all. A good night's sleep would solve everything, and then he could concentrate on finding something suitably wretched to do to Potter in retribution for the Potions incident.
Not even bothering to undress, Draco curled up in a ball on his bed, taking time only to draw the curtains shut to shield him from prying eyes. Yawning, Draco tugged the blanket over his head.
'How many times have I told you to act normal! Now, you can just stay in here until your Aunt calms down.' The door slammed shut, and the walls of the tiny room seemed to press in on him. He whimpered, closing his eyes as he wrapped his arms around his knees and rocked gently.
Draco gasped and sat up. His eyes narrowed as he glared into the darkness. "Stupid nightmares," he mumbled disgustedly. He lay back, determined to sleep despite these odd dreams and snatches of hazy memories that were bent on plaguing him. He didn't know how, but he was sure this was Potter's fault.
A grin formed on his face as he drifted back to sleep, imagining the things he would do to Potter to repay him.
"Harry? Are you all right?" There was no response, and Ron gingerly pulled back the curtains around his friend's bed. "Harry?" Squinting, he could make out Harry's body huddled in the corner of the bed. The even, albeit raspy breathing assured him that the other boy was sleeping.
With a relieved smile, Ron quietly closed the curtains again. He'd talk to Harry in the morning. And together, they'd come up with some way to make Malfoy pay.
Frowning, Ron sniffed at his robes, then mimed gagging. A shower before bed was definitely called for. He wasn't sure who he hated more at the moment; Malfoy, just for being Malfoy, or Snape for making him clean up Malfoy's mess.
Snorting, he decided to just hate them both equally. After all, they deserved it.
Harry twitched in his sleep. A frown appeared on his face and he sat up, staring blankly into the darkness. His head cocked to the side as if he was listening to something. Then, with slow, stilted motions, he pushed back the covers and crawled out of bed. He didn't bother to grab a robe, he simply wandered down to the Gryffindor common room barefoot and clad only in a pair of loose pants.
At his whispered word, the portrait swung open quietly, the Fat Lady barely even waking to acknowledge his exit.
With glazed, unseeing eyes, Harry stumbled down the dark hallways, inexplicably drawn by something he couldn't have described even if he had been aware of what he was doing. There were a few brief pauses in the midst of his journey, almost as if Harry was reconsidering his impromptu trip. But still he continued to make his halting way through the winding halls of the school.
Through one final door, and he was finally there. This was it; it was almost right. Harry sat on the floor, unconsciously stroking the stone beneath him. He waited.
Draco rolled out of bad and jerked to his feet. He fought off the curtains that seemed to cling to him, restraining him. Freed, he crept silently from the room and made his way to the portrait door. There was an irritated snarl, but the portrait swung open with only a slight hesitation.
He almost tripped over an uneven spot in the floor, but managed to stay upright. The incident didn't even faze him, and he continued to walk blindly down the hallway. Some dim part of him felt an irresistible yearning, a tugging at him that made his feet move of their own volition through the door that was the final barrier to his destination.
With a faint smile on his face, Draco settled himself on the floor next to Harry. They sat there for a minute, motionless. Then, as one, they leaned forward and curled themselves together, shifting around so they were lying on the floor.
Draco sighed as Harry's head came to rest on his chest, and one of his hands moved up to tangle in his hair, holding him in place. His other hand rested lightly on the curve of Harry's back, and their legs twined together as they struggled to get ever closer to one another.
Satisfied, the two boys slept deeply.
Harry's eyes snapped open at the loud, piercing yell that echoed through the classroom. He tried to sit up, but couldn't seem to extract himself from the octopus that seemed to have mysteriously appeared in his bed overnight.
He frowned, registering the cold, hard stone underneath him. He blinked his eyes furiously to clear them, then realized he wasn't wearing his glasses. Which would explain why the horrified second-year girl nearby remained a rather fuzzy blur. In fact, the only thing that he could see clearly was a column of pale skin.
A neck? Why was he looking at someone's neck? And why was there a second-year in his dorm, anyway?
"Would you bloody get off me?"
Harry's head snapped back, and he gaped in shock at Draco, who was glaring at him furiously, a faint flush just beginning to stain his cheeks. Harry yelped and tried to scramble backwards. His retreat was hindered, however, by Draco's arms. Arms that, despite the Slytherin boy's heated demand that Harry get away from him, remained tightly wrapped around the other boy.
"Potter! Let go!"
"You let go, you dolt!" Harry snarled back.
Draco's face went blank as he became aware that he was indeed holding Harry in place. Then he grimaced. He tried to remove his hands, one of which he'd just realized was placed firmly over the rising swell of Harry's backside. His face turned an even brighter shade when he realized that, despite his struggles to just let go, his hands seemed to have a mind of their own, squeezing just a little before starting to rub in soothing circles.
"Malfoy! Stop that!" Harry pushed against Draco's chest. Or tried to, anyway. Harry watched in disbelief as his hands stroked over Draco's chest and side.
"Oh for god's sake, would you shut up!" Draco shouted at the still-squalling girl, who promptly squeaked in fright and dashed out of the room.
"What...what's going on?" Harry asked in a small voice. Again he tried to lift his hand, but to no avail.
Draco shrugged. "How should I know, you git? This is all your fault!" He scowled and kissed Harry's bare shoulder, immediately looking horrified at his actions.
Harry's eyes widened, and his breath caught in his throat. "D-Draco?" Panting a little, he began to lean towards Draco.
Draco licked his lips reflexively as he watched Harry draw closer. His eyes fluttered almost shut, and he exhaled softly.
"What in the name of all that's holy is going on here?!" Snape loomed over his students, glowering at the embarrassed and still-groping boys that were sprawled on the floor of his classroom.
Harry was surprised that his skin hadn't spontaneously burst into flames already, he was blushing so hard. "P-p-professor!" he stammered. "Um, I, um..."
"Potter! What exactly do you think you're doing molesting Malfoy? In my classroom?!"
"W-well, see, I--" Harry broke off with a yelp as Draco's hand slid around and brushed over an extremely delicate and throbbing portion of his anatomy. His automatic reaction was to grind himself harder against the hand, which only made him blush impossibly redder as Snape was able to see the entire thing.
Snarling, Snape bent and grabbed hold of Harry's hand, keeping it from joining Draco's between them. Harshly, he jerked Harry away from Draco, parting the two.
Harry and Draco gasped painfully as they were forcibly separated. Whimpering quietly, they struggled against Snape, trying to touch each other again.
"Enough!" In an uncharacteristic move, Snape pulled out his wand and pointed it at the floor between the boys. "Dissaeptum!"
Ignoring their teacher, Draco and Harry lunged towards each other. Simultaneously, they struck the shimmering barrier that had formed between them, preventing them from closing the last centimeter of space that separated them. They scrabbled at the barrier frantically for a few minutes before subsiding, fingers still twitching restlessly as they tried to press their palms together from either side.
Snape watched them in annoyance. "Would someone explain to me what's going on here?" he asked harshly, eyes narrowing when he received no response. A noise behind him caught his attention, and he turned to find his second-year students crowded in the doorway and watching the scene avidly.
"You!" he barked, pointing at a dark-haired boy, who jumped and cringed back. "Get the Headmaster!"
The student scurried away quickly, and Snape rounded on the rest of the students. "Well? What are you all standing there gawking at? Get in your seats!"
There was a bit of confusion as the students practically fell into the room and scrambled for their seats, detouring around the boys on the floor and passing easily through the barrier that still kept Harry and Draco from reaching one another.
With a final glare at the two, Snape stalked to his desk. Without further hesitation, he launched into his lecture, causing his students to leaf frantically for quills and parchment.
Dumbledore glanced up at the timid knocking. With a sigh of relief, he pushed the stack of papers away and stood, stretching. "Enter," he called out, smiling indulgently at the student that entered. "Yes, Mr. Latimer?"
The boy scuffled his feet bashfully. "Um, Professor, er, H-Headmaster, sir, there's, um..." He took a deep breath, then said in a rush, "ProfessorSnapesaidtogetyoutheressomethingwrongwithsomestudents."
Dumbledore blinked. "A little slower, perhaps," he prompted gently.
"Oh. Uh, Professor Snape said to come get you, there's s-something wrong with some students in his c-classroom. I think it's P-Potter and Malfoy."
"Ah yes. Thank you. I'll be right down. Hurry back to class now." He watched the young boy leave, then sighed heavily. "Oh dear."
When Dumbledore entered the classroom, Snape glared around at his distracted students. "Markham! This is not a show for your amusement. Ten points from Hufflepuff for not minding your own business. The rest of you, get back to work!" He waited a moment to make sure his order were being followed, then he walked to where Dumbledore was crouched beside Harry and Draco.
"This is really quite fascinating," Dumbledore commented in a hushed voice. "Neither seems to be particularly aware of his surroundings. It's almost as if the only thing they can see is each other."
"Well frankly, I'd prefer it if they tried to see a little less of each other!" Snape hissed. "They were practically having sex on the floor of my classroom!"
His voice must have raised a bit at the end there, because absolute silence fell in the room, and Snape found himself the subject of several shocked and curious stares. He glowered. "Do I need to start taking points again?"
The students reluctantly returned their attention to their work.
"Hmph." Snape lowered his voice. "This has something to do with the...incident yesterday," he told Dumbledore. "It has to. You know as well as I do that Potter and Malfoy can't stand each other. And I doubt if it's a coincidence that I found them exactly where that potion was spilled yesterday."
"Hmm." Dumbledore continued to watch the boys in question, smiling gently when they both leaned forward and nuzzled their cheeks against the barrier between them, almost hopelessly seeking contact. "Perhaps their antipathy towards one another isn't quite what it always seemed," he mused.
Snape stared at him incredulously. "I sincerely hope you're joking," he said in a flat voice.
Dumbledore just smiled at him. "Come now, Severus. You have to admit--"
"No. I don't."
With a chuckle, Dumbledore stood. "Well then," he said briskly, "let's get these boys to my office."
Draco blinked and shook his head. He yawned, stretched, and rubbed at his eyes sleepily. A cleared throat caused him to halt mid-movement, and he glanced around the room, his confusion growing when he realized he wasn't in his dormitory.
"Mr. Malfoy, are you quite alright?" a kindly voice asked.
Draco jumped at the unexpected interruption. He squirmed around in his seat, eyes wide when he saw Dumbledore and Snape standing there staring at him intently. "Professor Snape? Erm, why...why am I here?"
A muffled noise drew his attention to another chair across from his. Letting out an uncharacteristic squeak, which he would later deny ever having voiced, he yelped "Potter!"
Dazed green eyes opened to stare directly at Draco. A second loud squeak sounded as Harry bolted upright and gaped at Draco in horror. "Malfoy!? You...we...erg!" He wrapped his arms around his bare chest, shuddering.
Draco paled as hazy memories started to filter back into his brain. "Ack!" He swiped at his mouth, making gagging noises as he tried to scrub away the lingering flavor of...Harry.
Dumbledore watched all this with an amused twinkle in his eyes. He waited patiently until the various sounds of disgust had finally halted, then spoke. "I take it you boys remember what happened this morning?"
"He...he k-kissed me!" Harry blurted out, then blushed furiously.
Draco's face also flushed, but with anger. "Well you were petting me you prat!" he shouted back.
Harry glowered. "Yeah? Well you had your hand on my--"
"Enough!" Snape fixed each boy with a withering glare.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Now Severus, don't be too harsh on the boys," he reprimanded gently. "I'm sure they are understandably confused by these...developments."
With a snort, Snape glared balefully at Harry.
"Sir?" Not noticing what he was doing, Draco inched his chair a fraction closer to Harry's. "What developments is he talking about?"
With a heavy sigh, Snape answered, "It seems that yesterday's...potions incident had some unforeseen consequences."
"Unforeseen?" Harry parroted, his chair scraping softly on the floor as he edged it closer to Draco's.
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, Harry. The chaos stone that managed to find it's way into your potion," at this, Snape aimed a dark stare at Draco, who withered visibly, "seems to have mutated what would normally be a relatively harmless mixture into something whose complete effects we are still attempting to determine."
"Although it's obvious," Snape added, "that at least one symptom is the rather unconscious -- craving, for lack of a better word, that you two have developed for each other."
"What? I'm not craving him!" Harry protested loudly.
Snape glowered. "Indeed? Then would you kindly stop that!"
Harry glanced down at himself, horrified to discover that he and Draco had both maneuvered their chairs close enough together that their knees were brushing together. Both boys immediately cringed away from other, practically crawling over the chairs in an effort to put distance between them.
Eyes still twinkling with repressed humor, Dumbledore reassured them, "There's nothing to worry about. I'm sure Severus will be able to rectify this situation shortly. In the meantime, we'll simply deal with things as they happen." He held up a hand to forestall any protests. "Really now, it's not as bad as it seems. Why don't the two of you consider this an opportunity in learning how to get along." It was clear from the way he said it that this was not a request.
Harry and Draco exchanged a cautious look, then shuddered in unison.
"Well then," Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "I believe the two of you have missed breakfast. Severus? Would you kindly escort them to the kitchen so they might get something to eat before heading to class?"
Snape glared at Dumbledore, then swept out of the room with a growl. Draco quickly followed him.
"Um, Headmaster?"
"Run along now, Harry," Dumbledore urged gently. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know. It wouldn't do to miss it."
With a sigh, Harry trailed out after the two Slytherins.
When the door closed behind him, Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and chuckled. "Well now, this should prove to be very interesting indeed."
tbc...
So??? Let me know what you think!
