Three-Edged Sword (a Harry Potter Story) - 3. Dancing on the Head of a Pin

George came slowly awake, aware of the weight still on his chest. Draco had rolled somewhat during the night onto George’s right side, which was also the couch side. It meant that his left side was exposed to the room, except for the thin blanket. There was a bite to the air in the room, since the fire had burned low some time ago.

George noticed someone watching him as soon as his mind cleared of its morning fog. He opened his eyes and turned to look on the other side of the room. He nearly wet his pants when he noticed the brooding Potions Master perched in the chair like some sort of hovering doom. The man was glaring at the couch and the boys on it.

“Professor Snape,” George started.

“Just what do you think you’re doing, Mr. Weasley?” Snape asked in a dangerously low voice.

“I was just sleeping sir,” George replied.

“I’m sure you were. Lift the blanket,” Snape replied coldly.

George lifted the blanket to show both boys fully clothed. The sudden disturbance of cold air caused Draco to try to bury himself into George.

Snape’s eyebrows met his hairline.

“Why are you two sleeping together?” Snape asked, as he slumped back in his chair, seemingly defeated.

“Draco didn’t want to be left alone and I thought it best that I humor him for the moment,” George replied quietly.

“For the moment, Mr. Weasley?”

“Draco and I were talking about the effect any sort of relationship would have on our lives. He doesn’t want to be alone right now.”

“You two are going out?” Snape started to roar but only managed to choke it out.

“Yes,” George replied firmly, wrapping his arm around Draco and dropping the blanket down to keep them warm.

Draco stirred. One gray eye popped open and looked first at George and then at Professor Snape.

Professor Snape was too busy shaking his head to notice.

“Professor Snape. I hope you aren’t attacking George for something I asked him to do.”

Professor Snape looked up sharply and then looked over at Draco. “Do you think it is wise to start a… relationship… so soon after the death of your friend?”

“I think that it shouldn’t be any of your concern what I do… Professor,” Draco responded coldly.

George suddenly found himself in the middle of a staring contest between godfather and godson. He tried to extract himself, but Draco wouldn’t let him move. He finally gave up trying to get somewhere. He leaned back, closed his eyes and slowly stroked Draco’s back.

“Very well Draco,” Snape said after a very long period of tense silence. “At least you selected a trustworthy individual to attach yourself to, even if he is Gryffindor and a Weasley.”

George leaned up and gave Snape the evil eye.

“Mr. Weasley, are you giving a professor an evil look?”

“No, Uncle Severus, I’m not,” George replied in a groveling way before looking away.

Snape looked ready to kill something and was about to reply when Draco said dryly, “Uncle Severus, I do believe you started that one. It was a simple tit for tat.”

Snape glared at the two boys. Draco waved off the glare with impatience and George looked completely unconcerned. “You both will respect me. And you, Draco, will stop calling me Uncle. You know damned well that it will start rumors here at Hogwarts if anyone hears you.”

“I respect you,” George said, sitting up and rolling Draco off to the side so that he could stare at Snape eye to eye. “I don’t fear you though,” George said firmly.

Snape tilted his head in a show of acknowledgement before getting up and leaving the flat.

“Uncle Severus likes it when people show backbone,” Draco said, calling him uncle again out of long habit.

“I know he does. I think I should be going,” George replied.

Draco suddenly had the panicked look on his face again. “Please stay.”

“Draco, I can’t be with you every minute of every day. We both have classes and since I’m seventh year and your fifth, we have different classes. You’re going to have to get used to being on your own again.”

“Ever since I arrived at school, I’ve been surrounded with people that were told to watch my back or who just wanted to. Now I’m alone.”

“I guess it is time to make friends outside of Slytherin then, isn’t it?”

“Make friends? Have you gone nutters? No one is going to trust me enough to make friends. Besides, I highly doubt I’ll survive long enough. It is obvious that Lucius has sanctioned my death. There will no doubt be a long line of people trying to do that. Pansy was merely the first to try it, the bitch. Thanks to Blaise, she paid for it. In the process though, I lost the only person I ever trusted.”

“Well then, I guess it falls on me to help you out then, doesn’t it?”

“I’m not sure I like where this is going,” Draco replied, his eyes widening when he understood the implication.

“Come along. We’ve got some people to talk to.”

Draco looked at him for a few moments before bowing his head in submission.

George walked out of the room and waited for Draco to join him. As soon as he did, George set off for the Headmaster’s office. When they arrived he spoke the password to the gargoyle, hoping that it hadn’t been changed yet. “Wizard Wheezes.”

The gargoyle rotated slowly upwards and the two boys rode the stairs to the top. They knocked on the Headmaster’s door and heard him invite them in.

“Good morning boys. Have a seat please. Draco, it is good to see you up and about.”

Draco nodded to him in response.

“Draco has expressed some important issues with regards to his safety.”

“Severus and I had that very conversation this morning. Didn’t he tell you? I sent him up to talk to you Draco.”

“He neglected to mention it. I fear that he was shocked at our sleeping arrangements last night,” George replied when Draco didn’t.

“Oh yes. I forgot to mention that to him. How forgetful of me,” Dumbledore replied, his eyes twinkling merrily.

“Did you set up Uncle Severus?” Draco asked in amazement, slipping up a little bit calling his godfather uncle again instead of Professor Snape.

“You sound surprised Mr. Malfoy. Thought I was a batty old Muggle-loving coot, did you?” Dumbledore asked lightly.

Draco blushed and looked down.

George snorted in amusement.

“Let’s see. We need to make some safety arrangements. I do believe that Mr. Malfoy will be perfectly safe eating with the Gryffindors from now on. I’ll just have a word with Mr. Potter.”

“I think Fred has already talked to him, actually,” George spoke up.

“No doubt he has,” Dumbledore said dryly, “but has he spoken on this topic? I do rather think they spend most of their time either discussing or actually polishing their brooms.”

George’s eyes widened and Draco choked slightly.

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled merrily. “You two should go eat breakfast. I’ll be sure to talk to both Fred and Harry before they arrive.”

George nodded and stood up. Draco stood as well. They left the office and made their way down to the Great Hall. Draco stayed slightly behind George so that he could use George’s superior size and strength to his advantage. George seemed to understand.

The whole Slytherin table stared at Draco and George with a large amount of disgust and anger. George ignored it. Draco pretended to, but he couldn’t take his mind off the looks.

George nonchalantly sat in his usual spot and Draco sat down quietly next to him. Ron, who was listening to a joke Seamus was telling, didn’t notice Draco right away. In fact, Ron didn’t notice anything at all until Harry walked up.

Harry plopped down in the seat next to Draco, “Good morning Draco.”

Draco looked at him for a brief moment before returning the greeting, “Good morning Harry.”

Draco’s name seemed to have drawn Ron’s attention because he suddenly looked over at Draco. He then looked to George and understood the look that was on his face. Ron raised an eyebrow at his brother, mumbled a good morning to everyone and then went back to conversing with Seamus.

The rest of the Gryffindors ignored Draco or mumbled good morning, but no one said anything negative to him. He wasn’t sure if it was a measure of George’s popularity or if the fact that The Boy Who Lived was sitting next to him chatting amicably with him, George, and Fred.

For the first time in his life, he saw Harry Potter as a normal boy. It came as quite a shock to him to see the famous Harry Potter as a real person. He saw quite clearly that he loved Fred Weasley and he thought he could understand why, if Fred was anything like George in more than looks.

In a very quiet voice towards the end of breakfast, only loud enough for Harry to hear, he whispered, “I’m sorry for being such an insufferable prat to you all these years, Harry Potter.”

Harry whipped his head around in surprise and stared into Draco’s stormy gray eyes. After a long moment of staring he replied, “It’s okay Draco. I was used to it from my cousin Dudley anyway. At least you were smarter and more creative than my whale of a cousin.”

Draco’s lips quirked slightly. He held out his hand to Harry Potter for the second time in his life. This time Harry Potter took it. They shook hands. Both Fred and George clapped their respective boyfriends on the back and beamed at the rest of the Gryffindor table.

Hermione had arrived from her Prefect’s meeting just in time to see the handshake. It perked her interest immensely. But then, anything would after forty-five minutes of discussing why curfew could not be extended five minutes with an intractable Professor Flitwick.

Within moments it was time to leave for their first class of the day. In Harry’s case, it was Potions with the Slytherins. The twins had advanced transfiguration. George gave Draco’s leg a little squeeze under the table and Draco gave a little smile. Draco then timidly joined Harry in the walk to the dungeons. Ron and Seamus were still trading jokes and fell in behind them while Hermione brought up the rear watching all that was going on, but remaining aloof of it.

They arrived before Professor Snape and they sat. Draco sat at the end of a row and Harry sat next to him. Hermione dropped into the seat next to Harry and Neville Longbottom sat next to her. The Slytherins were jeering Draco in quiet undertones. He ignored them. Snape swept into the room in his usual manner. And then nearly tripped over himself when he saw Harry and Draco sitting side by side.

“I see that we already are separated into adequate groups. Perhaps you’ll manage not to blow anything up this time Mr. Potter with someone as skilled as Mr. Malfoy to assist you.”

Where there would have normally been Slytherin snickering and Gryffindor grumbling, there was only tense silence. Draco and Harry exchanged quiet glances that went unnoticed by everyone but Hermione and Professor Snape.

After a few moments of dead quiet, Snape continued, “We will be making healing drafts today. Your attention to detail is required. You will be testing your drafts on each other, so be sure not to make any mistakes.”

He stared briefly at Longbottom and then to Crabbe and Goyle. All three boys looked down rather than meet his gaze.

Snape went over the formula quickly and efficiently. Harry went up to the front of the room to get the ingredients that they did not have in their own potion kits. There were several.

Draco directed Harry quietly in what to do, while he took an equal share of the work. They worked quickly and efficiently together and they were the first to complete. Professor Snape came over when Draco raised his hand.

Snape peered into their cauldron and smiled slightly. He took a ladle from somewhere in his robes and scooped a batch out of the cauldron. He gestured that Harry should step forward and sip. He did after a brief glance and answering nod from Draco. Harry felt immediately refreshed and the light headache he didn’t even realize he had went away. Draco took a sip second and felt equally refreshed.

Snape smiled tightly and then did an unprecedented thing, “Five points to Gryffindor.”

There was a sound of dismay from the back of the room. It lasted only so long as it took Snape to glare in the direction of the Slytherin who made it.

Snape said quietly to the two boys, “Bottle up your potion. It should last several months and if you need it, you have it.”

Harry nodded and Draco rummaged around in his potions kit for the proper bottle.

As soon as both boys had split the potion and had cleaned up their work area, Snape waved them out of the room. They had managed to complete their potion only a little into the second part of the double potions session. It meant that they had a little under an hour of free time before lunch.

“Draco,” Harry said quietly, “I think we should talk.”

Draco nodded and led Harry back to his new room. Harry settled on the couch and Draco sat at the other end. Draco remained quiet and pensive, waiting for Harry to talk.

“Fred asked me and the Headmaster asked me to overlook the last few years. I consented because I’ve seen a change in you since you’ve gotten back from summer break. You’ve looked almost as haunted as I’ve felt. It’s only been Fred that has allowed me to stay together at all.”

Draco looked up sharply at that. ‘Was the Boy Who Lived that bad off?’

Harry must have interpreted the look on Draco’s face because he answered the question. “When Cedric was killed and there was nothing I could do to stop it, I felt so powerless. I’ve had nightmares nearly every night. Finally I’ve gotten Madam Pomfrey to teach me to make a dreamless sleep potion. Between the potions and Fred, I’ve finally been able to get some rest. I understand the pain you feel Draco Malfoy. And I understand the effect that the Weasley twins have in reducing that pain. For their sake, for my sake, and for your sake, I’ve forgiven and forgotten everything that has passed between us before our handshake this morning. I can’t afford petty grievances anymore.”

“I never realized. I’ll hold that truce Harry Potter. I’ll be dead otherwise. My father has ordered me killed. One person has died to protect me and one has died for trying to kill me.”

“And you’ve been wondering over and over again if you were worthy enough to have someone lay down their life for you?” Harry asked quietly.

Draco looked startled again before nodding, unable to voice his response.

“We are more alike than I ever realized.”

“Except that I’m a Slytherin and you’re a Gryffindor.”

“The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. I have ambition and I’m a Parselmouth.”

“What?” Draco asked startled.

“The Sorting Hat wanted me in Slytherin, but I refused. I even put the hat on again in my second year and it said again that I would have done well in Slytherin.”

“That would have been terribly ironic.”

“It would have been.”

The door opened and the twins walked in. “There you are,” they said together and then walked to their respective boyfriends.

“What are you two doing up here? I thought you had class?” Harry asked.

“We finished early. I’m assuming you did as well?”

Draco and Harry nodded.

“Unfortunately, it is going to take awhile to get to our next classes, so we should leave now,” George said.

Draco and Harry stood up and they both hugged their boyfriends. As soon as everyone looked ready to walk, Fred started out. Harry followed next. George stayed behind a moment to extend the tight hug with Draco, before gently guiding the blond haired boy out of the room.

The twins dropped their boyfriends off at the charms classroom and then continued on to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

“It’s good to see them finally getting along,” George said quietly to his brother.

“Who would have believed it?”

“I wouldn’t have put any money on it.”

“It’ll make our life easier if our boyfriends get along. Do you think Ron will got nutters about it?”

“I doubt it. He spent the morning trading jokes with Seamus and my sources tell me that he’s got some sort of fling with Lavender Brown going on. We should talk to Hermione though. She seems to like to keep an extremely close eye on my Harry.”

“She has been a good friend to Harry and Ron ever since that troll incident in their first year.”

“True,” George said as he and Fred took their seat and faced the little toad of a professor.

“Good morning class.”

“Good morning Professor Umbridge,” most of the students replied sullenly.

*   *   *

George’s day seemed to blow past quickly. In almost no time at all he found himself leaving dinner with Draco. Draco seemed to withdraw again and he was using George’s own bulk to shield himself from others. George didn’t blame him. The sneers that were sent their way by the Slytherins were not comforting. George returned the sneers with a glare of his own. The glare reminded everyone that saw it that men with red hair were said to have nasty tempers. It further reminded them that wizards with red hair were twice as bad when riled up. The Slytherins slinked away under George’s powerful gaze. Dinner had gone by without incident.

Draco paid little attention to it. He was solely focused on following George back to his room. He wanted George to spend the night with him again and he was trying to think of the words he needed to use to convince him.

George sat down on the couch as soon as they were in the room. Draco sat down right next to him. George wrapped his arm around his boyfriend and Draco sighed in contentment. Draco was so content, in fact, he drifted quietly off to sleep within a few minutes. George stayed and supported him. He pulled out his wand and summoned a pillow and blanket.

He then moved slowly, taking great care not to wake up Draco. It took sometime before he was lounging comfortably with Draco spooned in front of him. George couldn’t help but admire the firm, yet soft lines that Draco’s body had.

George drifted off to sleep not long after, Draco still wrapped up in his arms.