A Twist of Fate

Chapter 6: Stay With Me

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione's bushy hair enveloped him in a tight embrace.

"Her-mio-ne..." Harry choked out, smiling.

"Oh! Sorry, are you all right?" She let go of Harry, her eyes full of worry and happiness. Harry had only just returned to Gryffindor Tower moments ago,

and was already being swarmed by his friends.

"I'm fine. It was only a bump, nothing worse than what I've had before." Harry still found himself smiling as he looked between Ron and Hermione. He felt

closer to them, if anything, though he had no idea why.

"Harry?" Neville spoke from across the room. He smiled, and sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you're alive. Most of us thought you were a goner. Er- not

to be pessimistic or anything."

"Well, Harry always manages to surprise us." Ron grinned.

"I tend to surprise myself more often." Harry joked.

"Good to have you back, mate!" Seamus called from a cozy armchair. It was amazing, Harry thought, that all these people cared about him. He continued

to smile for the rest of the night, even when he changed into pajamas the smile never once left his face.

The next day classes resumed as normal for Harry, and Umbridge was just as demeaning as ever. She would gaze down at Harry as though he were a

rather rotten patch of tomatoes, and kept an unusually close eye on him the entire class. Harry managed to look up from his book periodically and shifted his

eyes until they laid themselves on Draco, who sat two rows away. His stare lingered, but he forced himself to return to the same paragraph he had been on

since the beginning of class when Umbridge's wary eyes snapped at him.

For the first time, Harry looked forward to his Potions class. He sat in the back row, as normal, but felt a slight tingle when Draco sat in front of him. Harry

watched as he took out a scrap piece of paper, scribbled something on it, and held it behind his back, motioning for Harry to grab it. He did, and unfolded the

paper, analyzing the words scrawled in Draco's astonishingly neat handwriting:

Are we still good for today at 9?

Harry glanced around to make sure no one was watching before writing down his answer:

Of course. I'll see you in the RoR, okay? Keep out of trouble until then.

He clandestinely slipped the note back into Draco's hand, and watched as he read the note. A trace of a smile was evident on his face, and Draco

pocketed the note. Snape summoned the classrooms attention then, and requested the previous nights homework. Harry gulped, pulling out his essay on the

properties of unicorn hair. He handed it in along with everyone else, but when he turned around Draco stared him right in the face, his grey eyes piercing

Harry's green ones. Harry wasn't sure how long he looked at Draco, though whether everyone else thought it was a burning glare or not was another story.

"Is there a problem boys?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Not at all. Right, Potter?" Draco spat out Harry's name like venom, but Harry saw the hurt in his eyes.

"Right." Harry narrowed his eyes at Draco, and returned to his seat. After a minute, Draco did the same. Harry noticed he seemed a little more fidgety than