Transfigure My Heart
Chapter One
"Hey, Harry.. Do you have a moment?"
"What do you want?" snarled Harry, silently cursing himself for acting this way around Blaise. Blaise, his first real friend. His only true friend. If only they had been sorted into the same house...
"I-I just wanted to talk, you know... I, well... My parents asked why they didn't see you last summer and the summer before... They're worried about you. I... I don't know what to tell them..." came the stuttered reply from the fearful Blaise.
A smirk crossed Harry's face as he thought up an answer. "Tell them that I wouldn't be seen dead with you." Harry could almost feel his own heart break as he forced himself to say that. And when he saw the look of pain that crossed Blaise's face, he wanted more than anything to take it back...
But he couldn't. He was a Slytherin, and Blaise was a Gryffindor. That's the way it had to be.
Harry gasped as he awoke suddenly from his dream. He had had that same dream off and on for the past four years, ever since it had actually happened. The memory was as clear to him as if he had placed it in a pensieve and had gone in to watch it. But it was worse in his dreams, as he had to feel the pain again, each and every time; the same pain he'd felt in his third year when he'd said it, when he so coldly pushed away his one-time friend.
He peeled the covers away from his cold, sweaty skin, and got out of bed. He would need to take a shower before any of the other boys woke up, as they would undoubtedly tease him for still getting nightmares. Well, Crabbe and Goyle were too stupid to come up with anything clever to tease him with, but Ted and Draco were both pure Slytherins and wouldn't have any problems. However close Harry was to Draco, he knew that he could never tell him about his dreams. It would show Draco that he, a half-blood and therefore already lower than him, was just a weak Gryffindor on the inside. Harry wouldn't be at all surprised if Draco told his father, and then where would he be?
As Harry walked quietly out of the room, a pair of eyes followed him. The owner of those eyes sighed and rolled over in his bed. He had gotten used to this, and had even found a pattern; Harry's nightmares always came in July, September and December, and generally only lasted for a few days. Most times he was quiet in his dreams, but sometimes he would let out pained murmurs. None of the other boys noticed. But Draco heard every twist and turn Harry made in his sleep; he felt the pain as if it was his own, as Harry relived the moment Draco knew he was unable to forget.
It was an unhealthy obsession. Harry and Blaise had known each other for a month and a half before they had been separated, and Harry had been pining ever since. Draco knew the obsession went beyond wanting a simple friendship with the boy, and it was that knowledge that hurt Draco the most. It wasn't the secrets, the evasive answers, the avoidance, or the casual guarding of hisself; it was the overlooking of him in favour of someone who didn't deserve Harry's attention.
Draco took a deep breath and let it out slowly before deciding to get up for the day. Transfiguration first thing, with Blaise and his Mudblood friend. Wonderful.
"Welcome back. I trust you all remember how to transfigure simple objects; you'll be doing that while I meet with each student individually regarding pre-NEWT results. Many of you will need a tutor in order to reach your full potential, and those tutors will be: Terry Boot, Hermione Granger, Daphne Greengrass, and Blaise Zabini." Hermione's hand shot up into the air and Draco scowled. Professor McGonagall sighed, "Oh, just go to the library, Miss Granger; I know you don't need practice. Hannah Abbott, come with me."
Hermione blushed and started to gather her things; however, as soon as the professor left the room, Draco jumped on the opportunity to throw a quick hex at Hermione's bag without her knowing. She stood and picked up her bag, which promptly split down the middle, loosing the supplies she had just packed away. Scowling, she fixed her bag with a simple charm and repacked it. She sent a scathing look at Draco before leaving the classroom.
Smirking, Draco looked down at the match in front of him. His last transfiguration project had been a failure; apparently, seventh year Slytherin girls weren't scared of snakes. He would have to try younger girls. Or maybe a larger snake. A sharp jab to his side hindered his progress, however. Instead of the match turning into a green and silver snake, as it was supposed to, it burst into green and silver flames and let out a strange hissing sound. Scowling, Draco turned to face the reason his transfiguration didn't work. "What do you want, Potter?"
Harry smirked at the sight of the flaming match-snake. "Nothing, just wanted to see what would happen." A Ravenclaw snickered behind them, but stopped and quickly looked away when the two Slytherins turned to glare at him.
Turning back to fix his glare on Harry, Draco growled, "Well at least my mistakes are better than your best attempts. In fact," his glare transformed into a smirk, "I wonder who your tutor for transfiguration will be. Maybe you'll get Granger, and she'll give you homework assignments every night, as if she were one of our Professors."
"Hey! I don't think I did that bad on my pre-NEWTs."
"Harry, you turned a coffeepot into a tea kettle."
"So?"
Draco laughed. "You were supposed to turn it into an owl."
Harry flushed. "Oh. Right."
"Draco Malfoy, your turn," McGonagall called from across the room. Draco looked around; nearly half the class had already gone, including the Ravenclaw who had been behind him, and he hadn't even noticed. Getting up, he transfigured the flaming match-snake into a full-grown cobra, and, snickering, left the room with McGonagall.
Harry gasped and pulled out his wand, attempting to transfigure the cobra into a tea kettle. However, the spell only succeeded in turning the snake's skin silver. Harry was about to try again when suddenly it stopped moving. He looked down at the snake, which had stopped just a quarter of a metre from him, and tapped the head lightly. It gave off a hollow metallic sound, and Harry looked around, ready to thank his saviour.
And choked on his words as he realised it had been Blaise.
A/N: Short, and not all that good, but better than it was before. Vaguely.