Chapter 6 – Flying and a Heart-to-Heart

On Monday of the second week of Harry's education at Hogwarts, he practically bounced into the dorm and jumped on Draco's bed excitedly.

"Draco, get up! Get up!" He hit him constantly with a pillow until with a groan he finally sat up.

"What?" Draco glared.

"Flying lessons!" he practically squealed though he'd deny it for forever. "They start Thursday!"

Draco's eyes widened before he smiled happily, "Great! We'd get to train you up proper, now." Then he glared again, "Now let me sleep."

Harry rolled his eyes, "We have classes today, Dray. Get up!" He struggled to get him out of bed before finally pushing him off of it.

Draco yelped and stood up, glaring at him and rubbing his arse. His face was dangerously close to pouting.

"Meanie." He huffed.

"Of course," Harry said indulgently, smiling widely.

"Ugh!" Draco groaned and tackled him. This time it was Harry who landed on his arse on the other side of the bed with with Draco sitting on his stomach. His grin was decidedly smug.

"Oh, you'll regret that," Harry mock-growled before flipping them over and tickling him mercilessly. The rest of the dorm woke up to hysterical laughter and the two boys wrestling playfully like kindergarten children. Needless to say, no one was going to let the prim and proper Draco Malfoy forget the adorable picture he made sitting on the floor with his hair and clothing all mussed up.

Tuesday morning, it was Draco's turn to wake Harry up painfully early. Harry was grumpy for an exact total of ten seconds until Draco told him his master plan.

"We can't afford to have you make a fool of yourself in front of the Gryffindorks," Draco informed him matter-of-factly. "We're going to the pitch and get you started early."

Harry nodded excitedly, entirely approving of the idea except for one fact.

"But at three in the morning? The sun hasn't even risen yet," he whined.

"We need to be cautious," Draco glared, "If Uncle Sev catches us…"

Harry shuddered and hurriedly got off the bed.

It happened to be their lucky day and they were able to escape Severus' attention as they sneaked out of bed down to the Quidditch pitch.

They did face a slight delay when the shed where all the school brooms were kept turned out to be resistant to any unlocking spells the boys knew.

Harry looked in frustration at the other boy who was mirroring his expression.

"I bet this was Severus' work," Draco muttered darkly.

Harry nodded in agreement, frowning, before an idea came to him.

"Hey Draco," he said in excitement, "have any pins or needles or something?"

Draco frowned at him, not understanding, "No, but…I can transfigure it, if you want."

Harry nodded eagerly and Draco bent down, picking a blade of grass from the ground and frowning in concentration for a few moments before expertly changing it into a sharp needle.

"Wow," Harry said in admiration, "How did you do that?"

Draco blushed, "It's not that much different than turning toothpicks into needles," he said modestly, shrugging.

Harry wasn't fooled by the act and grinned at the preening blond.

"So what did you want a needle for?" Draco said, handing said needle to him.

"This," Harry grinned, and bent down. He set to work on the lock, his forehead crinkling as he concentrated. After a minute or two there was a click and he beamed triumphantly.

It was now Draco's turn to be impressed and he turned to see the blond looking at him in amazement.

"How did you do that?" He said, eyes wide.

"Muggle method," Harry said, winking at him, "learned it for some of my better pranks. Its dead useful for getting into places."

"I'll say." Draco said, before recovering and putting on his haughty pureblood act and walking into the shed with his nose in the air.

Harry burst out laughing and followed him inside.

After a crashcourse on the types and qualities of brooms (read that: rant about horrible school brooms and how Draco hated that he couldn't bring his to school), they moved to the pitch and mounted their brooms.

"Okay," Draco said, eyes wild with the thrill of doing something so illegal in any eleven year old's book.

Harry drew in a shaky breath and said, "You know, Sev would call us a couple of reckless Gryffindors for doing this."

Draco snorted, "Please, we were entirely Slytherin in the way we went about getting what we want."

Harry considered what he said and nodded. "True," he said, his hands shaking with excitement.

The other boy grinned at him exuberantly and said, "Right, now push off gently and hover a few feet in the air until we know you won't fall."

Draco demonstrated and hung above Harry in the air for a few seconds before zooming up high and away a little distance to watch.

Harry took a deep breath and kicked off hard, entirely ignoring the other boy's advice. He launched into the air and felt a rush of pleasure as he realised that his was easy, this was wonderful. Wind rushed through his hair and whipped out his robes behind him and still, his hand was steady on the handle and he knew that there was no way whatsoever that he would fall because this was his turf, and no way could he ever mess this up. Blood pounded in his ears and he gave an exhilarated whoop as soared up and up into the air.

Once he was on level to where Draco was hovering in front of one set of the hoops, stunned, he stilled for a second, yelled, "This is bloody brilliant!" then did a few loops in the air as a heady sense of joy overwhelmed him.

"You're a natural!" Draco yelled back, staring wide-eyed before starting to grin madly.

Harry circled around Draco a few times, laughing madly all the while.

"Okay, okay!" he shouted, laughing too, "You're making me dizzy now!"

Harry came to a stop at Draco's side and spent a few moments simply grinning at him, breathing harshly with excitement.

The moment was broken when Draco zoomed off suddenly, yelling, "Race you to the other set of hoops and back!"

Harry and Draco were playing with a few golf balls they had found in the shed. Draco would throw them in ridiculous directions at ridiculous times and Harry would catch them. Till now, Harry hadn't lost one ball and Draco was growing more and more impressed.

"Okay," Draco yelled, "last one before its my turn!"

And he threw the ball straight up in the air with as much strength as he could. Gravity did its duty, and the ball streaked down towards the ground. Harry only just caught the challenging glint in Draco's eyes before he chased after it. He leant forward and pointed the broom handle down – next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball – wind whistled in his ears, and his heart beat as fast as a hummingbird's – he stretched out his hand – a foot from the ground and he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently on to the grass with the small ball clutched safely in his fist.

Draco landed beside him a few moments later.

"That was amazing!" he whooped.

Harry was going to reply when he looked behind Draco's shoulder and his smile froze.

Draco saw that and frowned at him before turning around. His expression turned into one of horror so fast it would have been comical if Harry didn't feel the exact same.

Sometime while they had been playing, he sun had risen and they could clearly see the three figures standing there, watching them with varying expressions. Terence Higgs, a fifth year prefect, was grinning excitedly while the other boy, Marcus Flint, looked at Harry contemplatively. Prefect Gemma Farley looked downright furious and it was her that Harry and Draco flinched away from as she marched angrily up to them.

"What – were – you – thinking?" she said furiously. The first year boys flinched while the older boys flashed them sympathetic looks, all the while sniggering behind her back.

"Sneaking out of bed in the morning and doing dangerous stunts like that! Without supervision!" She screeched, "Are you trying to get killed, pulling that kind of dive?"

Harry opened his mouth to defend himself somehow, saw Draco doing the same at his side, but they froze at the next thing she said.

"Straight to Professor Snape, boys." She said, taking a deep breath. "He'll have you scrubbing cauldrons for the rest of the year."

Then she took their arms and started tugging them towards the school, the other two boys following them amusedly. She looked grimly satisfied at their terrified expressions.

After a few moments of horror, they came to themselves and forgetting all dignity in face of grave danger, started protesting and pleading with their captor.

By the time they reached Severus' office, the boys had given up in defeat and were hanging their heads in a resigned manner, clutching their broomsticks for dear life.

Gemma knocked twice at the door and turned the knob at the sharp "Enter", walking inside. Harry and Draco exchanged miserable looks as they were tugged inside. Severus looked up as the door snapped shut.

He saw Gemma first and frowned, "Miss Farley, what…?" he trailed off when he saw the small figures standing slightly behind her, looking as if they wished nothing more than to run far, far away and fast.

Severus listened expressionlessly as Gemma informed their Professor of all that occurred that morning, exaggerating outrageously in the boys's opinion if their furious looks were anything to go by.

"Thank you Miss Farley. Please wait outside, now." He said coolly, dismissing the upper years with a wave, never taking his eyes of Harry and Draco.

Gemma turned sharply and walked out of the room with a nod to the Professor while giving a little sympathetic glance to the boys as she realised what she had gotten them into, to which the boys glared back at her. The other two hesitated a little.

"Did you have something to add, Mr Flint, Mr Higgs?" Severus demanded.

Flint gulped imperceptibly and opened his mouth to speak before closing it back down and nudging Terrence a little, who seemed to gather his courage.

"Professor Snape, as you must know, I have already expressed my interest in becoming a beater but that has not been possible because of the lack of better Seekers in Slytherin." Here, his eyes shifted subtly to Harry and Severus followed his gaze. "I was hoping that a change could be possible this year."

Harry gaped as his meaning registered while his guardian took this in expressionlessly.

Finally, he said, "You may go and join Miss Farley, Mr Higgs, Mr Flint."

Harry slumped dejectedly as he realised that there was no way Severus was allowing him on the house team right now. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Draco do the same while Flint and Terrence filed out of the room.

There were a few quiet moments before Severus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked at him wearily and said, "How did I know you were going to do something like that?"

Harry sheepishly looked down, his eyes getting just a bit teary at his guardian's disappointment.

He'll never want me now, thought Harry sadly, he'll send me back to the Dursleys and never talk to me again.

Severus's expression softened just a bit as he saw Harry's face fall.

"Do you know how reckless that was, Harry?" he said, "How incredibly foolish it was to sneak out in the dark to fly for the first time without supervision?"

"Yes sir." Harry replied softly in a whisper so soft that he was sure that no one heard his words, only the choked sound of it.

Severus sighed again, his mask dropping completely and he opened his mouth to say something but Draco cut him off.

"It was my fault, Uncle Sev," Draco said desperately, looking from Harry to Severus repeatedly, "I woke him up in the morning and convinced him out of bed so that he won't make a fool of himself in front of the Gryffindors who'll surely try to tease him something awful."

"I see," said Severus, looking intently at Draco while Harry gaped at him, astonished. Harry wanted to protest to Draco taking the blame but the blond caught his hand out of Severus' eyesight and gave it a reassuring squeeze, so he shut his mouth.

"Right, boys." Severus said quietly after a few moments of silence. "You'll be serving your next two free afternoons in detention with me and I want an essay about every detail of your misadventure, why it was wrong to deceive me when I explicitly told you no flying before your lessons, and how foolish it was for two Slytherins to get caught, by a Prefect no less. Is that understood?"

They gaped at him dumbly for a few moments before recovering and nodding vigorously. Severus smiled very briefly at their expressions and said, "I trust this will not happen again?"

They shook their heads earnestly and Harry took the amused glint in his guardian's eyes as a sign that he was not mad at him anymore and he wouldn't have to go back to the Dursley's after all.

"Good." He said and picked up his quill again, "Now scamper away, I have work to do."

They did just that and were almost to the door when he said, "Oh, and tell Mr Higgs that his wish might be possible this year. I trust that Mr Flint will provide you both with necessary information for the trials?"

He had barely finished the sentence before Harry was flying across the room and clutching him for dear life.

"Harry?" Severus said, concerned, when he felt his ward shaking a little, rubbing his back reassuringly.

"I'm sorry." Harry sniffed, rubbing his eyes with his fist. His guardian caught his hands and tipped his chin up, looking into his eyes intently.

"What is it, child?" he said, softly.

"I thought – I thought that you'd," Harry took a shaky breath and continued in a whisper, "I thought that you would send me back. To the Dursleys," He blushed, "I thought you wouldn't want me anymore."

"Oh, Harry." Severus said, pulling him closer in his lap and hugging him tightly, "I'll always want you. Don't ever doubt that." He pulled away a little and looked his charge in the eye, "I'll get angry again, just as any parent does, and you'll get in trouble again, no doubt about that, just like every son does, but that's normal, Harry. I won't give you up, Harry, even if you turn out to be the next Dark Lord."

Harry chuckled and Severus gave him a rare genuine smile, that made him look younger and more his thirty-two years than older.

He grew serious again and looked at Harry intently, "You're my son now, Harry."

Harry smiled and sighed contently, snuggling into his father back and replying, "Okay…dad."

He practically giggled like a three year old and would have been out of the room if his father's hands hadn't caught him swiftly. He was so busy struggling to get free that he missed his father's surprised and pleased look.

"Brat," he mock glared, "I'll have none of that 'Dad' business. You'll call me 'Father' as is proper and befitting a young man like you."

"Oh but Daddy…" he whined and pouted, giving his father his best puppy dog eyes, practically saying 'do I really have to be all proper and posh?'

"Fine," he huffed, "but only in private, got that, you little troublemaker?"

Harry nodded his head furiously and gave him a last hug, a carefree feeling in his heart that he had never felt before, before taking off after Draco who had quietly slipped out of the room long ago.

He wondered if his boyfriend had already given Flint and Terrence the good news.

A/N : Aaaaand, I'm back, universe! I know, I know, you want to Avada Kedavra me but can't because then who will write the story? You want to torture me slowly with Cruciatus but you can't risk me ending up like the Longbottoms for the same reason and you want to Imperio me to write the chapters fast but can't because then the quality will suffer... *grins wickedly*

A bit small but there's a Harry/Snape moment to satisfy you hungries! Don't worry, I'm on the next chapter like Trelawney on a Death Omen! Hahaha, that was funny.

Anywayyyy, tell me how you liked it! I love the support you guys show me even when I behave like a total female dog and not post for months! I gotta say it was the fact that I got SO MANY comments showing their support and love for the fic that got me off my arse to write again!

Love always,
Kay