A Matter of Personal Opinion

Ginzai

Chapter Three:  Broomflight

           Flying like this was reckless, dangerous, and utterly unthinkable in Draco Malfoy's usual mindset.  They were zooming through the air, completely visible to any and all Muggle eyes.  It was stupid, it was feckless, and it was absolutely against the Slytherin practice of discretion. 

           But it was going to piss Lucius off, and given their parting, anything that irked Lucius was suddenly in vogue to Draco.

           Plus he got the pleasant sensation of irking Potter at the same time.  He'd been muttering about Draco's hair smacking him in the face for the past two and a half hours.  Draco had heard him sniggering a few times, presumably because of whatever the ribbon had enchanted itself to say, but had decided that he really didn't want to know.  His sanity had had enough shocks over the past twenty-four hours, really.  What ever it was couldn't be pleasant, given that each time he tried to blast the bloody thing off it grew back poncier than ever.

           Meanwhile, the air was clean, crisp, and while he had the sinking feeling that it wasn't the season it should be, it was almost ...pleasant... this broom ride.  This was slightly unnerving, really, as anything that involved close proximity to Harry J. Potter wasn't anything that his mind should label as a good thing, and he could only attribute that to the machinations of whoever was in charge of the universe at the moment.

           He hadn't been completely honest with Potter, which was nothing unusual, when he thought about it.  Draco did know more than he was telling, especially in regards to what was happening.  It was an L/D dimension, or had elements of one, which was a start, and while he didn't know who had started the blasted thing, it certainly gave him an edge.  Potter still thought that it was a mere manipulation of the world as they knew it, like so many of his misadventures were. 

           Well, he mused, Potter had known what H/D was, so he was likely to have some slight understanding of the subject.  This didn't speak for much, as far as Draco was concerned.  The entire world was likely to know the horror that was the H/D.  He'd even heard that there were current Hogwarts students who were fans of the idea, heard that there were members of the /faculty/ who were closet shippers, but he hadn't been able to discern their identity as of yet.  He'd planned on using Lucius' influence to have them fired or expelled, whichever was the needed method of expulsion, but Draco didn't think that would work anymore.  Regardless, Potter still thought it was a mild appoliptic event.

           Draco knew better.  This was old Magick, this rewriting of time and space to reflect the world as another wished.  That all whoever was in charge of it apparently wanted Draco to shag Potter said volumes about their mindset.  The meager clues that he and Potter had managed to put together about who the author might be seemed frankly inadequate, and Draco didn't have any reason at all to believe that Dumbledore would be able to help them with it. 

           He snorted at the very thought.  If the man hadn't picked up on two Dark Lord wannabes and a werewolf on his staff then Draco had no reason to think he'd be any help in finding who the culprit was this time, no matter what Potter thought.

           And Potter!  What had happened to /him/?  Draco didn't think that this was fair in the slightest.  /Why is it,/ he mused to himself, /that when I get pulled into a slash fic, I'm turned into a girl sans breasts, but when Potter gets pulled into a slash fic, he's turned into the wizard from the cover of Wands of Temptation?/ 

           This much was sadly true.  Draco didn't think that Potter had taken a look at himself, as he'd yet to exclaim over the suddenly rippling biceps, the newly clefted chin, or even the fact that his rather scrawny frame had sprouted a good five inches and gained twenty pounds of pure muscle.  Then again, Potter was remarkably stupid. It was entirely possible that he had seen but that the realization that the wizard in the mirror was himself hadn't yet hit.  Draco didn't really want to be around when it did; Potter was known to become violent when the world changed on him too suddenly. 

           All in all, it was disgusting.  Whoever had decided that he and Potter were to shag hadn't really taken into account the pragmatics of a relationship where one member was nearly a foot shorter than the other and weighed about half as much.  He'd /seen/ that look Potter had given him, before he'd gotten it through his thick skull that yes, the figure outside the window was Draco, and yes, he was still of the masculine persuasion.

           "How much further?"  The wind was blowing so loudly in Draco's ears that he almost didn't hear Potter's shout.  He blinked.

           "I haven't a clue!" Draco called back over his shoulder.  "I thought you were driving!"

           Harry looked horrified.  This quickly turned to amazed frustration. "Of course I'm not, you twat!  /I'm not up front, am I?/"

           Draco looked down at his hands.  Well, this was true, he supposed.  Hell would freeze before he'd admit it, of course, but the fact remained that it was true.

           He brought the broom to a halt.  It hovered in mid-air, several hundred feet over a field.  He could see mountains in the distance, but they didn't appear to be the ones near Hogwarts.

           He twisted about; his new form might be the most feminine looking thing he'd ever had the misfortune of laying eyes on, but he was currently remarkably flexible. 

           "And which one of us," Draco asked acidly, "Is the one to have flown to Hogwarts before?"  Antagonism was as good a way as any to save face, and one that he'd used more than once.  It was remarkably easy to deflect blame when one started an argument.

           Potter, as expected, turned puce.  This was an interesting contrast to his sparkling white teeth, which were currently bared in a grimace.  "I was riding in a car, following the train.  I haven't got a single clue of how to get there from here!"

           Draco crossed his arms and shot Harry a disgusted look.  "And how was I to know that?  The broom started to move, you weren't complaining, and it seemed that *someone* knew where we were going, and since it /wasn't me/ it had to be you."

           Harry narrowed his eyes at him.  "I thought you said your broom was enchanted."

           Draco looked puzzled.  "Come again?"

           "Your broom!"  Harry said, looking rather vexed.  "You said that the only place it would go to was my house, unless you were lying about that as well."

           Draco was indignant.  "I never lie!"  At Potter's unbelieving expression, he added, "At least not when I'd be around when the truth comes out.  I'm a Slytherin, Potter, we /plan/ for these things."

           The other boy snorted.  Draco found himself rather wanting to smack him. 

           "So," Harry eventually said, "Your broom just *happened* to fly you to my place, is that it?"

           "And here I thought this had already been established."

           "And you haven't been in control of it at all?"

           Draco shook his head.  The bright prune color was starting to fade from Harry's face, but it was doing so in a rather splotchy sort of way.  Had Draco been in the mood and had the pieces, he could have done a bang up job playing chess.

           Harry began to curse.  Loudly, and in rather remarkable ways that had Draco somewhat impressed.  He wouldn't have thought to do that with a beetle and boomslang skin.  The addition of the enchanted umbrella was a particularly nice touch.

           He was really on a roll when Draco interrupted.  "Potter, d'you have any idea of where we are?"

           Harry scowled at him.  That decided it the matter of whether he knew what he looked like.  No wizard looking like he'd just stepped off the cover of WQ would ever willingly pout like that.  He couldn't think of any grown wizard who would pout like that.  Not with all their clothes on, at any rate.

           "No, I don't know where we are," he snapped. 

           Draco bit his lower lip and, after a moment's consideration, directed the broom downwards.  The broom rocketed off, keeping on an even streak.  Harry yelped and wrapped his arms around Draco's waist, nearly pulling them both off. 

           "Where are you going?" This was bellowed directly into Draco's ear, which set it to ringing. 

           "I haven't a clue!" Much the same as it had the first go-round, the broom had launched itself and was moving forward without any conscious control on Draco's part.  This grew worrisome as the broom suddenly zoomed upwards nearly vertically.  Harry yelped in Draco's ear, his face pressed against Draco's neck. 

           "Push down, push down!"  Potter was trying to reach around Draco now, in an attempt to take command of the broom.  Draco, who was having none of this, jabbed his elbow backwards.  Harry's cry of pain was nearly lost to the wind screaming in his ears, but Draco did get the satisfaction of seeing him nearly fall off.  The words that Potter was shouting started to come clear,

           "-op, stop, stop, /stop,/ /stop,/ /STOP!/"

           The broom stopped.

           Draco sat straight upright, grasping the handle with both hands.  Harry was still holding on to him, but neither really seemed to care about it at the moment.  Wind still rustled their hair, but it wasn't the same as it seemed to be before.  Far below, Draco could see little white clouds, looking as distant and poofy as the banners his Housemates held up during the Slytherin Quidditch matches.

           "Well," Harry said awkwardly.  "Um, that's done it, hasn't it?"

           Draco nodded, slowly.  He managed to unclench his hands slightly, wincing as blood circulated back into them.  He could feel Harry relaxing slightly, removing his elbows from where they had been poking into Draco's waist as they reached around him. 

           His heart had just begun to return to a frantic pace from an OHMYGODIMABOUTTODIE one when the broom dropped out of the sky, taking both boys with it.

***

           Harry, let it be known, never had actually liked heights all that much.  He hated aeroplanes, when he'd been forced into one back when he was seven and the Dursley's couldn't leave him behind on their annual vacation.  He'd absolutely loathed the flying carpet ride that Arthur Weasley had secretly given all his children, and Hermione and Harry too, since they'd been there at the time.  He honestly wasn't all that comfortable with leaning too far out of the high Gryffindor tower windows, and when push came to shove, he'd far rather be on the ground then up in the air.

           This, perhaps, was why he liked Quidditch so much.  Brooms were /wonderful/ things, really, and they allowed him complete and utter control over his phobia.  Being high above everything was no problem when he was the one commanding the situation, astride a broom that answered only to his commands.  Despite his abysmal luck in brooms and curses, he'd kept his feelings towards flying for years, regardless of the unusual amount of times someone had taken it into their heads to scare him off a broom or hex him off, or anything of the sort.

           Being trapped on a free-flying, out of control broom several thousands of feet in the air with only Draco Malfoy for company was currently at the top of his Ten Most Hated Activities in the World list, narrowly edging out "singing karaoke with Voldemort and Snape in tutus," and that was mostly due to the bespelled ribbon smacking him in the face every few seconds on their way down.  Well, that and the sheer mind numbing terror.

           Harry didn't scream as they fell, and nor did Draco, though both had grabbed onto the other and Harry suspected later that their silence was less from bravery than from being unable to /breathe/ in enough air to be able to.  He honestly couldn't remember much of those moments afterwards, just that sickening lurch as the broom dropped under them, and the wide, terrified look in Draco's eyes, his own green gaze being reflected back in them, and deciding that maybe he could find enough air to scream after all, or perhaps die trying, (a thought which had seemed wildly ironic at the time) when they were stopped, buoyed upwards and slowly bouncing to a stop.

           For several long moments, Harry couldn't move.  He could feel earth beneath his fingers, could smell grass and even sneeze as it twitched its way into one nostril, but movement seemed quite beyond him.  This seemed to work out well enough, as two extremely skinny legs attached to two extremely bony feet made their way towards him.  They stopped not more than half a meter away from him, at a distance more than close enough for his comfort; those toenails, proudly painted hot pink with little yellow smilies on them, needed trimming.

           He blinked upwards.  A white bush topped with two twinkling blue eyes peered down at him.

           "Hallo boys!"  It was Dumbledore, of course, but why he'd ever thought that purple flowered Bermuda shorts were a good fashion choice was beyond Harry.

           "The fuck?"  Draco muttered from his other side. 

           "Er," said Harry.  He sat up, wincing.  Given that he'd expected to be dead now, bruised knees and a thwacked side weren't really the worst things in the world, but they still hurt.  Harry could hear Draco getting up as well, complete with muttered curse words and random expletives. 

           "Welcome to Hogwarts!"  Dumbledore said beaming.  He gestured behind him.  A rather small shack stood on the top of a pathetic looking hill.  As Harry watched, a shingle fell, bounced down the roof, and nearly smacked into a rather disgruntled looking cat.

           "Are you mad?"  Draco asked.  He looked rather put out himself.  "That's not Hogwarts!  That's a-"

           "Temporary entity, Mr. Malfoy."  Dumbledore nodded.  "It is Hogwarts, but much changed - just as you yourself seem to be.  Jyosenkyo potion?"

           This caused Draco to narrow his eyes and glare at the old wizard, but unfortunately the effect was rather lost.  It's impossible to look threatening when a kitten can outdo you in the scary department.  If anything, it merely made him look adorable, which was a thought that Harry strayed hastily away from and resolved never to think again.

           "It was *not* a Jyosenkyo potion!"

           He looks adorable when he pouts like that, Harry thought, and then hit himself upside the head.  "Ouch!"

           Draco looked at him oddly.  "Was it something I said?"

           "Er," Harry said, "Not in so many words, no." 

           He turned back to Dumbledore, who gestured for them both to stand. 

           "So long as you both are here, you might as well come along.  To the main hall!"  With that, he merrily began to bound up the hill.

           "Main hall," Draco repeated as they made their way up the stony slope.  "That doesn't look like it could house a loo, much less a main hall."

           "That's a matter of personal opinion, Mr. Malfoy!"  Dumbledore called cheerfully down to them. 

           "Personal opinion my ass," Draco muttered, but he began to trudge up the hill anyway. 

           Harry stared at him a moment, eyes locked on the heart of Draco's comment, before shuddering and moving to join them. 

End chapter three

Author's notes:         

So it's a short, pointless chapter.  It'd been nearly two months; something had to be put out and the next installment really needs its own spot of HTML glory.

So we didn't get to the heir of Hufflepuff or find out what the dilly yo with Bronte is.  Had to save something for later, ne?  Sex beds too.  I promise.  On something.  Perhaps a sippy cup.  We did get to Hogwarts, so that's something.  And there was no Ginny.  Two out of six ain't bad.  Okay, so it's 33% which is still a failing grade, but hey.  It could be worse.

In any event, chapter four brings (hopefully) all those things and more!  We go *inside* Hogwarts (gasp and shock) and STUFF HAPPENS.  Guess you'll have to stick around to find out what.  ^_^

Thank you to those who reviewed!!  (Especially to SailorWade because she did so twice.  *nods*  Thanks!!)