draco’s been keeping
a secret his whole life, from his parents, from his friends, from everyone.
people thought poorly enough about the malfoy family already, he wasn’t going
to make it any worse. he’ll just have to deal with this alone.
except in second year, the dueling club happens, and he’s
completely thrown by what happens there. he can’t stop thinking about it.
the next day he corners potter when he’s away from his
friends, concentrates for a moment, and asks “you too?”
in parseltongue.
draco thought he was the only one, but clearly he was wrong.
draco is so fucking elated that the golden boy is a
parseltongue, because if harry potter is a parseltongue, then that means it
can’t be bad, can’t be evil, not if harry has it too. he swears harry to
secrecy, and harry agrees because they haven’t been truly awful to each other
yet, they’re enemies, but just when harry thought there was something else to
mark him as different, as other, here is someone else who’s like him. even if
it’s draco malfoy, he’ll take what he can get.
and he and draco sneak out to the forbidden forest together,
and draco has known about this for years, has been practicing for years.
“practicing?” harry asks, confused, “what’s there to practice? it’s just
speaking snake.”
draco rolls his eyes, because what a muggle raised
simpleton. “of course it’s not just speaking snake. when you told that snake
not to bite justin, do you think it listened out of a sense of courtesy?
because it was trying to be polite? of course not. you compelled it too. that’s
what being a parselmouth really means. being able to control snakes, not just
speak to them.”
harry’s horrified, and this is why it’s considered a dark
skill, because it takes away free will. not just in snakes, a truly gifted
parseltongue can do it to humans too, can weave compulsion into their voices,
more subtle and powerful than imperio.
how many of voldemort’s followers believed in him, and how
many had been compelled into following him? it’s impossible to say. it’s how so
many people got away without punishment – they claimed to have been compelled
by voldemort, and there was no way to prove otherwise.
“do you compel people?” harry asks warily.
“i’m thirteen,” he snaps, “i can barely get magical snakes
to listen to me, never mind real people. one step at a time.”
“so you would compel people, if you could?” he presses.
draco shrugs, unrepentant. “wouldn’t you? it’s a nice
security blanket, knowing if someone ever tries to hurt you or the people you
care about that you’ll be able to stop them. it’s … nice.”
harry can’t argue with that. what wouldn’t he do, to keep
his friends safe?
so he practices with draco, and the snakes of the forest
seem to know him, delight in his presence. it’s not all compulsion, because
draco switches easily between the two, just talking to the snakes one moment
and then ordering them around in the next. there’s a difference between the
two, and it’s small, but he can hear it.
“i don’t know if i want to learn how to compel anything,” he
admits, “it seems wrong.”
“relax.” draco says, rolling his eyes. “we’re both a long
way off being able to compel actual people, if we ever can. we know voldemort
can, but there’s debate about whether salazar slytherin himself could even
manage it.”
“it seems wrong to take free will away from the snakes too,
even if we never get to people,” he says stubbornly, ready to dig his heels in
if he needs to.
instead draco turns to him, surprised, then smiles. “come
on. you can ask their permission first if it will make you feel better, but i
personally find lower level snakes a bore to listen to.”
draco turns and walks deeper into the forest, an ever
growing parade of snakes slithering after him even though harry hadn’t heard
him tell them to do anything special.
I don’t ship Drarry but with that being said, I will accept no other Drarry prompt than them stubbornly competing to outdo the other for the sheer drama.
It starts off when they’re still enemies in the Goblet of Fire. Draco makes a taunt about who Harry’s going to ask to the Yule Ball and how they must be from the worst of the worst lot and Harry rolls his eyes and says, “Well, fitting you say that, Malfoy, because I was going to ask you.” A perfect zing, Harry. 10/10.
But now the ball’s in Draco’s court and obviously he’s not going to pass up on the chance to humiliate the scarhead so he takes the most logical route of humiliation and calls out his bluff: “Fine, Potter, I reckon we’re going.”
But do you think Harry James Potter is just going to back down? That stubborn teenager is going to stare Draco down and say, “Reckon we are.”
Ron’s confused and Hermione’s confused and literally the entire castle is confused but Harry’s satisfied because he called out a bluffer’s counterbluff with a bluff of his own. And they just keep it up.
“I suppose you don’t even know how to dance, Potter?”
The furious teenager who spent years having to watch soapbox dramas with Mrs. Figg just glares at him in his stupid dress robes. “I know some things.”
“Prove it.”
“Fine.”
It’s like that for days until Draco makes the ultimate power move by inviting Harry to the Malfoy’s Annual New Years Eve Ball, taking out a Daily Prophet ad no less, because oh, oh, he’s got Potter now. He’ll never accept and he’ll be humiliated in front of the entire wizarding world. And do you think Harry’s just going to go down without a fight? God, no, he’s going to win whatever the hell this is because he’s Harry Potter, Draco better be worried, oh boy.
They’re still going at it six months later.
“Err—Malfoy?” Crabbe says. “Potter just sent you a dozen roses?”
“That son of a bitch! Send a box of chocolates. That’ll show him.”
“Um, Draco—?”
“I WILL NOT BE OUTDONE, PARKINSON!”
i couldn’t resist 😛
@queerpeasantchic I no long accept any other kind of drarry headcanon
Pulling pranks is for children, it’s undignified, it’s lowbrow and for commoners.
But Draco has a lot of fantastic ideas, and it’s a shame to let them go to waste.
He’s only about two months into his first year when he grabs Fred and George’s elbows and yanks them into a broom closet. “We are all way too young for this,” George says immediately.
“What?” Draco says, “I have a great idea for a prank, if you’re interested.”
They’re interested. It’s the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.
Years later, the twins don’t need Harry’s tournament winnings for their joke shop. They have a silent investor.
It’s kinda strange that this is my first Drarry art ever seeing that i’ve been shipping them since middle school (I mean first ever art I post online…I drew them alot in my own time back them)
wupacing 