the syntax of beginnings ► prologue
title: one man army
characters: draco/harry (harry potter)
word count: 1.902 words
warnings: this is only the prologue for a fic that will have chapters. if you like the premise, feel free to friend me for updates.
summary: a handshake that comes before anything else might be a valuable enough start for a friendship.
Time is a very important thing. May it be twisted just a little, and paths are rewritten. The perfect timing is, in fact, such valuable thing that the Time Twister and similar devices are of great power. Say, if one fact happens before a certain second that was once first, second fact might never exist.
In this situation, a handshake is offered before the contact with other people. No smuggle comment is made, just the offer standing in the form of an eleven years old hand in front of green eyes, to either refuse or accept.
--
time: n.
1. a device.
--
Harry is making his way to the train when he accidentally steps into a book that has just fallen. He curses himself mentally - it's his first time going to Hogwarts, how dare he not be perfect? Quite unconsciously so, he's been trying to be good. He can't screw it up.
This is his second shot at life, and it starts
now.
"I'm so sorry," Harry says, and kneels down to help pick the book. He keeps his eyes low, though it isn't because he's intimidated (he hasn't seen the person's face yet) but simply because he wants out of this situation as soon as possible.
But the little boy in front of him isn't as clumsy as Harry, to keep his eyes low. Draco Malfoy raises an eyebrow and prepares a snarky comment (why, he's let the book fall by accident and someone dares to step on it! How absurd), but the boy is keeping his head down to pick the book, which is now loosing the pages, on the process of losing them too, which Draco can only imagine how awkward must be for the boy in front of him.
He'd put on his best impression of Lucius Malfoy, but for the very reason of remembering his father, he bothers to look at the boy's forehead, and there it is.
--
scar: n.
1. a ticket to family approval.
--
"No problem," Draco says, and gestures so Harry will let go of the book and its loosing and losing pages. "I'll just ask Dad to give me another one," and he shrugs. Harry does not think of it very wise, probably books for wizards are expensive. But Harry doesn't share his thoughts, for maybe the books are indeed cheap. He hasn't come to terms with the fortune he has himself, and what it means. "I'm Draco Malfoy."
And the offer stands, a hand in his direction.
Without a second thought - though wondering why the massive lifted chin to say the last name - he takes Draco's hand and says: "I'm Harry. Nice to meet you."
--
friend: n.
1. he who welcomes you to their cabin, and talks most of the time about Quidditch, a sport you are clearly going to enjoy;
2. he who's flawed to the bone but you keep pretending you don't notice because you see closeted gentleness in the way he smiles;
3. he who nods politely when you say you guess you don't know a lot about your family, and adds: a) "you should come to our vacation house on winter break, Dad could introduce you to some people", b) "uncles and aunts can be weird. you should meet my aunt Bellatrix, she's scary even", c) "did you seriously live with mudbloods your whole life? your Mum was-? what?" (a.k.a. the genuine confusion of learning that Harry Potter's Mum was a mudblood and the term may be offending, because Dad never mentioned it, and why would it be insulting if mudbloods really are inferior-)
--
"Will you get into Slytherin?" Draco asks after they've had chocolate frogs and talked about the collectable figures in them.
They're in a cabin alone. There's this girl called Pansy Parkinson who Harry really didn't like just by the way she kept staring at him as if he was alien, and sometimes she'll open the door to say something random. Harry thinks Pansy is looking for Draco's approval, but Draco's in a rare moment of obliviousness to that.
Draco seems to know a little about each thing in the world, which is alone a big achievement, but Harry is endlessly amused by how Draco seems to think that he knows a lot about a lot of things.
There's another handful of students who sometimes will knock, but mostly Draco will ignore them. Harry doesn't see why Draco would do that, but Draco changes the subject so fast - usually to Quidditch, what Harry knows he'll love - that Harry always forgets to complain about the blonde's arrogance.
"Slytherin?" Harry repeats, and remembers vaguely about something Hagrid has told him before about the four houses of the school. Harry doesn't remember which one is Slytherin, but he does remember one thing: "I don't know which one will take me, but I hope I'll get into Gryffindor. My parents were from that house."
Draco stares at him, puzzled, taken aback by the mere thought of anyone not preferring Slytherin. He clears his throat, forcing a dry laugh. "I'll get into Slytherin. I'd be disowned if I didn't. And that I know."
Sympathetically, Harry smiles back, and it's a real smile.
Harry Potter knows nothing about house rivalries and how Slytherin and Gryffindor are usually quite the sworn enemies. He's yet to acknowledge the fact that the creature who attempted to murder him and succeeded in murdering his parents was once a regular human who frequented Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin.
So far, so good.
"I hope you'll get into Slytherin, then."
"Oh, I will."
--
advice: n.("let me give you a piece of advice, son…") 1. befriend Potter. ("for he's famous, and that can be useful. do as Dad tells you, and you won't regret it.")
--
"Draco! You should be smiling, why aren't you?" Harry asks, touching his new friend in the shoulder, as if to make sure he's still the same person from the train and the gates.
There's not a lot of time to talk in the Great Hall. All the new children are supposed to follow the prefects of their houses, now that they've all been sorted, but Harry's cut the way through some Ravenclaws to find Draco and congratulate him in his house. Draco isn't showing teeth.
Pansy is in Slytherin as well, to which she seems very proud. A boy Harry hasn't seen at the train, someone called Blaise Zabini, has also been sorted into Slytherin. He's talking lowly to Pansy and both are looking at Harry.
At each side of Draco, is one big kid that reminds Harry vaguely of his cousin. They're ugly and their faces carry a blank expression, as if they were security guards. Both Slytherin, predictably.
Draco gestures so both pitbulls will go away from his sight, as just like they're paid to do as Draco says so, they retrieve back to the wall, eyes daring to go somewhere else though Harry is sure that if any brusque movement happens, they'll jump in front of Draco and bite anyone who comes any near.
"I had hopes you'd be a Slytherin," Draco says between gritted teeth when no one else can hear them. "Zabini though," he points at the figure Harry saw with Pansy Parkinson, "has been sorted into Slytherin. I guess I should talk to him."
Draco sounds so annoyed it makes Harry want to punch him.
But Harry laughs.
--
weird: adj.
1. to act completely different from what one would expect;
2. the quality of he who causes silly problems when there should be none;
3. a surprising synonym to likeable (also adjective).
--
"What are you laughing at?" Draco asks, stepping back unconsciously as if Harry Potter could have an infectious disease.
"At you, of course."
Had it been Zabini, Goyle, Crabbe, or even Parkinson to declare that, Draco would get his wand right away and cast the most horrifying spell he could think of, though there aren't many useful ones he knows for fighting yet - Lucius kept at the basics.
However, the giggling green eyed boy in front of him looks so ridiculous in his round glasses and messy dark hair, that Draco doesn't feel offended in the slightest. He figures it's just another effort to befriend Harry Potter as his father suggested, but not so deep inside he knows that he's puzzled.
"I'm confused. Enlighten me on the comedy of it all," Draco says, perhaps a little too dramatically, which is used for the purpose of looking more respectable, like his father, but that causes the reverse in Harry, because he keeps smiling - and Slytherins are starting to look.
"It's just-you act as if we can't even talk just because we're in different houses."
"I understand that you haven't grown up among the magical-actually, no, I do not understand, but I can imagine how obnoxious that might've been." He makes a pause, checks on Harry's reaction. Harry only shrugs, because magical or not, the Dursleys have been obnoxious all the same. "I'll make it clearer to you: Slytherin and Gryffindor isn't supposed to get along. The house founders weren't big fans of each other, and they had deeply different political ideas, so as it is, I can't see why-"
"I'm not running from president of the wizarding world, Malfoy, so I don't really care about politics all that much."
"Well, Potter, do you think perhaps you'd be kind enough to stop interrupting me with your foolishness when I'm talking seriously?"
Draco can't wait until the end of the sentence to smile; he ruins it all and bursts a smile by the middle of the sentence, and Harry laughs again, shaking his head.
Draco has done as his father wished. He's befriended Harry Potter. Gryffindor or not, they're now friends. It doesn't matter how oddly Parkinson and Zabini stare and how awfully confused Crabbe and Goyle seem to be from back at their places, and it also means little that Harry has managed to get lost and not know where the Gryffindor prefect is, because for the first time in both their lives, they seem to have found a friend.
--
irony: n.
1. the beginning of a friendship, considering what is to come.
--
to be continued.
characters: draco/harry (harry potter)
word count: 1.902 words
warnings: this is only the prologue for a fic that will have chapters. if you like the premise, feel free to friend me for updates.
summary: a handshake that comes before anything else might be a valuable enough start for a friendship.
- prologue | chapter one |
Time is a very important thing. May it be twisted just a little, and paths are rewritten. The perfect timing is, in fact, such valuable thing that the Time Twister and similar devices are of great power. Say, if one fact happens before a certain second that was once first, second fact might never exist.
In this situation, a handshake is offered before the contact with other people. No smuggle comment is made, just the offer standing in the form of an eleven years old hand in front of green eyes, to either refuse or accept.
--
time: n.
1. a device.
--
Harry is making his way to the train when he accidentally steps into a book that has just fallen. He curses himself mentally - it's his first time going to Hogwarts, how dare he not be perfect? Quite unconsciously so, he's been trying to be good. He can't screw it up.
This is his second shot at life, and it starts
now.
"I'm so sorry," Harry says, and kneels down to help pick the book. He keeps his eyes low, though it isn't because he's intimidated (he hasn't seen the person's face yet) but simply because he wants out of this situation as soon as possible.
But the little boy in front of him isn't as clumsy as Harry, to keep his eyes low. Draco Malfoy raises an eyebrow and prepares a snarky comment (why, he's let the book fall by accident and someone dares to step on it! How absurd), but the boy is keeping his head down to pick the book, which is now loosing the pages, on the process of losing them too, which Draco can only imagine how awkward must be for the boy in front of him.
He'd put on his best impression of Lucius Malfoy, but for the very reason of remembering his father, he bothers to look at the boy's forehead, and there it is.
--
scar: n.
1. a ticket to family approval.
--
"No problem," Draco says, and gestures so Harry will let go of the book and its loosing and losing pages. "I'll just ask Dad to give me another one," and he shrugs. Harry does not think of it very wise, probably books for wizards are expensive. But Harry doesn't share his thoughts, for maybe the books are indeed cheap. He hasn't come to terms with the fortune he has himself, and what it means. "I'm Draco Malfoy."
And the offer stands, a hand in his direction.
Without a second thought - though wondering why the massive lifted chin to say the last name - he takes Draco's hand and says: "I'm Harry. Nice to meet you."
--
friend: n.
1. he who welcomes you to their cabin, and talks most of the time about Quidditch, a sport you are clearly going to enjoy;
2. he who's flawed to the bone but you keep pretending you don't notice because you see closeted gentleness in the way he smiles;
3. he who nods politely when you say you guess you don't know a lot about your family, and adds: a) "you should come to our vacation house on winter break, Dad could introduce you to some people", b) "uncles and aunts can be weird. you should meet my aunt Bellatrix, she's scary even", c) "did you seriously live with mudbloods your whole life? your Mum was-? what?" (a.k.a. the genuine confusion of learning that Harry Potter's Mum was a mudblood and the term may be offending, because Dad never mentioned it, and why would it be insulting if mudbloods really are inferior-)
--
"Will you get into Slytherin?" Draco asks after they've had chocolate frogs and talked about the collectable figures in them.
They're in a cabin alone. There's this girl called Pansy Parkinson who Harry really didn't like just by the way she kept staring at him as if he was alien, and sometimes she'll open the door to say something random. Harry thinks Pansy is looking for Draco's approval, but Draco's in a rare moment of obliviousness to that.
Draco seems to know a little about each thing in the world, which is alone a big achievement, but Harry is endlessly amused by how Draco seems to think that he knows a lot about a lot of things.
There's another handful of students who sometimes will knock, but mostly Draco will ignore them. Harry doesn't see why Draco would do that, but Draco changes the subject so fast - usually to Quidditch, what Harry knows he'll love - that Harry always forgets to complain about the blonde's arrogance.
"Slytherin?" Harry repeats, and remembers vaguely about something Hagrid has told him before about the four houses of the school. Harry doesn't remember which one is Slytherin, but he does remember one thing: "I don't know which one will take me, but I hope I'll get into Gryffindor. My parents were from that house."
Draco stares at him, puzzled, taken aback by the mere thought of anyone not preferring Slytherin. He clears his throat, forcing a dry laugh. "I'll get into Slytherin. I'd be disowned if I didn't. And that I know."
Sympathetically, Harry smiles back, and it's a real smile.
Harry Potter knows nothing about house rivalries and how Slytherin and Gryffindor are usually quite the sworn enemies. He's yet to acknowledge the fact that the creature who attempted to murder him and succeeded in murdering his parents was once a regular human who frequented Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin.
So far, so good.
"I hope you'll get into Slytherin, then."
"Oh, I will."
--
advice: n.("let me give you a piece of advice, son…") 1. befriend Potter. ("for he's famous, and that can be useful. do as Dad tells you, and you won't regret it.")
--
"Draco! You should be smiling, why aren't you?" Harry asks, touching his new friend in the shoulder, as if to make sure he's still the same person from the train and the gates.
There's not a lot of time to talk in the Great Hall. All the new children are supposed to follow the prefects of their houses, now that they've all been sorted, but Harry's cut the way through some Ravenclaws to find Draco and congratulate him in his house. Draco isn't showing teeth.
Pansy is in Slytherin as well, to which she seems very proud. A boy Harry hasn't seen at the train, someone called Blaise Zabini, has also been sorted into Slytherin. He's talking lowly to Pansy and both are looking at Harry.
At each side of Draco, is one big kid that reminds Harry vaguely of his cousin. They're ugly and their faces carry a blank expression, as if they were security guards. Both Slytherin, predictably.
Draco gestures so both pitbulls will go away from his sight, as just like they're paid to do as Draco says so, they retrieve back to the wall, eyes daring to go somewhere else though Harry is sure that if any brusque movement happens, they'll jump in front of Draco and bite anyone who comes any near.
"I had hopes you'd be a Slytherin," Draco says between gritted teeth when no one else can hear them. "Zabini though," he points at the figure Harry saw with Pansy Parkinson, "has been sorted into Slytherin. I guess I should talk to him."
Draco sounds so annoyed it makes Harry want to punch him.
But Harry laughs.
--
weird: adj.
1. to act completely different from what one would expect;
2. the quality of he who causes silly problems when there should be none;
3. a surprising synonym to likeable (also adjective).
--
"What are you laughing at?" Draco asks, stepping back unconsciously as if Harry Potter could have an infectious disease.
"At you, of course."
Had it been Zabini, Goyle, Crabbe, or even Parkinson to declare that, Draco would get his wand right away and cast the most horrifying spell he could think of, though there aren't many useful ones he knows for fighting yet - Lucius kept at the basics.
However, the giggling green eyed boy in front of him looks so ridiculous in his round glasses and messy dark hair, that Draco doesn't feel offended in the slightest. He figures it's just another effort to befriend Harry Potter as his father suggested, but not so deep inside he knows that he's puzzled.
"I'm confused. Enlighten me on the comedy of it all," Draco says, perhaps a little too dramatically, which is used for the purpose of looking more respectable, like his father, but that causes the reverse in Harry, because he keeps smiling - and Slytherins are starting to look.
"It's just-you act as if we can't even talk just because we're in different houses."
"I understand that you haven't grown up among the magical-actually, no, I do not understand, but I can imagine how obnoxious that might've been." He makes a pause, checks on Harry's reaction. Harry only shrugs, because magical or not, the Dursleys have been obnoxious all the same. "I'll make it clearer to you: Slytherin and Gryffindor isn't supposed to get along. The house founders weren't big fans of each other, and they had deeply different political ideas, so as it is, I can't see why-"
"I'm not running from president of the wizarding world, Malfoy, so I don't really care about politics all that much."
"Well, Potter, do you think perhaps you'd be kind enough to stop interrupting me with your foolishness when I'm talking seriously?"
Draco can't wait until the end of the sentence to smile; he ruins it all and bursts a smile by the middle of the sentence, and Harry laughs again, shaking his head.
Draco has done as his father wished. He's befriended Harry Potter. Gryffindor or not, they're now friends. It doesn't matter how oddly Parkinson and Zabini stare and how awfully confused Crabbe and Goyle seem to be from back at their places, and it also means little that Harry has managed to get lost and not know where the Gryffindor prefect is, because for the first time in both their lives, they seem to have found a friend.
--
irony: n.
1. the beginning of a friendship, considering what is to come.
--
to be continued.
- prologue | chapter one |