The Bet
Interlude II - The True Meaning
Harry/Draco, Harry/OMC, Harry/OFC, Draco/OFC, Seamus/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, Neville/Luna
R/NC-17 | 14,987 words | 2004-present
Beta: IcyAurora, Michelle, and Omi
Summary:AU. Post-war. It all started with a little bet. Draco Malfoy has never been one to back down from a perfectly do-able bet. But when that bet involves Harry Potter? Draco is realising that this bet is not as cut and dry as it seems, nor as easy...
Notes: Written before HBP and DH.
***
After sleeping on his troubling
thoughts about Mikhail and Draco, Harry woke up feeling disconcerted and not
at all sure what to do about it. His skin was prickling and he felt an
uncomfortable weight around his neck.
Reaching up, his fingers brushed
the sharp edges of the obsidian that made up the chain, following it down
until they touched the cool jade; etched with a carving he still did not
understand.
Going through his morning routine,
he resolved to find the meaning behind the symbol. It was not something that
he would have normally cared about, but something was compelling him to find
the answer; perhaps the same thing that made the amulet glow around certain
people and not others.
He knew he wasn’t going to find it
in the school library – he had looked for weeks now, and still hadn’t found
what he was looking for. So, he’d go into London, back to that bookstore,
and see if he couldn’t find something there. Or, directions to the nearest
public library.
He stepped outside, yelling “I’ll
be back!” over his shoulder, squinting at the bright but overcast sky.
Walking to the centre of the courtyard, he Apparated, arriving in the
Apparition point for Diagon Alley.
Getting a few odd looks for his
complete lack of anything wizard on his person, and perhaps a few more for
the recognition of the scar on his forehead, Harry walked down the twisty
cobblestone street, admiring the broom in the front window of Quality
Quidditch Supplies from afar, and delighting in the smells coming from
Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour. He ducked through The Leaky Cauldron
and out onto Charing Cross Road, taking a left and walking the few blocks to
the little bookstore he and Raven had gone to several weeks prior.
Once inside, he browsed the
sections for what he was looking for. He stopped in the “Historical”
section, finding a few titles on ancient Chinese history, but nothing on
symbolism. Going over to the “Art” section, he found a few books that were a
little closer, but nothing that contained the symbol he was looking for. He
looked briefly in the “Language” section, but there were so many books on
learning Chinese and how to read it, that he was rather confused, still not
finding something that triggered what he was looking for. There were several
books on learning to read and write Chinese that had a few pieces of the
Chinese alphabet that looked somewhat similar to his symbol, but not close
enough…
Deciding he needed to eat
something, supposing it was a lack of food that was throwing off his
concentration, Harry left the little shop, thinking he should find a
library. Walking down the street, he saw a young woman dressed in not much
more than a tee-shirt and a vest, with bright pink hair. He almost thought
it was Tonks for a moment, before he spotted the tattoo on her upper arm.
“Excuse me! Excuse me, miss?”
Harry called as he approached her and her friends.
She turned to him, and Harry
noticed that she had a lip piercing and bright green eyes. “Yeah?” she
asked, looking him up and down.
Glancing down to make sure there was nothing wrong with his denim
jacket, jeans, and trainers, he said as he looked back up, “Oh, um…I
couldn’t help but notice your tattoo…”
“What about it?”
“Um, well, what does that symbol
mean?”
“Symbol?”
“Er…yeah. Er, see, I’ve got this
necklace someone gave me, and I’ve been trying to find out what it means.”
He pulled out the amulet from under his shirt and showed her. “The person
who gave it to me doesn’t know.”
“Oh,” the girl said, glancing back
at her friends, who looked just as puzzled by this stranger as she did.
“Well, it means ‘love’.”
“Love?” Harry said, feeling his
throat tighten.
“Yeah. It’s the Kanji for ‘love’
in Japanese.”
“Japanese? It’s not Chinese?”
“Well, it’s the same in Chinese,
now isn’t it?” She smiled. “Japan and China share some of the same written
characters.”
“Oh. I…didn’t know that,” Harry
said, looking down at his amulet.
“Yeah. But that one means the same
in both languages.”
“Oh. I see. Well, thank you so
much.”
She nodded. “Glad I could help.”
She started to walk away.
“Wait, what’s your name?”
She turned back and raised an
eyebrow. “Gardenia.”
“Well, thank you, Gardenia.
Really.”
She cocked her head at him. “No
problem, stranger.”
“Harry.”
“Well, no problem Harry. Have a
good day.”
“You too.”
After watching Gardenia and her
friends walk away, Harry dashed back over to the bookshop, sliding to a stop
in front of the “language” section again. He grabbed the first
Chinese-English dictionary he found, and flipped to the “love” entry.
Gardenia was right. It was the
same symbol…or character, or whatever it was called.
Ai.
Love.
Harry set that dictionary down and
looked in a Japanese-English one, finding the same information.
Ai.
Love.
Wow.
Luna had been right. All he had to
do was look in a dictionary.
Leaving the bookstore, Harry
walked back to Diagon Alley, his hands deep in his pockets and his gaze on
the pavement in front of his feet.
So what did it mean…?
That the character in the amulet meant “love”, and it glowed around certain
people and not others…. Did it mean that he loved them but not the other
people…?
As soon as he arrived back at the
dorm, he ran upstairs, grabbing a piece of parchment and scribbling a list
of names on it.
Seamus
Ginny
Ron
Hermione
Draco
Raven
Mikhail
Kevin
Owen
Dennis
Luna
Neville
Okay…so now he just needed to find
out who the amulet glowed around, and who it didn’t. He already knew a few,
so he marked their names.
Draco – N
Raven - Y
Harry decided that he was going to
go to everyone on his list to see if it glowed. Maybe it was
gender-specific like Draco said, or maybe it had something to do with this
“love” thing.
Walking down stairs, he ran into
Ron, who was coming up to look for him.
“Hey Harry, I was just coming to
get you. Would you like some lunch?”
“Not right now, Ron. Actually, I
was wondering if you could help me with something.”
“Sure, mate.”
Feeling really nervous, Harry
reached up and unclasped the necklace, holding it in shaking hands. “Could
you…” he cleared his throat, “Could you put your hand near this so I can see
what happens?”
Ron looked perplexed. “Er…why? Is
it supposed to do something?”
“I dunno. I…I’m experimenting.”
“Is it going to do something bad?
To me?”
“No. No, I don’t think so. But
just put your hand near it. Don’t touch it.”
“Okay…” Ron reached out, and as he
got nearer, the amulet started to glow, growing brighter the closer Ron’s
hand got. He snatched it back, and the glow subsided. “Was it supposed to do
that?”
Harry shrugged. “It’s done it
around Raven, as far as I know. But not around Draco. So it’s not
gender-specific, then.”
“Do you think there’s something
weird with what Ginny gave you?”
Harry shook his head. “I’m not
sure,” he said, quickly re-clasping it. “I’m going through a list of people…
I found out what the symbol, I mean, Kanji, means, though.”
“What does it mean?” Ron asked as
they moved into the dining area, where most of everyone was seated, munching
on sandwiches and crisps.
“Love, not luck, like Ginny
thought.”
“Oh. So what do you think about
that, then?”
“What does he think about what?”
Hermione asked, looking up from her newspaper.
“The necklace Ginny gave him. It
glows around random people, and the symbol or whatever on it means ‘love’,
apparently,” Ron said, already picking up his own monstrous sandwich and
biting into it.
“What, Harry?” Hermione
said, looking stunned.
“Is there something wrong with the
necklace I gave you, Harry?” Ginny asked, looking worried.
Harry shrugged, reaching around
the table to put his own sandwich together, deciding he was hungry after
all. “About a month ago, Draco and Raven wanted to look at it, but I didn’t
want to take it off, so they had to get close to look at it. When Raven did,
she said she saw it glow and flash at her, but nothing happened when Draco
got near it. I just tried it near Ron, and it glowed again, so I know it’s
not just a gender thing, like Draco had suggested.”
“Harry…why didn’t you tell me
about his sooner?” Hermione sighed, putting a hand on her forehead.
“I didn’t really care, until now.
I just sorta woke up this morning, knowing that I had to find out what the
symbol meant.”
“And what does it mean again?”
“Love.”
Hermione frowned. “Do you think it
maybe glows around people you love?”
“Well, I dunno. It glowed around
Ron, didn’t it? And I love him. You know, as a friend,” he said, with a look
at Ron.
Ron nodded and smiled, his cheeks
stuffed with food like a hamster. “Right back at’cha, mate.”
“But I don’t love Raven, I don’t
think. I mean, I care about her a lot, as a friend. But I don’t know if I
love her, love her. But I made a list. A list of people to try it on,”
he said, finished making his sandwich and taking a bite.
“Who’s on the list, Harry?” asked
Seamus.
“Everybody here, and Owen,
Mikhail, Draco, Raven, Luna and Neville.”
“So you want to try it on all of
us?” Seamus asked, and Harry nodded. “Well, might as well get it over with,
then,” the Irishman said, standing from his place and walking over to Harry.
Harry jerked back when Seamus got too close. “So what do you want me to do
then?” Seamus asked, frowning.
Harry set down his food and stood.
“Er…just put your hand near it, but don’t touch it,” he said quickly,
feeling nervous and defensive again. Merlin,
maybe Draco was right. It was odd to be so possessive…
“Tell me if the amulet glows or flashes or anything.”
Everyone around the table stopped
eating, watching with baited breath as Seamus’ hand came up, and watched as
the amulet did absolutely nothing. When Seamus dropped his hand, they all
seemed to sag in relief, as if they thought it was going to put a curse on
the tow-headed young man or something.
“Here, let me try,” Ginny said,
standing.
“Nothing, Seamus?” Harry asked.
Seamus shook his head. “Nope.
Nothin’, mate. I guess you don’t love me, then,” he pouted, grinning at
Harry’s roll of eyes.
“I’m not sure that’s why it’s not
doing anything, Seamus,” Harry explained. “Besides, I do love you. All of
you. As friends.”
Ginny stepped up as Seamus sat
down, but when her hand got close, nothing happened. She frowned a little,
but sat down with a shake of her head.
Dennis and Kevin leaped up next,
almost tripping over each other to get to Harry, both hoping to garner a
reaction. Again, nothing. Looking sullen, they both told Harry ‘no’, and sat
down again.
Hermione was the last one at the
table, and she stood slowly, frowning the whole time. “I don’t like this,
Harry,” she said.
“I knew you wouldn’t,” he
answered.
She reached up her hand, and a
noise of some kind stuck in her throat when the amulet started glowing, and
she pulled her hand back to her chest, holding it to her with her other
hand.
“It glowed, didn’t it?” Harry
asked, picking it up so he could see it.
Hermione nodded. “Harry, I think
you should take it off.”
Harry dropped the amulet. “I don’t
want to.”
“But Harry, it could be
dangerous…it could be controlling you!”
“Hermione, I feel perfectly
normal. I just don’t want to take it off. I haven’t noticed anything
different about the way I feel, or the way I think.”
“But if you don’t want to take it
off… Harry, it could be compelling you to keep it on, and you wouldn’t even
know it!”
“Look, Hermione, I’ve already had
this conversation with Draco. Just leave it alone, okay? Besides, I took it
off when Ron was trying it. I just want to know why it glows around some
people and not others, alright? Could you help me with that?”
Hermione’s mouth became a thin
line. “Yes. Yes, fine. I can do that. But Harry…if I think that that thing
is causing a serious threat to your health – mental or physical, I
will Stupefy you and take it off, do you understand?”
Harry glared. “Fine. But I can’t
be responsible if you actually touching it does something to you, okay?”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“Alright.” Harry sat back down and
pulled out his list, adding the appropriate marks next to each name.
Seamus - N
Ginny - N
Ron - Y
Hermione - Y
Draco - N
Raven - Y
Mikhail
Kevin - N
Owen
Dennis - N
Luna
Neville
“Harry, I’m so sorry,” Ginny said,
looking sullen.
“Sorry about what, Gin? Don’t
worry about it, I’m fine.”
“But I got it for you…”
“Ginny, seriously, don’t feel bad
about it. How would you have known?”
Ginny still seemed upset, but
dropped it, going back to her lunch, and picked at her crisps.
Hermione leaned over Harry’s
shoulder, looking down at his list. “I think you should make a comparison
list once you’ve had everyone try it, Harry. To see what the people who it
does glow around have in common.”
Harry nodded. “Alright. I guess
I’ll figure this all out later. Owen’s not home and neither are Neville and
Luna. Where are they, by the way?”
“Oh, they went to Neville’s
grandmother’s for the day,” Hermione said as she sat back down.
Harry raised an eyebrow. “Took him
long enough,” he muttered.
“What do you mean, Harry?”
“Oh, I’m just assuming they’re
over there to tell Neville’s grandmother that he asked Luna to marry him,”
he said nonchalantly, eating his food, waiting for the reaction.
“What?” Hermione said, dropping
her sandwich.
“Really?” Ginny squealed.
Harry grinned, nodding. “Yep. Luna
told me about a month ago. She said they hadn’t told anyone because Neville
wanted to tell his grandmum. Took him long enough, in my opinion.”
Ron frowned. “I don’t know…you
know Neville’s grandmum…I don’t know if I’d want to tell her I was getting
married, either.” Everyone laughed.
***
By the end of the day, Harry’s
list was almost finished, but he was no closer to understanding what the
reactions meant.
Seamus - N
Ginny - N
Ron - Y
Hermione - Y
Draco - N
Raven - Y
Mikhail
Kevin - N
Owen - N
Dennis - N
Luna - N
Neville - N
The only person left was Mikhail,
who he’d see tomorrow, so he’d ask him then. He wondered if he should make
his list bigger…include people he knew, and liked, and people he didn’t
really care about either way. So he jotted down a few more names.
Celestine
Zabini
Nott
Danny
Stuart
Jesse
Meghan
Luna and Neville had broken the
news, and everyone pretended to act surprised for their sake, then proceeded
to ask them questions about how it went with Neville’s grandmother.
“Well, it went pretty well, I
think,” Neville said, darting his eyes around.
“Aw, you can be honest with us,
Nev,” Seamus said. “She ripped you a new one, didn’t she?”
Neville shook his head.
“No…nothing like that. She mainly snapped at me because I wouldn’t spit it
out.” There were chuckles at that. “She was stunned when I finally told her,
then looked at Luna for a while, and asked us about all the arrangements. I
told her we hadn’t gotten that far yet, and that’s when things started to go
downhill. She started making plans right there!”
“Tough luck getting her to back
off, mate,” Ron had said. “It’s near impossible to stop your mum from
wanting to control your entire life, even when you’re twenty-three. Or, your
grandmum, in your case.”
“Don’t I know it,” Neville said.
“Don’t worry,” said Luna. “I’ll
take care of your grandmother, Neville. I’ve actually already started making
plans.”
“Really?” Neville sighed, looking
relieved. “See? This is why I’m marrying you.”
“No, you’re marrying me because I
know more about exotic plants and wood faeries from the Camdanien area of
Gloucester than you.”
Everyone shot each other confused
looks, including Neville. Then he smiled and kissed her on her cheek. “Yes.
That’s exactly why.”
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