The Harry Potter Home for Wounded War Heroes (HP - Drarry)

Chapter 11: Spice - Ginger

Harry squeezed his hand, startling him out of his thoughts. "You OK?"

"What? Oh. Yeah. Sorry." He smiled an apology, and Harry nudged his shoulder companionably. "You might want to pay attention now – Luna's about to read us the rules."

"Wait – Luna's going to read them?"

Harry grinned. "Well, yeah. She picked the game – it's her turn to read the rules. Don't worry – she hardly ever embellishes them. Much."

Draco rolled his eyes. Merlin. A muggle game I've never heard of, and the rules are determined by... he stopped himself. 'Loony Lovegood' was what he'd called her back at Hogwarts, back when he'd been, he realized now, something of a bully. She hadn't deserved the name then, and she certainly didn't deserve it now, now that he was beginning to get to know her. Not that he was likely to ever know Luna, but...

Harry nudged him again, and Draco wrenched his wandering thoughts back to the Luna in front of him, and the rules she was reading.

Some minutes later, she folded the paper with grave ceremony and placed it back into the box. The others had pilfered the box as she'd spoken, setting out a colorful – if wildly inaccurate – map of the world and a profusion of tiny plastic pieces in a rainbow of colors. Draco, unsure whether he understood completely or didn't understand at all, reached out and plucked one of the green figures from the board. It was a soldier, riding a horse, waving a sword – highly impractical, really. What good was a sword when one's horse put everyone out of that sword's reach?

"Hey!" Blaise yelped. "That one's mine!"

"Sorry," Draco said absently, dropping the piece into Blaise's waiting hand. He turned to Harry for help, deciding that he fell solidly on the side of "didn't understand at all.'

Before he could say anything, Harry spoke. "There's not enough armies for us each to have our own – we'll have to play it in teams. You're with me, Draco." He grinned. "I've never played Risk before, but I've seen it played a time or two."

Draco sighed in relief. "Oh, good. Because I haven't got a clue."

Ron snorted, and Draco waved it away. He couldn't be bothered to pick a fight right now. He was curled up in an armchair with Harry – how had that happened, anyway? – and Harry was a warm and comforting presence against his side. He immediately determined to leave the majority of the game play to Harry, snuggling further into his side. As teams were formed and armies were placed, Draco allowed himself to slip into a comfortable half-doze, floating in a sea of companionship and warmth.

He was jolted back to full consciousness some time later, as friendly bickering gave way to squabbling. He frowned around the room at the tense expressions, blankly surveying the board with its multi-hued armies. Fierce battles had apparently been waged whilst he dozed, alliances had formed and crumbled, betrayals and back-stabbing ran rampant. Draco decided that he would have to play this again one day, this time paying closer attention to the ebb and flow of battle. For a muggle game, Risk was, it turned out, more exciting and deserving of its name than he had first assumed.

Andromeda's voice suddenly cut through the din. "I've just now managed to get Teddy to sleep, and I'm exhausted. Whoever wakes him – and I've no doubt one of you will, at your current volume – gets to sit up with him tonight. I'm for bed, myself. Coming, Cissy?"

Narcissa nodded at her sister, smiling apologetically and leaving the argument without a backward glance. Lucius pouted after her, and Draco snorted. He'd never realized how childish and pathetic his father could look, when he didn't get his way.

Harry caught his eye and grinned at him, snaking an arm around Draco's waist and squeezing him tighter against his side. "Come on," he whispered. "Let's head up. I don't fancy being conned into sitting up with Teddy tonight."

Draco nodded his emphatic agreement. Charming though the boy was, he was impossible to put back to sleep, once woken, and Draco certainly didn't fancy a night of pacing the floor.

"Oi! Harry! Where do you think you're going?" Ron shouted indignantly.

Harry raised a brow in unconscious imitation of Draco. "To bed. I don't fancy sitting up with Teddy all night – do you?"

Ron scowled. "But who's going to play your army?"

Hermione covered a yawn and reached over to pat him on the shoulder. "It's late, Ron. Harry's got the right of it. We can pick the game up again tomorrow."

Ron frowned down at the board, apparently trying to memorize the position of every piece. "Fine. But I'm putting a stasis spell over it. I don't trust those two not to sneak down in the middle of the night and move the pieces." He waved at Lucius and Snape. "We all know they'd cheat if given the chance."

Lucius looked affronted. "How dare you! I do not cheat."

Draco snorted at that, and Lucius turned his glare on his son's retreating form.

"Fine," he spat, turning back to sneer at Ron, "but I'm putting a stasis spell over yours. After all, how do we know you won't cheat? You're the one who brought it up.

As Ron spluttered, Lucius flicked his wand, raising a pale green glowing shield atop Ron's red one. He studied it for a few seconds, then nodded, apparently satisfied. "Now we can go to bed."