Swapped - Drarry

Chapter 8

The rest of the evening was uneventful. The mass of students dwindled out and eventually went back to their own company until only the residents of that room were left. Harry skipped dinner and went to bed early, far too early to be considered normal for any teen. But Harry couldn't sleep.

His mind raced with a slurry of foggy thoughts and messy emotions that never seemed to become clear in his mind. Harry's brain was rushing with garbled nonsense, moving both fast and slow at the same time, and sometimes not moving at all.

And that was how he stayed long into the night. Still and silent until a rough, slender hand brushed gently on Harry's shoulder and pulled him out of his haze. Harry turned around in bed, expecting to see maybe Blaise or that nightmarish snake of Draco's. Instead, he found himself just inches away from the man himself, staring right up at Draco's pale face. Draco's silver hair shone and flickered, his face shadowed by a lone candle on the other side of the room that Blaise insisted to be lit at all times.

“Can’t sleep?”

Harry felt Draco’s arm nudge at his own.

“I got something to show you,” Draco whispered quietly as he made his way to the door, and Harry followed hesitantly. His sheets rustled as he pulled a fluffy green blanket off his bed and wrapped it around himself, dragging along the floor after him.

Draco moved softly down the steep, cascading staircase, stepping in a weird pattern as if to avoid certain parts of the stairs that were weak, so as not to upset it or make it creak. Draco made a point to tread lightly, although he was wearing socks so it would’ve been pretty difficult to make a harsh noise anyway.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Draco wasted no time in shuffling over to the dead fireplace on the other side of the common room. Harry looked around as Draco squatted by the fire, poking it with a stick in a sad attempt to start up a dying spark. A soft humming came from somewhere foreign and filled the silence in Harry’s brain as he gazed around at the common room, craning his neck to catch the tiny details in the intricately carved sculptures and stone pillars that crowded the walls, and the root-like wooden carvings that intertwined throughout the entire room that, upon closer inspection, were actually snakes. Their thin eyes glistened in the low light of the ceiling chandelier, slowly following his every move.

Harry was so distracted by the decor of the room that he barely noticed the low hum that grew louder with every change of note. He barely noticed that the hum was coming from the blond boy who was leaning against a pillar on the far side of the common room, and he barely noticed when he joined in with the familiar tune. Harry spun slowly, his red and gold striped socks gliding across the stone brick floor. His gaze lowered and stopped at the giant arched windows opposite the dorm rooms. Harry stopped spinning and hesitantly walked to where Draco sat, leaning against a giant stone pillar with his back to Harry, gazing out at the murky green lake beyond the thick glass.

Harry sat down next to Draco, making sure to keep his distance. He still wasn't sure where they stood in terms of friendship (Harry felt uncomfortable even thinking that word), and he sure wasn't about to ask. His blanket encased him in warmth, and he didn’t dare let it fall. Harry could tell it was cold that night, his face tingled like ice and his cheeks were stained pink. They both gazed through the glass at the seemingly bottomless lake, but the tension between them was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Harry turned to Draco and opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped himself. Draco shivered slightly, hugging his knees to his chest and rubbing his pale hands together to conserve warmth. Harry almost felt sorry for the boy. There was a part of him that felt compelled to be nice to the boy he hated for so long, to reach out with a warm hand and share his blanket to conserve heat. Almost.

“What did you wanna show me?” Harry’s voice was quiet and restrained, not letting his words linger for too long. He didn’t want to give Draco the wrong impression, and he definitely didn’t want him to think he was trying to be friends.

Draco shifted his gaze out into the void that lay beyond the glass. Silently, he took his wand out of his front pocket and whispered “Lumos”. The end of the wand lit up in an instant and cast an eerie glow across the room that made their faces look pale, almost ghost-like. He silently held it up towards the glass, the light bouncing off the glass and refracting through, illuminating the water in a greenish glow.

Harry’s eyes widened in fascination, his brain swirling with intrigue and his eyes stared into the raving abyss in front of him. Tentacles swirled in an inky cloud above them, the product of a giant squid, roughly twice as tall as one of the telephone poles outside Harry’s old house, that swirled away into the depths of the lake. As the ink slowly cleared, a blurry shadow swept past the glass and quickly moved in the opposite direction of the squid. A school of fish.

Next were the mermaids. Their wails sent shivers down Harry's spine, drowned out in the depths of the lake. His eyes searched they green-ish mass, looking for the glint of scales or the swish of a spiny tail through the

"I've always been jealous of you."

Harry turned his head around swiftly, Draco's voice echoing around in his head. His thoughts whirled, confused and surprised at the simple sentence. Jealous? Who in the world was jealous of Harry Potter?

Draco must've seen Harry's brow furrow because he hurriedly followed up with,

"Not jealous of all the death eaters and angry dark lords trying to kill you, obviously. I… I was jealous of your fame. And your friends. And your opportunities, and the way everyone respects you," Draco's voice was quiet and hesitant, and he avoided eye contact. He ran a slender hand through his hair and stopped mid-way, leaning an elbow on his knee.

"Damn, that's quite a bold statement from the king of the Slytherins," Harry teased with a grin. Draco glared from under his hand, but he couldn't help but smile.

"No dude, I get it. I guess it is pretty cool, being famous enough to get freebies at Honeydukes, and all the younger years looking up to me… but sometimes I just feel overwhelmed, you know?" Harry fiddled with the hem of his shirt. Draco just nodded and resumed in humming his little tune.

"Anyway, I'm not gonna fall asleep for a while." Harry stood up quickly, grinning down at the pale boy below.

"You wanna go somewhere?"

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It's been a while since I last uploaded so this chapter was a little longer than usual (1200 words). Hope you enjoyed?