Redo

Chapter 16

----- 

"Are you sure you've been sleeping okay?" Hermione had already asked Harry this three times just that evening. 

He looked not quite unwell, but the cause of her concern was obvious. He was paler than usual, with dark rings under his eyes. He didn't have a fever, all of the remaining three had checked at least once, but you would be easily convinced that he did. 

"I'm sleeping better than at home." Harry's eyes weren't meeting hers, he hadn't met any of theirs when they asked. 

If it had been the first time through, they would probably have accepted his answer, assuming he had a cold or something, but they weren't naïve 11 year olds any more. They knew to some extent what life was like for Harry at the Dursleys, and sleeping better than he did there didn't mean he was sleeping well. It would be impossible to sleep well in a household that would murder you and cover it up successfully without a hint of remorse. 

"Do you want some of the sleeping potion again?" Draco offered, looking at the time. 

Nobody questioned Draco's presence in Gryffindor any more. Pansy would only ask why she wasn't allowed there too. 

Harry didn't say anything, looking at his knees. He didn't want to look too eager to take the potion, but even though he was improving in his sleep, he would still get nightmares regularly, and his time frozen from Snape's actions only made the dread of sleeping in the Dorm, alone in his bed worse. The potion took away the fear that prevented him from falling asleep, and it helped that whenever he did take the potion it was in the common room, with his friends around him. 

"Here." Draco handed Harry one of the vials. He always had some with him, for Harry or Lexsaidh. 

"Thank you." Harry's face gained back some of its colour in his embarrassment. 

As usual, largely due to his lack of good sleep, Harry was out like a light. The potion itself had no addictive components, and during the testing in the previous timeline it had been found to not be addictive, but Draco was still worried. Harry wasn't sleeping well without it, it wasn't impossible for him to get addicted to sleeping well. 

"Ron, how do you think he sleeps?" Draco furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Harry sleeping in Hermione's arms. 

"I think he gets like, an hour or so every night, but it also looks like he's been looking into silencing charms again." Ron sighed, leaning on Hermione's shoulder, his eyes also on Harry. 

"What about when Crookshanks is up there too?" Hermione was gently petting Harry's hair, the cat in question leaping up into Harry's lap. 

"I think he sleeps better? Honestly I don't know, like I said, he's clearly trying to learn silencing spells, but I'm pretty sure it took him a while to find one that worked, and remained for a long time, last time too. I don't think having others around is bad for him though." Ron shook his head. "Dad is going to drop by tonight. Dumbledore did something." 

"What kind of 'something'?" Hermione looked at Ron through the corner of her eye, suspicious. 

"It's Dumbledore. What kind of 'something' do you think?" Ron rolled his eyes. 

In the past timeline it was unthinkable for Draco to picture Ron and Hermione, two of the Golden Trio, Dumbledore's favourites, talking about the old man with such contempt. This time though, if Hermione started spouting the same type of Dumbledore loving and trusting words that she did last time, it would either mean she was being controlled, or was someone else. 

"We should probably hear it too, to protect Harry." Draco was separated from the others, Harry having been sitting between himself and Hermione, the boy now on top of Hermione. 

"Yeah, probably. We should also talk to Harry about it. He hates being kept in the dark." Ron stretched, his shoulders clicking loudly, making Draco flinch. "What?" 

"That sounded painful." 

Ron burst out laughing at Draco's half concern. 

"Nah, I just have a noisy body." Ron grinned a little mischievously, clicking his fingers one by one as Draco showed visible discomfort. 

"Ron." Hermione chastised, sounding like a teacher, though her eyes were rather too warm for it to have the usual effect. 

"Thank you." Draco bowed his head to her as Ron stopped. 

"Wonny-kins." Fred popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, beside Ron. 

"Dad said he needed to talk to you." George's appearance almost made Draco fall off the sofa in surprise. 

"In..." Both twins looked at their empty wrists as though checking a watch. "10 minutes." 

"Want us to drop a stink bomb?" Fred leaned in close to Ron, who pushed his face away, rolling his eyes. 

"It will clear the room." George finished. 

"No thanks, I don't wanna stay in a stinky room. We can set up charms if we need privacy. Besides," Ron turned to look at the room, which was mostly 5th years playing drinking games. "They'll probably leave if we just tell them dad's coming." 

"Hey!" Hermione raised her voice, catching the attention of the room. "Someone from the ministry will be here soon! If they see you they'll have to deal with this. Move somewhere else!" 

With her words the students scrambled, grabbing the bottles, paper, goblets, and various food items that may or may not have potions in. They were out of the door within 5 minutes. 

"Wow." Fred was no longer acting silly, staring at the door in genuine shock. 

"We need you to clear the room for our experiments." George was also standing in neutral in surprise. 

"If you're lucky I might." Hermione smiled sinisterly sweetly at them, going back to playing with Harry's hair. 

The twins left in silence, looking back at Hermione, clearly impressed. Ron adjusted himself to be more comfortable, which just so happened to be closer to Hermione. 

"Ron!" Arthur fell out of the fire, looking distressed. "You need to stop being around the others for a while."