doing it again (drarry)

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[art credit: @/upthehillart on instagram (go and check out their work!!) ]
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The Boy Who Lived. The Chosen One. The Boy Who Lived Twice. Harry Potter, who was now currently snogging Ginny Weasley, had many names, but he preferred 'just Harry'. The war was over and he didn't want to look back on it. They had mourned their dead, which happened to be one of the most difficult parts of dealing with the aftermath of the Great Battle of Hogwarts, the Death Eaters were imprisoned, Voldemort was gone for good, and Harry Potter just wanted to focus on the future, his future, with Ginny.

She had been the one constant in his life, the one thing he could look forward to, one of the things he could fight for. He could be the hero that could get the girl and defeat the villain, and he did that. Ginny was his happy ending and it felt nice to have something secure and stable to rely on and look forward to, especially after so many months on the run, and so many years of fearing for his life and the lives of his friends, his family.

Finally he could just be Harry, and he could have a life with his girlfriend, and maybe, somewhere along the line, start a family of his own. A real family. One that he had always dreamed of being a part of. But of course, before all that, he had returned to the place where his life had essentially began, Hogwarts, to repeat his last year.

Truth be told Harry Potter was not required to repeat his last year as anyone wanting to hire him would most definitely be indifferent about his qualifications, or lack of them. He did save the Wizarding world after all. But Hermione, ever an advocate for education, and all of his other close friends had decided it would be best to go back, together, one last time, and to celebrate the freedom they had all fought for, and he had half-heartedly agreed.

Not everyone had returned to Hogwarts though, which, despite being a place most could celebrate and be welcomed home to, it was also a place of death, destruction and painful memories of those they had lost. Only a handful in Harry's year that had survived the battle had returned to complete their exams, unsurprisingly most consisted of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, as well as a few Ravenclaws.

Only three Slytherins had been willing enough to come back that year, those three students being Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini and the infamous Draco Malfoy. Though they were rarely seen without each other, or even about the castle that matter, they kept together and when they were not attending classes or meal times, or gatherings, they were in their rooms in the small wing that had been constructed during the rebuilding of Hogwarts. This small wing held a common room and two separate hallways of dormitories. One for the girls and one for boys.

The "eighth-years", as everyone had dubbed the students that returned, chose their own roommates to dorm with, each room holding 4 students. Most students had chosen to stick with those in their own houses or their close friends. Pansy Parkinson, being the only female Slytherin had chosen to have her own room, and was lucky that there were enough rooms to allow it. Draco and Blaise shared a room, as they had always at their time in Hogwarts.

Similarly to their Slytherin peers, those in Gryffindor stuck with their friends. Harry, Ron and Neville shared a dorm, leaving one bed empty which they all usually dumped their books on. Dean and Seamus shared a room, the couple, having pushed two of the beds together, took advantage of the privacy and newfound solitude that the smaller rooms gave them. Hermione however, shared with Luna and the twins Parvati and Padme. All the other eighth years had similar ideas and more or less dormed with their friends.

The familiarity of the dorms made everyone feel more at home and comfortable than they had before the war began.

Draco Malfoy, however, could not feel more out of place back at Hogwarts. His authoritative  reputation had been slandered and burned after the war. No one wanted anything to do with him, the younger years were afraid of him, even the Slytherins. His father was now in Azkaban, along with Pansy's father, and his mother on house arrest, an easy sentence for aiding the great Harry Potter, who had fortunately given testimonies that spoke of Draco and his mother being held against their will by the Dark Lord, and how they did what they could to help The Chosen One without putting themselves in danger.