After the last day feast is over, I go with Ron and Draco. We're sneaking him into Gryffindor, and this is the last night we get to spend in the dorms until next year. Hopefully, next year, I'll spend more time in the dorms. I think I will. Maybe only weekends I'll sleep in our quarters, unless something bad happens or I have a nightmare. I think that sounds right, sounds good.
"So, remind me, where the hell am I sleeping?"
"Uh... Yeah, we'll figure that out later," Ron says. "Just be quiet and stay under the cloak. McGonagall will give us detention all of next year if she knows we're doing this," he mumbles, looking around for her. I chuckle. "Dean, Seamus, and Neville already said it'd be fine. They're all taking sleeping potions."
"After midnight."
"Right."
"So..."
"So... What?"
Draco shrugs. "And they're all fine with me, Draco Malfoy, one who has apologized but knows they don't believe me, staying in their dorm for the night?"
Ron nods. "Yeah, of course. Absolutely."
"Ron..."
"Okay, maybe they don't know it's you, but-"
"WHAT?! I'll be killed in my sleep!!!"
"Oh, Merlin, you were always such a drama queen."
"Emphasis on the 'queen'," Draco responds. "And if they don't kill me, they'll at least fill my trousers with itching powder and rat droppings!"
Ron laughs. "Yeah, maybe. Actually, probably. I don't think they've completely forgiven you."
"Well, of course not. I was a prick."
"And maybe still are. Just a little bit."
"You're just saying that because I'm more... gorgeous."
"Are you calling me ugly!?" Ron exclaims, and shoves Draco lightly. "Prick."
"Prat."
"Arse."
"Git."
"I'm still better than you."
"Are not."
"Are too."
"Are not."
"Are too."
"Guys, come on, knock it off." I whack both of them on their heads. Bloody gits. "You're acting like children."
"We are children."
"Fine, be morons then."
"Yes, sir!" Draco does a mock salute. Then, he trips over his own two feet and falls into a statue like a stupid. "Ow, ow ow ow ow ow...."
I help him to stand. "You're fine. There isn't any blood anywhere. Maybe a bruise later."
"Jerks."
We walk the rest of the way to Gryffindor tower. Those to continue to be idiots, and I join them. Ron bets that Draco can't climb up the wall, like rock climbing, and Draco decides to do it. So do I.
I climb up to the midpoint fastest, meaning I win. But Draco climbs all the way to the top.
"Oh, shit," he mumbles. "I didn't think about how to climb down..."
I jump to the ground and fall on my arse. Ron helps me up.
"Jump?" he suggests, grinning. "You'll be fine!"
"LIAR!"
In the end, Draco does jump, after climbing down a bit, and lands on his arse. "Told you you were a liar."
"Eh, not a liar, just wrong. Lying is done on purpose, you blond pimple. Now let's get going."
Finally, we get to the tower. There aren't many people in the common room, so not many people give us weird looks.
"NO! No, no, no, there is no way I am sharing a room with Malfoy of all people!" Seamus shouts when we get to our dorm.
"Sea-"
"No."
"Well, I guess it's a good thing we aren't talking to you people then," Ron says. "No offence, Dean, NEville. You two are still good."
"Gee, thanks."
"You're welcome! Now, if you'll excuse us, we have mischief to get to."
'Mischief' means putting a silencing charm around my bed, eating loads of candy, being way to bloody loud, and acting like idiots. Some of us are, so I guess that's right then. And it's brilliant.
So brilliant, in fact, we forget to think about where the hell Draco's sleeping.
And it's come down to the decision that it's in my bed. Apparently Ron smells, according to Draco.
"So, when you and Severus move..." he says quietly, looking at the ceiling. "We'll still hang out and do shit, right? Or are you going to forget I exist like everyone else until school starts."
"Of course we'll hang out. Merlin, we're friends, after all, why would I forget you?"
"Everyone except Blaise does."
"Well, I'm not everyone. I'm a someone whose been abandoned more times than I can count. I won't abandon you."
"Good. Enough sappy shit, I'm tired."
"...Love you, Dray."
"Love you, too."
"And I love the both of you, but could you please shut up and go to bed!?" Ron whisper-shouts from his bed. "Merlin, you two!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Severus, can I please-"
"Harry, you've slept in my room for two nights. You need to be comfortable sleeping in your own room," he says.
"I feel like someone's watching me."
"There isn't anybody watching you. I've put up plenty of wards, no one is getting in here. Promise."
"But I just really have a feeling-"
"Harry." He looks up from his papers he's still grading. "If you have a nightmare you may come and get me. But no. I am sorry, but no. Now, off to bed, it's almost midnight."
"You get to stay up..." I mutter as I go up the stairs.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
I really do think someone's watching me. I can feel it. I know he's wrong, I know something bad's going to happen. I can't explain it, I just know. Sort of how I knew Uncle was going to beat me and I needed to hide. Except now it isn't Uncle I'm hiding from, I don't know who it is.
I crawl into bed and wrap the covers up over my head. Two nights is only two times which isn't that much. It's a new house! It isn't like home at Hogwarts! Or the old house!
The duvet is pulled off a little while later. Off my head, I mean. Severus is crouching next to the bed.
"Hey."
"Hi."
"I hope you aren't angry with me. I really do just want you to be comfortable here. This is your home now." He takes my glasses off and sets them on the nightstand. I guess I forgot. "Okay? You're safe here, I swear. No uncles, no headmasters, no dark lords. Just you and me."
"Okay... But I can still go to you?"
"If you have a nightmare or need me, yes."
"I guess... okay, then?"
He kisses my forehead and tucks me in like I'm five and I like it. "Goodnight."
And just as he walks out, he's shot with a spell and falls to the floor.
"SEV!"
I'm kneeling next to him in a split second. There isn't any blood but he won't wake up! Why won't he wake up! WAKE UP!
"Wake up, wake up, Sev, please. Please wake up, please don't be dead. Don't be dead." I keep shaking his arm but he won't wake up.
"He isn't quite dead, Harry."
Dumbledore's here.
But he's supposed to be in Azkaban.
"Hello, my boy. I know, how rude of me to intrude like this, but... desperate times call for desperate measures."
"What did you do to him!?"
"I simply Stunned him. Should wake up in ten or so minutes. So I'll make this fast. You're going to tell the Ministry that everything you said about me was a lie. That the letters, are fake. That I am a good person, and you are a selfish, naive little boy with serious mental health issues."
"Or what?"
"Or else, next time, he won't ever, wake up."
He's going to kill the only dad I've ever known if I don't do it.
But he'll hurt me and him if I do.
He Apparates away, which should've set off the wards but doesn't. I go to the nearest fireplace, in my room, and Floo call Remus.
"Harry, it's nearly- what's wrong?"
"Dumbledore said he'd kill Severus!"
"I'll be there in just a few seconds, Harry."
And I'm back, sitting next to unconscious Severus.
Dumbledore can't kill him. He can't, he can't do that. Severus doesn't deserve it. I don't deserve it. He's doing it to hurt me and it isn't fair.
"Sev, wake up. Wake up." I know he said ten minutes, but I have to try. "Please wake up."
"Harry."
I flinch and turn around and Remus is standing in my bedroom doorway. "What... What happened?"
"Dumbledore Stunned him... and he... he said if I didn't do what he wanted that Severus wouldn't wake up next time! And he isn't waking up now!"
"Rennervate."
He's awake.
"The bloody hell- Harry, why the hell is he here!? The hell am I on the floor for-"
"You're alive."
"'O course I'm alive. Merlin, why wouldn't I be?"
"Because I was right! Dumbledore was here! He was here, he Stunned you, he... he's out."
That's when it really hits me.
He's out. Of Azkaban.
I will never be safe. Not really.
"I've sent a Patronus to an Order member at the Ministry," Remus says.
"The Order? What-"
"Never you mind what that is, Harry." He sits up and leans against the wall. "C'mere, you're shaking."
"You said I'd be safe!" I exclaim. I accept his hugs. "But I'm not. I never will be. Not if people are always going to want to hurt me."
"You are going to be safe because I am going to protect you until I die, okay? You do not have to be strong forever. You deserve to be as safe as the rest of us, and you will be."
I really doubt it, but I do feel safe with him and in his arms.