Chapter 12
Harry's POV
I hadn't spoken to Draco all day and we hadn't even had any lessons together, so we hadn't particularly crossed paths. I really wanted to see him; I wanted to ask if he was okay, given that he had allegedly been unwell yesterday. I had to assume that he had stayed in his common room all day seeing as I hadn't seen him at breakfast or lunch either. When he wasn't at dinner either, I knew something was definitely quite wrong. Although, I doubted that he would go a full day without eating, so I shoved half of the contents of my plate down my throat and ran off down the corridor towards the Kitchens.
I walked in, and I saw the Elves working harder than I had ever seen in the past. I had never paid them a visit during actual dining times, not wanting to disturb them. And as I entered a House-Elf only room, I realised Draco must do the same. So I slunk onto the floor next to the entrance and waited for him to show up.
After about a quarter of an hour, my stomach was beginning to feel a bit funny; I came to realise that I could've eaten my dinner with everyone else and then waited for Draco.
But soon enough, I saw a tall svelte form waltz over to where I was sitting. As soon as he caught a glimpse of me, his eyes widened and he panicked slightly, debating only for a second whether to turn on his heel or not, hastily choosing to former. However, I called out to him, hoping to catch his attention.
"Draco...!" I cried.
For barely a second, he stopped moving, indicating a fraction of a second of thinking. I decided to go along with it when he dramatically turned his right foot to face me.
"Yes?" he inquired, slower than necessary.
I thought about what to say for a few moments. I had called him over but I didn't know what I wanted to accuse him of. Deep down, I wanted to shout at him for leaving me at the Room of Requirement and making up some lame excuse all for nothing. We both knew it was Valentine's Day yesterday and he was just tying to get out of it with anything he could think of. Although, after a few moments I let my common sense dominate and realised that he wouldn't leave me without explanation, so he probably did have a serious problem. He raised his eyebrows inquisitively, waiting for me to keep talking.
"Are you okay?" I went with a simple clear question.
He shrugged weakly before dramatically sighing and shrinking down onto the floor next to me.
"I don't really want to talk about it," he refused to make eye contact with me and he mumbled so quietly I thought I would have to ask him to repeat himself.
"Okay, well is there anything I can do to help anyway? I hate seeing you like this."
"No, I'm afraid there isn't. It's neither your fault nor mine, and there's no way to fix it. And now I feel awful for ruining our Valentine's Day," he sighed again.
"Honestly Draco don't worry about that. It's just a day like any other and we can easily make another one special," I winked at him, a smirk on my lips, "if ever things go wrong in your life, I'll drop everything to be with you, I promise," I smiled.
At that, he finally turned his head to face me. He barely smiled but I knew it was genuine. He assured me that for his part nothing had changed between us but that he would like to have some time to himself. Draco didn't specify quite how long he would need, but I nodded slowly and agreed. Of course I would have liked to continue on as we had been doing, but I knew he needed this time, so I would give him all the space he needed.
We sat there in silence for about ten minutes, and then I accompanied Draco back to the Slytherin common rooms. I gave him a soft peck on the cheek and then returned to my own dorms.
I sighed heavily upon entering the crimson room, and Ron turned his head to face me. I could tell he was looking for an excuse to avoid doing his Potions essay so he asked me to explain what was wrong. I gave him a brief rundown of the events, without going into any details, as it was certainly not my business to discuss.
I was exhausted after all the worrying I had done all day so I carried myself up the stairs to my room and had a quick relaxing shower, brushed my teeth and flopped onto my bed. I was asleep in an instant, although I woke up far too many times in the night, tossing and turning, worrying about what had happened to Draco. He hadn't told me anything specific, but I could easily tell how upset he was, so obviously I imagined the worst.
Draco's POV
One week later
I woke up later than usual. When I looked around the room, I was alone; Theo had already left. I cast a Tempus charm and saw that it was already half past nine. I had missed breakfast and the first lesson of the day had started a while ago. I decided to get up in time for the next one, and remained lying there for another ten minutes. I had been tossing and turning all night long, never able to stay asleep for more than a couple of hours at a time. I didn't understand why I had slept normally at the beginning of the week and now on Friday morning I was wishing I could take a daylong nap; it just didn't make any sense.
Even so, I reluctantly pulled the sheets back and threw my legs over the side of the bed. That's when I noticed that Theodore had left me a shiny red apple on my nightstand. I blinked a few times, thinking it was fake, but no, he had in fact been thoughtful enough to leave me some food, knowing I would sleep in. he could obviously tell I needed this sleep. I didn't know what I had done to deserve such a caring friend, but I was grateful. I picked up the apple, and found it to be one of the crunchiest, juiciest fruits I had ever sunk my teeth into.
Finally, just minutes before my second class of the day would begin, I waltzed out of my dorm room, books under my arm, after glancing one last time in the mirror to make sure my hair wasn't prepared to move all day long.
I strolled into the History of Magic classroom among the other Slytherins and Ravenclaws and took a seat at the back of the room like always. I remained silent and took some quick notes that seemed useful, jotting down a few dates and names here and there, never fully immersing into what the professor was droning on about.
Before I knew it, noon rolled around and my stomach was grumbling appropriately. I went to leave my book bag in the common room and wandered round to the Great Hall, taking all the time in the world to get there. So far, the day was turning out to be an exceedingly bland day, classes and people blurring together into one big movement of time. Nothing stood out, nothing seemed important, and I had begun to nod off a number of times already, losing a total of ten points for my house.
When I finally walked in to the Dining Hall, the first thing I saw was Potter. Suddenly, everything and everyone else merged into one big dark mess. All the noises, no matter how loud they were, became muffled background sounds, unimportant to my ears. All I could see and hear was Harry laughing with his friends, seeming happy as ever, the sound of his happiness taking over my eardrums, his gleaming smile making my heart flutter. I felt my cheeks burn for the first time in what had felt like months and all of a sudden everything that was previously harassing my mind, melted away into nothing. This glowing dark-haired Gryffindor boy was capable of making me feel as though all was right with the world and nothing bad could ever happen to me again. After only a moment, he turned his head and caught sight of me, making his smile drop instantly. I felt guilty, and in turn my heart dropped when I saw the sorrow in his thickly lashed eyes. Gradually, the overwhelming noise of the other students came back into focus and destroyed the daydream that had taken over my senses. I attempted a small smile to try to reassure him, and luckily he took it in the right way and his face softened.
I finally moved and made my way to the end of the table where Theodore was lost in thought. I sat down opposite him, and he had barely noticed my presence. I did feel somewhat guilty about not sitting next to Harry, but I wasn't yet ready for that public display again. I was about to wave a hand in front of Theo's face but my curiosity got the better of me and I followed his gaze. He appeared to be staring over at the Ravenclaw table. This was unprecedented and very confusing. I finally snapped my fingers at him, his jolted reaction making my chuckle. It felt so good to genuinely laugh that I didn't care or even really notice his false scowl at my rude awakening. He smiled at me and picked up on my good humour, commenting on how it was nice to see.
"To be honest, I feel much better. It's odd given the night I've had, but something just clicked, and I'm ready to pull myself together, I can't just keep moping all the time. I have spent too much time feeling sorry for myself, and now all I want is to see Potter," I glanced over at the aforementioned boy and sighed softly, but happily.
Theodore only smiled and said he was happy for me, grazing on some green beans. When he glanced at the Ravenclaw table for the third time during lunch, I decided to take action.
"Someone caught your eye?" I asked, raising a playful eyebrow.
"Hmm? Oh, err... I just, there's a..." his cheeks turned bright red and he was unable to string together a sentence, which was a first for Theodore Nott. I chuckled once again and he sighed, somewhat embarrassed.
"If you must know, there's a rather interesting girl at that table," he muttered shyly.
"Ooh," I said in a mocking tone, "who's the unlucky lady?" I teased.
"No, you'll laugh, I know you."
I put a dramatic hand over my chest, feigning offense. "I would never!"
He gave me an exasperated look and shook his head, rolling his eyes. Theo rolled his eyes so often I was worried they would roll out of his skull one day.
"Whatever, her name's Luna, she's a Seventh Year I believe," he bowed his head, attempting to hide his flushed cheeks.
My jaw had dropped so far I was unable to close it. I had never expected Theodore to be interested in someone like Loony Lovegood. I quickly realised that I shouldn't make fun of this seeing as he had been so supportive of Harry and I. I supposed that she had that "quiet, loner yet fascinating" thing going for her, which is probably what attracted him in the first place. They had similar hair colours which I thought was funny in a nice way, and I had often seen her in the library so I assumed she enjoyed books as much as Theo.
"Well, I must admit I'm surprised. But she doesn't seem too bad so I reckon you should go for it," I smiled at him and patted his shoulder in a brotherly way.
Theodore really had been like a brother to me, especially over this past school year. He had been there for me at every turn and every corner, whenever I needed him. He was a very caring and supportive person in general, and I admired how calm he always was. Theo was also so genuine, I sometimes wondered how he got sorted into Slytherin, but I soon realised that you did not want to get on Theodore Nott's bad side.
The flush of his cheeks quickly went down and he returned to his food, only asking me if I thought he had a chance with her. I told him to go for it and take a risk, because they would both be leaving Hogwarts at the end of the year anyway. He smiled at me and then we walked to our respective classes. Theo went to Divination and I to Ancient Runes.
Granger's usual class partner was ill, so Professor (Thingy) made me sit next to her for our in-class assignment. We were made to decipher an exceptionally old potion recipe. Granger and I worked out that it dated back to about the 14th century, and I was positively gobsmacked when we worked out what the recipe was for. Of course, the Gryffindor never questioned what this was; she merely put her hand up to show that we had been first to finish the exercise. I was fixated on the markings, which read Easey Recype for Blue Moone: How to Brew it, How to Use it, and underneath was the same recipe as in my own book and a step-by-step of how to use it safely and properly.
I blinked multiple times, trying to convince myself that it was some sort of joke or trick of the mind. I resolved that it was a mere magical coincidence and let it be. However, at the end of the lesson, I went to ask the teacher where she had procured this text. I was curious to see if there was more information on my potion and whether there was more to it than what I already knew. She allowed me to keep the copy to study further, as she was pleasantly surprised by my sudden interest in extra work.
At the end of the school day I went straight to the library with my new piece of information. I sat down at my usual table and remained there, examining the manuscript for hours until my stomach couldn't take it anymore.
So I packed up my things and strolled round to the Kitchens. After casting a Tempus charm, I found out it was nearly ten o'clock at night and began to think it would be quite rude to disturb the Elves at this hour. But sure enough, they were preparing breakfast for the next morning. So I walked in and without troubling them, set myself the task of preparing a simple bowl of cheesy pasta. I ate in silence as quickly as I possibly could and hurried back out to the Dungeons. In my haste, I bumped into something, or rather someone. I looked up and of course, stood in front of me, was the person I had been yearning to see.
Looking into his eyes was wonderfully comforting; it felt like coming home. My eyes scanned his entire face, moving up and down his body, admiring him for the first time in a while. I took in all his sharp features, the carved out jawline, the thin yet soft lips, a slight stubble beginning to take shape. And those glasses hiding absolutely breath-taking green eyes surrounded by thick dark eyelashes. Before I could realise I was staring, Harry had sighed and was about to smile and walk past me, when I placed a hand, as gently as I could, on his chest.
I looked up at him and, overtaken by a sudden surge of emotion, grabbed his robes between my fists, planting my lips onto his ever so slightly open ones. We kissed, our lips moving in sync, and after only a few seconds, pulled apart. I felt something intense build up inside my chest; my heart was pounding so fast I was afraid it would push itself out from ribcage. I had never felt this strongly towards anyone, and I felt more comfortable than I ever had before when our lips met. It felt so right, I never wanted to let him go, I wanted to remain by his side as long as I possibly could. He smiled softly at me, tenderness clear in his eyes. I lingered, perhaps for a moment too long, because both of our heads jerked up at the sound of footsteps coming round the corner.
We both hurried to find somewhere to hide, a small room, even an indent in the wall would be immensely helpful at this moment. As we scrambled, bumping into each other, whomever it was that was fast approaching, had already seen us.
"What are you two doing out this late?" asked a very familiar voice, curiosity and judgment clear in its tone. Ginny.
"I could ask you the same question, Weasley," I snapped. Harry shot me a glare, not wanting to cause a scene.
Her mouth opened then closed at that. She couldn't be telling us off for being out of bed, seeing as she was doing the same.
"Well what are the two of you doing together, I thought you couldn't stand each other," her eyes full of disdain, clearly trying to spark a response out of us.
"Don't really think it's any of your business," I snarled, "we're not particularly interested in your activities, so don't ask about ours," I said very matter-of-factly, bordering on haughty.
Finally, Harry's hand slapped against my arm, trying to stop me being so rude to one of his friends. The Weaslette eyed the movement, rather nosily, and gave a strange look. She didn't comment, thank Merlin, I wasn't in the mood to argue with a child.
"What are you doing out, Gin?" Harry's voice piped up beside me. His voice was so gentle, no accusation in his tone whatsoever. He only sounded concerned for the girl.
"I'm just off to meet a friend, but please don't tell Hermione. She's seen me leave a couple of times already and I'm really not up for another lecture," she rolled her eyes playfully.
The two Gryffindors said their quick goodbyes and she ran off to wherever she was headed, but not without giving me a hard stare sending a slight shiver down my spine.
Nobody, safe for my father, had ever managed to produce such an effect on me; so I was very surprised to find out that a mere Weasley girl would be the one to do so. To be fair, her glare was cold as ice and hard as steel, able to convey such an intense feeling I had rarely seen before. I had never known just how feisty she could be.
Anyway, Harry and I gave each other a look of relief that it hadn't been a professor, but I could distinguish a worried look in his eyes. The way he was furrowing his eyebrows gave him away. I asked him what the matter was, and he brushed it off as nothing, but I knew him better than that. I didn't press him, but I planned to find out what was concerning him so much.
I accompanied Harry back to the Gryffindor common room, and we stopped in front of the door to say goodnight. I leaned in for a peck on the lips but he placed a gentle hand on my chest.
"Wait," he hushed, "I want to talk before we just jump back into this."
"Harry, I'm sorry but I really don't want to talk about what-"
"I know that; you don't need to tell me what happened, but I think we should discuss at least a little bit what's going on between us, we haven't spoken for a week," he interrupted.
I sighed, "You're right, I'm sorry I was so absent for so long."
"I understand Draco, don't worry about it. But I just want you to know that I promise I will always be here for you if ever you need anything. You don't have to tell me what the problem is, but my ears are open, as is my heart, which brings me to my next point. I'm pretty sure you know by now that I have very strong feelings for you, and I'm not asking us to go public, because we would both receive just as much backlash as the other. But, honestly I am quite tired of hearing so much whispering constantly surround me, so I think it would be a smart move for us to spend less time together."
My heart felt like it was going to burst. My eyes widened and my pulse quickened; my knees felt weak and my palms became clammy. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"I certainly want to keep seeing you, and my feelings have in no way changed, but I believe that if we are more careful when meeting, and to act more casual around each other," he took my shaking hands in his steady ones, "Ginny walked in on us earlier, and really, that was lucky, who knows what would've happened if it had been another student, or worse, a professor."
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I couldn't even think of anything to say back to that. I barely nodded my head, my eyes never meeting his. I decided I should just go back to my room and sleep on it. Maybe I would be able to think more clearly in the morning. To be fair, my emotions had been sort of all over the place all day long. So I gave Harry a long hug and he kissed me on the cheek. His arms felt so comfortable, it felt like coming home. I took a deep breath and was on my way towards the other side of the castle.