Potion fumes clung in the air like fog, a fog that was tinted blue and smelled like liquorice. Students coughed as they ducked out from under the tables and benches they had dived under at the first warning shout before the cauldron exploded.
"Harry! Harry are you okay?" Hermione called, stumbling to her feet and heading towards the centre of the room.
"Draco! That nincompoop better not have killed you!" Pansy said, using her wand to blow the fog away.
A head of dark hair groaned-
"Harry?"
-and sat up, skin pale-
Pansy asked, "Draco is that-"
The lone figure pushed himself up, black hair but not as unruly as usual, a lock of blond in the center of his forehead, pale delicate skin with expressive green eyes. He still had the lightning bolt scar and a mix of Draco and Harry's bone structure.
Slughorn was the first to break the silence, "Well. This is unusual."
"I would have to agree," Harry-Draco said looking down at himself, his voice sounded quite like Harry's but infuriatingly posh. He was grinning.
"Anyone involved with their potion stay," Slughorn said, "The rest of you can leave early. Go see Madam Pomfrey if you have any unusualness pop up."
The rest of the class filled out, already a mess of hushed whispers.
"So are you Harry? Or are you Malfoy? ....Or both? Are you sharing?" Hermione asked.
Harry-Draco looked up from examining his hands, "I am Harry. And I'm Draco. Yes," and he grinned again.
"What?" Hermione frowned.
"Are you alright?" Pansy asked with concern, "Of course you aren't. You've been merged with a useless moron."
"Useless? No. I was distracted by... by myself," Harry-Draco said, "I was thinking about how- huh..." he blinked rapidly in thought.
"You feel alright though?" Ron asked.
Harry-Draco nodded.
"And not like you're going to throw up?" Ron said, looking rather green himself.
Harry-Draco raised an eyebrow, "No? I feel... good..." he grinned, "no great...amazing really. I'm clever and smart, brilliant on a broomstick, look fantastic, I feel like I can do anything."
There was a laugh behind them where Blaise had lingered by the door, "The two of them together make one functional human being."
"Hey!" Ron protested.
"Don't kid yourself, Weasley," Blaise said, "Both of them are utter disasters. Maybe we ought to leave them like that."
"No! Absolutely not!" Hermione said automatically.
"What if they're happier?" Pansy said quietly.
The room went quiet, Hermione looking at Ron with a frown who shrugged back.
"Does that mean we have to share custody?" Blaise joked.
All three turned a glare on Blaise.
Harry-Draco laughed, "Share custody? Why in the world would you do that? We're all friends." he got excited again, "I have so many friends. Bloody brilliant."
"There shouldn't be any problems," Slughorn said, pulling all their attention to the Professor, reading a massive potions book laid out on the desk in front of himself, "The original potion is meant to wear off in twenty-four hours, I don't see why this particular effect won't as well."
"They've been combined into a single person!" Hermione shouted.
Slughorn looked up from his book, "Well yes. I do plan to test whatever traces of potion remain from their cauldron to be safe, but the potion we were brewing was one of the safer ones when it comes to misbrewing. It will be fine, and if it isn't, we can deal with the issue as it arises. I'll tell the Headmistress, you can go about your day."
Hermione grabbed her bag and Harry's, "Come on."
Ron followed after her, Harry-Draco following a few steps behind and Pansy and Blaise falling even further to the back.
"We're going to see Pomfrey," Hermione said as soon as they were far enough away.
Pansy rolled her eyes, "To what? Waste our time?"
"I think we need a professional opinion," Hermione said, "In fact, we should go to McGonagall ourselves, maybe go to St Mungo's."
"Nah."
Hermione spun around.
Harry-Draco put Draco's bag on his shoulder, "I want to go to lunch and- oh! I want to go flying! If I eat fast enough I could go out, do a few laps around the pitch!"
"You're not flying!" Hermione said.
Harry-Draco took Harry's bag from her and shrunk it down small enough to put in his other bag, "It's going to be brilliant," he said with a grin, hurrying down the hallway.
"Harry! Malfoy!" Hermione shouted as she ran after them, Ron and Pansy right on her heel. Blaise followed leisurely behind, looking quite amused.
.
.
"I hate this," Hermione groaned, her arms squeezing tightly around her waist.
Both her and Ron craned their heads back to watch their friend, half their friend, fly between the goal hoops as fast as his broom would go.
"What if the potion wears off while he's up there?" Hermione fretted.
"Slughorn said-"
"But he could be wrong! It's an incomplete interaction from an accidental potion explosion! It could fail at any moment."
"It could, I suppose," Ron said.
"And then they might fall-"
"So we'll catch them," Ron said, looking down at Hermione and holding up his wand.
Hermione's brow furrowed but she drew her wand as well, "....I hate this so much."
Ron put his arm around Hermione's shoulder, "Pretty amazing though. He's got Harry's skill and Malfoy's precision. He's the best flier I've ever seen."
"You would say that," Hermione said.
Ron shrugged and cast a fresh warming charm over the two of them.
Hermione sighed and leaned against his side.
Ten minutes later Harry-Draco landed, cheeks red from the cold, hopping off his broom with an exuberant laugh and running over to them. "I told you it would be brilliant!"
"I'm just glad its over with," Hermione said.
"I am definitely coming back after dinner," Harry-Draco nudged Ron, "You'll come too, yeah? Maybe we can pull together a quick game between both my houses."
"I mean that'd be great but Gryffindor and Slytherin?" Ron said shaking his head, "I mean I've got no problem but they probably won't-"
"Fantastic, I'll sort out the Slytherins you're in charge of Gryffindor!" Harry-Draco said, running over to the broomshed to put his broom away.
Ron opened and closed his mouth. "That... wasn't what I was- whatever, sure."
"Ron! Were you listening to me at all?!" Hermione said.
Ron shrugged, "Unless you're gonna tie him up I don't think you can stop him. I mean Harry was hard enough to stop just on his own and Malfoy's just as stubborn."
Hermione tugged on her hair unhappily.
"Look on the bright side, there will be even more people to keep an eye on him, y'know, in case he becomes them again," Ron said.
"Hey, we're going to be late for class if we don't get moving," Harry-Draco called to them, already starting up the hill.
"O-Oh!" Hermione jumped and started walking back towards the castle as fast as she could without actually running.
"We've got a free period right now, mate," Ron said, his long legs letting him keep up with his shorter girlfriend without any apparent effort.
Harry-Draco shook his head, "No. I have arithmancy."
"Half of you does," Ron said, "Could always skip out."
Harry-Draco frowned at him, "Half of me? I'm one person, not a dissection."
"But you were-" Ron tried.
"Besides. I want to go," Harry-Draco interrupted.
"Why?" Ron asked.
Harry-Draco was quiet for a second, looking slightly confused, "Because.... Because I can do it and... I couldn't before..." he blinked thoughtfully, "Something like that anyway."
Ron shrugged, "Alright you have fun then I guess."
Harry-Draco clapped Ron's shoulder and joined Hermione going up the stairs to their next class.
Once they were out of sight, Ron let out a huge yawn, muttering to himself, "Personally, I'm gonna take a nap."
.
.
They managed to get enough people together to play without beaters and bludgers. No one wanted to play seeker against Harry-Draco, so they played until he caught the snitch and the team with the most points won. It was a close game, Slytherin won by a single goal.
"Holy shite, Parkinson! Why didn't you ever play quidditch for Slytherin? I don't think I've ever seen flying like that before." Ron asked as they all landed and tossed their brooms in the shed.
Pansy cast a cleaning spell over herself, "It's a called a jackal feint and to your question, I have terrible aim and can't throw very far and I just don't think I'd look very good with the sort of muscles you need for a strong arm. I have a very slight frame. Some girls though..." She turned and looked at Ginny appreciatively, "it suits them very well indeed."
Ginny smiled hesitantly, a pink flush rising to her cheeks.
Ron's expression froze, a silent horror in his eyes. Hermione grabbed his arm, "It'll be fine. Let's go to dinner."
Ron let Hermione pull him up to the castle with the rest of the group, mumbling numbly, "I just- I mean she can like whoever but-"
"It will be fine," Hermione said soothingly, "Ginny can take care of herself."
"Very bold, Pansy," Blaise said not very under his breath.
Pansy flipped her hair, "It was just the truth."
Blaise smirked faintly.
They split their separate ways to either end of the great hall and their respective tables.
"Harry-"
"Draco-"
The two groups stopped, turned back and glared at one another.
"Harry's going to sit with us," Ron said.
Blaise raised an eyebrow, "Draco sat with you already, at lunch. If you remember."
"He should sit where he wants to sit," Hermione said.
"Precisely," Blaise said.
Hermione went on doggedly, "Which is, of course, with-"
"Us," Pansy said icily.
Ginny rolled her eyes, "Why don't we just sit together?" She glanced at Pansy from the corner of her eye, "I wouldn't mind it."
Pansy said, "I'd like that-"
"Absolutely NOT," Ron said so loud the entire room went quiet and stared at him.
There was a thump from the head table as McGonagall put down her cup and narrowed her eyes in warning.
"Sorry, Headmistress," Ron muttered.
"Where is Harry?" Hermione asked as the other students quietly began talking again.
They all turned. Where Harry-Draco had been before there was an empty space. They all began looking around, first at their own tables which were quite Harry-Draco-less and then to the rest of the tables, where Harry-Draco was heading towards Luna at the back end of Ravenclaw table.
Ginny punched Ron in the arm and hurried after Harry-Draco, Pansy following a few steps behind.
Ron rubbed his arm, sinking into his hunched shoulders.
"You deserved that," Hermione said.
"I know," Ron said as they followed the rest of the group, sitting in the empty section at the end of the table with Luna.
"So you were two people, but now you're one person with two sets of memories?" Luna said wide-eyed, "Is it terribly confusing?"
"Sometimes," Harry-Draco said with a shrug, "My mind wants to pick one, it's hard to consider something as happening twice to two people but also to just the one I am now. It's not too bad though."
"I imagine it's so very interesting," Luna mused as she built a moat of mashed potato for a gravy lake, "Because the two of you were always fighting and arguing, and now you know exactly what the other was thinking and feeling."
Harry-Draco nodded, "I understand myself now. I feel... better."
"That's wonderful," Luna said with a smile.
Ron sat across from Ginny who was sitting next to Pansy and resolutely ignoring him.
"Tell me more about the jackal feint," Ginny said, "I feel like I read about it somewhere but I can't remember."
"My uncle played for the Ballycastle Bats when he was young, he was famous for the feint," Pansy said.
"He must have been good," Ginny said.
"Good enough. The feint is hard to learn but easy to intercept once you know how to spot it. No one uses it anymore," Pansy said. She chewed on her bottom lip, "He was also famous for cheating. He only played for the team for two years."
Ginny propped her chin on her hand, leaning closer to Pansy, "He taught you how to do it though? The feint? Did you-?"
"Want to play quidditch?" Pansy shook her head, "Not really. He taught my sister and me how to fly when we were little. It was... more or less the only way he could talk with us, barely said a word said otherwise, but he could talk about flying forever."
Ginny smiled faintly, "Would you teach me?"
Pansy absently smoothed her hair, "I could certainly try, I don't know how good of a teacher I'll be."
"It'll be fun to try either way," Ginny said.
Pansy bit her lip and nodded.
"What's wrong, Harry and Draco?" Luna asked.
Harry-Draco frowned at the spread of food, "I have two different favourites and twice as many foods I hate..."
"Or maybe you don't hate them anymore since half of you doesn't hate them," Luna said. She sat up and clapped her hands, "Oh! You should try everything and see! It might be like trying everything for the very first time ever. What a wonderful possibility. You have to!"
Harry-Draco put a small bite of everything onto his plate and then tasted each thing.
Pansy laughed when Harry-Draco made a disgusted face, "Still hate bell pepper then?"
"Ugh, yes," Harry-Draco said, picking up his cup to wash the taste from his mouth.
Blaise rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward with a shit-eating grin, "So where are you going to sleep?" he asked Harry-Draco.
Harry-Draco's brow furrowed.
Ron started, "Well-"
"No." Hermione held up hands, "We've been here before. It's up to them," she nodded to Harry-Draco.
Harry-Draco looked from Ron and Hermione to Blaise and Pansy, all his friends waiting for his answer. He rolled his eyes and turned to Luna, "Can I stay with you tonight?"
"Okay," Luna said.
"What?" Hermione said.
Blaise sighed and sat back, "No fun."
Pansy snorted and elbowed him in the ribs.
"You're going to stay in the Ravenclaw girls dorm?" Ron asked.
"I can sleep on the couch," Harry-Draco said.
"Oh no, you don't have to sleep there," Luna said cheerfully, "I can enlarge my bed."
.
.
"How'd the sleepover go?" Hermione asked as Harry-Draco joined them the next morning.
"Wonderful!" Luna said squeezing between Ron and Hermione and linking arms with both of them, "Harry and Draco are very cuddly. Once they were finished working of course."
Harry-Draco yawned, "I ended up staying up too late finishing my charms essay."
"But we finished that days ago in the library. I remember, I was there and everything," Ron said.
"I had some new ideas on it," Harry-Draco said. "Lots of ideas. I ended up writing an extra two feet. Hopefully, Flitwick doesn't mind."
"Um..." Hermione hesitated, "I think the Professor probably expects two papers, one from each of you."
Harry-Draco shook his head in frustration, "What? What would be the point? And my paper is better now. It's better than the two separate papers ever were."
"The point is, that's not how papers are done," Hermione said.
"I don't know what you expect me to do about it," Harry-Draco said with a shrug and went into the classroom.
"Turn in two papers!" Hermione called, hurrying after them.
"Too late! I already destroyed the separate ones!" Harry-Draco said.
"Good one, mate," Ron said as he sat next to Harry-Draco.
Hermione threw herself down next to Ron and proceeded to fume for the rest of the lesson. She was the first to rush up to Flitwick's desk when class was let out and stood nearby with a stubborn lift to her chin as Harry-Draco put their essay on the pile and made to leave.
Flitwick stopped them, "Wait, Mr- gentlemen, I've heard of your accident but surely you had separate essays before yesterday. Mr Malfoy certainly had his assignment done well in advance."
"I thought of a better way to go about it," Harry-Draco said, "and I added on a lot. It's-"
"You are two people who receive two different grades, before and after this potion wears off, so I expect two separate papers," Flitwick said. He tapped their rolled up parchment, "Not this."
Hermione grinned smugly.
Harry-Draco took out his wand, doubling his assignment with a charm, "There. Everyone's happy," he said, turning on his heel and leaving, ignoring for Flitwick and Hermione's complaints behind him.
He hadn't made it more than three steps out into the hall when Slughorn waved him down, "There you are, lads! I thought I ought to see you to the hospital wing for when the potion wears off."
"Why?" Harry-Draco asked suspiciously, "I thought you said it was safe."
"Safe, yes!" Slughorn said jovially, "but there might be some... complications."
"Complications," Harry-Draco said flatly.
Slughorn nodded, "Yes, well it won't cause harm, which is precisely what I meant by safe."
Harry-Draco let himself be guided to the hospital wing and sat on one of the beds as Slughorn spoke with Pomfrey. He was still sitting there when the potion wore off, and he separated into two people once more, like a book falling opening, one to either end of the bed.
Both were unconscious and remained so for eight days, four hours and eleven minutes.
Harry blinked awake, his body sore and aching dreadfully as he pushed himself up onto his elbows.
"Harry!" Ron said, jumping up from his chair and hugging Harry round the shoulders. "Hermione! Harry's awake!"
Hermione ran over from the window, hugging Harry's other side, "Thank goodness! I was getting so worried!"
"Worried?" Harry asked hoarsely, putting on his glasses as they were handed to him.
"Mate, you were out of it for over a week," Ron said.
Harry held out a hand, "Water?"
Hermione passed him a glass, "It's quite fascinating-"
"You were worried sick just a few moments ago, Hermione," Ron pointed out.
"Yes but now that I know it's okay I have a lot of questions-" Hermione said.
"Mione, he just woke up," Ron said.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Fine. Later then."
Harry finished the glass of water and set the glass on the side table, his movements stiff and slow. He rubbed his forehead and pushed his hands through his hair.
"The thing that worried us was ferret face woke up hours ago," Ron said.
Harry sat up straighter, "Draco? Where is he?"
Ron shrugged, "Back to his dorm I guess."
Hermione shook her head.
Harry shoved his blankets back and swung his legs over the side of the bed.
"Woah! Where you going-"
"To Draco," Harry said shortly.
Hermione grabbed hold of his sleeve and Ron wrapped an arm around Harry's chest, holding him back.
"Hold on, you've just-" Ron said.
"Let. me. go." Harry said between clenched teeth, grabbing Ron's arm and trying to pry it off.
Hermione called over her shoulder, "Madam Pomfrey! Harry's awake!"
Harry shot her a furious glare, trying to shove Ron's arm out of the way.
"What's this?" Pomfrey said as she bustled out of her office.
"I need to go. I need to go now," Harry told her urgently.
Ron and Hermione exchanged worried looks.
"Not until I check you over you're not," Pomfrey said. She took out her wand and cast a few diagnostic spells around him before nodding, "Same as Mr Malfoy. I'll get you a revitalising potion."
She went back to her potion stores.
"Let me go," Harry said.
"You going to bolt?" Ron asked.
"I won't."
Ron and Hermione slowly loosen their grip but stayed within grabbing distance.
Pomfrey returned, pulling the cork from a vial of blue liquid.
Harry grabbed it from her and drank it down before she could say anything. "I'd like to go now," Harry said giving her the empty vial.
"You need rest. No straining yourself. No galavanting. If Mr Weasley and Miss Granger will see you to your dorm, you can go," Pomfrey said.
"Of course," Hermione said.
Ron nodded.
"Very well," Pomfrey conjured a changing screen, and Harry was quickly back in his uniform. Ron put an arm around Harry's shoulder, guiding him out of the hospital wing, Hermione holding onto his arm.
They were halfway down the stairs when Harry duck out of both their grasp.
Hermione stumbled and was caught by Ron, she called after, "Harry! Come back, you're supposed to rest!"
"Don't make me run and I won't," Harry said, heading down the corridor leading to the dungeons with his friends right behind him.
"He won't be able to get in," Ron reassured Hermione.
"I'm not sure-," Hermione said.
They came to the Slytherin archway.
"Fluxweed!" Harry shouted, and the secret passage slid open. Harry disappearing inside.
"How-?" Ron said speeding up before it closed.
Hermione had to run to keep up, panting excitedly, "They shared a mind! I think that's why they were asleep so long! We record our memories when we sleep!"
"Fascinating, Mione but we gotta move!" Ron grabbed her hand and sped up, towing her behind him. He ducked his head as they rushed through the common room which did nothing to obscure his mop of red hair drawing whispers and stares in his wake.
Harry went down one of the narrow side passages passing by door after door, before going into the fifth though it looked no different than the rest. He stopped a few steps inside, Ron and Hermione pilling up behind him.
Draco shot to his feet, "Harry-"
.
.
- Just a bit earlier -
"How long is he going to sleep, do you think?"
There was a long sigh, "You'd think after a week, he'd done with sleeping for a while."
"I can hear you, you know," Draco muttered.
Blaise said, "We weren't really going for subtle."
"We want to know what happened," Pansy said.
"You were there for most of it," Draco said rolling over and carefully pushing himself up to sit on the edge of his bed.
"Yes, but what was it like?" Pansy pressed.
Blaise and Pansy were sitting on Blaise's bed opposite looking at him expectantly.
Draco looked down at his hands with a frown, "It was... I felt..." he sighed, "It's hard to explain."
Blaise rolled his eyes. "Nothing is ever easy with you."
Pansy elbowed him in the ribs.
Blaise bumped his shoulder back against her in retaliation, "Fine, fine. Easy start then, were you two minds, like could you hear Potter or was it... weirder?"
"It wasn't weird," Draco said.
"One shared mind then."
Draco grabbed his pillow and threw it at Blaise though he couldn't put much strength behind it.
"But then... it was nice?" Pansy suggested.
"It was... right," Draco said, "I was incomplete, but I didn't know it, and then I was more whole than I've ever been before. There was good, and there was-" his words hitched, "-there was a lot of pain, but it was better as me, as we. Together everything was half as scary and twice as easy, even breathing. I felt so much lighter."
"Sounds like a hell of a drug," Blaise said, impressed.
Pansy leaned forward, "So, um, you don't hate him anymore?"
"I miss him."
Blaise and Pansy looked at each other in surprise.
The door opened and Draco was on his feet before anyone could react, "Harry-"
"Dra-" Harry's words were cut short as Draco grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him into his arms.
"Woah! Wait. Wha- what's going on?" Ron asked, holding tightly onto Hermione.
Blaise leaned back on the bed, "He missed him."
"Him who?" Ron asked.
Blaise shrugged, "Does it matter?"
"I came as soon as I could," Harry said, holding onto Draco so tightly it was a wonder either of them could breathe.
Draco shook his head, "I shouldn't have left, I was so out of it, I just-"
"You're here now. We're here now," Harry said, he shifted and pressed his forehead against Draco's.
"But we're not we," Draco said faintly, "I- One day wasn't enough. I want more."
"You could always do it the normal way," Pansy said, "You know, by talking."
"That will take forever!" Draco protested.
Hermione smiled tentatively, "I think that's kind of the whole point though. And it's nice." She looked up to Ron.
Ron opened his mouth, closed his mouth, swallowed his initial reaction, and nodded slowly. "N i c e," he repeated weakly.
Hermione smiled and squeezed his hand.
"Do you want to?" Draco asked.
Harry brushed his hand across Draco's cheek, "Yeah. More than anything."
Draco wavered, and slowly leaned forward until his lips met Harry's.
Harry sighed into the kiss, leaning in as if they could somehow find a way to be closer than they already were.
There was a flumph as their robes fell onto the ground, ties quickly followed. Fingers sought skin, undoing buttons, slipping under shirts with growing urgency and a fading awareness of anything other than each other.
"I'll just- We'll just-" Hermione stammered, darting out the door and pulling Ron with her.
Pansy made a face, "They've forgotten we're here, haven't they?"
"Yep," Blaise said.
Pansy stood up, "Let's get out of here before we see something we regret."
"You might regret it-"
Pansy grabbed Blaise's arm and jerked him to his feet, "Draco will murder you."
"I suppose," Blaise sighed and allowed Pansy to guide him out of the room.
They locked the door behind them.