potter rolls his eyes there’s a smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes, like a promise of something fun “no, malfoy”
he stands up, rosses the room, and sits on the free spae above drao’s head he rummages in his poket one more and produes an old piee of folded parhment, whih he ys on the bed in front of drao’s fae “e on, tap your wand here and say i solemnly swear i am up to no good”
resolutely ign potter’s distane from him (or the utter k of it), drao gres at the parhment “are you fibbing with me?”
“no, i am not fibbing you’re being diffiult on purpose, aren’t you?”
still suspus, drao gets his wand from his own poket it’s a new one, bought in a quik trip to ollivanders’ on the st day of august, on the very same day that kingsley owled him to say that his magi ban was over he had been nervous, and ashamed, to meet the old man again after what the death eaters did to him in their very own dungeons, but garrik ollivander had taken one look at him, diseared within his shelves of boxes, and returned with a wand and fiveness
“10 inhes, rowan wood and urn hair, young drao malfoy no matter how dark the road, the value is in your persistene to find the light”
it’s not the same as his old one, of ourse, but he doesn’t know where that is (potter? the ministry?) and he’s too sared to ask
holding his breath, drao taps the parhment with his wand and says, “i solemnly swear i am up to no good”
the parhment unfolds, and ink es from the middle, towards the sides and the four orners, to form…
“hogwarts,” he says, breathless he props himself up on one elbow, eyes wide he looks bak at potter with his mouth open in amazement
potter grins at him in reply he taps the lower right orner, the slytherin dorms, right where their names are ped beside eah other
it’s definitely weird seeing their names together they don’t math, after all
“you weren’t at dinner,” potter says, ontinuing their n “i heked the map and didn’t see you anywhere”
drao looks at the area belled great hall it’s empty, as expeted he doesn’t know what time it is, but it’s probably already after urfew he thinks about the absurdity of potter eating dinner, realizing that he’s not there, and going out of his way to hek this ridiulous map of his just to look for him
he blinks, tries to stop himself from feeling hy about it “other people might all this stalking,” he says instead
potter’s heeks are pink “shut up, i was worried”
he’s definitely hy damn potter “worried that poor little drao went bonkers and wandered off into the lake?”
“yes, malfoy, is it that weird of me to worry about you? now stop trying to piss me off, i’m trying to have a ivil n here”
drao lears his throat loudly he hopes the dark is doing its jobhis burning fae “alright, so you didn’t see me in the map, and assumed that i was in the forest?”
“well, it’s one of the pes that isn’t shown on the map, so i took a hunh”
drao looks at him disbelievingly “you went to the forbidden forest on a hunh?”
potter shrugs “it’s not the first time i’ve been to the forest and you didn’t manage to get very far”
he’s not mad potter’s mad he thinks of all the things that ould have hened, all the ways that this day ould have gone horribly wrong “merlin, potter, you mean to tell me i almost got the saur of the wizarding world ripped apart by wolves beause he was stupid enough to ome after an ex-death eater on a hunh?”
potter’s frowning again “stop alling me that stop alling yourself that”
“they’re both true, potter don’t be so sensitive over it”
“so,” potter irritably uts off, probably beause if they ontinue talking about this, they are going to have another argument “that’s how i found you”
drao huffs in reply he shakes his head, still inredulous, but that movement reminds him that he still has a headahe and so he lies bak down on the mattress it’s ludirous, that’s what this whole thing is
potter being here, being so meddlesome with him and his life, and him enjoying it enjoying potter’s attenn, his time, his onern, and those godawful smiles that he sends drao’s way when drao’s said something partiurly funny
he wants potter to stop he doesn’t deserve it
the dark mark burns, hot and heavy on his forearm, under his sleeve he throws it over his eyes, and takes a deep, shuddery breath he thanks his luky stars and whatever higher being there is in the sky that nothing hened to either of them today, beause he doesn’t think he an five himself if something had hened to potter all beause he was razy enough to wander where he’s not supposed to wander and stupid enough to fall in love
“ time, don’t do it my life’s not worth yours”
there is a pause, one that sts long enough for the tears to prik his eyes, before potter murmurs, “that’s for me to deide”
drao ughs, low and empty “you an’t save everyone all the time”
“i know but i wanted to save you”
“it got easier, the more i did it,” drao finds himself expining a while ter
he’s still lying vertially on the bed, turned to his side, wathing the ribbons of names glide over the map potter didn’t go bak to the other bed anymore and had settled for lying down horizontally, just below the pillows his thigh is just above drao’s head
drao had just sified his lothes and his bed, unable to stand the grit and the dirt anymore, when potter asked if he knew that it was the forbidden forest he was walking to, whih evolved into the n they are having now
“i had always been good at olumeny my aunt said i had a natural talent for it” he loses his eyes, smiling grimly as he remembers beltrix lestrange a
