“it kept me from giving in to the terror that the dementors wanted me to feel but the more i did it, the easier it got, and the harder it was to ome bak”
his eyes trae the map one more, down to the dungeons, and on the ribbon that reads harry potter
“you remember the state i was in when i first got out of that pe”
the bed shifts, and drao an imagine potter nodding
“but it got better, didn’t it? it beame less frequent the st few times i went to the manor”
“mm,” drao says in reply “my mother says it might be a repse”
“why?”
drao realls his summer days in the manor he realls the hiness he felt, the frightening unfamiliarity of it after all those months—after he was given the mark, his misn, and that soul-gripping fear of what the dark lord might do to his family should he fail and he realls thinking then, that the world isn’t suh a bad one to wake up to, if he woke up to banana panakes and bright, green eyes
and then he realls the following weeks after
potter with his friends, always in the distane, always on the other side of the room, his green eyes now looking elsewhere
drao knows why but he’s not going to tell potter that
“i have no idea, potter”
“i should go,” potter says, sitting up with a sigh “ron will be worried”
drao nods mutely, beause he’s not about to do something stupid like ask potter to stay the throbbing in his head had lessened to a dull throb, and so he tries to sit bak up again
potter is arranging his robes as ly as he an, before he takes out his wand again, taps the map, and says, “mishief managed”
the ink disears in a heartbeat and the paper folds itself one more potter pokets it together with his wandhe rosses the room to get the invisibility cloak on goyle’s bed, and then pauses he turns to look at drao his eyebrows are reased with worry “you okay, malfoy?”
drao doesn’t know how to answer that, but he nods anyway he will be
potter doesn’t look assured, but he nods bak and walks towards the door he holds the loak open and then he sighs he turns bak to drao, opens his mouth as if to say something, but deides against it he loses his mouth again instead, he says with a small smile, “see you tomorrow, then”
the words are out of his lips before he an stop them “e bak”
potter looks surprised
drao already hates himself he’s not supposed to be doing this “tomorrow e bak tomorrow, i mean” his heart’s beating loudly in his hest, and he swallows, tries to steady his voie “you have that loak of yours”
and he doesn’t know what it is that he said, but potter’s smiling, and god, it suks how muh he’d missed that smile his head still hurts, but he finds himself smiling bak anyway
“okay after dinner”
potter leaves, and drao thinks, no no, no, no, no, no
chapter 3
at breakfast theday, harry is bak to shamelessly seeking out that blond hair he’s relieved to see drao at the slytherin table, looking well and talking with some of the seventh years he’s so engrossed that he doesn’t notie the girl behind him, not until ron elbows him quite harshly in the stomah
“oof!” he exims, at the same time a quiet, lilting voie says, “harry?”
harry ompletely fets about gring at ron and whips around in surprise
a girl, tall and with brown hair falling down to her waist in soft urls, looks at him nervously around them, the peopleare starting to whisper, wathing with bated breath and w why a slytherin would talk to harry potter
“hi, i’m astoria”
harry knows he gres at the fourth year ravenws on the other table whispering just a tad bit too loudly with a sigh, he turns bak to astoria “hi, astoria you’re daphne’s sister”
astoria rexes, knowing that she doesn’t have to introdue herself after all “yes” she gnes at harry’s already empty pte “if it’s alright, an i talk with you?”
he gnes at ron beside him, who just shrugs before returning to his breakfast, and then at herne aross from him, who smiles at astoria in greeting, before turning to harry and nudging her hin towards the door “go on, then we’ll save you a seat in professor slughorn’s ss”
harry smiles at her gratefully he stands up and mons towards the door there are too many people wathing here he hates it “mind if we take a walk?”
harry already knows what they’re going to talk about they walk out towards the entrane ourtyard, but there are still students milling around, killing time before their first ss, and so they walk towards the boathouse instead
astoria ploughs on without preamble “drao told me about what hened st night”
harry doesn’t know what to feel with the knowledge of drao and astoria being lose enough that she an all him by his first name and that he had already told her of what had transpired st night “oh”
《宅书屋》om
