Mute (Drarry) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 43

The rest of the year mostly went smoothly, unfortunately, even though Ron failed his potions exam miserably, he still did well enough in his other tests to move on to the next year. Harry thought Snape and Draco were angrier about that than he did.

He had spent the spring holidays with Remus and Sirius, with regular visits to and from the Malfoys. It seemed as though the relationships between the adults was getting better, at the very least it felt more comfortable to be in the same room as all of them at the same time. There was one day when both Narcissa and Sirius disappeared, Harry knew better than to ask questions given even Draco didn't.

Harry had become more confident in his voice, able to talk normally when with the people he trusted, unfortunately, he still couldn't get any louder than a whisper if anyone else was in earshot though.

Sirius and Remus' house was very nice, more homely than the Malfoy mansion, it was small, and somewhere out in the countryside. The neighbours were quite far away, in fact, Harry wasn't sure the local village knew that there was a house all the way out here, but he had learned pretty quickly that Remus was a werewolf, so it was probably for that reason. Harry wasn't complaining, though, people from the small countryside villages they had stopped at while trying to get away from his Hogwarts letters were always very rude about his hair. He knew it was messy, but he didn't know why so many of the people there seemed to take personal offense about it.

Most of the chairs in the house had a worn wood look, and they were comfortably soft, lots of cushions everywhere. There was a worn wooden box in the corner of the living room, and Harry doubted the neighbours were ever allowed over if they knew about the house given how much magic was used to keep everything working. There weren't any house elves in the small cottage, so Harry was sure he would have chores to do, but Remus and Sirius insisted that they would still do everything with magic.

Every room had at least one bookshelf with a selection of books to choose from, at least one book on every subject or genre. Most of the books looked well cared for, and Harry hoped he would be allowed to read them.

Draco, of course, was most interested in their Potions lab. Lucius had raised his eyebrows at the existence of the room, but understood when Remus pointedly gestured to Sirius' moon tattoo. Harry only went in there when he was with someone, seemingly afraid of the muggle Bunsen burner in there.

Harry loved his room a lot. His bed frame was made from a dark wood that had the same worn look as the rest of the furniture in the house, it felt warm to look at and made Harry feel safe. Originally they had tried to give Harry the second largest room as his own, but Harry didn't like having a lot of space. When he was with the Dursleys his only safe place was his cupboard, so he liked small spaces. His covers were a pale green, with a dragon that would sometimes soar over them. Harry didn't know it was possible for a mattress to be so comfortably soft, he assumed magic was involved.

Possibly his favourite thing about his room, aside from the fact it was his room, not a storage space or Dudley's, was the window seat. It looked out into the trees, and every now and then a woodland magical creature would be visible from where he sat. If he was alone they would sometimes wave, one time a young woodland elf even came over for a conversation, the elf being a fast learner of sign language. According to Sirius and Remus it was because he was a creature himself. He wasn't a woodland or water creature, but oddly it was only humans who seemed to have a problem with where people come from, and muggles were especially strange about that.

The window seat seemed to have the same spell on it as his bed, as it was always the right texture. It was filled with lots of different pillows, some long, some square, and others small. They were mostly in blues and greens, but there were some which were red, those looked like they had been the most loved, vaguely faded to the point the thread was on show. Harry thought it felt more comfortable that nothing in the room looked too new.

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Harry was sitting in the Slytherin common room, waiting for Draco to finish packing so they could go to the breakfast feast. He had been able to pack rather quickly, most of the clothes he had already being at the Lupin household, at least, all the muggle clothes.

"I'm ready Harry." Draco called, running down the stairs as Harry waved goodbye to the mermaid he had been listening to. "Let's go, do you have Predawn?"

"They're already in the hall, something about not wanting to miss out on some kind of French food they heard would be there." Harry said, knowing Predawn would be near his and Draco's seats.

"Are you going to sign up for the Quidditch team next year? You're really good at flying and seem to enjoy it." Draco asked, it was true, Harry was a natural on a broom. Of course, it was rather unsurprising he loved being in the air, Phoenixes, while magical creatures, were still birds. Where else does a bird belong but the sky?

"I don't know, the games are loud. I'll come of you join, but I don't know if I'll get in." Harry said, pulling closer to Draco as they passed a classroom full o third year Gryffindor girls.

"Don't force yourself to do something you don't want to." Draco said, putting an arm around Harry's shoulders to comfort him. "Why don't we arrange some Quidditch games over the summer? Then you can see if you like it and what position you like."

"That sounds good." Harry said with a smile. He may have not been to the Dursleys for a long time, but he still felt strangely warm inside when he realised he had an actual home to go to and a friend who cared about him and wanted to hang out with him. This would be his first summer where he didn't need to worry about Catching Harry.

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Harry looked at Hogwarts as the train started leaving the platform, sitting looking backwards. Predawn was wrapped around his arm sleeping, Draco was talking animatedly to Pansy, another Slytherin girl who had joined their little group with a boy called Blaise some time after Harry's inheritance. She said something about being sick of Draco ignoring them, but had almost instantly claimed Harry as hers. He still wasn't sure he knew what she meant about that.

Harry felt warm, as terrified as he had felt when a giant broke into the already falling apart shack the Dursleys were staying, it had been the start of the best years of his life.