Accidentally in Love / drarry

May, 2000

Well baby I surrender
To the strawberry ice cream
Never ever end of all this love
Well I didn't mean to do it
But there's no escaping your love

***

The first weeks of May brought about unexpected bouts of snow and the first burnouts of school stress for N.E.W.T. takers.

Madam Pomfrey had commissioned dozens of doses of Draught of Peace from a reluctant Slughorn, who nevertheless wasn't able to refuse under Pomfrey's pressing stare. Harry knew because he'd been at the Potions practical the matron had stormed and witnessed it all first hand. To be fair, Madam Pomfrey could be bloody terrifying when she so pleased, and Harry didn't think anyone in the classroom really blamed Slughorn for succumbing to her demands.

Those who were not in mandatory bed rest at the hospital wing were very well on their way to be so. The tense atmosphere was palpable everywhere one went. Every conversation was doomed to turn to the approaching exams. It felt like the more they studied the more they were aware of the things they did not yet know, and that was enough to make every unfortunate N.E.W.T. taker drag themselves to the library each night.

They couldn't even go outside to study, because the unpredictable weather showered any unsuspecting student with rain, snow, or hail. And so the library was packed to the brim.

Hermione had now fully dedicated herself to studying. It had gotten to the point where she barely talked to anyone from behind whatever book or stack of notes she was currently immersing herself in, except to answer other people's questions. She made her way to their final classes with her nose so deep in text it was a wonder she didn't walk into a wall once. Harry wondered if she'd notice if her hair was on fire. Probably not.

Ron had only shrugged hopelessly when Harry'd brought up her behaviour, and neither of them had discussed the matter since. They hoped she would at least return to normal once the exams were over.

Harry had fully expected to be completely overwhelmed as he'd first started going through the Potions revision schedule Hermione had drawn up for him, but as it quickly turned out, he was at least vaguely familiar with all of the themes within the topics. Potions quickly became his favourite subject to revise, and he even managed to help Ron, all the while struggling with the thought that Malfoy had actually taught him a lot. Maybe more than he had realized.

Speaking of the git, it seemed that he had completely and utterly vanished from the castle. Harry hadn't seen him since their last exchange in the bowels of the school, and while his bed remained neatly made, he was also not present at meals or in their last classes, not to mention the library.

The rest of his Slytherin friends didn't seem to be phased by his absence, and seeing that Zabini hadn't ambushed Harry about the matter like last time, they must have known where Malfoy was hiding. Harry supposed his present whereabouts were the same they had been all of those weekends he'd been away, the only rational placed he'd be: the Manor. But the question remained... why? Why had McGonagall granted him the permission to Floo home all of those weekends? Harry seriously doubted she was so generous as to repeatedly grant this privilege for Malfoy to just see Narcissa. Unless there was something very wrong with her, which Harry doubted, because Malfoy wouldn't have been able to conceal it from Harry when he'd specifically asked about her.

This agreement between the headmistress and Malfoy remained elusive, but for now, Harry settled for waiting for the right opportunity to inquire about his whereabouts. Besides, he couldn't afford to sacrifice too much of his precious studying time to wonder about that.

He'd even given up flying for the time being.

***

Their last ever Charms class was raucous. Professor Flitwick had been going over some tips and tricks for how to answer the N.E.W.T. questions to garner maximum points, and everyone's quills had been scribbling the strategies down so quickly it was a miracle no one's parchment had spontaneously caught on fire. And when Harry said no one's he meant Hermione's.