Empty Spaces

Chapter 59

"Harry, you awake?"

"Now I am..." Harry mumbled into his pillow, rolling over and burying his face in Draco's chest. "Wsgngon...?"

"The calming draught– do you cut the beetles at a 45 degree angle or 135 degree angle?"

"What the fuck... Draco, what time is it...?"

"Six o'clock. Which angle?"

"How the fuck should I know, it's the middle of the night," Harry groaned, torn between annoyance and amusement. He thought he would be used to this from studying with Hermione for eight years, but then again, she didn't share a bed with him.

"It's six in the morning and it's time to get up anyway," Draco persisted, "Which angle??"

"This one," Harry held up his left hand and made a chopping motion against it with right one.

"One thirty five?" Draco asked.

"I don't know, the pointy part of the knife faces that way," Harry said, pulling the blankets back up. "If you want numbers, ask Hermione."

"But you're right here," Draco buried himself in with Harry, planting an affectionate kiss behind his lover's ear. "You're sure it's one thirty five?"

"You need that calming draught," Harry retorted, rolling over and pinning Draco beneath him. Every day was like a dream, waking up next to the person he loved. "Stop it, the exams are hours away..."

"If the Potions exam asks which angle those beetles should be cut at and it turns out to be forty five–"

"Hours. Away," Harry whispered in Draco's ear. "It's bad enough we have to take them once. What are you going to learn at this point anyway?"

"Only the fool thinks he has learned all there is to know," Draco replied smugly, to which Harry promptly hit him with the pillow.

"What does that make you for sleeping with one then?" Harry retorted.

"The luckiest fucker who ever lived," Draco stroked Harry's cheek with his long finger. "Come on, darling, we've got to get up, we're supposed to sign in before we can start and who knows how long that will take with both seventh and eighth years doing the exams together..."

Harry groaned and gave in, reaching for his glasses before getting up and beginning the usual morning dig through his drawers for something clean to wear.

"Promise me that after today, you'll make this place habitable again?" Draco slid his arm around Harry's waist.

"It's perfectly habitable," Harry argued, "Look, there's even space to walk from the door to the bed."

"Harry, darling, we've got to raise those standards a bit..." Draco purred in Harry's ear, sending the familiar butterflies down his neck and through his stomach.

"If you don't stop that, we're never going to make it to school today," Harry turned and pulled Draco closer still, wrapping his arms around his lover. "How would you feel then?"

"Nowhere near as good as I'm going to make you feel when this is all over," Draco teased back before breaking away and going through his own things. "Come on, we can't be late."

Hermione was already in the kitchen, sipping her tea and unusually quiet. Past Hermione would be frantically double checking some fact or figure, but Present Hermione was merely holding her mug in both hands, lost in thought.

"Hey," Harry slid into the empty space beside her, "Feeling okay?"

Hermione just nodded, taking his hand in hers and leaning her head against his shoulder. To Draco's everlasting credit, if he felt any hints of jealousy, he was masking them impeccably well as he busied himself with the coffee maker. It was one of those moments where Harry couldn't quite tell whether Draco was a master at reading the room or if he just had incredible instincts. He was there, but not there.