Drarry || One Shots

Harry Potter and The One Year He Finally Noticed

×Part 2×

   Summary
*The whole school is in on it and Harry catches on.*

Eight year was nothing like anyone expected it to be. Some, innocent still, dreamed of coming back to the Hogwarts that they knew and loved before Dumbledore's death. Others simply came back with the conviction that they would be living the horrors of the war all over again, because that's where he died and I am sitting and eating right on the spot were corpses were laid and maybe even an I remember stepping over a body here.

But none of it was actually accurate. While, yes, there were some lucky ones that didn't lose anybody close in the war, McGonnagall suddenly filling Dumbledore's place and the white tomb by the lake was a constant reminder of what had happened. And as for those who suffered most, they didn't relieve their nightmares in the school's halls, but rather in their own beds, at night, nothing new, really. There was just this general air of uneasiness looming over them all, not quite depressing, but a reminder that things were different.

There was just one thing that didn't change, as stupid and silly as it may sound. Maybe because now, the way things were, people needed something normal, something familiar to cling to. And things were looking better than ever because Harry Potter was now friends with Draco Malfoy.

How that happened, no one really knew. There were speculations, naturally.

"They bumped into each other on the train and apologised."

"Draco looked for Harry on the train again but instead of insulting him, he asked for a chance."

"They met over the summer and made up and have been hanging out ever since."

But no one imagined that things didn't actually go that way. Harry and Draco did not reconcile so brutally and abruptly, that would have been too much for any of them to take, and things don't work like that, anyway. They did not insult each other, nor did they compliment each other. They didn't try to avoid each other and they didn't try to seek the other out. Now that, they did unconsciously. They sat fairly close in classes, always within reach, and it started with a borrowed quill, a shared book, a hand in potions, a little help in defence. And then there were tentative waves in the halls, and shy smiles across the Great Hall during meals. Study sessions when they stumbled across each other in the eight year common room which quickly transformed into full blown study dates for hours in the library. A break or two and they would be talking the time away. And it came oh, so easily to them. Talking.

And the final drop was a late night in the common room, both woken and shaken by familiar nightmares, both seeking comfort like children afraid of the dark. And, after all, that was what they were, children. Only now, they were afraid of what lurks in the dark. Ugly memories and scary thoughts and a tentative, slightly awkward hug to drive them all away.

I don't know if it's ever going to be just as alright as it was before, but it's nice to know I'm not alone were the unspoken words that drifted in the dark and disappeared in the smoke of the fire. And the small touches and intimate whispers and bared hearts and after that, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were a bit too much to be called just friends, but weren't more than that either.

And it was driving everyone crazy.

And Harry noticed.