The Wizarding World Is Not Enough

Draco Versus the Stockroom

Draco is awoken in the middle of the night on Monday, by a rattling noise, which is coming from the corridor outside of Draco's bedroom. As he has work in the morning, he and Harry are staying at his house. Draco is surprised that it hasn't woken Harry, but then Harry has been sleeping rather soundly the past few nights, presumably as he is still tired from Wednesday night.

There is a loud thump from the corridor and Harry jerks blearily awake. Draco grabs his wand off of the beside table.

"What is it?" Harry whispers.

"I don't know," Draco whispers back. There's another thump. Draco frowns. It sounds like it's coming from inside of a cupboard. Had Greg gotten a pet that he hadn't told them about? Harry picks up his wand as well and they creep into the corridor.

"Lumos," Draco whispers and they peer through the wand light. The thumping noise is most certainly coming from the cupboard that's tucked under the eaves. Harry motions towards it and Draco nods. Harry flicks his wand and the doors of the cupboard fly open.

Draco is not sure what he was expecting, but it is certainly not what comes bouncing out.

"What?" he says dumbly, staring at the book that is now somehow crab walking its way over to them. It's the Reliquary. Only, it has pages again.

"I thought you said the pages disappeared," Harry says, peering at it.

"They did."

"Then what are these pages?" Harry lowers his wand as the book is clearly not a threat. Draco walks over to it and scoops it up. There are fewer pages than when he first read it.

"I think they're new," Draco says. "Like, it's updated itself." The book flaps its cover at him and he nearly drops it in his shock.

"It looks like it wants you to read it," Harry says.

"Shouldn't someone else read it?" Draco asks but Harry shakes his head.

"You're the Reliquary, Draco. You need to read it."

"But if I weren't the Reliquary," Draco protests. "Then our relationship wouldn't have to be hidden." He can't quite keep the whine out of his voice. Harry's face softens.

"I know," he says. "I'm sorry. But it was designed to be read by one person and one person alone, and that's you now. I'm not even sure it would let me if I tried." He reaches a hand out to take the Reliquary and it snaps at him, thereby proving his point.

"So that's it? For the rest of my life, I'm just going to be this encyclopedia of knowledge?" Draco's shoulders slump. He shuffles back over to the bed and sits down heavily on it. "What if I don't want to? What if I just want to be a normal person? With a normal boyfriend?"

"I'm sorry, Draco," Harry says, sitting down next to him. He puts an arm around him but Draco shrugs him off.

"I don't like keeping secrets from people. I absolutely hate it. Sixth year was the worst for me because I couldn't tell anyone what I was up to, aside from Greg and Vince. I pushed people away rather than lie to them. I don't want to do that for the rest of my life."

"Well," Harry says slowly. "Greg thinks we're dating. You can talk to him about our relationship."

"Greg is dating Pansy," Draco points out.

"What about Hannah?" Draco chews on his lip for a moment before a slowly nods.

"I could tell Hannah. Not that I can tell her our relationship wasn't real before, but-"

"-I know what you mean," Harry says, saving Draco from having to explain further. "And," he adds. "You have me." He leans in and kisses Draco on the cheek. He is rewarded with a small smile.