Potter!

Adventure and danger and saving the world

Draco had left far too much in a hurry for Harry's mind to be at rest. It was unlike him, even if he was fed up with studying potions, or kissing him, which he hoped was not the reason.

"Do you reckon he's gone without us, Hermione?" He asked suddenly, interrupting her speech about him being worried over nothing, and Ron putting in a word, "After all, he's a mysterious guy, mate. Always has been!"

Hermione shook her head. "He's not that stupid, he knows he can't fight his father and Merlin knows how many other death eaters, alone." She went back to her studying, a harsh look on her face, suggesting she did not want to be disturbed again.

Harry huffed and Ron gave him an apologetic look, which meant he wasn't going to anger his girlfriend right now. But he wasn't going to just forget, how could he?

So without another word, he just left through the portrait hole and didn't look back. He was slightly angry at his friends for being so flippant about his worries. Usually they listened to him, so what was different? He found himself once again in a dark eerie corridor, one which led to the dungeons. Surely Draco was in his own common room studying and everything was okay. He would just wait outside and ask someone if he was in there. And when he was, he would apologise for being so overprotective and anxious and leave him alone.

The slytherin common room was lit by only two torches, which were almost being drowned out by the insufferable darkness caving in on him. He stood outside, leaning his back against the wall and crossing his arms, hoping if someone came out, they would be a reasonable person, though after the war Slytherins tended to like him a lot better than before.

The door swung open minutes later and a girl with short dark hair stepped out, completely passing him in the other direction.

"Excuse me." Harry called out, feeling a little foolish now. The girl whipped round, and he saw her face bathed in the low light. It was Pansy Parkinson. He had hit the jackpot, surely she'd know where Draco was, and at least be a little more civil than some of the others.

"Potter, what are you doing down here?" She exclaimed before it clicked and her face softened slightly, "Are you looking for Draco by any chance?"

He nodded, "Is he in there? I just wanted to know he was okay. He left without saying a word." Every word he spoke felt stupid and he wondered if he should just disappear back to his dorm and stop being an annoying git.

"No, he left about 15 minutes ago. I was just going to speak to McGonagall actually. He said something about going to see his parents, and took his broom, but surely McGonagall would let him floo or something? I was worried, he seemed really off." Pansy's eyes seemed to panic a little when Harry jumped.

"Fuck." He whispered under his breath. For once in her life, Hermione was wrong. But it hadn't been the first time someone had been wrong about the intentions of Draco Malfoy. Harry was just stunned at the thought of his lover betraying his trust, pushing aside all of their plans to help him, and trying to tackle the task alone. But the, he thought, he had always had to go through everything alone in the past, it was normal for him.

"Is he in danger?" Pansy looked as though she were about to cry, "I shouldn't have let him go, I should've stopped him."

"He's stubborn, he would've gone anyway. But I have to follow him."

Harry turned to run but she caught his arm, "I'm coming with you." He was about to object but a determined fire sparked in her eyes, that almost made him afraid to go against her.

Before he could speak, Blaise stepped out of the shadow around the common room door, "So am I."

Harry smiled proudly at the two slytherins. Draco hadn't trusted them, he didn't think they truly cared about him, but they did and it made his heart soar. He trusted them now, even if his lover hadn't.

"Go find McGonagall, get her to call what's left of the order." Harry spoke firmly. He didn't want anyone else getting hurt now, getting people who knew what they were doing involved was probably wise.

They went their separate ways and Harry dashed back up to the common room, straight past Ron and Hermione to grab his trusty old firebolt.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked disapprovingly, looking up from her notes momentarily.

"To Malfoy Manor."

"Great!" Ron jumped up, throwing his revision aside, causing Ginny to chuckle from beside him. He clearly had quite enough of Hermione's packed timetable.

"He's not actually gone has he?" She exclaimed, slamming her quill down in anger, "After all my careful planning, he's gone and ruined it!"

Harry wondered if he'd ever seen Hermione so angry, perhaps since the night of the Yule ball in 4th year. A grimace formed on her face as she packed up her things and grabbed her wand. Whereas Ron was overjoyed at the thought of a break, even if it was a dangerous mission. Neville and Luna looked quite content with being ripped away from their studies and Ginny simply set down her book and smiled at him supportively.

And before he knew it they were all ready, broom in hand at the top of the astronomy tower. But this was not how it was meant to be, Draco was supposed to be beside him, they were supposed to be in this together. He had thought he could manage it alone. Harry didn't want him to ever have to manage anything alone again.

Darkness had now completely fallen over the castle, with the mountains surrounding acting as an enclosure, looming like ominous dark shapes against the deep blue sky. Harry took a deep breath, the others were all waiting on his command. He never imagined that he would be doing something dangerous like this again, especially for a Malfoy. After the war, he assumed that everything would go back to normal if there was such a thing as normal for him. If he wanted normal he might as well go back to being just Harry; the small thin kid with an odd lightning shaped scar who Dudley liked to chase around the playground in school. No, it seemed for him normal was adventure and danger and saving the world. With his best friends by his side.

He kicked off from the ground and like clockwork the others followed. Digging in his pockets for his battered clip-on compass that came with the broomcare kit Hermiome had given him for his 13th birthday, they swerved towards south and sped off into the dark.