Something New

02

Harry could tell his fifth year was going to be a disaster the minute he stepped foot in Hogwarts. Nearly the entire school thought he was an attention-seeking liar, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher already seemed horrible, and Draco Malfoy hadn't spoken one word to him yet.

He laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering why the last one was bothering him as much as it was. No snarky remarks, no glares, not even a glance his way. It seemed the blond ferret was avoiding him, why, Harry hadn't a clue. It had only been a day, after all, maybe he was thinking too much into this.

Professor Umbridge was yet another problem to deal with this year. Only a day, and it already seemed like she was trying to change everything. And the pink, the horrendous pink and lace that she wore make Harry want to puke. She'd been at his trial over the summer, which meant the ministry was now interfering with Hogwarts.

There was the small matter of the entire school hating Dumbledore and him. People whispered about him as he passed in the halls, though they usually did that. It was different now, they all thought he was going mad, and lying about Voldemort's return. Just hours ago Seamus had confronted him about it, and accused him for not wanting to talk about traumatizing events. Who would though, why should it be any different for him? Maybe the ministry should stop acting like children, and believe Harry when he says that the Dark Lord was back.

Sighing, Harry closed his eyes, finally allowing himself some sleep. Of course, he woke a few hours later from the nightmares of that night in the graveyard. This wasn't unusual, however, so you'd think he'd grow used to watching the Hufflepuff die over and over again. He wasn't. He had grown used to a few hours of sleep a night though. At this point, sleep just seemed pointless.

The next morning, Harry was in a mood all through breakfast. He'd snapped at Hermione when she bugged him about eating more, ignored poor Neville who asked him if he'd completed all the work they were given over the summer, and left the table when Ron and Hermione started their usual bickering. Today was one of his bad days, that was fairly obvious.

The day got even worse when he ran into someone on his way out and fell to the ground, his glasses being knocked off his head in the process. He cursed under his breath, as he searched the dirty floor for the things he couldn't see without. Seriously, he was practically blind without those things.

"Watch where you're going, you...Potter?" Shit, it was Malfoy. Of course, it was just his luck.

"Yeah, it's me. Now either help me find my glasses or get lost."

"Someone's grumpy this morning," Malfoy muttered, though Harry heard, and glared at him.

"Just go away. I'm not in the mood to deal with this."

"No kidding," he replied, handing Harry his glasses. The Gryffindor put them back on and blinked repeatedly as his eyes adjusted. His eyesight really was horrible. He winced as the constant pain from his ribs worsened as he stood up.

"Right, well, sorry for running into you. I'm just going to go now, bye," the ferret said, jumbling over his words and talking so quickly Harry almost didn't follow what he was saying.

Harry's eyes narrowed on the blond as he all but ran away. That was odd. Malfoy had never apologized to him in all his years of knowing him. Shaking his head, Harry headed for his first class, History of Magic, twenty minutes before it started. No matter, he'd wait. And wait he did, and almost jumped when the silent halls were suddenly filled with loud voices and heavy footsteps. Figuring class was starting soon, Harry walked in and chose a seat in the back. He watched as everyone filed in, sitting in seats of their own, but there seemed to be a wide range of avoided seats that just happened to be surrounding him.

Sighing, Harry pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment and a quill just as Ron and Hermione walked in and sat down next to him. There was an awkward silence between the three of them before Professor Binns began speaking in his usual dull voice, and they began taking notes. Harry wasn't sure what was going on with him and his friends, there was no familiarity like there was last year, in Harry's opinion anyway. Hermione tried, a little too hard maybe, but things were just different. Harry was different.

He'd heard of friends that outgrew one another or simply fell apart, but he hadn't ever thought that would be the three of them. They'd been through so much shit together, he thought they were closer than the closest of friends. Harry wished he still had hope for the three of them, but he'd given up on hope a long time ago.

The signs were all there, he supposed. With Ron and Hermione's countless bickering, and Harry's reluctance to trust anyone, something that had always bothered Hermione. The thing was, Ron and Hermione still seemed as close as they were before, if not closer. The thought made Harry frown, and he wondered if he'd done anything wrong. Or maybe this whole thing was all in his head, he did tend to overthink things. Shaking away his thoughts, he turned his attention back to the lesson.

When Harry was on his way to lunch later, he saw Luna skipping down a corridor, and he smiled at her carefree spirit. So what if she was a bit odd, she was herself. She didn't try to please everyone else by pretending to be something she wasn't, she drew her personality straight from her core. Harry wished he were more like Luna.

Without thinking, he called out her name, and the girl turned around with a bright smile on her face.

"Hello, Harry. Did you need something?" Her voice was dreamy, a truly pleasant sound. She had turnips hanging below her ears, and her wavy hair framed her face. She had a necklace made of old bottle caps and a magazine in her hand.

"Nothing in particular. Walk to lunch with me?"

"Oh I'd love to, really, but I'm chasing down the wrackspurts right now." Harry didn't even try to hide his confusion, and Luna gave a small laugh at the expression on his face.

"Wrackspurts?"

"They're creatures that make your head fuzzy. Your head is almost always full of them, did you know?" 

"No, I didn't. Is there a way to get rid of them?" She giggled, and shook her head slightly, while a rare smile graced Harry's face.

"Of course there is, silly." And then she walked away, leaving Harry standing alone in the hallway, confused and yet more calm than he ever remembered being in his entire life. She really was something, she was.

Letting himself smile just a little longer, Harry continued on his way to the Great Hall, with a feeling that was so close to happiness, he desperately wanted to believe it was. So close, and yet he felt miles away from happiness.

The lingering smile disappeared.

Word count: 1222