grryffindor secret

Chapter 15

With no response, Draco let him go. He put the box away and looked at Harry playfully with his hands behind his back. "I had a dream," he said. Everything is burning, and the air is damn hot."

Harry turned to look at him, signaling that he was listening, and Draco continued, "I'm running for my life. And Crabbe and Goyle, it's the first time I've dreamed about them since…that incident."

"Crabbe and Goyle...wait, why do you call them Vincent and Greg when you're five?"

Draco smirked, "Well...you called me baby."

"Damn it, Malfoy, you were five!"

"That's the answer. I'm not five years old anymore. Of course I call them by their first name instead of their last name."

"What logic is this? Your name is Zabini but Blaise." Harry folded his arms defensively.

"There are many rules between us that you don't understand, Potter, um—I prefer to call them rules."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Oh, it's your "pure-blood" thing again."

Draco shrugged, "We're in the Occasion Room, you might not believe it, but in fact I later found out that you were there in the dream, you really are everywhere, right Potter?"

"Me? Hey! What do your dreams have to do with me?"

"Uh huh, and of course your little friends, Granger and Weasley. I'm terrified, I've never been in such a mess, my robes are covered in ashes, my hair is sticking together...the devils are about to fall on us You three got your broomsticks out of nowhere—Merlin, you were so lucky even in my dream... I climbed up a pile of debris and you pulled me onto your broomstick."

Draco said it all in one breath, in a low voice, and it sounded like these things really happened, "And then?" Harry asked quietly, he didn't know why Draco had to say this to him all of a sudden.

"Even in my dream, I thought you were a fool, always trying to save everyone," Draco said, "I watched Crabbe and Goyle fall into the fire, and again, I watched them die, nothing Can't do it." He paused, "and then Blaise woke me up."

"You think of them as friends, don't you? Not... thugs...? or something," Harry said tentatively. "You call them Crabbe and Goyle, but in your heart they're still Vincent and Greg."

"Don't act like you know everything," Draco muttered. Harry rarely saw this expression on his face - it should never have been.When he almost believed that the Slytherin in front of him was about to cry, Draco suddenly grabbed a piece of fudge, threw it into his mouth, and chewed hard twice.

"It's not a pleasant memory for someone to die in front of me, or even because of me," he said dryly, "Goyle was timid since he was a kid, even though he was taller than us... Crabbe was always clumsy. We never We've known each other for as long as we can remember, and Blaise and I protected them, strictly speaking." Draco looked into the depths of the night, perhaps recalling something from his childhood, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

"Crabbe's not good at Charms, he's kind of stupid, isn't he? But he actually blocked Aunt Bella's (Draco snorted through his nose) Cruciatus Curse for me. Even if Goyle didn't say it when the castle was preparing for battle, I I could also tell he was terrified. They had never confronted their parents, and this time they met on the battlefield..."

"...he blocked Alecto Carrow's death curse for you."

silence.

"They probably wouldn't have gone," Draco said softly.

It was the first time Harry had heard Draco say so much.

And it hit his heart word by word.

"Then...Parkinson?"

Draco frowned, "Pansy...she's just a lackey sent by the Dark Lord to spy on us." He replied in disgust.

"So five-year-old you told me you didn't like her."

"...it's complicated. There's too much you don't understand, I can tell you later... if I want." Draco slammed Harry's shoulder lazily, just like he did that night, "Come on, Potter, say Speaking of you, the unique Harry Potter, why did you appear in the Occasion Room that day?"

"That's why you said what you just said, isn't it?" Harry narrowed his eyes, but his tone was teasing.

Draco didn't answer, he just blinked and smirked happily.

"Okay, night tour. I do this a lot, I mean, I need to think, think a lot, without anyone bothering—"

"Thinking isn't for you," Draco said again.

"Please, Malfoy." Harry glared at him.

Draco held up his hands, but he didn't look apologetic.

"This is not my war alone, not my duel with Voldemort alone." Harry thought it would be difficult to say these words, but facing Malfoy—maybe what Draco just said touched him, he did it , "I just happened to be there, the center of everything. Look, everyone, everyone's sacrifice might just be a step closer to defeating that madman."

He asked for a toffee, and Draco peeled one off and placed it in Harry's palm.

"You said you'd have nightmares too."

"Not quite. I always dream about dead people, people I know or don't know. Voldemort died, and since that day, I've hardly had a good night's sleep. Then, I just... I don't want to, don't want to To dream, I know what I will dream."

"You're running away... You know, you won't be the only one who needs some alone time," Draco said, his expression turning serious. "I've been thinking for a long time, the Slytherins need me now, Just like Gryffindor needs you. But sometimes I may need, well, "just me" time."

"—So you hid in the emergency room."

"I don't agree with the word 'hide'," he declared, "I chose to do what I do best and love the most - make those potions in the order of our textbooks, and those finished products can also be used as demonstration samples in the godfather's class. "

"Didn't expect to meet me there?"

"Yes, it was late then, why?"

"Because of Griffin, I can't just take it back to the tower."

"Oh Gry...Blaise told me about the Chamber of Secrets, the part I don't quite remember, you can't ask a five year old to remember everything he doesn't understand can you..." Draco said and stood up, Gathering his wand and jumping off the fence, straightening his robes, "I'm going back," he announced.

Harry looked at him blankly, "What?"

Draco didn't stop him from leaving, explaining as he walked, "I promised Blaise it wouldn't be too long, the godfather asked him to let me know that I need to get enough rest... at least tonight - make sure my bones are all healed up. Tomorrow." See, hope you'll come here again..." Before walking down the stairs, the Slytherin gave him a long blank space, "...Potter."

The blond boy didn't forget to take the box he used to hold the candy, and Harry was left alone by the fence.It annoyed him a little that the conversation had ended as inexplicably as it had begun, and that Malfoy had been in control of it the entire time.

Harry pushed himself to calm down, then realized that he didn't know as much about Slytherins as he thought, at all.And he was really starting to care about it.

"what do I do?"

—The air will not answer him.

Between the Horntail's quarters (which he had given a compromise name) and the Gryffindor tower, Harry hesitated.He ended up going to the former first, making sure that Blaise hadn't sent Griffin back yet.Then he took his pajamas, pocketed the Invisibility Cloak and map from the box, and walked slowly back to the tower.

He saw Ron and Hermione in the common room, they were sitting together reading a thick book, and Ron was blue-faced, staring at him as if he had seen Merlin.

"To see Malfoy?" Hermione asked.

"Um, uh, yes." Harry looked around and replied vaguely, "Did something happen?"

"Nothing, we just... chatted," he said, sitting down, "Did Zabini send Griffin here?" The other two Gryffindors looked at him suspiciously.

"No, but he did," Ron replied, "just let us tell you he's not sending Griffin back tomorrow."

"...that bastard," he muttered, closing his eyes and leaning back with his hands behind his head, trying to bring himself closer to the fireplace.

Ron was still whining about something to him, but his ears blocked them, and Harry just fell asleep on the daybed, drawn into darkness by fatigue, his glasses hanging dangerously from his nose.

He had a dream too, but it wasn't a Potter nightmare by the traditional definition.

Based on Draco's description, he also dreamed about the Occasion Room.

Now this place is a holy place for hiding contraband, and those things accumulated over thousands of years are burning and being mercilessly swallowed by the flames.The hot air burned his skin, he couldn't see anything, everything around him seemed to be fogged, and Harry felt the flames approaching from a distance, mixed with terrified screams.He recognized Draco in a second, his adrenaline soared, and he ran quickly in the direction of the sound.

"Malfoy!! Where are you????"

Harry called his name in vain, looked around blankly, and finally spotted Draco on top of a pile of debris.

He stood there precariously, clutching a golden diadem, of course he knew what it was, and he and Hermione had destroyed it together.

"No...please...no no no no no...Malfoy!! Leave it behind!"

Draco noticed him, and he turned to him, but his expression was blank.

"Malfoy…Draco!!! Please!!! Drop it!!!"

He forgot that he was in a dream.

Draco didn't respond to him, he took the crown in his hands, closed his eyes, and put it on his head gently, it didn't look like a crowned king at all—

— the last thing he saw was a red light.

When he awoke, Harry was slumped in front of the fireplace, he had fallen off the couch, the flames leaping in front of him.

"…Hold."

He relaxed, lying flat with his limbs stretched, his chest heaving violently.But he couldn't resist the lingering tingling pain in his abdomen, contracted due to tension.

Harry sat up, pulled his map out of his pocket, and found the little black dot marked 'Draco Malfoy', which was still in the cellar, with 'Blaise Zabini', which reassured him while he irritable. Harry stared at the two names for a while as if struggling, and closed the page forcefully.

The next day, Blaise returned Griffin to him after breakfast.The silver-green bow was still conspicuously tied around its neck. They didn't say much, but it was clear that Blaise was in a much better mood. Harry had a full day of Gryffindor time, the three of them hadn't been together like before for a long time, except for the messy things, he really enjoyed it, Griffin was held in Harry's arms, he Loved hearing Ron and Hermione talk, no matter what they were talking about.

In the evening, Harry was leaving the common room after having dinner with his pals. Ron kept asking him where he was going, if he was meeting the ferret again, and he only answered the second question, keeping the first. Ron's expression looked like Hermione forced him to eat an entire copy of "Advanced Potion-Making" signed by Snape without letting him drink water, "We are your best friends! Is there anything you can't tell us? Hey! Does anyone remember that we killed so many Horcruxes together?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't act like a child, Ron." Ron sat back in the armchair, still pissed off.

He was not surprised to find that Draco arrived at the Astronomy Tower one step ahead of him for the second time, this time he didn't bring his box, but sat quietly on the fence, raised his head slightly, and looked at the night sky.

"The snow has stopped." Draco said without looking back at the sound of the iron door, and raised one of his hands, palm up, to catch the non-existent snowflakes.

"Yeah." Harry climbed up the fence and cast a warming spell around the two of them, who sat quietly side by side, "Aren't you cold?"

Draco's nose was red, his eyes were bright, and he stood up on the fence, just as precariously as he was standing on the debris pile in his dream. "Let's jump off, Potter," he said, opening his mouth. His arms, embracing the air, stood dangerously on the edge.

"You're crazy," Harry said, throwing his head back. "Why are we jumping?"

"why not?"

He found Draco unreasonable and simply ignored him.No one spoke for a while, and Draco stubbornly maintained his position on the fence until Harry reached out and grabbed his robe and pulled him down.

They were sitting side by side again, Draco dangling his legs, eyes downcast, "What were you thinking?" Harry asked, someone had to break the annoying silence.

"—Thinking of you," Draco replied, and Harry turned his head sharply to look at him, "Damn Potter, I think you're a big fool who doesn't understand anything."

He belatedly sniffed the air around Draco and frowned suspiciously, "Have you been drinking?"

"A little bit..." Draco gestured lazily, "Blaise brought it from home—"

Harry was about to say something more when footsteps came from the tower entrance behind them inappropriately, and then he actually heard the voices of Ron and Hermione.

"I bet Malfoy's up to no good!" said Ron. "He called Harry away both nights, Merlin! Maybe he was trying to cast a spell on him or trick him into drinking some nasty potion—"

"Come on Ron...you know Malfoy wouldn't do that..."

"I'm going to find them and ask them directly—preferably in a duel with that ferret..."

The sound was getting closer, and Harry subconsciously pulled out the Invisibility Cloak, stretched out a finger and pressed it to his lips, signaling Draco to be quiet, and then put the Invisibility Cloak on him and Draco.That wasn't big enough for the two 17-year-old boys, who were exposed from the calf down, and he thanked them so much for choosing to stick their legs over the fence.

A second later, the iron door was pushed open with a creak, and Harry's body tensed.

"Look, they're not here."

"Oh no... Seriously, where else can we go? They're not going to the Forbidden Forest are they..."

"...Potter." Draco called out his name suddenly, Harry turned his head and mouthed something.

He almost crashed into the silver gray—

With one hand propped against the fence, Draco leaned forward slightly, wrapping one hand around Harry's back, wrapping his arms around Harry's back and pulling him closer to him.

Then, kissed him lightly.

Time stood still, leaving only the wind.