5. Two Months of Hell - Drarry

Harry found that over the past few weeks he had very little time to spare. Each teacher had given the eighth years a massive amount of homework and even saving the wizarding world, and also the Muggle world, did not slacken his load. He also had to put up with doing the paired assignment which meant that even his free lessons were spent working. Harry voiced these grumbles over lunch and found that the others had equally less free time.
 “How do you have time to do that?” Harry exclaimed as the others arranged yet another trip to Hogsmeade.  
 “Why don’t you?” came Ron’s reply. “We still manage to have time free and we’re doing all of the same work as you.” Harry thought for a second and realised that he seemed to spend a lot more time on the paired project than anyone else. Even Hermione didn’t have Ron working all of the time and that was a big feat.
 “Malfoy does have to get high marks,” Hermione stated as an explanation to why they spent so much time on the project.
 “Maybe he just likes spending time with you, Harry. Come to think of it, you don’t seem that bothered either,” Seamus interjected unhelpfully. They all groaned at his idea of a joke. Harry was about to defend Malfoy by saying that he wasn’t that bad to spend time with but after running the sentence over his brain, he decided against it. It just sounded too weird.
 "I'm just trying to do as much work as possible when he's in a good mood," Harry said instead, and it was mostly true.

--

Days passed and both the Slytherin and the Gryffindor began to almost look forward to the free lessons they spent together. They were on time with their work and actually enjoyed each other’s company. Maybe it was the way they had both been through so much that allowed them to get along or maybe they simply realised that the other was actually not as selfish and arrogant as they believed them to be.

--

Draco awoke with a start. The room was light and an annoyingly loud buzzing noise filled his ears. After a few moments, when he had woken up properly, he turned his head to the side and almost leapt out of bed when he saw the time. His brain then registered that the annoying noise was in fact the alarm on his bedside table. He stared at it in disbelief.
 “Are you going to turn that thing off or just stare at it all day?” Draco looked around at Blaise. He grinned widely back at him.
 “Why do you look so pleased?” Draco grumbled as he leant over and silenced the clock.
 “Because, Draco, I slept a whole night without you waking me up.” It then struck him.

He’d actually been asleep in order for the alarm to wake him up. He hadn’t had a nightmare last night.
 “That’s weird,” he said blandly.
 “’That’s weird!’ You slept a whole night! That’s brilliant!”Draco shrugged, Blaise seemed much happier about this than him. Draco still felt as sluggish and tired as he usually did in the morning but he did find that it was easier to join in with the other Slytherins' conversations at breakfast. Some people even commented that he seemed to be in a better mood lately. Pansy didn’t say anything but he wasn’t surprised. She wouldn’t notice if her hair was on fire, he thought crudely.

Than night, Draco found it much easier to get to sleep. Usually he was so tired he would fall asleep in the common room and had to be woken up by Blaise in order to go to bed. Then, in bed, he would lie there tossing and turning for hours worrying about having a nightmare. When he finally fell asleep it was restless and he would then go on to wake up in the early hours of the morning after a horrible dream. He’d tried everything. He’d taken dreamless sleep potion for a few weeks until it was taken away from him with the warning that it would interrupt his natural sleeping patterns and the dreams would just come back as soon as he stopped taking it. Draco had argued and grumbled but they wouldn’t let him use the potion again.

For the first time in years without the use of any potions he fell asleep without any trouble and before midnight. He was awoken again by his alarm in the morning. Draco was confused but pleased. He was glad he’d slept well but until now, he hadn’t gone two nights in a row without his bad dreams in a long time. He wondered why. Nothing had changed; he hadn’t taken anything or done anything differently. Maybe he’d just began to recover after the war so the dreams had lessoned.  

--

 “We are just under half way through the project and I’d like you all to do a small presentation about what you’ve learnt so far so I can check you’re on track,” McGonagall told the class. A series of groans went up around the room, the loudest coming from Ron who was sitting next to Harry. Hermione seemed to be the only one who looked pleased. Harry didn’t like speaking in front of crowds, even though he’d had experience, and wasn’t looking forward to it one bit. Ever since the war and being the centre of attention for so long, all Harry wanted to do was to blend into the crowd as much as he could.

Harry moaned to Malfoy later that day in their lesson together. He was in a bad mood and Ginny badgering him didn’t help much. He loved her, but she did get irritating. Harry was sat with Malfoy pouring over what they would present.
 “I don’t want to do this,” Harry groaned. “I hate everyone looking at me.” He was resting his head on his hands and playing agitatedly with the dog-eared pages of the book he was studying. Malfoy was stood near him, searching for a particular piece of parchment with the plan of what they were doing written on it.  
 “You don’t want to do this?” Malfoy shouted angrily. Harry snapped his head up. “You don’t understand what it’s like, do you? If you don’t like being presented to people, just think what it’s like for me! You’re the Chosen One, everybody loves you! Most of the people in there want me dead!” he sank down into a chair and buried his face in his arms. Harry could see him trembling with both fear and anger. He felt guilty and so very stupid. Whilst he was thinking about himself he didn’t imagine what it would be like for Malfoy. He was overreacting but it was true that many people blamed him. He groaned inwardly, unsure of what to do.  He walked over to Malfoy and awkwardly stood next to him. Slowly and full of uncertainty he placed a hand on the blond boy’s shoulder. He felt him wince under the touch but didn’t shrug his hand away. Harry kept it there for a moment and Malfoy relaxed under the touch.

Malfoy soon stopped shaking and looked up at Harry. His eyes were full of fire but they contained no anger that was from the simple gesture. Harry thought he probably should remove his hand but he kept it there, something making him stay. It felt remarkable to be able to do something as simple as comforting Malfoy without being snapped at for it and without flinching away himself.
 “Sorry,” he almost whispered, not wanting to disturb the peace. “I forgot it would be worse for you.”
 “You seem to be very good at that,” Malfoy said but the words didn’t have any weight behind them. Harry laughed slightly,
 “Yeah,” he agreed quietly. He felt guilty for getting Malfoy upset. He’s been in such a good mood lately and he was glad of this and didn’t want to wreck it. Harry gently squeezed Malfoy’s shoulder in what he hoped was a friendly manner and got back to work.
 “Y’know,” Harry started, “I have an idea about what it’s like.” Malfoy frowned at him but allowed him to continue. “In our fifth year, Ron, Hermione and I set up Dumbledore’s Army. Everyone hated me then and I had to speak in front of them.”
 “Everyone hated you?” Malfoy seemed interested.
 “Yeah, after meeting... Voldemort-” Malfoy winced at the use of the name and Harry found that the word felt foreign on his tongue but he continued regardless. “-in the graveyard, no-one believed me. They were especially angry with me after reading what the Daily Prophet wrote about me. I still hate being the centre of attention.” Harry sighed as he remembered. “Anyway, I know what it’s like and I’m sorry I was so...self-centred.” He smiled at Malfoy who returned it with a twitch of the corner of his mouth.

They slipped back into silence and the bell soon rang. Malfoy made to leave but turned back before he went through the door.
 “If it’s any consolation, I believed you about Vol – You-Know-Who being back, even if no-one else did.” Harry stared after Malfoy with his mouth open. Nothing could have prepared him for that.