Everything Black | Harry Potter

15. Game to Lose

Exams were finished – their last being History of Magic – and Harry found himself outside.

The others, Hermione, Ron and Neville, had already gone inside, Harry having begged off in favour of 'enjoying the freedom' for a bit longer. It wasn't exactly a lie, as although the exams hadn't been hard for the time-traveling wizard, he did want to enjoy the rest of the day in peace before tonight's insanity.

From where he lounged under a tree, Harry looked up and breathed deeply, emotions sitting lightly in his chest like a cat curled up in the sun. In that moment he could ignore ever constant fire in his scar with practiced ease. With the cloudless sky streaked by brilliant orange, the sun just beginning to sink and giving a new light to the lush landscape, Harry could just be for a second.

The eerie, stressed mood over castle seemed no longer there, the foreboding aura having lessened in the face of exams being over. It wasn't gone, of course, but it was mostly overshadowed by celebration.

Harry's lips curved into a small smile and closed his eyes, face titled to the sky, peace settling in his bones.

It was a mistake on everyone's part to relax their guards, but Harry wasn't complaining – it made his and Draco's job much easier.

It was time.

That night, after making sure everyone was sleeping and wouldn't wake up 'til he got back that morning – thank you Sleeping Charms – Harry donned his cloak and left for third floor corridor.

Within a few minutes, he was there, the door already ajar and Draco leaning casually against the wall next to it. Harry could already hear the faint melody of a harp and muffled, huffing breathes from inside.

"You ready?" asked Harry, slipping off the cloak and bundling into his satchel. He fiddled with the rune etched leather band he'd made in preparation for the night.

Draco scoffed, uncrossing his arms (revealing his own matching leather band) and patting his own bag of essentials. "Do you really feel the need to ask?"

He couldn't quite hide the tremble in his hand.

Neither could Harry.

Though they knew what they were facing, any manner of things could go wrong. Perhaps this time they can't get past the chess board, or maybe they'd have to actually fight the troll. There was the high probability that Harry incorrectly remembered the correct potion to Snape's riddle (it'd been 7 years, okay? Frankly, it'd been a miracle he could remember as much as he had).

"You sure you made the right potions?"

Draco pushed off the wall and stared at him flatly.

"Potter," he drawled, "open the door."

Harry pushed open the door.

The creak of un-oiled hinges was drowned out by the low, rumbling growls of Fluffy. Even through the haze of sleep, all three of his noses flared madly in their direction.

Draco paled.

"Merlin's saggy. . ." he whispered, glancing nervously at the harp by the Cerberus's feet. "You said it wakes up the moment the music stops?"

Harry hummed in affirmation, busy concentrating on carefully levitating Fluffy's paw off the trap door, pausing every time the dog twitched.

"Right," said Draco under his breath, aiming his wand at the harp and casting an additional Musicorum at it, "just in case."

He could physically feel Harry biting back his smile, but he decided to take the higher moral ground and not hex him for it. They'll see who's laughing when they don't have to deal with an awake and angry Cerberus after all is said and done when they escape.