Invisible

A Floor Under This One

Harry didn’t sleep well that night, having the same thoughts floating around in his head and having the same dream.

 

He was standing in the corridor, watching something move toward him slowly. It was just about to get closer, the noise it was emitted deafening, but just as it grew close, it was Draco. Draco whipped out his wand and what he uttered, Harry didn’t know.

 

A crashing sound woke him up. It took him a moment to realize where he was and to wipe off his face which was coated in sweat. Slowly, he pulled on his glasses and found his wand, heading toward the common room.

 

It felt like deja vu. Once again, there was nothing in the common room and something could be heard retreating from outside the portrait hole. Climbing out of it, Harry muttered a spell under his breath.

 

“Lumos.”

 

A light shone from the end of his wand as he lit the way this time, eyeing his surroundings. The noise seemed to be heading in the same direction as last time and Harry briefly wondered where it was going. Speeding up, he continued to follow it.

 

“Potter.” The voice startled him and he whirled around to face it.

 

“Potter, you heard it again, didn’t you? Didn’t you?” Draco Malfoy’s thin frame stood almost entirely in the shadows as he spoke, Harry (even with the light his wand casted) had to squint to see him clearly.

 

“Yes”, he replied shortly and Draco was quiet.

 

“What was that?”

 

“What is that, you mean? I can still hear it...”

 

“Where IS it going”, Draco whispered harshly and Harry remained silent.

 

“I don’t know.” Draco was quiet once more.

“Is it dangerous”, he finally asked. Then, he snorted, as if trying to make up for that fact that he’d just asked that.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Because if it is, I’m sure The Oh So Great Potter can handle it”, Draco provoked.

 

“Reckon so”, was all Harry replied with. Draco opened his mouth to say something else, when a loud crack sounded and startled him into Harry’s arms.

 

Harry blinked a bit and looked down at the blond boy who muttered angrily to himself. Draco collected himself and shoved Harry over.

 

“Malfoy?”

 

“Nothing. It was nothing.” Harry couldn’t help, but snicker, and Draco did not seem pleased by that, though he did not try to uselessly deny what he had done.

 

“You’re unbearable, Potter”, he retaliated. Harry shrugged.

 

“What can I say?”

 

“Sh.”

 

“Hey, don’t shush me...”

 

“No, sh, do you hear that”, Draco asked intently, listening and straining to hear a distancing noise.

 

“Hear what”, Harry whispered quietly, trying to hear whatever it was Draco was referencing.

 

“It’s that...that strange clicking noise again...and...” Draco lowered himself onto the ground, pressing his ear to it.

 

“Is it...is it coming from below us?”

 

“That’s impossible, Draco. There’s no dungeon or floor below this particular area...”

 

“Potter, I’m serious. Listen for yourself if you don’t believe me!” Harry sighed irritably and knelt down, pressing his own ear to the cold ground. He didn’t hear anything.

 

“Nothing.” He stood up slowly.

 

“Come on, Malfoy, we’ve been out here long enough. You need your ears checked.”

Malfoy didn’t reply. He merely scoffed.