Falling for You - Drarry

Chapter 3

We have a really interesting assignment in charms.

It involves partners, and as fate would have it, mine was (shockingly, I know) Potter.

Supposedly, you are locked in a very dark, completely black room with no wands to see if you can get out. Basically, an escape room. Then, you have trial two with wands to see how much more quickly you can escape. It is graded on time. There are also requirements you must meet within the room to escape the room. Interesting.

Today is trial one.

Potter and I stand in front of the door, waiting until we can go in. I glance at him. "Scared, Potter?"

To my surprise, he answers honestly. "A little. Never been a huge fan of the dark."

This honest answer surprises me so much that I don't know what to say. "Oh," is all I manage.

We stand in uncomfortable silence until the door swings open. I grin. "Good luck Potter!"

"Yeah, thanks," he says, sounding a little distant.

We enter the dark room. Despite knowing how black it would be, my eyes are somehow still startled by the sudden darkness. Potter takes in a rattling breath. I turn around, reaching toward the door, and I feel my hand connect with the doorknob. I try it.

It doesn't work. (Shocking, I know)

I feel above the door. There's one lock, and presumably one on the door handle. So we're looking for two keys.

"Potter," I say.

"Mmm?" comes his strained reply.

"We're looking for two keys."

"Okay," he says shakily, and I'm momentarily concerned. Then I shake it off. It's Potter. What do I care?

I walk forward slowly, trying to get a feel for the size of the room. Soon enough, my toe bumps into something. I stretch out my arms. The surface is slightly squishy, and long. I feel the sides, which feel like armrests. So this is probably a couch. I reached underneath the couch cushions, searching for a key, but my hands came back empty. I flopped down on the couch, sighing.

The room was silent except for Potter's quick breaths. "Are you going to help?" I ask him snappily.

"No, I'm reserving all of my helpfulness for when Voldemort comes." comes the terse reply.

I regard the darkness, trying to figure out if he's joking or not.

"Yeah, I'll help," he eventually says, sounding a little bit amused.

"Good," I say, and get up from the couch. Of course, I've taken not two steps forward when I stumble right into Potter, my hands hitting him on the chest. I pull my hands away quickly.

"Sorry," I mutter. Sorry? Sorry? Why am I apologizing to Potter? Why was he standing there? I smack myself mentally.

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As soon as we entered the dark room, my heart rate quadrupled.

I couldn't shake the thought that we were alone in a dark and probably soundproof room. And Malfoy had been... acting differently towards me recently. I wished the thought would go away. It was a dumb thought. Really, really dumb. I did my best to shove it to the back of my head, where it would hopefully vanish.

Suddenly, from the darkness, I hear, "Potter?"

I open my mouth to speak and then settle on a strangled, "Mmm?"

"We're looking for two keys."

I take a shaky breath, "Okay," I say, hearing my voice tremble. What's wrong with me?