I'm Coming For You, Draco Malfoy!

Routine

We slipped into an easy routine. Harry had a singularly nasty habit where he'd wake very early and would slip quietly from the room to go for his morning swim. I thought it was unhealthily unnatural to get up so early. I also didn't like to think of him swimming in the freezing water of a Scottish loch but he said he used warming charms and he wore a wet suit that he'd hang in the Slytherin shower room. I'd invariably wake later to find Harry already studying at his desk, hunched over his books on Ancient Runes or revising History of Magic. He'd stolen my old Quidditch jumper and he'd wear it after his morning shower with his messy hair thrown up into an untidy wet bun. I would lie in my bed, watching him, studying the arch of his back, the way he clasped his quill, listening to the scratch of the nib against his parchment. Still wanting to kiss his neck and wondering what was holding me back from saying something.

'I know you're awake,' he would mumble after a while.

'You're up early,' I would reply even though it was the same every morning.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.'

'You didn't,' I would lie. He was never noisy but I'd still wake slowly as I became aware of his presence in the room.

He was usually working because he had an essay to finish or something he needed to revise. He worked surprisingly hard, especially considering the rumours about how much he'd relied on Granger before the war. And I was constantly astonished at how far advanced he was with both subjects considering he'd missed a year of his N.E.W.T.s and hadn't even studied Runes at O.W.L. level. It turned out that during his summer at Hogwarts Harry had not only helped with the rebuild but he'd had one-to-one tuition with Professor Babbling and Professor Binns. McGonagall would help too.

Harry's extra tuition carried on into term time too and he'd come back to the room in the evenings to find Pansy using his desk and Leighton, Tobs, Jenny, and Snakelet lounging in the beanbags by the fire. He often found Hermione and Ron in our room too. Sometimes Luna and Ginevra had joined the party, though Ginevra was slightly harsh with me despite standing up for me. I didn't dare ask what had gone on with her dorm-mates after the incident in the corridor.

Worryingly, Ginevra also got on hideously well with Pansy and I'm sure there was a vague bit of flirting between them. I wondered what Blaise would make of that. Probably want a threesome, knowing him. I thought of his admittance to having a crush on Ginevra at the beginning of the sixth year and snorted quietly to myself.

Harry took to calling in at the kitchens on the way back from his tuition sessions to pick up freshly made biscuits or cakes to snack on. I invested in a Muggle kettle for the room so we could make hot drinks. The group expanded to include Elsie, Frank, and Abdul from the second year, and Richie and Toshi from the fourth year. Then Eduard, Emilia, and Desi from the sixth year joined the fray and my bedside table and drawers were also transfigured into another set of beanbags and our room started to become a second common room until we'd throw everyone out because we needed to study and it became too noisy. Sometimes the younger ones would have a study group there too, quietly working away at their homework and occasionally asking for help. I became the go-to for Potions, Pansy for Arithmancy, Hermione for absolutely everything, and Harry for D.A.D.A. Ron started a supply chain for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products but it turned out he was pretty good at Charms too.

Slowly the Slytherins came to accept Harry and trust him and I was treated with respect again from within my House, though I recognised it was a different kind of respect. I knew it was mostly because Harry Potter was there for me. Rumour still abounded through the school that we were boyfriends. Harry just walked through it all, ignoring the clouds of gossips that circled around us. I knew he was more than used to it and I followed his lead. Pansy took to linking arms with one of us as if parading her gay bestfriends proudly to the school and letting everyone know she was in the Chosen One's inner sanctum – which was exactly what she was doing.