Please Be There If I Remember

Chapter Forty: Pandemonium

After the hug, Draco was actually able to produce a few measly wisps from his wand. Which, considering the progress he had made before—there had been none—this was a huge improvement. Once he deduced that he should probably stop since thinking so much about Harry for the fact that he was literally his happy memory and if he thought about him anymore he might just turn around and kiss the boy, the two had stopped practising the Patronus charm.

Draco was just glad his feet stayed where they were this time because he could explain a hug away, but he wasn't sure he could explain why he had suddenly leaned forward and kissed Harry without sounding like an utter idiot.

He realised that maybe this crush was a lot larger than he had made it out to be, and the rest of his waking thoughts were filled with Harry this and Harry that.

Draco was sure that even Pansy was getting suspicious.

Theo looked like he was already suspecting something, and Draco noted later to himself that he shouldn't have been surprised when the boy cornered him in their room.

"So," he started, stopping Draco as he was about to leave the room. Blaise had already left a while ago to go wherever Blaise went in the mornings—Draco had yet to figure it out. "Don't think I haven't noticed you sneaking out at night."

Draco didn't freeze mid-step, but it was a close thing.

He glanced back at him, trying to appear as if he was bored. "Is a man not allowed to go for walks in the middle of the night?"

"It is if the man in question is walking to something in particular," Theo said. He then sighed to himself. "Look, Draco. I don't care if you have some secret rendezvous or whatever with someone. Actually, I encourage it; it's about bloody time," he chided with a roll of his eyes. "But seriously, I'm worried for you. If you get caught out at night, Umbridge isn't going to be as lenient as she was last time."

Draco curled his fists at the name. He was just glad he didn't have defence that day, or he may not have enough willpower to refrain from punching the witch right where that nasty yellow-teeth smile lay.

"Thanks for the warning, Theo," he responded with a dangerous smile as if he wasn't aware of the consequences. "But I don't need it."

He moved back to the door, school bag already over his shoulder. When he opened it, he didn't miss Theo's words, spoken out into the dorm. "Just don't be mad when I say I told you so."

Draco shut the door on his face.

~*"*~

He was sitting at his desk, listening to Professor Vector drone on about something, when a loud boom echoed and shook the castle. It seemed for a moment as if the walls of the building had broken off its foundation and rattled its bricks like a toy in a baby's hands. The windows in the room quivered, and Professor Vector instantly stopped what she was saying. She turned back to the class from where she had been pacing back and forth on the dais in her rant about arithmancy, her eyebrows furrowed.

Everyone in the class stopped taking notes and all peered up at the same time, glancing around at each other in question. Most people were too afraid of the professor's stark glare to say anything, but once one person started whispering to their friend behind them, the whole class erupted in chatter and even a few stood up out of their seats as if they were about to run outside to see what the sound had been all about.

The same person who had taken the liberty of speaking out first, also shot out of their chair, shouting, "Freedom!" Before running out of the classroom and into the pandemonium that had sprouted outside.

Professor Vector was unable to stop the rest of the class from following suit, quills dropped and ink bottles splashing to the floor in their haste to see what the noise and the commotion was. Draco followed behind them diligently, although not before grabbing his notes and his bag. He wasn't a savage, after all.