somewhere only we belong .h.j.p

four

Twenty four students sit in a classroom, tables organised to be circling the head boy and girl in the middle. Alyce has Draco Malfoy to the left of her and a Slytherin prefect from sixth year on her right. Hermione and Ron are opposite them. Rons shoulders are slouched and his head keeps bobbing, occasionally shaking in an attempt to wake him up, whilst Hermione has her whole attention on the Ravenclaw head girl.

"We both wanted to say," the head girl waves her hand between herself and the Slytherin head boy, "that you've done a great job so far. There hasn't been any reported issues or major causes for concern, so thank you."

"Just to add to that," Alex Nott, Slytherins head boy and Theo's brother, stands up and straightens his tie as he speaks. "Professor Umbridge would like to remind everyone that if any student is caught breaking curfew, to not only inform us, but her as well. She really wants to crack down on misbehaviour in this place."

"Oh that reminds me," the Ravenclaw girl bursts in, "you've got new timetables for your duties." She turns to the table she was leaning against, grabbing a stack of papers, and squinting slightly to read the names.

When Alyce receives hers she sees that, instead of Hermione, she's now ith Draco. "What's with the change?" Alyce asks in a flat voice.

"Professor Umbrige asked us to keep you paired up in your houses," Alex answers, "something about avoiding inter house relationships and what-not."

Alyce shakes her head slightly, baffled by the audacity of the woman. Now she had Friday evenings with Draco Malfoy to look forward to.

Alyce managed to get a moment alone with Harry on wednesday, after an uneventful defence against the dark arts lesson. "Potter!" Alyce shouts trying to catch his attention.

The messy haired boy turns around, his green eyes landing on her form as she stumbles after him. "Alyce, always pleasure," he says, smiling lightly.

"Can you do tonight?" She asks.

"Sorry?" He says, eyebrows scrunching in confusion.

"Potions, can you do tonight?" Alyce repeats.

"Oh," Harry exclaims, his face moulding into understanding. "Yeah course, where?"

"The dungeons, normal rule," Alyce answers. "At seven after dinner? Professor Snape has it down as a tutoring thing so you won't get in trouble or anything."

"That's great," Harry says, his voice still tinted with confusion. "How did you get Snape to agree to that?"

"He's a big softy, deep down," she says jokingly.

"I'll have to see it to believe it,'' Harry replies, chuckling. "Hey, I'll see you at seven, I've gotta run, missing out on a spectacular divination lesson."

"Lets hope you won't be dying this year," she jests, and is rewarded with a hearty laugh as Harry heads to the stairs.

Alyce arrives at the potions classroom before Harry, and sees that it's thankfully empty. She takes this time to extract the extensive list of ingredients needed to make the draught of peace. She debated with the idea of doing an easier potion with Harry, but Snape isnt going to change the difficulty level so why would she?

She was caught up with her task, humming along some random tune to herself, ordering the ingredients in order with the instructions. She was broken out of this state by Harrys loud and authoritative knock on the metal door, making her jump backwards and almost knock over the jar of stewed mandrake.

"Merlin, save me!" Alyce exclaims, hand going to her heat as she looks at Harry, trying to catch her breath.

Harry enters the class, laughing slightly at the Slytherin girl. But his smile falls right from his face when he sees the ingredients Alyce has displayed, recognising the potion they'll be making.

"Alyce," he wines. "Why don't we do something easier?"

"This potion is plenty easy, you just over complicate it," Alyce states, tying up her black hair at the back of her head. "Can you cook?"

"Course I can," Harry says, looking somewhat dumbstruck.

"Good, so you can prepare the ingredients. Luckily for you, they're pre prepared, you can thank Professor Snape for that."

"Professor Snape is the bane of my existence, Alyce," Harry says slightly exasperatedly. "We are mortal enemies."

"You really are dramatic, aren't you Potter?" Alyce mocks. "Really living up to the Slytherin expectations of you."

"Am I really that popular over there?" Harry voices, putting his hand over his heart. "I'm honoured, truly."

Alyce shakes her head at him but a smile is playing upon her lips which she tries to fight. "Start making the potion, golden boy."

The cauldron is already prepped, so the first step for Harry is to add the powdered moonstone.

"So, are you going to reveal your secrets on how you get this right every time?" Harry asks.

"There is no secret to it," Alyce says, huffing slightly at his dubious look. "I'm serious, it's just practice and reading the instructions. But, I do like to move every ingredient away after I've used it, and mark the steps on the recipe, so I don't get confused."

Alyce watches as the younger boy rolls up his sleeves and adds the powdered moonstone. He mutters a quick "wingardium leviosa" and moves the tub to another table, then using his wand to make a mark next to the instructions. He stirs the potion, eyes focused on the cauldron, until it turns a light purple.

"I'd start preparing the next ingredient now. It's just about to turn the colour we need and still has some momentum left to mix it."

The pair continue in this manner for the next half an hour until they need to use the stewed mandrake. "Crush the mandrake with a knife, rather than shake it."

Harry does as she says, and adds it to the cauldron, eyes widening in amazement when the potion instantly turns red, rather than the gradual change. "Why doesn't it just say that in the instructions?"

"You can do it the way it says in the recipe, I just prefer doing it this way. I think shaking it is too harsh and can bruise the mandrake. It can give the potion a weird aftertaste, and you don't really want that when it's supposed to relieve anxiety."

"Do you use this potion a lot?" Harry cautiously asks, his voice quiet.

"Sometimes," she answers, feeling compelled to be honest with the boy. "I have a lot of nightmares."

"Me too," Harry answers, his green eyes meeting Alyce's blue ones. "Especially after last year."

Alyce averts her eyes, wanting to look anywhere then at his sincere face. "It wasn't your fault," she says quietly, not quite trusting her voice to remain steady.

Harry doesn't say anything. Instead, he grips his wand tighter, fingers straining around the holly, and continues with the potion.

The room is encompassed with silence, the two not feeling up for conversation anymore. Harry completes the potion perfectly, and offers a small smile when Alyce rewards Gryffindor five points.

And neither one says anything, when they both take several vials of the Draught of Peace.

I have no idea if Theo actually has a brother but he does now. 

also I love harry so much I just want to wrap him up in bubblewrap.