Mamihlapinatapai

Chilling Chamber⋆｡°✩

Atlas laid in bed, trying to sleep. He played with the glass bottle that hung around his neck. He sighed and slowly crept out of bed, making sure not to wake anyone, and left the dorm. Despite knowing it was way past curfew, he still left the common room. He quietly walked through the corridors and ended up outside.

He found himself sitting on the edge of the Black Lake. He stared at the shiny dark water, the moonlight reflecting off of the surface. He threw rocks into it and watched as the water rippled. The wind picked up, causing Atlas to shiver. He was only in a shirt and sweats.

"Hey."

Atlas jumped, almost falling into the lake. A hand grabbed the back of his shirt, helping steady him.

"Sorry if I scared you." The person sat down next to Atlas. He looked over and saw those two forest-green eyes staring back at him. "I see you like your present." He looked at Atlas' neck to see him still playing with the bottle.

"You know, you make it impossible to hate you," Atlas said, turning back toward the lake.

"Do you want to hate me?"

"Yes," Atlas answered quickly. He hugged his legs against his chest and tried to ignore the burning sensation in his eyes.

"Why?"

"I'm a Lestrange and you're a Potter. We're supposed to hate each other."

"Like I said last year, no one's opinion should matter."

Atlas sighed and laid down on the grass. Harry followed. Atlas pointed up. "You see that cluster of stars? That's Taurus. And you see that star on the left? That's Atlas."

"You're named after a star?"

"My whole family is. On my mom's side. Every generation was named after a star or constellation. And you see that constellation? That's Draco, the dragon."

Harry stared at the sky in awe. Atlas spent the rest of the night pointing out the different stars and constellations to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The chilly February air made Atlas shiver as he went with his fellow Slytherins to the stands to watch the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff match. The players began mounting their brooms, when McGonagall came rushing out onto the pitch, carrying a megaphone.

"This match has been canceled."

"What?" Draco questioned.

"All students are to make their way back to the House common rooms, where their Heads of House will give them further information. As quickly as you can, please!"

"What's going on?" Blaise asked.

"There was probably another attack," Atlas said. He felt his gut drop when McGonagall left with Ron and Harry. He suspected who the victim was.

When they arrived in the common room, they stood in the back corner. Professor Snape walked in and started blabbing about how we can't leave.

Draco groaned. "Now what are we supposed to do?" Blaise shrugged and they all walked to the boys' dorm.

"Can I have that paper?" Atlas asked. Draco gave him a strange look but took it off his nightstand and handed it to him. Atlas thanked him and slipped it into his pocket.

They played a few rounds of Wizards Chess, then messed around. Truth or dare, would you rather, anything to keep them busy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later, Atlas went to the hospital wing. It was during lunch, so Madam Pomfrey was in her office. Atlas snuck in and walked to Hermione. He slipped the piece of paper from Draco into her hand. He wrote 'Pipes' on it, hopefully helping the boys out. He quickly snuck back out and went to the owlery. He gave a random owl a small piece of paper. "Give this to Harry Potter, please." He pet the bird and it flew off. He walked out of the owlery and went to the empty classroom on the fourth floor. He sat on a table for half an hour until the door opened. Harry walked inside.