𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 | Harry James Potter x Reader

YR 6 ☆•°~'* 06

❈🌠➵9¾♌ ⚯ 🗲━━━━━★. *･｡ﾟ✧⁺

Y/N suddenly woke up hours later and found that he was not in the common room where he had fallen asleep, but in the boys' dormitory. He sat up and pulled the hangings around his bed open to see that the room was deserted. 

Sunlight was spilling into the circular dormitory through the windows. Y/N checked his watch and saw that it was nine in the morning. Wondering why neither Hermione, Ron nor Harry woke him the previous night, he got out of bed and went down to check the common room.

They were not there. Assuming they had all gone down to breakfast, Y/N climbed out of the portrait hole and set off for the Great Hall. 

When he arrived there and scanned the long Gryffindor table for any of the three familiar faces, he was disappointed once again to see that none of them was there. Feeling an odd sense of foreboding, he walked to where Ginny was sitting.

'Hi, Ginny,' said Y/N.

'Good morning, Y/N,' said Ginny. 'Happy birthday!' 

Y/N blinked. He had forgotten that it was his birthday and made a mental note to check the girls' dormitory to see whether he had received any presents there.

'Thanks,' said Y/N, smiling. 'Have you seen Harry and the others?'

'They were here for breakfast,' said Ginny slowly. 'And then I think they went out for some fresh air...'

'Right, thanks-'

And without bothering to eat any breakfast, Y/N went out to the grounds. He walked around for almost a quarter of an hour for any sign of Harry, Ron or Hermione, but none of them were there. 

Feeling increasingly worried, he went back inside the castle. He checked the common room again, but there was still no sign of them. Y/N slumped onto an armchair by the fire and stared into it blankly for a few minutes, wondering where on earth they could be. 

It wasn't until halfway through the afternoon that Harry, Ron and Hermione decided to show their faces when they climbed through the portrait hole. Y/N jumped to his feet at once, half-annoyed and half-relieved to see that they were all right.

'There you are!' he said, walking over to them. The three of them froze. 'I've been looking all over for you - where have you been?'

Hermione and Ron looked at each other, then at Harry, then back at each other. But none of them looked at Y/N in the face. Harry seemed to find the painting behind Y/N very interesting.

'What's up with you-?'

Quite abruptly, Harry walked right past Y/N as though he hadn't seen him, and went to sit by the fire. Ron hurried after him. Hermione gave Y/N a sorry look before following her two friends. 

Y/N felt his heart drop into his stomach and his smile flipped upside down. He watched as Hermione and Ron talked among themselves in hushed voices, while Harry pulled out his Transfiguration homework and pored over it. 

Y/N was absolutely stunned. No 'happy birthday', not even a 'hello', not a single word from any of them. Y/N's brain was working hard to remember what could have possibly happened to make his friends act like this towards him, but nothing came to mind. They were all behaving absolutely fine the previous night. 

What had gone wrong?

Y/N could not find it in him to go over and talk to them, and anyway, he wouldn't beg for their attention. 

So he turned right around and climbed out through the portrait hole without looking back, and went to find Ginny.

Part of him thought that Harry, Ron and Hermione were planning some sort of surprise for Y/N's birthday. Another part thought that it was just some sort of unfunny joke they were playing on him.