Nightmare | Drarry | English

Chapter 13

Draco felt more and more nervous with every passing minute of the day that had begun tense. He didn't see Harry at breakfast. They didn't have classes together all day. That meant he would only see him in the evening. He knew he didn't have afternoon classes, but since Harry usually spent that time with his friends, he wouldn't see him until he got back to his room. He didn't even know why he wanted to see him so badly. He just couldn't stop thinking about the note, and something told him he had to be there for Harry. Knowing that he couldn't do that made him feel like a bomb ready to explode. There wasn't a friend he hadn't scolded all day long. His friends knew that this mood was a sign to stay away from him, so they didn't approach him, but Draco had found a way to take it out on them.

After his own classes were over, he returned to the dormitory without lingering. Harry was gone. For Draco, this meant anger mixed with disappointment. His anger was at himself, and he wasn't sure of the source of his disappointment. Then again, what emotion was he sure of anymore? Any one of them, for any reason, could come from Harry and there was no way he could stop it. This was where Draco had come full circle. What he felt was caused by nothing more than the bloody bond between them.

He didn't want to wait in the room for Harry to arrive, so he decided to go into the common room. Hermione was trying to pull Ron by the arm when he came in.

"We'll just look," Hermione said.

"He'll kill us!"

"We won't be seen. I just want to see how they're doing."

They both fell silent as Draco walked past them, heading for the exit of the common room. "Harry's going to kill us," was the last thing he heard Ron say as they left. That was enough for him. Without thinking, as if his goal was to get out of the common room anyway, he walked on and followed them. After several minutes of following them as far as he could without losing sight of them, he found himself on his way to the Quidditch pitch. When he realised that was the destination, he changed his path. There weren't many people on the way to the pitch, and if the people ahead of him looked back for a moment, he would be caught. It was best to take another route.

-

Nathaniel was sitting in the middle of the pitch when Harry arrived there, despite his indecision after his classes were over. He grinned as he made his way towards him. "Hufflepuff's in trouble if you're like this at games," he shouted.

When Nathaniel looked up to see Harry, he stood up quickly. "I wasn't sure you'd come."

"Quidditch isn't one of those things I can lose interest in," he replied, thinking of how he had lost interest when Draco had stopped playing. But that was a very different situation.

"Then," he smiled, handing him one of the two broomsticks on the floor. "Let's get started."

Harry nodded as he took the broomstick. "Time to show your skills, Nate."

After hearing 'Nate' with a little smile on his face, he lifted the Snitch in his hand and released it. "I hope the youngest Seeker of the century won't be too hard on a rookie like me."

"No promises." Harry grinned as he leapt onto the broomstick and soared. He flew to one end of the pitch, then turned his gaze to Nathaniel and began to study his flying style. He knew the Snitch wouldn't be easy to spot. "Is that really the best you can do?" he shouted at the Hufflepuff, who was flying across the pitch at a slower pace.

"I can't let you learn my limits so quickly," Nathaniel shouted. "I'm giving myself an advantage."

"Good move," Harry said. "But I'm not sure it'll be enough." Harry was so familiar with the Snitch's sound that he reflexively followed it as soon as it passed him. When Nathaniel realised what was happening, he changed direction and flew towards him, much to Harry's surprise. When they were close together, the Snitch took off and they began to fly upwards with nimble movements. As they soared until the Quidditch pitch was tiny below them, the Snitch disappeared from sight.