Kiss Me Not || Drarry

Part 8

The dorm was entirely silent when he returned and Harry didn't have the energy to consider waking his friends. He felt bone tired but couldn't sleep, spending hours staring at the dark hangings of his bed. His mind kept going round and round in endless loops that only seemed more tangled and convoluted the more he thought about them.

He didn't wake when the dorm did, or when the alarm he set went off the first time, or second, or third. He dragged himself up at the fourth, saw how late it was and threw some clothes on, doing only the bare minimum to get ready before rushing down to the great hall in hope of getting something to eat before breakfast was over. Harry ran into Ron and Hermione coming out of the great hall just as he was about to go in.

Ron threw one arm over Harry's shoulders and dragged Harry along with them. Ron's other hand held a bacon sandwich which he pushed at Harry. "So what was all that then?" Ron asked, nodded back towards the hall.

"Mph?" Harry muttered around a bite of sandwich.

"The announcement, mate," Ron said impatiently, tugging Harry a little closer, "We let you sleep in, seeing as you got in late, thinking things were going well and then this whole thing-"

"You're really going to let the whole school kiss you?" Hermione picked up the thread of conversation, "I can't imagine Malfoy taking it well, did he? I thought things between the two of you were improving."

Harry sighed, swallowed down a lump of suddenly very dry toast and told them, "I was going to tell him. Everything went tits up before I had the chance."

Ron pulled Harry to a stop.

"What happened?" Hermione asked quietly, coming around in front of Harry, touching his arm lightly.

"I don't know." Harry shook his head, "I don't get it myself."

"Tell us then," Ron said.

Harry hesitated.

Hermione said, "We've helped before. Maybe we can see something you missed."

Harry nodded, more to convince himself than anything. He closed his eyes, telling them everything he could remember, especially what happened at the end when Harry had lost the plot entirely.

Both his friends were frowning in confusion when he looked at them. Harry sighed again, pushing his hand through his hair.

"I think you'd better just ask him," Ron said with a shrug.

Hermione's frown deepened.

High up in the castle the massive bronze bell sounded the hour.

"I'm going to class," Harry said flatly, pulling away from them and heading for Charms, forcing himself to eat a few more bites of a tasteless sandwich before he threw the rest away.

Draco never came to class.

Harry took about three sentences worth of notes during both his classes, none of which he remembered writing down. He dumped everything haphazardly back into his bag, still trying to shove it all inside in a single crumpled mess when he felt a hand grab him by the arm and begin towing him down the hallway.

"H-Hermione?" Harry said to the back of the fluffy brown hair.

She glanced back at him, her grip never loosening, "Hurry up."

"Shouldn't you have been in class?" Harry asked, trying to keep up and keep everything in his bag at the same time.

"Runes," She said shortly, "I finished early and asked to be excused. Was Malfoy in Charms with you?"