What Happens After Dark - Drarry

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New word count: 3.5k
Date (re)published: November 1st, 2020
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— Monday - the Great Hall - 7:26am —

They'd been back at Hogwarts for nearly three weeks now. The year had begun with a terrible grievance, and ever since then, Harry had been down in the dumps, entirely and completely, and though his friends noticed, they couldn't do much.

Sirius had passed on after a cold winter of living alone with Buckbeak. It had come out of nowhere, almost completely unfathomable even now that it had since passed. When the news had come in through the window of the Burrow's kitchen, Harry had stared at the lettering in front of him until the morning turned to night, and the night faded to sleep. When he had awoken again, he didn't feel awake. He didn't feel awake even now.

There was a feeling of slight pressure below the surface of Harry's forehead. It was there, 'neath his famous scar, that this 'pressure' grew. It started as a faint, dull hum, a disturbance unlikely to do any real harm. But then, as the morning had progressed, the faint, dull hum had become a strong, pulsing pain that resembled stabbing to an unpleasant tee.

Harry was sat now at the designated Gryffindor table in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, listening to the agonizing sound of Ronald Weasley chomping on some warm toast. Harry's brain felt like it was trying to rip its way out of his skull, and with every small sound of teeth gnashing, or crust crunching, it grew worse still.

Harry lifted his head from where it had been set in his arms against the cool surface of the table. He peered around, absorbing the other noises of the hall. There were sounds of light chatter, sounds of laughter, or playful banter. There was the sound of silverware scratching plates, goblets being clanked down onto tabletops, chairs at the faculty table being pulled and pushed in and out of their respective spots as more people joined for breakfast. Harry let out a frustrated groan, dropping his head back down to the table as he danced the edge between screaming and crying, or slamming his fist down and yelling.

Hermione Granger, who had just begun to set herself down onto the long bench opposite Harry, looked up at this sound. Harry peeked out from under his arms, catching her eyes and he shamefully hid the rest of his face. He knew what she would ask him. She would ask if he was alright, and then when he told her what was going on, she would tell him to go and see Dumbledore, who could do absolutely nothing about Harry's fucking headaches.

"Harry, dear," she spoke softly and lovingly, accepting a crumby kiss on the cheek from Ron simultaneously. She winced as a few tiny specks of toast fell from their place on Ron's mouth and onto the sleeve of her shirt, but didn't comment—though it looked like her voluntary silence was killing her. "What's wrong?"

"Shut up," Harry grumbled, furrowing his eyebrows in what he hoped was an intimidating way. He really couldn't be bothered to apologise for his small outburst, and hoped that his facial expressions could be enough to set her off of asking any further queries.

Hermione huffed in reply, and sprinkled some sugar into her tea. Harry watched as it swirled around before dropping granule after granule to the bottom of her teacup. Hermione picked up her spoon carefully from where it sat on the table, and began to stir, cautious to avoid clinking the rim. Harry could tell that she knew of his headache just from the solemn expression that tainted her normally jocund face, but he could also tell that she was expecting some sort of apology from him.

Just to be safe, Harry mumbled an awkward apology, and went back to suffering.

Ron—having finally vanquished the last of the evil toast from the platter nearest to him—inserted himself into the conversation. "He's been like this all day, love," he told Hermione, giving her a smile that reached his eyes like no other. He added, "Don't take it personally," for good measure, before focusing his attention elsewhere, and onto some poor, innocent Belgian waffles with a small pot of melted chocolate next to them.