What Happens After Dark - Drarry

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New word count: 1.7k
Date (re)published: November 6th, 2020
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— Sunday - The Seventh Floor Corridor - 12:47am —

Harry knew that Malfoy was hiding behind the bronze statue of the Minister that had been placed outside of the entrance to the Room of Requirement. There was one of them in every corridor  now, because Umbridge thought the Minister would like to see himself being represented as a...bronze statue?

Anyway, Harry knew where Malfoy was sitting because of his hair. The blond had a head of hair that shone brighter than the moon, almost as its own light source, and he must have been stupid if he thought that he was going to get away with it.

Harry wanted to call him out, and tell him he was an idiot, but he couldn't, because Hermione was there, and she couldn't know that the two of them were being anything more than hateful. If she learned of that, then...Harry didn't know what would happen, but it would be bad. He could imagine intolerance.

He and the other Gryffindor were sitting with their backs against the base of the statue, and, truth be told, this situation that Harry was in—his being in front of the statue that Malfoy was quietly hiding behind—was an interesting one indeed. He wondered how he had gotten to this point in the night. How had he managed to trap Draco Malfoy behind a bronze statue of the Minister?

Harry's only assumption was that Malfoy had been there before Hermione had pulled Harry out into the corridor in the middle of his Dumbledore's Army meeting, and that he was waiting for something. Hopefully nothing bad, of course.

But speaking of Hermione pulling Harry out into the corridor in the middle of his Dumbledore's Army meeting, this was the event that had occurred just before the situation that Harry was in now had been brought to his attention. Hermione had insisted that Ron attempt to take the lead for a moment while she spoke to Harry, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Ron had been stunned within the first fifteen minutes of the lesson, and was currently indisposed.

No matter, because Ron's state was the last thing on Harry's mind. Instead, he was wondering what the hell Malfoy was doing behind the statue, and how he was going to move Hermione out of the way before she saw that Malfoy was there—or sensed him, really.

Harry gave Hermione a strenuous gesture to speak her mind, and she nodded quickly, gesticulating towards her head, where she was supposedly stringing her sentences together. Harry waited patiently—impatiently—for some sort of beginning to their conversation, but was met with only a thinking Hermione and the very very soft and stressed panting of Draco Malfoy, who was hiding behind the fucking statue. Harry cleared his throat to emphasize his wishes to return to his class before it fucking ended, and Hermione took the hint—finally!

"Are you alright?" she asked Harry now, leaning her back delicately along the base of the statue. Her hair—long and soft—flowed slightly onto the cubical structure of the base, contrasting little with the colour of the bronze. Harry would characterize Hermione's hair as a nice brownish-bronze with now-evident darker streaks. It was truly a mass of beauty, and she wore it that way as well.

"Whatever do you mean?" Harry inquired as a response, feigning stupidity.

"I mean are you alright?" she repeated. "You seem upset about something."

"Si—"

"And before you say that it's Sirius, I just wanted to point out that it began with the DA and its operation, not Sirius' death."