Aftermath (Drarry)

Chapter 15: "It Reminds Me Of The War"

A/N: Hello sorry for the slow update I'm in the middle of an identity crisis right now. Also, I'm going on holiday this weekend so I don't know when the next chapter will be up. Hopefully, it won't be too long.

Also trigger warning for homophobia in this chapter.

Also I made a discord server even though literally only one person said they would like that. Here's the link: https://discord.gg/Ue3ypF3 Come and be friends with me pls :)

DRACO:

Draco was doing his best to avoid Potter. There was no way he was going to let his feelings develop. He had been avoiding the Room of Requirement completely and so instead he was spending a lot of time in the library, which wasn't ideal. One thing he couldn't get off his mind was what Potter had said about his type: quidditch players. He was also desperate to find out who else Potter had had a crush on that he had not disclosed when asked. Draco had always figured that he had never had any secret crushes, since he could probably get whoever he wanted to date him, being Harry Potter and all. Despite being sure that Potter was straight and would not be interested in him even if he wasn't, there was a tiny part of Draco that still had hope, no matter how hard he tried to shut it down. He had decided his best hope was to reject any attempts Potter made to make conversation with him (which he seemed to be doing often). If Potter left him alone maybe Draco could get over his crush in peace.

Of course, avoiding Potter would have been a whole lot easier if they didn't have lessons together. Draco was currently sat in Defence Against the Dark Arts trying to listen to Professor Bladderwort talk about shield charms rather than look at the back of Potter's head. Professor Bladderwort was a wizened old witch. She was a retired Auror and had agreed to come and teach temporarily until a longer-term teacher could be found (a lot of the possible teachers were not yet convinced that the jinx on the position had been lifted). She was a reasonable enough teacher, but Draco felt that she tended to favour the non-Slytherins in the class.

"Now I would like you all to split into pairs and practise your shield charms. Make sure not to use spells that are too nasty, we don't want anyone to get hurt if their shield isn't up to scratch."

Draco partnered up with Blaise and they took turns shooting mild jinxes at each other while the other tried to block them with a shield charm. They were somewhat successful: by the end of Draco's first turn, he had only fallen victim to a few jelly-legs jinxes and Blaise had done only slightly worse. Defence Against the Dark Arts had never been one of Draco's strongest subjects – he hadn't really thought it worth his time – but he had always got by with decent marks.

He looked around the room at the other pairs. Most of the pairs seemed to be doing similar to him and Blaise. Some of them, mainly the Gryffindors in the class, seemed to be having absolutely no trouble with the task. Potter and Weasley looked like they were barely even doing the exercise, they were chatting lazily between their spells.

"Those two are just showing off now," said Blaise, following Draco's gaze. "They obviously think this is beneath them."

They continued with their assignment for a while longer before Bladderwort called for them all to stop. "That's great work you're all doing but you won't always have so much warning before needing your shield charm so we're going to progress into proper duelling now." She settled back into the chair behind her desk. "Carry on."

Draco and Blaise duelled for a while; Draco landed noticeably more spells on Blaise than vice versa. As they were duelling, Draco snatched a glance at Potter. He and Weasley were dancing around each other, casting at a furious speed. Potter clearly had superior duelling skills but, surprisingly, Weasley was keeping up with him. Their duel was captivating, but Draco noticed that Potter's face was twisted into a grimace.