Aftermath (Drarry)

Chapter 18: "Malfoys Don't Blush Or Giggle"

A/N: Written with absolutely no mention of Harry's weird chest monster.

DRACO:

As Draco left the Room of Requirement, he had to fight to keep tears from leaking from his eyes. He walked quietly back to the dungeons, thoughts swirling in his head about Harry. Fortunately, the common room was very busy when he arrived, so he was able to slip into his dormitory without being spotted by his friends, who were sat in a corner talking. The dorm was empty, so he quickly got ready for bed. Then he closed the curtains around the bed and settled in to write in his journal.

What was I thinking making friends with Harry, and talking to him about careers and futures? We can never be friends, let alone anything more, if all our conversations end badly like that one did. I don't want to talk or even think about the war or my old ways of bullying, and yet every conversation we have seems to end like that. But I swear I felt something between us when I touched his arm. I'm not quite sure what it was I felt, but it felt good. And Harry said he'd only gone there to talk to me. Why is he so intent on getting to know me better? What does it mean?

I'm conflicted. On one hand, I want to distance myself from Harry Potter and all the bad memories he triggers. On the other hand, I want to get so much closer to him.

Draco heard Blaise and Theo come into the room, deep in conversation, and he decided it was time to go to sleep.

He was walking down a long, dark corridor. His heart was racing. The walls were all black and there were no doors or windows in sight. He couldn't see the end of the corridor. He looked behind him. He couldn't see where he had come from. Part of him wanted to speed up – to get out of there as soon as possible. The other part of him suspected that wherever he was heading was not somewhere he would rather be. He found that he didn't seem to have a choice: his legs kept moving regardless of whether he wanted them to or not. He walked and walked for hours, his surroundings never changing.

The end of the corridor appeared out of nowhere. It was a dark mahogany door which Draco recognised from the Manor. His body pushed the door open against his mind's will and stepped inside.

The room was dark and cold. Draco knew He was there even though he couldn't see Him. As he made his way into the room, his wand lit up, illuminating a heap on the ground that appeared to be shaking – it was a person.

"Draco," said His high-pitched serpentine voice from the darkness. "You know what to do."

Draco tried to fight as his body lifted his wand and his mouth spoke the curse. "Crucio." The heap on the floor screamed and Draco screamed along with it.

"Draco," someone was saying. "Draco." Draco's eyes finally focussed, and he saw Blaise's head poking through the curtains. "Are you okay? You were screaming."

Draco felt embarrassment flood through him. The last thing he needed was his Slytherin peers thinking him weak.

"I'm fine," he snapped. "Leave me alone." Blaise scowled and pulled the curtain shut.

Draco heard Blaise get back into bed and shut his own curtains. He tried to remember the nightmare that had woken him – and the rest of the room – in the middle of the night, but the details were already slipping away. He remembered being in the Manor and the Dark Lord being there. And he remembered the searing pain of the cruciatus curse. He reached for his watch and looked at the time. 4:30. He knew he would never be able to get back to sleep now so he retrieved his book from his bag and settled back in bed to read it.

At breakfast the next morning, Draco ate in silence, barely listening to his friends' conversation. He was aware of them exchanging glances with each other, but nobody mentioned the previous night. As he was eating, he noticed Harry walk into the Great Hall. He watched him as he and his friends made their way through the room. Harry was trailing behind the small group and seemed to be looking along the Slytherin table as he walked – looking for him, Draco realised. Harry finally spotted him, and they made eye contact. There was something intense about it that Draco couldn't place but then Harry looked away and sat down where Draco could no longer see him.