apples and scented candles • h.potter ✓

• thirty-three •

Corben hurried through the large Ministry corridors, a growing worry settling inside his chest.

He'd gone into the Auror office during lunch break but Harry hadn't been there. He did find Ron, who had expressed his concern and said that Harry has been skipping work frequently lately and would Corben go and check on him?

Corben promised that he would, of course, and returned to the training hall to continue practising his defensive spells.

Thankfully, he was able to leave earlier than usual. They did not have a fixed time for their training. Instead, Audra decided when they could leave depending on their progress. Corben, being moderately good at shooting spells was allowed to depart for the day with a humongous amount of homework.

When he reached Harry's apartment, he hesitated for a minute. They had parted on rather unfriendly terms yesterday, with Corben storming off with a twisted ankle and Harry calling for him from behind. Corben would have felt bad about it afterwards had he not been distracted by the news that Blaise brought him - that Theo had left.

But he felt ashamed now. What he had done was stupid. Harry had only wanted to give him a good experience. So what if he was slightly misinformed about what constituted a good day in Corben's books? He was still learning. They both were.

Corben rubbed his foot on the floor. His ankle didn't hurt. Last night, he had felt a sharp pain when going to bed, but he'd woken in the morning with a foot as good as new. Still, he felt slight discomfort and he wasn't applying as much pressure on the foot. He raised a fist and rang the doorbell.

There didn't seem to be anyone inside. There was no sound of someone moving and the peephole showed only darkness. He shuffled, worry gnawing at his chest. He rang again and also knocked for good measure. This time, he heard Harry's voice, distant and fatigued. "Hold on," it said.

Relief swept through Corben as he stepped back. The light turned on inside as Harry opened the door. He blinked at Corben like he was having difficulty seeing him. When he finally recognised him, he said, "Oh, hi."

"You didn't go to work today."

Harry stepped aside to let Corben enter. "Glad you noticed."

Once they were under the light, Corben took his time observing Harry. Hair dishevelled, stubble on his face and bags under his eyes, Harry looked like he hadn't slept in days. But he had looked just fine the day before. His skinny arms stuck out of his t-shirt like a pair of branches. He went into the bedroom and Corben followed.

Inside was a mess. All clothes have been pulled out of the wardrobe. There were messy stacks on the bed and on the floor and in one corner of the bed was a stack of folded shirts. Acting like Corben wasn't there at all, Harry started picking up and folding the rest of the clothes.

Corben stood, bewildered. Then he took off his bag and helped Harry clean up. With an extra pair of hands, it wasn't long before all of the shirts and trousers were cleanly folded and returned to the wardrobe. Harry shut the door and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.

Corben sat on the bed. "So? Are you going to tell me what that was all about?" he asked. "Why were you folding your clothes instead of going to work?"

Harry slowly lowered himself on the bed and pulled his legs up. "Why are you here?"

Corben tried not to be offended by that. "I was worried about you."

"Well, I'm fine."

"You're not," he insisted, pushing closer to Harry. "You look terrible. Have you eaten anything?"

"I ate a pizza," Harry mumbled, looking at his feet.

"For lunch?"

"And for breakfast."