Chapter Text
Isn't anyone tryin' to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home?
It's a damn cold night
Trying to figure out this life
Won't you take me by the hand?
~•~
Draco Malfoy stared in utter horror and dismay at McGonagall as she announced the sleeping arrangements for eighth years.
Due to a lack of space at their respective House Common Rooms, they would have to settle down and share a special room that had been arranged for them.
They weren't even eighth years, not really. They were seventh years that weren't able to properly study during their last year because of the war. So asides from the sleeping arrangements, they'd have to take classes along with the current seventh years.
He groaned internally, all appetite lost.
-“Draco.”- Blaise called him. Draco’s sight travelled from his plate to Blaise and he raised an eyebrow in sign of question.
Blaise stared at Draco’s plate and quickly flashed his sight back at him.
The change in his eyes was almost imperceptible.
Almost imaginable.
But Draco knew that look very well. It was the same knowing look Blaise gave to him during sixth year.
Eat.
Draco shook his head and heard Blaise sigh but he didn’t say more.
-“Don’t look now, but saviour boy one is staring at you.”- Pansy whispered loud enough for him and Blaise to hear.
Draco did NOT snap his head upwards and stared right back at Potter. Obviously.
Blaise snorted.
-“Your crush on Potter is pathetic at this point.”- Draco tried a yelp but nothing came out of his mouth.
He settled for a smack instead.
-“Ouch, mate!”- Blaise complained dramatically, but there was a small, teasing smile on his face.
Draco huffed quietly and stared back at his plate with a frown.
Every food group seemed to get more and more distorted the longer Draco stared at it. It made him nauseous.
He knew he needed to eat if he wanted to avoid getting another tube, but he couldn’t bring himself to get even one spoonful of it.
-“These green apples look yummy! Here, one for you Blaise, one for you Draco, and one for me.”- Pansy announced. Blaise shrugged and ate the apple calmly.
Pansy started eating hers as well.
Draco knew this was an intervention.
A little push, if you will.
Draco sighed in relief knowing that his friends would settle with the fruit for now. He could do fruits.
He liked fruits.
Very slowly, started munching his apple.
Pansy let out a small breath that Draco hadn’t known she had been holding in.
Draco tried his best to remain focused on his friends.
He didn’t want his mind to spiral.
So he concentrated.
On the way Pansy’s voice was high-pitched and annoying, but full of life.
On how lightly Blaise’s fingers brushed against his left arm, and how warm they felt.
On the way his heart felt bubbly because his friends were including him in the conversation even if he didn’t speak.
And he successfully kept his mind at ease…until the feast was over.
Longbottom and Susan Bones were their prefects and so, after dinner was over, they guided the not-really-eighth years to their new Common Room.
A huge, wooden door awaited for them on the third floor.
Longbottom knocked three times and then said,
-“Shizlewitz.”-
The wooden door opened itself, letting everyone in.
The room was bigger than Draco had expected.
It was warm and cozy, painted in a beautiful shade of grey and had all the four house flags hanging, one on each corner.
It had a stone fireplace that was filled with books all around it and in front of it, there were dark green and wine red, velvety sofas and a table in the centre that had a bunch of wizarding board games.
The ceiling was enchanted to simulate the night sky and there were just the right amount of plants around the room to make it seem nature-friendly without losing its elegance.
All in all, they had made a good job in arranging the room for students of four different houses.
-“Alright everyone, listen up. Susan and I will be saying out loud whom will be rooming with whom according to this parchment Professor McGonagall gave us. Ladies first Susan, if you will.”- Longbottom spoke like a true gentleman.
-“Thank you, Neville. Alright girls, our rooms are located on the right side just up the stairs. Room one: Luna Lovegood, Hannah Abbott, Padma Patil, and Daphne Greengrass. Room two: Parvati Patil, Millicent Bulstrode, Lisa Turpin, and Mandy Brocklehurst. Room three: Pansy Parkinson, Hermione Granger, Sue Li, and me.”- Bones finished with a smile.
-“Alright, boys. We are less than the girls since not everyone decided to return; therefore, there will be three boys in each room and those are located on the left side. Room one: Seamus Finnigan, Anthony Goldstein, and Theodore Nott. Room two: Dean Thomas, Ronald Weasley, and Blaise Zabini. Finally, room three: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and me. Before you complain, the arrangements were made by Professor McGonagall herself, so neither Susan nor I will hear a word of it. Anything you want or need to say, you can say to her directly tomorrow. Right, it’s been a long day. Night everyone!”-
A couple of groans were heard.
Of bloody course he, the Death Eater out of all people, was stuck with Saviour Boys one and two.
Draco sighed heavily.
It was going to be a long ass year.
Since he couldn’t speak (and not that anyone would listen if he did anyways), he decided to simply go ahead and look for his room before Potter or Longbottom.
Reaching the third room, Draco found that his trunk had been put on the left corner, so he claimed the left bed.
Much to his surprise, when he sat down on the bed to unpack, to colours of the sheets and curtains changed from a boring beige to a beautiful, velvety green.
Draco was thankful.
He sat contently on his bed with his legs crossed and using his wand, he started unpacking.
He started with the clothes. Without speaking he opened the door of the small wardrobe and, casting an extension charm on it, he hung up his clothes and robes neatly.
He still was against most muggles horrid fashion sense, but he couldn’t deny that their clothes were far more comfortable; so he had brought with him some muggle clothes that he had purchased that summer.
He was gently setting his current favourite books on the nightstand beside his bed when the door opened, revealing Potter and Longbottom.
-“Malfoy.”- they both nodded in practised unison.
Draco stared at them before sighing.
It was of no use having a rivalry with his new roommates.
The war was over and Draco just wanted a peaceful year.
He stood up in front of them and wrote with his wand,
I will be out of your way and won’t bother you at all.
The neat, cursive handwriting appeared in a silvery colour with a small fog in front of him.
This was the closest they would get to having an apology. For now, at least.
Longbottom smiled tightly.
-“Right. Night then. Night Haz.”-
He claimed the middle bed, which turned velvety red when he touched the curtains.
-“Wicked!”-
Potter stared at Draco for a few moments. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, then opened it again, and finally closed it while shaking his head.
-“G’night.”- He said at last and went to the only empty bed on the other side of the room.
Draco blinked once.
Then twice.
He closed his trunk with a flick of his wand and went to his bed, closing the curtains rather harshly.
He didn’t bother to put his pyjamas on. He simply curled up in his bed and then cried.
And no one heard him that night.