Hi everyone, just a short little oneshot that happened while I was supposed to be doing homework...

Theres no better muse than procrastination :)


RESURRECTION

Even at night, Hogwarts was lit. Lamps in the corridors and the wandlight of students wandering around past curfew. The castle was old and abandoned save for a few classrooms and the Great Hall, but the lights gave a semblance of human activity. It was a waste, some would say, to have the entire castle lit for a mere hundred students, but the alternative darkness bought a sense of desolation that no-one desired.

It had been 5 years since the end of the war, but Harry Potter could still be found wandering the deserted corridors most nights, winding his way along the dusty passages with his wandlight illuminating the empty Marauders Map. He would reach the immovable stairs at the northern most end of the castle and wind his way up the floors to the Astronomy tower. After Dumbledore's death, the tower had been closed, but nothing could keep his one-time student out. If Headmistress McGonagall noticed the wanderings of her Charms Professor, she turned a blind eye. And if anyone saw anything strange in the tower at night, they never commented.

At times Ron and Hermione would visit the school, but their attempts at dragging Harry into Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley always failed. Had Ginny been around, there was no doubt that she would have succeeded. But Ginny was long gone, along with her son.

So Harry continued to lock himself away in the tower after his classes. The portraits of Dumbledore, Sirius and the ghosts - the dead were his only regular visitors. Except for one.

"Really Potter, it cant be healthy to lock yourself away with the dead every night."

"Have you got the feather or not, Malfoy?" Harry said, giving no sign that he had been startled. But then, the visit was not entirely unexpected.

The blond wizard scoffed, dropping gracefully into a chair. "Just who do you think I am, Potter? Of course I've got the feather."

Relief crossed Harry's face, almost imperceptible in the darkness to the sharp eyes of the Malfoy Lord.

"Hand it over then," Harry said. But Malfoy wasn't done talking. Sometimes Harry just wished he could Silencio the man until the end of his visits. But without his own wand, the spell would no doubt simply tickle Malfoy's voice box.

"...Ollivander says to come to Diagon...Granger and the Weasel won't be there, if that's what you want." Malfoy continued speaking, oblivious to Harry's inattention. "Potter! Are you even listening?"

Granger and the Weasel... somewhere in his mind, Harry acknowledged that Malfoy would never mature in regards to his two best friends. But Diagon? Diagon Alley? He couldn't face it, even if it was at the request of the old wand maker. Teaching was a big enough stretch, facing the whispers of his students and the concerned faces of his fellow Professors every day. It was pathetic. As if he needed their pity or concern. It wore down on him, every time he heard a murmur of the Boy-Who-Lived, look at him now. Poor man, to lose everything so young. Did you know our Professor was the one who killed Voldemort? He was amazing! Potter!

Potter!

"Potter!" Malfoy was standing over him, shaking his shoulders.

Harry shook him off. "I'm fine," he said shortly.

Grey eyes assessed him coolly, noting the shadows over the prominent cheekbones and the bright green eyes above them. Eyes which were now fixated on his own.

"Harry.." he breathed, "Come to the Manor for Christmas. You'll have privacy to work on your wand and no-one will ask anything else of you."

Harry simply continued to stare at Malfoy. The offer sounded good, and he was tempted to just take it up and apparate to the Manor with the blond immediately. But...

"You know why I can't, Malfoy," he replied.

Malfoy merely nodded, a sure sign of an impending argument. "Isn't it about time you let them go?" he said, "The Weaselette isn't hung up. She's happily fucking every married man in the Ministry, and -"

"Including you?" asked Harry, finally amused.

"-And your son is long dead, Potter. Nothing you can do will bring him back."

Harry's eyes darted quickly to the ring on his finger, before snapping back up to meet Malfoy's.

"...No. You're right, of course."

Grey eyes narrowed in suspicion. Malfoy didn't believe him. Time for a change of subject.

"Why does Ollivander want to see me?" Harry said.

"He found something that can help you re-make your old wand without using the Elder wand. But you have to go to his shop, Potter, not everyone will climb these infernal stairs for you." said Malfoy coolly, "And its about time you stopped wallowing in self-pity anyway. It's not good for your complexion."

Glaring at the blond, Harry rose gracefully from his seat, stretching his thin frame. Dumbledore and Sirius's portraits were conspicuously absent, he noted. Good.

"Say I agree to this proposal...Draco. What's in it for you?" he murmured.

The smirk on the blond's face was answer enough. "What better way to redeem the Malfoy Family name than to be hosting the Boy - Who - Lived?" he said.

"Are you sure that that is your only reason?" Harry replied with an answering smirk twisting his features.

"I'm wounded, Potter. You suspect I have an ulterior motive?"

Harry did not answer, instead picking up his materials and using his temporary wand to shrink them, with only varying degrees of success.

"Then, of course, I will be happy to accept your offer," he said, "Provided that you allow me uninterrupted time for my work." It would not do for Malfoy to know what he was planning.

"Uninterrupted, Potter? I'm afraid I cant do that," said Malfoy, with the infernal smirk only widening on his face.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "I suppose we could...compromise," he said, "After all, I only need a few uninterrupted days to finish making my wand now that I have the phoenix feather."

It was a lie. The wand would be complete in a matter of hours.

"That's settled then. Be ready after breakfast on Christmas morning and I'll bring a portkey around." Malfoy turned to leave. "Oh, and Potter? Don't keep me waiting."

The blond departed, leaving behind a thoughtful green-eyed wizard, who spent the rest of the night in the tower polishing the Resurrection Stone and thinking of a certain red-headed child.


Well, I hoped you liked it! This is my first ever piece of writing, oneshot or otherwise, so please review and let me know how it went. Thanks!