"And when you have finished cleaning those, you may start on the vials," Snape snarled, looking down at Harry with complete loathing. Harry merely nodded and sighed loudly when Snape exited the dungeon with a flaring of his robes.
Once he was sure the potions master was out of earshot, the Gryffindor snickered. The man had managed to get most of his hair back of its normal color but the tips of his greasy hair and eyebrows were still bubble gum pink. Once the fit of laughter subsided, Harry picked up a rag and started cleaning.
Hours later, Harry emerged from the dungeons with very sore hands. He was calling Snape every name he could think of, including a few he had come up with on the spot when he saw a flash of silver fly across the entrance hall. A manic giggling followed it and the raven-haired young man groaned… Peeves.
However, it seemed that the poltergeist was more interested in something else, which he was currently pelting with water balloons. This something was soaking wet and not protesting against the assault. Harry peeked around the stairs and saw Draco Malfoy standing in the middle of the entrance hall wearing nothing but a white button up and a pair of black trousers. He was dripping and his shirt had become translucent from the water content. His head was hung, staring at his bare feet. Even from the distance, the Gryffindor could see he was shivering.
Harry bit his lower lip before hiding himself in the shadows and calling out in his deepest, ghostliest voice. "Peeves…"
He heard the poltergeist stop and cry, "Whose there?"
"It is I, Peeves, the Bloody Baron…"
"Oh! Your bloodyness!"
"Leave here Peeves, leave this boy alone…"
"Yes sirs.." With a final splash and a cackle, Peeves flew off up the stairs to wreak havoc elsewhere. Harry came out of the shadows and entered the entrance hall.
"Malfoy…"
Draco jumped, spinning to see Harry standing by the staircase leading to the dungeons. "Potter? What are you doing here?"
The raven held up his hands, which were red and slightly swollen. "I had detention with Snape. What are you doing here?" His green eyes trailed down Draco's waterlogged clothes and the blonde blushed faintly.
He fidgeted for a moment, then pushed his head up high and turned his expression stony. "None of your business Potter." They both knew Draco had completely half-assed his usual demeanor.
Harry crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow at the other boy; he wasn't buying it.
With a rough sigh, Draco ran a hand through his limp hair. A few droplets made their escape from the silvery strands down his back. Draco shivered, "I… I needed some air."
Harry felt kind of bad as he watched the blonde shiver and shake in the cool air. If he had been dry, then Harry would have just left him there… Wouldn't he? It made no difference now though, since he was pulling off his robe and draped it over the other teen.
Draco looked up with wide grey eyes as the warmth of the red-lined robe began seeping into his thin body. He looked, well, pathetic. Harry offered a lopsided smile, but Draco was still looking at him in shocked puzzlement.
"What are you doing?" The blonde looked up at Harry incredulously as the Gryffindor spoke.
"It's commonly referred to as helping…" They were silent for a bit. "Why did you just let Peeves soak you?"
Draco let out a breath he had not realized he had been holding. Needless to say, the Slytherin had been rather jumpy since their last Divination class and he had half expected Harry to question him about that night, when everything ended. Draco shook his head a little, unconsciously, pulling the edges of the borrowed robe tighter around him.
Harry realized he wasn't going to get much more out of him and sighed. "Can I... can I walk to back to your common room?"
Draco had never felt more awkward. Here he was walking barefoot and dripping wet down the dungeon corridors clinging to a Gryffindor school robe with Harry Potter, the boy who he had helped save the wizarding world. A small wave of jealousy swept over him at the thought that everyone thought the raven-haired boy had stopped Lord Voldemort single-handedly while Aurors had interrogated him after his help. He huffed a little, trying to imagine it when they came bursting in to find Draco knocked out cold and Harry struggling against Voldemort.
The huff quickly turned into a shiver as the memory of the older man's cold hand wrapping around his neck, wand ready to destroy him. Draco blushed when he caught Harry looking at him in what he thought was suspicion. It was actually concern. Both young men knew Harry wanted to know why Draco had done it. Wanted to know why the son of Voldemort's right-hand man released Harry instead of killing him.
"When did you get back last night? We waited up for hours!" Ron whined between mouthfuls of food while Hermione nagged him about his eating.
Harry sighed, "Really late, my hands were swollen by the time I was done."
Hermione tsked, launching into one of her 'It-serves-you-right' speeches when the post flooded in. Hermione looked up, smiling as a large grey owl landed by her cereal bowl and dumped the Daily Prophet in front of her. As she paid the owl and unrolled the newspaper, a tawny owl carrying a large, bulky package landed before Harry.
With his two friends staring in bewilderment, Harry untied the parcel with the same confusion on his face. It was oddly shaped and lumped, wrapped in what looked like old parchment and string. Tucked neatly in one of the strings was a small note. Glancing at Hermione, who wore a suspicious look to Ron, who was dribbling eggs down his front, Harry took the note and unfolded it.
There, sitting in the center of the parchment were two small, neatly written words. Harry gave them a half smile and moved the parcel to his lap, waving off his friends' questioning expressions. The two words were: Thank you.