Hi all!

This fic was written for a challenge with the prompt "It was only a muffin" at livejourmal and it has SLASH. You know the drill... If you don't agree with the idea of it, don't read it. Thanks.

The rest, please be my guest and review ;)

Pairing: Harry/Draco, LV/LM (implied only)

Rating: R

Genre: Dark, angst

Warning(s): Darkfic, dark & disturbing themes

Disclaimer: Characters are the property of JK Rowling.

Many thanks to my beta Natt!


Title: In The Blink Of An Eye

The happily noisy Great Hall came to a deathly silence when Draco Malfoy, incited by unknown force, threw an object of small size over at the Gryffindor table and on the top of the head of The Boy Who Lived − Harry Potter, that is.

Shocked students turned to look at the blonde all at the same time as if the move had been rehearsed beforehand. An ungodly loud crack sounded from every corner of the hall, made by necks not used to such sudden movement.

Draco Malfoy, Ice Prince, mini-Death Eater in training, ferret-face and all, felt his eyes widen as every student and teacher stood up like robots, and stared at him with lifeless and numb expressions in their dead eyes.

Dread filled and drowned him, for he remembered that look well enough from his own father's silver-gray eyes; he shakily wondered how on earth everyone could go insane in the blink of an eye. It was impossible, and yet it wasn't.

Slowly, he turned his head, already fearing what he was about to see, and looked at his fellow Slytherins only to be met by the same empty eyes.

Horrified, he jumped out of his seat just in time before the zombie Slytherins, as he called them idly in his mind, raised their arms in front of them and tried to grab him.

A girly shriek escaped his pouty lips and he ran for his life, banging the heavy wooden doors open; as fast as he could, he disappeared down the stairs leading to the dungeons, mumbling all the while, "It was nothing, really, it was nothing, it was only a muffin, for God's sake."

Mad! Everyone's gone mad, he whispered to himself.

That or he had finally lost it. Shuddering, he continued running, still muttering like a lunatic.

The rest of the student body remained in their seats, staring straight ahead like dolls. Suddenly, a snap of fingers cut the silence and everyone seemed to wake up from whatever stupor they had got themselves into; only a pair of deep dark green eyes never faltered in its steady gaze towards the door.

"Harry." A voice from behind him interrupted his thoughts and he sighed.

"Yes, Hermione?" he answered tiredly and expressionlessly.

"Did you feel like time…" she started and then paused, embarrassed by what she wanted to ask.

"Yes?" Harry repeated inquiringly, resting his chin on his right hand indifferently. Hermione took a deep breath.

"Did you feel like time just… stopped for a moment? Just like that?" she whispered, her eyes wide, snapping her fingers as she said the last part of her sentence.

Harry's eyes widened and he looked over at her, not feeling apathetic anymore.

You think she knows something? his mind prodded him. No. No, it's not possible.

He glanced over at the teacher's table. No, not even Dumbledore had caught him, though he was staring at him with that look on his eyes that made Harry want to rip them out of their sockets right there and then.

No, no need to worry, Harry.

"Don't know what you're talking about, 'Mione…" he feigned cheerfully and grabbed a piece of toast. He could practically feel her eyes digging a hole in his head.

Stop staring at me, stop staring at me, bitch, or you'll regret it, he hummed under his breath.

She looked like she wanted to say something. Something along the lines of 'you haven't been the same after the war, Harry' or 'what on earth happened to you over at that cave when you destroyed him?'; always the same shit, over and over again, he muttered into his mind.

Idiots. It was a wonder how helpful those lessons in hypnosis the crazy old bat Trelawney had taught him shortly after the war turned out to be. Too bad she had accidentally fallen off the Astronomy Tower…

Well, what else did they want from him?

Lambs ready and lined for slaughter, these ones, and he was the one to rule them. No mistakes this time.

So, everything was fine now, wasn't it?

No, he thought darkly, everything wasn't just fine, everything was splendid.

And if he managed to persuade Malfoy to be his right-hand man and lover like his predecessor had achieved with the senior one, everything was going to flow just perfectly.

He walked elegantly up to his own room − Head Boy quarters and all.

The dark smirk that remained plastered on his mouth from his previous thoughts marred his pale and handsome face and even 'frightened' the kissed Malfoy senior who 'lived' currently in his wardrobe.

Skeletons of the past tend to hide in our closets, as the saying goes…