Xx

Harry sat at his window looking out at the castle sprawling beneath him. The strengthening spring sun was streaming into the room, making the dark woods and reds of the room richer in colour. Their bedcurtains sparked when the sun hit the stars sewn into them with gold thread. The stone floor was cold on his back, in contrast to the heat from the log burner in the middle of the room. Harry breathed deeply, calming himself. With the confusion surrounding his social life and the looming exams, Harry needed time to relax and breathe. The seventh-year dorms were at the top of the Gryffindor tower and Harry could see for miles from his dorm. He liked to stare out at it and think.

Harry rested his forehead on the cool glass, Draco's jumper in his hands. The extraordinarily soft fabric smelled strongly of Draco and he brought it to his face, inhaling. While he was embarrassed Draco had called him out on his strange attraction to his smell, he was happy with the jumper. He tried to ignore the attachment he had to Draco, but ever since his Mind Healer had brought it up it was on the forefront of his mind. It had done the opposite of what the Mind Healer had intended. He was a little reluctant to make another appointment after that. Harry groaned inwardly. Why did his head always have to be a mess? Perks of being emotionally abused for eleven years and forced to grow up too quickly. Harry laughed dryly to himself. At least he wasn't the only messed up one now. The war had done a number on them all. He sadly thought of Draco, Ron, Hermione, Lavender, Teddy- the list went on.

Draco had been acting a little differently towards him ever since Harry found him crying. As had the other Slytherins, come to think of it. They were so much friendlier towards him. It was a little disconcerting. It was a strange thought that Draco was so opposed to being his friend yet now he was practically throwing himself at Harry. Harry definitely didn't mind it. He did wonder why Draco was so forward with their relationship now. He guessed Draco was jumping at the chance of Harry redeeming him in society. He did hope that wasn't the only reason but on the other hand, Draco was a handsome, aristocratic, rich pureblood. While Harry had money, he preferred to not use it for things like clothes. He certainly wasn't aristocratic and his mum was muggleborn. It did make him feel better that it was often Draco that reached out to him. Maybe he wasn't as obsessed as his Mind Healer thought.

He watched a flock of birds fly past his window and sighed. He was so tired of overthinking everything. An enchanted parchment bird fluttered towards him. He lazily plucked it from the air and opened it up. Hermione wanted him downstairs. He hefted himself up, pulling his clothes back into shape from where they had been rumpled from sitting. He reluctantly put Draco's jumper back under his pillow. He left the room and started on the nine flights of stairs down to the common room. He wished he could apparate up them sometimes, particularly at the end of a long day. He paused to look over the balcony and the scene made him smile. Ron was perched on the edge of a threadbare chair, frowning at his chessboard. Hermione was squashed behind him, arms around his waist. She asked him a question, pointing at the chess piece he just moved. Harry knew Hermione had picked up the rules of chess almost instantly, but she liked spending time with him and he liked teaching her. Hermione feigning ignorance for Ron's benefit was very sweet in Harry's opinion. Ginny was sat across from Ron, looking thoroughly bored. A quidditch rule book was open on her knee and she kept glancing down at it longlingly. A couple of younger Gryffindors were on the other side of the room, playing a loud game of exploding snap.

Harry went down the spiral staircase. Hermione spotted him first.

"Harry!" she greeted him. "I thought you might like some company," she told him, extracting herself from the chair. She hugged him hello. "And I think Ginny needs to escape," she mock whispered in his ear. Harry laughed. He sat down on the arm of Ginny's chair.

"Your move," he told her. She barely looked up.

"Take over for me?" She asked him. When he didn't immediately answer, she looked up at him pleadingly.

"I was actually hoping to talk to you about quidditch at some point." The relief on Ginny's face made him laugh.

"Oh, thank Merlin." She pushed the chair further from the chess board, looking at it with disgust.

"I was hoping we might set up an unofficial team. No teams or matches, just playing quidditch." She smiled up at him.

"That's a great idea, Harry." Harry beamed.

"I'm glad you think so. I was hoping you'd help me."

"Of course," Ginny grinned. "I'd love to."

"Great!" Harry knew Ginny would be on board.

"It'd really help with exam stress, actually," Ron added. He was now listening to their conversation since he couldn't play chess any more. Even Hermione nodded at that.

"I'm not into quidditch the same way as you are, but I enjoyed throwing the quaffle around with you." Harry grinned excitedly.

"Let's set one up as soon as possible then!"

"Are we advertising just to Gryffindor or the whole school?" Ginny asked. Harry thought for a moment but the decision wasn't hard.

"The whole school. If the group gets too big we can just have multiple games."

"Okay," she agreed. "I'll make some adverts and send them to the common rooms. I'm so bored I'll do anything for the distraction." With that Ginny summoned some parchment and a quill and began to write. Harry moved to sit on the floor by Ron and Hermione's chair.

"I'm glad you get on so well," Hermione told Harry quietly.

"Me too," he agreed. "I think I've always seen her as a cousin or something rather than a girlfriend. Of course, I definitely did in sixth year. But after that, we got too familiar with each other."

"Can we stop talking about this?" Ron asked, pulling a face. "It's always been weird thinking of you and Gin together." Harry laughed.

"Sure."

Ten minutes later, Ginny thrust a piece of parchment at him. Harry read over it quickly and handed it back.

"Perfect." Ginny smiled. She cast a spell to copy the words onto blank parchment and another to fold them into paper birds. The three folded parchments flew out of the common room and the unfolded one was sent to the notice board.

"Now we wait."

xx

Sorry it's a little short. More stuff is happening in a bit so those chapters will be longer! Hope you enjoyed.