Not being able to sleep had become a bit of a common thing for Harry. There was just so much going through his head and his brain refused to give him a break, even when he was supposed to be sleeping. Other than serious matters, he thought about tests, exams, homework, essays, etc., etc. Without Hermione he was pretty sure he'd forgotten half of what he was supposed to be doing, and failing at what he did remember to do when it came to studying or writing. That girl was a lifesaver.
Obviously she couldn't sit with him all night and help him sleep, not only because he was in the boys's dormitory, but she had a life of her own. She needed to sleep after all that reading and helping her two friends with whatever poor excuse of an essay they had been writing. So instead of bothering his friend, he'd instead tried some other things to make himself fall asleep. He'd tried closing his eyes, relaxing and even counting some sheep. Not that effective, he kept losing count of the sheep. What seemed to work a lot better though, was hot chocolate. Just sitting in the kitchens in his pyjamas, sipping some hot chocolate had been working effectively. As soon as he got back to bed, he was sleeping like a baby.
So far he'd been able to sneak out without waking anyone up. He tried his best to be as quiet as possible, putting his glasses on, grabbing his invisibility cloak from his suitcase along with his wand as the halls were almost pitch dark before slipping out of the common room. As he had the cloak he figured he didn't really need the map. No one were going to see him anyway, as long as he didn't bump into anyone that is, and it just meant more things to carry. What if he tripped and he had no free hands to catch himself?
It was fairly easy to get down to the kitchens with his cloak on. All he had to worry about was the light emitting from his wand getting him caught, but a quick spell could put that light out at any moment so it was fine.
The hallway was dark and silent and once he was a hundred percent sure no professors or anyone else were around he whispered a spell, quietly just in case if anyone were indeed around to see the light, they wouldn't hear who it was. Once he could actually see something he started walking, not wanting to stand around any longer. He needed at least a couple of hours of sleep to be able to function the next day. After all, who knew what the next day would bring?
As he reached the end of the hallway, he peeks around the corner before walking down the next hallway, continuing until he reached some stairs. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he quickly walked down the stairs, making sure not to trip over the cloak, fall down the stairs and injure himself. Not only would he have to explain why he was out of bed after curfew, he wasn't very interested in getting injured. He wanted hot chocolate, not head injuries.
It wasn't until he finally reached the kitchens he heard something. The hallway went dark in the matter of seconds. He didn't want to risk it now that he'd gotten this close to getting some nice hot chocolate. After shoving his wand in his pocket, he took a few steps closer to the wall, staying out of whoever the footsteps he was hearing belonged to's way. He couldn't see who it was even as they walked by, the other person not having any light either. It could be a professor, but why would they be wandering around without any lights? They didn't have to sneak around if they wanted some hot chocolate. They were there to catch whoever were sneaking around after curfew.
The footsteps stopped, but not far away, and Harry waited in silence. They couldn't have noticed him, right? Were his feet poking out? Had he been breathing too loud? Could they see through the cloak?
After what felt like a good ten minutes or so, but what was probably a couple of minutes, Harry slowly and quietly moved closer to the entrance to the kitchens in hopes of the person being gone now. He hadn't heard anything in a while. Maybe they were gone?
He took another step and what his foot hit was not the floor.
"Ow. What the fuck was that for, Potter?" The person gave him a shove.
That was Draco Malfoy. Of course it was. Who else would be sneaking around at night at who knows what time it was? What kind of sketchy stuff was the Slytherin up to this time? Was he trying to get into the kitchens? He had to be. Draco didn't seem like the type to just wander at night for no reason.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe because you own a cloak that makes you invisible and I couldn't see anyone here. You also stepped on my foot, because why wouldn't you?"
"Why are you here anyway? What are you up to?"
"And why should I tell you? So you can go tell your friends I'm up to something and come up with those conspiracy theories of yours?" He could practically hear Draco roll his eyes. "What I'm doing is none of your business." The blond reached a hand out to pull the cloak off him and a moment later the hallway was lit up. Just like Harry he was dressed in his pyjamas by the looks of it, but he had a robe and some shoes on unlike Harry. He looked a bit tired as well, like he hadn't been sleeping. He didn't really look like he was up to something.
"What are you doing here by the kitchens?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"If you just have to know, I'm not doing whatever you think I am. I'm just getting something. Happy now?"
"Well.. Aren't you going to go inside? You've been standing here for a while now." Draco took a look at the painting, not saying anything for a moment. Oh. He didn't know how to get into the kitchens, did he?
"Do you know how to get in?" Harry eventually asked. "Of course I do, Potter. I'm not stupid," Draco replied rather harshly, ignoring the "That's debatable". "I was just making sure the coast was clear. Unlike you, I don't have an invisibility cloak like Saint Potter."
"Right. Sure you were." Harry stepped in front of him, facing the painting. "You continue doing that." He reached a hand out, tickling the little pear on the painting. Draco watched over his shoulder as the pear turned into a handle and Harry opened the door. The blond followed him inside without a word, busy admiring the room. Harry draped his cloak over his arm. "What are you doing here, Potter?" Draco asked. "Something about the house elf campaign of yours I presume?"
"Not this time. I couldn't sleep so I wanted some hot chocolate," Harry replied. "I wasn't asking for your life story, Potter."
"What are you doing here then? I think I deserve to know, I answered your question."
"You don't deserve anything, Potter, but if you just have to know. I couldn't sleep either," Draco said. "Now leave me alone and go get your hot chocolate. There's only so much I can deal with you on just a few hours of sleep."
Harry didn't see much more of Draco after that. He had gone to get himself a cup of hot chocolate and Draco... He wasn't sure where he went really. Not like that mattered. He was just planning on finishing his cup of hot chocolate before going back to bed, not hanging out with Draco Malfoy. Hanging out with him was not exactly anything he wanted to do in the middle of the night after almost no sleep, or at any other point of the day with eight or so hours of sleep either. At the same time he wasn't that interest in having a fight with him either, so him disappearing to do his own thing without pointing his wand at him and trying to fight him was just fine. They could fight another time, not in the kitchens.
His cup was eventually empty and he was pretty sure if he didn't go back to bed now, he wasn't going to have any time to sleep. If he was lucky he'd get a few hours of sleep before class started. Hopefully he wouldn't meet Draco on the way, or any of the professors for that matter.
He did meet Draco, except it couldn't really count as meeting him as the blond wasn't even awake. He was sitting in a chair, head tilted, eyes closed and lips parted. For once he didn't look either annoyed, angry or disgusted. He looked rather peaceful actually. It was strange. He hadn't looked at Draco this long in his life without any insult being thrown at the other.
He considered leaving him there, because why wouldn't he? It was Draco Malfoy after all. No matter how late it was or how uncomfortable it must be to sleep in that position, especially with his head tilted like that, it was still Draco Malfoy. He didn't care if he woke up in the kitchens with an aching neck. Why would we?
Still, just a few minutes later he found himself carrying the blond bridal style in the direction of the dungeons, cloak on obviously while also trying to hold his wand that was the only source of light he had in the almost pitch black room. He was obviously doing it for his own benefit of course. If Draco got caught, maybe he'd tell whoever caught him that he'd been there too, but if he didn't, instead waking up in the common room, or outside, but he was pretty sure he knew the password, he wouldn't tell on him. That was the reason he was taking time out of his day to carry Draco Lucius Malfoy back to his common room, to save himself. Obviously.
Every once in a while the boy he was carrying stirred in his sleep and Harry could swear he almost had a heart attack every time. If Draco woke up right now, he didn't even want to imagine what he would do to him. Probably punch him right in the face, tell him his father was going to hear about it, hex him or maybe kill him. Not only that, he'd have to explain himself. What was he going to say? "Oh, I was just planning on throwing you out the window, not carrying you back to your common room or anything."
Luckily Draco didn't seem to be waking up. He slept like a rock even as Harry walked up the stairs, trying his best not to drop him in the process. Now that would get him in more trouble than if Draco did tell on him.
After what felt like hours, he stopped in front of the entrance to the common room, Draco still asleep in his arms. Now, all he had to do was get the password right, somehow get Draco inside and place him down without waking him or anyone else up and then leave again. He was not risking it by going to their dormitory and placing him in his bed. He could find that on his own.
He thought he knew the password, but as he had suspected, they changed it ages ago because obviously they did. Now, Harry was not about to walk all the way back with Draco, his back was already hurting and he wanted to go to bed, so it left him with no other choice but to leave him right there in the hall.
He placed him down as gently as he could in a sitting position, his back leaning against the wall. He placed the boy's wand in his lap, pulled the cloak over himself, put out the light before sitting down in front of him. It'd be a better idea to wake him up and then run for his life before Draco could do anything to him. Or else someone would catch him just sitting there in the hallway.
He gave him a poke or two, resisting the urge to just smack him across the face. It didn't seem to work, at least for a moment, but slowly but surely his eyes fluttered open and even in the dark Harry could see him taking a confused look around him, taking in his surroundings. "Potter?"
Harry swore he could see a smile on the blond's face as he slowly got up and walked away, but who knows? It was so dark.