Chapter 6: Coca-Cola Roller-coaster

Notes:

Hi :)

So 500 hits, wtf. Thank you. Also, a friend found this and I'm just going to hope she doesn't remember the name. If she does, and you're reading this, don't mention it to anyone or stop reading, thanks :)

CW/TWs:

- Blood

- Panic Attack

- ED (Ongoing, mentioned)

More information at the end.

Enjoy :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Harry couldn't sleep. Well, he had gotten an hour in before waking up. It was dragging, every few minutes casting a tempus to confirm that yes; only three minutes had passed. The time was leaning towards 2AM. It being the first day of classes likely wasn't helping the man, but nothing was working. He had read a few chapters of the charms book, tried counting sheep, stared into the darkness in hope that boredom would take him. But no. He was still awake, and sat up with a map in his hands.

He continuously whispered the wrong words to it, skimming the words of the lost. He had done it a lot of the summer, trying to bring a glimpse of his family back. 'Messer Moony would like to remind Mr Potter that he has no reason to forget the password, and it is actually quite dense to do so.' 'Messer Padfoot would like to welcome Mr Potter to leave my parchment alone, Dick.' 'Messer Prongs would like to apologise for the behaviour of Messer Padfoot.' He rarely got one from Messer Wormtail, like the map knew what had happened.

He folded the map as the time ticked over to 2:48AM, dropping his silencing charms and listening around the room. It was quiet. Nearly, ignoring the sounds of Ron snoring and the occasional shuffle from another bed. Something he was used to hearing for many years now. Unlike this, however, was the slow sound of a curtain being pulled back. Based on the delicate pace and the fact Harry could still hear it, meant that it was close. Harry knew it was from the breathing alone, but he heard a bed spring squeak and deep breathing. Quick breathes, but shaking.

It was inconsistent.

Scared.

Harry drew back his own curtain carefully, sitting on the edge of his bed and facing the boy in front of him. Draco's eyes were glued to the floor, hands shaking besides him slightly. He clearly hadn't noticed Harry, or didn't care. His chest was heaving up and down, the occasional tear dropping from his face. Somehow, the blonde wasn't making a lot of noise despite his clear panicked state.

The Gryffindor was moving before he could think, silently pushing himself off his own bed and next to Draco. He wrapped one arm around the boy's shoulders and placed the other gently on his arm. They were sat so close, Harry could feel his heartbeat through his fingertips. Beating a million miles a minute. He'd sat on his right, meaning he could clearly see the mark. It was bleeding, scratch lines dragged all around it. Maybe that was why he was in such a bad way.

"It's okay, Draco," Harry whispered, almost silently in his ear, "You're safe, everything is okay, breathe." Harry was waiting to be pushed off, or for Draco to run. But neither came. Instead, the boy leaned against him. Head dropping against his shoulder and breathing slowing. He was still shaking, arm still bleeding, but he was calming down. Harry continued whispering in the Slytherin's ear, rubbing his hands up and down ever so gently.

They sat there for around three minutes. Completely silent. Matching their breathing up. The slither of moon lighting up the blonde's pale skin. Harry dropped his hands as Draco sat up straighter. He wiped his face off and placed a hand over the mark, eyes finally looking at the man sat next to him.

"I -" His voice croaked, he cleared it and tried again, "I didn't mean to wake you, sorry."

"You didn't, it's okay," Harry muttered back, he scooped up his wand from his bed and placed a quick silencing charm around them. Trying to ignore the fear in Draco's eyes as he did so, "You want to talk about it?" Harry knew the answer to that, he never wanted to talk about it anyway. As Malfoy shook his head, Harry twisted his wand over in his hand.

"We don't have to talk, but I'm sorting that out." He declared, nodding towards the mark.

"You can't remove it," Draco's eyes never left Harry's, not wanting to face the truth of what they were talking about.

"No, I meant heal it. You can hate it all you want, but you're not hurting yourself and getting away with it." Harry didn't wait for him to start protesting, instead carefully took hold of his hand and whispered a healing spell under his breath. They weren't deep enough cuts to be too bad, they had stopped bleeding with the slight pressure Draco had on it. But still, it wasn't fair on him.

"I'm sorry." Draco had returned after a while.

"Don't be."

"Harry-"

"Draco."

"Will you let me speak?"

"When you speak to other people? Yes. While it's just me? No, cope." They were exhausted. That was as clear as day itself. Harry ran a hand up and down Draco's back, not noticing the goosebumps forming beneath his clothes. "It's the first day of classes today."

"Observant as ever, Potter." Draco joked, and Harry lit up at the small smile on his face.

"You need to get some sleep," The smile faded at that, his eyes dropping to Harry's mouth and then the floor. "It'll get better, you know it will." Draco nodded and watched silently as Harry strolled back towards his own bed. They faced each other for a moment before moving into their beds properly.

"Night, Harry."

"Night, Draco."

The bastard had not slept. Not a minute. Harry had drifted off about 15 minutes after their chat. Draco clearly hadn't. Dark circles still hanging beneath his eyes, and drooping eyelids from clear uneasy rest. They all sat at the table for breakfast, various degrees of uniforms between them. Draco had donned a simple white shirt and the plain black tie, done up smoothly but not quite touching his neck. His chin was resting on top of his hand, the other hand resting besides a singular piece of toast.

He continued to not speak to those around him, but kept his eyes trained on Harry. He himself had kept to a similar style of uniform, shirt cuffed around the elbows and tie done correctly. Harry was looking down at his timetable, disregarding his meal all together. He had chosen no electives, keeping his schedule relatively empty. Compared to those around him, he learnt that he'd have a lot of time alone. Including not having a class after lunch that day until 4PM.

He would normally have Potions at 9AM on a Monday, however, due to it being the first day they were excused from this first lesson. This privilege, as Harry found out, was only extended to 7th and 8th years. Other students seemed to be wandering out of the hall to attend different lessons, leaving the hall scarce. Hermione and Neville had agreed this was the perfect opportunity to prepare a study guide and dragged Ron along with them to the Library.

Dean and Seamus had left as soon as they got their timetables, agreeing they could go back to sleep until their lesson after lunch. Harry was then left alone at the table with a group of Slytherins. One, of which, had his eyes burning into the side of Harry's head.

"What's your timetable like Zabini?" Harry offered, taking a sip from his drink and flicking his eyes down to the paper before the man.

"Bit shit, Potter, won't lie." He offered his paper over to Harry, leaning back slightly to invite him into the group. "Back to back lessons on Thursday's, and they're all dull."

"Blaise, you're just shit at Potions, they aren't that bad." Theo chimed in, keeping his eyes on his own timetable. Out of all of them, Pansy and Theo had chosen the most electives.

Blaise had only chosen two, Muggle studies and Divination. It shocked Harry to learn that they all, minus Draco, had chosen Muggle Studies. They weren't forced too, but learning that they were just people would be best for them. Draco had done the same thing as Harry and selected zero electives, mainly down to being in Prison and not being able to physically choose. However, it was clear he would have only chosen Muggle Studies anyway.

"It is not down to me being shit, which I'm not, Harry I assure you, it is simply too much. I need my beauty sleep." Blaise concluded, taking another bit of food from his plate. Harry was learning more and more about the group. It hadn't occurred to him much that they were also just friends. A group of friends making fun of each other. Who had inside jokes. Who had things that they only told each other. People. Not Slytherins. Not bad guys. No. They simply wanted a year at Hogwarts that felt normal as well.

"What's yours like, dear?" Pansy asked, sweetly. She seemed nice. Like a normal girl forced into the wrong side. Someone Harry could grow to like. She definitely cared about her friends, which meant they had something in common.

Of course, she didn't get a verbal response to this. Instead, he handed over the page and continued to not eat his toast. His eyes trained up to Harry and waited. Harry raised his eyebrows minutely, trailing his eyes down to the untouched piece of toast and then back up to Draco's eyes. He rolled his grey eyes and slowly picked up the toast.

"This is bullshit." Blaise was frowning down at the page in Pansy's hand. "Did you take any classes other than the core ones?" A head shake was his answer. They all complained to each other over how much more work they had than him. Harry realised they would have the same amount of work. Exactly the same. Upon further inspection, they had the exact same timetable.

Their classes were together.

Their free time was together.

They would be together, all the time.

It's fine.

Theo had offered Blaise a chess game, claiming that Blaise was indeed shit at everything he attempted. Pansy had decided to begin reading for their muggle class after lunch.

The stroll back towards the dorms was odd, Harry realising this would have been his life had he not asked the hat for anything that first day. Eight years ago, based on one interaction with Draco, his whole life could have been different. He stayed to the back of the group, him and Draco falling into step and slowing.

"I know you didn't go back to sleep last night." It was domestic. He knew when the man was and wasn't sleeping, getting him to eat his breakfast through only looks. Like they were friends.

"Observant as ever, Potter." Draco echoed. He kept his eyes on the back of Blaise's head, challenging the man to turn around and catch him speaking.

"You could have a nap before lunch." Offered Harry as they walked into the common room. Dean and Seamus had not returned to their beds to sleep. Instead, they were sitting by the fireplace in the far corner, enjoying a game of exploding snap. Blaise and Theo continued to bicker their way over to a table, Theo grabbing the chess set off one of the shelves. Pansy had dashed up the stairs, presumably to get the book she had mentioned before.

None of them said much as Harry followed Draco up the stairs. The sun was beaming through the curtains, lighting the differences between the bed sheets quickly. Red vs Green was battling its way around the room.

"Malfoy's don't nap." Draco retorted, stifling a yawn afterwards.

"Mhmm, well you get to break tradition then don't you. Bed." It was odd how comfortable they were around each other. How Harry didn't feel cautious to turn his back to Draco and walk over to his own bed.

"I don't want to sleep." Draco crossed his arms and leaned his weight onto one hip.

"I didn't ask. Bed." Harry toed off his shoes and plonked himself on the edge of his covers. He nodded his head towards the bed in front of him and waited. Eventually, Draco sighed with a rather dramatic eye roll and followed.

They sat facing each other, reminiscent of the night before. There were no tears this time, all scars and marks were covered, and again, no confessions were being made.

"I don't want to, Harry." Draco's shoulders sagged, his eyelids dropping and a look in his eyes that made Harry want to hug him.

He wasn't trying to be stroppy. Even Harry could figure that out. He didn't want another nightmare. Another scratching at the mark until it drew blood. Another moment of vulnerability in front of Harry.

It was another confession.

"I know, but you need to," I know. "I can stay or leave, it's up to you." His voice had grown quieter. He waited as there was another sigh and then Draco was moving properly onto the bed. He didn't go under the sheets, clearly not wanting to ruin his uniform. He pulled the curtain on the side of his bed, facing Blaise's, and paused.

Harry stopped moving as Draco's eyes raised to his again, a hand tentatively patting the space next to him. And then time stopped altogether.

He wanted him in his bed.

Draco Malfoy was asking him to bed.

He didn't have to. They were barely friends. Why would he get into bed with him?

But last night had proven something to them both. Maybe they needed each other. So Harry stood very carefully, loosened his tie slightly and slotted next to the blonde. Harry sat higher up than Draco, watching the Slytherin cautiously lay backwards and close his eyes.

He didn't move. No, Harry was pretty sure he stopped breathing. Because Draco Malfoy was falling asleep with Harry in his bed. Because Harry was in his bed.

Draco Malfoy was asleep because Harry was in his fucking bed.

He accio'd the charms book Hermione gave him over and picked up where he left off. He had only gotten through three pages before Draco stirred. The blonde turned in his sleep and leant his head against Harry's chest. It would have been his arm if he hadn't, at that exact moment, ran a hand through his hair. Realising that his arm couldn't go back down where it was, he settled for placing it on the blonde's back. He tried to ignore his rapid heartbeat, hoping it wouldn't wake up Draco in his sleep.

He continued to read. It wasn't the most exciting book ever, but it was distracting enough. So distracting that he didn't notice when he began to run soothing circles over the boy's back.

It was domestic. But friends did this. Maybe, not exactly this. But he had with Hermione, and they were definitely friends. So that settled it, they were friends. Clearly, this was something Draco was used to; to suggest it. Perhaps with Blaise, they were close.

But it felt natural. Calming. Like this was what Harry needed the last few months. He had found peace without being alone, something that was hard to come by as of late. He enjoyed spending time with his friends, but it felt like a performance a lot of the time. Having to be okay for them, trying to be happy despite everything around him.

He subconsciously cuddled closer to the boy, resting his check against his head. He smelt like apples and fresh laundry. That cool, soft scent drifting around them. It was intoxicating, Harry stopped reading. His eyes drifted closed and he drifted into the touch. A pale hand drew itself across his torso, smoothing out the fabric above his skin. He tried his hardest to keep his cool. He kept his eyes closed but focused on his breathing, keeping it level.

The Gryffindor was on alert. Listening to the sounds of Draco's breathing, carefully watching the door in case someone came in. But they didn't.

No, it remained domestic.

They were close. Not just physically, that unspoken rule between them of not showing it to anyone.

As he heard people in the common room leaving for lunch, he settled a bit more. Shifting one of his knees to bend upwards, he did a quick time check. Muggle studies and Alchemy were the lessons for their year after lunch, meaning that everyone but them would be heading off. It was nice, of course. Knowing that Harry could almost schedule naps in for the boy on their joint timetable.

Harry set a silent alarm for himself, and drifted off into the cuddle alongside the blonde.

Notes:

Thanks for reading!

CW/TWs:

- Blood. Draco has a nightmare and scratches into the mark while sleeping, it's briefly mentioned that it bleeds and then Harry heals it.

- Panic Attack. After math of Draco's nightmare. Quick breathing and shaking, Harry calms him down.

- ED (Ongoing, mentioned).

I'm a sucker for the 'it's easier to sleep in the same bed' trope so that had to make an appearance. Draco is partly talking to Harry just to wind Blaise up, which feels in character.

Next Chapter: 03/05/23