Title: Hoarding

Ominous October 2024
Team: Dragon
Challenge: Trick or Treat prompt 7; Midnight spooky bingo card, O2
Prompts: "Don't touch that- it's cursed."; a dagger

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Year 2 Assignment:
4
Task: Meteorology, task 4
Prompt: Write about hoarding something

Gotta Catch 'Em All: number 445, Garchomp, ground
Prompt: [setting] Malfoy Manor

Jurassic Park: herbivore enclosure
Prompt: [dialogue] "You really need to loosen up."

Disney Magic: Halloweentown, number 1
Prompt: [dialogue] "Being normal is vastly overrated."

Diagon Alley Adoption Centre: number 26, Comet the Stag
Prompt: [weather] snowy

Fandom Frenzy: My Lady Jane
Prompt: [object] dagger

Masquerade: transformations
Prompt: [dialogue] "I don't recognise that person anymore. I've changed."

House Challenge Tetris: piece 9, row 3, pink L
Prompt: [emotion] ashamed

Writing club
Character Appreciation:
number 18
Prompt: [character] Draco Malfoy
Good vs Evil: number 3
Prompt: [character] Draco Malfoy
Prime Time: number 21
Prompt: [dialogue] "I think, deep down, we're all capable of unspeakable things."
Showtime: number 18
Prompt: [emotion] regret

The Menagerie on Discord
Promptober 24:
2/10
Prompts:
[object] cosy sweater

The Houses Competition
Halloween Challenge:
category II
Prompt:
[character] Harry Potter

Word count: 1050

Warnings/Trigger warnings: NA


Harry and Draco ambled slowly through the snow-covered grounds of Malfoy Manor, cheeks red from the cold. They walked in silence; it wasn't an uncomfortable silence but nor was it the comfortable easy silence of good friends or a long-term relationship. Their relationship was still new and sometimes they didn't know how to deal with their newly discovered feelings for each other. They had so much history together, and so little of it was good. It didn't help that Draco was still under house arrest after the war and the only way to spend time together was for Harry to visit Draco at Malfoy Manor, and the place hardly held good memories for Harry.

The manor came back into view as they skirted around the edge of the forest in the grounds. Draco shivered from the cold and tried to wrap his cloak more tightly around himself.

"Feeling cold?" Harry asked, coming to a halt. Draco nodded, shivering. "Do you want to go inside?"

"It's fine," Draco replied. "I'm not ready for you to leave yet and I know how you feel about being in the manor."

"Hmm…" Harry hummed. "Come here," he added. Draco took a step closer and Harry awkwardly pulled him close, wrapping his arms around the blond to warm him up. Draco tensed up a little, feeling slightly awkward. "You really need to loosen up," Harry said.

"It just still feels a little strange, that's all," Draco replied, allowing himself to be enveloped into Harry's embrace.

"I know. Our interactions in the past were hardly the most cordial," Harry smiled.

"That's putting it mildly," Draco conceded. "But then I'm not sure I know what it's like to be normal."

"Being normal is vastly overrated," Harry joked. "I should know. I've been perfectly normal throughout my school years."

Draco gave a snort of laughter against Harry's chest.

"Oh, yes. Your school years were perfectly normal. So long as you don't count being hunted by a maniac for most of it," Draco smirked before sombrely adding, "Or having your nose broken by a classmate stomping on your face."

"Well, there is that. I did have this one particularly irritating classmate. We were a bit obsessed with each other if I think about it."

"Me too. I suppose I was a bit jealous of him, but I'm quite sure you couldn't have had a classmate who let a bunch of crazed murderers into the school to kill your headmaster," Draco said quietly.

"Funnily enough, that happened to me too," Harry said with a grim smile.

"How can you stand to be near me, Harry, after everything I did? I was an awful person," Draco said regretfully, his cheeks flushing red, with shame as well as the cold.

"I think, deep down, we're all capable of unspeakable things," Harry pondered. "I mean I once slashed open a classmate's chest with an unknown spell. He nearly died because of me."

"He probably deserved it."

"No-one deserves that."

"I did. I don't recognise that person anymore. I've changed," Draco said. "When I think of who I was then, I'm so ashamed."

"We can't change the past. All we can do is hope to learn from it," Harry said thoughtfully.

"W…w…well I c…c…can't get a…any worse, c…can I?" Draco said, his teeth chattering from the cold.

"Here," Harry said, taking off his own hand-knitted Weasley jumper and pulling it over Draco's head. "Let's go in," Harry suggested.

"I'm f…fine," Draco chattered. "I don't w…want you to g…go yet."

"I wasn't planning on going home."

"Really?"

"Really. Why don't you show me your hoard."

"What hoard?"

"Your books," Harry smirked.

"That's a collection, not a hoard, Harry," Draco said, leading the way towards the manor.

"Do you ever throw any of them out?"

"Of course not!" Draco said scandalised.

"Then it's hoarding."

"We'll have to agree to disagree on that one."

Draco led the way through the halls towards the library.

"Are you sure you're okay being in here? I would totally understand if you weren't," Draco worried.

"As long as we don't go in the drawing room or the dungeons, I'll be fine," Harry assured Draco, wandering around the room looking at the multitude of books. If she could get over the fact it was in Malfoy Manor Harry suspected that Hermione would love to come in here. The lure of the books might be enough for her to get over her apprehension.

"What's all this stuff?" Harry asked, indicating the shelves lined with things in what was clearly a reading nook. He grinned thinking about how much Hermione would love a reading nook of her own.

"Just stuff that various members of the family have collected over the years. It's been handed down from generation to generation," Draco shrugged.

"So, more hoarding? Does the name Malfoy mean 'to hoard'?"

"Hilarious," Draco said sarcastically.

Harry reached out to pick up an ornate, beautiful silver dagger with jewels embedded in the hilt.

"Don't touch that- it's cursed," Draco said, pulling Harry's hand back. Their eyes met and Draco glanced down to realise he was still holding Harry's hand.

"Sorry," they both said at the same time, letting go and looking at each other awkwardly.

Harry sat down in the reading nook.

"Why do you have a cursed dagger?"

"Courtesy of my great-great-great-great grandfather. He liked cursed objects for some reason," Draco shrugged, sitting down beside Harry. They were close enough that their shoulders were touching but they avoided eye contact.

"Another hoarder? I'm now certain the name Malfoy means 'to hoard'," Harry teased as they made eye contact. Harry wasn't sure which of them made the first move. All he knew was that Draco's face was now extremely close to his. He could see every long, pale lash framing Draco's grey eyes. Then quite suddenly Draco leaned in and pressed his lips against Harry's own. The world seemed to tilt on its axis and then it was over. Draco's face was still there, mere inches from Harry's but the awkwardness between them was broken. It was just Draco and him sitting there and nothing else mattered. Everything that had gone before meant nothing. The only thing that mattered was this moment right now. Their surroundings blurred and disappeared as their lips met once more.