That Fic I was Supposed to Finish Ages Ago (well, the other fic, I mean)

[roguemariel]

Harry shook his head as he walked away, not that his friends noticed. Ron and Hermione were arguing again. Harry wasn’t sure what they were arguing about, exactly, though he wasn’t sure they knew either. Regardless, when they started in on each other, they weren’t likely to notice that Harry was missing for at least a good thirty minutes or so.

That suited Harry just fine, really.

The Triwizard Tournament last year had gone as well as it could have. He’d gotten lucky -- after the Third Task, someone had realized that the Cup had been a Portkey that hadn’t engaged. He and Cedric had stared at each other for awhile after learning that bit of information. No one was sure where the Portkey was supposed to go, but both competitors had been glad they hadn’t gone there. Judging by the expressions on their teachers’ faces, it probably wouldn’t have ended well for at least one of them.

This year was, so far, going much better. Harry was growing a bit concerned, honestly -- it was nearing March, and no one had tried to kill him. In fact, the only detentions he’d been given had been from Snape. It was more than a bit disconcerting. He felt almost like a normal student.

Harry wasn’t paying that much attention to where he was going. If he had been, he might have noticed the stairs changing direction. As it was, he held on to the bannister as he continued upwards. The stairs led directly to a door, which Harry immediately went through.

“Don’t let it close!” a voice yelled out.

It was too late. The door slammed shut behind Harry.

The other person sighed. “Honestly, Potter, you can’t even manage to keep a door open?”

“Malfoy!”

“Yes, Potter, me. Honestly. It’s like you can’t see what’s in front of your face.”

In Harry’s defense, the room was quite dark.

“Shut it, Malfoy.” He turned around and tried to open the door.

“It’s locked, idiot. Do you think I’d still be here if I had a choice in the matter? Gryffindors,” Draco scoffed.

Harry took offense to the way Malfoy spat his House’s name. He withdrew his wand.

“Don’t bother,” Malfoy said, leaning back in his chair. (Harry’s eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness of the room.) “Magic doesn’t seem to work here.”

As far as Harry was concerned, Malfoy could say that the sky was blue and would have to be checked before Harry believed him. As such, Harry decided to cast a light charm. “Lumos!”

Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

“...Did you think I would just be sitting here in the dark if there was a better option?” Malfoy asked, clearly trying not to laugh.

Harry groaned and flopped into the nearest desk. With any luck, Ron and Hermione would notice he was missing soon. Then, with more luck, they could use the Map to find him.

This was hoping rather a lot from them, though.

* * *

The door had opened on its own roughly three hours after Harry had wandered in. Both boys had quickly exited, and had quietly resolved never to speak of it again. (They also resolved not to talk about the handful of bruises they had acquired when, after the second hour, they had somehow broken into a fight. Some of that furniture would never be fixable.)

They weren’t that lucky.

* * *

Over the next several weeks, Harry and Malfoy had been locked into corridors, rooms, the Owlery, and (twice) broom closets. After the third encounter, they begin keeping snacks in their bags, as they had yet to be let out before two hours had passed for the second person locked in.

On the plus side, they were leaving with less bruising each time. You can only really fight the person you’re trapped with for so long before even that becomes boring. Some rooms were better lit than others, too, and in those rooms they tended to do their homework. (This led to several more fights between Hermione and Ron. After all, as Hermione said, if Harry could find time to get his homework done, surely Ron could too? They somehow hadn’t noticed that Harry kept going missing, and he wasn’t inclined to bring it up.)

By mid April, the two of them had stopped fighting, and had instead began talking to each other. By the end of April, they were no longer sitting on opposite sides of the room. By May, they were sharing snacks.

“Are you ready for exams?” Draco asked on afternoon while they were stuck in the Astronomy tower.

“Yeah, mostly. Not Potions, but the other ones.” Harry shrugged. “History is probably not going to go well either, but Potions will probably be the worst.”

“Potter, those classes are simple. Do you even read your books?”

Harry glared. “I’m not sure you’ve noticed, Malfoy, but Potions is not a class I do well in. It’s hard to do well in a class when the teacher hates you.”

Draco held his arms up in surrender. “Sorry, Harry.” The two of them had decided roughly three weeks ago that it was ridiculous to call someone you were routinely locked in a room with by their last name. “Look, I know he’s not the easiest of teachers, but we’re not doing anything that difficult.”

“Were you even in the same class I was on Tuesday? Three cauldrons exploded!”

“Yeah, but were any of them yours?”

“...No.”

Draco sighed and pulled his chair closer. “Alright, explain. What exactly is your problem.”

* * *

Two people stood in a shadowy room, glaring down at a bit of parchment.

“This is not going the way we wanted it to,” one of them grumbled to the other.

“We should have started in January,” bemoaned the other.

“...You know, I have an idea.”

* * *

The door shut behind Harry. Shaking his head, he walked toward Draco. “So, exams went well, yeah?”

Draco shrugged. “Mostly. I did something odd in Transfiguration, but I think it should be alright. How was Potions?”

Harry winced. “I think it went okay? My potion was the right color. I’m mostly worried about the practical. Still, I need at least an E to be able to take it next year.”

“Still want to be an Auror, then?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Harry shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes. I won’t make any plans until I see how I did.”

Draco nodded. That seemed reasonable enough.

Harry blinked. “Er… Draco, what happened to the walls?”

“I was wondering when you were going to notice that. I’m not sure I’ve seen a room this garishly decorated since second year.”

Harry winced. “Lockhart’s Valentine’s decorations?”

“Exactly. I had been hoping never to see something like this again.”

The two of them sat in silence for awhile, passing snacks between them. Eventually, Draco broke the silence.

“We go home tomorrow.”

“You mean we leave school,” Harry corrected. He was not overly excited about returning to the Dursley’s.

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

Harry stared at Draco until Draco shrugged, accepting the lack of answer.

The door swung open. The two boys stood.

As they turned to leave the room, Draco reached out and grabbed Harry by the arm, stopping him. Draco looked at him for a moment, then leaned forward, brushing a light kiss to the corner of Harry’s mouth.

“See you next term?” Draco asked quietly, stepping back.

A slow smile grew on Harry’s face. “Maybe we can write over summer? I hear they have parchment pairs that connect to each other.”

“Funny you should mention that,” Draco said, reaching into his pocket.

* * *

Two figures were jumping up and down. Suddenly the door opened.

“Fred? George? What are you two doing in the dark?” Ginny asked, confused.

“Nothing, nothing, dear sister! We were just --”

“--Contemplating how excited we are that --”

“--Our NEWTs are over and we are done and --”

“--All of the plans we have now that we’re --”

“--Finished with school and --”

“Okay, okay, stop with the jumping. We’re all very pleased for you, stop rubbing it in,” Ginny grumbled. (She, after all, still had three years to go.)

* * *

That night, Harry curled up in his bed, his curtains shut. He held a bit of parchment and a quill.

Hi. he wrote.

Several seconds later, he got a response.

Hi.