Noctis Serenitas
Draco’s POV:
Draco knew for some time already that Harry seemed to be having trouble sleeping without nightmares.
Honestly, even Filch’s cat could’ve seen that coming.
He sure wasn’t the only one who had noticed it.
Most days, Harry seemed a bit out of it — dark circles under his eyes, yawning a lot during class, visibly tired. And Hermione would often look at Harry with a worried expression on her face. Sometimes even Ron the dork would comment on it, he thought.
It was a given that Draco had noticed, since he had been watching Harry for years now. At first it was curiosity — in his first year at Hogwarts, finally being able to meet The Boy Who Lived. His father had told him quite a lot about him. He wanted to be friends with him.
When he spent time at Malfoy Manor, he would tell Dobby about everything that happened at school — especially everything revolving around Harry.
But then, on the first day the two boys met at Hogwarts, he was instantly rejected — before their friendship even had a chance to begin...
Of course, Draco always had a huge ego and it was very fragile. He was raised to become a proud and competitive man by his father.
That’s why he couldn’t handle this rejection particularly well, especially being young and even more immature.
After a while, his initial fascination turned into rivalry. It was a way for him to handle his feelings of rejection — because he couldn’t have Harry in his life.
So he found a way to get his attention and somehow become a part of his life — by mocking and picking on Harry and his friends.
Though after a while, this feeling of rivalry started to feel different for Draco. He understood that deep down he hadn’t only hoped for Harry to become a friend, but rather become a part of his life — he started to harbor feelings for the other boy.
A fact that was very hard to accept at first, but as the years passed, he began to see those feelings as a part of himself.
His gaze always following Harry, watching his every step, every smile he would show someone else…
But just because he knew he harbored these feelings, didn’t mean he wanted the other boy to know about it too.
Of course, he made sure that Harry would never find out his true feelings.He was afraid — of what his father would say if he knew, of how Harry would react, of whether the other students would change their view on him. He was a coward.
So he continued his snobby behaviour — because if he changed anything in the way he acted, maybe some kind of smarty-pants would figure out that something had changed.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Draco’s hunch was confirmed once again during their first Potions lesson of the year. Harry seemed to really want that vial of their freshly brewed Dreamless Sleep potion. His eyes filled with longing — but he would never admit it. So of course Draco let him have it.
After they had worked together in Draco’s room for the assignment, he made his decision.
Seeing Harry suffer so much during sleep — waking up distressed, drenched in sweat —Draco hated seeing the boy he was in love with suffer so much.
“This can’t go on like this,” the blond boy thought to himself.
He decided to brew a special Dreamless Sleep potion for Harry, but one with fewer side effects. Maybe some kind of mixture of a Dreamless Sleep potion and the Draught of Peace.
So he decided he wouldn’t lose any more time and help Harry break out of the endless suffering.
Draco knew what it felt like, since he too had been suffering from nightmares since becoming a Death Eater — a choice he hadn’t made voluntarily. He had only been sixteen, born into the wrong family, yet wanting to protect them.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
The room still smelled faintly of potions long gone — ashwood, damp stone, something sharp and unnameable.
Draco was standing in front of the cauldron in a secret potion brewing room that had belonged to Professor Snape. He had been allowed to use it for his own studies from time to time. Snape had high expectations of Draco’s potion brewing skills and wanted to give him the space to deepen his knowledge.
Now that Snape was dead, nobody else used this room anymore — and it belonged to Draco alone.He often came here by himself and tried brewing new potion recipes he had come up with on his own.
The cauldron simmered softly in the center of the room, the silvery-blue liquid inside beginning to swirl on its own as the temperature steadied at exactly thirty-nine degrees.
Three crushed chamomile blossoms. Stir counter-clockwise. Wait.
His fingers paused briefly above the next vial — Demiguise hair, powdered to a fine shimmer. He added it in one slow motion, watching the potion pulse once with a gentle glow.
Still stable.“It shouldn't erase the dreams,” he thought, jaw tightening. “Just take away the fear.”
He reached for the phoenix tear — diluted, dangerous, too powerful if rushed. He added a single drop.The potion flickered. Settled.
And still, behind all the focus, behind the perfect control of his hands, was him.
Potter, with his tired eyes and haunted silence.
Potter, who would never ask for help — and never guess where this was coming from.
Draco sighed and picked up the moondew.
“You better bloody sleep after this, Potter,” he muttered, and let the final ingredient fall.
Just in the moment he finished brewing the potion a small strand of hair fell into the cauldron without him noticing it.
Draco filled the potion in to a few small vile‘s and lookd at the purplish shimmering color. „Noctis Serentias“ he said, deciding on the name of his newest creation.
He wrote a small note and stuck it on the outside of the little vial.
In very neat handwriting, he wrote:
“Noctis Serenitas — I hope this potion helps you with your nightmares. It’s a combination of the Draught of Peace and the Dreamless Sleep potion. This variation has fewer side effects, so you can take it every night.”
He knowingly didn’t add his name at the end — he feared that Harry wouldn’t take it otherwise.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Before he knew it, Friday had arrived — and so had their next meet-up for the Potions assignment.
Draco entered Harry’s dorm room. The dark-haired boy was already lying on the floor on his belly, head resting on his crossed arms, reading a book.
“Oh Merlin, his room is as messy as his hair,” Draco thought to himself.Harry’s room was quite messy — papers and books spread all over the floor, even a few clothing pieces lying around randomly.
He even seemed to have a chair just for used clothes.
Even though Draco thought Harry’s room was indeed really messy, he couldn’t help but find him cute, lying there on the ground, trying to concentrate. The messiness reflected a part of Harry’s personality, and Draco thought it actually matched him quite well.
Apart from the messiness, it was a well-decorated room. Many elements of red and gold could be found — in the carpets, bedding, and curtains.And on his desk stood a picture of Harry with his parents. The people in the picture were smiling brightly, hugging each other tightly.
The size was pretty similar to Draco’s room.
Draco was a neat person. He loved to keep everything clean, so he couldn’t resist commenting on the state of Harry’s room.
“Ever heard of cleaning, Potter? One might say it can be quite useful,” he said as he entered, his voice filled with irony and a bit of a mocking smile.
“Okay mum~~,” Harry answered in a playful tone. “Sit down, so we can start,” he added with a smile, looking at Draco with his big green eyes.
So Draco sat down, and the two started working on the assignment.
It was already getting late again, and Draco noticed how Harry grew visibly more tired.Harry’s eyes closed every now and then for short moments — he was struggling to stay awake.
Draco thought about commenting on it, trying to keep him awake, but decided to let him be and let the poor boy sleep. He couldn’t be bothered anyway — he knew he’d be able to work quicker on the essay without him.
Just a short while later, Harry had fallen asleep. He was sleeping safe and sound — in a very cute, adorable way.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stay this way for too long. After a while, Harry made small sounds, his face showing discomfort. He frowned, breathing heavily.
Draco reached out with his index finger, pressing it gently between Harry’s eyebrows. The frown eased a bit.
He removed his finger immediately — he was afraid to wake him up.
Shortly after, Draco finished the essay. But just as he was about to leave, he remembered something.He reached into the pocket of his robe and took out a small vial filled with purple-colored liquid.
“Oh right, Noctis Serenitas. I almost forgot about it,” Draco said in a quiet voice, mumbling to himself as he remembered.
He was torn. Should he really just give it to Harry? What would he think? Would he even try it?
“Okay, whatever. Stupid Potter,” he said softly, holding the vial a bit angrily and placing it on Harry’s nightstand.
Then he quickly stomped out of the room — without waking Harry.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Harry’s POV:
Harry woke up in the morning. He had woken up a few times during the night, then moved from the floor to his bed. But he had been able to fall back asleep quickly.
He woke up early in the morning, the sunlight shining through his curtains, the warmth of the sun on his skin.
He sat at the edge of his bed and stretched his arms into the air.
He then cast a quick tempus spell wandlessly and said, “Only 7 am yet? It’s still so early...”He was thinking about going back to sleep, but then he had the feeling that he had forgotten something.
What was it again?
After a while he sighed. “Oh no, not again…”He had met up with Draco yesterday, and this time he had really wanted to contribute more — not be a burden again. But he had fallen asleep. Again.
Harry ruffled his hair in distress — now he was wide awake.
He reached out to his nightstand, not looking, searching for his glasses. But why did they feel so different today?
“Wait... what is this?” Harry thought, picking up a small object.
He found his glasses and put them on. Now he looked more closely at the object.
It was a small potion vial, filled with a shiny purple liquid. As he held it into the morning light, the liquid seemed to sparkle a bit. He read the note:
“Noctis Serenitas — I hope this potion helps you with your nightmares. It’s a combination of the Draught of Peace and the Dreamless Sleep potion. This variation has fewer side effects, so you can take it every night.”
“Hm, what’s this? Who would…?” he wondered, turning the small bottle around in his hand.
He studied the vial, looking at it very closely. The handwriting looked very neat and clean, must have been a girl who left it here…
But why for Merlins sake would a random girl go sneek into his room and put a Dreamless Potion on his night desk?
That would be weird, even a bit scary.
“Hermione!” he then said out loud in relief after finding out that this wasn‘t another gift from his crazy fans.
She was the only one who could have brewed something like that. She was very talented and knowledeable in Potions and knew about his nightmares and sleeping troubles.
And recently, she had seemed really worried about him, asking him really frequently if he was feeling alright.
“That’s so kind of her. I really need to thank her as soon as I see her!” he thought, grinning widely.
He was really grateful for his friends — and he really wanted to show them more gratitude.
Harry was already thinking about a way to thank his friends.
Now he felt very motivated to start his day with the knowing that soon his nightmares would be past.