Nocturne’s Thread - The Dreambind Draught

Draco‘s POV:

Draco had already spent two hours at the library looking at different books about the Dreamless Potion, the Draught of Peace and related potions. He just couldn’t find what he was searching for. He let out a silent sigh; he felt a bit frustrated.
Just what on earth had gone wrong with his Noctis Serenitas? He really wanted to find out.
Draco had that habit of wanting to solve puzzles, and this was yet another puzzle he had to figure out.
He knew this matter would require more drastic measures — he had to go to the restricted area of the library.

So he didn’t waste any time and worked on his plan to sneak into the restricted area. He had to outsmart Filch and Mrs. Norris.
Draco waited until night arrived and then cast a Disillusionment Charm before he left his room on the way to the library.

When he arrived on the third floor, the boy cast another charm in order to confuse Filch and Mrs. Norris.
“BOOOOM!!” A loud bang could now be heard at the end of the corridor.
“Who’s there?! Show yourself!!” Filch screamed angrily, looking around, confused, eager to finally scold a student again.
“Mrs. Norris, go search for them!!” he said to his cat.
Draco now ran off in the other direction, where the restricted area was located, still being invisible.

“Phew,” he sighed in relief. “I did it! Now to find the area dedicated to dream potions…” Draco thought as he arrived in the restricted area without being spotted.He now slowly walked through the corridors of the library, carefully looking around without touching anything. Tall, narrow bookcases loomed like silent sentinels, crammed with volumes bound in cracked leather, dragon hide, or worse.
Some books whispered. Some groaned. One pulsed faintly with a dim red glow, as though it had a heartbeat of its own.
A fine layer of dust coated the floor, undisturbed — until now.
Every step echoed, every breath seemed too loud. It was the kind of silence that pressed in on you, that watched.
This wasn’t a place meant for curious schoolboys.
This was a place where knowledge came with a price.

It was pretty dark in the library; only the bluish moonlight fell through the big windows onto the floor and barely shone on the bookshelves.
“Lumos,” Draco whispered. A small blue light now appeared on the tip of Draco’s wand. It was still very dark, but he would be able to see just enough if he walked closely enough to the shelves.

He should be safe; Filch and Mrs. Norris were probably still outside the library, looking around for a student sneaking about — one they wouldn’t be able to find tonight.
The air in the Restricted Section was different. Heavy. Still.
It smelled of dust, aged parchment, and something darker — like ink left too long in a closed bottle, sharp and metallic.

After some time, Draco arrived at the section about potions for dreams.
He traced his fingertip over the spines of the books until he arrived at the title: Dreambound: The Theory of Magical Sleep Linking.“Found it!” Draco thought, wearing a triumphant smile as he took the book off the shelf and took a closer look at it.

The cover of the heavy book was a deep, dark blue. White dots were spread all over it — they seemed to be star constellations.
In the center of the book, a full moon was pictured, and in the middle of it, a small hole could be found. There were traces of something dark red.
It was old blood, placed in the middle of the moon; some blood drops randomly covered the rest of the book.

Right under the moon, something was written:
“I open with the sacrifice of blood,
offered by the seeker bound in thought.
Mind to mind, dream to dream —speak, and I shall show what should not be seen.”

“Seems like a blood sacrifice…” Draco thought.
He then turned the ring on his left ring finger three times to the right and then clicked on the top of it. The silver ring now opened, and a little sword the size of a needle came out of its center.
It was a ring he had inherited from his family.
The Malfoys were known for their link to dark magic — of course Draco would own an ancient relic meant for dark arts.
The ring could be opened with a special mechanism and was meant for rituals.

He took out the small sword and ran it slowly over his fingertip.
A small red trace of blood formed on his skin.
One drop started to fall.

Draco placed his cut fingertip right on top of the moon and closed his eyes for a bit, thinking, “Please, open…”
Only a few seconds later, the book opened. It smelled of old parchment paper, blood… something dark and forbidden.
The boy put his cut fingertip to the corner of his mouth, licking the remains of the blood. His lips now covered with some traces of red.

He then started to flip through the pages until he reached the chapter:
Chapter XIII – Nocturne’s Thread – The Dreambind Draught.

“That sounds about right…” the curious boy then mumbled and started reading its contents:
“In rare cases of magically-induced dreamlinking, the addition of living material — such as hair, blood, or other bodily essence — can result in a bond far stronger than initially intended.
While hair and saliva may produce a passive connection, blood has been observed to anchor the bond with heightened intensity and permanence.
Caution is advised. When blood is used as the primary conduit, the dream environment may be subject to manipulation by the summoner.
In some instances, the linked individual has responded to suggestions or commands they would not typically obey in waking life.
Whether this is due to psychological vulnerability or magical influence remains undetermined.”

„This is dark magic…” Draco thought to himself.
He had created something dangerous. Something forbidden.
He had never intended to—
Draco, who just wanted to do something nice for once.
And of course it had to turn into something unforgivable.
He started laughing a bit in disbelief.
Can’t fate just give him the opportunity to be nice, just for once?
At least it wasn’t blood, he then thought.

If anyone were ever to find out about it, he would be fucked.
They would think that he wanted to manipulate Harry in his dreams and that he’d done it on purpose.But he just wanted to help. To do something good…
He wondered if their dream connection would even stop if he stopped drinking the potion.He was sure Harry had to stop as well for the bond to be erased completely.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Harry‘s POV:

Harry was running late. Again.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!!” Harry said out loud as he was running through the corridor. He had just had a free study period, so he went to the library to research a few things, but instead of reading, he fell asleep. He wandlessly cast a quick tempus.
“I’m already so late, I must’ve missed like 40 minutes of class!!” he thought to himself.

Harry opened the door to the Potions classroom, breathing heavily, his hair messier than usual.
He gave Professor Slughorn an apologetic look as he quickly walked to the cauldron, where Draco already seemed to be working on brewing a new potion.

Today, Draco’s perfume smelled really intense. In fact, Harry could already smell it when he opened the door earlier. It was almost like the aroma had filled the whole room.
“Sorryyy,” he said to Draco, still trying to catch his breath as he arrived.
“Potter,” Draco began. “I’m not even surprised anymore.” He laughed a little and continued stirring the liquid inside the cauldron.

Harry came a bit closer to Draco to have a look at the potion. He bent over the cauldron a bit.
He took a deep sniff.
Vanilla, green apple and definitely lavender.
It smelled so good. He felt immersed in the scent, thrown back into his dreams, so he closed his eyes for a short moment.
Harry felt confused. Was it the potion he was smelling? Or was it Draco’s perfume, since he was standing so close?

He decided it must be the latter.
“I think you put on a little too much of your perfume today, Malfoy,” he then said.
Draco’s silver-blue eyes suddenly widened in surprise.
Why did Draco look so shocked?
Harry hadn’t meant to insult him, so he quickly continued speaking.

“Ehhm, I think it smells really nice though — just a little intense. It might interfere with Potions class just a bit, I think.”
Now he felt a bit embarrassed — he had just indirectly complimented Draco’s perfume.
He bashfully ruffled through his messy hair, making it even messier.
Life is a prison.

“Well thank you, Potter. I’ll take that as a compliment.” Draco winked as his lips curved into a smile. His eyes were filled with something — as if he knew something Harry didn’t.
Harry bit his lip shyly, his cheeks slowly turning light pink.

“As I see, most of you have finished brewing their Amortentia correctly. I presume for a few of you this lesson might have been really interesting. Might have even brought some clarity to some,” Professor Slughorn announced at the end of the lesson.
“Ah, must be nice to be young!” he added with a little laugh.

“Ehhm… what did he mean when he was talking about ‘clarity’ just then?” Harry directed his question to Draco.
“Might as well ask Granger that,” Draco answered, smirking, seemingly not wanting to explain anything.
“As if you didn’t know. I know that you know!” Harry pouted, feeling a bit rejected and confused.
But his spiral of thoughts was interrupted before he could dig any deeper into the matter.

“Hellooo Draco, sweetheart~!” Pansy said in a cutesy voice with a little smirk as she walked up to Draco and Harry, who were still standing in front of the cauldron, tidying everything up after the lesson.
“Pansy, darling~,” Draco returned, his voice filled with irony.
“Will you ever stop calling me that?” he added dryly, raising one eyebrow slightly, wearing a disapproving look.
“You’re coming later, right?” Pansy continued.

“Ohh, what’re you talking about?” Harry asked, inserting himself into their conversation, looking curious.
“Ahh, you know — the House Unity Party? The one I’ve been planning with Blaise for like… forever?” she replied, smiling proudly.
“Everyone is welcome, so you’re coming too, right, Potter?”

“Ah yeah, right, heard something about it…” Harry looked as if he had just remembered.His friends had told him about it, but lately his mind had just been elsewhere.Thinking about his recurring dreams. Thinking about Draco…

“Btw, you know Hermione helped me a bit with the planning, too? I just talked to her — she’s definitely coming!” the short-haired girl continued.“Count me in!” Harry decided, a big grin spreading across his face.Maybe this party was just what he needed right now.
He really needed a drink — desperately, actually.
Harry then looked at Draco, his eyes curious, filled with expectation.
Would he come too?
“All right. See you later then.”
Seems like his wish would be granted.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Harry!! I’m happy you came!” Hermione greeted the boy as he arrived in the common room, where a lot of 8th years had already gathered for the party.“Come, sit with us,” she said, waving him over while sitting on the floor.
“Here, have a butterbeer, mate!” Ron handed Harry a bottle.
“Thanks, Ron!” Harry happily took the bottle and took a big sip. “Ahh, exactly what I needed!” he grinned widely.

Ron suddenly stood up and held his bottle into the air, shouting into the room:
“Cheers — to one hell of an eighth year!!” Ron had seemingly already had a few too many.
“Cheers!” filled the room from every other student.
The vibe was happy and cheerful and music was blasting.

“Before you came, we were talking about the Amortentia — mine obviously smelled like Hermione!” Ron said, laying his arm around Hermione’s shoulder.
“What did yours smell like? Because you’re single and stuff?” Ron asked, a curious look on his face.
“Ehh well… actually, what even is Amortentia?” Harry asked.

“Harry!! You can’t be serious right now?!” Hermione laughed in disbelief.But she quickly caught on to Harry’s puzzled, confused expression.
“Well, Amortentia is the most powerful love potion,” Hermione said.
“It doesn’t create love, but it smells like the person — or thing — you secretly desire most.”Her gaze mustered Harry, sensing that something was off again.
“Ahaha… I see.” The boy answered, a bit flustered. He really wanted to change the topic.

“We also have some firewhisky~~~!” Pansy announced happily as she passed by the trio.
“Oh my god, thank you, Pansy!” Harry thought to himself, relieved that he didn’t have to dig any deeper into that topic.
“Splendid! I’ll take some!” Harry quickly answered — confused and desperately in need of a drink.

Harry had just realized that it hadn’t been Draco’s perfume he’d smelled earlier.
It was the Amortentia.
Harry had basically just indirectly confessed his love for Draco.
But he wasn’t even sure if he liked him that way.
Maybe he was just confused?
But maybe… his heart had already decided for him.
He didn’t understand yet — but maybe more alcohol would help him break out of his thought spiral.

After some time, the firewhisky started hitting.
Harry had talked to a bunch of people tonight.
But there was one person he hadn’t talked to.
Maybe even the person he most wanted to talk to.

There he was — sitting on the couch, all chummy-chummy with Blaise Zabini, the two of them laughing carefree.
He hated how easy it looked.
Draco’s laugh — the real kind, the unguarded kind — rang out over the music, and Blaise nudged his shoulder in response, something smug and effortless in the way they leaned into each other.

Harry took another sip of his firewhisky, but it didn’t burn half as much as the twist in his stomach.
He wanted to be the one sitting next to Draco.
Not just next to him — with him.
Close enough to feel that laugh vibrate through him.
To lean just a little too far and pretend it was the alcohol talking.
Harry didn’t care anymore. So he just walked up to the couch and sat right next to Draco, acting as if he didn’t care.

Blaise noticed Harry and said,“Ohh, I think Pansy just called me! Better be going now!”— acting a little suspicious, as if he knew something that Harry didn’t.He got up quickly and walked away.
Now it was just Harry, sitting right next to Draco.The air felt tense.
Harry didn’t know what to do, how to break the silence between them.
He also wanted to casually touch Draco — just like Blaise had done a moment ago.

He placed his hand casually on the couch, really close to Draco’s, as he rearranged his sitting position.
Their hands almost touched.Harry decided to move his pinky finger a little bit more in Draco’s direction.
Just a little bit more. But pretend like it wasn’t on purpose — like an accident.

His pinky finger reached Draco’s.
It tingles! Harry thought to himself, feeling like giggling as the alcohol got the better of him.
It felt like electricity.
The air around them had changed again.
It was now filled with something else.

Draco took Harry’s hand and held it up, saying,“Oh my, Potter, your hands…”— looking at them carefully.
“Ever heard of hand lotion?” he asked, wearing a small smirk.

Harry took that as an invitation.
He took a closer look at Draco’s hand too and stroked slowly over it with his free hand.
“Woah, they’re so soft…” he said, wearing a fascinated look.

“All right, let me free you from your suffering,” Draco announced, and cast a charm to summon some hand cream.
Draco still held Harry’s hand as he put some lotion onto it.
He slowly started rubbing it into his skin.
It felt so nice.

Harry really liked how Draco massaged his hands.
It felt warm and moist.
He liked how Draco’s hand felt in his.
He liked the soft, smooth feeling of the lotion spreading over his skin.

Harry started to look deeply into Draco’s eyes.
They looked so beautiful — blue, with a tint of silver.
They say eyes are the windows to one’s soul.
And Harry really felt that.It was as if he could see everything Draco had ever experienced.
Every feeling he had ever felt.
Every anger, sadness, happiness… and even longing.
He could see longing and need in his eyes.
Right here and now.

The tension between the two rose.
The deeper he looked into his eyes, the more he could feel his heartrate speed up.
It was almost as if there was electricity between them.
And it felt so good.
He was just applying some cream — but why did it feel so intense?

Harry’s gaze now wandered to Draco’s lips.
They were curved up into a smile — a little mischievous.
Harry bit his lip, almost erotically, as if he had to stop himself.
Instead, he let out a small moan.

“Fuck!” Harry thought to himself. “Why did I just moan, oh my god… he just applied cream to my hands.”
His face flushed bright red.
Draco’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Oh my, Potter…” he smirked.“I’ve been told that my hands can perform some magic, but that’s a first.”

“Ahh, I just remembered — there’s somewhere I need to be!” Harry said and abruptly stood up.
He walked away really quickly, not giving Draco any more chance to mock him for his little moan.
Harry had never left a room as quickly as he just did.