Why is it always you?
Draco could see him out of the corner of his eye. He stood in the middle of his friends – their bodies like a dome, hiding him from others as they walked through the corridors of Hogwarts. It had been 5 months on the day, since the battle had ended, and Hogwarts stood tall, looking exactly the same. If you looked closely, you could see the cracks in the walls, the bricks that looked cleaner than its neighbours, and which part of the castle had been rebuilt.
Walking through these corridors was like a trip down memory lane. He could still feel it, could still smell it. He could still taste the metal on his tongue from his blood, and the burning and slithering of the mark. He could still feel it crawl up his skin and settle in his bones, working his way through his nerves and setting his whole body on fire.
Potter wasn’t coping any better.
Draco watched him, from his spot in the back of the group. He hid in hands in his pockets, but Draco could see the way his hands and arms lightly shook. He could see the sheen of sweat on the back of his neck, and the way his eyes kept darting to the shadowed corners of the hall. As if an enemy could be lurking anywhere.
Draco felt the same.
He linked his arm with Pansy, holding her closer, and trying to calm down his wrecked nerves.
“Draco, are you okay?” Pansy whispered in his ear. Her flowery perfume and mint breath helped ground him in reality.
“Just nervous is all,” Draco stepped closer to her, “I don’t want to be here.”
“I know.”
Draco huffed at the memory of his mother, and the conversation they had 2 months prior. His mother had forced him to go, saying something about how the Headmistress had personally requested his presence, and she ignored any pleas he had to simply do his sentence at home.
“Here we are!” Draco was pulled out of his thoughts by McGonagall’s voice, “It brings me great pleasure to introduce you all to your Eighth-Year dorms!”
Her triumphant introduction was made lack-lustre with the lack of exciting voices. Headmistress sighed before continuing, “Well, I’m overjoyed to see so many smiling faces. Nevertheless, this is your new room. It’s a temporary accommodation added just for you all, so please, continue to feel grateful and appreciated,” McGonagall shook her head as she spoke, no-one having pitched in with a smile or a cheer, “The password to enter is ‘Nova Status’. It means fresh start. I thought it would be rather fitting for all of you.”
Behind her, the door appeared in a shimmer of magic, almost like a curtain being pulled open. The door to the common room was beautiful but understated, and the stone and intricacies of the door matched the stone around it. It opened by itself, and everyone tried to peek into the room.
Headmistress finally smiled now, glad to see her students enthused by something, “Everyone in, calmly please, no need to shove.”
Everyone walked into the common room, and it was incredible how different the room was. There was a giant fireplace – the fire crackling ahead – and a big, soft couch sat in front of it. The tall windows and exposed stone reminded Draco of Slytherin, even though the other colours had been mixed in. The middle window had stained glass art of the Hogwarts logo and the four houses. The school motto was written beneath it, ‘Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titilandus’.
The room was littered in plants, and a gorgeous chandelier hung above them. The exposed marble complimented the deep tones of the red and gold carpet. McGonagall continued to speak as everyone looked around, “As you can see, all four colours have been used, and inspiration from each of your common rooms have been taken to create this one. Despite the new environment, I hope you can all find yourselves at home.”
“Now, you all must be wondering about your dorms,” Everyone stood to attention at the mention of the dorms, “In the spirit of cooperation and new beginnings, you all will be sharing a dorm with someone else, and to keep things fair, every dorm has been randomly chosen,” She paused to sweep her eyes over the room, “So, I want to hear no complaints, if’s, and’s or but’s. You cannot move rooms, or change your roommate, so I suggest you all get along. Please come to me when I call your name, so you can collect your room key and know who your roommate is.”
It was a tense silence as people walked over to McGonagall. This could either be fantastic, or a death sentence, and knowing Draco’s luck, he just hoped he had time to fill out his will.
“Draco Malfoy,” McGonagall called for him and he walked past everyone to gather the note and key from her hands.
Draco walked back over to Pansy and handed her the note, he wasn’t ready to know himself. She opened the note, read it, and then closed it again, before throwing the note in the fire behind them.
“So? What does it say,” Draco whispered.
“Does it matter? You’ll find out soon enough.”
Draco’s mouth opened in shock, “Pansy! Who am I rooming with?”
“It’s fine! Don’t worry about it!”
“What!” he was just about to grab her before her name was called, and she made her way over to McGonagall.
“I have Luna…” Pansy pouted as she made her way back to Draco, “Looney Luna.”
Draco could still remember her in Malfoy Manor, locked in that cellar, “Don’t call her that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not nice. You’ll be rooming with her; you could at least be civil. You know, co-operation and a fresh start and all.” Draco fiddled with the key in his hands. The tag read ’15’.
“I suppose. I don’t think Lovegood likes me very much, you know, from the whole ‘fighting on opposite sides’ sort of thing.”
“I wouldn’t be sure about that. She did say ‘hi’ to me, and she should hate me the most out of everyone,” Draco peeked over to Potter’s little group, and Lovegood stood amongst them, a bright smile on her face.
“Exactly! It’s that naïve nicety of hers that I don’t trust. No-one is that nice, not even Lovegood! Didn’t her own father rat out Potter? I say an apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.”
By this time, the intricacies and secret dealings of the war had all but nearly been exposed. Any minute detail has been scratched out and dug, with even more being revealed at the trials. The hardships that the Potter gang had to go through had been known across the Wizarding World, especially about what had gone down in Malfoy Manor.
“Then sleep with one eye open tonight. What does it matter, it’s not like you can change rooms.”
“I suppose.”
The last few had gone by quite unceremoniously, with McGonagall wrapping up with another speech about ‘Friendship’ and ‘Harmony’ and she had left them all to fester.
Nott and Zabini made their way over to them after McGonagall had left, “So, who’s your roomie?” Zabini spoke us first.
“Don’t know, Pansy won’t tell me,” Draco shrugged.
“Why’d you give it to Pansy?”
“I didn’t want to read it myself. Bad news always goes down easier with a friend,” Draco glanced at her, “Or so it’s supposed to.”
“You handed it to me; you never told me I had to tell you,” Pansy looked away indignified and insulted at Draco’s words. “Anyway, who are you guys partnered with?”
“Each other.” They both held up their little pieces of parchment, each showing the others names.
“Lucky,” Draco sighed, “I just hope I don’t get stuck with someone who wants to murder me.”
“Headmistress isn’t cruel. If you were partnered with someone whom she thought would be a danger to you, then she would have changed it. She said it was random, but I don’t think it truly was,” Nott placed a hand on his shoulder, “A lot of people hate each other, I don’t even think she was naïve enough to expect all of us to be so chummy with one another.”
“I suppose.”
“Time to get going Nott, I want to unpack before dinner.”
“Thanks,” Draco waved before turning away and walking towards his dorm, key clutched in his hand.
He walked down the corridor, the rooms were spaced apart further then he expected them too, so it was nearly at the end of the hall when he stepped in front of his room. When he had left, the common room was nearly empty, so his roommate definitely is in there. And Draco does not want to go in.
He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves, before reaching for the doorknob. He shoved his key into place and turned it, opening the door with as much confidence as he could - he stepped inside. To his horror, the room was empty. His roommate hadn’t even entered yet, which made Draco feel even more nervous about the prospective meeting.
He looked at the bright side of things, with his roommate nowhere in sight, Draco could get first pick of the bed. Draco closed the door softly behind him and locked it. He doesn’t need anyone else getting in. The room looked quite simple and understated – the decorations vastly different from the ones used in the common room.
The dorm room felt more personal – more connected with his Slytherin house. The windows had been inspired from Slytherin, and the exposed stone on the wall made the room feel colder. The dark, stained wood and deep, earthy green complimented each other nicely. The craftmanship of the desk and bed reminded him of his old dorm room, and the bookshelf stood out nicely with its lighter coloured wood.
The two beds sat adjacent to the other, with the windows in the middle and a table and bookshelf each on the opposite side of the beds. The farthest wall had some paintings and two closets and a door. Draco walked to the door and opened it. It was a beautiful bathroom, with marble and gold. Two sinks and a bath and shower. It was huge compared to the old one.
Draco walked back into the dorm and sat on the bed on the left-most wall. It was comfortable and cozy. The sheets felt like heaven beneath him – but of course, nothing could ever beat the comfort of the sheets at the Manor – and it smelled like fresh lavender. Draco found his trunk at the foot of the bed, appearing from Merlin knows where, and a matching trunk appeared on the other bed.
At closer inspection, the room was covered in red and gold, with faint lion designs etched into some of the stone. It gave off a warm and fuzzy feeling. Even the bathroom had the same red and gold and wood that the dorm room has.
Draco felt his heart sink, “Oh, Merlin.”
He couldn’t be rooming with a Gryffindor, could he? No, Headmistress wouldn’t… Actually, yes. She would. Draco held his head in his hands, this CANNOT be happening! A Gryffindor and a Slytherin sharing a room? He might as well write his will now.
Draco made his way over to his bed and flopped down, hiding his head in his hands. He was just about to start wallowing in his own self-pity, when the door knob jiggled, the lock unlatched, and the door opened.
Revealing none other than Harry. Fucking. Potter.
“Potter,” Draco greeted as he sat up.
“Malfoy,” Potter acknowledged.
“I guess we’re sharing a room.”
“Yes, seems like it.” Potter shut the door and made his way to the opposite bed, sitting down.
The air felt thick and heavy. It settled around Draco’s lungs and he felt like he could hardly breathe, “Do you think she did this on purpose?”
“Who’s to say. But knowing McGonagall, I’d say yes.”
Draco hummed in response, not quite knowing what to do with himself. To try and distract from this awful situation – he stood up and walked over to his trunk. He began to take out some of his belongings – school books, school bag, robes and writing equipment – and began to put them away. The desk was rather beautiful upon close inspection, the designs had been carved on, and it was smooth and polished.
His books lined up neatly on his bookshelf – his tallest book just managing to fit into the space – and he placed his bag on top of the shelf. He continued to put his basic things away and tried very hard to ignore the pair of eyes that watched him.
He couldn’t ignore it any longer, “Don’t you have things to put away too?”
“Yeah, kinda,” Potter reach over and grabbed a pillow, and began picking at the seams.
“So, shouldn’t you do that?”
“I will, just not right now.”
Draco huffed and went back to his trunk, pulling out the rest of his robes and clothes and walked over to the closet, folding and hanging his clothes up. He always took pride in a clean space and hated clutter. He always had to tidy things up, straighten them or put it away. It was a habit.
“Stop staring at me,” Draco exasperated as he shoved the last few things in his drawer.
“I’m not staring at you,” Potter knitted his eyebrows as he spoke, his round glasses cutting some of the angry undertones and giving his face it’s lost childlike features.
“It sure seems like it.”
“Well, don’t you sound full of yourself.”
“Whatever, Potter,” Draco murmured.
“Malfoy,” Potter spat, before standing up and throwing his own trunk open and staring at the contents inside. He picked up a random assortment of things and began to put them away with no rhyme or reason.
This is how it should be. Malfoy and Potter always at each other throats. Always bickering. Always fighting. McGonagall’s speech came back to Draco’s mind. How was he supposed to have a fresh start with Harry Potter. The boy loathed him just as much and Draco did. To Draco, public enemy number one will always be Harry Potter. No two ways about it.
This was going to be a long year.