Worlds Collide

Dazai woke up in the bed, covered in sweat after having a nightmare.

Nightmare probably isn’t an accurate term, it was pretty much an old memory that resurfaced.

Dazai’s little fingers were broken, and he was desperately trying to latch onto the bars of the kennel he was in as snarling dogs approached him.

His father turned around to walk out, only briefly glancing behind him to Dazai, who looked at him with pleading eyes.

“Shuuji.” His booming voice echoed off of the stone walls. “Remember the pain of me breaking your fingers one by one the next time you decide to try to pick the lock and escape.”

Dazai’s little lip quivered as his father left the room, leaving him there to…

Dazai gasped out a breath as he felt Draco (MaM)‘s hands on his shoulders.

“Dazai!” Draco shook him.

“What… happened…” Dazai laid paralyzed.

“You were tossing and turning in your sleep, almost like you were in pain.”

“I was.” Dazai sighed as the snapping sound from his own fingers echoed in his mind. He sat up and held his head in his hands.

It was the first time Draco had seen Dazai this unmasked and vulnerable. He could tell that something was really bothering the brunette.

He sat down on Dazai’s bed and looked him in the eye. “Nightmare?”

“Something like that.” Dazai responded quietly.

After a brief silence, Draco took Dazai’s hand into his.

“Want me to sleep next to you tonight? Just in case you have another nightmare.”

Dazai considered this with a wide eye. “If you want.” He then fake pouted.

He appeared to be sulking but he still scooted over to make room for Draco.

They both laid under his blanket, facing each other.

“I hope you sleep better.” Draco said.

“I hope I do too.” Dazai responded as they both closed their eyes.

Draco eventually fell asleep, and Dazai stayed wide awake, overthinking, as per usual.

He did find the sound of Draco’s slumbered breathing to be weirdly comforting.

Another sleepless night… great…

-

Dazai, Blaise, and Draco (MaM) arrived at breakfast before anyone else.

“There it is.” Dazai ran up to the tiny portal which was only the size of an envelope. “As I suspected, we can’t pass through this one.”

He wasn’t pleased to see that the floor was still pretty dirty. Whoever the janitor was needed to stop slacking on the job!

They couldn’t pass through… but it was still open and very active!

He tossed in a letter addressed to Blaise with his suspicions.

After much consideration, Dazai’s findings proved something to him.

The size of the spot the magic was circulating around was the size of the rift that would open up. The ones on the ceiling would open up on the ceiling, the ones on the floor opened up on the floor (like this one), and the ones that were sideways opened sideways.

This portal opening up this morning also confirmed yet another suspicion for him: the portals opened or almost opened at the same time everyday.

Snape’s classroom rift proved that considering he and Draco fell through at the exact same time only one day apart.

So what do we know:

The portal in the great hall every morning before breakfast was too small for a person to pass through, but it was a good place for them to communicate with the other universe.

The portal in Snape’s room was big enough for someone to fall into in Dazai’s universe, but the one here was on the ceiling, so it was impractical to get home that way.

The one in the infirmary was pretty small but hadn’t opened up yet. It’s sideways close to the window, so there is a chance they could pass through it if they crawl.

Their best bet, though, was the Slytherin common rooms. Unfortunately, the magic in there hadn’t been unstable enough to actually open up a rift, but it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on it.

The one in the library was near the entrance. It was also on the ceiling and the biggest potential portal they had so far.

The only portal they didn’t have information on at this moment was the one in the girl’s bathroom.

-

“We will investigate that one before lunch starts.” Dazai said while chewing his scrambled egg.

“Ok, and how are we supposed to investigate in the girls bathroom?”

“I figured maybe you could use those Draco powers of yours to influence everyone to stay away.”

Draco raised a brow and scoffed. “Draco powers? As if they’d listen to a Draco from another universe.”

“You never know.” Dazai chuckled. “I was thinking of recruiting Hermione’s help, actually.”

“Can she sense the magical energy?” Blaise asked.

“No, but she could help me search around the bathroom while the two of you guard the door.”

“Right…” Draco rolled his eyes.

“What about polyjuice potion?” Blaise suggested.

“Potions have the same effect on me that regular magic does, so no dice.” Dazai sighed.

“I see.” Blaise had a feeling he was missing more information on that, but he decided not to push Dazai into telling him about it.

“So, that’s the plan. We need to investigate this one in order to have all of the missing pieces together.”

Draco sighed. “Fine.”

-

When the break before lunch started, Dazai quickly recruited Hermione after class and had his team on board for their mission.

“This is really exciting!” Hermione clapped her hands together.

“You’re not afraid of Dazai breaking any rules?” Draco asked.

“Why would I be? This is fun!” She clenched her fist, excitedly.

Dazai was amused to see Hermione not only be willing to break rules with him, but also seeing her enjoy breaking rules with him.

“Mr. Dazai! I found you.” A dreaded voice sounded from the hallway as the man approached him.

Ugh, why is this happening?

“Professor Lockhart.” Dazai scowled.

“I was wondering if I could have a quick word with you.” He smiled.

“I’m in the middle of something. Go bother someone else.” Dazai walked to move past him but the man stepped in front of him.

“It’ll only take a minute.”

“Fine. Then talk.” Dazai crossed his arms and waited.

“Not here.” Lockhart glanced at the other students. “In my classroom.”

“Not to be rude, sir, but the last time I followed a sketchy professor to his classroom like this, he tried to murder me.” Dazai was absolutely trying to be rude, but that’s besides the point.

Lockhart startled upon hearing that. After he snapped out of his stupor, he shook his head and smiled.

“I just wanted to ask if you could tell the other students that what you said in my class was only a joke.” He chuckled awkwardly. “They seemed to believe you about the demon professor thing, and frankly, I’d never do such a thing.”

“Demon professor-?” Draco started to ask but Dazai whacked his chest lightly to get him to stop talking.

“Professor.” Dazai started as he walked around Lockhart. “Our universe is much different than this one. Not just the events but also the people. Remember that.” He smiled evilly as he continued to walk.

Draco rolled his eyes and followed as Hermione and Blaise snapped out of their shocked state to follow behind as well.

Lockhart slumped over, looking deep in thought.

“You told everyone he’s a demon professor?” Draco asked again, as they got far enough from Lockhart and wouldn’t be overheard.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because, it was a lot of fun.” Dazai beamed.

“So that stuff wasn’t true?” Hermione asked.

“Of course not. You could say that this is sort of like me having my revenge on a professor that has done nothing but bully me this entire school year.”

“But this isn’t our professor Lockhart-.”

“Moving on! Hermione, are we almost there?”

“Yeah, it’s that door over there.” She pointed.

“Good! Remember the plan.” Dazai spoke to his half completed hells hounds… sort of…

“You can leave this to us, boss.” Draco said as he guarded the door. Blaise stood beside him.

“That’s our cue to go.” Dazai smiled at Hermione.

As they both went in behind the other two Slytherins, Hermione chuckled. “Boss?”

“Yeah.” Dazai smirked. “I started a gang in our universe. You’re actually a member, too.”

“A gang?” She looked Dazai up and down. “You’re quite interesting, you know.”

“Apparently.” He shrugged as he looked in a bathroom stall. There was a gold, dangly earring on the floor.

Upon further inspection, he realized this was the most stable one in the whole school. This one probably won’t be opening anytime soon, and if it did, it was the size of a closed fist. No one was at risk of passing through this rift.

“We don’t have to worry about this one.” Dazai took a step back and looked Hermione in the eyes.

“That’s a relief. So that means we have 5 potentially functioning portals and 1 unreliable one.”

“Yep. It’s only possible for us to pass through 2 of those portals, and there’s one portal that’s good for sending information back and forth. Other than that, the others don’t matter as much.”

“I feel like we are getting closer to figuring out the puzzle.” Hermione smiled, but it faded rather quickly. “But you know, I’ll miss you when you’re gone.”

Dazai felt a weird feeling in his chest. There’s no way he’s actually agreeing with her... right?

He has a Hermione already so it’s not like he won’t ever see her again. He likes his Hermione a lot, but this Hermione is super fun too.

“We should get out of here now that we’re done.” Dazai turned and headed to the door.

Hermione wore a sad look before following him.

“You’re done.” Draco said. “That was fast.”

“It’s a dead end. It won’t be useful.” Dazai replied.

“Well, now we have enough information to plan on when to go home, right?”

“Almost. For now, it’s just a waiting game. We have to be prepared to pass through either of the two portals at any time. The only problem with that is we don’t know what time of day the one in the infirmary opens up.”

“I can ask Madam Pomfrey to keep a look out for us.” Blaise suggested.

“That would be helpful, Blaise.” Draco nodded.

“Agreed! We will meet you in the great hall for lunch. For now, the rest of us should head back to the library to see if we can find any more information.”

“But wait, didn’t we already get all the information we needed?” Draco asked.

“You never know what else we could find.” Hermione chipped in.

“Exactly what Hermione said. Instead of just sitting around waiting, we can try to find more information.”

“Alright.” Blaise started to walk off. “I’ll tell you what I find out in the great hall.”

“Thanks Blaise.” Dazai called out with a happy cheer and big waves.

“We should all get going too, then.” Draco said to Hermione.

She nodded, still feeling a bit off about this nicer version of Draco.

“Hermione can lead the way again.” Dazai pointed in a random direction.

The girl chuckled as she walked in the opposite direction from where Dazai had pointed.

“You coming, boss?” Draco playfully smirked.

“Yeah.” Dazai shrugged and followed behind his two friends.

-

Blaise knocked on the infirmary door. It took him longer to get here than he thought it would.

It didn’t help that Pansy berated him with a ton of questions along the way.

He was finally able to deflect her by telling her that Draco was in the Slytherin common rooms. He hoped he was correct. He’d be in trouble with her if he wasn’t…

“You may enter.” A worn voice called.

He opened the door and Madam Pomfrey smiled. “Ah, you’re the boy from yesterday. Did you want to investigate some more?”

“Yes.” He nodded as he closed the door behind him.

“Can it wait until lunch is over? I’m sure you’re famished from a day of studying hard.”

“Oh, I’ll head there in a bit. But I did have a few questions for you, first.”

“Take a seat. I’ll answer whatever I can.”

Blaise followed her hand to one of the beds. He sat down and she sat on the chair next to it.

“What did you want to ask me?”

“First, I wanted to ask if you’ve noticed anything off. Specifically at that spot over there.” He pointed.

“I haven’t noticed anything different.” She shrugged.

“The second thing I wanted to ask is a favor, if you don’t mind, Madam…”

“And your favor is…?”

“I was wondering if you’d be able to keep a lookout for any suspicious activity in that spot. We suspect a portal could potentially open up in that spot, so Dazai can go home.”

“I’d be happy to.” She smiled. “Dazai seems like such a nice boy. I would like to help him in any way I can.”

“Thank you.” He returned a very faint smile as his eye trailed to the side.

He blinked, wondering if something was off with his vision.

A portal was open, right now?!

He ran to it and Madam Pomfrey gasped as she saw the light yellow rift that was currently active.

Once Blaise reached it, however, it closed.

He looked up at the clock. “So this one opens 5 minutes after lunch starts.” He nodded. That was good to know.

“That was…” Pomfrey stared in shock.

“That was one of Dazai’s tickets back home.” He responded, seriously.

-

“Blaise, you’re late.” Draco waved to Blaise as he walked into the great hall.

“Daz- Boss.” Blaise walked over and sat next to dazai who smiled at the word ‘Boss.’

“I take it you found something interesting?” Dazai seemingly read his mind.

“The portal opens 5 minutes after lunch starts. You were right about it being big enough for a person to crawl through.”

“That’s good. Now we know the times and locations of our potential ways home.” Dazai thought out loud.

“Did you find anything in the library?”

“We combed through more books, but came up empty.” Draco sighed.

“I’m not too worried about that.” Dazai spoke up next. “We have all the information we need at the moment even though more information couldn’t hurt.”

“And now we wait.” Draco huffed.

‘And now we wait.’ Dazai let those words sink into his skull. He wanted- no, he needed to get back home! Sure he was making allies rather easily now, but still… he did need to get back home… right?

He glanced around the great hall. Other than the Slytherins themselves, people were behaving exactly how they did his first year again. It was kind of refreshing, not being a demon student and everything…

“Dazai?” Blaise snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Yes?”

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

Dazai glanced down and saw that Blaise had put food on his plate for him.

Dazai furrowed his brow at it.

“Ugh, fine.” He rolled his eye and stuffed a bite of food into his mouth.

-

Once they got to Snape’s class, they worked on textbook reading which was absolutely boring.

Dazai shared a book with Hermione while Draco (MaM) shared a book with Blaise.

“Mr. Dazai? Are you even paying attention?” Snape looked up from reading aloud to glare at the boy.

The answer was no, he wasn’t. He waited in anticipation for the portal to open up again, staring at the ceiling.

“Yes, I am, sir.” Dazai didn’t look down from the portal. Even though he wasn’t reading the book, he could recite the passages Snape read out loud word for word, so he wasn’t worried about that.

It should happen right about now…

“Mr. Dazai-.” Snape spoke again but was cut off.

The portal opened and the class held their breaths in anticipation.

“This would be the perfect time to be able to fly.” Dazai sighed.

“Why don’t you just use wingardium leviosa on yourself?” Hermione asked.

“Easier said than done.” Dazai huffed.

“Oh, are you not able to lift bigger things yet?”

Dazai scoffed. “I’ll have you know, I lifted both Draco and Ron at the same time during our first year-.”

“Ouch!” Something, or someone rather, hit the floor.

The person quickly jumped up to his feet, defensively looking around.

Hermione’s eyes went wide. “Ron (MaM)?!”

He met her eyes and immediately saw Dazai at her side.

“Dazai! You’re ok!” He ran over and hugged the boy.

Dazai let his arms fall to his sides, limp and scowled. “Why do you people insist on squeezing the life out of me?”

“Oh, sorry mate.” Ron pulled away but kept his hands on Dazai’s shoulders. “We have been so worried!”

“I’m fine! Besides, Draco is with me.” Dazai pointed and Ron followed his finger to look at the other boy.

“I’m glad you’re ok too, Draco.” Ron spoke sarcastically, pretending to hate him. It didn’t work, though.

“Why is a Weasley addressing you so casually?” Pansy shrieked from behind Draco (MaM). Draco (HP) was sitting next to her, giving Ron a curious glare.

“Took a pretty nasty tumble there, Ron.” Draco (MaM) shot back.

Now, Draco (HP) was looking almost as surprised as Pansy.

“Says the guy who fell on his ass.” Dazai giggled.

“Language, boy.” Professor Snape lectured. “And aren’t you the one that fell directly onto your face?” He said, slightly amused.

“Your face?” Draco (MaM) gasped.

“Are you ok?” Ron checked him for injuries. His hand brushed against the covered up bruise and Dazai lightly smacked his hand off of him.

“I said I’m fine!” Dazai puffed out his cheeks with a slight stomp to his foot.

The other students watched quietly, in awe of the banter. The situation was definitely confusing, so Dazai didn’t blame them.

Among them was Harry and Ron (HP). They look slightly surprised, but they also looked a little relieved that Dazai was telling the truth, which, rude! He didn’t do anything to cause them not to trust him…

“You, Mr. Weasley.” Snape spoke to Ron (MaM). “Just like with the other two, give me your robe.”

Ron looked confused for a moment before complying.

“You can take a seat next to Miss Granger. Share her book until class ends.” Snape walked back to his desk and set the folded up robe on his growing stack.

“Boss.” Ron said quietly as he sat next to Hermione.

“Even Ron calls you boss?” She chuckled.

“You all do. Anyways, what is it, Ron?”

“We got your letter.”

Dazai was pleased to hear that. Now they’d be almost completely caught up minus the timing of the Infirmary rift.

“Seems you gathered the same information we did.”

Dazai’s smile shifted into something slightly surprised. “You all… figured that stuff out on your own?”

“Not on our own, we had help. But we have been investigating non stop since your disappearance.”

Huh… Dazai’s subordinates really were amazing, even Draco this time considering he got Draco (HP) off his back.

“That’s amazing.” Dazai finally spoke. “Who did you get help from?”

“The headmistress brought in an expert when it comes to Strange phenomena in the wizarding world. You’ll never believe who it is!”

“Headmistress?” Hermione raised a brow.

Dazai thought for a moment. The only one he knew that was passionate about that stuff was Luna, but that’s only because her father wrote those dumb- … wait!

“Luna’s father?” He guessed before Ron could respond to Hermione.

“How did you know?”

“Because who else would it be? Anyways, he must’ve been good with his investigation if he managed to figure all of that out on his own.”

“Oh, he actually had a gadget he built to help him. It senses magical disturbances in the air. Apparently, he was asked to come in the day before you disappeared because someone in a girls bathroom felt her earring pull out.

When she looked to see what pulled it, she only saw the wall of the bathroom stall and no one was in there. She couldn’t find her earring anywhere, but they did find a different earring lying on the floor. It was silver but hers was gold.”

The earring from earlier… so it was sucked into this alternate universe.

But how could that happen?

The only thing Dazai could think of was maybe she unknowingly bumped into it right as it started to close.

That didn’t explain the other earring, though. Did someone from this universe unknowingly bump into it at the same time?

“After that, Mr. Lovegood was brought in and immediately used his gadget on the place. When he sensed the magical disturbances, he warned the Headmistress about alternate universes, just in case a rift did open up.”

“And then I fell through one the next day…” Dazai put a hand to his chin in thought.

“Exactly. We had been trying to find a way to get you back but then Draco fell through the day after you did.”

“And then you fell through as well, right?”

“No.” Ron raised a brow. “I jumped in.”

“You jumped in?” Hermione gasped.

“Well yeah. I saw the portal open up and decided to just jump right in.”

“Why in the world would you do that?” Hermione raised her voice.

“It was spur of the moment.” Ron shrugged. “I didn’t really think first, I just… jumped?”

“You’re unbelievable, Ronald Weasley!” She huffed.

Dazai chucked. “Aww, did you really miss me that much? How sweet!”

“We all do. We have been worried for days now! I’m glad to see you’re ok.”

Dazai was taken slightly aback by the honest comeback, and pouted in response. “Whatever.” He crossed his arms while puffing his cheeks out.

“Pay attention!” Snape called out before continuing to read the next passage. This is going to be a long class…

-

In the Magic and Mystery universe just moments before, Ron was sitting in his seat, listening to Snape read from their textbook.

Hermione, who was next to him, bumped his arm. “So the rift is supposed to open back up today, right? She whispered.

“That’s what Luna said before we received Dazai’s letter. Maybe Dazai will finally be able to come home.”

“No. Remember, he said in his letter that the portal was on the ceiling in that universe. He wouldn’t be able to go into it.”

“Oh, right… So what do we do?”

“We-.” Hermione’s eyes widened as the rift opened up.

Blaise immediately shot to his feet, but couldn’t move because Pansy was holding his arm.

“Blaise, you can’t.” She pleaded, seriously. “I can’t lose another friend!”

Blaise was determined, and she could see that in his eyes. He shook pansy’s arm off. “I have to see if they’re ok!”

He ran into the walkway with Pansy yelling after him.

“Don’t even think about it, Mr. Zabini.” Snape growled.

Just as he was about to protest, they turned their attention to Hermione who screamed “RONALD WEASLEY!!!!”

Someone running flashed across their vision as they witnessed in complete awe a particular red-head jumping right into the portal as it closed shut.

Snape sighed and held his head. ‘I don’t get paid enough for this.’ He whined in his thoughts.

Blaise felt frustration wash over him.

He would get to Dazai one way or another! Thanks to the information Dazai gave him in that letter, he knew exactly how he’d try getting over there… he only had to wait some more hours.

‘Hang in there, Dazai!’

-

Back in the HP universe, they were sitting in the library for their break before dinner.

Dazai was pleased to see his friends Draco (MaM), Blaise (HP), Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Ron… again…

His slight smile fell as he saw something absolutely disgusting.

“Eww, what the hell is that thing?” Dazai scrunched his nose.

“Oh.” Ron (HP) pat the thing on the head. “This is-.”

“Scabbers!” Ron (MaM) gasped! “He’s alive! I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ron (HP) asked.

“In our universe, Scabbers died.” Ron (MaM) answered.

“Oh…” Ron (HP) thought he saw a scared look Scabbers’s face, but surely he was just seeing things.

Dazai continued to look disgusted. “I can’t tell who's worse, this thing or your other nasty rat.”

“Hey, don’t be mean to Angel.” Ron (MaM) scoffed.

“You named it Angel?” Hermione smirked.

“Of course I didn’t! Ginny did.” Ron (MaM) sighed.

“Let me guess, Scabbers died by Hermione’s cat?” Ron (HP) asked with a bit of bite to his tone.

“If you’d keep a better eye on your rat, Crookshanks wouldn’t have gotten to him!” She snapped back.

“Uh, no, he died before school started.”

“Ha!” Hermione laughed in Ron (HP)‘s face and he rolled his eyes.

“As amusing as this is, we need to come up with a plan.” Dazai interrupted.

Everyone perked up and listened intently.

“The one in the Slytherin common room could open up tonight before curfew. That was going to be our ticket home, before Ron showed up.” Dazai looked to Ron to make a point.

“Being a Gryffindor, I am willing to bet the professors will make him sleep in the Gryffindor common room. If we are going to make it through this portal, we will have to sneak Ron in.

Other than that, we will just have to wait and see about the portal in the infirmary during lunch tomorrow.”

“Sneaking him into the Slytherin common room won’t be easy.” Blaise spoke up.

“Maybe Draco could have some sway again?” Dazai suggested, jokingly.

“I don't think that’ll work a second time.” Draco sighed. “Slytherins are more against common room invaders than any of the other houses.”

“Common room invaders?” Dazai asked, amused.

“You’re one of those invaders, you know.” Ron (MaM) chuckled.

“Guilty, but after tonight, I won’t be the only one.” Dazai smirked and Ron (MaM) rolled his eyes.

“And how are we supposed to pull that off?” Blaise asked.

“We could just have Draco clear the room for us again like last night.”

“Wouldn’t he be upset over a Gryffindor being in our common room?” Draco raised a brow.

“I think he’d be more relieved at us leaving than anything.”

“You know…” Harry said and everyone turned their attention to him. “It’s kind of a bummer that you’re leaving so soon, mate. I feel like I hardly got to know you.”

“I feel the same.” Hermione gave Dazai sad eyes. “You’re not in our universe, but I know you’d be a good friend to have.”

Dazai felt his heart flutter which annoyed him. He couldn’t start having feelings now because that would mean he’s grown attached to these brats, and that’s unbecoming of a mafioso according to Mori.

He had Hermione at home even though he’d come to like this Hermione as well. The person he didn’t have back home was Harry, though.

“It can’t be helped.” He shrugged, masking his emotions perfectly.

Everyone from the HP universe looked at each other, visibly somber.

“Ah, we should be heading to dinner soon.” Draco (MaM) spoke, trying to ease the tension.

“Ooh I hope they have crab again today!” Dazai clapped his hands together.

“You hope that every day, Dazai.” Draco sighed.

“Is crab your favorite meal?” Harry asked as they started walking.

“It is! It’s so good!” Dazai had a twinkle in his eyes.

The group stuck close together except for Blaise, who lagged behind thoughtfully.

-

Dinner was interesting because Ron had to go sit at the Gryffindor table with the others.

Dazai glanced back to check on him and noticed he was getting along well enough with everyone at his table.

Fred and George in particular made a big scene.

“Oh no, Fred!” George put his hands to his face at the horror, jokingly. “Two Ronnikins… he’s trying to show us up!”

“Nah, he’s not trying to show us up, this just means he really looks up to his big brothers.” Fred smirked.

“Oh, you’re right!” George nodded.

Dazai chuckled as both Rons started shouting at them to let go of them.

“Dazai?” Draco asked.

“Ah, they don’t have crab.” Dazai deflected with a fake frown.

“You’ll just have to be fine with Shepherd's pie for tonight.” Blaise put a serving on Dazai’s plate as usual.

“Ugh.” Dazai sighed dramatically.

“Dazai, do you really think we’ll be able to go home tonight?” Draco spoke softly.

“You don’t need to worry, Draco. We will be able to get back to our universe. Just give it some time.”

“Right…”

Blaise paused briefly, frozen but silent. After a moment passed, he handed Dazai’s plate to him.

“Ah, thanks Blaise.” Dazai said. He noted Blaise’s behavior as odd. Was he upset?

Dazai watched him for a moment before he shrugged it off and started eating, reluctantly.

-

Dinner came to a close and the two groups joined together again.

“Before we head to the common room, we should get our robes back.” Dazai brought up.

“I didn’t even think about that. We wouldn’t want to leave them here.” Ron (MaM) added.

“Why? We could just buy new ones.” Draco shrugged. His eyes met Ron’s and noticed the irritation in them. “Or not.”

“We will have to head to professor Snape’s classroom to get them.” Hermione huffed lightly.

“That’s not a problem, is it?” Dazai raised a brow.

Ron (HP) and Hermione glanced over to Harry who raised his hands defensively. “Professor Snape hates my guts, so I’ll sit this one out.”

“We’ll also have to decline.” Hermione looked to Ron who nodded in agreement.

“Oh… that’s fine.” Dazai smiled. “It’s been nice meeting the three of you. Thank you for your help with everything.”

Hermione teared up a bit. “I know we’ve only just met, but I feel like we connected right away. I’ve enjoyed meeting you. It was nice to make a new friend.”

“Me too, mate. I was skeptical at first, but I’ve enjoyed becoming your friend as well.” Ron smiled fondly.

“I wish I could’ve gotten to know you better.” Harry spoke next. “If there is ever a chance, I’d like to see you again.”

“We’ll see.” Dazai chuckled happily.

The three of them closed in on him with a group hug, which he tried to resist but ended up giving in with a scowl.

They let go and gave one last wave and final goodbye as they headed to the Gryffindor common room.

“We should get going or else we will run out of time.” Blaise reminded.

“Right.” Dazai followed as he led the way. Ron (MaM) and Draco (MaM) both looked to each other, seemingly reading each other's minds.

What if they didn’t have a Dazai?

The thought caused their hearts to ache.

Life wouldn’t be as good.

-

“You three.” Professor Snape growled as Dazai excitedly and dramatically waved.

“Professor!” Dazai made his way across the classroom and stopped by Snape who was sitting at his desk.

“What do you want?” Snape sighed.

“We wanted to get our robes back since we probably are going home tonight.”

Snape’s eyes widened slightly. “Elaborate.”

“We figured out how the portals work and learned of one that opens up very soon. It’s sideways and we can just walk through it.”

“You figured it out?” Snape asked. “Explain.”

Dazai pulled up a chair and sighed. “I guess I can give you a quick run down, but we don’t have much time.”

He explained everything as Snape nodded along. “You figured this out all by yourselves?”

“Yep! Me and my friends.”

“I see. Well,” Snape grabbed the robes and handed them to the boys. “Safe travels.”

Dazai smiled and nodded. “It was nice to meet you Professor.”

He stood up and was joined by the other two as they walked out.

Snape sat at his desk, holding his head.

For the last 3 days, he’s had a consistently bad headache. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say Dazai was the one causing them.

He chuckled at the thought. There was a very slim chance that the headaches… were actually worth it…

He smiled slightly to himself as he put a report card into an envelope. Dazai’s grades needed to get back to his own Professor Snape, after all.

-

They stepped out of the classroom and Blaise closed the door behind them.

“Alright, it’s close to time.” Draco sighed with relief as he, Ron, and Dazai started walking.

Blaise stayed still and silent.

“Blaise?” Dazai turned around and tilted his head.

Blaise looked off to the side, not wanting to meet his gaze.

“You two can start heading that way. We’ll meet you at the entrance in a few.”

“What? Why?” Ron (MaM) gasped. Draco grabbed his arm and shook his head.

“Let’s go.” He said as he pulled Ron along with him.

Once Dazai and Blaise were alone, Blaise finally looked dazai in the eye.

“Something has been bothering you, Blaise. I know that look in your eye. So spill… what’s going on?”

Blaise watched him for a moment but shrugged. “What the others said, I feel the same as them. But, I know that you need to go home, so don’t worry too much about me.”

He seemed like he wanted to say more but took a deep breath and shook it off instead. Some things are just better left unsaid, after all.

Dazai raised a brow but Blaise walked past him.

“We better get going or else you’ll be late.”

Dazai watched his back for a moment before sighing and catching up.

This wasn’t his Blaise. He felt so comfortable with him that he somehow didn’t let it fully sink in.

He will go home and see Blaise again, but this Blaise…

“Let’s pick up the pace a bit.” Blaise snapped Dazai out of his thoughts.

“Or we could take it slow and enjoy our last moments together.” Dazai glanced over to his friend with a slight pink dusting over his cheeks.

Blaise sadly smiled and nodded. “Whatever you say, boss.”

-

“Took you both long enough.” Draco (MaM) called down the hallway when he saw his two friends appear. They had only arrived moments before the other two, but Draco was feeling anxious to get home.

Dazai smirked while Blaise whispered the password to the painting.

The door opened right up and let them in.

“This is the slytherin common room?” Ron (MaM) asked.

“Oh right, this is your first time seeing it.” Dazai elbowed the red head with a wink. Unfortunately for Dazai, it only looked like he blinked.

“What is HE doing here?” Pansy (HP) scoffed.

“The portal.” Dazai pointed to the spot. Several students shifted away from the spot, nervously. “We plan on going home tonight.”

“Get out!” Pansy screamed.

“Wait, Pansy.” Draco (HP) held his arm out in front of her.

“But why Draco? Why do you keep defending them?”

“Because I want them to leave.” He snapped back. He glared at Dazai. “Leave, and don’t come back.”

“I definitely don’t plan on coming back.” Dazai glared back with a smile.

“In that case, everyone make some room.” He flailed his hand around and everyone backed up.

Dazai and his two subordinates walked over to the portal as Blaise stood behind them, watching.

Dazai felt it again, the feeling like a glass was cracking and about to burst.

No… the portal wasn’t fully open!

The magic in the air was more stable than normal, so the rift was only partially opened for about 5 seconds.

What they saw was Blaise (MaM) who was trying to go through the portal.

Dazai caught the frustration on his second in command’s face before it slammed back shut.

“No!” Draco (MaM) yelled. “No, no, no! It closed!”

“I guess we will have to wait a little longer.” Dazai deadpanned. “We will try the one in the infirmary tomorrow.”

“This is bad! What if one never opens up again and we can’t get back home?” Draco kept on with his nervous rant.

“Get a hold of yourself.” Ron (MaM) set his hand on his shoulder. “I know you’re nervous. We all are. But worrying about it isn’t going to solve anything.”

Draco’s shoulders deflated. “You’re right, unfortunately.”

“So you weren’t able to go back home after all.” Draco (HP) crossed his arms angrily. “He needs to get out right now.” He pointed to Ron.

The four of them (including Blaise (HP)) looked at each other.

“Right. Well, I guess Ron will have to go back to the Gryffindor common rooms.” Dazai said. He knew he’d be fine considering the other Gryffindors took to him very well during dinner.

“Now!” Pansy squeaked, repeating Draco (HP).

“I’m going, I’m going!” Ron started to the door. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.” He waved before walking out.

Dazai sighed and plopped down onto a couch. The image of his Blaise’s desperation just now kept replaying in his mind.

He needed to get back home to him and fast!