The Relay Race!
Draco was sure that everything will go calmly and he’ll finally be able to break the Halloween curse. That was when it all happened.
After the feast in the Great Hall, they had just reached the Slytherin doors when the sirens blared. It felt surreal to hear Dumbledore’s booming voice summoning all students back to the Great Hall at once.
(“Sirius didn’t come to the school, did he?”
“Nope, he’s at his flat. Snape and lupin were supposed to go their this evening.”)
”Whats going on?”
“Are you ok?”
“What happened?”
“Sirius black-”
“in the dorms-”
The night unfolded like a poorly written script. The Fat Lady had seen Black, yadda yadda yadda. He attacked her, and so on. Draco exchanged glances with Severus and Lupin, all of them silently agreeing that the school had gone mad. After all, they had it on good authority that Sirius was enjoying his butterbeer in Severus’s quarters.
Regardless, they got their slumber party. They were forced (by Percy) into their sleeping bags but it didn’t take long for the group to settle in together.
“Do you think Black’s still in the castle?” Neville whispered anxiously, wedged between Theo and Blaise, who had somehow combined their sleeping bags into one oversized contraption to accommodate the three.
“Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be,” Pansy snarked from somewhere to Draco’s right. He was pretty sure he had seen Luna and Ginny crafting the same bag situation nearby.
“Huh! That’s strange,” Pansy murmured after a few moments of silence.
“What?” Lavender asked from next to Ron, who was on Draco’s left, just after Harry. (When did she join the gang?)
“The fact that Sirius Black chose today of all days to come to the tower-” Hermione explained, clearly sharing Pansy’s thought.
Draco yawned and snuggled deeper into his sleeping bag. Harry nudged him with his shoulder, giving him an inquisitive look.
Everything's still okay. Don’t worry; just enjoy the night,” Draco whispered, ensuring only Harry could hear. The others were busy whisper-yelling in an argument.
What do you say, Draco?” Luna poked her head out of the sleeping bag and asked.
“Huh!” Draco jolted, startled from the brink of sleep.
“How do you think Black got here?” Theo asked, shooting him a suspicious glance. They all leaned in, huddled together, eyes on Draco.
Draco took a deep breath and sighed dramatically.
“Okay, listen up, everyone.” He sat up, motioning for the others to gather closer. “I’m going to tell you something, and there will be no follow-ups. You have to trust me, and you can’t repeat anything I say now to anyone.” He fixed them with a pointed stare. (Once again when did Lavendar become a member of their gang?)
Theo, Blaise, and Hermione exchanged glances, while Vince and Greg shrugged nonchalantly, and Pansy stared intently at Draco.
“Okay,” Pansy said, as if reaching a decision. “Tell us.”
Draco shot Lavender a look; she elaborately shrugged and said, “Sure.”
“As some of you know, Sirius Black is my cousin,” Draco declared, and Hermione gasped. “Therefore, I’m the only one who can say this: it was not Sirius Black. He was nowhere near the Fat Lady today or the past month, for that matter.”
“I just know… the same way I know we don’t need to worry about it. He won’t be troubling us… like ever,” Draco promised.
“Did you kill him?” Pansy asked, a gleam of unholy glee in her eyes. But before Draco could respond, Percy shouted, “The lights are going out right now! I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking. That includes you lot.” He shot them a McGonagall-worthy glare.
The lights flickered out immediately, silencing the whispers. Despite his claims, Draco found it hard to sleep. Every hour or so, a teacher would do a round of the Great Hall. A few times, Harry tried to perk up to listen in, but each time, Draco nudged him back down and whispered for him to sleep. By the time they finally slipped into a deep slumber, their sleeping bags had merged, with Harry’s head resting on Draco’s shoulder and Draco’s arm wrapped protectively around him.
For the next month, the school buzzed with nothing but rumors about Sirius Black. The conspiracy theories about how he entered the school grew wilder by the day. Draco and Sirius made a game of it, gathering in Severus’s quarters every few days for a nightcap (only butterbeer for Draco, as Lupin had mandated) to discuss the validity of the latest outlandish theory. Severus sneered at them initially, but soon he and Lupin joined the discussions, with Lupin keeping them updated on the staff's latest theories they had concocted.
Draco caught glimpses of the gang whispering behind his back, clearly eager to follow up on what he had shared on Halloween night but unable to do so. Sir Cadogan moved in to replace the Fat Lady, who stubbornly refused to return. Cadogan spent half his time devising ridiculous passwords and the other half challenging students to duels. Draco was the only one to emerge victorious from those encounters, much to his delight.
(“Might have something to do with the fact that you’re the only one unhinged enough to duel a portrait.”
“Shut it, Vii.”)
McGonagall imposed a ban on Harry leaving anywhere without a security detail. It hardly mattered, as no one ever went anywhere alone, and Harry was rarely seen without Draco. Still, they were accompanied by various guards, from Percy to Fawley and, at one memorable moment, Marcus during late-night Gryffindor practices.
It was one of those nights when Draco returned to the dorm and caught Neville sneaking into Theo’s bed (or rather, the bed curtains). This wasn’t entirely new, per se. The gang had grown accustomed to sleeping in each other’s dorms. Draco knew for a fact that on nights when nightmares became too overwhelming, Ginny often sought comfort in Pansy or Luna’s room, while Neville would visit Blaise and Theo. Greg frequently emerged from Vince’s bed, too.
Draco didn’t think much of it, but when it happened for the fourth night in a row, it began to trouble him, especially as Blaise seemed blissfully unaware while apparently courting the guy who regularly invaded Theo’s bed. Draco didn’t want to blame Neville, but this was becoming concerning.
So, on the sixth night, he set an early alarm. Just as he heard Neville close the dorm door, he flung open his curtains.
Theo looked startled, attempting to play it off as a normal morning.
“You know I love you guys…” Draco began, lowering his voice so as not to disturb the others, “but I have to protest this whole trick you’re playing on Blaise.”
“What?” Theo spluttered. “No! That’s not what this is.”
“Care to share?” Draco raised an eyebrow in inquiry.
Theo hesitated, glancing from Draco to the bed behind him. That’s when Draco noticed Blaise sleeping in Theo’s bed as well.
“What the hell, Theo?” Draco exclaimed. “Are you playing some kind of kinky couples therapist?”
“Ewww… no, just no, Draco!” Theo cringed, then pushed Draco aside to join him on his bed. “It’s not what you’re thinking. Me and Neville … we are together.”
“But isn’t Neville betrothed to Blaise?” Draco scratched his head in confusion.
“How long have you known us exactly?” Theo shot back. “Yes, Neville and Blaise are betrothed.”
“What kind of relay relationship are you all playing at?” Draco exclaimed.
“Blaise is right, you know. You’re as thick as they come.” Draco bristled at Theo’s comment, but Theo continued. “Blaise, Neville, and I are together— as in, we love each other. And we all know.” Theo looked at him with an agonized expression. “You know my dad, Draco. He would never let us be ourselves. Until we figure things out, I can’t push that kind of burden on Neville and Blaise.”
“You can move in with me,” Draco suggested.
“Not when you’re getting emancipated yourself. And I know you haven’t found a place for us yet. Unless I can get free of that man, we can’t tell anyone about this. And just so we’re clear, you can’t tell this to anyone, either.”
“Fine, I won’t tell anyone,” Draco huffed, frustrated with himself for letting his friends down. “Fine I wont tell anyone.” Draco huffed frustrated at himself for letting his friends down. “but you gonna owe me a no questions asked favour.” Draco said smugly to decrease the rising tension.
“Not if it puts Neville in any kind of danger,” Theo rebutted, a small smile creeping onto his face.
“Sure,” Draco promised with a grin.
As the first Quidditch match approached, the weather grew increasingly bleak. Still, the Quidditch fanatics clung to their practice schedules. On the last practice before the match, Oliver announced that Gryffindor would be facing off against the Hufflepuffs. Draco saw complaints erupt from the team like a chorus of disgruntled bees, their collective mood souring at the thought of Slytherins being frauds.
Draco settled into the bleachers, relishing the impending thunderstorm as Oliver shouted at his team to give their all, even while facing off against a “tall, rugged, handsome seeker from Hufflepuff.” The irony wasn’t lost on Draco—Gryffindors always seemed to think they were the underdogs, even when were the proverbial bullies in Quidditch.
As the clouds darkened and the first drops of rain began to fall, he leaned back, enjoying the dramatic backdrop. A storm was brewing, and it felt oddly fitting. He could almost see the tension in the air, the anticipation before the chaos erupted. Watching from the sidelines, Draco felt a thrill of excitement mixed with a touch of smugness. After all, he had the best seat in the house, far removed from the fray yet right in the middle of it all.
“You think they’ll actually stand a chance?” Pansy asked, sidling up next to him, her eyes scanning the Gryffindor team.
“The Hufflepuffs? With Harry as Gryffindor’s Seeker? Hardly. They might as well just hand over the trophy now,” Draco replied, smirking.
“You’re awful,” she laughed, shaking her head. “But I suppose we’ll see.”
The day before the match, Severus was appointed as substitute to take over the Defense Against the Dark Arts class for Remus. The lesson passed without incident, despite Severus launching into a detailed lecture about werewolves and Animagi. Ron, of course, couldn’t resist talking back and found himself earning a detention—classic. (Or in other words - A Canon Event.)
Then came match day. Montague showed up dressed in a Dementor costume for a laugh. It should have been hint enpugh for Draco that The System was stil Canon bound, but for some reason, it just didn’t click for Draco… until it did.
The match went as scripted, too exact to the script. The atmosphere was charged with excitement. He watched from the bleachers, the rain soaking the pitch, when chaos erupted. He saw when the Dementors appeared, swooping down onto the field, and before Draco could process it, he saw Harry fall to the ground, a Pheonix Patronus soaring through the field (couldn’t Dumbledore had done that before the Dementors targeted Harry?) and Harry was rushed to the hospital wing.
“Bloody hell,” Draco muttered under his breath.