You and I, all night long
Chapter 6: You and I, all night long
Harry was mad at himself. He was mad at himself for being affected by Louis’ words. It just wasn’t him. He didn’t get affected by anyone or anything let alone, let alone him! What was it to Harry if Louis hated him, it’s not like he had the fondest opinion of him either, it's just, it's just UGHHH. When he voiced these opinions to Liam and Niall in class the two idiots were anything but helpful.
“I don’t know mate maybe you have a crush on him or something” the blonde one joked
“Don’t be an idiot niall” Harry responded
“Maybe it's just because no one’s ever disliked you Harry. I mean think about it, everyone likes you in this school or at least is afraid enough of you to pretend like they do, Louis’ the only one to ever challenge that. Maybe your ego is just butthurt over it” Liam chimed in
“Or you just have a crush on him” niall added, unhelpfully
Despite the utter uselessness of Niall’s comment, Liam’s point did have some merit, and it left Harry wondering. Was his distaste for this whole situation simply because his ego couldn’t handle someone not being utterly and completely adoring of him? Well, there was a simple solution to this problem. He would just have to make Louis like him. For science of course. But the question is how? Louis seems completely immune to Harry’s usual charisma and charm, so he would have to find a different approach for the blue-eyed boy. Harry couldn’t be able to tell you what his classes were about that day, the only thing on his mind was the small brunette. In other words,
“Harry, however, had never been less interested in his classes; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Louis Tomlinson.”
When 7 pm finally came Harry was nervously waiting in the potions room. His leg was bouncing up and down as it does when he’s nervous or anxious, which to be honest was a lot. He did some calming breaths that Liam had taught him to do and put on his game face. Then Louis walked in. Louis with his hair that fell to perfectly frame his face, with his sinfully long eyelashes and merlin, snap out of it Harry! This is why Louis disliked him so much, because he was off his game.
“Took you long enough” he announced
“Yeah yeah sorry your highness” he quipped back
Harry rolled his eyes, what a big big attitude for such a tiny person.
“Whatever stop with your jokes come over here we gotta get started”
Louis all but skipped over, what an odd, odd boy.
“Yeah actually I had a few problems with this particular potion, the, the Sleeping Draught?”
“Ahh the sleeping potion, yeah we learned that in what 3rd year? It’s a simple but powerful potion”
“Yeah just teach me how to make it idiot”
Harry raised his eyebrows at that, it sounded almost, playful? Like a friend’s?
“Well i mean its all in the book
- Add 4 sprigs of Lavender to the mortar.
- Add 2 measures of Standard Ingredient to the mortar.
- Crush into a full powder
- Add 2 blobs of Flobberworm Mucus to your cauldron.
- Add 2 measures of Standard Ingredient to your cauldron.
- Gently heat for 30 seconds.
- Add 3 measures of the crushed mixture to your cauldron.
- Wave your wand.
- Leave to brew and return in 70 minutes (time depends on cauldron).
- Add 2 measures of Standard Ingredient to your cauldron.
- Heat on a high temperature for 1 minute.
- Add 4 Valerian Sprigs to your cauldron.
- Stir 7 times, clockwise.
- Wave your wand to complete the potion.
yada yada yada”
Harry noticed how Louis listened on intently, eager to learn. And that’s what they did for the rest of the evening they worked on teaching louis how to brew the sleeping draught. And throughout the entire conversation Harry made playful remarks to Louis trying to get his attention but Louis seemed once again unaffected. Harry grew more and more impatient with every passing second, what could he be doing differently?! Finally the potion was complete.
“Um if you don’t mind me asking what do you need this for, it’s not like it’s going to be in our quiz?” Harry asked
He saw Louis blush and shy away at the question.
“Uhm I haven’t slept well in a while, anytime i try to I just i don't know my mind just doesn’t let me. Last year, for sixth months I couldn’t sleep”
Louis was now looking out into nothing, his mind clearly no longer present in the room with them. It hypnotised Harry, seeing Louis like this, so lost in thought.
“Oh, uhm, i'm sorry to hear that” harry mumbled
Louis shook his head, snapping himself out of whatever trance he caught himself in.
“Yeah I don't know why i’m telling you this” Louis laughed nervously
“Well you have this now at least, it's only temporary, but hopefully it will help you” Harry offered
“Yeah thank you, really. Uhm can I ask you something?”
“Yeah sure, hit me”
“Why are you so nice to me? I see the way you treat Zayn and pardon my language, you’re an absolute dick to him”
Harry laughed at that remark.
“Yeah I guess I deserve that. I don’t know, I guess for as long as I can remember I’ve needed to make my presence known in a room. I was taught to be feared, not to be fearful and I guess Zayn was just a victim of that mindset and its stayed that way between us”
“Oh”
“Yeah”
Harry cleared his throat. “Well i’ll leave you too it then, I have to go”
And Harry stood up and left the room in a rush to avoid any awkward confrontation. But when he was already halfway to the gryffindor dorms he realised he had forgotten his potions book. When he went back into the potions lab his expression immediately softened. The beaker holding the sleeping potion was empty, and there in the middle of the table was Louis, sound asleep. He looked so peaceful. Like nothing in the world could hurt him now. His expression was like a child's innocent and trusting and needing to be protected. Harry still doesn’t know what came over him but he felt the need to protect this innocence. He approached the sleeping boy, took off his own robe and draped him in it, tucking him in. Harry too, sat down and rested his head on the table. Just sitting and admiring Louis for a moment, more closely than he ever had before. And slowly he too drifted off to sleep, and there they slept, just the two of them.
All night long.