Chapter 7
Ottis can tell Professor Potter is fuming. Professor Malfoy trails behind him doing his best to match Harry's brisk pace, Otis struggles a bit more trying to keep up with his head of house and potions professor.
Professor Potter had come rushing into the Gryffindor common room with little braids scattered about his hair and they hadn’t disappeared since then.
He doesn’t understand why he’s so mad, it had hurt more when he’d fallen off his broom yesterday.
Professor Malfoy picks up his pace to walk alongside Professor Potter, “Harry, are you alright.”
He watches Professor Potter take a deep breath. When he exhaled it was as if he was expelling a layer of energy, it sent goosebumps across Otis’s skin.
“I’m fine Draco, it’s just,” Harry looks back at Otis and runs his hand through his hair, frowning slightly when his fingers get caught on the braids, “Gryffindors are always so convinced that them being needlessly brave is required of them, he’s only eleven Draco.”
Professor Malfoy smiles sympathetically, “Harry you did the same thing when you were their age, don’t even deny it.”
“I know it's just, I hate the fact that I was so slow getting there, if I had been in my own room then I could’ve gotten there quicker,” Professor Potters's pace slows to something far easier to keep up with and Otis suppresses his heavy breathing.
“Let's set something up so they can get down to you quicker than you can be sure they’re safe,”
Harry hums for a moment, “Maybe we can set up a way for them to call me and I can just floo up to my room?”
Otis stumbles over a loose stone and he feels a wave of magic keep him from face-planting. He notices that Professor Potter had just waved his hand, wandlessly keeping him upright. He itches to ask about the wandless magic but decides to let them finish talking.
“That would work,” Professor Malfoy said opening the doors of the Hospital wing and ushering him in.
Otis walked in cradling his hand and Madem Pomfrey glared.
“What have you done to yourself, give it here let me see,”
As his professors walked away all Otis could think about was why Professor Potter's staying in his own room never came into question.
***
Harry looked at the button that Draco had just stayed up figuring out with him. It's red with a yellow lion on top, making the button distinctly Gryffindor.
It had taken hours to get the charms correct but now it wasn’t doing anything dangerous, they had their wands at the ready anyway, this was, after all, the sixth time they’d tested it. More than a few times the button simply exploded setting fire to the table around them. At one point the red coloring they had used had decided to react violently and the button melted a hole in the table. If it worked correctly a glowing blue ball should appear in front of him, relaying whatever the problem is.
Harry lets Draco send him into another room and waits, theres no telling what could go wrong. Harry lets out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding when Draco presses it and works just the way they intended.
A disbelieving laugh bubbles up in Harry's throat. He rushes to the living room, picks Draco up, and twirls him around.
“We fucking did it.” Harry grins, “And it only took…”
Harry sets Draco down and casts a quick tempus, “All night.”
Draco looked down his nose at the button, “Why in Merlin's name did that take so long.”
Harry chuckles, “I couldn’t tell you,”
Draco grinned down at Harry.
Harry notices his hand lingering on Draco's waist but doesn’t remove it just yet he wanted just a few more minutes of closeness, and Draco didn’t seem in a rush to move either.
“Do you think it’s early enough to put it in their common room, fuck, we’re gonna need to find a way to make sure it sticks to the table.” Draco looks at the button, terrified to try a sticking charm and risk it blowing up again.
Harry holds up a finger and runs to the floo. Flooing up to his room he searches the cabinets until he finds what he’s looking for. A box of cable ties and a screwdriver.
He floos back down and presents the box to Draco who raises a questioning eyebrow.
Carefully hand drilling a few holes into the plastic base using the screwdriver and then a few in the table with his wand (the table had a plethora of holes already, what’s a few more?) before looping a few of the cable ties through the holes.
He gestures to the button with a flourish. Draco attempts to jostle the now tied-down button but it stays down plenty well making Draco nod, causing Harry to burst into the special kinda of delirious laughter that comes after an all-nighter. For a moment Draco stared at him like he was crazy until he collapsed into a similar laughter.
Regaining their composure, or whatever was left of it after the hours they’d spent working on the button, the two stare at the button once more.
“We should test its magic resistance, what if a spell goes awry,” Draco says nervously.
Harry casts several shield charms then casts the Wingardium Leviosa no reaction, Accio, Harry even flinched but the button didn’t seem too offended, in fact, it barely jittered trying to come to his hand, Expelliarmus, still nothing, and a handful of other spells and charms each time expecting something to go wrong yet the button held strong.
They did one more test to make sure it still worked and released the cable ties.
“Let's go install it in the Gryffindor common room then,” Harry says.
It's not even six in the morning and Harry and Draco are sprinting upstairs like they’re back in school.
When they get to the common room not a single student is out, Harry can hear a few milling about in their rooms, brushing their teeth and the like. Draco jots down instructions while Harry drills holes in the table and loops the cable ties through. Draco puts the instructions down on the table after making it impervious and uses a sticking charm to make sure it stays.
***
Harry follows Draco down the stairs back to the dungeons before he remembers he needs to get dressed. So he has to floo back up to his room and grab some clothes while Draco gets dressed.
Draco decides to get the table fixed and does that before picking up the clothes that Harry had left on the floor and moving them into one of his drawers.
By the time Harry is back downstairs fully dressed Draco is digging through his drawers in nothing more than his pants. He hears his floo chime before he even manages to find some suitable trousers.
“I would’ve brushed my teeth upstairs but my sinks not working and you know how breath freshener charms are…” Harry trails off as he enters the room.
Draco knows he's gone bright red, he can feel the heat on his cheeks.
Harry apparently not understanding Draco’s nearly naked walks further in and stares at Draco's skin.
“Did I do this?” Harry approached, running a hand over a more prominent scar on Draco's chest.
“Honestly I forget they’re there, it’s really no big deal.”
That's true now but it didn’t used to be, it used to haunt him. Every time he saw the scars he would relive that moment when he hit the floor and the room went black, he even went through a stretch of thinking he deserved it. He’s better now, Pansy had made him go to a mind healer and he’s much more forgiving of his past.
Harry looks like he’s about to cry which is truly unacceptable, “I am… so sorry.” his voice is rough with emotion, “I didn’t know what it would do, I found it in a book, Snape's book, I was so… dumb.”
“Harry I promise, it’s fine.”
“You could’ve died, it's not fine, Draco I almost killed you.” Harry's breathing was speeding up and Draco couldn’t bear watching Harry so torn up about this so he pulled Harry to his chest, nudity and all, and just… held him.
He held him for a while, feeling almost unable to let go. Harry shook in his arms, muttering apology after apology while Draco shushed him.
“I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I’m breaking down over something that didn’t hurt me, I’m so sorry.” Harry pulls back.
“It hurt you too Harry,” Draco looked down at the man in his arms, who was still shaking.