the chapter after chapter one, therefore called, chapter two
Now while Harry was mentally going over the interaction that just happened, Draco was crying. Because he’s a little bitch. He was also trying to get to his dorm without anyone noticing he was crying, which was a surprisingly hard feat. Most classes were done for the day and that meant students were taking the opportunity to enjoy the good weather for once.
Now why was he crying? He had no fucking idea. All he knew is that he needed to keep his head down while he tried to go unnoticed by everyone else, once inside he could sit down and gather his thoughts.
He did make it inside, he thought he noticed a few people looking at him, but it didn’t matter, he went straight down to the dungeons, almost falling down the stairs in the process, and had to keep himself from yelling at the portrait when it asked the password.
“Hey Draco, where’d you-” He walked straight past Pansy, ignoring her question completely, not even bothering to tell her to fuck off. He walked up the stairs to the boy’s dorms and when he reached his room, he didn’t waste a second before going in and slamming the door closed way too harshly, that door had done nothing to him. Truly, this should be about the abuse of the door, but sadly, it’s a dead piece of wood without a conscience, it wouldn’t be able to testify.
So now he was sitting on his bed with his head in his hands, pressing his palms into his eyes. Okay gathering the thoughts, why was he crying? No idea. Why did he have a panic attack? That one he did know; he was already on the verge of one and then Potter decided to yell at him, so he broke down like a goddamn baby.
Okay so he was probably crying because of the panic attack, that seemed logical. But he wasn’t hyperventilating so that was good. Then what? Stop the crying. Okay deep breaths. He could do this. In… and out… In… and out… alright yes, he could do this. The tears were already lessening, it’s going well.
It took him a bit, but he managed to calm down enough to wipe his face on the sheets of his bed and stop the crying. Okay, good, everything was fine. Now it was time to go over what the fuck just happened, cause either he was hallucinating, or Harry Potter had helped him with a panic attack after causing it, tried to be friendly, and then immediately fucked it all up. Yes, that happened, what in Merlin’s name brought that on.
This was too much; he couldn’t comprehend it. He had a headache from crying and felt his eyelids drooping with exhaustion. He could think about it later. Right now, he just wanted to lay down and sleep for a year straight. So, he laid himself down and closed his eyes, just for a bit, it would be fine.
* * *
He wasn’t too surprised to see Hermione sitting on the sofa in the common room reading while everyone else was outside being normal. But hey, a man could still hope. So he turned around to quietly leave before she noticed him and started interrogating him, too bad Hermione Granger apparently has a sixth sense that tells her where he is at all times because the second he moved, her head shot up and sent him a look that would make most people burst out into tears.
“Harry James Potter, where in the bloody hell have you been? You were supposed to come study with me after classes today! You better have a good explanation or I swear to god I will-” He cut her off with a hand and sat down on the love seat opposite her, not before letting out a deep sigh to show his annoyance of course.
“’Mione relax please, I’m sorry, I forgot.” She (quite forcefully) shut her book and huffed in frustration.
“That’s the third time Harry, you need to study. You’ll never pass anything at this rate.” He knew she meant well, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t intensely annoyed.
“I know, I won’t do it again, I promise.” He got a judgemental hum in response, and he sat awkwardly, playing with his hands, feeling strangely like a kid being disciplined by a parent. Which, honestly, wasn’t very different from what was happening. When no other words were spoken, he was stuck on what to do next. On one hand, he could go to his dorm and make Hermione feel like he didn’t take her seriously, or he could sit here awkwardly doing nothing until he felt it was appropriate to politely excuse himself. He chose the latter.
“Erm… I ran into Malfoy just now.” A conversation starter, good, change the topic. Misdirect that anger. Hermione actually looked curious though.
“Really, did you say anything?”
“Eh, it was weird, I think something was up with him.” He thought back to what had happened, he didn’t think he’d ever seen Malfoy in such a vulnerable state before.
“Did anything happen?” He looked up at Hermione and was glad to see she didn’t look as upset anymore.
“No, at least not that I know of. I’m kind of curious now though.” Hermione sighed as he spoke.
“Harry, I know that you two have had this whole obsession-tension thing going on for years, but please, leave the guy alone. We’ve all been through enough, even Malfoy. No need to create scenarios that will just cause more trouble.” Okay, so that made sense, but it was most definitely not what he wanted to hear.
“Wha- Mione! I am not obsessed with the prick. I just want to know what’s going on. Who says it’s me creating trouble? Who knows if it’s not him being hid usual horrid self? Huh?”
“Harry please, I just ask this one thing. I don’t know anything about Malfoy, I just know that I don’t want anything to do with him and therefore I don’t want you to either by association. Leave him alone.” God, why was she so insistent on what he could and couldn’t do? It was his life; she had no reason to interfere with it.
“Fine, I will.” A lie, of course.
“Thank you, now since I know you haven’t studied, at least go do something productive instead of just sitting there and let me read in peace.” He huffed and stood up from the seat. Not bothering to say anything else as he went up to his dorm, not planning to do anything productive in the slightest.