The Boy in the Mirror
Harry Potter had returned to Hogwarts for his 8th year. Really though, it was his 7th year. The school had undergone many changes after the war. For example, the houses were no longer split during lunch, but rather by year, and even that was loose separation. It was common to find a first year Hufflepuff eating breakfast with their Ravenclaw older sibling. McGonagall found that the houses eating together brought everyone closer together, and really, that was what mattered.
Harry found himself eating with his usual lot of Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna. Dean and Seamus were there a lot too. In fact, Dean and Seamus never seemed to be without each other. Harry wondered if they had been dating.
“Mate, they’ve been dating since 6th year,” Ron said, after Harry had wondered aloud.
“WHAT?”
Harry found himself, probably out of habit, looking for Malfoy across the tables. He had, of course, found him. Malfoy was scraping his food around his plate, fidgeting with his fork, and had dark circles under his eyes. Harry himself probably didn’t look much better, after falling asleep awkwardly on an armchair late last night.
He was jolted out of his trance by Ron saying, “Oi. You’ve been staring off into space for like, five minutes.”
“Probably the wrackspurts,” Luna said offhandedly. “They’ve been around Harry’s head all day.”
“Right.” Harry said. “Sorry, anyways. What were you saying, Hermione?”
“Just thinking about how half of our exams have been cancelled because of you, Harry, and wondering how you’re going to get out of them this year.”
Harry laughed. “Don’t think I’ll be able to get out of ‘em this time. Unless more people try and murder me.” He paused. “Not out of the question, really.”
Ron snorted into his pumpkin juice. “Reckon we could get Malfoy to do it?”
Harry, who had returned his sights to Malfoy, looked back at Ron and said, “Nah, probably not. I think he’s had less homicidal thoughts towards me since the war ended.”
“Disappointing.”
They ate in relative silence for a while, until Dean and Luna started talking about magical tattoos.
“Not like…the Death Eaters' tattoos though, right?” Ron asked.
“No, no definitely not. More like, a moon tattoo that changes its phase with the actual moon.”
“And you’re going to be giving these to students?”
“Well,” Dean started, “Probably only 6th years and up. And we haven’t really mastered the charm yet, but we’ll probably be good before winter break.”
“You’ll be giving me one, of course?” Seamus asked.
Dean grinned. “Obviously.”
Ron turned to Harry, a look on his face that clearly said how could you be oblivious to that? Harry very pointedly ignored him, and finished his third treacle tart of the evening. At some point during the tattoo conversation, Malfoy had left his table.
“Harry,” Dean said.
“Yeah?”
“Do you think you’d get a tattoo from us?”
“Probably yeah. Dunno what I’d get though.”
“You could get a snitch that flutters around,” suggested Hermione.
“Ooh yeah,” agreed Ginny. “Naturally, I’ll be getting a moon, maybe with some flowers on it.” She said, kissing Luna’s cheek.
***
Harry and the rest of the 8th years slowly trickled out of the Great Hall and back to their dorms. McGonagall had decided to put all of them in one huge dorm with each other, a tribute of sorts to the houses uniting against the dark.
Harry was usually the last in his dorm to fall asleep, and the most easily awakened. So when a Hufflepuff girl woke up screaming, it wasn’t really a surprise that Harry was the first one there, offering chocolate and words of comfort.
Sitting on the edge of her bed, he asked, “What happened?”
The girl just shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t mean to wake anyone.”
Harry broke off a piece of chocolate, and held it out to her. She took it, wordlessly, and slowly ate it. “I was supposed to protect her.”
Harry said nothing. He figured she’d share if she wanted to. “My sister’s friend. She got stuck in Hogwarts during the battle.” She sniffled loudly. “I told her I’d keep her safe. I just- I just turned away from her for a second. It was just one second.” She burst into tears, pulling her knees up to her chest and shoved her face into her hands.
“What did your sister say?” Harry asked.
The girl looked up, her eyes shining, and quietly said. “She said she knew I did my best.”
Harry nodded. “I believe it.” He stood up, and walked towards the door. “Now, I’m going to go get some dreamless sleep potion from Madam Pomfrey. Try having more chocolate, it’ll help.”
Harry returned a few moments later and gave the flask to the girl. “Nightmares happen,” he said. “But there’s always someone you can talk to.”
The girl however, was already asleep, and looked the most peaceful she had all night.
***
“Was that you screaming last night, Potter?” Asked Malfoy, who knew damn well it wasn’t. Because while he had matured slightly since the war, he was still a prat.
Harry just glared at him and ate his toast.
The Hufflepuff girl from last night thanked Harry with a huge hug at breakfast, and no one seemed to notice Draco glaring at her while she did.
***
"But there’s always someone you can talk to," Potter had said the night before.
Draco was in the dorm when he said it, and thought it was quite possibly the stupidest thing he had ever said. Which was saying something.
Just because Draco didn't wake up in the middle of the night screaming doesn't mean he didn't have nightmares. Well- when he managed to fall asleep at least.
And who could Draco talk to about that? Pansy? Goyle? Harry 'Golden Boy' Potter for fucks sake? No. Way.
Draco flopped around in his bed, unable to fall back asleep. At 4 a.m., he got out of bed and stretched, deciding he simply wouldn't be sleeping. His dream that night hadn't been a pleasant one, and the screaming from the Hufflepuff caused him to wake up in cold sweat.
Making sure that everyone in the dorm was asleep, he slinked towards the Hufflepuff girl's bedside table. There was still some chocolate left, and Draco took it quietly. He might not willingly talk to Potter about his feelings, but he had to admit that chocolate helped.
He went back to his bed and ate the chocolate, pulling out his potions book from underneath his bed. At first he had been shocked by Professor Slughorn, appalled even, that he wouldn't be getting special treatment anymore. Gradually however, he realised that laying low was probably for the best.
Draco had to write a 12 inch essay on the benefits of the Potion for Dreamless sleep for people suffering from PTSD. His eyes wandered over to the girl he had just stolen chocolate from. She wasn’t shaking, or sweating, or dreaming of the worst night of her life anymore. He remembered Potter automatically offering to go get it for her. Absent-mindedly, he wondered if Potter would come rushing to his side with chocolate if he had screamed.
Probably not, He thought to himself. Hell, I probably wouldn’t. Shaking his head, as though it would clear his head of such nonsense, he returned his eyes to the paper. He groaned. Draco had no idea how to start it.
He got up and groaned again, making his way down to the common room. There was a human shaped lump on one of the armchairs, and he had a fleeting thought to check on it. He didn’t of course, because that would be ridiculous. It would’ve been a real Potter move.
So, instead, he slipped out of the room and wandered the halls, something he had been doing to clear his mind recently.
After wandering the halls for a bit, he came across a room he hadn’t seen before. It was completely empty, no desks, no chairs, not even windows, except for a large mirror in the middle.
He stepped in front of the mirror, taking notice of his heavy eyebags and tangled hair.
And then a figure emerged in the mirror. Draco whipped his head around, but he didn’t see anything.
The figure in the mirror stepped into the light.
“...Potter?” Draco asked quietly, incredibly confused. He spun around again, and there was still no one there.
Mirror-Harry nodded and smiled, stepping closer to Draco’s reflection. Mirror-Harry wrapped his arm around Mirror-Draco, and real Draco turned around yet again. He was horrified by the stinging in his eyes when he realised Potter hadn’t really been hugging him.
“Idiot,” he muttered, wiping his eyes.
Mirror-Harry turned to Draco's reflection and mouthed something. The reflections both broke out in grins and laughed silently. Draco dropped to his knees and watched himself and Potter in the mirror for another hour, before reluctantly returning to his dorm.
He ate silently the next morning, annoyed at himself for not finishing his essay, and promising himself to do it soon. He glanced up, searching the room for Potter. Draco saw him laughing with friends, and angrily stabbed at his breakfast. He thought of the mirror, desperately wishing it could’ve been true, but also thinking about how he’s been nothing but awful to Potter for 7 years. Scowling, he left the table and returned to the dorm.
***
Harry Potter found himself wide awake at night, yet again. He thought about sneaking down to the hospital wing for some sleeping potion, and pulled out the marauders map.
“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” he murmured.
His eyes darted across the page, checking if the path was clear, and he raised his eyebrows when he saw Draco Malfoy out of bed. Deciding that sleep could wait, he slipped on the invisibility cloak and wondered why he hadn’t heard Malfoy leave.
“Lumos.”
He practically tiptoed when he got closer to Malfoy, not wanting to give himself away. He hadn’t a clue why Malfoy was in an empty room.
And then he heard it.
The quiet, broken sobs. Punctuated with whispers of “I’m sorry…I’m so...so sorry.”
He stepped in the room, walking as quietly as he could. He cringed when the floor creaked below him, and Malfoy spun around.
“Who’s there?” He croaked. He squinted at the spot where Harry stood, frozen, for far too long before he turned to face the mirror.
Harry had to stifle a gasp when he saw it. The Mirror of Erised.
And there Malfoy was, sunken to the floor on his knees, sobbing in front of it.
Harry had considered revealing himself, but then thought Malfoy probably would’ve hexed him into next year if he had.
But Harry couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Even if he didn’t know what Malfoy saw in the Mirror. Harry left, deciding he’d figure something out soon.
He started to leave. He felt like murdering the floor when it creaked again, but this time, Malfoy didn’t turn around.
***
Draco had returned to the mirror again. He didn’t know why he felt the need to make himself feel so dejected with it, but he did. The mirror showed a similar thing as yesterday, but this time, Harry had been fully hugging Draco. And for some insane reason, Draco broke down and felt the need to apologise to a fake reflection.
He thought he heard the floor creak behind him, but when he turned, there was no one. Still, he had to ask, “Who’s there?” as if someone would respond.
He stayed silent after the creaking happened. Instead, just sitting there, looking at the mirror. He didn’t know how long he had stayed, but he eventually trudged back to the dormitory to pretend to sleep. Not that anyone would be too concerned if he hadn’t been in bed.
Draco didn’t know how he got through his classes that day. He hadn’t slept at all. He hadn’t even fully made it to the common room couch before falling. Draco banged his head on the arm rest.
“Ow,” he groaned.
“Alright, Malfoy?” asked a familiar voice. Draco’s heart skipped a beat.
He rolled around to face Harry, groaning and rubbing his head as he did so. “Shove off, Potter.”
Harry just grinned and walked away. Draco shoved his face back into the couch, as he was sure the whole common room could hear his heart pounding.
“Oi. Draco!” one of his dorm mates yelled from the stairs. Draco jumped. “There’s an owl up here for you.”