Dancing with Fire

It’s warm when Harry starts to gain consciousness. Wrapped all around him, like a blanket or a hug from his best friends. Did someone get him a blanket? Maybe Ron saw him shivering and covered him up, or maybe he fell asleep in a hoodie? 

A fire cackles from somewhere to his left, which is weird because he’s been at Hogwarts for four years now, and not once has he noticed a fireplace in the dorm. Is Neville having a breakdown again? He doesn’t hear crying...maybe Dean is finally burning Seamus’s awful lion blanket that roars whenever he walks by.

Something shifts to the left of him, something pulls him closer. Harry opens his eyes wide, heart already beating fast, trying to remember where he put his fucking wand and oh.

Oh yeah...he fell asleep with Draco last night.

Draco, with firelight dancing over his hair, eyelashes shifting on perfect pale cheeks. His lips purse out, and then he yawns. Harry briefly thinks of LuLu before a little white ball of fuzz pounces in, right in his line of sight.

“LuLu!” When the fuck did Hermione get here? “Stay away from there! They’re sleeping!”

“We hope they just slept.” Blaise is here?

Who else is- “You didn’t ‘just sleep’ last night.”

There’s Pansy...which means that-

“I think I might be the only person who ‘just slept’ last night.”

Nope. Ron’s here too. Harry watches LuLu nuzzle Draco’s face, then gets a face full of fur as she descends upon him. 

“Oh! Harry, did we wake you?”

Harry suppresses a sigh, but does award LuLu with a few scratches and gently detangles himself from his boyfriend- holy fuck his boyfriend. 

Just like he thought, they’re all here. The Slytherins are the only ones who look relatively clean. Granted, he’s pretty sure Pansy is passing a pale pink night-gown as a dress, complete with an oversized sweater and a large cup that smells like coffee. Blaise’s pants also aren’t as tight as normal, but he’s just tucked a t-shirt in. That’s still dressed down for him. Hermione’s a little grey under the eyes, but she’s smiling and has her hair in a bun. He really loves her hair like that, even if she is wearing a shirt that he’s pretty sure belongs to Krum….Ron surprisingly isn’t paying it much attention, sitting in one of the chairs in some pajama bottoms and one of Fred’s old shirts.

At least they’re not in their formal clothes. 

Harry clears his throat, “Um, no.”

“You’re not naked under there, are you?” 

He does not like the suspicious eyebrow raise Blaise is giving him, or the snickers Pansy isn’t even bothering to hide.

“Also no,” Harry touches his t-shirt just to make sure, and then realizes a bigger issue. He and Draco are in their underwear… As if to prove his internal point, Ron gives him a highly amused look, holding up the pants like a trophy.

“Are you sure you’re not naked under there?”

“Yes.” A voice grunts from behind him, “Merlin’s sake, all we did was sleep people. We’re fourteen, not all of us want to start early.”

Harry feels more than sees Draco sit up. His blanket moves a bit, and then Draco’s chin is resting on his shoulder, arms wrapping around his waist, LuLu moves to sit on Harry’s lap. It’s all very wonderful and comfortable as hell, but he really wants a shower. 

“Sickening.” Blaise comments, but he’s smiling so it can’t be too bad. 

Pansy ignores them completely, reaching across the table she’s perched on for her bag. It captures all of their attention, even Ron pauses from where he was about to throw Harry his pants to watch. 

A small black camera comes out of the tiny purse, he has no idea how the hell she got it in there, but before he can ponder that the camera is turned on him. Or really, him and Draco.

“Smile!”

“Smile?”

“Pansy if I have bed hair in this I will-”

A blinding flash later and Pansy is holding a small white square in her hand. Draco tries to hold his hand out for it, but it’s already vanished to Godric knows where. Instead of listening to them bicker when he’s just woken up, Harry relaxes against Draco, enjoying LuLu’s soft purring. 

“So, we see where the lovebirds went last night...what happened to you?”

 “Lovebirds?” Draco muses, Harry can feel him smiling. 

Hermione blushes darkly, suddenly very preoccupied with her nails. 

“You didn’t!” Pansy gasps, Blaise is way too entertained for anything good to be happening, Draco’s barley containing his laughter.

Ron’s just as confused as he is, “What’d you do?”

“I didn’t go all the way,” Hermione assures the group.

Harry’s still very confused, and then Blaise says:

“What? You mean to tell me you had Krum there and ready and didn’t take advantage of it?”

“We did..” Hermione hides her face in her hands, “We were too intoxicated to go all the way so...well, you know how it is.”

Pansy crosses the room in a blink of an eye to hug her, “I’m so proud of you! We slug anyone who ever calls you a bookworm again!”

“Weren’t we doing that anyways?” Blaise asks, eyeing Ron’s face.

It’s doing some interesting things, a faint shade of purple trying to fade into red. The boy takes some deep breaths, hair almost glowing next to his cheeks. After a moment Blaise casually gives him some water, slipping in front of the boy. Harry watches his friend gulp the water down, take in some air, and then relax slightly. Harry sends him a smile, just for moral support, and then Blaise steps away and gives him a pat on the shoulder.

“What did you do?” Hermione asks, completely oblivious to Ron’s crisis.

Pansy steps back, making sure the room is watching her, “I got extremely drunk, nearly castrated Millie’s date, watched Theo make out with Fetch-Fletchly, helped Daphne and Astoria back to the room, and might have visited with one of the Durmstrang girls, but who’s to say…”

Her wicked smile is a dead giveaway of whatever happened last night, Harry really doesn't want to know. 

“You got a Durmstrang?” Blaise asks, much to Pansy’s confusion.

“Didn’t you go with Alice?”

“I did,” Blaise faces her head on like some sort of challenge has begun, “She was far too out of it to consent, so I made sure her and Fleur got to bed safely.”

“Awww, bear..” Pansy slinks up to him, throwing her arm around his shoulder just to be a dick, “Your mother is going to be so proud.”

Ron snorts at that, a mistake really because now the room is looking at him. 

“What did you do, Ronnikins?”

“Please, Fred and George barely get away with calling me that, and I’ll have you know that unlike you hooligans, I was babysitting all night. First Fleur, then Alice. Somehow I got mixed up with Astoria and the Pati twins, but for most of the night I hung out with Lav.”

“Lav?” Hermione asks.

“Yeah, Lavender Brown? She’s actually pretty funny, a fierce friend too. I was there for the Millie situation, and let me tell you if it weren’t for that douchebag getting confused out of nowhere,” He eyes Draco for that one, Harry tries not to smile, “I would’ve slugged him. After Lav had her turn, of course.”

All eyes are on Draco now, who shrugs. “Thank Merlin someone interfered, probably some handsome price, don’t you think?”

Pansy and Blaise laugh, even Hermione is smiling.

“As great as this is, believe me, I just love having all of you around me and my boyfriend while we’re in our underwear, but I’d much prefer a shower and some food. Ron, could you hand me my pants?”

Harry’s bright red, and he’s sure Draco’s just as pink despite his calm tone, but their friends only laugh a little before leaving the room. Pants are thrown on, formal shirts they don’t bother with. Just before they exit, Harry stops dead in his tracks. He won’t see Draco for the rest of the day, probably. He’ll have to focus on the second task again, have to deal with all the worries he completely ignored over break.

“Hey? You okay? Did you forget something-”

Harry cuts Draco off with a quick kiss, just because he fucking can. 

It’s his best idea all morning.

Draco feels loads better after a hot shower and some eggs, courtesy of Winky. 

Unfortunately, classes begin in one week, and he can’t put off his list any longer. 

“You’re going to the library?” Blaise asks. He’s lounging on his bed, watching a book with LuLu.

“Yes. I have a lot of work to do.”

Blaise raises an eyebrow, “So you’re going to go find Harry.”

Merlin, isn’t that a tempting idea. They could go back to cuddling, a full week of ignoring the entire outside world, curled up inside the gang’s room. He could probably transfigure a bed out of those desks….

Draco shakes his head, “No. No. Real work. I have a list.”

“Of course you do…”

LuLu yawns at him, almost like she wants him to join in on their little book fest, but he seriously can’t. No matter how much he wants to. 

Draco collects his bag, throws back a shot of espresso, also courtesy of Winky, and one of his headache potions. Blaise waves him out the door, curling deeper into bed, leaving Draco to debate his entire existence on the way to the library. 

But, once he’s there, he’s there, so he might as well try to get something done.

Something like the homework Pomfrey gave him that’s due at their session tomorrow.

He sets up a station in the far side of the library, grabs his first book for the afternoon, and gets ready for the next couple of days.

On the plus side, he is productive. Pomfrey’s homework takes him all of ten minutes, so he starts on the work assigned over break. Hagrid never gives them anything, one of his favorite qualities about the giant, Binns only cared enough to give them one parchment’s length of a paper, so that only takes an hour to write, fact check, edit, and write again neatly. Snape’s work is almost as easy, but he can’t just write about a potion and not brew it, so he decides that will go on his list of Things to do Tomorrow. McGonagall just wants a two-parchment paper about their project ideas, and that actually helps him get a better idea of how he’ll work it all out. Also another thing to do tomorrow. He’s about to start on his DADA chart when Madam Pince announces closing time.

Which is fine, because he needs sleep before facing the devil that is Poppy Pomfrey the next morning.

Bright and early, an hour before the hospital wing opens, Draco’s yawning into a cauldron of Pepper Up.

“Take a sample of that, you’ll need it.”

Merlin, he hates it when Poppy says that. He suddenly has a sick feeling in his stomach, but he knows a thing or two about trusting professors when they tell him to take something, so he snags a spoonful. An hour later and he honestly needs another one.

“Why didn’t you tell me we were playing with Frankie today? I wouldn’t have worn white.”

Poppy doesn’t even flinch when blood splats on her cheek, “I’ll teach you a spell for it when you’re done fixing his lung.”

“I thought I was learning more potions today?”

“If you do this correctly you will.”

Thirty minutes later, after Draco’s scongified his robes and learned what Poppy called ‘a medi-mage trade secret spell’ to repel blood, he does get a book on potions and salves. 

“I’m a little over-run with patients after that ball,” Poppy begins. Clearly she did not enjoy the night like the rest of them. “Check on the students from the other schools, I’ll deal with Hogwarts ones. I’ve kept them separated, so everyone on the left is yours for the morning.” 

“Mine?!” Draco squeaks. Sure, he’s a pretty quick learner and he’s never had an issue with whatever Poppy throws at him, but he’s only been working with her for two months! He’s not ready for patients! He can’t-

“Relax. Remember what I told you, a calm medic is a good medic. There’s nothing major, just some students who got a little over zealous. You know the checklist, correct?”

Draco nods, “Temperature, disinfectant for any wounds, potions listed on their clipboards, ask for any pain or changes that have occurred overnight.”

“Good. That’s all you’re doing. Just the basics, okay? You’re competent, Draco, that’s why I’m trusting you.” Poppy pats his arm twice before handing him his own clipboard and a quill. “Now get off your behind and maybe you can brew the first potion before you leave.”

There’s no arguing with her, so Draco charms his quill to write for him and nods her way before opening his first curtain.

In total there’s only ten of them.

Surprisingly the first person is the Beauxbatons boy that was handing out drinks at Fleur’s party, just a few scrapes and a bruised eyeball. Apparently Poppy kept him overnight for his dizziness, which is all but gone for now. Just like the witch promised, most of them are small things. A few Durmstrangs regrowing bones, Beauxbatons in need of a few sleeping droughts to sleep off what Draco suspects is too much alcohol. A broken nose here, a dizzy person there, one of the girls from Durmstrang actually burned her hand, so now he knows what that smells like. He’ll be honest, the image of burned flesh peeling off her arm is something that almost gets him, but she’s the last one and after this he can bully Poppy into letting him brew.

Or he would, if Cedric and Cho didn’t walk in right as he reaches the front of the wing where Poppy’s desk is. 

“Handle that will you?” She yells before vanishing behind the last sheet on the right.

Draco glares, just because he fucking can, and then turns to wave them over.

“I didn’t know you were helping Pomfrey.” Cedric greets, Cho at least has the decency to bid him ‘good morning’.

“Yeah, well I have to learn medical magic somehow. What do you need?”

“It’s actually not for us,” Cho begins with a sweet smile. “We were hoping to talk to Pomfrey about Willie. He hadn’t been feeling well lately.” 

Willie? Isn’t that the Huffle that he caught with Severus? The one that follows him around sometimes? 

Draco puts his clipboard full of notes on Poppy’s desk, grabbing a new one and unbinding his quill. “What’s wrong with him?”

The couple shares a look, and then Cedric sighs. “It’s like he’s drunk a potion….”

“A potion? Has he been poisoned?”

“No..” Cho shakes her head, “It’s weird, even I can’t figure it out. His hair switches colors, so does his skin and eyes. He has no control over it.”

“Last night he woke up coughing, threw up, and then went to bed, I think. He hasn’t woken up, but he won’t stop shivering, and we can’t get him to wake.”

Draco writes it down, trying to ignore the growing bad feeling in his gut, “Anything else?”

They share another look, Cho nudges Cedric further. The boy bites his lower lip, and then comes a little closer into Draco’s space. 

“He’s mummering...I can’t make out much but it’s not English or Dutch, Cho said it wasn’t Korean or Chinese or even Greek….it’s like he’s stuck in some sort of nightmare…”

Okay, so this is definitely not the ‘basics’. Probably above his level of expertise, so he sets the clipboard down and pats Cedric's shoulder. “I’ll go get Poppy.”

Poppy is not pleased about being interpreted, and neither is Longbottom who is just as surprised to see Draco in the hospital wing helping as Cedric and Cho were. Draco apologizes, helps Poppy cast a quick pain spell and grabs a potion for nausea, and then, once Longbottom is taken care of, he all but drags her out and to the couple so they can explain what’s going on. 

Before half of their explanation is over, Poppy is already looking through Draco’s notes. 

“Have you Head of House levitate him here, Draco go prepare a bed and notify me the second he enters the wing. I’m going to go check on the patients in the emergency wing again.”

She turns away without another word, which means Draco has to deal with a Cedric near tears.

“I know you don’t like him, but he’s a good person.” The Hufflepuff explains, “Always helps out whoever needs it, hell, he talked with me about my mum and I…”

Emotional comfort is not his forte, but thankful Cho can handle it. She wraps an arm around his waist, glancing at Draco for something, but he has no idea what.

“Hey,” He begins after Cho glares, “He’ll be fine. Poppy has never failed a patient, and if she needs extra help I’m right here. I’m quite competent, apparently.”

Cedric snorts, “Is that so?”

“Yes. I healed a lung this morning.”

That gets him smiling enough to leave the room, and because Draco doesn’t have much else to do he makes sure all the students are stocked up on their respective medicines and gets Willie’s bed ready. He’s just begun to organize Poppy’s notes for the morning when Sprout comes in, William shivering under a blanket above her. 

Draco leads them, along with Cedric and Cho, to his bed, then runs for Poppy. Somehow, he has to replace her in sewing up a second-year’s cheek.

“Sorry,’” the kid says, “I know this can’t be fun-”

“Don’t talk. It’ll mess up the stitches.” 

The boy immediately shuts his mouth as Draco works. He focuses on making sure his wand movements are correct, and then instructs him not to speak once again.

“You have to wait one minute to make sure they stay in place, until then we’re going to work up a system, okay? One finger is yes, two fingers in no. Got it?”

One finger is held up, so Draco guesses the kid understands. He looks weirdly familiar, but Draco can worry about that after he’s taken care of Poppy’s checklist.

“Any pain?”

 One finger again.

“Scale of one-to-ten, use your fingers.” 

The kid holds up six fingers, Draco nods. “Gimme one second, okay? After this you should be able to talk again.”

He exits the sheet-room, grabs a salve from the cupboard next to Frankie’s cupboard, and returns. Draco has to apply this one by hand, and because the kid is so young he warns him, and then makes sure to be extra gentle. Just to be sure, he casts one final lenio. 

“Okay. You can talk for the rest of them, hows that pain now?”

The kid smiles, “A lot better, thanks.”

“Hungry at all?”

“Not yet. Madam Pomfrey said I can’t chew until my cheek is completely healed.”

“Well, it’s healed on the inside. Drink that.” He points to the potion on the kid’s bedside table, staying to make sure he drinks all of it.

He does, making a face the entire time. “Excuse me for being rude, but this is awful.”

“Medical protons always are.” Draco says, taking the bottle, he casts a quick aguamenti and hands it back, “Drink this, swish it around your mouth before you swallow. That should help a little bit.”

The kid does as instructed, flashing a familiar smile again. “Thank you Mister….”

“Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, and please, I’m only a fourth-year. Malfoy will work just fine.”

The kid’s eyes go wide, jaw dropping. “You’re Draco Malfoy?!”

“Yes?”

“Holy shit.”

“Excuse me?”

The kid quickly puts the potion bottle down, waving his hands frantically, “Sorry, sorry, you’re just so nice! My brother told me you were mean, so I was kinda scared of you, I promise I didn’t mean to offend you especially after you just helped me, Godric I am so sorry-”

“Hey! Slow down. Stress is bad for your wounds!” Draco reprimands, “You didn’t offend me, it’s okay.”

The kid nods, eyes still wide with fear. 

Draco sighs, “Who’s your brother?”

“Colin Creevey.”

Oh. That kid with the camera, the one who got petrified second-year, explains a lot. Draco sighs again, offering a small smile.

“Look...-”

“Dennis.”

“Look, Dennis, your brother is right. I’m very mean and scary, okay? Now, the elves will bring food in an hour, can you hold out until then?”

Dennis nods.

“Good. I’ve got to go now, but remember: I’m a total jerk. Okay?”

Child Creevey, they’re both children honestly, smiles at him, “Got you. Thank you, Draco.”

“Malfoy!” Draco reminds him, stepping out of the sheet and rushing back to where he left Willie.

Poppy glances his way when he enters the closed sheets, “Took you long enough. I’ve banished the kids and got Pomona to get Severus, I need you to finish getting his temperature down while I run an internal diagnostics.”

“So we still don’t know what’s wrong?” Draco asks, already grabbing a cloth and his wand.

“We know he has a fever, an empty-stomach, and cannot be woken.”

“Nothing new, then.”

Poppy doesn’t even glare at him, flicking her wand in a few complicated movements and analyzing the chart that appears in mid-air. Right after he’s finally gotten William’s sweating to stop the curtains are thrown open. Ellios rushes in, Severus hot on their heels.

“Good, you’re here,” Poppy says to Snape, and then to Ellios, “Who are you?”

“Ellios. I am, Willie is my-”

Severus steps in between them, “Ellie needs to be here, I’ll explain later. What’s wrong with the boy?” 

Poppy rolls her eyes, nodding to Draco as she turns back to her chart. Snape pats his head in greeting, ignoring how Ellios is cupping William’s cheek.

“Draco? I knew you were helping the Madam, but I didn’t know you were working with patients.”

“Yeah,” Draco shrugs, spelling his cloth dry so he can place it above William’s eyebrows. “I’ll explain later. For now we know he’s in a Fever Dream and cannot wake up. If she’s called you here, there might be a potion involved, but we honestly know nothing.”

“Draco!” Poppy sighs, “We do not know nothing!”

“Fine! We don’t know anything new.”

Ellios shushes them right before Poppy can glare at him, and she’s about to turn her glare on them but then Willie is whispering.

“Wait...is that Swedish?”

Ellios whips their head around, “You speak?”

“Lucius had a business over there,” Draco explains with a wave of a wand to amplify the mummerings. 

It’s not much, but he can make out ‘please, no’, ‘stop’, and ‘not them.’ Reassuring, no. But at least that’s new information. 

As if the moment couldn’t get any weirder, William’s skin melts into the color of Ellios's, darker than midnight. His hair fades into white, like a virus eating up the brown locks. It’s gone in the blink of an eye, but it gives Draco more than he needs to know.

“You’re-”

“He is my son.” Ellios whispers. 

Draco turns to Snape. “Did you know?”

“Yes.” His lying godfather sighs, “Yes I did. There is no reason for anyone to know, Poppy, I ask that you tell no one. It’s a dangerous situation, and no, Draco, you may not ask questions.”

Poppy purses her lips, but nods in the end and since she’s on board Draco has no one to back him up. He’s about to say something stupid to break the tension in the room, and then the magic chart Poppy cast lights up in red.

“Red means bad, right?”

“Something like that,” Poppy mumbles, poking at it with her wand. A few stabs later and she nods. “He’s experiencing a lot of activity in his brain, and while I’m not a mind-healer-”

“I am!” Ellios shoots away from their position at William’s side, taking a peek at Poppy’ chart.

“Distress reading in his pre-frontal cortex?” They poke a bit more, “It’s begun affecting his amygdala, fuck why did he not tell me sooner.”

Poppy gives them a look, “I must ask you to refrain from such language in front of my students.”

“Forgive me, but I’ll remind you that is my son on your bed.” Ellios seethes, which makes sense to him, but Draco has no fucking clue what they’re taking about.

“I hate to intrude, but I have no idea what’s happening.”

“Stress,” Ellios explains, “He is going through stress to the point that his brain is trying to shut down, do you see how this part is inflamed, and this one here is slightly bigger? It means he has been in such stress that his brain is trying to accommodate, but cannot, so it is reworking the structure and in turn, making his reception to stress worse. He is not experiencing a Fever Dream, he is experiencing a Chronic Nightmare.”

Oh. He’s been there before, but he went to Snape before it got too bad, plus he had Blaise and Pansy to look after him, and Lupin towards the worst parts. Plus, Severus had given him Calming Draughts until he could handle the stress himself. Draco tries to think of how any of this could help William while the doctors argue. Severus looks suddenly in need of a Calming Draught himself, which gives Draco an idea.

“Isn’t there a spell form of a Calming Draught?” He says over the adults, “If we use a powerful one of those we might be able to wake him up, get a real potion in him and that could get him in a state where we could access the rest of the damage.”

Poppy, Ellios, and Severus blink three times, and then Poppy smiles. “Thinking outside the box, I like it. You grab the potion, I’ll cast the spell.”

Snape waves his hand and a vial of Calming Draught appears right as Poppy casts cessabit. Draco gives her a look.

“Isn’t that usually used on animals?”

“You once used tergo to clean up blood on a still healing wound, I don’t wanna hear it.”

Ellios looks at him dirty for that one, but Draco just shrugs, looking at William who still hasn’t gotten any better. 

“Draco, cast the spell, Ellios was it? Monitor the chart, show and tell me if it’s working.”

“Show you?”

“Yes,” Poppy moves closer to them, “My students are under stress so much I’m surprised they haven’t suffered from this. Harry Potter and Draco himself come to mind.”

Draco can feel all of them looking at him, but he’s a bit busy casting to care.

Two casts later and Ellios points to the chart, now zoomed in on William’s mind. 

“There! Do you see how the swelling is going down? Try it again!”

Two more later and the boy is sweating again, but Draco keeps casting until Severus grabs his hand.

“You may stop now, I believe you’ve done two more than necessary.”

Draco lowers his wand, ignoring how his hand is shaking a bit. “How is the swelling?”

“Down.” Poppy answers as Ellios descends upon their child. “He’ll wake in a few hours now. You,” She pats Draco on the arm, “Have done wonderfully. I’m very proud of you, now go wash up and we can talk about that potion I promised you.”

“Potion?” Severus asks.

Draco takes that as his cue to rush out before Snape can start talking his usual potions garb. Something about them being an art, something about the craft being respectable and interesting. Draco never listens to the whole thing, but he does feel better after drinking some water and wiping the sweat off his face. Granted, he doesn’t make it far before Cedric is stepping up to him, but that’s what he gets for not going to a bathroom.

“How is he?”

Draco smiles, “He’ll be just fine. Snape and Pomfrey are looking over him right now, but the sweating and stress has gone down significantly. He’ll wake in a few hours and we’ll go from there, but until then Pomfrey has requested that he have no visitors.”

She didn’t, but he’s pretty sure it was implied when she kicked them out the first time.

Cho pats her boyfriend’s shoulder for a moment, and then her eyes light up, “I forgot to ask!” She leans a little closer, “How are you and Harry?”

Draco sputters out a ‘what’, his blush more than enough for an answer. Cedric is suddenly all smiles, and then his eyes light up too.

“Oh! Helga, I almost forgot as well. I need to talk to him, do you know where he is?”

Draco raises an eyebrow, refusing to acknowledge the heat on his cheeks. “What time is it?”

“Um,” Cho checks her watch, “Nine forty-seven.”

“Probably still in bed, then. It’s still break, I can’t see him being up before noon.”

They do that annoying look again, he really hopes he doesn’t do that with anyone, and then Cedric nods. 

“When you see him, will you tell him that the, um, egg, needs to boil-”

“Oh for Rowena’s sake, Ceddie.” Cho sighs. “Tell Harry to take the egg from the first task and put it under the water of the Perfect’s tub.”

Draco fixes them with a bored stare. “The Perfect’s tub?”

Now it’s Cedric's turn to blush. “Yes.”

“And how did you acquire this information?”

“Well, um, you see…”

Cho rolls her eyes, “Ceddie, we’re practically married. And for your information, we went there last night because it’s romantic and since no one comes in there it’s the perfect place to-”

“Okay! Okay! Under the water, got it, Merlin above…”

Cho smiles like the two boys aren’t burning red, and then takes Cedric’s hand. “Good. If that’s the case we should get going. We have a date with the library, oh!”

She reaches into Cedric’s bag and pulls out a square cloth, “We figured you probably hadn’t eaten, and we didn’t know what you liked so we got the basics.”

Draco unfolds the cloth to see bread, a few strawberries and grapes, and an apple. 

“Thank you.”

They both grin at him, “It’s the least we could do. Now go, be mean and scar the patients.”

“You’re sure he said the Perfect’s bathroom?” Harry squeaks later that night.

They stand in an alcove, hidden from the public eye even though the rest of the castle is at dinner. 

“Yes. Do you have it with you?”

“No? It’s in my room.”

Draco tsks, “Go grab it and meet me by the fifth floor.”

“Why?”

Now is so not the time for questions. “Just trust me.”

Harry looks at him for a moment, and then kisses him. It’s short and sweet, but Draco’s heart flutters all the same.

“Okay.”

As Harry starts towards the Gryffindor tower, Draco makes his way to the Dinning Hall, straight to Pansy. He ignores his group of friends, plopping down and rushing out “I need you to do me a favor.”

Pansy snorts. “Hello to you too.”

“Do you still have the key to the Perfects Bathroom?”

Her eyes go wide, Theo is suddenly very interested in this conversation. “Well, well, well. Pans, you have been naughty.”

“Why?” Pansy glares.

“I need it. Now, preferably. Do you still have it?”

“No.” Pansy says slowly, “I gave it back to Claire after I was done making formal robes.”

Fuck. That’s not good at all. They need to get into the bathroom, the sooner the better, and Harry might make it to the fifth floor before he does at this point.

“What I do have is this.” Pansy grabs her purse from her lap, rummaging through it until a chain of keys comes out. She flicks through them, ignoring Blaise and Millie questioning what the fuck that is and Theo laughing. 

“Here. This is the right one.” 

Pansy detangles a key from her giant key chain and hands it over. 

“Excuse me, I’d still like to know what the hell those are?” Blaise glares. “Particularly the one with my name on it.”

“Oh, it’s the key to your trunk. Don’t give me that look! I make copies of all the keys I encounter. You can never be too careful.”

Draco knows he should be just as offended as his friends, but he’s so happy he just kisses her cheek and makes his way out the door before his friends can start complaining.

Harry doesn’t make it there before him, but he does arrive just seconds after Draco does, egg and swim trunks in hand.

“You brought trunks?”

“Yes? What if we have to get in?”

Draco laughs, kissing him for being so fucking cute. They turn a few corners until they pass Boris the Bewildered. Then Draco reads ‘pine fresh’ off Pansy’s ridiculous key. The door slides open, they step inside, Harry laughs.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a secret?”

“I’m a Slytherin. We know most secrets.”

Harry just laughs again, and then he looks around the room wildly. “Holy shit! This place is huge!” 

Is it? Draco’s never noticed. It’s a little smaller than his bathroom at the manor, but the marble is nice. And the big mirrors, Draco loves a big mirror.

“I’m glad I brought my trunks, this is the size of a small pool!”

Harry looks around the room, going into the left corridor and finding the showers (‘Holy fuck!’), exploring the size of the bath, admiring the sinks. Draco has his mind made the second Harry refrains from touching the ‘fancy faucets’. 

“Go, get undressed and grab a towel.”

Harry turns to him, “Hm?”

“Just, trust me. Go, the changing rooms are to the right.”

And because Harry’s trust in him is apparently unending, Harry kisses him on the cheek and makes his way to the right. As soon as the door is shut behind him Draco gets to work. His boyfriend is going to have a bath, a bubbly, citrus-scented, perfect bath. And Draco will be giving him a back rub, a million kisses, and then they’ll deal with the stupid egg. 

The bubbles are just peaking over the edge of the bath by the time Harry returns, towel wrapped around his waist. He blushes at Draco, who changed into a towel while the water was running, and then adverts his eyes.

“We’re taking a bath?”

“Well,” Draco pads over to him, taking his hand because he seriously doubts the boy will go in willingly. “The egg needs water, and we’re already here, so why not?”

Getting Harry into the bath is surprisingly easy. They both turn away as the other gets in, but as soon as nothing is visible Draco holds his boyfriend’s hand.

“Have you ever had a bath before?”

Harry thinks on it for a second as they relax into the tub’s ledges. “Maybe when I was a baby? Aunt Petunia would only let me shower once every three days.”

Draco’s magic flairs up. “Once every three days?!”

“Yep. I had five minutes to wash up and get out, and if I used hot water I had to do extra chores.”

Merlin, at this rate his hair is going to be flying. He can already feel it trying to raise up.

“If I kill them-”

“No.” Harry laughs, “They’re awful, but if you kill them I won’t have anywhere to go during summer.”

“Yes you will! You can come to the manor, or to see Sirius!”

Harry sighs, nearly swooning at the thought. “I’d love to live with Sirius. He offered, you know. When he left that night, he told me that one day he’d steal me away and me, him, and Remus could live together.”

Draco takes his hands, planning on working his way up the arms until he can trick Harry into getting a back rub. “Why hasn’t he?”

“I dunno.”

Fuck, talking about this has had the opposite effect of what he wants. Draco quickly remedies the situation, distracting Harry with a story as he works up his arms. By the time he’s done with it he’s turning Harry around and working on his shoulders.

“This is…” Some of the tension leaves Harry’s back, “Nice. This is very nice.”

“Well, I’ve dealt with stress a lot today and I wanted to make sure my boyfriend isn’t in the same situation.”

“Same situation?”

Draco works down tense muscles, explaining his morning.

“Wait! Ellios is William’s-”

“Yep. Shocking, isn’t it?”

Harry turns back to look at him, “But he looks nothing like them!”

Draco’s about to say ‘I know’ but a flash of William with black skin and white hair comes to mind. Interesting...he’ll file that away to think on later. For now he’s going to kiss Harry’s back and finish with his massage.

“Feeling relaxed?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Good.” Draco mummers, wading to Harry’s front so he can kiss him properly. The only thing left is to grab the egg and see what it does, his fingers are getting pruney. 

As it turns out, putting the egg in water doesn’t do much other than make the water glow. A faint singing fills the air, but Draco can’t make it out, so they share a look. He has only a moment to realize he just did the thing Cho and Cedric were being annoying about this morning, and then Harry’s diving under the water.

Which makes sense, so Draco does the same, hating that he can hear the stupid egg better.

“We cannot sing above the ground, An hour long you'll have to look, To recover what we took. Lest what you seek stays here to rot.”

Fuck. There are very few things that can talk in water, and only one of them sounds that good doing it.

He and Harry come back up. Harry sets his glasses to the side, giving Draco a curious look. He doesn't know, but then again, why would he? Muggle-raised, probably knows nothing about underwater creatures. Not good. In fact, Draco would dare to say things just got rather bad.

“Can’t sing above ground? What’s it on about?”

Draco sighs deeply, adding research to his list of Things to do Tomorrow.

“Mermaids, hun, it means mermaids.”