Unmasked

A/N: Some humour in this chapter may be offensive due to Cards Against Humanity. 

“Quick, get in,” called Alana, glancing over her shoulder at the traffic behind her in the parking lot.

“Where do I…” Pansy trailed off as Hermione snatched her bags and tossed them into the back where Pany’s seat was. “I guess that works, too.”

Ron snorted as he climbed in beside her. “Geez, ‘Mione. Be gentle, would ya?”

She rolled her eyes in the rearview mirror as Harry shut the side door and Alana pulled away. “We were holding up the line of cars. Don’t need any road rage.”

“Road rage?” Draco questioned, scrunching his brows.

Alana huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. Remember yesterday when I screamed at the traffic and cursed that guy who cut me off on the highway? That’s, like, mild road rage.”

“Some people will actually get out of their cars and try to beat you with baseball bats or golf clubs,” Hermione added.

“I’m starting to think I caused my uncle road rage.”

“Harry!” Hermione barked out a laugh, turning to look at him.

“What? He used to try and do that stuff to me,” Harry joked, mimicking his uncle holding a club over his head and swinging down.

“How can you joke about that?” Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. “I dunno. I guess it just helps me cope with it.”

Ron pursed his lips, leaning back in his seat. Hermione turned to Alana. “Where’s the Staples we’re going to?”

“Back near our house. Just around the corner actually.”

Hermione nodded. “Can you come in and help Draco find his stuff? I’ll go with Pansy. Harry, can you go with Ron?”

“Sure can.”

“Perfect. Alana, is there anything specific we need here that’s different?”

Alana pulled a face. “Uh… I have no idea. I’d suggest a binder for each subject. Pencils, pens, a highlighter… a calculator for math or chem… sticky notes maybe… a notebook for each one depending on the class…”

“Okay, that’s what I was thinking, too.”

“We’re more alike than I thought,” Alana laughed. “I’m the smart one.”

Hermione raised a brow. “Are you sure about that?”

Alana took a sharp corner, jolting them into the door. Hermione rubbed her arm as Alana laughed, teasing her back. “Are you?”

“I am,” Ron piped up. “Hermione’s top of the class! They call her ‘the brightest witch of her age’ isn’t that right, ‘Mione?”

“Ron…”

“It’s true,” said Harry. “They do call her that. She’s brilliant. And I bet your summer school marks for maths and sciences were just as high, weren’t they?”

“Well, I guess.”

Pansy rolled her eyes, leaning forward in her seat. “She’s brilliant. And actually, the only person who could give her a run for her money is Draco. He was right behind her in everything.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah!”

Alana smiled glancing at him in the mirror. “Well, you’ll have no problem adjusting here, especially if the classes really have no impact on your future.”

Draco blinked at her, mouth open. “I dunno about that…”

“If you need help, you’ve got a whole house full of people. And you’ll make new friends, I’m sure.”

“I hope you’re right.”

A few minutes later Alana took a left into the plaza parking lot that held a Foodland, a bank, a Beer Store, and a Staples. She unbuckled her seat belt and glanced back at them all before opening her door. “Alright. Let’s split up and meet back here.”

They all nodded, breaking off into pairs. Ron strode along beside Harry, hands stuffed in his pockets. They entered the store, the automatic door sliding away to let them pass.

“Thank you,” said Ron. Then he stopped and looked back at it, leaving Harry snickering a few feet away.

“It’s okay,” he said, clapping his best friend on the back. “I’ve done it, too.”

Ron only side-eyed him and followed him further into the store.

Harry picked up a basket and handed it to Ron, who took it. “Let’s find some binders first and go from there.”

Ron nodded. “Yes. Because I know what that is.”

Harry opened his mouth and then closed it again, nodding. “Right. You’ll see. Come on.” They strode down to the side of the store, reading the signs hanging over the aisles. “They’re down here.” Harry stopped in front of a row of brightly coloured binders, plucked a red one from the shelf and handed it to Ron.

Ron took it skeptically, opening it and staring at the rings. “The hell is this?”

“I told you! It’s a binder!”

“What the fuck are these rings for? Trap your fingers to get you outta class or some shit?”

Harry snorted. “No, you moron. They open… see? You put the paper in there to hold your notes and whatnot.”

“I don’t think parchment will fit in this thing.”

“Not parchment. Loose-leaf paper.” Harry looked around, then lifted a pack of lined paper from a bin next to the shelf. “See how the pages have three holes in them? They go in the binder and then you can open it and take out whatever page you want so things are always in order.”

Ron pulled a face. “Okay, I guess that makes sense.”

“Okay, we need to get two each. I’m gunna take this one, so you go and pick two. Make them all different colours.”

“Gotcha.” Ron perused the shelf for a moment, picking a red and an orange binder and placing them into the basket.

Harry placed his own red and purple binders in. “Alright, let’s head to the next aisle and get some notebooks. Again, we each need two.”

“Cool.” Ron watched as Harry rounded the corner and picked a notebook with a blue cover up off of a pile of others that looked just like it. Ron glanced at the ones in front of him. Hilroy. He pursed his lips, picking it up by the metal coil and flipping through the pages.

“Get these ones,” Harry called over to him. “More pages. You’ll need them.”

Ron nodded, picking three different coloured books and slipping them in with his binders. “What’s next?”

“Writing stuff.”

“Writing stuff?”

“Yeah. Pens, pencils… stuff like that.”

“What’s the difference.”

“Pencils are graphite. They erase. Pens are permanent but they don’t bleed like markers. They’re thinner, too.”

They rounded the corner, and Ron’s eyes widened at the huge variety of supplies. “Bloody hell.”

Harry glanced at him, holding back his laughter. He had the same reactions to all sorts of things when he first started at Hogwarts. Even when he first went to Diagon Alley. Harry strode down the aisle. “Hmm… do you have a preference between mechanical and wooden pencils?” Ron gave him a look. “Right. Of course not. We can get both, here, take these wooden ones.” He tossed a pack to Ron, who observed them as Harry took in the different brands of mechanical pencils.

“Here,” said a hand pointing over his shoulder. “Get these Papermate ones. They’re my favourite.”

Harry turned over his shoulder to see Alana smiling back at him, red whisps of hair sticking out of her ponytail. Behind her stood Draco, clutching his own basket of supplies. “Thanks.”

Alana nodded. “Come on, Dray, we’ve got some more things to find.”

Harry turned to Draco as Alana continued down the aisle. ‘Dray?’ he mouthed.

Draco looked back at her over his shoulder. “She heard Pansy call me that and now I can’t tell if she’s teasing me or not.”

Ron sniggered. “Okay, Dray.”

Draco gave him a look. “Don’t you start, too.”

Ron only laughed harder as Harry rolled his eyes. “We won’t. She’s a nice girl, I don’t think she’s being mean.”

“Me neither,” he clarified. “Just poking fun I think.”

“Probably.”

“Drayyyy!”

Ron laughed harder and Harry had to hold back his smirk. “Better hurry up, Dray.”

“I will hurt you.”

“Yeah okay,” Harry laughed, watching as Draco turned his back and followed after Alana.

“Okay so we still need that thing you called a pen?”

“Yeah…” said Harry, sliding down the aisle. “This is the brand Alana used so let’s get these. We’ll split a box of black and a box of read. Oh! We need erasers.”

“Erasers?”

“Yeah, they get rid of pencil if you mess up—here. These’ll do.”

Ron angled the basket to catch Harry’s toss. “What else?”

“We can split a pack of highlighters and post-its… here. These look good.”

“Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“What the fuck is this?”

Harry glanced over to see what he was holding. “That’s a pencil sharpener.”

“Why does it look like a mangled duck?”

“I don’t know, because they wanted it to!”

“Whoever buys this God forsaken thing should get a discount.”

Harry whooped with laughter. “P-put it back, Ron.”

“It’s intriguing… but frightening.”

“Ron!”

“What?” Ron chortled, taking in Harry’s laughing face. “It is!”

“Just—just put it down, yeah? We have a couple more things to get.”

“Fine.”

*

Half an hour later the group stumbled through the door with their bags, laughing and joking around (also shoving each other to make it in first, but that’s besides the point). Alana coughed, holding up the house key, and they parted for her. Then she pushed the door open without turning the key. “Suckers.”

“Alanaaaa!”

She smirked, striding through the door and yanking off her hat. In the doorway stood Nova and Leah with huge smiles plastered on their faces. Alana stopped and squinted at them. “That’s not good…”

“Yes it is!” Nova replied, crossing her arms. “You always say that!”

“That’s because, when it involves Nova, it’s usually true!”

“Hey!”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

Nova squinted at Alana. “Well I was trying to be nice, but I guess that means you don’t want to come.”

“Come where?”

The two girls grinned again as Nova pulled an envelope from her pocket. “I booked us girls all appointments to get our nails done!”

“You’re kidding!” Pansy shrieked.

“Nope,” said Leah.

“That’s so nice of you!” Hermione grinned.

“Fine, I take it back, I take it back,” said Alana, gazing down at her chipped blue nails.

“You boys can come too, if you want. I’m sure I can get you in,” said Nova.

They shook their heads and Draco spoke. “No, it’s okay. But thanks for the offer anyways.”

She smiled. “Well then, girls. Go put your bags upstairs and let’s go!”

*

“Harry, quit washing the dishes and get in here!”

“What is it, Ron?”

“Nova wants us all to play some game with her?”

Raising his brows, Harry wiped his hands and nodded to Mrs. Granger beside him whom he was helping, and headed to the living room. “And what game is it?”

Hermione grinned at him from across the room, where everyone was sitting in a circle on the floor. She held up a rectangular black box from a group of others just like it. Across the front it read Cards Against Humanity. A smile spread across his face as he sat cross legged between Alana and Ron. “I love this game.”

“You’ve played before?” Ron asked.

“Of course! It’s so much fun! Right, Hermione?”

“It makes me crack up every time we play.”

“Perfect,” Nova hummed, taking the box from Hermione and removing the black cards. “Draco, Ron, Pansy… I’m assuming you’ve never played before?” The three shook their heads, gazing at the multitude of cards. “It’s pretty simple. Everyone gets seven white cards, each with a phrase on it. Then one person will have a black card and read it out loud. All you have to do is pick one of your cards to answer the question or fill in the blank You can make it as funny or as serious as you want. The person with the black card picks their favourite and gives the black card to that person. The player with the most black cards at the end of the game wins.”

“That sounds pretty simple,” said Pansy.

“Perfect!” Nova shuffled some white cards and started dealing. “Oh. After you play a card you have to draw another one so you always have seven.”

“So this is a pretty popular game then?” Draco asked, scooping up his cards.

“Oh yeah,” Alana answered. “I played it a lot with my friends at university. Play it with my friends from high school. We’ve played it with our cousins that live around here. It’s a blast.”

“Yeah, but we had to get a few expansion packs,” Leah added. “Because we’d played it so many times.”

Harry chuckled at a few of the cards in his hand, then glanced up at the rest of them. “So, who’s reading first?”

“I will,” Alana announced, taking a black card from the top of the pile. The rest of the group went quiet as she read it out loud. “Well if blank is a crime, then lock me up!” Hermione snickered at her cards, plucked one from the middle and handed it to Alana. The rest of the group followed suit and Alana shuffled them in her hand before reading out the answers. “A mopey zoo lion, the body of a 46-year-old man (Draco frowns but laughs), twenty bucks, the hottest MILF in Dallas, crazy anal orgasms, being sexually attracted to children (Hermione: IT IS), and authentic Mexican cuisine (Leah: that’s racist!)… Hmm… being sexually attracted to children.”

“That was mine,” Leah announced, reaching for the card.

“Of course it was” said Alana, handing it over. “Okay, your turn Nova.”

Nova nodded, taking a card. “What made my first kiss so awkward?” Ron snorted as he handed a card over, and Nova was quickly reading the out. “Plowing that ass like a new England corn farmer, going to bed at a reasonable hour, a Fleshlight, the Rwandan Genocide, my collection of Japanese sex toys, restoring Germany to its former glory, and vehicular manslaughter…” The group erupted into laughter while Nova stared at the card, a mixture of horror and amusement on her face. “That one.”

“That was mine,” Ron chortled, taking the card from her.

Hermione shook her head with a laugh as she picked up a black card. “Why am I laughing and crying and taking off my clothes?”

“What the fuck,” Draco mumbled, causing Leah and Ron beside him to chuckle.

“Okay… Feeling the emotion of anger, Danny DeVito, a little boy who won’t shut the fuck up about dinosaurs (the group laughs), an empowered woman (she chuckles), geese, pedophiles (Pansy: OH FUCK, Nova: OH BOY), and…preteens… who the fuck put pedophiles?” Harry raised his hand, eyes shut as he laughed. She rolled her eyes, throwing the card his way.

“My turn,” sang Pansy. She sniggered as she read the card. “How did I lose my virginity?”

“Hi dad,” Nova called, laughing as they all turned to see Mr. Granger passing by.

He pursed his lips, nodding at them. “I don’t need to know.” The group chortled, handing over their cards as he continued on his way.

“Alright… let’s see how I lost my virginity. Hmm… Emotions (Harry snorted), becoming the president of the United States (Nova: oh shit, Alana: not another Lewinsky scandal), some of the best rappers in the game (Nova: OHHHH), when the big truck goes “Toot! Toot!” (Harry: up your asshole), the clitoris, the true meaning of Christmas (Pansy was horrified and the group laughed), and… drinking alone? How the fuck does that even work?” They all laugh as she holds up the last card.

Draco leaned across Leah and plucks the card from her hand. “Thank you.”

Pansy rolled her eyes. “I should’ve known.”

Leah laughed as she picked up a black card. “Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s blank.”

“Maybe it’s Maybelline,” Nova sang, going through her cards.

“It’s what?” Ron asked, glancing up at her.

She waved a hand. “That’s the slogan from the Maybelline make-up company.”

“Oh.”

“Here we go… Maybe she’s born with it, maybe its… Giving…” She laughed, unable to keep a straight face. “Giving birth to the antichrist! (The group chortled). Racially biased SAT questions, out of control teenage blowjob parties, (Pansy: Oh?), starting a shitty podcast, the feeling of going to McDonalds as a 6-year-old, how bad my daughter fucked up her dance recital (Nova snorted, eyeing Leah, who glared at her), and Trevor, the world’s greatest boyfriend (Harry: “who isn’t so bad once u get to know him”).”

“What?” Draco asked.

Harry shook his head as he laughed. “Nevermind… it’s from one of the other white cards.”

“Okay?”

“Just trust me.”

Draco only nodded. “Okay… who won?”

Leah chuckled. “The anti-Christ.”

“That would be me.”

“Geez, Pans,” teased Ron. “You should’ve warned us you were the anti-Christ.”

She smiled at him sweetly. “Kindly fuck off.”

Harry nearly spit out his drink as Ron’s jaw dropped. Draco snickered, picking up a black card. “I’m sorry sir, but your insurance doesn’t cover injuries caused by blank.”

“Cough, the US healthcare system, cough.”

“Alana,” Nova chided.

“Am I wrong?”

“Well, no…”

“Then shut up.”

Nova rolled her eyes, handing over a card to Draco. He gathered them up and began reading them out loud. “My genitals (Nova: that’s moist, Leah: ew, Nova, shut up, Nova: leave me aloneeee), many… (he laughed) many bats?, pictures of boobs, (Ron: WHAT), the boy scouts of America, NBA superstar LeBron James (Alana: I wouldn’t mind if he injured me if you know what I mean, Pansy: who?), The Holy Bible, and huge biceps (Nova, Alana, and Leah: Mr. Biceps!!! Harry: Like LeBron James?).”

“Mr. Biceps?” Hermione questioned, staring at her cousins.

Nova chuckled. “Yeah. There’s a teacher at our school who’s name starts with a B, but he’s absolutely jacked, like, to the point we think he might be on roids, so we all call him Mr. Biceps.”

Harry snorted and Hermione made a face that was somewhere between “I want to lecture you” and “that’s fucking funny.”

“Who wins, Draco?” Harry asked.

“Um… many bats.”

“That would be me,” Nova sang.

“Is it my turn now?” Ron asked.

“Yeah.”

“Cool. Alright… What’s that sound?”

“Oh no,” Leah laughed. “This one never ends well.”

Harry snickered, then broke into full out laughter staring at his cards. “Too many good ones.”

“Shut it, Harry,” called Hermione. “I’ve got shite.”

He stuck his tongue out at her. “That sounds like a you problem.” She rolled her eyes.

“Teaching a robot to love, exactly what you’d expect (Hermione: eye roll), munchin’ puss (Alana: euuu kay, that’s a little fucking furry sometimes. I speak from personal experience, Leah: can you not.), the bond between a woman and her horse, the wind (Ron paused, staring at the group because, well, yeah…) expecting a burp and vomiting on the floor, and hospice care.”

“Whoever put that, that’s just wrong,” said Harry.

“And pedophiles wasn’t?” Hermione cried.

“Shh…”

Ron laughed, looking back over the cards. “Exactly what you’d expect.”

“Yeah! That’s meee,” Harry cheered, snatching it from him. “My turn… Why do I hurt all over?”

“Harry, mate, that sounds like something ou’d ask yourself every day.”

“Shut it, Ron.”

“It’s true, though.”

“It is,” Draco added, quickly being distracted by Pansy who snorted at her cards. Draco tried to look over at her cards over Leah, but Pansy glared at him, turning away.

“Alright, why do I hurt all over today…”

“See, I told you.”

“I said shut it! Okay… Art, a sassy black woman (the group laughed), chunks of dead hitchhiker (Nova: NUMMY YUMMY YUMMY sluuuurp. Leah: your existence disappoints me. Pansy: ew.), mixing m&ms and skittles like some kind of psychopath (Alana: I wanna taste the rainbow not die of anaphylaxis thank u very much, Hermione: Alana, what the fuck?), yeast (Ron: infection), being able to talk to elephants, and seeing my father cry… I’m gunna have to go with the Skittles and M&Ms…”

“Come on!” Pansy laughed. “Not the sassy black woman?”

“Not this time, Pans. Sorry.”

“You have no sense of humour,” she huffed jokingly.

Harry rolled his eyes, handing the card to Hermione when she reached for it.

“It’s back to me now,” Alana announced. “Having fun so far?” The group agreed unanimously. “Perfect… White people like blank.” They all picked a card and handed it to Alana, who shuffled them. “White people like sitting on my face and telling me I’m garbage, My balls on your face (Ron: why…?), sunshine and rainbows, the full-blown marginalization of ugly people (the group laughed), reaching an age where BBQ chips are better than sex, my inner demons (Harry: who likes their inner demons what the fuck?), and… the clown that followed me home from the grocery store… I’m gunna have to go with the full-blown marginalization of ugly people.”

“Hell yeah!”

“Harry no.”

“Harry yes!” He laughed.

“It was worth a try, ‘Mione,” said Ron.

“My turn,” said Nova, picking up a card. “LSD + blank = really bad time. Well, this ought to be interesting.”

“What’s LSD?” Draco asked.

“A drug that makes you hallucinate,” said Hermione without looking up.

His lips made an O and he went silently back to his cards.

“Alright… LSD + what = really bad time… The blood of Christ (Harry: SO HOT), Our… oh Lord Jesus…” she laughed, sending everyone into a fit of laughter. “Our.. our baby (Pansy: yeah, the antichrist I just gave birth to.), the Red Hot Chili Peppers, accepting the way things are, mutually assured destruction, looking in the mirror, applying lipstick, and whispering “tonight you will have sex with Tom Cruise”, and turning 32. I gotta go with our baby.”

“Yes!”

“No, not you again!” Hermione cried.

“Come on, Harry,” Pansy laughed.

“Suck it, I’m hilarious!”

“Yeah, okay,” said Draco.

Hermione picked up a card. “You know who else liked blank? Hitler.”

“Fuck!” Harry laughed.

“Oh no…” Leah mumbled.

“I’m genuinely scared of what I’m about to read,” Hermione said. “Okay… Hitler also liked… prematurely ejaculating like a total loser, William Shatner (Harry spat out his drink), pretending to be one of the guys but actually being the spider god (she paused, giving the card a weird look), finding a nice elevator to poop in (Pansy: why? Just why?), denying the holocaust (the group laughed so hard half of them were wheezing), getting really high, and 72 virgins.”

“I hate to break it to you,” said Nova, sipping her soda. “But it was more than 72 virgins.”

“Nova!” Hermione scolded, but it didn’t come out the way she intended due to her laughter. “I have to go with denying the holocaust.”

“That was mine,” said Nova.

“Of course it was.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Nova snatched the card, side-eying Hermione, who kept laughing.

Pansy grabbed a black card and read it out loud. “What ended my last relationship?”

Harry sniggered. “Hitler.”

“No.” He kept laughing as he gave her a card, followed by everyone else. “Stephen Hawking talking dirty (horrified faces), the Jews (Harry: OH RIGHT, that’s why Hitler hated them, Hermione: HARRY!), girls, giving 110%, 50mg of Zoloft daily (Alana: kay. I prefer heroin, Leah: what.), PTSD, and… a bird that shits human turds (Draco: WHAT, Ron: who gives a fuck what kind of turd it is?)… Who’s was Stephen Hawking talking dirty?”

“Mine,” said Alana.

Leah took a black card and read it aloud. “What’s a girl’s best friend?” Everyone looked through their cards and handed her one. “Friction (Hermione snorted), a mating display, a woman’ s right to choose (Hermione: yeaaaah), catapults (Ron: for the guys that say they don’t.), Goblins, gay conversion therapy, and being a dick to children (Alana: Mr. Biceps?, Harry: Sounds like your dad, Draco, Ron: FUCKIN SNAPE, Pansy: That’s exactly what I was thinking!).”

“So, who wins?” Pansy asked.

“Friction.”

“Me again,” Alana called.

“My turn,” said Draco. “Ah fuck. Daddy, why is Mummy crying? This isn’t gunna be good, is it?”

Leah chuckled beside him. “Nope.”

“Great.” A moment later he read the answers out. “A terrified fat child that won’t come out of the bushes(Pansy: but… why…?), inserting a mason jar into my anus (Draco: spat out cookie, Harry: ow…), 10000 shrieking teenage girls (Hermione laughed and wheezed, Ron: that would be quite horrifying), wondering if it’s possible to get some of that salsa to go, salsa night at Dave’s cantina, WHAT IS WITH YOU GUYS AND SALSA, an incurable homosexual and Albert Einstein but if he had huge muscles and a rhinoceros cock (their eyes widened in horror, except for Alana who burst out laughing and Harry, who knew exactly what was coming.) What the fuck you guys… um… the terrified fat child.”

“That’s me,” said Ron. Draco passed him the card. “Thanks. My turn… coming to Broadway this season, black: the musical.” Draco and nova both snickered at their cards, causing Ron to give them suspicious looks. “Alright, what musicals do we have here… alcoholism (Pansy: Trelawny), a creepy child singing a nursery rhyme, Barack Obama (Alana: that’d be funny, I’d pay to see that!), twenty cheerleaders laughing at your tiny penis (Ron: every dude’s worst nightmare!), the devil himself (Nova: I’d love to be cast in that), a windmill full of corpses (Draco was horrified), and balls (Leah: is this Bobby Singer?). The windmill full or corpses.”

“Fuck yeah,” Pansy cried, reaching for the card. “Go, Harry.”

“As the Mom of five rambunctious boys, I’m no stranger to blank.” He stared at the card, then at the group, knowing that this was going to end badly. Oh well. “A saxophone solo, dark and mysterious forces beyond our control (he paused and thought for a moment), fucking my sister (Hermione: OH), David Bowie flying in on a tiger made of lightning, a salad for men that’s made of metal (the boys nodded slowly), the Big Bang, and an… an Oedipus complex (Alana: OH FUCK, Nova laughed too hard.) Okay, who the fuck was that?”

Draco raised a hand, laughing harder than he should have been. “Me… that was mine!”

Harry stared at him, opened mouthed. “That was… probably what I should have expected.”

*

The game didn’t end for a while, bringing a lot more laughs and inappropriate jokes. When the group finally trudged up to bed, their faces held smiles and the ghosts of laughter. Unless you’re Pansy, in which case, you’d still be snickering under your breath.

When they reached the room, they stopped in the doorway. There were now five twin beds in the cramped room, each with a bedspread and pillows. Three had red comforters and two had green. Hermione turned around in the doorway, where the three girls had come up the stairs behind them. “How did you know?”

Leah grinned at her. “We heard you mention your house colours. Thought it might make you all feel more at home.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” said Pansy.

Draco nodded. “Thank you.”

The girls nodded, smiling wide, and headed to their rooms.

Draco headed to the bed with the green comforter, and Dragon the bear perched on top. Harry headed to the bed with the red comforter across from his, Ron on his right, Pansy against the end wall, and Hermione beside Draco. They all pulled out their suitcases and pulled on pyjamas.

“Are you three ready for our first day at muggle high school?” Hermione asked, glancing around at Draco, Ron, and Pansy.

“Absolutely!” Pansy chirped, grinning, as she settled beneath her blankets.

Hermione smiled at them all, then turned to slide into her bed. “It’ll be fun. And you’ll have Harry and I, and Leah and Nova, too. Especially Nova, because we could have classes with her.”

Harry nodded, setting his glasses down. “Goodnight guys.”

“Goodnight.”

He flicked off the light and sank down onto his pillow, letting his eyes fall shut.

Across the room, this relaxation did not come so easily for Draco. He lay on his side, mind whirling with concerns. What if he had a panic attack at school? What if he had one tonight and was exhausted when it was time to go? What if it happened and he couldn’t leave? Having them at all was terrifying and he felt like he was dying… everything got hot and he couldn’t see properly, and his heart and blood rushing was in his ears… how was he supposed to navigate a new place like a normal person if that started to happen? Oh God…

Across the room, a shuddering breath reached Harry’s ears. He pushed himself up and put his glasses back on, glancing around. In the bed across from him he could make out pale hair in the darkness—the source of the ragged breathing. With a frown, Harry slid out of bed and padded over to Draco, careful not to trip over the shopping bags on the floor. How long had it been since he turned the light off? Half an hour? Forty-five minutes? Had he been like this the whole time?

Harry stood beside Draco’s bed, where his back faced him. The boy was shaking, his face buried in the comforter, which was clutched tightly in his fists. Harry took a deep breath and then slid under the blankets behind Draco. The other boy didn’t even flinch as Harry slipped an arm around his waist and pulled him close to his chest. Harry held him to his chest in the darkness, silently, making sure he didn’t slip into sleep until the blond boy in his arms stopped shaking, his jolts slowing. Once he was sure he was sleeping, his breathing finally even, Harry let his eyes fall closed, slipping into the quiet void of sleep.