分卷阅读24（2 / 2）

“Shifting space, maybe?” Hermione guessed. “It’s the only explanation we have. You might want to try changing the dream and see what happens.”

“How do I do that? I’m sleeping, remember.”

“You’ll have to figure that out on your own Harry.” Hermione looked apologetic. “I can’t dream for you, you know.”

“Yeah I know.” Harry fought the urge to bang his head on the table. “I’m just sick of it. Every morning it gets worse.”

“I’m sure you’ll come up with something, Harry.”

Harry took a few days to think of something, and in fact he didn’t really think of it to be truthful. The solution came about because of a fight that occurred between himself and Draco after dinner on Sunday. It had been about the DA.

“Look Potter, I do not want to spend my free time sitting around watching to make sure you don’t mess up and get hurt,” Draco snapped.

“Malfoy, it’s called commitment, even though I’m sure that’s too big a word for you to understand. It’s where people actually do what they promised to do.”

Draco leveled a glare in Harry’s direction. “I never made such a promise, Potter, you did. You live with the consequences of your own actions.”

“Selfish bastard,” Harry had muttered, storming out of the room. Unbeknown to him, Draco had watched him go, trying to figure out why he was feeling the strange emotion he was feeling about making Potter so angry. It hadn’t mattered before…

Harry had gone to the scheduled DA meeting anyway, although he had made sure not to participate in the duel. He’d then avoided going back to his and Draco’s rooms, by taking a very long and time consuming walk down to the lake. He’d wanted to take up time and it had worked. It was after midnight when he finally turned from the lake’s murky waters and walked back up to the castle, roused Medusa from her sleep (she had not been pleased, the snakes of her hair muttering obscenities in Parseltongue), and been faced with the decision to walk into the bedroom or sleep on the couch. Harry had chosen the latter, his last waking thought being that if he did end up sleeping in the same bed as Draco by morning, he would not be responsible for his actions.

His dreams had been empty. No Voldemort, but no nice comfort feelings either. It was rather freaky for sleep to be that empty, but when Harry woke on the couch the next morning, that emptiness was a small price to pay in his mind. He’d been out of the room by the time Draco had woken up in his own bed, feeling quite happy even though it was Monday and he had Potions first thing.

“You look really happy this morning,” Hermione commented as Harry sat down next to Ron.

“I figured it out,” Harry replied.

“Really?”

“Yup. I just need to fall asleep being really mad at Malfoy.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard.” Ron grinned.

Hermione looked thoughtful but didn’t say anything, especially when Malfoy entered the Great Hall half an hour later, shooting a deadly glare at Harry’s back as he did so. Pushing that idea out of her mind for the moment, Hermione tuned back into the conversation that was happening around her about Quidditch, and the fact that the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match, which had been postponed, was going to be held next Friday.

Thursday evening came quickly for all of the school, who were all waiting eagerly for the first match between Harry Potter and the Veriae, Draco Malfoy. Well, everyone except Draco himself, who appeared to be a disaster just waiting for a reason to explode upon someone. He still acted the same yet his entire persona seemed to scream “stay away from me or you WILL get hurt” and no one knew exactly why…except for three Gryffindors, two of which were too wrapped up in the upcoming Quidditch match to figure it out. Hermione however, noticed that while Draco seemed to glow with anger, Harry seemed happier than he’d been in a long time yet drained. He was perfectly healthy, yet he still seemed to be strained even if he himself didn’t realize it. And every night before he went to sleep he thought of all the reasons why he hated Draco Malfoy and woke up in his own bed every morning. But it was on Thursday night that she noticed a distinct change, even if she was not present at the event that triggered it.