分卷阅读3（2 / 2）

When he finally fell asleep, he dreamt of Potter, stumbling out of the Forbidden Forest, bloodied and in the same clothes he had been wearing in the last battle, while Draco was on one of his nightly walks of the grounds, only this time as a human. He collapsed several feet ahead of Draco, who broke into a sprint, falling to his knees at Potter’s side, his hands frantic as he searched for a source of the blood, but found none.

“I knew it,” Potter had muttered, lifting his hand to cup Draco’s cheek and stopping him in his tracks.

“Knew what?” Draco had asked, feeling cold all over.

“Knew you wouldn’t leave me all alone like that,” Harry murmured. “Not when everything was finally going to be alright. For you. For me.”

“Hardly,” Draco scoffed.

“It would have,” Harry said. “We could have been happy. Still can be.”

The sob that escaped Draco’s throat startled him awake. He wiped the tears from his cheek with his sleeve, cursing his subconscious for being so cruel. Of course, Harry could still be happy, if he wasn’t already. But Draco? He laughed darkly. Of course not.

“It’s nice to see you, Harry,” McGonagall smiled at him from across their shared table at the Leaky Cauldron.

“You, too, Professor,” Harry agreed, feeling slightly guilty. He had avoided her these past few years, but then she was not alone. He had avoided most everyone since finishing school. Part of him still wished he hadn’t agreed to see her for dinner, but something told him that disagreeing would be burning a bridge worth saving.

“I wanted to speak with you about something, which I suppose you could have guessed from my writing you,” McGonagall continued, making no small talk as per usual.

“Of course,” Harry agreed. Though he had been expecting this, he had been hoping against hope she wouldn’t have something to speak to him about. The phrase always sounded ominous, especially from her, seeing how many times she had reprimanded him as a child.

“Well, I am sure you know the Defense position at Hogwarts has not been filled since you finished your schooling,” McGonagall began.

Harry didn’t know. He hadn’t kept up with much, and he didn’t see what that had to do with him, but he nodded anyway.

“I was wondering, if, perhaps, you would be interested in filling the position. You would, of course, need to do a bit of studying over the course of the summer, but I would say, and most of the staff agrees, that you have enough field training to make up for a lack of classical study for the most part,” she finished, looking at him expectantly.

“Me? Teach?” Harry asked, his eyes widening. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Your age concerned some, but it was the general consensus that you are respected enough by the students to be able to hold a position above them. And if I recall correctly,” McGonagall added, with a hint of a smile, “you do have a bit of experiencing teaching Defense already.”

Harry nodded, sheepishly

“I think you will find teaching will be a good distraction. Much better than…well, forgive me, but much better than the sitting around and moping that you are doing now,” McGonagall said with a knowing look. “You need to try your best to move on, Potter. Not just for you, but for everyone you lost.”