golden longings

XVI

***

Draco was taken back.
The silhouette of the other boy seemed intimidating to him.
But before he could further think about that, he decided to answer the mutual question that was hanging in the air, without having been audibly asked.
"I don't know why I'm up here either."
Potter stepped out onto the plateau, closer to where Draco stood.
"Maybe this place needs new memories?"

"Or maybe I didn't want to put up with you people." He knew why he came there after all, just not why he had gone up the stairs.
"Guess we'll never know." Draco could clearly tell the slightly sarcastic tone in Potter's voice.
"You know, it was just very quiet here. You better have a reason for disturbing that peace."
With that, Draco turned his back to Potter and sat back down in his place.

He could still clearly feel the presence of someone behind him but he ignored the uncomfortable feeling of being watched. Maybe if he ignored him long enough, Potter would go away.

An assumption in which Draco was fatally mistaken. When he heard the shuffling of robes behind his back he assumed that Potter was going to leave. Instead, the noise came closer. And before he knew it, a pair of legs entered his field of vision. Potter stood at the edge of the tower, next to where Draco sat. Both overlooking the dark castle, illuminated only by the warm candlelight shining through the windows.

The sun had disappeared completely behind the horizon and only a very slim stripe of the sky was still glowing with the last hint of daylight.
Draco loved this hour. Everything appeared to be coated in a layer of soft darkness with a hint of orange still glimmering in the air. Ironically, he would have described this mix if day and night as magical. Something that sounded rather like the words of a muggle.

He glimpsed over at the figure next to him. The other man appeared darker than his surroundings. Draco quickly directed his eyes away.
"I wanted to challenge myself."
"Excuse me?"
Draco was not able to distinguish the concept of Potter's statement.
"The reason why I came up here. I wanted to challenge myself to go up the stairs."
Draco thought about the disappointment Potter must have felt when he saw that the place was already occupied. But he had been here first. It almost felt like an invasion of a private space, even if it was a public area of the castle.

"Mustn't that be a disappointment to find me already up here." He voiced his thoughts sarcastically.
"What makes you think I'd be disappointed?" Potter couldn't be serious about that question. Draco couldn't imagine he could be.
"Because my company is generally despised, by your obnoxious friend, for example."

"That's exaggerating a bit, don't you think?"
Draco was now convinced that Potter couldn't possibly be serious. Or maybe the golden boy just suffered from a severe lack of empathy. Not that Draco was really one to reproach that.
"Not exactly, no."
Was that annoying brat ever going to leave?

"Which friend are you referring to?" Now Draco was convinced that Potter was just exercising a terrible attempt at humor now.
"You have got to be joking!"
Nothing about that could have possibly sounded like an invitation to sit down. But Potter really had the nerve to take it as one apparently, as he crouched down, stuck his legs through the fence and sat down next to Draco.
"No, I'm genuinely asking."

"If you want to ridicule me you really could've chosen a better time."
Draco was rigidly staring straight ahead as not to see Potter. He felt so exposed. Why couldn't he just leave him alone? If he wanted to be made fun of he could have just sat in the common room. Wasn't that obvious?