Aevumiter

16: Development

How much had Parkinson overheard? After two whole minutes of panicking, Harry figured there wasn't anything he could do. Might as well pretend that there was nothing to be concerned about. If she didn't think it would hurt him to share what she'd heard, she probably wouldn't bother.

Hopefully.

Harry resumed his walk back to the common room. When he walked inside, it was almost immediately that he made eye contact with Draco. They both looked away.

"Oh, hey, Potter!" Zabini greeted. "Come here."

Harry wandered over, and sat down on one of the couches. 

"Fancy a game of wizard's chess?" Zabini asked.

"Sure. But er, I'm not very good." Harry said.

"I'm not either. I just don't want to work on my Charms homework." Zabini said.

~~~

"So, did something happen between you two?" Zabini asked on their way back from dinner.

"What?" Harry's heart skipped a beat.

"You two haven't spoken a word to each other, and you purposefully don't look-"

"Nothing happened, Blaise." Draco said.

"Really? No arguments? No fights? Secret love confessions?"

"Blaise." Draco glared at Zabini warningly.

Zabini laughed.

~~~

Zabini was in the bathroom when Draco first spoke to Harry later that evening. "Where did you go?"

"The Room of Requirement." Harry said. "Why?"

Draco didn't know what that was. He asked his own question instead of answering. "What did you do?"

"I practiced magic."

"Did you make any progress?" Draco asked.

Harry held out his palm toward Draco, and the glowing orb popped into existence. There was a sharp intake of breath from Draco.

"I figured it out." Harry said quietly.

"You did." Draco said. "What else can you do?"

"So far, just this. But I figured out how to cast." Harry said. "I just have to relearn the spells from a different perspective."

Why was Harry telling him this? Did he really trust that he wouldn't betray him?

There was a pause before Draco spoke again. "Is there any way I can help?"

"I don't know. About the magic. I could use some help on the homework though."

Draco shook his head, a smile at the corner of his lips. "Extraordinary magic and you go for homework."

"Well, there's a bit of a problem with my current magical learning curve, so If I can get my homework done and have the professors off my case... I'll take what I can get."

"Alright." Draco said.

"Thanks."

~~~

Harry lay in bed, thinking. So much had happened today.  McGonagall had taken him to Ollivander, he'd been told he had a magical inheritance, Malfoy had helped him find out which one he had, he'd figured out how to use his magic.

Harry let the light of Lumos illuminate his bed, curtains drawn. It was eerie, how natural it felt. Harry extinguished it, and drifted off to sleep.