The Enemy's Ball

14. Studying, and Night-time Adventures

Harry:

Harry slumped over in his chair. He'd been reading the same book for what felt like three hours. During that time, he had tested out many different seating positions, all of which he found uncomfortable. His giddiness from before was long gone, and he was bored.

Harry peered over the edge of the book to the bed, where Draco was sitting in the same position Harry had found him in. The Slytherin had moved onto another book since Harry had arrived, and Harry couldn't help but half-regret agreeing to study with him.

Harry was sitting in the armchair in front of the desk. Draco had made him leave the bed after he'd knocked the books over, not twice, but three times. Harry had moped over to the chair and plopped down rather miserably. But Draco didn't seem to care.

Harry flipped to the next page and sighed. He turned sideways in the chair and put his feet over the armrest, holding the book up in the air. He found himself daydreaming, again. And it certainly wasn't about potions. How did Draco stay sitting the same way for so long? Is it a charm? Years of meditation? Is Draco just good at sitting since he's good at everything? Harry wondered. The book slipped from his hand and fell directly onto his face. His glasses dug into his skin. "Ow." He said.

Draco didn't notice that either. Maybe that's a good thing. Harry thought. Harry lifted the book off of his face and placed it on the desk. He stood up and stretched. His neck hurt from hanging over the armrest for so long. Harry made his way back to the bed and snapped his fingers in between Draco and the book.

Draco looked up, "Do you need something?"

Harry tried to come up with a reasonable excuse. "It's... late. And I'm... tired..?" He said, though it was more like a question.

The corner of Draco's mouth twitched upwards, "Right Potter." He said sarcastically, "9:30 is incredibly late."

Harry bit his lip, "Okay, so it's not that late... but I really don't want to study anymore.

Draco:

Draco smirked, and started to say something, but at Harry's desperate look, thought better of it. He sighed, "It's only been an hour and a half."

Harry looked down and shuffled back to the chair. Draco sighed again, shutting his book. Why did Potter need to mope so much anyways? Much less be so... cute? No, that wasn't the word. Draco wasn't sure what word he was looking for, but it wasn't that.

"Fine." He said. Harry looked up hopefully. Draco tried to hide a smile, "It does seem late, why is it so dark anyways?"

"So we're done?" Harry asked, "Studying, I mean."

Draco nodded, "For now." Harry's smile wavered, but didn't go away. Harry set the book on the desk again and walked to the bathroom. Draco started moving the piles of books to the desk. He kept the one he was reading though. He just wanted to finish this one chapter. He sat up in the bed and tried to find his place again. He always forgot to use bookmarks, and he'd ought to start remembering because it was so much work to find the right page again.

Draco had just found the paragraph he was on, when Harry stepped out of the bathroom. Draco covered his mouth to keep from laughing, "Potter- how-?"

Harry's cheeks flushed, "I don't know!" Draco let himself laugh, it wasn't everyday you saw Harry Potter with toothpaste in his hair and glasses strewn on his face.

"Just- could you help me?" Harry asked miserably, "I think Hermione and Ginny hexed the toothpaste... I've already tried everything to get it out- soap and water didn't work either."

Draco smiled again, book forgotten, "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Do you know any spells that would clean it? I tried scourgify and the other obvious ones, they clearly didn't work."

Draco scoured his brain for cleaning spells, but he couldn't think of any that Harry hadn't already used. He shrugged helplessly at Harry.

The Gryffindor sighed, "Thanks anyways."

"I know a few potions that would work... but those take a while to brew." Draco said unhelpfully. Harry sighed again. "Perhaps the house elves know a spell?" Draco suggested.

Harry's eyes brightened. "That's a good idea! But- how do we get to them?"

"Only way I know is through the kitchens."

Harry nodded determinedly. "Then I'm off to the kitchens."

Harry pulled on his shoes and started rummaging through his trunk. Draco watched him, amused. Harry pulled out a silvery cloak and pulled it around himself. Draco gasped as he disappeared. Was that the same cloak as before? It looked like it. But invisibility charms only last months... so it couldn't be.

Harry grinned at him, and pulled out a piece of parchment from his dresser. Draco narrowed his eyes, what was Potter going to do with that? Harry mumbled a few words to the parchment, and it filled with color. "Wha-?" Draco wondered aloud.

Harry smirked, "It will be faster if I go by myself. Besides, I don't think the cloak would cover both of us. Although, when we were smaller, Ron, Hermione, and I used to all fit under it, though we were a little squashed." Harry smiled at the memory.

Draco was at a loss for words. One, Potter had an invisibility cloak, a bloody good one at that. Two, he had a magical map that seemed to show everyone in Hogwarts. And three, he and his friends used to sneak around under the cloak.

"Right. Well, go on then." Draco finally said. Harry left. Draco retrieved his book from the nightstand, noticing that he'd once again forgotten a bookmark. He rubbed his temples. This was getting annoying.

Harry:

Harry kept one eye on the map, the other watching where he was going. He found his way down to the kitchens, with only one almost-incident involving Peeves and Mrs. Norris. He tickled the pear and walked into the kitchen, pulling his cloak off when the portrait closed.

The house elves all stopped what they were doing and stared at him with wide eyes. It wasn't everyday you get to see a student with toothpaste everywhere after all. Harry simpered, "Hi guys."

Harry made his way back to the common room after being successfully cleaned. The house elves had easily removed the paste from his hair, and even tried to comb it for him. To no avail. His hair still smelled minty, but that wasn't a bad thing considering the state it had been in earlier.

He opened the door to his and Draco's room, and quietly walked inside. Draco was laying on the bed, a book spread open on his silk night-shirt. Harry changed into pajamas and carefully climbed onto the bed. He smiled at a sleeping Draco and carefully lifted the book off of his roommate's chest. He placed a piece of paper on the page and closed the book, placing it on Draco's nightstand.

Harry slid under the covers slowly, trying not to disturb the Slytherin. He turned onto his side, facing the window; away from Draco.

"Goodnight Draco." He whispered. There was no answer from his sleeping friend. 

Updated: February 9th, 2021