Chapter Text
Hogwarts is different after the war. They still sort students into houses, but they aren’t nearly as divided as they used to be. The houses are used for quidditch matches, but students aren’t forced to room with their own houses. In fact, it is often encouraged for students to make it work with the student they are assigned to room with, which is rarely someone of their own house.
This is the Hogwarts that Harry returns to for his eighth year. He had decided that he wanted to come back to finish his final year at Hogwarts. As he steps into the Great Hall, he knows that everything has changed. He knows that nothing is the way it was, but he wants to be able to go back to the place that had been his first real home.
He walks over to what was once the Gryffindor table and finds Ginny and Luna already there.
“Hi, Harry. You look well.” Luna’s voice soothes Harry’s nerves. He hadn’t realized how much he missed her. They weren’t as close as he had been with Ron and Hermione, but Harry considered Luna one of his truest and closest friends.
“It’s good to see you again, Luna.” Harry turns and smiles at Ginny. “Good to see you, too, Ginny.”
She returns his smile and nods. They are no longer together, but they are still polite to one another. Neither of them harbor any negative feelings towards the other.
Harry sits next to Luna and watches as more people begin to file into the hall. Some people sit at their original house tables, and others find themselves sitting next to new friends on opposite sides of the hall.
Harry feels a body hit him from behind.
“HARRY!” Hermione’s voice rings in Harry’s ear. “I can’t believe you’re here before us! Maybe if Ron had packed sooner like I told him to.” She lets go of Harry and turns to look at Ron who is now standing behind the seat next to Harry.
“Oi, I was doing my best! You were rushing me.”
Hermione rolls her eyes and turns back to Harry.
“How are you?” She rests her hand on his shoulder, and Harry’s lips curl into a small smile.
“I’m doing better than I thought I would be. It’s strange, being here, but being here with you all,” he pauses, turning to look around at the friends surrounding him, “you all make things feel much more normal.”
Ron takes the seat next to Harry, and Hermione walks around the table to sit across from Harry.
“Have you seen anyone else?” Harry asks, turning to Luna.
“No, not really. I saw Neville for a moment, but he disappeared in a crowd of fourth years.”
Harry faces his back to the table, looking out at the students before him. Some of the students were on the frontlines of the battle with him. Others don’t look familiar at all.
He sees a group of eighth-year Slytherins standing by themselves. They look anxious, out of place.
“What’s going on over there?”
“Oh,” Luna leans in, “those are some of the students whose parents were supporters of You Know Who. A lot of them are scared that people are going to hate them. Most of them came back to fight though, you know? They fought with us. A lot of students don’t realize that, but a lot of the Slytherins were fighting on our side.” She sighs and places her head in her hand.
Harry looks at them once again, mind wandering. He can hear the chattering of students. There are snippets of discussion of the war coming through, but most students seem to be focusing on the year ahead of them. Several students are missing. Some died in the war, and some chose not to come back to Hogwarts.
Harry understands not wanting to come back. A part of him really didn’t want to come back. He was afraid of what memories would flood him, how his mind and body would react to being back here. He wasn’t sure what to expect. But there was a stronger part of him that needed to come back. He needed to see Hogwarts the way he saw it when he first arrived in his first year. He didn’t want to remember Hogwarts only as the sight of the war, but he wanted to remember it as the home he once knew and loved.
Suddenly, the voices around him stop. Harry comes back to reality, looking around to find the source of the quiet. His eyes fall on the entrance to the Great Hall. There he stands, platinum blond hair and slytherin robe. Draco Malfoy.
Harry freezes at the sight of him. He knows that in a way, Malfoy was just like him. He was forced into a position of the war that he probably didn’t want to be in. But Harry can‘t help the fire that lights inside of him when he locks eyes with Malfoy; he can’t help that anger that warms his skin. He holds Malfoy’s gaze until the blond looks away..
“He looks so sad.”
Harry nods subtly at Luna’s comment, staying silent as he watches Malfoy walk to the end of the old Slytherin table. He turns back to face his friends, trying to put his old enemy out of his mind.
*****
McGonagall waves her hand and envelopes appear in front of each of the students.
“In front of you, you will find your room assignments for this year. Unlike previous years, you will not be rooming with people of your house. Instead, you will be paired up with one other person from a differering house. There may be exceptions, but please try to make things work with your roommate.” She moves in front of the podium, clasping her hands in front of her torso.
“Please remember to take care of each other. This is our first year back,” her gaze shifts down, “and we will need to lean on each other for support. Let us help give Hogwarts the feeling it used to have before tragedy struck. I am so glad to see all of you here. Enjoy your feast” She gives a soft smile and turns back to the table lined with professors.
Once she sits, food appears on all of the tables, and students begin to fill their plates. Ron opens his envelope and reads off the name. “Justin Finch-Fletchly, Hufflepuff.” He shrugs and slips the notecard back.
Hermione follows and reads, “Luna Lovegood, Ravenclaw.” She lifts her head and smiles at Luna.
“Oh! I’m so glad I’m going to be staying with someone I know! We can have such a wonderful time.” She begins talking with Hermione, and Harry looks down at his envelope, the sounds of his friends’ voices disappearing into the air.
His hands grab the envelope and slip it open. He pulls out the notecard, flips it over, and almost drops the slip of paper. Hermione’s voice slips through the cloudy wall his mind had put up.
“Harry? Are you okay? What is it?”
His mouth barely slips out the words scrawled on his notecard. “Draco Malfoy, Slytherin.”
“I’m sorry, what? Have they gone mad, pairing you with Malfoy?” Harry now hears Ron’s voice cutting through. “Bloody hell, there’s no way,” and just like that Ron’s voice has disappeared once again.
Without thinking about it, Harry finds himself turning around at the table to spot Malfoy. He sees him sitting on the end of the table, not speaking to anyone. His envelope is also open, and the slip of paper is hanging loose in his hands. They make eye contact, and just before Harry breaks away, he swears he can see Malfoy whisper the words “ I’m sorry.”
*****
Hermione and Luna are walking ahead of Harry and Ron, and Harry can hear the two talking about the classes they are looking forward to.
“Mate, how are you going to room with Malfoy for the year?”
Harry sighs and looks down at his feet. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Harry? Have you gone mad? The guy was terrible to you for years.”
“Not really. I mean, he was, but it wasn’t all directed at me.”
“Still, you can’t tell me that you think this is going to go well.”
“I don’t know, Ron. I just have a feeling that things are going to be different. Maybe not immediately, but something feels different.”
Luna and Hermione break off with a wave, heading toward their room. Soon after, Ron turns to the direction of his room. “Good luck, Harry.” Harry responds with a small wave before he sticks his hands into his pockets.
He slowly makes his way through the corridors, his head tilted slightly downward. When he glances up, he sees Malfoy walking toward him. Harry pauses briefly, his breath hitching.
They reach the door at the same time, standing in silence for a moment.
“Potter-”
“Don’t. Let’s just go inside.” Harry opens the door and leads them into their room.
Draco hesitates before he follows, shutting the door softly behind him.
*****
The two of them are unpacking their bags, each of them staying on their sides of the room. The quiet is almost deafening, but Harry refuses to speak to Draco. His mind can’t seem to come up with the proper words to speak to him, so he chooses to just keep quiet.
Draco, on the other hand, wants to try to clear the air.
“Look, Potter, I know that I was a shitty person-”
“Yeah,” Harry mumbles.
Draco looks up at him. “But, I truly do want to apologize. I know it might not mean shit to you, but I really am sorry. I don’t want to make excuses for the things that I did, but I want you to know my side of it. If there’s ever a time where you’d be willing to hear me out, I would really appreciate it.”
It almost sounds like Draco is trying to get it all out before Harry has the ability to angrily interrupt him. Harry wants to give him a chance, but it’s just too soon.
“I’m sorry, Malfoy, but I’m just not ready.”
Draco nods in response, continuing to unpack his side of the room.
*****
Once the two of them have finished emptying out their suitcases, they both get into their beds for the night. Harry shuts the light off, but soon after, he finds that Draco has created a small ball of light next to his bed.
“Malfoy, turn that off.”
“No, Potter, it helps me sleep. Just turn over.”
“It’s too bright, Malfoy. Why the hell do you need a light?”
“I told you, it helps me sleep.” Draco turns his back to Harry.
“I can’t sleep with that light, Malfoy, shut it off!”
Draco throws his sheets off his bed, standing up. “Fine. Sleep well, Potter.” There’s a bitterness that Harry can hear in his voice. He watches Draco leave the room, the ball of light disappearing with him.
There’s a twinge of guilt that Harry feels crawling up his stomach, but he is able to easily repress it. “I don’t know what the big deal is. He just has to make things difficult,” Harry mumbles to himself. He turns to his side, trying his best to fall asleep, but he is very aware of the empty bed on the other side of the room.