Chapter Text
“I'll see you guys tomorrow, I still have potions homework to deal with and don't get me started with the transfiguration essay. It's actually ridiculous” Harry yawned as he waved goodbye to both Hermione and ron.
“You mean today? Harry it's almost 2 in the morning, maybe you should go to the common room with us, you can continue later you know?” Hermione's eyebrows knitted as they always did when Harry sacrificed his sleep. She was glad he was taking his studies far more seriously but it was worrisome how many up nighters he has taken so far.
“Look mate, Hermione's right, we've finished our Transfiguration project so you have time to finish up the essay later today, it'll do you some good to recharge and try again later today” Ron added, seeing Harry's dark circles continue to darken night after night.
Harry slowly blinked trying to process their advice, only to shake his head. “Thanks guys but I'm definitely going to lose my motivation later so I'd rather do it now,” he said as he looked down. Which was a complete lie since the words had begun to swim across the page (but of course he wouldn't say that).
Hermione sighed and grabbed her bag. “Alright Harry, we'll see you later alright, and please don't stay up too late”She begged. Harry hummed, while Ron and Hermione withdrew from the library sending worried glances. He sighed and got back to work knowing he was just stalling.
Truth to be told, Harry had nightmares each night and they only got increasingly worse as time went on. The only way he would sleep was to tire himself completely, leaving his body to function on small naps and an ungodly amount of caffeine. Of course, Hermione and Ron didn't have a clue, leaving it pretty easy to fly under the radar with the excuse of "homework”.
After what felt like hours (18 minutes) Harry stretched out his arms hearing every joint on his spine pop, releasing a sigh he didn't know he was holding. He wasn't making as much progress as he wanted to and needed a much-needed break.
Standing from his seat he wandered the library, breathing in the calm atmosphere filled with page turns, soft murmurs and the crackling from the candles. As he was heading back to his desk for more grueling assignments, he saw an indistinguishable blonde head peeking through the tables. He wasn't sure what was so alluring about Malfoy, maybe because of how late it was, or his lack of sleep or just plain curiosity.
Malfoy was scribbling furiously on his paper but mirrored a similar expression of frustration and boredom. The desk was unkempt, quills and ink jars on top of piles of scrolls and library books. His hair was tussled, dark eyes rimming his face. Harry hadn't noticed him coming into the library, and by the looks of it he had been here awhile.
“Are you going to stand there and keep ogling me potter or will you actually say something?” Malfoy loudly asked, not once breaking eye contact with his paper. It kicked Harry out of his trance, seemingly unsurprised as being caught. See, normally he would have some sort of comeback or a witty remark but given his current state that seemed like an impossible task to actually follow. Just the very thought of thinking was draining. He pulled a chair out, slumping down the moment he sat down.
“You are literally so rude, and for what? Such a pretty head, and yet there doesn't seem to be an ounce of sympathy in there. You incorrigible git” Harry spat out, uninterested but quite annoyed.
That was a lot to take in. The insults, the compliments, the reality checks. Too much, but Malfoy obliged.
“I was doing homework, before you rudely interrupted. Unlike you potter, I actually care about my education, and mind you, I actually use my brain not that you would know much about that…” ...
“No SHIT, smartass. I meant what TYPE of homework” Literally why does he care. He can go and shove a wand up HIS AS-
“Potter, I would truly appreciate it if you could be quiet. I'm desperately trying to finish this up, something you're clearly not. What type is none of your concern, so please bugger off” Malfoy was absolutely seething, but couldn't say much.
“As much as I hate to talk to you, I could help you. With your homework I mean, in fact we can help each other and get out of here quicker” Harry proposed, giving Malfoy the stink eye. Malfoy glared right back.
“I don’t need your help, boy savior, and even if I did, I wouldn't ask you out of all people. Plus, I think YOU would benefit from this more than I would” he scoffed.
Harry raised his eyebrow but remained silent. They could go back and forth all night long, but that would truthfully never get them anywhere. He flicked up his wand casting a simple tempus to see the time: 2:14 a.m.
He picked up a dirty and broken quill and began to pluck out each individual barb. It seemed to bother Malfoy, but he remained silent. There was no benefit to being here, and Harry realized just how annoying he was. He should care buttttt, he honestly didn't want to. It was just so fun bothering Malfoy.
He retrieved a blank parchment from Malfoy's pile of assignments and began to doodle.
“...Potter? What do you think you are doing with that?” His writing stopped.
“What does it look like I'm doing, Malfoy?” he sneered back. ‘Such an Idiot’ Harry thought to himself but held his tongue.
“Well, it looks to me like you're ruining my VERY important essay that I had for History of Magic. The one that was assigned last week. The one that's due…hmm…today?”
…..What.
Harry frantically flipped the paper, and to his horror the title was just as Malfoy had said.
Oh. Shit. Okay he takes back what he thought. Maybe he was an idiot.
To make matters worse, the ink had bled through from the other side, blurring words and staining others. He looked up to Malfoy and flinched at his unmoving eyes.
“Look, I- I didn’t mean that, honestly that would be horrible-” Harry stuttered as he rushed to cast a spell. If he was quick enough, he could remove the drying ink and fix this whole mess.
The thing is, he did not fix it. In fact, while trying to fix it, he managed to tip over a full ink jar.
On the essay.
Malfoys essay.
Harry's stomach dropped. If he was tired before, he sure as hell wasn’t now.
Malfoy stood up, leaned forward, and reached downwards. Harry shut his eyes, expecting some sort of punishment, he honestly didn't mean to ruin Malfoys essay. Malfoy sighed again and pulled the essay towards him.
‘Scourgify’ he muttered as pointed his wand at the parchment. The ink began to disappear, leaving bald spots on the page. He flipped it over, repeating the process.
Harry felt so guilty, it was practically eating him alive. “How bad is the damage?” he asked.
Malfoy flipped the paper and said “I'm not sure, you tell me”
The bottom third of the page was gone, absolutely no ink in sight. The lower middle wasn't much better. The fine print was blanked out in so many spots it was illegible. Now Harry was truly panicking. That specific essay was not easy, he would know, he hadn't even finished his own and looking at Malfoys made him reach a horrible realization.
“You were already done with it?” He whispered. Malfoy hesitated but nodded slowly.
Harry groaned into his hands. He had to make it up to Malfoy, there was nothing that excuse this. He breathed in deeply and started brainstorming. “Okay, well i'll just finish it right now, we still have time”
That shocked Malfoy. “You? Look, don't blame me for underestimating you, but you are not made for essays. Last I remember, you barely managed to score an ‘A’ on the last assignment. An ‘A’, Potter. That means you barely reached the MINIMUM” he said as he sat down.
“Alright, well we don't got much choice now do we? Yeah, I didn't think so. And don't be so quick to underestimate me, that essay wasn’t even my fault, it's just a coincidence” Harry argued. Truthfully, he just didn’t feel like putting any effort in the first place, that essay was so stupid. But Malfoy didn’t need to know that.
He glared at him. “Alright potter, you think you're so smart? Good luck finishing mine by the time we get into History of Magic since you are so insistent on doing this, and it better be good. Your confidence will be the downfall of your existence, golden boy.”
A shiver ran down Harry's back, but he chalked it up with the cold from the library. “Deal.” He quickly pushed Malfoys stuff from his side of the desk, carefully making sure that everything was sealed and far away from any more assignments. Malfoy chuckled quietly, forgetting who he was talking with. Potter might be the chosen one, but he sure was naive. He hadn't actually finished the essay, he had only done the middle, but it was just too easy to take advantage of Potter. He stopped short, realizing that he might be losing it if he was joking around with Potter in the early hours of the day.
Harry skimmed the essay, then pulled out his own history of magic textbook, flipping the pages until he found the correct section. Malfoy wanted to see how he would figure it out in time, but he had more pressing things to do at the moment. He scattered the pile of assignments and got to work.
They worked in silence, the library’s atmosphere and the looming deadlines forcing them to concentrate. The minutes ticked by, stretching into a tense hour. Malfoy looked up to see the others progress, only to be slightly stunned. Harry was surprisingly still hyper-focused on the essay, not losing concentration through the whole hour. The time read 3:24. Some earl tea sounded nice about now.
Malfoy was so sick of writing. How did they even get here in the first place? He truly hated potter, and working with him irked him. He probably could have been done with everything right now if Potter had not intervened.
His head felt heavy, like it was on the edge of falling back and staying there. He leaned back and closed his eyes until-
“You probably shouldn’t go to sleep right now; you have plenty of homework to do” Merlin please shut up.
“What is your problem, potter? I was closing my eyes not sleeping, and what does it matter to you what I'm finishing in the first place. Please just bugger off” he leaned again.
Harry hummed, but didn’t retort. He was just getting sick of the weird silence hanging between them, but maybe that was just in his imagination?? Now he definitely regretted not going back to the dorms with Ron and Hermione. He focused once more on the essay; it's not like he could back out now.
Time: 4:10 a.m
He finished. Malfoys essay was done and by Harry’s standards, it actually sounded quite decent. He only had his own things to do, but maybe he should rest a little before doing any more work, his hand was cramping quite badly.
“Wow potter, done so soon? I didn’t believe you had it in you, but we all make mistakes, don't we?” Malfoy whispered, carrying a rough edge to it .
Harry frowned slightly but remained silent, resting his head on his arms in an attempt to relax. He had a nagging thought in the back of his mind, yelling at him to finish his work and to not fall asleep, but his eyes couldn't hold it much longer.
‘I’m not going to sleep’ he thought to himself ‘just closing his eyes, resting them’
Just resting…..
Some time later.
Malfoy looked up realizing that Harry fell asleep. ‘Of course, Potter fell asleep. Utterly ridiculous.’ Since the biggest of his worries was done and over, he just considered calling it a night. He picked up all his quills and tightly sealed ink jars, and any other parchment, stuffing them in his bag. He was going to fix it later, he told himself, except later usually never came.
Harry was dead asleep, breathing out soft snores. His hair was outgrown, covering his scar and almost reaching his eyes. Malfoy scoffed but held his breath. It seemed quite impossible that Potter couldn’t find the time to cut his hair, but maybe he was just too busy saving the world to do so.
He stood up and began heading out when filch rounded one of the bookshelves right in front of Malfoy.
“I suggest you wake up your little friend and head to your dorms. McGonagall has implemented a curfew for any students at the library” he told him.
“He is not my little friend, and I was leaving anyway. If you want him awake, then you can do it yourself” Malfoy sneered. He wasn’t very fond of filch, but after the war, he decided to be a little nicer to him.
“Now Mr. Malfoy, you two are friends, you were clearly studying and laughing together during these last few hours. Might I suggest you rethink what you’ve said, I would hate to tell McGonagall that you wanted to attend detention for the rest of the semester, amongst other things” Filch said, sending shivers down Malfoys spine.
That sadist. “It would be unfortunate to bother McGonagall, and we wouldn't want that, now, would we? I'll save you the trouble and do it myself” Malfoy said, turning the corner once again. Now he had to do extra work no thanks to potter. Lovely.
____________________________________________________________________________
“...tter. Potter. Wake up, you've got to go now, the library is closing.” Malfoy hissed at Harry while shaking his shoulder.
“hnmgh??? shhh...five more minutesss” Harry mumbled at him.
“Not five more minutes, wake up! I've already got your stuff so stop being lazy and get up” Malfoy shoved Harry's bag onto his face, hoping to get the point across. Harry mumbled some very not so nice words and grabbed his bag, all while making no attempt to actually get up.
“Oh, for merlin's sake, get up!” He pulled Harry's chair as a desperate attempt to wake him up. Harry toppled to the ground and against all odds, continued sleeping. Malfoy was dumbfounded as to what to do. Filch had gone around, shooing kids to their commons rooms to leave, threatening to punish anyone still around.
Malfoy was seriously reconsidering that semester-long detention and decided it would be easier to just get it over with. Harry curled up on the floor, seemingly unaware of Malfoys anger.
Malfoy sighed long and deep, until he murmured a simple ‘Wingardium Leviosa’. Both Harry and their belongings floated into the air, and Malfoy pulled them out of the library and out of Filch's grubby hands.
He checked all the hallways and made sure no one was outside. He really didn't want to explain why Potter was floating (unconsciously) and where he was taking him. Speaking about taking, where was he going to take him? The only option was the Gryffindor common room, but then he would definitely be questioned by both Granger and Wesley, and he didn’t even know where it was located.
The hallways were desolate, where the only sounds were his footsteps and Harry's breaths. He could admit, it was quite peaceful to not be surrounded by hundreds of glaring eyes filled with hatred. It was a tough decision to come to Hogwarts for his final year, but his mother was realistic and who was he to refuse her pleading eyes. She was right of course, he couldn't avoid everyone forever, and better to get over it now than to deal with it later.
They reached the stairs where he released the spell, unceremoniously dropping Harry on the floor, after which he took back his bag.
“Ow! What- ugh, that seriously hurt you know?" Harry glared at Malfoy.
“Uh-huh but if you had just listened to me, we wouldn't be here at all. Get up and go to your dorm room, I've already done plenty of favors tonight, Potter” Malfoy spat at Harry, annoyed by the amount of talking they've already done. He could walk away, but he felt burdened to stay sensing the tension in the air.
“Yeah, I guess you have a point but didn't have to be such an ass-”
“Yeah, but if being an ass is what it takes for you to leave me alone, then so be it” Malfoy said as he rolled his eyes.
Harry stood up while dusting off his robes. “Why did you take me out in the first place? There was no one around” he questioned
“If you think I did out of the kindness from my own heart, then you must’ve lost your mind. Filch was getting on everyone's asses and warned me that if i didn't take you out too we would both be suffering the consequences, and frankly I didn't quite like that” Malfoy started to walk away, deeming the conversation done.
“You don't HAVE a heart. You really didn't have to do that but thank you nevertheless” Harry practically spit at Malfoy as he walked the opposite direction.
‘...you didn't have to save me from that fire, but here we are.’ Malfoy thought.
He cleared his throat. “Goodnight potter, and please try to refrain from drooling in your sleep” he smirked as he walked away.
Harry frowned. “...I don’t drool.... Do I?” He swiveled on his heel, just to find Malfoy gone.