Drabble: The ghost of Hogwarts days

[herumtreiber]

Title: The ghost of Hogwarts days
Author herumtreiber 
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count:  983
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Eight-year fic, preslash
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the rest belong to JK Rowling, I only play with them. 
Summary: Harry receives sage advice from a former admirer.
Notes: Written for JMDC Challenge #35. enchanted_jae 's prompts were: spark, water, ghost, heat, breeze, magic.

 

Harry knelt beside the Black Lake, gazing at his reflection on the water. Life was simple for the Gryffindor; Voldemort had been vanquished at last and he enjoyed the prospects of a fulfilling career ahead of him. Having finished his final year, he would finally graduate from Hogwarts.  

He should have been happy, but there was something missing in his life. Harry felt it more acutely when he gazed at his erstwhile rival and noticed what everyone else missed: there was no spark in Malfoy’s eyes anymore. They were a dull grey that bespoke of cloud-covered skies instead of the forged steel they once resembled; back when Malfoy taunted him - when he defied Harry and called something in his blood the Gryffindor sorely missed.

Harry turned to look at his beloved school. The sun was rising over the castle, peeking out over Gryffindor Tower. He felt the soft caress of the breeze coming from the Forbidden Forest, light as butterfly kisses upon his cheek. Harry fancied that the same wind that greeted his day would also touch Draco’s face.

Harry felt someone observing him and turned to the right. Just above the shore, he could see a translucent figure. With a heavy heart he recognized Colin Creevey. The mousy hair that used to peek from behind a camera was now as evanescent as the morning fog. It brought to Harry’s mind the poignant losses he’d suffered in the Final Battle.

“Harry, don’t be sad!” said Colin. “I don’t want you unhappy.”

The figure crossed its ghostly arms, pouting. “I’m not Myrtle, you know.”

Harry squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. “It’s just that now that I’m leaving Hogwarts… I don’t want to forget any of you.”

Colin spread his arms and pirouetted. “You won’t, trust me. You don’t need the Deathly Hallows to feel us. We’re always around you.” The former Gryffindor huffed. “At least I am!”

Colin glided towards Harry and reached out a silvery hand to touch Harry’s robes but changed his mind at the last second. “You’re sad, but you don’t have to be, Harry. I see a bright future for you. But you have to grab it! Carp dien!”

Harry frowned; for a moment he felt tempted to correct the ghost’s Latin but he refrained.

Colin pointed to the castle behind Harry. “Someone is as sad as you are, Harry. A boy that also lost something dear to him, a part of himself you might say.”

“Who?”

Colin tutted. “You know very well whom, Harry. You’ve been thinking of Malfoy for a long time. Together you can forge a new future.”

“What about Ginny? She wants me--“

Colin held up his translucent hand, frowning at Harry through it. “Ginny is in love with the idea of a hero. Malfoy wants you, warts and all. It’s not a difficult choice. Seize the day!”

Harry argued with the ghost. “I reckon you have some of Trelawney’s gift now. You can see the future!”

Colin scuffed his ghostly shoe on the ground and nothing moved. “I see shades of what is and what might be. I see you happy at last.” Colin muttered sullenly, “I guess you won’t do anything. What’s the opinion of a lowly ghost after all?"

Harry shook his head; despite Colin’s protestations, he started to sound a lot like Myrtle. But something in Colin’s voice echoed strangely with the feelings he’d been harboring since he saved Malfoy from the Fiendfyre.

Blushing, Harry recalled how comforting Draco’s arms felt wrapped around his waist from behind. In the midst of the heat from the fiery dragons and hippogriffs Harry had felt a strangely reassuring warmth in his heart, not to mention a burgeoning erection.

Apparently reaching the end of his patience, Colin pointed towards the castle. “Do it before you leave Hogwarts! It took me a lot of practice to learn to materialize!”

oOoOo

Harry put down his quill and stood up, handing his final essay to Professor Flitwick. After sitting his exams, he was cleaning his trunk and found this forgotten homework.

Flitwick nodded distractedly and grabbed the parchment. “Thanks, Harry! I appreciate your thoroughness!”

Harry waved to his teacher for the last time in his Hogwarts career and went out the door. He was meditating Colin’s words. Despite his Gryffindor bravery, he hesitated to approach Draco.

Harry was walking down the corridor when he saw Zacharias Smith and two Ravenclaw girls pointing their wands at a man with the blond hair he knew so well.

Smith shouted, “Pedis dolore!”

The spell bounced against Draco’s shield. The Slytherin was defending himself with cold, mechanical moves, bereft of his usual grace.

“Stop! The war’s over!” shouted Harry, swiftly taking out his wand and pointing it towards Smith. “I don’t recall you fighting so hard in the Final Battle, Smith!”

Draco looked at Harry, his eyebrows cocked. For a moment Harry saw a sparkle in the grey eyes, but it was dimmed soon.

“Get out! Go back to your Houses before I report you to McGonagall!” Harry still pointed his wand at the recalcitrant Ravenclaw girls, who shrugged and shuffled away guiltily. Smith followed them after sneering condescendingly at Draco.

Malfoy put his mother’s wand in his pocket, growling, “I can defend myself, Potter! I don’t need the Vanquisher’s aid to defeat those--“

Harry silenced the protesting Slytherin with his lips. He seized the last chance of his Hogwarts days as Colin’s ghost advised, kissing Draco soundly. Malfoy hesitated, but then his lips opened. The Seekers engaged in a delightful duel and Harry finally saw Draco’s eyes shining with inner fire.

The two students were overwhelmed by the magic of the rivalry that spanned their years together, the hate that slowly blossomed into strong attraction and possibly love.

Standing beside the stone wall, Colin grinned, wishing for a ghostly camera to capture this moment for eternity.

Infinite Incantatem