Nocturne

Nocturne: Chapter 2

By: Emiko

Disclaimer: Sou-yo! Please, please, don’t sue me. Emiko’s only having a bit of fun with Rowling-sama’s characters... And stuff... Also, please don’t mind a bit of OOC on Riddle and Malfoy’s parts. I’ve done my best, and all that *really* stands out will be explained in due time. ^.^;;

Pairings: Draco x Harry, Ron x Hermione, Tom Riddle x Ginny. Yes, people. This ficcie is *slashed.* BEWARE, people!! ^.~

~~~~~

It seemed that no one had enough sleep the next morning. Ginny was in mortal danger of nodding off into her porridge, Hermione had to keep giving her head a quick shake in order to focus on her book, and Harry kept himself propped up by leaning his cheek on his hand while eating his toast. Ron was tired, too, but had very different reasons for not sleeping than any of the others.

Hermione made sure to wear a sweater under her robes that completely hid anything that gave way to imagination.

Ginny headed out early for class, as was apparently her new habit, and Harry meandered off soon after. Hermione followed him.

“Harry!” she called.

Harry trudged to a halt. “Hmm?”

“Are you all right?” Hermione inspected his face. He looked as pale as Ginny did last night, bags under eyes and all.

Harry shook his head as if to wake himself up and said, “Yeah, just tired.”

She blinked at him, remembering how peaceful he looked when she snuck in the boys’ dorm the night before, but didn’t say anything. “All right,” she said. “I’m going to class, so I’ll see you later.” They departed, going in opposite directions.

Harry drudged his way to Potions until he was yanked to the side and into a dark side-hallway. He dropped his books somewhere along the lines and was immediately encircled by the arms of Draco Malfoy.

“Good-morning,” Malfoy said into his hair.

“Mm. ‘Morning.” Harry replied sleepily, but nonetheless pleased by Draco’s way of saying good-morning. He smiled contentedly and nuzzled in closer.

“Hey, don’t get too comfortable,” Malfoy protested. “We have to get to class, and Crabbe and Goyle are probably looking for me.”

Harry didn’t respond, but only leaned more heavily on his chest.

Draco blinked and stepped back a few inches to get a better look at his lover’s face, which jerked up in surprise when it didn’t have anything to lean against. “Oh!” Harry said.

“Are you all right?”

Harry looked ready to doze off again. “Yeah, just tired.”

“You’ve had no less sleep than I did.”

“Mm.”

Draco sighed and gave Harry a lingering kiss that had at least a very small affect on returning him to consciousness. “Wake up, already,” he said. “At least enough not to walk into anything on your way to class.”

“Not even you?” Harry grinned the type of grin only people who’ve had less than two hours of sleep do.

“Not until after Potions.” Draco swiftly departed for class, and Harry dragged his feet after him.

~~~

Harry ended up knocking his cauldron all over of Leefgrew Potion all over the floor in the middle of Snape’s instruction, giving the students the severe impression that the dungeon was in dire need of mowing. Snape took fifteen points from Gryffindor and angrily set off to conjure up a good weed-killer.

It wasn’t just Potions in which Harry nodded off in. In fact, the only place he *didn’t* fall asleep at was Quidditch practice, for all the times he had to dodge odd objects pelted at him. At first it was only Bludgers, but it was rumored that it was a rival on the Slytherin team who sent a variety of objects into the air, the most common including self-swinging baseball bats and overgrown white rabbits... After much deliberation once it was all over, Harry decided the bunnies were definitely the worse of them all. Then he fell asleep again.

Harry’s incurable grogginess only grew worse as the week wore on. Finally Ron and Hermione dragged him to see Madam Pomfrey. She set him in a bed, but he was out like a light before she could even ask his symptoms. Hermione jumped up and gave the nurse her own analysis. “He’s had no fever, but he’s very pale and he’s been acting quite drowsy. He seems to be sleeping well enough at night but he still seems very tired in the morning. Also, he’s had a slight loss of apppet--”

“Miss Granger,” Madam Pomfrey said sharply. “I am quite capable of checking for symptoms myself, thank you.” And with that, she shooed them out the door.

~~~    

Harry was back in the Gryffindor common room within the hour, a mug of some sort of drink in his hand. He slumped down into a chair and took a swig of it.

Hermione looked up from her book. “What’s that?” she asked.

“Energy drink,” he replied. “Can’t remember the name of it. It’s not bad.”

“All she gave you was an energy drink?”

“Yup.” He took another swig. “She said there wasn’t anything wrong with me, and I only needed some sleep. She gave me the energy drink, anyway.”

“Oh.” She eyed him incredulously. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong, Harry?”

Harry shook his head and headed for his room, leaving Hermione to her book and wondering since when Hogwarts had energy drinks in the first place. As soon as Harry walked out, Ginny walked in, perfectly timed.

“Hi, Hermione.” She curled up in a chair next to hers and pulled out a book of her own.

“Hello.”

They didn’t say anything else, going to their respective books and pretending to read. Finally, Ginny asked, “Is Harry sick?”

“Madam Pomfrey doesn’t think so,” Hermione said.

“He looks like something’s the matter.”

“I know. I’ve been checking the library for what it could be.” Hermione flashed the cover of her book- “Sleep Sicknesses with Simple Solutions.”

Ginny nodded and went quiet again. “Got any ideas of what it could be?” she eventually asked.

Hermione thought for a fraction of a second. “It could possibly be a mixture of stress and fatigue, with all that Quidditch practice and studying and such. Other than that,” she slammed her book shut and dropped it on her lap, “There’s nothing he could really be *sick* with.”

“Oh.” Ginny frowned and went to her dorm without another word. Hermione shrugged off the awkward exchange and headed off to the library.

~~~

Harry fell upon his bed and didn’t move. He left the rest of his potion untouched; it didn’t seem to work very well, anyway. Nothing seemed to work. Well, Malfoy’s methods worked a *little*...

Hedwig flew in the window and landed very near Harry’s head. She nipped at his ear and hooted in annoyance when he finally decided to take notice of her.

“’Lo, Hedwig.” He pulled himself up and untied the letter from her leg as she stared at him expectantly. “I haven’t any food for you; you’ll have to go to the Owlry.”

She turned her head to the side and hooted again, not moving.

Harry grinned and stroked Hedwig’s back. “Hey, don’t worry about me, I’m fine!” Then he turned to the letter, which was in the same handwriting and pale green stationary that made it obvious who it was from.

“Potter,

    “Are you getting enough sleep? Maybe your Quidditch captain’s working you too hard. Understandable, being as you have to keep up with *me* and all... If you promise to miss a few practices and get a little rest, I might consider going easier on you next game...

    “I’m joking.

    “Seriously, maybe you should see Madam Pomfrey. She’ll probably be able to whip something up to get you feeling better. Or maybe I soul just keep you in your bed for a few nights - at great personal sacrifice, of course, but you really need some sleep. Go to bed. Stay in bed.

                “D.”

Harry scowled at the letter and hurriedly wrote his reply.

“Malfoy,

    “Stop calling me Potter. I already saw Madam Pomfrey, and I feel much better. Meet me again in the library tonight. Neither of us are getting any sleep.

                “H.”

Harry tied his letter to Hedwig’s leg and sent her off back to Malfoy. Then he fell back on his bed for a very long nap before meeting with him.

~~~

Ginny swept through the brush and dead trees of her dream world, searching for the memory that always haunted her sleep (AN: Good God, that sentence belongs in a romance novel -_-;;). “Tom? *Tom?!*”

She spun around and he was there, clearer than she had ever seen him in her dreams.

“Ginny,” he said expectantly.

She gathered her courage and shouted, “Why won’t you leave me alone? Why are you after me?”

Tom smirked. “I’m not after *you,* Ginny.” He took a few steps toward her. Ginny took an equal amount of steps back.

“You’re after Harry, aren’t you?” she demanded. Her hands shook despite her tone. “Leave him alone!”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, he was hovering over her again. “Harry Potter?” Tom perused his lips. “He hurt you, didn’t he? It breaks your heart every time you think of him with that boy. ...Why bother trying to protect him?”

“He... I-I love him!”

“Do you?”

Well, that was easy, wasn’t it? Ginny stared at the ground, blushing over the fact that she just openly admitted such a thing. But did she really love Harry? She couldn’t reply.

“He’s done nothing but hurt you, Ginny. Nothing. He doesn’t care about you...” For a moment, Ginny felt her knees weaken as he continued. “I’ll protect you from him, and from Malfoy. I’ll protect you from Harry Potter.”

~~~

Ginny sat upright in her bed, stifling another loud cry before she remembered the Silence Charm she put on her curtains, and breathed a sigh of relief. It was just another dream. She really wasn’t losing her strength again. At least, she didn’t think so...

She stood up and did a few small hops on her bed. Then she stretched and jumped harder. Yes, she felt fine. Then she reached for her wand, muttered “Lumos,” and grabbed a mirror. She *looked* healthy enough, too. She remembered having a sickly pallor when she was under Tom Riddle’s control, from her loss of energy.

*Loss of energy!* Ginny slammed her mirror back in her drawer and rushed out of bed, only pausing to put on her slippers before running to the library.

~~~

The library wasn’t as quiet as it would normally be at such an hour. As Ginny crept inside, she could hear noises coming from the back of the library, and the small light coming from the same area as last time suddenly went out with a crash.

“Oh, shit...” That was Malfoy, all right. She started heading toward the sound of his voice reciting a repairing spell.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Harry from assumedly the same spot. “Just come here.” A moment later- “Hey, wait.”

“Hm?”

“Not *here!*”

“...Why not?”

“It’s so unromantic.”

“You’re the one who suggested the library.”

“Yeah, well, it was your idea originally...” There seemed to be no further argument.

Ginny rounded the corner and found Harry lying atop a table. Malfoy was on top of him, kissing him and playing with the buttons on Harry’s pajamas. Both were too preoccupied with each other to notice Ginny’s presence.

“Ahem,” she said.

“Harry fell off the table, and Malfoy jumped three feet in the air and yelped.

“Jesus *Christ,* Ginny, what are you doing?!” Harry got up from behind the table, re-buttoning his pajama shirt and absolutely mortified.

Malfoy was fuming. “What. The *hell* are you DOING here, Weasley?!?”

“I-I’m sorry for bothering you and all, but it’s really important!” She tried not to blush too hard and forget about her reason for interrupting. “Don’t worry, no one knows you’re... You’re here.”

Malfoy relaxed a tiny fraction, but still had a voice for sarcasm. “Well, that’s all very well and good, but what the hell do you want?”

She ignored him and turned to Harry. “Harry, how are you feeling right now?”

“I *was* feeling pretty good,” he replied saucily. The sarcasm was apparently contagious.

“Oh, please, just listen to me,” she pleaded. “I know why you’ve been feeling so weak.”

That got both Harry and Draco’s attention. “Why?” said Harry.

“It’s because of Tom Riddle.”

They both stared at her. Malfoy blanched, but very quickly regained his composure. “Tom Riddle. Tom *Riddle?* That’s impossible.”

“He’s gone, Ginny,” Harry said after a moment. “His diary was destroyed, remember? He can’t come back.”

“But it’s the only thing that makes *sense!*” Ginny cried.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow. “It’s the only thing that doesn’t. Riddle’s diary is *dead,* Weasley.”

“Draco,” started Harry.

“It is!” Malfoy insisted through gritted teeth. “Do you know how many times my father tried to-” He stopped himself.

Harry, understanding better than most people could, slipped his hand into Malfoy’s and gave him a little smile. “It’s all right,” he said.

Malfoy sighed and sat down in a chair, still holding on to Harry’s hand. “He tried writing in it, to see if it would reply. He tried repairing it, but it still wouldn’t work. That spell Riddle put on that damned book wore off. There’s *no* way he can come back!”

“He was in my dream,” Ginny said more quietly.

“Oh, your dream,” he said sardonically. “I've heard about those dreams of yours. You’ve been having nightmares about Riddle for ages; I’ve heard girls complain about your screams waking them in the middle of the night when you forget to put a Silence Charm on your curtains.” He saw the malignant stare Harry was giving him, and promptly shut his mouth.

Ginny blushed furiously, but continued her argument. “Look, these dreams are different! They’re all in an old forest with lots of dead trees, and then Tom appears and I start to feel weak. But then he says he’s not after me and I’m back to feeling normal, but Tom gets clearer and clearer because he’s drawing energy from someone else. He says that he knows about you and Malfoy, Harry.” Tears started falling down her face, although she tried to hold them back. “The things he says... I really think he’s after you, Harry!”

Harry sat down now, too, paler than ever. Malfoy had a slight pallor as well, but his was from nerves.

“Ginny,” Harry said slowly, “How long have you been having these dreams?”

“About a week,” she replied between quiet whimpers. “Since the night before- the night before I found your letter.”

“You’d be better *not* to make a routine search or Harry’s room, Weasley,” Malfoy muttered under his breath. Harry ignored him, off somewhere in thought, so he said, “Harry, it can’t happen.”

Harry’s head shot up as if he was seconds away from dozing off. “What if the diary still works?”

“It doesn’t.”

Ginny sat on the floor, not bothering with a chair. “But what if it *does?*” she said uneasily.

“It can’t.”

“I’m sorry,” she said after a short time. “I was just worried... I mean, it’s awfully strange...”

“Yes, well, I’m worried too, but you don’t see me running around crying ‘Tom Riddle!’” Malfoy retorted.

“I just wanted to help!” she cried, and began to stomp away.

“Ginny!” Harry called, and stood up. She spun abruptly, and he was taken aback by the vehement look on her face. “Sorry. And thanks.”

Ginny’s features softened considerably, and she headed back to bed.

As soon as she was gone, Harry turned on Malfoy. “Draco,” he said, managing an expectant glare through his exhaustion.

“What?”

“She was only trying to help. You didn’t have to be so harsh with her.”

“Yeah, and didn’t you say that you were fine now?” Malfoy replied indignantly. “You look even whiter than you did earlier today.”

“It’s the light,” Harry said, brushing it off. “And don’t change the subject!”

Malfoy smirked. “And have I ever told you what enchanting green eyes you have?”

“No. Malfoy. Don’t start.” Harry blushed despite himself. “You shouldn’t be so snide to her.” Malfoy rolled his eyes, and Harry raised an eyebrow. “She knows your secret, after all.”

That one got him. Malfoy slumped in his chair and didn’t say anything more on the subject other than murmuring, “My secret...” He looked up at Harry.

“Oh, yeah,” Harry scratched his head in embarrassment. “I forgot... I wanted to apologize for badgering you over wanting to tell people about us. I mean, it’d be a lot to ask... Your father being a Death Eater and all...”

“I’m a Death Eater, too, you know.” He said, and sighed melancholically.

Harry smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “I know. I don’t care.”

“There’s still plenty to worry about,” Draco said as Harry wrapped his arms around him. “Besides my father. The Death Eaters...” Harry kissed his collarbone. “If they found out, what they’d do to me...” Then he kissed his neck. “And what they’d do to if they caught you...” Then he kissed his jawbone. “And you’re not feeling well...” Then he hit him full-on the lips.

“I feel fine,” Harry whispered contentedly in-between kisses.

Malfoy rolled his eyes and played with Harry’s messy hair. “Liar.”

“But I do.” Harry grinned.

“Mm-hm.” Malfoy let his thumb linger over Harry’s scar before draping both arms over his shoulders and kissing him again.

“Seriously, I’m fine!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“What do I have to do to get you to believe me?”

“Hm...” Malfoy thought about it for a second. “You said the library was unromantic.”

Harry blinked, not following. “Yeah...”

“Where’s your Invisibility Cloak?”

“Oh! Er... Over here.” Harry escaped Draco’s grasp for a second to retrieve it.

“Put it on,” he said, and Harry obeyed, still at least partly clueless. Malfoy groped blindly for a second before he found his hand. “Now, come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

“My room. It’s much more comfortable than here.”

“Oh!” A pause. “Wait, Draco, if we get caught...”

“We won’t.” said Malfoy, smiling impishly. “You have your Invisibility Cloak, and besides, I got an idea from that Weasley girl. I’ll put up a silence charm on my curtains.”

It was really too bad that Malfoy couldn’t see the devilish grin Harry was giving him right then. “So,” he said.

“What?”

“What are you walking so slow for?”

To anyone who didn’t know better, it would’ve looked as if Malfoy was being pulled through the library by a string.

~~~

Harry had fallen asleep in Malfoy’s bed, so he wasn’t back in his room until almost five-thirty in the morning. As if being tired all the time wasn’t enough, now he was all achy... Not that he was complaining.

It was easy enough to get past the Fat Lady, being as she was fast asleep as he said the password. “Holly wreath.” He had his cloak off and was almost to the boys’ dorms when Hermione spotted him.

“’Morning, Harry,” she said, her voice thick from only recently waking up. She looked alert enough, though. She cocked her head to the side. “What are you doing up this early? ...Where’d you go?”

“I... I was hungry, so I snuck down to the kitchens,” he lied.

“Oh. Okay.”

Harry frowned. “Why are *you* up so early?” he asked.

“I get up this early every morning to take a shower.” Hermione held up her “Sleep Sicknesses with Simple Solutions” book and said, “I forgot this in the common room last night, so I went to get it beforehand...” she stopped. “You were hungry?”

He nodded.

“So you’re feeling better?”

“Well, I have an hour to sleep yet, so I’m pretty tired, but I guess so,” he said, thinking about the events that occurred just a few hours ago. “Back hurts, think I slept wrong, but nothing too unusual...” Harry yawned. He was *really* tired.

Hermione eyed him skeptically for a split second and then headed back to the girls’ dorms, clutching her book very tightly for some reason. “Right, well, you get some sleep before school, Harry,” she said.

“Hey, Hermione...”

She halted. “What?”

“Do you always wear that kind of thing to bed?” Harry blinked innocently. “Because you know, if you tilt your head in one direction, you can just see-”

“Good *night,* Harry,” Hermione said firmly, flushed a deep red, and hurried back to her room.