1000 words | prompt: weak | @drarrymicrofic
âHereâs the thing,â says Hermione.
They are sitting on the ground in Grimmauldâs second floor drawing room eating pad thai out of fancy take-out containers. The telly is on set to a cartoon about very strong men with spiky hair and the powerful balls they are vying to collect. The balls purportedly have to do with dragons, though thereâs been no evidence of this so far. Harry has an unpopular favorite: the short, mean one he suspects is up for redemption any day now.
âHereâs the thing,â Hermione says again, pointing chopsticks right at Harryâs heart. Ron lifts his eyebrows as the silence stretches on. Hermione closes her mouth, then opens it again, then closes.
Harry puts down his noodles. âMerlin, what?â
âThe thing isâŚâ Hermione taps the ends of her chopsticks together. âAnd I wasnât going to tell you this, I really wasnât, but itâs becomeâŚâ
âOooh,â says Ron. âThis is the thing.â
Hermione nods a bit grim.
âWhat the fuck!â Harry squeaks. âTell me what the thing is!â
âYouâre in love with Malfoy.â Hermione says this very quickly, and so unapologetically it suggests rehearsal.
Harry makes a series of abortive sounds, then clasps his hand over his mouth. Hermione takes a circumspect sip of cold tea from hours ago. Ron has put on his everything is fine face, which he puts on exclusively when nothing is fine. There is no clock in the room but it feels as though there is, the seconds ticking by. Eventually Ron begins a galvanizing impression of cricket noises.
âThat is not the thing,â Harry stage-whispers.
âItâs the thing of things, mate,â Ron informs.
Hermione is nodding with her eyes closed.
Harry feels hit by a lorry. The lights have little halos on them and his ears are ringing with unearthly frequency. The veil feels thin, or the air does.
ââŚReally?â He asks weakly.
âOh, Harry,â Hermione says, wringing her hands.
âNo!â Harry shakes his head. âNo thatâs mad, Iââ
âYou let him borrow your broom,â Ron says, so gentle it stings. âJust because he asked, Harry. Just because he said, âI donât believe I care for my broom today. Itâs a touch filmy. Potter, give me yours.ââ Harry makes a wounded sound because Ronâs impression is so accurate itâs as if Draco is in the room with them and whenever Draco is in the room with them Harryâs whole body starts to ache, especially his head, which throbs, like a wound. âAnd you polished it! Harry you polished it for him first!â
Harry swallows. âNo I didnât,â he says, though he absolutely did. Harry looks back and forth between their faces, suddenly very unified and adult, like theyâre breaking the news about Santa. âIâm not in love with him! Iâm not! Ron!â Harry turns to face him, desperately clutching his knee. âRon, Iâm not!â
âAlright,â says Ron, putting his hand over Harryâs. âMaybe weâre reading into it.â
Harry knows it's a lie but it makes him feel a bit better anyway.
âBut letâs...â Ron looks upward, then back at Harry, somehow fortified by the ceiling. âWhen youâre around Malfoyââ
âWhen youâre thinking of him,â Ron amends in an even voice. âWhere do you feel it?â Harry shakes his head again, unblinking. âIn your body, Harry. Where do you feel it when youâre thinking of him.â
âEverywhere,â Harry doesnât mean to say. âNo thatâsâŚI just meantâŚeverywhere.â
âAnd what do you feel everywhere?â
This isnât something Harry thinks about. This is something that he does not think about on a daily basis. Harry has rituals to purge the topic from his mind when it dares stray. Like cigarettes and chewing the ends off quills and rearranging his room into new and ever more exciting states of disarray. But the thing is that Harry is daring. And Ron, though quietly, is daring him.
So he thinks about him. Malfoy. The whole-body feeling. There arenât real words but maybe thereâs something. Harry lets his eyes close to locate the lightness in his limbs, the lightness in his chestâlike his anchor has vanishedâand thinks itâs possibly similar to how he feels after sprints on the rowing machine when he focuses on his form. In the aftermath, Harry has to sit on the machine for a bit before he can manage to stand, he has to let the cable pull the seat close to the top, too tired to even let go, his knees hinging soft and faultless and empty as clouds, so it just feels like floating, so it just like itâs happening to somebody else.
âWeak,â Harry says. âI feel weak.â
Hermione hums, but not in the knowing way. Ron goes a bit glassy-eyed.
âItâs nice to let yourself have that, isnât it?â He says. âWhen have you ever let yourself have that?â
âBut Iâm not letting myself have anything!â Harry cries, panicked again. It is suddenly very important that they know and understand, because suddenly it is very important that Harry knows and understands. âThatâs the thing! I canât help it!â
Malfoy had laughed at Harryâs gutter ball last Friday. And Harry hadnât been trying to make him laughâHarry had been trying his best to bowl a strikeâbut, though Malfoy had refused bowling shoes because of the indignity, when Harry bowled a gutter ball heâd laughed so long and loud he snorted a little pig snort and then Malfoy had covered his mouth and looked everywhere to see if anyone and noticed, which no one had except Harry, who suddenly felt like he had been trying to make Malfoy laugh after allâactually, Harry felt like he had been trying to hear that little snort for his whole life and, now that he finally had, he understood it was worse than any wound, because Harry could recover from them all, he could recover from anythingâHarry could recover from deathâbut he could not recover from Dracoâs accidental snort under the fluorescence of the bowling alley.
Harry pulls his hand back from Ronâs knee and cradling his forearm to his stomach. âAh,â he says.
Hermione places her hand between Harryâs shoulder blades. âItâs not a bad thing,â she says.
Harry thinks about this. He thinks about how Draco could never be a bad thing either, even when heâd tried very hard.
Harry looks back to Hermione with start. âHe doesnât know,â Harry demands. âMalfoy doesnât know.â
She blinks once, then looks up at the ceiling. âSee, hereâs the thingâŚ"