Eddies in the time continuum...

[hjp_saviour]

{despite inconvenient facts such as time continuing to pass, the current thread is only hours after this one}Ginny wasn't home when Harry returned, but his note was gone, so she must have read it. He didn't think much about it until after a solitary dinner, late in the evening, when it came close to time to check in on Draco. And she still wasn't

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[noir_malfoy]

[noir_malfoy]

[hjp_saviour]

[noir_malfoy]

"My head is an irksome place to be, isn't it?" he said to the cat, still in a whisper. "What would happen, you think, if we charged out there, wands ablaze? Would I finally give the Lestrange brothers the comeuppance I always wanted to? Or will we find the house overrun with Death Eaters? Or the wretched snake himself?"

He sat, the cat in his lap. "Seems better to just stay in here where it's pleasant and safe. Do you think we'll get hungry eventually? Or merely bored?" He petted the luxurious fur. "I'm surprisingly calm given that there are horrors beyond the door. Maybe it's just that you're here, and I know I'm safe here."

[hjp_saviour]

[noir_malfoy]

[hjp_saviour]

Sobering when Draco did not immediately wake up, Harry moved closer. Draco seemed... more tense than moments before, he thought. He shifted closer, shaking him by both shoulders now. "Draco!" he said sharply, and again. "Draco!"

[noir_malfoy]

[hjp_saviour]

[noir_malfoy]

[hjp_saviour]

Harry cocked his head slightly. That answers one question. He pulled back so he wasn't hovering over Draco, but not so far back as to dislodge Draco's hand. "How are you?" He tried not to sound clinical about it. Draco was in a difficult enough state already.

[noir_malfoy]

"Um, dazed," Draco said, feeling as if gravity were only now reasserting its usual hold on him. He squeezed Harry's shoulder, then let go. "That was... very interesting."

His voice made it patently clear what a tremendous understatement that was, but it took a moment to marshall anything more.

"You were there. First as yourself. We met at the Leaky in the dream, and debated about it being a dream. It was very clear to me at all times that it was a dream and not real. It felt... so very much like going into a Pensieve memory. Except I could exert some influence over what happened. At first I just let it take me where it would. Looking in the window of Ollivander's shop. Walking into the Leaky. That sort of thing. But later, we were in the parlour... I'd sort of wished us there. And you turned into a cat."

[hjp_saviour]

Harry couldn't help but smile, as he settled back on his side. "Not exactly surprising, since I was one at the time, and part of you presumably knew it."

[noir_malfoy]

"Presumably." He took deep breaths, letting his eyes focus on the ceiling. "It turned... dark, though. Eventually. We were in the parlour, but at one point I realised the windows and doors were all sealed shut, and the Lestrange brothers were in the hallway searching for me. But I never lost awareness that it was a dream, at least."

He shivered slightly. "Not that it being a dream would make being raped much less horrible..."

Draco took another deep breath. "I think maybe I ought to take some Dreamless and not take any more chances tonight."

[hjp_saviour]

Harry nodded. "But you knew it was a dream. And the real danger is of dying in your dream and really dying as a result. Which you can avoid. Right?"

[noir_malfoy]

Draco nodded. "Worst case scenario, yes. I'd still... prefer not to chance running into any Death Eaters tonight."

He felt suddenly like quite a coward to be saying these things to Harry Potter. Like he was afraid of his own shadow.