TWELVE BLOODY HELL

     Xander really wanted this Draco Malfoy business to be over -- and that was something he never thought he would say -- but he promised Diana he would get to the bottom of this so he supposed he owed it to her to keep following him even if it was utterly ridiculous at this point. He had attempted to apologize to Draco for exploding the way he had on the train, but the blond hadn't given him the time of day and Xander supposed he deserved that. It wasn't like him to be a dick like that, and he didn't like the feeling it left in his chest -- like there was tar bubbling in the bottom of his heart. It was awful. He really wanted to make things right with Draco, he hated when people hated him. Sure, Draco had always "hated" him, but that had felt different than it did now.

So, that was how he ended up tailing Draco Malfoy for what felt like the hundredth time that year and they were barely over halfway through. Sixth year certainly had taken a turn Xander hadn't expected -- that's for damn sure. On the plus side of things, Diana had finally mustered up the courage to ask Justin out which meant she wasn't as on his ass about the Draco thing. Although, he knew at this point he had a bit more explaining to do than him just being curious. It was more than that and he knew it, but that didn't mean he was going to admit such a thing to himself. That was a can of worms that could certainly wait to be opened.

As he was tailing Draco, he watched the boy disappear into the Room of Requirement, but he noticed the doors faded away much quicker than they usually did. That was strange, Xander noted, they always stayed open long enough for Xander to sneak in behind Draco if he wished. However, there was an unexpected obstacle as the dark-haired boy went to approach the blank brick wall and he ran smack into thin air.

"Ow!" he exclaimed as he stumbled back, not expecting to meet some strange invisible force. Did he piss off Draco so much that the boy set protection enchantments on the room? Surely he couldn't do such a thing -- the Room of Requirement wasn't exactly something that could be controlled. However, he heard someone else's voice which was odd considering he was definitely alone in the hallway.

"Bloody Hell," a familiar voice rang in his ears and he watched Harry Potter's head appear out of thin air and then the rest of his body. A cloak was in his hands -- a cloak that apparently was charmed to make Harry invisible. Xander had never seen such a thing. How the hell had Harry gotten his hands on one of those?

"Potter!" he exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Harry exclaimed as he looked up at Xander. He was shorter than him which always made Xander happy. He loved being taller than people, it hardly ever happened and he wasn't even that short to begin with. "I thought you were done following Draco after the incident on the train! I mean, that shit looked pretty serious."

Xander groaned, "Ugh, you saw that? That's so embarrassingly out of character for me, I swear I'll cast an obliviate on everyone just so we can all collectively forget that happened. I'm supposed to be the nice one!"

"You are the nice one, you're literally in Hufflepuff, Xander," Harry scoffed, narrowing his eyes at Xander.

"There's more to Hufflepuffs than kindness! Trust me, Diana's a bitch, but she still made the cut. I say that with love, I really do."

"Unimportant, why the hell are you still following Malfoy?" the boy asked, and Xander shrugged.

"Dude, I couldn't tell you!" he scoffed, looking around to make sure the hallway was still clear. "At first, it was because Diana wanted me to find out what he was doing, but now she's got a stupid boyfriend so she doesn't really care about it as much she's more so just worried about me -- understandably so, I've been a tad messy since the holidays -- but really I think I just need something to keep my mind off of things and this is an easy way to do that. Also, I care about him, I really do."

"Why?" Harry asked, his voice gentler than it had been before. This was odd -- venting to Harry. They weren't exactly friends, but what was the saying? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? If Draco and Xander didn't like each other, he might as well befriend Harry. He seemed all right, Xander supposes. "It's Malfoy."

The boy sighed, "You think I don't know that? If I could figure out why, I'd figure out how to stop it because the git is making it incredibly hard to root for him since he's so up his own arse most of the time. Enough about me! Why do you keep following him?"

"I think he's trying to kill Dumbledore, you know this," Harry explained with a shrug as if it was the most obvious thing in the world that a measly Hogwarts student would be tasked with literal murder. He wondered if that was one of the more tame things Harry had to deal with at Hogwarts -- the boy had been through quite a lot in his years at the school. He couldn't imagine witness You-Know-Who murder a student and then having to bring his body back to school and -- Xander shivered at the thought. He missed Cedric, he missed him dearly.

"What good is following him if you can't even get in?" Xander asked with a bewildered expression, "I could tell you exactly what he was doing in there because I'm smart enough to actually follow him in."

"The doors always close immediately after he goes in, I never even get the chance to go in," the other boy explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Also, are you going to tell me or are you gonna be an accessory to murder?"

"Oh, that's how you're gonna play it? Maybe I just won't tell you then since you wanna be so dramatic about it," Xander spoke sarcastically, crossing his arms as his eyes surveyed the hallway again -- avoiding Harry's. "Also, the doors always let me in until you got in the way! Maybe the Room of Requirement just doesn't like you since you're the reason it got blown up last year."

Harry scoffed, "Your good friend Draco is the reason it got blown up, I'll have you know. Also, if the Room is letting you in, it's probably because Draco knows you're following him or the Room thinks he wants you there so I don't think you're as sneaky as you think you are. Now, are you going to tell me what he's doing in there or am I gonna have to force it out of you?"

Xander watched as Harry began to reach for his wand, but Xander flicked his hand and the boy's wand was knocked to the floor. "I am so sick of people threatening me when I am simply a bystander. You really want to know?"

The boy nodded as he scrambled to pick up his wand. Xander had half a mind to lie to him, but he genuinely was an awful liar.

"He's mending a vanishing cabinet, do with that what you will, but leave me alone while you do, please?" Xander asked in the kindness voice he could muster as he turned on his heel and went to walk back to the common room. His interactions with the students of Hogwarts really were getting increasingly weirder the longer the year went on, but he did his best to handle it accordingly.

As he walked away, he couldn't stop thinking about what Harry had said about the Room of Requirement. Was it really possible that Draco was the one letting him in? Maybe he had been right about Draco wanting someone to unravel his plans and stop him. After all, the boy was smart enough to lock Xander out if he wanted to -- that much was obvious when Harry couldn't get in. If Harry was correct that was certainly... an interesting development. Maybe Xander wasn't the only one who cared -- which was a surprisingly comforting thought. Still, he didn't want to get too ahead of himself. According to Harry, Draco was up to something dangerous and Xander wasn't sure it was worth it to get involved with something he knew almost nothing about. Then again, he had come this far. Thinking of the anger he felt on the train as he had grabbed Draco by the collar, he knew he never wanted to feel that way towards Draco again. Maybe he could help him -- not with the alleged murder, of course -- but help him get out. Merlin, he really cared too much for his own good.

idk why but harry and xander's interactions are always so funny to me like they're really just two dumbasses tryna make their way in the world