Title: Healing Hogwarts
Author: elfflame
Characters/Pairings: Harry/Draco, Luna/Ginny, Zach/Cho
Rating: R
Kinks/Themes Chosen: sex under the influence, sacrifices
Other Warnings: um…third person from the castle's pov? :P
Word Count: 1866
Summary/Description: Hogwarts does what it can to heal itself.
Author's Notes: I know that three times nine would probably be far more powerful than what I have here, but I wanted to go with pairs, so two sets of three it is. Huge thank you to ceria for betaing this for me and making it a far better fic than it was.



Three is a magical number. All Witches and Wizards know it. But that doesn't mean that they understand it. So when Hogwarts needed healing after the final battle, and no one knew what to do, it was the castle itself that finally had to act.

And it healed itself by using the number three.

Three came in the form of three different and perfect pairs of recent students who were helping clean the castle after the battle. Each of the pairs represented one of three elements: Fire, Air, and Water; the castle itself representing the fourth element of Earth. Their bondings would recharge the magic of the castle as the bonding of the original four founders had created it so long ago—but this time, the number three would mean that the magic could not fade.

All because the power of three.

The girls were the simplest to lure into the room, and to get to succumb to the slight bond both still thought simple friendship. Already friends, the spells pulled them down the hall to the room, and talk quickly turned to kisses and then to more. Blond and ginger hair haloing them as they kissed and touched and learned each other for the first time. The blonde overly curious, the red-head as fiery and passionate as her hair. Their bodies moving against each other, houses and crushes and family forgotten; no longer Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. No longer daughter, sister, friend. Now they were simply one.

The next pair were not nearly so easy to convince. The castle struggled to get them to move toward the room, but the girl was too focused on unhappy memories of tears and loss, and the boy too busy bemoaning the fact that he was stuck here helping clean up the school. On better days, the castle might have chuckled at the boy's conceit, that the Smith line were in any way related to the sweet Helga, but now, the castle's need was too great. Ignoring the Hufflepuff's grumbling and the Ravenclaw's tears, the castle pushed and nudged the pair towards the chamber prepared for them, hoping that the magic would take over once they saw each other.

Unfortunately the two barely knew each other, aside from a one-time membership in Dumbledore's Army. The simple magic that had worked so well on the girls had done little to get this pair, who were the next thing to strangers, to trust one another. So the castle had to push harder, contracting the room around them so they had little choice but to stand together, and finally, they had no choice but to touch. The first touch led to a kiss, and the girl melted against the boy, and soon they forgot their mistrust of each other.

Soon all tentativeness was gone as the two lost themselves in each other, fallen heroes and tarnished images nothing compared to how they felt kissing each other. Tears and loss and pride forgotten, soon they too fell under the castle's sway.

The third pair were the most difficult of all, though. A near-decade of hate, being in rival houses, and standing on opposite sides of the war left the two even more distrustful of each other than they had been on the day they had first met.

It was simple enough to get them to the room, at least. Each young man was so lost in their own musings over their own fates that they didn't notice being nudged along to the room by the castle. But upon seeing each other, their familiar rivalry pushed anything else aside; and hatred rose once more to the fore. Especially when they learned that the door had locked behind them, the anger between them growing as each snarled that the fact that they were trapped must be the other's fault.

Still, even their snarling at one another caused the bonding magic to stir. The castle had chosen true, and when the magic swirled around them, they fell upon each other, snarling and biting and punching each other, magic and dignity forgotten in an attempt to get the other to finally and forever accede the other's superiority.

As the other two couples completed their bonds, the castle's power grew. But it knew the magic would not stabilize until this final pair consummated the bond that had been growing between them since they were boys. The anger and distrust had not been true dislike, but jealousy and loss, and a misunderstanding of the feelings each caused in the other. The older they grew, the worse the feelings became, and the castle knew it had chosen the final pair well. Together, this pair would be the strongest of the three. If only it could get them to complete their bond.

Their stubbornness and anger was only a side-effect of just how strong their bond would be if they would only give in. A fresh wave of magic flooded the castle, allowing it to begin reforming itself, healing the wounds of the war. It feed some of the magic into the boy's bond, but it had no effect. Nothing seemed to push the two in the right direction; they were too lost in the well-worn paths of hatred they were so used to. So how to get them past the block against their bond?

But it seemed all that was needed was time. Before, there had always been someone nearby to pull the two apart so that it never progressed beyond the fighting stage. When the shift from fight to sex happened, it was so subtle as to not even be noticeable. Even had the castle been able to tell anyone, it would not have been able to say when the change between them occurred. But soon punches turned to caresses, epithets became moans and groans, and bites to hungry, eager kisses. Where before, things had looked hopeless, now all resistance was gone. Now the battle was one to come together rather than to rip each other apart. Lips and tongues working where teeth had been only moments before, hands tearing to get cloth out of the way, rather than to rip the other to shreds, bodies aligning, and moans filling the room as they did.

The magic of the castle swirled around them, causing both young men to moan louder, clothes cast quickly aside now in a desperate attempt to get even closer to each other. Bare stone became a bed of clothes as each tasted and touched and kissed and caressed, hands and lips and cocks eager for more.

Each took a turn driving their new partner to the edge, only to pull back, and when their climax was finally realized, the whole castle shook with the culmination.


* * *

"What the bloody hell was that?" Draco asked, looking up, his voice still rough from sex.

Harry shook his head. "Not sure. Though…now that you mention it, I still want to know how we both ended up in here together…" He shot a look at Draco, who scowled.

"I told you, it wasn't me…"

Before Draco could start a fresh argument, Harry put up his hands. "It's okay, Draco. I believe you." Draco looked at him, surprised. "Really. I think…something more is going on here."

Draco frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well…I can't be sure…but…what if this is the Room of Requirement?"

"The what?" Draco asked, his frown deepening.

"The Room of Lost Things?"

"Oh. That." Draco looked around, then shook his head. "It's awfully small, Potter… And where are all the things? Or are you suggesting they burned in the fire?" The memory of what had happened there had Draco hugging himself, and Harry had to stifle the urge to pull him closer. This had just been a fluke…hadn't it?

"It can change shape and size, Malfoy. It's the same room we used for the DA."

That seemed to pull Draco from his misery a bit. "The what?"

"Dumbledore's Army?"

Draco frowned for a moment, then raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He looked around again. "But…the rooms look nothing alike."

"I told you, Malfoy. It can change. Maybe…" Harry licked his lips, wondering if he should say where his conclusions were leading him. He wasn't sure Draco would like it.

After a moment of silence, Draco frowned again. "Maybe what, Potter?"

Harry sighed. "The castle. Maybe it…wanted us here. For…some reason."

"Like what?" Draco asked, looking as though he was doubtful of Harry's sanity now.

"To…use our magic?" Harry finally managed.

Draco looked horrified. "What? That…you can't…you don't think…" He scrabbled for his wand, then lifted it, relaxing only when the cooling spell he'd cast filled the room. "My magic is just fine, Potter…"

"I didn't say it had taken our magic, Malfoy. Just…used it."

"For what?" Draco sneered.

"Maybe…to heal itself?"

Draco looked worried that Harry really was off his rocker now. "You think the castle locked us in this room to borrow our magic so it could heal itself?"

"Maybe?" Harry was beginning to doubt it himself. But nothing else made sense right now. Certainly not after having sex with Draco Malfoy.

Draco shook his head. "Then why us? Why not…McGonagall…?" He thought for a moment, then shuddered. "Okay, maybe that makes sense, but…surely there are others more powerful than us?"

Harry thought about that for a minute. "Maybe…it needed a certain combination?"

Draco frowned at that, then slowly met Harry's eyes. "Us? But…we hate one another…"

"Yeah…with…passion. Maybe…it means something."

"I think you're delusional, Potter." Draco stood, pulling his clothes on and straightened them with a spell, then turned to the door to the room and tried it again. It opened.

"Draco, wait…" Harry stumbled to his feet, trying to pull his clothes on as well. "Maybe…"

Draco turned back to him. "No. No more maybes, Potter. We're not friends. We never have been. This was just a fluke. There won't be a repeat." Then he left, closing the door behind him before Harry could stop him or say another word.

Harry hesitated, then decided against following him, and slumped against the wall, sliding down it to sit on the floor. It wasn't like he didn't know how to find Draco when he wanted. And he needed time to think over what had happened here. They both did.

What did all this mean? Was it a fluke, like Draco said, or something more? And was it worth trying for that more, knowing how hard it would be between their own feelings for each other, and how their friends and family would react to the news, not to mention the rest of the Wizarding World…

Sighing, Harry finished dressing, then stood and made for the door. Even as he opened the door, he couldn't help the flash of memory of Draco moaning under him. It stopped him in his tracks taking his breath for a moment. He glanced up at the ceiling. Was he right? Had the castle interfered and drawn them together?

He had a lot to think about. Whatever happened, all he could do was hope for the best possible outcome. He couldn't help hoping that that would be a life with Draco Malfoy.