dracoharry100 | Stuck in the Middle With You, 38

Title: Stuck in the Middle With You, 38
Author: twisted_miracle
Team: Death Eaters
Word count: 100x3
Characters/pairings: Harry/Draco
Challenge: work
Rating for the fic in total: BIG FAT R
Rating for this post:? PG-13
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, they belong to the clever Scottish lady. I just bend them and love them. Please don't smack me for playing. It isn't like I am going to earn any money from this!

Author's note: Comments are love!

Start here: https://dracoharry100.dreamwidth.org/329496.html
Part 37 https://dracoharry100.dreamwidth.org/376868.html#cutid1

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Harry woke to sleepy grey eyes and a small smile.

“Sleep well?” he asked, reaching up to stroke a lock of blond hair behind Draco’s ear.

“Well enough,” Draco answered. “I’ve been getting plenty of sleep, at least, since classes were cancelled. I wasn’t convinced I could really relax in your bed, but I guess you managed to get me pretty exhausted last night.”

Harry tried not to look too terribly smug. To that end, he changed the subject back. “You think it’s going to be weird, going back to work? Classes and marking and such, when the students return.”

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“Of course not,” Draco said confidently, then paused. “That is, I doubt it? I hadn’t given that much thought, frankly. I’ve just been trying to wait patiently for them to return, safe.”

“They’ll return someday, I assume.” Harry huffed. “Sometimes it feels like they left yesterday, other times it feels like they’ll never return. I’m all… lethargic, lately. Being stuck here and not knowing when things will get better, not being able to do anything to help except stay isolated… means Hogwarts is sort of work and sort of limbo. I’m anxious, tired, twitchy….”

“There’s a word for that. Acedia.

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“Listlessness. Torpor, even. Fatigue, apathy. Anxiety. Acedia makes it hard to keep still, hard to concentrate on books, hard to focus on anything, really. Christian monks often experienced it, long ago. In particular monks that lived really isolated lives.”

“Acedia, huh?” Harry repeated slowly. “So this is… an expected reaction? So normal there’s actually a word for it? That’s… a relief, honestly.”

Draco twisted himself onto his side, braced on an elbow. He put one hand on Harry’s chest, which warmed under his touch. Harry smiled.

“That is an interesting perspective,” Draco eventually said.

Harry shrugged. “Whatever works,” he said.

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Continued: https://dracoharry100.dreamwidth.org/378834.html#cutid1

Or, more about acedia: https://theconversation.com/acedia-the-lost-name-for-the-emotion-were-all-feeling-right-now-144058