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~A Hero's Embrace~
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"It hurts, it hurts so much. I can’t take it anymore, I can’t bear it. My heart can’t take it."
The darkness in his eyes faded slightly. The hideous white ceiling of that hospital wing slowly came into focus. He blinked a few times.
"He’s awake!"
"Are you okay, my love?"
He was squeezing something in his hand. Warm.
"Your mother is here, don’t be afraid, Dragon."
Mother. Why was she here? Ugh, that damn thing hurt so much.
"Mom is here, it’s over now, shh."
His grip tightened. On the other side, he could make out Pomfrey more or less.
"While I deal with all this nonsense, you rest, you need to sleep."
She kissed his forehead lightly.
"Mrs. Malfoy-"
"I’m leaving now, I’ll be back."
A door slammed shut.
"Mr. Malfoy, before you ask any questions, you need to listen." A potion was forcibly poured into his mouth. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was the same sickly white ceiling.
When he woke up again, he was greeted by the same bland ceiling. He would much prefer the colorful tiles back home. He sat up slowly, and a sharp pain shot through his chest.
"Damn it."
"Draco! "
The curtain next to him opened. Pansy Parkinson was lying inside. She quickly sat up and ran to him side, helping him sit up.
"You shouldn't move too much, your bandages were just changed."
Draco's chest was wrapped in bandages. Oh, the damn sink incident with Potter. It hurt like hell.
His vision was blurring. He quickly closed his eyes. He wouldn't cry in front of her. He was a Malfoy, damn it.
"We were so worried. You haven't talked to us at all this year. What's going on, Draco? Please tell us. I can't bear to see you suffer in silence-"
"Shut up!"
The girl flinched.
"Go spout your one-sided love speeches somewhere else. Leave me alone!"
The girl was crying now if she wasn't before.
"How many times do I have to say it! Stay away from me! You're a freak, what are you, a Hufflepuff? I don't need you!"
"I was trying to help! We were trying to help."
The girl's voice was trembling. She moved away from the bed.
"I don't need your help! Get out!" He grabbed a full glass from the table and threw it at her.
"GET OUT, LEAVE!" He was throwing whatever he could find. The girl quickly ran away. She went to the door and paused for a second. Draco was breathing heavily.
"If you ever need me and I'm not there someday, then you'll cry a lot, you need someone."
Draco picked up a vase full of flowers and threw it. It smashed against the door, behind the girl who was leaving, scattering the pieces on the floor.
"I don't need you, I don't need anyone!"
Violet flowers.
"I don't need...your help..."
There were violet flowers in the vase. Pansy's flowers.
Damn it, now he was crying like a baby.
"Now that was quite a show," he said.
Draco heard applause. Something moved beside him. A familiar face appeared. Bushy hair, those cursed green eyes, and that signature scar and glasses. Potter. Damn Harry Potter. He quickly wiped away his tears.
"What are you doing here?"
Draco couldn't find his wand, it was nowhere to be found. Damn it, damn it, damn it.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you."
Draco laughed sarcastically.
"The one who put me here says so."
"Look, it wasn't intentional, I'm sorry."
"Bullshit, that stupid brain of yours has been watching me all year and the moment you catch me you try to kill me."
"You tried to kill Ron and Katie Bell!"
"It wasn't intentional, the curse and the poison weren't meant for them!"
"So you're admitting your guilt?"
"You've already caught me, so aren't I here? Is your brain as injured as your head, Potter?!"
"Now you've started to insult me again, it's not even funny anymore!"
"Is the only problem here that the joke isn't funny? Nothing has been funny for a long time. When are you going to be serious, Mr. Hero!"
"Don't talk to me about seriousness, cornhead. I know everything. I know everything. I know what you're trying to do, are you pretending to be innocent?"
"Haha, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Who cares what you know? Just do the spell."
"Do I look like I'm not serious to you!"
"You've pretty much proven it by trying to kill me. At least if you could have succeeded!"
"Oh ho, how I'm going to succeed seriously next time - wait, what?"
"If you could have killed me, everything would have been easier! Who even taught you a damn dark spell. While Mr. I-know-what-the-fuck-you-are was living in my house."
"What..."
"You heard me, Potty."
He spread his arms.
"Now finish what you started."
Potter's hand tightened around his wand. He slowly raised it towards Draco and held it. Draco closed his eyes. He preferred a less painful curse. With his eyes closed, he continued to speak.
"End this misery for both of us."
Perhaps if his eyes were open, he would notice the hand holding the wand trembling. What he noticed was what was squeezing him. Two arms, two warm arms. They had wrapped around his open arms and were holding him tightly.
"I didn't want this, I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't know what the curse would do. I didn't know."
The boy was sobbing as if all his tension had suddenly entered him. While hugging Draco. Draco.
Unconsciously, he wrapped his arms around the boy. He didn't squeeze as tightly.
"Don't ask me for something like that again!"
Potter quickly pulled back. He grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Did you hear me? No dying, I forbid you to die."
"And who are you to decide that?"
"Your damn savior."
Draco laughed humorlessly. When was the last time he had been so vulnerable? A tear rolled down his cheek.
"Can you save me?"
"If you ask me, always."
The boy said it so seriously. Draco wanted to believe him. He wanted to believe it so much that his wounded heart felt like it was going to burst through those bandages.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Draco finally took a deep breath. His eyes darkened again. He had fainted.
He opened his eyes to the sound of owls hooting. He pushed the blanket off of him. He finished the pain reliever potion he'd poured from the bedside table in one gulp. He sat up again. He felt a weight on his side. He reached out slowly and grasped the empty space. It was the invisibility cloak. When he lifted it, he found Potter sleeping underneath. There was dried blood on his collar, his blood. Draco's stomach turned. He quietly left the hospital wing. He was wearing an open blue hospital gown. It looked a lot like a bathrobe. Draco wrapped it around himself against the cold. He climbed the Astronomy Tower barefoot. He quickly grabbed onto the railings.
Was that it? Was it really over? He hadn't even fixed the cabinet yet. It wasn't over, damn it. He rubbed his left arm frantically. He should have run while he had the chance. Which lunatic would drag a 16-year-old kid into their war? This wasn't a favor, it was a curse. A punishment. His father's punishment. He had never disobeyed him, he had done whatever he wanted, whatever he imitated. Damn it, his eyes were filling up again.
He had realized. The Dark Lord had given him an impossible task. He wanted to kill him on purpose. To teach his right arm's son a lesson. He didn't even care. Draco had believed in the words, the beliefs that were told to him. Now he was questioning. Who had he chosen to follow?
He sat on the railings. How easy it would be to jump. But he couldn't. He couldn't kill himself, not until someone else killed him. He had to stay alive and protect his mother until the Dark Lord got bored of him.
"You were supposed to be resting."
"You're not exactly a comfort."
Potter was now leaning on the railing, looking at him.
"You're going to fall."
"That would be great, a quick death."
"I'm pretty sure I read in some Muggle news that someone survived for 9 hours after falling from a great height and breaking all their bones."
Draco grimaced.
"So there's nothing holding you back?"
"My mother."
"What?"
"I'm not jumping off a damn tower for my mother right now."
"You should really sit somewhere else, I might get upset for your mother."
"I didn't mean it."
The boy looked at him questioningly.
"When you cast the Crucio curse, you really had to mean it. You really had to want to hurt the other person."
"I..."
The boy took a deep breath. Now he was looking at the stars.
"It doesn't make me feel any better."
"I'm sorry."
"Haha, a Malfoy apologizing? You're scaring me. You're really not going to die, are you?"
"I'm sure my hero will hold me before all my bones break."
"You're exaggerating."
"Of course, I grew up on your stories after all."
Potter seemed shocked.
"Really?"
"How else would I know everything?"
He raised his eyebrow.
"Okay, fine."
He giggled.
"The most famous one, hmm, for example, there's one where you fight a dragon and become the king of the kingdom ruled by the dragon."
The boy was now laughing heartily.
"Seriously? When I was still playing in the sandpit, were people writing things like that?"
"At least they were right about the dragon."
"Oh, don't remind me."
They were silent for a while.
"What was your favorite?"
"The Living Princess, one day you fell in love with a princess and the princess was imprisoned in a tower. The one who imprisoned the princess in the tower was a dragon."
"A princess? Wow, I've surpassed myself. And what do they have against dragons?"
"Shh, I haven't gotten to the best part yet. You enter the tower on a broom, but you learn that the dragon is actually the princess and she's cursed."
"That's a plot twist."
"The tower was built over the girl and it was her father who did it. He was afraid of the monster the girl had become. The girl falls in love with you and you escape from the tower together. You fly away on your broom while she's still in her dragon form."
"I don't understand why this is your favorite, my king story is much better."
Draco focused on the North Star.
"After three hours of etiquette lessons and questioning about pure-blood families who were forbidden to question, I would always dream. I would dream of a hero like you, coming on a broom and taking me out of that mansion."
Potter was looking at him intently now. Draco was starting to feel embarrassed. He focused more on the North Star.
"I wanted someone to escape with, even if I got lost."
"A hero."
"Yes, but there was never one. Now I'm grown up and look, I'm about to learn to fly myself."
"I can say that I'm pretty good at the Leviosa spell."
Draco giggled again.
"I'm here."
"What?"
"I'm here, the king of the dragon kingdom, Mr. Hero, at your service, mademoiselle."
Harry gave a royal salute and grinned. Draco smiled slightly. Draco no longer needed to look at the stars to find his way. He knew that if he got lost, someone would find him.
"You're not such a bad hero after all, I need to give you a name."
"If you call me 'Scabby Head', I'll teach you three curses before you can say it."
"Perfect, I was going to call you Scabby Head anyway."
Harry laughed.
"You're unbearable."
"And you're dirty."
They sat in silence for a little longer. Or rather, only Draco sat. The boys who had been cursing each other in the morning were now sitting and talking. Draco laughed incredulously.
"What's so funny?"
"Your face."
"Hey! I thought we were friends."
"Stop pouting."
"I'm not pouting."
"And I'm a princess."
"That's debatable."
Draco nudged his shoulder. Harry laughed but put his arm around his waist.
"Don't do silly things, even if I'm good at Leviosa, don't test my reflexes."
Draco laughed again. How much he was laughing tonight.
"How beautiful it would be to fly off this tower, to a place where no one could find us."
"You can't go anywhere without apologizing to your friends."
Draco felt like he was being scolded. He leaned his weight on Harry's arm. He was leaning on him slightly.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Like what?"
"Whatever you want."
"Be careful, Potter, I have a habit of falling in love with people who listen to me."
"That wouldn't be so bad, who was the last one?"
"Theodore, of course."
"You're kidding."
He tightened his arm.
"Not at all."
"Theo? I hardly ever saw you two together."
"I slept with him."
"Oh."
"And while we were having sex, I called him my prince and my king."
"You're making this up."
"Yes."
They were silent for a while. The atmosphere was more tense.
"Actually, what did you say to him-"
"Are you sure you didn't want to kill me-"
They both looked at each other.
"Of course I said Theo's name while screaming-"
"I told you I didn't want to kill you-"
They made eye contact. They laughed louder.
"My head is spinning."
"You might have had too many painkillers, let's go inside."
"Can you be my North Star?"
"What?"
"My name is Draco."
"I know that, are you okay?"
"It means dragon and also a constellation."
"It sounds like there's more."
"If you shut up, I'll tell you, scabby head."
He lifted him off the railing and put his left arm around his shoulder. He was carrying all his weight.
"The North Star"
Potter looked at him questioningly.
"As a dragon, this is so you don't lose me, so you can find me whenever and wherever I am.”
"That sounds like I'm in love with a dragon princess."
"Forget it, scabby head, it's a better name for a hero."
"Hey! I apologize, your majesty, the dragon prince."
"Fool, it's Your Royal Highness."
"Let's get you to bed."
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