12 Grimmauld Place
Draco never thought of himself as the hero.
He always did what he was told and cowarded away from any trouble. That all changed a week ago when he helped Harry Potter. He went against the dark lord and was pretty sure that would cost him his life. When he casted Expelliarmus back on that graveyard, fearing that he'd lose the only person he ever considered worthy of risking his own life for, it yanked Voldemort away and the whole place lit up as the killing curse was stopped. Draco fell unconscious and when he woke up he didn't recognize his surroundings. He was taken aback by the fact that when he woke up, he couldn't remember how he got here or what day it was or if he was alive. He didn't know how it would feel if he became a ghost, but when he looked down to his hands they weren't transparent. He felt his left hand itch and when he rolled up his sleeve he saw the reminder of his actions tattooed on his skin, moving, laughing in his face, screaming: this is who you are! this is what you deserve!
He felt too tired to even cry, so instead he threw up, it stinked of blood. He realized he was on a bed, it was comfortable before but now it was just sticky. Whose bed was this? What is this place?
…
It was now almost a week after Dumbledore's passing and Voldemort's mysterious disappearance. Harry knew he couldn't sit around and wait for answers, because it never worked like that. He needed to find these horcruxes and destroy them. The locket he retrieved with the ex-headmaster was in fact fake. So in fact Dumbledore died for nothing.
Harry had to act.
The students took the train back to London, summer holidays were just a day away. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry planned that this summer they'd go on a road trip since Hermione got her driving license. They'd ride to some seaside town, eat ice cream all day and build sandcastles.
That just seemed like a stupid fantasy now.
“Didn't you find anything about it, Hermione?” Ron asked the curly haired girl, twirling a lock of her hair between his fingers, clearly uneasy from all that happened, as was everyone.
“There's nothing about R. A. B. anywhere.” Hermione said in frustration and looked up at Harry who was looking out of the window, watching the landscape change, clearly zoned out.
“Harry, it's not your fault.” Hermione whispered.
Harry looked over to her and Ron and nodded mindlessly.
“She's right mate. And anyway, this R. A. B., whoever it is, they sound like they knew what they were doing.” Ron tried to sound convincing.
“Well the person is probably long gone now and we don't know if they actually destroyed the real horcrux or not.” Harry shrugged and fiddled with the fake horcrux on his neck. He dreamed about this necklace before and he couldn't help but think about Malfoy wearing the necklace in his dream, kissing his neck. “I want to help you. Let me help you.”
Where was Malfoy anyway? That was another question that Harry didn't have an answer to and all these questions were practically eating him alive. He needed to talk to Sirius.
When they got off the train at the King's Cross station Molly and Arthur were already waiting for them. After hugging and kissing in greeting, Harry spoke.
“I need to talk to Sirius about something, I know we said that I'd come to the burrow straight away, but will it be okay if I come tomorrow?” Harry asked Molly.
“It's okay sweetheart, just be careful, you can aparate already, right?” She stroked his cheek.
“Yes, I can. I'll be alright.” He gave her a reassuring smile and before Ron could even ask him what he was planning Harry disapparated.
Harry Potter was now standing in front of 12 Grimmauld Place, both excited to see his godfather and uncle Moony, both troubled with everything that was happening and seeking some answers or at least comfort from them.
He stepped inside and heard laughter from the kitchen. He put his coat on the hanger and walked forward in the dark hallway of the cold house that only Sirius and Remus's presence warmed up.
“Padfoot? Moony?” He called out and the laughter stilled, he heard footsteps and then the familiar black haired head peeked through the door with a smile. “My godson is here! Hey Harry! What brings you here? Aren't you supposed to be at the burrow?” Sirius hugged him and Harry felt safe.
“Hello Harry! How are you?” Remus peeked through the door behind Sirius and hugged Harry too. Oh Harry wished he didn't have to sort out horcruxes and fight evil, instead he wanted to play board games with Moony and Padfoot and learn to play guitar.
“I'm actually here because I need to talk to you about, well, so many things. I don't know where to-” He walked into the kitchen and saw him, the blond boy, perfectly alive and well. His eyes were still gray, his hair still blond, his skin still pale and Harry's heart still skipped a beat when he saw him, but his heart was suddenly in his stomach and he wanted to scream. How dare he step foot into his comfort place? How dare he talk to his comfort people? How dare he look into Harry's eyes?
“Malfoy?! Is this some kind of joke??” Harry looked at both Remus and Sirius who looked a bit ashamed, but at the same time they looked like they had good reasons. There were playing cards on the table and Malfoy's right hand was bound to the chair, but his left was holding a glass of something that definitely wasn't water.
“He's a death eater. You have a death eater in your house, do you know that??” Harry spat out and turned to face Sirius.
“He had nowhere to go, I felt obliged-” Sirius started his voice reasoning.
“Obliged? You don't have to help people, especially people like him! You're not obliged!!”
“Harry, listen, he couldn't go back to Hogwarts because they'd send him to Azkaban and he couldn't go home because they'd- I don't know what Lucius Malfoy is capable of, but he wouldn't be happy with the fact that Draco saved you.” Sirius raised his voice and Harry felt even more questions build up in his head.
“He saved me? What do you mean saved me? He was the one who got me into that mess!” Harry yelled and from the corner of his eye he could see Draco flinch. “I came to you because I wanted comfort and answers and advice and-” Harry's breathing got difficult. “And I come here and see the person that is the reason I'm in this mess in the first place playing cards with you as if you were old friends!” Harry massaged his chest because it felt like his heart would jump out. “Fuck all of you!” He turned to go away, but Remus grabbed his wrist.
“Harry, please let us explain this. You can go up to a room, have some time alone but don't just run away like this, we know you feel fucking frustrated with everything, but running from it won't help you.” He said and his gentle and safe eyes bore into Harry's dark green one's filled with anger and he can feel himself finding his breath and a tear rolls down his cheek.
“Okay.”