Draco was walking around at the grounds, near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, when the clock-tower’s bell rang to signal it was six o’clock. It was such a pity that no one was allowed to get in, the Forest looked so peaceful.
He would often come here, to sit on a big rock that was there, and gaze at the flowers near the edge of the forest. One kind of flower specifically: Narcissus. Draco could sit on that rock and gaze at the yellow and white flowers for hours. And he would too, on some days.
There were other flowers too; daisies, dandelions, lilies, roses. And they all would give Draco the peace and quiet he needed, by simply just existing.
Draco would often get a weird feeling in his stomach while there, like someone was watching him. But when he looked around, he wouldn't see anyone. It was odd and it would put him on edge but he had learned to shrug it off as the time passed. Nothing had disturbed him there before after all. And he has hardly ever seen anyone else at that part of the grounds either. So, after some time, Draco had started to think that he was just being paranoid, and had let it go.
But letting his guard down, as always, proved to be a mistake. Real soon.
He was fazed by the beauty of the flowers when he heard a shuffle behind. He turned around at an alarming rate –wand in hand– but couldn’t see anyone, as always. But this time he was sure he had heard something. And this time, he was not going to let it go. “Who’s there?” He asked with a voice he hoped wasn’t as shaky as he felt it was. No response came. Draco opened his mouth to repeat his question but he got interrupted by the obnoxious laughter of three boys, all with blue ties. They were coming from the direction of the Dark Lake.
Draco quickly jumped off from the rock and hid behind it. Even though the rock barely covered him, it still did the job. But he was just a bit slow.
“Who was that?” One of them asked.
The boys came closer to the rock. There already wasn’t much space to hide and the Ravenclaws were getting closer. A couple more steps and they would be able to see him. And Draco knew for sure that they wouldn’t be kind towards him. He thought of putting on a disillusionment charm but before he could even raise his wand, it flew out of his hand. He was too late to make a move.
“Well, well, well. Look who we have here?”
Draco looked around and realized the Ravenclaws had cornered him. He stumbled backwards –as much as he could–, only for his back to hit the rock he was sitting on peacefully just two minutes ago.
“Draco Malfoy, the Death Eater.”
Draco flinched at the name.
“What did I do to you?” He asked quietly, he didn't know any of the boys.
“What did you do to me?” The boy snarled. “You didn’t do anything to me but your father did. He killed my parents! And your auntie-dearest tortured my brother to insanity! You don’t even know who I am, do you? I’m Jacob Williams. The boy whose family was torn apart by your family!” Jacob yelled and took a step forward. He put his wand to Draco’s throat and grabbed his collar. “And I’m about to get my revenge.”
Draco simply closed his eyes; he wasn’t going to object. He knew what Jacob was doing wasn’t exactly fair. After all it wasn’t him who had killed Jacob’s parents or tortured his brother. But he knew he deserved to be beaten. He deserved much worse than what Jacob was going to do to him. So,” he just stood there, eyes closed and breathing heavy, and let Jacob do whatever he wanted.
Jacob and his friends started throwing hexes at Draco. In just a couple of seconds his face was covered in blood that was coming from his broken nose and he couldn't feel his left leg. There was also a cut on his cheek and all kinds of bruises on his upper body. He fell to the ground and spit blood.
One of the boys started walking towards him. ‘Probably Jacob.’ He thought to himself. The boy grabbed Draco’s hair and lifted his head forcefully until their eyes met. ‘Yep, it’s Jacob.’
“Why won’t you fight back?” Jacob asked through gritted teeth. He got up and threw Draco’s wand at him. “Fight back!”
Draco took his wand off the ground and threw it away.
“No.”
“What?”
“No. I will not fight back.” Said Draco shakily. “I know I deserve it. I will not fight against it.” Draco averted his eyes from Jacob’s and looked away in shame.
Jacob looked at Draco blankly for a second. Then he kicked him in the ribs. “Yes, you do. You deserve every punishment.” Jacob rose his leg to kick Draco again when a hex came out of nowhere and sent him flying backwards. Then two other hexes knocked out the other two boys. In less than five seconds all three of the boys were on the ground, lying motionless.
Draco looked around but couldn’t see anyone. Then, suddenly, Harry Potter appeared out of thin air. He was holding his wand in one hand and a weird looking cloak at the other one. He had an unreadable expression on his face. He raised his wand in the air and a silvery animal, a stag, flew out. A Patronus.
Harry turned around to look at Draco. He was still laying on the ground, all bloodied and bruised. The boy who lived, slowly approached and sat down next to him. There were a lot of emotions in Draco’s eyes: Fear, confusion, curiosity…
Harry reached out to help Draco get up but it backfired: Draco flinched from him. He closed his eyes and waited for the punch that he thought Harry was going to throw. But it never came. Instead Harry softly touched his arm after recovering from his shock.
“Come on, get up.” Harry put one arm around the Slytherin’s shoulders and helped him sit up. He then gave Draco his wand back. “What are you doing?” Asked Draco once he found his voice again. Harry looked at him with a confused gaze. Wasn’t it obvious? “I’m helping you?”
“Why?” Draco looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Well, he really could not believe what he was hearing. Harry Potter? Helping him? Protecting him? There was no way.
“Because you weren’t doing anything to stop them.”
Draco’s confusion only grew. “Why would you want them to stop? It’s not like I didn’t deserve it.” He mumbled the last part, averting his eyes.
“But you didn’t deserve it.” Draco looked at Harry with shocked eyes. “It wasn’t you who killed Jacob’s parents or tortured his brother.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that I am a Death Eater and have done terrible things.”
“Were and forced.”
“What?”
“You were a Death Eater and you had been forced to do terrible things.”
“You don’t know that.” Said Draco quietly and averted his eyes. “You don’t know me.”
“Oh, but I do. I do know you Draco,” Draco perked up, he hadn't expected Potter to call him by his first name. “More than you would think. At least enough to know that you don’t have it in you to torture kids to insanity or murder people cold bloodedly, unlike your aunt and father. And I’m saying that as a compliment.”
Silence followed and Harry took it as his cue to continue.
“I know it because I was there, Draco. I was there, at the Astronomy Tower, at the night Dumbledore died.”
Draco, who has been avoiding Harry’s eyes for some time now, snapped his head to him and looked at him through shocked, wide eyes. He thought that his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He wondered if Potter could hear it too. If he could see through him, for he was so transparent, read him like an open book.
“Yes, I was there,” Harry answered the unasked question. “And I saw you lower your wand before the other Death Eaters came. You weren’t going to kill Dumbledore. You weren’t going to be able to do so even if it meant your and your family’s deaths, you weren’t going to kill him. I saw it, Draco, you are not a killer.”
Draco was stunned. His head was going a mile a minute and the pain Jacob and his friends had caused was making it even harder for him to think. He was a mess. After some time, he managed to crook out a quiet “How?”.
Harry simply lifted his left arm, he held the weird looking cloak, and waited for Draco to understand. Draco’s jaw dropped to the floor when it finally downed on him.
“An invisibility cloak?!”
“Yes, a heritage from my father.”
“Wow. So that’s how you, Weasley and Granger went on all of that ‘adventures’ without getting caught.” Draco said with a ghost of a smile.
Harry smiled a lopsided smile and nodded.
“Yes. I also used it to spy on you at sixth year.”
At that, Draco couldn’t resist anymore and started chuckling, along with Harry. After a while, a silence fell upon them. Until Draco broke it.
“I never had the time or the opportunity to thank you. About my trial I mean. Thank you for being a witness in my defence, you didn’t have to do that but you still did. And you probably saved my life, not just, like, saving me from falling to my death or pushing me out of the way of a killing curse. My entire life. And my mother’s. Thank you. Harry.”
Harry smiled –not a lopsided one or a fake one, a genuine and complete one– when he heard Draco calling him Harry instead of Potter.
“You’re welcome, Draco. Though, you apologizing at the start of the year and wanting to make a truce with me, Ron and Hermione meant pretty much the same thing.”
They held each other’s gaze, smiling softly, until they heard McGonagall’s voice seconds later.
“Mr. Potter! Mr. Malfoy! Are you alright?!”
“Yes Professor, we are alright. Well, Draco needs to go to the Hospital Wing, those boys did some damage, but other than that, we’re fine. No fatal injuries.”
McGonagall nodded while examining Draco’s state. Then she turned to the three boys who were still on the ground, unconscious.
“What did you do to them?”
“Nothing too harmful. I stunned and then petrified them.”
McGonagall nodded again, lips in firm line. Then she averted her eyes from the boys’ motionless bodies and turned to Draco and Harry. The blond immediately shrank into himself but the headmistress didn’t say what he expected her to when she opened her mouth.
“Mr. Potter, I’m trusting you with accompanying Mr. Malfoy to the Hospital Wing?”
“Of course Professor.”
“I will be dealing with these three. We have a –new– no-tolerance policy about bullying and it’s about time that the students realize that I was not joking when I said no-tolerance.”
Harry helped Draco up to his feet and they started walking towards the school, only to get interrupted three seconds later.
“And Harry?”
“Yes, Minerva?”
Minerva smiled at him.
“Good job.”
“Thank you.” Said Harry after nodding once, his smile mirroring Minerva’s. They held each other’s gaze for two more seconds before turning away.
The Gryffindor didn’t realize that Draco was limping until a couple minutes later. When he did, he immediately put his arm around his waist to help him walk. Draco gasped in response. “W-What are you doing?" He cursed himself for stammering as he desperately tried to keep his blush off of his face.
“You’re limping, hold on to me while walking.” Harry acted as if he didn’t see Draco blushing. He didn’t want to make him embarrassed him or make him uncomfortable.
Draco did as he was told and put some of his body weight on Harry. Walking become easier for him but it still hurt a lot. A hiss escaped his lips when he tripped and Harry had to grab his waist in order to stop him from falling. Harry let go of him as soon as he regained his balance. The blond then sat down.
“Are you okay? Did it hurt? Why didn’t you tell me earlier that it hurt? Is it serious? Are you able to walk? Is it-”
“Potter! Calm down, will you? I’m fine, and I can walk.” Draco stood up but he immediately regretted that decision. His knees gave up and he collapsed. “Okay, maybe I’m not that fine.”
Harry sighed and gave the cloak to Draco.
“What are you doing?”
Instead of answering verbally, Harry answered by doing what he had in mind. He grabbed Draco’s waist with one hand and his thighs with the other one. Draco yelped in surprise when Harry picked him up, bridal style, with almost no effort. Draco then started trying to hide his blush which he failed terribly at.
“Can you put the cloak around us? We are about to arrive to the school and my hands are kind of occupied.” Harry said with a half-teasing smirk.
Draco did as he was told and wrapped the cloak around both of them as best as he could. Harry didn’t rush him, knowing Draco must be still hurting after what those Ravenclaws had done to him.
Harry started walking in the direction of the Hospital Wing once they were in the school. Madam Pomfrey quickly led them to one of the empty beds as soon as they arrived and took off the invisibility cloak.
“Harry, you are here! I just received Minerva’s Patronus.”
“Hey Poppy.”
Harry put Draco to the bed as he groaned quietly.
“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
“No, no. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just my head. I guess I hit it at some point, I’m not sure.”
“Let me see.” Said Madam Pomfrey before Harry could even open his mouth. “You should leave Mr. Potter.” She added with the formal tone she used while doing her job.
Harry, knowing that Madam Pomfrey wouldn’t let him stay there while she was working, left without a protest. He went to the eight years’ dormitories. He was drained. Carrying Draco from the edge of the Forbidden Forest to the Hospital Wing was not an easy job. Draco might’ve been worryingly light but carrying him for the better half of the way had still tired Harry out. He decided to take a nap. When he woke up it was nearly the dinner time.
Harry wondered if Draco had gotten out of the Hospital Wing so when he couldn’t see him in the eight years’ common room, he decided to go check.
When he arrived at the Hospital Wing, he saw Draco, sleeping soundly, at the bed Harry had put him earlier. Poppy wasn’t anywhere to be seen, probably resting at one of the back rooms or organizing the storage. And there wasn’t any other student around.
Draco looked so peaceful, sleeping like that. Minus the bruises on his body that hadn’t quite vanished yet. He was not wearing a shirt so Harry could see the damage that were made by Jacob and his friends. Then his eyes moved from the bruises and landed on the fainter cuts.
His breath caught in his throat when he realized. He could still remember that day. Down to the smallest detail of it.
How he had followed Draco from the Great Hall to the Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. How they had started battling. How he had used a spell, which he didn’t know anything about, on Draco. How he had almost killed Draco. How he had thought he had killed Draco.
Harry’s eyes kept roaming Draco’s chest. The fresh wounds became completely invisible to his eyes. He could only see the old ones. The ones that were his fault, that were made by him.
His eyes got glassy and his hands started trembling. Flashbacks came rushing as he fell to the chair next to Draco’s bed. He couldn’t hear the quiet creaking sound it made. He couldn’t see Draco stirring in his sleep and opening his eyes.
All he could hear was the water rushing out of the broken pipes. All he could see was Draco’s blood, floating out of his suffering body and getting mixed up with the water. And all he could think of was how Draco was an inch or two from dying when Snape had walked into the bathroom.
Harry didn’t even realize he had started crying until Draco pulled him out of his thoughts by holding his head gently with both hands and wiping away the tears.
“Harry, are you okay?”
Harry looked at Draco blankly for a moment before lunging at him. His eyes were shut firmly and he was shaking violently. He tried to quiet down his sobs and stop the tears but to no avail. He could barely breathe.
Draco had woken up to a weird sound, something that sounded like a creaking of a furniture. And when he had opened his eyes he had almost fallen off the bed.
Not only because what he had heard wasn’t a result of his aching head and sleepy mind and there was actually someone sitting at the chair at his bedside, but also because that someone was Harry fucking Potter. And he was crying. Actually, scratch that. He was sobbing.
Draco –after recovering from his shock– had reached out, held Harry’s head with both hands and asked him if he was okay. The response he had received was also not something that he was expecting.
So now he was sitting in his bed –in a rather uncomfortable position too–, holding a weeping Potter in his arms, awkwardly rubbing circles at the back of the said Potter to try to soothe him and feeling more confused than ever.
The two boys stayed like that for a long time until Harry managed to calm down. He chuckled awkwardly under Draco’s worried gaze, avoiding the eye contact, and cleared his throat.
“I’m sorry, I woke you up. I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay. I wasn’t that tired anyway.”
“I should leave.” Harry turned to leave but stopped dead in his tracks when he felt the blond wrapping a hand around his wrist.
“Harry…” Draco didn’t know what to say at all. “Why were you crying?” ‘Well,’ He thought. ‘I guess that’s a decent start, right?’
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
Harry tried to leave again but Draco held his wrist even tighter.
“Bullshit. Something is definitely not right and I’m not letting you go before I know what that thing is.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because I want to help you.”
“Why? Is it because you feel like you owe it to me?”
“No, it’s because I want you to not be lying when you say that 'you’re fine'.”
Harry’s body stiffened and Draco wondered if he had screwed up yet. Then Harry turned around and stared at Draco with a defeated look before averting his gaze. Draco’s hold on his wrist loosened and he tried to make eye contact but the shorter boy wouldn’t meet his gaze.
“Harry, look at me, please.” He finally gave up and looked into Draco’s eyes. “What happened? Why were you crying?”
“It’s silly, really.”
“It’s not silly if it hurts you. Please talk to me. You don’t have to tell me exactly what happened if you don’t feel comfortable about it. But at least explain your problem shortly. I want to help you. Please.”
Harry closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath.
“You remember sixth year?”
Draco froze immediately.
“Y-Yes.”
“Do you remember… Our fight?”
“Yes.”
Draco could see where this conversation was going. Harry’s gaze flickered to the old scars on Draco’s chest for a second. It happened so quickly, but the blond still saw it.
“You saw my scars, the old ones.” Harry nodded quietly. “I guess seeing them triggered something.” Draco hummed in response.
“I’m sorry.” Harry had tears in his eyes as he stared at Draco’s chest. He couldn’t look away. “I’m so fucking sorry.” He didn’t snap out of his trance until he felt Draco’s hand on his cheek.
“It’s okay. I’m not mad. I was going to use the Cruciatus Curse on you if you hadn’t done that.”
“It still doesn’t make it right for me to almost kill you though.”
“Actually, it kind of does. I deserved it.”
“You deserved to get your ass kicked, not get killed. And if it wasn’t for Snape you would have die.”
“And I’m not. I’m not dead. I’m here, alive and well. Okay, not well but I’m still here. You didn’t kill me. You should really stop mourning me because I’m very much alive Harry.”
“I know that.” Harry’s voice was barely a whisper but Draco still heard him. He then offered Harry a kind smile. “I know we have already talked about this stuff at the start of the year when we made a truce,” Draco started. “but I want to apologize one more time. For being a complete dickhead.”
That had Harry laughing. Draco had caught him off guard. He really hadn’t thought the blonde would be so blunt. He had thought there was an I-Am-So-Sorry-For-My-Past-Mistakes-That-I-Made-As-A-Stupid-Teenager speech coming up. But Draco managed to surprise him, in a good way.
“I guess I should also apologize for being completely obsessed with you for seven years and stalking you two years ago.”
“The stalking part does sound creepy but you never have to apologize for being obsessed with me Potter, I’m gorgeous and I know it.”
The brunette started laughing hysterically and the flirty smile on Draco’s face did not help, at all.
“The overconfidence is back I see.”
“Only for a little while.”
Emerald eyes met the grey ones and similar smirks found their ways to the boys’ faces.
“You know,” Harry started. “I don’t think I like the sound of that.”
A confused expression appeared on Draco’s face. A worried one got added as Harry continued.
“Calling it truce. I mean, what are we now? Strangers? Two people with history? It doesn’t really make sense. It doesn’t rhyme either.”
Draco was getting more confused by every passing second.
“W-What do you mean?”
Harry looked out from one of the windows and fake thought as he tried to keep a straight face.
“I mean what are we going to say when people ask what we are when they see us together in public? Two people who made a truce? That sounds ridiculous if you ask me.”
Harry avoided Draco’s gaze but spared a glance at his face. He couldn’t stop the appearance of a mischievous smirk once he saw Draco’s expression. He looked like a confused little puppy, which the Gryffindor thought was adorable.
“I think we should say that we are friends when people ask us.”
Draco’s mouth fell open as Harry’s laughter once again filled the Hospital Wing.
“You should have seen your face!”
“You, jackass! You almost gave me a heart attack!”
Draco tried to glare but failed miserably when he heard the other’s laughter, and he started laughing too.
“Should I take that as a ‘no’ then?”
“Wait, you’re serious?”
“No, that was my god father, I’m Harry.” He laughed at his own, stupid joke before offering Draco a small smile, “Draco,” then extended his arm. “would you want us to be friends?”
Draco’s eyes kept going back and forth between Harry’s extended hand and his face, searching for a sign that it was a joke. But he couldn’t find one.
“Are you going to shake my hand or not? Should I take this silence as a ‘no’?”
“Merlin, no. of course I would want to be your friend, but…” Harry’s eyebrows met. “But what?” Draco gulped before continuing. “But are you sure you want this?”
Draco looked at Harry with begging eyes and to be honest even he didn’t know what he was begging for, which answer he was hoping for. A smile spread across Harry’s face and his tensed shoulders relaxed. He, without breaking the eye contact, answered.
“Yes.”
Draco’s facial expression changed from a begging one to a teary-but-happy one. Harry continued as he didn’t say anything.
“So… Are you going to answer?”
“Yes.”
Then he shook Harry’s hand. The smile on his face was one of the biggest smiles he had ever had in his life, and so was Harry’s.
“Oh, by the way, the feeling of being watched and the shuffles you’d hear while you were sitting at that big rock near the dark forest were actually caused by me. I love sitting there and gazing at the flowers too. And I use my invisibility cloak to go out there, I don’t want people to disturb me there too. They already do that at literally everywhere else.” Harry said with an easy grin, which only grew wider when he saw Draco’s mouth fell open.
“You, asshole!”
Harry started chuckling at Draco’s reaction.
“Why?”
“Why?! I thought I was going crazy! Hearing voices is not a normal thing, even for wizards.”
Harry started chuckling again and Draco soon joined him at having fits of giggles. It was the start of a good thing. It may be late, and it could be complicated. But it was still a good thing, and it was still, finally, starting.