A Twin Sized Mattress
Stumbling back into the dorm room, Draco following close behind, Harry made a straight path for his bed. His head ached, his throat parched.
He flopped down onto the mattress, an exhausted sigh leaving his lips. Harry groaned, “You’d think they’d let us apparate now that we’re eighth years, huh?”
Draco chuckled, unbuttoning his shirt before slipping into a white tee. “I know right, my feet are killing me. The walk back from Hogsmeade is brutal.”
The Slytherin reached a hand under his bed, pulling out a half empty bottle of fire whiskey. Harry winced, “I don’t understand how you drink that shit, it burns the hell out of your throat.”
“That’s the best part, Har,” Draco snickered, taking a swig. “I inherited a little of my father’s shitty drinking habits, I must admit.”
“Alright, pass it over,” Harry held his hand out. Draco shot him a petty look before handing over the bottle.
An hour had slipped by, and both boys were close to wasted. Harry was sort of disappointed, he always expected Draco to be the handsy type when drunk. The thought of Draco’s hands all over him drove him crazy.
He chuckled, wiping a bit of dribble from his chin, shoving those thoughts deep down. “Okay, okay, how old were you when you had your first kiss?”
Draco’s cheeks flushed.
“Draco Malfoy, don’t tell me you haven’t had your first-“Oh fuck off!” The Slytherin swatted, cheeks a fiery red.
Harry held up his hands in defense. “I’m not judging, just surprised is all!” He heard Draco snort.
“Oh please. Sorry we couldn’t all snatch up a redheaded girlfriend by our second year,” Draco responded drunkenly. When Harry didn’t respond, he regretted his words. “Too much?”
Harry shook his head. “Close but no. And I mean, you’re not wrong.” He thought for a moment. “Can I ask why you haven’t had it yet? I know that’s sort of odd to ask but I guess i’m just curious.”
The blonde bit his tongue, a little red in the face. “I guess I just haven’t gotten there yet. If Im going to give away my first kiss, I want it to be with someone special.” Draco rubbed the back of his neck. “God I sound stupid.”
“No you don’t,” Harry protested, “I wish I did the same thing. Sometimes I feel like I wasted mine.”
“Oh please, you’re Harry Potter, you were bound to kiss many girls in your day,” Draco teased, gaining a little more confidence in his shoulders.
“Well the jokes on you, my first kiss was a boy!” Harry announced. The alcohol was definitely seeping into his skin now.
Draco snorted once more. “Famous Harry Potter is into blokes, I never would’ve guessed.” The Slytherin leaned into his words, sarcasm dancing on his tongue.
“Was it really not obvious?” Harry laughed, chucking a pillow in his direction.
“Harry my dear, it was as clear as fucking day.”
A burst of laughter erupted from Harry and he took another of the whiskey. As he stopped laughing, he sat for a moment.
And then there were tears.
He had no way of explaining it, no words could really be said.
The only emotion he could confirm in that moment was embarrassment. He’d broken down in front of Draco Malfoy twice in one day.
Within seconds, Draco was sitting next to Harry, taking an arm around him. He never was too good with tears, but he’d gotten better when Pansy had been dumped by Theo in sixth year. She spent weeks crying in Draco’s arms.
Harry accepted the embrace, crying on Draco’s shoulder. It was an odd sort of déjà vu, seeing him cry just the way Pansy had. Draco had never been in love, and never knew what it had been like to be heart broken. Seeing it on Pansy’s face had killed him. He could never wrap his head around the idea of being so destroyed by another persons actions.
Sure his father had made him cry, more times than he’d like to admit, but that was different.
Sort of.
Draco slid a gentle hand through Harry’s curls, shushing his cries. He’d learned it was no use to try and fix whatever problem he had. Right now, all he had to do was let him cry.
“It’s okay, Har,” He mumbled into Harry’s hair, placing a small kiss atop his head, “You’re okay.”
Harry began to cry more, Draco could feel him hyperventilating. This was becoming a full blown panic attack.
Draco was torn. He didn’t want the boy to make himself ill, but sometimes it was just better to let sleeping dogs lie. It’s obvious Harry has been carrying these emotions around with him all the time, so it was healthy to let them out when he could.
If Draco had known when he was a kid that he would be comforting the savior of the Wizarding world one day, he would have laughed. But all he could do now was try and keep his own emotions from slipping out. To tell you the truth, hearing Harry’s broken sobs and feeling him shake under his touch, it was bringing Draco close to shedding tears too.
By now, Harry’s head was cradled in Draco’s lap. The blonde was gently toying with his hair as he cried. He had no clue where these emotions were coming from but all he could do was keep crying. It felt safe.
It was odd to feel safe, crying around Draco. In all his years at Hogwarts, his home, Draco is the last person Harry wished to see him cry. But now, his home didn’t feel like home anymore, and all he could do was mourn.
Draco continued to run his fingers through Harry’s hair, mumbling sweet nothings in response to his crying. “Let it out, love, you’re alright.”
And to tell you the truth, he did feel alright.
Harry felt safe to cry, more than he’d ever felt it in his life, which was never enough. He’s only cried in front of Ron and Hermione twice, and never for more than a few minutes.
Almost twenty minutes had passed.
Harry was on the verge of falling asleep, Draco still messing with his curls and occasionally rubbing his back. He had no tears left. He simply couldn’t cry anymore.
“You think things would’ve been easier if we were just muggles?”
Draco laughed, “That’s the first thing you have to say?” Harry shrugged in response, a small smile on his lips. Draco thought on the question, “Do I think it would’ve been easier being a muggle? Well, I definitely would have had an actual childhood.”
Harry slumped off Draco’s lap, leaning against his bed post. “No shit,” He chuckled. “I would’ve had a normal life, with my parents. No shitty cousin, no relatives, no cupboard. Just me and my parents.”
Draco lied back on Harry’s pillows, “I always wondered what a muggle life would be like.” He saw Harry stifle a laugh, “You’d make a terrible muggle.”
“Oh shut up!” Draco giggled. Harry hoped it was too dark for Draco to see the blush on his cheeks, he sounded adorable.
“Do you really think I wouldn’t survive as a muggle?”
“I think you would be as snobby as you are here,” Harry smirked, wiping the tear stains on his cheeks. “You’d always talk about having the most expensive stuff, doing the most expensive things. Your father would gift you the perfect car, the best clothes, hell he’d probably give you a new tv every time a better one was invented.”
Draco continued to laugh. All Harry wanted to do was hear him laugh. He kept going.
“You’d go to a private school for sure, if you know what that means,” Harry tried to use terms Draco would have some idea of. “I bet you’d have a lake house, and a huge mansion. Your father would definitely own a yacht.”
“A what?”
“It’s a boat. Man, they really need to have a muggle class here at Hogwarts.”
Draco yawned. It was close to three in the morning. “Can I.. is it okay if I sleep in your bed for the night?”
“For the four and a half hours of sleep we’re going to get before class?” Harry smiled, his heart fluttering. “Of course you can, please.”
Draco was quick to throw on his pajamas, a Slytherin t-shirt and plaid green pj pants, before climbing into bed next to Harry.
It was a twin sized mattress, they both barely fit on it. But it didn’t matter much at all.