Considering that Harry Potter is a quidditch player he has a surprisingly weak stomach. He's on his way to Hogwarts for his fifth year. The train ride has not been kind to his insides. He hadn't eaten due to anticipation, which he was now part thankful for, half regretting.
He stands from his empty cabin and staggers into the corridors, clutching his stomach as he goes. Every couple of steps he would get hunger cramps to go with his motion sickness.
Finally finding the other boy he was looking for, sitting in a lonely corner of the train, he gasps "Dray!"
"Harry?!?" Malfoy's head whipped around at the sound of Harry’s pained voice.
“Sweetie, what happened? Are you ill?" He immediately rushed over.
HARRY'S POV
Draco wraps his arm around and under my shoulder to support me, I feel his delicate hands hold me up, securing my place in the air. At this moment another cramp hits.
I double over and hug my stomach.
"Harry! Please baby, what's wrong?"
I hear his concern, it makes me smile through the pain.
With all of the sudden movement, it sends another wave of nausea over me.
I feel it, creeping. I'm retching, my whole body convulses, and all of the previously strong muscles that are now weak on my frail frame tense and contract.
Hardly registering Malfoy gently rubbing my back while I'm hunched over on the floor.
Of course, nothing came up, I haven't eaten since yesterday morning and it's now past mid-day. Instead, I spit up a clear-ish saliva like substance.
"*****" Draco casts a spell to get rid of the mess on the floor.
“Harry," he coos gently, crouching on the floor so that he is at my level, and I'm falling into his chest, energy spent.
"Come on baby, let's sit somewhere more comfortable"
THIR-PERSON POV
Unfortunately, the blond was not gifted with the skill of strength, like his magic, so his attempts to help Harry proved useless. Instead, he sat down on the floor and pulled Harry towards him. "The floor ok Potter? Here, a cushion." He lays a mat down over the floor that he conjured to make it softer.
Stretching his legs to the sides slightly so that Harry can sit with his back to his chest he asks if Harry can come to him, "Harry, will you be ok to move here. It's just back a bit, if not I can do it"
It's clear Malfoy has a soft spot.
Harry was able to move and they are now sat on the floor of a forgotten cabin, snuggling, with Harry sitting his back to Draco's chest
MALFOY POV
Poor thing, I hope he won’t feel like this for the rest of the ride... I wish there was something more I could do.
"Can I hold you?" I suddenly ask, hoping it will provide him with some sense of comfort.
A small nod.
I wrap my arms around his waist, gently trying not to hurt him further. He's unbearably thin, his relatives really are horrible! I can feel more bones than I should be able to and it's as if I could snap him in half just by hugging him.
"When did you last eat?"
No response
"Harry, please answer me" this is less an ask more of a command and he knows it.
"Yesterday morning. I-it was some crackers"
"My sweet thing, I'm so incredibly sorry. You probably feel ill because you haven’t had anything to eat, do you think you can? It'll make you feel better?" I try to reason with him, he has to eat.
"But Dray, I don't want to be sick. P-please jus make it stop!" He lets out a choked sob.
“Shh, Shh Baby. It’s ok bubble - do you want me to go and get someone who can help? To make it go away?”
“No” he screams
“It’d be really quick and I promise they can help you?”
“P-please no, pa don’t go” ah, he’s started to slip, of course I should have seen this before, but it is unfortunate - he’ll experience the pain worse in headspace.
“Ok sweet boy. Just hold in there, not too long to go,” I sooth “ I promise I won’t go anywhere.”
I am lying about the first bit, but hopefully, he will fall asleep and it’ll feel like less time, to make this come about i swiftly casting a non-verbal spell to help him relax.
I’d cast one on him to feel better but I am unsure of how it will work on him and his depleted glycogen levels - I wouldn’t want to make him feel worse.
“It’s not too long now sweetie,”
It is, in fact, a long time. It’s another at least three hours train ride at least before we get to the thestral born carriages.
I again opt for a non-verbal spell, this time to make him sleepy - if he sleeps, he won’t be able to feel ill.
“It’s not too long now sweetie” I repeat myself.
He snuggles closer to me until there is no room left to cuddle in and the spell kicks in. His grip slackens until he is now just leaning on me. Of course that was adorable and I love getting cuddles from him, but not at the cost of my poor boy’s comfort and happiness.
Thankfully, having fallen asleep on me relatively quickly, he can have a break from the suffering.
Unfortunately, I am not very relaxed on the floor but oh well, what’s a few more bruises.
I just let him rest there as I myself am lulled into a gentle slumber.
That is, until Pansy struts in through the door before stopping dead.
Her face goes through a rainbow of emotions before landing on finding the whole situation endearing.
“Sooo, is this why you haven’t been answering your owls” she plays.
I can feel my face heating up red.
“No. He didn’t stay…” I pout slightly before catching the action and replacing it with a blank expression instead - trying not to let my frown slip onto my face.
“Oh, how come?” She asks losing her smile for it to be replaced by a frown of her own.
“His bloody aunt and uncle. They are both abusive pieces of shit, and don’t get me started on his cousin - the vile pig!”
“Draco be quiet, you’ll wake him up!” she hissed.
Quickly quieting down, I realise I am still frowning at the thought of his relatives.
“It’s all right Dray, you can make sure he gets all of the love and care he needs while together at Hogwarts.” She comforts smiling, “and, it looks like you’ve already started with that… Although, how come you are on the floor, surely the”
I cut off the end of her sentence, “He was ill. I cast a spell to make him sleep”
After talking for another twenty minutes or so she let us be - she’s nice really, and most of us Slytherins have abusiv parents of our own or out friends do, so she understands.
With her gone, I go back to studying his face and the way his cheekbones stick out - he is too thin.
The bags under his eyes are both very large and puffy - indicating a small amount of sleep and lots of crying.
I am going to make it my utmost priority to nurse my little star back to health - above all else.
My mind drifts to worry, from the little things he’s told me and what you can gather from the state of the boy, his relations do not treat him well. I only fear the horrors that he has been through, that isn’t even dipping into the terrifying things that he has experienced in the world of magic..
I cannot relate to many of the things that he has experienced as a wizard but I may be able to in terms of his home life. You see, needs to please my Father did not simply come from fondness - if I disappointed him, he would make it very obvious and make me suffer for it.
It is apparent that Harry’s aunt and uncle carry out similar punishments, for similar reasons. Something that I do not wish upon anyone, let alone my little one.
My magic world experiences i would want to shekel him from too, i wonder if he has been subjected to such things at home. After the fall of Voldemort the first time, many of the remaining death-eaters stayed in contact. Through the time where ‘The Dark Lord’ was missing and now that he is returning, the death eaters took…liberties, with me…
I don’t want to think more on that though, in terms of me or my precious boy in my lap.
For the rest of the time that Harry was asleep, my mind went between three states: pity for myself, fear and anguish for Harry, and derealisation.
It was only when Harry began to stir from my weak spell that I realise how much time has passed, laying here on the cold, uncomfortable floor. We will both have more bruises.
“Papa?” Harry asks groggily, clearly unsure of his surroundings.
“Yeah, that’s right bubs. Papa is here, we are on the train to Hogwarts, then we can get to see the horses!” I fain excitement in a gentle manner, to hopefully keep his mind from remembering the discomfort he is in.
Unfortunately, my efforts seem to be futile, as moments later his stomach let out a low and long growl. He tensed up at this and began moving away from me, as if ashamed or embarrassed. “Hey now, what’s up?”
I ask him, as if I don’t already know.
“Tummy hurt…” he admits sheepishly after a few moments.
“Mmm, well, Papa thinks we should get that food in that hungry tummy of yours!” I exclaim excitedly. Thankfully he smiles this time and nods.
“So, what are we thinking? Cereal?” even though I know this isn’t the best option, I think it's the best thing that I will get him to stomach. Ideally, I would feed him something with less sugar, but here we are.
“I know you won’t want me to, but if we want food, I need to go and get it.”
My statement caused an immediate change of mood, as his lip quivers and his face scrunches.
“You can come with me sweetheart, I’ll even carry you, but me or me and you - we still have to go and get it.”
He seems to ease at this, knowing that we won’t have to be parted, and as much as I would like to deny this - the fact that he puts so much trust in me makes me so happy that I was actually smiling as I rested my chin in his fluffy yet unkempt hair.
Once up and out of the apartment he opts to walk; although being increasingly ‘small’ and severely malnourished, this was proving difficult for him, but I am there every step of the way, ready to support him if he needs it and to push anyone aside. This also includes giving anyone who looks at him funny a possibly over aggressive shrug into the wall…definitely overly aggressive, but no one gets looks at my baby like they were without at least some minor pain.
We were only going down into the next carriage as I decided that Fred and George would have appropriate food, or if not, the means to make some. I’d rather not like going to them, old habits still ingrained, but that is unfair and even if it wasn’t - this is about Potter and not me. He comes first, he shall always come first.
Sure enough, they provided us with the food requested. They looked a little puzzled at why we were together, although not at Harry’s behaviour - whether they chalked it up to being tired and in pain or the real reason I will never know. Having said that they do both have six siblings so maybe they know exactly what’s going on, but that is unimportant.
They offered for us to sit down and eat in their compartment but I kindly declined, presuming that Harry would want me to feed him. To my relief though they did insist on walking us back, which was both helpful and comforting.
I notice them whispering to one another between looks at harry and I shoot them a glare as if saying, ‘if I hear you hurt my baby, I will not hesitate to pull your insides out, and skewer them on display’. They raise their hands in defence and shoot me smiles back.
“Righty o boys. Enjoy the meal, it looks as if you both need one.” They half joke and smile, switching between one another every few words before adding, “Harry, take care, oki?”
“Yeah, you can come to us any time” they are bending down and smiling at him like a child. They definitely know something. I make a mental note to ask Harry about this encounter later.
“Thank you both, really, thank you” I smile gratefully. I hope gratefully anyway, I am new at this whole thing.
Once again inside our compartment, but now sitting on seats, I show harry the bowl of cereal. Only currently realising the individual pieces are shaped like snitches.
That is an adorable touch.
“Do you want Papa to feed you or would you rather do it yourself?”
“Papa!” He yawned excitedly, “Please,” he added on at the end as an afterthought.
“Good job baby, you’ve got such good manners!” I coo, making him wriggle with excitement.
Not spilling any of this would be an achievement so I carefully manoeuvre around him to take my jumper off and place it around the front of his neck.
“There we go, no spills now” I coo once more, “ok little one, open up!”
I never would have realised that spoon-feeding him would feel so… intimate? I don’t know how to describe it, I’ve never felt this feeling. A feeling of tranquillity, I can’t think I have experienced before. As if the rest of the world isn’t there, it is just the both of us, together, in this strange little bubble. The sensations made me want to squeeze him tightly to keep him safe and to never let go of him - fortunately, I do not do this. Instead, I realise how much he has eaten, every though the twins gave us only three small bowls (one for dry cereal, one for milk, one to mix them in - they’re really good at this) the amount I gave him seems to be enough having been practically starved over the holidays.
He whines when I put the spoon down and vanish the remaining food out of the bowl.
“Baby, no uh. No whining precious, we want that tummy happy and giving it too much at once might make you feel icky. How about we give it twenty minutes and if you’re still hungry then we can get you some more food, okay?” I reason with him.
His reply consists of a lazy half hum, half huff. Chuckling to myself I turn him around, slowly, and take the jumper from the front of his clothes. There was a little bit of milk but not too much to be a problem and soak through.
“There we go baby, all done” I smile down at him.
Despite knowing that he is not that deep in headspace I decide to ask anyway, it may be comforting to him so I decide to offer anyway, “Does my sweet boy want burping?” I ask kindly, trying not to embarrass him.
“No, tank ou” he says quietly
“Are you alright? Feelin’ a bit tired?”
He hums an affirmative response, so I lean into the corner of the seats in our carriage, pulling him onto me.
Now curled up into my chest, I worry that may make him feel sick but for the time being, I shall let him stay like that.
“Comfy baby?” I ask quietly. A small nod.
I feel guilty, he is going to fall asleep but the train ride is nearly over. I know it will only scare him if he wakes up in a place he did not fall asleep in, he is usually panicky as it is when he wakes up - headspace or not. But it seems like I don't really have a choice in the matter, his breath has begun to even, however shallow it is due to his position, and his body relaxes further into mine… it seems I will have to forgo my food and find some way of transporting him to the castle.
Around only fifteen minutes later the train comes to a stop, luckily, it was at that moment that the twins’ heads peep into the carriage. They gesture, asking if they can come in. I confirm they can, it’s not like I’m in any position to decline anyway.
“Hey, it looks like that did the trick!” George whispers, looking lovingly at harry in my lap.
“Yeah, definitely a convenient possession for Malfoy.” Fred half jokes, half glairs, earning a slap from George.
“Don’t say things like that about Harry when he’s like this, and Malfoy is clearly being a great care- Friend so shut it.”
Sure enough, after that ridicule, Fred was less hostile.
They helped me; Fred by carrying luggage, George by talking to me and helping me make sure harry is situated correctly.
I said it was fine, not wanting to seem weak, but George had insisted; claiming something amount my poor health and being in a similar state to Harry’s which, for his information, is not true. I am perfectly fine.
Despite my claims of being perfectly fine, however, when I stood up to get something I fell backwards again, head spinning and George gives me a look of both sympathy and ‘I told you so’. This prompted him to take Harry into his own arms, not that he seemed to be compromised by this.
We begin our walk, George in the middle carrying harry. The ascent to the castle by foot and carriage was mostly in silence, stay for the gentle whispers into Harry’s ear by George, this sight made me jealous and I wanted to take Harry from him knowing that I should be the one cradling him and talking to him to keep him asleep.
Fred seems to catch onto my feelings on the matter and leans forward and says, “Don’t mind him, he wants what’s best for Harry but things have also been a bit lonely lately, a few things have changed at home”
Somehow the other Weasley twin didn’t hear us, too absorbed in talking to my baby, and another miracle was that the other one’s words did provide a sense of comfort.
I smile gratefully at him, thanking him with my smile.
————————————————————————————————————————
At long last, we are finally alone, in Harry’s dorm room. Usually, we would go to mine to get away from the second youngest Weasley and because the atmosphere of the Slytherin dorms are more calming for him, more peaceful, but our luggage is here as the twins dropped it off before going down to the feast.
“Papa? Where, where, am I?” His voice breaks and he begins to panic.
“Shh, shh, it’s ok” I calm him. Or moreover, try to calm him, it did quite the opposite as he somehow hadn’t noticed my presence and jumps so much that he topples off my lap, onto the floor.
That REALLY set off the crying.
He lets out a wail and his body is laced with tension.
I feel immensely guilty, even though, it was not rationally my fault.
Sliding down onto the floor I pick him up pulling his head onto my lap and his body wrapped around mine, alternately I would have held him to my chest but neither of us have the strength so this is our next best option.
“Here, baby boy, Papa is here. It’s just me, we’re at Hogwarts in your dorm, ok? No one else is coming in here any time soon, they are all at the feast.” This time my comfort was effective.
Once the basic information is transferred, I switch to just talking. Talking about anything to help him calm down. And like magic, with a bit of talking and some cuddled, he’s ok again - just occasionally sniffing or hiccuping.
“Right mister, I think it's time we get you into a nice comfy bed, mmh?”
He smiles and giggles, looking up into my eyes. Gosh, I adore him so!
With some effort we both get into bed, snuggled up to each other with harry in a ball and my legs curled around his body. We are content and happy, as the warmth and each other’s company lull us both into a deep and undisturbed sleep…
THIRD-PERSON
A few hours later harry and Draco were still sleeping soundly when the other boys walked in, initially loudly before Neville shushed them hastily. They gathered at the foot of the two sleeping boys’ bed, looking adoringly, Neville no doubt finding it the cutest. Dean cast a spell as to keep any noise of them getting ready for bed from waking them. As such, they all slept soundly.