Over The Edge

Draco was sitting against the headboard, still blinking frantically at the already dimmed light and looking soft and utterly confused. Harry’s heart ached for him.

It had to be difficult, going from freshly remembering the war, to sitting in a bed with the knowledge that eleven years had passed since then.

Draco looked so young, yet so old. His face and body had aged, but the way he was scanning the room with big, wide eyes reminded Harry of their time at Hogwarts, when everything was new and they were looking at the world in wonder and awe.

Eleven years time, he knew, was too much for the human mind to comprehend. Even for a wizard or witch, it was something that could take years to catch up to.

He sighed, the following time would be so hard for Draco.

“That was incredibly brave and so very stupid of you, but I’m so glad it worked. How are you, any lasting effects?”

Harry wondered, there hadn’t been anything to indicate that jumping off the astronomy tower was going to be the solution, in his professional opinion. It could be that some symptoms of spending years in the dreamscape would last for some time. He himself felt complete, not missing any parts, and like he’d gotten out of Draco’s mind the way he should have. It had been a leap of faith from his side and he was very glad to be alive and awake instead of being trapped somewhere in someone’s mind. Risky thing, being a mind-healer.

Draco scrunched his eyes like he couldn’t quite see Harry properly and that made his nose turn up a little too. The comparison to his younger self was remarkable and Harry could only think of how much he had missed Draco Malfoy without knowing that he did.

“Not that I know of. I’m so very confused, but things feel the way they’re supposed to, I think. It is all rather much, the light, the noises, but that’s not too strange. I used to have some trouble with that when I was younger, but I grew out of it. I’m sure it’s fine. I’m tired too, like I haven’t slept in years.” Draco grinned down at the sheets. “I like knowing that I’m awake. It is nice. Also, your voice sounds so different.”

Harry was sure that Draco hadn’t meant to say that, as he looked anywhere else but at Harry.

“I’m very happy for you, you worked hard and it’s not strange that you experience exhaustion. You should take some time to process. I’ll leave you to it and will be back tomorrow, first time in the morning.”

“You want to see me again?” Draco asked.

“Of course. We need to talk about working through the aftermath of this whole endeavour.” Harry hoped that Draco didn’t think he would take his figuratively pay-check and leave. Dropping someone after experiencing such a difficult situation would be highly unprofessional and harmful to the client.

“Oh.” Draco sounded disappointed. He didn’t seem to relax when Harry assured him that he wouldn’t leave now that Draco had woken and that they were going to see each other again.

Harry felt like something was off, but he was so tired. The only thing he wanted to do was sleep and create distance between him and everything that had happened inside Draco’s mind. He needed time to think and to decide how to proceed from here.

“Something is wrong, isn’t it? I’m sorry, but can we talk about it tomorrow? I really need a night full of sleep and I assume you might need some rest as well.”

Harry had to speak slowly as to not slur his words. Mind healing was exhausting, let along diving inside someone’s mind for Merlin knows how long and getting killed over and over. That had not been fun and he made a mental note that he needed to make an appointment with a mind-healer to talk about that.

Draco was really disappointed, Harry could see it in his wide grey eyes. The sheets were rustling with the nervous jiggling of Draco’s leg and he was scrunching them up with his fists.

“Yeah, sure,” he whispered. “It can wait until tomorrow. I’m tired too.”

Harry worried his lower lip between his teeth, maybe he should take the time to talk, to stay a little longer, to hear Draco out. But he was no good to Draco when he could barely keep his eyes open.

He’d had many talks about boundaries with his mind-healer and where he used to forget it was important to have them and to be true to them, he’d had gotten better at reinforcing them. For him, mind-healing was all about helping people and due to his field of expertise, he had to work odd hours and long days. In this case, probably weeks. Containing boundaries was difficult and Harry had never learned how to set them properly when he was younger.

“Okay. I’ll be there in the morning. Get some rest.”

Draco nodded shortly, his face tight with tension, and Harry hated leaving like this. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, he promised himself.

After letting Narcissa know on his way out that Draco was awake, which he only needed to do by showing his face while wearing a soft smile, he apparated right home, landing in his bedroom. Without changing out of his suit ( He wore suits and actually like them, who would have guessed…), he dropped down on his mattress and was out like a light, he didn’t even have time to get under the covers.

–-

He was woke up by an insatiable hunger. It tore up his stomach, rumbled through his body, demanded food and now please.

“Yeah yeah,” he rumbled right back at it. He was used to it by now, there were handy spells that kept his body functioning when he was under for so long, but they stopped working the second he was fully conscious again and the day after was never a pleasant one.

Harry took the time to prepare a big but healthy breakfast with eggs, sausage, bread and loads of vegetables. Eating it took some time, he had to get used to the feeling of chewing again, but it felt heavenly to have his stomach filled with food. The radio was on, he didn’t quite like silence, and the sun was shining. It was a wonderful day and Harry felt way more energised than when he woke up.

It gave him the fuel to look back on the last couple of weeks spend inside Draco’s mind, with Draco. And well, that was something, wasn’t it.

He’d been so scared when Draco started killing him in a traumatic response. It had happened before, with other clients, but never this violent. When Harry had been killed for over four times, he understood that Draco wasn’t in control and that he wouldn’t stop trying anytime soon. It had made Harry loose his initial fight response. Instead he endured, trying to talk to Draco and surrender when he couldn’t reach Draco. Horrifying, his mind supplied helpfully. He didn’t argue, it had indeed been just that.

And then the talking worked. He’d been so happy and so enthusiast that it almost led to their downfall. Thank Merlin for Draco, who had been so strong and fought so hard. He continued doing so, putting his trust and faith into Harry’s hands. That had been scary. What if he fucked it up again? But he hadn’t and Draco had found his own way out, asking for Harry’s trust too.

He’d given it to Draco, with all his heart.

Harry rubbed his chest. His heart was feeling full and it wasn’t just pride at another success in his field. It was for having Draco back, from talking to him like barely anything had changed. It had, of course, they could talk like adults and weren’t fighting each other all the way. But the little jokes, the shared fears and the understanding each other without words, that all was still there. Harry had missed that. Somehow it had been really lonely these years.

That’s when he realised. There was no way he could stay Draco’s mind- healer without getting attached. He couldn’t, but mainly he didn’t want to. He wanted the jokes and the looks and maybe even the hand holding and it was not ethical doing that when also staying Draco’s mind-healer. Draco had to continue his recovery and adjustment to the, for him, changed world with someone else. And Harry would make damn sure that it was someone would was capable so that Draco would get the best care.

It took some time and in-between-shower-and-dressing calls, but then he found a colleague who was well equipped, had time and had worked with some of Harry’s clients before. Harry would trust her with his life and could barely contain his joy when it became clear that she had space in her schedule. If Draco took a liking to her, they would start right away.

When all was done and he had checked his hair for the tenth time in the mirror, still a bird nest, always a bird nest, he apparated to Malfoy Manor.

–-

He was let in the Manor by Narcissa, who had only nodded at him and when Harry had asked her how Draco was doing, she whispered quietly that she hoped time would do the trick. He hadn’t expected her to be jumping the walls in joy over the return of her son, but he had thought she might be a bit more settled. He needed to talk to Draco, figured out what was wrong.

After that, he was going to refer him to his colleague.

The curtains of Draco’s bed were closed when Harry opened the door of his bedroom and slipped inside. A blanket of silence coated to room and he had to walk carefully to not bump into things, there wasn’t any light on and the room was only illuminate by the light filtering through the curtains by the window. Harry’s eyes adjusted just enough to find the very chair he had spend three weeks in (He had had a look at the calendar this morning and had not been surprised at all.), and sat down. When he put down his bag, the curtains opened a bit, just enough to reveal Draco. His eyes were bloodshot and his frame trembled with shivers. He looked so very small in his bed. Draco did not look like he got any sleep.

“Hi,” Harry whispered, finding himself adjusting his volume to the quietness of the room. “Have you slept? At all?”

Draco shook his head and parted his lips slightly to let out an enormous sigh. “Not a blink. I couldn’t stop thinking that once I fell asleep, I would return to not being awake. I don’t want to not be awake Harry.” Draco sounded devastated and Harry felt sorry for him, especially now that he had decided not to continue being Draco’s mind-healer.

“I know. It’s very unlikely for you to return to your dreamscape and get stuck again, but it might be helpful to know that I’d come find you if that were to happen.” He would, he really would, no matter Draco’s murdering streaks.

The sigh that Draco let out now was way more hopeful.

“Thank you.”

Harry nodded in response. “There is something I need to talk about with you. And we need to talk about yesterday, about that what had you looking so nervous. Mind if I go first?”

Draco crossed his arms, a defensive gesture, Harry noted. “Sure, have at it.”

After taking a deep breath to prepare, Harry began. “Draco, I am going to recommand you a different mind-healer. It might be a bit sudden, but I fear that I can not keep things professional when it’s you. There has happened a lot between the two of us and I feel that that will interfere in your recovery and my work.”

Also, he didn’t want to keep things professional, Draco meant too much to him.

Draco looked away and, Harry didn’t know it was possible, looked even smaller in the king-sized bed.

“So you are going to leave me? You said you wouldn’t.” Draco accused him and Harry felt the heat of his rage from were he sat. He shivered involuntarily.

“I-no, that’s…” swallowing audibly, he tried to form a proper sentence. “I won’t leave. And I want to help, but I can’t do that in the way I want when I’m your mind-healer. I want to be your...friend? If you’ll have me, that is.”

What he had wanted to say was more like, Draco, I want to kiss you senseless and it isn’t ethical to do so now.

But he was scared and had only realised that he’d like to do that with Draco this morning. It was all too soon, he still needed distance and time to be able to move past all that had happened these three weeks.

“I contacted a colleague of mine that I think you’d like and if you want, you can have your first session this afternoon. She’s very open-minded and depending on what you prefer, she can do house calls or you can meet her in her office.”

Draco was staring at him, not nervous judging by his very still legs.

“I’ll have you.” he said.

He what now?

“You…will have me?” Harry was grateful for the darkness, he knew it to conceal the blush on his face quite effectively.

Draco nodded fiercely. “I’ll have you as my friend. Please. And I’ll try out a new mind-healer.”

Oh thank Merlin, the confusion had passed and Harry could breath again.

“Good, good. That’s great.”

The smile that Draco graced him with lit him up from the inside out. The sheets rustled and Draco came to sit at the edge of the bed, wrapped up in silk, looking like an angel, albeit an exhausted one. He was squinting against the light from outside, but dropped his shoulders when his knee came to rest lightly against Harry’s. Harry’s knee tingled.

“What was wrong yesterday?” he asked.

“Oh, eh, nothing. Not something that hasn’t resolved itself. Well, actually, there is something I wanted to ask you. Do you want to have tea with me in the garden, lets say Tuesday next week? I hope by then to be able to go outside.”

That would be so perfect, Harry was already looking forward to it.

“Yes, that’s fine.” Very fine indeed.

He laid his hand on Draco’s hand and curled his fingers around it slightly, squeezing softly. Draco’s hand was cold, but fitted inside Harry’s like a puzzle piece. Reluctantly, Harry let go.

“I’ll see you on Tuesday.” He stood and walked to the door. Just before he left the room, he hesitated. “I’m glad you’re back Draco.”

In the following days, Harry slept for hours and hours. He documented the time he spend in Draco’s mind and had two appointments with his mind-healer, which helped. He ate a lot of big breakfasts and one night he sat down on his balcony, smoked one of ‘Salazar’s sinister cigarettes’ that he kept for special occasions and looked down at the Diagonally. There were many wizard folks out on the streets, chattering and doing their last minute shopping before the stores closed. It was strange seeing them all living their lives without the faintest clue about how fragile their minds were and how easy it could all topple over.

Harry sighed and took another drag of the slightly spice cigarette in his hand. He didn’t even like smoking that much.

He wrote one line in his dairy that night that really stuck with him; After all this time, I found more connection with Draco Malfoy, who I hadn’t seen in years, than with my friends that I see every other day.

In the morning, after thinking it over for quite some time, he decided to take the month off of work.

–-

Harry felt nervous. It wasn’t like him, but when he stood in front of the gates of the Manor on Tuesday at exactly two o’clock just like Draco had owled him, he could not, for the love of Merlin, stop fiddling. Somewhere, he was happy to see Draco, he had missed him. But moreover, he was looking forwards to asking Draco how he was doing. After Harry had had his distance and time, he found out that he worried far beyond an academical interest about Draco’s well being and must have also done so when in Draco’s mind. Caring too much had always been what characterized their animosity.

Narcissa let him through the gates and led him to the rose garden, where there was a nice tea set put on display on a white table. Draco sat in one of the metal chairs that stood around the table. He looked like he just rose from his bed, his hair was mushed and he was still wearing his nightwear. Harry could envision him laying in bed, yawning adorably.

“Hi.” Harry waved awkwardly.

“Oh hi!” Draco moved to get up and, he really did just get out of bed, he still had the sheets wrapped around his shoulders.

Harry sped up his walking. “No, you don’t have to get up.”

Draco dropped back into his chair with a sigh, the biggest grin on his face. “I’m so happy to be outside, look at the flowers! Aren’t they beautiful?”

Harry looked around at the roses. “Sure they are. First time out in the garden?”

Draco hummed, his grin still on display. He was fiddling with the sheets bunched up in his arms. “Sit down, I’ll pour you some tea.”

Narcissa excused herself, telling them she had somewhere to be and that she would be back late. Draco nodded at her and off she went.

Harry plopped down in the chair on Draco’s left, which was surprisingly comfortable. When passing the cup of tea over, Draco warned him for the warm temperature of the cup. Draco poured a dash of milk into his own cup, followed by an amount of sugar that left Harry speak-less.

“You know how I take my tea?” he asked Draco when he’d take a sip. The tea was sweet, with a hint of vanilla, just how he liked it.

Draco looked confused. “Of course I do, you used to drink it like this at Hogwarts.”

“Oh.” Hogwarts felt like a life-time ago, and a topic he really didn’t want to think about. For Draco it hadn’t been that long ago, he reminded himself.

They sipped their tea in silence, looking out over the lush garden that housed all kinds of plants and wildlife.

“There is a squirrel living in the tree by my window,” Draco said. “In the morning, when the sun is low, I can see it climbing out of its nest. It’s so peaceful.”

“That sounds lovely.” Harry was strangely flattered that Draco decided he would share this snippet of information with him.

“Yes. It really is.”

They went back to silence, watching the peacocks in the garden, who were getting into a row who got to impress the lady of the bunch. Neither of them won, the female walked away with her head held high. She reminded Harry a bit of Narcissa.

“How are things?”

Shifting a bit in his seat, Draco took the time to form an answer. “Slow. Tiring. I can barely sleep and if I do, I wake in the middle of them due to the horrifying nightmares. I know the war was long ago, but it doesn’t feel that way.”

Harry couldn’t agree more, it had taken him years to get rid of the terrible nightmares. “I’m sorry to heard that. Wanna talk about it?”

Draco shook his head before Harry had finished his sentence. “No, I’d rather not. No offence, but the best place to do that right now is with my mind-healer.”

And Harry was no longer that, so he should stop acting like it.

“Okay. Eh, sure.” A different topic it was. Did he do something in the last few days that was worth mentioning to Draco? There were no squirrels at Diagonally.

“I’m taking a month off of work.”

Draco’s head whipped around. “You-that’s not because of me, is it?”

Harry blanched.< It wasn’t directly, he had been in dire need of some time off before he started helping Draco, but saying that it wasn’t because of Draco would be lying.

“It was bound to happen, I tend to postpone my vacations to help more clients, forgetting that I need time to heal too.”

“Oh, that’s good. I mean, you taking a break.” It seemed that Draco had dropped the questions about Harry’s reasons and Harry was grateful. It was good that he was taking a break indeed, it wasn’t healthy to work as much and as intensive as he did.

“What do you think of cats?” he said, out of the blue. “I thought I might get one.”

Draco perked up. “Cats are wonderful! I’ve always wanted one, but father is allergic.” He looked Harry up and down. “Yeah, they could take your shit. Cats are cool like tha-”

If Harry hadn’t been so struck by Draco’s expression of awe, he would have felt affronted. But Draco was looking up at the sky with adoration on his face.

“I felt the rain,” he whispered.

He was right, rain droplets fell from the sky, multiplying by the second until a steady fall of water was pouring down from the sky. Harry could not look away from Draco, who had closed his eyes and was enjoying every spat of rain on his face. The more rain fell, the wetter they got, as is usually the case with rain, and Harry couldn’t find it in his heart to disturb Draco. The ends of Draco’s hair were curling up and tiny drops of rain gathered on his long lashes. He looked at peace.

The rainfall held on and even got worse, a shower of water, drenching them to the bone.

Draco started shivering then, but barely seemed to notice and kept himself in the same position.

“Lovely,” Harry mumbled, more to himself than to Draco. “Hey! Lets go inside!” he raised his voice now. The rain wasn’t stopping and Draco was full blown shivering and trembling.

Draco’s eyes shot open and he looked helplessly at Harry. “I-sorry. I lost myself there for a bit. Goodness, I’m freezing.” In an attempt to gather some warmth, he wrapped the sheets tight around his shoulders. The sheets were drenched too, so it was a rather useless thing to do.

Draco looked around in confusing, not taking any action. Harry had a faint feeling about why, but he could be wrong.

“Do you need help getting inside?” He’d stood and moved closer to Draco so he didn’t have to raise his voice and was almost whispering in Draco’s ear.

Without making eye-contact or saying a word, Draco nodded. He was still looking at the rain and the garden. The soil had become all muddy and the trees and bushes were looking greener than ever.

“Want me to carry you?” Harry asked, feeling hesitant, but that was instantly washed away when Draco nodded again.

“Okay.” Harry plucked the sheets from Draco’s ice-cold hands, bend over and pulled Draco into his arms. “I’m going to lift you now.” And so he did.

The walk back to the Manor was uneventful besides Harry trying his very best to keep a steady pace and not slip on the wet parts of the path. Draco was quiet, except for the occasional shiver. The rain had lessened a bit, so at least Harry could see where he had to go.

Back inside, Draco pointed Harry to the bathroom, where Harry sat Draco down on the edge of the bath. Draco had shook himself from his temporary episode and was now demanding that Harry prepared him a bath. His hands were shaking too much, so he directed Harry in every single step of creating the perfect bath. Harry could only grin.

“No, now the water is too hot. You need to add more cold.” He checked again with his pinky finger. “Perfect. Pass me the bath salt and the lavender oil please?”

With a flourish Harry found so very fitting for Draco, he added both to the slightly steaming water. The room immediately smelled like Draco and Harry took a deep breath. Draco looked at him, waiting. Harry blushed and noted the position they were in. Both soaked to the bone, Draco in his nightwear and a steaming bath waiting to be used. Draco wanted to bathe, Harry needed to leave.

“I’ll leave you to it, gonna take a hot shower at home. Owl me? I know a nice coffee-shop were they serve the best pastries.”

Draco smiled the sweetest smile at him and Harry left the room.

–-

The next time they met up, it was indeed in the coffee-shop that Harry had mentioned. Turns out, Draco’s sweet tooth from Hogwarts hadn’t been reduced at all these years and he had written Harry that he was very much looking forward to trying out the pastries.

The shop was seated in the heart of muggle London and there was an apparation-point nearby, where Harry had promised to wait for Draco. Draco had just gotten the hang of apparating again but was a bit rusty.

That was clear when he apparated right in front of Harry, missing the apparation-point by metres. Harry could just catch Draco from falling. When they both had gotten their breath back, they set out for the shop, Draco walking as close to Harry as he could. Draco had explained in his letters that being out and about was really hard on his senses and that he felt nervous about moving around in the wizard world. They decided that muggle London would be a nice first experience to practice. That suited Harry just fine, he liked spending time in the muggle world and felt like it kept him humble and grounded.

“After you,” Harry said when he opened the door to the coffee-shop with a gentle pull. Draco swallowed visibly and went in. Harry followed.

The coffee-shop had a set up that accounted for the possibility of a large group of people, so when it was not busy it seemed very spacious. There were lots of windows and plants, which alongside the cosy pillows and pastel furniture, gave the room a home-y feeling. Harry loved coming here to work at his studies and do research or to read the paper.

Draco was eyeing it all with a distrust on his face. “Are you sure this is the place? It’s looking so friendly.”

Harry grinned, Coffee-shop in the wizarding world were not meant to spend time at. You got your coffee or other beverage and, by lack of a better word, fucked off. Coffee witches were not to be messed with.

“Yeah, this is it. Nice right? Shall we sit?” He pointed at a table in the farthest corner of the room, were the light was less bright.

Draco hummed and went for it, dodging the other chairs and tables with a single-minded focus.

What Harry liked most of all about the shop besides the wonderful pastries, was how friendly everyone was. Within two minutes of them sitting, there was someone at their table to take their order.

“The usual Harry? And hello, welcome newcomer! What can I write up for you?” They asked.

Harry nodded with a grin. “Indeed, thank you, Sam.”

Draco hesitated, not quite looking at the waiter. “Uh, something sweet? I don’t know much about coffee.” He shot a pleading look at Harry.

“We have a good sweet latte, especially sweet if I add a bit of syrup. That should do the trick.” Sam said, clearly wanting to help Draco.

“Okay, I’ll try that.” Draco said in relieve.

“Al right-o, coming up with a few minutes.” They saluted Harry, nodded at Draco and went on to get their orders done.

Harry took Draco’s hand tenderly in his and squeezed three times. “You okay?”

“Yes yes, it’s just. Difficult. It’s awfully bright in here, isn’t it?” He was rubbing his eyes in irritation.

“Oh, I forgot! I have a present for you!” Harry said. He took a box wrapped in silky green paper out of the inner pocket of his coat. “Here.”

With teary eyes, Draco reached for the package. “Thank you.” Unwrapping was a job to do with two hands, so Harry let go of Draco’s hand.

“I like the paper, it’s very soft.” Draco rubbed the paper between his fingers. Harry had no doubt the paper would not been thrown away, but would rather end up somewhere in Draco’s room.

Draco fell silent when he saw what the box contained.

“They’re sunglasses, instead of clear glass they have tinted glass. It’s for your light sensitivity,” Harry explained, guessing that Draco might not be familiar with them.

Draco took them out of the box with great care and placed them gently on the bridge of his nose.

“Oh. That’s- I love them.” His shoulders dropped down and a smile graced his lips.

“Good. That’s good.”

Draco blushed prettily.

That moment their drinks arrived and Harry was glad for it, some distraction from the lovely sight Draco made was appreciated, lest he would faint.

“A latte with extra syrup for you and a herbal tea for you, Harry. Enjoy!” And off Sam was, beelining for another customer.

Harry sniffed his tea and hummed appreciative. Just how he liked it, they even added his specific amount of honey.

“That’s not coffee.”

“No. It’s not, it’s tea.”

“Who in their right mind goes to a coffee-shop for tea? And you made me get coffee when I could just have gotten butterbeer or something!” Draco was properly agitated, waving his hands around and raising his voice.

“First of all, I didn’t make you do anything and no judging until you’ve tasted. Secondly, it’s muggle London, they do not serve butterbeer here. And lastly, I come here for the ambiance, not the probably expertly made coffee. I don’t even like coffee.”

Draco looked astonished. “You don’t like coffee.”

“Nope.”

Draco giggled and then laughed loudly. He slapped a hand over his mouth, but even that could not hold back the bold laughter. The sound of it was so surprisingly not like Draco that Harry snorted out a laugh as well. Draco only made more noise. His frame shook and he clutched his stomach.

“Oh Salazar, it h-hurts.” He winched and tried to breath and quit laughing in earnest. The giggles died down.

There were tears in Draco’s eyes when he pushed the newly-gifted sunglasses up to wipe his eyes.

“You took me to a coffee-shop, even wrote me about the ‘high quality’ coffee they serve here. And now you don’t like coffee. You, Harry Potter, are absolutely ridiculous.”

Harry didn’t think he ever saw such a lovely sight, Draco’s hair was all tussled and he wore a delightful blush from all the laughing. He’d only seen Draco scared, frustrated or his arrogant, witty self at Hogwarts and not once he had expected happiness to suit him so well. He never wanted to see anything else on Draco.

“I suppose I am indeed,” he said.

Draco loved his latte with extra syrup. The second he dared to take a sip, his face lit up and he boosted out a ‘I’m never drinking anything other than this!’. Harry grinned behind his mug and took a scaling hot sip of his tea, burning his tongue and roof of his mouth.

It was a joy to spend time with Draco and they talked for long. At some point Harry ordered several pastries for them to enjoy and Draco sprayed flakes all over the table when he yet again burst out in laughter. Harry loved making Draco laugh.

The shop closed around five and they stayed seated until Sam ushered them out. It had been a lovely time, but Draco was getting tired and had to get home. He joked lightly about not being able to apparate, but Harry saw it for what it was, a sincere worry. Once out of the door, he clasped Draco’s shoulder and tugged him towards the apparation point.

“Wanna tag along? I want to say hi to Narcissa.”

Gratefulness was poured over him with one glance from Draco.

“Yes please.”

With the blink of an eye and effort on Harry’s part, they went to Malfoy Manor.

Draco grunted with displeasure, swaying on his feet. Harry held his arm tightly. He had an easier time, used to aparrating regularly and not having to deal with a sensory overload lurking around.

“You good?” he asked.

“Yeah, I just need a minute.”

The gates creaked open and when Draco had taken his minute and could stand on his own, he started walking towards the doors of the Manor.

“Draco.”

Draco turned around.

“See you next week, same place, same time?”

Draco glowed up, like he had gotten the best present ever.

“Yes please. It’s a date!”

After Harry got home, dazed and happy out of his mind, he realised he forgot to greet Narcissa. Luckily he hadn’t had an actual intention to do so. It had merely been an excuse to take Draco home and spend a little more time with him.

–-

They kept meeting up at the coffee-shop, still had their afternoon teas and later on added the occasional walk if Draco was up for it. It diverted a bit, his recovery wasn’t going in a straight line, as recoveries never tend to do. Over the weeks he did look less pale and more at ease among other people. The sunglasses made an appearance every time they met up and Harry couldn’t feel more proud of his well-thought-through present. Draco held true to his word too, never ordering anything different from a latte.

Harry became more relaxed with their conversations and banter too. Earlier on he hadn’t been surprised if he were to receive a sneer or two from Draco (Which he didn’t, mind you), now he didn’t think that possible. Draco was nothing like the boy who he knew from Hogwarts. Something had happened when he spend all those years in his dreamscape that had transformed him from a bitter, scared boy to the handsome and highly emotional man that he was now. Maybe his mind hadn’t only kept him save from the dangers from outside his mind.

Harry had trouble holding back the feelings buzzing through his body, the adoration and the want, no need, to take things further. But the ball was in Draco’s court, so to say, and Harry would just have to wait patiently.

So wait he did, gathering all the patience and happiness from seeing Draco time after time, conversing with him for hours.

--

Draco was sad, Harry noticed the second Draco walked into the coffee shop. He looked like Harry was the last person he wanted to see. His coffee order was a simple black coffee which Harry knew to be quite bitter and the complete opposite of his usual latte.

Even the chair across Harry couldn’t seem to hold him up, Draco was sitting like a sack of potatoes, slumped over.

“Rough day?” Harry asked. He himself had been here way before Draco arrived, struggling through new theories on the healing of minds, whiles sipping his tea. They were serving an excellent ginger tea today.

He’d been working so hard (Harry was at this point convinced he was not capable of taking an actually vacation) he even gave into the temptation of ordering a big plate of his favourite cookies. He was dipping the last one in his teacup at the moment, making the cookie all soppy and his teacup filled with small flakes.

Draco gave him a look of disgust. “That’s really gross, you know that right?”

Harry shrugged, he didn’t particularly care.

Draco sipped his coffee with a pinched expression, which did not brighten from the taste of the bitter liquid.

“Disgusting,” he muttered.

Yeah, Draco was not fine. Was it worth it, poking the sleeping bear, or in this case snake?

“Talk to me.” He poked.

Draco was silent, staring into nothingness and sipping his coffee.

Harry went back to his research, feigning disinterest to take the weight off the situation. Pressure never had made Draco talk.

“>My father is dead and nobody thought to tell me. I guess it’s old news by now, he died years ago. But to me it’s like I saw him yesterday. I-I don’t know how to do this Harry.”

Dropping his research (he wasn’t actually reading) Harry looked at Draco and put his hand on the table with his palm up. It was a silent request, almost a demand, for Draco to hold it.

Draco’s hand was cold and sweaty, but stopped trembling when Harry held it for some time. Harry squeezed it three times in short succession and let go.

“I’m sorry you feel like this. Honestly, I didn’t think to tell you either. But it will get better. You being upset is good, however shitty that may sound. Means you are grieving.”

Draco scoffed. “You sound like my mind-healer.”

Harry blanched. Was he unconsciously presenting himself as Draco’s mind-healer?

"Oh, sorry,” he mumbled.

“No matter. You are one. Can take the Quidditch players out of Quidditch, can’t take the Quidditch out of the Quidditch player, am I right? I don’t mind getting lectured by your smart words once in a while.”

Draco grinned slightly at him and Harry felt himself relax. When was he going to learn that Draco liked talking to him, whatever they talked about, and was very good at expressing his needs?

“Thanks. I worry.”

“I know you do.”

They drank their beverages in silence, looking out of the window at the muggles passing the shop. It was fascinated to note how they went on with their day without the faintest clue of magic being a thing or the two wizards sitting behind the window.

“I guess I’m just going to be upset for a while. Healing takes time, I suppose.”

“Right you are.” Harry sighed. He wondered if his own grieving and feelings of despair were ever going to stop. They might, if he hadn’t made it his job to endure trauma to help people. Yet there wasn’t a thing in the world he would rather do.

“What are you reading?”

“Hmm?” Harry shook himself from his thoughts. “Oh, some research on dreamscapes.”

“Do I want to know?” Draco was supporting a light grin, with no doubt he knew what Harry was about to answer.

“No, not really.” Harry closed his laptop ( Yes, how very modern of him.) and stood.

“You done with your coffee?”

Draco sneered at the cup. “Didn’t like it anyway. Too bitter.”

Harry couldn’t stop the chuckle. Draco was too sweet for black coffee.

“Alright. Lets do something fun!”

A faint smile hid in the corner of Draco’s mouth and Harry was proud to say that he was the one who had put it there.

“Fun? I think our perception of fun divers quite a bit.”

“Does it? Does it really?”

“Cheeky Harry. Very cute.”

Harry knew Draco was joking but he couldn’t stop himself from imaging how it would be if he weren’t. He turned away from Draco to put on his coat and evidently, hide the crimson blush decorating his face.

“Ice cream. Ice cream is fun,” Draco said.

“Okay, lets get ice cream. I’d like to take a walk in the park after, care to join me?”

Draco smiled the smile that was threatening to emerge before and took Harry’s hand in his own.

“For sure!” he said and lead them our of the shop.

There was a cosy little ice cream parlour nearby the park, where they’d taken a stroll before, and Harry had ordered pistachio for himself and, because Draco couldn’t choose between strawberry and bubblegum, two scoops with both flavours. Harry didn’t understand the appeal and when Draco had let him taste, he had to work hard not grimace in disgust. It tasted sugary sweet and not something Harry had any interest in. He did, however, understand why Draco liked it.

They were both licking their ice cream and enjoying the green scenery of the park, when Draco mentioned a job.

“I’m going to try something new. It seemed like the proper next step to take.” he said, kicking a peddle out in front of him.

Harry didn’t quite know what to say, he thought it was very brave of Draco to try and he was very supportive, but he was worried too.

“It’ll be fine,” Draco continued. “My mum mentioned something that might suit me. I haven’t gotten my hopes up, I know not many wizarding folk would want to hire me, but I’d like to try.”

Harry could hear the nerves in Draco’s voice and switched his ice cream cone to his left hand and grabbed Draco’s hand.

He squeezed three times.

“You’re gonna do fine, anyone would be lucky to have you.”

He adored Draco Malfoy, there was no denying it.