March
Early March
Draco couldn’t get out of bed. This day had been looming for some time, but the weight of it had still taken him by surprise. In the paralysing fog of his tiredness and grief, he sensed the presence of a couple of house elves and then Athebyne, hovering around the periphery. This day just needed to be over.
Around midday there was a new, painfully familiar presence. Draco unearthed himself a little from his cocoon and squinted at the scruffy figure sitting slouched in his old armchair.
“Potter?” He said tiredly “why are you here?”
“Your cat came and pestered me until I followed her here. Sorry to interrupt. Are you sick?”
“That’s just fucking typical. No Potter. I’m just really fucking sad.”
“Oh. Do you want me to go?”
Athebyne meowed loudly, in a way that suggested she was annoyed. Draco felt around listlessly for something to throw.
“Ugh. No just stay. I’m not sure if it’s just that looking at you is so fucking painful that my emotions have given up, but this is actually the best I’ve felt all day”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No. Maybe… look it’s the anniversary… Up until March last year it was going OK, I mean it was pretty shit but we felt like we were making progress, that maybe we might even win. Then we got word that Augusta was in danger, and Neville and I went to see her. Merlin but it caused a huge argument. Eventually we agreed that Harry, Ron and Hermione would stay behind. They were supposed to be safe. We were the ones who were meant to be taking the stupid risk.”
Draco sniffed and buried his face in the pillow.
“We don’t know what happened, but the snatchers got tipped off and the safe house was raided. Harry, Ron and Hermione were all captured and ended up in Malfoy bloody Manor. The Order launched a raid but it took too long and it was already too late. They were dead.”
Draco had to stop and breathe until his heart calmed.
“I was a mess after that, and Neville too. He started taking all these stupid risks. Within a month he was gone, lost on some bonkers mission with half of the Order including Sirius dead with him. The rest of us just... retreated. I went to Hogwarts. Don’t know what I was hoping for but hiding in a closed up school with it’s dying headmaster a living bloody nightmare.”
“The device appeared in the room of requirement one particularly shitty day when I ended up railing aloud at the unfairness of it all. When I figured out what it was… it seemed like I was thrown a lifeline. Even more amazing that I actually managed to get it working again. I left the day after Dumbledore died.”
Draco ran out of words.
“That sounds… fucking awful” Harry said quietly “I’m sorry Draco”
“Yes. Truly fucking awful. I just wish the last time we’d seen each other hadn’t been a huge flaming row. I wish Harry hadn’t died alone and in pain. Sometimes when I can’t sleep I go over and over it, how it could have been different - if we’d all gone with Neville, or I’d stayed.”
Draco rolled over and thought about Harry’s bony knees and his hot, desperate hugs.
“Do you think… do you think you could just lie down here for a bit?“ but the memory of this Harry’s disturbed face flashed before his eyes and he backpedaled “No. Ignore me, I’m clearly losing my mind”
“Shut up” Harry was kicking off his shoes and climbing in next to Draco. He folded himself around Draco exactly as the other Harry had, although he kept his arm to himself.
For a while they lay next to each other in silence, and Draco watched the motes of dust dance in the beam of sunshine streaming through his window.
“You know you’re rather shorter than the other Harry? It took me a while to notice, at first I thought it was just that I’d grown, but it’s not that.”
“I was… hungry a lot… as a little kid. I think it affected my growth.”
“Ah. The muggles. So Sirius was right in his distain of those ones in particular. You know when I first got here I thought this world was the fixed-up version of mine, where things went the way they should have done and everything came good… eventually. But my Harry had a happy childhood, he laughed all the time. He never had nightmares, not even at the end. Pretty shitty that all this came at the expense of your suffering”
“Yeah. This place is pretty fucked up too. I mean we won, but yeah lots of people suffered or died.”
“I think I’ll sleep now. Don’t tell anyone what I told you about ok? I promised Mrs McGonagall I wouldn’t say anything. Clearly I’m not to be trusted, but I’d rather she wasn’t aware of that”
“Sure thing Draco. Now close your eyes and shut up.”
“Fine fine”
Late March
“Look Sir! I cut my arm on one of the axes Sir and look!” Rodrick looked up at Draco pleadingly - blood was dripping from the cut on his arm. On the floor the rot retreated from the spots of blood.
‘Fucks sake’ Draco thought to himself. The boy was a menace.
“An axe Rodrick?” He asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“Sam dared me to steal it from one of the suits of armour. I had to climb up it to reach, but my foot slipped.”
Draco couldn’t help pinching the top of his nose where a headache was developing.
“Then what happened? Why are you here in an area I expressly forbade you from entering? There are no suits of armour here”
Rodrick looked sheepish.
“The suit of armour chased me. It wasn’t that fast but I nearly pissed myself sir - it was so scary! I ran into the infected area cos I knew it wouldn’t be able to follow. Sure ‘nuff it collapsed one step in. Then I noticed what was happening with my blood”
As Rodrick spoke he waved his arm around, flinging bright red drops all over the walls and floor. Immediately they opened up into plain stone
“Fascinating” Draco said, musingly “OK Rodrick, stop making a mess. Take yourself to Madame Pomfrey and get it bandaged. I will return the suit of armour to it’s proper place.”
“But Sir! I can help with the wards now!”
“Don’t be ridiculous Rodrick, I’m not going to ask an eleven year old to donate body fluids. You need all your blood for growing. It is interesting information though, thankyou for showing me. I’ll let Hermione know”
Draco frowned as the young boy ran off clutching his arm. It was interesting information. Clearly the connection to the castle was what rendered the blood effective. Unfortunately the ability to connect was rare by all accounts. Still - it would be good to get help from one of the older students or teachers if they were able to form a bond with Hogwarts. Draco felt a ray of hope that finally he had caught a break