Delicate {𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪}

Chapter 26

Upon Harry and Ginny's departure, the rest of the students turned to each other and seemed to have a silent conversation with one another. A testament to the amount of time they had been spending together recently. They all seemed to know that even when they had Harry beck with them, they wouldn't be straying to far from one another.

They all had the decency to pretend they couldn't see the tears cascading down Draco's cheeks, which the blonde appreciated immensely, however, the buoyant atmosphere that had temporarily appeared upon the realisation that Harry wasn't ignoring them on purpose, came crashing down like a house of cards as they all began to realise the implications of the aforementioned realisation.

Pansy turned to Hermione, who in turn nodded her head and dragged Blaise and Ron away, up towards the Room of requirement where they could create a plan on how to save harry, held captive within his own head.

Ron seemed downtrodden upon the confirmation of his sister's part in the scheme to control the boy who has been more of a brother to him than any of the 5 he- 4 he corrected himself. Any of the 4 he had at home.

Don't get him wrong, Ron absolutely loved his family and his siblings. He loved spending time with them, messing, joking, playing quidditch. But Ron was the youngest boy. He didn't really have much that made him stand out. He wasn't the eldest, he wasn't the brave dragon tamer Charlie was, he wasn't the twins, who had always had so much attention because of their constant scheming. Hell, he wasn't even Percy, Prefect and head-boy, even after abandoning them, Percy was talked about more than he was. Then of course there was Ginny. The actual youngest and only girl.

Harry and Hermione were his siblings by choice for so many years, and now he and Hermione were together, which was, admittedly, pretty weird because of their close friendship. Harry had always been there for him, without fail, even when he ignored him in 4th year and was a downright git. Harry never held it against him.

So to have his brother betrayed and, violated really, by his sister, left him confused and horrified. He didn't know what to do or who to tell. He knew his mum and dad saw harry as another son, but would they take his side if it meant going against their youngest and only daughter? As horrible as it sounded, Ron wasn't really sure.

Ron also couldn't deny that he was surprised to walk into the room after his raging sister and spot the two boys lip-locked in what appeared to be a pretty intense kiss, but when he looked at the others, they all seemed pretty unsurprised. When Ron really considered it, it wasn't totally shocking.

Harry had been disappearing more and more often and he and Draco had definitely been closer than they had been, even when they first started talking. Especially during the 8th year parties.

Ron knew his friend was happy with the blond, having seen a smile on his face recently, more often than he thinks he ever had. Or at least a genuine smile, while Ron had already become pretty apt at distinguishing between those and Harry's common forced ones, it was getting easier to tell the difference, when one would light up his entire face and cause his eyes to almost sparkle with mirth and mischief burning bright emerald when previously they had remained a dull green with each of his smiles.

Ron, while having some slight reservations about the pairing, having experience Harry's happiness first-hand and spoken to Draco more and more often recently, was well able to see how good the two were for each other. Ron was just happy that Harry was. Finally.

Ron was startled out of his musings when they arrived at the room of requirement, eyes widening in surprise. He must have been pretty out of it if he went up 6 flights of stairs without complaint.

Hermione clearly thought the same thing as she was looking at him concernedly. He shook her off, sending her a reassuring smile, unsure whether it was more for her or himself.

Back downstairs, Draco slumped against the wall as the others turned the corner no longer in view. His entire body felt lethargic as his body drained all his energy. The encounter had sucked all the life out of him and he couldn't remain on his feet.

His thoughts were swirling, emotions swarming and overwhelming. Relief, horror, exhaustion, anger? Draco didn't know what to feel, and so his mind couldn't settle on one emotion. He knew he needed to get himself under control before he fell into a panic, but he couldn't do it.

He slid down onto the floor, knees tucked up and just started to cry, everything becoming too much.

He pushed his face into his arms in an effort to hide himself from his best friend despite knowing that she was well aware of his emotional state at the moment.

Pansy walked over towards him and pulled the boy into her arms. He choked on a sob as he buried his face into the crook of her neck and she hushed him gently, simply holding him tightly to her, refusing to let him go while in this state. She knew he would explode.

They sat there for a few moments, brother and sister in all but blood, never having failed in support of one another before. Draco didn't know what he would do without both Blaise and Pansy on his side. He's sure he wouldn't have made it out on this side of the war.

"I know, I know Draco, let it out, it's just me okay? I know," Pansy was whispering gently, allowing Draco to get his emotions back under control, or at least more stable. It took another few minutes of his just quietly crying into her shoulder before he was able to pull away and wipe his tears.

Pansy smiled at him gently, not wanting to push him, knowing he'd start speaking as long as she showed that all she was there to do was listen. Draco breathed deeply, allowing the oxygen to fill his longs, focusing on the feeling of his chest rising and falling, the feeling is a pulse in his fingertips and the blurry vision in his eyes clearing.

He turned to face his best friend and give her a cracked, broken smile that she forced herself to return, hating the pain Draco was feeling, but trusting that they could solve it together.

"I think I love you know," Draco started conversationally, the crack in his voice giving him away as he coughed out a choked laugh. Pansy smiled at him sadly, already suspecting that he did. "I know. And we're gonna get him back to you. Don't you worry?"

Draco gave her a very fragile smile, weak as a porcelain doll and as breakable as a china plate, but he was trying and hopefully, upon Harry's return to him, his smile would strengthen, with the raven there to catch it carefully if it fell, ready to keep It safe and sound with his mere presence.

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Yes, this is 2 days late but you're getting a chapter on Thursday as well as today to make up for it :)

Love you all, vote and comment if you want to!

Lila out 💜