flower crowns | drarry

thirty four

thirty four
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draco stayed by harry's side all night.

predictably, he wasn't able to get much sleep. the night was busy for him, as after explaining the situation to madam pomfrey, who came by briefly to check on harry's condition, he spent the hours carefully monitoring harry's fever, performing cooling spells at regular intervals and wiping at his brow with wet cloths.

he entertained himself by rattling exhaustion-slurred flower facts, filling the silence with his own hushed words until his eyelids began to slip closed and slumber embraced him.

however, he was never able to rest for long before he was jolted into consciousness by the sound of harry's low whines or panicked cries, and he repeated the cycle over again. at one point, harry woke up and found himself seemingly alone on his bed, unable to make out draco's figure in the dark, and began tossing fitfully, high pitched whimpers slowly escalating into soft, broken wails.

draco, disoriented and scared, ended up climbing into bed beside him and holding him in his arms for the remainder of the night. it was his first time properly cuddling with harry, and it should have been wonderful, a fulfillment of a shameful fantasy he'd been entertaining for far too long, but draco was too sick with worry to enjoy it.

the night was restless and hard, a quiet battle through the twilight hours, and when the sun rose, it found draco in fitful sleep, his arms curled around harry's thin waist and half his face buried in harry's nest of wild hair.

this time, he awoke to harry whimpering against his neck. it took a few slow blinks for draco's brain to catch up, but when he realized that harry was trembling softly in his arms, he jolted awake.

he shifted to get a better look at harry, and found his face pinched in pain, fingers curled tightly in the fabric of draco's sweater. he seemed to be awake, just not opening his eyes.

"baby," draco murmured softly, his sleepy state of mind not even thinking about the use of the pet name. "what's wrong? are you feeling sick?"

harry pressed himself closer to draco, and moved his head against the blond's shoulder, although draco couldn't tell if he's nodding or shaking his head.

with a worried hum, draco pushed himself into a sitting position and propped himself up on harry's pillows, hushing harry's whines as he rearranged them.

"harry," draco said, holding a hand to harry's forehead. he's clammy and still warm, but less so than he was last night. "harry, can you open your eyes for me?"

slowly, harry did what he said. his eyes were dull and tired as they met draco's, but much less panicked, which he considered a win.

"what hurts?" he asked. "can you tell me?"

harry whined softly and whispered, "everything..."

then his face flooded with shame, and he buried his head again, shoulders quivering.

"baby?" draco asked a bit frantically, unsure of what happened. he brushed his hand against harry's back, and harry whispered something else against his skin.

"what was that?" draco questioned gently.

harry lifted his head a little bit, and draco startled at the sadness in his eyes. "...sorry..."