Drarry - A New Beginning

Chapter 28. You and I

Draco returned to the common room closely followed by Ron. As he entered, he noticed that the atmosphere felt quiet, like the life had been drained from everyone who occupied the space

Hermione was curled in the corner of the sofa lost in a book, Pansy and Blaise were squished together on a beanbag talking quietly. Neville was playing cards with Seamus while Dean was sketching up the table, various other students were dotted across the room relaxing. The fire crackled in the corner and the huge curtains had been drawn creating a cosy atmosphere

As Draco entered, he noticed a lot of the group look up at him with a trace of pity in their eyes, no one spoke, they only gave him sympathetic smiles. He figured that word must have spread about his breakup with Harry, and on that thought, a certain dishevelled, slightly tired-looking brunette appeared from the dorm room hallway

Everyone looked from Harry to Draco, the tension in the air was thick, no body wanted to breath a word 

"Hey" Draco whispered, looking at Harry with a face full of regret. Harry simply nodded back at him awkwardly "Can we talk?"

Harry eyes darted across to the others sitting beside them, stares boring into his soul feeling the pressure of everyone looking and knowing what was going on

"Um... yeah... sure I guess" Harry mumbled quietly, twisting his mouth in uncertainty. Seeing Draco hurt so much, his heart felt so full for him, he wanted to hug and hold and kiss him forever and ever, so much so that this tension between them was ripping him in two

Draco followed Harry silently back to Harry's bedroom, where he closed the door gently and turned back to face him. Harry stood with his arms folded in his oversized jumper, his curls flopping over his forehead touching the top of his glasses which Draco thought made him look so bloody adorable, he couldn't help but melt at the sight of Harry 

"Whatever you've come to say, please just say it quickly so I can get past this pain faster" Harry stated, his eyes glued to the floor

Draco took a step forward "Harry... I'm so sorry. I was just so scared that... once you realised what life with me would be like with me after Hogwarts, you'd drift away from me... It would remind you of all the horrible things from your past"

"Well enlighten me then. What is life suppose to look like with you after Hogwarts?" Harry insisted

"Look, I may not be a death eater any more, but that doesn't mean they can't track me down again. There's a chance they'll torture me again for turning my back on them. Torture me like Voldemort did..." Draco broke off, his voice breaking at the memory of the Dark Lord's abuse

He bowed his head and subconsciously rubbed the scars on his wrists. Harry looked at him with hurt in his eyes, hating every minute of this 

"My father will definitely try to kill you, I know that for sure. I'll most likely be hiding my whole life, if the death eaters don't try to hurt me then everyone else surely will... people in the wizarding world know me, Harry. They know who the Malfoys are, they know what we did and they're angry. If you're with me... you'll receive abuse and threats and I can't bare the thought of you getting hurt or worse... killed" he stopped and bit back tears that were welling inside

There was a long silence before Harry finally spoke, squeezing his arms to his chest as though he were freezing, instead he felt numb from the hurt

"I really don't care. If I have to go through even a second of that, I'll do it because you mean more to me than anything in my life right now, Draco"

Draco opened his mouth to argue back but Harry cut him off 

"I am so hopelessly and painfully in love with you, Draco. Every single part of you from your stupid perfect hair to your ridiculously spotless clothing. Your face that I caress that's absolutely flawless, the dumb jokes you tell that make me do that ugly snorting laugh that you make fun of. The way you complain constantly about my, what did you call it?-"birds nest of hair" yet you always run your fingers through it when we make love and you adore the way it smells of mango"