The Boy Who Lived

Tears of Laughter, Tears of Pain

They went out for meal to celebrate closing the case. It was an established tradition in the Auror Department. Harry invited Draco too, mostly (he convinced himself) for Pansy's sake as she still felt so new. Harry insisted she should come; she was part of the core team and had uncovered the important information about Triple-F that helped break the case. As with any of these meals, those outside the department were welcomed too, so Talbott and Mione and Bill Weasley were there too. And they'd bumped into Luna in the bar so she ended up joining the table too even though she had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. But Luna was Luna and she simply linked her arm through Pansy's and led her off to talk to her about the Rotfang Conspiracy or something.

Harry sat between Mione and Draco. Neville was busy grilling Draco about his fake curse at school and Mione was trying to surreptitiously question Harry about Draco until he put a definite stop to it. 'Enough about me, what about you?'

She fell silent, toying with her spinach gnocchi.

'Mione?'

'Ron's written to me...'

'And?'

'What do you know?'

He held up his hands defensively, 'I'm not getting involved and I'll tell you what I told him, I'm not going to act as your go-between. So, you tell me.'

'He said he's sorry, truly sorry. He's making some changes in his life and he's started to see a therapist. He doesn't expect me to want to see him but if I ever want to talk, he's waiting.'

'And?'

'I don't know. We'll see whether he actually means any of this and actually commits to these changes before I make up my mind one way or the other. I find it hard to believe him at the moment but there are times that I want to believe he wasn't happy over the last few years.'

'He hasn't been happy since he walked out on you.'

'Then why's it taken four years for him to realise?'

'I asked the same question. Pride, I guess, and stubbornness, and coping with the aftermath of the war, and a million other reasons which he needs to work through and sort out and face.'

She sighed and nodded. 'I hope he can explain. I need to understand if there's ever going to be a hope of me trusting him again. It's the second time he's walked out on me. At least the first time was understandable because the Horcrux was playing with his mind.'

'Maybe that never went away,' Harry said sadly. 'Maybe he never dealt with it and that's what will happen now he's seeing his therapist.'

'Maybe,' Mione said doubtfully. 'Have you been to Beaumont Hall yet?'

'No.'

'H!'

'I know...'

Draco asked the same question later that night after Pansy had gone to bed. They were in the kitchen together, talking over their respective mugs of tea and coffee. Draco was sitting on the counter and Harry was on the floor, brushing Hercules.

'So, why haven't you been to Beaumont yet? Are you avoiding it?'

Harry smiled, as if amused and took a deep breath and looked up into Draco's grey eyes that showed his light teasing. 'To be honest, I think I'm a bit intimidated by the prospect,' he admitted. 'You realise what I've come from, Minnie's cottage was small and humble and perfect so even Grimmauld Place seems too large for just me and Hercules, even the three, four of us now, so it's all relative.'

Draco sensed a defensiveness in his tone as if stealing himself against ridicule. He also saw the vulnerability in his viridian eyes. 'I understand,' he muttered quietly, no longer making eye-contact with Harry as guilt coursed through him regarding his own past pretentions mingled with the recent knowledge of Harry's mistreatment at the hands of his Muggle relatives and his subsequent humble but loving life with Minerva McGonagall. None of the worship and nonsense that Severus and his father had been so willing to sell as Potter's story was remotely near the truth. His whole life seemed utterly mistreated by most and misinterpreted by the masses. Or maybe he was just constantly misinterpreted by Draco. Either way, it made Draco feel terrible about the past.