An Angel's smile//Drarry

XI

I couldn't even start to express how Malfoy made me feel. We weren't even friends, but we definitely weren't rivals anymore. I'd never have thought that his smile would be an anchor in times of sadness. I mean I still disliked him a lot, but...his smile had been so angelic. I sighed, Draco Malfoy was the opposite of an angel.

The fact that he was hurting himself like that was understandable, the war had an effect on us all, but judging by the number of scars he'd been harming himself from way before the war. It made me empathize with him. He was a bit like me in that way, he was just a boy back then. I had been there too, maybe I could help him? Rivals or whatever we were at least, I was going to keep helping people, that included Draco Malfoy.

That was also the reason that I felt my blood boil when I saw him enter the great hall in that state, he should've gone to the infirmary! "Bloody Hell, look what happened to Malfoy!", Ron whispered to us. He didn't look too good, with blood on his face and shirt. He was limping, clutching his side, and leaning on Parkinson. "Good for him.", Ginny chuckled, but I could see she was slightly worried about what happened as well. "What do you guys think happened?", Neville asked. We were all watching them as they walked over to their table and sat down. "I heard Malfoy got his ass kicked by some of the lower year kids.", Seamus commented, joining our conversation. "Woah, that's intense. I mean he does kind off deserve it, but still.", Hermione said, frowning. "Nobody deserves that. The bloody war is over, when are people going to realize that?", I scowled.

My friends all watched me, surprised, as I stood up and walked over to the Slytherin table, sitting beside Parkinson. "We don't need any of your snarky remarks Potter.", she angrily said, but I ignored her. Instead, I turned my attention to Malfoy. "What happened?", I calmly asked him as he looked up at me. He stayed quiet for a moment, then he muttered: "I tripped.". Parkinson looked at him intensely, "You didn't fucking trip Draco, stop lying.", she sighed, hiding her head in her hands. I looked back at my former rival, he tried avoiding my gaze, but there was no use. "Look, I know it's some group of kids that did this to you. Just tell me who it is and I'll take care of it.", I answered. I tried to give him a small smile, but he sniggered at me. "When are you going to realize I don't need someone to save me, Potter! I'm not some project you can fix!", he angrily exclaimed. He tried to stand up and leave, but he didn't have the strength to.

I sighed, "I'm not trying to save you Malfoy. I'm trying to help, you need help. Look at it this way, I'm the golden boy, the chosen one, if I were, say, an ally of yours. I'm sure those Gryffindor kids wouldn't bother you anymore.", I proposed. When he didn't answer I decided it was my queue to leave. Parkinson however had seemed interested in my proposal.

"What the Hell Harry! Why'd you go talk to him?", Ron whispered as I said back down. "Because I'm not a bad person and I'd like for everyone to just bloody get along.", I said, taking a drink. "Do you just expect us to forgive him for everything he did? He's a bloody death eater Harry! He... he... He hurt people!", Ginny loudly said, clutching her fists. "He's not saying to be friends with him. Look at it from his point of view, he just wants people to stop hurting each other.", Hermione calmly said.

Nobody seemed to have a counterargument to that, so the conversation was simply dropped although I knew this would bother Ginny.

***

My first night with Malfoy. Was I scared he'd kill me in my sleep? Yes. Except I knew I couldn't sleep. He'd locked himself in the bathroom of our room as soon as we both arrived. I hadn't seen him since, but I'd heard him slip under his sheets while I pretended to be asleep. My nights were still nightmare-less, I was still awake. There was a moment when I almost dozed off until I heard a whimper. And another one. And then a sob. And a groan. And then all of a sudden a scream. I sat up, it was coming from opposite me.