Everyone was still asleep when Draco had returned to the castle. He meandered the halls, troubled with thoughts about Harry's outburst. Meditatively, he waited for the others to wake, spending most of that time in the placid comforts of the library. Although his surroundings were tranquil, he was not. His leg bounced up and down nervously no matter how hard he tried to stay still and he was constantly rubbing his hands over his thighs with endless vigor.
Castling frequent glances up at the clock, time seemed to slow down. This did not help his anxiety. It had only been a few hours since Harry's departure when students began to fill into the library, disturbing his quiet. He left the room and went down to the great hall to look for Pansy, who had over the past few months recovered their friendship.
"And then he just left me there, with no explanation at all except that he had seen his godfather in a dream," He said, explaining what had happened the night prior, leaving out the part about them kissing. "It feels like forever since he's left. What if he's in danger" He turned his gaze over to the Gryffindor table, "looks like he took his worthless buddies with him, Longbottom, weaslette, Granger, and other Weasley."
"How are you going to survive this summer?" Pansy asked in an entertained tone.
"This is different, he could be hurt." He stated plainly. She rolled her eyes and went back to her conversation with Blaise. He stared at his empty plate. He was Harry Potter, he would be okay, he always seemed to come out Okay, this was the thought that kept him going throughout the day.
As he sat in potions later that day, he stared at Harry's vacant seat, not paying any attention to Snape's lesson on some useless potion. It was then that Professor McGonagall stepped into the room, "Severus, I need to speak with Mr. Malfoy." His eyes went wide and he scooted to the edge of his chair, looking at Snape for reassurance that he could leave.
The professor glared but nodded his head, he seemed to know what it was about. Harry had returned. He got up quickly and followed Professor McGonagall to the hospital wing. "Why are we going to the hospital wing?" He asked. He tried not to think about what could have happened to him. "Is he alright?"
"Calm down Draco, he's fine. The others, well, they'll need to spend some time there."
He pushed open the door and found Harry on the side of Weasleys bed, Weaslette on the other side, Granger at the end of the bed. Longbottom laid in the bed on the other side. Harry got up from his seat at the sight of him, He threw his arms around Draco and kissed him gently, not caring that his friends were watching.
"Hey, uh, guys. We're still here." Ginny said, annoyed.
"Don't look if you don't like it," Draco snapped. She turned away aggravated.
"Listen Draco, I am so sorry I just left like that, I was kind of worried and I needed to help-"
"Is he okay then?"
"I'll tell you everything, have a seat."
Draco pulled up a chair next to Harry and listened as he told about entering the ministry and fighting the death eaters to what Dumbledore had told him about the prophecy. He paused before telling him about Sirius. "It was a trap, Draco
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Voldemort just wanted me to pick up the prophecy. Sirius was fine....but he had to come and help me defeat the death eaters, and...."He was so close to tears at this point, but he refused to cry, not in front of his friends, "he didn't make it, because he had to come and help me."
"Don't say that, Harry. It wasn't your fault," Draco said, bringing him into a tight embrace.
"One more thing, Draco." He rubbed the tears from his eyes, " your father, he's... well I think he got arrested. He might have gotten away when Voldemort dissaperated, I forgot to ask Dumbledore."
"Well, I hope he is. Then maybe I won't have to talk to him about us."
Ron's parents burst into the room at that moment which made them all jump up from their seated position. Realizing who had just come in, they all sat. "Oh Harry, we heard what you did, thank you so much, you've saved another Weasley. Thank you" Mrs. Weasley said, Giving Harry a hug before going over to Ron's bed.
"Thank you, Harry." Mr. Weasley said, addressing him with a firm handshake.
"We should get out of here," Harry whispered to Draco. He nodded and the two of them got up from the bedside and exited the hospital wing. Wandering the halls until they found themselves at the entrance to the astronomy tower. "After you," Harry said motioning towards the door.
"Such a gentleman," Draco said rolling his eyes and entering the tower. They walked soundlessly up to the top. "You don't think I'll be able to write to you over the summer, do you?" Harry shook his head, " the Dursleys have this very strict rule about not communicating with the wizarding world."
"It'll be mighty lonely. I'm not used to this feeling."
"Loneliness?"
"No, love, I think."
"Don't tell me you've never experienced love before."
"Well, I guess I haven't. You would be my first. My father always taught to ignore love and go for more of the ruthless tactic of corresponding"
"That's just wrong. You know it was my mother's love that protected me from Voldemort. It's the only reason I'm am alive, I know it sounds cheesy, but it's true."
"I think it will take a while to get used to the feeling, it's weird, I find myself always thinking about you whenever I'm not really thinking about what I'm thinking about, if that makes any sense at all. And whenever I see you, I just get this feeling in my chest, this burning feeling, and whenever we touch I just feel like it should be more, a-and my heart, It like hurts. I can't explain it, it's just like I always need to be with you. It's crazy that I can feel all these things at once and I don't know what's going on, love is weird. It's a weird feeling, and at first I wasn't sure if it was correct or if I liked it, it felt wrong, kind of like guilt, but it wasn't. Then I realized what it was, and I'm sorry I'm kind of just rambling on, probably not making any sense, but love doesn't make any sense, so it's okay."
"It makes perfect sense to me."
"At least I'm not the only one of us who is mad."
"You know, we should go pack, we have to leave tomorrow and I don't know where half of my stuff is," Harry suggested.
"All right, well this is it then? See you next year."
"Woah, not just yet, we still have all of tomorrow and the train ride back. Don't get too eager to get rid of me."
"You didn't hear a single word of my rant, did you?"
They left the tower hand in hand, wander the grounds around the school until night fell and they had to return inside.
