Multi-fandom One-shots

Drarry

Midnight wander

Fluff, sad Draco, HBP - 1.6k words

Draco had never been one for hiding emotions, expressing them through heavily layered sarcasm and complaints maybe, but somehow they were always on display for the world. Pansy didn't laugh at his jokes? A first year gets elbowed in the face as he moans. Weasley isn't insulted by his clever cracks at his mildly overweight mother? Someone is going to know about it.

But this was different, not only because he couldn't tell anyone the reason, or because he had matured, but because this changed his whole life, his whole personality and it hurt.

The pure stress of the task he had set upon him had worn his ego so thin that he could see the other side, he saw people who aren't weak or cowardly but good, happy, alive. He saw himself reflected in the cracked mirror of the abandoned girls bathroom and saw a husk of what he once believed himself to be, now only a naive child who had relished in the comfort of his status.

He had cried there for nights on end, too scared to face the inevitable pain awaiting him. He saw rosy red blotches in his usually paper white face and he hated it more than he could say.

The castle walls seemed to accept his presence as he wandered back to the common room, taking a small detour to admire the place he'd always take for granted.

The castle walls seemed to have a warm and welcoming feeling that nowhere else did, his hand slid over the bricks and the course texture sent a fuzzy feeling to his fingertips. Quietly, he listened, the echoes of his careful footsteps the only thing he could hear in the towering corridor. He passed a painting of two monks that he assumed were famous for something, snoring quietly, he felt an unfamiliar smile creep onto his lips as one kicked the other in his deep slumber.

Though the castle was beautiful, and the silence was golden, he could feel silent tears welling up in his eyes. This partial admition of weakness was almost becoming common place in his life, seeing as nothing else was constant it was a good start.
He stayed gently brushing the walls and kicking his feet, forgetting about the outside world, his growing fear for the hunt of power, humming a tune he made fun of that Weasley girl for humming on his way to potions.

All was peaceful even with his quiet tears.

Harry stood stuck with fear, he had heard something he was sure must be a teacher, a quiet humming of 'cauldron full of hot strong love' came from just the other side of the slowly turning staircase. He had taken the liberty of leaving his cloak behind on this search for Malfoy, he was determined he would confront him and find out his secret doings. But now, if being caught by a professor wasn't bad enough, he would have the marauders map in plain sight too.

He chanced a look around the corner, straightening his glasses as he did so, hoping to not see McGonagall, he couldn't imagine she would be too pleased to be caught humming something as tacky as Celestina Warbeck.

Harry gasped audibly as he saw the mange had been looking for practically skipping down the corridor, his bleach blonde hair swaying lightly and... Was that, tears? He wanted to be pleased to catch his enemy in such a compromising position but he just felt sad looking on at the depressing sight before him. He almost concidered just leaving Draco to it, not mentioning it again, it seemed like such a private moment to interrupt.
However before he could register what was going on, he had began making his way down the harsh, stone staircase, now perfectly positioned to where Draco was walking.

Draco paused in his wander, deciding to take the time to compose himself as the thought had struck him that a painting might be awake, watching him cry and stroke the walls like some kind of... Mental patient. Before he had the chance to do anything he heard a footstep on the stairs behind him, making him pause in his tracks and reach slowly for his wand.

"Who's there" Draco muttered, trying to sound authoritative but cursing as his voice broke slightly, Harry stood paused behind him, not sure where to go from here. He knew that if he announced it was him spells would be cast without warning and within minutes he would have woken the whole castle and not gotten any closer to discovering the truth. On the other hand, he wasn't sure he felt like fighting, this was an unsuspected side of Malfoy, he felt almost as if he could just ask him.

"Draco, I don't want to fight," he whispered, moving closer to his opponent, now turning around, stiff with shock. Harry wanted to say something more, what exactly, he couldn't say.

"What are you doing here Potter!?" Draco attempted to sound angry but came off just as frightened as he had felt in the bathroom mere minutes ago. "I..." Harry was lost for words, he knew that there was a sadder side to Draco, of course he did, but being faced with it so directly made him unsure. He had seemed just as Harry felt, like a teen, like a child out of his depth.

Both stared at eachother for a while, the hard barrier in Draco's eyes slowly softening. "What?" Draco asked, with only a mild attempt at being spiteful, "I'm sorry."
Harry didn't quite know why he'd said it, but it was true, he was sorry that he'd seen Draco at such a personal time, he was sorry he'd broken that unspoken bond of hatred between them.

"You don't have to be sorry." Draco didn't know why he'd said it either, he still refused to let feeling seep into his voice, yet he had just uttered the kindest thing he had said all year. He was obviously afraid, totally bricking it, but he felt that Harry understood in that moment just how lost he felt. It was a big and scary world for both of them, one they had been thrown into unwillingly and told to fight to survive.

The silence was comfortable as they slowly made their way back to their respective dormitories - or at least attempted to. Harry was sure he could have just pushed aside a tapestry a few metres back that sent him back to bed. Draco too had noticed that he seemed to be avoiding shortcuts and any staircase that would take him down to where he needed to go.

"Draco?" Harry asked, feeling Malfoy tense up beside him as he spoke, "we should have broken up a while ago..." He said, meaning they should have gone their separate ways a while ago. Draco grinned an almost smug grin, "I never knew you felt that way, Potter!" He muttered, smiling at his own joke. "No, that's not what I...." Harry mumbled, before breaking into a small giggle, glancing over at Draco and making eye contact. For a brief second they both seemed to forget their place in this war. Harry thought of asking Draco what he was up to, he thought of using this time to catch him out, he hadn't forgotten why he was there after all. For some reason, all of that left him as he saw Draco's eyes light up from the happiness both of them shared in that moment.

After a small period of deliberation, Harry decided to be as honest as he could be, "you'd be alright if you weren't so crap towards all of us, you know that right?" There was silence as neither of them were quite sure to whether it had been a compliment or not. "You're clever." Harry blurted out, he had to admit, the silence was awkward.

"Why are you still walking with me?" Draco asked, an attempted layer of disapproval was evident but Harry could tell that outside of that, he was genuinely curious. "Well stop walking and I'll stand with you," Harry replied, very confused but also very pleased with himself. The portrait of a sleeping monk next to harry gave a loud, rumbling snore which made him jump.

"Look" sighed Draco, turning to face Harry with a true look of seriousness now evident, "I assume you were up this late so you could follow me, I've noticed. If you're just here to spy then you can piss off back to the cesspool you came from." And with that he turned on his heel back the way they came so he could go to sleep, stopped only by a hand grabbing his arm, Harry's hand.

"Okay yeah, I really want to know what you're doing, I don't trust you, I think you're a git." Admittedly not the best of starts, "but I'm walking because I felt sorry for you, okay, you looked sad, you looked... Different. I was interested, you made me laugh. That's all, but if you're still going to be a git then I guess I was right all along, night... Malfoy." They both seemed taken aback by his sudden outburst of emotion, Harry's hand still rested on Draco's arm.

Draco's eyes visibly softened as he moved back to face Harry, the same innocent and lonesome look Harry had first seen sat on his face. "Thankyou," he whispered, leaning in towards a shocked Harry and placing a light kiss on his cheek before walking away, once again running his fingers across the wall.