Harry was willing to admit he was miserable without Draco. He was willing to admit he was wrong. But most of all he was willing to admit that he should not have let that man walk out his door.
Harry barely slept and he ate even less than that. It was the downward cycle he thought he was done facing. But of course not, it just kept coming back, it always came back. First it had happened with Dumbledore, then with Ginny, then Hermione and Ron. After that, he thought it was over. Harry thought no one else would enter his life that would make this side of him come out.
Yet, it had. Harry's anxiety consumed him and his panic attacks grew increasingly more frequent. He felt as if he had just received a dementor's kiss, like his soul was being ripped from him until all that was left was the longing for someone he could never have.
That's the state Hermione and Ron found Harry in when they entered his apartment about a month after the incident with Draco. The two were very concerned for Harry and they knew how he tended to get when this kind of stuff happened. So they stopped by. They found Harry asleep on his bedroom floor.
His hair was even more of a mess than usual and he was so, so pale. He looked suspiciously like he hadn't eaten in days. In short, it was the worst Hermione and Ron had ever seen him.
The couple shared a glance and Ron made his way over to the lump on the floor named Harry Potter. Ron shook the man. And he shook him again, but nothing was happening. After five tries and five fails, Ron looked up at Hermione with wide eyes and tight lips, showing very clearly how bewildered and frightened he was.
"Is he alive, Ron?" She was scared to ask but even more scared not to.
"He's breathing. But it's faint, Hermione, we need to get him help now."
They apparated to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in a flurry. Ron held Harry just like Hagrid had all those years ago, when everyone thought he was dead. The healers saw who had entered and rushed Harry into a room. Ron followed and turned to Hermione before he entered, gesturing for her to come too. She shook her head and Ron shrugged in response.
Hermione couldn't enter yet. There was someone she needed to see. With that she apparated away.
Draco dropped the wash rag and kitchen pot he had been holding when Hermione Granger showed up in his kitchen.
"Granger. What a pleasant surprise?" He tried.
"No time, Draco. It's Harry," she spoke.
"What happened? Is he okay? Where is he? He'll be okay, right?"
It was so clear that Draco was in distress that Hermione felt herself melt just a little. She had to keep reminding herself that this was Draco Malfoy, and he was vulnerable. Vulnerable for Harry. Gone were his steely masks of cold indifference. For once, every emotion racing through the man's mind was evident on his face. He really was concerned for Harry.
They apparated back to St. Mungo's and raced to Harry's room. Hermione entered the room and collapsed onto Ron desperately. But Draco, he was stuck. Frozen in place at the door. It was Harry, though he hadn't doubted, seeing him in the hospital bed hit him hard. He felt like his heart had been gut-punched.
Harry looked like a disaster. And the constant flurry of healers in and out of the room made his pale, unhealthy frame look even worse in the consuming hospital bed. Draco finally drew up the courage to look at Harry's face. It was too pale for his usually tan skin and all of the hollows of his face were deep and the bags under his eyes consumed the green hidden behind the closed eyes. Draco couldn't stand it.
And just like that, he was unstuck. Draco walked the remaining distance to Harry's bedside, and collapsed in the chair. He laid his face on the side of the bed as he grasped at Harry's hand. He had to be okay, Harry couldn't not be. Not after they fought like this, not ever.
After a while the healers settled down and their intrusions grew less frequent, until they stopped for a while. This left the three alone with Harry. No one spoke and no one smiled.
Eventually, the head healer returned to tell them what had happened.
"It seems Mr. Potter has been severely sleep deprived and hasn't been eating very much at all. But there seems to be something missing from this puzzle; do any of you know if Mr. Potter suffers from any kind of mental instability?"
"He has extreme anxiety, panic attacks, he was depressed once before but had Potions for that and one healer said he could stop," Hermione listed, sitting up and clenching Ron's hand so tightly it must've hurt.
Draco gaped at her answer.
"It seems one of these probably started this. Our plan is to get some nutrients into him, and we'll go from there."
The healer turned to leave and just before he walked out the door, Draco mumbled a quiet, "thank you."
Over time, Draco felt Harry start to stir. Draco just held his hand tighter.
"Drrrr..." they heard Harry mumble, in the state between sleep and wake. Draco stared at the man, encouragingly.
"Dr-aco," Harry spoke. Draco may or may not have squeaked a little.
Hermione smiled at the pair as she and Ron watched from the corner of the room. She never thought she would see the day that this would happen. But, they worked well together, she didn't have to be around them both fully conscious to see that. There was just something in the air between them that let her know, it was almost like the glow of magic, and she thought to herself that it probably was.
