Let's Help Each Other (drarry)(eighth year)

Chapter 4

Malfoy took one last deep breath and walked up the stairs to his and Harry's room. When he reached the door, he paused, listening for any sounds coming from within. He thought he could faintly hear crying. He tried the door but it was locked.

"H-Harry?" Malfoy asked with much difficulty. He had never called never called Potter Harry before and the name sounded foreign on his tongue.

As soon as he spoke, he could the sobs from inside the room cease. "Malfoy?"

"Could you open the door?"

"Go away."

"Potter, p-please. I'm- I'm here to help", Draco didn't know why but he was starting to feel like crying. Harry didn't say anything else and Draco tried the door again. This time, the door creaked open. Draco first noticed how clean the room was, that is except for the pieces of broken glass littering the room and the large gap in the wall where the window once was. The last time he'd been in here, the room was practically burned to ashes, but now the room wasn't much better off.

But then he noticed Harry. He was sitting in the middle of the room with puffy, bloodshot eyes which had not yet stopped crying. Harry's nose was bleeding and his lip was very badly cut. He had a very large bruise around his left eye and there were large, deep gashes all over his face. His hair was stained with blood and had chunks of glass tangled in it. Draco hardly recognized him.

Draco let out a large sob "Potter! What have you done?", and Draco started crying.

"The pain. It was too much," Harry choked out.

"Wha-what? What pain?" Draco sank to the floor in front of Harry, trying desperately to control his breathing and to get himself to stop crying.

Harry just shook his head and wouldn't look at Draco. "Harry? Please, talk to me."

"Don't call me that," Harry said fiercely and suddenly.

"What?" asked Draco, a sharp pain of hurt stabbing him in the heart. Why couldn't Potter trust him?

"Don't call me Harry."

"Oh.. um. Sorry"

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Harry started crying again. Large, bloodstained tears ran down his face, making the blood on his face smear more.

Draco hated seeing him like this. He had no idea what had changed. Just a year ago, he hated the boy sitting in front of him. Hated him with every ounce of his being. Hated him for rejecting his friendship, hated him for mocking him, hated him for getting his father thrown in prison. He hated him for everything. And Potter hated him back. They were enemies. So Draco couldn't explain the feeling he got in his stomach when he saw Harry like this, and he couldn't explain why he let his guard down in front of Harry, why he had allowed himself to cry in front of him. What had Granger said? You guys aren't enemies. You only fight to hide your true feelings. Draco still didn't know what that meant. What "true feelings" had she been talking about? Draco didn't know, but he desperately wanted to and the only way to figure it out would be to talk to Potter.

"Potter?" Draco knew that Harry wouldn't respond if he only kept talking to him, so he did something very suspiciously Gryffindorish. He reached out and grabbed Harry's hand. Harry didn't try to pull away like Draco thought he would. Instead, he grasped tightly onto Draco's hand and held onto it for dear life. At this sudden affection from Harry, even more Gryffindorish tendencies rose out of Draco. He let go of Harry's hand and instead wrapped both of his arms around Harry's neck, pulling him into a tight hug. "It's going to be ok, H-Potter." Draco desperately wanted to call him Harry again but he was afraid of how Harry would react. Harry didn't respond but he wrapped his hands tightly around Draco.