We Open at the Close (Drarry)

Return to the Manor

 Tap tap tap.

Harry instinctively reached for his wand which he kept under his pillow and was momentarily confused to grab hold of a warm hand instead. Draco grumbled and rolled over.

"Bloody owl," he muttered. "What time is it?"

Harry squinted in the low light to check his watch. "Five thirty."

Draco groaned and pulled the quilt over his shoulder while Harry reached blindly for his glasses on the bedside table and shoved them on his face. An eagle owl waited eagerly at the bedroom window, tapping its sharp beak on the glass to get his attention. Reluctantly he climbed out of the warm bed and opened the window, shivering as a cool breeze kissed his bare skin. Harry took the parchment from the bird and hurried back under the warm bedsheets.

"Who the fuck is messaging you at this time?" asked Draco, his voice muffled by the pillow.

Harry tore the letter open and after a moment he said, "Your mother."

"What?" Draco immediately sat upright and rubbed sleep from his eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Harry's face was set in a deep frown as he read the note. "She wants me to go to the funeral."

" What? " Draco snatched the letter from Harry's hands and read it for himself. He shook his head in disbelief and dropped it onto the bed. "What is she playing at? She's rude to you and threatens to hex you, now she wants you to attend my father's funeral, the last bloody place you'd want to be. She's lost the plot."

"I'll go if you want me to," Harry offered.

Draco stilled. "You'd really do that?"

"I'd do it for you, yeah. If you rather I didn't go, that's fine, too."

Draco shook his head. "No I...I'd like you to be there. I didn't ask because I didn't think you'd agree to it."

Harry smiled. "If me being there helps you, then I'll go."

Draco pulled Harry back under the covers and held him close. "Thank you."

Harry kissed Draco and snuggled in closer, enjoying the heat from the covers and Draco's body against his own.

"It still doesn't feel real," said Draco quietly. "I know I've seen his body, but it still feels like he's going to walk through the door at any moment."

"I kept thinking that when Sirius died," Harry confided. "I was half-convinced that he was just hiding out somewhere until it was safe for him to come back. It took me a long time to accept that I was never going to see him again."

"Does it get better?" asked Draco. "This feeling, it keeps coming in waves. One minute I feel empty and the next I just feel so...overwhelmed. Does it get better eventually?"

"You get used to it," said Harry honestly. "It never stops hurting completely, but you learn to live with it. Over time, it hurts less to think about them. It can even feel nice, like a pleasant ache. It hurts because you miss them, but you feel glad that you loved someone so much. I don't know if that makes any sense."

Draco sighed. "I just wish I could take the pain away from my mother. She's hurting so much and there's nothing I can do about it."

"Pain is part of being human," said Harry sagely.

"I hate being human sometimes."

Harry kissed the crown of his blond head. "Yeah, me too."

***

Draco and Harry got dressed before flooing over to the cottage where they found Narcissa already waiting for them in the living room. Looking resplendent in black velvet robes she rose to her feet and kissed Draco on the cheek, who wore similar heavy black funeral robes. Harry opted for a black suit and tie with his formal black travelling cloak, but felt underdressed next to the Malfoys – an all-too-familiar feeling. Narcissa looked at Harry.