Bonded (a drarry story)

Chapter 11

It'd been almost two months since they were first cursed, and both Harry and Draco were starting to get worried. Harry had expected Dumbledore to have already figured out the counter curse by now. The fact that he had heard absolutely nothing from Dumbledore was scaring him beyond belief. Dumbledore was the smartest wizard he'd ever known, and probably the smartest wizard alive, if he couldn't figure this out, who else could?

Draco was becoming afraid of how close he and Harry were becoming. He knew it was bound to happen, but each day as the curse wore on, they were being forced to get closer and closer to each other to feel anything. When they'd first gotten cursed, even a simple touch sent refreshing sparks throughout their bodies. Now, however, simple hand shakes and touches seemed to do nothing to ease their ailments. They'd been having to share really awkward hugs, for the same feeling to occur, and even then it wasn't as strong as it first was. And, they couldn't be apart from each other for long periods of time, like they used to be able to. They could be apart for maybe ten, fifteen minutes tops, before staring to become sick. Not only that, but Draco had been getting the weirdest feelings in his stomach and the weirdest feelings of attraction when he was around Harry, which was pretty much all the time. The attraction didn't surprise him, the curse was created for couples after all, but he hated it and feared it, and was disgusted by it and it scared him out of his mind.

They were both utterly exhausted. And they were really starting to lose hope.

Harry stopped letting Hermione and Ron visit, and he rarely, if ever, went to visit them. Not that he had talked to them much before, but Draco had stopped talking to his classmates altogether. They both stopped eating their meals in the Great Hall, and opted for the library, or even just their room. Outside of classes, they spent all their time in their room, never going to any feasts, parties, or anywhere else.

Not only was it embarrassing for Harry and Draco to be practically attached at the hip, but it was too much work to try and do anything when they had to be right next to each other at all times. It was becoming almost too hard to even go to classes.

Harry and Draco were more than thankful that it was Friday night, and classes were done for the week.

As soon as they were done with their last class, they trudged back to their room and collapsed next to each other on the couch. Harry sighed and covered his eyes with his hands. Draco leaned forward on his knees with his head in his hands, staring into the fire.

They stayed like this for close to an hour, before Harry broke the surprisingly comfortable silence.

In a quiet, defeated-sounding voice, Harry croaked out, "I don't know how much longer I can do this."

After about five minutes, and Harry thinking he wasn't going to get an answer, Draco spoke in an equally broken sounding voice. "Me either."

Harry sat up, uncovering his eyes and looked at Draco, who was still leaning on his knees. "I'm exhausted."

Draco sat up too, and looked at Harry. "So am I. That's the curse for you. It physically, mentally, and emotionally breaks its victims until they're dead."

"We're not going to make it out of this, are we?" Harry said, voice cracking.

"I... I don't know. Probably not."

"This is not how I imagined myself dying," Harry said, now at the point of trying to fight back tears. "I always thought Voldemort was going to be the one to kill me. Right after he'd killed my friends, and anyone who'd ever been like family to me, he'd torture me until I couldn't handle it and then torture me some more. He'd torture me until I was in so much pain, I'd be unable to even scream, and my mind would slip away from me until I'd be lucky enough to just die. I thought I would die trying to fight, and trying to protect the people I loved. I'd die trying to save the wizarding world. Not... not like this."

Draco had never seen Harry like this. He'd always been the hero of the wizarding world, The Golden Boy, The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter. He'd always been strong, seemingly afraid of nothing, and especially not afraid of Voldemort. He'd never seen him look so defeated, and so broken.

"What happened to you? I thought you were the great Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world. Harry Potter doesn't give up."

"Maybe I'm tired of being the great Harry Potter," Harry snapped. "Maybe I just want to be Harry, a Gryffindor at Hogwarts, best friends with Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, great at Defense Against the Dark Arts and terrible at Potions. Maybe I just want to spend the holidays with my family. Maybe I want a chance to know my parents. Maybe I don't want to always be expecting to die. Maybe I just want to be normal." His voice cracked and a tear slipped from his eye. "I didn't ask for any of this to happen to me. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero. Why did it have to be me?"

Draco hesitated before placing a light, comforting hand on Harry's thigh. "Because, you're strong. You've survived more than should be possible for a person. You can survive now. We both can."

"How?"

"I don't know. But we'll figure it out."

"How?"

"Same way we've been doing everything recently," Draco said. "Together. Just stay right here for a second, okay?"

Draco left Harry on the couch, running into their shared room and coming back only a couple of seconds later, a potion bottle in his hand.

"Is that-?"

"The Peace Draught. I think now is a good of time as ever to drink it. Things may only get harder from here, but maybe this can help us feel better for at least a day or two."

"Okay," Harry said. Draco uncorked the bottle, before downing half of it. He wiped his mouth and handed the bottle to Harry, who finished it off.

It didn't take long for the potion to start taking effect. Obviously, the current situation was still ever-present in the front of their minds, but the potion really did help to ease the anxiousness and fear they were feeling.

Harry chuckled a little. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we can get through this. Although it'd be much easier if you weren't such an insufferable prat," Harry said teasingly.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Right. I'm the insufferable prat."

"Most of the time, yeah."

Draco laughed and shoved Harry's shoulder. "I hate you."

"No, you don't," Harry said, laughing.

"You're right. I don't."

"Wait. What?" Harry said seriously. "You, you don't hate me?"

"I don't know," Draco said, slowly. "I did, honestly I hated you a lot. But not really anymore. Maybe you aren't completely the selfish, attention-seeking prick I thought you were."

"Well, thank you. And maybe you aren't as horrible as I once thought you were either."

"Well thank you."

"You're welcome," Harry said, laughing.

The rest of the night, Harry and Draco ate dinner together on the floor in front of the fireplace, making idle small talk, until they became tired. They decided they were too tired to walk back to their bedroom, so Draco conjured some pillows and blankets and the two of them fell asleep next to each other on the floor.

For the first time, in what had to be a very very long time, Harry and Draco both slept soundlessly and peacefully.

Omg! I'm so sorry for the long delay in the posting of this chapter. I was so proud of myself for posting a new chapter every week for three weeks in a row and I tried to stick to that but I got really busy and got really bad writer's block.

But thank you all so so much for being patient and hanging in there for me! And thanks to all those who are excited for this story and for new chapters, you really keep me going! 😘

Love you all,
~ E

Published: August 28, 2019