Happily Ever After I'm Dead

Chapter 10

Harry stared at Malfoy as he retreated to the tent. Did he really feel bad about insulting him? He must have or he wouldn't have retreated to the safety of solitude like that. It wasn't like a Malfoy to retreat when insulted or yelled at, they liked to play it calm and collected instead.

"HARRY!" He jumped as the two portraits yelled his name simultaneously.

"What?" His voice was soft, not wanting the other man to hear him.

"If you don't take the time to go over there and make up with that boy, so help me I will come back to life and castrate you!"

"Ever so pleasant, dear godfather." He refused to listen to another word the portraits said and slowly got up. Taking a few tentative steps, his body taut, searching for any sign that Malfoy was, indeed, hurt.

He sped up when he heard a small rustle. It had sounded like someone shifting when they were upset. Small, fast movements, almost to the point of being jerky. He paused at the door to the tent and looked back at the pictures of Sirius and Elizabeth. Two complete opposites, yet Harry suspected that if they weren't cousins they would have made a great pair.

They waved at him to get a move-on and he thought he heard Sirius mutter something along the lines of 'before my painting yellows.'

Taking a deep breath, he walked in quietly and stopped when he saw his partner huddled in his blankets. His blond hair was the only thing that could be seen, the rest of his body covered and bound tightly inside the blankets.

He had apparently decided to make himself a living mummy, wrapped in the fetal position. He couldn't get over the fact that Draco Malfoy was huddled in the blankets like a child would. He took another few steps towards the boy, and paused again when he heard a shuddering intake of breath. He couldn't believe what was going on.

Draco Malfoy was crying.

He walked up to the bed and sat down on the edge. Harry felt his body stiffen, and he put a hand on his shoulder gently.

"I forgave you a long time ago, you know." He heard a vague answer, but years of fighting with the stubborn git had given him the uncanny sense to know what he would say in any given situation. "No, I won't go away. Because I care about you. Because you're a person and because our paintings will castrate me if I walk away."

"Castrate?"

"Yes, and I rather like everything where it is thank you very much."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm here because I care about you. You're a person with feelings and I'm sorry I ever doubted that." He watched Draco relax slightly, and silently thanked Merlin that he hadn't botched his apology up.

"Really? Because if you had any clue you wouldn't be saying that."

"Any clue about what? Seriously, this is what I know. I know you were a vicious child because you were scared and on your own. I also know that when you grew older you acted out of fear for your mother and friends. You did exactly what I would have done."

"No. You didn't consider anything I had to actually do."

"But I would have if I was in your position. Would I have actually done it? I guess we'll never know. But I would have considered it seriously, for sure."

Draco relaxed a little more, no longer in the tight, tense position he had been in before. Harry took that to mean that he could sit more fully on the bed, and did. His hand rubbed comforting circles in his shoulder. Circles that said 'I'm here and I care.'

"Why do you care?" Harry looked at the blond, seeing that he had fallen asleep. The question had been him sleep-talking.

He wondered at the question. Why did he care? He supposed that Malfoy could have a sense of humor, if a bit crude. And he was stubborn and determined, but that helped him get anything he wanted. He was crafty, and knew how to get what he wanted. And when the situation called for it, he was pretty brave. Harry looked up at the ceiling of the tent and got up.