Potter!

Dark grey and sombre

The next few days were torment for both Draco and Harry.

Draco completely avoided his lover. He couldn't face him, knowing he had the choice of his life or death. The chosen one had survived the killing curse twice, but it was unlikely he would survive it a third, considering he was no longer a horcrux to be destroyed.

At the Slytherin table, Draco tapped his feet anxiously, his spoon dangling from his long, pale fingers, his porridge cold and untouched. The hum of the students early morning chatter rang around him but he took no notice. He mind was too engrossed in finding a solution to his problem.

How could he do it? How could he kill Harry Potter? When he loved him with all his heart. He hadn't even managed to kill Dumbledore, and Harry meant a great deal more to him now. He couldn't face watching the light in his green eyes fade into nothing, and his back hit the floor, his pale body laying still and lifeless. The scenario in his head had been imagined over and over, he'd seen his lovers dead body countless times. It was starting to scar him mentally.

But how could he let his mother die? How could he let his father murder her because of him. She didn't deserve it. After all she had saved Harry during the battle. She deserved to be far away from Lucius and the harm he caused. Her only crime was caring for her son. He wondered if his father knew that she had lied to the Dark Lord for Draco's sake, and so led to his death and Potter's victory. Perhaps it was punishment for them both, after Draco had refused to confirm that it was the chosen one underneath Hermione's clever stinging jinx and heroically helped him during the battle.

Whilst in a daydream, green eyes found his from across the hall, and begged him to come over. At breakfast, and most mealtimes, he usually sat with Harry. But he couldn't face him right now. His loving touch and soft whispers were too much for him to handle, he didn't deserve it, and letting himself to succumb to it would make it all the more difficult to kill him.

Draco left the hall, without a word or glance at his lover, whose heart broke at the sight. He'd left him alone for a few days now, why was he still so far away mentally? His eyes were dark grey and sombre. It was as though his time at the Manor had ripped out the last part of soul he'd had left which Harry had been trying desperately to repair.

Swinging his legs over the end of the table, he went to get up, but was stopped by a firm hand.

"Give him space, mate. He's clearly upset. What did you do?" Ron's words passed through his stomach like a dagger. He wondered whether this is what he wanted, the two to be apart and Harry to be miserable.

"I didn't do anything. I told you, he went to Malfoy Manor and came back all distant and-" Harry's voice was quick and restless, causing Hermione to look up from her study book.

"Harry." She sighed indignantly. "Don't you think that with how open you two were being with your relationship that sooner or later word would reach his father?"

Harry pondered this for a moment. It was certainly possible because why else would Draco avoid him unless his father had told him to. Obviously his father still had much influence over him, which he has endeavoured to stop. But who would've told him, surely not one of the professors.

"Who told him?" Harry glanced around the room for ideas.

Hermione glanced sideways at Ron and then looked down the Gryffindor table, "I don't know, Harry." She sounded exasperated.

Without another word Harry left the table, not giving time for Ron to grab hold of him this time. Once he got the large double doors, he broke into a sprint down to the dungeons, but it seemed Draco either wasn't there or had already entered. He had no choice other than to go about his day as normal.

But it was far from normal, because that night was the night they had planned to spend together down near the lake at sunset. Harry loved to watch the firey sunsets that appeared over Hogwarts at this time of year, and he loved to watch the colours reflect in Draco's glassy eyes.

Taking no chances, Harry turned up to the spot behind a tree an hour earlier than they had decided. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure whether Draco would come. If he'd been avoiding him for three days, why would he suddenly come now. But Harry had hope. After all they were meant to be in love, surely that mattered to him?

The sun faded over the hills, until the sky was a shade of deep blue, only lightening where the sun had just disappeared on the horizon. The trees rustled silently and the it seemed the whole world was becoming quiet.

Harry had closed his eyes, the exhaustion from his previous sleepless nights taking over his body. The darkness from around him seeped into his veins and showed him torturous visions before his eyes or his lover murdering another person and then pressing his own wand to his forehead.

In a particularly vivid nightmare, Harry saw his own body lying below Draco, his back crumpled, his face pale and his eyes soulless. And the blonde boy stood above him, his wand outstretched between his shaking fingertips, tears cascading down his cheeks. A small whisper came from his trembling lips. "I'm sorry."

Harry woke in the a daze. Blinking, he realised he was still by the Loch, it's water rippling gently only a few feet away. Darkness had completely engulfed the land surrounding Hogwarts and he noted that tonight it seemed particularly menacing without Draco by his side. The moon was the only light now, and it shone revealing a figure standing not far away from him.

When his eyes finally adjusted to the low lighting, they widened. Draco was standing under the dappled moonlight, which caused his eyes to appear black and dark shadows to form underneath, though they were wet and stained with tears. His arm was outstretched before him, his wand clasped tightly, pointing forward to his chest.

His dry, wretched voice broke the silence of the night. "I'm sorry."