Beautiful Shards (A Drarry Fanfic)

Chapter 33: How To Heal

Draco froze, eyes wide. "I can explain."
Lips parted in shock, Harry raked his eyes over the other, taking in all of his injuries. Draco supposed he couldn't blame him; he was sure he looked awful. Here he was, standing in the doorway at three in the morning, completely unglamoured, since Will didn't like being unable to see the marks he'd left on Draco's skin. That meant that every bruise and cut and scrape from the past two weeks that hadn't yet healed was visible.
"Draco..." Harry trailed off, speechless, then appeared to snap out of some trance and jumped up, rushing to the blond's side. Draco flinched. His nightly meetings had made him a bit skittish, especially under certain circumstances, like when people moved too fast.
Harry paused when Draco flinched away, his expression betraying how much it hurt him to see the boy he cared about hurting and afraid. "It's alright. You're okay. I'm not going to hurt you, you know that right? Come on, sit down, I'll go get some bandages." He disappeared into the bathroom while Draco sat down on the edge of his bed, bowing his head and picking at the skin around his badly bitten nails.
Harry returned a couple of minutes later carrying rolls of bandages and a wet washcloth. He sat the items down on the floor and knelt down in front of Draco, looking up into his face. The action brought images of Will doing same thing not long before to Draco's mind, but, unlike Will's, Harry's presence brought comfort.
"Hey. Look at me," he murmured, his voice gentle, and Draco met his eyes reluctantly, remembering how much Will usually hated when he made eye contact. "What happened?"
Draco hesitated. "I fell down the stairs?" It sounded more like a question than an answer, even to his own ears.
"Come on, you know I don't believe that. I just want to help. Please, just let me in." Harry laced his fingers between Draco's and paused, waiting for him to pull away, but he didn't. "Does this have anything to do with why you've been so distant lately?"
He nodded, looking away.
"How long?"
Draco mumbled, "Just over two weeks," and Harry's eyes widened. He hadn't thought it was that long.
"Oh, Draco. I'm so sorry. I should've noticed, should've said something."
"It's not your fault."
Harry stayed silent for a moment, then said, "We're not done discussing this, but we should probably get you fixed up before we continue this conversation, alright?" Draco nodded and Harry set about cleaning the blood from his face.
When he finished, he asked Draco to take off his robe, and he hesitated but complied. Harry sucked in a sharp breath and his hand flew to his mouth as Draco dropped the garment to the floor and curled in on himself self-consciously, wrapping his arms around his torso.
To say Draco looked terrible would've been an understatement. Bruises of various colors-- green, blue, purple, black-- were painted up and down his arms like a dull mural. Scratches were littered here and there across his skin. The edges of parallel red lines were just visible on the inside of his wrists, but Harry wasn't surprised to see those; his wrists looked much the same.
When Harry looked back up, Draco was biting his lip. staring at the floor. He took the blond's hands again, carefully pulling his arms away from his body, and that was when he saw the bruises ringing Draco's wrists.
"Please, just look at me. What happened?"
Draco just shook his head, still looking down, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. Harry wiped it away and then Draco broke down, squeezing his eyes shut, shoulders shaking. Harry got up and sat down beside him on the bed, tentatively wrapping the other in his arms. Instead of pulling away, Draco leaned into him, burying his head in Harry's chest, and Harry just whispered reassurances in his ear and let him cry.
"Shh, it's okay. You're okay. You're safe now, I've got you. I'm here. I'm here."
After a while, once Draco had calmed down, Harry grabbed his wand without getting up and said, "Here, let me heal what I can."
Draco did pull away then, eyes wild. "No! Don't! Will hates it when-" He cut himself off, but it was too late.
"Who's Will?" His voice was dangerously low now, and Draco wished he could take back what he said. He tried to backtrack, tried to un-ring the bell.
"No one! I said, um, I-I said that I will hate it..." He gave up. He knew Harry wasn't stupid enough to believe any lie he could come up with.
"Is Will the one that did this?" Draco stayed silent and Harry had his answer. "Why did you keep going back?
"It's better for both of us this way."
He didn't elaborate, but Harry refused to drop the subject. After some more questioning, he was able to coax Draco into giving an answer, albeit a relatively short one.
"It was either you or me, okay? It was never a question which I'd choose."
Harry was stunned. All of this had happened because Draco was protecting him. Someone was able to control Draco completely, just by threatening him. A pang of guilt went through him, a feeling that was all too familiar.
"Don't. Don't do that."
"What?"
"You're blaming yourself, I can tell. I already told you it isn't your fault. I made the choice. Besides, it was me he wanted in the first place." Draco's voice was quiet but firm, leaving no room for disagreement.
The two sat for a while in silence, Draco leaning his head on Harry's shoulder. Eventually Harry spoke up.
"You're not going back. No more sneaking out or drugging me. I'm going to keep you safe." Draco looked up at him surprisedly and apologetically, but Harry only smiled. "Yeah, I knew. Well, actually, I figured it out a few minutes before you got back when I found the empty vials under your bed. I'm not mad, don't worry."
They fell silent again, until Draco announced that he was tired and lay back on the bed. Harry moved to get up, but Draco caught at his hand and gazed up imploringly.
"Stay?"
Harry froze, but only for a moment, before climbing into the bed and stretching out beside the smaller boy, who scooted closer until there was only an inch or two left between them. Harry wrapped his arms around him once more, and they both drifted off quickly after that.
There wasn't a nightmare in existence that could've come near them.

A/N: It's six in the morning, I haven't slept yet, and I do not have the energy to proofread right now. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors I may or may not have made.