Drarry - The Boggart

FORTY SEVEN

"Harry?" Draco's voice was sleep-riddled and stressed. It was the middle of the night. Harry hadn't gone to sleep at all.

"Yes?" Harry instantly turned and kissed Draco's bear shoulder. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No. I just... I'm cold." Harry knew he wasn't. Draco barely ever got cold. But he was shivering. He did that when he was overwhelmed or stressed or nervous. Or all three.

Harry wrapped his arms around Draco and pulled him to his chest.

"Better?" He asked

"Harry" Draco's voice cracked. He was going to cry. Harry hung onto him tighter "I didn't think it'd be this bad." He curled up in Harrys arms. "How am I ever going to face him again? Or the rest of the school? I thought the thing with the boggart was bad but... this is so much worse" Harry could feel tears on his shoulder.

"Hey, its going to be fine. You have me now. You won't have to face him alone. You don't have to face him at all if you don't want to. I'll make sure he leaves you alone if thats what you want. And if you want to talk to him, I'll be with you. And fuck everyone else, who cares what they think anyways." Harry heard Draco chuckle through his tears.

"I care what they think. And I know that you do too. And Ron. Hermione probably doesn't, honestly. But so do Blaise and Pansy and most people. So thats who." He replied, wiping his eyes.

"Well if anyone says a damn thing, I'll kill them. You know I will." Harry kissed Draco's forehead.

"But thats not the point. First off, no matter how many threats you make, people will still keep going. I learned that the hard way. And nothing can stop everyone from staring. Or thinking. Or judging." He looked up at Harry. "What am I going to do? What are we going to do?" He asked, sounding more vulnerable and innocent than he ever had before. Harry felt the overwhelming need to protect him from everyone and everything. The overwhelming need to hurt Lucius Malfoy more than hell ever could.

"Draco, we'll handle this. Remember, we're untouchable as long as we're together. You don't need to worry about anyone else. Just me, your friends, thats it. I'll take care of the rest." He hugged Draco and kissed him before telling him to sleep.

"Tomorrow we can just stay in the common rooms. I'm sure McGonagall won't mind if we miss classes. And it'll be Friday so we won't have school the two following days anyways. Right now don't worry about anything but sleep. The rest will sort itself out and what doesn't, I will."

With that, Draco rested his head on Harrys chest and went to sleep. And Harry stayed up still.

It wasn't that he couldn't sleep necessarily, it was just that he felt like he had to stay awake. As if, in some kind of ridiculous way, he had to protect Draco. Deep down, though, he knew that Draco was one hundred times stronger than he was. Draco had gone through so much more. And of course it was impossible to compare traumatizing experiences on levels of trauma, because theres no such thing as levels of trauma, but still it felt like Draco could hold himself so much better than Harry could. Harry held him tighter and breathed in his scent of mint toothpaste. 

~~~

When Harry woke up the next morning he was careful not to stir Draco when he got out of bed. The first thing he did was go to the the door of the dormitory to the Slytherin common rooms.

He saw what he'd expected. All the Slytherins were either asleep on the couch and carpets, or awake and milling around and talking. None of them had gone into the room, probably at Blaise and Pansy's request.

As soon as he'd opened the door though, everyone had turned to him. Well, everyone who was awake had, at least. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to him. He hadn't planned on saying anything, but now that he had everyones attention Harry decided he might as well take advantage of the situation.