Joined (A Drarry Fic Not Written By Me)

Part 1: Chapter 7

It was official. Draco cared about Harry alot, and he was pretty sure it wasn't just as a friend. Ever since his not-so-mild freak-out when Harry was poisoned, Draco had been really protective over Harry. For the first time, he was very grateful that he was bound to Harry. It gave him an excuse to go with him everywhere and see to it that nothing else like that happened. On the other hand, he was extremely embarrassed for over reacting. Harry insisted that he hadn't over reacted, and that he himself had been the same way when he had seen Cedric die last year, but Draco didn't really believe him. Yes, he had seen Harry act like that last year, but that was probably not because of Cedric dying. It was because he had just faced Lord Voldemort. And also, Cedric was already dead and there was nothing he could've done. Draco, however, instead of staying calm and finding a way to save Harry, had flipped out and didn't see the bezoar until Harry was almost gone. Draco started having dreams. Nightmares. Similar to what Harry had experienced after he had seen Cedric die and had faced the Dark Lord. The dreams were different every time, but one thing remained the same: it was always about Harry being near death. Draco always woke up before Harry had actually died in the dream, but he was afraid every time that it might've been real. He would wake up very abruptly every night, drenched in cold sweat, and breathing very hard. Then he would remember that it wasn't real, take deep breaths, and look over at Harry beside him for comfort. He noticed that he had begun clenching Harry's hand in a death grip even though their hands were already bound together when they slept. Draco was just glad that Harry never woke up.
"Draco, really. You don't have to be so embarrassed, anyone else would've done the same thing," Harry was saying.
"But considering you and I are supposed to be enemies—"
"I thought you said you didn't care. I thought you said we can be friends if we want."
"Well, we CAN be friends, but how I acted didn't seem to be how... a friend... er, acts..." Draco turned a bit pink as he realized what he was saying. "I mean—not that I acted like more than a friend, cause that would be weird, but you know, I meant, as in, I seemed to be overeacting when you're just a friend..."
"Just a friend?" Harry said, his eyebrows raised. "Well, what else would you be? It's not like we're dating, like they say," Draco said, mentally hitting himself for bringing up dating again.
"No, but... just the way you said it... never mind."
"Sorry..."
"No, it's okay."
It was the end of the day, and they were heading to their room. Draco was dreading the nightmares he knew would be coming. He automatically tightened his grip on Harry's hand and looked up at the bed, as though he was about to board a scary ride.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked, noticing this.
"Er, nothing... just tired..."
They tied their hands, got in bed, and waited for sleep. Harry always fell asleep pretty quickly. Draco, who knew what would happen if he slept, seemed to have insomnia. He snuggled a little closer to Harry, trying to remind himself that Harry was fine, he was right there against him. The two boys were both curled up in the same direction, with Draco on the outside. Draco stared at Harry's back, and moved his eyes up to his neck, finally greeting his messy dark hair. He wondered... if Harry never woke up when he was writhing around having nightmares, perhaps he wouldn't wake up now... Draco cautiously moved his free hand up to Harry's hair and stroked it. He was pleased when Harry shivered and made a little cooing noise in his sleep. If only he could be like this when he was awake... but obviously, Harry would never like him back. Draco fought the temptation to wrap his arms around Harry to sleep better. He knew from experience that THAT would wake him up. He just stared, fighting with all his might not to grab Harry and smash their lips together. He still felt very guilty for his feelings. He knew his father would not like it at all. And what about Harry? They were bound together, they couldn't help it, but the most they could do was not make it awkward—which is exactly what it would be for the rest of their lives if Draco lost all dignity right now. He closed his eyes regretfully, and tried to think of how safe Harry was right beside him, and waited for sleep to take him.