Master of Death

Act 1 - Chapter 6

Draco took a deep breath to steel his nerves before entering Umbridge's office. He had gotten detention for not paying attention and not knowing the answer to her question, as his mind was still occupied by the new revelation and the fact that Harry had yet to speak to him, even a month after his return. It was almost Winter Break and he still hadn't managed to corner Harry.

The professor smiled sweetly up at him and he resisted the urge to shudder. "Sit down," she instructed. "You'll be writing lines."

Draco was horrified when he realized that the quill was a blood quill, but didn't let it show, continuing to write, "I'm an idiot," over and over again until Umbridge let him leave.

He rushed to his common room, hiding his hand in his sleeve. He would bandage it when he was alone. He ignored everyone who asked how detention was and locked the door to his dorm, knowing his dorm mates would be out later studying. He wasted no time grabbing bandages from his trunk. That was his mistake. He hadn't realized that someone was in the room when he revealed his bloodied hand.

Harry stormed over to him and grabbed his hand. "This is not okay," he hissed.

Draco flinched at the contact. The cuts still stung and Harry touching them wasn't helping any.

Harry must have taken the flinch as something else because he quickly withdrew his hand and backed up a few steps. "I apologize; I shouldn't have gotten so close."

Draco sighed and bandaged his hand. "It's fine," he muttered. It had only hurt a bit and he knew Harry was just worried for him.

Harry sat on the bed, as far away from Draco as he could get. "I..." he faltered, "I will leave then."

Draco frowned as Harry walked to the door. "Harry, why are you avoiding me?"

Harry stiffened, his hand on the door handle. Slowly, he turned around. "You're scared of me," he said quietly. "I saw it in your eyes. I do not blame you; I am the Master of Death, not Life or Creation."

Draco opened his mouth to speak but was too shocked to form words. Harry had thought he was scared of him? He was scared for him!

Harry was about to leave when Draco didn't respond, but Draco finally said, "Don't you dare walk out on me, Harry Potter."

Harry froze and turned back around with wide eyes.

Draco marched over to him and got right in his face. "I have never, not once, been scared of you. That fear you saw, that was me being scared for you. I was scared you'd go to Azkaban. I was scared I'd lose you. So don't you dare think that I would ever be scared of who you are." Draco could feel tears flowing down his cheeks as he spoke.

"I'll hurt you if I stay," Harry whispered. His hand came up and wiped away Draco's tears.

"Don't you get it, Harry? You're hurting me just by avoiding me. I love you, Harry. I've loved you since the first time we met, here at Hogwarts. I've tried to get your attention in the worst way possible, and it only pushed us apart, but that month when we were friends was the happiest I have ever been."

"I can't be with you." Harry tried to step back, but Draco had him backed against the door.

"If you don't feel the same, fine, I won't push. Look at me and tell me you don't love me, and I'll leave you alone."

Harry slowly raised his eyes to meet Draco's and opened his mouth to say the words that would break Draco's heart. They wouldn't come. It was completely untrue. Such a huge lie that he physically couldn't say it. "You shouldn't love me," he said instead. "You should be running far away. I'm not the Harry you loved. I'm different. I'm sadistic and I'm dangerous."

"Did you hear me speak in past tense, Harry? I love you the way you are. Do you know what I felt the first time I saw that sadism in your eyes? I loved you even more. You were protecting my little brother and you had no limitations."

Harry tried protesting again, but Draco wasn't having it. He lightly pressed his lips against Harry's, effectively cutting off any thought of protest he might have had.

When he pulled back, Harry had tears in his eyes. "I love you too. I'm so sorry for hurting you."

"Just don't leave me," Draco said.

"I won't," Harry promised.

Draco smiled at the promise. "Hogsmeade weekend is tomorrow," he whispered. "Let me take you on a proper date."

Harry nodded. "Okay," he breathed.

Draco pulled Harry over to his bed to cuddle. "What are you planning to do about Umbridge?"

The name brought back the sadistic gleam. "I'm going to make her sorry for ever hurting you," he said.

Draco smiled and touched their foreheads together, happy that Harry's rage was in defense of him. That's how they slept that night, cuddled together and feeling happier than ever.

The next morning, Draco woke up to his dorm mates surrounding him with wide smiles. "So, Potter, huh?" Blaise teased, clearly expecting him to deny it like he had so many times before.

Draco just smirked. "Yeah," he said, smiling at him lovingly.

"Just remember what I said with your last boyfriend. If anyone hurts you, I'll break their neck," Theo warned.

"Don't worry," Harry said, opening his eyes and surprising them all, "if someone hurts Draco, I'll do much more than snap their neck. That's painless and fast. I'll watch them bleed out at my feet as they beg for mercy."

Their jaws all dropped at the extremely serious tone in Harry's voice.

Harry smiled and turned to Draco. "Morning, Love."

Blaise recovered from his shock first. "Blimey, Mate. You can be real scary, you know?"

Harry hummed. "Do you mind if I take on a quick errand before we go, Dray? If not, I'll get someone else to take my errands for today."

Draco knew just what he meant by "errands," and he knew it was Harry's way of fighting the sadism. He nodded and kissed his cheek. "Go ahead."

He watched as Harry left the room before turning to his friends, who were all staring at him. "What?"

"He's a keeper," Theo said.

Draco chuckled. "I know."

They went down to breakfast and Draco smiled brightly as he sat next to Daphne and Scorpius in his usual spot.

"Did you finally get with Potter?" Daphne asked as soon as she saw Draco's smile.

Draco's smile only widened, which answered her question. Yes. Yes, he did. He finally had the person he'd been pining after for years and he wasn't going to let him get away.

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