Chapter 31

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"Harry?" Akiva's eyebrows furrowed as Harry went straight to his bed, falling on it face first. "Are you okay?" 

Harry shook his head, kicking his legs behind him, keeping his face hidden. He was shaking. 

"Do you wanna talk abut it?" Akiva's voice was soft as he knelt beside Harry's bed. 

Harry paused for a moment, still trembling, before he sat up. His face was red, his eyes red, and he was clearly crying into his bed. 

'I fought with Dragon. He shouted at me.' Harry was signing slowly, trying to keep his hands from shaking. He didn't think he would be so scared by something Draco did, but they had never fought like that before. 

Akiva paused, making sure he understood what Harry was signing before responding. 

"Draco yelled at you?" Akiva looked Harry in the eye as the other boy nodded. "Is there anything I can do? I think it might be good to let Draco know how this made you feel, but you don't have to do it yourself." 

'I don't know why I'm so scared, it's Dragon.' Harry kept his eyes on his hands as he signed, trying not to cry in front of Akiva. 

"Yeah, but, I mean, you have been through a lot. Fear doesn't always attach itself to individual people, or avoid specific people." Akiva tried to ignore Harry's clear tear-fullness, as he was clearly trying to hide it.

'I don't know, I feel awful.' Harry flopped back onto his bed, this time on his side so he could keep signing. 

"Do you want me to distract you?" Akiva offered, tilting his head to the same side Harry had flopped. 

Harry shrugged, tuning his face back into the bedding. 

"Can I touch you?" Akiva wanted to reassure Harry as well as he could, and he was hardly good at comforting with words. 

Harry nodded, so Akiva reached out to rub Harry's arm. 

----- 

"Draco," Melissa knocked on the door to the palest boy's room when he wasn't coming out for dinner. "I'm coming in, be decent." 

Melissa waited for a moment before opening the door, giving Draco the chance to yell that he wasn't. It was not like him to miss a meal, not because he was starving, but because he wanted to make sure Harry ate. 

She got no reply, so she went in, The room was almost entirely clean, except opposite Draco's bed, where there lay a messy, strewn pile of Draco's plushies, pillows, and even his duvet. Draco was lying face first on the mattress and sheet, his robes and hair a mess. 

"Draco? What's happened?" Melissa took a seat on the edge of Draco's bare bed. 

"I fought with Harry, and he left. What if he hates me now?" Draco's voice was muffled by the mattress, but it was still easy to tell he was upset. 

"What did you fight about?" Melissa lay a hand on Draco's back. 

"I'm scared that if Harry is alone then things will go wrong again, and he was getting annoyed with me about it. I was getting really worried because he was taking longer to finish his lesson with Michelle and when I tried to ask him about it he got annoyed with me." Draco knew that wasn't the whole situation, but it was where he was coming from. 

"Harry is allowed to get annoyed with you interrogating him about lessons he chose to take. I know you worry about him, but that's not his responsibility. I can put you in contact with the place we got those pendants from, even though Harry's is lost. I also think you getting some mind healing is a good idea. You may not have been the one kidnapped... twice... but that doesn't mean you weren't affected. I think you know you need to apologise. What else happened?" Melissa wasn't accusatory, but she had enough younger siblings to be able to tell when people were hiding things. 

"I... I raised my voice, and Harry is learning self defense. I got annoyed when he said I wouldn't have been any help with Dumbledore when he kidnapped Harry." Draco started to move, to get into a sitting position where he curled up into himself. 

"Yeesh, you really need to apologise for that. You know he wasn't lying, and you know better than anyone why you shouldn't raise your voice at him. He's mute for a reason." Melissa wasn't looking at Draco, and she still wasn't speaking with a tone that blamed Draco, but she also wasn't letting him off the hook. 

"I should go now?" Draco started getting to his feet before Melissa grabbed his wrist. 

"No," Melissa's voice had suddenly become very firm. "You need to wait, give both you and Harry time to calm down. Maybe a day. If Harry hasn't come up to you before tomorrow go then, and if he avoids you give him more time." 

"But I want everything to go back to how it was." Draco mumbled. 

"It won't. You have reached a point in your relationship that you and he have to talk about boundaries going forwards. That means things will change, but if you want your relationship to continue you have to let it change. I know relationships a lot better than you, I'm dating two people at the same time, that means thrice the communication. In the future try to talk before you both explode. You can ask someone else to moderate the conversation." Melissa smiled slightly. "Want me to bring you some dinner? You should probably clean this up." 

"Can't the house elves do this?" Draco looked disheartened at the idea of clearing the mess he made, and that his relationship with Harry would have to change.

"Sure they can, but you caused this mess, so you should clear it up." Melissa rolled her eyes at his complaint. "Take some painkillers, you look pale." 

((A/N: No, Draco and Harry are not going to break up, they are just 13/14 years old in their first relationship. Life isn't smooth, I don't want my character's lives to be too easy in relationships.))

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