Draco's pov
"I trusted you!" Harry screamed as tears fell down his face.
"Harry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen!" I cried and looked down at the neverending battle going on behind us. "I just wanted to protect you..."
"And the others?" Harry questioned. "What about Blaise...? Pansy? Hermione and Ron!? THEY'RE ALL DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!"
"Harry, I-"
Chill it's just a dream...
Draco woke up with a cold sweat and a trembling breath. He looked around frantically at his surroundings and sucked in a sharp breath.
It was just a nightmare. Draco sighed and looked over at Harry — who was not asleep.
"Merlin!" Draco flinched once his eyes met Harry's. "You scared me."
"I scared you?" Harry scoffed. "Draco, you were practically thrashing around the bed like a damn ragdoll."
Draco looked down and whispered an apology; tears threatening to spill down.
"Draco, I'm worried about you..." Harry whispered. "You've been having these nightmares ever since you got back."
It's been about three weeks since Draco returned back from the manor, and his nerves had only gotten worse.
His orders still haven't arrived and Quinton is still screwing around with Draco. There hasn't been any more comments from Ginny or Theodore; but Pansy still seems to disappear from time to time. Blaise and Ron are still in their honeymoon phase and are happily running off to Hogsmeade every time they get the chance — it's cute, but sometimes Draco senses that Blaise is scared whenever Ron isn't around.
What he is scared of? Only he knows; but Draco had a feeling that it had something to do with his upcoming trip back to his mother's — another "family emergency" she's calling it.
Harry still hadn't told him about the "conversation" he had with Ginny in the dorms, but he figured that Draco didn't need another thing to push him over the edge.
"I know I said that I'd give you time, but... I need to know what happened when you were away." Harry stated.
"Harry... I- I can't" Draco whimpered. "I really want to, believe me when I say that."
"If you can't tell me what happened; can you at least tell me what I can do to help?" Harry reasoned. "I hate seeing you like this, Dray."
Draco stayed quiet for a moment before pulling Harry closer and wrapping his arms around him in a protective hug.
"That's the thing" Draco's voice was broken and soft. "I don't know if there's anything you can do..."
"Don't say that, Dray." Harry hushed and hugged the blonde boy closer. "There's always something you can do to make things better. The answer to do that just isn't always clear at first..."
Draco let out a laugh and pulled away to look at Harry. "You sound just like Dumbledore."
"What can I say?" Harry smiled mischievously. "He's a very quotable person."
"You're such an idiot" Draco shook his head and pushed his lips against Harry's, his smile following close behind into the kiss.
Harry kissed back eagerly, his doupts all fading away with that one kiss.
It wasn't just one of their ordinary, needy kisses or those they gave to each other so they could stop talking — this was an apology.
An apology for everything they had done and said in the past; and everything that will happen in the future. Both boys only hoped that they would last that long, but for now... What they had was enough.
~ Meanwhile ~
Blaise was quietly walking down the stairs leading to the boy's dorms when he saw Pansy sitting infront of the fireplace, her knees tucked into her body as she held them in an embrace.
"Pansy, what are you doing up?" Blaise whispered and popped his head out from underneath Harry's stolen invisibility cloak.
"Blaise?" She gasped. "Where the bloody hell did you come from?"
Blaise removed the cloak to expose the rest if his figure and set it down on the nearest chair before walking over to the dark haired girl.
"Ron kind of borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak when we first started seeing each other" Blaise chuckled.
"He's not going to be happy when he finds out, you know" Pansy forced a smile.
"I know" Blaise nodded. "and don't do that."
Pansy trailed her eyes away from the dying fire and looked at Blaise with a confused expression. "Don't do what?"
"Fake a smile" Pansy seemed taken aback by his words and ducked her head down. "I've known you since we were kids, Pan. I can tell the difference between your real- and fake smile."
"Why do you have to be so observant?" She groaned.
"Funny; I'm always thinking that about you" Blaise commented. "Now tell me what's wrong."
Pansy sighed and shifted her position so she was fully facing her fellow Slytherin.
"It's Hermione" she muttered.
"I'm going to need a little more than that" Blaise chuckled softly.
"When we were at Hogsmeade that one weekend, everything was going great" Pansy explained. "I even bought her a dress for Merlin's sake!" She added with a blush.
"But Madame Malkins still hasn't delivered it yet" she stated. "So don't tell her about it yet."
"I won't say a word" Blaise trailed his fingers across his lips in a teasing tone as if he were closing a zip.
Pansy shook her head playfully and continued. "But when we stopped for a drink at Hog's Head; Theodore approached us and almost brought up something that happened between us infront of Hermione. She's been curious about it ever since and Theodore is threatening to tell her about it unless I-" she cut herself off and hid her head in her knees.
"Unless you what?" Blaise asked cautiously.
"It doesn't matter" she waved him off. "The point is that she keeps nudging into it, Theodore keeps interfering; and eventually she's going to find out about it!" She groaned. "I don't know what to do about it — especially since I've got so much other bullshit on my mind right now."
"Is this the reason you keep disappearing?" Blaise asked. "To get away from all the pressure, I mean."
"Partly" Pansy confessed.
He nodded and thought for a moment, wondering what he could possibly say to make her feel better...
"Pansy, I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me" Blaise stated, focusing only on the part about what she said about Hermione. He knew she wasn't ready to tell him, or the rest of the group, what else has been bothering her so he decided not to pressure her. Not until she decides to tell them in her own time. "Okay?"
She nodded and nervously bit her lower lip.
"Do you have feelings for Hermione?"
Pansy hesitated before nodding. It was the first time she ever admitted it to anyone - and herself for that matter. "Yeah. I do."
"Then whatever happened between you and Theodore doesn't matter" He said and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I don't know what Nott has against you, but you shouldn't let him get to you. Or Hermione. I'm sure that if you're honest with her about your feelings, she'd finally understand what's causing you on edge all the time."
"You think?" Pansy smiled and looked up at the boy.
"I know" he chuckled. "And besides, she's Hermione freaking Granger! She's probably the most empathetic person in the entire Gryffindor group — apart from Harry."
"What about Ron? He can be pretty understanding too."
"Yeah, when he's no eating or sleeping" Blaise smiled. "Now get to bed, young lady. I won't have a sleepy Parkinson as a classmate tommorow." He teased.
"Yeah yeah" she rolled her eyes. "Tell Ron I said hi."
"Will do" he winked and stood up to grab the cloak. Before whispering the password he remembered something and peeked his head out from behind the corner. "Hey, Pan...?"
"Hmm?" She hummed.
"Remember when you said Hermione was already in a relationship?" He frowned. "Were you only saying that to make me-"
"- stop ranting so much?" Pansy questioned. "You bet."