If you ever need someone to talk to because you had a exhausting day,
I will be here to wash your woes away,
In gentleness I'll keep ya close
Until those Bad thoughts have drowned.
Until you forget that you frowned
Be happy that smile looks good on your face
Don't worry I will help you out of that maze...
So shine on my loving star
Your light will reach so far...
So let me help you
Let me stay...
And know when I say..
You are loved
- Umi
As soon as Harry stepped in the Great Hall, he felt constricted. All he wanted to do was turn back and leave, before anything happened. Because something was going to happen. He was sure about that. However, he kept walking, head raised in defiance and eyes glinting with challenge. Hermione and Ron were walking behind him, Hermione gently pushing him ahead with her hand rested on his back.
Harry felt the stares at the back of his head, those hungry eyes looking at him, those hushed voices quickly speaking about him; as if he couldn't hear them. He could hear all of them, from the quiet surprised ones to the loud adoring ones.
As soon as they sat down at the Gryffindor table, he brought his hands to his temples and massaged them slowly. "Ugh, I am getting such a big headache," he grumbled to Hermione, who looked at him empathically.
"I know, Harry, but think about this; it's just now, they will eventually calm down." She said, as she shooed away a first year who approached them with a pen and paper in his hand.
Ron rolled his eyes, "They are like hungry grindylows, I tell you."
Harry tuned his two best friends out as his eyes were drawn to a familiar blonde head at the Slytherin table, shoulders slouched and face thin and worn as those grey eyes cautiously scanned the Great Hall. He breathed out as he noticed the familiar glint in those stormy eyes, the flicker of distrust and crushed hope that had become usual during the war.
But this was wrong. Harry wasn't supposed to be seeing this kind of look in other's eyes. It was all supposed to be alright now, now that everything was over. It was supposed to be all parties and staying up late just because you could and going to bed early because you were tired. It was supposed to be laughters, smiles, love.
Not this.
Just in that moment, Malfoy's eyes met Harry's, and Harry saw the blonde widen his eyes very slightly. He held Malfoy's gaze, not really smiling, but not scowling either.
In that moment, nothing else mattered. Harry didn't notice it, but everything fell away around them, and all sounds were blurred. It was as if they were drowning in amber.
They quickly glanced away from each other and Harry didn't notice the look of hurt that flashed in the blonde's eyes.
-
Unlike Hermione had told him at the beginning of the year, the following weeks were filled with stares and whispers which still followed him wherever he went.
Through the dark hallways, eyes would hungrily stare at him, in search for something, something that would tell them about their 'Saviour'. Something that would somehow bring them closer to Harry.
He was being forced to reject girls who threw themselves at him, some as young as second years. He had once shouted at a particularly clingy third year after she had jumped on him and forced her lips on his. He had completely lost it, and had shouted at the poor girl for more than ten minutes straight. She had looked terrified, but Harry hadn't felt a thing for her as rage had started to build up in him. How did they dare? He was a normal person, he deserved space and privacy as much as anyone else.
After that episode, girls had started gossiping about the supposed girl that Harry was seeing. They had thought that since he was rejecting so many of them, he must already be seeing someone else.
Harry had laughed when Hermione had told him this.
He had broken up with Ginny after the end of the war. They had both agreed that it wasn't something that was going to last, it wasn't something they were doing for them. They hadn't had any romantic feelings for each other, they had been together merely because those were the expectations. Everyone had thought that Harry would settle down with Ginny and make a bunch of children and live happily ever after. They had agreed that that wasn't what they had wanted, and had gone their separate ways.
They were still friends, and Harry saw her as her sister, but now she was with Neville, and Harry had to agree that those two were perfect for each other. Neville was caring and loved the red head in a way that Harry never had. He found himself glad that the fiery girl had found someone so fitting for her, and did not feel bitter for the loss of such a girl.
He had often wondered why that was.
She was the perfect girl, now turned woman.
She was funny, and pretty.
She was caring, and quick-witted.
Anyone would want someone like her.
Why didn't he?
-
It was one month into the term and the weather was already starting to become colder and colder. Harry had decided to keep his head low all the time and not bring more attention on him than he already had.
He made his way outside in the Hogwarts grounds during a particularly noisy lunch.
The Hall had been filled with people, all talking loudly and laughing and shouting and it had quickly become too much for Harry. His breath had quickened, his hands had come up to the table, bracing him and keeping him grounded.
Too many people.
The volume of the chatter was deafening.
Danger.
The last time there were this many people in here...
War.
The hall was slowly becoming smaller, the walls approaching Harry.
Not again.
He had jumped up and ran from the hall.
Anything to get away.
Anything to be happy again.
Anything to forget about all of it.
He made his way to the open grounds, the cold air hitting his face as he inhaled slowly.
The temperature grounded him, somehow, and the breeze hitting his face dried the telltale tears that had escaped from his eyes. He crumbled to the floor, bringing his knees up to his chest and rocking back and forth, his breathing ragged and broken.
Harry shut his eyes in the hope of stopping the stream of tears that had started flowing freely from the corners of his eyes.
Nothing ever went as expected, someone had once told him.
Harry, however, had hoped that after the war, they'd all be okay.
He sobbed as reality slammed into him and knocked his breath away.
-
Draco had been biting his sandwich outside the Hogwarts grounds, sitting in companionable silence with Pansy and Blaise, when someone had run out of the castle.
They didn't pay much attention to it, it must be someone wanting to get some fresh air or a stupid first year running away from his friends. They kept eating, sitting on the old fallen log that had become their hideaway, where they could see everything but no one could see them.
Pansy whispered something silently to Blaise. They turned to look at the grounds, where the student was probably still running around like a madman, then looked at Draco. Their faces were still as stone, but something flashed in their eyes, and they turned to each other and whispered furiously between them.
Draco had found that they had started doing that so much more often after getting together. They had hushed conversations so that Draco couldn't hear. He was really getting sick of it. "Do you know that it's rude to whisper when you are in the company of someone else?"
Pansy looked back at him, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lip for a second before her face shut again.
"Sorry, Dray." And she went back to eating her sandwich.
Silence hung between them. Draco raised his eyebrow and looked at Pansy until the girl glanced up and was apparently startled. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at the blonde and she smiled. "Well. Actually," she started, laying the sandwich down, "we were wondering when you were going to start talking to us."
Draco's brows furrowed. "What do you mean? I'm talking to you guys right now."
Beside Pansy, Blaise grumbled. "You know what we mean, Draco."
Pansy nodded fervently and added, "Yeah, I want to know what's bothering you. And don't say nothing because I know something is up."
"Nothing, really," said Draco. He didn't even know what was going on. He just knew that in the mornings when he woke up, sometimes it still felt like there was a crushing weight on his lungs and that sometimes he just needed someone to be there. He knew that sometimes he still felt like he was in there, like the fire was going to consume him, that he was going to burn slowly. He knew that the only thing that could get him out of his panic attacks now was the hand reaching out to him, pulling him out of the fire and saving him. That damned hand.
Oh.
Oh.
Draco sucked in a breath.
No.
In an instant, Pansy was by his side. "Are you okay, Dray?" She turned to Blaise, "I told you something was bothering him!"
"Draco," said Blaise, quietly, "what's going on?"
Suddenly, Draco heard something. It wasn't much-
"Draco-"
The blonde interrupted Pansy with a warning glare and he pointed at the grounds, a finger coming up to his lips to hush his two friends. Then, he pointed at his ear. Listen, he mouthed.
Then, he heard it. Loud and clear.
Someone was crying out there, sobbing loudly in the still silence of the day.
Draco's heart constricted. He hadn't heard sobs like that for a long time. They spoke about something important, telling whoever might be listening about broken hopes and broken hearts, about shattered dreams.
The blonde stood up fast enough to give him a head rush, and he sprinted to where the student laid, face hidden and a black mop of hair peeking out and standing up in all sorts of directions.
Somewhere in him Draco knew who it was, but it didn't matter that much now. All it mattered was that the boy would stop crying, that Draco could somehow be able to fix him.
He approached the boy slowly, reaching out a hand to rest of the brunette's shoulder, which was violently shaking at this point. Draco's hand inched closer, and closer.
When Draco's hand finally brushed the boy's shoulder, the brunette raised his head.
And Draco was met with Potter's face.
His eyes widened.
Merlin...
-
Harry hadn't heard the person approach, he hadn't heard them slowly creep closer to him.
All he was conscious about in that moment was the crushing weight that had settled on his shoulders getting heavier and heavier until he was crumbling under it.
He sobbed, his throat ragged and raw and his brain was telling him to stop, was screaming for mercy, and some part of him knew that this was all irrational, but his breaths just kept getting faster and faster because I don't seem able to get enough oxygen in my lungs and I am drowning...
Suddenly, a pressure settled on his shoulder, and the sounds around him started back up, and the light shining reached his eyes. He raised his head, needing comfort, needing human contact.
And he was met with the sight of Draco Malfoy sitting in front of him, looking- concerned?
For him?
Nah.
But a part of his brain didn't care, he didn't care if it was all just a trick, he didn't care if the blonde would go and tease him and taunt him forever.
Without his brain fully registering what he was doing, Harry flung himself into the blonde's arms.
-
Draco froze.
Harry had flung himself in his arms, and now Draco was sitting on the ground with an armful of him, and he didn't know what to do. He didn't think the boy had quite realised what he was doing, in fact, he didn't think Harry would consciously seek comfort in Draco.
Slowly, however, Draco realised this didn't feel bad at all.
Harry's head was buried in the crook of Draco's neck, and the blonde could feel the wetness from the tears wet his shirt, but strangely, he didn't care. All he cared about was the sobbing that had somehow subsided but not fully stopped.
Draco's arms slowly came circling around Harry's trembling body, and he murmured nonsense under his breath.
-
Harry breathed slowly and laid in Draco's arms for what seemed like years.
The warmth of the body against his made his heart beat faster.
Suddenly, he wasn't afraid anymore.
-
Draco felt the boy raise his head slightly and held his breath.
The fluttering in his stomach made sense now, he thought as he watched the dried tear tracks on Harry's face.
The needing for his attention made sense now, he thought as he looked into those emerald green eyes.
The happiness he felt when the brunette was happy made sense too, Draco thought, as his heart started beating faster in his chest.
But...
No.
He had to get away before he did something he would regret.
-
Harry felt Draco start to pull away, and he looked into those grey eyes, finding them shuttered and closed off.
He tightened his arms around the blonde, not letting him go. He didn't understand why, but he needed this. He needed this comfort, he needed Draco.
Then, Harry thought about Ginny.
And he thought about Draco.
And he realised how Ron must have felt all this time with Hermione beside him.
Harry swallowed loudly as his heart beat faster.
-
Draco looked at Harry, who was staring into his eyes with an unreadable expression on his face. He needed to get away now, he had to. He couldn't stand another moment next to Harry.
But, before that...
"Harry," he said, and Harry's eyes shot back up to his, "Harry, I'm sorry. For everything."
DRaco breathed out a sigh of relief. He could be done now, he could leave and never come back knowing that he had done the right thing. A bubble of relief burst into his chest, and he smiled at the calmness that the apology had brought to him. He looked back at Harry, who was looking at him, fondness in his eyes and-
Wait.
Fondness?
Not possible, Draco thought. But it is, and you can see it.
-
Harry didn't know what was happening.
All he knew was that Draco had made him feel safe for the first time in months, hell, even years, and he couldn't stand losing this. Not again.
He thought back to the many years in which they could have been friends, and he thought about how he didn't want to fight anymore, and he thought about how it was Draco who had wanted to be his friend at the very beginning.
And he smiled.
All of a sudden, everything made sense and Harry was leaning forward and he was closing his eyes...
Their lips brushed together, and Harry wasn't be sure who leaned the last inches, but was delightfully warm. Just like Draco's arms that were once again wrapped securely around his middle, and his front that was pressing Harry further against his own chest. Harry's hands slid into Draco's hair, mussing it up as the kiss deepened, Harry's tongue touching against Draco's bottom lip.
They pulled away slowly, looking into each other's eyes, the truth and the lies all bared for each other to see.
They smiled lazily, but then Draco frowned. "Why me?"
And Harry smiled up at him and said, "Because throughout these years, somehow, you have become my lifeline."
"My everything."
A/N: Okay, I am really really not happy about this but what the hell I wrote this in two hours so that's fine--
Anyways today's prompt was 'comfort'
Word count: 2,700
Ik it's bad but please still leave a comment below!