Words: 4.7k
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Malfoy was laying down on the grass when Harry came outside before supper.
It had been hard to convince Ron and Hermione to let him leave the tower at a time when people were awake and moving around the castle. He had almost given up on it, Hermione had been adamant about having him stay in the common room at all costs and Ron had looked at him with such a concerned gaze that it had almost pinned Harry to the sofa.
He had had to bring up the fact that he hadn't been outside and gotten some fresh air in way too long, that he needed to leave the tower and that he was starting to feel like a prisoner. His friends still hesitated but ended up letting him go when he promised he would avoid all the busy corridors and would just go outside and avoid everyone.
Of course, in a weird turn of events, avoiding everyone didn't include Malfoy.
Harry walked up to Malfoy, casting a shadow over him and making him open his eyes with an annoyed expression.
"Get away from the Sun, Potter," he said.
"Hello to you too," Harry grinned and moved to sit next to him.
"Shouldn't you be in your confinement, princess?"
It wasn't the first time that Malfoy had made the princess joke. He liked to make fun of Harry by saying he was like the damsel in distress in every fairytale who was waiting for the love of her life to save her from eternal danger.
"I was let out of an hour or so."
"How daring."
"What are you doing out here anyway?" Harry asked, laying back on the ground.
"It's a beautiful day to enjoy some rays of sunshine."
"Sure, I believe that."
Malfoy sighed and Harry heard the rustling his robes made as he shifted next to him.
"I wanted to get away from the castle for a while. It was getting suffocating. Either Pansy and Blaise are hanging off my arm or someone is sending glares my way and I needed a time out."
"I know what you mean. I'm getting tired of looking at the same walls all the time."
"I would be too if I had to look at Gryffindor walls for more than five minutes."
"How do you even know what Gryffindor walls look like? You never saw them."
"I don't need to see them to know that they are horrible. Gryffindors aren't known for their impeccable taste." Malfoy turned his head to give him a pointed look.
"You're funny, Malfoy," Harry rolled his eyes.
"One of my many qualities."
It was still weird to joke around with Malfoy. It was weird to talk to him so naturally and laugh with him. After everything that had happened between them over the years, having this normalcy with him that resembled the starts of friendship was weird. But it wasn't unwelcome and that was what surprised Harry the most.
"I asked my mother to send me some book from our library and I've been reading some," Malfoy started. "They're about curses. If you want, I can lend you the ones I'm not reading and you and your little friends can see if they have anything of interest."
There was still a condescending tone to Malfoy's voice in the way he was calling Ron and Hermione his 'little friends' but Harry knew that he was saying it in a more self-preservation way. He was already showing that he cared by asking his mother for the books, by reading them and offering to lend him. Harry knew that Malfoy still liked to hide beneath the mask of a perfectly unbothered expression, but what mattered was under that mask and Harry was learning how to see that.
"I think that'd be great. We haven't been making much progress," Harry said. "Thank you, Malfoy."
Malfoy shrugged, still determined not to show anything that he was feeling.
"I'll give them to you tonight," Malfoy said, getting up.
"How do you know you'll see me tonight?"
"Because we are terrible at staying in bed all night. And because you always seem to find me," another pointed look aimed at him. "So, find me, Potter."
He turned and left without saying anything else, without waiting for a confirmation that Harry would meet him that night. He didn't need a confirmation though, Harry knew without an inkling of doubt, that the moment Malfoy had said to find him he had made up his mind. Harry would find him that night and he knew that it wasn't only for the books.
***
McGonagall was in the common room when Harry got there. She was standing next to the table where Ron and Hermione were sitting, pointing at a book that was opened in front of them. Hermione was nodding along to what she was saying, jotting down notes on the parchment in front of her and Ron was attempting to read the book from the other side.
"Hello," he said, sitting down on the side of the table where there wasn't anyone.
"Potter, about time you appeared." McGonagall peered at him over her glasses. "I thought you were supposed to stay in the tower."
"I just went for a walk," he mumbled, feeling like he was 11 and being scolded by her again.
"Professor McGonagall thinks she found something to help you, Harry," Hermione said softly. "It's an old potion."
"Yes. I have found a potion in my researches that is known to break curses much like the one you've been carrying."
"That's great!" Harry said, eager to be able to go out whenever he felt like it and go back to eating in the Great Hall and all the normal things he had had to stop doing.
"I still need to run it through Professor Slughorn and then we have to wait until the potion is complete, but we have something," McGonagall reassured him.
Harry grinned and leaned back on his chair. After, a month of staying in the tower and not being able to touch anyone, he was more than ready to go back to normal, go back outside and go back to hugging his friends and being playful with his mates without fearing all the bruises that would come with any touch.
"I will tell you once things are ready. In the meantime," McGonagall looked pointedly at him. "Stay in the tower, Potter. I don't think you want to be hurt more than you need to."
She had a serious expression on her face and Harry wanted to be annoyed that she was ordering him to stay confined, but there were some lines of worry on her face that told him that part of the reason, probably the biggest part of the reason, she was doing all of this and telling him not to go anywhere was because she was worried about him and what could possibly happen if he went out and interacted with people.
"I will," he told her, purposefully ignoring that he would be leaving the tower in just a few hours to meet up with Malfoy.
Technically, he didn't need the books that Malfoy had gotten for him anymore, but he still had to meet up with him to let him know that. He couldn't just let Malfoy stranded and waiting for him the whole night with the books he had kindly gotten for Harry. Kindly. A word he never thought he would apply to Malfoy, but that was what Malfoy had been, kind enough to ask his mother for books for Harry.
McGonagall grabbed her book and left with one more pointed look in Harry's direction. Hermione reached out a hand and put it on the table near Harry's arm, not touching him but showing that if she could, she would give his arm a supportive squeeze. Soon, they wouldn't have to hold back.
"I'm glad things will go back to normal soon," she said.
"Yeah, I was getting tired of being here all the time. I even miss class."
Ron snorted and Hermione smiled.
"Now that's something I didn't expect to hear. Who would have thought that Harry Potter would miss not going to class."
"Miracles do happen," Harry shrugged.
"I personally don't think that I would ever miss classes," Ron grinned when Hermione glared at him. "I'm kidding, Mione, don't worry."
"You better. Classes are important and they give you knowledge that's going to be useful to you at some point in your life. Missing a whole year of school last year was more than enough."
"You're right," Ron reached out to move a curl from her face. "You're completely right."
"I think we don't need to research anything tonight then," Harry smiled, stretching his arms above his head.
"I would still like to look over some things before you take the potion, Harry. However, even if we don't do any research on this tonight, we still have to study. Not going to class makes it even more important to study on your own and I want to make sure that you know the things we've been learning before you go back and feel overwhelmed by everything."
Harry groaned, playing the part of the annoyed friend who didn't want to study. He didn't want to study, he'd rather spend his night doing anything else, but this was Hermione, who always worried about him and who was always there for him. Hermione who wanted to make sure that he knew enough about everything so that he wasn't lost when he went back to class. And he couldn't say no to Hermione after she did so much for him, not only now but over the years.
"We can start with Defence maybe?" Harry suggested, thinking that spending a night studying was worth it to thank Hermione for everything.
Ron rested his head on the table and groaned, not happy with the idea.
"Why, mate? Why?" He poked Harry's shoulder and turned to his book, neither of them remembering the curse for a second.
***
Harry walked down the stairs of the castle, the cold touching his skin through the clothes. His fingers were freezing where they were holding the Marauders' map in front of him, his eyes following the line to the name Draco Malfoy.
Malfoy was on the first floor and Harry had a feeling that he had chosen that place just to be an inconvenience and make Harry climb down all the stairs from the tower. It seemed like the kind of thing that Malfoy would do, make sure that Harry knew that they weren't friends and that he wouldn't make his life easy at all.
He hurried down the stairs, not wanting to make Malfoy wait too much in fear that the other boy would think he wasn't going to show up. When Harry hopped down the last step, he mumbled the words to erase the map from the parchment and closed it, putting it inside his pocket.
Malfoy was sitting on the floor at the end of the corridor, half-hidden in the shadows. Harry walked slowly up to him, steps careful and silent as not to be heard. He still didn't know how last time Malfoy had been able to know he was there when he was being careful.
Harry hadn't given up on startling him, though.
This time, he was even more careful with his steps. He walked on the tip of his toes and held his breath for as long as he could, his whole body tense with the effort to make no noise at all.
His efforts were rewarded when Malfoy didn't look up or make any remarks. If he had noticed Harry, he would have said something.
Harry bent down slightly, holding the cloak close to him as not to let it touch Malfoy in any way, and put his face close to Malfoy's ear. Malfoy's eyebrows furrowed and, before he could turn to look, Harry intervened.
"Hello, Malfoy," he whispered.
Malfoy jumped, eyes widening in surprise and a squeal leaving his throat. Harry pushed the cloak off of himself and laughed louder than he should have considering it was the middle of the night and they weren't supposed to be out of their common rooms.
"You're not funny, Potter," Malfoy grumbled, a glare set on Harry.
He dusted off his pants and sat back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest to make sure Harry knew he was mad at him. Harry sat next to him, still chuckling, and put the cloak on the floor next to him.
"It was pretty funny."
"Annoying. That's what it was."
Harry grinned at him and noticed the three books that were stacked on a pile on Malfoy's other side. He had actually brought them then. Malfoy had actually asked his mother for books so that he could help Harry out and he was bringing them to him. Harry had believed when he said he would be bringing them, but after everything that had happened between them through the years, it was good to have in front of him the confirmation of how much Malfoy had changed.
"Malfoy," he started. "I don't think I will need the books."
Malfoy frowned and Harry took a moment to think that maybe that hadn't been the best way to start the conversation. Malfoy was doing something nice for him and Harry was telling him that he wouldn't need it.
"I mean," he hurried to say, desperate to make sure that Malfoy didn't misunderstand how grateful and happy Harry was that he was willing to help out. "McGonagall was in the common room when I came inside a few hours ago. They found a way to end the curse."
"Oh," Draco breathed out. "I'm glad then. That they found something."
"Thank you for helping me, though," Harry said.
"I didn't exactly help," Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, but you were going to," he shrugged. "And, anyway, you did help. You kept me company when I couldn't sleep."
"Because neither of us knows how to fall asleep at night and you always seem to find me."
"Why are you trying to find justifications for all of it?"
Malfoy stayed in silence and Harry turned his face to look at him. His expression was closed off yet pensive. He seemed to be thinking about Harry's question and how to answer it, which was more than Harry thought he would do. He had thought that Malfoy would simply brush it off and make a snarky comment, but it wasn't happening.
"I think," Malfoy started. "I think that I'm scared."
Harry blinked, startled at the candid admission. He hadn't expected Malfoy to be so truthful with him, to open up in that way and say something that was private and personal. Malfoy opening up to Harry seemed like an impossibility, implausible. But here they were, in a dark corridor, in the middle of the night and Malfoy was telling Harry that he was scared.
"Scared of what?" Harry's voice was soft, softer than he had ever used when talking to Malfoy, softer than he had ever thought he would use with Malfoy.
"Scared that it will make me vulnerable," Malfoy hesitated, but he had already started talking so there was no going back. "If I hide everything I'm thinking and feeling, then it will be easier to pretend those things were never there and it will be harder to get hurt."
"I don't want you to hide from me."
"Sometimes hiding is just easier. And safer."
And Malfoy was right. Hiding was easier and safer, but that didn't mean it was the best option. It didn't mean there wasn't something amazing about opening up to someone and letting them know what's inside of you. Harry had some trouble doing it too, but something about this Malfoy that was sitting next to him and that had been talking to him for weeks, made him want to hear everything he had to say and open up in return.
"I think that opening up is hard, but sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes letting yourself be known and letting other people know you is the best thing."
"I do think I want to talk," Malfoy said, his eyes meeting Harry's. "But my first reflex will always be to keep things inside."
"Maybe it's time to change that."
"Maybe it is."
There was a beat of silence. Malfoy was looking at Harry, his eyes travelling all over his face, trying to assess if telling Harry what he had been keeping inside was the best decision to make. Harry tried to keep his expression as open as possible, to keep his eyes on Malfoy and let him know that he wouldn't judge him, that he would be there to listen to what he had to say.
Malfoy licked his lips and nodded once to himself before starting, "The truth is that I was very curious at first. You had disappeared from the castle and no one seemed to know exactly why, and then I saw you that first night and I was even more curious. Because why would you be hiding away during the day and leaving all your adoring fans heartbroken but then come out in the middle of the night."
Harry rolled his eyes at the 'adoring fans' comment but didn't interrupt. He figured that talking this openly about himself was already taking a toll on Malfoy, he wouldn't forbid him from making any snide comments.
"And then I found out what was wrong with you. One of the things that's wrong with you, anyway," he smiled teasingly. "And I guess, I don't know. I was just worried. And I did want to help you but I didn't know how and that pained me."
"Don't beat yourself up over it," Harry shook his head, shifting so he was sitting closer to Malfoy. "No one knew how to help me. It was just a shit situation."
"I did the only thing I could do," Malfoy ignored him. "I wrote to my mother, hoping that she had some answers. She comes from an old family, maybe she knew something and, if she didn't, I asked for any books that she thought might help."
Harry felt warm. Every word that Malfoy said was going directly into his heart and exploding into tiny flames, setting him on fire from the inside out. He turned so he was looking directly at Malfoy and smiled at him.
"Thank you," he stared directly into Malfoy's eyes, hoping to convey everything he was feeling into that one stare. "It means a lot to me that you care."
Malfoy licked his lips and averted his eyes for a second, before turning them back to Harry, a determined flicker in them.
"I do care. I never thought I would, but I do care about you, Potter... Harry. I do care."
Harry gulped, his eyes never straying from Malfoy and his breath faltering in his throat. He wanted to say something, make sure that Malfoy knew that everything he was saying meant the world to Harry, make sure Malfoy knew that Harry cared about him too.
He wasn't sure how to articulate it, though. He didn't know how to put into words everything he wanted to say and everything he wanted Malfoy to know. He had never been quite good with words and with saying what he meant, not like Malfoy deserved him to be.
Malfoy was looking apprehensively at him and Harry was being stupid. He couldn't stay silent and let Malfoy worry that he had said something wrong, he couldn't let him feel like that after the other boy had been so honest with him. He had to say something, do something.
Harry smiled at him. A reassurance in itself but not enough. Never enough.
He shuffled even closer and Malfoy stared down at the diminishing space between them, the furrow between his eyebrows was the only thing that showed his confusion. Harry grinned and moved his hand, touching Malfoy's sleeve with his index finger.
"You know what I would do if I wasn't cursed?" Harry asked at last.
Malfoy shook his head.
"I would touch you. That's the thing I want to do the most. I would touch without fear of bruising my fingers. And I would kiss you without thinking that it would bruise my lips," he said. "I don't think I would mind a few bruises, to be completely honest."
"Don't be an idiot, Potter. You aren't getting injured when you don't have to."
"I think I do have to." His finger went walked along Malfoy's arm, not quite touching it, but climbing the length of the large sleeve. "I've been injured before because of this curse and it was just annoying. Getting injured after I touch you... That would be completely worth it."
"You're completely out of your mind," Malfoy shook his head, but there was laughter in his eyes and Harry knew he wouldn't be pushed away.
Harry met his eyes and smiled at him before finally, finally, letting his finger touch skin. His placed the pad of his index on the skin where Malfoy's shoulder met his neck and felt his breath get stuck in his throat. It had been so long since he had freely touched anyone, he felt like his brain was going to snap if he didn't continue feeling skin on his.
He rested his whole hand on Malfoy's shoulder and shifted closer, felt his cheek warming up with Malfoy's breathing. He turned his head slowly, swallowing around the lump in his throat. Malfoy's eyes were dark silver in the shadowy corridor, intense as they stayed connected to Harry's.
"Draco, I'm going to kiss you now."
"Do it, Potter."
And Harry did. He took on the challenge whispered against his lips and sighed when they met Malfoy's. It was everything he had been waiting for, everything he had wanted. It was all the touches he had been missing, it was all the intensity of life he had missed brought back to him. Malfoy was soft under him and Harry didn't think of the curse as he touched him everywhere he could. As he touches his back and his arms and his neck. He didn't think of anything except Malfoy, Draco, kissing him and never stopping.
Malfoy's hands had been on his lap the whole time, he had kept them there as he kissed Harry back. But now he raised them, he clutched at harry's robes with them at first, bringing him closer and closer until there was practically no space between them. When he moved again, he held the back of Harry's neck with his right hand and kissed him even harder.
And then it ended. The kiss stopped and Malfoy jumped away from Harry, leaving him dazed and wondering what had happened, how everything had shattered so quickly.
"I know you said you didn't mind the bruises but... I just held your neck. That must have been painful."
"What?"
"Your neck. I touched your neck."
Harry blinked, then raised his hand to touch his neck and shook his head at Malfoy.
"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt."
Malfoy didn't seem to believe him, so he patted the floor next to himself.
"Come back here, Draco."
Draco seemed thorn between worrying that he had hurt Harry and wanting to go back to what they had been doing before. Harry hoped that he chose the second option.
He sighed and sat back down next to Harry, keeping his hands firmly on his lap again.
"Let me see," he said. "Your neck. Let me see how it looks."
"Draco, come on."
Harry didn't want to scare him away. He didn't want Draco to see the bruise and decide that he wouldn't touch Harry again until the curse was removed. He didn't want that. He had been telling the truth when he had said that getting a few bruises would be worth it if he got to touch Draco and be touched by him.
"Stop being stubborn and let me see it, Potter."
Harry sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get away from it and convince Draco to let it go. So, he turned his head to the right and let Draco look over the left side of his neck, waiting impatiently for him to finish his examination.
"How long do the bruises take to appear?"
Harry looked at Draco's frown from the corner of his eye and shrugged.
"A few seconds usually, a minute at most."
Draco's frown deepened and he grabbed his wand from his pocket. He cast a Lumos and looked at Harry's neck once more.
"Harry," Draco breathed out, his hand reaching out but not quite touching Harry's neck. "There's nothing."
"What?"
"There's nothing," Malfoy rushed out. "No bruise. No redness. Absolutely nothing."
Harry looked at him confused. Then stared down at his hands, at his fingers and palms that had touched Malfoy's skin and that should be black and blue but that weren't.
"I don't understand," he mumbled.
"Do you think it lifted on its own?" Malfoy asked.
Harry didn't know. No one had said it would, but then again, no one had known a whole lot about it in the first place. Maybe it had lifted on its own. Maybe it had been a temporary thing.
"My shoulder," he said suddenly, startling Malfoy as he started to shrug off his robes and jumper.
He turned his head to look at the place where Ron had poked him earlier than evening and, sure enough, there was a bruise in the exact same place.
"I-" he pointed at the bruise. "This was this evening. It couldn't have lifted in hours. Could it?"
"I don't know. But what's the other alternative?"
From his voice, from the rushed words and flushed cheeks, Harry knew that Malfoy was thinking of the same alternative that he was. The one that would explain why his touch didn't leave any bruises on Harry while Ron's touch had. They were thinking of the same thing, but it seemed impossible. It couldn't be.
"Do you think that...?" Harry asked, voice soft and unable to finish his thought.
"It can't be," Draco's voice was even lower, disbelief in every aspect of it.
"Would it be that bad? If it were true?"
Draco stared at the floor with his eyebrows furrowed, put his sleeves over his hands and sighed.
"It wouldn't be bad." He still wouldn't meet Harry's eyes. "But it doesn't seem like it could be true."
Harry shook his head,d told himself that he was brave enough to do and say what they both needed to be laid out in front of them and moved his hand so it was resting on Draco's thigh.
"It does seem that way, but... The evidence is there, isn't it?"
Harry's hand moved up, stopped next to Draco's hand and hesitated before holding it in his own.
"And it's not like we don't want it," he teased, trying to lift the tension.
Draco laughed. A small, breathy sound. Still unsure. But his hand squeezed Harry's and there was hope all around. Hope for the two of them.
"I guess you're right. Shocking as it is."
"It does happen sometimes." Harry smiled and his other hand came up to touch Draco's face, unafraid now. "You're just thinking too much."
"I do tend to do that," Draco nodded, but his eyes were back on Harry's lips Harry knew that they both agreed that conversation was overrated.
Harry wasn't sure if it was because of the month he had spent without touching anyone or if it was just because this was Draco, but every touch seemed bigger than it was, fuller and deeper. Every touch seemed to stroke his heart and make his breath hitch.
The curse didn't seem like a burden anymore. It would be lifted soon and for now, Harry was buzzing with the feeling of Draco's skin against his own. Despite the lonely month he had spent, Harry felt like he had ended up winning in the end. Winning more than he had ever asked for.
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So this is it, the end of the story I wrote on a whim. Hope you enjoyed it!!
Shameless plug, but I made a drarry playlist while I was procrastinating if you want to listen it's on Spotify