Original poster: sakaim Title: Enemy of My Enemy Author: </a></b></a>sakaim Rating: R Pairings: Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione Word count: 8,058 Summary:Unable to cope with the guilt of being involved in Dumbledore's death,Draco nearly starves himself to death. During his recuperation, hefinds himself learning more about his archrival. Warnings: Character death, starvation, Ron/Hermione, homosexual sex, manual sex, mentioned anal sex, mentioned rimming. Note: Giftfic for </a></b></a>ravenna_c_tan Draco Malfoy was miserable. In fact, he thought as he stared at his reflection in the mirror, I’m probably the most miserable sod on the planet.He was much paler than normal, his skin having taken on a nasty greypallor, and he could not seem to bring himself eat anything cooked bythat wretched Molly Weasley. As a result of this, he was becomingthinner by the day, and he was beginning to lose control of not onlyhis temper, but his body as well. Even then, as he pulled down hisbottom eyelid and observed the unhealthy flesh exposed, his hands weretrembling. “Fuck,” he murmured aloud, the sound of his own voicestartling him. He had been locked up in his bedroom at number twelve,Grimmauld Place for five weeks now without seeing anything but therestroom and the four dingy walls containing him.
“Aguamenti,”he whispered shakily, pointing his wand at his glass, but nothinghappened. Irritated, he repeated the spell twice, but either his handwas too shaky or he was too damned hungry to perform any magic at all.He dropped his wand and rubbed his face in his hand before he stood upand went to the door. He rested his hand on the knob and twisted withgusto, but, again, nothing happened. He realised with a nasty jolt thatthe door was magically locked. Panic laced through him, and he thumpedhis fists against the inside of the door. “Let me out!” he exclaimeddesperately. “Somebody let me the fuck out! Oh, Merlin…” Hethrew himself against the door, the scent of dinner being cooked in thekitchen below wafting upstairs and making his mouth water. He hadceased being hungry weeks ago.
Harry was just passing on thestairs when a startling slam sounded against the inside of Malfoy’sdoor, and he hesitated. Five weeks before, a rainy, miserably hotAugust night, Snape had shown up on the doorstep of the Headquartersfor the Order, frog-marching Draco in front of him. They were bothsoaking wet and filthy, robes tattered and covered in mud, and Harryunderstood why they were there. Just the week before, Molly and Arthurhad unearthed a sort-of will left by Dumbledore before death, whichdetailed that Severus Snape had been instructed, in order to save theinnocent Draco Malfoy if need be, to kill him, Albus, on request. Hewent further, explaining the Unbreakable Vow Severus had taken andinformed him of at the beginning of the year, and instructing that thetwo be taken in as allies if ever they approached. Harry did notwelcome them with open arms, but he opened his rightful home to them asinstructed. He had not regretted it, as Snape was constantly outworking on missions even though his cover as a Death Eater had beenblown, and Malfoy had locked himself up in his allotted bedroomimmediately. He had not eaten a single meal since his arrival, as faras Harry or anyone else knew, and if he did not glimpse the ghostlikefigure of the boy occasionally fleeing to the restroom. He wondered ifMalfoy even had anything in his body to expel.
There was another thump, though it was weak this time, and Harry lifted his wand nervously. “Alohomora!”he hissed softly, and the door clicked open easily. He took a startledstep backward as Malfoy tumbled out, startlingly white, and he caughthim before he hit the ground. “Whoa, whoa, Malfoy,” he found himselfmurmuring as his rival collapsed against him, trembling and coughingdryly. “You all right? Fucking hell, Malfoy, you look like anInferius…” Draco did not seem to notice that Harry was speaking at all,or even that he was there, and he would have sunk to the floor ifHarry’s arms had not immediately encircled him and held him aloft. “Allright, all right…”
Draco was dimly aware that someone had a holdof him, that someone was keeping him from falling, and he leaned intothe warmth. As if he were far away, he distantly felt his body beinglifted up, and he shakily opened his eyes to look up to his saviour. Oh, he thought woozily. How utterly predictable.Potter was such a bleeding heart. Nevertheless, he did not move away orstruggle to get out of those arms, instead letting his head fall ontoPotter’s shoulder. “Weak,” he breathed, and he saw Potter nod. Foronce, they agreed on something.
The scent of the feast lain outbefore them in the kitchen nearly made him faint dead away, and hewanted to reach for everything, to shove every bit of the feast in hismouth. Harry did not place Draco in any of the chairs, instead carryinghim past the kitchen doorway and into the sitting room beyond. Hermionewas seated on the couch, but at the sight of Harry carrying Malfoy intothe room, she leapt up and shook her head in disbelief. “Honestly!” shehuffed as Harry helped Draco lie down on the couch, and she pulled aheavy blanket from one of the old armchairs. “What did he expect?” sheasked quietly as she tucked the blanket in around Draco’s skeletalform, and she touched her hand to his forehead. “Starving himself,honestly…What did he think he was going to accomplish? Was he trying tokill himself?”
Harry disappeared momentarily and came back withorange juice and two biscuits, warm and buttery. Hermione, toeveryone’s shock, had been in a right state over Malfoy’s health whilehe was locked up, and she knew that he had not been eating. “Why aren’tyou doing something?” she had hissed at Molly one particularly tensemorning when Draco could be heard retching loudly upstairs, but she hadbeen ignored. There really had not been anything they could do but waitfor Draco to appear. Now that he had, maybe they could get someanswers. Hermione took a biscuit from Harry and looked down intoMalfoy’s pale face, appalled to see that even though he was very sick,the spark of hatred for her in his eyes had not diminished. “Look,Malfoy,” she stated in a tone not to be argued with, “you’ll die if youdon’t eat, but you can’t eat much in the beginning. Small amounts offood will suffice, even if you are still hungry.” She held the biscuitto his lips, but he turned his face away. “Damn it, Malfoy! Grow up!”She was frustrated—it was obvious why he would not take it—and sheshoved the biscuit into Harry’s hand before getting up and staring atthem.
“Er…” Harry looked down at the biscuit in his hand androlled his eyes before he sat down on the floor beside the couch. Hedid not like the idea of feeding Malfoy one bit, and from the look onDraco’s face, he did not fancy the idea either. His grey eyes were wildand starving, however, so when Harry wafted the biscuit under his noselike he would have an animal, Draco opened his mouth, his chapped lowerlip quivering and saliva touching the corners of his mouth. Harrypushed the biscuit between his teeth and let Draco bite into it. “Chewit, Malfoy, for fuck’s sake,” he grumbled as Malfoy swallowed the firstpiece whole then tore another piece off with his teeth. Draco obeyedthe command on the next bite, and when he finished the small biscuitalong with the glass of juice, he managed a soft word of gratitudebefore his head rolled to the side and he slept.
Malfoyslept on the couch for days, waking up every few hours and calling forPotter. He was honest with himself about the whole thing—he lovedmaking Potter do as he pleased, loved the frustrated look on Potter’sface at having to feed him like a baby—and was not at all ashamed thathe could not be bothered to feed himself. For three days, he had beentruly unable to summon the strength to eat, drink, or use the restroomwithout assistance, but on the morning of the fourth day, he was ableto sit up and would have been able to manage his own affairs just fineif Potter didn’t just come running every time he yelled for him.Therefore, six days since he emerged from his bedroom, he was waking upfrom a brief nap and yelling for Potter, expecting to hear his clumsyfootsteps at any moment.
They did not come.
Draco sawred—Potter was at his beck and call, damn it!—and he sat up on thecouch and stretched his legs out in front of him, spreading his toes.His stomach rumbled, and he groaned quietly before he let his feet fallto the hardwood floor, and he pushed aside the cuddly blanket he hadbeen so attached to for the past week before he hauled himself shakilyto his feet. “Bloody Potter,” he grumbled as he tottered to thekitchen, peering inside and scowling at Molly, who was working quietlyon peeling a few potatoes over the sink. “Where’s Potter?” he askedwith an air of hubris, eyes gazing at her tattered apron and her olddress with distaste. For Merlin’s sake, didn’t these people know anything about how to dress themselves?He himself was dressed in silk pyjama pants, black, and one of Potter’soversized, long-sleeved t-shirts (he had had the misfortune of eatingtoo much on the second day and it had just come right back up), but thet-shirt was not threadbare or covered in holes.
Molly blinked asshe heard Draco in the doorway behind her, and she turned her head tosee him standing there, slightly shaky on his feet and still as grey asNovember. His eyes were still sunken in, his wrists bony, and his bodydwarfed in one of Dudley Dursley’s old shirts. She felt very sorry forthe boy even if he was Lucius Malfoy’s son. “Oh, hello, dear,” shesighed quietly, and she flicked her wand at the chair nearest him. Itpulled out for him, and she was pleased to see that he hastily took itas though standing up was a great chore. She imagined that it mightvery well be for someone so malnourished. What had he been thinking?Well, she knew that she would not have come out of hiding if she wasthrown into the enemy’s headquarters, but the Order was not reallyDraco Malfoy’s enemy. Quite the opposite, really, as they had beenperfectly willing to take him in despite the fact that he had led theattack of the Death Eaters on Hogwarts, but she understood why he wasafraid. Another wave of her wand sent a plate of fresh, cut-upvegetables from the other end of the counter to the table. “Helpyourself, Draco. I will be very surprised if Harry, Hermione, and Ronwill be back today, so you’ll just have to care for yourself, hm?” Ohyes, she knew that Draco had been taking advantage of Harry’shospitality, but she would not hold it against the boy. He was stillill, after all, even if he was eating again.
Draco cocked aneyebrow at her as he took a broccoli tree from the plate and popped itin his mouth. He chewed it slowly and thoroughly, not wanting a repeatperformance of his spectacular vomiting a few days before. He swallowedbefore he asked, “Not back today? Where have they gone that wouldprevent them from being back here today?!” This threw a wand into thegears of his plan of humiliating Potter as much as possible, and he wasnot entirely sure he wanted to cook anything for himself at four in themorning, as Potter would have done if he needed him to.
“I can’ttell you,” Molly claimed as she worked on her potatoes again, and sheheard Draco sigh heavily behind her. She knew that Harry would not wantDraco to know about the Horcruxes, that Draco was a possible risk, andshe would not be the one to ruin it. Honestly, she was incrediblyworried about her son and his two friends, concerned that they wouldget hurt or killed trying to get the damned Horcruxes, and she had notbeen able to sleep because of it. There were hints of the beginning ofa relationship between Ron and Hermione—she had caught them more thanonce gazing at one another across the sitting room or ‘accidentally’brushing hands as they passed one another—and the last thing she wantedwas for that to be ruined by death, be it one of theirs or Harry’s. Herheart ached. “It’s a mission for the Order, Draco, you understand…”
Draconodded silently and stared down at the plate, poking distractedly at acarrot as he chewed on a piece of celery. Yes, of course he understoodthat he was in no way to be trusted with any Order secrets, and herather preferred it that way. If he were to somehow be caught by theDeath Eaters, he would not want to get everyone here killed. ‘Draco, you are not a killer…’The words echoed in his head, and he closed his eyes weakly. Why wasthe war not over yet? Why did he have to be born in this age, when hewas likely to die at any fucking moment? Why had he not had the will tostarve himself to death? His hand was shaking over the plate, and heballed his hand into a fist, punching the table and making the platejump slightly. Molly turned to look at him in surprise, but she saidnothing.
It was three days before Potter and his hangers-onreturned to number twelve, Grimmauld Place. It was late evening, andDraco was curled up on the couch with an old spy novel he had found inone of the rooms when the three came bursting through the door in theadjoining foyer, laughing mirthlessly. They were the laughs of men whohad just narrowly escaped untimely death, the laughs of those expectedto never cry in war. They were soldiers’ laughs. Draco dog-eared thepage he was on and set the book aside, pulling his blanket close to hischest as the three came into the sitting room where he was stationed.There was something glimmering in Weasley’s hand, and he grabbedHermione by the arm, grinning at her. To Draco, it looked more like agrimace, like he was trying not to burst into tears, and he watched asthe pair disappeared up the staircase. He heard Ron mutter, “Fuckinghell…” just before a door closed him and his escort from the rest ofthe house. Draco realised with a blink that Harry had not followedthem, and he glanced to the right to see Potter collapsing into arecliner and burying his face in his hands. The Headquarters were emptythat evening, save for Draco and Kreacher, and so there was nowelcoming party, no group of Aurors descending on Harry and demanding astory. It was just he and Draco there in silence. Draco lifted his bookagain, but he stared at its cover without opening it for a few momentsbefore he reared back and threw it right at Potter, hitting him soundlyin the arm.
Harry lifted his face from his hands and looked upat Draco, staring at him from across the room, and Draco noticed forthe first time that Harry’s face was cut and bleeding very lightly.They stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity beforeHarry stood up from his chair and sat on the opposite end of the couchfrom Draco. “Would you…get me something to eat?” he asked raggedly, hisvoice exhausted, and Draco frowned before he nodded and hauled himselfinto the kitchen. He made half a sandwich of corned beef on wheat breadbefore he went back into the living room only to find Potter lying downon the couch asleep. Draco was not about to give up his couch, and hethought about yelling at Potter to get up before he sighed and placedthe sandwich on the counter before walking over and sitting on theopposite end from Harry. He reached over and took his glasses off,setting them on the end-table before he lay down as well, his feetresting somewhere near Potter’s knees. He spread the blanket over bothof them and buried his face in the pillow, flicking his wand toextinguish the light and ignoring the sounds of Weasley and Grangermaking love in the dark somewhere above them so he could sleep.
TheHeadquarters for the Order of the Phoenix was boring when Potter wasgone, and he frequently was, leaving Draco to sleeping or reading whathe happened upon in the old house. It was a full month before he couldgaze at himself in the mirror without flinching at what stared back athim—he had been eating frequent small, healthy meals throughout the dayand was regaining the weight he had lost as well as the colour in hischeeks—and it was October before he thought that he was positivelydashing again. He could not bring himself to return to the bedroomwhere he had imprisoned himself for five weeks, and so Potter, when hehad been home one weekend, had moved his things out of it and into theroom down the hallway where Hermione and Ginny would have stayed hadthey not gone back to Hogwarts for their final year. “The youngerstudents need an education,” she had said, and she had not met Harry’seyes. “And the teachers need help. The world cannot stop because thereis a war.” She and Ron had returned, leaving Harry at Grimmauld Placealone with Draco, but Draco did not have any qualms about that. Hehated listening to the Mudblood and her weasel fucking every night, andmore than once he had been forced to perform a Silencing Charm on theirdoor. He and Potter had laughed after that, and he was glad that he wasnot alone in thinking that it was obnoxious.
He was learningmore about Potter as time went on, though he did not like to admit itto himself. When the other boy was home, he frequently had nightmares,it appeared, for Draco was always awakened by Harry screaming andthrashing in the bedroom next to his own. It was on a night like thisthat Draco finally rolled out of bed and pressed his ear up to thewall. “No, no, please! Not Hermione, for fuck’s sake!” Dracopushed away from the wall and tied a bathrobe around himself eventhough he was wearing pyjamas, and he left his room. He had expectedPotter’s door to be locked, but it wasn’t, and he twisted the knobeasily before he pulled the door open and went inside. In the dimmoonlight, he could make out Potter gasping and tearing the sheets toshreds in his nightmarish attempt to get away from something, and he approached the bed with caution.
“Potter,”he whispered, but nothing changed, and he repeated himself, louder thistime. Harry was sobbing and clutching his forehead, though he was notawake, and so Draco reached out and grabbed the hand that was clutchinga handful of sheet, and he squeezed it. “Potter, wake up!” He spokemore insistently this time, and the flailing around began to ebb away.“That’s right, come on, wake the fuck up so I can slap you…” Hewouldn’t have, really, and he knew he was only saying it to feel betterabout the scene before him. He was beginning to have nightmares ofPotter’s nightmares, and so he was dead-set on putting a stop to them.Green eyes—how did he know that Potter had green eyes?—were beginningto open in the dark, and Draco leaned forward, his hand tightening onHarry’s just a bit. “Shhh…”
Harry suddenly bolted upright into asitting position and stared at Draco, his breath fast and laboured.“What? What? Where am I?” he asked hurriedly in a fast whisper, butDraco only shook his head and gestured around. Harry’s eyes took in thesight of the familiar room, and his shoulders sagged. “Oh, good…Good.”Then he was burying his face in his hands again, and he gave in to hisbody’s need to quiver. Draco observed him quietly for a moment, an oldconversation with his father ringing in his ears.
‘Father,why are we friends with the Macnairs?’ He could not have been more thaneight at the time. The Macnairs frightened Draco impossibly, and heknew that his father did not really like Walden.
The two hadbeen in Lucius’s library at the time, Draco reading a spell-book forchildren and Lucius filing papers away in his desk. Lucius paused inhis filing for a moment then laughed at his young son. ‘There’s an oldsaying, Draco,” he stated softly, and he leaned forward to observeDraco with a smile. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Have you everheard that?’
‘No, Father, I haven’t.’ Draco did not quiteunderstand what the phrase meant, but Lucius did not offer anexplanation, and so Draco let the matter drop.
Draco slidoff the chair and sat on the edge of the mattress cautiously before hereached out and wrapped his arm around Potter’s shoulders. Harry leanedinto the embrace then, and Draco closed his eyes as he rested his cheekagainst the top of Harry’s head. “You want to talk about it?” What asilly thing to ask, really, but the words had escaped Draco’s mouthfaster than he could catch them, and he felt his cheeks flushing in thedark. Harry shook his head against Draco’s shoulder, and Draco wassecretly very glad. He didn’t want to talk about it, either. Draco losttrack of time sitting there with Harry in the middle of the night, onlythe light of the waning moon illuminating them in a blue cast from thewindow, and he was dimly aware of lying down with Harry there in thattiny bed and falling back to sleep with the other lying with his headtucked in against Draco’s chest. Neither one minded very much. Dracowoke first in the morning, and he slipped out from beneath Harry’shead, tucked him in properly, and went back to his own bedroom.
Itbecame a pattern. When Harry was home, Draco always started out in hisown bedroom, lying down to sleep for three hours before Harry’s yellsand panicking woke him up and he went to him. Then it was two hours ofsleep, then one, then half an hour, if he was lucky. He would creep outof his bedroom and, making sure no one was around to see him, slip intoHarry’s in his pyjamas and bathrobe. After a month of this, he did noteven try to wake Harry up before he crawled into bed with him andpulled him close to whisper words of comfort. Harry would wake up andstare into Draco’s eyes for ages until they both fell back to sleep.Each morning, Draco would wake up before Harry did and sneak back intohis own room, shedding his bathrobe and crawling into his own bed.
Christmaswas pressing down upon them, and Draco was dreading it. Christmas meantChristmas break, which meant that everyone would be returning fromHogwarts for the holiday, and he wondered what would happen if Weasleyor Granger caught him sneaking from his room to Potter’s, or viceversa. Of course, he thought, those two will be too busy buggering each other to notice a damned thing.He was just getting ready to slip into bed when there was an odd sortof knocking on his wall. He blinked and looked around, as though theknock could have been meant for someone else, then he walked up to thewall and knocked back, pressing his ear to the paint. The knock cameagain, and he heard Harry half-whisper, “Draco?” Draco blinked andknocked his acknowledgement, then he heard, “Come here, please?”
Herolled his eyes—he knew that not everyone was in bed yet, so itcouldn’t be the time for him to join Harry yet—then knocked again,once, before he left his room, passing Arthur in the corridor. The mannodded to him, but Draco ignored him and went straight into Harry’sroom. He was startled to see Harry fully dressed down to the travellingcloak around his shoulders, and he closed the door behind him before hecrossed his arms and leaned back against the door. “Going somewhere?”he asked quietly, eyeing the rucksack that Harry had lying open on thebed.
Harry nodded and opened a drawer beside the bed, pullingout a silver locket and a glittering cup before handing them to Draco.The sheer power in the objects made Draco’s heart speed up, and helooked into Harry’s face with an expression of confusion. “Those areHorcruxes,” Harry whispered, pulling Draco deeper into the bedroom. “IfI do not return by tomorrow night, I want you to destroy them. Be…becareful doing so, okay? They’re powerful, and they need to bedestroyed, and I know where the other ones are. I’m going tonight totry to destroy one myself.”
Draco stared at the objects, themagic practically pulsing off of them. “Horcruxes?” he asked quietly,and he shook his head, confused. “I don’t know what a Horcrux is,Potter.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just destroy them if I’m not back bythis time exactly tomorrow night. Got it?” Harry’s face was veryserious, and his hands were on Draco’s shoulders. Draco nodded hisacceptance of the task, then he glanced up to meet Harry’s eyes.
“Whatdo you mea—you’ll be back, won’t you?” The full force of Harry’s ordershit him suddenly, and he nearly staggered back with the weight of them.He dropped the Horcruxes onto the bed and crossed his arms over hischest, staring into Harry’s face with a solemn frown. “Where are yougoing that you might not come back?”
Harry shook his head andlooked for a moment as though he wanted very much to do somethingdangerous, and the expression frightened Draco. Harry’s eyes dropped tothe other’s left arm, and he reached down to seize him about the wrist.Not even a second after Draco understood what Harry was going to do,Harry ripped back the sleeve and stared at the sharp contrast of theblack Dark Mark to the alabaster flesh, and he reached down to run hisfinger over the blackness. Draco had never shown anyone—anyone—hisDark Mark, and to have Harry suddenly expose it like that made him feelnaked. Harry’s eyes flicked up to meet his, and he, to Draco’s greatshock, smiled ever-so gently. “Are you on our side, Malfoy?”
Thequestion took Draco by surprise, but he shook his head. “No,” headmitted, and he glanced over to the Horcruxes again before he metHarry’s eyes. “I’m on yours, though.” This seemed to be the answerHarry was looking for, and he released Draco’s arm before he reacheddown and pulled up his right sleeve. Draco was startled to seesomething like a Dark Mark on Harry’s right forearm, but it was notVoldemort’s Mark. There rested a dark red phoenix, its eyes burninggold, and before Draco’s eyes, the creature moved suddenly and laid anegg. It rolled down Harry’s arm and into his palm, and Harry grabbedDraco’s right hand. A sudden burst of warmth in Draco’s palm made himjump, and he pulled his hand away to see that the egg had transferreditself into his own flesh and was rolling over his wrist to settle onhis forearm just below the crook of his elbow. It cracked anddisappeared, leaving an ugly little chick in its place. “…What?”
“Ifsomething happens to me, you’ll know,” Harry whispered, and he turnedto close his rucksack, a strange expression darkening his features.“Malfoy? If I don’t come back…” He trailed off then shook hishead. “Nothing.” He looked terrified, and that frightened Draco morethan anything else. He sought out Harry’s hand in the dark, and hesqueezed it between his fingers. To his shock, Harry responded byturning to him and flinging his arms around his neck, burying his facein his shoulder, and Draco’s arms instantly, instinctively, wrappedaround him in turn. No words passed between the two embracing men, buttheir silence spoke for them.
‘If I die, you’ll be sad, won’t you?’
‘I’d be devastated.’
‘You’d miss me, wouldn’t you?’
‘More than I should.’
Dracofelt Harry’s lips brush his cheek, and his breath caught in his throat,but then Harry had pulled away. His hands were clumsy and tried to worktoo quickly for their task, and Draco could see tears shimmering on hischeeks in the moonlight. “Hey,” he whispered, and he took a steptowards Harry, his hand raised. “Hey, stop that…” Harry shook his headfiercely and wouldn’t meet Draco’s eyes as he slung the pack over hisshoulder and adjusted the strap. He tried to push back Draco, murmuringa goodbye as he did so, but Draco reached out an arm and caught him. Hepulled Harry close to him again, lifting a hand to brush Harry’s tearsaway before he leaned forward and brought their lips together in abrief, powerful kiss. He felt Harry’s surprised lips arch into his,softening and plumping at the warm contact, and when Draco pulled away,he touched Harry’s cheek. “Come back.”
Harry hesitated for a moment, and then he nodded. “I will.”
Dracowatched the clock in the sitting room intently. Ron, Hermione, andGinny were there, had arrived several hours ago, and they, too, were inthe room. No one was sitting with Draco. Harry had left the nightbefore at 22:47, and it was already approaching 22:30. The baby phoenixon his forearm was smouldering quietly, and he lifted his sleeve tostare at the chick. It was preening its grey feathers quietly, butnothing was wrong with it, and so he lowered his sleeve again and gotup off the couch, pacing back and forth. The clock on the mantle wasticking loudly with every passing second, and he was painfully aware ofeach one.
22:35 came and went, followed closely by 22:40. At22:43, Draco was sweating profusely and getting snappy with Ginny.“Quit staring at me, goddamn it!” he growled at her, and she glared athim.
“What are you so touchy about?” she hissed at him, throwingher hands up in the air, and she gasped as he drew his wand on her. Hewas just about to hex her when the doorknob turned. He shoved his wandaway hastily before he rushed to the door, pulling it open and scowlingas Severus nodded to him.
“Get out of the doorway,” Dracogrumped, and he ignored the shocked sound Snape gave as he was shovedout of the doorway. Draco hung his head out of the door and sighedheavily before he pulled it shut again. 22:45 came, and he shoved hissleeve up again to stare at the baby phoenix with contempt, as thoughit was the cause of all this. His heart was pounding painfully againsthis ribs, and he was just about to go upstairs to get the Horcruxeswhen the door opened again. “Harry?!” He shoved Ginny aside as she gotup and pushed past Ron and Hermione to stare into Harry’s tired, bloodyface. “Harry…”
Harry stumbled forward and came to rest againstDraco’s chest, his arms slipping around his waist despite theshocked—horrified was, perhaps, a more apt description—faces on hisfriends. “I came back,” he breathed against Draco’s hair. The lastthing he saw before he closed his eyes and promptly passed out was thesight of Ginny, her hand covering her mouth and her face crumpling asshe turned into Hermione’s arms.
Harry slumped suddenly andheavily against Draco, and Draco grunted with the weight of him. Helifted his wand and murmured a charm that rendered Harry weightlessagainst him, and he pulled him upstairs and to his bedroom, Weasleyfollowing him with an annoying look of concern on his face. Dracoreleased the charm when he had Harry in the bed, and he tucked him inbefore he waved his hand at Ron. “Out,” he ordered quietly, and he waspleased when Ron obeyed, closing the door behind him. Draco stretchedout by Harry’s side, latched onto him, and relaxed for the first timein days.
After Harry’s destruction of Nagini, the fifthHorcrux, Harry did not disappear for days—or even hours—on end anymore. For the most part, he was quiet and enjoying his time with hisfriends over the holiday, but Draco knew that something was wrong.Harry was not laughing as loudly as he normally would have been, and hefell silent before any of the rest of them. Draco felt isolated fromthe group, but that did not bother him at all, for Harry was just asisolated as he was, whether they realised it or not, and Harry wouldexcuse himself first from the table to come into the sitting room andsit on the couch with Draco in front of the brightly-lit Christmastree. On Christmas Eve night, Harry left his friends at the kitchentable and came in to find Draco reading one of his novels, and hecurled up next to him on the cushions. Draco’s arm wrapped around hisshoulder and they sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes beforeDraco ended a chapter. Just as he was going to turn the page, however,Harry’s hand lifted and took the book from him, dog-earing the page andsetting it aside before he fingered through Draco’s hair. “What?” Dracoasked in hushed tones, knowing that Harry did not really want hisfriends knowing how truly close they were. Harry had closed the sittingroom door, after all, when he had come in. Harry merely shook his headin response and leaned over to extinguish the candle by which Draco hadbeen reading, leaving the lights of the Christmas tree the only thingsilluminating the room. Draco felt Harry’s arms slide around his neck,and he just had time to moisten his lips with his tongue before Harrywas rubbing their lips together and clutching a handful of Draco’sblond hair.
The effect was instantaneous. Draco melted inHarry’s hold, his own arms sliding around Harry’s middle and holdinghim loosely as he opened his mouth over the lips pressing soinsistently against him. His tongue flicked against a smooth expanse ofteeth before they parted and Harry’s tongue reached out to meet him.Harry did not taste of vanilla, mint, or chocolate, but of warmth anddamp, and Draco was satisfied with that. Their tongues danced together,smooth and heated, and Draco found that his arms were tightening withevery movement of Harry in his arms. He bit down lightly on Harry’slower lip and felt him shudder before he drew the lip between both ofhis own and gently suckled on it. Harry was moving then in his arms,and the kiss was broken so they could lie together on the cushionsbeneath them. Draco pushed Harry onto his back and lay on his sidebeside him, one leg covering both of Harry’s and one arm secure aroundhis middle. The tips of their noses touched, and one of them—Draco wasnot sure which—conjured a blanket to throw over the both of them. Eachtouch was fuelling a slow heat building up between them, each smallkiss and caress forcing their hearts to pump faster. Draco slid on topof Harry, covering him with his warm frame, and as he lowered himselfcomfortably to press his face into Harry’s neck, he could feel thatHarry was just as aroused as he was. He opened his lips over Harry’sneck and began to mouth the tendons very lightly, the sensation causingHarry to squirm and moan softly beneath him. One of his hands caught upto one of Harry’s, and their fingers tangled while Draco’s tongue madea lazy appearance, the flat of it pressing to the spot just beneathHarry’s ear.
The clock on the wall chimed eleven, and ‘God RestYe, Merry Hippogriffs’ played in tinny tones sounded in the room. Bothof Harry’s hands were tangled in Draco’s hair, tightening when shiverswere sent running down his spine and tugging when the sensations becametoo overwhelming and he was one kiss away from having an orgasm withouteven being touched. He and Draco had not snogged like this before—theextent of their kissing had been shy good-night kisses shared wheneverDraco came in to lie down with him in the evenings—and the feeling ofit was almost too much for Harry to handle. He could feel Draco’s teethscraping across the hollow of his throat, and he gasped, knowing that ayear ago, Malfoy would have ripped his throat out. The fact that thescrape of teeth anywhere on his body could be pleasurable was a shockto him, and he was arching up into Draco as the other boy found hiscollarbone. His eyes were half-closed, his mouth open and gasping forair, and his hypersensitive skin gave way to gooseflesh when Draco’sfingers slipped into his shirt. When a thumb and a forefinger pinchedonto one of his nipples, he groaned without restraint and pushed hiserection up into Draco’s.
The sound of Harry’s voice liftingfrom the sitting room across the corridor made Ginny’s ears prick up,and she realised that Draco was in the room with Harry. Fear lacedthrough her, and she stood up, her eyebrows knitted. She didn’t trustDraco, not at all, and he could be hurting Harry, being with him allalone with the door closed. Hermione caught her eye and nodded, and sheknew that Hermione was thinking along the same lines. “Excuse me,” shewhispered to Ron, who nodded, and she saw that the entire table, whichconsisted of several Order members as well as the Weasley family, hadgone quiet. They could hear Harry gasping loudly, and Hermione stood upas well, not wanting Ginny to go alone in case something dangerous washappening. They walked together across the corridor, and Hermioneplaced her hand on the doorknob.
“I’ll go first,” she whispered, her wand raised, and she very softly twisted the knob so the only noise it made was the soft clickof the catch releasing. The door swung forward silently, and she pokedher head in. The coloured lights of the tree shone brightly in the darkroom, casting their colour onto the startling sight of Draco lying ontop of Harry beneath a blanket, his mouth opening and his tongue justscarcely visible as it traced the bow of Harry’s lips before slidingbetween them. Her heart sped up in her chest as she saw Harry’s handcombing through Draco’s hair, and the soft moan he sounded into thekiss as Draco drew his tongue into his mouth and suckled it caused herto pull the door closed. Ginny made an annoyed sound and tried to pushpast her, but Hermione held her back. “No, Ginny,” she whispered, andshe cast a Silencing Charm on the door.
“Why not?!” Ginny exclaimed. “He could be getting hurt in there! Malfoy could be killing him!”
Hermioneopened her mouth to say something, but she closed it again and shookher head. “Leave them, Ginny,” she warned. The tone in her voice musthave been convincing enough, for Ginny fell back and stormed back intothe kitchen. Hermione did not immediately follow, instead taking a seaton one of the plush armchairs in the wide corridor and losing herselfin thought.
Harry slid his hands down Draco’s sides, hisfingertips sliding just under the hem of his trousers. Draco paused inhis lewd sucking of Harry’s tongue to press their foreheads togetherand stare into his eyes. Harry’s were unafraid, willing, and Draconodded to him. He felt his trousers being unbuttoned, and he lifted hiships just slightly to allow Harry’s fingers to do so then slide histrousers and pants down and away from his hips. He kicked them offhimself when Harry could push them down no further, then his handshurried down to give Harry’s trousers the same treatment. He helpedkick them off Harry’s legs before he lowered himself enough that hiscock drooped and touched lightly against Harry’s stomach. “You everdone this with anyone?” he asked in whisper, and he was pleased thatHarry shook his head ‘no’. “Good. I want to be your first…”
“You’llbe the only,” Harry breathed, and he gasped as Draco reached down andseized both of their erections together. “The only one ever…” Draco wastouched by these words, and he nodded as he began to stroke them bothoff as one. Harry’s head was thrown back against the cushions, and hemurmured a spell that produced a thick, clear lotion in his hand. Heoffered the substance to Draco, who scooped it out of Harry’s hand thenresumed what he had been previously doing, though the movements of hishand were greatly quickened. Shivers ran down his spine, and he curledhis toes pleasurably as his hand slicked the lotion over both theircocks with gusto.
Harry began to squirm again, spreading hislegs so one leg flopped off of the couch and steadied him as one footanchored to the floor. “Draco, Draco,” he whimpered, and Dracoleaned down to claim his lips in a long, slow kiss nothing like thefervent jerking going on between their legs. Draco was panting into thekiss, his eyes squeezed shut tightly, and he groaned in response toHarry’s tongue desperately fucking his mouth. “Fuck, fuck, Draco,I’ll…I’m going to…A-ah!” Harry yelped, the heat that had been poolingin his abdomen bursting suddenly from him like liquid pleasure, and hearched his back high off the couch cushions as he shot thick streams ofwhite into Draco’s hand.
The sight of Harry losing control andletting go beneath him made Draco moan loudly, and he released Harry’scock before he began to masturbate furiously. In less than ten strokes,he was coming hard, coating Harry’s t-shirt in heavy seminal fluid. Heheard Harry whisper a mild cleaning charm, and when his hand was bereftof ejaculate, he collapsed on top of Harry and pressed his face againsthis neck. For ten minutes, he listened to Harry’s heartbeat slowingdown in his chest and let himself be lulled halfway to sleep by theconstant rhythm. “Draco,” he heard Harry murmur, and he lifted his chinto gaze sleepily at him. “Draco, we need to get up…We’re hogging theroom, and someone’s going to suspect.”
Draco groaned and nodded,pulling his trousers back up and stretching in the dark before hehelped Harry to his feet. He helped him pull up his trousers before henuzzled a kiss against his cheek. “Happy Christmas, Harry.”
Harrytold Draco that there was one final Horcrux, a secret, and Draco nevereven thought to question him about it. It never occurred to him thatthe look in Harry’s eyes after every time they fooled around could havebeen anything but satiation. He never put a second thought as to whyHarry always held onto him just a little longer than was necessary,thinking that Harry just craved physical contact. Draco never mindedthe prolonged embraces, the hand-holding, or the sudden, desperatepawing in bed. Or the sitting room. Or the drawing room. Harry did notseem to mind that Molly had walked in on them twice—once when Draco hadHarry’s cock in his mouth completely, his lips wrapped around the base,and once when Harry had Draco bent over and was lathering his arseholewith his tongue—or that Arthur had caught them snogging countlesstimes. Ginny had written several furious letters, covered in tears, butHarry never read them.
It was when Draco was sheathed inside ofHarry’s arse, coming hard just moments after Harry had come to his ownclimax, when something in Harry’s eyes concerned him, and when he wasmilked to the last drop and had pulled out of him, he lay over to theside and reached a hand up to touch his cheek. “What’s up?” he askedquietly, his voice hoarse from moaning so much, and he frowned as Harryrolled over to press their foreheads together with a very, very sadexpression darkening his features. Draco ran his fingers over Harry’scheek, frowning. “Harry?”
“I love you,” Harry rasped, and heshook his head at the shocked expression on Draco’s face. “Don’t lookat me like that, and listen to me! Goddamnit, Malfoy, if nothing else—if nothing else—knowthat I love you, all right?!” His voice had gone from shaky to almostangry, and Draco’s heart was speeding up its pace again.
“Allright,” he whispered, and he was startled when Harry’s face crumpled.“Fuck, Potter, why are you crying about it? It’s not a bad thing…Imean, for fuck’s sake, if this isn’t love, I don’t know what—”
“I-Idon’t want you to know why,” Harry whispered, and he shut his eyestightly as Draco drew him close and ran his fingers through his hair.“But know it, okay? Just…just know it.”
Harry disappeared thenext morning, and he never came back. Draco woke up to an empty bed andsighed, crawling out from between the sheets and heading to the showerbefore going down to breakfast. Molly and Arthur were there, makingbreakfast together, and Draco sat down at the table and was halfwaythrough breakfast before he dropped his fork and ripped his rightsleeve back. Pain was ripping through his forearm, and he witnessed thephoenix, which had been beautiful and resplendent, bursting into blackflames. “Harry!” he gasped, and he grabbed his wand, wanting to doanything, everything, but not knowing where to go. Molly chased afterhim as he dashed through the house, panicking, and she watched as hefound the roll of parchment Harry had left on his pillow.
Draco,
Inever wanted to tell you that I was the last Horcrux. I didn’t think itwould be fair to you, knowing that I could die any day, and knowingthat what we had was to be short-lived. Yet, I’m here now, writing thisletter to you, and you’re lying just there, just beyond my reach, fastasleep. Are you dreaming of me? Are you dreaming of the first time youkissed me, or the first time we were intimate before Christmas? Merlin,I hope you’re dreaming of me. I meant it when I told you I loved youlast night, and I’ll love you forever. I’m so sorry I didn’t get thechance to wake you to say goodbye, but I have to go now, I have toleave while I know where he is.
My last gift to you is yourfreedom. Remember me for who you knew me to be and no one else. You’rethe greatest thing that ever happened to me.
Love, Harry
Dracolet the parchment fall from his hands, and when the phoenix on his armdied and was not reborn, instead disappearing completely from his skin,he turned into Molly’s arms and began to sob.
It only took six weeks for Draco to die of starvation.