Chapter 8 – Draco naps and Ron's warning
Draco followed Harry upstairs into a simple yet comfortable room done in light blues, white and sage. He turned to Harry. "This will be perfect, thank you. Are you better now?"
Harry inhaled. "Yes. Swimming clears my mind; you'll find I use the pool a lot."
"What do you do to clear your mind when it rains?" Draco asked curiously.
"Play the guitar or drums," Harry shrugged. "Do you need anything else?"
Without saying a word, Draco closed the gap between them and cupping Harry's chin kissed him. It only lasted a moment but their magic crackled around them once more before Draco pulled away. "I should be down in a few hours."
"I'll wake you for lunch if you wish," Harry said softly, moved by the gentle kiss.
"Yes, thank you," Draco closed the door with smile in his eyes.
Harry felt compelled to go swimming again. But a light rain had stared almost as if Draco had caused it simply by asking. Determined to think, Harry grabbed his guitar. Instead of playing in his usual place, his bedroom, he picked the area furthest from Draco. Sitting alone in his office, Harry began to strum.
As always the music washed over him and calmed him. He tried to sort things out and pinpoint what action to take next. The fact that Draco seemed willing to let the 'bonding magic' occur surprised him, but in a good way. He was surprised he didn't feel embarrassment looking back on their first kiss now. Although he thought for sure he'd die when Hermione first walked in on them.
It was odd to have some sort of feelings for Draco Malfoy span over so many years. Fundamentally, it was an attraction, although it was first repulsion. Was that because they had sensed a bond between them as children and fought it, in the most literal sense?
To have come together again so recently could be destiny or even the magic. Perhaps the oddest thing of all was how much he trusted Malfoy. Or was that part of the magic too? Were he and Hermione being used by the Slytherins? Was he letting his loneliness rule his head? Without the bond was it really credible that Draco would work against his father? No, that didn’t make sense. If Draco was still the same as he was years ago he'd be personally thrilled to have his father as Minister of Magic… So much for playing devil's advocate with himself.
Harry smiled and played the guitar for a long time before he put it away and decided to work on making plans for lunch and dinner. He’d just prepared the ingredients for lunch when a knock came at the door. Harry went to the door and smiled in surprise when he saw who it was, "Hi Ron."
"May I come in?" Ron asked coolly.
"Sure," Harry stepped aside and wondered what the problem was now.
Ron stepped into the foyer and then looked at Harry. A cold shiver went up Harry's spine. "I want you to stay away from my wife."
"Hermione is my friend too," Harry said, hurt lacing his words.
"Not anymore. Stay away from my family. You already killed Charlie because of your recklessness. We don't want you near any of us." Ron sidestepped Harry, walked out and slammed the door shut behind him.
Harry didn't move. He stood staring at the door unable to reconcile what had just happened with the Ron he used to know. Sure, Ron had turned on him before but never like this. Was he right? Harry slid down the wall to his feet.
"Is it my fault?" Harry whispered in the silence. A heavy pain settled over his heart that was still ailing from the sheer loss of Charlie… now it was filled with guilt so complete Harry felt sick to still be alive. He looked around the room seeing only the reminders of Charlie that had kept him going. But did he deserve that?
He sat for hours, before it became too much and he ran to the bathroom to be violently ill.
Afterwards, using the counter to help him stand up, he rinsed out his mouth. When he looked into the mirror, sadness overcame him. His gloomy mood matched the weather and he searched for a reason, any reason to keep going on.
It was one thing to know, dimly, that the Weasleys hadn't forgiven him. But Hermione's presence in his life had kept the hope alive in his heart that someday they could be a family once more. He would have his best friend back along with his surrogate parents of Molly and Arthur Weasley. Leaning against the cool tile wall he wished once again that he had died and not Charlie. He rested his arms over his bent knees and wondered for the hundredth time, why he was still alive.
"Harry?" Opening his eyes, Harry rolled his head in the direction of the voice. "And I thought I looked like shit." Shaking his head, Draco stretched out his arm toward Harry. "You should get up before you get a crick in your neck or a numb bum."
Reluctantly Harry accepted the hands up. He followed Draco out to the kitchen. With a thump, he plopped down on one of the chairs and stared blankly at the wall.
"Well, obviously something happened while I was asleep. You should have woken me up idiot, instead of making yourself ill. So what happened?" Draco asked pointedly.
"Ron stopped by."
There was a prolonged silence, while Draco tried to figure out what to say. "I take it things didn't go well."
"I can see you're one of those rare bright blond’s aren't you?" Harry snapped.
"Shut up Potter. I'm trying to help, besides my grades at school were far better than yours ass-wipe."
"Sorry Draco, I guess I deserved that," Harry stared at his hands, which were stretched out on the table in front of him.
Draco put his hands over Harry's. "Yes, you did. Now put away the bullshit and tell me what the fuck happened."
Harry chuckled. "I don't think I've ever heard you curse so much."
"If you're going to go all prissy on me, there's plenty of other fish in the sea." Draco reminded him.
"I don't deserve you." Harry hung his head. But his hands told a different story as they held on tightly.
"Well, I don't want you to go away either."
Harry looked up and smiled. "I'm not leaving."
"Fine, then stop trying to push me away. I don’t know what that idiot said to you, but I think it's time we started to de-Charlie the house. You can start by putting away all these pictures of the two of you. Then you can hang up the Dragon Hide cloak and boots until you are ready to deal with them. The problem with you Potter is you don't know the meaning of closure. And if those red-haired morons can't get a grip on reality, then you need to stay away from them!" Draco slid his chair closer to Harry's and put an arm around him loosely.
"He ordered me away from Hermione."
Your Fellow Man by Keikokin [ - ]
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