Whisper

Chapter 17: Listen to Your Heart-D.H.T.



Draco groaned and opened his eyes, only to shut them again from the bright light.



“Sissy, close the curtains,” he said, holding up a hand to his face to block out the light.



“Well, my name isn’t Sissy,” said a voice. “And since you asked oh so nicely…” Draco could hear the sound of a curtain being drawn and the light deadened. “There. Is that better?”



Slowly Draco opened his eyes and looked into the smiling brown eyes of Hermione Granger. “Granger,” he said and only then realized his voice was scratchy. Granger conjured a glass of water and he slowly drank it. “Thank you.”



Granger softly laughed. “Something happened in there. It gave you manners, at least to me. Anything else you need?”



Draco shook his head. “How long?”



“Three months,” said Granger setting the glass down. “At first we thought you both stuck and wanted to take you to St. Mungo’s, but your mother….”



“My mother came here?!” asked Draco trying to sit up. Granger gently pushed him back down onto the bed.



“Whoa, one thing at a time, Malfoy. Yes, she came here, every day. She insisted that someone had to clean up after you. You should have seen her. It was like she was watching a two year old again. I have never seen someone have such joy in bathing an invalid. Even with Harry.”



At the mention of Harry, Draco immediately reacted, the instinct to protect the man still in him. “Harry! I have to see him! I have to see if he’s okay!”



Granger grasped his shoulders and tried to keep him in bed. “Malfoy, stop! There’s no need. He’s next to you.”



“He is?” Draco looked beside him and there, lying peacefully on the bed next to him, was Harry, looking over at Draco’s side with a sleepy smile. Attached to his arm was a tube connected to a bag hanging on a pole. It was then that Draco noticed he had one attached to him as well. “What’s this?”



“An I.V. tube. Muggles use them to put nutrients or liquid medicine in the patients. We attached them after you went to sleep.”



“How is he?” asked Draco looking over at Harry.



“He’s fine now. But after the first few days we tried to move you into a different room. We didn’t get far, through. You both just started screaming.”



“Screaming?”



Granger nodded. “Yes, in pain. You both didn’t stop till we put you on the beds.”



Draco thought for a moment. “The spell must have created a link between Harry and me. It should dissipate as soon as we’ve woken.”



Granger stared at Draco in surprise. “Malfoy, you called him ‘Harry’,” she said. “The link must have been really intense.”



“It was,” said Draco looking away. His eyes felt heavy and his body like he realized he hadn’t had any real sleep in three months.



“You’re still tired,” said Granger covering him back up. “Go ahead and sleep. I’ll wake you if Harry wakes up.”



She reached over and gently took the tube from Draco’s arm. Draco winced at the sting as the needle came out. Granger gently touched his arm with her wand and the needle prick healed.



“Thank you, Granger,” he said as he closed his eyes and Granger left the room. He tossed and turned for several minutes till he slid out of bed, crossed over to Harry’s and gently slipped in next to the healing man. Curling up next to Harry he fell asleep.



XXXXXXXXXX



He slowly came to consciousness to the sound of voices. At first he didn’t recognized them but soon identified them as Weasley and Granger.



“Whatever happened must have been big,” said Weasley as Draco started to wake up.



“As soon as I mentioned Harry’s name he went into a panic,” said Granger. “It was almost instinctive for him to protect Harry.”



Weasley scoffed. “That’s new. Malfoy actually protecting someone.”



“Ronald!”



Draco groaned as he woke. Weasley and Granger looked at him in surprise, almost shamed of the conversation they just had.



“What’s up,” he asked sleepily.



“We should ask you that,” said Weasley. “What are you doing sleeping with Harry?”



“Habit,” said Draco and Weasley look at his in surprised disgust and Granger in plain surprise. “Not like that!”



“So, what was is like,” asked Weasley, “inside his head.”



“A nightmare,” said Draco and he was silent. Both knew not to press the issue. A person’s mind was their first and last sanctuary. To violate it was unthinkable.



Draco gave a wide yawn as his stomach growled.



“Can I have some food,” he asked.



“Of course,” said Granger. “I’ll tell Winky to make something, and I’ll tell Mrs. Malfoy you’re awake.”



Draco looked at her in surprise. “Mother’s still here?” he asked.



Granger nodded. “When I fire-called her the first time you woke she immediately came over, but you were asleep again. She stayed by your side the whole time. She only left a half hour ago.”



“How long was I asleep?”



“Almost two days,” said Weasley. “Harry didn’t even blink once. He’s just laying there.”



“He said he had some things to clean up,” said Draco. “He promised he be back.”



“Harry never broke a promise,” said Granger. The room fell into a sad silence. “I’ll got get something for Malfoy to eat.” And she left.



“So, you really cured Harry,” asked Weasley. Draco shook his head.



“Harry cured himself. I just….opened a few doors.”



“You called him ‘Harry’,” said Weasley. “Something must have happened to change your attitude toward him.”



Draco swung his legs off the bed. “I learned he wasn’t quite the saint I first thought him to be.” He unsteadily got to his feet.



Weasley glared at him. “So what did you do? View a few of his memories and tell him to get over his pitiful life? Hell of a way to be a Mind-Healer, Malfoy.”



Draco turned back at him, holding himself steady on the wall. Through Weasley can glare with the best of them, Draco’s glare sent a shiver down Weasley’s spine.



“First of all, I’m a Mind-Healer because I know what the hell I’m doing. I don’t Legilimens their minds and tell them to get over it. And second, Harry’s life was not pitiful, but he did go through more hell then either of us. And third, I didn’t view the memories. I experienced them! I was Harry. I felt what he felt, thought what he thought, down to the very last detail. So don’t you ever say that I don’t know a thing about him, because I know more then you ever will.”



Weasley looked at Draco in surprise, unable to say anything, but he was saved from speaking by the entrance of Narcissa Malfoy.



“Mum,” said Draco softly, hardly believing Narcissa was there.



“Oh, Draco,” cried Narcissa and she swept him into a hug. He had just returned the hug when another smaller pair of arms wrapped around his legs.



“Dwaco!” cried Evangeline as she hugged him, and then looked up at him. “Daddy okay?”



Draco looked softly at his half-sister. She really was part Malfoy. There was no mistaking it now. “Yes, Eva, your daddy will be okay. He just needs to sleep for a while.”



“Daddy naps?”



Draco nodded. “Yeah, Daddy naps.”



Narcissa smiled down at Evangeline. “She’s a sweet little thing,” she said. “And so polite. Easy to see that she’s Potter’s daughter.”



Draco looked at his mother, wanting to tell her the truth, but decided to wait for another time. “Yes,” he said bending down and picking Evangeline up. “She’s a Potter all right.”



xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo



Over the week the adults stood watch over the patient in shifts, each of them stayed by Harry’s bed till the end of a three hours shift, through Draco stayed longer then needed, just doing papers, reading, or just talking to him. Draco had started read Lord of the Rings aloud to Harry. Weasley was amazed that Draco could read a book that was written the way it was, but Draco was used to reading books in Latin, Gaelic and Ancient Rune, so he could easily understand the alliteration. And he did admit it was a good book, even if it was written by a Muggle



And of course there was Evangeline. Narcissa took an immediate liking to the child and started teach her to be a regal lady. Evangeline loved the lessons and took them with vigor. She even asked Narcissa to teach her an instrument and the Malfoy matriarch started teaching her the flute.



Draco watched all of them with a happy face, but a sad heart. He didn’t know how to tell his mother that Lucius betrayed her and fathered a child using Harry as an incubator. Narcissa loved her husband very much and was devastated when he was arrested. Draco didn’t know how to tell her what happened during the two months of Harry’s confinement. But he knew he had to tell her, with or without Harry’s approval Narcissa had the right to know.



And he did. Draco told Narcissa everything he learned in Harry’s memory with Lucius and the truth behind Evangeline. Narcissa listened to his every word patiently and said nothing till Draco was finished. When he finished a long silence rested between them.



“Do you hate your father,” asked Narcissa.



“I have always held respect for him,” said Draco. “But I can’t say I hate him. More like I’m ashamed that my father turned out that way.”



“And Evangeline?”



“I wish to know more about her, and teach her. She is half Malfoy.” Another silence before Draco spoke again. “How do you feel about Lucius?”



“I still love him; or rather I love the man he was. Don’t ask me why, I just do.” Narcissa sighed before speaking again. “As for Evangeline, how can I hate her? She is like a daughter to me. The daughter I wish I had.” She looked at Draco. “A child doesn’t choose their parents.” Draco nodded.



Draco was taking his longer then usual shift when it happened. The Lord of the Rings book had gotten interesting and he had blocked out the rest of the world while reading it. Weasley was out for another Harry Potter sighting in Diagon Alley and Granger was downstairs with Narcissa playing a Muggle child’s game with Harriet and Evangeline. All he knew was that his concentration was disturbed by an amused chuckled and he looked up to find two very wide, very awake green eyes look at him.



“I have never seen anyone but Hermione that focused on a book,” said Harry, smiling over at Draco. Draco stared at Harry in shock and surprise. His first reactive thought was to rush over and hug Harry and his second was to hit the man for worrying him to death. He settled for the third option.



“Of course I would read it,” said Draco in a matter of fact tone, placing a marker in the book and set it on the table. “It’s a good book, according to a friend of mine.”



“Oh, really?” said Harry in an amused voice. “Do I know this friend? Have I met him?”



“I believe you have,” said Draco, crossing his arms.



“And what does this friend look like?” Harry rested his head in his hand that was propped on a bent knee.



“Well, he adorably cute with jet black hair and emerald green eyes. He’s got a hero complex, which is easily looked over. He is a big fan of Quidditch, which is a given if he wants to have anything to do with me. He’s kind of on the short side, but that just makes him cuter. The only disfiguring thing about him is a horrid scar on his forehead, but that just shows how brave his is.”



Harry smiled at the other man. “Draco, you really know how to charm a guy. Whoever ends up with you is lucky.”



Finally Draco couldn’t stand it anymore. He shot up out of his chair, making it fall to the floor in a loud clatter and practically flew into Harry’s arms, wrapping his arms around the other man and buried his head in Harry’s chest.



“I’m the lucky one,” he said, and began to cry. Harry hugged him back and gently rubbed Draco’s back.



That was how Weasley and Granger found them an hour later. Draco had cried himself out and was lying on the bed with his head on Harry’s lap as Harry ran his hands through the blonde’s hair, a content look on his face. When they entered and Harry looked up at them both Weasley’s gasped at how alive Harry’s eyes were.



“Ron, Hermione,” he said to his shocked friends. “Where are my glasses?”



“Did you hear that,” said Weasley.



“I’ve never heard a more beautiful sound in my life,” said Granger.



“Pathetic,” said Draco in Harry’s thigh, making Harry chuckle.



Both laughed and ran over to hug their friend, ignoring the blonde on Harry’s lap. Draco was suddenly crowded with Weasleys.



“Get off me!” he yelled. “Weasley, you’re crushing me! Get off!”



Still laughing both got off the blonde and sat on the bed, high on adrenaline of seeing their friend again.



“Harry, what is with you and Malfoy,” asked Weasley. “I’ve never seen you with that face since….” He went silent, afraid to mention the name of his deceased sister.



“Since Ginny,” finished Harry, looking at the bedspread. Draco had sat up n the bed next to him. “Is that what you meant?” Weasley nodded, afraid to speak. Harry smiled at his friend. “It’s all right, Ron. Not talking about her is no way to remember her. And as for Draco and I…” He looked up at the blonde and smiled at him. “We’ll wait and see.”



“Daddy?”



Everyone looked at the door where Evangeline stood staring at her father. Everyone moved aside for the two Potters.



“Eva,” said Harry, holding up his arms to his daughter. With a cry of joy Evangeline ran into the room, climbed on the bed and flew into her father’s arms. Draco watched with mixed feelings as his half-sister and the man he loved hugged on the bed. He was happy that they were back together, and sad that he could never patch things up with Lucius. Witnessing the attack on Harry was the final issue.



XXXXXXXXXX



Over the next month Harry recovered from his mental imprisonment. He was still scared of shadows so there was a moon glob in his room to cast a soft light when he slept and Evangeline wouldn’t leave his side. Draco sub-consciously distanced himself from Harry, throwing up the barriers he learned between patient and healer. Harry never said a word against it nor did he mind, spending too much time catching up with his friends and daughter.



When the month ended and Harry had fully recovered, Draco left.



TBC