Change My World

\"Draco, please... I\'m so sorry I left you. I didn\'t know. Just wake up. Wake up please, Draco,\" Harry whispered, clutching the wan and chilly hand. This had been going on for at least half an hour. At first Harry had been just sitting there doing some homework, and occasionally he looked up at his lover hoping to see him stir. Then he read to him, mostly Shakespearean Sonnets.

Draco couldn\'t help that he wanted to continue hearing Harry reading to him. It was entirely too sweet. Then came the pleading, which had been satisfying at first. Draco loved to hear that he was loved, but Harry failed to move satisfactorily into the explanation and bargaining phase and therefore wasn\'t providing any useful information. So Draco decided now was a good time to stage his awakening.

\"If you\'re going to insist on prattling on like that while I\'m trying to rest, at least do something useful. Sing me a song,\" Draco vocalized as his grey eyes drowsily flickered open and the barest of weary smiles appeared at the corners of his mouth. His feet were propped up over several pillows to encourage him to rouse, but the first time that his eyes had fluttered open, he simply saw Pomfrey flitting about which didn\'t seem worth staying awake for.

Of course aside from the advantages of listening to Harry speak to him and avoiding small talk with Pomphrey, being in and out of consciousness had given Draco some time to try and piece together what had happened. He clearly remembered killing Lucius. He remembered that sound... the way it cracked and this strange whooshing noise that had built up in his head at the shock and sickening surprise of his cold-blooded act. He had planned on staying with the body, crying over it, saying goodbye and telling his father how much he\'d really loved and admired him.

Somehow that seemed to have been taken away by what he didn\'t remember. What he didn\'t know was how he had ended up here and at what point he\'d lost consciousness. He vaguely remembered being thrown back and then something about believing his forearm was broken, but as he looked down at the hand in Harry\'s, he sussed that whatever had happened, it was mended now.

\"A... a song?\" asked Harry, breathless that Draco was awake. His hand clutched so tightly to Draco\'s that he was nearly crushing it. Then he yanked Draco\'s abused hand up to press against his cheek as Draco winced at the discomfort. Emerald eyes wide with concern, Harry wondered if this was perhaps some sort of delirium or a waking dream that Draco was having.

\"You\'re familiar with the concept, I assume. I\'m the one with a head injury, but I still understand what a song is,\" quipped Draco as his head rolled to the side and his eyes blinked open a bit wider now. On seeing Draco\'s wincing, Harry released the tension and Draco stretched out his index finger to stroke the clammy cheek of his lover.

Harry could feel his own grin broadening as the Slytherin began to appear as lucid as he was sounding. It just figured Draco could wake up from head trauma full of biting remarks. \"You want me to sing to you?\"

Draco visibly scanned as much of Harry as he could see, \"Unless you\'re hiding bagpipes on you that I can\'t see, then yes, I\'d like you to sing. However, if there are bagpipes hidden somewhere on your person I cannot see, will you marry me?\"

Rolling his eyes at just how strangely perverse Draco could be, but grinning nevertheless at the flirtatious taunting, he replied, \"I don\'t know any songs.\"

\"Everyone knows at least one song, Harry,\" he said, trailing off as he coughed a little and then squeezed Harry\'s hand after they dropped their conjoined hands back down to the bed. The boy who lived reached out his other hand for the water sitting on the plain, sterile table next to Draco\'s bed. Slowly, Harry fed it to him with Draco weakly steadying it. After a few long draughts, he nodded to Harry to take it away.

\"I really don\'t. Well... wait, I guess there is one,\" Harry said as he set the glass back down and put his now free hand on top of their entwined hands.

\"Let\'s hear it,\" said Draco as he closed his eyes to prepare to be sung to. He didn\'t know why he\'d requested this, other than that when he was sick his mother would hold his hand and sing to him. Perhaps now he was looking to someone else for that, as she no longer could. Although at times when he felt the tingling of his sadness just on the cusp of carrying him over to an emotional outburst over her passing, he fancied he could hear her lilting voice softly cooing to him.

Taking a deep breath, Harry began the only song he could think of, \"Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday-\"

\"It\'s not my birthday,\" Draco stated as his eyes opened again.

Harry sighed and squeezed Draco\'s hand, \"It\'s the only song I know.\"

\"No it\'s not, it...it\'s not the only song you know. I don\'t care whose cupboard you grew up in, you know more songs than that,\" surly Draco grumbled. \"And you can barely carry that tune.\"

Harry couldn\'t help but let out a choked sob at Draco\'s sourness upon waking. Tears dribbled down his face, finally releasing the fear and the joy that Draco was going to be fine. Raising a shaking hand to push away the tears as he looked into the bleary silver eyes of his lover he did the only thing he could, snark back, \"I didn\'t know you wanted a rock star for a boyfriend.\"

Draco\'s eyes didn\'t leave Harry\'s as he observed his lover\'s expressive release of his pent up feelings. Looking empathetically at Harry, he squeezed his hand back and tilted his head up to proclaim, \"I don\'t want a rock star. I want a hero.\"

He couldn\'t stand the space between them anymore. Harry inclined forward, sliding most of his torso onto the cot and wrapped his arms around the shivering Slytherin. The golden boy rested his head lightly on the Draco\'s chest to listen to the strengthening heartbeat. \"That I can be.\"

\"Can you find me a hero who can carry a tune, though?\" Draco asked dryly as he rubbed his chin against the untidy hair and then leaned his head down to kiss it.

\"God, you\'re such an ass,\" the Gryffindor murmured into Draco\'s chest.

\"I love it when you call me God.\"

\"Pomfrey warned me you might sustain permanent brain damage.\"

\"I suppose I\'ll have to be re-sorted into Gryffindor if my capacity is that diminished.\"

A statement like that out of anyone else\'s mouth, or even out of Draco\'s mouth at nearly any other time would\'ve sent Harry straight for his wand in reactionary defense of his House. No passing Go, no collecting $200. But at this moment, he accepted that it just meant that Draco was going to be all right. Though he was pale and clammy still, he was mentally clear enough to taunt. \"I\'d ask how you were feeling,\" he said, still tucked against Draco\'s chest. \"If you would shut up long enough for me to.\"

\"Just a little sore,\" he answered through his amused smirk as he settled in his cheek atop the unruly mass of hair. \"I kind of remember something about thinking my arm was broken, and it feels tender so I assume my bone mended. Must you fuck me so hard, Mr. Potter?\" he said playfully.

Harry\'s eyes widened and he sat up to stare at Draco in shock, \"You don\'t remember what happened?\" He was breathy in surprise and his green eyes cast critically over Draco.

\"Er... no, I remember,\" said Draco as he turned his head to the side and fixed his gaze on the half empty glass to avoid eye contact. Desperate not to think about what he had done, he changed the subject to something else that was bothering him. \"Where did you go?\"

\"I...\" Harry wasn\'t sure what to say at this point. Part of him wanted to tell Draco all about Snape and the lecherous things he saw in the man\'s head. Or thought he saw. Although in retrospect he hadn\'t seen much, had he? Just Snape\'s attraction to Draco, he didn\'t see the will to act on it. Damn Snape! The meeting and the way the potions master had twisted words and thoughts around had Harry doubting what he\'d seen and felt. On top of it all, Harry wasn\'t sure he wanted to knock another of Draco\'s idols off of their pedestals. But what else could he say in answer? \"I received a note from Snape and I was... following up on it.\" That was diplomatic enough, right?

Was that the other lover that his father had been talking about? Snape? No, that was silly, ridiculous even. Harry would never have such bizarre tastes as to opt for Snape rather than him. Had Harry seen the nose on that man? It was huge! And did he ever bathe? Not that Draco had ever noticed a particular odor about him, but Snape always seemed to be coated in some manner of slippery substance. Furthermore, the older teacher was nowhere near as attractive as Draco. Yet, Draco had doubts. \"You went to see Snape? Is that... that why you were telling me he wasn\'t my friend?\"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Harry nodded. Good then. Draco was every bit as savvy as he\'d thought him to be. He\'d done the math on his own thus putting Harry in the position as comforter rather than bearer of bad news. \"Yes, that\'s exactly why, Draco. I\'m... glad you\'ve figured it out. I had no idea how to tell you.\"

It was a horrid nightmare. \"Harry... I killed-and you... Snape?\" he whimpered helplessly. He\'d ruined everything in his life, changed his world for Harry Potter and the boy who lived was going to leave him for some middle-aged turncoat?

\"I know, Draco. I\'m sorry. I\'m so sorry about your father!\" he whispered to him as he reached out to cling to his lover in an attempt to assuage his pain.

\"No! It\'s not possible. How... how could you? You\'re... \" Draco was puffing now and he could feel everything inside of him tumbling in on itself. He looked skyward for some sort of help. He hadn\'t cried for his father yet, he hadn\'t even had a moment to properly mourn his mother. And now Harry... Harry was leaving him for the man he thought enough of to consider a secondary father.

\"I\'m here, Draco, I\'m here,\" Harry whispered as he clutched him. \"I know you killed your father. I understand. I\'m sorry I wasn\'t there to protect you.\" How could he not assume that Draco\'s hurt was over his father\'s death? Add to that Snape\'s betrayal that led to that loss for that terse emotion of lust? \"I love you so much.\"

\"Love me? How DARE you say that to me! You don\'t love me, you never did! You love that greasy old bat, and... ugh, why?\" wailed Draco in the sort of heart wrenching and pathetic tone that actors had yearned to accomplish only to lose to a frantic blond boy who was fairly certain that heart break was audible. Was it shattering glass or was it a more blunt sound? Still, it seemed somehow clear and tangible and it stole his breath away.

\"What?\" Harry had no idea what to say to this explosion from Draco. He had to go back over the words a few times to try to resolve them into some form that might make sense. Ultimately, he still didn\'t quite understand, or perhaps he simply didn\'t want to. There were just some things that were beyond fathoming, and himself with Snape was one of them. \"Me? Snape?\"

\"Stop, Harry, I can\'t... just... go. Go away. My... Oh!\" cried out Draco as he felt anxiety coursing through him, an emotion that he didn\'t even know how to deal with. He wanted Harry dead. No... worse than dead... no, he couldn\'t hurt him, not even a hair on his head, could he? Oh but how he wanted him to ache like he was aching right now.

It would have been laughable if he weren\'t watching his lover experiencing unnecessary catastrophic spasms of heartbreak. \"No, Draco! No! Draco... he sent a note to you. He wanted to see you alone in his chambers. And I thought... I didn\'t think your father was waiting for you. Draco, Snape... he\'s been...\" Harry trailed off.

\"Affectionate!\" Draco finished for him exuberantly as if it had been vexing him on some level he hadn\'t been willing to admit to. Or at least he didn\'t think so much about the casual touching until he was urgently trying to make Snape look bad in his lover\'s eyes. \"He\'s been touching me all the time. Rubbing my shoulders and patting my back!\" the recovering boy exclaimed with surprising energy.

Sure now Draco could use this information to get Harry to fall out of love with Snape, Draco seemed to comprehend the lascivious intent behind it. Perhaps that was simply the way the Slytherin mind worked, Harry mused. Everything could be exploited when it was the proper time. He tried hard not to be offended by this.

\"Yes, I was trying to point that out to you before, but somehow it didn\'t come through clearly,\" said Harry with as much tact as he could muster. Draco\'s hysterical blindness towards Snape\'s actions had been horridly frustrating. It felt good now that while he was in doubt there was a second opinion confirming his suspicions, even if the motive behind it was suspect. \"The point is, I thought he wanted you in the dungeons to act inappropriately. So I left the room to let him know that he wasn\'t to touch you.\"

\"That\'s so romantic!\" gushed Draco, clearly not comprehending Harry not only had no interest in the greasy git, but that he\'d spent the better part of their relationship paranoid that Draco would be the one to leave him for Snape. What did you say to that?

\"I\'m glad you think so. I just wish I hadn\'t gone off on that trip of stupidity. It left you alone. I never would have done that if-\" Harry started.

Draco shushed him and enfolded Harry in his arms. \"Please, please, please don\'t leave me Harry. I had to... my father wanted me to kill you. I could\'ve... redeemed myself with the Dark Lord, but I just... I couldn\'t, Harry. And I couldn\'t let my father do it either! That\'s why... I had to...him... otherwise he would\'ve killed you!\"

It was strangely touching. On one hand, knowing that your life was tacitly threatened and that your boyfriend had to consider the possibility of ending your life was, well, intimidating. On the other hand, Draco flatly refused to do it. Furthermore he refused to allow his father to do it. Granted neither Malfoy was earmarked with the ability to kill him according to the prophecy. However, neither of them knew that little piece of the puzzle. It would be cruel of Harry to inform Draco now that his father couldn\'t have murdered him. The boy would struggle with the worry that he\'d killed his father gratuitously for his whole life if he knew that, so Harry kept mum. \"I\'m honored that you\'d... I know he was your father, Draco but he was--\"

\"I know, I know what he was, believe me. I didn\'t want to do it, but... he would have done it and I... I love you Harry. I couldn\'t, I just... couldn\'t let him--\"

Buoyed by Draco\'s confession of why he\'d killed his father, or possibly sensing that his lover was in a mental space to comprehend the flaws of those he admired, Harry blurted out what he was thinking, \"Draco, I\'m not seeing Snape. I never have. I just... that day with the test... I saw into his mind. He wanted you. It\'s been driving me crazy.\"

\"Snape?\" asked Draco as he squeezed Harry as you might a delusional child. \"Fancies me?\"

\"Yes,\" Harry answered, oblivious to the condescending affection.

\"Harry... even if he did, what, aside from a severe case of nausea on my part, did you think was going to happen?\" Draco asked with as much sensitivity as he could muster.

\"Well, you were on about how he was intelligent and sophisticated-\"

\"Yes, and also that I saw him like a father. I realize you didn\'t grow up with a father but most people don\'t harbor secret desires for them,\" stated Draco as he stroked his fingers up and down Harry\'s back. Perhaps it was a bit caustic, but he felt it needed to be said. Just how perverse did Harry think he was?

\"Draco, that\'s... really... I mean, a big part of it was that I just didn\'t want you to lose him as your mentor,\" Harry confessed. \"Not that I thought you were, um, like that.\"

\"Well, if he\'s wanting to touch me inappropriately I don\'t think he\'s a particularly good role model to have. Although I\'m not entirely sold on the idea that he does want to do that. But if he does... that\'s... well, not going to happen. What was the small part of it?\" asked Draco as he started to slide his fingers lazily through Harry\'s hair.

\"The small part?\" asked Harry as he closed his eyes at the stroking.

\"Well, you said that was the big part of the reason you didn\'t tell me was that you thought I needed an idol. What was the small part?\"

\"Oh,\" said Harry. He wasn\'t sure he should admit this. Why hadn\'t he phrased what he\'d said earlier better? In his head this had all appeared rational, but now that he was plotting out how to explain it to Draco, it sounded exceptionally foolish and perhaps even offensive. \"I thought you might prefer him.\"

\"Prefer him? You thought that I\'d leave you for him?\" asked Draco, voice tight with incredulity. \"I have-well for one I have much better taste than that, and for two, I\'ve given everything up to be with you, Harry.\"

\"You were forced to do that, though. Sometimes, I don\'t know if we\'d still be together if... if you weren\'t... coerced,\" said Harry.

Draco\'s brows furrowed for a moment and his hand stilled in Harry\'s hair. Coerced? Perhaps. He hadn\'t really thought of it that way. \"As I recall, before the Dark Lord decided to try to spice up our evening with a bit of breath play, I told you that I loved you.\"

\"But then when we were in here, you made me call you Malfoy,\" Harry said as he shifted around on the cot so that he could look up into Draco\'s eyes.

\"I do tend to get a bit testy after someone tries to kill me. Add to that trauma that my thoughtless behavior caused my mother... to...\" Draco let out a big sigh at this and rolled his eyes, trying to remain in control and caustic through talking about his mother\'s slaying. He hated everything about huge emotional scenes, even when they were defensible. His jaw clenched a few times until he felt the paroxysm of feelings distance themselves enough that he could go on. \"In any case, I still loved you, I just didn\'t trust you. Mostly I didn\'t trust that you, or rather the Dark Lord, wouldn\'t try to hurt me again. It was never in my head to find someone else, Harry. It was either going to be you or nobody, and as big of a nobody as Snape is, he wasn\'t in the picture.\"

\"It\'s very rational when you say it like that. Although I feel like I should point out that a few minutes ago you thought I was going to leave you for Snape,\" Harry said giving a wry smile.

\"Yes, well, I\'m on loads of pain killing potions,\" he stated, tipping his haughty face upwards. \"I\'m not sure what your excuse is,\" he said as his hand moved from Harry\'s hair and gave a dismissive gesture to indicate that he was done with this topic of Snape and his nefarious intentions. \"So, you were storming the castle to defend my honor, were you? That must\'ve been quite a sight,\" said Draco as he smirked with an egotistical mischievousness at his lover.

\"Oh you have no idea. I was practically ranting the whole way down, except that I couldn\'t make a sound in the corridors, so I could only mouth it. I had this whole righteous speech planned, several of them, actually. He wasn\'t going to get away with it. I would have him fired. At first I was going to let him think I was you and try to trick him into finding out what he was going to say, but halfway down I realized I look nothing like you even with blond hair and wearing your robes. In the end I decided I\'d rather just tell him off,\" admitted Harry. He felt himself blushing at how asinine it all sounded now.

Beaming through his rather stunned look, Draco asked, \"You had blond hair? And you stole my robes?\" It was quite evident that Draco was working hard not to laugh at this idea. His silver eyes were scanning Harry\'s face trying to picture him with blond hair. It wasn\'t a flattering image.

\"Yes, I used a glamour charm. I don\'t know. I thought maybe if I stayed in the shadows-\"

\"You were banking on either some really big shadows or Snape catching a sudden case of myopia, evidently,\" said Draco, still trying to repress his amusement.

\"Look, why don\'t you try to be totally rational when you get a note addressed to your lover that says \'come and meet me alone, leave your tatty boyfriend upstairs,\'\" stated Harry.

Draco rolled his eyes. \"It wouldn\'t happen. If someone so much as looks at you, I\'ll hex their eyes out and continue maiming them until they\'re quite out of the nervy letter writing business.\"

Although it was kind of a creepy threat, and given that Draco had just killed his own father over Harry, perhaps the boy should\'ve felt more upset or threatened with that vow. It wasn\'t that he couldn\'t see Draco doing it. On the contrary, he could very much see it happening. Somehow, though, Harry really liked that Draco felt so passionately for him. \"What if it\'s a professor?\"

\"I knew that McGonagall had her beady little eyes on you! Why, when I get out of this hospital-\" threatened Draco with a jovial smirk.

\"Eww, Draco!\"

\"Oh, so it\'s Hagrid, is it? I knew you were a size queen!\"

Harry giggled and rolled his eyes before pinching Draco\'s bicep. \"Stop it, you. I\'m being serious.\"

\"Ow! My injured arm!\" wailed Draco theatrically.

For a moment, Harry\'s eyes widened in panic until he saw Draco looking rather smug. \"Ass!\"

\"You love it,\" taunted Draco.

Harry again rolled his eyes but nodded his agreement with that assessment. How could he not? It was obvious he loved the little prat. Still, he was vexed with guilt over the sacrifices that Draco made for him. He really wanted to clarify things, or perhaps he was just a sadist who wanted to ruin the tenor of the again good spirits. He didn\'t know, he just had to ask, \"Did you really kill your father over me?\"

The lighthearted expression drained from Draco\'s face as he swallowed and then finally nodded. For a moment, his face pinched up with pain and incredible restraint and then his eyes closed and his brows furrowed. \"Haven\'t we been over this? I guess... well... yes and no.\"

Harry\'s face held his question enough that Draco was moved to go on. \"Well, yes. I did. But I don\'t want you to feel responsible for it. This was bound to be a conflict with my father anyways. I told you months ago I didn\'t intend to join up with the Death Eaters. I still think that there\'s merit in pureblooded lines, I just don\'t-- I\'m not following the sort of man who\'d send out a father to kill his own son, any more than I care to have a father who would actually do it.\"

Trying not to look hurt by that answer, Harry simply said, \"Oh. You still hate--\"

\"Most people, yes,\" Draco broke in before Harry could finish. \"But I can bloody well dislike people without killing them.\"

\"You know, I\'m not a pureblood,\" pointed out Harry.

\"I am aware of this.\"

\"But you just said that you dislike-\"

\"Most people, yes. There are loads of purebloods I can\'t stand,\" Draco said as he reached out to trace a pale finger along Harry\'s dark brow.

\"Oh, I see,\" said Harry as he leaned his head forward so that Draco could caress his face further. \"And so which side of the war are you going to be on? Or are you going to sit this one out and hope everyone dies?\"

\"Oooh, a whole world to myself? That sounds lovely,\" he teased and then sighed as he traced his finger gently over Harry\'s scar. \"I don\'t know, which side are you taking?\"

\"The side that doesn\'t want me dead?\"

\"Oh, I suppose I\'ll take that side, then,\" drawled Draco as he withdrew his hand and just gazed fondly at Harry.

Harry returned the affectionate look, but felt compelled to get them back on the point. \"There\'s going to be questions. The Ministry, you know. They\'ll want to know why you didn\'t use magic.\"

Again Draco\'s features collapsed into sorrow and his hand rose in a flippant gesture. \"Father had his wand drawn. My wand was on the bed. I\'d have been lucky to even touch my wand before a spell hit me. It was too far away.\"

\"So you broke his neck,\" observed Harry.

\"Father taught me himself that a broken neck was the most merciful physical death. I knew he wouldn\'t expect me to physically attack him. It was my only advantage,\" spoke Draco. His voice was rather remote and his quicksilver eyes had dropped to inspect an abstract pattern formed by the shadows of his rumpled sheets. Losing himself to a distracting vision was how he coped for the moment.

\"So he wasn\'t an immediate threat?\" asked Harry.

\"Other than that he broke out of Azkaban on a mission to kill me? Well, I suppose at that precise moment I was giving the impression that I\'d sacrifice you. I gave him a kiss; I know he didn\'t know it was a goodbye. So no, he didn\'t have his wand strictly on me at the moment. Then again, I didn\'t know when you\'d be back. If you\'d come through those doors...\"

Harry nodded. He was again tempted to explain to Draco that he wouldn\'t have died. Who knows what would\'ve happened if he\'d taken a direct hit. Maybe it would\'ve bounced off again? Or perhaps the prophecy worked in a much more complex way than that. Maybe fate had worked out that Harry simply wouldn\'t be there for situations like that. That ultimate question about destiny would have to wait for now. Draco told him at the beginning of the relationship not to tell him things such as the prophecy, so Harry decided to leave it. Let Draco believe he saved Harry\'s life. He was Harry\'s hero as far as Harry was concerned anyways. Best to let that be. \"I know, Draco. I know. Thank you,\" he whispered to him. \"Maybe... it would help your case for the Ministry if they thought that I was at the door.\"

\"What?\"

\"Well if they thought you had a more urgent reason to kill your father right at that second then they wouldn\'t have so many questions?\" offered Harry. Of course the Ministry didn\'t know about the prophecy either, which was another small mercy.

Draco considered this for a moment. \"You\'d have to lie, Harry. And what if they gave us Veritaserum?\"

\"For the matter of an escaped Death Eater convict who was going to murder the boy who lived? I\'d be shocked. They don\'t normally do that unless you have a formal hearing, which I seriously doubt they\'ll waste their time with,\" stated Harry.

Running his hand over his forehead for a moment, Draco was clearly letting the wheels in his mind spin on this proposition. \"Could anyone contradict you?\"

\"Just Snape.\"

Draco\'s brows furrowed and he let out a long sigh. \"Can we count on him?\"

\"I think considering he\'s the one who broke the Secret Keeper\'s oath to begin with, he owes you,\" Harry said. On seeing Draco\'s outraged and hurt expression that Snape had betrayed him, something that had yet to occur to him, he added, \"Although your father did torture him for it. Snape suffered the Cruciatus Curse.\"

Draco\'s fingers moved up to massage his temples in reaction to this information. \"You would\'ve died rather than tell my father where I was,\" he said.

Harry nodded to Draco. \"Yes, but Snape thought you were going to come down to his office. He said that he didn\'t think you\'d come down without me. That he just worded his note that way for your father\'s sake that he had hoped, at best, that you\'d notify Dumbledore, or at the very least you\'d bring me along. Would you have?\"

That took a moment of thought. If he\'d gotten a note such as that, would he have gone down to Snape\'s office alone? \"Well, I didn\'t think that Snape had ulterior motives at the time. Although I wouldn\'t have wanted to walk the halls without any protection, so I would\'ve brought you. Maybe under your Invisibility cloak if I wanted to maintain the illusion that I was doing as Snape asked. Still, that was an awfully huge gamble for Snape to make with our lives in the balance. Cunning though. Very Slytherin.\"

\"Dumbledore wasn\'t impressed.\"

\"He\'s a Gryffindor.\"

\"Well, what do you think of it?\"

\"I think that I\'m really tired, Harry. Can you stay?\" asked Draco both to avoid answering that inquiry, which he wasn\'t sure he even could at that moment, but also because he was extraordinarily upset. Finding out that his father wanted him dead and then having to kill him was enough to register. Adding that his mentor not only had lascivious intentions towards him but also capriciously gambled his and Harry\'s life wore him down. He didn\'t think he could restrain himself much longer. Though he loved Harry and knew that his lover wouldn\'t see his distress as weakness, he was reluctant to break down in front of him.

\"Yes,\" Harry said, flummoxed by the abrupt change of topic, but not entirely surprised by it either. He didn\'t know if he was allowed to stay or not. He hadn\'t asked. However, if they attempted to boot him out he\'d-well, he didn\'t know what he\'d do, but it wouldn\'t be good. He pushed it out of his mind. \"I\'ll stay right here with you,\" he whispered. Pushing himself up onto the cot to spoon Draco\'s prone form, he pressed a soft kiss against his lips and was awarded with an eager knead in return. They held their languorous mix of tongues for a moment and then parted as Draco\'s hand slid up Harry\'s back and patted it to signal his wanting the kiss to end.

Tucking his head back down on Draco\'s chest, the Harry listened to the soft heart beat and erratic breathing. His fingers stilled over the starched white sheet over his lover\'s chest as if he had succumbed to slumber when he felt the beginning cadence of Draco\'s quiet sobs. Draco pretended to believe that Harry was asleep as he wept. Harry pretended not to feel the wetness of Draco\'s tears on his scalp or hear the irregular rhythm of his lover\'s wounded heart.