How to Save a Life

Harry had woken up wrapped in Draco’s arms at about 4am and after a short while of simply lying there, revelling in the embrace, he slipped out of his boyfriend’s bed and into his pyjamas.

He stood for a few moments smiling at the sight of a sleeping Draco who really did look quite angelic, one hand pillowing his sleep flushed cheek and his white blonde hair fanned out across the pillow. A quick kiss and Harry disappeared under his cloak and headed back up to Gryffindor tower, hoping his absence had gone unnoticed.

By the time he had slid between the sheets of his own bed, all desire to sleep left him. He simply lay there till morning, thinking about Draco, a broad grin stretched across his face.

Breakfast time say a very bleary eyed Harry making his way slowly down to the Great Hall.

He headed over to the Gryffindor table hoping to find a space next to Neville. The last thing Harry wanted this morning was to talk and answer questions; Neville was quiet and calming and would respect Harry’s desire for peace.

Sadly though, before he could locate the fair haired Gryffindor boy, his eyes were assaulted by the grinning face of Ginny Weasley, eagerly waving him over into a seat at the side of her.

Mindful of his agreement the day before to remain friends and not really wanting to upset the temperamental girl further, he plastered a smile on his face and walked towards her.

“Hi, Harry,” she chirped, far too brightly for Harry’s liking. “I thought we could sit together this morning, now that we’re friends again.” She suited her actions to her words and slid down the bench, offering Harry the spot she had vacated. “I’ve even warmed it for you!”

Harry felt vaguely uneasy by what he felt to be an overt display of forced cheerfulness but played along nonetheless.

“Thanks, Ginny,” he answered, flashing her a tight smile. Had Ginny been a more observant girl, she would have noticed that his green eyes remained unaffected by any sign of happiness.

Harry tried to block out the ceaseless stream of chatter that poured forth from the redhead, keeping his eyes fixed on his breakfast. He managed only the occasional nod or vague noise of agreement, but this seemed to be more than enough for Ginny, who was revelling in the discreet curious looks that were being shot their way.

This was something that did not escape Harry’s attention completely. He saw Ron nudge Hermione and nod his head in their direction. He also noticed the puzzled look on Hermione’s face as she looked over at the two of them.


There was no chance to dwell on what this look meant though because all Harry could think about was the pair of stormy grey eyes that were currently burning their way into him from across the Great Hall. Slowly raising his eyes to meet the intense gaze of his boyfriend, Harry found himself arrested by the sight of Malfoy staring back at him instead of Draco.

A quiet, shocked gasp escaped Harry’s lips before he could stop it and he found himself unable to tear himself away from the beautiful face that was currently sneering at him in disgust.

“Are you ok, Harry, you don’t look well?” Ginny reached out a hand and placed it on his forehead before Harry could stop her. “You’re all clammy too; maybe you should go and see Madam Pomfrey. I could come with you if you want?”

Harry twisted away from her touch as if it burnt him, “I’m fine, Ginny, leave it,” he answered shortly. He quickly looked back over in his boyfriend’s direction to gauge his reaction to Ginny’s behaviour and felt his heart sink in his chest as he noticed the empty seat between Pansy and Blaise.

He was about to rise from his seat to follow Draco but an almost imperceptible shake of the head from Pansy stopped him in his tracks. She gave him a small smile and mouthed something that Harry didn’t quite understand, but he felt faintly relieved that at least one new friendship seemed to still be intact.

Resting his elbows on the table, Harry cradled his head with his hands and massaged his temples in a vain effort to eradicate the faint ache that had begun.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder lightly and flinched automatically, assuming it was Ginny.

“Harry, do you have a minute?”

Harry could barely contain his relief at the sight of Neville looking down at him with concern in his eyes.

“What? Sorry, Neville, I wasn’t really listening.”

“I just wondered if you had a minute before first lesson. I wanted to have a private word with you.”

Harry nodded gratefully, “Sure, I’m done with this anyway.” He pushed away the now distinctly unappealing plate of food in front of him. Then stood up and followed Neville from the hall, without so much as a word to the angry looking girl he left behind.

Once outside, Harry turned to his friend curiously, “So what was it you wanted to talk about Nev?”

“Nothing really,” Neville shrugged. “I just thought you looked like you could do with rescuing.”

Harry gave Neville a wry smile, “yeah, Ginny wants to try being friends, but...” He trailed off here, feeling the disloyalty even before the words left hi s mouth.

“Draco’s jealous,” Neville finished for him.

Seeing Harry shift uncomfortably, Neville placed a hand on the other boy’s arm. “It’s ok, you’re not telling me anything I didn’t already know, I have eyes.” He smiled here before adding, “If looks could kill, I rather think that you and Ginny would be six feet under by now.”

Harry nodded despondently, “Yeah, I think I have some fast talking to do. Thanks for the help, but I’m going to head down to the dungeons and see if I can’t dig myself out of the shit before Potions.”

“Good luck,” Neville shouted after Harry as he left the Entrance Hall in search of his, possibly, ex boyfriend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry’s luck was out. He was the first student to arrive in the Potions classroom but Draco was nowhere to be found. Even when Harry watched hopefully as Blaise and Pansy entered the room, there was no sign of the blonde Slytherin.

Pansy slipped into her seat beside Harry, answering his questioning look with a small shrug. He opened his mouth to question her further but the words stilled on his lips as he spotted Draco enter the room, followed shortly by Professor Slughorn. Draco made his way over to his seat at the side of Blaise without so much as a glance at Harry, and the green eyed boy felt his heart sink a little further.

Harry tried so hard to focus throughout Slughorn’s lecture on Pain Relieving Potions. It sounded extremely complicated and, worse still, extremely boring.

A quick look at pansy told him that she was of a similar mind. She had her elbow on the table, hand cradling her head, and a slightly glazed expression on her face.

Harry had a feeling that come the practical element of this lesson they were going to be in trouble, especially without the usual friendly hints that Draco whispered in their direction.

When, as was to be expected, their cauldron did indeed explode mid potion, Draco didn’t laugh along with the rest of the class. But Harry found something infinitely more painful in the way he didn’t even glance in their direction, but carried on cutting his roots calmly as if Harry didn’t exist.

At the end of the lesson, Draco was out of his chair and halfway across the room before Harry even registered what was happening. His robes swished behind him in a way that was so reminiscent of Professor Snape that Harry would have smiled, were it not for the twisting sensation in his gut.

Blaise leaned back on his chair, a lazy smile turned in Harry’s direction.

“I believe ‘high maintenance’ is the expression you are searching for.”

Pansy chuckled at this but Harry struggled to raise a smile. He slowly gathered his belongings together and dragged himself reluctantly from his seat. Pansy linked her arm in his and tugged him towards the door.

“Come on, we don’t want to be late for Charms.”

They parted company with Blaise who, like Draco, had a free period now, and headed up out of the dungeons.

Pansy glanced sideways at Harry, taking in the preoccupied look on his face.

“Don’t take it too much to heart, Harry. Draco knows there’s nothing going on between you and the Weasley girl really. He’s always getting in a snit over something, but he’ll come round.”

She gave his arm an affectionate squeezer before adding, “Besides, he likes you way too much to stay mad at you for long.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry struggled throughout Charms to maintain his focus. Professor Flitwick was teaching them the Disillusionment Charm, and though Harry was very interested in learning how to do this, he couldn’t shake the image of Draco’s face from his mind.

Realising that he needed to sort things out before it drove him crazy, Harry managed to get himself excused from class early, laying claim to a bad headache – which in truth wasn’t that much of a lie as there was now a dull throb behind his eyes. Harry reflected that there were some small advantages to being the ‘saviour of the wizarding world’, as his teacher never doubted his word for a moment.

He headed, not in the direction of the hospital wing, but down towards the Entrance Hall. Harry paused in front of the painting of a bowl of fruit and, reaching out a hand, tickled the pear.

On entering the kitchens Harry was surrounded by a swarm of excited house elves. They were promptly dispersed by a forbidding looking glare from Kreacher, who was now very territorial when it came to Harry. The sight of a gold locket nestling against the wizened elf’s chest brought back a flood of memories that threatened to overwhelm Harry in his current fragile state.

He gave himself a mental shake and turned his attention to the bowing creature in front of him.

“Master Harry,” the elf croaked. “How may Kreacher be of service?”

“I want some lunch please Kreacher, just sandwiches or something, and enough for two people. Oh and can you wrap it up so I can take it with me?”

Kreacher nodded in acknowledgement and hurried off to do his master’s bidding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry hovered nervously outside the Great Hall; his eyes scanning the lunch bound crowds for a sign of Draco. After 15 minutes passed with no sign of the blonde, Harry was about ready to give up his post and eat a solitary meal.

However, the fates were smiling on him because at just that moment, a familiar scowling face came into view. Flanked on either side by Blaise and Pansy, Draco hesitated when his eyes came to rest on Harry. A sharp nudge from pansy soon had him moving again and Harry stepped forward eagerly.

The sight of Harry’s shy smile almost melted Draco’s resolve to stay mad at the boy. But only almost, he was a Malfoy after all.

“Draco,” Harry started, nervously. “Could we talk please?”

Green eyes gazed up at Draco and he inwardly railed at the unfairness of boyfriends who used puppy dog eyes to get their own way. Outwardly, he kept his mask firmly in place and stared back at Harry coolly.

“What could we possible have to talk about, Potter?”

“Draco!” Pansy’s voice was sharp and held a note of warning that Draco was all too familiar with.

“Fine,” he huffed, “Say what you have to say, so that I can eat my lunch in peace.”

Harry flashed a grateful smile, “Not here,” he said. He grabbed Draco’s arm and pulled him in the direction of the main doors.

Draco allowed himself to be pulled along in Harry’s wake, but not before shooting a venomous glare at the smug faces of his two friends. They smirked at him in return and then disappeared into the Great Hall.

Once outside, Harry continued to lead Draco in silence, racking his brains for what to say. Truth be told, he hadn’t actually expected Draco to acquiesce so easily to his request and it had left him a little wrong footed.

“Potter, is this going to take long, only I’d like to eat sometime today?”

Lost in his thoughts, Harry didn’t hear Draco’s words.

“Harry!” Draco’s voice was sharp this time and the use of his given name woke Harry to the other boy’s presence.

He stopped and slowly turned around, “What Draco?” He spoke so quietly that the blonde strained to catch his words.

“I’m hungry!”

Harry allowed the corners of his mouth to curl into a faint smile at the plaintive tone in Draco’s voice. He reached into his bag and pulled out the pack of sandwiches that Kreacher had carefully packed. He offered them wordlessly to Draco, but received only a sneer for his trouble.

“And where do you propose we sit exactly?”

Again without speaking, Harry unclipped his cloak and spread it out on the grass. He sat down and looked up at his boyfriend through thick lashes and held out his hand, a shy smile on his face.

A soft sigh escaped Draco’s lips, but he took Harry’s hand nonetheless and sank down onto the ground.

“You’ll ruin this cloak, I hope you realise.”

Harry shrugged in return, “I don’t mind.”

An awkward silence then descended as they opened the package and set about the food contained within.

Harry munched on his sandwich and gazed at Draco thoughtfully, trying to gauge his mood. Draco, in his turn, kept his eyes focussed upon anything that wasn’t the intense green eyes that he knew were currently fixed on him.

“Are you jealous?” Harry blurted out and then promptly wished he hadn’t.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Draco scoffed. “Malfoy’s don’t do jealousy.”

Harry rested a hand tentatively on Draco’s leg. “Good, because there really is nothing to be jealous about. Ginny came to see me yesterday to ask if we could be friends, that’s all. She knows nothing can happen between us.”

Grey eyes fixed on Harry, narrowing dangerously. “Came to see you where exactly?”

Harry shifted uneasily, “Umm, well she was sort of waiting in my room for me.”

Draco huffed in disgust and made to get up. Harry’s hand shot out and grabbed him tightly round the wrist.

“Draco, there’s nothing going on, I swear. I don’t want Ginny.”

“Then what do you want?”

“You,” Harry replied simply.

Draco felt his anger melt away at this and he sank back down, closer to Harry, their legs touching.

Summoning his courage, Harry reached over and took hold of Draco’s hand, lacing their fingers together. But still Draco didn’t look at him.

“Draco, what is it?”

Harry felt the grip on his hand tighten as Draco began speaking.

“I knew really that you hadn’t done anything wrong,” he admitted.

“So what was all this about?” Harry pressed gently.

“It’s just that sometimes I can’t help but wonder if you will decide that this is just a faze, something you rushed into like the foolish Gryffindor you are. And then you’ll leave me to go back to her.”

Harry squeezed Draco’s hand so tight that the blonde almost winced.

“Look at me...please.”

Draco turned his head and Harry felt butterfly’s fluttering in his tummy at the intensity of emotion that played across his boyfriends face. Not caring who saw, he reached up and brushed silky strands of blonde hair out of Draco’s eyes.

“I’m gay,” he stated firmly. “This isn’t me experimenting. I knew I liked boys before we got together.”

“But how? I mean, you said you hadn’t been with anyone before.”

“I said I hadn’t had sex,” Harry corrected.

“So you’ve done other stuff?” Draco quizzed, his interested piqued.

Harry coloured and nodded his head, unable to meet Draco’s gaze.

“Harry,” Draco started, his thumb rubbing small circles across Harry’s hand. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about; I won’t think any less of you. We’ve all of us got pasts.”

Draco paused for a moment, thinking intently. “I guess I should tell you that Blaise and I used to be together. Not like we are though, it was mostly just physical stuff.”

“It’s ok,” Harry replied.

“You don’t mind that didn’t tell you earlier?”

Harry grinned, “I kind of already knew. Pansy may have mentioned it before we were together. But I don’t care about your past; I just hope I don’t suffer by comparison.”

Draco leaned in so close that Harry felt his breath hot on his neck.

“There is no comparison to you.”

He leant back then and enjoyed the rosy flush on his boyfriends face. “So who was it then?” he asked curiously.

“George,” Harry admitted reluctantly.

“Weasley?” Oh that’s brilliant, Harry. I take it that the Weasels don’t know?”

As Harry shook his head, Draco let out a burst of laughter, “you certainly like to keep it in the family!”

Harry watched his boyfriend as his face creased in a broad grin and laughter escaped his full lips. He marvelled, not for the first time, at the sudden shifts of the other boy’s mood.

“You don’t mind about then?” Harry asked apprehensively.

“Not really,” Draco admitted. “Just so long as he knows you’re off limits now.”

The blonde took a quick look at his watch and realised, reluctantly, that it was time to head back inside. He got to his feet and held out his hand to Harry. Their hands lingered, clasped together, longer than was necessary and both boys had to fight the urge to kiss each other senseless right there and then.

“Draco, I’ve been thinking.”

Draco didn’t speak but simply smiled encouragingly at his boyfriend.

“I was thinking that maybe we should get to know each other better. I mean, I know we’ve known each other for seven years, but we don’t really know that much about each other, do we?”

“Apart from what to say to provoke the most violent reaction you mean?”

Harry gave Draco a playful dig, “You know what I mean.”

“Yes, I do,” Draco admitted. “I think maybe you’re right Harry. We should spend some time alone together... with our clothes on!”

“Perv” Harry accused, laughter dancing in his eyes. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“Yes, I believe I am. Although, whether it’s strictly called a date since we won’t actually be leaving the castle!”

“It doesn’t really matter where we go. I just want to spend time with you.” Harry leant against Draco as they walked towards the castle, their hands touching lightly.

“First though,” Draco began, an evil glint in his eye, “I need to go and have a word with Pansy and explain the concept of keeping secrets. I can’t believe she told you about Blaise and I.”

“I’m glad she did. I had no idea that you were even gay until she told me, and then I would never have had the guts to kiss you.”

Draco grinned broadly, “Maybe I’ll go easy on her then.”