Close Enough

Ch 44 Blocking

Draco sat anxiously waiting for something to happen; however it had been nearly two and half hours and nothing had. Draco still sat, the album in his lap, staring at the fireplace that he had watched Cord disappear through to go see Harry. Severus sat in a chair adjacent to the sofa on which Draco sat, watching the pale young man intently, slowly sipping his firewhiskey. The longer the scene sat, the more anxious Draco felt. His callous words to Harry replaying themselves over and over in his head. He knew that they may have been a little harsh at the time, but now they seemed to be the destruction of everything that he had worked to build with Harry.
They had been getting so close to completing the bond; Draco could feel it everytime that Harry was near, the bond was calling to them to finish what they started. Over that time Harry had confided in him about many aspects of his past, ones that Draco was sure that not many people knew about. The only problem was that Draco was still having trouble discussing things about himself with Harry. He still hadn’t told Harry about the Slytherins accepting him back into the fold or about the self proclaimed ‘Death kids’, or the gory details about what he was going to need from the bond. Draco didn’t know why he didn’t talk about these things with Harry, or why he found it hard to do so; he seemed to feel that Harry was more important, and no matter how Harry asked, Draco would always change the subject away from himself.
The young Vampire now sits, wondering if he had discussed these things with Harry, had he been able to open up, that this wouldn’t have happened. If Draco had been able to bring himself to just talk to Harry about how he felt about his parents being gone, then maybe he wouldn’t have said what he did, and wouldn’t be sitting in Severus’ chambers now wondering if his mate would come back to him or not.

Draco was thrown from his reverie when the fireplace suddenly glowed green, and Cord stepped out of it; slowly dusting herself off before she stepped into the room fully. She looked up at her father, gave a small nod as she walked toward him, then perched herself on the armrest of his chair and looked at Draco.
“He’ll be here in a minute.” She said flatly.
“Harry’s coming back then?” Draco asked, his voice very uncertain.
“I wouldn’t lie about this; I would never lie when it comes to my friend and his mate.” Her eyes narrowed at Draco, “Hurt him again, and I will rip your heart out of your chest.” Draco didn’t have a chance to do anything except open his mouth to respond, when the fireplace shone green again and Harry stepped out. Cord removed herself from her perch to help Harry sit in a chair near the fireplace. “Father, may I raid your private stores?” she asked, giving her father a meaningful look, and receiving a curt nod in response. Cord gave Harry a gentle pat on the shoulder, and walked to the other side of the room, searching through a cabinet on the wall.
Draco observed his mate from his seat on the sofa. Harry sat, head bowed slightly, eyes fixed on the floor; if the circles under his eyes were anything to go on, Harry had not slept since Draco last saw him. He watched silently as Harry mindlessly fiddled with his left sleeve; pulling it up rubbing his wrist, and pushing it back down. Cord returned with a handful of vials; a restorative, a blood replenishing potion, a nourishment potion, a calming potion, and one Draco didn’t recognize (which he figured was Harry’s Creature potion). His mind reeled as to why Harry would require such an amount of potions; he hadn’t been gone that long, where has he been? Has he not been taking care of himself?’ Draco decided, as Cord moved away from Harry again, that it was time to act. After a quick look at his godfather, Draco slowly put the photo album back in it’s box.
“Harry, are you okay?” Draco asked, mentally smacking himself for how lame he sounded. He watched as Harry’s fingers deftly played with his sleeve again.
“I’m fine.” Harry said softly, not looking up from the floor. Draco glanced at his godfather again, who was currently rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration, before looking at Cord who was watching him with a raised eyebrow.
“I know you are not fine Harry, even if you are blocking me, I can still tell.” Draco said softly, standing from the sofa and approaching the chair in which Harry sat. Had he looked back he would have seen the glance that Cord and Severus shared at the news that Harry was blocking the bond, the look clearly read ‘Well shit, this isn’t good.’
“No need to worry yourself, I’m just tired.” Harry stood before Draco made it halfway toward his chair, “I’m going to go lie down.” Harry mumbled, removing his gaze from the floor just long enough to catch a glimpse of the box Draco’s present had been in. Harry froze for a moment, glanced between the box, to Severus, to Draco and back to the box, before quickly leaving the room, eyes focused back on the floor.
“Mr. Malfoy, I suggest you at least follow him to make sure he gets back to your room safely. He has been without his potion for two days now, we would hate for something to happen.” Severus said, a calm, cool look gracing his face.
“Yes, sir.” Draco said, hastening after Harry out the door.

“He’s blocking the bond.” Severus muttered under his breath, finishing his glass of firewhiskey.
“I had a feeling he would be, you of all people know how much what Draco said has affected him.” Cord said, sitting on the sofa that Draco had vacated.
“As true as that may be, Cordalina, it is a very bad sign.” Her father said, his eyes closed, head resting back against the chair. “They had come so far, he was going to have what he always wanted. And now he’s blocking the bond, that’s not fair to either of them.”
“Well what did you expect to happen, father? I don’t suppose that I need to hide from you that Harry used to be a cutter?” Severus slowly nodded, “Well, what do you suppose happened when he arrived back at his flat after he left here? After over a year of not doing it, Harry began cutting again.” He now opened his eyes looking at his daughter in disbelief, “Yes, father, one sentence from his mate and it became too much for him. Now do you imagine that Draco would be very happy if he found out about that? Because I sure don’t. And I don’t imagine it either. So if I were in Harry’s shoes, yea, I would probably block the bond right now too. At least until I could control my emotions again.”
“I see your point.” Severus sighed. “But this is hard on Draco too. This is only the second Christmas since the end of the war; every other chirstmas besides this and last year Draco spent with his parents at Malfoy manor. And now, he’s here, and they are dead by the hand of the maniac they feigned to follow. No matter how Harry wanted to comfort him, he was not going to be able to help that pain.”
“Father, you are well aware that Harry knows that pain! And you know that Draco had no right to react the way that he did! How could he say that to Harry, when he knows of all of the loss in Harry’s life!! Yes Draco lost his family, something I know,” Cord gestured toward the box on the table in front of her, “Harry is well aware of as well! But aren’t they working to being each other’s family? Isn’t that what the bond is about? Bringing people together??? How could Draco just push him away like that, when he so obviously needed Harry to be there for him? When Harry needed to be there for him?!”
“Cordalina, there is nothing that you or I can do to fix what has transpired between those two. As unfortunate as it may be to stand by the sidelines and watch as whatever unfolds does so, we have no choice. All you or I can do is stand back and wait, if they need our help they will come to us.” Severus said softly, with a heavy sigh. Cord looked up at Severus, her face written with confusion.
“What took Draco so long to realize that Harry was gone? If Cloe had ever disappeared before we bonded, I would have been flipping out in less than ten minutes. How did it take two days for him to figure out that Harry was gone?!” she asked, sounding perplexed.
“Our young Vampire was upset. After his spat with Harry, he went to the library to cool off, only to fall asleep. The next morning on his way toward his dorm he ran into his friends and… they commandeered him to a ‘Death kids’ gathering…”
“Death kids?” Cord interrupted.
“A group of kids, whose parents were Death Eaters and thus are either dead or in prison. They have a support system amongst themselves.” Cord nodded slightly in understanding.
“So Draco actually managed to get distracted from Harry?” she asked, brows furrowed.
“It appears so.” Severus replied.
“But, that’s impossible… I mean.. the absence of Harry in his head should have told him that something was wrong.” She said quickly.
“I believe, that his emotional state was blinding him to the fact that there was a change in the bond at all.” A silence filled the room for quite some time after.
“Well, I should be getting back. It’s almost time for dinner.” Cord said as she stood. “Happy Christmas, father.”
“You as well, Cordalina. Tell your mother hello for me.” Severus said, giving his daughter a quick hug.
“I will.” Cord grabbed some floo powder and was gone in a whirl of green flames.