Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Male! Reader
Warnings: Self harm, mentions of abuse
Fandom: Harry Potter
Defense Against the Dark Arts was a class I absolutely loathed for the simple reason that I shared it with Draco Malfoy. Although every year, the teachers constantly turned out to be the people trying to kill me and my brother, Harry and I had a feeling we scored with Remus Lupin. Both of us were plagued with nightmares after encountering that Dementor, the thought of that scream being our mother's tortured us to no end. Draco Malfoy made it no better, especially since I didn't have friends constantly by my side to protect me like Harry did. I always had to be the strongest, for the both of us- while he had the friends to help him when he was hurting, I had to pretend as if I wasn't as broken down as he was.
My emotional baggage was getting too much to handle, but a lesson on how to deal with boggarts made it ten times worse. My mind was racing as I was the next in line. I felt dizzy and nauseous just thinking about people witnessing the images that haunted me every night. Before I could find a way to excuse myself, however, there he was.
Harry's dead, decomposing body looked right at me. "It's your fault I'm dead. I hate you, I hate you for not being strong enough," His once cold voice began to rise and scream. "you were supposed to protect me! You selfish-" Professor jumped in front of me, dispelling his own fear and locking the boggart back in the closet- but I couldn't bother myself to move or even look away from where Harry was. The world moved around me as I stood there, unable to convince my body to just flinch.
"Mr. Potter," I still couldn't pull myself out of my daze. My thoughts were strangling my will to keep standing, my knees wobbled and I felt myself grow weaker- but as my body made its way to the floor, Professor Lupin caught me and carried me to a chair. "I knew I shouldn't have allowed you to stand in front of that boggart, Harry had a similar incident in the class prior." He pulled something from his coat pocket and handed it to me. "Eat this, it'll make you feel better." I hesitated. Although Professor Lupin seemed like he was different from the other DADA instructors, I still had to be cautious. "It's chocolate, y/n." He took a small piece for himself and stuck it in his mouth with a smile. "See?" Seeing him perfectly fine after swallowing the chocolate motivated me enough to take the rest from his hands and shove it into my mouth. He laughed at my rush, but I didn't care as I so desperately wanted to move past what I had showed everyone in my class.
The chocolate was more bitter than it was sweet, but as I continued to chew into it, that changed. What was once a dark chocolate flavor turned into warm, homey, pastry-like feeling bursting through my tastebuds. I appreciated the small things magic gave me in that moment, it wasn't always a scary thing- something I tended to forget. My shoulders relaxed themselves as Lupin began to give me a pep talk, eventually sending me off to my next class once he knew I wasn't as shaken up. I pushed past the doors to be met by none other than Draco's pale face, looking like a deer in headlights that he had just been caught. He fixed his composure, looking somewhat sympathetic rather than his usual hateful facade, and he walked away without another word.
I didn't follow him, even though I wanted to. As long as I didn't have to deal with his snide remarks, I was sure to not be expelled- so I let him leave me to go my own way. I thought about it for a minute, questioning myself if I really wanted to go to my next class, and decided to just skip the rest of the day. I walked through the corridors, making my way to the dormitory, but walking up the changing staircase is when I spotted him following me. I just let him, knowing that whatever ensued wasn't going to be mean- not with the way he had looked at me when I opened Lupin's door. I spoke the common room's password loud enough for Draco to hear it behind me and walked in, sitting on the couch.
I was a hat stall, the sorting hat took ten minutes to decide my place and even asked me which house I would have liked to be in the most. Of course I said Gryffindor, Harry was sorted into it and I wanted nothing more than to be close to my brother throughout our experience in Hogwarts. I didn't mind the rowdiness, but sometimes I wish I had chose something else like Ravenclaw. I felt more comfortable around the Ravenclaws, I felt less like an outcast- I didn't feel the need to put on such a brave and unbothered facade. The Gryffindor common room smelled a lot like the fall scented candles muggles would light around the time of October. Cinnamon, butterscotch, caramel on some days- coupled with the fire that's constantly going. It was nice to be there alone, less headaches with just the crackling of the fire.
