Hidden Pain (Drarry) [BEING REWRITTEN]

Chapter 26: The Newspaper

Harry walked into his dorm room to find it empty. He was grateful for the quiet. He slipped off the cloak and threw it onto his bed. After the events of last night there was some strange surge of confidence. Well, the confidence to actually walk around the room when he was alone at least. That was all he could ask for, to feel slightly better than he was before. He knew that Draco was the source of it all, there was no denying it. Harry eventually felt his alone confidence trickle away and he hid himself in his bed again. Resulting in him getting bored and grabbing random papers to try and entertain himself. One of the papers he'd taken out was his bell schedule. He stared at it for a surely abnormal amount of time. But come on, what wasn't abnormal about Harry-lightning-scar-Potter. He picked up the paper and thought hard about what day it was, what classes he would've been having later. The time he spent thinking about what day it was was longer than he would've liked but what can you expect when you don't go to class for weeks. He felt a smile twitch at his lips when he saw that he would've had Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins today. Hagrid's class had easily become his favorite this year, his favorite would've been Defense Against the Dark Arts if it'd been taught by an actual teacher and not some sad excuse for a human. Harry's mind wandered to the third year incident with Draco and Buckbeak, a small frown replacing the beginnings of the smile he had. Draco really had developed a lot since then. "It's all a lie. He hasn't changed at all. He's just using you." Harry shook his head in an attempt to clear his head, just earning a small throbbing in his head which in a way helped because now he was focused on the pain. Harry got out of bed and picked up his invisibility cloak from the ground, slipping it on as he walked to the door. He needed to eat something small again, if it weren't for the fact that he could die then he wouldn't eat at all. He just wanted the aches he had to subside somewhat. He slipped out of the portrait hole and walked down to the Great Hall, breakfast was ending which meant people were rushing off to their classes which also meant less people were in the hall.

Harry slipped through the doors as a small group of students left and looked around the emptying hall. He grabbed two small crackers from one of the tables and went over to the blonde he had spotted sitting alone. Harry stood behind him and stayed still and quiet, not daring to eat his crackers because he knew it would make noise, just hovering. Draco gripped a newspaper firmly in his hands, frozen. It was big news, the large bold black letters that Harry could get a glance of proved that. Draco stood up suddenly and quickly strode out of the Hall, where he was going and why, Harry had no idea. Out of curiosity Harry looked at the newspaper left on the table. His eyes widened and he felt the color drain from his face at the headline on the front page. "Azkaban escape," Harry said breathlessly. He didn't have time to read the article for details, he only needed a glance at the picture below of the long haired blonde to know why Draco had rushed out of the Hall. Harry quickly ran after him, not caring if he wasn't quiet, people would just convince themselves it was a trick of their mind. He slipped out of the Hall after a trio of students and looked around the hallways, cursing himself for not going after Draco immediately or at least not standing still for so long. He couldn't spot Draco anywhere, but he knew that if what he thought was happening that Draco would find somewhere isolated to do it, somewhere he wouldn't be found, not an empty hallway or something like that since he could still be found by a stray student on their way to class.

Draco left the Hall and rushed to the nearest bathroom. His breathing was quick and uneven. His father was out of prison. He wasn't safe. His father would come for him. His father was furious. Furious that the Death Eater's plan last year had failed. Furious that Crouch Jr. had been discovered before the finale of the Triwizard Tournament. Furious that he was taken away. Furious that he had been discovered. And Draco was scared. He was scared because he knew his father could hold a grudge. And he was scared for Harry. He knew that his father would do anything he could to bring back the Dark Lord. And he knew damn well that his father wouldn't leave Harry alone just because Draco liked him. Draco knew that his father wouldn't accept him, that he was a disgrace to the family name. He knew that if he told his father about Harry that he would be hurt. Draco would be taken away from Harry, or Harry from him, and made to suffer. Or worse, his father would use Draco. Use him to get to Harry. He would be threatened to do the things his father wanted until he got what he desired. And then he would be thrown away for good, not fit to serve any other purpose. He would be made to break Harry's trust. He would help the people who already hurt Harry before, their leader having killed his parents and the members themselves always finding a way to get to him, hurt him even more. Draco wasn't safe, not even in the magical walls of Hogwarts. And, Harry wasn't safe with him. His nightmare from just hours before was coming true. Draco gripped onto the sink with shaking hands, desperate gasping breaths escaping his mouth. The room was spinning and his head was pounding and the thoughts inside were running a mile a minute. He squeezed his eyes shut against the overwhelming and blinding lights around him. Draco felt his legs start to give in and his hands slipped from the sink, causing him to fall to his knees with a small yelp of shock and pain. He was nasueous and aching and cold and scared. He was feeling so many things at once and he couldn't handle it all. He got up and stumbled over to a stall, emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet. He flushed away the disturbing product of his stress and fear and stumbled back over to the sink. He looked into the mirror and felt a pang of hate at his appearence, more so than usual. He could see the beads of sweat on his face and the red of his eyes as they stung with the effort of fighting back tears. He ran his shaking hands through his hair and turned away from the mirror. His knees gave in completely and he fell back onto the floor with a whimper. He shouldn't be weak like this. "Get up, damn it, get up," his mind hissed at him. "Pathetic boy, get up," his father's voice hissed at him. Draco took in more desperate gasping breaths as he curled up into himself. He couldn't do anything, it was like he was paralyzed on the floor. His body was too heavy and he couldn't breath and he was beyond terrified, he'd never experienced this before. He felt small and weak and vulnerable and he hated it. How long had it been? It felt like long, toturous hours but he knew that in reality it'd probably only been a few minutes, maybe, he couldn't tell. The lights were blinding, the floor was cold, and there was a high pitched ringing in his ears. He shivered uncontrollably and closed his eyes tight and covered his ears. Was this how it felt to die? Was he dying a painful death? Was he really going to die because he couldn't handle a stupid news article? No, he realized, it wasn't a stupid news article. As dramatic as it sounds, it meant life or death for him. And he realized that if he died right now it would be because of his father. Because of his bastard father. How pathetic was that? The man hadn't even touched him or gotten near him and here he was, curled up on the floor of a bathroom dying slowly. Through the ringing in his ears and the hands over them he heard the door creak open. He tensed and his eyes snapped open, black spots dancing around his vision. "No, no, no, no. Not now. Please not now. Go away. Please go away. Leave me alone. Don't come close. Please. Whoever you are, go away," his mind pleaded desperately. He tried to tell the person to go away, but he was still stuggling to breathe right and he couldn't bring himself to do anything but that for fear of suffocating. "Draco!" he heard, it sounded muffled and far away, but there was no mistaking who that voice belonged to. And he couldn't help but feel even more strongly for the person to go away. The last person he wanted to see him like this was him. He didn't want Harry to see him so pathetic and weak. Draco's vision blurred and his headache spiked. "No...." Draco managed as he heard a thud behind him and as his eyes closed involuntarily and he fell into darkness.

A/N: I'm reading the beginning of this and I just can't with it. It's so bad oml. Why did you guys even stick around, like, those beginning chapters are terrible. Like, seriously, I might rewrite them so I don't die inside when I read it