1000 Days of Harry Potter

Day 173

When Harry brings Teddy over two weeks later, Draco is annoyed with himself when he can immediately tell that something is wrong with the other man.

Teddy glances curiously between them when Draco sends him up to his room to unpack his small bag of essentials that travel between their houses—mostly favorite toys and a small blanket that he sleeps with. "I just need to talk to Harry alone for a minute, okay?" Draco says softly at the bottom of the stairs once they're out of earshot.

Teddy nods and whispers back. "He's trying to hide it, but he's upset."

"Why?"

"I don't know. He got a letter yesterday. Muggle Post. We never get Muggle Post. He's been weird ever since."

"I'll talk to him."

"Okay," Teddy bolts up the stairs, giving Draco a trusting smile over his shoulder at the top of the staircase.

"Are you okay?" Draco asks when he gets back to the foyer where Harry is staring blankly at the wall. He startles at the words, as if he hadn't realized he was there.

"Oh. Er, yeah. Fine." His hands are shaking, and Draco finds himself wanting to grab them and hold them.

"Potter." Draco raises an eyebrow, and Harry sighs.

"I'm not fine."

Draco gestures at the sofa in the sitting room through the open doorway. "Sit down. I'll make tea."

He does, and when he comes back, Harry is sitting on the edge of the sofa and he seems to be on the verge of tears. What in Merlin's name?

Draco presses a cup of tea into his hands and sits down beside him, taking a sip from his own cup and watching Harry as he struggles to maintain some semblance of composure. Finally, he speaks.

"I got a letter. From my...my cousin."

"Your cousin?" Draco is struck by the realization that he really doesn't know much about the Muggles who raised Harry, or anything, really.

"We hadn't spoken since...they were taken under Auror Protection when I turned seventeen. I never expected to speak to any of them ever again—I don't even know how he got my address. Maybe he still has contacts in the Ministry from that time. That's the only thing I can think of, the only way—"

"You don't speak to your family?"

"My family?" Harry scoffs. "Those people are not my family."

"I don't underst—"

Harry's eyes are wet when he looks at Draco again. "They took me in as a baby, but they didn't...they hated me, Draco, and I wasn't...um, I wasn't well looked after...in their care."

Draco is hit by the painful realization that this is a massive understatement, along with the memories of several of the truly horrible things he'd said to Harry about his family in his youth.

"Oh, Merlin, I didn't know," he chokes out. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Harry forces a weak smile. "Anyway, Dudley wrote to me. Apparently his parents, my aunt and uncle died unexpectedly a few months ago. A car crash." Harry's face twists into a sneer that's unlike any expression Draco has ever seen on his face. It doesn't suit him, and Draco hates it. "He said that he found some things that belonged to my parents while going through the attic. Asked if I wanted to come get them, said I could stop by any time."

"Oh." Draco takes another nervous sip of his tea, disturbed by the dark turn of the conversation and the slightly manic look in Harry's eyes, coupled with fear and deep sadness. "So, are you going to..."

"I need to, I mean, anything from my parents is priceless to me. But I don't know if I can—"

"I'll go with you," Draco hears himself offer without thinking. "I mean, if you want."

"You'd do that?" Harry sounds incredulous.

"Of course."

Harry swallows hard and sets down his teacup on the side table before pulling Draco into a hug.

"Thank you, Draco. The thought of going back to that house, after all this time...I don't think I could do it. I suppose I could have asked Ron or Hermione, but they're so busy now, and I don't want to be a burden."

Draco twists in Harry's arms to set his own cup down before returning the embrace, wrapping his arms around Harry's neck and squeezing him tight. "You're welcome, Harry. You...you shouldn't be afraid to ask your friends for help, you know. You're never a burden. Your friends care about you, and that includes me now, apparently, as strange as that is."

Harry lets out a sound between a laugh and a sob. "I know. I know that. I just...forget. I forget sometimes. I'm glad we're friends."

"You can still ask Ron and Hermione to go with you, if you're more comfortable—"

"No," Harry says quickly. "That's not what I meant. I just meant if you hadn't offered I could have asked them, but you did, so now I don't have to. I'd, um, I'd like your company. Thanks."

"Okay."

Draco runs a tentative hand over the back of Harry's neck, then up into his surprisingly soft curls, stroking them in a way that he hopes is soothing, feeling uneasy at the thought that he's just seen a side of Harry Potter that very few people have ever seen. It feels monumental, and Draco has the wild thought that things between them will never be the same after this, now that Harry has let him in.

"Just let me know when you respond to your cousin," Draco says, pulling away and looking into his face. "I can go with you any time."

Harry nods and smiles shakily. "I will."

"Do you want to stay for dinner with me and Teddy tonight?"

"No," Harry stands up, "I'm headed over to Ron and Hermione's tonight. Thanks, though."

"See you Sunday, then?"

"'Course. See you."

Draco shows him out, leaning against the door and taking a deep, steadying breath before going in search of Teddy, still playing happily in his room upstairs.