HeartBreak (Veela Drarry)

They Don't Understand

"Those damn Dursleys!" Ron yelled as Harry sat in front of him fidgeting with his hands and looking at the ground. He hadn't said anything, hadn't wanted to say anything and was sure Ron would only make him feel worse. He loved his best friends dearly, but some things just aren't for some people's ears.

But Malfoy had apparently gone to Ron, panicked, claiming that Harry never came back to work. So when the red-head had apparated into their shared house and found Harry crying into a pillow on the couch, the brunette could only groan and mentally slap himself for having his breakdown in his own room so he could be left alone.

So Harry had to begrudgingly tell his best mate everything and wait for the inevitable explosion.

"I'll report them, I will. Don't worry, Harry. We're getting all that money back. They won't get away with this."

"I don't want to do that." the brunette murmured, still staring at the floor.

How could you think this is about the money?

"Why the hell not, Harry? They stole from you and- and you're just going to let them get away with this?!" he heard his best friend yell, causing him to flinch.

I don't want to see them.

I don't want them to see me.

I don't want to remember anything from my time with them.

It took me long enough to forget it.

I want this to be over.

I want to move on.

They'll drag this on forever, they will.

They won't pay up that easily.

Maybe they'll even start threatening me or sending people after me.

I need this whole thing buried and for them never to hear my name again.

How will bringing them to court help with that?!

"I-It's not that simple, Ron." the brunette choked, trying to push away the painful memories of his childhood with those whales, "We'll t-tell them that the money wasn't to pay for my school, for example, but then they'll ask where I went so they could prove it wasn't there and - and I can't just say 'Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry', can I?"

"We won't charge them for the school fees, then. What about the food and the doctors and the college fund and everything else? Anyone who knew you back then could testify that they weren't for you." his red-head friend gritted out, unable to believe that Harry wasn't more upset about this.

But nobody knew me back then.

I was locked in my cupboard for days on end.

I don't even remember the names of anyone I went to school with before Hogwarts

And even if I did I wouldn't just call them up and ask them whether they remember my baggy, worn out clothes and how thin I was back then.

It would be too embarrassing and I just don't want to...remember

"Please, Ron, just drop it!" Harry wailed, squeezing his pillow tighter and burying his face in it. He was right. The red-head was making him feel worse. Now, he just felt weak and useless, like he owed it to his inner child to get justice, but wasn't strong enough to do anything about it.

"Mate, I am just trying to help you." he heard his friend say firmly, then felt the couch dip next to him, "If you really don't want to do anything about it, at least talk to the bank. You shouldn't have to pay a dime to them, not after they neglected to make sure the Dursleys were following your mum's wishes. Don't you think?"

The brunette shook his head into the pillow and braced himself for the lecture he knew he was going to get.

"Mate," Ron said firmly, "we're Aurors. Our job is to catch bad guys like the Dursleys and make them pay so they, and everyone else who thinks to act like them, would know that they won't get away with it."

Harry closed his eyes and huffed, knowing exactly what was coming next.

"Our job isn't just ours. It's everybody's. It's everyone's job to report the bad guys and if they don't, we'll just stay in our offices twiddling our thumbs while the bad guys keep wronging more and more people and these people won't report it, either. Pretty soon, the whole wizarding world will just be one big lawless, dangerous battlefield. And, I hate to say it, mate, but it would be the fault of the people who didn't report the bad guys in the first place. Do you get what I am saying?" the red-head finished softly, but his words cut through Harry like pieces of glass.

The brunette just nodded silently.

Please go away.

Just go away.

I don't need this right now.

Fine. I get it. I am a horrible person.

But I can't do what you want me to do.

Why can't you understand that?!

Why can't everyone else?

"So, you'll report them?" Ron asked enthusiastically. Harry finally looked up. His friend was already deep in thought, presumably coming up with plans to investigate where the money went and prove that it wasn't spent on Harry in court.

I can't lie and say I will.

He'll probably want to help out.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." he mumbled and prayed to Merlin that his friend would leave it alone.

"Too bad!" Ron said loudly, "You're letting criminals get away with a crime, Harry. What kind of Auror are you? Huh? What kind of person are you?! Do you not want your parents' money back? How can you be so calm about this?!"

I'll never get it back.

Even if they repay me.

It'll never be my family's money.

My family's money is gone, along with them.

Harry pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes as he felt tears threatening to escape. He knew Ron meant well, but he just didn't understand. The brunette simply grabbed his wand, sent his friend an apologetic look, and apparated out of the house, already thinking up ways to apologize to the red-head when he next sees him. He wound up in a muggle bar, not wanting to go anywhere where he might be recognized as 'the great Harry Potter', and started downing shots.