Beautiful World ~ 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑹𝑹𝒀

Chapter 24

The next week passed in a blur. Between writing exams, serving their last detentions, and researching anything that could help Harry in the library, there was hardly time for anything else besides sleeping and eating. The term was ending and the days were long and hot, and a frantic sort of nervous energy grew inside Harry. Days slipped by, faster and faster, and the only time anything slowed down was when Draco was there, calming him, keeping him sane. It was easy to believe that nothing in the world could touch him with so adamant a protector as Draco was turning out to be.

They'd had no time to relax or talk in that last week, so, on their last day before boarding the train home, when Draco slipped a note onto Harry's desk as he left the exam room, Harry nearly cried in relief. He had worried that he'd have to leave tomorrow without getting to say goodbye, because they'd been so busy and all.

'Meet me at the lake', was all it said, but it was enough. Harry hurried through the last half of his exam and then out to the lake. Draco was waiting, sitting on the edge of the pier.

"We've got lots of Dark Arts books at home," he said abruptly, as soon as he heard Harry step onto the wooden pier. "I'll check them when I get there for anything that'll help."

"Dark spells?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Dumbledore won't even check them, so I will. Maybe there will be something..."

"Alright."

Draco grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him down, so they were sitting side by side. "I'm going to come for you, Harry," he said.

"What?"

"I'll go home and check the books and then I'll come and find you."

Harry felt a smile flicker over his lips. "You will?"

"What, you thought I'd leave you there? At your uncle's?"

"I wasn't sure," Harry whispered, but it was a lie. He'd been having nightmares all week of his uncle finding his body and laughingly putting it on display in a monument listing all his heroic acts.

Draco looped his arm around Harry's neck and jerked him closer, kissing him hard. "Don't even think it," he whispered. "I'll be there. In a week, I'll be there."

"You promise?"

Draco just kissed him again, gently this time. "Don't worry," he said.

There was a strange, calm sort of acceptance in Harry's manner now. He couldn't explain it and didn't think he wanted to. What was happening couldn't be helped, or if it could, it was being helped as much as possible, and out of his hands.

That didn't mean he wasn't scared. He was buzzing with terror, nervous fear.

The calm, he supposed, came from being with Draco. Sort of like opposite ends of a magnet, since Draco was so frantic and fighting against everything, Harry felt he had to be calm, soothing, or else they'd both lose their minds.

So now, sitting on the pier, he gave Draco a soft smile, and said, "How can I worry? Everything's going to be fine."

"It will be." It sounded almost savage.

Harry brushed his fingers fleetingly along Draco's cheekbone. "You look tired," he said gently. "Have you been sleeping?"

Draco frowned. "What?"

Harry sighed and slipped an arm around Draco's shoulders, leaning over and kissing his cheek. "I worry, is all."

"What?"

"Shh..."

"Harry."

"What?"

"What the hell is wrong with you? You're the one who's... who's... and you're worried about me?"