When hearts collide (drarry)

comfort and coaxing

Draco’s POV
The day finally ended and I couldn’t wait to take Harry upstairs and cuddle to my heart's content, but first I need to speak to Hermione. I wait for Harry outside of the classroom and as he walks out I wrap my arms around his waist, “Hello love.” He turns around and pulls me into his arms, “Isn’t that my line?” He has a smile playing on his lips. “I just want to let you know that I am going to be talking to Hermione this afternoon and I don’t know how long I'll be. After that I expect snuggles.” 

This pulled a full on laugh out of Harry. He kisses my forehead, “Of course gorgeous whatever you want, but you have to tell me what you and ‘Mione talk about.” I smack him on the chest lightly, “First of all how slytherin of you. Secondly, that was always the plan.” I pull him in for one last kiss before going to the hospital wing.
   
I walk through the doors to see Hermione already standing up and waiting for me, “So where are we going? I’m assuming you want to talk to me about what happened and we can’t do that here?” ‘Dang I really never gave her enough credit when we were younger.’ Despite being caught slightly off guard I still managed to reply with confidence, “Follow me.” 
   
I led her through the corridors and out of the castle. I looked around before heading to the shrieking shack. Everyone is still afraid to go there, but Harry told me what actually haunted the crumbling building and since then that is where I go whenever I just want to be alone. Granted that isn’t very often. “Why are we going to the Shrieking Shack?” 
   
“I know we will be alone and I don’t want anyone to hear what I am about to tell you.” We were talking in hushed voices, but I couldn’t help but look around just to make sure no one was near. We made our way into the rundown building with our breaths held. “Okay now that we are here we can start.” She cuts me off, “Just give me one second.” She raises her wand and casts a quick muffliato. She shrugs at me, “Just in case.”

I take a deep breath before continuing, “I think that we should get Harry out of the school. I know we have a month, but I still don’t want to take any chances and with what he said earlier I know he probably won’t hesitate to sacrifice himself again.” I could tell she was considering what I was saying. “He isn’t going to like it, but I agree with you. What I want to know is why you are only telling me this.” 

“You are the only one of our friends that I fully trust right now. I know that might sound crazy, but Ron and Titus weren’t even studying with us when the attack happened. The rest of them were but who is to say they aren’t working with someone else.” 

“That makes a lot of sense, in fact I was thinking about that too and I’m not proud of myself for it, but I even thought of you as a suspect for a moment.” I want to feel offended by her words, but overall they made sense. I would be a logical suspect in an outsider's eye. I used to hate Harry and suddenly we are dating, it does seem kind of suspicious. “Don’t worry ‘Mione, I would have thought about it too if I were you.” 
“Now I need to get back to Harry, I have a conversation I want to have with him as well tonight. I will bring up the possibility of him leaving school to see how he will react and let you know.” On that note we both begin walking up to the castle. Hermione excited to go back to her dorm and me feeling slightly nervous about the conversation I am about to have with Harry. 

I finally make it to my dorm and when I get there all I want to do is lay down and go to sleep, but I know that I can’t do that. Harry is already in his pajamas laying in bed so I change and climb in next to him. I lay my head on his chest and curl into him, “Hey Hare Bear, I wanted to talk to you about earlier.” He sighs as if he knew this conversation was going to happen all along. 

“Which part do you want to talk about?” He begins to run his fingers through my hair and that makes me feel a little bit better about this whole thing. “When you practically volunteered to die.” He just shrugs as if it isn’t a big deal and it might not be for him, but it is for me. “I care about you and the last thing I want to do is have to bury you, okay? Please never think like that.” I feel something hit my face and look up to see Emerald eyes full of tears. 

I flip around so that I am now straddling him and wipe the tears off his face, “It’s okay.” My words only make him cry harder. Eventually I managed to hear him say, “But it’s not.” Deciding it’s probably not best to try to talk to him while he is like this I begin to comfort him. I pull him into an embrace and rub circles on his back. When his breathing finally goes back to normal I pull back, “What do you mean when you say it isn’t okay?” 

TW MENTIONS OF SELF HARM

“Draco I don’t really know how to tell you this so I’m just going to say it. I have been cutting myself since the beginning of this past summer.” He won’t make eye contact with me and is looking at the floor. I pull him in for a hug and whisper sweet little nothings in his ear. I have never been in a situation like this before so I'm not entirely sure of what I am supposed to do.

His breathing is erratic and I rush to comfort him, “Honey it’s okay. Well maybe not, but it will be. We will talk about this, but I don’t think we should do it right now. You just focus on your breathing and calming down, we’ll talk about this another day.” My words don’t work right away, but he does eventually calm down. 

“I’m sorry Draco.” I pull back and wipe the tears from his face, “There is nothing for you to feel sorry for. You are hurting and I get that, but you have to promise me that from now on when you feel like harming yourself?” I worded it like a question so that he had the choice to opt out if he wanted, and if that happens I will know I need to keep a closer eye on him.

“Okay. I promise.” He pulls me back into a hug. “And I also wanted to talk to you about maybe moving out of the castle.” He pulls back immediately and I can see his defenses go up. “If this is about what happened earlier, I think you are being ridiculous, no one is going to be able to hurt me.” 
 
I give him a look, “It’s not them physically hurting you that I am worried about, it’s you sacrificing yourself.” He gets really quiet and I can tell that he is considering what I said. “Okay, but where are we going to go?” I put my hand on his shoulder, “Leave that to me.”