𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐍

Chapter 1

one

Harry stared, his breath coming in short gasps. "Wh-what?" he rasped, his eyes wide and mind blank.

Draco smiled at him sadly, almost gently. He removed Harry's arms around his waist and took a small step back. "I've got a brain tumor. I was diagnosed a year ago-"

"About the time you decided to leave me?" and though he tried, Harry couldn't hide the bitterness from his voice.

Draco looked away, again blinking fast. "A few weeks before I left you..."

"Why did you leave me Draco?" Harry asked for the fifth time as the clouds rumbled and the wind whipped up speed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Draco wrapped his arms around his slight frame, shivering slightly. "I couldn't...It took me a while to come to terms with it, Harry, but by then we were strangers living under the same roof. I wanted to reach out to you, but I was scared. I was-I was scared you'd leave me so I didn't tell you, but...I succeeded in pushing you away anyways."

"So you thought it better to leave?"

Draco nodded. "I wasn't thinking clearly. I was overwhelmed and scared. I know how much you've been through, Harry. You put yourself on the line everyday when you wear that uniform. You've seen more people die than anyone should have to and I couldn't bare the thought of adding to your nightmares."

Harry stared hard at his bent head-at his trembling frame. He had dreamt over and over what he would say to Draco when he met him again, how he would make him pay for leaving Harry hanging, but now...Seeing Draco so broken and alone wiped away Harry's anger and all he wanted to do was take the other man in his arms.

"Draco," he murmured, reaching out and firmly clasping his wrist as the first raindrops pelted from the sky, "Let's go."

Draco didn't protest. Harry tugged him along behind him to his car and held the door open. Draco sank inside without complaint, closing his eyes with a sigh while Harry slid into the driver's seat.

"Are you ok?" he asked, when Draco remained passive.

He nodded, eyes still closed, but already his teeth were chattering. Harry turned up the heater and pulled away from the curb. Draco didn't question where they were going and soon his soft snores filled the car. Harry drove on in silence.

**

Since their split, Harry had moved out of the two-room house to a small apartment just a ways down from their old place. The house had held too many memories for Harry to cope with. He lived like a bachelor in a one-room apartment with minimum furnishings and an empty fridge. He had never been much of a cook-that was Draco's department.

Draco stirred and groggily opened his eyes as Harry pulled into the parking space. He looked out the window, blurred by the hard rain, and squinted.

"Your place?" he asked as Harry reached into the glove compartment, pulling out an umbrella.

"My apartment. I sold the house."

Draco didn't say anything when Harry handed him the umbrella. He opened the door and shook the umbrella open before stepping out, shivering almost immediately. Harry, who didn't mind the cold nor the rain, was soaked by the time they walked up the stairs and stepped inside the small place.

Harry wasted no time in turning on the heater while Draco parked the umbrella to dry and removed his splattered coat.

"You've kept it pretty clean," he said with a small smile as he surveyed the living room. It hardly looked like anyone used it. The single sofa and armchair were all the surrounded the glass coffee table. There was no tv-no flower vase or a newspaper.