arranged love // drarry

twenty two

The car ride to the Potter's was quiet. Draco pressed down on the accelerator when the Manor came into view.

"What if he hates me for this?" He asked his mum. Narcissa pursed her lips, "There's no time to worry right now, darling. Let's hurry." She said and got out of the car as soon as they came to a stop and ran towards the front gate, Draco in tow.

A servant, who was standing outside, greeted them.

"Call them all out. Hurry!" Draco breathed out. The servant raised his eyebrows, "I— They're all in the garden, sir. I could take you there. Master Harry would be happy to see you."

Narcissa grit her teeth, "He told you to go get them. This is an emergency."

The servant's eyes widened and he ran inside to call them.

A couple moments later, four people came into view and Draco latched onto Harry as soon as he saw those green eyes.

"Narcissa!" Lily gasped as the woman stepped forward, her hair a frenzy. Narcissa clasped Lily in her arms, hugging her tightly, "Oh I'm so sorry for putting you and your family in this mess." She mumbled, eyes gleaming with sadness.

Harry wrapped his arms around a shaking Draco, "Darling?" He asked, brushing back a strand to look in his grey, fearful eyes.

"Harry, we need to go. We all need to run away." Draco clutched at his arms, "Riddle! Riddle will kill you!"

"What?" Harry frowned, "I don't understand—"

Narcissa cleared her throat loudly to acquire their attention, "We need to tell you something. Till then, please tell your servants to go and pack a bag of clothes for you. Please, just trust us." James nodded at one of the servants and they went away with a bow of their head.

"Where's Remus?" Draco questioned Harry.

"He's at his place. Don't worry, we've sent our driver over to get him." Draco nodded.

They all were ushered into the closest room by Lily and then Narcissa told them everything, with Draco supplying details about what he had experienced.

His head was hung low in shame, guilt washing over him. Harry sat in a chair, listening carefully, eyes flitting to Draco every few moments as his heart clenched painfully. Ginny had excused herself earlier, claiming that she should give them some privacy.

James' expression looked painful, "Riddle and I went to the same school. He was a year or two above me" He said quietly, "His parents used to hurt him and nobody knew about that. When he was sixteen he brought a gun to school, hidden in his jacket. He was a bully, everyone knew. And that day, I decided to stand up to him. He used to hurt my friend, Peter. Within a blink of an eye, he shot Peter."

Lily rubbed his arm comfortingly as he took a deep breath. James cleared his throat.

"He had joined the mafia and then proceeded to kill his parents. He fled the country, came back five years later when the matter had settled down and visited me. He told me that it was my fault that he had been hurt by his parents. Said that they had always compared him to me and never showed him any love."

Harry scowled, "That's why he did this? He blames you because his parents never loved him?"

James winced at Harry's harsh, ragged tone, "He went through a lot, kiddo. Not everyone comes out the same when they go through pain in their life."

Harry put his face in his hands. "He murdered Sirius, Papa. Sirius. I hate him." He whispered, voice cracking.

Draco placed a hand on his shoulder as an attempt to comfort him. Harry pushed him away, shaking his head and ignoring the hurtful glance Draco sent his way.

"Why didn't you two tell us earlier?" Harry looked up, eyes red around the rim. Narcissa bit her lip, "Son, we would have but Lucius had sent me away and Draco didn't even get to know about this at first. I tried my best to stop this madness."

Harry looked at Draco, "What about you? You knew it at the engagement, didn't you? You were so tense the entire time." His tone was accusatory.

"I wanted to! I swear I did. I even tried telling your dad about it," The blond ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, "But I couldn't. My father warned me that if you knew about it you would be killed. I was just waiting for the right moment—"

"And the right moment is now? After Sirius has been murdered!" Harry stood up, voice raising, "He could've been alive today!"

"Don't you think I miss him?" Draco's voice didn't rise, he was close to tears, "I love Sirius. He's my cousin, Harry."

Harry let out a long exhale and rubbed his eyes with his palm. "Are the clothes packed?" He asked in a hoarse voice. Lily nodded and they all left the room one by one.

James looked around, making sure everyone was there till he noticed the absence of a certain red-head, "Harry, go get Ginny." He told him, "We need to get her to a safer place."

"Alright, I'll get her." Harry said. Draco grabbed his arm, "I'll join," He said meekly.

Harry didn't respond, opening the door to the lounge to find Ginny whispering harshly into the phone, hand tight around the receiver.

"They're leaving! It won't be my fault if you lot don't reach here quickly!" Harry heard her snarl and put away the receiver.

"Gin?" She froze.

"Who were you talking to?"

Ginny turned around, "No-nobody, Harry." Her face was frozen in fear, eyes wide.

Harry scowled, "Ginny." He warned, "Who the fuck were you talking to?" Draco gritted his teeth.

Everything clicked into place.

France. Ginny. Pansy. The talk about being grateful. She had even mentioned his company.

She's the spy!

Fuck. How didn't he notice? And all this time he'd been blaming Blaise. His best friend.

"Harry, we need to go." Draco tugged at his arm, "Harry!" He turned him by his shoulder, "They'll be here soon. Please." Harry's eyes were filled with sadness.

He glanced at Ginny. "I trusted you." He shook his head and left with Draco.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Draco whispered.

Harry's jaw tensed, he swallowed heavily and looked away, "Not the time, Draco. Let's go." His voice was a small murmur and it was enough to make Draco want to reach for him. But Harry's pace sped up and he walked further away from Draco.

Draco's chest tightened and he followed him, his fist clenched around their engagement ring. The front door came into view and then his heart dropped.

"DRACO!" His mum screamed.

He heard a gunshot, felt a pain in his leg and then everything went black.