Cicatrices- Marks That Remain

Come Eat

"The arguments are getting bad, mate," Neville sighed, passing his fingers through his hair. "But anyway, Hannah suggested we see a mind healer about it- well, one that isn't her, obviously. And he said that I should make an effort to come to church with her, since it's so important to her, you know? Ah, I guess I'm just rambling, anyway. I'll let you go now. See you next Sunday, yeah?"

Harry could not sleep. He hadn't been able to for several nights, now.

"Harry, I hope you're very acutely aware of what's going on. I hope that you'll inform the auror offices immediately."

If it wasn't one thing keeping him up, then it was always something else.

"Call me Harry."

"Oh... Harry."

He found that, at this point, it was barely worth trying to sleep. There were simply too many things filling up his brain. He was frustrated, and he felt himself slowing down during the days, surely an effect of sleep deprivation.

He wanted to figure out whether Rookwood was someone to be concerned about, hiding out at the very church that Draco goes to. He wanted to know exactly what was going through Draco's mind. He wanted to understand why he cared about him so much.

And, at the same time as all of that, there was a slowly mounting dread for the next time the killer may strike.

He hadn't gotten anyone since Lucius Malfoy, and that was upwards of a month ago. In the meantime, Harry has been occupying himself with getting to know Draco, wanting to get closer, feeling...

He wished that he'd caught the bastard to hurt him already. He wished it wasn't so difficult. Harry reckoned it might be less difficult if he could leave the flat whenever he wanted, but he was the one assigned to keep Draco safe. And, honestly, he's increasingly found that he rather wants to be the one to keep Draco safe.

He was growing closer and closer to Draco, and Harry was starting to have a difficult time telling himself that he wasn't developing some sort of feeling...

No.

Harry didn't want to admit that. He knew that there was a certain level of emotional attachment, but that was inevitable, right? It wasn't as if he was actually falling for the man. He couldn't.

Besides, this was a mission. And Draco is extremely vulnerable, and, in all honesty, his mental state is scaring Harry. It was a dangerous place to be in. And Draco could not afford any more harm to come to him. Draco has become a victim of circumstance, and Harry is just a coping mechanism.

Draco was just using Harry as a coping mechanism, and he was okay with that. He was.

It was fine.

Harry watched as the emerging sunlight filtered through the window of Draco's flat. He sighed. That was another night gone with less than 6 hours of sleep. And he knew that at this point, there was no hope in him sleeping more today. Harry stood with a large stretch, yawning. He grabbed his wand off the coffee table and used it to turn his sleeping area back into Draco's neat couch. Then, he levitated the coffee table back to its original position and padded over to the kitchen.

Harry looked around for something to eat or prepare, and noticed how little there was. It made sense, considering that groceries hadn't been done in a long while. He frowned. There must be something to eat for breakfast.

Harry opened the overhead cupboard for some tea, grabbing the tin of black tea when he heard a tapping at the window.

Harry walked over to the window, where he saw Ron's owl tapping on the glass, asking to be let in. He slid the window open and took the letter. He read: