Pen Pal (Drarry) HIATUS

5

Draco took a deep breath and squared his shoulders looking at the doors of the great hall with a small tremor in his hands.

"Just go in, and sit. You'll be fine." He mumbled to himself mostly, seeing as no one was around. He nodded once, lifting his chin and pushing through the doors.

"I can do this. I can do this.." was the mantra he repeated in a whisper as he made his way to where Hermione Granger was sitting.

Harry looked up expectantly, he had been warned. He gave a small smile and nodded at Draco, gesturing to the seat next to him. So Draco sat down.

Ron was the one who hadn't been warned. He looked between his friends expectantly and rolled his eyes when he noticed their already understanding faces.

"You lot drive me crazy, you wanna sit with Malfoy? Sit with Malfoy. You don't have to hide it from me I am no longer fifteen."

"Well I invited him to sit with us and I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it, I know you," Hermione said rolling her eyes at her boyfriend. Ron shrugged at Draco, "we're cool we worked on a herbology project together yesterday and we didn't even attempt to murder each other."

Draco chuckled, nodding, "that we did Weasley that we did. I've been surrounded by you prats all week so I mine as well eat with you right?"

As Draco jokingly bickered back and forth with Hermione and Ron, he noticed how withdrawn Harry was from the entire interaction.

When an owl flew down and dropped a letter on Harry's plate he groaned. "Seriously you birds are bloody menaces, the lot of you, stop dropping off your damn letters in my food!" Harry snapped, tucking the letter into his robe.

Hermione looked between Harry and Draco suspiciously, the three boys missing the glance she was giving them.

"Harry is that from your pen pal?" Hermione questioned gingerly.

Harry shrugged, glaring at Hermione, "you're supposed to be the smart one. You know the owls Minnie uses Hermione."

Draco watched as Hermione's face tightened, and she tensed up at Harry's snappy tone. He was about to say something to ease the situation when Hermione's hand slammed down on the table.

"All right I've had it with you. You don't want pity? Fine, I didn't give you pity. You don't want to talk to me, Ron, or anyone else? FINE, don't talk. Let's just face the facts here Harry. You lost ALMOST everyone that mattered to you in the war. Almost.

"Then you up and left Ginny and Merlin knows that she understands, but YOU left HER. All you have now is Ron and I. Maybe McGonagall but after Hogwarts it's just us three. We are it we're the only damn family you have left.

"So if you want to be pissed at the world, be pissed at the WORLD, but stop getting pissed with us because we are all you have and we won't sit around forever and allow you to snap at us and abuse us. We all survived a war, maybe your story is different but we all did it. Yet we aren't out here trying to make you miserable with us. You're doing that to all three of us all on your own."

Hermione turned around and left the breakfast table, stomping away the entire time. Ron looked simply baffled, and Harry looked distraught.

After Ron got up to run after her Draco watched Harry's silence for a few moments. Trying to gauge which direction he was going to take. When he began noticing the fidgeting of his hands, and the upbeat breathing, he decided to gently place his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Come on, let's go somewhere safe," Draco whispered. He didn't get, nor wait for, a response. Practically dragging Harry off of his feet he pulled him through the great hall.

-

"There you go, sip slowly," Draco said quietly, trying to be as gentle as he could. Harry and him were not friends. Quite frankly he wasn't sure if Harry even wanted to speak with him but right now he needed someone. Draco just happened to be the one there to clean up the mess.

Once Harry finished the water and got his breathing slowed down he chucked the glass at the wall. "Fuck." Was the only word he muttered.

Draco spelled the now broken glass away, and slowly approached Harry. "I'm sorry she upset you," he said.

With a dry laugh Harry responded, "She didn't upset me, she's absolutely right. I did this to myself. Some days everything just seems so much. Like I can't do anything but be angry. It's not with them but I spend so much time with them that it always ends up being at them. I'm a horrible friend."

"I don't think you're horrible Potter. You're grieving, tired, hurt, angry, and confused. It's okay to feel all of those things. You just have to figure out a better way to redirect it."

Harry nodded, and continued playing with his fingers. Not wanting to talk in fear of his voice cracking. Draco could tell they were quite done with this conversation, he ran a hand through his hair and patted Harry's shoulder. "Why don't we get you back to your dorm okay? Sleep it off."

The walk to Harry's dorm was silent, but not in an uncomfortable sense. Harry was mulling over Draco's words in his head. They made sense, and they comforted him. Two things he never thought he'd get from Draco, comfort and a conversation that made sense. So much had changed since his first time in this building.

"Thanks Draco." Harry mumbled in goodbye as he walked into his dorm. "Anytime Potter, get some rest before transfiguration. I'll let Sprout know you'll be missing her class, and I'll get notes."

"Thanks." Harry said again, before walking over and face planting on his bed. He'd read his letter later. Right now he needed sleep, and a pretty damn good apology for Hermione. She could hold a grudge.

-

A/N wanted to take a second to step away from the letters and have an actual human interaction. I hope this story doesn't seem too angsty but I always write sunshine rainbows and fluff and I wanted to share a more realistic output of their healing after the war.

After this I need to get the hell away from eighth year fics 🤣

Hope you enjoyed loves.

Much love,

-H🫶🏼