Blackberry Jam (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Six

   He expected Draco to already be upstairs when he re-emerged, but he was sat waiting on the armchair, also in his pyjamas. He didn't smile or scowl, but managed something in between, and Harry wasn't sure what that meant. Was he angry, or just tired maybe? "Shall we go up?" he asked.

Draco sniffed and picked up his case. "I thought it rude to go up alone," he said, as if this was obvious.

"Goodnight boys!" Mrs Figg called from the kitchen.

"Goodnight Mrs Figg," they called back in chorus.

Harry felt nerves in his tummy like butterflies flapping their wings. What would their room be like? Would they both fit?

He went first, climbing the stairs carefully as they were a little on the narrow side, then pausing as he reached the door around the slight turn. "I suppose this is it?" he said, but Draco just huffed, so he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The ceiling was arched, but there was enough room for him to stand fully upright in most of the room anyway, it was just the sides where it got too low. There wasn't anything hanging from the walls, but that was okay, Harry was just mostly relieved by the size of the bed.

"Oh," he breathed out. "It's a grown up bed," he said happily. "We'll have plenty of room."

Draco pushed the door shut. It wasn't a slam, but it wasn't gentle either. "Who cares, we still have to share," he snapped, storming around to the further side and dropping his case to the floor with a thump. "This is ridiculous, Mother said I was to have my own room with a good family, I shouldn't be here."

"Well, we're here now," Harry said, trying to stay cheerful. "It's not that bad. It's better than London."

"Nowhere is better than London," Draco said hotly, ripping back the covers and dropping onto the mattress. "Certainly not the ghastly countryside."

He yanked the blankets back up and turned his back to Harry, who wasn't quite sure what to do for a moment. His throat felt scratchy, and he wanted to tell Draco the only reason he said it was better was because of the war, and the bombs. But he didn't. Instead, he placed his case carefully on the floor and considered fetching out his teddy bear. But Draco was cross with him, and he didn't want him to make fun of his teddy and call him a baby, so he left it where it was.

Trying not to dip the mattress too much, he got into the bed as well, took off his glasses and turned off the lamp, leaving them in mostly darkness. He curled up as far away as he could from Draco, and began drifting off to sleep immediately.

He was almost totally gone, his body weary to the bone, when suddenly he felt a shake through the mattress.

He froze, wondering if he had imagined it, or if his leg had twitched when he'd almost fallen asleep. But then it came again, along with the strangled sound of a sob.

Draco was crying, and he was desperately trying not to let Harry know it.

Harry lay there for a minute or so, completely lost at what to do. When people cried, they liked to be left alone. But he couldn't leave Draco alone though, because they only had one bed. Draco just sounded so sad, and all Harry could think was how sad he was too. So in the end he did the only thing he could think of, and rolled over.

"Don't cry," he whispered, wrapping his arms around him the way he did when Mother cried thinking about Father in France. "Please don't cry."

Draco cried harder though, and rather than pull away, turned suddenly and flung himself into Harry's arms. "I want-" he stuttered. "-to go – home!"

Harry realised he was crying too, all the tears he had so carefully saved up the whole day spilling down his cheeks as he gulped down air.

"Me to," he whispered. "Me too Draco."

They clung to each other until, sometime later, there were no more tears to fall, and exhaustion crept through their bodies. Harry quite liked being cuddled up with Draco though, and Draco didn't pull away to move to the other side of the bed, so he must have found it comforting too, which made Harry glad.

"It'll be okay," he mumbled as they drifted off to sleep in the middle of their bed, two lost boys starting a new life together. "It'll be okay Draco, I promise."

"Okay," he whispered, tightening his hand around his. "Okay Harry."