Impossible ↠Drarry

Chapter Twenty-Five

The next few days consisted of Draco locked up in his room, reflecting on his life and the shit he's been through. Really, it was depressing. He was depressed. Severely depressed. He had a constant ball of anxiety in the middle of his chest that refused to go away, and was constantly on the verge of having a mental breakdown.

He skipped classes, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He avoided his friends as much as possible -- which was fairly easy considering the fact that He no longer shared a common room with them -- and he's been distancing himself from Harry.

Not because he wanted to.
What he wanted was to keep Harry safe. Out of harms way.
And the best thing he could do to let that happen, was distance himself from him.

Ah, yes, the clichè trope of distancing yourself to keep a loved one out of harm's way. Originally, Draco thought that trope to be a bore and quite frankly annoying, but then... it happened to him.

The thought of Harry being in any kind of danger because of Draco made him want to throw up. It made him want to scream and break things and cry. Protecting Harry by distancing himself from him was the hardest thing Draco had to do as of recent, but at the same time... it was the easiest.

Just knowing that Harry wasn't going to get hurt managed to motivate Draco to keep his distance.

But, alas, he needed to pee.

Draco sighed out of annoyance and threw his covers off. He stood to his feet, shivering once his bare feet touched the cold floor.

"Bloody bladder... not able to maintain yourself..." Draco mumbled to himself as he walked towards his door.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes as he opened his bedroom door.

As soon as it creaked opened he spotted Harry -- who was stood right infront of his door; his was hand hovering over where the door knob would be if Draco hadn't opened it.

Draco blinked, before taking a step back.

My bladder can wait, he thought to himself.

He was about to close the door once more, before Harry stopped it.

"Draco," he paused, "why are you avoiding me?"

The look in Harry's eyes made Draco's heart sink.
Those green eyes of his were filled with pain.

He blames himself, doesn't he.

"Avoiding you?" Draco asked, "who said I was avoiding you?"

"As soon as you saw me you tried to step back inside your room." Harry replied blatantly.

"I may just be ignoring everyone."

"Draco..."

"Anyways. I'm tired. Goodnight," he said hastily.

He attempted to close his door once more, but instead Harry stepped in before he could.
Harry closed the door behind him.

"Was it because I kissed you? Because you kissed back."

Draco winced at Harry's voice. It sounded so desperate. And Harry himself... he looked awful. He looked like he hadn't slept in the past few days that Draco was avoiding him.

"No, Potter." Draco shook his head, "even if I was avoiding you - which I'm not - It wasn't because we kissed."

"Then why? What other reason would there be?"

Draco closed his eyes, holding his breath.

"Draco, please tell me."

Draco exhaled, "It's... to protect you."

"From what?" Harry scoffed, "from Death Eaters? From your father? Draco, I defeated voldemort. I'm not scared of them. And nor do I need protecting from them."

Draco clenched his jaw, "You can't underestimate them." He snapped. "Why would you even want to be around me, anyway? I'm..." He paused, realization finally setting in, "I'm a bloody Death Eater, Harry! Why would you trust me?" He voice cracked at the last part.

Harry's eyes widened in shock, but he quickly regained his poster, "That's the past, Draco! And weren't you the one that told me it was forced upon you?" Harry retort. "You're an ex-Death Eater-"

"Harry! Really!" Draco rolled up his sleeve, showing his dark mark, "this bloody mark has ruined my entire family. My entire life. I'm not an 'ex-Death Eater'. Once you have this... it never goes away!" Tears stung the back of his eyes, but he refused to let them spill, "People treat me like scum because of this bloody mark. They treat me as if I am still one of them. So why don't you see it? Everyone else sees it. And they'll see it until the day I die. I deserve all the shit they put on me. The sneers and glares. The pushing around. Everything. So many people died because of this very mark that rests on my arm- including Albus Dumbledore! Do you really want to be around someone like that? Someome who holds this mark on their arm?

"Why don't you see it? You used to see it. Go back. Think like you bloody used to! For your own fucking protection!" Draco was panting now, and tears continued to sting his eyes.

It fell silent.
The only sounds heard were the winds whipping against the old building, and Draco's ragged breaths.

"I don't need protecting, Draco." Harry started, after a long stretch of silence, "You're not a Death Eater. You never were. Death Eaters killed innocent people. Death Eaters took the mark willingly. You aren't a Death Eater." He stepped closer to Draco,

"People are assholes. They don't know you. All they do is judge. I don't think like I used to because I see who you really are. Under that whole façade you're pulling around everyone else." He took another step, and cupped Draco's cheeks, "I don't need protection, Draco," he repeated.

"I need you."

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Bleh short and cheesy chapter