Major trigger warning:
There will be talking of self harm here and a character going through a panic attack, if that bothers you please for your own safety do not read this and remeber to take care of yourself xx
Harry's pov
"Why so tense Potter?" I flinched at that way to familiar voice shouting after me. I turned around expecting to see Malfoy- and wait, where the fuck was he? I looked up a little and- oh my fucking god..
"..Are- Are you seriously in a fucking tree right now Malfoy?" He played it off but I saw the slight blush that started to flush his face. He jumped down and instead of landing perfectly like he expected he fell on the ground. I tried to stifle a laugh and failed miserably. I burst out laughing as Crabbe and Goyle tried to help him up. He pushed them away and muttered something about not needing their help, his face decently red from embarrassment. "Nice landing Malfoy." I said, and I couldn't help myself as I laughed when his face turned even more red.
"Fuck off Potter.." He muttered, looking towards the ground, clearly trying to hide his blush. When he looked back up most of his blush was gone, but the damage was already done. "Me and my father have a bet you know?" I rolled my eyes as he put his bitchy persona back on.
"Malfoy that's great and everything, but I really don't give a shit." He looked like he was getting frustrated but for some reason he still pushed on.
"W-well I say y-you won't last t-ten m-minutes in the t-tournament-" He stopped talking and took a deep breath, obviously trying to get out what he wanted to say. He was making a complete fool of himself and he knew it too, yet he still tried to stutter out what he wanted to say. "M-my f-father disa-dis- dammit d-dis-" People around us watching the scene were laughing their asses off, even Crabbe and Goyle were laughing at him."F-forget it." He quickly walked away and his group of followers didn't go after him. It wasn't until I saw everyone laughing and pointing at him, even his own friends, that I began to feel bad. I groaned and slowly made to go after him. On any other day I truly wouldn't care but now that I thought about it, Malfoy was stuttering. He never stutters, he especially doesn't stutter when he's making a fool of me. I walked into the school and went to Moaning Myrtles bathroom, figuring he may be there. At first when I heard a sob I didn't think anything of it, but then I realized it sounded diffrent than the usual high pitched sobs that so often came from this bathroom.
"F-fucking P-potter." I walked in slowly as I heard him muttering to himself. I looked around the bathroom cautiously and when I spotted him I could see he was just in a white button up shirt and black pants, his robes and vest on the floor. He was breathing heavily and shaking. He let out another sob, sliding down the wall behind him. I was looking at him from the side as I cautiously walked closer to him.
"M-malfoy?" I could see him visibly tense, but he didn't say anything, I walked a bit closer. "Draco?" I could see him more clearly now and noticed he was shaking pretty hard as he let another sob out. The air in the room was full of awkward tension. I knew already he was having an anxiety attack, but something was stopping me from helping him through it, although I wasn't quite sure what. My eyes widened as I noticed the light color of red that was contrasting against his right sleeve. Realizing that he was hurt made my instincts finally kick in, and whatever part of me that was refraining from helping Draco diminished as I quickly ran to his side. I kneeled down next to him and spoke carefully, I knew I could be walking on eggshells here. "Are- are you okay?" I asked, genuine concern laced in my words. He didn't say a word just shook his head no as more tears fell. I sat down next to him and hesitated for a second before pulling him onto my lap. That's when our eyes finally met. I saw his bottom lip quiver and I noted how completely vulnerable he was. He seemed to notice to but I tried to give him a reassuring smile to let him know he was safe. It seemed to work as he wrapped his arms around me and buried his head in my neck and let everything out. I jumped, slightly startled that he was hugging me. I slowly brought my arms around his back, trying to give him some sort of comfort. I remembered then some things that Hermoine had whispered to me when I was going through an anxiety attack and began to whisper those things to Draco. He relaxed more into the hug and started shaking less as I whispered the soothing words and rubbed his back. Slowly but surely his shaking slowed to a stop and he had stopped crying a little while ago but he was still clutching onto me. We said nothing, just hugged on the floor of the bathroom. I decided to speak up first. "Are you alright Draco?" His body tensed a little, but relaxed when I rubbed his back a little. It took a couple seconds but he eventually spoke.
