Let Me Love You // DRARRY

Chapter Twenty - A Rude Awakening

Harry awoke on a hard surface, the living room floor if he could remember correctly. Too scared to open his eyes in case what he thought he remembered was true, he just let himself lie there with his eyes shut, childishly refusing to acknowledge the current predicament. He had accepted Malfoy into his house, a person who he had a disgustingly big interest in.

He had left Malfoy on the sofa for the night, and then in some protective, sleep deluded state felt the compulsion to stay beside Malfoy on the floor throughout the night. On an unforgiving, hard floor which had left him to feel forty years his senior. His back and joints were stiff and made it hard for him to find a comfortable position to lie in, so he decided to brave what was beside him.

Standing up with a great struggle, Harry looked down at the blond who was lying on the old and under-stuffed sofa. His right arm falling over the side as his left side supported his weight on the large cushions underneath.

Harry's body dangerously swayed on the spot without his consent, a product of his racing mind not allowing him more than a couple of hours of rest, so had to steady himself by holding onto the arm of the sofa Malfoy was resting on.

"Malfoy, wake up," Harry whispered, uneasy at breaking the eerie silence which always seemed to lie just as thick as the dust and damp in the ancient house. Malfoy mumbled something inaudible for a response, but apart from that gave no evidence that he had heard Harry. "Malfoy, wake up." Harry repeated, slightly louder. However, the slight increase in volume was all that Malfoy needed. Bolting up, Malfoy was instantly aware of his surroundings and evidently also confused about them.

"Potter, you haven't by chance abducted me. Why am I in your house?" Malfoy queried, before obviously recollecting the events which had taken place the previous night. "Oh." Was all he could say.

The two were opposite each other in the kitchen, tea mugs in hand and a deathly silence between them. Draco timidly raised his eyes, opening his mouth to say something, closing it again, then opening it again, carefully thinking about what he was going to say.

"About last night Potter-"

"It's fine," Harry interjected, taking pity at how lost the Blond seemed, it just wasn't natural to see him like this. "you can stay here for the rest of the holidays, I don't mind."

"I don't want your pity, Potter. If this is just you helping out the gay boy because it helps inflate your Gryffindor ego then I'd rather you didn't. I'll find alternative accommodation, me sleeping here was a one-time thing and it won't be continuing, I'm sure you'll enjoy hearing. I don't know how, Mother has probably already begun cutting me off from the Malfoy vault, but I'll be gone soon."

"If being gay got me in this mess, then being gay will help me out of this predicament. I'm sure there is more than a few homosexuals who would be willing to have a bit of an extended Christmas fling."

"I'm not offering you a bed here out of pity, Malfoy. Despite what you would like to think, you can actually be quite endearing and friendly. And I won't let you sell your body to some to some stranger just so that you have a place to stay over the holidays. You're staying here, I'm telling you that you are staying here, as a friend."

Draco looked down at the table for a couple of seconds, before looking up, once again almost timidly, at Harry. "I'm not some charity case. If I'm going to be staying in this dreadful house then I'm going to earn my keep. I'm not some pansy little boy. While your out visiting or whatever else, I'm going to be improving this horrible house. I'm not spending the remainder of my holidays in what could almost be described as poverty."

Taken aback by Malfoy's sudden fiery attitude, he simply nodded his head in acknowledgment. "If so then, what are you planning to do?"

"Well for one, Potter, I'm going to be replacing that dreadful couch. If I wasn't so..." Draco paused, pausing for thought. "Disheveled, then I would have refused to lie on it. In almost certain that in those hours in contact with it I've contracted several diseases and arthritis. Honestly, how can you stand such dreadful conditions?"