when it's all over ♤ drarry

chapter//fourteen

It only took Harry a couple weeks to settle into his New York apartment. He hadn't written anyone back at Hogwarts, nor did he plan to. He didn't even want to. He just hoped they were okay, he knew how half the school still saw him as a beacon of hope and he had needed to get away from it all. He had a single thing tying him to that place and he'd lost it, he'd lost Draco and every other reason he wanted to stay. He now realized why falling in love was terrifying, why it was exhilarating and the most wonderful thing.

Love.

Hate is born from love. Fear is born of love. Everything in some way is born from love and that's why it was in every book, in every poem, on every last tongue, in every last heart, and in teary eyes. Why it was the subject of everything surrounding him, that was the goal of life. Love. Happiness. Harry had both those things for a while until they slipped through his fingers, until he was grasping at microscopic shards of glass until his hands bled. 

Love love love.

That was the only thing he could feel, it was the only thing he could think about. The act of loving, the act of making love, the act of showing affection and love. Fuck love and fuck Draco and fuck anyone who thinks love is the answer to everything. Fuck all of his goddamn poems for reminding him of what could have been and fuck his brain because that godforsaken boy was the only thing he could think about.

Fuck it all.

//

Draco wasn't coping much better than Harry was, but at least he had a pretty solid support system. Ron was pretty pissed at Draco because he was the one who made Harry leave, as well as Hermione since she was the one who helped him. Hermione had let him sleep in her room because he said the dorm reminded him too much of Harry and it really did and he couldn't quite comprehend why. He felt so overwhelmed.

Draco never really left her room anymore, either. He was taking care of Rose while Hermione and Ron were at dinner or lunch and then he ate after everyone was asleep when he could sneak into the kitchens and steal whatever he could find. The system went on until the end of the school year when Draco decided he couldn't go back to Malfoy Manor, not with his father there. Not after how everything ended.

He had planned on grabbing all his money from Gringotts and just hiding away much like Harry had done, but he'd accidentally revealed this to Hermione, who whirled on him and began ranting about how she couldn't lose Draco too, they'd become too close over the school year to just let him leave. 

"The house that's being built in Godric's Hollow for Ron and I is rather big since we both want a large family and in case his side of the family ever wants to come stay. We could dedicate a room to you," Hermione offered, gently rocking the bassinet that Rose was currently sleeping in. 

"After everything I've put you through? I wouldn't want to impose-"

"Don't you dare worry about that. That was all Malfoy and I haven't seen him all year, I only know Draco. Of course you can stay, don't you dare worry," Hermione chided him gently. "I'm sure Ron would agree with me, so don't start worrying about him, either."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Would I offer you something like this if I wasn't sure?"

//

Six months later, Draco was still living in the Granger-Weasley household. Little Rose was now ten months old and he had become a sort of caretaker for her. Since both Hermione and Ron had gotten jobs, he had just started staying home and caring for her while her parents were gone. Both of them had expressed how thankful they were to have Draco there, and he was thankful to be there. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn't sure where he'd be right now if it weren't for them.