Draco Malfoy, Broken

Chapter 19 - Shivers

***TRIGGER WARNING*** - for panic/anxiety attack     

19 - Shivers

Harry Apparated over at the designated time. He was still shaken from the nightmare he had the night before. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into a bottle until school started, but he had responsibilities. He needed to check on Draco.

"There you are, Harry," Narcissa said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Is everything okay?" Harry asked.

"Good. How was my sister?"

"She's doing well. Teddy's a handful, but she does have a house elf. Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Not really. Draco's up, but he hasn't left his room. He was really tired yesterday, but he didn't... nothing happened."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and she opened Malfoy's door. "Goodbye sweetie, I'm going to work."

Malfoy was sitting on his bed facing the wall. He didn't say anything, but nodded. She turned patting Harry on the arm and walked out the door. Harry walked into Malfoy's room and sat down next to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Draco didn't respond. Harry frowned and swallowed hard. "Do you want to play the game, again?"

Malfoy looked at him, almost concerned. Harry supposed that he sounded a bit rough. "I don't know. I don't want to tell you all of it. It was subdued. It was weird, almost like a playing a memory. My dreams aren't usually so accurate. They're worse... they pull from other things... but it was just strange is all. It wasn't exactly a fun memory, but it could have been a lot worse, without an effort."

"What happened?" Harry asked.

Malfoy frowned. "It wasn't long after Christmas break. Crabbe and Goyle had tried to... have their way with Daphne."

Harry tensed and Malfoy looked at him. "She said that they got... grabby."

"It wasn't pretty. She was really upset."

"She said that they beat the hell out of you when you stood up for her."

"Yeah..." Draco said, lowered his head and looking away from him. He was closing up.

"Hey... you did the right thing. She said that they didn't try anything, again."

"It wasn't just me. They both got jinxed left and right from the other Slytherins." Draco stayed quiet, again.

Harry bit his lip and asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing really..." he said, trailing off. "Just a few broken ribs and a whole bunch of bruises."

"You act like more than that happened," Harry stated.

Malfoy leaned away from him and started rubbing his forearm... his mark. Harry waited. Draco was going to tell him or he wasn't, but it had to be his choice. It was painful to pull information out of someone if they weren't ready and willing. Minutes dragged on.

"It was the point... it was when the... I don't know how to explain it," Malfoy said, flummoxed.

"We've got all day," Harry said.

Malfoy's slate eyes looked at him. "We weren't exactly close. I was in charge... and then I wasn't. That was when the power balance shifted. They were in charge. They could do anything and whatever I said meant nothing."

Harry nodded. It kinda made sense. Slytherins are all about power.

"They find out about me... my preferences," Draco said, still unwillingly to say it aloud.