What Happens After Dark - Drarry

𝟚𝟞

New word count: 1.9k
Date (re)published: November 26th, 2020
----------------

Draco eyed Harry curiously after a little while of Harry crying into his shoulder.

"Are you okay to talk about it now?" Draco asked, capturing the attention of his boyfriend, who had obviously been zoning out.

"I guess," Harry mumbled into Draco's shirt.

Draco let out a laugh at Harry's blunt tone.

"This isn't funny, Mr. Malfoy," Harry mumbled into Draco's shirt again.

"Of course not," Draco said, a sobered expression and voice accompanying his hand, which intertwined itself with Harry's.

"Well, we were in the Forbidden Forest. You were chained to a tree and I was across the way chained to a different one. They kept torturing you, giving you multiple streams of crucio at once. It was horrible. You were screaming, and I couldn't help you." By now there were silent tears streaming down Harry's cheeks, and Draco tried his best to wipe them away. "They told me it was my fault. They said it was my fault that you were being hurt, and that if I'd just left you alone, everything would've been fine. You were screaming that you hated me, and that you'd never forgive me."

Draco put his hands on either side of Harry's face and lifted it up so that they were staring at each other, eye to eye. "Harry. I don't hate you. I could never hate you."

"You used to say that you hated me," Harry interjected.

"I lied."

"No, you did hate me. I'm a freak. Voldemort lives in my head, I pass out from a bloody scar, and I can't handle my own fucking nightmares. You should hate me. I'm worthless."

"No you're not! Harry, you're perfect. I never hated you, and fuck you for ever thinking I did. I'll never hate you. It's impossible. Even if we break up-"

"Which we won't," Harry said in a minutely threatening tone.

"Which we won't," Draco reassured. "I wouldn't hate you."

Harry sighed, and cuddled into Draco's arms. "Good."

"But Harry," Draco started, receiving a shushing noise from Harry. "No. We need to talk about something."

Harry looked at Draco with a confused face. "Okay," he whispered, sitting up on the bed. Draco sat up too, so that they were facing each other.

"Harry, I haven't been completely honest. My summer wasn't okay."

"Draco," Harry started. "What happened?"

"The Dark Lord. He was at the manor, and h-he made me... he make me take the mark."

Harry's eyes widened. "The Dark Mark?"

"Yes," Draco whispered. He pulled up his sleeve and there, against his pale arm, was a black mark of a snake through a skull, moving along his skin. "I can't bare it," he whispered. "I couldn't keep lying to you."

Harry was quiet for a while, looking at the mark, and then back up to Draco's face, and then at the mark again. He stared for a while, not sure what to do. Then, he knew.

Harry snatched Draco's wrist in his hand, and Draco flinched slightly. Harry looked at him in the eyes, and then examined the mark closer. "Mhm. Exactly what I thought," Harry whispered. He leaned down and kissed the mark all over, leaving no spot untouched.

Draco looked at him confused. "You're not upset?"

"Did you take it willingly?"

"No."