Alone

Figuring It Out

Harry
I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it. As far as I was concerned, I'd gone to this park to get away from the Dursleys and saw a boy near the slide with his knees drawn up and his head buried in his arms. Then, like anyone would do, I go up to him and ask him if he was okay. He said he was fine, but just looking at him I can tell he's not. He's a bit rude, but I try not to let it bother me. I've lashed out at Ron and Hermione enough times. So I ask the boy again, and he completely attacks me - and then he lifts his face up. The boy is Draco Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy. What the hell is he doing in Surrey, let alone Little Whinging?! He lives in Wiltshire. That's like 2 hours away. I don't know how the hell to act. I mean, our relationship is pretty messed up. In the past 5 years he's gone from being my bully, to my friend, to my crush, to my boyfriend, to my ex, and then to my fucking crush again! Yeah, it's messed up.

He stays silent, so I sit down beside him. God, he looks a mess. He's soaking wet, I can only imagine how cold he is, he's skinnier than I remember, and he's got a nose-bleed. His cheeks look wet too, but I'm not sure if that's because of the rain or if he was crying. He doesn't look at me, and I don't blame him. It's not like he would want to see me - but then what was he doing 15 minutes away from my house?

"Draco.... What happened?" I ask cautiously. I know I need to be gentle, otherwise I'll push him away.
"None of your damn business." he snaps. So much for that plan.
"Look, Draco. You live like 2 hours away, and you show up here, soaking wet. What the hell do you want me to do?"
"Fuck off would be helpful." I scowled. Typical Draco Malfoy attitude.
"Like hell I'm off to do that. You look awful."
"And you look like you've been pulled through a hedge backwards, what's your point?"
I sighed in exasperation. He definitely wasn't making this easy.
"Look, why are you here?"
"I came for a holiday."
"For fucks sake, Malfoy!" I snapped finally losing it, "Just let me help you!"
"I don't need your help! I'm perfectly f-fi....." he tried to stand up but swayed and fell back down. I managed to catch him and settle him back down again.
"I'm fine" he grumbled
"No you're not. You can barely stand up." he glared coldly at me, but after a while he sank back into the side of the slide and the tears fell.

This shocked me. I'd never once seen Draco cry, not even when we were dating. Not even when we were breaking up.
"This was a stupid idea." he mumbled.
"What was?" I ask. I hope it's not too serious; there's only so much I can do in Little Whinging.
He stays quiet, but I can tell he wants to tell me.
"Dray? You know you can talk to me about anything."
"Can I though?" he says looking up at me, "we broke up, remember."
"You broke up with me."
"Either way we're not together anymore. And you wouldn't understand."
"Draco, please, I just wanna help -"
"You can't help me!" he yells suddenly, tears in his eyes, "I'm not someone you can just save and everything will be alright! It won't!"
Then he stood up, swaying a little. I tried to steady him but he pushed me away and ran off. I called after him, but he ignored me and carried on.

~~~

The next day I went to the park again to try and see if he was there. I found him sat on a bench reading one of our old school books. I sit down beside him but he ignored me.
"Hey." I said, expecting at least a reaction, but he chose to ignore me completely. I tried a few more times but still he didn't answer. I could tell he could hear me by the way his eyes flickered whenever I spoke. Eventually I lost all my patience and snatched the book off him. I expected him to explode at me, but instead he just glared and groaned, leaning his head over the back of the bench.

"What do you want, Harry?"
"I want to know why you're here?"
"It's none of your business."
"Dray, please, just talk to me.... Did -"
"Did what?"
I take a deep breath, expecting a bad reaction, "Did your parents disown you?"
He glared at me, his eyes narrowed. Then he closes his eyes and sighs, "I ran away."
"What?!"
"You heard."
"But.... Ugh, never mind. Come back to mine, we'll talk more then."
He looks at me skeptically as I stood up and held my hand out. Eventually he takes my hand and I pull him up as he rolls his eyes and we walk to Privet Drive.