I object ~slowburn

22| We'll Find Him

• Draco's POV •

I scrambled to my feet the very instance he disapparated.

"No no no no!" I cried, "we have to go after him!"

Hermione tugged on my arm.
"Draco it's probably best if he were alone for a bit,"

"You don't understand, the last time he went away it was bad-,"

"Bad? What did he do?" Ron stood.

Shit. I've said too much.
I shook my head.

"Tell us, we're his friends," Hermione demanded.

Reluctantly, I explained to them the bout of depression he went through and the drinking. The addiction. The hate.

Hermione was shaking her head slowly.
"It's my fault, I should have got him help,"

"He was in therapy," I said.
She looked shocked.

"How did you- what- when?" She spluttered.

"I have my ways,"

After some back and forth we all went to the Leaky Cauldron in search of Harry.

"He's not here!" She cried.

We searched all the stores, alleyways but still no Harry. The sinking feeling kept getting deeper in my stomach as I imagined him back at Grimmauld Place, surrounded in darkness.

"Grimmauld Place!" I exclaimed.

The house was still empty and dark and lacking Harry.
Ron kicked some dust off the carpet.

"I haven't been here since we were going after Voldemort," he whispered.

"You guys went after him?" I asked.
They nodded.

"During our seventh year we found Horcruxes and destroyed them, and they almost destroyed us," Ron said sadly.

The idea of Harry being obliterated by a necklace or something laced with dark magic made me shudder.

"He's gone through far too much, what the hell was Ginny thinking?" Hermione spat.
I was surprised that Ron didn't go to his sisters defense.

"She told him in a letter that she wanted to be there for him but all the wanted was possession over him," I said.

"She really got messed up after he left, she would mutter to herself and jump at little things- hell it was like she was in Azkaban," Ron told us. He himself looked tired. His sister was a nutter and he couldn't do anything about it.

Hermione squeezed his hand and planted a kiss on the side of his head.
I had to look away, for the knife in my stomach threatened to cripple me.
I wanted to kiss Harry softly and squeeze his hand. I wanted him to feel that he deserved my love. That he deserved the life that his parents gave him.

He was doing so good, too. Arabella was really helping with his feelings. He was more open with me and it made me feel so honored that I got a peek at his mind.

We tended the garden a few times a week. From my side of the garden I had a clear vantage point of his ass. He was completely oblivious to my looks though. As he was everything else. He looked so alive then.
He felt pride for the work.
Just as my mother had.

Oh how I wished he would come back.

"Draco? We're going to go back home, you're welcome to stay with us until he comes back," Hermione offered.

"How do you know he'll come back?" Tears clouded my vision and I made no move to stop them.

"Harry will, he always does," Ron frowned.

"That was the Harry before it all! He doesn't love himself, he doesn't care if he dies or not!" I was sobbing then.

Hermione hugged me and I felt Rons awkward hand patting my back.

"We'll find him," she said.