After -Drarry COMPLETE

Chapter 55

—Harry POV—

"Happy Christmas... Harry." Said Aunt Petunia, before very slightly, yet obviously, nudging uncle Vernon in the side.

"Happy Christmas boy." He grumbled passively, turning to take a seat at the table. I swallowed hard, taking a shaky breath, and I felt as Draco attempted to secretly take my hand.

"H- " I tried to say something, anything. How have you been? How have these past few years been? Has anything new happened in the past decade? But any word I could try to muster seemed to get lost on the way from my brain to my mouth.

I kind of just stood there, before realizing that everyone had already sat down, and Millicent was beginning to serve food.

"I'm going to... the bathroom." I wanted to say, but I instead sat down, grabbing Draco's hand under the table and squeezing tightly, willing myself to not dissociate now of all times. Draco eyed me suspiciously, looking a bit puzzled.

————

We've been sat at the table, making light conversation for about an hour now, and I was slowly beginning to relax. We spoke about how Millicent and Dudley met, we spoke about Scorpius, and briefly about Draco's late wife. Aunt Petunia asked about Hogwarts. "Did things turn out alright?" She asked rather hesitantly, and after, she asked about Snape. It seemed she really was beginning to wonder what happened to my mother after all those years. That's how we got to speaking about the battle. And at one point, even Uncle Vernon asked a question regarding it, which left me surprised to say the least.

"And your friend there? I assume he was on that little Scavenger hunt with you?" He asked, continuing to eat as soon as he finished asking.

"Is it them? Is it, Draco?"

I was about to respond, until Draco did so for me.

"My parents just wanted to keep me home... I, they were doing things, and didn't want to worry about me being away from them."  He looked tense, and when he lifted his fork to eat, I could see he was trembling slightly, probably because of the memories. Millicent was shooting daggers at him with her glare.

"Well boy. It's good to know something good came out of all we did for you." I froze.

Something good? Out of all they did, for me? This has to be a sick, cruel joke. Draco was looking at him like he'd just been given a shock. I raised my head at Uncle Vernon, slowly. Dangerously.

"All you did for me? Which part do you think it was? The starving? The chores? The yelling? Or the cupboard?" He stared at me, looking like he'd just been slapped. My hand gripped the fork so tightly it could have bent.

"Maybe it was your ability to make me doubt every single authority figure I'd ever met. Or your ability to make me feel like dying in the war wouldn't be so bad." My breathing became heavy, but I was barely focused on it. Everything was silent, and everyone was staring, wondering what would come next.

"Well, Uncle Vernon? What was it? What did you do that was so great? What good did you do for me?"  He stumbled out an answer.

"Well you seem to be doing perfectly fine, so we must've raised you right. I mean, you even became some sort of... freakish war hero."

"Raised me?!" I yelled, standing from the table abruptly.

"You didn't raise me, let alone raise me right. The most valuable lesson I got out of you was that I should never treat a person the way you did me." Tears of anger were pooling within my eyes, and I'm sure my veins would burst any second, but I didn't care.

"My happiest memory was the one where I got to think of the chance to leave this hell! You-you hurt me. You punished me by locking me in-in that horrid, bloody cupboard, where I could have easily spent days, weeks! You strangled me, you trapped me, you-" I stopped, catching my breath.

"Happy Christmas. I'm leaving." I turned. "Draco-" I suddenly became frozen in place, and placed around fiercely around my wrist was Uncle Vernon's hellish grip. I looked up at him, unmoving.

"You dare speak to me this way? In front of guests?!"

"Let go." I whispered threateningly, trying to loosen his hold, and ignoring the panic rising in my stomach.

"Don't, Touch, Him." I looked and saw Draco, holding his wand square between uncle Vernon's eyes.

"I'd listen if I were you. You don't know what I'm capable of." Draco warned. I trembled. And Uncle Vernon's grip faltered, his expression surprised. Yet, he didn't let go.

"Didn't you listen? Let go." He sneered, and Uncle Vernon seemingly went back to his seat with an imaginary tail between his legs. I held my wrist closely, rubbing it tenderly the second he'd done so. Draco stepped in front of me protectively.

"You lot should be ashamed of yourself. Really. The things you did to a little boy. All that you put him through. And you have the nerve to think you still have an authority over him? He could kill you all within a second if he wasn't so bloody kind. And I would too if I didn't care about him as much as I do. Really. You're lucky he would never hurt any of you." Draco had a certain venom dripping with every word he spoke. I put my head down in shame for what had just occurred. Why did I convince myself it would be okay?

"Thank you, Dudley, and Millicent, for having good intentions- and for the food. Goodbye."

When we made it outside the door, I looked up at him. I felt weak. All of the anger that had been pulsing through me like a beating drum had vanished, and I suddenly felt like I would break at any second.

"Draco?"

"I know. It's okay. Let's go home..." I held his hand and we apparated to his home. He looked at me softly.

"It's okay if you want me to wait a while longer before picking up Scorpius." I nodded numbly, unable to stop the tears that I'd been holding back. Still holding my wrist, I leaned into him as he gave me a hug, feeling the all too familiar rush of warmth that always accompanied my crying. I did so silently, but they were violent enough to make my body convulse against him.

"You're safe now." He whispered into my ear, placing a small kiss on my head. I only continued what I was doing, feeling too overwhelmed for anything else. I only slightly felt his fingers weave into my hair, as he so often did, trying to soothe me as best he could.

"I'm sorry" I said, barely even a whisper.

"You're not the one who should be apologizing. It's okay. You're okay. Don't worry." He said. I shifted in my hug so my ear could be pressed against his chest, feeling his heartbeat. Though our heights were close enough for that to be a little more his shoulder than anything else, I still felt it, willing myself to match his level of calm. I sniffled, shaking. And at one point I think I whimpered slightly, probably trying to say something that just never came out of my mouth.

After a few minutes, Draco broke the hug.

"Let me see your wrist." He said, softly grabbing my right arm that was pressed against my chest. He rolled my sleeve up slightly, examining for any new marks. Marks that weren't there before. He was relieved to find nothing but the pale lack of blood flow where Uncle Vernon had gripped me.

"If he'd hurt you I think I'd go back there and do worse to him." He muttered, moving my hand to rest over his shoulder. I followed this gesture, as we pulled each other into a proper hug. My arms around his neck and his around my waist.

"Some Christmas eh?" I said, trying to lighten the mood. My face was still read from crying and my nose was still stuffed. I was also still shaking, but at least I'd stopped crying, at least I was starting to calm down again.

"I'm never going to leave you. Especially not anywhere near those Muggles. Never. Especially not after today." He said, allowing us to sway side to side in a sort of comforting way.