Harry felt his fears confirmed the second he met Draco's eyes. The Slytherin was breaking up with him—again. But this time, the blonde wasn't going to come back, begging for Harry. This time it would be lasting. Steeling himself for whatever the blonde may say, Harry tore his gaze away from Draco.
"Harry..." Draco began.
"Don't start, Malfoy. I know what you're going to say. Don't even bother."
"Harry! You know that this is hard for me. Why are you insisting on making it harder?" Draco asked, his voice barely audible.
"It's hard for you? How the fuck do you think I feel, Draco?"
"I know. I'm an arse. But you should know...I don't have a choice here. I don't want to do this, believe me. If there was another way, another choice..."
"There's always another way, Malfoy! There's always something. Why aren't you willing to look? I thought you cared about me; I thought you loved me! I guess I was wrong," Harry replied, watching as it began to storm outside.
"I do care about you! You're the most important thing in my life! You are my life, dammit!" Draco yelled, running his hand through his hair.
"Then do something about it! Why should I listen to your explanations for what you're doing? I know I was nothing but an experiment to you, a game you were playing to make sure you could win. To ensure your domination." Harry retorted, turning to face the man he had once loved. It was only then that he got a good look at Draco. This was killing him, too. Maybe he was right...maybe the Slytherin really didn't have a choice in the matter.
"Harry...please, listen to me. If we stayed together, the future would be very difficult. I don't want to cause you undue pain." Draco whispered.
"Fuck the future! Draco, I love you. I was ready to do anything for you. I was ready to bloody marry you! You were everything to me. Why did you have to ruin something so good, so real? How could you throw that away?"
"I don't want to throw it away, believe me. But if Voldemort found out...Harry, I don't want to be the reason you die!"
"Voldemort's been coming after me since I was born, Draco! Do you really think that you being with me will change that? All it would do is make him more determined and use you to get to me. And he's tried that before, remember?"
"Harry, you can't be serious. You can't really believe that Voldemort is just going to use me to get to you. He'll kill me! I would die for you, you know that. But my death would be in vain. He'd get you, too, Harry...and I don't want to think about that." Draco muttered, his voice trembling.
"Draco...why didn't you tell me all of this before? It may not have made a difference, but I might have understand this a little bit better." Harry said, his eyes softening at last.
"I was afraid. I didn't want to lose you. But I guess that not telling you just made me lose you faster. I'm sorry, Harry. For everything. I really am."
"Don't cry, Dray. Please don't cry. I'm not worth it." Harry whispered, calling the Slytherin by the brunette's favorite nickname for the boy.
Wiping his tears, Draco collapsed into Harry, hugging him tightly, afraid to let go.
"Shhh, love. It's ok. I'm not going anywhere. You have me. It's ok." Harry reassured, his eyes meeting the blonde's.
For the first time all night, Harry felt a surge of hope. Things weren't perfect, that was for damn sure, but maybe things could get better. There was a long road ahead of the couple, but Harry felt that one thing was certain: as long as he had Draco, he would be ok.