Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Runaway Love
"You don't know what I've been through," Draco sobbed, his eyes rimmed in red and his entire body shivering. "You don't know what I've done!"
And for Harry, that was it.
"Hey!" Harry shouted, and flung off the Invisibility cloak with as much drama as he could manage. He couldn't bear to watch this broken, tormented Draco Malfoy, and thanks to the trusty spell-repelling medallion he'd found at Grimmauld, he wouldn't have to.
Unfortunately, now that he'd made his dramatic reveal, Harry had no idea what to do next.
"Erm," he said, and grinned lopsidedly at Draco. "I know that you're super cute!"
Nobody moved.
Draco turned to Harry, eyes wide with shock. "You—what?" he began, but then Bellatrix screamed.
Her wordless shriek, shrill and piercing, forced the Death Eaters into motion. More appeared as Disillusionment Charms were cast away, and when a half-dozen Hogwarts professors finally filed in, hexes truly began to clash and whirl.
Draco stood with his wand lowered, stunned into silence and forgotten.
Harry grabbed his hand. "Let's go," he said urgently, and when Draco only blinked at him, Harry dragged him away from the tower's edge and down the stairs. Glancing over his shoulder, Harry saw Snape quickly Summon and return Dumbledore's wand. Interesting.
Harry headed toward the Room of Requirement, but as they neared it, Draco began to protest, refusing to run so fast and tugging Harry's arm roughly. Point taken, Harry took them to an empty classroom a floor down, and locked the door behind them.
When he turned, Draco had leaned back against a desk, gripping the edge with white knuckles. "Fuck," he panted, head titlted to the ceiling, "fuck, shite, I'm not dead. Not dead, I'm not dead. Gods." He looked over at Harry, stood by the door, who wanted desperately to gather Draco up and never let him go. "I thought I'd have to—but I couldn't, and then, my parents, and he'd kill—" He raised his hands unsteadily toward Harry, as if he didn't know what to do with them.
Draco shook horribly, his eyes wide and still frightened, his hair in disarray and damp with sweat.
"Hey," Harry said softly, and found he could do nothing but go to him. "C'mere." He carefully wrapped an arm around Draco's waist, and ran his other hand lightly through his hair. Draco sunk into him, winding his fists too tightly in the back of Harry's shirt and sobbing against his shoulder.
Harry only held him snugly, and in that moment, vowed to hold this boy for as long as he was needed, and for as long as he could.
When Draco quieted, with a snuffle and a sigh, he raised his head and leaned back in Harry's arms. Harry said nothing, watching Draco study him closely.
"On the tower, you said—" he broke off, looking a bit wary. "Why would you say that?"
"'Cause it's true. You," Harry said, "are adorable."
Draco frowned, then opened his mouth and abruptly closed it again, apparently unsure whether to accept the compliment. "So, what. You…like me?"
"Yes."
"And you're serious."
"Absolutely."
"Because Pansy said that Lavender Brown told her…but I didn't think you could possibly."
Harry watched as belief crept over Draco's face. "I definitely could."
"And on the tower—honestly, Potter. Of all the places to tell me, you idiot."
"I got desperate," Harry laughed. "And anyway, I didn't want to lose you to—to anything."
Draco smiled down at their feet, shuffled together. "You like me," he whispered to them. He looked up and shifted his arms to rest them on Harry's shoulders. "You like me," he told Harry, and was ridiculously smug.
Harry grinned sappily back at him. "I guess I do, yeah."
"Well," Draco said, "what are we gonna do about it?"
Harry took a moment to get his grin under control—quite unsuccessfully. "We'll elope!" he nearly shouted.
Draco laughed rather hysterically. "What? Potter, we can't."
"Sure we can. We'll elope tomorrow."
Draco raised his eyebrows. "You do know what that means."
"Not really." Harry shrugged. "But it sounded romantic, right?"
Draco heaved an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes right through the ceiling, but when they refocused on Harry, they were bright—still teary, but fond. "It was pretty damn soppy, Potter."
And that was practically an admission, so Harry mentally congratulated himself. "So," he said, "fine. We won't elope. But we should probably let everyone know—in hindsight, I was probably bloody annoying going on about you all the time—and then, I don't know what we can do about your parents, but we'll talk to the Order, and I think that if we tell them what you said about—"
And then Draco was taking Harry's face in his hands and kissing him, and Harry figured most things would probably turn out all right.
End