We hadn't spoken since his dad was arrested, well if you count me talking and his giving me the coldest glare before brushing by me speaking. That's how whatever we were ended; but the hard part wasn't even that it was over. The hard part was hearing everyone else talk poorly about him; but I couldn't blame them, his father was after all a Death Eater.
Almost a year passed, and while people were whispering about him and his family, I felt like I was the only person actually looking at him. He didn't look well. Time and time again I longed to reach out to him, to be the friend he clearly needed; but then I remembered the heartbreaking glare and I retreated into my self.
I was one of the prefects on duty that day, I heard the shrieks of Myrtle and the sounds of explosions; I ran to find a professor. Luckily I found Professor Snape just down the corridor, he charged into the washroom while I stood at the door; a nervous feeling in my gut. My heart dropped when I saw who it was that laid on the floor; I nearly fainted but on lookers were starting to arrive. I sent them off with a stern threat for someone so shaky; they were gone when Snape helped Draco out of the bathroom.
"Watch Potter," Snape murmured as they slunk off. My head snapped back towards the bathroom, Harry Potter did this?
Snape returned shortly and dismissed me, I had intended on going to the Ravenclaw dormitory but somehow I ended up at the Hospital Wing; Madam Pomfrey stood fretting over a bed, and suddenly I stood hovering over the bed too. I think she went to tell me off, I can't quite remember, but soon a chair was beneath me and a tonic was in my hands. When I had drank the last drop she left us, pulling the curtain around his bed.
I fumbled for his hand, they were cold. My vision blurred and I buried my head into mattress. I couldn't comprehend what had happened, how Harry could have used such a dark spell, why they were fighting or why I was crying.
I felt Draco's hand twitch under mine, causing me to lift my head. His hand rotated and wrapped around mine, but his eyes stayed closed.
"He's still asleep Professor, perhaps you should come back later," Madam Pomfrey's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, just as the curtain swung open.
"Miss Seymour?" Professor Snape stared blankly at me.
"She's in shock so I gave her a tonic and thought it best she stayed," Madam Pomfrey informed him. He gave her a look before turning back to Draco and I. If he was going to say anything he didn't get the chance, as Dumbledore came bursting through the curtain flanked by Professor McGonagall.
They attempted to ask me for details about the incident, but Madam Pompfrey wouldn't let them. She shooed all three professors away and closed the curtain once more. I heard their hushed voices grow farther away before a door closed, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I turned back to Draco, he looked so pale, and so innocent. I still couldn't fathom how this happened. Sure Harry and Draco didn't get along but they had never resorted to this kind of violence before. Did it have to do with Draco's father? He stirred in his sleep, and slowly his eyes flickered open. I waited on baited breath to see his reaction.
"How did I get here?" His voice was small.
"Professor Snape brought you here," I replied slowly. It took him a minute to process what I said, but soon he turned his wide eyes to look at me. "Do you want me to get Madam Pomfrey?" I asked.
He stared at me for a while, his fingers flexing around my hand before shaking his head, "no. Don't go,"
That was all it took for the tears to start falling again, "I'm sorry, I... I thought you were dead back there and I felt as though a part of me had died too. I don't think I could live with myself if you had died without knowing how much I care about you."
"I was a prat, absolutely horrid to you," his voice was wavering, "how could you still care about me?"
He looked so broken, so very different from the boy I knew. I choked on a tiny laugh that forced itself from my lips. "Don't you remember you twat? I love you," it felt so good to say those words again.
His face crumbled and he gripped my hand tightly, "you shouldn't, you really shouldn't."
"I don't think I have a choice," I whispered.
"You don't know what I've done. I've done horrible things, and I'm going to do more," he sounded like a madman.
With my free hand I reached over and stroked his cheek, he stopped rambling and stared at me. "That doesn't make you a bad person."
"How can you be so sure?" He croaked.
"Because I love you,"
He let out a small laugh, "it's not that easy."
"Well maybe it is," I stood up and placed a light kiss on his forehead. "The world is full of such horrific things right now, maybe love won't fix everything; but it'll improve the scenery." I placed my forehead on his own, closing my eyes and listening to his breathing. It slowed, gradually, before his free hand cupped my face.
"I love you too," he whispered. We stayed like that till Madam Pomfrey came and checked up on us. She sent me away, a lot more gently than she did the professors, and we parted with a chaste kiss.
I truly believed that this was our last hurdle; that we could get through these trying times together. But I was wrong.