Whispers in the Dark

A Harry/Draco one-shot.

Harry's hand twitched as he reached for the handle. He wanted to open the door, but he wasn't sure what was holding him back. He couldn't hear anything through the door, nor see anything… so why wasn't he opening it? It was a waste if he chickened out!

~~~ FLASHBACK~~~

"Ya know 'Arry, I heard Draco's been running off on his own a lot." Harry stiffened slightly though he continued writing with the quill in his hand.

"Oh?" Harry didn't lift his head to respond to the redhead.

"Yea! An' I 'erd Crabbe and Goyle aren't even allowed to follow him when he goes off. D' ya think that has anything to do with the-"

"Knock it off Ron!" Hermione had her nose buried in a book and only removed it for a moment to speak. "You'll never pass the test if you keep getting distracted by rumors!"

"But it's true 'Mione!" Ron didn't seem too sore from the short verbal lashing she gave him. "Just the other day I almost followed him, but that's when my 'perfect prefect' older brother decided to-" Harry zoned out, ignoring his further words.

He looked across the library (that he wished he wasn't in anyway) and saw the blonde the rumor was centered on. He was sitting in a chair listening to another Slytherin blabber on about something or other and Harry admitted to himself that he was curious.

Regardless of that, he caught himself staring and turned back to his friends to see if the conversation had gotten anywhere important, or at least interesting.

"-and I mean, how 'm I supposed to pass this test by studying anyway? It's not a written test an-" Nope. Nothing.

Harry watched out of the corner of his eye as the other Slytherin young Malfoy was talking to pointed rudely in his direction and he was sure they were talking about him. He cursed himself internally for caring what they said, but he knew why it hurt. He just didn't dare voice it.

Harry almost dropped his quill on his half-written paper when Draco stood up and began to walk briskly away while motioning for his followers to remain behind with a sour expression. Where was he going? What was he doing all by himself in secret? Didn't he take them everywhere?

"Not to interrupt Ron, but you guys wouldn't mind if I left the conversation for a bit right? I have to-"

"But 'Arry! You haven't heard the part where I-" Draco was getting away.

"I have to use the loo Ron." Hermione smirked at Ron's embarrassed expression.

"R-Right, I knew that. Take your time then."

~~~END FLASHBACK~~~

And so he had ditched his friends in favor of following his rival. He wondered if his logic had taken some Floo Powder and gone off to an unknown destination without him.

Might as well have. He thought as he turned the handle and stepped through the doorway.

Harry blinked several times as he silently closed the door behind him. The room was rather dark; he could only see a few feet in front of him until his eyes adjusted. He looked around but obviously saw no sign of Draco.

Drat, I lost him! Just as Harry was about to turn back he heard a choking sound in the distance and stiffened. What was that? He slowly began to edge around dark shapes that were probably furniture as he concentrated to try and hear.

"It's impossible… won't work… stupid family…" Harry heard a few words choked out and whispered and frowned.

What was going on? He strained his neck and heard a choked sob and realized that whoever was speaking was likely crying. But surely that wasn't Draco… maybe he was meeting here with someone else?

Harry tried to convince himself that Draco wasn't there and that he should just leave and respect the stranger's privacy, but he kept sneaking towards the sound regardless. Curse you Gryffindor curiosity!

Harry turned his head around the edge of a wall and almost fell over in shock as he saw a small figure hunched over in the corner. The figure shuddered and Harry gulped quietly as he walked over slowly and spoke quietly so as not to scare the other.

"Sorry, but are you alright?" The figure jerked its head up and stared directly at Harry, but it was too dark to see them clearly so Harry doubted they could see him either.

"Wha-" The person choked and curled back into a ball. "G-Go away!" Harry almost fell over. It was certain now, that voice belonged to Draco. It was sad and soft, but when he snapped it still resembled his voice. Nobody else could hold so much attitude in so few words.

"Draco?" The blonde flinched. He recognized Harry's voice as well.

"Well isn't this just perfect then?" Draco snorted. "The resident heroic boy who lived here to dig up dirt on his rival for reasons unknown." His snarky attitude wasn't even half as effective when he choked every other word and he sniffed a few times.

"I'm sorry, I just wondered where you went off to… I wasn't try to-"

"Save it Potter. We both know that as soon as you leave you'll go tell all your friends about the wimp that's…" He trailed off and shuddered. "Just do us all a favor and go before I hex you to death…" he managed to choke out before shamelessly going into a whole new bout of tears.

Harry wasn't certain what compelled him to do so, but he walked over to the corner and sat down next to Draco who was crying fervently. He reminded him of himself when he was younger, in the sense that he would cry all alone in corners wishing that someone would just scoop him up and hold him.

So as ridiculous as that seemed, as stupid of a thought as it was to have at a moment like this, Harry crossed his legs and wrapped his arms around Draco who literally fell into his 'embrace' of sorts. He put a hand on his back and patted it gently.

Draco jolted and wanted to punch Harry for treating him like a child. He wanted to scream obscenities at him and pull out his wand in order to perform a curse or two to show him that he wasn't one to be messed with. He wanted to… he just… he didn't know what he wanted anymore as he absorbed the warmth emanating from the raven.

"I'm not going to make fun of you for crying. Everybody needs to cry sometimes." Draco's hands clenched unconsciously in Harry's robes.

"S-Screw you…" his hateful words were supposedly meant as an insult, and yet Draco's head fell onto his chest as he began to sob and let Harry hold him as he cried.

For several minutes Draco simply cried and Harry alternated hugging him and gently patting his back, not feeling as awkward as he though he probably should. The sobs got quieter as time passed and Draco final lifted his head to look at Harry who noticed the blonde's face was a mess.

"Why?" Draco whispered.

"Why what?"

"Why are you being so nice to me? A-Aren't you supposed to hate me? Don't you?" Harry shook his head and sighed.

"I'm nice to people I like." That sort of answered both questions but rose more as Harry ruffled his hair playfully.

"L-Like? What do you mean like?" Draco's face was flushed red, but even if it hadn't been too dark to see, Harry probably wouldn't have noticed.

"I'd tell ya, but you'd kill me." Harry was tried to move Draco to the side and stand up but Draco refused to let go.

"Tell me!" Harry was a bit taken aback by the demand but nonetheless he figured 'why not.'

"I guess I mean I think I like like you? I don't know, I just like you." Harry sat still and waited with his eyes shut for Draco to kill him. It didn't happen, he figured, since he was still breathing and all.

He looked down and saw the look on Draco's face. He looked like he had been hit with a version of Stupefy that left his mouth hanging open and his eyes nearly bulging out of his head. Harry briefly wondered if that was what happened when Draco shut his mouth and seemed to shake off the stupor.

"I swear to… if you're lying to me I-"

"Oh for God's sake Draco why the hell would I be lying to you? Wait, why do-" Harry didn't have time to finish asking why his first question was on the validity of his confession. Draco hugged Harry tightly in a manner that was almost possessive.

"I love you too you idiot! I just never thought… I'm just always so mean… I mean it didn't occur to me that you would…" Harry's head was spinning.

He was pretty damn sure he hadn't said the word 'love' anywhere in his crush confession… but with the slender boy wrapped around him affectionately and snuggling into his chest, did he care? Not really.

Harry hugged Draco back and they sat in the dark for a while longer with no objective in mind other than holding each other.

…

I might be convinced to two-shot it, but it's just some fluff/angst I guess. Ah well. Love it, hate it, think it was utterly pointless, lemme know in that little box below please!