Title: Yours And Mine
Rating: pg13
Fandom: Harry Potter
Disclaimer: All characters and recognizable settings belong to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., and others. I am in no way earning money or other profit from this fanfic.
Char/Pair: Arthur Weasley/Lucius Malfoy
Prompt: Winter, Past, and Delirium
Spoilers: None
W/C: 626
Warnings: One-sided m/m
Winter of our fifth year was one of the worst anyone had ever seen. The castle couldn't quite get warm enough, and the students took to wearing their cloaks and scarves indoors.
You were one of the lucky ones to come down with the flu, and you spent a week in hospital, do you remember? You told me Madam Pomfrey had clucked her tongue and wagged her finger at old Dumbledore when he'd come to check in, going on about wizards and witches being able to brew potions and shift into different types of creatures, yet they're unable to cure a cold.
I would visit you, you know. I would pretend to bring classwork to some little brown-haired girl who was in my house and to whom I'd never spoken. I think though, my charade was thinly veiled, however, as I caught Madam Pomfrey looking at me a few times, a small smile playing on her lips. I stopped going after that.
Except once. There was one other time, after the school had fallen asleep for the night, when I climbed from my bed and made my way through the castle as silently as I could because I knew I would never be able to explain to my father why I was out at night, especially when he found out who I was going to see.
You were sleeping as usual, though that was in my favor. I didn't want you to see me, or know I was there. I wasn't ready to come to terms with my feelings yet and I didn't want to see that there was nothing mutual reflected in your eyes.
The ward was empty by now, save for you. I overheard McGonagall say they couldn't get your fever to break, even with the frigid air in the castle. You were delirious, she said, and as I closed the heavy door quietly behind me, I could hear you mumbling.
I sat in my usual seat, far enough away from your bed, though I had no other reason to be here now except for you. And really, I don't think it would have mattered if someone were to walk in.
Your hair clung to your forehead with sweat from your fever, tiny drops formed on your upper lip. You were whimpering quietly now as I sat there, watching and listening for signs of life outside the door.
Why weren't you getting better? I wondered if maybe you had something else wrong with you but nobody was bothering to check. That couldn't be though, as your father would have the school turned upside down by now.
You settled down after a few minutes, your breath coming in short bursts and forming in a misty cloud before disappearing like the ghosts who roam the halls. I don't remember how long I sat there, though the moon had gotten high and I decided to go back to my dorm.
I stood, the chair scraping across the stone floor as I did so and I stilled, holding my breath, searching for a place to hide in the darkened room. But no one came and you slept soundly on.
I brushed the hair from your forehead and it wasn't like the first time. Those feelings were there still, yes, but there was no life beneath me. I needed you to be kissing me back. A soft grunt, and as I pulled away your eyes were open a little, glazed and dull. I fled before you could utter a word.
Two days later you were well and roaming the castle like you hadn't lost a week. And if you looked at me sometimes with recollection in your eyes, well, I just chalked it up to delirium. Yours and mine.