Title: The Waiting Man

Pairing: Astoria x Draco & slight mention of Katie x Harry.

Friendship: Draco x Harry, Harry x Astoria

AN: Warning major character death and minor swearing.

Emptiness. Numbness. The one-hundred-mile stare. Unaware of the world that passed him by. Those were all ways that one could describe Draco Malfoy as he sat with his back against the cold hard wall. His clothes had since long surpassed the level of moisture required to be called soaking wet. His hair was curly and had gone from dry to wet from wet to dry and then back to wet again. He made minimal movement and kept his eyes locked on a spot far away. At least it looked like he did to the by passers.

Truth be told, he wasn't really there. If anyone would look closer at his eyes they would see that something appeared to be covering them, shielding him from the truth and the world as it kept moving. That had always been his way of dealing with things, shutting down and ignoring the world for as long as he humanly could without wittering away in the process.

Astoria – her name brought tears to his eyes – always told him that he was an arrogant prick when he did that. Her eyes would shimmer and she would teasingly smile at him in a way that almost hid the worry just beneath the surface.

"You cannot expect the world to stop for you my love." She would tell him as she sat down on the floor in whichever room he had chosen to reside in.

She would sneak her arm under his and rest her head against his shoulder.

"Why not?" he asked just like he had the first time. "What's so wrong about hiding from the world?"

She always answered with a smile on her face as she made attempts to lure him out of the sanctuary of his own mind. She did so by gently touching the palm of his hands and his cheek with her fingertips.

"There's nothing wrong with it." Astoria replied every time and Draco always rolled his eyes at her weak attempt to make him feel better. Because he knew that particular line wasn't true. She didn't believe that. "But it's a waste of time, Draco. Because the world as magical and wonderful as it is doesn't care about your pain. The world with all of its inhabitants, beauty and magic will go on even if you don't want it to. You can shut yourself away and try to will it into stopping but it won't work. And I think that you should accept that instead of trying to change it."

Draco tilted his head to the side and looked at her with tears glistening in his eyes. "What do you want me to do then?"

Astoria pressed her forehead against his, their noses clumsily touching as she looked deep into his eyes and whispered. "Live."

A sob forced its way through his throat and Draco's body shivered as if the involuntary movement caused him actual physical damage. The tear running down his certainly made it look as if it did if nothing else. She wouldn't want him to sit there and will the world into not moving anymore. He knew that without anyone telling him but it didn't really matter. He needed to try even if it wasn't working.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back onto the hard wall allowing the fleeting memories of Astoria to run through his mind. Memories so strong that they brought with them the emotions and the remembrance of what her touches felt like against his skin. It was as if his mind and body for once agreed with each other and both were against the very idea of forgetting her.

When a shadow cast itself over his eyes Draco forced his eyes open. A young man forever stuck in his teen years with black hair looked down at him without any trace of the smile he was often seen with. "Hello Draco." Even his voice sounded different. More strained.

"Am I dead?" Draco asked luring out something that could resemble a smile in his friend.

Harry shook his head. "You're very much alive. I can guarantee that. Even if you've been sitting outside for almost two days and you're going to get one hell of a cold if you don't get your stubborn ass inside."

"Have you seen…" Draco's voice broke, he tilted his head to the side and felt the tears once again running down his cheeks. Harry waited patiently for him to recover, to take a deep breath and regain composure. "Have you seen Astoria?"

Harry nodded his head with a sad smile. "She told me that I was a bloody moron for getting myself killed." He laughed and gently touched his shoulder. "Then she punched me and when I whined about it hurting she told me to suck it up. If I could die without whining, then I should be able to take a hit."

Draco laughed and dried the tears away. But they were quickly replaced with new ones. His laughter turned into pathetic sobs as his body shook. The pain which had come and gone with the force of a tsunami were now constant. It demanded to be felt and with every sob his heart uncomfortably expanded until it felt as if it was going to break.

An arm was put to rest around his shoulder and Draco leaned onto the shoulder of the younger man. Harry didn't say anything. No words of comfort, no sounds to make him stop crying. Nothing. He merely sat there completely quiet holding Draco as he cried.

It was hard to tell how long he had been sitting there exactly but when Harry spoke Draco's back was stiff. Then again that could just be age. Those things came with old age and Harry would never experience it.

"You can't sit here and allow the world to pass you by." Harry said eventually.

Draco laughed. "You sound like Astoria."

Harry shook his head. "No, I don't. Because if I was Astoria I would have told you something much more poetic and much smarter. She always had a way with words and despite hard work mostly from her side I never got the hang of it."

"Yeah well as much as I love Astoria even I can admit that she was a bad teacher."

Harry laughed. "Yes, all those people she was supposed to be helping in school… none of them passed their courses with her as their tutor." He paused. "But she was a good person. She had other talents."

Draco nodded. The reality of it all setting in and making him scrunch his face together. "I can't go on."

"Yes, you can and you have to." Harry responded. "You just don't want to right now."

"Why do I have to?" Draco whined. "Why can't I just sit here and wait for her? If she would come back, then this is the place she'd go."

"People would call you the waiting man." Harry took a shivering breath. "You can't bring her back Draco. She died and she's not coming back. And you need to go home, you need to take care of your son. He has already lost his mother, he can't lose you too. He needs you."

"Katie needed you. And your son needed you."

A whine sounding more animalistic than human escaped Harry's throat and when Draco glanced up at him he saw that behind the glasses Harry had closed his green eyes. His chest neither rose nor fell for several seconds and then he answered. "Yeah, and if I could I'd be there for her. But I couldn't and I still can't. And believe me Draco, knowing that that hurts every single day."

"Do you think you'll see her again?"

Harry nodded. "I know I will. I hope it's not for a while though. Until then I'll just wait."

Draco laughed. "The waiting man."

Harry hummed in agreement. "Yes, so as you can see the positon of resident waiting man has already been filled. There simply cannot be two and you're just sleeping so it's time to wake up my friend."

"Wait." Draco said causing Harry to stop midmovement. "Can I stay with you for a little while longer?"

He didn't know if it was the pleading in his voice that did it but for some reason Harry nodded and Draco leaned back onto his friend's shoulder. Harry was right, he couldn't be the waiting man. When he opened his eyes, he would have to get up and realise that the world was still going on even if Astoria was no longer in it. Astoria was right. He couldn't shut the world out, he couldn't hide from it. And for her, he wasn't going to. For his son, he was going to face the world again even if he didn't want to.

One day he was going to see her again. It could be tomorrow or in ninety years but Draco knew at some point he was going to meet the love of his life again and when he did he was going to tell her that he didn't hide from the world. He was right in the middle of it, thriving and breaking depending on the hands given to him. She would smile and read his mind the way she always seemed to do. And she would see that hiding behind his words, behind his experiences, was a lingering truth that Draco had only dared say on his deathbed.

He had been waiting to see her again his entire life. He didn't want to wait anymore.

He was done being the waiting man.

The end