bSave Me From The Nothing I've Becomebr
by Andrea/b

"They just don't understand how hard it is to be me. They don't know me," thought the silver
haired boy, sitting alone beside the lake. A single tear rolled down his porcelain white cheek
and more clouded his steely grey eyes. All those people were wrong when they said that people's
eyes were the windows t their souls because he knew how his eyes appeared to others: cold,
self-assured and confident, full of hatred and loathing. But he knew that they did not reflect
his soul...they couldn't, they just couldn't. More tears spilled over and stained his cheeks.
He wiped his face and sniffed. No, there was more to him than what his eyes suggested.
All that appeared to others was just a facade. A facade he had had sixteen years to perfect.
But inside he was vulnerable. He longer for someone to reach in and see past all that others
could see. Someone who could allow him to love and be loved.
Another wave of despair washed over him and he buried his face in his hands and lowered his head
to his knees.p
And that's how the green-eyed boy found his arch-nemesis that night.
Draco was so distraught he hadn't heard Harry approach, so when he felt a hand upon his shoulder
and heard a soft voice speak his name, he was startled.
He looked up into the emerald pools of Harry's eyes and tried to muster up that same contempt
his voice usually held when talking to him. "What do you want, Potter?"br
He had failed miserably, his voice cracked and another tear spilled forth from his eye.
Harry sat himself beside Draco and was surprised when he looked in the other boy's eyes. He had
never realised how vulnerable they seemed...how vulnerable Draco seemed! He felt so sorry for
Draco, and was surprised by his feeling of empathy toward him. This was the boy he had despised
for six years! But not tonight. That boy was gone and in his place was a tear stained reflection.
br"What's wrong, Draco?" Harry said his deep voice full of concern. He, as was Draco, was shocked he
had used the boy's first name.br"I...they...no one understands. No one knows me," Draco said, the words sounding stupid as soon
as they left his lips.br
At that moment Draco's eyes were a mirror image of Harry's own, in greyscale. Harry placed his
large, clumsy hand on Draco's long slender one and looked into his eyes. And with that gesture
both boys realised that they weren't as different from each other as they had always thought.
Neither came from loving households, both were favoured in their houses and had a fond disregard
for the rules. But more than that, they both had that deep-seated longing to find that someone
who they could love and be loved by in return.
Harry moved towards Draco and faltered, smiling shyly. Draco hoped he had correctly read Harry's
smile when he slipped his hand to the back of Harry's neck and pulled his head to his own and
pressed his soft pink lips to Harry's.
They had both kissed people before but the thrill of the kiss they shared that night was something
neither had felt.
The world was spinning and they were sitting still. Or was it they that were spinning and the
world that was still? They couldn't tell but it didn't matter.
They pulled away at the same instant and just sat, looking into each other's eyes.
brHarry began to speak but Draco stopped him and said, "Don't let's talk, ok?"br
Harry nodded and leaned in to kiss Draco again.br
Neither boy knew what the next day would hold for them but they didn't care. All that mattered
was the way they felt at that moment. It was a feeling they couldn't describe and would never
be able to.
Draco fell asleep in Harry's arms and woke early the next morning. He wriggled out of Harry's
embrace carefully so as to not wake him and rifled around for some parchment and a quill.
brHe left a note for Harry and made his way back to the castle.br
When Harry woke he found the note left by Draco and opened it.br
All it said was: 'Thank-you.'br
Harry understood that although there may be a few less snide remarks things would go back to
how they always were.br
But they had given each other what they were searching for, even if it was just for a brief
moment in time. They would always have their night by the lake. br
And Draco had been saved from the nothing he had become.br