(Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters and stuffs belong to her greatness JK Rowling.)
Fanfiction: Locked Away
Summary: You're the first, and probably the last. If you don't take the key, no one will ever see me again for a long, long time. You only have one chance, don't screw this up.
Warnings: Drarry. (First time trying) Lemo Smith made me do it.
Draco opened the door to the row of apartments, weaved his way through the corridors before arriving at apartment 679. He opened the door swiftly, stepped through the doorway felling the wash of the multiple charms and wards and looked down to see Harry rocking in a ball unseeingly.
"Harry?"
Startled out of his reverie, two bright green orbs peaked out of the curly mop of hair. Where they had once been as bright as emeralds, they were now dulled with bitter jadedness yet showed a tiny sparkle of childlike innocence that against all odds had managed to appear in the now viridian-looking eyes.
"Hello, Draco." Draco was greeted with a hesitant, jerky nod. Watching Harry's movements closely, he was none too surprised when he was ambushed to find himself with an armful of honey-smelling, beautiful and soft Harry.
"Draco!" Harry whispered loudly. "I- I thought you wouldn't…" His voice trailed off uncertainly as he stared into Draco rapidly softening eyes. Harry glanced down, started when he discovered the lack of distance between the two and attempted to manoeuvre his way out of Draco's arms when Draco abruptly tightened his hold, grasping Harry's hair firmly in a successful attempt to get Harry to make eye contact.
"Hi, Harry." Draco smiled encouragingly at Harry, continuing on when he realised he had Harry's attention. "I've been… taking care of some errands. You thought I wouldn't come back didn't you?" Ignoring Harry's guilty expression, he kept his tone even and comforting. "It's okay, that's expected. Its not your fault, Harry. You did nothing wrong. Come on, do you want to see your new rooms?" A few moments of hesitation and-there! A nod of consent.
They packed up Harry's few belongings, walked out of the apartment building, and apparated to Draco's beach house on an Unplottable island somewhere in the Mediterranean. After getting Harry settled, the two made their way to the patio, where Draco would begin his 'Slander the Dursley's in his mind' time. Draco would start the conversation, Harry would talk a little more about the Dursleys, Draco would give a pat on the head and a "Good job Harry!" then give a warm smile before letting Harry take a nap to sleep off his exhaustion.
Ever since the day when Healer Malfoy was assigned to one 'Mr. Harry Evans' the whole notion of Potter that Draco had been so sure of had been smashed, grinded, dissolved in acid whereupon its remains where scattered in a deep, bottomless pit.
Seeing Harry scared, littered with scars that so plainly show abuse and desperately trying to connect the image of Harry with Potter. His whole plan of being 'coldly professional' towards Harry was tossed away without a single care and he resolved to be nothing but the best, most caring person Harry ever had in his life. Harry had been rescued after a chance encounter with Vernon Dursley had led to a brutal assault in an alley in Hidgeland Turn. It was the proverbial last straw on the thestral's back, and led Harry to the state he was currently in, with the world weariness of a thousand war veterans and somehow reverting to the innocence (in a twisted, gruesome, sick kind of way) of a child.
After a few sessions in Harry's home, Harry acknowledged his feelings for Draco during one session and the two began a relationship. Draco eventually agreed to Harry moving in, and thus leads to the two of them having their session on the patio.
"Harry." Draco cut in abruptly, ending Harry's 7-minute long observation of seal-fishies (read: a breed of carnivorous seahorses native only to the area immediately surrounding Draco's island). Harry turned an inquisitive eye.
"Why me?"
A spark of awareness returned to Harry's eyes, a burning fire that Draco had missed for such a long, long time.
Harry held out his hand towards the door leading back inside the house, and within moments a chain connected to a vial with a small, swirling ball of black, white, murky purple and green lights slapped into his hand. It was bathed in a pearly, whitish liquid.
Harry studied it for a moment before tossing it towards Draco. The power radiating from his aura was so intense that Draco very nearly missed it, but managed to carry it and cradled it in his palm. Glancing back up at Harry, he waited.
Harry locked eyes with Draco, and an intense, brief mental connection formed. Suddenly, Draco just knew that Harry had given him some of his inner magical core, a gift much too precious to be let out of his presence, and its value could never be measured in monetary means. Its value was even higher to Draco, as it was held in Harry's memories.
It was so private that Draco nearly threw it back immediately. Fortunately, his presence of mind returned before he hurt Harry irrevocably.
"What is it?" In a sense, he didn't really know
"The key." Harry's reply was simple, and it explained everything and nothing. He yawned, and the temporary glance of the old Harry was gone. Harry yawned and stretched in his chair like a cat, before curling up and promptly taking his nap of the day.
Unclasping the chain, Draco placed the vial on his neck like a necklace
The vial was warm.
Whew. First time of trying to write a Drarry. Need to do more research, I guess. Be kind please. Let me know what you think! Repeat: be kind. Please.
Oh, almost forgot. Challenge fic: Title Challenge, #28: Locked Away