Push

I don't know if

I've ever been really

Loved

By a hand that's

Touched me…

Draco was lying in bed, staring out at the night sky through his window, his back to his wife, Astoria. He couldn't sleep. Harry's words were floating around in his head, echoing. What happened to you? What had happened to him? He hated what he had become. He was no longer the strong, forceful, and admittedly arrogant child he had been. He was now a timid, hesitant young man who was ashamed of who he was.

He let out a breath through his nose and shifted slightly, trying not to wake his wife. Astoria mumbled sleepily and pulled her husband closer to her with a hand on his chest under his shirt.

"Draco dear, what are you still doing up?" she asked, putting her head on his shoulder as he rolled over onto his back so he could see her face. She was beautiful with a heart shaped face, full red lips, and waves of glorious light brown hair. She was his angel.

"Astoria? Do you love me?" he interrupted his thoughts with that question. What he didn't know was that he needed to know the answer. Her hand paused in the soothing motions on his chest for a moment before resuming. Is he okay? She wondered.

"Of course I do, sweetheart. More than anything, I love you." She meant it and had meant it for the two years they had been married. She kissed his jaw, pressed her cheek over his heart, placed her hand on his stomach, and went back to sleep.

Draco's mind began turning again as he caressed his wife's cheek. Astoria was the only person Draco knew to really love him, or admit to doing so. She had married him despite what people said about him and despite the fact that his parents no longer spoke to him. She was the best thing in his life, his one constant. A person who loved him.

The next morning, on his way to work, he stopped at his favorite coffee shop for his usual bagel and hot chocolate. He opened the door and went in when someone knocked into him from the opposite direction, and fell to the floor. Draco, winded but still standing, apologized profusely and helped the person up. The person just happened to be Harry Potter.

"Thank you—Oh! Draco! We must stop meeting like this!" Harry looked at him slyly. "What? No 'walk much Potter'?" he said teasingly. Draco shrugged as Harry dusted off the seat of his pants. Harry smiled at him and Draco made a tentative attempt to smile back.

"Were you leaving?" he asked Harry shyly, as if the answer were none of his business. Harry's smile turned to a grin.

"Nope, I was headed outside to make a phone call, but it can wait. What do you say to some bagels?" Draco found himself being dragged to the counter as if he were a reluctant child. The waitress sent him and exasperated grin that made him wonder how often Harry came there.

Harry forced him down and took a seat himself when his stomach growled loudly.

"Oops! I was waiting for you to get here before I ordered anything, figured we could catch up." Draco looked at the floor.

"I'm sorry." Harry looked taken aback. He frowned and lifted Draco's chin with his index finger so the other man was looking at him.

"What are you apologizing for? It's not your fault I was early! So what do you say?"

Draco thought about it. He looked at his watch and saw that there were a couple of hours before he had to be in for work. It wasn't as if his boss would mind, seeing as he was the boss, and going home was out of the question because Astoria wasn't there.

He shrugged. Why not? Harry took this as the 'yes' it was and got comfortable.

"What have you been up to?" The 'since the war' remained unspoken, but understood by both. Draco looked reluctant to talk about himself, but Harry was looking at him expectantly.

"Well, I umm…I started my own business." At Harry's nod of encouragement, he continued. "I grow various plants with magical properties that can be used as potions ingredients. I sell them to apothecaries or independent potions brewers like Severus." Harry's face scrunched up at the mention of Snape.

Draco felt a strange emotion bubbling up in his chest. It made him feel light headed, but it wasn't unpleasant. Harry continued with his questions.

"How is your family?" Harry inquired, sincerely curious. The strange feeling drained out of Draco at the mention of his parents. They had refused to talk to Draco after the Final Battle because he had 'betrayed' them by switching sides. He had only done it so that they would be safe. Harry started as Draco's eyes clouded over and became dark. He was thinking that he shouldn't have asked the question when Draco spoke.

"My parents are fine. My father is still in Azkaban and my mother is in France." In actuality, his father had apparently taken ill and wasn't allowed to have any visitors and Draco had no idea where his mother was. Harry was bout to apologize for asking the question in the first place but Draco wasn't finished.

"I married Astoria Greengrass. You might remember her from Hogwarts" As he spoke of her, his eyes cleared and went back to the bright silver they usually were. Harry could see in Draco's face how much he loved her as Draco told Harry that she was in the year below them

Harry watched contentedly as Draco told him a rather funny tale about Astoria and why she never came to work with him anymore. Draco was using his hands to describe the explosion of the mimbulus mimbletonia all over his wife, and all of his timidity was gone.

Draco hadn't felt so at ease for the longest time. It felt rather strange to be talking so much, but every time he tried to taper off, Harry would give him a look so he went on. No one but Astoria ever asked him anything about himself. Not even his employees. He had no friends to sit and tell stories with who would listen with smiles on their faces. No one even said 'Good Morning' to him when he said it to them.

He could barely believe what was happening. He couldn't get his mother to reply to a letter where he was asking how she was doing, but Harry Potter would insist on hearing ever misfortune either he or his wife had had at the hands (or branches) of some of the plants he was growing.

When Harry sensed that he wasn't going to be able to talk Draco into more talking, he regaled Draco with droll stories Ginny had told him about the team and the 'camping trips' they took every so often.

The bubbly feeling in Draco got so strong that it burst out of him like the air from a burst balloon. He laughed. He hadn't really, truly laughed in years and it felt so good to finally do so. A weight was lifted off of his chest as the delighted sound left his mouth.

An hour later, both men decided it was time to get back to their normal schedules. Draco had sent a mouse patronus to his employees telling them that he would be late, but he still needed to check on them.

Harry had to get home and phone his wife. She had called earlier in the day saying that she wanted him to call her back this afternoon. He missed her terribly.

As they parted ways, Harry placed a gentle hand on Draco's shoulder. Draco didn't feel like shaking it off as he usually did to any contact he hadn't initiated or non-Astoria contact. The touch felt nice, friendly. It had been too long since anyone but his wife had touched him and not meant him any harm.

"Draco, do you want to have lunch sometime this week?" Harry asked.

Draco's face was still flushed from all the laughing the two of them had done and his eyes were bright. He looked happier, younger.

"Sure thing Harry." He said. And he smiled. Not his usual pathetic attempt at a smile, but a full on, genuine smile.

When Draco got home that afternoon, Astoria had just gotten home as well. They walked into the house together, setting down their bags and taking off their coats. Draco Helped Astoria out of hers because that's the way he had been raised. She kissed her gentleman on the cheek.

The two of them headed for their sitting room where they sat near the fire and Astoria told her husband about her day. She was telling him about some muggles going on about buying a 'load-knower' or something of the sort when Draco snorted in amusement.

Astoria stopped speaking and just stared at her husband. That snort was something she hadn't heard since their Hogwarts days. She was utterly speechless. Draco stared back at her, bemused by her sudden silence.

"Did you just…you know, express amusement?" she asked slowly. Draco's eyes widened in understanding.

"If you mean, did I laugh, then yes." He said, just as slowly. Should I not have? I mean, it's a 'lawn-mower', even I know that.

A moment later, Astoria had jumped from her chair on the other side of the fire onto his lap. She kissed him until they were both breathless and her hair was mussed. She smiled widely as she breathed heavily. She loved her husband, she really did. Astoria buried her face in his neck and hugged him tightly.

As soon as Harry got home, he picked up the phone and walked over to his workshop, dialing Ginny's number. He set the phone in its holder and put it on loudspeaker so he could work while they spoke. Harry was a craftsman of a particular type. He manufactured broomsticks. He had only started four years ago, but had already signed contracts with prestigious wizarding schools such as Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, and famous Quidditch teams across the globe.

He had begun polishing a broomstick handle when Ginny picked up. They did this whenever she was on one of her trips. They'd chat while she went over game plays and Harry counted twigs. She was telling him one of the chasers running into the seeker who was practicing her Wronski Feint when she stopped abruptly. The sounds of rustling papers on the phone ceased as well.

Harry also stopped everything he was doing, in case something was wrong on her end. She hadn't spoken for a while and Harry was getting nervous.

"Honey?" He called out. He let out a deep breath he didn't know he had been holding in when she answered a few seconds later.

"Harry, you—you were whistling!" Harry blinked and thought back for a moment. Indeed he had been. So what? He repeated this out loud.

"Harry, you haven't whistled while you worked for years! I was just a bit surprised is all. What's gotten into you? You've been really excited since Saturday." Harry grinned as he thought back on that morning. He had had the time of his life. He hadn't laughed like that for a long time and seeing someone else laugh, making someone else laugh was…liberating. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this good.

"Oh, just met an old friend. We've been…catching up."

Thank you all very much! When I saw all the favorites and the alerts and saw that people were reading this, I had to get the second chapter up quickly for you guys!