Chapter Three: The Spark
"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness."
―Eleanor Roosevelt
"Come on Hermione! Don't wanna be left out," Ron pressed.
"Yeah, come on, Hermione! You'll have fun I swear!" Harry chorused with the twins and Ginny echoing in the background.
"You guys! I'm dreadful at Quidditch and you know it!" Hermione exclaimed, exasperated. "And plus it'll be uneven with me!" she added, thinking of Malfoy walking alone behind them. She wondered if he'd even be joining them, but she didn't say anything.
"That is true," Ginny said next to her.
"You are right dreadful," Ron added earning an elbow in the ribs from Hermione. Harry listened to the four of them bicker and laughed lightly. He turned back to look at Draco. He was still a ways behind them, although closer than before. He wished he was up there with the rest of them.
"Go ahead," Draco had said, "I'll be there eventually."
"Okay, but you're sure?" Harry had asked.
"Yeah, just a… little headache. I'll catch right up," had been Draco's reply. "Now go," he shooed. Harry had laughed, uneasy and slightly skeptical, but decided not to push, and after a chaste kiss, he jogged back to his friends.
It happened in a moment, as if in slow motion. He saw Draco stop dead in his tracks and then a pained roar sounded, cutting through the silent space of the open field. Harry froze in shock watching the boy's thin frame wretch. When Draco finally sank to his knees, he was off. Running, tearing through the calf-high grass, panic rising in his throat like bile. When he reached Draco's slumped form he knelt quickly, trying desperately to glean a response of any kind.
"Draco," Harry muttered darkly, "come on, love, wake up." He tapped Draco's cheek lightly with his hand; nothing. His throat constricted as leant down to check for breath and a part of his mind was relieved and overjoyed to find he wasn't dead.
"Fred, George!" He shouted frantically to the group who was already running nearer, faces painted with worry and confusion. "Help me levitate him. Please. I can't do it myself." The twins nodded wordlessly moving to extract their wands and move the blond boy's seemingly lifeless body back towards The Burrow. Hermione was at Harry's side in an instant.
"Harry, what happened?" she asked, worriedly placing a dark hand on Harry's shoulder.
"I think I know," he rushed out, "Ron, Ginny, tell Molly. We need pillows, blankets- pain potions, headache drafts- anything."
"'Course, mate," Ron replied and shared a look with his sister before tearing off past their older brothers to prepare everything.
"Harry," Hermione pressed, pulling the dark haired boy out of his frantic reverie.
"Voldemort," he replied gravely, and took off after the others, Hermione following closely behind.
~~~LINE BREAK~~~
Draco awoke slowly with a shuddering breath. The first thing he became aware of as his eyes adjust to the dim light was the dull ache behind his eyes. The second thing he became aware of was the clatter of pots and pans and light chatter coming from around the corner. The third was that he was tangled in a mass of blankets and quilts resting on an overstuffed sofa, and he felt like he was going to suffocate.
Squeezing his eyes shut and groaning at his protesting muscles, he kicked off the many warm layers and swung his legs over the edge of the sofa, resting his head in his hands to get his bearings. The next thing he realized was he had no idea how he ended up here.
He groaned again and stood up to stretch his admittedly sore frame, when a figure jerked to life in an armchair in the corner.
"Draco?" rasped a voice as the figure stood running a hand through thick, black hair.
"Harry," Draco breathed. In a blink, there were strong arms enveloping him, holding him up. Draco buried his face in the crook of Harry's neck and breathed in deep allowing the strong, familiar scent of pine and treacle tart and something distinctly Harry to swirl around in his mind and bring him back to reality. Harry pulled back to look at the blond, gently caressing his face with both hands.
"I thought you were dead," He murmured, barely audible, before tilting his head to catch Draco's mouth in a lingering kiss. A knife twisted in Draco's gut. He had to tell Harry everything. He couldn't do this alone. But for now he pulled back to nudge his nose against the other boy's.
"I'm not dead," he whispered, his lips brushing against Harry's. "I'm not." His hands reached to tangle in the thick curls on Harry's head. "I'm not dead." And they were kissing again. This time the kisses were heavier, reverent. Draco parted his mouth and their tongues lapped together, each of them reveling in the feeling of being close to the other, of knowing that he was right there. Harry walked them back slowly until Draco was sitting on the sofa, the dark haired boy in his lap. And Draco was content to stay just like this. This wasn't an act of lust, this was a need to be near Harry, to feel grounded and secure.
Harry turned his head and dragged his lips over the hard line of Draco's jaw. He kissed both of Draco's cheeks and his eyelids. His forehead, his nose and finally his mouth again. He pulled back to see Draco's silver-grey eyes shining with amusement.
"What was that for?" he laughed.
"I don't know really," Harry replied, stroking his thumb over Draco's cheekbone. "I guess I'm just glad you're awake."
"I'm glad I'm awake too," the blond joked, feeling a little more like himself. Harry chuckled as he shifted off of Draco's lap, opting to sit beside him on the sofa instead.
"What do you remember?" Harry asked quietly, taking his hand and threading their fingers together.
Draco sighed and absently rubbed his thumb back and forth. "Surprisingly, quite a bit. I don't think I dreamed this time… or maybe I did and I just don't… I don't know," he said, growing anxious. There was still a dull ache in his head and, he was noticing now, still one in his forearm as well.
"That's okay, it's okay," Harry said, pulling his right hand out of their clasp and wrapping his arm around Draco instead. He never could sit still for more than a moment, always shifting and moving or fidgeting. "Will you… will you tell me what you do remember?" he asked tentatively. Draco stared straight ahead, although he could feel Harry's piercing green eyes on him, and picked at a loose thread on the cotton shirt someone had changed him into. There were a few heavy beats of silence before he spoke, quietly so as not to let the Weasleys around the corner hear him.
"Pain," he muttered at last. "There was a lot of pain. In my head and my… my arm." His fingers ghosted subconsciously over the twisted snake on his left forearm. Harry was quiet beside him. He continued, not wanting to go back now. "But before the pain, there was a… shadow. I caught it out of the corner of my eye, but then it just- it wasn't there anymore." He had begun to wring his hands together, a nervous habit he hadn't done since he was a child and his parents would talk to him about the Dark Lord. "And when I had finally convinced myself it was nothing, it appeared right in front of me. It was the figure from my nightmares. And his voice was in my head. It was in my head, Harry, and I- I couldn't escape it- I couldn't-"
"Stop." Harry's firm and commanding, yet gentle, voice cut through his nervous rambling and Draco's head snapped in the other boy's direction. "You can stop now, it's alright," he said steadying Draco's hands with his own. Their eyes met, green to grey, and Draco saw the pain that Harry's held. This affected him too. "We can talk about it later, if you're up for it. After you've had a little time to process." Draco nodded his head and Harry reached up to place a kiss on his forehead. A small smile made its way onto Draco's face. Swinging his legs up, he laid them over Harry's lap. With Harry's arm still around him and his head tucked underneath the other boy's chin, Draco felt safe, if only for this moment. Suddenly a very bushy-haired Hermione poked her head around the corner.
"Boys! Ginny! Molly says supper is ready!" she hollered up the stairs. She was just turning to retreat back into the kitchen, when she caught sight of the two boys on the couch. "Oh! Harry, Draco, I didn't know you were awake." Draco ducked his head and offered a tight lipped smile, while Harry grinned and greeted her with a low, "Hey 'Mione."
"How are you feeling, Draco?" she asked quietly, just as they heard footsteps starting to thunder down the long, winding staircase.
"Better," he replied, smile growing fractionally. She wasn't so bad. Suddenly heads of red hair streaked by as the Weasleys ran to be first at the table.
"Hey, Hermione! Did you say something about supp- Oh blimey!" Ron exclaimed at the sight of his best friend. Draco rewarded this with a magnificent eyeroll while Harry snorted and shook his head.
"Honestly, Ronald," interjected Hermione, "get a grip." She threw a dish towel at him with a huff, which he caught in front of his face to reveal an overly dramatic offended expression as he followed her into the kitchen. Harry was laughing and Draco could feel his chest vibrating.
"I'm glad there's someone else around here who doesn't take any of Weasel's shit," he said flippantly. Another laugh rumbled its way through Harry's chest.
"Oh hush, you," he chuckled. Draco turned and slung his arm around the dark haired boy's neck. He leaned in and planted a kiss on the other's cheek. Then another and another, trailing small kisses until he got to the shell of Harry's ear, feeling bold all of a sudden. He nipped lightly at Harry's earlobe and kissing sweetly behind his ear.
"What are you doing?" Harry inquired, turning to Draco with an amused smile.
"We should really get in there before those savages leave us with nothing but crumbs," was Draco's reply before he was on his feet and tugging the dark haired boy off the sofa himself. This time Harry's laugh was a full body laugh.
"See, you're learning!" he exclaimed as he trailed behind the Draco, their fingers interlocked between them. They would talk about the visions and the voice later, Harry thought to himself with conviction. Not now. Not while Draco's happy and his eyes are shining with mirth. Not while his beautiful white blond hair, usually so precisely styled, is slightly mussed from sleep and kissing. Later, Harry promised himself Draco turned his head back to look at him. Later.
A/N: Hi! So this is chapter three :) In terms of length it's pretty average, but I think it turned out pretty well. Also! Announcement! I think I might be moving over to Archive Of Our Own (AO3) in the next few days. I think I just like the format better over there. This story is still new enough that I can just move all of the chapters over to the other platform and post on both, but I'm probably just going to stay here for my other fic if I ever decide to update it again. So yeah, I think I'll just post chapters to this story both here and on AO3 from now on and if I get overwhelming feedback that people like one platform more than the other it miiiiiiiight be a permanent move somewhere down the road. Sorry this ending is waaaayyy too long now so I'll let you go for now! I hope you guys enjoyed and don't forget to R&R!
Until next time, my lovelies!
~MG
***Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material from the Harry Potter Universe. All of this genius belongs to the great and powerful Joanne K. Rowling :)
