Diamond heart
Harry knew right away that something was very wrong. It was in the air, a tension that seeped through the Great Hall and rang the alarm bell in his mind. He'd been in trouble far too many times to ignore it now, and he glanced over at the Slytherin table, hoping for clues. He paled when he realized just what was wrong: Draco was missing.
Ron had noticed too, and he sneered, commenting that they were better off without him. Harry just barely repressed the urge to hit him, and stood up from the table, excusing himself. Ron started to protest, but he was cut off by a firm hand on his shoulder. Harry looked up at Hermione, thanking her without words. She only nodded. He sensed that she understood.
He walked out of the Great Hall and down the often tread hallways towards the Slytherin common room. The hall was deserted, and Harry couldn't help feeling as though he were intruding. After all, did he really have a right to be here without Draco?
'You're coming for Draco, aren't you?' he told himself sternly. 'You have as much right to be here as in any other part of the castle. He's your bloody boyfriend, for God's sake! Buck up and just go!'
Holding his inner voice's brave words firmly in his mind, he approached the bare spot of wall that was the entrance to the common room and spoke the password. He'd been a bit shocked when Draco had entrusted him with the knowledge of what it was, but after spending far more time in their company than he could have thought possible, he was beginning to realize that it wasn't so far off the mark after all.
The common room was almost deserted; most of the student population of Hogwarts was still at breakfast. Harry looked around, trying to see where Draco could be.
"He's upstairs."
Harry spun, turning to face a smirking Pansy Parkinson. She eyed him scornfully, then indicated a very visible staircase. "Those stairs, Potter."
He scowled at her, then made his way over to the staircase and began climbing. He paused at the first door he encountered, wondering if he could enter it. Finally, he pushed it open, revealing a luxurious bedroom, all done up in green and sliver. Draco wasn't there.
With a sigh, Harry continued climbing the stairs, stopping to check every door he found. Naturally, Draco's was at the very top. He grimaced, then carefully pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Draco was hunched into a ball in the corner, his back to the door. Harry closed it carefully behind him, still making enough noise to alert Draco to his presence. The blond boy turned angrily, fixing Harry with a cold stare that only eased slightly when he realized who it was.
"What do you want?" he snarled, not moving.
"I wanted to see what was wrong," Harry said, taken aback by the venom in Draco's voice.
"I'm fine," Draco said, turning back to the wall. "You can go back now."
"Draco," Harry said hesitantly.
"Go," Draco snapped.
Something inside Harry cracked, and he propped his hands on his fists. "Draco," he warned.
Draco growled softly, then stretched and turned to face Harry properly. Harry could see that he had been crying, but the tears had stopped now and Draco was glaring at him.
For once, the silence affected Harry more than Draco, and he came forward a couple steps, his feet hesitant and his face red with embarrassment. His voice was sure, though, and he knew he couldn't back down. He suddenly realized just why Ron and Hermione wouldn't drop anything: it hurt too much to see a person he cared about suffering.
"Please," Harry said, not daring to come any closer. "Please, Draco. Tell me what it is!"
Draco sneered. "It's nothing that concerns you," he said shortly. "You wouldn't be able to comprehend."
Harry felt his anger rise in his chest. "What do you know about what I can comprehend and what I can't?"
Draco raised his eyebrow mockingly. "I know far more about it than you do," he assured Harry. "Unlike you, I have been paying attention."
Harry glared at him, his rising anger surpassing any lingering pity. "And what's that supposed to mean?" he snapped.
"It means," Draco snapped back, leaning forward slightly to glare at Harry more effectively, "that you have a tendency to overestimate your intellectual capacity. I don't. What is wrong right now would be far beyond your powers of comprehension."
Harry stared at him, aghast. This wasn't the Draco he knew! This was Malfoy talking, not Draco! What had happened? Then again, he wasn't exactly being Harry anymore either. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and made a final effort. "Please. I want to try. Maybe I'll be able to understand after all. Draco, please…"
Draco's scowl cut his words off before he could run out. His face was stony, and his eyes were cold, colder than Harry could ever remember. When he spoke, his voice could have rivaled the basalisk's ability to petrify people.
"Get out of here right now," he said, and though his voice was quiet and controlled, Harry could hear the slightly ragged edge to it. "Get out and don't come back. You have no idea what it's like, do you? You have no idea how hard it is to bear the weight of my parents' expectations! You think it's all easy money and worthless rewards? I have to be the best at everything, I have to be my father's heir, I have to marry a fucking girl, Harry! Can you understand that? Can you understand how much it hurts? No, no you can't because you've never had to deal with it."
"I…" Harry began, his eyes wide and his breath coming in short, painful gasps, almost as though it had been him who'd been crying, not Draco.
"I'm not done yet," Draco interrupted, his eyes still hard. "I can't do this. I can't keep on. I'll get my heart broken, and I can't. It's not worth it."
"What do you mean?" Harry whispered, unable to take in what he was hearing. Not worth it? What was Draco saying? Was he…? Yes, yes he bloody well was! He was stopping their relationship because he was too afraid of his father to keep on! Well, Draco wasn't the only one who could be hard. "Fine," he said shortly, turning to go. "Fine. Be that way, Draco. And when you look back on this time, when you remember how happy we were and how much we hoped for and the amount of love between us, know that it's your fault that it stopped."
Draco looked at him, his eyes emotionless. He nodded once. "Get out Potter," he said once more.
Harry fled, unable to stay there a moment longer. He ignored the mutters from the now populated Slytherin common room, heading as fast as he could walk toward the Gryffindor common room and the sanctuary of his bed. He walked straight past Ginny, not even seeing her frown as he passed. He stalked up the stairs, yanking open the door and stepping into the relative sanctuary of the dormitory. He threw himself onto his bed, yanking the curtains closed and finally allowing his tears to drip freely. Soon, they turned into full-blow sobs, and he cried for the one person he wanted, his stormy-eyed love with the impenetrable diamond heart. Across the castle, a boy with eyes the color of liquid mercury cried for a happiness that could never be.
Disclaimer: I own nothing created by the excellent J. K. Rowling. Both Harry and Draco are, unfortunately, hers, and I'm just messing with their heads. Please review and tell what you think. Yes, it's angsty. I'm sorry, and I'm sorry that it's so short, but most of this is just Harry's feelings. I'm afraid the next one will be much of the same, though it might be slightly longer. Harry just has to react; Dray needs to be reacted to. Anyway, thanks for sticking with me, and I hope that everyone likes this story!
