It was almost as if he had forgotten what it was like to smile and now that he was, his face was ready to crumble under the strain. But he smiled anyway. And it wasn't just a small, exhausted smile that would portray his relief but one that stretched wide over his features, filled with emotions he didn't even know he could feel anymore. Something inside of him fell away, like a dark veil had been hiding all kinds of thoughts he was sure couldn't be his own and the blinding relief flooded him until all of his already weakened muscles turned to jelly. He let himself slide to the ground, legs crumpling underneath him before burying his face in his shaking hands.
And he laughed.
It wasn't a happy laugh, not entirely, but it was filled with all of those unfamiliar emotions that were purged from him by the maniacal sound spilling from his lips. He didn't even recognize it as his own, the laugh wild and so free. Because he had done this; because he had not failed like he had everything else in his life. He stayed like that until his laughter died down, hiding his face even as sanity slowly insinuated itself back into his brain.
"Bloody hell," he breathed into his palms, sweaty and gritty with dirt, unable to lift his head when he heard the rustle of clothing that announced Harry was probably sitting up and no doubt laughing at him at his unseemly display. Merlin knows if it were him, he'd be laughing. But Harry didn't laugh. He reached down and touched the back of the blonde's hand so that when Draco finally did look up, he found himself drowning in shining pools of endless green.
"You saved my life," the smile was gone but that didn't matter. The dark haired man was still the most beautiful person he had ever seen, "I was starting to think that I would die like that, having to kill him over and over again until there was nothing left of me to fight with. You're the first person who cared enough to break the cycle," the blond blinked at that, trying to sort out his thoughts and then picked up on what the other man hadn't said.
"There was someone else?" he asked, taking in the way the dark hair had grown, falling around the broad shoulders in a tumbling fall of ebony curls and wondering briefly what it would be like to sink his fingers in it. Then the green eyes shuttered, disappearing briefly behind long, black lashes, uncertainty clear in the line that appeared between the dark brows.
"Someone…yes. I can't…I can't remember it clearly but he came and promised that I would be trapped forever for thinking I could kill…" a slender hand passed in front of his face and Draco barely had enough warning before the dark haired man was tumbling from the crumbling platform, grunting as his weakened body tried to support the extra weight. Harry was far from heavy, making him realize just how skinny the man had become while under the spell but the dead weight still pressed down on him. For a moment he was afraid the other wizard had fainted but then a long, slender arm wrapped around his waist and a smile flickered across the strong features, "Maybe now that you have saved me, I can remember again," and there was such simple joy in the deep voice, Draco's heart ached.
"So you still can't remember anything? Nothing about this other person or…" but he stopped before he said or me because that would have sounded selfish and needy and he wasn't that person anymore. The wide emerald gaze poured over him like a liquid kiss, making him forget how to breathe.
"No I…there's…something there but…it's mostly just feelings and impressions. He meant to harm me, though. That much I can recall," they were silent for a moment, Draco supporting Harry's weight in his arms as the Savor of the Wizarding World lay sprawled in his lap before the man turned his head and pressed his nose into the blonde's chest, his hold on the Auror's waist tightening, "But you…you're so familiar and I can't remember why. I want to remember why this feels so right," Draco barely heard the last few words over the pounding of his heart and he opened his mouth to deny it, to say that Harry would hate him as surely as he had four years ago as soon as all his memories came back but something stopped him. It did feel right. Holding the man like this, with his unruly curls falling over Draco's shoulder and arm and his hot breath branding him right through his clothes; it felt perfect and it scared the shit out of him.
Yet before he could come up with anything to say, a low, rough chuckle startled him as it came from around one of the trees and he lifted his wand, nerves suddenly screaming at him even though he knew he couldn't even cast a simple Luminos.
"Well, well, look at what I have caught," the voice was deep and painfully familiar, making everything in him freeze in terror, "How ironic that it would be a Malfoy that broke the curse,"
And Draco clutched Harry to him as Fenrir Greyback stepped into view.
TBC
...stupid werewolf, ruining a perfectly good scene. Jeeze.