Since he was seven years old, Draco Malfoy had only allowed himself to break down in tears five times. The first being when he was eight and his grandmother had passed away. The next time was when he was just sixteen years old and he'd been forced into becoming a Death Eater. Later that year was time number three and Potter had walked in then. The fourth time, and the time he absolutely refused to acknowledge even existed, was the night Granger had been tortured and then escaped from his home. And the fifth time, the one Draco would forever deny, happened right after Granger had said those words. He'd absolutely adored those words; they'd touched a place in him that Draco hadn't even known existed.
They meant that she would stick around. When things got hard and others would give up on him and walk away, she would stay. And the only other constant in Draco's life was his mother; his friends had all found it easy enough to walk away from him. He'd pushed them away the same way he'd done to Granger yet she had stayed. Once he'd understood the meaning of the words, he'd only been able to hug her before rushing off to his room so she wouldn't see his eyes get watery.
Which led to his current situation. He was sitting with his back against his door, silent tears falling quickly from his eyes as he furiously tried to wipe them away. He absolutely hated Granger for doing this to him. Draco despised crying, hence why he'd only done it five times in nearly twelve years. And he didn't know how to stop either because every thought led to Granger and she was the source of the problem. Thinking of her only got him going again.
It took another half an hour after that thought before he'd calmed down enough to peek out into the common room. It was empty but Draco could see light coming from the bathroom. "Damn it," he swore quietly. That was where he'd wanted to go. Draco knew that if he splashed cold water on his face he wouldn't look like he'd been crying and then he could sit in the common room without running the risk of Boot, Abbott, or Granger asking questions. Instead of just waiting around for the bathroom to become empty, he hurried out of the common room and went to the boy's bathroom two floors down, trying his hardest not to be seen. It wasn't what he needed at that moment, to be seen by someone with eyes red from crying.
To his luck the bathroom was empty. Draco practically ran to the sinks and turned on the faucet when there was a cough from behind him. "You know, we've been here before,"
Draco let loose a nasty swear word at the sound of Potter's voice. "What the hell do you want?" he asked, well aware of the thick sound of his voice.
"Are-Are you good?"
"Good at what, Potter? Hexing? I'm brilliant at it, so unless you want-"
"I meant are you okay?"
"Perfectly fine, not that it's any of your business," he muttered. Maybe Potter hadn't meant to spill his secret about the trial to Granger, but that didn't change the fact that he had. Draco probably would have cursed him by now if Potter didn't mean so much to Granger and Granger didn't mean so much to him.
"What happened with you and Hermione?"
Draco lowered his head. Potter couldn't see his face from their current position but on the off chance that he did cry again, Draco didn't want to take any chances. "Nothing bad. We're fine," His voice shook slightly.
Potter let out a long sigh of relief. "Good," he managed to say. "That's really great, Malfoy. She was so mad and I'd worried I'd ruined things between you two. I thought I'd have to beg the both of you to get back together,"
"You're rooting for us now?"
"Malfoy I've been rooting for you two ever since I realized it was a thing."
"But-" he began, shocked at the statement.
"I mean I honestly hated the thought of you two even becoming friends when I first found out. Because even though it wasn't my life, I was terrified that you were going to take advantage of her or hurt her,"
"You do realize I'm not exactly a monster, right?"
"Never said you were, mate,"
"We are not mates,"
"Give it time," Potter smirked. "You wanted to be friends once; we could always try again,"
"Don't be ridiculous," Draco snapped, turning to look at him. But Potter's expression was sincere, for a moment, though it quickly changed to surprise.
"I thought you said nothing bad happened!"
"Potter-"
"Why is it that every time I find you in a damn bathroom you've been crying?"
"I-"
"Seriously, what happened? You two make each other so happy; you can't just give up and cry!"
"That's not what I'm doing!" Draco protested, his eyes narrowing.
"Then what's going on?"'
"She just said something and it-it got to me," he admitted. Draco quickly decided that was enough talking and he closed his mouth as his face warmed. He turned around at that moment and finally splashed the cold water on his face that he'd come looking for.
"What did she say?" Potter asked curiously.
"Again, none of your business," Draco muttered.
"You know she is my best friend and I could always ask her if I wanted to,"
"As if she'd actually tell you,"
"You'd be surprised at how much she does," Potter said, grinning slightly. Draco's cheeks grew warm at the though; what if Granger had mentioned something to him? Draco would be furious if that was the case; she'd promised not to mention what happened between them. A rush of panic hit him full force at the thought before he remembered that Potter already knew about them kissing; he'd walked in on it. "I mean she doesn't usually talk about you two but I'm sure if I asked she would,"
Draco scoffed and tried not to show how uncomfortable the idea of Granger talking about them made him. "Right. Whatever, Potter. Well, I should go-"
"Okay one more question," Potter interrupted.
"What?" Draco snapped. He was sick of the questions; he'd calmed down enough that he could go sit in the common room and that was exactly what he wanted to do.
He hesitated and frowned, glancing away from Draco before meeting his eyes. "Are you ashamed of her?"
"What?" he asked again, furious at the question. "No I'm not bloody ashamed of her,"
"Then why don't you guys to anything publically?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean your entire relationship takes place behind closed doors. It just seems like you-"
"I don't want anyone to bother her and I know they would if they found out,"
"So you really do want to protect her, then,"
There was a small pause before Draco nodded. "Yes. And if you mention that to anyone then I will hex you,"
"I wouldn't dream of it," Potter said, offering Draco a smile. Draco rolled his eyes before walking past Potter and into the corridor. Draco was half surprised Potter didn't follow him and ask more irritating questions, but he was thankful at the same time. Potter being friendly and civil had shaken him, and Draco didn't know what to think about it. The only time he and Potter had acted civily toward each othe was when Granger was involved but now she wasn't there and Potter had come about him, not her. At least not really. He was confused by the action and he didn't know why Potter had done it but there was no way he was going to ask. Draco would be content if he never had to talk to Potter again, though he doubted that would be the case if he stuck around Granger for too long.
Draco spent the rest of his night, before the midnight curfew set by McGonagall, in the common room with his Transfiguration textbook in his lap. He was trying to understand one of the spells McGonagall had said would be on the exams. He knew that he could have asked Granger for help because there was no doubt she was sitting awake in her room, but Draco didn't want to bother her and go back to his pitiful behavior from earlier that night. Then again if he really did need help... "No," he muttered, hoping Boot and Abbott wouldn't notice. They'd come into the common room at some point, though Draco never took note of it until he heard them talking. He was in his chair, he didn't want any distractions, and the only one brought upon him was when they began discussing the benefits of different spells in defense situations.
When midnight did hit, Draco sighed and went to his room. He knew that McGonagall would come storming into the common room if he didn't get to his own room quickly and he did not feel like dealing with her at the moment. Abbott actually bid him a quiet good night, and Boot made a sound that could possibly have been his own version. Draco caught Abbott's eyes and nodded slightly, which made her smile.
Ever since McGonagall had made her rule about Granger and himself not being able to meet in the common room Draco hadn't been sleeping well. Not that he was sleeping brilliantly before the rule, but at least he'd been able to calm himself long enough to get to sleep because he knew he would be seeing Granger soon. And now he had a full six and a half hours before he would be able to talk to her and make sure she was all right. That thought always left him sleeping fitfully and waking up at small noises that he thought could be Granger's spells letting her screams come through. And Draco absolutely hated those screams; he dreamed about them enough and hearing them break through on occasion, as quiet as they were, took a toll on him. And so his sleep was awkward and interrupted when Boot and Abbott went to bed or someone decided to wake up in the middle of the night and use the bathroom.
He did manage to fall asleep around two that morning. He hadn't heard anything from Granger's room since he'd gone into his room so he'd assumed that she'd either put up fresh spells or she was okay for the time being. Draco was exhausted and as his eyes closed he thought it was slightly ridiculous, what he was doing, but he cared about Granger too much to just stop.
He woke to silence and gentle sunlight streaming in through his window. The curtains had been parted slightly as Draco found the sunlight hitting him in the face a rather good wake up call. With a groan he looked at the clock, knowing that it could only be about six thirty in the morning so he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. It was only a second after rolling out of bed and almost falling onto the floor that a loud pounding sounded on his door. "Leave me alone!" he groaned, rubbing his eyes and trying to wake up. Draco had no desire to have company at this time of morning; he was irritable about what had happened the previous night and the little amount of sleep he had and Draco didn't want to take out his frustrations on whoever was on the other side of the door.
"Draco!"
He panicked. In the back of his mind Draco was aware that Granger's voice didn't sound upset or anything similar to that, but it had been a long time since she'd come banging on his door and yelling his name. And so he stumbled over, throwing the door open and looking at her with concerned eyes before he saw that she was smiling. "Damn it," he swore quietly. "What?"
"I slept,"
"Excuse me?"
"I mean it wasn't the entire night, but it was five hours, Draco. I fell asleep around eleven and I woke up just before four. I mean sure there was still a nightmare and I still woke up screaming but-"
"Granger calm down," Draco said, a smile almost creeping up on his own face. He knew why she was so excited and she had every right to be excited; it had been nearly a year since she'd gotten five whole hours of sleep. The longest he could remember her sleeping for was four hours, and the extra hour had to have done her some good. She looked ever so slightly more alert than she did on normal days and of course the smile on her face made it even more evident how good she was feeling.
"Calm down? How could I possibly-" Draco kissed her quickly so she would stop talking. It was probably rude of him, but after just waking up the excitement and loud volume of her voice was making his head start to ache. "Okay," she muttered as he pulled away. "That may have worked,"
"I'm happy for you, Granger," he said quietly.
"Thank you,"
He nodded and for a moment they just stood there silently. Eventually though Draco cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow. "I should probably go take a shower," he stated.
"Right," Granger said, shaking her head slightly. "I just wanted to tell someone because I was excited and, well, you were the best option,"
Draco rolled his eyes. "I didn't complain, Granger, I just need to get ready,"
"I'll see you in class then," she said before she turned around and began to walk away. "Oh!"
"What is it now?"
"Could you meet me in the library after classes today?"
"Why?"
"I thought it would be obvious. We're going to start researching cases similar to yours for your trial,"
His face warmed quickly before he nodded. "Yeah, fine," he muttered, avoiding her gaze. "I'll be there," With one last smile from Granger she walked off and Draco sighed heavily. He didn't want to work on his trial; he hadn't even wanted Granger involved with it. But there was no way he would make her work on it alone or stand her up; if she was going to help him then Draco planned on helping her.