Draco was officially worried. Transfigurations was over, and Harry had never shown up.
'He's been withdrawn, yes, but he's never missed a class before,' he mused. Just as he was considering trying to go up to Gryffindor Tower to check on Harry, he heard Hermione's voice. Draco tensed in anger-he was furious with both Hermione and Ron for their treatment of their supposed best friend-but he realized that, being Gryffindors, they might know something about Harry. Carefully keeping himself out of view, he listened.
"Ron, I think this has gone far enough."
"'Mione, how can you say that? You know what he did!"
"Yes, but maybe we were too harsh. Look at whom he was up against."
"But-"
"But nothing, Ron! I was upset with him, yes, but what if he only did what he had to do? Voldemort wouldn't have been so kind to *us*, that's for sure."
"Listen to her, Weasley." Draco came around the corner. "You don't really know what he did to his enemies. I, sadly, do."
"You stay out of this," Ron snarled. "What do you know, anyway?"
"I was *there*, same as you. I saw what was happening, just as you did. If you weren't so *blind*...but that's neither here nor there right now. I just wanted to know if you knew where Harry was."
Hermione bit her lip. "I...we don't know. I wanted to talk to him, to apologize to him, but he never showed up." She looked at Ron. "Have you seen him today-he's your roommate."
Ron shook his head. "We all leave before he gets up, and go to bed after his curtains are closed. We only see him at class if we can help it."
Hermione sighed in exasperation. "Ron...."
Draco cut into the budding argument. "If you two are going to discuss this, could one of you kindly give me your password? I, for one, *am* worried about Harry, and would like to check on him."
Hermione nodded. "No need for that-I'll come with you, and so will Ron." Her tone overruled any potential argument.
When they reached the sixth-years' room, Draco immediately noticed the closed curtains. "Maybe he's sleeping," he said softly.
Ron moved to his bed, bent on ignoring everyone, while Hermione looked at the curtained bed. "I hope so, but...better check, Draco."
Bracing himself for anything, Draco opened the curtains, and saw nothing...nothing except for a couple of pieces of parchment. Picking them up curiously, Draco looked at them, saw one was blank and the other covered with writing. He glanced at the words curiously, then sat down heavily on the bed, reading. "You might want to see this," he croaked, beckoning Hermione closer. Ron, his curiosity piqued, joined them, and the three read the letter Harry had written.
~~You can use this map to your heart's content-all it will tell you is that I am not here. I know I am hated and feared, but for what? Doing what had to be done? If Voldemort hadn't been stopped then and there, we'd all have died. So someone had to do it. Ron and Hermione would never have been able to-their hatred of me now only serves to support that. Professor Snape was at the end of his strength and fighting off Cruciatus-he simply *couldn't* do it. Draco...Draco had enough pain and regrets in that battle, thanks to his father. There was no need to add on any more. The rest of you weren't even there. So it was me. Besides, according to all the hype, I've been marked by Fate to be the one to finally defeat Voldemort. Who am I to spurn Fate?
I don't really blame you for your hatred and scorn. I am, at times, annoyed-did you think that the Dark Lord himself could really be brought down by some minor schoolboy hex? Only Avada Kedavra itself could possibly hope to do any damage. And it did. The wizarding and muggle worlds are safe.
I, however, am not. You have made it clear to me that I am not wanted around. You didn't even notice that I haven't slept here, or even been here, in over a week, and that I haven't talked-except in class-for about as long. I do not blame you, and I would rather die than stay to cause any of my friends-whether they still want the title or not, I will always think of them as friends-pain. So. This is all that's left of me. My battle was won with Voldemort's death. Now yours is gone with my leaving. Live the lives you've always been meant to leave.
Love always,
Harry~~
The parchment fell from Draco's numb fingers onto the bed as the meaning sank in. "He's...gone? For real?" He looked at the blank piece of parchment and then at Hermione. "What map?"
Picking up the paper, she touched her wand to it and uttered the password. After a minute, she sighed. "He's right. He isn't anywhere on here." Tears began to fall down her face.
Ron took up Harry's note. "I don't believe it," he murmured. "How could he leave?"
Draco, who had been staring into space, trying to process Harry's absence, came back to himself with a growl upon hearing that. "How could you even *ask* that question?" he snarled at Ron. "You're supposedly his best friend, and you've done nothing but try and make Harry's life a living Hell. And you *dare* ask how he could leave? With friends like you, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did!"
Ron stood, about to retort, but Draco cut off his words with an angry gesture. "Don't bother making any excuses, Weasley. You're supposed to *care* about him-and you shut him out to the degree that you didn't even know he wasn't here! You haven't cared about his whereabouts up until this moment-why start now?"
Ron's fists clenched into balls, but he did not speak. Hermione dashed away a tear and sighed. "I hate to admit it," she said slowly, "but you're right."
"Hermione! How could you agree with that--!"
"Ron! He has a point. If we were Harry's friends, truly, shouldn't we have tried to understand, not to judge? Harry was right, nothing less could've killed him-we were blind not to see that. We're the ones that should be ashamed." She laughed, a bitter sound. "And here we've been seeing Draco here as Harry's enemy...when it was us who managed to drive him away."
"But," Ron paused for a second, then continued. "But it wasn't just us. Everyone-"
"And if 'everyone' jumped off a cliff, would you as well?" Draco's words were weary, but not hostile. "'Everyone' could have judged him from now until eternity, and it wouldn't have bothered Harry. Not with the support of his friends. But when they too turned against him...." Draco trailed off for a minute. "You didn't see him," he continued, whispering. "Every day, you didn't see him. Didn't see the way he looked every time you publicly snubbed him. I did, though. And it hurt. It hurt me, to see someone who should be feeling like the rest of you, on top of the world with peace restored, to be looking so sad. He saved us *all*, and all you could do was judge." He snorted. "And if Harry had let Voldemort live, rather than use an Unforgivable, you'd have hated him just as much. Did he have a hope of pleasing you?"
"Draco-"
"No, let me finish, Hermione. This needs to be said, and you need to hear it. You might've been ignoring Harry, but I wasn't. I wasn't, and Professor Snape wasn't, and the Headmaster wasn't. We saw what was happening. Somehow, I think that when you go to Dumbledore with this news, he won't be one bit surprised. Truthfully, I think I'm glad he left."
Hermione couldn't remain silent. "You were just *defending* Harry-how can you now turn around and say you're glad you left?"
Draco looked at her calmly. "Better that he left now," he said slowly, "than to stay and let his guilt and your anger drive him to something worse and more permanent."
Hermione took a step backwards, stumbled, and fell to the floor. Looking at Draco, her eyes bright with fresh tears, she said, "You...you think he would have...?" She trained off, unable to finish the words, unable to even think it.
"Kill himself?" Draco stated matter-of-factly. "Quite possibly. If some self-righteous person didn't get to him first. There's a lot of anger towards him, especially from those who still remember how Cedric died."
Ron's face had gone completely white. "What have we done? What do we do?"
Draco stood. "Go tell Dumbledore."
"Draco? What about you?"
He smiled at Hermione, a bitter thing. "I have an idea of where to look."
He left before either of them could stop him.
**********
'He's been withdrawn, yes, but he's never missed a class before,' he mused. Just as he was considering trying to go up to Gryffindor Tower to check on Harry, he heard Hermione's voice. Draco tensed in anger-he was furious with both Hermione and Ron for their treatment of their supposed best friend-but he realized that, being Gryffindors, they might know something about Harry. Carefully keeping himself out of view, he listened.
"Ron, I think this has gone far enough."
"'Mione, how can you say that? You know what he did!"
"Yes, but maybe we were too harsh. Look at whom he was up against."
"But-"
"But nothing, Ron! I was upset with him, yes, but what if he only did what he had to do? Voldemort wouldn't have been so kind to *us*, that's for sure."
"Listen to her, Weasley." Draco came around the corner. "You don't really know what he did to his enemies. I, sadly, do."
"You stay out of this," Ron snarled. "What do you know, anyway?"
"I was *there*, same as you. I saw what was happening, just as you did. If you weren't so *blind*...but that's neither here nor there right now. I just wanted to know if you knew where Harry was."
Hermione bit her lip. "I...we don't know. I wanted to talk to him, to apologize to him, but he never showed up." She looked at Ron. "Have you seen him today-he's your roommate."
Ron shook his head. "We all leave before he gets up, and go to bed after his curtains are closed. We only see him at class if we can help it."
Hermione sighed in exasperation. "Ron...."
Draco cut into the budding argument. "If you two are going to discuss this, could one of you kindly give me your password? I, for one, *am* worried about Harry, and would like to check on him."
Hermione nodded. "No need for that-I'll come with you, and so will Ron." Her tone overruled any potential argument.
When they reached the sixth-years' room, Draco immediately noticed the closed curtains. "Maybe he's sleeping," he said softly.
Ron moved to his bed, bent on ignoring everyone, while Hermione looked at the curtained bed. "I hope so, but...better check, Draco."
Bracing himself for anything, Draco opened the curtains, and saw nothing...nothing except for a couple of pieces of parchment. Picking them up curiously, Draco looked at them, saw one was blank and the other covered with writing. He glanced at the words curiously, then sat down heavily on the bed, reading. "You might want to see this," he croaked, beckoning Hermione closer. Ron, his curiosity piqued, joined them, and the three read the letter Harry had written.
~~You can use this map to your heart's content-all it will tell you is that I am not here. I know I am hated and feared, but for what? Doing what had to be done? If Voldemort hadn't been stopped then and there, we'd all have died. So someone had to do it. Ron and Hermione would never have been able to-their hatred of me now only serves to support that. Professor Snape was at the end of his strength and fighting off Cruciatus-he simply *couldn't* do it. Draco...Draco had enough pain and regrets in that battle, thanks to his father. There was no need to add on any more. The rest of you weren't even there. So it was me. Besides, according to all the hype, I've been marked by Fate to be the one to finally defeat Voldemort. Who am I to spurn Fate?
I don't really blame you for your hatred and scorn. I am, at times, annoyed-did you think that the Dark Lord himself could really be brought down by some minor schoolboy hex? Only Avada Kedavra itself could possibly hope to do any damage. And it did. The wizarding and muggle worlds are safe.
I, however, am not. You have made it clear to me that I am not wanted around. You didn't even notice that I haven't slept here, or even been here, in over a week, and that I haven't talked-except in class-for about as long. I do not blame you, and I would rather die than stay to cause any of my friends-whether they still want the title or not, I will always think of them as friends-pain. So. This is all that's left of me. My battle was won with Voldemort's death. Now yours is gone with my leaving. Live the lives you've always been meant to leave.
Love always,
Harry~~
The parchment fell from Draco's numb fingers onto the bed as the meaning sank in. "He's...gone? For real?" He looked at the blank piece of parchment and then at Hermione. "What map?"
Picking up the paper, she touched her wand to it and uttered the password. After a minute, she sighed. "He's right. He isn't anywhere on here." Tears began to fall down her face.
Ron took up Harry's note. "I don't believe it," he murmured. "How could he leave?"
Draco, who had been staring into space, trying to process Harry's absence, came back to himself with a growl upon hearing that. "How could you even *ask* that question?" he snarled at Ron. "You're supposedly his best friend, and you've done nothing but try and make Harry's life a living Hell. And you *dare* ask how he could leave? With friends like you, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did!"
Ron stood, about to retort, but Draco cut off his words with an angry gesture. "Don't bother making any excuses, Weasley. You're supposed to *care* about him-and you shut him out to the degree that you didn't even know he wasn't here! You haven't cared about his whereabouts up until this moment-why start now?"
Ron's fists clenched into balls, but he did not speak. Hermione dashed away a tear and sighed. "I hate to admit it," she said slowly, "but you're right."
"Hermione! How could you agree with that--!"
"Ron! He has a point. If we were Harry's friends, truly, shouldn't we have tried to understand, not to judge? Harry was right, nothing less could've killed him-we were blind not to see that. We're the ones that should be ashamed." She laughed, a bitter sound. "And here we've been seeing Draco here as Harry's enemy...when it was us who managed to drive him away."
"But," Ron paused for a second, then continued. "But it wasn't just us. Everyone-"
"And if 'everyone' jumped off a cliff, would you as well?" Draco's words were weary, but not hostile. "'Everyone' could have judged him from now until eternity, and it wouldn't have bothered Harry. Not with the support of his friends. But when they too turned against him...." Draco trailed off for a minute. "You didn't see him," he continued, whispering. "Every day, you didn't see him. Didn't see the way he looked every time you publicly snubbed him. I did, though. And it hurt. It hurt me, to see someone who should be feeling like the rest of you, on top of the world with peace restored, to be looking so sad. He saved us *all*, and all you could do was judge." He snorted. "And if Harry had let Voldemort live, rather than use an Unforgivable, you'd have hated him just as much. Did he have a hope of pleasing you?"
"Draco-"
"No, let me finish, Hermione. This needs to be said, and you need to hear it. You might've been ignoring Harry, but I wasn't. I wasn't, and Professor Snape wasn't, and the Headmaster wasn't. We saw what was happening. Somehow, I think that when you go to Dumbledore with this news, he won't be one bit surprised. Truthfully, I think I'm glad he left."
Hermione couldn't remain silent. "You were just *defending* Harry-how can you now turn around and say you're glad you left?"
Draco looked at her calmly. "Better that he left now," he said slowly, "than to stay and let his guilt and your anger drive him to something worse and more permanent."
Hermione took a step backwards, stumbled, and fell to the floor. Looking at Draco, her eyes bright with fresh tears, she said, "You...you think he would have...?" She trained off, unable to finish the words, unable to even think it.
"Kill himself?" Draco stated matter-of-factly. "Quite possibly. If some self-righteous person didn't get to him first. There's a lot of anger towards him, especially from those who still remember how Cedric died."
Ron's face had gone completely white. "What have we done? What do we do?"
Draco stood. "Go tell Dumbledore."
"Draco? What about you?"
He smiled at Hermione, a bitter thing. "I have an idea of where to look."
He left before either of them could stop him.
**********