Since that night, Granger had become more generous with her touches. Draco had seen her and Potter cuddling all the time whenever they watched TV before, but now she would also rest her head on his shoulder sometimes and Potter didn't seem to react to that beyond just glancing over. So he figured this was just how Granger normally was – just a very cuddly person. Which he didn't terribly mind, he realised.

He was reflecting on this one evening as he held her on the couch, catching up with the latest episode before bedtime. It made him recall a certain redhead. Draco hadn't been curious about him before right then and he thoughtlessly asked, "How did you two end up here? Where's, you know, your other friend?" Granger didn't move, nor did she answer.

It was Potter who piped up from the kitchen behind them, "Pure chance. Separated a while ago." Draco turned his head to look at him – he couldn't tell enough from Potter's tone so he needed to see his face. He found a blank expression on it. Potter looked at him then and shrugged a little. "He got out. He still has family. We couldn't follow them out, not without magic."

Granger sat up beside him and stretched. "I'm spent," she said, standing up and then yawning. "Goodnight, you two."

"Night." "Goodnight."

Draco tried to finish the episode but after a while he realised he wasn't in the mood to anymore. He turned off the TV and just sat there for a bit.

"What's going on?" Potter asked from the kitchen, surprising him.

"Oh. I thought you went to bed. I just don't feel like watching anymore tonight," he replied.

Potter left the kitchen area and went to stand next to the couch. "Aren't you going to bed?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck numbly. "Yea, I guess I am," Draco answered.

A sudden shiver went up his spine – something just crawled over his foot. Draco yelped and jumped up to stand on the couch.

Potter blinked hard at him. "What's wrong?"

Draco looked around on the floor beneath, prompting the other man to look too.

"Something, just now, was on my- AH!" he caught sight of something scuttling to hide under the couch.

"Oh, I think that was a spider," Potter told him, bending over to get a better look.

Dear Merlin. "Are you sure?" Draco's skin was crawling. He kept turning around to keep an eye out for any movements, afraid it might climb up onto the couch. This last thought urged him to try jumping off of the couch and onto the kitchen island.

Potter seemed to know that he was about to attempt exactly that. "No, get off from there, you're going to hurt yourself," he said, beckoning Draco with a hand, "I'll take care of it."

He practically ran over to Potter's side. "Do you see it?" Draco asked him fearfully.

"Yep," he answered and went around to the other side of the couch. Draco followed to stay behind him.

They circled the couch once, Potter on his hands and knees, and then he reached under it.

He stilled. Draco froze. "Did you get it?"

Potter slowly turned his head aside to look at him, keeping his hand under the couch. "Uh... Yes. Just don't move."

Draco didn't understand but did as he was told. The other man straightened up steadily and Draco fixed his eyes on Potter's fist. He approached Draco, making him start to step back.

"It's alright, I've got it. Just stay still," he assured him but kept coming over.

It clicked in Draco's mind. Potter hasn't got it – the spider was on him. Instantly, every hair on his body stood on its end. He started to shake hard and spun around crazily.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit," was all he managed.

"Stop. Lucas, just stop. No, let me-"

But Draco didn't listen and kept panicking.

"Malfoy!" Potter yelled, stopping him forcefully. He felt his vice grip on his shoulder but he couldn't stop shaking.

Potter released him and went to the window. Draco felt his knees giving up and he dropped to the floor. The thud made Potter whirl back around.

"Whoa. Are you okay?" he asked, coming over. He put a hand on Draco's shoulder, where he'd gripped it, and rubbed it gently. "I'm sorry, that was too hard."

Draco reached up and took Potter's hand off his shoulder, but didn't let go. He was still shaken and didn't register that he was squeezing Potter's hand, only that he needed the touch.

Potter settled on the floor next to him. "Okay, take deep breaths now," he told him.

Draco obeyed and eventually began to recover. "I want to go home," he confessed suddenly. He wasn't expecting anything; he just needed to say it.

"Spiders don't want to hurt you. Mostly, anyway," Potter sounded unsure in his reply.

Draco shook his head lightly. "It's not that," he felt the floodgates about to open and he simply didn't have it in him to fight it, "I can't do magic, so every little thing became a threat. I've lost who I am. I'd forfeited my future, my very name. I'd been just waiting. But now my father is gone, too," remembering that again, the pain inside him took to the forefront, "I- I don't want to be anymore…"

He shut down and felt his body slump onto the back of the couch behind them. He let himself be overtaken and it was now so loud inside his head that he could no longer perceive anything on the outside of it.

This is all so pointlessly agonizing. Let's just stop now. Let's just not anymore. There's nothing left – we're done here. This is over. How shameless could you be?

Soon it was no longer just one thought after another. Now it was all of it; accusing him, declaring judgement, and meting out punishment.

His body, his cage of flesh, was now hurting everywhere. Draco couldn't respond. He couldn't even want to.

Gradually, he felt something new – his face was being held, firmly. Draco seemed to wake up and his eyes started to function again, bringing into focus a pair of green eyes.

"Malfoy?" Potter's voice echoed his name in the distance. He felt the assuring hands on both sides of his face, a thumb caressing one cheek. He felt it wipe away a tear.

Draco collapsed and buried his face in the nape of the other man's neck. His arms moved on their own to pull Potter in, unable to care whether or not he would be receptive of this. "Please," Draco begged, "don't let go."

There was a short pause before Potter obliged. Then Draco felt his arms embracing him, felt him place his face on his head, and let his lips rest on his forehead.

"Please forgive me," he continued, but Potter shushed him.

The turmoil inside him retreated back into the background, but at least the pain in his body had begun to dissolve in Potter's touch.

Nothing more was said that night.