Disclaimer: Harry Potter, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of Warner Bros. They are used here for entertainment purposes only.

Warnings: Slash. Het. Angst. Public Gropage. Hugging.

Spoilers: Previously written story: Like Glass. Written Pre-OotP.

The Shattering
Chapter 2 - In Plain Sight

The door to their austere dorm slammed shut, and Blaise idly wondered if one of these days it would simply fall off it's hinges, despite the exquisite workmanship. It had, in the course of the past few weeks, been slammed, punched, kicked and cursed at, simply because it dared stand between Draco Malfoy and the rest of the world.

There was a low, grating grumble coming from the rumpled blond. Rumpled was a good look for Draco, Blaise had decided days ago, because it meant that Draco wasn't spending hours trying to be perfect anymore. It meant that he wasn't brooding in front of his mirror and practicing an evil sneer. It meant that he didn't care how people saw him, at least not in terms of physical beauty. It also meant that Harry Potter was doing a fine job of rumpling, and by proxy distracting, Draco from an ever looming confrontation with Malfoy Sr.

He knew Draco didn't see it that way.

"What the bloody hell is that boy thinking?" Draco screeched at the closed door, and Blaise stifled a grin at hearing the frazzled note in his best friend's voice.

"I imagine he's not."

"Not what?"

"Thinking."

Draco growled and kicked the door for good measure. Then he trudged-A Malfoy, Blaise thought, trudging.-to his bed and fell face first onto it.

There was a moment of silence, as Blaise tried in vain to suppress his laughter before it spilled out into the heavy air. Draco's shoulders bunched, but his face didn't come up from the bedspread.

"D-" Blaise tried to contain his laughter, "D-did he pat your arse again?"

Draco sat up and twisted around to face Blaise, the mottled rage on his face enough to make errant laughter die a quick death. "Do you think this is funny, Blaise?"

Blaise shifted his Arithmancy book off his lap and cleared his throat, trying to find the appropriate response.

"Of course you think this is funny. You and the whole bloody school. You and the whole bloody world, because none of you understand what's going to happen as soon as my father finds out about this... these revolting displays and my disgusting choice of bed partners."

Oh. So maybe Potter wasn't doing his duty to distract His Blondness. Anger was threaded through Draco's words, along with a healthy bit of disgust, and even... even a tiny slice of fear.

"Draco-"

"No. No, you don't get it. What do you think he'll do, Blaise? Yell? Freeze me out, like my loyal housemates have done? Do you think he'll cut my allowance? No." Draco began pulling in deep breaths, and Blaise had to look away from the sight of his long, pale fingers twisting up his sheets. "No, he won't. He won't send me a howler, he won't take away my broomstick. He won't let my owl go, and he won't send me to my room without supper. We're in the middle of a fucking war, Zabini, and I've just chosen the wrong side. As in, not the side my father fights for. Not the side my mother fights for. Not the side my entire family for thousands of years would have chosen."

"Draco-"

"He'll disown me, at best. That is the best case scenario. He will never approach me, he will cease paying my tuition, and he will allow me to find my way in life without the use of his last name. At best. At worst, he will use me to get at my boyfriend, whom I'll remind you he hates. At worst, he will come here and thank me for helping him turn over Harry Potter to the Dark Lord. At worst, I will be used to further Potter's destruction, and then tossed to the dogs like the traitor I am."

Draco fell silent, and Blaise resisted the urge to say something hollow and comforting, knowing, perhaps, that Draco had needed to tell someone his fears. Knowing that Draco had been unable to discuss it with Potter, for whatever reason. Perhaps he didn't want to worry the brunet. Perhaps he was trying to protect his love the best way he knew how. Perhaps he simply didn't want to think about it with Harry there.

He picked up his Arithmancy book again and the silence stretched on.

* * *

Harry didn't look up at the soft footsteps behind him, engrossed as he was in his mountain of extra potions homework. He didn't move when the cushions to his left sank in and a warmth settled beside him. He didn't acknowledge the soft, polite greeting.

He did, however, react to the pain of a palm snapping against the back of his head.

"Ginny!"

"Harry." The redhead wasn't smiling at him.

"What was that for?"

"That was for subjecting me to the public groping of Draco Malfoy."

Harry rubbed at his new sore spot and rolled his eyes, closing Potions for Everyday Use with a thump, and placing it on the table between his couch and the Gryffindor hearth.

"Why in Merlin's name are you annoying your boyfriend in such a manner?" Ginny lowered her voice towards the end of her harsh statement as a second year began to lean closer and cease taking notes.

"You sound like your mother, Ginny." Harry breathed back at her, hoping the lump would go away eventually.

"Harry Potter-"

"He looks cute annoyed! Why can't I annoy him?"

"Because, you insensitive git, he's obviously going through a lot and really, really needs your support. Not this childish behaviour you're engaging in-"

"When did you learn all these big new words?"

Ginny growled, and the second year eased fearfully away, "He's giving up a lot for you, if you hadn't noticed, and I haven't heard him complaining when his housemates give him the cold shoulder-"

"They're arseholes!"

"-or when his favorite teacher looks at him like so much mud on the bottom of his boot-"

"Snape's an arsehole too!"

"-or that his family, the family he has betrayed for you..." She paused and then went on when he didn't interrupt, "has not sent any kind of communication to him for weeks. You and I both know that they must be aware of the situation. Don't you see how worried Draco is? Don't you see how upset and stressed out he's getting? Don't you see that you're the arsehole in this scenario!"

By this time her voice had risen, and no one in the common room needed to strain to hear their conversation, nosey second years included.

"He's going through hell for you, and you're having a ball! I thought you loved him!"

There was silence, the awkward demanding type of silence, before Harry finally blinked at her and licked his lips.

"I..."

He stumbled to a stop before he could complete his sentence and then went pale and bolted up from the couch and out of the room.

Satisfied, Ginny gathered his books into a neat pile and sat primly on the couch, knowing smile curved upon her lips.

* * *

"I'm sorry."

Draco looked up from his tightly clenched hands into worried, emerald green eyes, but said nothing.

"I'm so... so sorry."

Draco shrugged, not even bothering to pretend he didn't know what Harry was talking about, and turned his head to look back out the window towards an empty Quidditch Pitch.

"Draco... say something"

"I'm not mad at you. Where did you get that idea?"

"I... I've been acting like an arse."

"Yes, you have."

"I've been completely insensitive. I haven't been there for you to talk to."

"That's true."

"I'm a horrible boyfriend."

"You're new at it," Draco said, and Harry couldn't tell if it was a joke or an allowance made on his behalf.

"What can I do to make it up to you?" Harry was nearly begging, and weeks before Draco would have been inordinately pleased.

Now, he just felt the emotions he'd been holding back rush in on him.

"Just... just hold me."

And then he was in Harry's arms and being rocked gently, dry sobs, more like awful, heavy shakes, forced from him. He turned his face into Harry's warmth and buried his nose into Harry's scent, eyes closing tight.

It didn't even matter that they were still in plain sight.

End Chapter