The Trick Is To Keep Breathing

by neomaxizoomdweebie

After tragedy at Malfoy Manor, Draco is left on his own to face the world - and his own darkness. But can Harry pull him out on time? Set two years after Hogwarts. SLASH.

10. Repercussions

The Trick Is To Keep Breathing
by Miss T

Title: The Trick Is To Keep Breathing
Author: Miss T
Rating: R
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Genre: Romance/Future-fic/Horror
Notes: This story is based on one of my favourite adult-books of all time - Drawing Blood by Poppy Z Brite. The story is not exactly the same, just based around it, although some of it is very similar. I thought it was a good Harry/Draco plot, and I hope you all like it! Please please please take my recommendation of reading Drawing Blood... it really is good.

Chapter Nine

Repercussions

Martin Parish was loading barrels under the counter when he heard a banging on the front door of his pub. He was in for the early morning delivery, and wasn't expecting any customers this morning, let alone at the crack of dawn.

"We're not open!" He yelled from under the counter.

The banging continued, getting louder. Sighing and getting to his feet, Martin walked over to the door and pulled it open, only to have two young wizards fall through the threshold and into the dim light of the empty pub.

Draco Malfoy had his bloody arm underneath Harry Potter's waist, holding him steady as the green eyed boy pulled and scratched at his own hair. Harry's face was covered in blood and bruises, and Draco's hands and face were splattered with dry blood. Martin's jaw dropped in a questioning expression, not really knowing what to make of the whole situation.

"I'm keeping myself awake." Harry mumbled. "I have a head injury. We could use some help, if you don't mind."

"What in the name of Merlin happened to you two?" Martin heard himself ask.

"Do you know how to drive?" Draco asked.

Martin moved forward and gingerly lifted Draco's arm up, observing his broken fingers. Harry stumbled backwards away from the two and landed with a thud on the floor. He swore under his breath as his eyes began to fill up with helpless tears. Draco and Martin helped him up and the barman led the two to a table. "I can't think straight." Harry whimpered.

"Are we talking about a muggle car, here?" Martin asked Draco. Draco nodded.

"Well, yes... I can drive... not very well, mind you but I think I'll manage to get you into town to the nearest emergency room."

As the three men piled into Harry's car - Harry and Draco in the backseat, Martin in the front. Draco tried his best to keep Harry awake for the duration of the journey, even tried their usual swap of insults but Harry kept drifting in and out of sleepy dozes. Draco was afraid that if he let the raven haired boy fall asleep, he might never wake up.

When the three men eventually reached a hospital, Draco immediately approached the front desk of the emergency room, his eyes blazing, not really caring that he was surrounded by muggles.

He checked himself and Harry in, telling the nurse only that they had been in an accident. "Marital status?" She asked, fumbling with some sort of white board with little letters and numbers on it.

Harry looked up at Draco with questioning eyes. "Single. He's with me." Draco replied.

The nurse glared at Draco and considered his words. "Brothers?"

"Uh... cousins. That's our uncle over there." Draco nodded at Martin.

"Okay, you can go back together." The nurse handed Draco and Harry a clipboard and some medical forms and pointed them in the direction of the waiting area.

Draco realised that the muggle-medication technique was far more painful than that of the wizard. "We can't go to St Mungo's." Harry hissed in his ear as a nurse strapped his fingers together painfully. "One - our injuries aren't exactly magic related, and two, they'll know who we are - the press, just imagine the headlines of the prophet tomorrow morning."

Draco snorted. 'YOUNG MALFOY GOES CRAZY AND BEATS OLD SCHOOL RIVAL INTO A BLOODY PULP. OH, AND BY THE BY HIS OLD SCHOOL RIVAL HAPPENS TO BE THE BOY WHO LIVED.'

"You're right." Draco sighed as the nurse gave him a bag of ice to hold over his bandaged hand. He watched as a doctor fussed over Harry, looking at the gash on his head and shining a little black rod that looked like a wand with a light at the end in Harry's eyes.

The doctor then turned to Draco and placed the wand-thing in the top pocket of his white shirt. "He's concussed. But it's not serious, so I suggest you let him rest - don't let him move around a lot."

"I have to..." Harry whined in the background as a nurse gave him some more painkillers. "I'm the Boy Who Lived..."

"I won't." Draco told the doctor as he helped Harry down from the examining table. The doctor glared at the wound on Harry's head again. "Mmmm, maybe we ought to stitch that up." he pondered.

"No! No stitches!" Harry suddenly got a flashback of when he was seven, climbing the tree in the back garden at the Dursley's. He remembered falling out of the tree headfirst when Dudley had shook the branch he was lying on... going to the hospital with a very exasperated Uncle Vernon. He was forbidden to go outside for the rest of the summer holidays.

"Well, it's your head... What hit you, anyway?" The doctor asked.

"A bag of gold coins."

"Pfft! A bag of gold coins? Couldn't have been - that would have knocked you dead!"

"It was coins." Harry insisted.

The doctors eyes went wide and he turned to Draco. "He might not be... err... compos mentis for a day or so."

"I understand." Draco placed a hand on Harry's and smiled.

/I believe you./

On the way back to the village, Draco and Harry remained huddled in the back seat together as Draco tried to give Martin a logical explanation of the night's events, not really going into too much detail than were necessary. Martin didn't say much, but he seemed to believe every word from Draco's mouth.

"I don't know what we're going to do." Draco told Martin. "Would it be possible to stay in one of the rooms at your pub for a day or so?"

Martin nodded sharply as he pulled the car into a small space at the back of his building. "Absolutely. No problem - as long as you need."

"Oh, I don't think it'll be very long." Draco replied, his tone very thankful for Martin's generosity.

/I like the village - but even staying in the same place as that manor is too much to take. I found out what I needed to find out and I'm going home with Harry./

Draco looked down at Harry who was currently lying on his lap, his green eyes shining in the morning light. He wasn't supposed to go to sleep for another couple of hours - orders of the muggle doctors, but he looked wide awake anyway. Awake, and glad to be alive.

Kerid sighed as he set up the shop for the day, mulling behind the till like he usually did on a boring Monday morning when no wizards or witches came to have a rummage in his little second hand bookshop. He had just been reflecting over the events at the pub last night, the way Chris had whined his ear off because Harry Potter had turned him down, when he noticed that a young witch and wizard were standing by the history section and eyeing him curiously. One was an overly tall man with sparkling blue eyes and a gawky build, shifty features with his longish flame coloured hair tucked behind his ears. The witch with him was a pretty petite girl with bouncy golden brown curls and a young looking face. She held onto the redhead's hand, and Kerid couldn't quite read her expression.

"Can I help you?" Kerid inquired. The witch stepped forward and thrust a photograph of Harry Potter towards Kerid across the counter. The photograph had been taken at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - it looked like the last day of term. The sun was shining bright in the wizard-photo, and Harry sat cross-legged against a large tree next to the lake, throwing a golden snitch in his hand and looking very pleased with himself.

"We're looking for this boy," she said. "His name is Harry. He's a good friend of ours, and we're worried about him - he hasn't contacted us for about a week now, and he was supposed to. We performed a locator charm and all that came up was this village - have you seen him?"

Kerid sighed and picked up the photo, as if pondering it. "My name's Hermione - this is Ron. We're his friends, please tell us if you have seen him." Hermione rambled on.

Kerid studied the photo more closely, watching it replay over and over, and noticed that the sides were worn and there was a crease in the middle of the paper - someone had been spending a lot of time looking at this photo. He wanted to bet that that someone was Hermione. "Why did you come here to ask?" Kerid suddenly said.

"Because Harry's a weed." Hermione replied shortly. "You usually find him in a bookshop."

Kerid smiled and placed the photo down. "Okay," he said. "Harry's in the village, yes."

Hermione's face lifted into a wide smile and she turned to face Ron excitedly before looking back at Kerid eagerly. She obviously cared about Harry a great deal, along with the rest of the world, so it seemed. Kerid decided not to mention Draco to either Hermione or Ron - it was none of his business anyway.

"He's staying with a friend." Kerid said. "In an abandoned mansion at the top of the hills. There is no way on this earth that I'm going to go up there, and I don't suggest you two go, either. But I'll take you over to the pub on the other side of the village that my friend Martin owns, he knows Harry. He can go tell him you're here."

"A friend?" Hermione echoed, her smile disappearing.

"Uh... yeah." Kerid replied. "Look, why don't I just take you over to Martin's, and he can tell you."

Up in one of the small inn-rooms above Martin's pub, Draco and Harry lay sprawled on the small single bed, neither of them asleep - just dozing in the gentle summer breeze coming from the open window.

"What were you wearing there?" Harry asked.

"Black expensive wizard cloaks that I've seen my father wear before. My hair was tied back like his, too. It was quite scary, actually." Draco laughed. "What about you?"

"I had this black pinstriped suit thing with a cloak and green satin shirt. My hair was gelled back."

"Mmm, dashing. Shame I didn't see you."

"We were in the same place, weren't we?"

"We were in Noxland."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that we were inside Lucius' mind. Or we were in hell. Or we were just hallucinating. How the fuck should I know? You were there. You saw it." Draco began to regret his sharp tone, but he was not ready to pick apart at what went on inside the house just yet. He'd only just got out of it, he didn't want to sort out the memories just yet.

"Come home with me." Harry said eventually, his voice wavering.

Draco caught his breath and looked down at Harry, whose dark haired head lay on Draco's chest. "But what about the press..."

"Fuck them. We'll find a way to get around that." Harry replied quickly. "I just can't leave London, Draco... it's my home. I love it there. And I want you to be with me."

After a while, Draco finally answered. "Me too." He whispered. "I love you."

".... mmmm... love you too..." Harry sighed as he fell asleep against Draco.

Kerid had led Ron and Hermione around to the back of Martin's pub, knowing that the older wizard wasn't opening until noon.

"That's Harry's car!" Hermione yelped shrilly, pointing to the blue muggle car that was parked awkwardly next to some barrels of Butterbeer.

Kerid leaded them to the backdoor of the pub and knocked loud on the hard wood. The door opened a crack and a tired eye looked out before it swung all the way back, revealing a tall, middle aged man with long dark hair tied into a ponytail. "Morning, Kerid." His gaze wandered over to Hermione and Ron and he eyed them politely, but questioningly.

"Good morning." Kerid said. "Uh, Martin? These are Harry Potter's friends from London. Seems Harry forgot to tell them where he was going, and didn't keep in touch. They were a bit worried about him."

Martin smiled. "Well, come in. The boys are asleep right now." He gestured them into the empty pub and pulled out some stools for them. "What're they doing here, Martin?" Kerid asked as he sat down.

"Something happened at that house last night." Martin said gravely.

"I knew it!" Kerid said, jumping up slightly. "I knew that place was haunted! I went in there once, me and Jordan and Jason, and you wouldn't believe what we saw-"

"What?" said a quiet voice from the doorway behind the counter. "What did you see?"

Everyone turned round. A tall boy with long white-blonde hair stood shirtless, his right arm in bandages, his pale eyes looking at everyone sleepily.

Ron stood up automatically, causing his chair to fall over with a clatter. Hermione lifted her hands to her mouth and let out a muffled shriek.

"Malfoy?!" Ron said. The tone wasn't hostile, something Draco was expecting. It was just of utter disbelief.

"Ron." Draco replied, nodding. It felt so weird to say the redhead's first name, but if he wanted to be with Harry he was going to have to get used to it.

"How did you... what did you..." Hermione rambled, her eyes getting wider by the second.

Ron coughed uncomfortably and bent over to pick his seat back up, murmuring an unintelligible apology to Martin. "Just a fright, that's all." He said, his face going crimson. Draco raised his eyebrows. He was expecting more 'Omigod Harry's been with THIS git all the time' and 'you haven't changed at all ferret face''s, but none came.

"Hi, Draco." Kerid said uneasily. "I... errr, if you don't mind I'd rather not tell you what I saw. I shouldn't have been talking about it."
"It's okay." Draco said. "So, Ron... Hermione..." Hermione muffled another whimper. "... what are you doing here?"

Hermione then pursed her lips together and made a 'Pfft.' noise before standing up and folding her arms over. "We're Harry's friends, Malfoy. You should have known that by now-"

"Hermione..." Ron said tiredly, rubbing at his forehead.

"No, Ron! Malfoy, is Harry alright?" Hermione asked, turning her gaze away from her boyfriend and back up to Draco.

"He will be. What is it you actually want?" Draco said.

"Draco? What's going on?" A pair of arms came around Draco's waist from the darkness, and a moment later, Harry had his chin propped up on Draco's shoulder, his hair more messy than Hermione remembered it being, and his glasses gone. He was wearing a pair of black jogging bottoms and a white t-shirt, but it looked like he had only just shoved them on. When his eyes adjusted to the light, he made out Ron's flaming hair straight away... and Hermione's flaming face...

"Holy cricket! I think I'm hallucinating again!"

"No, you're not. They're real." Draco steered Harry over to some more seats next to the table, sitting next to him and putting a caring arm around his shoulders. "They won't tell me why, though." He finished flatly, glaring at Hermione.

"We want you to leave with us, Harry." said Hermione. "You've hid long enough. I practiced a banishing charm around your flat - the press no longer know you're there anymore. They think you've moved to the Bahamas or something. They won't be coming back. You're safe to go back inside."

Harry took in a deep breath through his nostrils. "First of all. Hi Hermione. Hi Ron." Ron smiled shyly at this and raised an awkward hand in a wave, only to be batted impatiently away by Hermione. "It's good to see you," Harry continued. "Thank you, for doing that. It means a lot. It saves us a job."

Hermione spluttered a cough. "Us?!"

"Yeah, Herm. Us. Me and Draco. If there's a problem, then I suppose we'll have to get away on our own somewhere else."

Hermione watched with fury pumping through her veins as Harry placed a hand on Draco's thigh. "Just tell me how you could do it." She said, trying her hardest to keep her tone even.

"Do what?"

"Fall in love for the first time, with your worst enemy of all people, you bastard!"

Harry's mouth opened and closed for a few seconds as he pondered the question, hurt running across his features due to what Hermione had called him. "I don't know." He answered honestly. "I've known Draco for eight years. But I only met him a week ago. It just feels right, Hermione."

Hermione shifted her gaze over to Draco, who looked at her steadily, his expression calm and exposed. His usually cold grey eyes shone with a new light, burning passion and... happiness? There was chemistry between Harry and Draco - that much was obvious. But Hermione wondered why. Was it all those repressed feelings back in their years at Hogwarts? Was there passion building up between that thin layer of hate? Did it burst over this week? Or did they just fall in love during the course of Harry's week here? Hermione didn't know. But she suddenly understood - they were just... right together. It was obvious just watching them sit like that together.

Slowly, Hermione nodded, causing Harry's face to light up with the most heartbreaking smile - a smile she had sorely missed seeing over the past couple of days. "Whatever makes you happy, Harry." She said.

Ron nodded in agreement. "Hey, no hard feelings, eh mate?" He said uncomfortably over to Draco, who simply glared back with a raised eyebrow before smiling lightly.

"I'll keep my promise if you keep yours, Weasley... Ron." He replied, somewhat dryly.

The rest of the day was a perplexing haze for both Draco and Harry. Draco remembered getting dressed and saying goodbye to Martin and Kerid before getting into the back of the blue Ford with his boyfriend and promptly falling asleep on his lap as Hermione drove them and Ron back to London. He was just beginning to doze into a deep sleep when he felt someone shake his shoulders. Opening his eyes with a well-rehearsed 'Fuck off, I'm trying to sleep' planted at the back of his tongue, Draco gasped as he saw Harry smiling above him, and remembered where they were.

"Hi." Harry said, grinning.

"Hi." Draco replied sleepily, sitting up and looking out of the window. The car had now stopped, and Hermione was busy getting out of her seat and advancing on the trunk. In front of them was a large block-like building, about four or five stories up. The architecture was vaguely Victorian, but it looked very comfortable indeed.

"Welcome home." said Harry.

The End