Summery: Draco decides to stay away from Harry for their last year at Hogwarts. But being separated from him finally makes Draco realize how much he cares for the depressed Gryffindor.

Disclaimer: As much as I would love too, I do not own anything that has been previously mentioned in The Harry Potter Books, which is very unfortunate for me.

The Tale of a Dragon

Ch4: Silence Is Definitely Golden

Draco wiped his eyes with his hand and gave a loud sniff as he finally pulled himself together. He hadn't meant to break down like that, and he felt rather annoyed with himself that he lost control of his emotions.

Still holding back tears, he stood and went over to his bedside table so he could grab a tissue. He blew his nose as he went over to the draws to grab a clean shirt out (he was still shirtless). As he did, he caught site of the silver fork again and he choked out of a pitiful sob, in a very un-Malfoyish way. He turned around so he could go in the bathroom have a shower.

He froze when he saw who was standing in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe with a concerned expression on his face.

"What are you doing here Potter?"

"Can I come in?"

"No! Piss off!"

"Draco…"

"No. Just g… What did you call me?"

Harry blushed slightly, but if Draco hadn't have been looking at him so intensely he wouldn't have noticed.

"I called you Draco. Not a crime is it?"

"Well…No…But. No."

"No what?" Draco wavered under Harry's gaze. "Look. I only came he to ask you one question. Ok? The I'll just go."

Draco swallowed nervously. A voice in his head told Draco that he didn't want Harry to leave.

"H-How long have you been standing there for." He couldn't keep the quiver out of his voice.

"About three seconds after you started crying… You were whispering to yourself." He pushed himself off the doorframe. "What were you saying?"

"Nothing." 'Damn it Harry. Why'd you have to see me cry?'

Harry just raised his eyebrows and pushed his glasses halfway down his nose so he could see over the top of them in an uncanny impression of Dumbledore. Draco only managed a weak smile. Harry sighed.

"Can I come in?" He asked again.

Draco shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he debated with himself

"Fine. But don't touch anything. I'll be back in a second." He stalked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He checked the bite in the mirror and sighed in relief when he saw that it had finally stopped bleeding. He washed around the wound and ran his hand (which was blistering severely) under cold running water, which helped it a bit, but not much.


As soon as Draco closed the bathroom door, Harry made his way over to the draw to see what had made Draco sob like that.

What he saw puzzled him even more: A harmless fork.

'What the hell!?' He pocketed it in case it had a spell on it or something that was affecting Draco. Whatever it was, Hermione would figure it out.

He sat on the desk chair and looked around the room; it was quite nice and well furnished, it wasn't over-the-top, as he would have guessed. He looked at Draco's desk and noticed scrap pieces of parchment with drawings on them. Not of anything in particular, just random things. Harry noticed he was quite the artist and he wondered what he could do if he were given better materials to work with.

When he heard the door bathroom open, he swivelled the chair around so it wouldn't become obvious he had been looking at his stuff.

Draco walked over to his bed and sat down.

"Well, hurry up and ask this 'one question' so you can get out of my room."

Harry took a deep breath, as if he was dreading the answer. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

"Because you are not worthy of my time anymore."

Draco saw something flicker in Harry's eyes. Sadness and hurt, maybe.

"Ok then."

Draco sighed and rested his head on one hand. "Do you want the truth Pot…Harry?"

"That would be nice."

Draco sighed again. "EverytimeIsaysomethingtoyouitendsuphurtingyouandIdon'tthinkyouneedanymoreonyourshoulderssoIdecidedtoavoidyou." He panted a bit and waited for Harry to make sense of what he had said.

Harry's mouth was moving as he tried to put spaces in what Draco had said, after a while his eyes widened and he said a quiet "Oh…"

Then the predicted silence set in. It went for at least ten minutes before Harry broke it.

"What was wrong before?"

Draco quickly crossed the room and opened the door. "Get out."

"What? Why?"

"You've asked your question so go."

"But…"

"GO!! NOW!!"

Harry got up and slowly left. Draco locked eyes with him briefly and the Slytherin saw pain in his eyes once again. He felt an odd feeling in his chest, but still managed to slam the door as soon as Harry was out of the way. He stared into space for a second.

'Why did I explode like that? I knew that question was coming, so why did I find it such a surprise?'

He sat in the chair that Harry had sat in. Harry had been growing his hair long as a kind of tribute to Sirius and his hair had been touching the back of the chair. Draco buried his face into it and inhaled. It was a blueberry type of smell, which surprised Draco quite a bit. He liked it though, it was nice and it had a calming affect on the blonde.

He would have liked Harry to stay with him. Draco couldn't ever remember ever being held and comforted and he had a fleeting vision of him with his arms around Harry, brushing tears off his face and whispering comforting words in his ear, while being overwhelmed by the smell of blueberries.

Draco shook his head to rid himself of such thoughts. But deep inside, he knew that's what he truly wanted. To be held and assured that everything was going to be ok, even if it was painfully obvious that it wasn't. What made Draco feel even worse was that he had to see that look in Harry's eyes again and know that he was the one that put it there.

'Why do I have to stuff everything up?'

Finally, fatigue caught up with him, and he fell asleep.


Harry heard Draco slam the door as soon as he had left the room. He stared at nothing for a moment

'I knew he would react like that, so why am I so surprised?' He walked for about a minute before he decided he couldn't concentrate on where he was going, so he slumped against a statue as a few tears trailed down his cheeks.

Everything seemed so confusing. What Draco had said to him, made him feel like someone cared about him, not just about his scar or his 'duty'. There was something Draco was holding back though, and Harry desperately wanted to find out what it was and help. He had looked so weak and unguarded while he was crying and Harry never wanted him to be like that ever again.

It made him wonder if Draco ever knew what it felt like to be cared for or if he had even one affectionate bone in his body. Well… Maybe he had one.

But everything had been going so well, why was he thrown out?

'Stupid question really.'

To Harry, Draco Malfoy was an egotistical, aristocratic, pompous, smart-arsed snake. At least that was what he used to think. Not Harry wasn't so sure and he had become concerned that maybe, behind the cold mask, he was actually in pain. What he had saw proved that.

The Slytherin Harry had seen curled up tightly in a ball was one of the saddest things he had ever seen. His eyes were not grey and unfeeling, but a rare shade of blue and strangely magnetic.

Lately Harry had been feeling pushed aside by the order members, who claimed to have his best interests at heart, and the teachers were treading carefully around him (with the exception of Snape, who was being, if possible, more annoying), in case they upset him.

For the first time in his life, he hadn't been looking forward to Hogwarts so he could use magic and play Quidditch (though he still enjoyed that particular aspect), but for the way Draco was going too treat him, because he assumed that it would be the same way he always had, and it wasn't going to remind him that he had lost someone extremely close.

Draco had been plaguing his mind for a while, the things he had said on the train… And the bruise that was on his cheek, what the hell was that?

Now his shoulder was injured and was being covered by a bloody t-shirt and he had looked under the weather.

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud 'meow' near his feet.

'$hit, Mrs Norris.' He swore under his breath and made his way back to Draco's room, as it was the closest place to seek shelter.

He wiped his nose on the back of his sleave and knocked on the door. No answer. Slowly, he pushed the door open without an invitation, like he had before. The first place he looked for Draco was on the bed, but he saw him curled up sideways on the desk chair leaning against the back, facing the wall.

Harry stepped in and closed the door softly as he noticed Draco was asleep. He walked over and was going to levitate Draco over to the bed, but when he reached for his wand he realized it wasn't there, he had left it in the Defence Against the Darkarts classroom.

He contemplated carrying him over, but that plan went down the drain when he got a look at the peaceful look on Draco's face, he would have hated to wake him up.

Harry removed his Gryffindor robe and draped it over the sleeping blonde. As his hands brushed against his shoulder, Draco flinched and Harry withdrew his hand quickly. The bell went again and Harry tiptoed out of the room to join the flood of students as he headed towards Fable's classroom.


Harry was almost knocked backwards when the door to Fable's office opened suddenly and Snape strode out and turned around to look at Fable, who had appeared in the doorway and was wearing patchwork robes.

"We'll continue this conversation after dinner Kathy."

"I look forward to it Severus. Oh, hello again Harry."

"Watch where you're going Potter."

"Severus," Fable said with a smile and a dainty laugh, "Don't pick fights with the students."

"Snape smirked, "Don't tell me how to do my job Katherine. I'll see you tonight." He gave a small bow and stalked off with his robes billowing behind him as he shouted things at students in the hallways that were running to get to their classes on time.

"Excuse him Harry, he seriously had something up his arse. It was your father that put it there in sixth year, a beaters club if my memory serves. Anyway what can I do for you?"

"I think I left my wand in here last period."

Harry was shocked that he could actually put together a sentence after what he had just heard. First off, Snape was being civil, then the comment about his father and Snape's rear-end (which painted a rather horrific picture in his head).

"I was wondering who that belonged too. Come in, Have a seat. I believe you have a free period now. I don't think that would worry you though, as you skipped the last one."

Harry sat opposite his new professor as she rummaged through her desk draw.

"How'd you know I didn't turn up?"

"You had potions, Professor Snape was bitching about it."

"You seem to be friends with Snape."

"Professor Snape and I were once engaged to each other. It didn't work out, but yes, we are friends."

'Talk about opposites attracting. Maybe if these two could be friends, Draco and I could have a relationship… What The Fuck!! Oh, I bloody well did not think that!!'

"Harry, are you ok?"

"What? Yeah I'm fine. I just have to go catch up with Hermione and Ron. I forgot I have to help Hermione with her Head duties."

Fable didn't look completely convinced, but she let him go anyway.


Authors Note: I originally was going to put this story on, but at the last minute I decided to put it on this site.
I made a banner thingy for the story and I was going to put a link to it, but it doesn't work. So if you want to see itcould you give me suggestions on how to do it.

Also (just in case you wanted to know) professor Fable's wardrobe is roughly based on my mothers.