Normal disclaimers… HP is not mine, etc….. Don't sue me, you'll get nothing.
Sorry for taking so long to update!!
Harry stared at the boy lying in his arms. Draco Malfoy. What had he been doing here, in this part of the city, a back alley of London, being beaten by two miscreants? Where had he been for the last few years, ever since he had left Hogwarts? More questions flooded through Harry's mind, yet he knew that he would receive no answer in the foreseeable future. What mattered now was that Draco was hurt, and Harry needed to get him to his apartment. He had been in enough fights to know that the injuries received were not life-threatening. What he needs now is some rest for a few days. Carefully, he lowered the young man to the ground, before casting the ever reliable charm, wingardium leviosa on the unconscious man. Thankfully, his apartment was not far away, and was readily accessible from the back streets of the city. This in turn made certain that there would be minimal risk of being seen by any muggles that were wandering the streets this late at night.
Once again, Harry found himself staring at the man that was now levitating in front of him. Draco still was easily recognisable as the young man who had attended Hogwarts. His platinum hair was now free from gel, and fell gently in cool waves around his face. If he were standing, it would probably reach his shoulders in length. He had lost his youthful look, his cheeks were hollowed out into a semblance of mature angularity; the same look as his father Lucius had had. The black fans of his eyelashes swept softly over his high cheekbones.
What Harry also noticed though, were the dark circles that were hidden underneath the dark eyelashes, and the fact that although Draco had always seemed to be an angular person, he was looking too angular. Looking at his emaciated limbs, Harry could tell that Draco had, or was, suffering from malnutrition. And though Draco had always been pale, (almost like an albino, actually), he was even more pale now. Coupled with being beaten, Draco now had a deathly pallor which made all his newly forming bruises all the more obvious on his beautiful face.
Did I just think of Malfoy as beautiful?
Harry shook his head in frustration. Looking up at a door, he vaguely realised that he had nearly walked past his apartment while staring at Draco. Opening up the door, he steered Draco into the old and rickety goods lift that was an original of the warehouse apartment. The previous owner had converted the old warehouse into a studio apartment that they had used as a getaway for private thought and inspiration, and therefore Harry literally had the whole building to himself. Stepping out of the lift as it reached the top floor, he steered Draco towards his bed. Though he had a couch, he knew that it would not be very comfortable for anyone to wake up on, let alone an injured person, and he had not finished fitting out the guest room yet.
He carefully settled Draco onto his king sized bed, propping his head up with a pillow. Ending the charm, Harry proceeded to the foot of the bed, where he started to remove Draco's shoes. I suppose that I'll have to take off his shirt as well. He set down the shoes, and pushed them under the bed. Moving back up to the top of the bed, he started to undo the buttons of Draco's shirt. Pulling it open, Harry found himself admiring the hard lines of Draco's chest. Stop it! It's Draco Malfoy for goodness sakes! You only hated him for seven years of your life, and he made your life hell for that long as well! Pulling the sleeves off of his arms, Harry noticed that Draco had bruises at his elbow joint. Are these from drugs..? Having finally gotten his shirt off, Harry threw it into his laundry basket. He pulled a sheet over the still unconscious man, and moved over to his couch in order to get some rest and think things through.
So I got dragged out of bed, found out my two best friends are now engaged, went to a night club and saw some very disturbing sights, found an unconscious Draco Malfoy in a back street and brought him back home, and he is now lying half naked in my bed.
Fantastic.
Briefly, his thoughts flickered to the two men that he had left lying immobilised in the middle of the alleyway where he had found Draco. They should have been able to move now, and there was no reason to worry that they might go alerting authorities that they had been made immobile by magic by a young man with a wand. And even if they did, the chances that anyone would believe them was minimal; they had probably been drinking before anyway. Glancing over at the bed, he looked to see if Draco was still sleeping. When was the last time that I saw him?
********
It had been during their seventh year at Hogwarts. It had become increasingly evident in those last few months that the final meeting of the boy-who-lived and you-know-who was fast approaching. After a particularly involved and tumultuous meeting of The Order, harry had decided that he would like some time to himself. Donning his invisibility cloak, he had wandered aimlessly around the upper hallways of the school before finding himself ascending the stair case of the astronomy tower. Once he had reached the top, however, he had realised that he was not alone on the tower that night. Sitting against the stone wall of the tower was Draco Malfoy, casually smoking a cigarette. Thinking that he wanted to avoid a confrontation, Harry turned to go back down the stairs.
"I know you're there. I could hear you coming up the stairs." Draco said, exhaling some smoke. "You can't spend all your time running away. It just won't work one day." Harry turned around. Draco was staring at exactly where he was standing. Deciding that he would not give Draco the satisfaction of knowing that he had avoided him on purpose, he took off his cloak and walked over to him, sitting down next to him, back leaning against the wall. Draco silently offered him a cigarette and he took it. Smoking was a past time that he had taken up ever since the death of Sirius back in fifth year.
Both of them sat in silence, staring up at the sky, studying the constellations, lost in their own thoughts. They sat there for what seemed like hours, smoking cigarette after cigarette, never saying a word. It was odd that Harry was able to relax so much sitting next to the boy that he had fought with so much over the years. It was not an uncomfortable silence; it was just silence. Finally, Draco had turned to look at him.
"You know he's going to try and kill you soon."
"He's been trying for a while now. He's yet to succeed." Harry replied, taking another puff of his cigarette.
"No. I mean really soon. My father is going to pull me out of school right before he attacks you…"
"What? That would almost be a warning sign, wouldn't it? I'm not afraid. Let him come."
"Trying to be brave Potter? Always the noble Gryffindor…"
"And you're always the sneaky Slytherin, giving me a warning about your precious Dark Lord's attack."
"He is not my "Lord". I bow down to no-one." Draco replied, scoffing at the night sky.
"….So. Why are you telling me this?"
"I don't know. Forget I said anything at all." With that, Draco stood up and walked over to the top of the stairwell leading down to the rest of the school.
A week later, Draco was pulled out of Hogwarts on the excuse that Lucius did not want his son to study in a school run by a senile old fool. A week after that, Hogwarts was attacked by Voldemort, but he was beaten for the final time by Harry who had been preparing for his coming, and took him by surprise.
********
Looking back to the man in his bed, Harry wondered if Draco had meant to help him by telling him that piece of information. Deciding that he would ask him when he regained consciousness, Harry fell asleep sitting on his couch.
A.N; Hey hey! So thanks to everyone who read and reviewed!!!! So, I would appreciate it if you would do it again….. hint-hint It might just make me able to type faster and become a better person and achieve world peace. SERIOUSLY.
So, Hopefully, I will update a lot more, cause Christmas is nearly over, and I won't be rostered on to work as much, so I can spend time at home sitting in front of a computer in sweltering 40 degree heat with no air conditioning to make you guys happy. Aren't you glad? ^^*