Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Challenges listed at the bottom.
Word Count: 1070
being alone with someone else (is better than being lonely)
"Potter?"
Harry didn't look up, hoping that the man would go away, but there was a shuffle and then a warm body sat down beside him on the park bench.
"I've seen you out here every night this week." There was a pause, and then a deep sigh. "What are you doing, Potter?"
Harry sat up straighter, and looked to the side. Malfoy's hair shone in the moonlight, and his pale skin had an almost unearthly glow to it.
"I'm sitting," Harry said eventually. "Because it's better to sit alone out here than it is to sit alone in the wreckage of a house I live in."
"Why are you living in a wreckage?" Malfoy asked, frowning. "I… I don't understand, Potter. You won. You won, and it's all over now, and… you should be having a fantastic time."
Harry let out a dry chuckle. There was no humour in it, only an edge of desperate frustration and loneliness.
"I should be," he agreed. "And yet, I'm not."
"I don't understand," Malfoy repeated, and he sounded frustrated as well.
Harry shook his head, and then stood up. "I don't understand either. Bye, Malfoy."
…
He was always restless. He found it difficult to sit still, and yet, he had an apathy about actually doing anything, so it was a continuous vicious circle that he couldn't seem to break himself out of.
There was just so much regret, and it felt like a physical weight on his shoulders, weighing him down.
Ron and Hermione had tried to help, but Harry didn't even know what would help, so how could he tell them what he needed?
During the day, it wasn't too bad. He could function, do the things he knew he had to, put on a show for anyone watching who didn't know him as well as those closest to him did. He could pretend that he was fine, could give sound bites filled with optimism, believing none of the words but selling them anyway.
It was nighttime when he suffered the most. It was nighttime when the loneliness felt the heaviest, when the regret threatened to drown him, when he was overwhelmed by the sadness that he couldn't seem to shake. It was nighttime when he left Grimmauld Place and walked the streets until he made it to the little park that seemed more welcoming than anywhere else in the world.
Harry sat on the park bench, and he kept his eyes downcast, and he waited. What he was waiting for, he didn't know, but he waited.
Because waiting seemed better than stopping completely.
…
A warm travel mug was pressed into his hands.
Harry frowned at it, and then looked at Malfoy, who'd joined him on the park bench once more, despite it being the middle of the night.
"It's getting colder now," Malfoy explained, when he saw Harry's questioning look. "So I brought you hot chocolate."
"Oh. Thanks?"
Malfoy nodded, tucking his gloved hands into the pockets of his navy blue peacoat. It was a little odd, seeing Malfoy in anything other than robes, and Harry almost considered saying as much before he changed his mind.
"Are you really going to keep doing this through winter?" Malfoy asked, glancing up at the sky, at the moon which shone above them, the only source of light in the park.
Harry shrugged. "I think if I stop, I'll just… stop. I don't want to stop. Not yet."
"Potter…"
"Thanks for the hot chocolate, Draco."
…
"It's bloody freezing."
"You should have stayed inside."
"Probably. Here. The hot chocolate has whiskey in it this time. I thought it might help."
…
Harry wasn't sure what he expected when Draco started joining him on the park bench three, four, sometimes five nights a week. Ridicule, perhaps. Taunting. Cruel laughter.
But then, they'd all changed with the war, hadn't they?
Not least because Harry didn't even know why Draco was near the park at all. His family home was in Wiltshire, after all, and despite Lucius' trial, and the hefty reparations the Malfoy family had been forced to pay, Narcissa had been allowed to keep the Manor.
Harry thought about asking sometimes.
He never did.
…
"This is ridiculous," Draco said, not even bothering to sit down on the quickly dampening bench, as the rain poured from above. "Come with me, Potter."
"I don't want to go home right now," Harry protested, though it was weak, because even he didn't particularly relish getting ill from the rain.
"I suppose it's good that I wasn't telling you to go home then," Draco replied flatly. "Come with me."
Harry hesitated for a moment, and then got up, following Draco from the park with silent steps. He was led to a townhouse, almost directly in front of the bench that Harry sat on night after night.
Draco opened the door and hustled Harry in quickly. It took Harry a moment to realise that the house had been turned into separate flats, and he followed Draco up the stairs to the second floor, where Draco opened another door to let them both in.
Harry cast drying charms on himself and his clothes, and then followed Draco into a tastefully decorated sitting room. The theme seemed to be cream, olive green and charcoal, but it was… almost peaceful.
"Sit down, I'll get us a drink," Draco said, gesturing Harry to the sofa.
Harry took a seat, and he found himself comfortable, perhaps truly for the first time in years. That he'd gained that almost immediately in Draco Malfoy's home, was mind boggling.
"Here," Draco offered. "Warm butterbeer."
Harry accepted it with a small smile. "Thanks."
"Potter… you can't keep sitting on a bench in the middle of the night in winter. You're going to end up with some awful flu, and I don't actually know where you live, so how am I supposed to bring you hot chocolate?"
Harry stared at him for a moment and then he laughed.
Draco cracked a smile at him.
"Why are you doing this?" Harry asked, raising his bottle in explanation when Draco arched his eyebrow at him.
Draco sighed and then slumped down on the sofa beside Harry.
"Because… because I know that nothing is easy. And I know that being alone with someone else is better than being lonely."
Harry tilted his head and then nodded. "You're right. It is."
Written For:
Writing Club:
Book Club: 15. Restless
Film Festival: 17. Lonely
Games Corner: Character: 5. Reverend Green: Draco Malfoy
Trope of the Month: 8. Desperate
Angel's Archive: 4. Wreckage
Elizabeth's Empire: 18. Ridicule
Ravens: Piper, 1: Overwhelmed
Badgers: 2. Hurt/Comfort
Home Sweet Home: Wall Colour: Grey: Sighing
Twister: Right Hand: 4. Hurt/Comfort / Left Hand: 2. Olive Green
Cupcake Stand: Topping: 9. Fantastic
Planting Flowers: 2. Sweet Peas
Bird Watching: Dickcissel - Draco Malfoy
Paint A Rainbow: Orange: "It's all over."
Afternoon Tea: Pork Pies: (Colour) Navy Blue
Teacup Ride: Yellow: 1. Optimism
Bunny Bingo: 16. Draco Malfoy
Spring Cleaning: Sweep The Fireplace: Efficient: Charcoal
Leap Frog: Emotion: Frustrated
Scavenger Hunt: Careless Whisper - George Michael: (emotion) regret
Hogwarts Garden: Client: Harry Potter: Flowers: Hydrangea: Waiting
365: 130. Downcast
Musical Yearly: 243. Pop: Iris: And I don't want to go home right now
Insane House: 221. Lonely