Title:Game Without Tears
Disclaimer: I do not own, wish I did, but I don't. I only own my plot line. Full disclaimer, first chapter.
Author: ShaeLynn Teelle
All other information: See first chapter.
Polite constructive criticism welcome. FLAMES WILL BE FED TO THE DRAGON IN MY BED.
Chapter 23: Heaven's So Far Away
The group reached the infirmary remarkably fast for having three of them injured. Madam Pomfrey was already in the room when they entered, having been checking her stock of potions. Remus carefully placed Daphne on one of the beds and helped Draco into another while Harry let Pansy down onto another bed. Immediately Harry was sent from the infirmary to get Dumbledore and from there the Headmaster sent him to fetch Gregory and Vincent from the History of Magic classroom.
When the three reached the infirmary at a run, Pansy and Daphne were both behind curtains, blocking them from the rest of the infirmary. Dumbledore was drilling Remus and Draco on what had happened and Remus was trying to get Draco to consume a potion for the shaking that still hadn't subsided. Then, Draco saw Gregory and Vincent.
"I'm so sorry, Greg, Vin. I'm sorry."
Before anyone could say anything in response Madam Pomfrey came out from behind the curtain around Daphne's bed. She motioned to Gregory and Vincent to come closer to her, though it was obvious from the look on her face that she still disapproved of the bonding they had done. She spoke quietly to the two for a few moments and everyone saw the instant when Gregory almost collapsed if Vincent hadn't caught his friend round the waist and held him up.
Vincent nodded at Pomfrey for the both of them and then helped Gregory back to where the others waited. No one made the mistake of asking Gregory what was wrong as the Slytherin was in shock over what Madam Pomfrey had told him. Draco was the first to break the silence as he turned tear-filled eyes to his friend.
"Are they alright?"
"They've lost the babies. Both of them lost their baby," was all that Vincent managed to get out before he sat hard next to Gregory.
That was all the information Draco needed though as he shakily stood up, refusing the potion Remus was pressing on him. He mumbled out another apology, but there was no answer from the two on the bed as tears had finally begun to slowly coat their cheeks. Then, Draco turned and ran, ignoring those calling his name from behind him.
He didn't notice Harry following him only moments later. Nor did he think about the fact that the portrait on the suite of rooms would be closed and required a password. He simply ran to the place that had been his home for weeks. As he approached the suite of rooms at a run, the portrait slid up and the door opened without any prompting from him or anyone else. The moment he passed under the portrait, though, it closed again, blocking Harry from the rooms.
The painting didn't stop the Gryffindor for long and Harry found himself telling the portrait that he only wanted to help Draco before gasping out the password as he tried to catch his breath. The painting rose and Harry hurried into the suite, headed directly for Draco's bedroom.
Draco sat curled up in the corner farthest from the door. His knees were pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped about them as he slowly rocked back and forth. As Harry drew closer to the Slytherin he could hear muffled sobs coming from the young man. When he reached the other, Harry knelt down next to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Draco?"
The Slytherin's hands tightened on his arms, nails digging into his skin and drawing blood, "It's my fault. It's my fault they lost the babies. I was the one that was supposed to be hexed and cursed. They came after me. I should have just let them kill me. They would have left the others alone." Draco spoke in a whisper, but that quickly rose to a shout, "Why do they keep protecting me? I can't stand to see them hurt like this!"
Draco's arms moved from across his legs to cover his head, hands clenching in to where his head met his neck. It only took a moment before Harry saw a drop of blood slide slowly down the side of Draco's neck and he quickly reached up to pull Draco's arms down, surprised at the strength the Slytherin showed resisting the movement. Draco clenched his hands harder so his fingernails dug deeper into the back of his neck, drawing more blood.
"Draco, stop it! Hurting yourself is not going to change anything! Believe me, it doesn't work for very long."
Draco looked up, eyes shining brightly, and sneered at Harry, returning to the mask he had worn around the school for years, "Why do I have trouble believing you about that? Somehow I doubt you have any idea about what you're claiming. Gryffindor's Golden Boy, hurting himself to deal with his fame," Draco mocked.
"Not about the fame, I just try to ignore that as much as I can, but the guilt, well…"
Harry stopped and held up his left hand, palm down, slightly tilted to the side so the skin between his fingers was visible. Draco stared in shock. Along the sides of Harry's fingers were small white scars, a lot of them, about the size of teeth. Some were even the perfect impressions of a mouth, top and bottom rows of teeth. Then, Harry turned his hand over and Draco could see that the palm and the pads of many of his fingers were riddled with even clearer impressions. Draco reached out a slightly shaky hand and ran a finger across the worst one, one that he realized had to have been incredibly deep to leave such a distinct mark.
"Sirius, my godfather, was killed at the end of fifth year. He went after me at the fight in the Ministry and during the battle he fell through the Veil of Death. He never came back. It took me a long time to realize that he was gone forever. This was the night that I finally accepted that he was dead."
"When did you start doing this?" Draco whispered.
"After second year. I kept dreaming that I hadn't been able to save Ginny, that she had died in the Chamber of Secrets. It was too much. It helped at first. It reminded me that the dreams weren't real, but now it's just a habit under too much stress. I haven't found anything else that works."
Draco snickered and looked Harry in the eyes, seeing anger spark at his amusement. "I've heard that a good shag helps with stress. Ever tried it?" Draco asked, snickering again and a moment later Harry joined in.
It took several minutes for the two to calm down and by the end Harry had a couple tears running down his face, "It seems laughing hard helps, too. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much," Harry said, grinning widely at the Slytherin.
"Glad I could be of help," Draco said sincerely, all traces of mirth gone from his face.
The two stared at each other, eyes locked, green entranced by silvered blue and metallic blue trying to drown themselves in the sea of emerald. Unknowingly Draco was still touching Harry's palm and slowly rubbing gently back and forth across the scars. Without conscious thought, the two were slowly leaning towards each other, unable to lose eye contact. A discreet cough from the open doorway brought the two back to themselves and they sprung apart immediately, each snatching their hand back.
Draco looked to the door and saw Vincent standing there, "Yes?"
"Dragon, Pans is awake, now. She would like to talk to you in the infirmary. I suggest cleaning the blood from your neck and arms or she'll know."
Harry looked at Vincent, then, turned back to Draco. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at one of Draco's arms, "Do you want the scars?"
Draco nodded and sat still, trusting the Gryffindor. Harry performed three basic healing charms, one for each of Draco's arms and one for the back of his neck. The charm stopped and cleaned up the blood, and closed the punctures, but the wounds were left to heal on their own, ensuring fingernail-sized scars. He stood up and Draco followed suit before walking over to Vincent. As the two passed the other Slytherin, Draco was stopped by a gentle hand on his arm. He turned to his friend, wary of what Vincent might do for the first time that he could remember.
"It wasn't your fault, Dragon. None of us blame you for what happened. Never think that."
Draco could only nod slightly at his friend, blinking back tears quickly from his eyes before walking into the main room. He saw Professor Snape waiting there for them, the scowl absent from his face for the first time since their betrayal of Voldemort had been discovered. Harry followed Draco out and the four left for the infirmary, none of them saying anything more.
\/\/\/\/\/
It had been ten days since Pansy and Daphne miscarried from the Cruciatus curse that had hit them on the Quidditch pitch. They had returned to the suite of rooms after only a few days in the infirmary and had finally been given permission from Madam Pomfrey to do as they pleased with their husbands, however much she disliked giving that permission.
Harry had not entered the suite of rooms in all that time and the only visitor had been Pomfrey on the two checks she had made on the girls. There had been no word on the Death Eaters that had thrown the curses at them or on what had happened to them. All that the Slytherins knew was that they had not been able to get away.
As Dumbledore again refused to allow them from the rooms after what had happened and Severus refused to have anything to do with them beyond what he had to, Draco had become a potions maker once again. He didn't mind as he was only making the ones that they needed and none of the potions could do any harm. Through judicious requests for ingredients through Madam Pomfrey to the Headmaster, which Dumbledore granted after careful thought, Draco had managed to gather the ingredients and make a contraceptive potion for Pansy and Daphne.
It would last three months and even after Pomfrey gave them permission and the girls had taken the potion, Gregory and Vincent were adamant about waiting before they did anything beyond snogging. Neither was willing to risk hurting the girls in any way.
Draco was glad to see his friends so happy and full of life, but he often found himself thinking about what Harry might be doing at that very moment. He hoped that what had almost happened in his room after the attack hadn't turned Harry away from being near him. Then, after ten days the entrance opened and Harry walked through.
Vincent and Pansy had gone to their room for a 'nap' and the other couple was curled up together, asleep on one of the couches by the fireplace. Draco was sitting at the table, going through and translating the potion book he took from Voldemort, which Dumbledore had given back to him only the day before, when Harry walked in.
"Draco."
"Harry."
The Gryffindor looked about the room, noting the two asleep on the couch and the closed bedroom door, indication that it was occupied, "Can I talk to you?"
"Sure," Draco said immediately, curious why Harry seemed reluctant to speak and waved his hand at the five empty chairs at the table.
"Could we talk alone?"
Draco looked over to the two on the couch, "I don't think either of them are going to wake up any time soon."
"I don't want to chance anyone listening in. I wanted to talk to you about what happened the last time I was here."
"Oh," Draco looked back at Gregory and Daphne and caught Daphne with one eye cracked open, watching them. "That might be a good idea. We can use my room, there's not really anywhere else we could go."
Harry nodded and followed the Slytherin into his room. Draco sat on the edge of his bed, leaving room for Harry when he sat down. Harry looked around the room for a moment, then closed the door behind him. Draco watched silently as the Gryffindor approached and sat near him, leaving about two feet between them on the bed. The two sat in silence, sneaking glances at each other only to glance away when the other caught them.
"How are the cuts?"
"Healed. There's only light scars left… Thank you for that."
"For what?" Harry asked, catching Draco's eyes and not glancing away.
"For allowing the scars. I don't know many people that would have even asked if I wanted them."
Harry nodded, "I know what you mean. There's no one I know that would have left my hand to scar if they had known. I did some research the summer after fifth year and found I was very good with concealment charms. Ron and Hermione know about them now, but I didn't tell them until the start of this year. They wouldn't have understood it before."
"They understand it now?"
"Yes, they… They accept it now and they found that sometimes everyone needs something to let their frustrations out on. They're shagging finally and it seems to work for them. I don't think you want to know what they did before. Sometimes I really wish I'd knocked on the door that day."
Draco paused for a moment, his imagination going wild before he started to laugh. He watched Harry glare at him for a moment before he, too, began to laugh.
"You're right, Harry. I don't want to know what they were doing," Draco managed to get out between laughs. "Can you imagine those two being married? Hermione would be chasing him around with a wooden spoon at least once a day!"
"She's already doing that and he's just proposed to her."
Draco clutched his stomach and fell over laughing. He soon had tears streaming from his eyes and rolled onto his back, staring up at the green canopy above his bed. He lightly panted for air as he calmed down and felt the bed shift. Harry's face appeared above him, unreadable through the strands of hair that had fallen over his eyes. Without being completely aware of what he was doing, Draco reached up and brushed the fringe away from the Gryffindor's eyes. His hand was still against Harry's face when the other young man leaned down over him, one arm on either side of Draco.
Lips brushed against one another's slightly, just that they could feel the contact. Draco moaned quietly, his hand slipping to the back of Harry's neck. They broke apart, only far enough away to clearly gaze into each other's eyes. Harry leaned down again, his lips meeting Draco's with more force, his tongue lightly brushing across the Slytherin's bottom lip and Draco opened eagerly, his tongue meeting Harry's half-way. The kiss lasted far longer than the other, but eventually Harry broke away.
Draco took in a deep breath of air and felt Harry place light kisses across his jaw line and further down to his neck, panting heavily against his skin. The Slytherin moaned quietly and tilted his head back to allow Harry more access, his hand lightly rubbing and squeezing the back of the Gryffindor's neck. Harry shifted his weight and one hand moved to the hem of Draco's sweater, carefully slipping underneath to find hot flesh that reflexively jumped at the unexpected touch. Draco's other hand reached up and clutched at Harry's bicep as he continued to kiss Draco's neck until he had reached the neckline of his jumper.
Harry pulled away abruptly and Draco pulled his hands back, thinking that perhaps the Gryffindor had realized whom he had been kissing and was now only wanting to leave. That notion was quickly gone from his head when Draco felt the edge of his jumper shift and moist lips touch the skin just below his navel. Draco gasped and arched slightly, hands fisting into the quilt below him. He moaned when he felt a tongue sneak a taste of him.
"Harry," Draco whimpered and heard a slight affirmative sound from the face pressed against his stomach, causing faint vibrations, and licked his dry lips to continue, "We shou-shouldn't be do-oing this." Draco had a difficult time speaking, especially as he felt Harry's hands move to his belt and start undoing it.
"Isn't this what you want?"
Draco looked down at the Gryffindor whose industrious hands had opened his belt and were currently pulling down the zipper, "Only if this is what you want, Harry. Not just for me."
Harry looked up and smirked at Draco as he finished unfastening the trousers and pulled them and the briefs underneath off the Slytherin's legs, leaving them in a pile off the side of the bed, "Don't worry, Draco. I did a lot of thinking these past days. I want this and you can return the favor later, if you want."
*edited out for ffn*
Finally, when Draco had caught his breath, he turned his head and lost himself within the Gryffindor's emerald eyes, "Harry—"
Whatever Draco had been about to say was interrupted by a loud knock on the door and Vincent's voice, "Dragon, the Headmaster is here and wishes to speak to you if you and Harry have finished talking."
Draco could have sworn that he heard amusement in Vincent's voice and he scowled at the door, "In a moment."
The Slytherin sat up and slid off the bed, collecting his pants and briefs from the floor. He pulled them on and turned back to Harry only to find he was already standing behind him, hunger in his eyes. The dark haired man leaned in and captured Draco's lips in a deep kiss.
"Will you come back later?" Draco asked after the kiss had ended, trying to keep his hope from his voice.
"Would you like me to?"
"Yes," Draco answered quietly.
Harry nodded, eyes shining, and waved his wand, returning the room and their appearances back to how they usually were. Then, the two walked into the main room to greet the Headmaster. Dumbledore sat in Draco's usual chair, staring into the fire. Professors Snape, Lupin, and McGonagall stood near the door, waiting. The Headmaster turned to look at the two as they entered and the only twinkle in his eyes was from the flickering light of the flames.
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