You Jump, I jump
Written by StrawberryGirl87
Hogwarts no longer feels like home, it is time to move on but Harry has nowhere else to go. Standing on the precipice of uncertainty he finds a helping hand from the most unlikely of people. Someone who is willing to stand by his side when things seem bleak.
Chapter Twenty One
Harry hadn't slept well that night. In fact he had barely slept at all and when he had his dreams had turned into nightmares. If he was ever going to get a clear head to think things through then he was going to need a good night's sleep. The only way he was going to achieve that was with a dreamless sleep potion and he was the first to admit that he wasn't the best at potions but this one seemed very simple.
He did however have to brave a trip to Diagon Alley and the apothecary there so he could purchase the ingredients he needed to brew it. After being punched in the face the previous day by Katie Bell's father and the Daily Prophet spewing their usual bile about him on a Daily basis he didn't really want to go. However another night of fitful, terror filled sleep was not an option. If he couldn't sleep with Draco in his arms then a dreamless sleep potion was the next best thing.
He was feeling a little hurt when his text message to the Slytherin the day before had gone unanswered. He knew that he was being unfair to Draco, upping and leaving him was potentially the cruellest thing he had ever done to anyone that he had genuinely cared for. He didn't blame him if he was angry at him but he wished that he would respond. Harry missed him.
He felt the need to cover up so he put on some simple black robes over his jeans and a t-shirt. The cloak wasn't going to do much in the way of concealing his identity but he couldn't very well go walking about Diagon alley in his invisibility cloak, which he had left behind with Draco anyway.
He pulled his robes tightly around himself and added a cloak over the top, bringing the hood up over his messy raven hair. If he kept his head down and didn't speak to anyone then he might just make it back without being punched again, one could only hope. With his wand stowed in his inner cloak wand pocket and the mobile phone in his jeans he knew that it was now or never. If he didn't leave then he was going to chicken out about going and then he would be facing another difficult night of restless sleep filled with horror, bloodshed and screaming.
He apperated, hoping to get in and out as quickly as possible, landing haphazardly in the middle of the cobbled street. He hated doing it but it truly was the quickest way. It wasn't too busy as it was early still but there were enough people around to notice who he was. Keeping his eyes low and avoiding people as best he could he made a beeline for the apothecary. Up ahead he could see Fred and George's joke shop, which he supposed only belonged to George now. At that thought his heart gave off a pang of guilt at Fred's death.
He had seen the body of the red headed twin bloodied and mangled in his dreams the night before. Remembering how messed up he had been, viciously torn to pieces and it made him feel physically sick. He just wanted to go home … but then he realised that he didn't have a home, not really. Grimmauld place was just a building, filled with memories, good and bad, he didn't consider it home. Hogwarts too would never feel like a safe and loving home again, not after all the death and carnage.
To Harry home was somewhere he felt safe, loved and wanted to be. The only place he wanted to be in that moment was with Draco and he didn't care where they were as long as they were together. His yearning for the blonde was like nothing he had ever felt. Not even in his first year at the school for witchcraft and wizardry when he had become addicted to visiting the mirror of Erised and seeing his family reflected in front of him. It had been a strong force that had kept him going back there every night until Dumbledore had stopped him, the yearning for Draco was so much stronger than that.
However thinking of the mirror made him think of Dumbledore, the man who he had considered a mentor and strangely even a father figure. It was yet another person whom he had lost over the course of a war. He may have lived a long and full life but he was still dead before his time. Harry remembered vividly that night on the astronomy tower. He would never forget it. How Draco had disarmed the elderly man, how he couldn't bring himself to kill him and yet how Severus had. To save Draco, to keep him safe. Just like his parents had done, not wanting to lose him like they had lost Cassie.
Harry entered the potions shop trying to keep his cool as he dodged around shelves of odd looking ingredients, the smell of brewing potions hitting him full force and he couldn't help but be reminded of Severus Snape, whom he had been thinking about only moments ago when he had recalled the night Dumbledore had died.
His outward sneer and cold exterior had been a front for pain and heartache. He had loved someone who could never love him back. His own mother had fallen in love with another man when her lifelong friend had loved her all along. Harry didn't want to end up like that, he didn't want to be old, alone and bitter having let the love of his life slip away because he had made the wrong decision and just walked away from the best thing in his life.
Breaking form his thoughts Harry showed the shop assistant, who openly gawped at him, the list of ingredients he needed. It took longer than he thought it necessary to gather them together. Any longer and it would have been pushing Harry's patience to the limit. He wanted to go home and brew the potion so that he could get some sleep. He didn't want to be here, this place was bringing back too many memories, bringing too many thoughts to the forefront of his mind.
Even as he paid for his items he couldn't help but think of how many similarities there were between the hatred Ron and Draco had for one another as the hatred that Severus and James had had. His father and Snape had both loved the same woman. Even though his relationship with Ron was hugely different, he still felt as if he were stuck in the middle between them. He hated the arguments that this was causing, he wanted a way to fix them.
Leaving the apothecary, his items clutched in a bag at his chest, lost in his thoughts about how he was even going to begin fixing things in his life, convincing Ron to at least consider giving Draco a chance and also making it up to Draco whom he had just walked out on, he barrelled into someone. He had been so wrapped up in his musings, content to keep his head down and get to one of the designated apparating zones that he had run into a very solid body who was not reacting well to being knocked into.
Looking up, trying to act apologetic as it had been his fault he saw an angry looking Ron glaring at him. His brother George, looking lost with red eyes puffy from crying, standing before him. Harry looked between the two red heads in shock, not knowing what to say but feeling very wary of the angry look in his best friend's eyes that meant he was close to losing his temper.
HPDM
Draco felt so ashamed of himself. He had cried himself to sleep last night, the mobile phone clutched to his chest. He felt awful for it and when he saw himself in the mirror he groaned, he looked awful too. His eyes were red and swollen, he had bags under them too. He hated himself for looking so broken up. They had only been a part for a single day. He needed to pull himself together and quickly.
Running the cold water and splashing it across his face before leaning over the basin and taking a few deep steadying breathe. If he knew where Harry was then he might have gone to him then and there but he was terrified of rejection. He wasn't sure if he would be able to take it. Maybe it was just safer not knowing where he was for the moment. He would give Harry another day and then he would go in search of answers. He couldn't live in this limbo forever, not knowing what was going on or if he and Harry were together or not. Another day just to give him the time and space he needed and then he would go looking.
He grimaced when he saw an owl come swooping in to him carrying a rather large packet of letters, over half of which looked as if they were howlers. Today was going to be a very long day. Again he summoned Links to him, he was going to need his help if he was going to survive the onslaught of hatred without getting any injuries this time as well.
HPDM
Ron Weasley was not happy. He had spent the better part of two hours in his brothers joke shop consoling George who had taken to sleeping there rather than in the family home. He was still struggling with the death of his twin and Ron had wanted to help in any way that he could, including keeping the joke shop running.
Having been up all night thinking about Hermione and their seemingly non-existent relationship, then dealing with George's complete break down the last thing he had wanted was for Harry bloody Potter to run directly into him. Just seeing him had made him so angry, he was the reason that he and Hermione were no longer together, he was the reason that the sodding Malfoy's had escaped Azkaban. What if it had been one of them that had killed Fred? Ron saw red, he drew his fist back and sent it directly at Harry's face without saying a word.
Not expecting the blow Harry reeled back, falling to the ground. He knew that his nose wasn't broken but it was bleeding, he could feel the hot wet liquid trickling down towards his mouth. He sat on the ground where he had landed in shock, completely immobilised over what had just happened. Ron had hit him and apparently he wasn't done yet. Before George could stop him he'd pounced, fists flying and Harry had no choice but to defend himself. He wasn't about to lie back and let Ron beat seven shades of shit out of him.
Clenching his fists together Harry roared in a mixture of pain and anger, no matter what he had done he didn't deserved his. His instincts overrode any common sense he had. His brain was telling him that Ron was bigger than he was and had more brute force on his side but none of that matter as fists rained down on each other, trying to connect with any skin that they could find. Harry suddenly glad that he had word so many layers as each blow of Ron's that connected was partly absorbed by the amount of fabric that he wore.
Never the less Ron managed to land a jab to his side and he felt something crack. Fuming in rage, Harry slammed his head forward as hard and as fast as he could, his forehead connecting with Ron's nose with a sickening crunch as more blood was spilt. The red head stumbled back, clutching his nose screeching in pain. Harry took his opportunity and lunched at his former friend, tackling him to the ground and landing a few choice blows with his fists.
It didn't take long for Ron to recover however, just like a girl grabbing a fist full of raven hair and pulling. Harry growled furiously, if Ron wanted to play dirty and fight like a girl then he could too, he raked his nails down Ron's face which only made the red head angrier.
Soon Harry lost count of the number of blows he had taken. He had tried to give as good as he had got but Ron's hits were harder and faster, thrown with the power of someone who had grown up with six brothers. Dimly Harry remembered how viciously he had been bullied by Dudley and his gang for years as a child. At that he just gave up, he was tired, every part of him hurt but no more than his chest, which still ached for Draco.
"Bloody arsehole, fucking stay down," Ron hissed at him as Harry gasped for breath on the cobbled street of Diagon Alley. They had drawn quite the crowd, no one thinking to stop them. Not even George had got in between them as they had fought it out. But now, even though swollen, bruised eyes, Harry could see that the only surviving twin had given his youngest brother a clip round the ear.
"St Mungos, both of you," He said as he went to help Harry up so he could apperate both of the injured wizards out of sight of the blood thirsty crowd and to the safety of the hospital.