Change In A Star's Alignment

Chapter 26:

The next day, he and Draco woke up late and were unable to talk about what had happened the night before. Harry had to admit that he was somewhat relieved about not having to say his feelings, however he knew that they should probably talk about it…

The teens spent the day in classes as per usual for a Monday, but they knew something was different today. Every time their hands would brush, or their eyes would meet, they both blushed and looked away. They spoke to each other and worked together like normal, but there was still that thing that was different. Now the boys felt a hope that the other could potentially like them back, so they were constantly trying to get proof or give subtle hints. Yet, both boys still had that bit of doubt which stopped them from just asking outright.

It was their last class, Potions, and Harry was determined to talk to Draco afterwards. His plan was thwarted however, when Snape called, "Mr. Potter, stay behind after class."

Harry sighed in disappointment but soon became curious as to what Snape wanted from him. As the students rushed out of class, Harry and Draco slowly packed up before stepping into Severus' private rooms.

"So what is this about?" Harry questioned.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten already?" at Harry's blank look, Severus sighed, "Does the Dragon Scale Potion ring any bells?"

"Oh, right! Of course… Sorry." He replied. He had been so preoccupied with his and Draco's feelings that he had completely forgotten about the potion he was to make, "So where are we making it?"

"I have my own private brewery of course. You'll be using it so that there won't be any others near the potion." Snape replied, "We wouldn't want them blowing up the potion by doing something stupid."

Harry smiled softly to himself, knowing that he had been one of those 'others' Snape was referring to only a short while ago.

"Here we are" Snape said after leading the teens down a short hallway.

He followed Severus through the doors and into an octagonal room with four decent-sized work tables in the centre. Right across from the doors was a huge fireplace that lit up most of the room. On the walls on either side of said fireplace, was shelves upon shelves of various potions ingredients. Harry turned to the walls next to the doors and saw that those shelves were almost completely full of already finished potions. The two walls in-between the ingredients and potions, were full of books on everything potion-related one could think of.

Harry inched around the room, thoroughly impressed by Snape's brewery. "Wow," Harry said, "this is amazing!"

"Indeed" Severus replied, "This is where you will be making your potion. I expect you to be here after classes, even if it's just to check up on it."

"Every day?" Draco asked quietly.

"Yes, it is a very delicate potion Harry will be attempting to brew and it will have to be monitored as much as possible since there are no instructions written out for him to follow."

Seeing the blonde's disappointment made Harry's heart flutter oddly as he realised that the blonde would miss him.

"Don't worry, you can stay most days Draco, I won't mind."

Draco smiled brilliantly at him in return, making Harry's heart miss a beat or two along the way.

"Unfortunately Draco," Severus said, "you cannot be here for the first few days as it will be very intense and Harry cannot afford the distraction."

Harry watched as the blonde's smile turned into a slight scowl before nodding in defeat.

"Alright, I get it." Draco replied reluctantly.

"I'll see you tonight Dray!" he said, hoping to see that smile come back.

"See you." Draco responded with a slight smile before leaving the room.

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Severus' POV:

He watched as his godson walked out, wondering as to why the young teen had looked so upset. He looked to Harry, wondering if he was missing something critical that would explain the blonde's odd behaviour. Could it be? He wondered, but quickly shook it off, not wanting to think about it too hard. I don't think I want to know the answer to that just yet…

"All of the ingredients you'll need have been set out on the table closest to the fire." Severus said in order to distract himself.

He watched as Harry set everything up and prepared the first ingredients. He watched in silence for a while, preparing himself for the conversation he was about to start. But how in the world do I start it? He wondered.

"Severus?" the boy said, not looking up from the parchment he was writing steps down on.

"Yes?"

"You and I both know that the beginning is not very complicated, so why did you send Draco away? What is it you need to speak to me about?" Harry replied bluntly.

I guess he started it for me, Severus mused.

Since Harry was being so blunt, he decided to do the same, "What was it like living with the Dursley's, Harry?"

He watched intently as the boy paused in his writing for a mere moment. "What do you mean Snape?"

He's reverted back to using my last name, he observed silently. "I mean exactly what I asked." He said, "What was it like living with the Dursley's?"

"It was fine… Pretty boring really, nothing special really… Why do you ask?"

To him, it sounded like something the boy practiced, like it was a well-rehearsed script. He felt like the only way to get the teen to talk would be to speak as bluntly as he could.

"Don't try to pull that on me, Harry Potter. You can't fool me."

"I'm sorry Sir, but I'm afraid I don't know what-"

"I said not to try that! That's bullshit and you know it! Something was going on in that house, I just know it." He said passionately, trying to get a reaction out of the boy. He wasn't disappointed.

"What do you want from me Snape?" Harry said angrily. "Do you want me to say it was hell? That I hated going back every summer? That they made me feel like shit and treated me worse? That some days I contemplated ending everything just so that I wouldn't have to face them ever again? That I'm Weak for letting Muggles stomp all over me, the "Chosen One"? Is that what you wanted to hear!?" By the time Harry was done, the boy was gripping the table tightly and facing away from Severus.

He felt his heart crack slightly at the boy's outburst, "You're not weak Harry." he said simply, causing the teen to turn around sharply. "You are the exact opposite of weak. You've face the Dark Lord multiple times and you've dealt with bullying from students here and you've survived everything that the Dursley's threw at you. And even after all of that, here you are, about to brew your very own potion at age seventeen. If that's being weak, then I don't know what strength is anymore…"

He observed as Harry slowly began to loosen his grip on the table edge. Soon enough, the teen was sitting in one of the chairs in the room. Snape walked over and took the seat in front of the boy.

"Tell me." He said softly.

"Tell you what?" Harry asked, defeated.

"Tell me what they did to you."

"I…. um… I don't think I can…" Harry stuttered.

"You need to speak to someone, Harry." He said, slightly frustrated.

"I know, but…" Harry started.

"Not me?" Severus asked, understanding that the boy wasn't going to speak with him.

"Not yet." The teen said, somewhat surprising him.

"Alright. Just remember that I'm here once you're ready." He reminded Harry.

"Thank you." Harry replied before going back to his previously abandoned potion.

Severus watched the rest of the time in complete silence as the boy worked diligently on his potion. He couldn't help but think that the person who Harry wanted to talk to first was Draco.

Finally, the teen had finished for the night and Severus was left alone to his thoughts. If Harry's outburst was anything to go by, it's obvious Harry wanted to speak to someone. Now that I think of it, it seems more and more likely that something is going on between Harry and his godson… Either way, Severus thought, I hope Harry opens up to someone…

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Draco's POV:

Once he left the Potions room, Draco found himself a little lost. I've been spending so much time with Harry that now the other teen isn't with me, I don't quite know what to do with myself. He mused, Now what do I do?

Finding no other alternative, he went back to his and Harry's room to finish his homework. Soon though, he found himself with nothing else to do but wait for Harry to return. What is taking him so long? He wondered.

Eventually, Draco fell asleep on the couch in their living room. He didn't get to sleep long however, as he was woken by the slamming of the front door. He watched silently as Harry stormed into the room, looking terribly upset.

"What's wrong?" he asked, never having seen Harry look so distraught before.

Obviously, the other teen hadn't known Draco was in the room, as Harry jumped at the sound of Draco's voice. "Nothing, it's nothing…" Harry said distantly.

Immediately knowing something serious was going on, he stood up and took Harry's hands in his, leading the boy to the couch. Once they were seated comfortably, he went to take his hand away, only to have it snatched back by Harry who then held on tightly. Both boys blushed crimson at the gesture, but neither let go.

"What is this about Harry?" he asked softly.

"I just… I don't know… um…"

"Start at the beginning." He offered.

"Okay, well, um… I was with Snape when he brought something up that upset me… That's all. It's no big deal, really." Harry stuttered nervously.

Draco had never seen the teen be so vulnerable before and he found it sort of frightening in a way, that the hero of the Wizarding World could be so vulnerable and so hurt. It also made him want to hold onto this raven-haired boy for all of eternity and never let him go.

"It is a big deal if it upsets you like this, Harry." He said quietly, looking directly into the boy's beautiful green eyes. "What did Sev say?"

"Well… he uh..."

"Harry," Draco said, holding onto both of Harry's hands now and squeezing them gently in reassurance, "you can trust me. Let me take care of you for once."

He watched as Harry thought about his options before the teen finally sighed, bowing his head and closing his eyes in the process. "He… He asked me about the Dursley's…" Harry confessed.

It took him a minute to place the name, but once he realised who the Dursley's were, a few things clicked into place.

"What did they do to you Harry?" he whispered, not wanting to scare the raven-haired teen off.

"Well-uh… Where do I start?" Harry asked.

"How about at the beginning?" he offered, "What's the first thing you can remember?"

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Harry's POV:

When Harry had left Snape's office, he had meant to simply go back to his and Draco's room and sleep off his emotions. What he hadn't expected was for Draco to be in the living room and try to get him to speak. He also hadn't expected to actually want to talk to the blonde about it all. Yes, he knew it would still be extremely hard, but he also knew that Snape would make him talk eventually anyway and Harry wanted Draco to be the first person he opens up to.

He sat for a few minutes longer, gaining strength from the blonde's hands holding his. He kept his head down, looking solely at their entwined fingers, too nervous and afraid to look into the blonde's beautiful and intimidating grey eyes.

"It started when I was really young… I had always been a burden to them since they didn't want anything to do with my family and here I was, being forced into their lives. All they ever wanted was to be normal Muggles so they despised Magic and I was a constant reminder of the abnormal. They never told me about Magic and they had me think that my parents had died in a car crash…"

He heard the blonde suck in a breath at that, making Harry look up into concerned grey eyes, "Why do I get the feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg?" Draco asked quietly with concern evident in his voice. The blonde squeezed his hands gently before saying encouragingly, "Keep going, I'm here".

Harry smiled slightly in gratitude before continuing on.

"Once I was old enough, they had me doing all of the chores in the house. I would cook and clean, do the laundry… Dudley, my cousin, would get everything he ever wanted and was spoiled rotten while I would receive absolutely nothing. For the longest time I lived in the cupboard under the stairs and they would lock me in there at night or if they went out so that I wouldn't take any food…"

"They kept you in a cupboard?" Draco asked, sounding mortified. "For how long?"

"Eleven years…" he replied, ashamed.

"Hey," the blonde said gently, putting his finger under Harry's chin to make him look up, "there's nothing to be ashamed of. You were so young, there was nothing you could have done."

Harry looked into those grey eyes for a while, trying to find any sign that the blonde was lying, but found none. Once he came to that conclusion, he found himself tearing up a little before preparing to continue onto the hard part.

"There's more isn't there?" Draco asked quietly.

Harry simply nodded before continuing, "As I got older, things got worse. Strange things started to happen around me because of my Magic, but I hadn't known what it was. The Dursley's however, knew all too well that it was my Magic acting up, so I would… I would be… punished… when something strange happened…"

"What would they do?" the blonde whispered.

"I um… They would stop feeding me… They'd give me just enough to keep me living, but that was it, nothing more… Um…"

Harry found himself stopping there, not wanting to go any further.

"Harry," Draco said firmly, "it's okay. I'm here for you now."

"It's just…"

"It's just what?" the blonde responded quietly.

"They would…"

"What Harry? What would they do?" Draco asked, pulling Harry into his comforting embrace.

"When they starved me, they still expected me to do all of the chores" he said into the blonde's neck, "so when I would mess up, they no longer had a punishment until…"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence, not wanting to seem anymore weak then he had already shown.

"Did they hit you?" Draco asked solemnly.

"Yes" he breathed against Draco's neck, not wanting to leave the warmth and comfort of the other teen's embrace.

"Did they use their first? Or…" the blonde asked hesitantly, obviously not wanting to even contemplate what else could have been used.

Everything in Harry screamed at him not to tell anyone. But I'm weak, he thought, I'm too weak to keep this from spilling out now that I've already said so much… I'm so weak… I'm such a Freak…

"Uncle Vernon… he started with just his fist but he got bored of that really fast and he would come up with other ways to inflict pain." He said before he could stop himself.

He heard Draco suck in a sharp breath. "What would he do Harry?"

Harry sighed quietly before slipping out of the blonde's embrace. He noticed the look of confusion on Draco's face and explained.

"I don't think I can talk about it."

He saw that the blonde was about to protest and put his finger up to stop him. With trembling hands, he started un-buttoning his shirt.

"What-" Draco began, but Harry stopped him with a pleading look.

Once his shirt was off, Harry took out his wand and took a deep, calming breath before casting the spell to remove his glamours.

He watched the other boy's face intently and saw the confusion turn to surprise and then to horror. Harry closed his eyes then, finally letting the tears slide down his face. He knew what the blonde was seeing all too well. His chest was marred in scars from many different weapons and household items, but the worst was right at his stomach where the word Freak had been carved into the skin multiple times with a knife.

"Oh Harry" he heard the blonde whisper close by.

At first he refused to open his eyes, not wanting to see the look of disgust that was bound to be showing on the blonde's face. Eventually though, two hands were placed on either side of his face, causing him to open his eyes in surprise, only to close them right away once he saw how close Draco was to him.

"Look at me Harry." Draco said.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes to see concern written all over the blonde's face.

"But… Why aren't you disgusted?" he blurted out in his surprise.

He watched as confusion momentarily overtook concern. "What? Why would I possibly be disgusted with you?"

"Be-because I'm a… I'm a Freak."

"No Harry" Draco replied fiercely, "you are not a freak!"

Seeing the absolute sincerity in the blonde's eyes finally broke him and Harry suddenly couldn't hold himself up anymore. Luckily for him, Draco was there to catch him and the blonde gently guided them both to the ground so that they ended up sitting on the floor together. Draco quickly pulled him into a tight embrace, murmuring over and over again that Harry is not a freak and never has been, while Harry cried seventeen years of tears.

"I'm sorry for all of this." Harry said after the tears had dried up. He had rested his head against Draco's shoulder, thoroughly soaking the blonde's shirt with his tears.

"Hey" Draco responded, pulling away from Harry so that he could look in his eyes, "never be sorry for opening up to me."

He blushed darkly as the blonde used his thumb to lightly wipe Harry's tears off his cheek. He couldn't help but lean into the touch and close his eyes. The blonde then gently placed the rest of his hand on Harry's cheek. They stayed like this for a while, neither wanting to end the delicate moment.

"We should go to bed" Harry finally whispered.

"Yeah…" Draco said with a sigh, slowly lowering his hand from Harry's cheek before standing up.

"Draco…" Harry questioned hesitantly, "Will you um… Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Of course Harry." The blonde said gently.

Both boys climbed into Draco's bed. Once the lights were turned off, Draco pulled Harry into a tight embrace once again.

"I'm here for you Harry, always."

He blushed contentedly before turning in the blonde's embrace to rest his head on the blonde's chest, more than happy to return Draco's comforting embrace.

"Thank you" he said with as much emotion as he could. He searched for the blonde's hand in the dark, clutching it closely to his heart once he found it.

"Goodnight Dray." He said quietly, already half asleep.

"Goodnight Raven…" Dray replied, causing Harry to smile before falling asleep in the blonde's arms…

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Draco's POV:

Draco lay awake in bed that night, thinking of everything Harry had told him. I can't believe he told me of all people, he thought to himself. He couldn't believe that Harry trusted him so much. He looked down at the teen in his arms and couldn't help but smile at the teen currently clutching his hand while sleeping. That smile quickly faded however, when he saw the still-visible scars all over his Raven's upper body.

He must have forgotten to put the glamours back on in his exhaustion, he thought. Lightly, Draco ran his fingers over the scars he could reach, stopping at the biggest scar on the teen's stomach. By his reaction earlier, he obviously thinks himself as a freak… he thought sadly. The more Harry had told him, the more he found himself falling in love with this raven-haired beauty. He's so strong, so loving, despite the lack of love he's received all these years… His whole life…

Despite all of the scars, Draco still thought his Raven is the most beautiful person he's ever seen. He's not your Raven, he thought. Learning all of this about Harry only made Draco more determined to make Harry his.

"Oh yes Harry," he whispered smugly as he gently stroked the teen's face, "One day you will be my Raven… There's no way I'm ever letting you go if you'll have me…"

If only he'll have me…he thought as he finally fell asleep to the steady beat of Harry's heart under his hand.