Chapter 6: Morning

Harry woke early in the morning, the sky was just starting to turn a light purple. Something was preventing him from moving his arm. He looked over to see a blonde mess of hair pressed up against him. The few events he remembered of the past few days played through his head. Draco is being so nice to me, he thought. When is it going to end? When is he going to realize I'm no better than the scum he used to think I was? He stared at the blonde sleeping beside him. He's so sweet when he's asleep. Did I just refer to Draco as sweet? And when did he become Draco? Where am I anyway? The past few days were an absolute blur. He remembered seeing Draco at the store and hotel. Then life went on as usual. Draco said they could run off together and he agreed… Then what? He wracked his brain and finally something came to the surface. I wrote Draco a note asking him for help. The Dursleys were so mad… but why? Someone carried me, he recalled. There were steps… and then we apparated. Nothing fit together and it was all becoming incredibly frustrating. He looked around the room. Other than Draco, everything was foreign to him. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought he was in Snape's house. Harry chucked to himself. He recalled he had a dream that he was having negative side effects to a punch Vernon threw once before, but instead of pissing the good carpet, it was a leather couch. He sighed and looked at Draco. He has to have some idea of what's going on, right? Harry decided to just wait until the blonde woke before he frustrated himself with more questions he couldn't answer alone. The waiting made him sleepy and soon enough, he dozed off.

Severus woke as the old grandfather clock in the hall struck eight. He pulled himself up, so he was sitting on the edge of his bed. Rubbing his eyes, he thought about what had happened. Worry spread through him as he remember the terrible condition in which he last saw Harry. He stood and dressed quickly in a black t-shirt and dark jeans. Once he looked somewhat presentable, he trudged down the hall and stopped at Draco's room first. He found the bed empty, but just assumed his godson was using the loo. Snape continued to Potter's room but wasn't prepared for what he saw. Draco and Harry were both asleep, nestled against each other. Potter's just full of surprises. Draco as well, I suppose, he thought to himself as he left the boys to their slumber. He went to the kitchen and fried eggs. As he took a bite, he pondered what to do about his new charges. There was little he could do for Draco, other than protect him from his father when he finally came searching for him. But Potter was a whole different battle. Why didn't Dumbledore check on the blasted family? He thought angrily as he stabbed at his eggs. Why didn't Potter tell anyone? Oh, Severus, he started, answering his own question, you didn't tell anyone either. He poked at his breakfast for a while longer before he abandoned it, no longer hungry. Harry and Draco's voices carried down the hall. They're awake. Brilliant. Severus sat in his chair in the Library and waited for them to come to him.

Harry woke again when he heard the door to his room click closed. He ached to search for his wand but didn't want to disturb Draco, who was still sleeping soundly against him. The blonde woke a few minutes later. He looked up at Harry and smiled. "Good morning, Sunshine," he said, a small hint of humor in his voice. Harry's hair was an absolute mess, worse than when he saw it by moonlight. He wanted so badly to run his hands through the black forest but refrained.

"Morning," Harry replied, his voice scratchy and deep from sleep. He studied the boy beside him. The blonde's hair was sticking out at odd angles and looked fluffy. Harry reached out and tentatively stroked Draco's hair. "It is fluffy," he said to himself but Draco overheard.

"Is yours?"

"Why don't you figure out for yourself?" He asked, smirking. Draco reached up and ran his fingers gently through Harry's hair, combing it the best he could. "So, what's the verdict?"

"Only slightly less fluffy than mine," he replied with a small smile. Harry laughed a genuine laugh and Draco didn't think he'd ever heard something so beautiful.

"So um…" Harry began after a few seconds of silence, "Where exactly are we and…. Errr… what's happened over the past few days?"

"Well what do you remember?" Harry told him what he'd recalled earlier that morning, even including the bit about the dream.

"Actually, that—" Draco paused, unsure if he should tell him exactly what happened or not.

"That what?"

"—wasn't a dream," he admitted.

"Oh shit," Harry said, a small frown on his face. It broke Draco's heart to see him upset.

"It's okay… Sev understands… I mean… you told him about the abuse and he understands. Um… Basically… you're here because I took you out of that damned muggle house. I couldn't bear to see you suffer and well… we would have helped you sooner, but you had glamours up and… oh merlin, Harry, you looked awful," Draco's voice cracked. He cleared his throat and continued. "But Sev and I fixed you up. Well actually, he did, I just sorta watched. I mean, he was setting your bones and putting salves on your cuts and bruises…. They look a lot better… um…" he trailed off, not knowing where to go. He was slightly embarrassed by his voice cracking.

"Thank you," Harry said at last. He hadn't realized Draco cared so much about him, nor that his glamours weren't up. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that…. No one ever has. Except…. Them," he said, referring to the Dursleys.

"Harry…" Draco began.

"Yeah?" When Draco remained silent Harry started getting scared. "We didn't… y'know…" he gestured to the bed and to Draco again, "…do it? Did we?" The blonde laughed.

"No," he said between giggles. "No, nothing like that." He cleared his throat and the smile faded to seriousness. "I want you to know that I really do care about you, Harry. I never want anyone to hurt you again. Okay?" Harry nodded, he didn't trust himself to speak around the knot in his throat. Draco leaned over and hugged him, his skin cold against Harry's.

"I care about you too, Draco," he said as they hugged.

"Come on," Draco said, breaking apart, "Let's get dressed and go have breakfast, I'm starving." Harry laughed though his body grieved for the loss of contact. Draco's did as well, but neither admitted it.