QL Prophet's Friendly Face. Pride, beater 2.

Written for: QueenEmpath

Prompt: Drarry

Word Count: 766

Warnings: War, Drarry.

Beta'ed by: DinoDina, CupCakeyyy

Harry turned his attention to Draco after his friends' eyes fell on the Slytherin. Surely he wouldn't have cursed Katie? Without hesitation, the Gryffindor followed the pale-haired student.

Silently passing through the corridors, Harry didn't want to interact until he knew they wouldn't be overheard. Draco led them to one of the bathrooms.

"Malfoy," Harry stated firmly.

Draco glanced up quickly but looked down at the sink filled to the brim with water. "We're alone here, Harry."

Glancing around to ensure the other sixth-year was correct, he approached the other occupant of the room and placed a hand on his back. Instantly, he noticed that Draco was sweating profoundly. "What's going on?"

The taller teenager gulped regretfully. "I had to do it."

"Do what?"

"I have to follow him."

Harry had heard him talk like this before and knew that his usually encouraging words wouldn't help. He knew fully well that sometimes the situation was out of a person's hands. At the end of this school year, Harry would have to go back to the Dursleys' once more because he wouldn't be seventeen yet.

Slowly, Harry began to stroke Draco's back. The two of them had gotten close. When they had first started Hogwarts they hadn't hated each other but Draco had insisted on keeping up appearances and therefore they fought in public. After all, he was a Gryffindor, and Draco was a Slytherin - they weren't allowed to be friends.

But last year, when everybody was being tormented by Umbridge, they had found themselves actually talking. They truly became friends.

Even though they were so close now, there was still so much distance between the two of them.

"Talk to me," Harry said softly, not removing his hand from Draco's back. "Maybe I can help."

Draco pulled his sleeve up to reveal the Dark Mark.

Harry couldn't stop the automatic wince as he stepped back, removing his hand as if it had been burnt. He recovered quickly and stepped forward again, but this time kept his hands to himself. "Your parents?"

"He's staying at my manor," Draco admitted.

This was so much information even though only a few words had come from his lips. The fact that Draco was trusting him with this information gave him hope. With a deep breath, Harry let himself nod. "What do you want to do?"

At this question, Draco looked at Harry as if he were mad. "I don't have a choice!"

"Yes, you do."

Silence filled the space between them for several minutes. Only the sound of their breaths could be heard. Suddenly, Draco bent down and splashed his face with water, soaking the front of his hair in the process. With a deep breath, he turned to the black-haired boy and stated, "I want to help take him down."

Harry placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go talk to Dumbledore, then." He paused. "Together."

Harry remembered vividly how nerve-wracking it had been when he and Draco had gone to talk to Professor Dumbledore. The words that had come out of Draco's mouth were painstakingly terrible. What he had been asked to do was simply not right.

A sixteen-year-old being asked to kill his headmaster.

Being forced to take on the Dark Mark.

Having no choice over his life.

Sacrificing his life for something he didn't believe in.

It was awful.

The words had affected Harry so much; he couldn't imagine living through it.

During the whole encounter, Draco had never once looked at Harry nor had he looked at Dumbledore. He had been closed off from the world. He had remained closed off from the world for over a year - even when he was safe from Voldemort and his family.

Harry tried to help but couldn't. He wasn't sure what to do. And in the end, went off to do what he had been prophesied. He did everything he could to take down the evil entity that was destroying lives.

And he succeeded.

Loads died. But light won.

After this, his words meant more than they had before. When he said it was going to be okay, it was. Harry had helped Draco come out from all the blame he had put on himself and realise that he had made the right decision and had chosen his own destiny.

The two of them spent a lot of time together after the war and only got closer as time went by.

One day they went from being friends to being in a relationship. Neither of them could tell you exactly how that happened. But they were happy and that's all that mattered.

The End