When Harry awoke, Draco was gone, but a sticky note had been placed on his forehead. He took it off, chuckling.

Harry,

Mother and I had to leave. Hope you slept well, see you in a week.

-D.M.

Harry stuffed the note into his pockets, and went to his room to draw, before he heard Teddy crying. He stood, and practically ran to the boy's room. Taking Teddy into his arms, he held the child to his chest, rubbing his back until he fell asleep again. Carefully, so not to wake the child again, he set Teddy back into his crib, before turning to walk out. He almost screamed when he saw Andromeda there, a smile on her face.

"Sweet," she said. He gave a small smile back, but the smile was more sad than anything. The two walked out of Teddy's room, and Andromeda led Harry to the couch. "Draco told me everything...just, take it easy, alright? Your best mate just passed away, the world doesn't expect you to be okay right away."

"But they do," Harry whispered. "They always do." Andromeda squeezed his hand, and he took it she heard him, much to his dismay.

The rest of the week went by painfully slowly, and Harry got bored quite often. It seemed like years before Harry was standing out on the front porch, hugging Andromeda goodbye on Christmas morning. He then apparated to the gates just outside of Malfoy Manor, where Draco was waiting for him.

"Hey you," Harry said, making Draco jump, before turning around.

"Hey, Happy Christmas," he said with a smile after he'd calmed down.

"Happy Christmas," Harry grinned. They stood there for a few minutes, Draco staring at Harry with a goofy smile on his face the whole time. Harry cleared his throat after a while, making Draco snap out of his daze. "Um, Draco? Do you mind letting me in?"

"Right, sorry," the blond said, turning red as a cherry. He opened the gate for the Gryffindor, and they walked up to the front door. Draco knocked on the door, and a house-elf wearing a shabby potato sack answered.

"Oh, Master Draco, you is done waiting outside now? Pretzel has been worrying for you, what if yous gets too cold?" Draco gave a warm chuckle, and crouched down on his knees so he was level with the elf.

"I'm alright, Pretzel. There was no need to worry over me."

"But...but..." Pretzel's large eyes filled with tears, and she turned away so her master wouldn't see her so sad. But it was too late, for he had already seen.

"Come here, Pretzel," the blond said softly, holding out his arms. Tentatively, she walked towards him, and he carefully wrapped his arms around the small creature. He held her while Harry watched, and maybe fell a bit in love with him right then. "Would you like to meet my friend?" Draco asked, pulling away slightly. Pretzel nodded timidly, and she took small steps towards Harry.

"Hello. Yous is a friend of Master Draco?" Harry nodded.

"I am. My name's Harry." Pretzel's eyes lit up, and Draco cursed under his breath.

"Harry Potter, sir?"

"That's me."

"Master Draco told Pretzel all about Harry Potter. He saids yous has the prettiest green eyes, and that yous were very good on yous broomstick." Harry smirked, glancing at Draco.

"Did he now?" Pretzel nodded her head frantically, so fast it made Harry dizzy just watching.

"Oh yes, sirs. He also said-" She was stopped by Draco putting a hand over her mouth, his cheeks tinted pink.

"Okay Pretzel, I think that's enough. Why don't you go tell mother we've arrived, and we'll come inside in a second, alright?" Pretzel nodded, and apparated away, leaving the two of them alone.

"The prettiest green eyes, wow. I'm honored."

"Shut up."

"Do you go around telling all the house elves how great I am? First Dobby, now Pretzel."

"How do you even know about Dobby?"

"He paid me quite a few visits in second year. Kept trying to kill me, he did. Unintentionally, of course. But I told him to stop, he didn't listen. He kept saving me, and then he..." A conversation that had started out lighthearted was rapidly escalating, and the lump in Harry's throat burned, the tears in his eyes threatening to spill over.

"Hey," Draco said, lifting Harry's chin up, though the Gryffindor wouldn't meet his eyes. "It's Christmas, there will be none of that," he says, wiping away a runaway tear, just as the door opens once again, causing Harry to jump back and give a small yelp.

"Harry dear, it's great to have you. Happy Christmas," Narcissa says, a big smile on her face. "Come in, you two must be freezing. Your hands are shaking." Harry looked down at his hands. They were, in fact, shaking, just not from the cold as Narcissa had assumed. He scowled at them, willing them to stop. They didn't. This was it, the feeling of being broken and helpless, and Harry was feeling it again. Happiness can never last forever.

"I'm just going to show him my room if that's alright with you mother." She nodded, and Draco grabbed Harry's trembling hand and dragged him inside. Harry gulped, looking at the familiar setting. Draco led him through the house, and Harry thought he heard a faint scream. His head had snapped up from where he'd been staring at the ground in seconds. His eyes widened when he saw Ron looking at him with wild eyes, before screaming Hermione's name repeatedly. He stumbled backwards, the warmth of Draco's hand leaving him.

"R-ron?" he whispered, his voice cracking at the end. But then the screaming stopped, and Ron faded away. Harry was vaguely aware of the comforting whispers in his ear, or the arms wrapped around him. He stared at the wall in front of him, faint screams still ringing in his ear. Eventually the world faded to black as he fell into a calming sleep.

"Is he alright, dear?" Draco looked from the sleeping Harry in his arms to his mother.

"I'm not sure. Maybe bringing to the manor wasn't such a good idea." Narcissa nodded, looking at the Gryffindor with a worried expression.

"Why don't you lie him down somewhere, it doesn't look like he's got much sleep lately."

"Yeah..." Draco said, looking at the dark circles underneath Harry's eyes. He carefully stood up, carrying Harry in his arms to a nearby couch.

----------------------------------

Harry awoke a few hours later, Draco sitting in a chair reading nearby. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Draco looked up at the noise, and closed his book when he saw Harry awake.

"Looks like the sleepyhead finally woke up."

"How long was I out?"

"Few hours, I'd say," Draco said, shrugging. Harry groaned and shoved his face in a pillow. Draco took a seat next to Harry and reached out to touch him, but thought better of it, and brought his hand back. "Do you...want to talk about it?"

"No. Will you just...hold me?" Harry really didn't care how pathetic he sounded. Draco nodded, and moved Harry onto his lap, wrapping his arms around his waist. They stayed like that for a little while, before Harry broke the silence. "I've got a present. For you, I mean." He reached into his pocket and grabbed his wand, using it to enlarge the present that he'd shrunk before he came.

Draco took the box from Harry, and took the lid off. "Merlin Harry, how many chocolate frogs are in here?" Harry shrugged.

"I don't know, I just threw some in there. Keep looking." Draco moved some of the chocolate around, until his hand hit something hard. He pulled it out, seeing it was a book. A potions book. "There's one more thing in there." Draco nodded, and kept looking. When he couldn't find anything after a while, he gave up, and dumped the entire box's contents on the ground. His eyes landed on a slim rectangular thing.

"What's this?" he asked, picking it up.

"Just open it," he sighed, though he was watching Draco intently. Draco did, and he almost dropped the box when he saw it.

"My wand, you still had this?!"

"Do you, do you like it?" Harry asked, ringing his hands together.

"Of course I do, I've been using my mother's for months," he gave Harry a bone-crushing hug, though Harry really didn't mind all that much. "Thank you. Merlin, I love you so much," he whispered into Harry's ear.

"Y-you do?" Harry asked. Draco pulled back horrified, and let out a small squeak. Both boys were quite red by now.

"What, no. What I meant was that I like you so much. Ha ha..." He kept rambling, and it was actually quite adorable, in Harry's opinion.

"I love you, too."

"So you see, it was a simple mistake, a slip-up. So-wait, what?"

"I love you." Draco let out a sigh of relief, while Harry stood there, trying to hold in his laughter.

"So, um...I'll give you my present later. You'll either really hate me, or thank me a million times. Or both." Harry gave him a weird look. "Anyway, let's go find mother. She's been worried sick about you."

---------------------------------

"Where are we going, Draco?"

"Just follow me. We're apparating, but we need to be outside the gates first." Harry hesitated, but nodded, and the two continued walking along the stony pathway to the gates of Malfoy Manor. When they reached the gate, Draco used his wand to open them, smiling a bit as he did. It felt good, the familiar grip on his wand, and the warmth that spread through his fingertips whenever he used it.

"Where exactly are we apparating to?"

"It's a surprise. Now grab my hand." He did, and Draco apparated them, the familiar feeling of being squeezed through a tube making Harry feel sick. He hated apparating. "We're here, you can open your eyes now.

"Right, sorry." After the queasy feeling had passed, Harry opened his eyes, and his grip on Draco's hand tightened. "You took me here, of all the places Draco."

"Hate me all you want, you should spend Christmas with your family."

"But-"

"Harry! Thank Merlin you're here, the food was starting to get cold." The Gryffindor flinched when Mrs. Weasley gave him a giant hug, and gave Draco a pleading look. The blond only chuckled, even more when Harry scowled at him playfully.

"Right, well, I'll be on my way then," Draco said, turning around.

"Just where do you think you're going, Mister Malfoy!" Mrs. Weasley said, pulling away from Harry and putting her hands on her hips.

"Uhhhh...home?"

"You most definitely are not! We've got plenty of food, and everyone's waiting, so you two better be out in the garden in five minutes, or I will drag you by the ear myself." She turned, and walked inside.

"Well, looks like you dragged yourself into this mess too. Come on, we better go, she really will drag us by the ear, did it once to Percy when he wouldn't leave his room, too busy studying or something." The two walked into the house, and Draco looked around curiously. Harry led him out the back door, where a bunch of people were waiting. All the Weasleys, Luna and her father, Pansy and her parents, Hermione, Blaise, Andromeda and Teddy, even Narcissa was there. Harry and Draco quickly let go of each other's hands at Andromeda and Narcissa's knowing looks.

"Happy Christmas, Harry," Hermione said, embracing him.

"Happy Christmas, Hermione," he said, returning the hug just as tightly, knowing they both needed it.

Dinner with everyone was better than Harry had expected. For once, it seemed, no one had to fake any smiles or laughs. Though it wouldn't last, they had that moment to be happy.

Harry was still broken, he always would be. Well, unless PTSD miraculously became curable one day, or he forgot about Ron and his parents, and everyone else he'd lost. But he was only eighteen, he had his whole life ahead of him. He had Hermione, and the Weasleys. He had Draco, and Teddy and Andromeda.

Harry James Potter was a broken, bisexual disaster. And that was okay.

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