#amilliondifferentthings

A Million Different Things:

End of May or early June, there were two men who seemed to be polar opposites. Or so they thought, what they didn’t know was that they were alike in more ways than one. On one side of Wizarding London a man by the name of Draco Malfoy was in his house with his parents celebrating the end of the war, and the rebuilding of Hogwarts. On the other side was Harry Potter, sitting in a bar with his friends, Ron and Hermione, also celebrating. Both men acted that they were happy, but they couldn’t escape the huge black hole of darkness in their hearts. Both were falling deeper and deeper and neither could stop.It wasn’t until months later when they stumbled upon each other in the weirdest of situations did they find the solutions they were looking for. It started like this.

    “Hermione, Ron leave me alone. I’m fine. I know how to go supply shopping, I’m not a first year!” Harry said rolling his eyes slightly, and pushing his chair in. He grabbed his coat and apparated out into Diagon Alley.  When he got there the number of external stimuli hit him harshly. The noise was loud, there were a hundred different people to be seen, and thousands of more foods to be eaten and smells to be investigated. But Harry ignored all of these enticing things and headed right to Flourish and Blott’s, the best books shop and supply store ever known to Wizarding kind, at least that’s what Hermione told him.  It was only after Harry had bought all of his books, parchment, quills, and other supplies that he realized he forgot a wand. And it was only halfway back to his flat that he realized it.  He kept going on his journey home, not even stopping since he vowed to himself that he’d do it at a later date.

   It was on this later date that his life changed forever. It was after he came out of Ollivander’s that he bumped into Draco. It was a pure accident as Draco was oddly enough listening to music on his iPod, and Harry was, being the clumsy thing he is, not paying attention. This caused the two men walk directly into each other.  In a flash Draco was up, picking Harry’s wand up and holding out his and muttering swift and jumbled apologies. With a slight smile, Harry accepted the hand and returned the iPod. “It’s okay Draco. I’m fine, honestly, it’s not the end of the world for knocking down the Chosen One,” Harry teased lightly. Which only caused Draco to raise a perfect white eyebrow, and smirk slightly. With one last apology and another smirk, Draco spun on his heel, in a manner that would make both his father, and Snape proud, and left leaving Harry standing there with his mouth open, like an idiot.

    But before he could get too far he turned back and called out, “Take a picture it lasts longer, Potter. Oh, and honestly, close your mouth before you catch flies.” Which desperately made Harry wish he could have gotten over those feelings from his original Hogwarts days. But sadly, life never worked in Harry’s favor.  Which is why he felt himself falling slowly in love with Draco all over again during the earlier months of the school year as he listened to Hermione complain about how he was in all of her advanced classes, and Ron complain about how the Slytherin Quidditch team was probably going to be better than ever.

    But none of that mattered until Harry found himself in the Hospital Wing a day before the start of Winter Break due to a broken arm, a fractured wrist, and a sprained ankle, all because of Quidditch Practice. While he was sitting there resting, the doors flew open and in rushed a couple teachers carrying a pale, limp body. Craning his neck to get a better view, Harry quickly realized that it was Draco. Harry had never seen Draco look so pale and sickly. Draco was as thin as a stick and was extremely gaunt.  Harry had never felt so disgusted in his life because surely that wasn’t the same boy that he had bumped into about 4 months ago. But sadly it was.

    Over and over he heard the same words being repeated, “Malnutrition… anorexic… depressed… could die…professional help…mentally unstable…” And it was those last three phrases that really caught Harry’s attention because why would Draco, his sweet, adorable, yet cunning and fierce Draco need professional help? Why would his strong, brave Draco be mentally unstable? How could his carefree, attention loving, smirk wearing, prick of a Draco be so close to death? It just didn’t make sense to Harry. It took him a couple of days of repeating these questions in his head that he realized two things. One that Draco never was, and probably never will be his. And two that it was probably because of the same reason he felt as if he were on the edge of death, PTSD. Most of the students in that 8th year were diagnosed with multiple disorders, the most common being PTSD.

    After all of the teachers left and Madam Pomfrey went back into her office Harry slid out of bed and walked over to Draco’s bedside and began talking to him, “Hey Draco, I know that you are sleeping and probably can’t hear me but I would like to say this anyway. You are an amazing, wonderful, talented, bright young man, that everyone should have the pleasure of knowing and meeting. I know that we were never on the best of terms, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t notice things. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t notice that you tended to tap your fingers on every surface attainable or that your eyes would always flicker between blue and grey depending on your mood. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t notice that you bit your lip whenever you got frustrated, or that you only ever used that one table in the back of the library. Or that you are one of the biggest nerds in all of Europe, and that you love getting your hands on any type of new information, or that you have a pair of black thick framed pair of glasses.  I’ve also noticed that you knew most of the Slytherins in our year before getting to Hogwarts. I’ve also noticed that despite liking green apples, you despise almost every other type of apple.  But then again, it became a hobby, no an obsession, watching you. You were always so mesmerizing, so captivating that once someone laid their eyes on you, it was torture to look away. And I’m usually not good with words but I think this came out okay. Well, what I’m really trying to say is that you have so much going for you right now and you have so many people in this world that care about you that you shouldn’t be in this rut you are in right now. Oh, did I forget to mention that I noticed how down you were as well? Well if I did, I said it now. But in those many people, I stand as well. This may come as a shocker, but I love you. With all my heart, and it might not be believable but it is the truth, and I’m sorry if you don’t feel that way.”

    And with that Harry started walking away, shaking his head at how ridiculous he probably sounded. Until he heard a faint voice speak up, “You know I never took you as the type of person to confess and then leave the other person hanging Potter. Don’t make this a habit now, or we’ll never be able to be in a relationship. No…  don’t look at me like that, of course, I return the feelings. Why wouldn’t I? Actually no, don’t answer that. Also, I never knew you could be so eloquent, Potter. Is that how you managed to pass all of your classes, through your words?” Which caused Harry to laugh at the end because only Draco could be sarcastic in that situation. However, this led to them talking all night. And at the end of their entire conversation, Harry felt like he could create an entire autobiography about Draco, almost.

   It was almost visiting hours when Harry asked a final question, “Hey Draco, I know this is weird and kinda sudden, but would you like to go on a date with me? I mean after we both get out of here and like to the next Hogsmeade trip or whatever. You don’t have to say yes.” Harry tended to ramble when he was nervous, but when he glanced up at Draco, he noticed the ginormous grin on the other boy’s face.

   “Of course I would Harry!! After all of the talking we just did, I would be a fool not to accept besides, I really like you. I do.  And no matter what anybody says I will always stick by your side because my mother once told me to follow my heart. And besides, you never know what someone means since words can mean a million different things.”

This is for@necocoxeiji.