a verbis ad verbera

A snowball smacked him in the back of the head. 

“Hey!” He exclaimed, shaking the snow out of his hair. “No charming the snowballs! Foul play!” 

“You knew who you were messing with when you started this war, Potter. I don’t play fair.” Draco mimicked Harry’s “innocent shrug” from earlier, but his hands were empty, giving Harry the perfect opportunity to-

With a snap of Draco’s fingers, a pile of snow fell off a tree branch and onto Harry’s head. 

Harry couldn’t even be angry about it because Draco was laughing, his eyes shining with amusement, and Harry loved him like this. 

But he still had to get him back. 

“That’s it!” He took off running, knocking into Draco with enough force to land them both on the ground again. 

“Harry, you’re going to ruin this coat!” Draco said, struggling underneath him. 

“Didn’t your dad buy you that?”

“Good point. Carry on.” Draco stopped struggling, and Harry pinned his arms over his head. “Alright, you’ve got me. Now wh-” he cut off as Harry’s lips crashed into his. 

Harry took it slow, wanting to memorize every aspect of this moment. The sound of Draco’s breathing, the warmth of his body pressed against Harry’s, the way the snowflakes clung to his already fair lashes, making him look like some kind of snow prince. Harry wanted to memorize it all. He knew this would be one of those moments that they would always look back on. 

Eventually he pulled away, and they stayed there for a minute, faces flushed, breaths coming out heavy and uneven. 

“I wish we could stay like this forever,” Harry said softly, brushing a strand of Draco’s hair away from his face. It was so peaceful. He definitely was not expecting it when Draco flipped him onto his back before planting another quick kiss on his lips. Then, all too soon, he was standing up, brushing himself off, and offering Harry a hand.

“Nice try, love, but we’re still having dinner with my parents tonight.”

“The rest of us all had family to help us get through the after effects of the war, but Harry doesn’t have his parents, he doesn’t have Remus, or Tonks, or... Sirius.” Hermione looked pained with every person that she listed. She crossed her arms over her chest, and Draco could tell that she was aching to do something, anything to help Harry. She was the one who always fixed their problems after all. 

“What can I do?” he asked her. Her eyes softened as they met his. It was a look that Draco never really thought he’d get used to seeing directed at him. 

“Remind him that he still has you. Ron and I will keep reminding him that he still has us and the rest of the Weasleys, but I think he really needs you right now.” 

Draco felt a pit growing in his stomach. Hermione obviously hadn’t noticed that Harry wanted nothing to do with him anymore. 

“And we’ll all try to convince him to talk to someone. A professional. A therapist,” she added. “Love is strong, love won us the war, but I think it’ll take a bit more than that to fix this.” 

That was three hours ago. Draco had spent every minute since Ron and Hermione left researching and learning everything he could about depression, and even though he was nervous, he was finally ready to try. 

“You up, love?” he asked, pushing open the door to their bedroom. “I brought you some tea.” There was no response from Harry, so he moved around to the other side of the bed where Harry was laying, covered in a mountain of blankets. He carefully set the coffee mug down on the bedside table before sitting on the edge of the mattress. “Harry?” Draco reached up to pull down the covers enough to see Harry’s face. His eyes were open. 

“Go away,” he mumbled. Draco ignored the sting that came with the emptiness in his voice. 

“I brought you some tea,” Draco repeated. 

“I don’t want it.” 

Draco hesitantly reached a hand up to run his fingers through Harry’s messy black hair. Harry didn’t let him get that far before he slapped his hand away. 

“God, can’t you take a bloody hint?” 

Draco swallowed and stood up, putting some distance between them. “I wanted to talk to you about something. I’ve been feeling concerned about you lately, and I wanted to check in because you seem to be feeling down.” These were all words taken from help sites that Draco had read through. They felt stale coming out of his mouth. They felt like exactly what they were- words from a computer, not from a loving boyfriend. 

“What the hell are you on about?” Harry glared at him, and Draco was surprised at how much it comforted him. He was used to getting these looks from Harry from all those years at Hogwarts together. This was familiar territory. This was something he could work with. 

“How can I best support you right now?” he tried another line from his research. 

“By leaving me alone!” Harry spat. “I don’t even know why you’re still here anymore!”

“I live here.” 

“You don’t have to.”

“Are you kicking me out?”

“You should be running Draco!” Now Harry was sitting up, his hair almost as wild as the look in his eyes. “Look at me. I’m a mess. I can’t even find the motivation to get out of bed anymore. I’m pathetic. You don’t have to stay here for this. You can leave. Go find yourself a real hero to fall in love with because that isn’t me anymore.”

“You’re not pathetic. You just need some help. I want to help you. You’re not alone in this.” Draco’s heart was racing a million miles a second. He didn’t even know what he was saying anymore. He probably should just back off, leave him alone, try again another time, but he stayed right where he was. 

“I don’t want your help.” 

“Too bad.”

“You don’t understand!”

“You’re right! I don’t, but I love you, and I want to help you get through this.” 

“We’re done, Draco. You’re free. We’re done.” There it was. The words he’d been dreading for the past month. He thought they would destroy him, but he wouldn’t let himself be destroyed, not when Harry needed him. 

“Fine. We’re done. I’m still going to help you.” 

“NO!” Harry’s eyes were watering now, and Draco was having trouble seeing through his own tears. “I don’t want you to babysit me, Draco. I want you to be happy.”

“I can’t be happy anywhere without you.” That did it for both of them. The tears broke through and started streaming down both of their cheeks. Draco collapsed onto the bed, unable to stand any longer. He opened his arms and Harry fell into them, and he let Draco hold him as they cried together.