FIC: Hope Chapter Four (WIP)
Please refer to Chapter One for all warnings and summary.
Please note in this chapter that dub!con, angry!sex and angst are a major warning. EDIT: I am adding non-con as a warning, as some readers have felt the line was crossed too far from dub!con... you have been warned.
Beta'd by all three lovelies marianna_merlo, yeaka and y3llowdaisi3s - thank you to all three who contributed to helping me make this great. I was so desperate to make sure this worked the way I wanted it to and all three helped me to get it there. Also thank you to the hd_writers community for all their suggestions when I was first scoping for thoughts on how to handle this scene...
Chapter Four
Looking back on what I did next, it was one of the biggest mistakes I could have made. Your life is ultimately a sum of the choices you make, and this one led to outcomes I had never wished to see. I caused someone I love to hurt; to the point of no return.
-
“I love you, too.”
He hesitated at the door a moment longer, reminding himself that he was supposed to leave; Mrs. Weasley was expecting him home shortly, and he was supposed to be avoiding Draco until he could sort out what he wanted.
But something snapped inside him.
Harry turned, and his eyes caught Draco’s. His heart melted a little, as it had done so many other times when looking into those steel grey eyes. A soft whimper escaped his lips.
Acting before he could convince himself that this was a bad idea, Harry strode back to the bed, pulling items of clothing from his body on the way. He had managed to divest himself of his shoes, jacket, and shirt by the time he reached the bed. He pounced on Draco, capturing his lips in a fierce kiss.
Draco accepted the passionate kiss initially, but Harry felt him start to pull away and murmur in confusion. He ignored it and continued attempting to devour Draco.
Finally, Draco pushed heavily against Harry’s chest and succeeded in breaking them apart momentarily. Harry could see the hurt and confusion on his face. Harry climbed forward fully onto the bed, crowding Draco and pushing him down to his back, moving to hover over Draco’s almost naked body.
“Harry,” Draco gasped. “What are you doing?”
“Shhhh,” Harry murmured, ignoring his protests. He placed a kiss to Draco’s neck.
“Seriously, what are you doing? I’m not sure you want to do this, Harry.”
“Just shut up and let me do what I want - I’m not the one who cheated here!”
Draco fell silent, hurt spreading across his face. “I’m sorry, Harry, but I’m thinking about you and what this will mean to you afterwards. I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”
“I don’t care.” Harry felt heat rising in his face as anger started to consume him.
“Well maybe I do! Maybe I can’t handle this right now if you decide to end things afterwards,” Draco sobbed.
“If I end things, that’s my decision. But right now this is what I want, so either go with it, or tell me no right now and I’ll leave.”
Draco stared at him, confusion and hurt in his eyes.
“Well?” Harry growled.
“I don’t want you to go.”
“Then shut up, Malfoy.”
Stinging hurt spread across Draco’s face, his eyes clouding over with pain. He turned his head away, but Harry ignored it. He felt his anger consume him. Draco was the one who did the wrong thing, not him, it wasn’t fair for Draco to be hurting, after what he did to Harry.
Harry stood up, and pulled off his own trousers and briefs. He pulled Draco forcefully by the leg towards him, but Draco kicked and struggled against him. He grabbed hold of the other ankle and forced them both still with his hands. He pushed his legs flat against the bed and used his body to hold him down, grunting with the effort, and smothering Draco’s small noises of protest. He grabbed hold of the fabric of Draco’s boxers and pulled them down angrily. Draco bucked his hips to try and stop him, but Harry couldn’t stop; he couldn’t stop thinking that Draco was his and he just needed reminding of it. He managed to wrestle Draco’s boxers completely off, leaving him naked and exposed on the bed. He could feel Draco’s skin trembling slightly.
“Sit up,” Harry demanded gruffly. He started to pump his cock, bringing it to hardness.
Draco hesitated to respond. He was facing Harry across the bed, propped up on his arms and his legs were spilling over either side of Harry’s standing form.
“I said sit up,” Harry said in low tones.
Draco locked eyes with him. Harry saw hurt, pain and guilt drifting out of those eyes. Harry hardened his stare to a dead glare, letting no emotion other than anger and hate shine through.
Breaking eye contact, Draco sat up and came face to face with Harry’s hard cock.
“Suck it,” he demanded.
Draco glanced up at him one more time. Harry knew Draco was hesitant; knew that he wasn’t happy.
“Harry - ” Draco started.
“Just shut up and do what I say! You gave me no choice in what you did to me, you gave no thought to what I would think or feel. Now it’s your turn. Suck it.”
Draco looked down for a few seconds. Harry’s cock started to wilt slightly, emotional backlash ripping through his body from just thinking about Draco’s betrayal. Harry looked away, holding back a few stray tears in tense silence.
Suddenly he felt warm lips around the head of his cock. He looked back quickly, to see Draco’s lips wrapped around his member, eyes shut tightly with tear tracks running down his cheeks.
Harry moaned as Draco took more of him into his mouth. Draco expertly tongued the head, and his head started to bob in a regular rhythm. Harry was fully hard again, and his body was responding to Draco’s ministrations. His mind was still a mess, but he pushed all thoughts from his brain and concentrated on the warm heat of Draco’s mouth.
“Draco…” he moaned, grabbing his blonde hair with both hands. He started to unconsciously push Draco further and further onto his cock with every downward motion, focusing on just the feelings of heat, suction, and pleasure radiating throughout him.
Draco increased his speed and sucked harder. Harry knew a couple more minutes of this, and he would likely come. He figured that was probably what Draco was aiming for, to get this mess over and done with.
But Harry didn’t want it to end just yet. Despite the sensations wracking his body, he wanted more. He was still angry and upset. He felt like Draco had taken away control of their relationship and left him with no say in the matter. He had no control left over what happened to their lives.
But he could control this, here and now.
“Stop,” Harry ordered in husky tones.
With one last suck, Draco stopped and looked up at him. Pleading, miserable, but mostly resigned eyes stared into his. Harry looked away.
“On the bed. On your stomach.”
Draco choked back a small whimper, and moved to comply.
Harry crawled onto the bed after him. He kneeled behind him and spread Draco’s unresisting legs. Harry reached for his wand and murmured a spell. Lube slicked Draco’s hole, and Harry started to massage his entrance with one finger.
Usually, Draco would be moaning by now. He was usually a very vocal lover. But tonight he remained silent, save for the occasional whimper or sniffle. His head was on his hands, his face turned to one side and his eyes screwed shut.
Harry turned his head away for a moment. What was he doing?
But by this point, Harry was past the point of caring.
He pushed the tip of one finger into Draco’s tight opening, feeling some resistance.
Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Harry pushed the finger all the way in, and then started to move it slowly in and out. The emotional turmoil in the room was starting to affect Harry, and he didn’t know whether he could manage to keep going. Whether he even should. Draco was right; this wasn’t the best idea for them right now. He had thought maybe it would help him, but was he actually making things worse?
But one thought drove all others out of his mind. If he could just be inside Draco again, surely things would start to make sense again. Surely things would fall into place and work themselves out again. If they could just feel that electricity, that spark, that usually made things between them so perfect.
He added a second finger to the first. He started to stretch Draco, scissoring his fingers as well as pumping them in and out.
A small, pained moan escaped Draco.
Harry quickly added a third finger, not wanting to wait much longer.
After a few moments, Harry withdrew his fingers. He probably could have spent a little more time preparing Draco, but desperation and anger drove him to keep going. He murmured the lubrication spell again and spread it over Draco’s entrance and his own cock.
Moving up over Draco’s body, he positioned himself at Draco’s hole. He lowered himself slowly into his body. He could see Draco biting into the pillow with his eyes scrunched up. His body was directly above Draco’s, and as he sank into Draco, he lowered his chest to Draco’s back. He was probably smothering him a bit, but Harry wanted the closeness.
He started to move out again, slowly. He had almost completely withdrawn, with just the tip of his cock inside Draco’s body. Then he started to push back in again. Draco scrambled to hold onto the sheets, the pillow, anything to ground him; the pace was torture for both of them. Harry pulled back again, equally slowly.
Once more, just the head was left inside Draco’s body, and Harry paused there for a few moments. Draco was breathing heavily. Suddenly, Harry pushed back in with full force, taking Draco by surprise as he rammed harshly into him. Draco let out a cry.
Harry kissed his neck, “Shhhh.”
He maintained a rough pace then, pushing in and out of Draco without pause. Every inward thrust pushed Draco slightly up the bed, and Draco clung to his pillow, face buried in it. Harry ignored the fact that Draco didn’t seem to be moaning in pleasure.
The rhythm was starting to affect Harry’s composure, and his thrusts started to become more erratic. He pumped into Draco once, twice, three more times, and then came in an explosion of pleasure, spilling his seed deep inside Draco.
He collapsed on top of Draco’s limp body.
He felt himself soften as he lay there a few minutes. He slowly pulled out and rolled over to one side.
As soon as Harry was off him, Draco rolled off the bed and bolted for the bathroom, locking the door behind him.
Now that the heat of the moment had died down, Harry lay there in misery. He knew it had been an awful idea. He hadn’t felt that spark. All he had felt was anger and sadness. Gulping for air, Harry felt the weight of what he had just done settle over him. He choked back a sob. His emotions from the previous night rose to the surface and his chest constricted.
He didn’t know what to do.
-
Inside the bathroom, Draco washed his face, trying to remove as many of his tears as possible. But he couldn’t stop sobbing, so it was pointless.
He looked down at his own cock, which had stayed resolutely limp during the whole encounter.
He felt awful.
He knew he had done the wrong thing. He couldn’t understand why he had done it. He could remember the majority of the details of that night with Hermione, but he still couldn’t explain to himself why. He hadn’t even thought he was that intoxicated, but he must have drunk more than he realized. The morning after, he had awoken only to run to the toilet and vomit, a pounding headache in tow and clearly suffering the effects of a hangover.
He didn’t blame Harry for feeling the way he did; Draco had betrayed his trust, even if he couldn’t fully explain why or how.
But what had happened out there… Draco had never seen Harry so cold, so angry. His whole demeanor had completely disturbed Draco. He had wanted Harry to forgive him so badly that Draco would have done anything, but that hadn’t felt right. He felt like his heart was breaking; this wasn’t the Harry that Draco knew and loved.
He felt dirty and violated. His lover had made him feel this way. Harry was so angry with him, so hurt by Draco’s actions, that he hadn’t cared what Draco thought or felt.
Draco started crying again, not knowing what to do or how to fix things.
Stumbling to the shower, he turned it on to scalding hot and got in. He scrubbed at his flesh until his skin was bright pink and smelled of soap.
He stayed in the shower another thirty minutes, crying and sobbing, and wishing he didn’t have to face the real world again.
Finally he got out, wrapped himself in a towel, and braved the bedroom again, ready to confront Harry.
But when he stepped back onto the plush carpet of their room, there was no sign of Harry. His clothes, shoes, everything he had came with tonight was gone. The only sign that he had been there were the rumpled and stained sheets.
Harry had left.
Biting back more tears, Draco retrieved a bottle of Firewhiskey from the shelf on the opposite wall, took a large swig, and then put it on the bedside table. He dropped the wet towel from around his waist, and, naked, crawled onto the bed. He curled into a ball, knees to chest, and somehow managed to cry himself to sleep.
-
It was well past midnight when Harry Apparated into the kitchen of the Burrow, his clothes haphazardly replaced right before leaving the flat. He still smelled of sweat and sex and of Draco, and his eyes were swimming with tears.
Ginny was in the kitchen. He hadn’t expected anyone to still be up.
“Harry!”
“Ginny… What are you still doing here?”
“Mum was worried. I offered to stay up and wait for you rather than have her send some of the boys to check on you. I didn’t think you needed the intrusion right now.”
“Thanks,” Harry said, hesitantly.
“Are you OK, Harry? You seem a bit… off colour.”
“I’m… Draco and I… I don’t know, Gin, I really don’t.” He collapsed into one of the chairs and put his head in his hands.
He heard the scrape of a chair as Ginny got up and moved to sit next to him. Harry felt her hand on his arm.
“We’re all here for you Harry. If you ever want to talk, I’d be happy to listen.”
“Thanks,” Harry said, moving his hands to look at her. She squeezed his arm slightly, and he moved one hand to cover hers.
Letting her go again, Harry sat back in his chair.
“I think I just made a big mistake,” he said.
Ginny looked at him, compassion in her eyes. “Whatever it is Harry, I’m sure the two of you can work it out.”
“I’m not so sure. This whole situation is just a mess.”
“Maybe… Maybe the two of you just need some space. Why don’t you hang out here for the next week, and think things over?”
“I don’t know…”
“If you’re worried about Hermione, Ron and her have decided to head back to their place and try and work on their issues away from everyone else. They’re leaving in the morning.”
Harry fell silent at that news. Then he nodded. “If Molly doesn’t mind, I think it would be good to stay here for a while.”
“Oh, Mum doesn’t mind at all. Don’t worry about that.”
“Thanks, Ginny.”
“And if I were you, Harry, I would stay away for a bit, let things cool down between you and Draco. You said yourself that you thought tonight was a big mistake. I don’t know what happened of course, but if you want to talk about it - ”
“No, I don’t think I can talk about this any time soon.”
“Oh, that’s OK. The offer is always there though, Harry, if you need it.”
“Thanks.”
“Let’s get you to bed then, shall we?” Ginny said. “Or do you need me to tuck you in like last night,” she said cheekily, winking at him.
Harry laughed. “No, no, I think I can manage this time. Thank you for last night, Gin. I’m glad it was you that found me rather than anyone else.”
“That’s OK,” she said, smiling softly.
“Night, Gin.”
“Good night Harry.”
Next - Chapter Five
Please note in this chapter that dub!con, angry!sex and angst are a major warning. EDIT: I am adding non-con as a warning, as some readers have felt the line was crossed too far from dub!con... you have been warned.
Beta'd by all three lovelies marianna_merlo, yeaka and y3llowdaisi3s - thank you to all three who contributed to helping me make this great. I was so desperate to make sure this worked the way I wanted it to and all three helped me to get it there. Also thank you to the hd_writers community for all their suggestions when I was first scoping for thoughts on how to handle this scene...
Chapter Four
Looking back on what I did next, it was one of the biggest mistakes I could have made. Your life is ultimately a sum of the choices you make, and this one led to outcomes I had never wished to see. I caused someone I love to hurt; to the point of no return.
-
“I love you, too.”
He hesitated at the door a moment longer, reminding himself that he was supposed to leave; Mrs. Weasley was expecting him home shortly, and he was supposed to be avoiding Draco until he could sort out what he wanted.
But something snapped inside him.
Harry turned, and his eyes caught Draco’s. His heart melted a little, as it had done so many other times when looking into those steel grey eyes. A soft whimper escaped his lips.
Acting before he could convince himself that this was a bad idea, Harry strode back to the bed, pulling items of clothing from his body on the way. He had managed to divest himself of his shoes, jacket, and shirt by the time he reached the bed. He pounced on Draco, capturing his lips in a fierce kiss.
Draco accepted the passionate kiss initially, but Harry felt him start to pull away and murmur in confusion. He ignored it and continued attempting to devour Draco.
Finally, Draco pushed heavily against Harry’s chest and succeeded in breaking them apart momentarily. Harry could see the hurt and confusion on his face. Harry climbed forward fully onto the bed, crowding Draco and pushing him down to his back, moving to hover over Draco’s almost naked body.
“Harry,” Draco gasped. “What are you doing?”
“Shhhh,” Harry murmured, ignoring his protests. He placed a kiss to Draco’s neck.
“Seriously, what are you doing? I’m not sure you want to do this, Harry.”
“Just shut up and let me do what I want - I’m not the one who cheated here!”
Draco fell silent, hurt spreading across his face. “I’m sorry, Harry, but I’m thinking about you and what this will mean to you afterwards. I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”
“I don’t care.” Harry felt heat rising in his face as anger started to consume him.
“Well maybe I do! Maybe I can’t handle this right now if you decide to end things afterwards,” Draco sobbed.
“If I end things, that’s my decision. But right now this is what I want, so either go with it, or tell me no right now and I’ll leave.”
Draco stared at him, confusion and hurt in his eyes.
“Well?” Harry growled.
“I don’t want you to go.”
“Then shut up, Malfoy.”
Stinging hurt spread across Draco’s face, his eyes clouding over with pain. He turned his head away, but Harry ignored it. He felt his anger consume him. Draco was the one who did the wrong thing, not him, it wasn’t fair for Draco to be hurting, after what he did to Harry.
Harry stood up, and pulled off his own trousers and briefs. He pulled Draco forcefully by the leg towards him, but Draco kicked and struggled against him. He grabbed hold of the other ankle and forced them both still with his hands. He pushed his legs flat against the bed and used his body to hold him down, grunting with the effort, and smothering Draco’s small noises of protest. He grabbed hold of the fabric of Draco’s boxers and pulled them down angrily. Draco bucked his hips to try and stop him, but Harry couldn’t stop; he couldn’t stop thinking that Draco was his and he just needed reminding of it. He managed to wrestle Draco’s boxers completely off, leaving him naked and exposed on the bed. He could feel Draco’s skin trembling slightly.
“Sit up,” Harry demanded gruffly. He started to pump his cock, bringing it to hardness.
Draco hesitated to respond. He was facing Harry across the bed, propped up on his arms and his legs were spilling over either side of Harry’s standing form.
“I said sit up,” Harry said in low tones.
Draco locked eyes with him. Harry saw hurt, pain and guilt drifting out of those eyes. Harry hardened his stare to a dead glare, letting no emotion other than anger and hate shine through.
Breaking eye contact, Draco sat up and came face to face with Harry’s hard cock.
“Suck it,” he demanded.
Draco glanced up at him one more time. Harry knew Draco was hesitant; knew that he wasn’t happy.
“Harry - ” Draco started.
“Just shut up and do what I say! You gave me no choice in what you did to me, you gave no thought to what I would think or feel. Now it’s your turn. Suck it.”
Draco looked down for a few seconds. Harry’s cock started to wilt slightly, emotional backlash ripping through his body from just thinking about Draco’s betrayal. Harry looked away, holding back a few stray tears in tense silence.
Suddenly he felt warm lips around the head of his cock. He looked back quickly, to see Draco’s lips wrapped around his member, eyes shut tightly with tear tracks running down his cheeks.
Harry moaned as Draco took more of him into his mouth. Draco expertly tongued the head, and his head started to bob in a regular rhythm. Harry was fully hard again, and his body was responding to Draco’s ministrations. His mind was still a mess, but he pushed all thoughts from his brain and concentrated on the warm heat of Draco’s mouth.
“Draco…” he moaned, grabbing his blonde hair with both hands. He started to unconsciously push Draco further and further onto his cock with every downward motion, focusing on just the feelings of heat, suction, and pleasure radiating throughout him.
Draco increased his speed and sucked harder. Harry knew a couple more minutes of this, and he would likely come. He figured that was probably what Draco was aiming for, to get this mess over and done with.
But Harry didn’t want it to end just yet. Despite the sensations wracking his body, he wanted more. He was still angry and upset. He felt like Draco had taken away control of their relationship and left him with no say in the matter. He had no control left over what happened to their lives.
But he could control this, here and now.
“Stop,” Harry ordered in husky tones.
With one last suck, Draco stopped and looked up at him. Pleading, miserable, but mostly resigned eyes stared into his. Harry looked away.
“On the bed. On your stomach.”
Draco choked back a small whimper, and moved to comply.
Harry crawled onto the bed after him. He kneeled behind him and spread Draco’s unresisting legs. Harry reached for his wand and murmured a spell. Lube slicked Draco’s hole, and Harry started to massage his entrance with one finger.
Usually, Draco would be moaning by now. He was usually a very vocal lover. But tonight he remained silent, save for the occasional whimper or sniffle. His head was on his hands, his face turned to one side and his eyes screwed shut.
Harry turned his head away for a moment. What was he doing?
But by this point, Harry was past the point of caring.
He pushed the tip of one finger into Draco’s tight opening, feeling some resistance.
Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Harry pushed the finger all the way in, and then started to move it slowly in and out. The emotional turmoil in the room was starting to affect Harry, and he didn’t know whether he could manage to keep going. Whether he even should. Draco was right; this wasn’t the best idea for them right now. He had thought maybe it would help him, but was he actually making things worse?
But one thought drove all others out of his mind. If he could just be inside Draco again, surely things would start to make sense again. Surely things would fall into place and work themselves out again. If they could just feel that electricity, that spark, that usually made things between them so perfect.
He added a second finger to the first. He started to stretch Draco, scissoring his fingers as well as pumping them in and out.
A small, pained moan escaped Draco.
Harry quickly added a third finger, not wanting to wait much longer.
After a few moments, Harry withdrew his fingers. He probably could have spent a little more time preparing Draco, but desperation and anger drove him to keep going. He murmured the lubrication spell again and spread it over Draco’s entrance and his own cock.
Moving up over Draco’s body, he positioned himself at Draco’s hole. He lowered himself slowly into his body. He could see Draco biting into the pillow with his eyes scrunched up. His body was directly above Draco’s, and as he sank into Draco, he lowered his chest to Draco’s back. He was probably smothering him a bit, but Harry wanted the closeness.
He started to move out again, slowly. He had almost completely withdrawn, with just the tip of his cock inside Draco’s body. Then he started to push back in again. Draco scrambled to hold onto the sheets, the pillow, anything to ground him; the pace was torture for both of them. Harry pulled back again, equally slowly.
Once more, just the head was left inside Draco’s body, and Harry paused there for a few moments. Draco was breathing heavily. Suddenly, Harry pushed back in with full force, taking Draco by surprise as he rammed harshly into him. Draco let out a cry.
Harry kissed his neck, “Shhhh.”
He maintained a rough pace then, pushing in and out of Draco without pause. Every inward thrust pushed Draco slightly up the bed, and Draco clung to his pillow, face buried in it. Harry ignored the fact that Draco didn’t seem to be moaning in pleasure.
The rhythm was starting to affect Harry’s composure, and his thrusts started to become more erratic. He pumped into Draco once, twice, three more times, and then came in an explosion of pleasure, spilling his seed deep inside Draco.
He collapsed on top of Draco’s limp body.
He felt himself soften as he lay there a few minutes. He slowly pulled out and rolled over to one side.
As soon as Harry was off him, Draco rolled off the bed and bolted for the bathroom, locking the door behind him.
Now that the heat of the moment had died down, Harry lay there in misery. He knew it had been an awful idea. He hadn’t felt that spark. All he had felt was anger and sadness. Gulping for air, Harry felt the weight of what he had just done settle over him. He choked back a sob. His emotions from the previous night rose to the surface and his chest constricted.
He didn’t know what to do.
-
Inside the bathroom, Draco washed his face, trying to remove as many of his tears as possible. But he couldn’t stop sobbing, so it was pointless.
He looked down at his own cock, which had stayed resolutely limp during the whole encounter.
He felt awful.
He knew he had done the wrong thing. He couldn’t understand why he had done it. He could remember the majority of the details of that night with Hermione, but he still couldn’t explain to himself why. He hadn’t even thought he was that intoxicated, but he must have drunk more than he realized. The morning after, he had awoken only to run to the toilet and vomit, a pounding headache in tow and clearly suffering the effects of a hangover.
He didn’t blame Harry for feeling the way he did; Draco had betrayed his trust, even if he couldn’t fully explain why or how.
But what had happened out there… Draco had never seen Harry so cold, so angry. His whole demeanor had completely disturbed Draco. He had wanted Harry to forgive him so badly that Draco would have done anything, but that hadn’t felt right. He felt like his heart was breaking; this wasn’t the Harry that Draco knew and loved.
He felt dirty and violated. His lover had made him feel this way. Harry was so angry with him, so hurt by Draco’s actions, that he hadn’t cared what Draco thought or felt.
Draco started crying again, not knowing what to do or how to fix things.
Stumbling to the shower, he turned it on to scalding hot and got in. He scrubbed at his flesh until his skin was bright pink and smelled of soap.
He stayed in the shower another thirty minutes, crying and sobbing, and wishing he didn’t have to face the real world again.
Finally he got out, wrapped himself in a towel, and braved the bedroom again, ready to confront Harry.
But when he stepped back onto the plush carpet of their room, there was no sign of Harry. His clothes, shoes, everything he had came with tonight was gone. The only sign that he had been there were the rumpled and stained sheets.
Harry had left.
Biting back more tears, Draco retrieved a bottle of Firewhiskey from the shelf on the opposite wall, took a large swig, and then put it on the bedside table. He dropped the wet towel from around his waist, and, naked, crawled onto the bed. He curled into a ball, knees to chest, and somehow managed to cry himself to sleep.
-
It was well past midnight when Harry Apparated into the kitchen of the Burrow, his clothes haphazardly replaced right before leaving the flat. He still smelled of sweat and sex and of Draco, and his eyes were swimming with tears.
Ginny was in the kitchen. He hadn’t expected anyone to still be up.
“Harry!”
“Ginny… What are you still doing here?”
“Mum was worried. I offered to stay up and wait for you rather than have her send some of the boys to check on you. I didn’t think you needed the intrusion right now.”
“Thanks,” Harry said, hesitantly.
“Are you OK, Harry? You seem a bit… off colour.”
“I’m… Draco and I… I don’t know, Gin, I really don’t.” He collapsed into one of the chairs and put his head in his hands.
He heard the scrape of a chair as Ginny got up and moved to sit next to him. Harry felt her hand on his arm.
“We’re all here for you Harry. If you ever want to talk, I’d be happy to listen.”
“Thanks,” Harry said, moving his hands to look at her. She squeezed his arm slightly, and he moved one hand to cover hers.
Letting her go again, Harry sat back in his chair.
“I think I just made a big mistake,” he said.
Ginny looked at him, compassion in her eyes. “Whatever it is Harry, I’m sure the two of you can work it out.”
“I’m not so sure. This whole situation is just a mess.”
“Maybe… Maybe the two of you just need some space. Why don’t you hang out here for the next week, and think things over?”
“I don’t know…”
“If you’re worried about Hermione, Ron and her have decided to head back to their place and try and work on their issues away from everyone else. They’re leaving in the morning.”
Harry fell silent at that news. Then he nodded. “If Molly doesn’t mind, I think it would be good to stay here for a while.”
“Oh, Mum doesn’t mind at all. Don’t worry about that.”
“Thanks, Ginny.”
“And if I were you, Harry, I would stay away for a bit, let things cool down between you and Draco. You said yourself that you thought tonight was a big mistake. I don’t know what happened of course, but if you want to talk about it - ”
“No, I don’t think I can talk about this any time soon.”
“Oh, that’s OK. The offer is always there though, Harry, if you need it.”
“Thanks.”
“Let’s get you to bed then, shall we?” Ginny said. “Or do you need me to tuck you in like last night,” she said cheekily, winking at him.
Harry laughed. “No, no, I think I can manage this time. Thank you for last night, Gin. I’m glad it was you that found me rather than anyone else.”
“That’s OK,” she said, smiling softly.
“Night, Gin.”
“Good night Harry.”
Next - Chapter Five