Hi everyone, this is my first story so be nice! This is the first chapter. It contains SLASH so if you don't like, quite simple don't read!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot line.
Chapter 1 - Grief
"Oh look, it's Potty and Weasel, back home after a big adventure. Well, if these are the heroes of the day-"
"Shut up Malfoy! I can't believe they let you back into Hogwarts, after what you did! Dumbledore is dead because of you!"
Harry lunged forward and struck the blonde in the chest, all his frustration and grief behind it. Malfoy fell back and hit the ground. Harry was just winding up for round two when Ron cut in, "Harry, he's not worth it. He's not worth it." and started tugging his friend away. The raven-head boy turned away, not before shooting a loathsome look at the boy still lying on the ground. However, if he had waited a little longer, he would have seen the hurt look on the pale boys face.
It was Harry's final year at Hogwarts. A summer after the battle on the Astronomy Tower, after the greatest wizard in the world was betrayed and died because of it. A summer after Hogwarts collapsed. However, the school had found new legs. Shaky ones that threatened to give way but they held… just. The new headmistress, Minerva McGonagall made sure of that. She knew that she could never replace Albus Dumbledore but she was trying.
Harry had spent the summer in his godfathers old house, rather than at Private Drive. No-one had the heart to make him go back to the Dursleys. Ron and Hermione had asked whether he wanted them to stay as well but he said no so forcefully that they didn't dare ask again. Harry just wanted to be alone. However, Remeus Lupin came to stay and refused to leave. He said it was for Harry's own safety as Deatheaters still wandered the streets, even less checked than before but the main reason was to protect Harry from himself. He had lost practically everyone who was close to him. And they all died trying to save his life- his mother and father, his godfather Sirius and now Dumbledore.
The Boy-who-Lived was actually grateful for the older man's company. He left him alone but he was there, if anything else would go wrong. Secretly the werewolf was grieving too but for a similar but different reason.
Harry was in a vicious cycle. Every time he was having a little fun, a picture of Dumbledore, or Sirius, or Voldemort would flash into his mind. He had even lost his drive in Quidditch. After a whole, he stopped turning up to matches and training. Eventually McGonagall kicked him off the team, even though it was against her will. He didn't really care. Ron and Hermoine were trying their best to get him interested in school, the wizarding world, anything… but nothing worked. All Harry wanted to do was sleep, go for walks and brood. A couple of days later he stopped attending classes. Two days later, he stopped eating. Slowly, slowly, he was becoming a ghost, as pale as Nearly-Headless Nick himself. No-one saw him or if they did, it was just a glimpse in a corridor or a flit between the trees. The Boy-who-Lived was dying, from the inside out.
Draco Malfoy was also a ghost but then again, he had always been pale but now, he had lost something else, not just colour. Some how the word had gotten out about his betrayal and connection with Dumbledore's death. Even though Professor McGonagall had told everyone that he had converted and needed to be in Hogwarts for his own protection, he was still the most despised person in the school. He had few friends, even in Slytherin. No-one dared confront him, except for Harry… Harry. The only thing he cared for in this world, above everything, including his own life. "And he doesn't even know…" he murmured.
Suddenly, as if from an apparition, the very boy who he was just dreaming about appeared out the window. He was walking along beside the Forbidden Forest. It was the middle of the afternoon but a huge storm had sprung up, making it as dark as night. However, it wasn't dark enough for Draco to miss the lone figure suddenly collapse. "NO!" he screamed and bolted out of the classroom. He ran down the corridors, out the great hall, through the main doors and outside. He streaked across the grass towards the spread-eagled shape on the ground. "Harry!" he cried as he collapsed on his knees beside the raven haired boy. "Harry, what have you been doing to yourself?" he whispered as he looked closely at the prone body. Harry was so thin that you could see every single rib through his tee-shirt. His eyes had big dark circles under them from lack of sleep. However, what effected Draco the most was the drawn, pointed look that had developed in the one he loved. Gently he slipped one of his arms around the boy's shoulders, the other under his legs and stood up. Draco wasn't strong but lifting this human being was like lifting a pile of feathers. "Harry, what have you done?" he asked again as he made his way towards the castle.
Everyone was still in classes so Draco found it no trouble taking the boy down to the Slytherin dormitory a.k.a the dungeons. He had been given his own room so he lay the lifeless body onto his bed and pressed his ear against his chest. Faintly, oh so faintly, he could hear the raven head's heart beating, keeping him alive. "Harry?" he whispered, "Harry, you must live. The world cannot live without the Golden Boy, the Boy-who-Lived… I can't live without you, even if you hate me…". Suddenly one of Professor Flitwick's lessons came back- a charm for revival. Reviso he whispered and waited with bated breath. Suddenly Harry's chest gave a great heave and he started to breathe in big gasps. His eyes flickered open and Draco gasped as he saw green eyes staring up at him, green eyes, duller than he remembered but… looking at him, not in hate but in confusion. As his breathing settled back into a normal pattern, those eyes slowly closed and the black haired teen settled into a deep, untroubled sleep.
Draco pulled a blanket up over the sleeper and collapsed into a chair beside his bed. Even though he was still wet through from standing out in the rain, he fell straight to sleep, wondering what would happen next.
So what did you think? Please R & R