Alright
Unsung moves the moon's silver pain.
She cannot compete with the Sun
So she asks for nothing,
Content to be in her orbit, at least.
Draco wiped his glazed eyes on the sleeve of his auror uniform, safely tucking away the scribble he'd scribbled long ago, into the box where other similar things lay.
Draco Malfoy was once the coolest of the coolest, arrogant and lazy. A bully, who, like others of his kind, was hollow on the inside. He was a terrified nerd that always tried too hard when he did, resulting in disappointment. It was a relief he'd grown up. Sure, it took a terrible war for that to happen, but it happened, at least.
Harry Potter was in St. Mungo's. It was his fault this time. Harry had no business getting involved in an auror's case, and he did, because of Draco. They'd been... close, recently. But then, in the three weeks they'd known each other that way, it had all been physical. It began with sex. They promised each other it won't happen ever again, and it did. It kept happening, until it was a routine, and then, a need. Harry tried to quit it. They both tried, hard, but in vain.
They had never talked. They had never caressed each other in a warm, loving way. They had never called each other by their first names. Of course, Draco wanted it, but Harry had a girlfriend.
Has, a girlfriend. Who is pregnant.
How he had wished he'd never called her there! Called any of them. The words still rang in his ears, the terrible whisper. "No, this can't be happening. I had only told him last night, dad. He knows his baby needs a father. He'll be alright. He has to be alright."
Even as her words had devastated him, he remembered being surprised at the steely composure of the woman. He had cried himself out of tears in the bathroom before he had the sense to have the others informed, and here was Ginny, the tiny girl that seemed to be all strength and power. She was the ideal one for him. Her, and not Draco.
It still bewildered Draco why the Hogwarts professor had decided to spend the evening with him. Was he guilty about what they'd been doing? Did he want to be nice? Did he want to be friends, at least?
What were you bloody thinking, Potter?
It was almost funny: the first platonic evening they spend together, all hell breaks loose, they get attacked, are heavily outnumbered, and Harry gets hospitalised on account of a serious damage to his mental and physical faculties.
The idiot should've stayed back like I told him. They took one good look at him and called for backup. Desperate people can do terrible things, and the Death Eaters have been desperate for quite some time now.
Draco had been told to go home and freshen up as Harry was resting. He returned to find the sun-kissed Weasely girlfriend walk out of Harry's room. Everyone else had probably left, except for a snoring Ron. Unsure of what to do, he was about to say something to her, when-
"He asked for you."
Does she know? A level voice, no eye contact, no nonsense. All right; easier to deal with.
He walked in gingerly, as if each of his steps was physically harming Harry. He took the seat by the side of the bed, which Ginny must have occupied before him. Harry appeared to be at peace, his eyes closed. It surprised him how fast they patched him up all right, but then he's the Savior, isn't he? Draco felt that his breaths were like bellows, capable of waking giants from the underworld. He would've stopped breathing just so Harry rested undisturbed. The boy had seen too much. How much, he still didn't know. They had never talked. They had never bloody talked, and they'd been shagging each other silly at every chance they had. How ficked up is that.
Harry opened his eyes, fixing his stare on Draco. Draco placed a hand on Harry's chest, taking Harry's palm into his own, squeezing it. They hadn't comforted each other this way, ever, so that was all Draco could think of doing, to let Harry know that... to let him know.
Harry smiled his faint aching smile, the rarest of Potter smiles. Draco remembered having seen this one only once before. It made what he had to do next, even more brutal. He gathered his breath.
"Listen, Harry. I.. I understand if you want-if you don't want to do this anymore. I understand and I know that it's... We were stupid and out of our minds to have - I didn't know, before. I didn't know about the baby. I would've never..."
When Harry spoke, it was as if it took a great amount of effort to articulate sounds. "Su.."
"What?" Draco leaned down, to listen better.
Harry, mustering all his will and power, raised his head by a whole two inches, and planted a kiss on Draco's cheek.
"For fuck's sake, Potter." Draco said, unable to hide his surprise, his glee, his anger, his blush. "Only you'd pull something like that."
Days went by. There was an earth-shattering break-up and a lethal heartbreak, and there were apologies and efforts and raging fires and half-hearted acceptance, and there were Draco and Harry, still together through the toughest time they had faced. A few months later, when they lay back in bed after a particularly heated love-making, Harry stroked his lover's cheek, and said, "You're a supernova."
Draco blinked twice, looked at him, eyebrows raised.
"You're a supernova. You've exploded and suddenly consumed my world."
"Aren't you a dear," said Draco, kissing his lover. "Forget teaching, you should be a poet."
"Well," said Harry, a wicked smile the kind that warms one's heart in an instant, "that's rich, coming from you. I stumbled upon a box in my lover's cabinet - which, by the way, I was only cleaning and sorting out - and when I opened it..."
That night was the longest of all they'd shared. And to think Draco was once afraid Harry would leave him when Ginny was pregnant. Ginny was pregnant, and she hated the both of them. Ginny was pregnant, and she needed time. Ginny was pregnant, and Harry was barely holding up, the guilt, at times, too much to bear. Ginny was pregnant, and Draco had to be strong and hold up the skiesies on his shoulders. Ginny was pregnant, and Harry was in his bed, rambling about how cute Draco's nerdiness was. It was almost funny, if it wasn't also so painful and hard and heartwarming and unbelievably easy.








