Chapter 7-Heads Up, Damage Control

That evening, Harry was lying in his bed, trying not to listen to his parents and godparents talking about him. Very loudly. They were discussing what they were going to do: what to do to the guy from the library who had assaulted him, and what to do with him. Therapy? Counseling? Medicine? Fucking AA meetings? Harry put his pillow over his head, trying to block them out. Why couldn't they just ask him what he wanted to do? Put the bastard in jail, for one. And get left the hell alone.

They had done this last time, too. Constantly at his side, asking if he needed this, needed that? Did he need help getting to the fucking bathroom. Can you eat on your own? God. He was sick of it. The last therapist he had been to talked about emotions. Last time, he had felt like it the end of the world, like he would never be whole again. This time, he wanted to kill something.

A couple of hours ago, at the library, he hadn't been mad. He had been scared. He vaguely remembered clinging to Draco like he'd disappear if he didn't. Now, he tried to feel embarrassed, but couldn't. Thinking about Draco was helping to curb his anger, but now he felt... nothing.

And that was scarier than feeling angry.

You're supposed to feel angry or scared when something like this happens. At school, before, they had always heard these stories. Someone gets raped or attacked, they try to kill themselves or someone else. But did they feel nothing at all? After the first time, when they had actually done something, rather than what happened at the library, he had understood those stories. He understood wanting to kill yourself, just to get away from the pain and all the fucking pity. He also understood wanting to kill them, those pitiful, disgusting, wastes of space, for the heinous things they did. They didn't deserve to live.

But now, he didn't want to do either of those. All he wanted to do was lay in this bed for the rest of his life. But at the same time, he didn't.

God it was confusing.

What did he want?

And all at once, he knew.

It was raining outside, but Harry didn't care. Harry was sitting on a swing at the park that he and Ron and Hermione had spent many summer days in their childhood at. He could still remember trying to see-saw with three people, or taking turns pushing these very swings or even sliding down the muddy hill behind the park after it had rained.

Normal.

That was what he wanted. No more sick, twisted perverts trying to take advantage of him, or family that too effing constricting. Nothing but peace and quiet, and the comforting sound of the rain falling around him. Cleaning the ground, and maybe him as well.

He'd been out here for a couple hours at least. He knew his parents were either going crazy looking for him, or they knew where he was and were still going crazy with worry over his "well being." Either way, still the same.

He heard the foot steps squishing on the wet ground before he saw the white shoes in his line of vision. He heard the swing rattle as someone sat down, and the scrunch of the parka.

"Hey." That was it. No, "how are you?" or "are you okay?" just... "hey."

Normal.

"You know," the voice went on, "I used to come here all the time when I was little. There is a park closer to my house, but this once was a lot more fun. More stuff to do." Harry nodded. "Me too. Me and Ron and Hermione would come here all the time as kids. Sometimes me and Ron would come alone, 'cause Hermione is a girl and it wasn't 'cool' to be seen with her." He laughed. "It was the same with Pansy. Me and Blaise didn't want cooties or anything. But she took it well, starting all these "No boys Allowed!" with all of her other girl friends."

Harry smiled at Draco. "Thanks for coming," he said softly. "Hey, no problem. I had nothing to do, other than clean with my mom. I just her I had to go and ran out the door. It's not like anything was messy. It's never messy. My mom's just a freak." Harry laughed, and it was real, not fake, not anymore. "Yeah, unlike yours, my house really does get messy. It used to be worse, when Ron came over all the time. The guy is a slob. Never picks up anything. But he was like my brother, so my mom made him help us clean the house."

Draco smiled, happy for making Harry laugh. Then he noticed that he was shivering. "You should go inside now, Harry. You're shaking." Harry looked up at him, his eyes wide. "I- I don't- I can't go home. Not now. My parents are being all... weird, again. And I just can't handle it." Draco looked at him, shaking, holding his arms to his chest, and looking at him with big, pleading eyes, and he melted. "Then come to my house. But you can't stay out in the rain, Harry. You'll catch something." He stood up, and pulled Harry with him. "Come on. We'll call Blaise and Pansy, and maybe even Ron and Hermione, if you want, and we'll have a movie night. I haven't had one of those in a long time."

He was pulling Harry along, when suddenly Harry pulled him to a stop. He turned around to face him, making sure to keep a little distance between them. "Thanks," Harry said, a small smile on his face. And then Draco couldn't help it. He walked up to Harry and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "Anytime."

Harry's hand flew to his face where Draco had kissed him. His eyes were wide with shock and Draco prayed he hadn't been to forward and messed it up. Then, to Draco's great relief, Harry gave him that small smile again, but this one had a hint of shyness to it. "I- uh- I -um- I do like you... you know. Like, like you..." Harry trailed off, looking at the ground and blushing. Draco thought his heart might just explode with everything he was feeling. "Yeah, I know." Lie. He had hoped, but now that he knew, he wasn't going to make a big deal out of this. For Harry's sake. But when he was alone... "I like you too, you know." Harry smiled again. "Yeah. But-" he paused.

"It's too soon," Draco finished for him. "Yeah," Harry said softly. And then he completely surprised Draco, so much that he almost fell over in shock. He walked up to Draco and placed a soft, gentle kiss right on his lips. "Come on," he said. "We have movies to watch."

It was close to three in the morning and no one was showing any signs of going to sleep. Harry, Draco, Blaise, Pansy, Hermione, and Ron were all lounging around Draco's spacious basement, eating pizza and playing ridiculous games. They had already watching 4 movies, the last one being Aladdin, Harry's favorite Disney movie, and they were now a messed up version of Scrabble. There were no rules, and they didn't even have to be real words, much to Hermione's discomfort, so needless to say, things were getting pretty funny. Harry and Draco had opted not to play, and they were sitting on the comfy, white couch cuddled under a blanket, watching the game progress. Everyone had noticed, but no one said anything.

Harry and Draco had come to an unspoken agreement. They both liked each other, so there was no reason to hide it, but they wouldn't do anything that Harry was uncomfortable with. Which, at the moment, happened to be a lot. But cuddling was something he was perfectly fine with, as was the way Draco was playing with his hand under the blanket. He rested his head against Draco's shoulder and decided to just think.

So much had changed.

This time four months ago, he would have been with either Ron or Hermione or both, hanging out and goofing off. This time three months ago, or two months ago or even just last month, he would have been laying in his bed crying or just being depressed.

And here he was, in a boy he had just recently met's basement, with his old friends and his new friends, just... hanging out.

It was weird, it was different, and it was good.

Normal.

Okay, maybe cuddling up with another boy under a blanket wasn't so normal, but it felt right to him, and it was as close to normal as he could ever get.

So it would do.

Narcissa Malfoy came down to get everyone to go to sleep. It was Monday tomorrow but it was some holiday that they got off, so no school. Draco pulled him down so that they were both laying on the couch, Harry was more on Draco than the couch, but he didn't mind. Draco's came over and smiled at him, pulling the blanket on them, and running her hand through Harry's hair. And still, Harry didn't mind.

As she turned out the light and he heard everyone shifting around to get comfortable, and Draco's arms tightened around him a little bit; Harry knew that with morning would come more talks and more feelings and all that uncomfortable stuff. Like last time. But right now, in this moment, encircled in Draco's arms and listening to the breathing of everyone around him, he knew that, for know, everything could be alright.

For now.

"Tell me that you're alright, yeah everything is alright."