Anyone who knew Harry could safely say that he had faced more than his fair share of impossible tasks in his twenty odd years. Frankly, Harry's life was pretty much a 'here a task, there a task, everywhere a task task' sort of deal. Three headed dogs, fire breathing dragons, crazy Dark Lords with a snake fetish…you name it, he'd seen it. But tonight, it seemed that the young Hero had finally met his match.

Yes. Harry Potter was facing his greatest challenge ever and this time, he feared that it was truly impossible.

"Draco, I'm going to say it one more time. Give me the tequila bottle."

"Don' have it" Draco claimed, promptly hiding the Jose Cuervo behind his back and adopting a look of wide eyed innocence. It was a little late for that considering that he'd been prancing on top of a bar pouring shots straight into the mouths of eager strangers for over an hour now. Harry's jaw tightened inexplicably.

Belatedly, he wished that he had spent his first official night of summer vacation at home with a good book instead of going out with the rest of his mates from Merlin University. Spirits were way too high, and inhibitions were way too low. Exhibit A: Harry's quiet, borderline shy college roommate currently sporting leather trousers and trying to out-drink most of Diagon Alley. Honestly, Harry had no idea what had gotten into him tonight. Usually, it took about an hour of pleading, coaxing and the 'I thought we were friends now' speech to get a grumbling Draco into a bar.

And unlike the blond, Harry wasn't unaware of the admiring glances and lewd suggestions his pretty roommate was attracting. One passing bloke gave Malfoy a quick look over and whistled appreciatively. The tic in Harry's jaw made an unexpected comeback.

"Draco, we're leaving now" he gritted out, taking his arm firmly. Of course, this caused the tipsy blond to fall straight into his chest. Malfoy squirmed petulantly and Harry groaned in frustration.

"Don'…don' wanna leave" the blond whined as he straightened, grey eyes blinking sleepily at Harry "It…its Harry Hour, Happy!"

"You're fucking plastered!" Harry snapped "I'm taking you to the Manor before you do something you'll regret."

"No! Wanna stay..." Draco snapped peevishly, trying to pull away.

"C'mon mate, let 'im stay" an inebriated ginger leered, as he attempted to place a bold hand on Draco's arse. "I'll show 'im a good time, I will…"

"Back off!" Harry snarled, as Draco shrank into him. His arm tightened around Draco's waist as the blond pressed against him in a bid for protection. Harry's eyes flashed as he glared daggers at the intruder.

The ginger seemed a bit taken aback but recovered his sneering bravado pretty quickly, because he made another lunge for Draco. Harry's dormant territorial instincts rose to the surface in an instant. In one swift move, he pulled Draco back so that he was standing between the blond and the leering stranger, wand raised and poised for attack.

"I said leave him alone" he intoned slowly, the tip of his wand pressing against the man's throat with every syllable.

"You don't have the balls!" the furious man spat out.

Harry smirked and pushed his dark fringe back with his free hand. His scar was faint, but unmistakable. "Want to bet on that?" he sneered.

That pretty much did it. Even the awesome powers of Jack Daniels faded in the face of a showdown with the Saviour of the Wizarding World. Ginger squeaked and bolted for the door, stumbling over a couple of chairs in his haste. Harry sent a Stinging Hex after him for good measure before turning to Draco.

The blond had slipped to the floor, sitting cross legged and holding his head in his hands. Harry sighed and knelt down beside him. "All right?" he asked, placing a gentle hand on Draco's shoulder. Dazed, grey eyes stared back at him before Draco decided to slump forward and nuzzle against Harry's neck. "Dizzy" he finally mumbled, a tad sulkily.

"That's too bad" Harry replied conversationally, patting the soft, blond locks at his disposal and trying to ignore the flutters of Draco's breath against his neck "Maybe I should take you to the Manor then?"

Draco sat up and shook his head vehemently. "Not…not there. Take me to the Uni. Gonna…gonna sleep in the dorm."

Harry scowled, thoroughly exasperated. He was rapidly running out of patience. Honestly, why was he being so fucking difficult? First he got plastered, then he got hit on and Harry had to step in and now he was refusing to go home! He hadn't been this annoyed with Draco since sixth year, and that was saying something! He tried to reason with the blond brat again.

"You're going to the Manor" he said firmly "The Uni is closed for summer vacation, remember? You can't sleep in the dorm."

"Don't care" Draco whined as he threw a well practiced tantrum "Wanna go to Uni, Harry! Take me there!"

"You're going to the Manor if I have to drag you every step of the way!" the dark haired boy finally yelled in frustration.

It took all of three seconds for Harry to learn why it was a bad idea to shout at a drunk, emotionally overwrought Draco Malfoy. First he stared in stunned silence, apparently trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had been scolded. Then his lower lip quivered. And finally, he keened like a kicked crup and hid his face in his arms. Harry groaned. Why was this happening to him? The blond continued to cry, all sniffles and shaking shoulders, and finally Harry caved.

"Oh, for the love of…come here, you idiot."

He didn't wait for him to throw another tantrum. With Draco, it was just better to take charge sometimes. So he simply pulled the blond towards him and wrapped him up in an awkward one armed hug. Draco didn't pull away, thank Merlin. Eventually, he calmed down enough to give Harry a watery, accusatory glare.

"You yelled at me" he said sullenly.

"You were being a brat" Harry said. Draco's lower lip quivered again and he hastily amended "But I shouldn't have yelled. Sorry 'bout that."

Draco gave it some thought, apparently decided that Harry was sincere and slumped back against the taller boy. This time, Harry obliged him without protest, patting the blond head occasionally. Draco was obviously struggling with something and if he wanted to sit on the floor of a dingy little pub with Harry as he worked it out, Harry wasn't going to stop him. He squeezed Draco's arm, trying to encourage a response. "What's wrong?" he pressed gently.

"Can't go to the Manor" Draco said, finally looking up at Harry "Bad…bad memories. Give me nightmares."

Ah. So that was it. He should have guessed. He had nightmares about the Manor too- he could only imagine how bad it must be for Draco. No wonder he had been so adamant tonight. Harry felt a surge of tenderness for his exasperating, vulnerable blond git and he squeezed his shoulders in a comforting gesture. "You could have just told me, you know" he ventured reasonably.

Draco shrugged feebly and nestled back in Harry's jacket. He had never been one for speaking from the heart, and it was hard for him to talk about the past. But he was getting there. And Harry would be right here through it all, because Draco was worth sticking around for. The Gryffindor smiled slightly and hoisted the blond up. "Let's go" he whispered.

Draco stirred sleepily in his arms. "Not the Manor, Harry" he mumbled, head lolling against Harry's shoulder. He looked peaceful and trusting and Harry felt strangely honoured.

"Not the Manor" he promised softly "You can stay with me this summer."

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