Work Text:
Harry looked over the map. He tried the make the action seem casual, and judging by the look Ron was giving him, he was failing. Badly.
He diverted his attention to the map, looking over all the names, searching for -
Draco Malfoy in elegant script, was written in the Astronomy Tower. Harry cast a quick glance at Ron, the only other boy in their dorm who was awake at this time of night. Ron raised an eyebrow.
"Just go, Harry. I'll cover for you if any of them wake up." Ron sighed, not unkindly.
Harry was once again reminded of why he was to grateful to have Ron Weasley as a friend.
"Thanks, mate." He said as he grabbed his invisibility cloak and slipped out of the dorm, through the common room and then the portrait hole.
Harry threw the cloak over him and scanned the map, making sure Malfoy stayed in the same place. Harry saw that Pansy Parkinson and Hermione were doing their rounds on the other side of the castle. There would be other prefects around, but he didn't have the time to look over every inch of the map.
Harry jogged lightly up the steps, slowing down to make himself quieter when he neared the top. He slowly eased the door open and was surprised when a deep voice muttered.
"Potter."
He slipped the cloak off of his head, trying not to look guilty. "How'd you know it was me?" He asked as he sat beside Malfoy. Malfoy was sitting with his legs through the gaps in the railing, steadily chugging what looked like a bottle of fire whiskey.
"Is that fire whiskey?" He said. Malfoy passed the bottle to him.
"The finest kind. It's been in my fathers cellar for years."
He took a sip and grimaced. Malfoy held out a hand to take the bottle back. Harry gave it gladly. "That's, well, that tastes very, uh-"
"Takes some getting useful." Malfoy said as he took a swig.
They settled into a calm quiet, both boys just staring at the night sky above them. Malfoy broke their silence.
"Potter, what you saw yesterday-" He started.
"I won't tell anyone." Harry promised. He had known that he wouldn't tell anyone the moment Malfoy collapsed into his arms.
"Good." Malfoy's fingers tapped against the bottle. "What you saw-" He said awkwardly, unsure of how to continue.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I want to help but if you think it'll make it worse I'll keep my nose out."
"Does stalking me and having a drink with me count as keeping your nose out?" Malfoy sneered.
"I can go if you want-" said Harry, already gathering up his cloak.
"No, don't!" Malfoy grabbed Harry's sleeve and pulled him back down. "I didn't mean it like that."
Harry was confused. "Then how did you mean it?"
Malfoy sighed. "Sometimes I say things, and I don't think they sound bad, but other people do." He explained quietly, silently praying Potter wouldn't ask too many questions. Then again, this was Potter.
"No offence, Malfoy, but you know you can be a right arse." Harry said bluntly.
"Yes, I know. Sometimes I'm an arse on purpose, and sometimes I'm not. Either way, I'm still an arse." He took another swug and swore. "I am so pissed." He muttered.
"Yeah," Harry agreed, prizing the bottle away from Malfoy's hands, "You kind of are."
"You'll keep my secret?" Malfoy suddenly asked.
"I said I would. I wouldn't tell anyone that, it's private." Harry assured him.
"Would you keep it if I told you something else?"
"Depends. If you're about to confess that you've killed someone, then probably not." He joked. Malfoy made a strange noise part way between a laugh and a sob.
"No, merlin, no. It's nothing like that. It's something about me."
Harry nodded. "I won't tell anyone."
Malfoy fiddled with the fabric of his cloak. "Ididn'tspeakuntilIwassix," He confessed in a rush.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. You didn't what?"
Malfoy sucked in a breath. "I didn't speak until I was six." He said slowly. He didn't look at Potter's face. His close friends knowing was one thing, but they were his friends. Potter may as well been a stranger.
Harry gaped at him. "How come?" He couldn't imagine a universe where Malfoy didn't speak all the time. Harry had imagined him demanding things left and right even as a baby.
Malfoy shrugged, still fiddling with his robes. "I couldn't. Or wouldn't. I had nothing physically wrong with me. I just never spoke."
"Your parents..." Harry trailed off, thinking he had maybe overstepped a boundary.
"They noticed, of course they did. You can't hide things from my parents. They sent me to wizarding doctor after wizarding doctor. Always the same response. They're is nothing wrong with your son, Mr Malfoy, he is simply refusing to talk." Malfoy mimicked in a dull tone. "I wasn't refusing. I just couldn't."
"Malfoy I," Harry wasn't sure what to say.
"I've never told anyone who wasn't a Slytherin that, Potter." Malfoy said solemnly.
"Who else knows?"
"Snape, obviously. He was my godfather, he used to babysit me when I was really young. He had to know to deal with... other stuff. Crabbe and Goyle know. So do Pansy, Blaise and Theo. Daphne might know. Her and Pansy are close."
Harry nodded, taking in this information. He wasn't sure why, though. He could picture absolutely no scenario where this would come in handy.
"How come you started talking?"
Malfoy ran his hands over his robes. "I just did. Terrified the shit out of my Mother and shocked my Father into silence. I just came down one morning and calmly asked him to pass the butter." Malfoy chuckled quietly. "I thought they were both going to faint on the spot."
Harry smiled. Taking a risk, he wrapped an arm around Malfoy.
"Christ, you're freezing!" He exclaimed.
"Well yes, Potter. We Slytherins are both cold on the inside and the outside."
"Sure you are, Malfoy." Harry mumbled as he wrapped the cloak around them.
"How'd you even get an invisibility cloak, anyway?"
"It was my father's." He said quietly. Malfoy nodded, understanding the need to not ask anymore questions and they sat under the stars long into the early hours of the morning.