Work Text:
Draco runs after Harry. He has the itch to flatten down his hair but he knows it is pointless. He looks a right state. Surviving a fiendfyre will do that to you, he supposes.
“Potter!” he shouts and he feels his lungs burning with every step he takes.
“Potter!” he shouts again and finally, Harry’s step falters. He turns around and looks at Draco questioningly.
“Malfoy, I honestly don’t have time for this right now, I…”
“You can’t go into the forest,” Draco wheezes when he finally comes to a stop in front of this boy that he’s supposed to hate. The boy he used to envy. This boy he somehow fell in love with instead.
“He is in there,” he explains and tugs on Harry’s sleeve to make him turn around, make him move in his direction, make him come back up to the castle into the castle, into safety. But Harry doesn’t move. He looks at Draco with wonder and with something Draco can’t quite decipher.
“I know, that’s why I’m going,” Harry says quietly.
Draco’s eyes grow impossibly wide. “You can’t! Harry, he’ll kill you!”
Harry’s eyes widen slightly at the use of his first name but his mouth becomes a straight hard line. It becomes the mouth of a man who is intending to sacrifice himself. The realisation hits Draco like a bludger.
“You can’t,” he whispers.
“I have to.”
Draco hadn’t realised how tightly he was clutching Harry’s shirt until Harry unclasps his fingers one by one.
“You can’t,” Draco whispers again and lets his hands find their way into the fabric of Harry’s shirt again. He holds on tightly before crashing their mouths together in a hard, desperate kiss. A kiss that’s supposed to tell Harry that he will never be able to live with himself if Harry doesn’t come back. A kiss that says I love you more than I could ever articulate. A kiss that’s not good bye but a promise. He needs Harry to promise him.
“Don’t die,” he whispers against Harry’s lips when they part. Harry’s hand comes up to cup his cheek and he looks him in the eyes, trying to read Draco, trying to figure out if this is some kind of trick.
He seems satisfied with what he sees and says in a strong, confident tone:
“I won’t.”
And then he is gone.
And Draco can’t do any more than fall to his knees, every single last strand of strength leaving his body with every step Harry takes and not for the first time in his life asks himself what he has done following his parents, following this madman for so long.