Work Text:
Harry’s lying down in St. Mungo’s, bruises creeping up his neck and onto his jaw.
He shifts slightly, and his eyes blink open. He doesn’t notice you yet, sitting in the corner. Harry looks up at the ceiling and sighs. He looks… disappointed.
And suddenly you’re furious. “Were you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Draco,” he slurs.
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
“Hm?” Harry lifts a hand to rub his eyes.
“You can’t take other people’s potions!”
“Thought it was a sleeping potion,” he replies slowly.
“It was a sleeping potion. And if you’ve taken first year Potions, which I know for a fact you have, you’d know drinking that much could have killed you.”
Harry mumbles something that you don’t catch. “What?”
“Wasn’t trying to kill myself,” he says louder, words still jumbled. “Just didn’t want to wake up again.”
Your heart crumples. Somehow, hearing those words hurts you more than hearing the glass bottle of your sleeping draught shatter into pieces. Even more than watching him fall down the two flights of stairs outside of your flat.
“You okay?” Harry asks you.
“Yeah,” you reply, as if things are alright. As if you could be okay after hearing Harry Potter admit that he- that he-
It’s not like you didn’t suspect. You’re his auror partner, after all; you’ve seen the bags under his eyes. You’ve seen the way he throws himself into danger without considering his own safety. You’ve seen how he crumples after reporters shove themselves in his face, how he turns into a shell of himself every Halloween, how he forces a smile every time Weasley walks into your shared office.
But it’s different to hear it out loud. And he said it to you, of all people. It’s the painkillers, you know that. He would never trust you with something like that. It should be Granger here, or Weasley. They would know what to say. They would know how to put Harry Potter back together.
“You know people love, you, right?” It’s all you can get out. Harry’s eyes are fluttering shut.
You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met, you don’t say. You’re so brave. You make me want to be a better person. Your smile is the most beautiful thing in the world.
I love you.
“I love you,” you say out loud.
But he’s already asleep.