Chapter Text
Harry pushed the bathroom door open and silently stepped inside. Draco Malfoy was standing with his back to Harry, his hands gripping the sides of the sink as if he was supporting himself with it. His shoulders were hunched, his normally slicked back, white blond hair was plastered against his face, and his face . . . his face. Malfoy was crying. Harry could see tears flowing down his pale cheeks in the mirror’s reflection.
Harry hadn’t noticed Malfoy’s companion until she started speaking. Moaning Myrtle was hovering right above him. “Tell me what’s wrong . . . I can help you,” she whispered.
“No one can help me,” Malfoy choked out with a sob. “I can’t do it . . . I won’t. And he’s going to kill me when I don’t. Maybe if it were only me he was going to-” at that moment Malfoy looked up and saw Harry in the mirror. He turned around and drew his wand. Harry instinctively did the same. Malfoy’s hex just barely missed Harry. Harry threw one back that Malfoy dodged. The two boys continued to throw hexes at each other and deflect them, destroying the bathroom in the process.
Harry remembered the spell he read in the Prince’s book. “Sec-”
“No! Stop it!,” Moaning Myrtle screamed at Harry. “Draco doesn’t deserve to be hurt anymore.”
Harry hesitated and Malfoy threw the Cruciatus curse at him. The moment seemed to last for hours. It was too late for Harry to move out of the way, so he stood, rooted in place and watched Malfoy’s face as he waited for the curse and the ensuing agony to strike him. Malfoy’s eyes appeared to widen in horror and then, when the curse finally struck Harry, fill with relief as Harry’s body failed to react.
Malfoy sank to the floor with his back against the sink as Harry stared down at himself in wonder. He had felt no pain. He remembered then what Bellatrix had said to him last year. You need to mean them Potter! You need to really want to cause pain-to enjoy it-righteous anger won’t hurt me for long. But Harry had felt no pain at all just then at the hands of Draco Malfoy.
“You didn’t want to hurt me,” Harry said softly as he took a step closer, with his wand pointed at the floor.
Malfoy didn’t respond. He also would not meet Harry’s eyes. Where was the proud boy who had always wanted to best Harry? Who always had something cruel and snarky to say? Who had never had any problems hurting Harry before?
“Who’s going to kill you?” Harry asked. Malfoy didn’t move. “Is it Voldemort?” Malfoy flinched at the name but still didn’t say anything or look up at Harry. He looked defeated. He wasn’t wearing his robes. His shirt was untucked and wrinkled and stuck to him around his collar with sweat. His shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows and Harry noticed what must be the Dark Mark peeking out of his shirt on his left arm with several neat, parallel straight marks underneath it.
“What does Voldemort want you to do, Malfoy?”
Now Malfoy met Harry’s eyes. He was still crying. “Go ahead and curse me or leave me alone, Potter,” he said weakly. It sounded like more of a request than a demand.
“Maybe I can hel-”
“LEAVE!” Malfoy screamed as turned his wand at Harry. Harry stood his ground for a moment, but then quickly left as a curse barreled towards him. He did note on his way out that the curse would have missed him by several feet even if he hadn’t moved.
Harry walked quickly to the Gryffindor common room and noticed Snape rushing towards the bathroom he had just left. As Harry stepped through the portrait hole, he saw Ginny, Hermione, and Ron sitting in the common room.
Ginny looked up at him and smiled, “Oh, hello, Harry. Are you ready for the match this Satur-” she began.
“Sorry, Gin, I’ve got Potions homework. Later?” Harry interrupted as he kept walking up to his dormitory. He couldn’t bring himself to care about the hurt look on her face or the surprised looks on Ron’s and Hermione’s.
When he got to his room, he sat on his bed, pulled the curtains closed, and pulled out the Maurader’s map. He quickly found Malfoy still in the bathroom where Harry had left him and Professor Snape with him. What does Voldemort want Malfoy to do? Why doesn’t Malfoy want to do it? He feels like he should tell his friends and Dumbledore, but they hadn’t believed him before. Why would they believe him now when he has no more evidence other than Malfoy’s tears? Draco Malfoy’s tears .
Harry couldn’t believe that he had seen Malfoy crying like that. It was hard to hate someone who had looked that . . . broken. Almost against his will, Harry began to feel pity for Malfoy. Thinking back on it, Malfoy normally is always looking for ways to torture Harry, but this year he’s been hiding from him. And the one chance Malfoy gets to literally torture Harry, he doesn’t even mean it. Last year, Harry had managed to hurt Bellatrix for a moment, but today’s Malfoy’s curse caused no pain at all. None of Malfoy’s other hexes had landed anywhere close to Harry. He really hadn’t been trying to hurt Harry, but just to get Harry to leave him alone. So that he could cry alone.
Also, why was Moaning Myrtle so protective of him? Myrtle had been a muggle-born when she was alive. Why would she care about a Death Eater? What did she know that Harry didn’t? Maybe Malfoy didn’t want to be a Death Eater. Maybe he had been forced to take the Mark. He did say that Voldemort was going to kill him . . .
Perhaps Harry should tell Dumbledore. Even if Malfoy had been an arsehole to Harry in the past, it didn’t mean that he deserved to die, especially not for refusing Voldemort’s orders. If anyone could protect Malfoy from Voldemort, Dumbledore could.
Harry glanced back at the map, and saw that Snape and Malfoy had left the bathroom. Malfoy was in the infirmary, now. Had Harry hurt him? No, Harry thought. Something must have happened to him before Harry had found him. Something that had caused Malfoy who normally looked polished and perfect to look so absolutely . . . wrecked.
Suddenly, Harry felt exhausted from his recent duel. He put the map away, lay down, and closed his eyes, eventually falling asleep while thinking about the look of relief on Draco’s face when his Unforgivable Curse had failed to hurt Harry.