The week Draco had spent together with Harry had been perfect, which made the radio silence from Harry even more confusing. It had only been about 10 hours to be fair, but Harry always responded to the touches from Draco's bracelet. Draco went to sleep, ready to wake up to a letter from Harry, but it never came. This was unlike Harry, and Draco was officially worried.

"I'm going to kill him," Draco swore out loud, grabbing floo powder and saying an address he never thought he would utter. "12 Grimmauld Place."

The house looked empty, and there seemed to be a thin layer of dust coating the surfaces.

"Potter?," Draco called, carefully walking around the ground floor.

There was no answer, so he made his way upstairs, until he found what he presumed to be Harry's room. Fumbling for a light switch, he took in the state of the room. To be honest, Draco expected a mess. On the contrary, the room didn't even look lived in. The bed looked like it hadn't been in weeks, which made Draco even more worried.

He knew he shouldn't have, but he poked around through Harry's things trying to find a clue as to where he could have been. Instead, Draco found Harry's invisibility cloak, and he knew what he had to do. He would use that to somehow sneak into the Ministry and find Harry. Then, he was going to kill him for making him so worried he broke one of the only promises he had ever made to himself. 

Draco whipped around to storm back down the stairs, when Harry's dresser caught his eye. His curiosity getting the better of him, Draco stepped forward to examine the contents. The dresser held many reminders of the adventures Harry and Draco had been on through the years, and Draco felt quite touched. He hadn't expected to find a photo of them playing quidditch next to the first photo they had ever taken together, and a smile made its way onto Draco's face before he remembered he was supposed to be mad.

Making his way downstairs, he was pondering how he should go about getting to the Ministry, when his gaze fell upon the front door. Frowning, Draco stepped forward to find a recent copy of The Prophet. It must have arrived during the time where Draco was investigating.

Picking it up, the headline immediately made the paper fall back out of his hands. Cursing, he walked outside and immediately apparated as close to Saint Mango's as he dared.

With the invisibility cloak on, Draco was waiting for someone to enter the building so that he could sneak in with them. It took about 10 minutes of anxious pacing until someone finally showed up, and he narrowly made it into the building.

The tricky part was going to be finding Harry's room and sneaking in there. No doubt there would be Aurors stationed outside of the door, and it would be a lot harder to sneak past them. Draco lingered near the front desk, waiting for a moment to check the log books. His time came when someone requested the room of a patient, who just so happened to be on the same floor as Harry.

Draco took the stairs two at a time after casting a silencing charm, and was out of breath by the time he hit Harry's floor. Panting, he could spot the Auror trying and failing to be inconspicuous as he walked up and down the hallway. It was just his luck that Granger arrived 5 minutes later, so he was able to sneak in behind her.

He watched as she dragged a chair to sit next to his bed, and Draco carefully sat down in the chair across the room. Closing his eyes, he prepared himself for the worse before he glanced at Harry. He had minor bruising on his face and a busted lip, but it was what Draco couldn't see that worried him.

"Facial bruising, broken ribs that punctured a lung, burns on his arms, and he sprained an ankle. The lung was the worst of his injuries thankfully, but he shouldn't have been injured at all."

Draco was silent, unsure if he was supposed to respond. Tentatively, he removed the cloak.

"It sounds like a punishment."

"It was," Hermione replied, looking at Draco for the first time in years. "They made him go in alone because he went MIA for a week."

"I told him he shouldn't have done that."

"We assumed he was with you. What happened?"

"He surprised me. My new potion was just approved, and he came to visit me that Friday night. I thought he was coming Saturday and staying the weekend for work. He told me that he was taking vacation time, said that he never used any of it, and they wanted him to remain on call. He threw his button into the fireplace because he wanted a break."

"That's illegal!"

"I think he finally hit his breaking point, and they didn't like that. He always came to see me so tired. He would rest, we'd get some sunlight, he would smile, and then it would slowly fade away right before he left. I hated seeing him go."

"He hated leaving you. It took months to even pry it out of him. We thought he was seeing someone. I think he was afraid to say it out loud because then that meant he had something to lose."

"I have everything to lose. I swore to myself that I would never come back to England."

"Why did you?"

"I didn't hear from him all day yesterday and I got worried. We talk every single day without fail. If he has to leave he tells me. I went to his house today and saw The Prophet. Then I came straight here and had to sneak in. I knew something bad happened, and I feel responsible."

"You should know by now that Harry quite frankly does whatever he pleases, with or without your consent. He wanted to see you, so he did. Pansy and I are going to draw up some papers to look into suing the ministry after this."

"How long has he been here?"

"24 hours."

"Why did no one try to reach me?," Draco asked quietly, looking at his feet.

"I didn't know how. Pansy is away, and I didn't think this was that serious. Harry's injuries I mean, not whatever your relationship is. Harry has kept that very private," she said pointedly.

"It's the best thing I have going for me, that's what this is. Older Weasley could have reached out, with all of the boxes of Potter memorabilia he sends me."

"To be quite honest with you, he didn't know. We tried to keep this out of the papers. We don't know who leaked the news, but what I do now is that Rita Skeeter should spend the rest of her days in a jar."

Draco stood up and walked over to Hermione. He gently grabbed Harry's hand, running his thumb over the scar.

"Do you know when he'll wake up?"

"Whenever he's ready."

It was a few minutes of awkward silence, with Draco looking at Harry while Hermione looked at Draco.

"What can you tell me?"

"What do you want to know?"

"How did the two of you even become friends?," she asked, summoning the chair over.

"In classic Potter fashion, he knocked me over and turned my world upside down."

Hermione listened to the story, an amused smile on her face.

"If I hadn't seen the photos, I wouldn't have believed it."

"I'm living it and I don't even believe it. I thought I was happy before him, but I'm now realizing that I was just content. He's honestly amazing company. He'll let me go on for hours and ask questions in all the right places. I gave him a tour of my lab and I thought he would be bored out of his mind, but he was actually quite interested in between making fun of Professor Snape."

"Yes, that sounds like him. Will you be staying with Harry? I need to get back to work but I'll come back around dinner time."

"I'll be here, even if you can't see me. Have a good day Granger. I'd say send Pansy my love, but if she finds out I'm here, she'll put me in a bed right next to Potter I'm afraid."

Hermione was going to deny it, but changed her mind as soon as she opened her mouth. Shaking her head, she walked out of the room as Draco slipped the cloak back on.

"Potter," Draco greeted once she had left. "I know that you missed me because I'm amazing, but you didn't have to do something so stupid to get me to come and visit you. What did I tell you about staying alive?

You did it. You actually got me to leave France. I dare someone to say that I don't care about you, I'll hex them to bits."

Holding Harry's hand, Draco trailed off, remembering the last trip he and Harry had made.

"Evan, slow down!," Draco teased, laughing as Harry dragged him along the streets of France.

"We're almost there!"

"How do you even know where we're going?"

"I studied a map. Here."

"Do you know where we are?," Draco asked quietly, gazing at Pont des Arts.

"I do. I wanted to commemorate how meaningful our relationship is, so I bought a lock."

"Harry..."

"If you think it's too much we don't have to-"

"What do you have to write on it?"

"A permanent marker."

Removing the cap with his teeth, Draco neatly wrote the date, and then wrote Harry's initials instead of his own underneath. Passing the marker to Harry, he watched as Harry wrote Draco's initials.

"Where should we put it?"

"Let's find a spot, together," Draco suggested, walking with Harry to a less crowded spot on the other side of the bridge.

They clicked the lock on together, and Harry insisted they took a photo.

"Where do you want to throw the key?"

"Off the bridge I presume," Harry offered, holding out half the key for Draco to throw.

On the count of three, they had thrown away the key. With that, Draco had no doubts that a piece of his heart belonged to Harry forever, as he watched the key sink to the bottom of the water.

"I really enjoyed that painting class we took, you know?," Draco said to Harry, squeezing his hand again. "My living room looks more alive since you came into my life."

Harry had enjoyed the class so much that as soon as it finished, he dragged Draco to get paint supplies. Wearing white t-shirts and flinging paint at each other was not what Draco had imagined, but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't one of his favorite memories.

At the time, Draco had been furious that Harry had stained his hair with paint. Harry had been bent over laughing, so it was the perfect time to retaliate by dumping an excessive amount of purple paint on his head.

"The grass is still stained, you know. The paint better not outlive you."

Draco heard the cart coming from down the hall, and fled to the corner. He lost track of how long he was standing there waiting, only feeling relief when Granger walked back into the room free after they had gone.

"Malfoy?," she called.

"Still here."

"I brought dinner, for all of us. I'm hoping he'll wake up soon to eat."

"You and I both."

"I have dinner to bring to Ron, so I'm only here for a few minutes. He worked late so that he could be with Harry yesterday into this morning."

"Understandable. He wasn't moved yet, but I'm hoping he can hear me talking to him."

"I'm sure he can. If there are any updates, here's my address."

"You don't want to stay?"

"I think Harry would rather wake up to you here than me. Make sure you eat please."

"Thank you Granger," Draco said sincerely.

"You make him happy. Continue to do so, and we won't have a problem."

"Understood."

Draco opened his dinner container, but pushed more around his plate than he ate. He placed it down with a sigh, and took both of Harry's hands in his own. 

"I still can't process this situation. Potter, you absolute tosser. Only you could get me to come back here, you know that? I wouldn't even come and visit Mother, yet here I am sneaking into the medical ward like some criminal, after I snuck into your house! It's a good thing you're a chronic oversharer in your letters I swear to Salazar."

"'m glad you're here," Harry whispered hoarsely, squeezing Draco's hand. "Didn't mean to worry you."

"I've been worrying about you most of my life why should anything change now?"

Harry moved to sit up and Draco pressed a gentle hand down on his shoulder.

"Rest."

"You'll stay?"

"I didn't come all this way to leave you alone."

"I appreciate you."

"You better. I can't wait to see how you'll make this up to me. You can start by eating a little bit. You've been unconscious for a day."

"I'm sorry."

"Quit apologizing and save your strength. You'll need it. I want you to eat and rest. I'll be here, even if you can't see me. I tend to favor the far right corner by the window."

"Thank you Draco."

"I would say anytime Harry, but I really never want to find myself in this situation again."

"You and me both. It will never happen again," Harry promised.