Clearly Harry's subconscious didn't get the message that it wasn't supposed to be thinking about Draco. His dreams were laced with painful memories, or at least moments that shouldn't be painful but now were, in the context of their relationship.

The way his mouth would twitch when he was trying not to laugh at Harry's jokes or his perfect teeth that you wouldn't notice unless you'd been staring at his mouth for extended periods of time. His light whispery voice telling Harry that he 'was sorry' and that he 'didn't mean what he'd said'.

It was all skipping through Harry's mind like a slideshow put on too fast. All too quickly all the happy scenes began to fade into darkness, the romantic filter faltered.

Suddenly Draco's voice in his head turned panicked and tortured. The dream opened up on the Astronomy tower, Harry's wand felt heavy in his hand. Draco was standing in front of him, tears in glistening tracks down his cheeks.

"Harry-" He chocked, turning his face away as the Gryffindor raised his wand to point at the boy.

"Harry..." He gasped again, the word sounded louder and more real this time. But his subconscious was clearly punishing him, trying desperately to let go of the soft and warm Draco that he knew. It's like he was trying to cut loose all the ties that kept him close to the other boy.

Everything started to make sense when instead of Sectumsempera, green ball energy began to build around the tip of his wand. Harry realised just too late that he was going to kill Draco the same way he'd tried to kill-

"Harry."
Immediately Harry was sat up, his wand gripped tightly in his right hand feeling lighter than the one he'd just dreamt.

"Why are you here?" He breathed, not relaxing the pressure his wand applied under the intruders' chin.

Draco was here. In his room, at Grimmauld place. It was all wrong, this wasn't the way things were supposed to end. This wasn't how it was all supposed to play out.

The blonde exhaled deeply, dropping his raised hands but not taking his eyes off Harry. They watched one another like that for a few moments, realising they hadn't seen each other properly since...

Harry dropped his wand, sighing as he rubbed his eyes. What time was it?

"Why are you here?" He asked again, more exasperated this time. Instead of making him excited, Draco had started wearing on his mind. Being around the boy was exhausting.

"I keep finding my way back to you," he sighed, dropping his eye contact "I couldn't go anywhere else."
Harry's eyes shifted to the curtains moving in the breeze from the open window, then back to Draco's face.

"So you broke in?" The corners of his mouth twitched.

"I guess no one-" His eyes darted back to Harry's "officially invited me in."

"But here you are..." Harry inhaled sharply, smelling Draco's usual cologne. With it came a bout of memories that made Harry lean closer toward his ex-boyfriend, Draco mirrored his movements and the smell became overpowering.

"Here I am." Draco breathed, his eye flickering between the boy's lips and his eyes.

Harry knew he was too close, he knew this was unproductive. Yet it was the path of least resistance and for once, Harry didn't want to fight.

The warmth was surprising, a stark contrast to his icy complexion. Everything else about him was familiar, the way his lips moved harmoniously. But as Draco's hand reached for his cheek, Harry pulled away enough to disconnect their lips. He didn't realise how breathless he was until he was panting in the space between their faces, foreheads touching.

What was he doing? After everything, Harry was just giving in again? Path of least resistance or not, he should be stronger or at least smarter than his now. For all, he knew Draco could have broken in to kill him tonight-

"No," Harry mumbled to himself, aloud. As he closed his eyes, Draco's opened. His eyes darted around the boy's face, wishing he knew what was going on in his mind. Draco knew coming here was risky, he knew there was no guarantee that anything was going to work out. But he had to try.

Harry took one more deep breath, committing Draco's scent to memory. 'Just in case,' he thought to himself. Then he pulled away, relishing in the cool air blowing in from the open window. It was January and even with the cool air, the smell of the other boy still reminded him of warm and light summer nights. Harry shook his head gently, shuffling to sit on the edge of his bed.

Head dropping into his hands, he thought about his life and the mess that it had become. For once, it seemed like Voldemort wasn't his biggest problem, not really anyway. Who knew a teenage boy could cause as much havoc and stress him out as equally as the Dark Lord. He paused at the sound of movement, feeling his bed sink beside him.

"Harry, I need you to listen-" Draco began, whispering rapidly like he was desperate to get the words out.

"Draco..." Harry sighed, looking up and running his hands through his knotty hair. He interrupted to stop Draco from trying to persuade him, knowing that he would only take light persuasion to follow the boy anywhere.

"No," he sounded more demanding now, voice stronger "Harry, please I need to explain."

Draco stopped, looking at Harry, waiting to see if he would object again. To Harry, Draco looked lost. His eyes were tired and cloudy but the determined edge in his voice caught Harry's attention. When he remained silent, Draco sighed and continued speaking but avoided Harry's eyes this time.

"I know I can never apologise-' He exhaled poignantly

"No, you can't," Harry stated, staring straight through him. Draco's throat ran dry, he looked at Harry so hopelessly. Trying to compose himself he dragged his eyes off the Gryffindor's face and sucked a breath through his teeth.

"But I am sorry." The gap in his words seemed to stretch on for hours, the silence in the room disturbed only by the creaking of the house.

"Everything that happened-" His hands were shaking and his breathing became uneven "-I wasn't always myself. I couldn't control what was happening."
Harry kept his gaze focused on the window, his jaw clenched. Draco hadn't realised he'd been holding his breath until he gasped as Harry stare met his.

"So when you told me you loved me-" Harry dropped his head a little, the slight adjustment screaming volumes to Draco "It was under the imperious curse?"
The pregnant silence between the two of them only seemed to thicken, Harry's hands rubbing his face again, trying to figure out what this all meant.

"It wasn't it all the imperious curse," Draco whispered, losing faith.

"So what are you saying, Draco?" Harry asked, turning to watch the other boys face for a reaction. With a frown and furrowed brows, the bruises and dark circles under his eyes were all the more prominent. Harry couldn't look away. The blonde's mouth opened and closed a few times, before shaking his head and looking out of the window where the curtains billowed in the breeze.

"Some of the things I did... the things they made me do-" Draco was struggling to keep his voice even "I did them because I was too afraid to disobey."

Harry still hadn't taken his eyes off the boy, so when the tears started running down his cheeks Harry's first instinct was to hold Draco close, instead, he sat and stared. A wretched feeling, starting in his stomach, began moving up his body and struck his chest like a fist.

His love was hurting, crying silently beside him, but Harry couldn't make himself reach out to touch him.

"I was scared that they'd-" He stopped, taking in sharp but shallow breaths "My parents..."

Draco clenched his eyes shut, doubling over into himself and clutching his arms around himself as if to physically hold himself together. But the stitches were unravelling and he was coming apart.

"Draco-" Harry sighed, his voice so soft, so quiet that he was surprised the other wizard heard him. His head moved toward Harry and, before either of them knew what they were doing, the two boys were holding tightly onto one another. Draco enveloped against Harry's warm chest, while Harry's lips brushed Draco's forehead and hair, revealing in the subtle smell he'd missed so dearly—

"Harry Potter." Dumbledores voice was barely a whisper, an uneasy quiet settling over the crowd "HARRY POTTER!" He yelled, scanning the hall for the boy.

The grin fell from Harry's face, feeling a hand on his back pushing him forward, pushing him into the minority. He was no longer like the rest of his peers, somehow he'd been dealt another unlucky hand.

As he made the lonely walk over to the trophy, he met Draco's eye from across the hall. He was hard to miss with that white hair and the shocked expression he was wearing. He looked lost, tears beginning to wet his cheeks. Harry watched him push through the crowd to get to the door and leave.

"Harry-" Dumbledore looked angry, if he was afraid Harry wouldn't have known, the older wizard had always been good at masking his fear.

"Go through to the other champions."

Later, Harry knew where he'd find his boyfriend. He was predictable when he was upset, always opting for a hidden couch in the back of the library. The brunette paused as he spotted the back of the Slytherins head and breathed deeply through his nose. He knew how Draco would react, knew how this would affect him. Maybe it was for the best that they broke up before this competition went any further, after all, he never wanted to hurt Draco. Not ever.

"Draco..." Harry sighed, loud enough to catch the other boys attention. Before he'd gotten any closer, the blonde had caught him in a tight hug. Harry could feel Draco's chin wobbling, trying to prevent more tears. Before he knew it, Draco had pulled back and slapped him. The smaller boy was standing back, wrapping his arms around himself and crying silently.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered, not knowing what he was apologising for but feeling like he should.

"Did you enter?" Draco didn't look at him as he spoke, keeping his gaze planted at the ground "Did you put your name in the goblet of fire?" He said calmly, breathing deeply.

"Would you believe me if I said no?" The Gryffindor took a step closer to his boyfriend, cupping a hand under Draco's elbow in an attempt to open him up and bring him closer.

"Why do you get yourself into the most stupid fucking situations!" He let his arms loosen, rubbing his face and letting his forehead rest on Harry's shoulder.

"I don't do it on purpose. God knows all I want is an ordinary life!" Harry chuckled humourlessly, his arms snaking instinctively around the blonde's waist.

"What if you die?" Draco looked up and met the other boys' eyes properly, giving Harry the opportunity to see how red and puffy they were. "What happens if you make a mistake and get killed? I just have to walk around and pretend you were nothing to me?"

"Draco, honey-" Harry was trying to calm the boy down but he turned away, pressing his palms to his eyes.

Harry moved to face him, hugging Draco close and letting him cry on his shoulder.
"Don't you dare die on me, Potter!" Draco was gripping tightly onto his boyfriend's jumper "Don't you dare!"

"I won't." Harry breathed in the scent of Draco's hair holding him a little closer, he clenched his eyes closed and lied. "I promise."

Before Draco had even stopped crying, the two separated and looked anxiously toward the door.

"Someones coming," Harry whispered somewhat frantically, looking back quickly to Draco, who's face mirrored his panic.

"What-" He began but Harry interrupted him, getting to his feet and drawing the curtain back from the open window.

"Draco, I can't ask you to go-" He was hopeless, trying to keep speaking despite his breathlessness "I won't ask you to leave-"

He paused, another glance at the door.

"Just-just save yourself." He stuttered, placing a hand on Draco's cheek and looking him in the eye, presumably for the last time "Keep running and don't look back."

"Harry," Draco tried to protest, but the footsteps were right outside the door now, the time had run out.

"Harry?" A new voice asked, still on the other side of the door.

"Draco-" Harry whispered breathily, turning to find the room empty behind him. He jumped across the bed to the open window, but there was no sign of him.

"I love you." Dropped from his lips, the last sentiment for ears that couldn't wait around to hear it.