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H/D fic: The Power of Words (Draco's POV)
If you havn't read Harry's POV yet, I suggest you do. Here: The Power of Words


Title: The Power of Words
Author: bemygoodday
Beta: 4am_secret
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,985
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Warnings: Takes place as if DH never happened.
Disclaimer: I do not own. I simply play.

Summary: Draco needs Harry to understand the power of words.



It's probably the worst place he's ever been. He hasn't been here long, not even a full hour yet and already he feels like he's dying. At breakfast, everyone eats slowly and quietly and he panics for a moment that maybe his escape with Snape didn't go how he remembers. Maybe he is dead already and watching these people eat in horrid silence is his eternal punishment. He doesn't realize he's staring until Potter tells him to take a picture, that it will probably last longer. He knows why Potter's words snap him out of his panic, but pretends he doesn't and he serves himself some pancakes.

He isn't going to sleep in this house alone. It's obvious that they expect him to, but Draco's on a roll of not doing what is expected of him. Some part of Draco knows there is only one room in this house he is willing to sleep in but he forces himself to mull over the options anyway. There is the Mudblood, but she's more likely to cry the night through these days, as opposed to the Weaslette who, instead of viewing her brother’s passing as a time for sorrow, uses it to screw anything that will have her. He shudders at the thought. Draco knows there is only one room in this house he is willing to sleep in, and he tells himself it's because all the others have reasons not to.

He checks in on Harry, who is Harry, because he's never really been Potter, not really, and makes sure he's asleep.

Draco wakes up before Harry does and goes back to the room they expect him to sleep in, because even though he's on a roll of not doing what is expected, he's also on a roll of not letting on that he's not doing what he's expected to do. He waits for the majority of the house, including Harry, to leave their rooms before he leaves the room he's expected to leave. He thinks Harry doesn't know, because he's still Malfoy and there aren't any awkward silences.

Draco continues to not sleep where he's expected to even though Harry talks in his sleep. He tells himself he stays because talking is more tolerable than crying or sexual advances. He ignores the fact that sometimes Harry does cry, because he stops crying if Draco holds him. He also ignores the fact that sometimes Harry does make sexual advances, because Harry is sleeping and therefore doesn't know any better. He still tells himself that Harry doesn't know, even though he's Draco now, because there are still no awkward silences.

One night, Harry doesn't talk or cry or anything really, save for sleep. He feels something strangely like accomplishment and because some small part of Draco knows exactly why, he tells himself he has no clue. Draco can't deny the overwhelming desire to be there when Harry wakes up, so he stays until he does, and because the silence would have been awkward, asks if Harry slept well.

Draco continues to sleep where he guesses perhaps he really is expected to by now. He considers that his roll of not doing what is expected has ended, which makes him happier then he thought it would. Draco still tells Harry his ideas and on one particular night Harry decides that one of his ideas is a plan. The next day at breakfast, the idea-that-is-a-plan becomes The Plan and everyone eats less quietly than they used to.

Eventually Draco stops pretending like he doesn't know why Harry has always been Harry and never really Potter.

Draco doesn’t know why Harry decided to say it, doesn’t know what was different about this night. At first, upon hearing it, he’s so happy he thinks he might burst. He’s given up on pretending why Harry has always been everything a long time ago, so when he looks into Harry’s eyes, preparing to say it back, he is faced with the heart-wrenching realization that Harry doesn’t know the power of words.

It’s something Draco has always assumed all wizards had learned, something they all understood before they even went to school. It’s about the meaning of words, not the words themselves, not the definition, but what the person saying them means. Draco realizes that not all wizards have learned it, when he looks into Harry’s eyes and they are missing something he needed to be there in order to believe it.

Draco thinks about learning that lesson himself. He remembers trying to cast a banishing charm on one of his stuffed animals, but for the life of him no matter how he flicked his wrist, no matter how he said the words, the small animal continued to stare. His father told him then of a wizard who commit suicide by casting ‘Love’ on himself.

“Love isn’t even a curse!” Draco accused.

“But to him, Draco, it was.”

Draco didn’t understand it right away. A few months later, when Narcissa came to Draco’s room to wish him goodnight like she always did, he had a revelation. Draco saw something in her eyes when she said it. Something that told Draco that what she meant was, ‘I love you’. The next day, Draco had banished his father’s Death Eater mask.

At first, Draco thinks about possibly pretending like he used to. Pretending that Harry isn’t Harry, because all this time he hasn’t been, but maybe now he should be, Potter. Potter, who was supposed to save their world but was going to get them all killed because he didn’t understand the power of words. Potter, who broke his heart into a million pieces and doesn’t even understand that he’s done it. Potter, who is staring at him, waiting.

Draco knows too well the power of words and can feel the irony of Harry’s ignorance. He almost laughs at the idea that only Harry, of all people, would be able to find the only words, that when directed at the right person, are just as powerful when they lack meaning. Instead of laughing, however, he explains that Harry is shockingly oblivious to the power of words, and leaves to sleep in the room that he isn’t expected to sleep in any longer.

Draco knows that Harry must have gone to Ginny. She’s batting her eyelashes and touching his arm in a way she hasn’t dared since Draco took up residency in his room. He goes back to the room he was originally expected to sleep in. He didn’t think it possible, but it seems to have grown lonelier since his first nights in the house. He knows this isn’t the room he wants to sleep in, but again has to remind himself that all of the others have reasons not to.

Draco does his best not to watch Harry during the day, but fails miserably. Often these days Harry will get a faraway look on his face. Draco wonders what Harry is thinking about, because it usually ends with Harry rubbing his throat while looking hesitantly at Draco, before leaving the room.

The Plan has finally come to fruition and Draco couldn’t be more terrified. He broke his wand the week previous, but it isn’t going into battle un-armed that scares him, as much as the niggling fear that Harry won’t be able to do what he needs to do. He’s swept up in the rush to finally get things started. People are shouting and pushing and running and suddenly Draco feels something pressing unto his hand. He doesn’t understand at first but then there are Harry’s eyes and it’s there this time, that thing, the one that was in Narcissa’s when she said goodnight; the one that wasn’t there before, but is now. Harry indicates the wand and says he’ll get it back, when they meet, and Draco hears him loud and clear over the shouting and excitement and decides that this time, he can say it back. He barely gets the words out, and isn’t even sure if Harry caught them, but he’s being pushed and there’s floo powder and he won’t know until they meet again.

The Plan went terribly wrong. Nearly everyone has been captured but not Draco and he thinks that if he can’t save them and get back to Harry then he will at least die trying. It was only supposed to take an hour and he wonders if Harry is safe. It’s been days but finally the timing is right and Draco, along with the few others that remain penetrate Malfoy Manor and reclaim their captured. Draco feels a bit like a child, tiptoeing around his house, trying to avoid his father. Lucious tries to stop them just as they are making a break for it. Draco knows the power of words and so he points Harry’s wand at his father and simply says ‘I forgive you’, before Lucious falls. He figures his father won’t need it anymore, and so he takes his wand before they escape to Little Whinging.

It appears as if Harry isn’t there, as if Harry had never been there. They know that the Death Eaters followed them from Malfoy Manor and as The Order rushes through the house for any sign of Harry, they can hear the pops of Apparation all around the garden. Draco almost gives up hope, when he spies the door under the stairs. He knows, knows, that Harry is there and that there isn’t a lot of time and that The Plan has failed. He opens the door and sees Harry looking like death with his eyes bloodshot and his skin sallow and the most vacant look he’s even seen on his face. It’s one of the most amazing things Draco has ever seen, and he can’t help but reach his hand into Harry’s hair. He can still hear the Death Eaters Apparating, so he presses Harry’s wand into his chest and begs him to take it.

It takes what feels like forever of begging and pressing and wishing that Harry would just take his wand when Harry begins to giggle, a sick, dry noise escaping his throat. Draco isn’t sure what could possibly be funny about the situation and says as much when Harry shakes his hair free of Draco’s grip and finally takes his wand. A sudden sort of recognition is lit in Harry’s eyes and he lets out another scratchy sound that could or could not have been the words ‘Death Eaters’.

Just in case that is what Harry said, Draco assures him that yes, they are here and that Voldemort is on the way. Draco isn’t sure what else to do, as it appears Harry has gone completely mad. He tries to express the urgency of the situation to Harry, but Harry calmly turns away from him and begins walking toward the broken door, which Draco suspects may be at better standing with its hinges then Harry is with his own at this point. Harry doesn’t even raise his wand as he walks out into the garden and Draco brandishes his father’s wand and does his best to keep Harry safe, with the rest of The Order following suit.

Draco nearly drops his father’s wand, which he supposes is his now, when Voldemort apparates to the scene directly in front of Harry looking like evil personified, which, really, he is. It happens so fast that he isn’t even sure he sees it correctly. Harry raises his wand for the first time since taking it and lets out a yell, which is almost inhuman. Voldemort’s face freezes in shock as his body crumples to the ground, shock that Draco can’t share, because back when Harry gave Draco his wand, before The Plan failed, before Lucious died, Draco knew. He knew that Harry finally understood and that even without plans that didn't fail, Voldemort never stood a chance.