The Whole Nine Yards

Chapter Twenty-Five - Hanging By A Moment

~ The Great Hall ~

A few days after Christmas, Draco and Hermione went to London to shop for baby things. They arrived back at the Great Hall laden with packages.

"Mione! What do you think you're doing?" Ron sounded outraged as he jumped up from his seat at the table used for meals during the holidays when there weren't many students staying at the castle.

Only Harry, Ron and Sirius were still in the Great Hall. Ron hurried over to Hermione and pulled her bags out of her hands. He dumped them on the nearest table (Ravenclaw) and guided her to the seat at that table.

Draco smiled as he watched Ron help his wife sit down and rest. He glanced over at Harry and Sirius. Harry looked angry as Sirius appeared to be arguing with him. Draco couldn't hear what they were saying. He joined Ron and Hermione at the Ravenclaw table and put his packages on the table beside Mione's.

"So what did you buy?" Ron asked, grinning at his wife. Hermione glowed as she started showing Ron what she had gotten for their daughter.

"Isn't this gorgeous?" she said, holding up a pale blue dress.

"It's so small," Ron exclaimed, reaching out to touch the dress.

Draco was surprised when Harry suddenly sat down beside him. He had thought that Harry was still arguing with Sirius. Harry's hand curved around the back of Draco's head and he kissed Draco's temple.

Draco's mouth opened slightly in shock and he and Hermione stared at each other, both of them wondering what this new behaviour from Harry meant.

"What have you bought, sweetheart?" Harry asked him. Draco was surprised that Harry was interested in this. He was still ignoring anything to do with the baby, even after seeing the picture of their son.

"Er..." Draco searched through his packages for something. He finally found what he was looking for and pulled out a tiny pair of Nike shoes. He handed them to Harry. "I thought our boy would look great in these."

Harry took the shoes and stared down at them silently. Draco glanced over at the others. Sirius was sitting beside Ron, who was looking through the rest of his wife's packages while Hermione watched Harry.

Draco sighed. It was hard to believe that he had been married to Harry for six years. At times like this, Draco felt like he hardly knew his husband. Harry had been blowing hot and cold for about five months now and Draco didn't know how much longer he could deal with this. Suddenly he was struck by an idea of how to help Harry but he didn't want to talk about it with the others around.

"Very cute," Harry finally commented. He set the shoes down on the table and reached for another package. Draco reached out and placed his hand on Harry's, stopping him from opening the package.

"How about we unpack all this stuff back in our room?" Draco suggested.

Harry nodded and they gathered up the packages.

"See you tomorrow, guys," Draco said, smiling at them. Harry said goodnight and they left the Great Hall.

~ Harry and Draco's Room ~

"Honey?" Draco said hesitantly.

"Mmm," Harry said noncommittally. He was pulling baby clothes out of bags and cutting the tags off them.

"Stop that for a moment," Draco said, sitting beside Harry on the couch. He pulled the clothes and the scissors from Harry's hands and placed them on the coffee table. He took Harry's hands in his own and stared deeply into Harry's eyes.

"I know you've been going through something over the past few months," Draco said earnestly. "And I've tried to help you but I've come to accept that I can't. So I'm going to give you the same advice you gave me about a year ago. If you can't talk about what ever is bothering you, then try writing it down."

Harry's green eyes glistened with unshed tears and he nodded. Draco let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. He leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Harry's lips.

"I'm going to go to bed now," he said, hoping Harry would take this time alone to write down some of his thoughts.

Draco entered the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him. He undressed and decided to take a shower. Soothing water cascaded down over his body, the drops of water mingling with his tears as he cried out his frustration and loneliness. He leaned back against the wall of the shower and slid down it to sit on the floor. Water rained down on him but he didn't notice.

It seemed like for every one step they would take forward, they would be pushed two steps back. Not knowing what was wrong was the hardest thing to take. Harry kept his own counsel these days. He wasn't even confiding in Ron.

Draco wished things could go back to the way they were before school had started. Things had been fine between them over the summer holidays. The problems had only started when they'd returned to Hogwarts. Perhaps it was the stress of teaching that was getting to Harry. Draco had been fairly busy with his dual role as Head of Slytherin and Potions Master. Maybe if he hadn't been so busy, he would have noticed what was going on with Harry and the problems wouldn't have escalated as they had.

The water in the shower grew cooler and Draco dragged himself up and turned off the taps. He dried himself roughly and returned to the bedroom. He turned out the lights and crawled into bed.

Hours later, Draco awoke feeling thirsty. He filled a glass of water in the bathroom and drank deeply. When he entered the bedroom he realised that Harry wasn't in bed yet, although it was almost three o'clock in the morning. He tiptoed over to the door and as quietly as possible opened it a crack. He peered out and saw Harry sitting in front of a blank piece of parchment, staring into space.

Draco closed the door and sighed. Harry hadn't written a thing.