Flying In Silence

Draco often wondered, in these silent moments, if he could fly.

Not with his broom, not with wings, but to just fly.

He would look up at the night sky, lean his body outwards and close his eyes. In his mind, he could see himself jumping and soaring, soaring in the black night, a silver speck, a falling star.

But then, just before he would fall, Harry would come sit next to him on the precarious window ledge, and Draco would wonder no more. He often felt, in these silent moments, that he could fly forever.

Idly, Draco thought of all the confessions he wanted to make, of all the things he needed Harry to understand but found that perhaps, there was nothing to say after all.

It was always like this- Draco had a million things he wanted to say, but once Harry was there, beside him, he was speechless.

He would often get lost in moments like this, sometimes in Harry, who would sit very still and quiet, sometimes in the dark starless sky, as still and quiet as Harry.

Draco would humour him, pretend he did not know Harry was sitting there, watching him. And Harry would hold his Invisibility Cloak tight around himself and try not to move.

But Draco knew, he always knew.

He would feel the air around shift oh so slightly, and though Harry put a silencing charm on himself (no one could be that quiet without some type of charm), he always fancied he could hear Harry breathing softly. And once or twice, he even imagined he heard Harry whisper his name.

All the time, Draco would ache to feel Harry next to him, and sometimes his fingers would slip carelessly to the side but he quickly pulled them back before they touched Harry, the unspoken words hanging in the air oppressively.

Harry, to his credit, never touched Draco either. This killed him slowly.

The most both of them would acknowledge that Harry was sitting there, staring desperately at his supposed archenemy was the one time that Draco carved magically into the wall; "I see lightning."

It was meaningless to others, and even to Harry, at first, but then Harry reached up, touched his scar and understood.

Draco often wondered, in these silent moments, what would happen if Harry were just a second too late to stop Draco from seeing himself falling into the sky.

But somewhere, somehow, Draco knew that Harry would never let him fall.

So when the Death Eaters came, all of them, even his father, to make him one of them, late that night while he was sitting on his ledge, he stood up and with one last meaningful glance at Harry, he jumped off the Astronomy Tower.

For the first time, Harry broke the silent moments between them. He screamed Draco's name, over and over and over again until his voice was hoarse and sobs were making it hard to breathe.

Silence greeted him.

And just like Draco, in these silent moments, Harry wondered if he could fly too.