Summer Rain

Chapter 6

The following morning, Harry woke up and realised Draco was spooned up behind him with an arm wrapped around Harry's waist and he was snoring louder than usual due to his blocked nose. Harry swallowed down a pang of guilt and smiled. The feeling of being in Draco's arms was so familiar and comforting that Harry found himself reluctant to pull away.

The decision, however, was taken out of his hands when Draco started coughing roughly and rolled onto his back away from Harry, but continued to sleep on.

The previous night, Harry had returned from the chemist to find Draco fast asleep sprawled across the bed with the covers kicked off onto the floor, dressed in a pair of Harry's blue cotton pyjamas. Harry hadn't had the heart to disturb him, so he merely pulled the covers up and squeezed into the bed right on the edge and fell asleep quickly.

Harry had been woken a few hours later by the sound of Draco vomiting in the bathroom again. Draco had barely been awake and coherent, so Harry had to hold his head to prevent him passing out head-first in the toilet bowl and also clean him up afterwards and help him back to bed. Harry was tired from having been abruptly woken, but it gave him a chance to get some cough medicine and cold and flu pills into Draco, and Draco seemed to sleep sounder afterwards and hadn't woken again.

Harry dragged himself out of bed half-heartedly and went through for a shower. He was feeling weary after being up with Draco during the night. When he finished and returned to the bedroom, Draco was still fast asleep and had once again kicked the covers off. Harry pulled them back up over him and felt his forehead, which was very warm. Before he pulled his hand away, he feathered his fingers through the soft blond hair and closed his eyes and revelled in the feeling.

Harry was brought sharply back to reality by a firm, loud knock at his front door and he groaned softly but went to answer it anyway. Hermione was standing there with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot impatiently. "We had a visitor over last night," Hermione said by way of a greeting. Harry sighed and stepped aside to let her in. "Lucas told us you had Draco over yesterday and he was really upset about it! How could you, Harry?" Hermione admonished. Harry smacked his lips in annoyance and went over to sit at his dining table.

"Did he tell you why I had Draco here?" Harry asked impatiently. "And I would appreciate if you would keep your voice down. Draco is still asleep."

"Asleep?!" Hermione screeched and Harry glared at her. "He stayed the night?"

"Yes," Harry said through gritted teeth. "I see Lucas omitted some details from his sob story." Hermione shook her head and gave Harry a disapproving look.

"I can't believe you, Harry. How can you be so insensitive to Lucas?"

"What, exactly, did he tell you last night, Hermione?" Harry demanded.

"He said he came over to see if you were ok, and Draco was here. You told Lucas you needed time to speak to Draco to sort out - oh, how did he word it - 'issues'? You kinda of argued and he left," Hermione said sarcastically.

"So, he failed to mention that Draco was so sick with the flu that he passed out cold on the floor right there and split his head open, hey? He failed to mention that Draco was ill enough to have vomited twice within an hour of him arriving here? He failed to mention that the reason Draco was actually here was because I didn't want him running around London on his own while he had a temperature of 39.7 degrees?" Harry snarled.

"Well, no, he didn't mention that," Hermione conceded. "But, you did tell him you wanted to sort out issues with Draco, didn't you?"

"Yes, and so fucking what if I do?! Draco meant the world to me when we were together. I loved him more than life itself, and there has always been a part of me that wanted him back in my life!" Harry cried.

"He walked out on you, Harry, without a word or even a goodbye!" Hermione argued.

"Because someone supposedly near and dear to me fucking threatened him to leave me, or else!" Harry snapped and Hermione gasped in astonishment. "Yes, that's right. They made him believe that I was better off without him! He is yet to tell me who, but I will never forgive whoever it was! I know you probably completely disapprove of me even speaking to Draco again, but this is my life, Hermione and my decision. I don't need to justify my feelings or my actions to you, to Lucas or to anyone!"

"Harry, you can't possibly want him back after all this time," Hermione asked helplessly.

"I never wanted him gone in the first place!" Harry exploded. "But, I'm not going to lie to you. It took me very little time in Draco's presence to realise that I want him back more than anything. We were torn apart for reasons out of our control, and there is nothing more I want than to be with him again. I feel this is the right thing for me to do and for once I'm going to make myself happy before anyone else." Hermione sighed and nodded.

"I figured as much," Hermione gave a rueful smile. "Look, I'm not blind, Harry. I saw all those years ago how perfect you and Draco were together. Well, once you stopped thumping each other, that is. But when I saw how much he hurt you by leaving, I was furious and really did want you to move on to find someone who would love and care for you as much as Draco did, without breaking your heart. I thought Lucas did that."

"He does, but he's not Draco," Harry said softly and looked at Hermione with sad eyes. "And please don't underestimate Draco's love for me. He loves me more than anyone else in this world possibly could. He knows every side of me. He left to protect me, and he came back with hopes that we could have another chance. He came back despite his fear that I would hate him, and he has spent the last three weeks on a wild goose chase around London looking for me, including a day sitting in the pouring rain in Diagon Alley in hopes I might walk by. I know you think I'm being too forgiving too soon, but Draco is not entirely to blame here. I'm too tired to go on being angry at him. Every time I look at him I just want to grab him and kiss the hell out of him. I can't fight this, Hermione." Hermione gave a long, defeated sigh.

"What about Lucas, Harry? He's really hurting," Hermione asked. Harry visibly winced and looked down at his hands guiltily just as the door to his bedroom opened and Draco appeared.

Harry could see Draco was sweating, even from where he sat, and he had shed Harry's pyjamas and was clad in only a pair of blue silk boxers and a white cotton singlet, which was obviously his own underwear because Harry certainly didn't own anything silk. When Harry noticed that Draco's hair was sleep ruffled and messy, he realised Draco must be feeling quite unwell not to have bothered combing his hair before appearing, as he normally presented himself immaculately.

Draco blanched when he saw Hermione sitting at the table with Harry and looked ready to spin around and disappear back into the bedroom, but Hermione turned to see him before he had a chance. She saw how rough Draco looked and gave him a small sympathetic smile. "Good morning, Draco. Long time, no see. Harry was just telling me you've been ill. Are you feeling any better?"

"Not really," Draco rasped, his voice just the croaky remnants of laryngitis. He came over and sat down at the table next to Harry. "I, um, hope you and Ron are both well," Draco said politely.

"Yes, we are. Did Harry tell you we have a daughter now? Two years old this past May. Melody her name is." Hermione beamed.

"Congratulations, I'm sure she's a lovely little girl." Draco smiled back and coughed discreetly into his hand. Harry put his hand over Draco's forehead.

"You're still so hot," Harry fussed. "I'll get you a cold drink. Are you hungry?"

"No, my stomach's still upset," Draco mumbled and folded his arms across the table and put his head on them.

"It's good to see you again, Draco," Hermione said genuinely. Draco looked up at her and studied her for a few moments as if to confirm her honesty, but he didn't question her.

"Likewise," Draco simply said. Harry came back with a glass of lemonade and placed it in front of Draco. He held out a tiny cup with a red liquid in it, and some small white pills. "Is this what you fed me last night after I puked again? I can hardly even remember waking up." Harry nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, I was surprised myself to see you had made it to the toilet. You were pretty out of it," Harry answered.

"Thanks for making sure I was ok. I appreciate it." Draco swallowed the cough medicine and the pills then took a long gulp of lemonade and sighed in relief as it soothed his throat slightly.

"I also picked this up at the chemist last night." Harry placed a tiny glass bottle on the table. "It's bath oil - lavender, lemon and eucalyptus - you put a few drops into a warm bath and it will help clear your nose, and it will relax you and ease the aches and pains a bit. Why don't you go take a bath? But make sure you don't have it too hot, just enough so you don't get cold, ok? I don't want you passing out again." Draco picked up the bottle and studied it like it was a gold nugget. He was overwhelming touched by Harry's thoughtfulness and wanted to reach out and hug his ex-boyfriend desperately.

"Thank you," was all Draco could think of to say.

"You can use my bathrobe; it's hanging on the back of the bathroom door. There isn't any point you getting dressed today, because you really need more rest. Go take a bath and then come out and lie on the couch. We'll watch a movie together or something. I'll apparate over to your hotel in a little while and pick up some of your things." Harry smiled and Draco stood up and gave Harry a lingering gaze before nodding and retreating into the bedroom.

"Shit, he's as hung up on you as you are on him," Hermione commented once Draco was safely behind the closed bedroom door. "Last time I saw him give you a look like that was when you gave him that commitment ring the Christmas before he left." Harry's hand flew up to his mouth and he gasped. "What is it, Harry?"

"I'd forgotten about that ring..." Harry breathed, "he's still wearing it. I noticed it on his finger when he was warming his hands on the mug of tea I gave him. I just didn't realise it was my ring at the time." Harry buried his face in his hands and whimpered. "What am I going to do about Lucas?"

"So, you've made your decision? You want to be with Draco?" Hermione questioned gently. Harry sighed deeply and looked up at Hermione.

"More than anything," Harry said simply. "I never wanted to not be with him. It's not that I don't want to be with Lucas, I just don't want to be without Draco. You've got to understand that."

"I'm not the one that needs to understand, Harry," Hermione said gently. "You're decision is going to break Lucas's heart." Harry made an odd upset noise and buried his face again. "But if you don't tell him soon, it's going to hurt so much more. He already suspects there is a chance he will lose you to Draco, and he's feeling very threatened by that. And rightly so, it seems. But if you just stay with Lucas out of obligation or fear of wanting to hurt him, he may be happy in the short term, but eventually you will hurt him so much more than if you break up with him now. You will also hurt yourself and Draco in the process."

"How do I tell Lucas something like this?" Harry murmured miserably. "He's going to be so hurt; he's going to hate me. I don't want to hurt him!"

"Yes, he's going to be hurt and yes, he may hate you initially, but I really don't think Lucas is the sort of person to hate forever, Harry. He is already well aware that you are still feeling something for Draco, so it's not going to come completely out of the blue, is it? He's not a bad guy, but everyone act differently when they've been hurt."

"He'll never want to speak to me again!" Harry moaned.

"Maybe not, Harry, but you have to understand that Lucas will have to do what he needs to do to grieve for this and protect himself from more hurt. If not seeing you or not remaining friends with you in the future is his way of coping, you will have to respect that. You have been together for one and a half years, he will need time. You can't have your cake and eat it too," Hermione countered.

Harry remained silent for a few long minutes with his head buried in the crook of his arm. Harry eventually sighed heavily and then got up and went to the phone on kitchen wall. He punched in some numbers and leaned his forehead against the wall waiting for the recipient to answer.

"Luke? It's Harry," Harry stated stupidly, knowing Lucas was well aware of his voice and also had caller ID.

"Hi, love," Lucas answered flatly. Harry felt a cold fist clench around his heart when he realised how miserable Lucas sounded. He'd never had to break up with someone like this before and it was as painful as hell.

"I, um... I really need to talk to you," Harry choked out and he heard Lucas sigh softly on the other end of the phone.

"Do you want me to come around?"

"Um, no, I think it's best if I come to your place. Sasha isn't in, is she?" Harry asked, referring to Lucas's roommate. Lucas was silent for a few moments.

"No, she's gone to stay with her Mum in Scotland. I was going to go with her, but..." Lucas replied eventually. "Harry, is this about --?"

"Luke, I think we should just talk in person, ok?" Harry interrupted.

"Ok."

"I'll be there in a couple of hours. I just need to... I'll be there soon," Harry stammered, almost telling Lucas about his planned trip over to Draco's hotel.

"Ok," Lucas repeated.

"I'll see you soon, then?" Harry asked softly.

"Fine. Bye Harry." Lucas hung up. Harry placed the receiver into the cradle with a shaky hand and shook his head.

"He knows. He knows I'm coming over to split up with him, I can hear it in his voice," Harry whimpered and started pacing. "Would you be able to stay here with Draco for the morning? I don't really want him to be alone while he's still ill."

"Of course, sweetheart. I'll call Molly and tell her to keep Melody for the day. You go and do what you need to. Take your time. I'll make sure Draco is fine," Hermione said kindly and gave Harry's arm a small squeeze.

"I'll just go and tell him I'm going to get some of his things and find out what he wants. Don't tell him I'm going to see Lucas, ok? That's something I'll talk to him about myself," Harry said softly and disappeared into the bedroom.