A Moment in Time

A Moment in Time

Chapter Four - Loyalty

Feeling almost fully recovered from the events of the past two days and anxious to get the day started, Draco was up at the crack of dawn. After showering and dressing carefully in a pair of black jeans and a slate gray cashmere sweater, he grabbed two bags that he had previously packed and holding a small smooth stone in his hand said "Loyalty". Within seconds all that remained of the young blonde man was a slight whiff of his expensive cologne.

* * *

Arriving at the small studio apartment he had rented in advance, Draco took a moment to look around. The apartment was actually only one large room that served as a bedroom, living area and small kitchen. There was a door in the wall beside where the bed was located that Draco assumed lead to the bathroom. Investigating further he discovered that the kitchen appeared to be fully stocked, as had been previously arranged. Overall the accommodations were not much, but would serve their purpose nicely.

Scanning over the room, the blonde's attention became focused solely on the figure that was sleeping on the double bed. Relief that Harry was actually here with him, safe from who knows what horrors he faced, flooded through him. Striding over to the bedroom section, Draco carefully took in the Harry's haggard appearance. 'Well, at least he was able to take a shower and wash his hair,' Draco thought at the sight of Harry's long and messy but clean hair. Knowing that Harry needed his rest and not wanting to disturb him, Draco quietly made his way over to the kitchen, where he put on some water for tea.

As soon as the tea was ready, Draco poured himself a cup and sat down at the small dinning area. As he did, Draco looked out the large picture window and he remembered why it was this particular apartment that he had rented. The view from the window was incredible. The apartment was located in a tall high-rise in Manhattan, as in New York City, and the picture window faced the Hudson River. The urban view was simply breath taking. Lost in his own thoughts, Draco didn't even notice when a pair of emerald eyes slowly opened and came to rest on him.

"Dray, is that you?" a soft voice rusty from disuse came from across the small apartment.

Startled Draco jumped slightly before remembering exactly where he was and why he was there. Slate gray eyes met and held the green questioning ones. Seeing the look of confusion and wariness Draco rose from the table and crossed the room. Kneeling beside the bed, Draco reached out and tentatively touched Harry's face. "Yes Harry, it's me. It's Dray."

Harry shuddered at the feeling of being touched by someone, no one had touched him in such a long time. "Are you sure you're really here, and that this is not just some dream?"

"No Harry, you're not dreaming, I'm really here and so are you." Draco tried to keep his tone light as he reassured the dark haired man but deep down he was worried about how strong a grasp on reality Harry actually had. Draco prayed that Harry had not suffered any permanent damage.

Leaning into Draco's touch, Harry gave one last shuddering gasp and then did something that he couldn't remember doing since the summer after the disastrous third task of the Triwizard Tournament, he cried. Great wailing cries were released from somewhere deep within him and Draco just held the slender man close to his chest as he purged his soul.

Draco was a little surprised when Harry started to cry and then quickly became concerned as the crying turned into full body sobs. Not knowing what else to do, he just held onto the raven-haired man, slowly stoking his back and whispering encouragement in his ear in an attempt to calm him.

Eventually, when Harry exhausted himself, the sobs stopped. Realizing that Harry had fallen asleep on him, Draco simply picked Harry up and carefully laid him back down on the bed. Even asleep, Harry protested when Draco tried to let go, so with nothing else to do, Draco laid down on the bed beside the dark haired man. Pulling Harry back into his arms, Draco settled down for a late morning nap.

* * *

The sun was shining. This was the first thought that crossed Harry's mind when he woke up. Merlin, how he had missed the sun. He never wanted to be somewhere where he couldn't see the sun again. Harry reasoned that it's true that you never really know what you have until its gone, and vowed never to take the simple pleasures in life for granted ever again. Harry blushed softly as he became aware of the strong arms wrapped tightly around him and the warm, hard body that was pressed up against his.

Turning slightly he saw that Draco was still asleep, for which Harry was grateful. It gave him an opportunity to collect his thoughts. The dementor free days had done wonders, but he still had trouble piecing his thoughts together at times. Harry knew somehow that Draco was responsible for his escape from prison; but, he wasn't sure how or why Draco had helped him. He had thought that Draco, like all the others, believed him guilty of the murders. Those questions would be asked and hopefully answered when the blonde man woke up.

Harry wasn't even sure what day it was today, or how long he had been in the apartment. His memories of the last couple of days were foggy at best. He knew that he had taken a portkey and had landed in the middle of this apartment where he had promptly passed out. Sometime later when he regained consciousness, he was able to look around a bit, and discovered both the kitchen and bathroom. Opening the refrigerator, Harry grabbed the first thing that he could find, some cold roast chicken and a hunk of cheese. Both of these were quickly consumed along with some milk directly from the container as he didn't want to take the time to find a glass. Living in prison makes one less picky about what and how they eat.

Once that immediate need was satisfied, Harry decided on a shower. He desperately needed a good scrubbing. The bathroom had a full-length mirror mounted on the inside of the bathroom door and Harry was able to get a look at himself for the first time in a year and a half. He was disgusted. His hair was long, greasy, and matted, his face and body were covered in dirt, blood and bruises, he had a dirty shaggy beard, he was also so thin that every rib was hideously displayed. But the worst part was his face, in particular his eyes. They were lost and scared and at that moment in time, Harry actually hated himself and hated everyone he knew for letting this happen to him.

By the time he was done with the shower, he was wrinkled from having stayed in the hot water so long, but at least now, for the first time in a long time, he felt partly human again. However, the shower had completely exhausted him. Slowly making his way back into the bedroom area, Harry noticed a dresser and a closet. Opening the dresser, Harry was pleased to see pairs of boxer shorts, undershirts and pajamas. Quickly putting on a pair of silk boxers and an undershirt, Harry climbed back into bed and immediately fell asleep.

The next time he had woken up he had felt a presence in the room. Worried that he wasn't alone any longer, without moving, Harry looked around the room for the source of his discomfort. Harry had to blink to make sure he was awake and not dreaming when he noticed the blonde in the kitchen. How he had missed Draco. Out of all of his former friends and family he had missed the blonde the most. Sometimes in prison thoughts of what might have been had things been different would drive Harry mad, to the point where he just wanted to slam his head into a wall.

Taking a deep breath, Harry allowed his gaze to wander over the man who had haunted his dreams and waking thoughts for such a long time. The last eighteen months had been good to him, Harry decided. Draco's face had matured a little and his hair was longer and not slicked back anymore, but the look looked good on him. From his position, Harry couldn't see the rest of Draco's body, but the feel of it was certainly nice. Harry found himself blushing.

Harry shifted trying to get comfortable and he felt Draco's arms tighten in response. Harry needed to get up and use the bathroom, so once more he tried to remove himself from Draco's embrace without waking him. Finally free Harry opened the closet and saw that it too had been stocked with a full muggle wardrobe, grabbing a pair of gray sweatpants and a dark blue sweatshirt he went to take a shower.

Draco woke up when he heard the shower start. Looking at his watch he saw that it was almost dinner time. He hadn't meant to sleep so long, but he guessed that he had needed it. Getting up from the bed, Draco walked over to the kitchen to check out what there was to make for dinner. Deciding that he didn't really want or know how to cook, he decided to just order out. Laughing to himself at what his former friends would say if they saw how easily he adapted to a muggle lifestyle, he picked up the phone and using an ad from the phone book called a local Chinese place that delivered to this address. After placing an order that would feed at least four adults Draco sat down on the sofa to wait for Harry.

The sound of the bathroom door opening and then shutting, followed by soft footsteps warned Draco of Harry's approach. Still nothing prepared the young Slytherin for the sight of a clean, freshly shaved and refreshed Harry Potter. Sure he was still entirely way to thin, dangerously so, but that could be fixed with proper nourishment; he needed to do something about his bruises, but Draco could take care of those with a few healing charms later; his hair needed cut but they could see to that sometime later this week; however, in spite of all that, there was no denying that this was his Harry. And the feelings that he had started to feel so long ago now, threatened to overwhelm him.

Smiling at the dark haired boy, Draco moved over and made room on the sofa and motioned for Harry to sit beside him. Tentatively, Harry sat down, keeping as much distance between them as possible, all the while carefully watching the other man's every move.

"I know that you probably have a lot of questions for me, but I just ordered some food for dinner so why don't we eat first and then we can discuss whatever it is that you want to know."

Harry nodded, not knowing what to say and settled back to wait for the arrival of their meal.

The silence was starting to become staggering, 'where is that delivery boy' Draco thought as he started to feel uncomfortable. Needing to do something to break the awkwardness Draco decided to start a conversation with hopefully a painless topic. "So Harry, I see that you've started to make yourself at home here. What do you think about the place?"

"It's a palace compared to the last place that I stayed," came the humorless reply.

'Well then again, maybe until they get some things out into the open, no conversation is better' Draco thought.

"Honestly, I only briefly saw the kitchen, and bathroom, I've either been asleep or unconscious pretty much since I got here."

'Now that's more like it.' "I know that's it's not much, but I didn't want to draw any attention to us." Draco explained.

"No Draco, this is more than I ever allowed myself to dreamed of. I know that somehow you are responsible for my rescue and I thank you." Draco held up his hand to stop Harry, he was starting down a path that was part of the discussion that was to wait until later.

Understanding the blonde's hesitancy to get into any deep explanations now, Harry tried to keep the conversation light. "So how about if you tell me where we are exactly?"

"Well Harry, welcome to the United States of America...New York City to be exact." Draco tried not to laugh at Harry's astounded look.

"I should have known that when your involved Draco, you pull out all of the stops, nothing half way for you. So you decided to send me half way around the world, not bad." Harry was spared any further comment, as there was a knock on the door.

Seeing the look of panic on Harry's face, Draco once more grew concerned for his friend. "Relax Harry, it's only the man with our food" Draco noted as he quickly rose and grabbing some muggle money from the counter went to pay the man at the door.

Soon the apartment was filled with the delightful smells of Chinese food, Draco had gotten shrimp egg rolls, won ton soup, chicken chow mein, beef and broccoli, spicy garlic chicken and chicken fried rice. Harry, having never eaten Chinese food before, tentatively took a small sampling of everything. Harry was surprised at how good it was. Unfortunately, he was only half way through his meal before his stomach started to protest.

Draco immediately understood the problem, knowing that Harry wasn't used to eating much at one sitting and stopped eating as well suggesting that they take a break and come back and finish their meal a little later. Placing their dishes in the oven to keep them warm, the pair made their way back over to the living area.

Draco elected to sit down in the overstuffed chair while Harry sat down on the couch. Rubbing his hands over his face Draco sighed and not looking directly at Harry said, "where do you want to start?"

Knowing that this conversation was most likely going to be long and difficult for both of them, Harry responded with, "why don't you begin by filling me in on what's been happening since I was arrested."

Draco just nodded and after a few moments just started talking. He told Harry about how the school had not dealt well with the murders and his subsequent arrest. Harry chuckled when Draco relayed that the Gryffindor Quidditch team had lost each match since they had replaced Harry as seeker with a third year. Harry's reaction was entirely different and a low growl rose up in his throat when Draco told him that Ron had been appointed both Head Boy and Quidditch Captain in his absence.

"Well I guess he got his fondest desire..." Harry muttered low under his breath thinking back to the Mirror of Erised from their very first year, and then waved off Draco's questioning glance not wanting to give an explanation.

The hours seemed to fly as Draco continued to fill Harry in on what exactly had been taking place in the wizarding community. However, Draco's explanation faltered when he saw the tears in Harry's eyes when he spoke about not having a choice after graduation and his subsequent joining with the Death Eaters.

"Oh Dray, please tell me it isn't true."

Slowly Draco rolled up the left sleeve of his sweater and revealed the ugly black tattoo that stood out so blazingly against his white porcelain skin.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry..."

Draco stood up from the chair abruptly, jerking his sleeve down. "What the hell are you sorry for? My having to take the dark mark had nothing to do with you, Harry."

Startled by Draco's sharp tone, Harry ran his hand through his long unruly hair while taking a deep breath to calm down. "But it is my fault, all of it. Don't you see, Draco? If I had been there for you after graduation we could have put our other plans into affect and you never would have had to go to that monster."

"That's the problem with you, Potter. It's always about you, and you're always looking back at things that can not possibly be changed. Am I happy with the way our seventh year ended? Hell no. But moping about things that already happened isn't going to change things one bit. It's time to move on and let it go."

Harry felt like he had just been punched in the stomach. "That's easy enough for you to say, Malfoy. Try spending eighteen months with no human contact what so ever, no one to talk to, nothing but your deepest darkest thoughts to keep you company. Any memory worth having is taken from you as your mind is raped over and over again every single day by some of the foulest creatures on this planet."

Draco's breath caught in his throat. During Harry's tirade he thought that he had seen a small sparkle of emotion flicker in the deadened emerald eyes. At least it was something. Feeling sorry for his outburst that had upset the Gryffindor, Draco flopped back down on the chair. "Look Harry, I shouldn't have said all that, I'm sorry okay. It's just that it's a touchy subject for me. Some of the things that I have to do and see just to keep up appearances, well they are just unthinkable."

"I know Dray, I've seen them."

This statement caught the young Malfoy heir by surprise. "What do you mean, you've seen them? You couldn't possibly have seen the things I have, you've been in Azkaban this whole time."

With a weary grimace, Harry looked over to where Draco was sitting. "Did you think that just because I'm in prison that this connection that I have with Voldemort would stop? You've been there before when I had my visions and my scar has burned, surely you remember that summer that we spent together with Snape."

The Slytherin paled. Of course he remembered the almost nightly bouts of torture that Harry went through waking up to his screams and his scar hurting so bad that at times it actually bled. "But I thought that the wards around Azkaban would have stopped the visions," he whispered.

Sadly, Harry shook his head. "No, and it appears that Voldemort has been particularly busy lately."

With that comment, Draco went on to describe his role as a spy for the Order and how the war effort was struggling slightly. The whole time that Draco was talking, Harry listened intently. However, when Draco started talking about some of the people that Harry had once considered friends and family, the raven haired man got up from the couch and walked back into the kitchen. Catching the hint Draco stopped talking and followed.

Another helping of Chinese food helped to calm their nerves. Having refused Draco's offer of a glass of wine earlier in lieu of just plain crystal clear water, Harry sat observing the blonde man over the rim of his glass.

"So why did you do it?"

The question had been asked so softly that Draco wasn't even sure that he had heard it at first, at least not until he saw the piercing stare directed his way. "Why did I do what?" Draco countered, trying to buy himself some time, knowing full well what it was that Harry was alluding to.

"You know what, but if you need me to spell it out for you I will. Clearly this apartment, the food, the clothing, the portkey, you had planned this all well in advance. Why did you help me, why did you rescue me?"

For the longest time Draco didn't say anything, knowing that his response could possibly dictate the direction the rest of their relationship would go in. "Because I knew that you were innocent."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "And how did you know that? Did you pick up divination without telling me? Has Trelawney been giving you pointers?"

Draco was unable to resist the slight smirk at Harry's attempt at humor, thinking that it was a good sign even though the timing was not appropriate. "No Harry. I just know you. Better than anyone else it seems. You could never hurt someone like that, you're too much a Gryffindor, even if you were starting to let your Slytherin side loose once in a while. I mean really, it was absurd that anyone would believe you would murder in cold blood, especially someone whom you considered to be a friend."

When Harry didn't comment Draco continued. "Besides the motive in the prosecution's case was that you found Colin and Ginny together romantically and flew into a jealous rage. It just didn't seem realistic considering that fact that I thought you were interested at the time in someone who wasn't either of those two individuals."

Draco decided to let Harry think on that for a while as he got up to refill his wine glass. "Why do you think no one else believed me?" Draco turned and saw that Harry had followed him into the kitchen.

Leaning back against the counter Draco took an appraisal of the damaged young man in front of him. "Honestly Harry, I have no idea. If it helps though, Severus never believed that you did it and while Sirius never has said anything to me one way or the other, I don't think that he completely bought into the Ministry's case either. It's not like the Ministry hasn't screwed him over before and he's still on the run by the way."

Draco watched as Harry started to sway dangerously. "Look Harry, you're clearly exhausted, you still have a lot of recovering to do, let's say we call it a night?"

There was still many open issues that they needed to resolve, but Harry knew that Draco was right. He was not going to participating in any meaningful discussions in his given condition. Agreeing he allowed Draco to assist him back to the large bed. Throwing off the sweatshit but keeping the pants on, Harry crawled under the covers and rolled on to his side facing away from where Draco was still standing.

Deciding that he wanted to shower, Draco opened one of his suitcases and removing a clean pair of boxers and pajama pants made his way into the bathroom.

To be continued.