mini_fest | Fic: The Perfect Gift

Title: The Perfect Gift
Author:

sassy_cissa
Rating: G
Characters: Harry/Draco
Prompt(s): Harry/Draco or Harry/Snape - A lonely holiday stuck in the hospital.
Warnings: None really – except schmaltz – but heck....it's a Christmas fic!
Summary: It's almost Christmas. Will Harry get the gift he wants?
Word Count: 818
Disclaimer: I don't own them and I certainly don't make any money off them.
A/N: Thanks to

oldenuf2nb for her advice and to

absynthedrinker for his beta skills and all around general friendship.

Harry scrubbed his hands over his face. He could feel the stubble that was quickly becoming more than just a five o'clock shadow and sighed deeply. The lights in the room were low, just the eerie blue glow from the machine displays that connected Draco to the Mediwitch station down the hall illuminating the space. Right now, those machines simply reminded Harry of how close he still was to losing the most important person in his life.

The first few days in hospital had seen a steady stream of friends stopping by to see if there was any change or to check on how Harry was holding up. Now, after ten days, Hermione was the only one who still stopped by every day. But today the despair was so evident in her eyes, Harry wasn't sure he wanted her to come back.

He thought back to the Fire-call that had sent his world tumbling around him.

"Harry!?" the voice in the Floo sounded frantic.

Harry rushed to the fireplace and dropped to his knees and found Draco's secretary, eyes wide. "What is it, Philomena?" Harry struggled to speak, his chest tight.

"There's been an accident in the lab." Tears welled in her eyes as she spoke. "Draco's been taken to emergency at St Mungo's." Her voice lowered, and the tears slipped down her cheeks. "It's quite bad, Harry, you'd best not delay."

Fear clutched at Harry's heart as he signed off. He hurried through the room, slipping his feet into a pair of trainers that sat by the door and pulling on a MacKintosh that hung on the hook.

Back across the room, grabbing a handful of Floo powder. Harry called out his destination and disappeared in a puff of green smoke.

He shook his head; it didn't do any good remembering those terrifying hours. When he arrived they told him Draco had been involved in a potions explosion and that the ingredients he'd been using had been extremely volatile and dangerous. It had been nearly seven hours before Draco was stable enough to be moved into a room.

Philomena had been questioned and Draco's lab gone over with a fine tooth comb, but no one could determine what he had been trying to do when the explosion occurred. All Harry knew was that he longed to look into those pale gray eyes again and tell Draco how much he loved him.

Stretching in his chair, Harry rolled his head and decided to walk out to the Mediwitch station and see if Padma Patil was on duty tonight. After their disastrous date his fourth year, they'd become good friends and he counted on her to give him the honest facts about Draco's condition.

As he approached the white counter in the middle of the floor, he was almost surprised to see a tree blinking with fairie lights in the corner. Then he remembered, tomorrow....was Christmas day. Not exactly how or where he'd planned on spending the day.

Padma was there and she gave him her opinion on Draco. It was time for her to check his feeding tube, so she linked her hand through Harry's arm and they walked into the room together. She rested her head on his shoulder and gave his arm a squeeze before releasing it and stepping to the bed.

Padma gave a soft gasp.

"I nearly blow myself up and you start playing for the other team," Draco rasped out – his voice crackling from not being used. "You're certainly not winning any Partner of the Year Award, Potter."

"Draco, you're..." Tears spilled down his cheeks, as he crossed the room.

Padma signalled for the Mediwizard and the room was suddenly a flurry of activity. It was nearly an hour before the last specialist left and it was just Harry and Draco alone in the room.

Harry sat on the edge of the bed and kissed Draco on the forehead. "You scared me," he said softly.

"I didn't mean to. I'm a little fuzzy on what happened." He stopped and gazed off into the air, as if trying to remember exactly what had landed him in that hospital bed. He shook his head and sighed before running the back of his fingers along Harry's jaw line. "Well this didn't develop overnight," he said dryly. "Just how long have I been out?"

"Ten days." His voice was filled with exhaustion. "Ten very long days," he repeated.

Draco pulled at Harry's arm until he stretched out beside him on the bed. "That would make it Christmas eve," he said thoughtfully, pulling Harry's head to rest on his chest. "I didn't have time to get you a gift."

Harry closed his eyes and pressed his face to Draco's chest. Under his ear, Draco's heart beat strong and clear. "Yes you did," he burrowed in closer and held on a bit tighter. "You...you're my gift this year."

finis