The Tragic Tale of the Boy Who Lived and the Boy Who Wanted to Die [ON HIATUS]

Draco was nervously waiting in the alleyway back behind an old, abandoned shop. Part of him really wanted Harry to show up, and part of him didn’t. On one hand, if he did show up, that gave him the opportunity to make sure this wasn’t all a joke, and they would get to actually talk face to face. Letters are nice because you get to perfect exactly what you say to the other person, but talking in person feels different.

On the other hand, if he didn’t show up, Draco wouldn’t have to risk embarrassing himself. He wouldn’t have to ever reach out to Harry ever again, and it would all be over and done. He had never thought Harry would ever like him, so it wouldn’t surprise him too much if this was all a joke. It was still weird for Draco to be calling him Harry, even just in his head.

Finally, after waiting for what seemed like forever, he heard footsteps. He pretended to be busy rummaging through his school bag (which he had brought to carry his books in) in case it wasn’t Harry, but lucky for him it was.

“Hey.” Harry said. He looked awkward standing there, but to Draco this was confirmation that this was real and wasn’t a joke.

“Hello. So uh, how are you?” Draco’s head was reeling. He couldn’t believe what was going on. Harry communicated differently through letters; without seeing him in person it was easier to believe that this was indeed a different person than the one he had once despised. But now they were meeting in person, it was quite surreal.

“Oh, I’m alright. Good, I guess.” The two stood in silence for a moment before Harry continued talking. “The summer’s been pretty eventful so far, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, you can say that. My father hardly left-” Draco suddenly remembered Harry’s views on his father. “Well, lots of people are working overtime. Ginny mentioned her dad was working a lot?”

“Yeah, but Mrs. Weasley was there. Plus her older brothers, so we weren’t really alone.”

“Oh, nice.” Draco was running out of things to say.

“What did you do this summer?” Harry asked.

“Played Quidditch mostly. Well, I practiced flying. And I read books. I have a pretty uninteresting life outside of Hogwarts, honestly.” Draco knew he was making an awful impression, but it didn’t seem like Harry minded.

“I flew a lot too. Hermione isn’t a Quidditch fan, but Ron and I tried to convince her to fly with us. She threatened to hex us into the next century.” They laughed and talked for almost an hour.

“I should probably go back. Mrs. Weasley will be waiting for me. I told her I was going to go look around Quality Quidditch Supplies.” Harry said.

“Oh, okay.” Draco had to admit he enjoyed talking to somebody who wasn’t Theo, Ginny, or an obsessive blood purist.

“We should meet up somewhere again soon. Although I don’t know where. Maybe we could meet up in an empty classroom?” Harry suggested.

“We probably wouldn’t get caught if we snuck out at night.” Draco said. “You know, like…” He didn’t want to finish the sentence. Like last time.

“Yeah, we could probably meet somewhere at night a lot easier than day. How about that empty classroom on the sixth floor?” Harry said.

“Alright. See you soon!” They waved goodbye, and Draco waited a few minutes after Harry had left before heading back to the manor.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The rest of the summer went by incredibly fast. Before he knew it, Draco was packing his stuff and getting ready to go to Kings Cross Station.

“Goodbye.” Draco said to Lucius before departing with his mother.

“Behave yourself this year. I’m busy enough as it is, and I don’t need any more letters from that damn school about you getting attacked by a hippo-whatever.”

Once they reached the platform, Draco boarded and went to find his friends. He found Blaise and Theo sitting in a compartment, and joined them.

“Draco!” Blaise exclaimed. “Oh god, it’s been forever!” Draco sat down and Blaise started going on about some Italian Quidditch team that he got to meet.

“He hasn’t shut up since we got on. Flurry’s sleeping, but I bet she’s excited to see you!” Theo pointed to his cat, who was sleeping on the seat next to him. “Pansy and Daphne stopped in already, they’re going to sit with some Hufflepuff boys. I think Pansy might be dating one of them, I don’t know for sure though.”

“Pansy’s dating someone?” asked Draco incredulously.

“Yeah, and they are awful together.” Blaise muttered angrily.

“Oh shut up, you haven’t even met him yet.” Theo shoved Blaise playfully. “Someone has a crush!”

“Theo!” Blaise cried.

“First time, Blaise?” Draco asked. He still had all his letters from Harry saved in his trunk; he needed to find a better place for them if he didn’t want Theo or Blaise to find them. Not that he had a crush on Harry (he had forbidden himself to even think about the topic).

"At least they’re joking with you. Pansy hardly even acknowledges me! She’s always going on about some guy, it’s like she doesn’t even see me! I wish I could just ignore her, but she’s just so damn-”

“I’m sure she’ll come around Blaise.” interrupted Draco, who firmly believed that Pansy would only stop fawning over other boys when she was six feet under. “How long have they been together?”

“About a week and a half, from what I’ve gathered.” Theo said.

Just then, the compartment door opened.

“Mind if we sit here?” Ginny said, with Luna right behind her.

“Not at all.” Draco said, and soon the train started moving.

“How was your summer?” Luna asked them. “I already know about yours Ginny, since we spent most of it together.”

“Italy was pretty fun I guess. Hey, do you want to hear about this Quidditch team I met? They were-” Blaise was cut off by Theo.

“We’ve heard enough about them already, Blaise. Mine was pretty good Luna, thanks for asking.” Theo said.

“Mine was pretty good. It went by fast, but I had fun.” Draco said truthfully. It beat the previous summer by a lot, even if he didn’t do a lot.

Draco explained the Tournament to them, and made sure they wouldn’t tell anybody.

“Remember, this is classified information. Nobody else is supposed to know.” He told them.

“Have you told anybody else?” Ginny asked. Draco panicked. Did she know?

“Nope. I haven’t.” He said immediately. She looked at him suspiciously, but dropped it.

The train ride to the castle seemed to take forever. By the time they had gotten there, Blaise and Theo were in a heated discussion about the Quidditch finals and Luna was asleep with Flurry on her lap and Ginny’s head on her shoulder.

“Wake up guys, we’re here.” Draco said while Theo picked up Flurry (who was not happy to be woken) and placed her in a carrier he had bought for her.

When they stepped out of the train, Draco caught Harry’s eye from across the platform. Harry winked. It caught Draco so off-guard he almost tripped.

“You okay Draco?” Theo asked.

“I’m fine.” Draco replied. He wasn’t used to Harry Potter being friendly towards him. He hoped nobody had noticed.

Once they got to the castle, Draco realised how hungry he was. He couldn’t wait for the feast. After the Sorting, food of all sorts appeared on their plates.

“Finally!” Draco exclaimed.

“Did you even watch the Sorting?” Ginny asked exasperatedly.

“He never does.” Theo said.

After everybody had devoured the meal, Draco noticed Harry looking at him from the Gryffindor table.

“Tonight.” Harry mouthed to him. Draco nodded, and Dumbledore started speaking. Draco wasn’t paying attention, until the door to the Great Hall opened with a bang. A man was standing there, as Dumbledore introduced him as their new DADA teacher.

Draco rolled his eyes and continued not paying attention. Suddenly, everybody started cheering.

“What’s going on?” Draco whispered to Blaise, who was sitting next to him.

“He just announced the Triwizard Tournament. Honestly, Draco, you need to start paying attention to these things.” Blaise rolled his eyes.

“Sorry Blaise, but I already knew about it.”

“How?” Daphne exclaimed from across the table.

“Shh! Just listen. I can’t talk about it here.” Draco said.

Dumbledore’s speech finally ended, and it was time for everybody to head back to their dorms.

But not Draco. He had other plans.