Chapter 2
There are many things Harry should be concerned about as the winter season approaches, such as turning in his transfiguration homework this afternoon (which he's only halfway completed), revising for his upcoming NEWT exams (before Hermione kills him) and finally giving Ginny an answer as to whether he's ready to get back together or not. He doesn't really want to acknowledge that the idea of resuming his relationship with his ex leaves an awful taste in his mouth, but he's always been pretty good at ignoring his feelings. So that's what he's doing, just completely ignoring the situation. This is why Harry is currently rushing into a hidden alcove as if he's being chased, after spotting a familiar flash of long red hair amongst the crowd of students in the hall, to hide from said ex. Only he's not the only person attempting to hide away in the shadows he discovers, as he accidentally tackles a slender body into the cornerstone, receiving a hushed, "For fucks sake" in response.
"Malfoy?"
Another concern Harry is outright refusing to acknowledge is his growing o̶b̶s̶e̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ interest regarding Draco Malfoy's whereabouts. Obviously, he sees him in their shared lessons or sat under his tree beside the lake at night or even the glimpse of platinum hair as it disappears into the distance, but that's it. Harry thought that with such a striking appearance, with those eyes and that hair and his 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦, Malfoy would be hard to miss. And maybe that's the issue, because Harry maybe, sort of, does miss him. Misses his quick quips, even his insults and especially his eyes-
"Potter, would you mind releasing me now?" Malfoy drawls, back still pressed against the cold stone wall. "Or are we to remain cuddling for the foreseeable?"
The snarky yet polite tone of voice sprung Harry into action, jumping away from Malfoy with such force that he propelled himself out of the alcove where he finds himself face to face with Ginny, who is staring at him like he'd lost his mind. Merlin, what a situation to end up in. Stuck between the two people he is most certainly 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵.
"Harry, I thought that was you. What were you doing in there?" Ginny rocks forward onto her tiptoes, her arms crossing behind her back as she attempts to look into the dark alcove, the smell of her lavender perfume making Harry's head ache. In the dark Harry can see the widening of Malfoy's silver eyes. In a panic, Harry swings his arm around Ginny's shoulders steering her away from the alcove and Malfoy, before any assumptions could be made. Not that there was anything to make assumptions about, Harry tells himself.
"Oh you know me, I um tripped." He cringes, rushing away from his supposed enemy's hiding spot with Ginny nuzzling further under the comfort of his arm, not recognising the signs of her ex's discomfort and nervousness as she rants about his clumsiness. Glancing back quickly to see Malfoy appear from the shadows and heading in the direction of the Muggle Studies corridor.
~
After his impromptu meeting with Malfoy in the alcove and his eventual fall out with Ginny not long after, Harry decides he needs a nap to help him cope. Except Ron and Hermione have other ideas, as he returns to his room letting out a groan when he finds the two laid out on his bed waiting for him. It turns out that Ginny had recently approached her big brother in need of relationship advice, asking whether Harry had given any indication if he was ready to 'reconnect'. He hadn't and so that meant his best friends had decided to stage an intervention to force him to talk out his 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. Feelings he was still resolutely ignoring.
"Harry, I think you already know what we're here to talk about," Hermione starts gently, shifting to make space for Harry on the bed, who looked like he was about to high-tail it out of the room. Harry sits but doesn't speak staring anxiously at a piece of loose string on his bedspread. "It's about time you really consider the reasons why you never got back with Ginny after the war and stop putting off the inevitable because you'll only end up hurting yourself."
"Listen mate, it's obvious that my sister doesn't check the right boxes for you if you get what I mean," Ron chimes in (less gently) with a waggle of his eyebrows, firmly ignoring his girlfriend's fierce glare and the way Harry's head snaps up. "I don't wanna talk about this as much as you, but you're my best mate and she's my sister. So please for the love of Merlin end it".
"Wait - What do you mean she obviously doesn't tick the right boxes? She- She's pretty, her hair is kinda nice and soft, plus she's a-a nice girl." Harry stutters, going back to stubbornly staring at the red string as if it is personally responsible for causing all his confused emotions.
Ron laughs, a loud boisterous noise similar to a bark as if it has risen from the depths of his stomach, followed by the sound of a sharp slap as Mione smacked him hard on the bicep. "Ow Mione! 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘦, it's simple Ginny's not blonde or y'know male enough for your taste - or pratty enough for that matter. Yeah maybe if she was tall and lanky with blue eyes-"
"I wouldn't say blue, more like silver or you know like a pair of bright stars," Harry mutters absentmindedly, continuing his fidgeting.
"You're really not helping your case there mate and you've just proved my point."
He has, hasn't he? Harry sits there dumbfounded, how hadn't he known? How the bloody hell had Ron worked it out before him?
"You umm, you don't mind then?" Hermione grabs his hand instead of answering his whispered question, as he finally looks up shyly. "I mean like him being a bloke or- or the whole ex-death eater thing?"
"Honestly Harry, it will take some adjusting too, but if Malfoy's it for you that's ok with us. We just want to see you happy again, right Ron?" Mione yanks his arm forcing Harry into a hug, giving him a chance to process his newly exposed feelings as Ron holds out a chocolate frog to him as a peace offering. Harry loves his friends, he really does, they know just what he needs to hear.
"Yeah mate, I'd rather you shag Malfoy than my sister any day."
"RONALD!"
Well, maybe not.
~
Harry officially breaks up with Ginny two days later, after he finally built up his Gryffindor courage to ask her for a private chat. She takes it like a champ and doesn't even cry u̶n̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶H̶a̶r̶r̶y̶. When he confides his newly discovered interest in men to her, she just smiles and asks him if he's seen Malfoy around recently, to which he just blushes. But that's the issue really, because no he hasn't seen Malfoy since the alcove incident on Friday. He hasn't even seen him under his tree, despite waiting longer than he usually would sat on his window sill. Harry understands it's the weekend and Malfoy is probably just busy with schoolwork or plans with friends but it's been 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 since he last saw him. It's different now too, cause Harry knows he likes the bloody git and -
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘰𝘺?
The trio are sat in the library, accompanied by Luna and Neville, attempting to do some last-minute work and revision, when the parchment in Harry's hands, which was his potions homework, bursts into a magical ball of flames and disintegrates before he can even realise what's happened. He stares open-mouthed at the ashes settling on his scuffed trainers, looking up to see Hermione has covered her mouth in an attempt to smother her laugh, whilst Ron (not known for his self-restraint) wheezed noisily and slapped at his knees. At least someone finds this situation amusing. Silently, Luna leans across their table and hands him a new set of notes and paper, a dazed smile on her face as she leans back into a confused Neville's side.
"Oh dear Harry, I was wondering when those wrackspurts were going to get to you." Ron's laugh grows louder in response to Luna's analysis of Harry's mental state. Again, 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺.
When his quill goes up in flames seconds later, Harry just sighs and lays his head on the table.
~
Monday, finally. Harry never would have thought he'd be so eager for the worst day of the week, but today he has potions and potions means he gets to see Malfoy. Even better, Slughorn announces it's a brewing day and unlike his peers, who groan at the lesson plan, Harry almost vibrates in excitement. Malfoy has yet to show up and the only spare seat is next to Harry, which is purely coincidental. There is no way Malfoy will miss a brewing lesson as it's the one thing he excels at, surpassing even Hermione's brilliance and today he will be Harry's partner. Scenarios of possible conversation starters fly around Harry's mind like a snitch, as he imagines his tanned hand brushing against Malfoy's pale one, the contrast of skin tones before they both look up gazing into each other's eyes, green meeting silver-
"Potter."
Somehow the platinum blonde had managed to settle himself at their shared desk without disturbing Harry from his fantasies until his gruff acknowledgement of his desk mate had almost caused the saviour of the wizarding world to fall from his stool. 𝘚𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩. Deciding that standing would be a safer option Harry stumbles off his seat and positions himself beside his ex-enemy-turned-crush, a red flush sitting high on his bronze cheekbones as he leans forwards on his elbows. From the corner of his eye, he watches Malfoy as he listens to Slughorn's instructions, which Harry should really be following as well but it's been so long since he's seen the other boy up close, their alcove meeting not counting as it was way too dark. He's grown into his pointy features, cheekbones and jawline sharper than the sword of Gryffindor, nose almost perfectly straight and pink, plump lips that have completely stolen Harry's attention. Merlin, he's done for.
"Potter, will you go grab the ingredients? Instead of standing there like a sack of hippogriff shit." Once again Malfoy's slow drawl shakes Harry out of his admiration of the other boy's side profile. Git.
"Right, yes - and what would those ingredients be?"
"The ones for the potion Potter, Merlin."
"Umm okay." Harry hesitates, before asking meekly. "And the potion is what exactly?"
Despite their less-than-stellar start to the lesson, the two work together on brewing the potion (which is Felix Felicis, thank you very much). Well, Malfoy does most of the actual brewing because "you're shit at potions Potter". Harry can't really argue with that, so he just continues to sneakily check out his potion's partner. As one can imagine, the potions classrooms can become unbearably warm fairly quickly, especially on brewing days. Today is one of those days and Harry has to stop himself from salivating as Malfoy gracefully peels off his outer robes, pulling his tie loose and unbuttoning his top two buttons in an effort to cool himself down. Harry's elbow slips from where he had been resting it and he manages to save his face just before it smashes into the tabletop, drawing Malfoy's attention who raises an eyebrow in the clumsy saviour's direction, rolling up his shirt sleeves, pale hands revealing even more pale skin captivating Harry who was unable to focus on anything else.
The untainted skin of Malfoy's left forearm just looked so pale and smooth - It took Harry a second to realise that the boy's forearm should not have been an empty canvas but one marred by the scar of the dark mark. Where in the name of Dumbledore's was his dark mark? Harry squinted his green eyes behind the circular frames of his glasses, shifting an inch closer and recognising the unnatural sheen of a glamour on Malfoy's left arm. Huh.
"Everything ok there Potter?" Without realising Harry had drifted across the table towards his blond partner, who was staring down his nose at him slightly thrown by their closeness. Gasping out a quick sorry, Harry practically threw himself back to his side of the desk, his embarrassment colouring his cheeks and spreading down his neck. Not helped by the obvious giggles of his friends coming from the desk behind theirs. Malfoy merely coughed and resumed brewing. Harry, who was too focused on calming himself down and levelling his breathing, didn't notice the pink tinge of the young Malfoy's ears.
~
Draco had spent the start of the school year avoiding other students as much as possible, especially Harry Potter who made his heart beat at an abnormal pace. It had been a long time since Draco had accepted that Potter was just his type, dark hair and tanned, piercing green eyes and a toned body with large muscled biceps and thighs, he could appreciate how the boy had filled out over the summer. His acceptance that maybe he never really hated Harry Potter and his unexpected second chance at life had led Draco to realise that he no longer had a reason to hide who he was and soon after he was discharged from the hospital he came out as gay to his mother, whose first question in regard to his sexuality was when he would be asking Potter on a date.
"He's such a lovely boy Draco, good-looking too." This was followed by a wink which had caused Draco to choke on the tea he was sipping. Not that she was wrong.
It's just that asking out the Boy Who Lived, the Wizarding Saviour, Desirable No.1 and his ex-enemy was a harder feat than he had imagined, because what would Potter want with a death-eater amputee who could no longer legally use magic? So rather than attempting to prove himself, Draco hid himself away in the shadows with only Blaise and Minty for occasional company. That is until Potter came charging into his life again (literally), throwing his whole plan of solitude off course and giving him hope that maybe he did have a small chance. Especially since Potter won't stop staring at him when he thinks he can't see him.
~
Harry is brave. He is a brave and courageous Gryffindor and he isn't afraid of any snakes. He fought Voldemort for Merlin's sake. He literally defeated him as a newborn and numerous other times before he even hit puberty. He is a war hero, Merlin damn it. So why is he standing at the edge of the black lake under his invisibility cloak, shaking like a leaf despite his warming charms, working up the courage to approach Draco Sodding Malfoy who's perched under his usual tree?
𝘚𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. Harry thinks stubbornly, spinning on his heel prepared to storm back to his dorm and watch his crush from afar. That is until he steps on a twig, which snaps deafeningly in the quiet night startling the gorgeous boy across from him. Fuck.
"Who's there!" Malfoy demands, wand raised as he jumps to his feet ready to defend himself. Double fuck.
Feeling cornered Harry pulls the hood of his cloak down revealing his floating head. "Umm hi, Malfoy. Lovely evening isn't it?"
Malfoy's jaw drops open, wand now lax in his hand as his arm unconsciously dropping back to his side, staring at where Harry's body should be, speechless. Great Harry has officially broken him. Quickly taking the rest of his cloak off and safely storing it, once shrunk, in the pocket of his jeans, he raises his hands in a symbol of surrender slowly approaching the gobsmacked beauty. Even caught off guard Harry can't help but admire the boy before him, from the way the moonlight shines through his hair and his eyes glow brighter than any star he's ever seen.
"Earth to Malfoy? I'm not gonna hurt you or anything, I was just umm out for a walk - Yeah, completely a coincidence that I've bumped into you here. Ha ha."
It takes a minute (or five) for Malfoy to come around, when he does he just slumps back against his tree and sinks to the floor. The two remain engaged in an intense staring match before Malfoy gives in and closes his eyes breathing deeply. Harry takes that as an invitation to sit across from him, cross-legged on the damp grass, still at a safe distance in case he is subjected to a quick stinging hex for his smooth approach. Although Malfoy doesn't look in any state to be casting a hex at the moment, Harry relaxes.
"Do you typically go about sneaking up on innocent bystanders under a cloak of invisibility or am I special?" It's meant as a jab, Harry is sure of it and yet his cheeks heat anyway. "Don't answer that actually, I don't want to hear about yours and the she-weasels kinks." If Harry wasn't blushing before Malfoy said the word 'kinks' in his posh accent emphasising the K and S, he was most definitely blushing now.
"It's not like that at all!" Harry exclaims trying to distract himself from his rising blood pressure. "We're not even together, we're just friends."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
The two boys continued their avoidance of eye contact, Harry playing with strands of grass and Malfoy once again closed his eyes providing Harry with an opportunity to fan his burning face and neck. Feeling sufficiently cooler, Harry resumed his ogling admiring the way Malfoy's skin reflected the moonlight his only imperfection being the magically dulled skin of his left arm. Malfoy had foregone his robe leaving it in a heap at the foot of the tree, sleeves once again rolled up to his elbows and if Harry hadn't noticed it in potions it was quite clear in the moonlight that his left arm was glamoured. Harry was desperate to ask why he hid the mark if everyone knew it was there anyway or how he even did the spell when Harry knew he was no longer in possession of a wand, a condition from his trial. Malfoy had always been an enigma, but Harry was naturally curious and was prepared to put in the time and effort to figure him out.
~
In the end, the two boys hadn't said another word that night and when they headed back to the castle they did so separately with a nod goodbye. It had been a strange experience, but weirdly they had both felt comforted by the other's company. So when Harry began joining Malfoy at his tree on an evening, he didn't feel unwelcome. It took a few days, but they now sat side by side rather than across from one another leaning against the tree trunk, silently calling a truce. Soon, Malfoy became Draco and Potter, Harry. It was a week or so later when Harry couldn't cope with the silence any longer and began rambling about astronomy and his favourite philosophers and books, Draco didn't tend to reply past a few nods and hums. Until one evening he educated Harry on his own knowledge of the constellations, pointing out his own and Harry's godfather, Sirius's star and the constellation it was a part of.
Thus commencing a tentative friendship between the two opposites.