An Educational Date
Before they had to return to Hogwarts, Harry took Draco out on a date. He had told Lucius that Sirius was going to chaperone, so Malfoy Senior consented to them going out. Sirius, though, only accompanied them towards the entrance of the London Zoo, so finally Harry could get some peace and quiet with Draco.
After hours of considering what to do on their first date, Harry had settled on the zoo. It was only January but what were warming charms for? Besides, Hermione had told him Draco always wanted to go to the zoo and see the muggle creatures. He wouldn’t admit it openly because he sucked at Care for Magical Creatures, but the Slytherin actually had a great interest in animals.
So, the zoo was perfect. In order to make it a successful date, Harry had asked Hermione what to do. Consulting her great wooing plan, she had advised him to impress Draco with knowledge and facts about the animals. Draco loved to learn things and to hold an intellectual conversation. And Hermione loved making pop quizzes. It was a win-win, except for Harry having to learn all the stuff. But what one doesn’t do for love!
Harry was prepared, he was ready. This date was what he trained for almost an entire month. But when Draco excitedly took Harry’s hand and entered the zoo, Harry’s brain stopped working. Godric, Draco's hand was so delicate, so soft, it felt so good in his own hand. Harry’s hand wasn’t sweating, was it?
And Draco looked so cute in muggle clothing, Harry couldn’t take his eyes off him. He was wearing skinny jeans, a checkered shirt and his Weasley jumper on top. His hair was just long enough to be pulled in a cute little ponytail but a few locks were framing his face. Harry stared and stared, and nearly ran into a streetlamp.
“Harry, are you ok?” Draco asked concerned. Merlin, he must think Harry’s an idiot.
Why was he so nervous anyway? He was just going on a date with his boyfriend. With his gorgeous, perfect, and intelligent boyfriend who would surely dump Harry when he realized the gap between Draco’s perfectness and Harry’s idiotness was really big. And then their marriage would be really awkward. Oh god, Harry was panicking a little.
“Never better”, Harry tried a reassuring smile but it must have come out as a grimace because Draco looked at him worried. The blonde lay a hand on Harry’s forehead. “Are you feeling unwell? Do you have a fever?”
Great, now he made Draco worry. ‘Pull yourself together, Golden Boy’, Harry admonished himself. What should he do now? Right, show Draco your immense knowledge of animals! Harry blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Did you know that turtles can breathe through their butts?” Harry wanted to kick himself.
Draco stared at Harry blankly and asked very seriously “What in Merlin’s name are turtles? You need to show me immediately. They have to be atrocious beasts if they are capable of something so disgusting.”
Harry nodded faintly and led Draco to the reptile house. “Truly fascinating”, Draco muttered staring at the turtles in awe. “They are so ugly! But it’s so cute how they move” Draco happily turned to Harry. “You are cute”, Harry said without thinking. But when the blonde blushed furiously, Harry felt his nervousness wash away.
A smirk slowly spread on Harry’s face as he relished the effect his compliment had on his boyfriend. Time to impress him a bit. “Come on, I’ll show you the snakes.”
Harry stopped in front of a large terrarium. Merlin, that was nostalgic. “This is where I accidentally freed a Boa constrictor and imprisoned my cousin for a while. The snake told me, it wanted to go to Brasil. I wonder if she made it.” Harry mused as he looked at the snake in the terrarium. It was a boomslang that raised its head sleepily.
Draco seemed impressed. He had already heard some stories of Harry’s muggle family and it weren’t good stories. Well, accept that time where Hagrid gave Dudley a pigs’ tail, of course, or the tale of Harry blowing up Aunt Marge. “How old were you when that happened?”
“It was before my eleventh birthday.”
“Wait, you already spoke with a snake at ten. Did you think that was normal for wizards until second year?” Draco asked incredulously.
Sheepishly, Harry defended himself. “How was I supposed to know that nobody else could talk to snakes? I came into a magic world, of course I thought abstract things like talking to snakes was the norm.”
“Yeah, right. You’re so innocent and oblivious about all wizarding things. Next you'll want to tell me you believe in the Easter Bunny.” Draco snorted.
Harry looked at the blonde wide eyed. “What, are you telling me the Easter Bunny isn’t real?”
Draco choked, “Are you serious?”
“No, that’s my godfather.” The Gryffindor laughed loudly when Draco coloured a pretty pink and hit him in the arm.
The boomslang was eyeing them with interest now. “Bipedsss being really weird. Isss that a mating ritual?”
The hissing snake caught the boys’ attention.
“Yesss, mussst be mating ssseassson. Hopefully, bipedsss won’t be mating in front of me.” The snake recoiled and hid its head.
“What is it saying?” Draco asked.
Harry, torn between laughing and blushing, just answered “Something about it being mating season. Is it just me or is it hot in here? Do you want icecream?” Without waiting for an answer, Harry dragged Draco outside, ignoring the blondes bewildered shout of “Ice cream in January?”.
Despite his initial scepticism Draco had to admit that ice cream in winter was a really great idea. Because now that he had the time to look properly at Harry and wasn’t distracted by the animals, he definitely needed to cool down a bit. Harry didn’t look any different than usual but he seemed to be glowing. Draco couldn’t look away.
That’s why he immediately noticed when a blob of ice cream got stuck on the left corner of Harry’s mouth. “Harry, you got a little…” Draco gestured towards the blob.
The black-haired boy rubbed at his chin. “No, it’s more…”, Harry rubbed on his nose. “Wait, let me…” Draco leaned forward and licked the ice cream away. “There, all clean now.” Draco blushed furiously, realizing what he had done. Before he could draw back, Harry grabbed his neck und kissed him.
The kiss was very sweet und their ice-cold tongues made a pleasant contrast to their hot mouths. Yes, ice cream in winter was a very good idea, indeed.