Lover's Tiff
It was a day like any other when the letter came. There was nothing strange about a letter arriving, letters arrived everyday at Hogwarts. No, that wasn't the unusual part. The unusual part was when it arrived at dinner, the parchment enclosed in a heavy cream parchment with a wax seal holding it closed. The jet black owl landed gracefully in front of Harry and Draco who sat at the Gryffindor table that evening, eyeing the other Gryffindors disdainfully.
Draco blanched and took hold of the letter gingerly between his slender fingers with the expression of someone holding a live bomb that could go off with any sudden movements. The owl hooted sharply and took off, his brown tipped wings brushing the edge of the pumpkin juice pitcher making it wobble dangerously. Harry could guess what it was. Or more accurately, who it was from. "What does it say?" He asked quietly.
The rest of the table had fallen quiet, Slytherins, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors alike with a smattering of Ravenclaws waiting with bated breath to hear the contents of the letter. "Dear Draco….bla bla bla…" Draco shuffled the two papers, turning them over and scanning them until he found what he was looking for. "We're invited to dinner." He said in a tone of shock. "What?" Harry asked, thinking he surely must have misheard.
But no. His hearing was perfectly adequate. "My parents have invited us to dinner." He repeated, lip curling up towards the end. He threw the letter onto the table and pulled his plate back towards him. The table slowly filled up with chatter again as the students moved on to other things they deigned more interesting. Harry sat in stunned silence for a moment before he roused himself and placed a hand on Draco's arm. "Dray."
Draco stopped eating his chocolate tart, glancing at him. "What?" Harry stared at him in disbelief. "Well?" He probed. Draco's mouth clenched into a thin line. "Well what?" He asked stiffly. He dropped his pastry crusts back onto his plate, brushing any remaining crumbs off his hands. Harry frowned and gestured towards the letter that lay discarded on the tablecloth. "What are we going to do?" He asked quietly. "We're not going to go." Draco responded bluntly.
He stood up from the table abruptly, the bench screeching harshly against the flagstone floor. Others began to stand up too and leave, forming a small crowd that streamed out the hall into the entrance. Harry sat frozen on the bench before Draco's retreating back had him scrambling into action. He jolted up from the table hurriedly and pushed through the crowd apologetically to reach his boyfriend.
"Draco!" He called. But the blond ignored him. Harry stumbled through the herd of students before apologising mentally to everyone and resorting to using his exceptionally bony elbows to catch up with Draco. He emerged from the bustle with a gasp as he reached freedom. "Whew. Draco, wait!" He finally fell into step with him. "Why not go?" A pained expression crossed Draco's features. "I'm not sitting across from my father as he insults me or my boyfriend."
Harry maneuvered in front Draco effectively making him stop walking. "That's not how I see it." He retorted matter of factly. Draco's eyebrows furrowed almost dangerously. "How do you see it?" Harry frowned at his derisive tone, the cold atmosphere unsettling him. He had never gotten into this kind of discussion with Draco; this sort of unfeeling discussion. It felt wrong.
"I see it as an opportunity to stand up to him and show him that he can't hurt or mess with us." Harry tried to explain earnestly. But Draco wasn't listening. "That's not how it would go." He bit out bitterly. "The entire meal would be spent in almost complete silence from us with snide comments made by my father that are borderline insulting but not insulting enough to jump up and call him out on it. Then mother would try to diffuse the situation with pureblood gossip which is just utterly ridiculous because it never works."
"But that won't happen if we just show up united, and strong and impenetrable. If we just show up as us." Harry argued, eager to try and show his side of the discussion. Draco snorted. "You are sorely mistaken if you think such a Gryffindor approach would work." He sneered haughtily. Harry scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?" Draco rolled his eyes and placed a hand on Harry's arms in faux pity.
"I'm only saying that such an infantile up front and provocative plan is only to be expected of a lion." Harry shrugged off his arm as if it burned to the touch, beginning to get annoyed. "Oh, and what? Slytherin's are superior to Gryffindor's?" Draco snickered slightly. "I'm not saying that. But of course the House of Snakes would come up with better, more cunning plans. You're brash. It's in your nature." He shrugged as if it wasn't his fault and examined his nails coolly.
Harry bristled. "Just because the two houses have different traits does not mean one is better than the other." He tried to keep his cool, knowing that Draco was just upset over the letter. But it was getting increasingly hard to keep a lid on his rather short temper when Draco kept acting so snootily. Draco chuckled humorlessly and Harry couldn't ignore the disturbing resemblance to Lucius in that one low sound.
"Oh, Harry. Of course one is better than the other. You're just too noble to admit it. At least your fellow house mates had the guts to act like they believed the Gryffindorks were better than us." The young Malfoy's lips curled into a Snape-esque sneer towards the end. "Okay, that's enough!" Harry snapped. "I know you're upset over the letter but this is ridiculous. You're acting petty and it really isn't a good look on you."
Draco scowled deeply. Both young men had their hands balled into fists, held defensive stances and the air crackled with tension that sparked between the two like lightening. Harry was bitterly reminded of their years spent as enemies in this exact stance in one of their many stand offs. "Because you're such a fashion guru Potter."
"That's it. Come and talk to me when you're done being a petty git, and you've gotten your act together. Then we can decide on what to do about this bloody letter." With that last snarled sentence, Harry spun on his heels and stalked off, leaving Draco standing there looking lost.
[Time skip in which nothing happens but Draco pouting on his bed in the Slytherin dorms, drapes closed, lying in darkness like a Drama Queen]
"'Arry!" Hagrid boomed in delight. He grabbed him into a bone crushing hug, liquefying his skeleton. "Hey Hagrid." Harry croaked. The giant of a man dropped him back onto the ground, clapping him on the back cheerfully. Harry had decided to visit Hagrid to get out of the castle for a bit. If he happened to somehow stay out of Draco's way for the entire day, well, that really couldn't be helped now could it? He just needed some time to cool off, and he felt bad about not having visited his first friend in a while.
As soon as Hagrid stepped aside to let him in, a barking drooling Fang sprang onto him almost knocking him over. Harry laughed as he rubbed the hyper dog vigorously. "Hey, good to see ya boy." Harry edged around the cheerful canine, who ran over to him as soon as he had sat down. Hagrid set two large mugs of tea on the table along with a tray of his infamous rock buns. Harry apologised to his teeth.
"So, wha' brings you up 'ere?" Harry grinned, the whole thing coming off slightly maniacally. "Just up for a visit." He said chipperly. Hagrid stared at him. He obviously didn't believe the blatant lie coming out of Harry's smiling mouth. Seeing he could get nowhere with his cheerfulness, he slumped onto the couch, lips curving down into a frown. "Me and Draco had a sort-of-fight." He announced sadly.
Hagrid nodded sagely. He guessed it was something like that. "And so yer avoidin' 'im." He noted. Harry slumped down even further into his seat. "Sorry for using you as a way to avoid my boyfriend." He told him morosely. Hagrid waved one massive hand dismissively. "It's grand. You need time away, I get it. I'm glad ya came to me." Hagrid smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners pleasantly. Harry smiled back glumly and picked up his cup of tea, settling in for a nice afternoon of friendly chat and tea.