Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I own the song Two Is Better Than One, and I most definitely do not own Boys Like Girls.
Written for the iPod Shuffle Challenge on the HPFC Forum, right here on this site. And it's my first challenge that actually has prizes! Wish me luck, dear reader! Oh, and also, it's kind of in a non-magic AU. All mistakes are mine.
Some notes. Uh, I'm actually not sure what kind of courses are taught in college, so to satisfy myself I made sure there was a culinary course and a self-defence course (? What is this woman thinking?), which is, of course, based on two of the subjects taught in Hogwarts. An unspecified award for the first fifteen people (fifteen because I'm weird enough not to pick ten) who figure out which subjects they're based on!
And finally, I'm really sorry if this doesn't count for the challenge, because I sort of made it based more on the song. Is it even a songfic...?, because to me it certainly isn't.
He remembers what Draco wore on the first day they met.
It wasn't too fancy, nor was it too plain. It wasn't clean either, which anyone could tell from the many stains -of varying colours, shapes sizes, and ages- coating the first layer of Draco's clothing: his apron. Below that was a very snug-looking grey jumper, which for some reason didn't look as hideous on him as it would anyone else, and a simple pair of jeans. Nope, not the baggy ones, the ones that really hugged someone's arse just the right way and should be illegal to wear in public.
He remembered every single detail, from the single ear ring Draco wore (gold, on his right ear) down to the brand displayed on his sneakers (Reebok). Now why would he know Draco's feet and ear(s) intimately? And on their first meeting, too?
Why, of course, it was because he crashed into Draco on his way to his first lecture as a professor at Hogwarts College. Which was definitely not entirely his fault; in his defence, Draco wasn't too focused on what was in front of him either, choosing instead to peer at his-...recipes? He never really tried to find out- papers and mutter to himself as he sped along. It really was surprising that Draco hadn't walked into anything else yet.
Now, he wasn't the type to go for those guys, or so he presumed, because he only discovered that he was gay... what, two months ago? And he didn't even do it himself, he actually needed it spelled out by his friends, and even his ex-girlfriend, which was frankly quite embarrassing. No, he most certainly didn't think that he would ever be attracted to blond, rich, sarcastic gits who didn't even have the decency to apologise, much less look the way they were bloody heading.
But as he stared at Draco, from the scuff on his not-so-new looking sneakers (now there was a surprise) to the way that ear ring glinted just so in the sunlight, he thought, Hey, you know, this could be something. How could it not be, when he was too busy staring at a bloke instead of even trying to get the sea of white on the ground called his lecture notes and trying not to be more late than he already was?
It did turn out to be something. Because mere hours later they met again at the teachers' lounge, only this time as the Culinary and Self-Defence professors. Call him superstitious, but this was definitely fate. Never mind that he didn't even know the bloke's name yet.
Some people would say that he was a living, breathing Encyclopedia Harry Potter, an unoriginal name that nonetheless served its purpose. He did seem to know an alarmingly great amount on the person in question, such as the looks on his face. Each and every one, like how the way he rolled his eyes in annoyance was marginally different from the way he rolled them in fond exasperation.
It did seem quite a feat to remember every single one, since Harry wore his heart on his sleeve, and there were many occasions that he just wanted to slap that face into oblivion. Like, for example, the fourteenth time he asked if he would go out with him, barely two weeks after their... unforgettable encounter. It wasn't so much the 'male' aspect that got to him; it was more of the fact that 1) it was Potter for god's sake and 2) he asked, or rather shouted, his intentions out loud.
In a most-definitely-not-empty corridor. Full of students.
Did he mention there were students?
And it was then, surrounded by the applause, cheers, catcalls and cries of 'Just say yes already!' that he stared long and hard at Harry, trying to remember his hopeful grin for the first time.
"Oh Potter," He said in such a sickly-sweet voice that he swore he could see one of those 'comic sweat drops' form on Harry's face. "I hope you aren't too attached to your face, because when I'm done with you it just won't look the same."
Harry looked vaguely confused for a moment, scratched the back of his neck and said, "So... does that mean 'yes'?"
Due to the inappropriateness of him promoting murder in front of the students, he opted instead to grab Harry's shoulders in a good, firm grip, and shook him. He didn't stop, not until his glasses fell off, not until his eyes started rolling in the back of his head, not until Professor McGonagall came over and told him to "...just let the boy go, Mister Malfoy."
He stopped when he let go, and Harry just sank onto the ground, closing his eyes and letting out a tortured moan as his hands clutched his head. He watched impassively as Harry tried to open his eyes up at him and failed. He knew what it felt like: the dizziness attacking your senses, the color swimming before your eyes, the pounding in your temples as though someone was trying to drivel a chisel through it. It was one of the lighter disciplinary measures his private tutor used, after all. If Harry couldn't survive this, then he certainly wouldn't survive dating someone like him.
He got his answer when Harry choked out, "I'm still taking that as a 'yes', you know," to which he replied, "Fine. This Saturday, The Three Broomsticks, at eight."
It was that very same Saturday when he got to learn the way Harry tasted: a cocktail of drinks, a startling hint of sweetness and that tang of flavour that would forever be known to mean Harry to him. He also tried for the first time to remember the hundreds of little nuances that defined the messy-haired man, and although they eluded his mind's grasp due to the alcohol, he was fine with that. Because he had plenty of time to relearn them, in future encounters (read:dates).
Truth be told, Harry made it hard for breathing. Though he wouldn't admit that to him, ever.
One thing that they'd prefer not to remember, if only for the other's sake, is when they decided to visit Draco's father.
In retrospect, Harry saw that what had ensued was entirely his fault, and stubbornly refused to be swayed be Draco's numerous dissuasions. Sitting in Harry's sleek white Toyota, the pair reminisced their earlier encounter.
The three men had successfully managed a quiet dinner and some tea in the main study before it happened.
"You stop this charade right now, Draconis," Lucius demanded. "Come back to the Manor and to your real life!"
"No! How many times must I take to tell you, I love what I do! Not being some lord of a piece of land, sitting around and doing business in a chair!" Draco yelled back. Sitting next to Harry on one sofa, he grabbed the bespectacled man's hand and gripped onto it painfully.
"Nonsense! No Malfoy will survive on cooking and educating for a living." Lucius' eyes widened fractionally and one corner of his mouth turned up in a conspirational smirk. "I hope you have not forgotten Miss Parkinson, she dreadfully longs for your... companionship, as well as your upcoming marriage." He addressed that last bit to Harry.
Harry looked back at him dispassionately. "Sir, I already know about your son's marriage, and I have every reason to believe his wod that he will not go through with it." Lucius' eyes were as cold as glaciers now.
Draco tried a last ditch attempt. "Father, this is what I enjoy doing, what I won't mind doing for the rest of my life. And were she still here, Mother would have-"
"Only Malfoys are allowed to address her." Lucius uttered quietly.
"...What?" Draco's face did not show it, but his voice betrayed his confusion. "What are you talking about? I am-"
"As of now, you are no longer my son, and thus no longer a Malfoy. I am disowning you. All your accounts will be frozen, save the one you created yourself, and you will be written out of the will." The voice was monotonous. "All Malfoy assets under your name will be taken away, and you are no longer permitted access to the Malfoy grounds, be it the Manor or any other property."
Lucius took a moment to drink in the expression on his former son's face before calling a servant to show them out.
Harry snapped out of his flashback first to glance at Draco, who still wore an expression of disbelief, misery and despair. He stared ahead unseeingly at the road before them, his left index finger twitching occasionally. Harry knew that as a sign that he was deep in thought, or reliving something down to the last detail.
"Draco." He pulled the car over the paved road to one side, took one hand off the steering wheel and placed it on his lover's. Draco gave the action no response, and Harry grew increasingly scared.
Until Draco turned to Harry, his face blank. By then Harry had become terrified.
"Harry..." Draco murmured. His hands felt so cold under Harry's palm.
"Harry, I'm alone." Draco's expression still didn't change. "I have no family now. What do I do, Harry?" Harry's heart wrenched as Draco's face morphed into one of utter confusion. "I... I can't see Father anymore."
Harry's fear turned into a burning rage, deep in his chest; he wanted so badly to go right back down the path to the Manor and just beat up the bastard. Why couldn't he see how precious Draco was? How unique, how perfect? He was still raging internally and cursing Lucius to Hell when he heard Draco's stunned statement.
"I can't see Mother anymore." When Harry focused back on the blonde's face, he saw the expression of pure astonishment, which flickered into one of pure pain, before settling back into its blank mask.
"Draco," Harry whispered, "I'm so sorry."
Draco turned back to face the road ahead and smiled like nothing was wrong, and Harry's heart stuttered painfully in his chest. "It's fine, you know. I don't think she would've wanted to see me again anyway. At least she only knew her son, the Malfoy heir, before she died." The tears trickled down his face, but Draco still smiled, tight-lipped. Harry could see the way his jaw clenched and unclenched though, and how his barely visible Adam's apple bobbed up and down several times.
"Shh. It's enough, you don't have to hold it in. It's okay, love, it's alright." Harry reached over to the other seat and pulled him into a clumsy embrace, and murmured sweet nothings into his hair as he stroked it with one hand.
Then Draco finally allowed himself to break down, when one of his deep breaths broke into a sob, and he tried to muffle the sounds into Harry's shoulder. He cried and screamed and wailed, at one point pounding his fists into Harry's chest while Harry grunted slightly from the impact, until finally he exhausted himself and fell into a deep slumber. Even when he was asleep, Harry could see the lines of pain and fatigue etched into his features when he lifted Draco's head slightly to look at it. He held Draco for several more moments and settled him back into his seat, the man's head tilting to the side.
Harry turned the car back on and drove back home.
A week later
Harry hefted the last on several boxes into his arms, and slowly waddled down the hall and through his doorway, where he turned around and kicked it shut with one foot. Placing it on the wall at the side with the others, he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm and sighed, strecthing his back luxuriously to work out the kinks.
He made his way to sit down on the couch and was swatted away by a Draco Malfoy Drinking His Tea.
"Oh no you don't," Draco groused, "I just changed these sofa covers, and I'd like them to stay fresh a little longer."
Harry frowned grumpily and pulled the stool Draco was using as a footrest from underneath. Squatting down to sit on the low stool, he watched as surprise flitted across the blonde's face when his feet plopped onto the floor, then annoyance as he brought them up to lie on the coffee table instead.
Harry pulled up the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his forehead, joked, "I'd expect a Malfoy to have more stuff though," and promptly froze. It hadn't even been a month since that... event and here he was opening his mouth and turning it into a joke! Harry waited for the resulting reaction, which could have either been out of anger or despair but would either way be catastrophic.
He waited.
And waited.
Pulling his shirt back down, he looked warily at Draco, who this time looked mildly exasperated.
"Don't you give me that look Potter!" Draco snapped. He then added in a softer voice, "It's been three weeks, and I've definitely had time to think. I'm not alone anymore Harry. I have you, don't I?"
Harry's heart beat furiously in his chest as he worked the words over and over in his head. Should he just do it now? But what if this wasn't an appropriate time? He'd never really been one for reading the mood. Now or never, Harry, now or never.
He chose now.
"I'll be right back," Harry called hurriedly as he jumped up from the stool, the piece clattering to the floor noisily. He dashed into his room and found the particular CD in his music player, which was thankfully on top of the mess on his work desk instead of being buried somewhere underneath it. Kneeling down (Not yet Harry, his mind joked unhelpfully) he yanked his key ring out of his pocket and fumbled with it to find the one to his desk's third drawer, glaring as he did so. When he finally found the right one, he jammed it into the keyhole and turned it hastily, pulling the drawer open before he was even done unlocking it. He spotted the tiny blue box covered in navy blue velvet and pushed it as deep in his back pocket as possible. Cradling the music players in both hands behind his back he slowly walked backed out of the room, into the living room.
Draco turned to look at him, a question forming in his eyes. Harry simply smiled and used one arm pulled him up from his chair, hoping that his nervousness didn't show in the gesture.
"Harry, what-"
"Shh."
Harry brought the music player in front of him and placed his free hand onto one of Draco's. Draco, somehow sensing what Harry wanted to do, extended his index finger and pressed the 'play' button on the gadget. A few seconds passed in silence, then the sound of an acoustic guitar filled the room.
Draco still looked confused and a little anxious when Harry, setting down the music player, used both hands this time to hold Draco's and got down on one knee. Draco's eyes widened and he started breathing a little faster. If Harry didn't know any better, from the look on his face Draco actually was scared.
"I remember what you wore on the first day," Harry began to sing. Draco swayed a little unsteadily on his feet and Harry let go with one hand to hold his leg steady, "You came into my life and I thought hey, you know, this could be something." He smiled and Draco smiled too, laughing through a small sob.
"'Cause everything you do and words you say
You know that it all takes my breath away
And now I'm left with nothing."
Harry's face was completely serious, but the hand rubbing Draco's leg through his jeans was gentle, almost hesitant in its ministrations.
"So maybe it's true
that I can't live without you
and maybe two is better than one
But there's so much time, to figure out the rest of my life
And you've already got me coming undone
And I'm thinking two is better than one."
Before the next verse started, Harry quickly told Draco, "I think this song sums up my feelings quite nicely." He kept a small smile on his face and rubbed his thumb on the hand of a tearful Draco, who was sniffling quietly and covering his mouth with the other hand. Draco stopped a bit and took a shuddering breath, and began.
"I remember every look upon your face." Draco removed the hand over his mouth and stroked Harry's cheek, still crying. "The way you roll your eyes, the way you taste; you make it hard for breathing." His tears finally drying, he continued to sing.
"'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away,
I think of you and everything's okay
I'm finally now believing."
Draco nodded to the raven-haired man and both of them sang.
"And maybe it's true
That I can't live without you
And maybe two is better than one
But there's so much time, to figure out the rest of my life
And you've already got me coming undone.
And I'm thinking two is better than one."
They sang out loud, and they sang all the way to the end, never once taking their eyes off each other. When the music finally ended, Harry had an unsure expression on his features, and slowly pulled the tiny box out of his pocket. Hearing Draco's breath hitch at the sight, he slowly opened the box to reveal a simple gold band with the words Semper Fidelis.
"Draco Malfoy, I promise to stand by your side, even when no one else will. I will wipe your tears away when you are sad, and I will do anything to make you happy. I swear that I will never, ever leave you alone, and I will always do what is within my power to come back to you.
"I didn't date many people before you, mainly because I thought that I would endanger them. I kept blaming myself for the death of my parents for so long, and I have believed for so long that I was better off on my own. But now, I'm thinking that two is better than one."
As the music started to replay itself, Harry inhaled once, and asked. "Draco Malfoy, will you marry me?"
Draco punched his arm once, and Harry gave a small oof but he didn't change his position. The blonde smirked again and his eyes contained unshed tears.
"There you go again, making me cry." He croaked out. "Yes, I will. Of course I will."
Draco wasn't given any warning before he was scooped into Harry's arms and spun around in the air. But he didn't care, and laughed along with him.
I'm very sorry that I couldn't meet the deadline :( But I'm putting it up anyway. So, hope that someone liked this, and please leave a review.