The announcement that Hogwarts would be closing came during breakfast.
Since Voldemort's return following the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the violence caused by the Death Eaters began escalating rapidly, so the early termination of the semester came as no surprise to anyone. The surprise was that the school would not be shut down over the course of the week, or even the day; it would be shut down by lunch. Everyone, most staff included, had until 12:00pm to be standing on the express.
Harry tried several times to break away and find Draco, but in the confusion it was nearly impossible. Even if he could've found him, he doubted he could get him alone. Everyone was in a frenzy to pack, make arrangements, say their goodbyes and figure out how exactly they had gotten to the point where a war was at their doorstep.
Waiting for the train was a fairly empty scene as the vast majority of parents came to the school to claim their children directly. The cautious to paranoid feared that the students would be attacked en route, or that Hogwarts would be sacked. The Weasly's tried to take Harry with them, but he lied that he had 'important Order business' with Dumbledore, and he would meet them at the Burrow.
In the distance he spied Draco getting on the observation car alone. He entered unseen and did a quick scan for other passengers. Satisfied, he broke into Draco's compartment.
Draco had been sitting with his head in his hands feeling sorry for himself when Harry barged in to his personal space. He roused himself immediately, but not quick enough to prevent Harry from straddling his lap and laying sloppy kisses on his exposed neck.
"Mmm," Harry sighed, lacing his hands through Draco's robes.
Draco's first reaction was to slap him off, but in this moment of great dejection and intoxication, he only raised his hands far enough to rest them on the small of Harry's back.
Harry hadn't considered that Draco wanted to be alone. From the way Draco acted the past year, Harry hadn't even considered that he may not want to become a Death Eater. Draco knew, of course, that he was to blame for this. He had kept Harry at arm's length for the entirety of their 'relationship', and Harry patiently humored him. It wasn't that the feelings weren't there for Draco... they were. The issue was a glaring lack of communication.
One issue they often ran into was that Harry didn't seem to understand the concept of the word 'secret'. Draco explained the scenario a thousand times...
"You will be going with the Order and I will be going with the Death Eaters. If they find out there is anything between us, it will be the first thing they exploit when everything goes to hell."
Harry would look up at him blankly for a moment before shaking his head and putting his tongue back in Draco's mouth.
He also didn't understand 'secret' as in keeping your thoughts and feelings to yourself, and not telling anyone...ever.
One day, to Draco's utter horror, Harry told Sirius Black about their arrangement...and then informed Draco that he told him. To balance some universal scale that no one else even seemed to acknowledge, Draco immediately told his own Godfather. In two sentences. Right after class.
"I'm sleeping with Potter. Don't judge me."
Snape rolled his eyes and, in his most irritated drawl, asked that he please go away. Now that was a proper conversation about feelings.
Presently, Draco remained as still as any sane man could manage while Harry licked his way up the sensitive skin leading to his jaw. He took a moment to visualize Quarrel posing in his favorite pair of pineapple-congo swimming trunks; the mental equivalent of pouring ice water on his dick.
"Gods, Harry, you're like a slobbering puppy," he sneered with zero venom. "Get off me."
"Cut the crap," Harry shot back, undeterred. "I've been looking for you all day and I've reached my threshold for sexual and emotional deprivation, so don't act like you're not happy to see me."
Draco was always happy to see him.
For dignity's sake, he grabbed Harry's sides and pushed forward with just enough force to fulfill his intention of throwing Harry off him. But, being as things rarely turn out the way Draco expects them to, it should've been no surprise that Harry took him with him and they landed in a painful heap on the metal floor of the coach. With the stamina and resilience indicative of teenage boys, Harry recovered in seconds and flipped Draco on his back, effectively pinning him.
"What the fuck," Draco moaned.
"Kiss me," Harry demanded.
Draco did just what he was afraid he would do...exactly what Harry told him. He leaned up slowly towards his lips, and enjoyed a long, wet kiss. Before he knew it, he was sweating and pulling his shirt open while Harry was kicking off his shoes and leaving bite marks along his collar bone.
Draco's body had officially defected and was running on auto-pilot; not that he was doing very much work at all. His pants, miraculously, were around his ankles and his cock was somewhere in the depths of Harry's throat. By the time he was able to blink the blackness out of his eyes Harry was completely naked and moving up his torso. Completely naked except for the green and grey wool socks which kept him from getting any thrusting leverage on the metal floor of the car. Draco never bought him anything practical.
Harry got up on his knees and slowly pulled Draco's hips against his. He considered himself somewhat of an expert when it came to fucking Draco Malfoy; he certainly did it often enough. But Harry knew it wasn't the repetition that has honed his skills. He was sure it was vanilla taste of Draco's skin. The whiskey smell on his breath and the astonishingly sharp edges of his nails. Below him Draco arched his back and moaned like a whore. Neural synapses in Harry's brain collapsed from sensory overload.
His dark hair was damp with sweat and everything seemed to be moving unrealistically fast. He braced himself with one hand on the floor and the other gripping Draco's thigh...the stress of moving slowly tensed every muscle in his body. He lived and died by the breathy noises Draco made, so he maintained the same painstakingly measured pace until the soft groans and incomprehensible murmurs turned into growls and audible threats. It was his favorite sound...and as they both rose to climax, the threats turned back into moans, the demands faded into pleading and Harry's feet stayed perfectly warm, even if his knees did get a little banged up.
Harry collapsed on his back next to Draco and smiled. Draco covered his eyes with his wrist and enjoyed the blank, thoughtless haze of post-coital bliss. Harry knew this would be a great time to talk about their feelings.
"Come with me," he blurted out, rolling on his side and resting on his forearm. "It's not too late. We could elope to Amsterdam and live in a shitty flat next to the wizarding red-light district, walk around the city eating food out of greasy wrappers, critique artwork and get off in inappropriate places."
They both looked up as if peering into the future that Harry had just described.
"That would be morosely romantic..." Draco trailed off, eyes fixed on the ceiling where his mind projected the possibilities of this alternate universe. He shook off the scene, and Harry.
"...No. I won't abandon my family."
He detached himself, pulled his pants back on and started buttoning his shirt. Harry pushed himself up and leaned stark naked against the window of the car.
"Why do you do this?" He asked sincerely as he watched his friend's spiderlike fingers crawl up his shirt to secure the final button.
"Continue to support my parents even though they are bat-shit crazy? It's really only because I haven't been orphaned yet. If it makes you feel better, I likely will be."
"It doesn't. I mean why do you avoid being close to me?"
Draco lowered his lashes.
"To protect you...to protect this," he said motioning between them. "Harry, A..."
At that very inopportune moment the train shuttered violently and came to a screeching halt, throwing them both against the adjacent bench. A booming male voice radiated throughout the cars announcing the following;
"This is the conductor speaking. We have received word that a large scale attack is in progress at Platform 9 1/2. At the conclusion of this announcement, there will be a three minute window for passengers to exit the train and seek other means of transportation home. Ministry officials and Hogwarts staff are waiting outside for you, and will provide any aid possible. The train will resume its course due to the likely scenario that this attack was meant to coincide with its arrival. Hopefully we will keep the attention of the Death Eaters at the platform." The speakers voice softened. "I wish you luck in this dark hour and a safe journey. Your time starts now."
Draco and Harry spent a moment staring at each other in shock. For completely different reasons.
"What are you doing?" Draco hissed wildly. "Get off the train!"
"Did you...know about this?!"
To Draco, it sounded as much like an accusation as it did a question. He jumped off the seat and threw Harry's look of surprise and horror back at him tenfold.
"WHAT!" Finding himself seconds away from the counter-productive act of wrapping his hands around Harry's throat, Draco took a deep breath and tried to focus on what had just become his ultimate goal; get Harry off the train. He began frantically picking up Harry's scattered clothes and throwing them at him.
"I may not always be honest with you, Harry," Draco said with infinite patience. "But I would never purposefully endanger your life."
"Technically," Harry mused, attempting to pull on his clothes as Draco threw them. "By working in a three minute window to escape, you would, in fact, be saving my life."
Draco shook his head in disbelief as he knelt down in front of Harry to tie his shoes.
"So I didn't just know about it, I orchestrated the whole thing."
Harry looked down at him expectantly, fumbling through the buttons on his shirt.
"You caught me," Draco confessed with smug sarcasm, moving to the other shoe. "Somehow, between fucking you senseless, the occasional class and drinking myself into a black hole where this day didn't exist, I rose in the ranks to become a Death Eater General. You are going to make an amazing Auror one day."
"Could we maybe turn this into a sex role-playing thing later? I would love to hear that exact same speech with my dick in your mouth."
Draco shook his head.
"That would probably actually be a lot of fun," he admitted tiredly.
He ushered Harry out of the car and down the corridor until they found an open slider leading off the train. Draco guessed that they had less than a minute. Harry started to walk through, but when Draco did not follow him he stopped right in the doorway and turned around. Draco pulled him in and kissed him very gently.
"I'll see you when this is over," he said with as much confidence as he could muster. He waited for Harry to turn and go.
"Wait...you're not getting off the train with me?"
Draco stared at him blankly.
"No..."
The temperature dipped twenty degrees and a pin dropped a mile away.
"You're making a mistake," Harry warned.
"Harry," Draco seethed dangerously. "Get off the goddamn train."
"No. You can't go through with this. Voldemort is evil."
"It's never been about good and evil, Harry! More than likely my father is there right now, part of this attack. I am going to join him."
Harry's eyes showed no sign of understanding as he continued to stand rooted firmly on the train. The Death Eaters would kill him the second those doors opened at the platform. Draco's brain switched over into panic mode. Half a minute...maybe. He couldn't physically force him off, they were too equally matched. His wand was back in the car, Harry was clearly past the point of being reasoned with and there was no time to discuss the finer points of living another day and...
He noticed someone over Harry's shoulder.
Draco felt a weight leave his chest as he saw his salvation walking swiftly and soundlessly up behind Harry. He just needed to keep Harry's attention for this one second. Draco knew it would be a great time to talk about his feelings.
"Before, when the train stopped...I was going to tell you..." he sighed, placing his hand on Harry's neck. "Amsterdam is a shithole. Also, I'm in love with you."
Professor Snape was poised like a viper right at Harry's back, and he struck with the same severity. He locked his neck into a stranglehold and pulled him off the train so fast that Draco's hand still lingered in the air.
"He has to go, Harry. Don't make this any harder than it has to be," Snape hissed into his ear. He retrieved Harry's wand and tightened his grip as the fifteen year-old struggled to get away, and breath.
No one else had exited the train even remotely close to the last car, so no one had the vantage point which would have allowed them to see Draco standing motionless inside. No one would even know he had been there. And who would question Professor Snape strangling Harry Potter in broad daylight? No one.
Three minutes had come to an end. The door slid shut, so Draco walked up to the glass knowing that he and Harry were permanently separated by it. He felt obligated to punish himself for what he had just done.
The immense effort Snape was expending to keep Harry away from his Godson was now unnecessary, so he released him. Harry rushed the sliding door, grappling with it as if he could push himself through by sheer force of will.
"No, no, no, no, no.." he muttered franticly, eyes searching for the trains nonexistent weakness. After a moment he stilled somewhat and made eye contact with Draco.
"It doesn't have to be this way," he said sadly, the sound barely audible through the door.
The gears began to turn and the train creaked forward. Harry walked with it for a few seconds until it picked up speed. The scenery flew by.
Draco stepped backwards until he felt the wall and sank against it. He wondered if Godric had said those same words to Salazar when he walked away from Hogwarts, never to be seen or heard from again. After a short while, he pulled out a small flask from his pocket and took a swig.
"I can make it out of this," he said. The train rumbled, and slowly came to a stop.