Draco was sitting in the 8th year common room studying for his exams and trying to ignore everyone. He could, unfortunately, hear chatter around him but for the most part, he was actively ignoring all the noise. At least until he heard something that caught his attention, only a few feet away from him he heard Granger and Weasley talking.
"We need a Slytherin to join in. That's the whole point isn't it, we need all four houses to participate." Weasley said in a not so hushed whisper.
"Yes, but I don't know if any of them would be willing to participate in the Unity Fair. We can't make them that would be anti-productive. We need a volunteer." Draco could hear the stress in her voice. He had told them it was a stupid idea. No one he knew, in Slytherin, would willing participate. While some, like the golden trio and their friends, had been nice to the Slytherins all year, not everyone felt the same. Even with the Chosen One on their side, most were hard pressed to befriend a Slytherin.
"I know who we should ask. He might be reluctant, but I think if Harry asks him might do it." No, Draco thought. He would not join in. He wasn't going to put himself out there to be humiliated by those who wouldn't give them the time of day. Even if it was his new friend, Harry doing the asking.
"Maybe, I guess it won't hurt to ask." Draco didn't hear anymore as they walked away. Draco returned to his work. He had too many exams coming up to worry about what Weasley and Granger were up to. He knew he just had to say no to Harry when he came to ask. He was just about finished with his potions essay when someone sat at his table. He looked up and saw Harry sitting there smiling at him.
"No," Draco said before Harry could say a word. He looked back down to his potions paper and tried to finish writing.
"What, I haven't even said anything." He looked at a smiling Harry before he looked back down.
"I aware of your intended inquiry, and the answer is no. Not today, not ever, emphatically no." He refused to look up. He didn't want Harry to continue to harass him.
"Oh, okay, yeah," Harry said as he got up quickly and left the common room. He moved quickly through the halls and ran into the first empty room he could find. Once he closed the door, he fell to the floor in a lump. His breath was laboured as he tried to control his emotions. His eyes stung with unshed tears.
He didn't know how he could have read it so wrong. They had gotten closer over the last year. They had flirted with each other, at least that's what his friends had told him. Harry had been sure that Draco had felt the same, even just a little. He had clearly been very apparent about his intentions. So obvious, Draco knew what he wanted before he had even asked. Merlin, how disgusted he must be with him. Harry felt so stupid.
He had felt the pain of loss over the years. So many people he had lost permanently, but this was a pain like no other he had experienced. His heart was broken beyond recognition. He had just started to feel normal. He was starting to be happy and looking forward to the future. A future that he had seen with Draco, but it was all ripped away in one small sentence, Not today, not ever, emphatically no. The words ran through his mind over and over. How could he have been so wrong? How could he move on?
He didn't let himself wallow in self-pity for too long. He gave himself a few moments to grieve the loss of something he never had, then picked himself up and went on with the day. He tried to make it look as if nothing was wrong.
He focused on his exams. He studied in the library. When he had free time went flying so he could unwind. He tried not to be obvious about it, but he was avoiding Draco or anyone that resembled him. He would make sure he was never alone with him. Harry knew that he couldn't keep it up forever, but he needed time to heal.
Harry had been able to stay away from Draco until the last week of school, without being too obvious. He had been able to use the excuse of studying for NEWTs. But now that NEWTs were over, he knew it would be hard to avoid Draco. They had only one week left before they were done with school for good and he needed to just get through this and he would be okay.
Harry was helping in the set up for Hermione's Unity Fair. He was still trying avoiding Draco, but Hermione was making it difficult for him. She kept throwing them together. He was getting some prizes for Ron's booth when Draco walked into the tent.
"Hey," Draco said smiling at Harry.
"Hi," He responded in a short-clipped tone.
"Why are you avoiding me?" Draco was exasperated.
"I'm not." Harry avoided looking at Draco
"Utter tosh!" Draco yelled causing Harry to look at him for a moment.
"Look I have to get these to Hermione, she needs them for Ron's booth, so if you need something ask Hermione." He was counting small stuffed animals into marked boxes.
"She sent me to help you. Now tell me why you're being such an arse."
"Fine, you can either help me or leave but I'm not in the mood to talk to you right now."
"What the fuck crawled up your pants? Why are you such a prick to me? I haven't done anything to you."
"Fuck you, Malfoy. Could you just leave me alone and let me do this? I just want to get through the next two days and I'll be gone, and I won't have to keep seeing…" Harry stopped before he said too much. He didn't want to give Draco more ammunition to hurt him.
"Are you in a snit over Ginevra's recent affection for your former roommate?"
"What?" Harry turned to Draco in shock and surprise.
"Well, your urgency to depart the school must be because she is flaunting her reestablished relationship in front of you."
"You're really something, aren't you? Let's deflect your malicious behaviour on to someone else, yeah. Ginny and Dean have been dating for two years. So, their relationship isn't so recent."
"When have I been malicious to you? Not since before the war, so what the hell. I've been attempting to be a trustworthy friend, what an advantageousness endeavour on my part." Draco grew angrier as he spoke.
"Really so the whole 'Not today, not ever, emphatically no.' wasn't just a ruthless way to break a guy's heart, right." Harry pushed past Draco to leave the room, but Draco grabbed his arm. "Let go, Malfoy."
"No. What the fuck does me not want to participate in this stupid fair have anything to do with breaking someone's heart?"
"Who's talking about the fair. I put myself out there and went to ask you out on a date and you flat out turned me down. You were mean and dismissive, so, sorry if I would rather not be around you right now." He pulled his arm out of Draco's grip and walked away. Draco just stood there looking at the empty doorway. Had Harry really wanted to ask him out? Harry was heartbroken because he thought Draco had turned him down? How had he missed it?
He had thought they were just friends. Never would he have thought that Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the saviour of the wizarding world, the boy who lived twice, would fancy him. He had heard rumours that he might be gay or bisexual, but it had never been confirmed to him. He had not wanted to ask, for it may have given him false hope. But it wasn't false hope, not when Harry was mad at him for a perceived snub. Well not perceived, I did say no, but it was for a different reason.
Draco stood there contemplating his next move. What could he do? He knew that Harry felt humiliated by the refusal of a date, regardless if it was intentional or not. He knew that if he wanted to maintain the friendship he would have to do something to fix it. But did he want to be just friends? Did he want to forgo any romantic relationship to keep the fledgeling friendship? Or did he want to risk it all and try to win him over?
Draco wasn't sure how long he was sitting in that empty room, but when he went looking for Harry he noticed that the fair was well on its way. He looked around but didn't see him. He was becoming desperate to talk to him. He looked to see if he could see some of Harry's friends but couldn't see anyone. What he did see was an empty stage with a podium. He walked over and took a deep breath before climbing on it. He put an amplifying charm on his voice and started talking.
"Hello, thank you for coming here today." He was looking around hoping to catch Harry. He didn't see Harry, but he saw Hermione approaching. "Why don't we all give a big thank you to the person responsible for this, Miss Hermione Granger" He clapped along with everyone. "Today's activities are to celebrate unity. We are meant to look around and realize we are all people. We are all the same. The only differences between us are our life experience and our choices. I have made some bad choices in my life." Draco's eyes scanned the room. Everyone was standing looking at him. Weasley was holding Granger while they looked at him, he was surprised there was no anger or annoyance in their gaze. He still didn't see Harry, but he thought he saw a mop of black messy hair at the back of the group that had gathered.
"My bad choices, I'm sorry affected everyone, and I'm sorry. I've spent the last year being mad that, well that you were mad at me. There was only a handful of you that looked past my mistakes and saw me. Those who, despite all the bad I'd done, was kind and friendly, because that is who they are. One person, in particular, was a faithful friend." Draco saw him now. Harry was standing at the back of the crowd looking at him. "Despite our bad history, he stood by me and befriended me. I was reluctant, but he cut through the bullshit and saw me. He became my best friend. We talked about everything. All the good things and especially all the bad. He was one of the only ones that truly knew how bad it got. We were able to help each other through some tough time. But as always, I found a way to mess it up. I hurt him. Not intentionally but it still happened." Draco was looking at Harry. Harry was walking closer to the stage, his eyes locked on Draco.
"I've known that my feeling for him was not platonic. I knew I had romantic feeling for him, but I was scared. I didn't want to make him uncomfortable. I didn't know he could ever feel like that for me. I didn't want to lose his friendship, but in being scared to move forward and tell him how I feel, I may have lost him altogether." Harry was now walking on to the stage and stood in front of Draco.
"Tell me." Draco looked around, but Harry stopped him. "Tell me how you feel." Harry looked into Draco's eyes looking for the truth hidden in them.
"I… I think, no I know that I'm falling in love with you. I wa…" he didn't get to finish. Harry's lips were pressed on his, one had on Draco's face the other snaking around his waist. Draco wrapped his arms around Draco. When they pulled apart there was a mixture of noises. Some were boos but for the most part, there was clapping and cheering. Draco smiled as Harry pulled him out of the Fair. They found a quiet room to kiss and talk. They talked about everything from how they were feeling, to what they wanted, to what they would do once they left school. They made plans for their future. Plans that changed as they talked but there was on constant in all the of it. They had each other. Both knew that was all they needed to make them happy. Even with the ups and downs, they knew they would have they knew that if they talked that they would get through it.