Monday
"Rule number one, under NO circumstances will any of you act in a manner unbecoming of a Hogwarts student. This trip is a privilege and you should treat it like one. Rule number two, do not forget to apply a sun protection charm…"
Harry couldn't help but tune out McGonagall's voice. Years of experience had taught him how to act engaged even if his mind was elsewhere. And they sure were elsewhere; it was a tropical paradise after all! As a treat to the eighth years, the faculty of Hogwarts had organized a week-long vacation to celebrate the group's help during the war as well as lending a hand in reconstructing Hogwarts. The large group of teens, led by McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey (a Mediwizard had been hired to watch over the infirmary back at the castle), were promptly transported by a special portkey to the unplottable island where they would be staying. The only thing known about the location was that it was close to the equator, which wasn't evident from the pleasant warmness of the air. The students were confused as to why it wasn't hotter there. Hermione answered everyone's question with the simple explanation that the island's patrons controlled the air temperature.
Magic is bloody fantastic, Harry thought with a growing smile. He looked around at his fellow Eighth years. It seemed everyone decided to take the trip. Of course Hermione, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Parvati, and all the rest who came back from other houses—but what was surprising to Harry was a group standing a bit apart from the crowd. It was Greengrass, Parkinson, Zabini, and… Malfoy.
Harry shifted his weight between his feet in agitation when he thought about Malfoy. He had so many conflicting feelings about the other boy that he didn't know where to start. On the one hand, he and Malfoy had a rivalry that lasted for six years. On the other hand, Malfoy was the main contributor to the Hogwarts Battle Relief Effort—and he hadn't said one word to Harry throughout all of eighth Year. Truthfully, Harry was a bit peeved to be ignored so thoroughly, but he couldn't help but still find himself curious about Malfoy. What was the other boy thinking of this moment? Does he think about Harry as much as Harry thinks of him? Of course, Malfoy didn't answer. The blonde-haired boy was too busy looking out over the slowly setting sun in the distance. He was wearing a silver button up shirt with a pair of dark blue shorts. On top of his head rested a pair of no doubt very expensive sunglasses. Overall he looked very...put together in Harry's eyes.
As if sensing his gaze, Malfoy's grey eyes abruptly met Harry's green ones. Harry flushed at Malfoy's narrowed and searching look. Seeming to find what he was looking for, he smirked and turned his attention back to the ocean. Feeling embarrassment flush his body down to his toes, Harry decided to turn his attention back to McGonagall's speech in an attempt to ignore his supposed arch-nemesis.
"From the thorough description I just gave, any one of you should be easily able to identify the mind-altering plant if you come across from it and then place yourself far away from it. I will only repeat this once, the local population calls it a," she paused and gave a small smirk that Harry had never seen on her face, "kick to the balls," if you translate it to English."
Her face cooled and she gave a stern look to any student that snickered at the statement, as if she hadn't just shown any outward expression of amusement. Harry gulped. I guess I should have been paying attention, he thought. McGonagall resumed her speech, folding her arms primly in front of her summer robes, which were made out of a very breathable green material.
"I will now read out the room assignments. Trading rooms are strictly prohibited. You all fought a war together, so you should be able to handle a few nights with anyone here. Room one, Hermione Granger and Susan Bones…"
Harry tuned McGonagall out once more, only perking up when his name was mentioned.
"Room Five, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Room Six…"
Harry boggled at the stern witch as she unheedingly went down the rest of the list. Harry turned and met Malfoy's cool gaze that was already trained on him. Slowly, the grey-eyed boy smiled in the creepiest way imaginable, in Harry's opinion. Dear Merlin, what was he in for this week? Malfoy beckoned him over with a tilt of the head but before Harry could even think about going to the other boy, Hermione smacked him on the arm. Hard.
Harry yelped in pain before turning to Hermione and rubbed his arm. "What was that for?" Harry asked indignantly.
"Pay. Attention." Hermione forced out in a harsh whisper through gritted teeth. Sullenly, Harry turned his attention to McGonagall once again. Now she was going on about the proper swimwear attire for witches and wizards. Harry privately wondered if McGonagall had ever seen a muggle bikini and snickered at the thought. Hermione smacked his arm again without even glancing at him.
"Ow!" Harry responded with a forceful whisper. Her hand had hit the same spot as before and he rubbed it gingerly. Still not glancing at her friend, she gave a little smirk. Harry sometimes wished he had nicer friends.
A wave of exhaustion swept over Harry's amusement and looking around, Harry could see a lot of people started to yawn. McGonagall had warned them all about this before they touched the whisk that was their long-distance portkey. Intercontinental portkeys required some magic from the users to make the trip over in one piece. Smart planning from the headmistress made extra time to account for the portkey lag that mimicked jet lag, and so the eight years arrived later in the evening. Their real vacation started the next day, on Tuesday—after a long night of sleep to allow their bodies to recuperate. Harry joined many of the others in a wide yawn, one so large for Harry that tears sprung in his eyes. Sensing she was losing the attention of the crowd of students, McGonagall cleared her throat loudly before continuing on.
"We will now make our way over to dinner, and then it's off to bed with all of you. Pomfrey's orders."
Pomfrey nodded her head along with McGonagall's speech and then stepped forward once she was done. Seeing the tiredness in all their expressions, she stated, "If any of you feel like you are on the verge of collapsing, please come see me in the main building where the Headmistress and I are staying. You all will be in separate cabins along the water."
At this declaration, McGonagall pointed down to the water where there was a line of small cabins floating on top of the water. It was a spectacular view, with the sun closing in on the glittering water and the cabins floating, Harry felt like he was in a fairy tale. Unbiddenly, an image came to mind of Draco as his prince charming and himself wearing...a pink princess dress.
Shaking away the terrifying image with a shudder, Harry followed after Hermione and Ron as they made their way down to the beach to have dinner. When they finally made it onto the beach, Harry took off his sandals to feel the soft grains of sand under his feet. He absolutely loved the beach. The Dursleys were forced to take him with them a few times when he was a kid when Ms. Figg was too busy to babysit in the summer. He could play on the other side of the beach and the Dursley's wouldn't care, and then he could play without worrying about Dudley. The sun, the waves, the sand between his toes—Harry loved it all. A bright smile was brought to Harry's face at all the fun he was going to have on this trip.
Dinner was delicious, Harry's favorite dish being the whole roasted pig, complete with an apple in its mouth. Hermione was already planning out the week's full itinerary in a binder she had brought. Before she could even get into her plans, she had to spend ten minutes explaining what a binder was to Ron. Harry warned Hermione during dinner that he wasn't going on every excursion she had planned. He wanted to relax, to go with the flow—to use a muggle expression.
Finally, it was time to go to sleep. Harry slowly made his way to the fifth cabin in the lineup, forgetting who he was going to be sharing a cabin with. Malfoy was already waiting in the room and had seemed to claim the bed on the right, judging by his things neatly placed beside it. The room was fairly spartan, with an open floor plan that made it seem larger than what it was. Behind the beds was a perfect window view of where the sun had recently set below the horizon, showing the sparkling water. The sun's final rays were reflected off of it, making it look like stained glass. Quickly remembering that Malfoy was in the room, Harry brought his eyes back to the other teen sitting on the bed. Malfoy stared right back but didn't utter a word.
Deciding to be the one to break the ice first, Harry opened his mouth, "Malfoy—"
"Draco."
Harry stopped in the middle of his next word, bewildered.
"I'm sorry, what?"
Malfoy—or was it Draco now? He started to fidget the bottom of his shirt, in a very un-Malfoy like manner. Maybe he's...nervous? Is that even possible? Harry thought with astonishment.
"Call me Draco," Malfo—Draco said in a small voice. Harry swallowed. Was he in some kind of alternate dimension?
"Alright, Draco," the name felt foreign on Harry's tongue, "only if you call me Harry."
Draco quirked up his mouth into a smile at the ending statement. Then it dropped as suddenly as it came and Draco glanced down at his lap once again. Harry waited patiently, sensing that Draco had something important to say. Finally, Draco met his gaze again.
"I don't know if you knew this, but I'm the one that paid for this trip. You might be asking yourself why in Merlin's beard would I ever pay for other people's vacations."
That's exactly what Harry had been asking himself, but he was also wondering where this was leading.
"I paid for this trip for you, Harry. You definitely are too obtuse to realize it, but I admire you. A lot," Draco's ears pinked at the declaration, "and I planned on never telling you. I ignored you most of this year because of my little crush."
Harry choked a bit when the word 'crush' came out of Draco's mouth.
"That was my plan, at least," Draco continued, "until Mother butted in. She told me I was an idiot for not even having the courage to confess. I knew she was right, even though I won't admit it to her. I know you might still hate me, but I wanted the chance to show you who else I really am, and not just a childhood rival. What do you say, Harry? Will you give me a chance?"
Before Harry could choke out a sound, Draco waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about answering me now, sleep on it. I'll give you a day. I paid for a week on purpose, so we can really give this a chance if you say yes."
If Harry was speechless before, now he couldn't even think of any words to say. Never in a million years did he think Draco was ignoring him because he was into him. How crazy was that? Harry still couldn't wrap his head around it. But in his gut, a small fluttering of hope came forward. He shook his head violently before clearing his throat.
"I think sleeping on it would be best."
After that parting statement, Harry turned around and made his way over to his designated bed. Shucking off his shirt, Harry immediately surrendered himself to the throes of deep sleep.
The only sounds were the occasional clinking of glasses and sips of amber liquid. It was after midnight, and both Minerva and Poppy were enjoying a nightcap before bed. The day had been a bit strenuous on the both of them and they were almost ready to head off to sleep themselves.
"I have to ask," Poppy mused, breaking the silence, "why in the world would you put Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy together?"
Minerva was silent for a moment, quietly sipping her glass of scotch. Finally, she spoke up, "As you know, Mr. Malfoy is the sole reason this trip is even possible. And I'm very thankful for that—so when he asked for Harry to be assigned as his roommate, I couldn't deny him that simple request."
At first, Poppy didn't seem to realize what Minerva had said, choosing to take another sip of scotch. She soon regained her senses and spit out the liquid in her mouth abruptly. A quick spell cleaned up the spill, but Poppy was still rattled.
She took a large gulp of her drink, eyes wide with muted intrigue. "Harry and Draco. Draco and Harry. I don't know if I see it."
Minerva only chuckled, "Trust me, dear, you'll come around."
A/N:
Hey everyone! New chaptered story coming your way. I want to thank Gammily for being my lovely beta. I have lots of activities planned for my two boys! I might change the rating in the future depending on where the story goes. Review if you enjoy!