Then he bumped into Draco Malfoy, trying to buy an ice cream in the recently reopened Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. 'Trying' being the operative word. All of the patrons kept shoving in front of Malfoy and talking as loud as they could so that even when he tried to shout at them he went unheard. Harry watched his old rival in what began in amusement and ended in pure irritation for the other boy's sake. Then he stepped forward so that the people queuing saw him and it was like Moses and the red sea - only Malfoy didn't move.

'Potter,' Malfoy snarled.

'Malfoy,' Potter nodded amiably enough. 'Ice cream?'

Whether he was desperate for ice cream or he was simply reaping the benefits of being seen with Harry Potter was unclear, but either way Malfoy accepted and the two young men placed their orders and sat down together outside.

'How are things for you?' Harry asked, nibbling at his fingernails.

Draco curled a lip and told him only, 'that's a disgusting habit.'

'That bad, huh?' Harry asked, as if Draco had instead told him that he was on the brink of suicide. 'Same here. Although different extremes, I suppose. You get shunned and I'm the hero. It's like being superman without all the spandex.'

'Who the hell is superman and why the hell are you being nice to me, Potter?' was Draco's response.

Harry chewed his nail for a bit again. 'Um. Not sure. Hero complex?'

'Huh,' Draco replied.

And that was that.

It was only later that evening that both realised that that was the first civil conversation they had ever shared. Draco hadn't even accused Harry of being a stupid Gryffindor. They both individually decided that it was a strange, unnatural occurrence, but that it actually hadn't been so bad. They still didn't want to do it again, though.

The following morning Harry felt a disturbance in the Force - his spidey senses were tingling. After un-hurriedly finishing his bagel and doing a few more words from that mornings crossword he walked out of 12, Grimmauld Place and into the Leaky Cauldron to find that the scene that had happened in the Ice Cream Parlour was happening again in there. Once again Harry made his presence known (this time by accidentally tripping over his shoelaces) and nodded Malfoy's name in return for a snarl.

Like before both young men placed their orders and sat down in as secluded a table as possible. Again Harry asked how things were, this time without chewing his nails.

'My life's fucked up,' Malfoy said.

This time Harry didn't say 'same here' or something to the like, he just sat very still with a thoughtful frown in place until he finally asked, 'what does the magical community think about homosexuals?'

'What?'

'Oh really? That bad? Hmm.' There was another thoughtful silence and Malfoy proceeded to ignore him.

'Malfoy?

'What?'

'I, um, have an idea.'

'Crap. That can't be good.'

Harry let that comment slide. 'You're too bad and I'm too good to ever achieve any sort of peace of life, right?'

'Yeah,' Malfoy said, wondering where this line of inquiry was going.

'Well if we were seen together, as in together together do you think that the papers would go into over drive and then forget all about us?'

'No,' Malfoy replied and then carried on sipping at his coffee, until Harry's words finally caught up with him and he sprayed the other boy with the contents of his mouth, 'What?!' he screeched. 'As in you and me… fuck Potter! Are you asking me out? Because I sure as hell hope so.' He meant to say 'not'. Sure as hell hope not.

But it was too late and Harry's face, that had been cheerfully thoughtful morphed into pure shock. 'Um. What?'

'I didn't say anything,' Malfoy immediately denied.

'I - I meant as a cover not - not as in actually… you fancy me?'

'Um… no?'

'Oh. Oh fuck,' Harry said, immediately translating Draco's 'no' into a 'yes'.

Draco closed his eyes very tightly, counted to ten, and then opened them in the vague hopes that it might all have been a bad dream. Unfortunately it did not appear to be so. Then Draco decided to do something entirely Gryffindor. He didn't fancy Harry, per se, but the brunette was not that bad looking and he was the saviour of the wizarding world and probably also stinking rich. Not that money had ever been a problem for the Malfoys, but the point was the boy was quite a catch.

So Draco grabbed a handful of Potter's shirt and dragged him forward over the table and kissed him thoroughly.

A couple of minutes later they both leant back feeling rather smug and covered in baked beans.

'You made my life hell, Potter. You at least owe me dinner,' Draco said, cleaning up his breakfast with a swish of his wand.

Harry, for his part, laughed. Then he stood up and walked around the table. He stole a quick kiss from Draco before the blonde had time to protest and then disappeared through the crowd, leaving the words hanging in the air; 'I'll pick you up from your house at eight… dress formally.'

Written: 2nd August 2008
Chances of continuation: nil

Feel free to use this piece of writing for whatever the hell you want, so long as you credit me (either this account or my main one - Calistabelle) and let me know what you do with it.

Much love,
Cal