The Gift Giver

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat and took one last look in the mirror, his hair as always stood up in an unruly manner and was currently at an unmanageable length curling around the tops of his ears and the collar of his school shirt, there was nothing that he could do about it, he made a valiant attempt to flatten it but gave up. Today was the day, he was going to bite the bullet, swallow his pride and just do it, his plan was already in motion, there was no going back now.

'You alright mate?' Ron asked from across the room.

Harry grinned at his reflection in the mirror, 'Yep,'

'Listen mate are you sure about this, I mean are you sure you have not been cursed or something, I mean I'm sure Hermione will check one last time.'

Harry turned to faced his red-haired best friend, 'Ron it's been six years coming, a war couldn't change my mind, in fact it just made me see things clearly.'

'I know mate but what if it doesn't work out?'

Harry shrugged, 'Then it doesn't, I have to try, I have to know don't I? Then I know whether I have to walk away or not.'

'I still think you're mad mate.'

'I know, I'm sure you've mentioned that once or twice,' Harry smiled as he threw an arm round Ron's shoulders, 'Now come on let's get the day started.'

...

Draco Malfoy was sat at the Slytherin table, the end housing the older students was sparse, very few had returned to complete their education after the war, his one remaining close friend sat steadfastly at his side as usual. Blaise Zabini had never left his side throughout everything, the only friend he had that had not turned his back when Draco turned his back on his family at the final battle. Draco had broken when he had seen Harry Potter lying, assumed dead in Hagrid's arms, the pleas of his parents to cross the courtyard and join them had fallen on deaf ears, his eyes never left the unmoving form of Harry, his parents had not seemed important. He had stood shoulder to shoulder with Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley and wept for the fallen hero. His Mother's screams had echoed through his mind but his gaze had not faltered. The memory of Harry jumping from Hagrid's arms was the one he fell asleep to every single night since the war, he had been so happy, he had run without thought straight for Harry, screaming out to him, throwing his wand, The Boy Who Lived had lived again.

Things between them had been different since, no fighting in the corridors, no snarls or hexes. Courteous nods were exchanged and sometimes even a small smile. It was nice, it had become familiar he had looked for Harry every day, the sight of him relaxed any building tension, the familiar face keeping him grounded. Draco had often thought he had seen Harry staring at him, but he could never catch those green eyes in the act. He wondered if he was imagining it why would Harry be staring at him?

Draco sighed, today was his birthday, the first of many that would be without gifts and companionship, the first without his parents, they had not looked back that day at Hogwarts and he had not heard from them since. He had no friends save Blaise, Blaise had already given him a small token gift in their common room so Draco did not even look up from his breakfast when the post arrived that morning.

...

'Harry will you stop fidgeting' Hermione admonished him with a stern look.

'But what if it doesn't come, what if he ignores it or throws it away?' Harry whined from across the table where he was sat in his usual spot staring at the platinum haired Slytherin, across the hall. As he looked the post arrived, Harry began to worry his bottom lip, there was so many ways that this could go wrong, he watched and waited.

...

Draco jumped as the small package was dropped unceremoniously in front of him, he stared at it unblinking for a moment or two before poking at it with the fork he was holding. There was a piece of parchment wrapped around the parcel, slowly and carefully he peeled away the parchment and read the words that simply said,

Happy Birthday Draco Malfoy.

Hope you like it x

Draco read the note and stared at it incredulously, who had sent him something? Was it a trick? Draco drew his wand and cast a few detection spells, but the package came up clean, he looked at Blaise who simply shrugged in silent reply. Draco turned back and opened the box. His breath caught in his throat, there, lying on white silk was a beautiful single white rose, but no ordinary rose, each petal shimmered pearlescent in the light, and sparkled as though adorned with diamonds, Draco felt the magic emitting from it and knew that this rose would never die, slowly he took the rose between his thumb and index finger and lifted it gently from the box, it shimmered and changed colours as he moved it in the light of the Great Hall, Draco thought it was exquisite, he had never seen anything like it. As he was about to place the rose back in its box he noticed a folded piece of parchment at the bottom of the box, unfolding it he read,

I saw this and thought of you, it is a rare Dragon Rose and only grows in the most desolate of places, a rare and delicate beauty that grows and flowers from great adversity. I wanted to let you have this for your birthday as I could not think of anything more fitting for the man that you are today. Whenever you doubt yourself look at the rose and remember that at least one other person sees the true you.

Please go to the place where flowers grow to collect your next gift.

Yours

X

Draco fought back the tears that had gathered in his eyes and re-read the note, someone had gone to a lot of effort for him someone who obviously knew him well, who was his mystery gift giver, he figured there was only one way to find out he carefully placed the rose back in the box and stored it carefully in his bag, leaving the Great Hall he made his way to the greenhouses.

...

Harry had not taken a breath as he watched Draco receive his gift, his heart had been in his throat when Draco read his letter and skipped a beat when Draco left the hall, was he going to the greenhouses? Harry left his seat and followed behind taking his invisibility cloak from beneath his robes as he did so.

...

Draco stopped in front of the first greenhouse feeling slightly stupid, there were several large greenhouses and he had no idea where to start, he crossed his arms across his chest and pouted, causing the Gryfinddor hidden nearby to stifle a chuckle. Draco was intelligent Harry knew he would get it, so he waited. He watched as the Slytherin tapped his foot seemingly impatient with himself, suddenly his head snapped up and there was a triumphant gleam in his eye and he stalked of in the direction of the second greenhouse.

Draco found the white roses and after a second or two found the box hidden amongst them, again wrapped in a parchment wishing him a happy birthday. The box, to his amusement contained his all time favourite sweets , Fizzing Whizzbees, this made Draco smile, was it a coincidence his gift giver knew his favourite sweets, for some reason he did not think so. He looked and as expected found a folded piece of parchment:

Before this goes any further you need to know something about me. I'm male, a man. If this changes things then walk away now and I will say no more but please take your present I would never deny you your favourites. Enjoy the sweet things for your not so secret sweet tooth. I got you these to show you that as much as you try and hide it I know that there is at least a small part of you that is sweet. I can only imagine there is much more of you that is sweet and I would like to discover that if you let me.

If you want to continue this my next gift awaits you under a tree where you once became a little furry.

Yours

X

Draco felt relief wash over him, a male, a man, he could handle that, it had crossed his mind about what he would do if faced with a girl at the end of this treasure trail, he could not do letting someone down easy and this person had obviously put a lot of effort in to this for him, but a man, that held promise. However he was un-amused that his furry little problem from fourth year had been mentioned. Draco pocketed the sweets and parchments and stalked off to the tree that held nothing but bad memories for him,

...

The Gryfinddor followed behind with a huge smile on his face , it was ok that he was a man, that was good to know.

...

Draco found the parcel with ease this time, barely hidden amongst the grass at the bottom of the tree, he removed the parchment that wished him happy birthday and opened the box eagerly. Draco's eyes grew wide as they fell upon the contents of the box, unbelieving of what he was seeing. The box contained a very expensive drawing set filled with pencils and charcoals and wax crayons of all different colours and shades, Draco tenderly drew his finger across them looking at them in awe. The set was beautiful, he had never owned anything like this before he was already picturing the things that he could draw, the shading and lines he could achieve. How did the gift giver know? He located and unfolded the parchment:

I am pleased to know that I have a chance with you. This gift is to show that I notice your interests and admire them, I would like to see your drawings one day if you will let me. You are probably wondering how I know something like this about you, I notice you. I noticed the groove in your finger from the drawing and the charcoal marks left on your hands and sometimes even your face. I have noticed you in class when you are sure no one is paying attention drawing distractedly almost unconsciously with such a passion in your eyes. I have bought you this because I want you to know that I have noticed the passion inside you.

Your next gift is by the lake, where, if you are ready you will find out who I am,

Yours

X

Draco was amazed, there was no way he could not meet this person now after all this, he needed to know who knew him so well, he knew who he wanted it to be and smiled softly at the thought but shook it off, he knew there was no way it could be the person he longed for, the gods had no reason to be that kind, so, slowly he turned his thoughts to who it might be as he began his journey to the lake. His gift giver was obviously his year or perhaps a seventh year to be able to see him in class like that, his mind raced through the names of all the boys he could think of but he had no idea who would pay him this much attention, he needed to know, if he didn't like it at least he could thank them, he would, of course, not be returning the gifts. He thought back to the request to see his drawing and thought of the sketch book that he carried in his bag, always on his person and wondered if he would ever share it with anyone, perhaps not this particular one, but he had others.

...

Harry followed Draco over to the lake, his palms were growing sweaty, he was about to reveal himself and he was getting nervous about it, could he do this? Well he couldn't back out now, he couldn't do that to Draco, with renewed determination he strode forward to the final part of the gift.

...

Draco approached the lake and spotted the blanket laid out at the side of it, in the centre was a small black jewellery box, he knelt on the blanket and picked up the box after a while he opened it and gasped at what it contained. The box held a dazzling pendant on a silver chain, a silver dragon curled protectively around an emerald , the emerald shone brightly in the morning sun,making the beautiful green shine brightly in his eyes. Draco thought it was beautiful and wanted to put it on right away but the folded parchment beneath it caught his eye:

Please, no matter what your reaction is to what you are about to learn finish the letter, that is all I ask. I chose the chain and pendant to symbolise protection, there are protection charms on it that will cover you wherever you go. I want to protect you, from everything that is wrong in this world, I think I always have. Are you ready for the revelation? I learnt a long time afterwards that it should have been you, that day in the lake, back in fourth year do you remember? The person that I would miss the most, it should have been you, Dumbledore decided that it would not have been wise to reveal that at that particular moment so the second person was used, looking back I agree, we were too young to deal with that, but I want to deal with that now, I am more than ready to deal with anything and everything that comes my way now.

Anyway my clue should have given me away by now, I know this is crazy but so what if we are a little crazy, we deserve it. You now have your chance, to walk away and not look back I will not blame you, or bring this up ever again ,I will not follow, but, if you are willing to give this a chance then all you need to do is turn around.

Yours, always

Harry

X

Draco's hands trembled as he read the letter, his eyes were wide and his mouth suddenly dry, Harry Potter, Harry Potter was the gift giver, he, Draco Malfoy was the thing he would miss the most. It should have been him at the bottom of the lake for the second trial? He shuddered to think how his younger self would have reacted to that. Draco did not know what to do, he could only just think clearly. After a few moments he took a deep breath and hoping this was not some sort of sick joke he slowly turned around.

...

Harry stared at the kneeling form in front of him, he spotted the moment that it clicked with the Slytherin. The blonde's back straightened and tensed and the hands holding the parchment trembled. Harry removed the cloak and held his breath and just as he was about to give up Draco turned his head.

'Draco,' he breathed

'Potter'

'Call me Harry, please'

'You, you did all this ?' Draco looked up questioningly, too startled to get up from his knees. Harry slowly lowered himself so he was knelt facing the Slytherin, he gently nodded his head watching the silver eyes intently,

'Why?'

'For you.' Harry answered simply with a slight shrug.

'You did all that for me, the details, the things you noticed...' Draco's voice trailed off as his breath caught.

'Draco, I have thought of nothing but you since the day I met you,, at first I was confused and then after time I recognised it for what is was. When I was away, for seventh year, all that time, is was the thought of you that made me wake and start each new day, I fought to come back to you, when you denied knowledge of me that day at the Manor I knew I wasn't wrong about you, that I had never been wrong.'

Tears glistened in Draco's eyes as he listened, 'Harry..' he started softly but Harry held up a hand.

'I really did die that night, that night you all thought me dead but one of the things that brought me back, that made the decision easy was the thought of seeing you again, '

Draco's eyes widened at this confession.

'Then hearing you, hearing you cry my name, supporting me, throwing me a wand, I knew then I loved you, I wanted to be with you, needed to be with you, if you will have me of course?' Harry looked up in to the silver eyes questioningly.

'Loved me?' Draco asked. 'You love me? You want me? Me Draco Malfoy?'

Harry nodded, 'If you will have me?' he said as he reached across to take Draco's hand in his.

'Is this a joke?' Draco asked warily.

'No joke I'm afraid.' Harry smiled sheepishly. 'So?'

'So what?'

'Will you have me? Will you let me be yours?'

'Mine?'

'Yours' Harry smiled.

Draco nodded once as a smile spread across his face, he got up on to his knees, closing the distance between them, Harry's eyes shuttered closed as their lips met. Lips parted and tongues danced, each hungry to taste the other. Harry rose on to his own knees and wrapped his arms around Draco's waist. Draco's hands found themselves wrapped in Harry's hair as he pressed further in to the kiss. Searching for want, years of want and need building up between them, but there was something Draco needed to do.

Suddenly Draco pulled away and looked in to the confused green eyes in front of him, 'Would you like to see my sketch pad?' he asked quickly

Harry blinked confusedly wondering why on earth Draco had stopped that to show him his drawings at that very moment, 'Erm, yeah ok.'

Draco looked a little taken aback at Harry's response so he quickly added, 'I would be honoured.'

Carefully Draco removed the sketch pad that was his most closely guarded secret and handed it to Harry almost shyly as a pink tinge crossed his cheeks.

Harry wordlessly took the book and began to flip through the pages, his eyes grew wide as he realised what he was seeing, what Draco was allowing him to see. Every single page was filled with drawings of him, of Harry, some of him laughing, some clearly thinking lost on his own world, some studying and others of him talking with friends. The drawings spanned back from first year. Wide eyed he looked at Draco, the blonde smiled and simply said ' Mine?'

A huge grin spread across Harry's face as he nodded and replied; 'Yours.'

...

The two men left the pensive memory and wrapped themselves in each other's arms. This was their all time favourite memory and it had been viewed many times over fast becoming tradition to watch it on the anniversary of it happening. With a smile Harry turned to the beautiful blonde at his side he now called husband and whispered;

'Happy 34th Birthday Draco Malfoy.'