Thinking about Happy Ever Afters...

As he woke up, Harry looked up to the ceiling. It took him a minute or so to remember where he was. The room was bright, the curtains were gently swaying and he heard birds outside. And a smile appeared on his face. He felt the heavy weight of an arm on his chest. With his head a bit propped up, and lying on his back, he had a look at it. Not very hairy, soft skin, strong, muscular. He resisted the temptation to stroke it. Didn't want to wake up the owner of it just yet.

The morning – or was it afternoon already? – came after another beautiful night, one he'd always dreamt of and seemed impossible at some point not so long ago.. He and his lover. And nobody to bug them.

He looked down again. On one end of the arm that lay heavy on his body was a hand. Nice hand. Strong. Gentle. Lovely fingers, very capable and naughty. Harry sniggered at the thought of what it had been up to, with it's mirror image friend, last night. All kinds of mischief. He blushed.

Took a quick look at the other end of the arm now, and felt a jolt. A beautiful face was next to him – the face of the young man whom he loved with all his heart. Draco.

Gorgeous, sexy, funny, sweet, wonderful boy. He was still there. Hadn't scampered off to get out of a bad dream. No, none of that. They belonged together, if they knew nothing else, than they'd know that. Soppy as it may have seemed a few months back. Idiotic a few years. Impossible a mere few days even. Although the bickering had stopped a while back now – it seemed like years since Harry would feel fear or resentment at the look of Draco, at how he'd do anything in his might to make him feel bad. That had stopped, turned into intrigue, then lust and now love. How the hell did that happen!

The blond hair of his lover lay in a floppy way around his face. His eyes were closed, hiding grey/blue eyes. Eyes that were deep as the love that he felt for him. Ugh.. Yuck, did he really think that? Jesus, Harry, he thought to himself, you are turning soppy… But then, that's what love does to you…

Love.
It came so easy to him. To love someone. To feel the need to help others, save lives if he had to. He had first felt this particuar kind of love for Cedric, years ago, he'd have given his life for him. Would've, if that bloody monster hadn't had other plans with him. Cedric was his first. He'd find himself dreaming about him, during the year he got to know him; them two together, hand in hand. Kissing in the woods, himself leaning against a tree, Cedric ail over him… And then he had to watch him die. It had taken him years to get over it. He didn't think it would have been possible to ever feel anything for anybody in that way again.

But then Draco Malfoy started to behave like a civilized human being, doing 'friendly' and 'modest', two things nobody ever knew he could do. Probably because he never did them before, and then only at first in Harry's presence. Later, when the two of them became An Item (Hermione's words), did he start to feel that Friendly and Modest were things he could dare to display to an unsuspecting world. So far, he hadn't looked back.

The arm moved. It's owner snuggled up closer. Harry moved his fingers through the hair of the young man next to him. He carefully steered them out of his face, so that he could see the mouth he desperately wanted to kiss.

His mind drifted back to when his life took yet another turn, when he started to realize that he'd become interested in the blond haired boy, the one who previously only seemed to hate him. Lately he'd stopped his vile remarks. Sometimes Harry would find him sitting in the library, mind miles away, hand supporting a head that looked like it was filled with troubles and tears, and some of them would find a way out, judging by the manner with which he'd run a finger along his eyes. Harry had seen him do this a few times and the last time Draco had noticed him watching, staring at him, giving a sweet, supportive smile. He'd looked away quickly, as if he was embarrassed. Harry let it lie, but found himself thinking more and more about the two of them together, in the way Cedric had always been the other one.

And then he found Draco sitting on a log, staring out over the lake. Harry had decided to go for a walk, alone. The others had been busy with school stuff and wanted to get it finished, and he didn't mind being alone for a bit. He'd walked along the craggy slopes of the side of the mountain along the lake, Hogwarts behind him, Hagrid busy with his own things, having not noticed him, when he saw the very blond hair of Draco, shining in the sun. He seemed introspective, and Harry almost decided to walk past him, leave him be, but just as he approached, the other looked sideways, and a smile appeared on his face. A gentle, warm, friendly, inviting kind of smile. Harry smiled back. Unsure of what the hell was happening there.

"Hi there," said the other. A soft, almost tender voice. "Nice out here, isn't it?"

"Erm, yeah," Harry uttered, "Good thinking views, in my books."

Draco smiled again, and gestured to come and join him on the log.

"You okay?" Harry sat down a few feet from Draco, still wary of his intentions.

"Hm… Think so… Don't know really. So much stuff happening that's making my head hurt. Life isn't simple anymore, you know what I mean? It all used to be easy. You were Evil, Ron Weasley an idiot, I was brilliant and perfect. My dad was unfallable and Hogwarts was safe. My future was decided ages ago and nothing seemed to be too difficult. But now I can't make sense of so much…"

Draco looked out over the water again, knees drawn up under his head, arms around them.

Vulnerable. Not a word Harry would have associated before with the boy next to him , but that was exactly what he was. Vulnerable.

Then Draco looked sideways, intensely at Harry. He knew what he was talking about. The things that happened at the castle, left a big void, lots of question marks and insecurity. Mr. Malfoy turned out to be anything but infallible and very dangerous, his son had suffered lots under his regime, both here at Hogwarts, as well as back at home, for years as it turned out…

Harry looked back. A link between them kept them locked like that, as if they were weighing each other up. Harry knew what he hoped to find out. Even if the other wan't ready to accept it, yet or ever, he knew that there was a link between them now. He had no idea how it would play itself out, but something inside him felt that all would be fine. He moved a bit closer to Draco and put an arm around him. Draco didn't hit him. He laid his head on Harry's shoulder. As if to say that he would trust the other. Whatever was going to happen.

They must have sat there for a long time, dusk was setting in and both felt hungry.

"Harry?" Draco's voice was unsettled, "can this stay between us for a bit? I'm not sure if I'm ready yet for big revelations. Had enough of them for a while."

Harry smiled, got up from the log and took Draco's hand, pulled him up, and so they stood, face to face, bodies touching. Harry smiled and nodded.

"Makes sense," he whispered.

"So does this, " said Draco, as he slowly moved forward and pressed his lips on Harry's. The same tenderness that had filled his voice earier, was in the way he let his mouth touch Harry's, let it gently rest, then, as he felt no Resistance from the other, he let some of his carefulness go and their warm lips carried on the passionate kiss, wet and full of yet to be discovered feelings. His arms found the other, and they stood there, in a loving embrace, only to stop for a second or so, however long it took for Draco to say what he'd been dying to say for months.

"Thank you for showing me what love is, Harry."

Groaning woke him out of his dreaming. Draco's hand was moving over his chest, on to his face, into his hair, holding him in a throttling kind of turned to face his capturer, who pretended to still be asleep.

"Draco Malfoy, stop pretending you're still asleep."

Draco giggled, suddenly moving to pin Harry to the bed, holding his hands above his head, framing his black hair.

"This better? Fussy old thing you can be, Harry Potter… Anyway. I don't want to move – we're perfect where we are…"

Harry couldn't fault him on that. He had successfully managed to send unwanted visitors and his tenant away, they had the whole flat to themselves.

"Shall we stay here for ever?" Harry joked, but not totally. The last couple of days had been perfect. Perfect has never really been something Harry associated with his life. Things always went a bit funny after a while. He was used to it. Expected something to go wrong again anytime soon. Unlike Draco, who expected perfection and brilliance wherever he went. Not difficult, having had his life… Although, going by what he told him, living with the Dursleys sounded almost like heaven, compared to having his dad as a dad…

He stared back into the eyes that were just above him.

"You and me? Together for ever?" Draco smiled, Harry was't sure whether it was a cynical smile or a genuine version. Draco fell back on the bed, their hands still clenched. Another smile, he closed his eyes and sighed. Harry started to worry now. Was this a good sign? Jesus, say something….

A voice whispered, "I'd love to.."