PROMPT:
Hi! I saw you were taking drabble requests and my birthday is this Thursday, so I had a plot bunny. How about it's either draco or Harry's birthday. Maybe they don't know what to get for a gift but when then finally give whatever they get, the other absolutely loves it! Anyways, just a thought. Good luck on your writing :)
That's insane; my birthday is on Thursday too! This can be a present for the both of us aha. I'm sorry if it's not so good, I am really out of practice with writing, and this is my first time writing fanfiction as well =') Happy Birthday to us though! And to Draco – whose birthday is actually only on the 5th June. I worked it out that Draco actually turns 17 on a Thursday as well, so this is perfect haha =')
I uploaded this to tumblr and to Ao3 but it's my first time posting on here! I hope that you enjoy =)
Cursing as he walked through Hogsmeade for the fourth time, Harry found himself at a complete loss and wishing he'd accepted Hermione's offer to accompany him on this last minute, frantic search for a birthday present. He usually found it fairly simple to pick out presents for people; Ron would be happy with anything to do with Quidditch, especially if it was Chudley Cannons related, and a selection of treats from Honeydukes; Hermione was always content with a new volume from Tomes and Scrolls, the larger and more boring, the better; Hagrid loved rock cakes and any books about the newest magical creature he decided to take in; and Dobby would never tire of receiving a new pair of badly knitted socks, a trait he surprisingly shared with Professor Dumbledore. Why did his boyfriend need to be one of the most supercilious and snobbish pure-bloods in the school, and why did he need to be so difficult to buy for.
Harry groaned in dismay. Even though they were no longer bitter rivals, Draco Malfoy was still causing trouble in his life. Only now, instead of fighting and competing with him, he was making snide – albeit insightful and witty – comments about his reluctantly accepting friends. He would drive him insane with the way that he taps his fingers on the back of the book as he's reading, and furrow his brow slightly in concentration which Harry would reach out to smooth away and put the book to the side so he could straddle him, forcing him to dismiss any thought of studying in favour of – and he was such a goddamn nightmare to shop for.
Potions ingredients? Harry thought, shaking off those images of Draco from his mind, knowing that the middle of Hogsmeade would be an inappropriate place to think too much about it; he was here for a reason and he had to focus. He knew how much the blond enjoyed Potions class and that he was beginning to run low on dandelion root and Salamadar blood, but he soon dismissed the idea as too impersonal and thus inappropriate to give a partner of almost nine months.
Back at square one, he wracked his brain for ideas that would be suitable for a coming of age present. A new satchel? He'd only choose the wrong designer and type. A self-inking quill? Not big or expensive enough for a birthday present, though he might buy him one anyway, since the blond was always forgetting his ink and having to borrow someone else's. Books? No, Draco already had a large collection of books, and Harry could just imagine the look on his face when he presented him with a book he'd read three years previously. Better not risk it, he decided.
By now, it was getting late into the evening. The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows across the florally June ground, and Harry was tired. The Sunday feast would soon be served up in the Great Hall and he still hadn't found anything, and despite the fact that Draco's birthday on Thursday was fast approaching, Harry had to admit that his time at Hogsmeade was up. Resigned to frenzied flicking through Dean and Neville's magazines in order to find something to order by owl, Harry turned to start the walk back up to the castle.
It was then that he noticed something that he hadn't seen before; a narrow, natural path led down the side and around the back of some houses, almost unnoticeable due to it hugging a stone wall, bushes and trees having grown up and over it. What had drawn Harry's attention to it was the glinting of the light of the low set sun on a sign, previously concealed behind the overgrown foliage of a tree. He walked over to it and carefully pushed back the leaves to make the sign visible.
"Jacques Jewellers" the swirling font read.
Harry decided he had to at least have a look in the shop, since he'd been everywhere else and with no success. He glanced back at the last of the other students walking up the path to the castle before turning to walk resolutely down the dirt path.
He was only walking for a few moments when he came across a larger sign for the shop beside a blue-painted door, which made him wonder why he had never seen, or even heard of this shop before. For a fleeting moment he considered the possibility of it being similar to the Room of Requirement, only visible when someone is in need. A brief warning also flashed through his mind, that perhaps this was a trap set for him to capture him alone and unaware, before he shook the worries from his head and pushed open the door to walk inside.
The first thing that he noticed was, instead of the dark room he was expecting, the interior of the building was flooded with light so bright that it blinded him for a moment, his eyes being accustomed to the darkening lighting outside. As his vision came into focus, he looked around at the long glass counters with assortments of jewellery inside, each case illuminated by a ray of light shining from the ceiling, which was enchanted to look like clouds allowing sunbeams to shine through.
Closely inspecting the contents of the glass cases, Harry walked further into the shop. There were several arrangements of rings, which, although beautifully crafted, he thought would be too soon to give to Draco. The next case contained an assortment of necklaces and pendants, which were quickly dismissed as too girly even for the effeminate beauty of his pointy git of a boyfriend. With a sigh, he looked into the next case and dismissed the contented for the same reason; it was filled with a display of intricately jewelled bracelets.
So focused on the inside of the glass counters, he didn't notice the man standing behind them until he coughed, starting Harry out of his thoughts. Looking up to the source of the cough, he saw a tall man smiling down at him with a faintly amused expression.
"Mr Potter," he preened. "What a splendid surprise."
Harry smiled a little awkwardly at the man in response, still uncomfortable about people knowing his name without him having to give it to them.
"I am Jacques," he continued, "and this is my shop. Is there anything special you are looking for today?"
He nodded and glanced around again, clearing his throat. "I'm looking for something to give as a 17th birthday present for my – friend."
Jacques smiled at his slight hesitation. "You mean the young Master Malfoy, I assume?" Harry felt the heat rising to his cheeks, realising that pretty much the entire Wizarding world knew about his relationship with Draco after the scandal had been posted in the Daily Prophet a few months previously, highlighting the disapproval of "The Boy Who Lived" and the "Son of a Death Eater" being together. He nodded slowly, hoping that the man wouldn't immediately demand he leave the shop. There had been mixed responses to their relationship from the beginning, even from his friends: Hermione was startled and then thrilled, concluding that their suppressed mutual attraction explained why they had always been at odds with each other, and Ron had been stuck in a state of bitter denial for three weeks, refusing to acknowledge their relationship and leaving the room whenever Draco had joined Harry while he was with him. Eventually Hermione had talked him into hesitant acceptance, and while the two still insulted each other occasionally, they had formed a reluctant truce for his sake.
The jeweller smiled warmly and Harry felt his nerves somewhat settle. "A Wizard's 17th birthday is a huge milestone marking their transition into adulthood," he explained to the slightly uncomfortable boy. "And so the gift has to be something important to the person, which will be treasured as they grow older and not outgrown like, perhaps, items from Zonko's." He offered Harry a sly wink, to which he had to chuckle at. Just imagining Draco's face if he was to give him a Dungbomb for his birthday was enough to make him laugh.
As though he knew what he was thinking, Jacques chuckled in amusement, stroking his chin thoughtfully before walking behind the counter to the displays that Harry had not yet looked into. "Okay, follow me. I have an idea in mind."
Harry followed along the other side of the counter, stopping at the case the taller man had paused behind and leaned to look at it what it held. Inside, wrapped around small black cushions, was a selection of finely manufactured watches. Upon closer inspection he could see that as well as the usual hands that told the time, the watch faces had other much shorter hands in varying amounts, some only one and others up to five. He wondered briefly if it was like the Weasley's clock, which pointed to the destination of each member of the family, but noted that there were no markings other than the numbers to say where they could be. "What are the other hands for?" he asked, curious.
Jacques grinned. "I'm glad you asked, dear boy." He went on to explain what Harry concluded was a similar concept to the Weasley's clock, only instead of pointing to words such as "work", "travelling", and "school", the hand acted as a compass, pointing in the direction which the person the hand corresponded to would be found. It was achieved with a clever combination of a location charm and a tracking spell, which fixated on a person who provided a single drop of blood into the mechanism. Harry beamed; it was perfect.
He chose the most elegant watch from the selection, a white gold band and bezel with a dark obsidian dial, set with white gold Roman numerals and an hour and minute hand. The third and final hand was also white gold, but had a small hole in it, which Jacques had explained was for the placement of a single, small jewel, making it possible to tell apart the hands when there was more than one on the watch. At his affirmation that this was the watch that he wanted, Jacques carefully took it out of the glass case and, with a quiet murmur of spells that Harry didn't quite catch, lay the watch in pieces on the counter.
Pulling out a tray from beneath the counter, the jeweller smiled. "Now you only need to choose the jewel and allow me to take a drop of your blood, but that will be the last thing that we do. Assuming of course it is you that you want the watch to track?" He laughed at his sheepish nod and placed the tray on the table, handing Harry a large magnifying glass. He took it and thanked him, leaning in to inspect the tray of what he could now see was a large variety of differently coloured jewels and stones, arranged by colour. He moved the large glass over them, marvelling at the way the sunbeam-like light sparkled from them.
Harry's eyes widened at the huge variety, wondering how he was ever going to choose. He could choose a green, the closest match to his eyes, and to the Slytherin colours that he could find; no, that would be too cheesy and predictable, and Draco would probably scoff at it. Instead, he contemplated on perhaps a deep red to represent the Gryffindor colours before laughing at the inevitable look of disdain on his boyfriend's face that he would choose such a colour. Actually, thinking about it, he didn't think that it would fit very nicely with the colours he'd chosen for the watch anyway. The obsidian face had a slight purple hue to it, so he briefly thought that maybe a purple stone would suffice, but soon dismissed that idea too, wanting the stone to have some sort of significance to them. He sighed; he had never been good at making things look good, that was definitely more Draco's forte.
As he looked across the range of glittering jewels he had to smile fondly, recalling the night that they had officially told the world that they were together. The school had hosted another Yule Ball after the success of the one during the Triwizard Tournament, and Draco had decided that they were going to come out with flare. He had ordered new designer dress robes for the pair of them that looked surprisingly similar to a muggle suit, perfectly tailored to fit their forms – a feat that Draco later informed him had been achieved with a number and measuring spells after he had fallen asleep – and with matching green pocket handkerchiefs neatly folded into their breast pockets. They had definitely caused a scene; everyone had fallen silent and turned to stare at them in shock as they entered the ball, hand-in-hand and wearing matching colours, defiantly staring down anyone who looked at them disapprovingly.
By the end of the night they had made it clear that they were together, not leaving each other's side for more than a few moments, and even dancing together for a few of the slow songs at Draco's insistence. "You cannot go to dance and not actually dance!" he had stated before dragging him onto the dance floor, much to Harry's chagrin. It was the following day that the article about them had been posted in the Daily Prophet, for which he didn't care for. However, he had secretly kept a cut out of a photo from a Quibbler article and placed it in his photo album. The article had been titled "Love Conquers All?" and had a range of photos candidly taken over the course of the night, of them talking and laughing together and with their friends, of them slow dancing together, Harry apologising between laughing as he had accidently stood on Draco's foot, and of them kissing, Harry's hand gently cupping Draco's cheek, head tilted back to better fit their lips together. It was this last photo that Harry had kept, unable to resist keeping such a tender moment that was captured between them.
Smiling, he moved the magnifying glass over the tray and paused. The jewels magnified now were clear and sparkling to look almost white, the ones beside them graduating into a deep black. One of the small stones had drawn him out of his reverie; it was a transparent light grey colour, but had some darker swirls of colour nearer to the middle of it that made it look stormy in the exact way Draco's eyes did when he spoke about something he was passionate about – or was doing something passionate, for that matter. Harry's breath hitched slightly as he suddenly felt a little too warm. He moved the magnifying glass closer to the tray to get a closer look and to hide his slight embarrassment and nodded, pulling back to point it out to Jacques. "This one, that's the one I want."
With another quiet muttering of a spell and a flick of his wand, the jewel levitated into the air and rotated slowly as Jacques inspected it. "Ahh, yes. This is a diamond, ideally cut." He chuckled at Harry's slightly confused expression. "It doesn't have the clarity that the most popular diamonds do." He pointed out one of the brilliantly sparkling white jewels from the tray as a means of comparison as he went on to explain. "Its slight colouration is due to it being a black diamond, and quite a clear one as well. Some are much darker than this." He pointed again at the tray, this time at the completely black jewels in the gradient of diamonds. "That kind absorb, rather than reflect light, and so do not have the shined finish, but this one has a very brilliant finish, allowing the transparency of it. It is this, in addition to the inclusion makes it quite unique, actually. By that I mean the different colouring inside it that gives it an almost smoky appearance. It really is quite fascinating."
"It's perfect," Harry murmured with a smile. "I was beginning to think that I wouldn't be able to find anything for him, but this, it's – perfect." he finished with an awkward grin.
Jacques chuckled, moving his wand and levitating the jewel towards the watch. From there, he took hold of the magnifying glass and held it close to the watch face, carefully lowering the jewel into place with a sticking charm. Leaning back, he scrutinised his work, looked at it closer again with a nod, and turned back to the boy on the other side of the counter. "Now all I need is your blood, in the least sinister way possible." He gave Harry an exaggerated wink and he had to chuckle in response, pushing back the thoughts of what else his blood had been used for in the past.
"What do I need to do?" he asked; as it turned out, not much at all. Jacques pricked the tip of his finger with his wand, spelled to have an invisible needle on the end which drew up the exact amount of blood needed. Harry watched the man closely as he turned the watch over with the hand free of his wand, carefully allowing the blood to drop into the mechanism. He then began a complicated series of spells which caused components in the watch to move and fit together as he watched, and soon it lay on the counter again as it had been before, only now with the black diamond fixed to the third hand, which was pointing in his direction. Curious, he walked sideways a few steps and grinned as the hand followed him like the needle of a compass pointing north. "That's incredible," he exclaimed, at which Jacques smiled.
"I can also engrave into the back of it, should you want the gift to have a special message." Harry frowned fainting, thinking. It surprisingly only took a moment to come up with something that he thought would fit the compass-like watch perfectly, with its stone picked to match the colour of Draco's eyes always pointed at him. Smiling widely, he told the man what he wanted to be engraved, and watched as he finely did it for him then and there by hand, claiming that it was a much too delicate job to achieve with magic.
The watch was then placed around a crimson cushion – he couldn't resist teasing Draco with the colour at least a little bit – and put in a small black box with a silver ribbon tied around it, finished with a bow. Harry was happy to hand over the sum of galleons in exchange. He had brought a large amount of money with him, not sure what he would end up buying, and although he had almost spent the entirety of what he'd brought with him, he was relieved that he had found something that – he hoped – Draco would like.
He thanked Jacques profusely, even shaking his hand as he did so, before leaving the shop and jogging back to the castle with the box carefully tucked into his inner robe pocket. He would drop it off in the dorm before going to dinner in the Great Hall; he was already very late, so a few more minutes wouldn't make that much of a difference. He could only hope that his friends had thought to save him some food.
It was now Thursday, the day of Draco's birthday, and Harry had been worrying since he'd returned to the castle on Sunday night that his boyfriend would not like the watch. It had seemed perfect to him at the time, but he knew that Draco was accustomed to much finer things than him and that the watch might not meet up to his high standards. He sighed and decided not to think about it too much, as he had a day of classes to get through before he would get to see his boyfriend's reaction.
They had made plans for that evening; instead of going down to the Great Hall for dinner, Harry was going to get a basket from the kitchens filled with some of Draco's favourite food, which they were going to go and eat beside the lake. It was there that Harry was going to give him his birthday present, and despite his nerves, he was looking forward to spending some time alone with the blond Slytherin.
Now he only had to get through the rest of his classes for today.
He had overslept and missed breakfast, so hadn't been able to wish Draco a happy birthday in the Great Hall, so the first time he saw him was in their shared Potions class. Even there, he hadn't had much time to do more than kiss him on the cheek with a "Happy Birthday" before Snape had drawled that they should keep their private lives out of his classroom. While Harry was used to the professors taunting, Draco wasn't, and so had kept his attention focused on the lesson for the rest of Potions.
As the lesson ended, Harry rushed to clear up his things in order to be out of the classroom before Draco, much to the amusement of Hermione. "Slow down, Harry," she had enunciated, smiling at him. "He's not going to disappear." Harry laughed, and gave Ron a parting slap on the shoulder before rushing out just before the blond, almost knocking into him in his haste.
"Seriously, Potter, I would have thought that the "youngest seeker in a century" would have better coordination than that."
Harry grinned at the haughty tone of voice and the mock look of disdain on his face, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "You haven't complained about my coordination yet, Malfoy."
Draco snorted as his cheeks stained the faintest shade of pink. "Shut it, Potter, or I'll rethink being associated with you at all. You're so uncivilised."
With a laugh, Harry grabbed his arm and pulled him around the corner and into a small alcove, partially concealed behind a statue where they would be out of immediate sight. Still beaming, he reached up to stroke the back of his neck, angling his head down for a gentle kiss which quickly grew in passion. After a few moments they broke apart, breathing a little uneven as their foreheads rested against each other's. "Happy birthday, Draco," Harry murmured, stroking the warm and soft skin of his neck, to which he got a gentle peck on the lips for in response. "We still okay for that picnic date tonight?"
Rolling his eyes, Draco nodded. "Of course, on the condition that you come back to the Slytherin dorms tonight, as I do not want to be surrounded by your lion friends on my birthday. I want privacy." Harry chuckled and nodded, conceding. They were more likely to be left alone in the Slytherin dorm than the Gryffindor one, where his roommates were always in and out of the room to pick up something, and he had to agree that the Slytherins definitely had more subtlety than that. "I'm going to be late for Transfiguration if I don't leave, so I'll see you later, Harry." They kissed again briefly before parting with the assurance that they'd meet in the Entrance Hall this evening, and left to their own respective classes.
The rest of the day passed fairly swiftly, and soon Harry was waiting in the Entrance Hall for his former nemesis, picnic basket in hand. Inside it, as well as their food, was the small box that he'd be giving to Draco soon. He received a few knowing glances from students passing him, some of him wishing him luck or asking him to send their regards to his boyfriend, which he nodded and smiled awkwardly at in response, assuring them that he would.
Draco was running late by about ten minutes, and Harry was just becoming agitated and shuffling his feet around when the blond walked into the Entrance Hall, looking as clean-cut and majestic as ever. They met at the door and lightly brushed their lips together.
"I was beginning to think you'd stood me up," Harry admonished, glaring playfully.
Draco rolled his eyes with a disdainful scoff. "A third year Hufflepuff ran into me with an open ink bottle just as I was leaving and completely ruined my favourite cashmere jumper, so I had to go and change. I do hope the house elves here know some excellent stain removal spells, otherwise I'll have to send it home to get it done properly."
Chuckling, Harry kissed his cheek and linked their hands together and started walking out the door and into the grounds. "I'm sure it will be fine. Anyway, you look great." He grinned at him a little dopily, and Draco snorted.
"I looked better in my favourite cashmere jumper," he reproached as they made their way towards the lake.
It was fairly light outside even for a summer evening, and there was still a good few hours of daylight left. As they walked, they talked casually about their lessons that day, and the Potions project that was due the following Monday. They walked a little way around the lake to find the perfect place to stop, and once they found it Draco transfigured a leaf into a picnic blanket for them to sit on; it was large and had a blue and grey floral pattern on it, and Harry complimented him on his spell work, which was received with a smug smirk as the blond seated himself upon it. Smiling, he sat down beside him and opened the basket, laying out their dinner on the blanket between them.
They ate in companionable silence, their arms pressed gently together until fingers gently wandered to stroke each other's thighs and arms. Occasionally Harry would break off a small piece of what he was eating and hold it up to Draco's lips, at which he would smirk before delicately taking it from his fingers with the perfect mix of teeth and tongue, somehow managing to look innocent and suggestive at the same time. Harry rolled his eyes faintly and tried futilely to hide how much that affected him.
It wasn't long until the two boys lay side by side on the blanket, watching the sun set in the rippled reflections of the lake before them, with satisfactory full stomachs. Harry's hand was stroking idle patterns on his boyfriend's chest, while he sifted his fingers through his unruly dark hair, as though in a fruitless attempt to get it under control. After a while, the blond hummed, "Is this the part where you give me my present?"
Harry let out a soft chuckle. "How do you know I've got you one? Maybe I was just going to offer myself up to do with what you pleased for the night." He grinned devilishly, turning his head to watch his reaction.
Snorting demurely, Draco smirked. "While that sounds lovely, I'm going to get that anyway as soon as we get back to my room. What I am more curious about it is the box in the bottom of the basket that you failed to hide from me as you took out the food." He gave Harry a smug, knowing look, knowing that he was right as Harry sheepishly grinned. He thought that he'd done a better job than that, but as always, he saw right through him.
He sighed dramatically as he sat up, murmuring something about not being able to get anything past him as he reached into the basket, taking out the small box. Smiling, he leaned over to kiss Draco, who now sat cross-legged on the blanket beside him, on the lips before handing him the box with a soft, "Happy Birthday, love."
Draco smiled genuinely at that, giving him a soft kiss in return before turning his attention to the black box. He studied it for a moment as though trying to silently assess what was inside before he carefully untied the ribbon, letting it fall into his lap. He glanced up at Harry, who nodded at him quickly, eager to get the surprise over with now that it had started, and opened the box to slowly reveal the watch that Harry had painstakingly found and had personalised. He could feel himself holding his breath as the blond stared at it analytically, hoping that he wouldn't find it distasteful. Watching as he gently took the watch and cushion out of the box, looking at it closely, he nervously rubbed the back of his neck and explained that the third hand would point to him like a Four-Point spell, and that it would fit no matter the size Draco's wrist. Still, Draco said nothing, only staring at the watch in his hands.
He was just starting to think that the whole thing had been a stupid idea, and it was conceited of him to think that Draco would always want to be able to find him, when the blond gave him a dazzling smile and pulled him close by the back of the neck for a rough kiss while the other hand held the watch. After a few long moments they parted, Draco looking faintly embarrassed at his sudden outburst of affection. Harry just grinned in response, pleased.
"You like it, then?"
Draco rolled his eyes and looked down at it again, his voice suddenly soft. "Did you know that it's traditional to give a wizard a watch when he comes of age, on his seventeenth birthday?" Biting his lip, Harry shook his head, realising that if that was the case, then perhaps his gift was just a repeat of one from his friends, or family. He was startled out of his worries as the boy at his side continued speaking, but let out a silent sigh of relief at what he said. "I wasn't given one. Father gave me a really expensive one last year; I'm not sure whether it was inherited as a gift, or whether he bought it, but either way that warranted me not receiving one this year." He paused for a moment and then looked up at Harry with one of his rare smiles. "Thank you, Harry. It's perfect."
They drew in together for another kiss, more intense and full of emotion this time: a prelude to the night ahead. It was then that Harry remembered that there was more and pulled back, smiling in apology as he hummed, almost proudly. "It's also engraved. Look, and try it on." He started to haphazardly put the remains of their picnic into the basket as Draco gently took the watch off the cushion it was surrounding and turned it over, reading the delicately flowing inscription on the back of it. Seeing it, he grinned slowly and slid it onto his wrist, fastening it and feeling the snug fit of it as he looked up to Harry again, who looked faintly flushed.
"Okay," Harry began, running a hand through his hair. "So I thought tonight could go like this. You take this basket back to the kitchens, and I'll wander the castle. If you find me before the hour is up, then you get to… have your way with me tonight. However if you don't, I get to have my way with you." He grinned as realisation came over Draco's face, that with this watch, he would always be able to find him no matter where he was, and the blond smirked slowly.
"You have yourself a deal, Potter."
Harry flashed him a grin and pulled him in for a brief, but passionate kiss. "You have one hour, Malfoy." He leaned in close to, whispering the words engraved into the watch as a challenge. "Catch me if you can."