Letters of Exchange
AN: Revised 7/6/11
As soon as the young couple made it back to their flat, Harry rushed to the bathroom to read the letter Draco had slipped him.
Ron knocked on the door.
"Hey Harry! Are you okay? You rushed into the bathroom awfully fast." He asked.
"I'm fine!" Harry answered, "I've just been holding it in since we started looking for that dress."
"Oh. Okay." Replied Ron.
As soon as he heard Ron's footsteps fade away, Harry slowly unfolded the letter.
Everything about the note made Harry's heart ache. The letter was straight to the point, exactly like Draco. The handwriting, neat and tidy, reminded Harry of the times when they used to pass notes in class. Even the way piece of parchment smelled made Harry think of Draco's cologne, the same brand Harry had bought for him on their first year anniversary. But despite all of the positive Draconian qualities the letter exuded, it still managed to rub him the wrong way.
Harry,
I miss you. Let's have lunch sometime.
-Draco
Harry had to read it several times before the words sunk in.
"Is that it?", Harry thought," Is that all he has to say to me, after 3 FUCKING YEARS. No, 'I'm sorry?' No,'You were right for leaving me, you deserved so much better.' How am I supposed to respond to that? Should I even respond to that?"
Frustrated nor livid even covered what Harry was feeling at that time.
He was pissed, and he was determined to send a letter reflecting just that.
Harry flushed the toilet, to keep up the ruse for Ron, and angrily set off to find ink and parchment for his return letter. Even though he wanted nothing to do with Draco the temptation to respond and give him a piece of his mind was huge. He was going to tell Draco exactly what was what.
Harry began to write:
Draco,
Who do you think you are? Do you really think you can waltz back into my life after 3 years and pretend that nothing has happened? I have a boyfriend now, but even if I don't why would you think I would date you again after what you did—
Harry scratched out the sentence and tore off a new piece of parchment. He didn't have the time nor the energy to spend on sending Draco a howler of all the ways the blonde had wronged him.
Draco,
What makes you think that I would ever consider having lunch with you let alone be in your presence. Show me you've changed and maybe I'll reconsider.
-Harry
P.S. An apology would be a good start.
"There.", Harry thought,"I'm not the same Harry he wooed in school... He's made sure of that.",Satisfied with his reply he went to his owl, Tonks, and tied the letter to her foot. As Harry watched Tonks fly away, he worried about mentioning Draco's letter to Ron, but in the end he figured that bringing Ron into the equation would be unnecessary seeing as how Draco probably wouldn't respond to his letter anyway. At least that's what Harry hoped.
Eventually, Harry decided that he had been in the "bathroom" long enough and went to look for Ron, who was probably scouring the kitchen for food. However as it turned out, Ron was in the living room with Hermione who had made a surprise visit to check on the progress of their present shopping. When Harry entered they were both laughing at the ridiculous amount of ruffles on the sleeves.
"Ha, Ha laugh all you want. I think Rose will love it." Harry said with a mock pout.
"I know Rose will love it. She loves anything coming from her Uncle Harry." Hermione responded stifling giggles, " Well, I've got to go now before Viktor starts worrying…he always agonizes whenever I'm out for too long. Remember that the party is at two tomorrow so don't be late." Hermione waved goodbye and turned to leave out the front door, apparating home.
After she left, Ron put the dress back into the bag and turned to Harry. "You were in the bathroom for a while. Is anything wrong?" He asked.
"No everything's fine. You worry too much. So, what are you wearing tomorrow? Herms is gonna kill you if you don't dress "presentably" for Rose's fourth birthday party" Harry said.
"Oh yeah…I guess I haven't thought about it yet…" Ron said sheepishly.
The next day Ron and Harry, dressed appropriately, went to Rose's party. It was a mess of screaming toddlers and wrapping paper, but it was all worth it when Rose opened her present from her uncles and squealed with glee, clearly delighted with the obnoxious amount of ruffles on the dress. Finally it was over and Ron and Harry decided to treat themselves to ice cream at Florean Fortescue in Diagon Alley.
It was there that,to his great dismay, Harry saw Draco again. As Harry and Ron were finishing up their ice creams, Draco stepped into the shop. Harry saw him at once, the sunlight hitting his dark tailor-made suit and platinum blonde hair in such a way that Harry had to remind himself that jumping people in public was not acceptable behavior especially for people in his position. Quickly Harry turned away from the gorgeous Slytherin ordering ice cream and suggested to Ron that they leave.
Ron, confused about Harry's haste, asked Harry, "What's wrong, you haven't even finished your ice cream yet."
Harry replied, "Nothing, I'm just not feeling well and I'm ready to go."
Harry had almost efficiently ushered Ron out of the shop when Ron noticed Draco leaning against the shop counter, seductively licking his ice cream cone. At least to Harry it was seductive.
Ron was so shocked, he stopped and tensed up immediately. Draco took advantage of Ron's lapse in movement to saunter over to the pair.
"Hey Harry, Weasley. How are you doing?" He said cheerfully with a smirk.
"We were doing fine until you came here." Ron said defensively while reaching for Harry's hand, "Actually, we were just leaving so if you don't mind..."
Draco chuckled while ever so slightly blocking the exit, "Harsh Weasley, I'm just getting some ice cream. I thought seeing you guys and not saying hello would be rude."
Before Ron could retort back Harry interrupted him, "Really Draco, we're kind of in a hurry can we do this another time?"
Draco drew his attention away from Ron and looked straight into Harry's eyes, "I'm sorry. For everything. I'm sorry for challenging you to that duel in first year. I'm sorry for insulting your mother in fifth year. I'm sorry for taking your virginity in sixth year without properly preparing you first. I'm sorry for not living up to all of my promises and your expectations. I'm sorry for not giving you the respect that you deserved. I'm sorry for being the cause of all your pain. And I'm extremely sorry for saying sorry all those years ago and never meaning it. Please forgive me." All Harry could do was stare at Draco so he continued, "So, there it is. Your apology, even though I owe you so much more. Now can we have lunch?"
Harry still couldn't speak, so Ron spoke for him, "Whaddya mean 'Now can we have lunch'? What makes you think Harry would ever want to speak to you again? I'm not only Harry's best friend, but his boyfriend and I'll be damned if you try to slither your way back into Harry's life. Come on Harry, it's time to go!"
And with that Ron dragged a still speechless Harry out of Fortescue's and back to their flat.
Ron was enraged, storming all around the flat, screaming about slimy ferrets and sinful lunch dates. But eventually he calmed down enough to sit down with Harry who was at the dining room table staring off into space. Ron realizing this, asked Harry,"Hey, Harry. Are you okay? You don't have to worry, Draco won't be able to get at you while I'm around. I will always keep you safe. I promise."
Harry just shook his head dumbly, he was having trouble suppressing the emotions and thoughts tumbling through his head. He was so concentrated on convincing himself that he wasn't still in love with Draco that he completely missed the entrance and exit of his bird, Tonks, who had dropped a note for him on the table.
Harry grew as tense as Ron had been earlier when he saw his name written in Draco's distinctive scrawl. "Ughhh not another letter.", Harry cursed under his breath. But this didn't escape Ron's notice.
Ron leaned across the table and looked Harry right in the eye with a stern look. "What do you mean 'Another letter'?" Ron asked curtly.
"Well…" Harry's throat caught. He didn't know what to say.
A/N: Yea, so i changed this chapter a lot. I'm not really sure why, it just flowed better this way. Draco's become sexier than before and Harry's become more lovestruck than the way I had previously written them. Ron's also a lot more possessive and manly. It should be fun to see how much the next chapter is gonna change because of that. XD
