A/N: Thank you to FanofBellaandEdward for checking this chapter through for me and helping to keep me motivated!
Chapter Six:
Switzerland and Skiing
For once it was a dry morning when Draco walked into Harry's private room and settled down in the plush chair beside his bed. He had a plastic folder tucked under his arm as he leaned forward and tentatively stroked his lover's smooth skin with his palm. His skin was barely warm and he frowned before slipping his wand out of its holster. Running his wand the length of the bed he detected none of the warming charms or monitors he'd placed around Harry to inform him of any changes in his health or general condition.
All charms had been removed.
He felt his blood start to boil but he forced himself to remain calm as he re-cast the charms around the bed with careful precision. Harry had often commented that he would have been either an amazing professor or a great auror with the amount of self-control he had learned since the war. He didn't agree. He felt that his patience was tested on a daily basis enough with having to deal with the Healers, the aurors and Hermione and the rest of the Weasley clan. And that was without it being 'his job'.
He settled back down in his chair and reached out to slip his fingers into Harry's limp hand. "Hey there, love," he murmured quietly. "How're you feeling?" Of course Harry didn't reply, but that didn't deter the blonde. "Seeker really misses you, you know? He really wants you to come home," he squeezed his eyes tightly and drew in a long, watery breath as he grasped Harry's hand tighter. "I want to too, as well. I need you there with me. I can't handle Hermione all on my own."
He sighed and sat up a little straighter, shifting his chair even closer to the head of the bed.
"I brought some more of the story for you," he cleared his throat and drew out the pages from the folder in his lap, "Okay so we left off at the part of our first plane ride, right? Heading for Switzerland?"
The beeping of the monitoring charms were the only thing that filled the silence other than the thumps his own, heavy heart.
"Right so, chapter four ..."
~0~
By the time that touched down in Switzerland Harry was sure that his knuckles were cracked where Draco had squeezed it so hard.
When the plane finally pulled to a stop and a trumpet sounded off over the intercom system, Harry was relieved to pry his hand away and stand up to take their hand-luggage down from the overhead storage. Draco looked as white as a sheet as he fumbled with his belt and finally unbuckled it. His fingers felt like rubber and his legs were like jelly as he stood up in the small, cramped space and shifted out.
"You okay?" Harry asked him as both of their rucksacks were rested down in Harry's seat.
The blonde nodded stiffly, his clammy looking features making Harry wish they were already at their chalet, washed, dressed and eating food. "I'll be fine. I just want to get off this bloody machine!" he hissed under his breath.
"Alright, stay close to me alright?"
Draco grumbled a response but did as he was told, hoisting his rucksack onto his back and sighing heavily as he shuffled along behind Harry down the aisle between the seats.
As soon as his feet had landed firmly on the tarmac, Draco allowed himself to be struck by the beauty of the mountains in the far distance, the sweet smelling breeze that ruffled his hair and the sudden grubbiness that clung to his skin. The urge to hurry into the closest shower and scrub the horrible plane journey from his skin, was overwhelming. Catching sight of Harry's black tuft of hair, he hurried along to catch up, weaving in and out the throng of people towards the exit.
The sunlight warmed him up a little as the sweat dried on his skin.
They made their way through the airport and out past a few couple of shiny gift shops before coming out to the 'baggage-claim' section of the airport. It took almost forty minutes for their two trunks to come out. Once they'd gotten the trunks off the conveyor belt, something that mystified the blonde, they moved their way out towards the front entrance, where lines of cars with 'TAXI' signs nearby. Following Harry along the pavement, they managed to hail an empty taxi and, with the drivers help, hoisted their cases into the boot.
Harry gave the directions to the chalet they were apparently going to be staying at, near a skiing resort.
The drive was long and yet, Draco found himself enjoying it. The roads, whilst narrow, were fairly smooth. Despite the steep incline as they drove up the long winding roads in the mountains, he edged over a little to peer out of the windows. The air was so much clearer than what he was used to. Even the clouds somehow looked fluffier. The mountains and the colour of the glassy surface of the lakes took his breath away.
He suddenly felt so restless as they were stuck in the back of the taxi for well over two hours. He was desperate to get out and stretch his legs. "Are we nearly there?" he whispered, leaning over so that Harry could hear him.
Harry hummed softly before glancing at a chunky thing on his wrist. "Um we should be nearly there I think."
Draco slumped back in his seat and sucked in a deep breath as the temperature dropped a little inside the car. Small white flakes drifted down from the sky. "Is ... Is it snowing?" he asked incredulously as the car finally pulled up in front of a wooden lodge, the windows illuminated with golden light and surrounded by sweet smelling trees.
"We're at a skiing lodge, Draco. The higher we go in the mountains the more it'll snow," Harry smiled as he unfastened his seat-belt and opened the door. Draco followed suit and soon their trunks were on the floor, Harry had paid the driver, and they were left on the front porch of the lodge.
Draco shuddered as he hauled his rucksack on his back and followed Harry in through the front door.
The rush of warm air made goosepimples break out over his skin and his stomach growled loudly. He'd refused to eat the plane food and was now ravenous for a large, seven course meal ... or whatever this place served. Harry joined him at half way through the lobby, having just booked them in and handed him a silver key. "Come on, we need to walk through the main building for our rooms."
"Thought we had a chalet?" the blonde frowned.
"Confusion. Chalets here are for the larger parties. We don't even have twenty off other people to fill the smallest one, so we're just going to have a room in the main hotel. That's not a problem, is it?"
Draco cocked his head, eyeing the lobby they were in; it was clean, classically decorated and had a subtle air of elegance. "I suppose that's not too terrible."
"I'm sorry, it really was my mistake." Harry gave him an apologetic look which Draco couldn't entirely ignore.
"Look it's fine. I have no idea where we're meant to go so ... feel free to lead the way," Draco stated with a stiff smirk. He just wanted to go and lay down somewhere. And eat. And shower.
Harry gave a nod and turned to lead the way. They climbed into a 'golden lined' lift, but instead of going side-to-side like the one's at the Ministry he was used to, they only went up or down. Either way the sensation of climbing higher was still eerie to him. The doors opened up onto a richly carpeted hallway with doors on either side. Each door had a little reader next to it. They walked down towards the end of the hallway before stopping at door '72'.
Harry slid the flat plastic card through the reader.
The green light came on, and the door opened to let them in.
The room was clean, bright and subtly elegant like the reception area had been downstairs. The carpet was a neutral biscuit colour, the twin beds were separated by the two nightstands and there was a large window that looked out onto the beautiful landscape. The bedclothes were a neutral combination of gold and green brocade and the pillows were starched, white and pristine. Draco wondered over to the door off to the side, beside the little storage area, and opened it up into the en-suite bathroom. The ceramic tiles seemed to glimmer with golden sparkles, and the taps and feet of the claw-foot tub were ornate and golden.
"Does the room get your approval?" Harry's voice called to him through the open doorway.
Draco cast one more cursory glance around the room before nodding his head, "It'll do."
Harry scoffed, rolled his eyes and then unpacked a few of his essentials into the bedside cupboard before taking his trunk and putting it in the wardrobe. Draco followed suit and once he'd closed the door, he straightened up and sighed heavily. He was so tired. So tired. Did he want to sleep or was eating a better option? He couldn't decide. The journey to get there had exhausted all of his energy, but sleeping was hardly going to help that. However, going down to eat with several hours of 'plane' and 'taxi' lingering on him was just gross.
"What're you staring at?" Harry asked.
Shaking himself out of his musings, he turned to the dark-haired man and hummed, "Sorry, I was just thinking about what I wanted to do."
"What're your options?" Harry tease, leaning on the bed with a grin, toeing his shoes off and then swinging his feet up onto the mattress.
"Sleep, then shower and go down for dinner. Shower then dinner. Or eat, shower and then sleep."
"How adventurous of you," the brunette muttered, "Well do you feel like you could sleep? Because if not you could just have a bath and relax in there for a while. We don't have a schedule at the moment so you can just relax."
Tilting his head to the side, Draco bit on his bottom lip. The bath sounded like a good idea. It wasn't anywhere as near as his own one in the manor of even the one in the Slytherin boys' dorms. It was only about a fifth of the size of the tub in the prefect's bathroom, but it would do. "Alright, I think I'll do that. What do you plan on doing?"
"Are you kidding?" he asked, cocking a black eyebrow at his companion, "I'm napping! Go on, shower away. Go condition your hair or whatever it is you do."
Draco sneered but couldn't come up with a retort. Conditioning was a part of his washing ritual, regardless of what other people thought. He turned sharply on his heel and went to grab his own shampoo, conditioner and towel out of his the nightstand. He strode into the bathroom, closed the door and locked it with the cheap silly slide-lock that muggles thought would keep them safe. Ha! As if! "Stupid muggles," he grumbled as he set about unfastening the buttons of his shirt and unbuckling his belt.
He had to fiddle about with the taps for a while before he got the water to the right temperature.
Soaking in the tub was like a dream. He let his mind wander off as he allowed himself to relax in the hot water. He washed his hair and took his time drying off and changing into the pair of pyjamas he'd brought in with him. Drawing his wand off the shelf over the sink, he cast a quick charm that dried his hair into a fluffy blonde halo. NOW he could sleep and it wouldn't bother him.
Creeping out into the room he saw that the sun was hanging low in the sky through the window and that Harry had curled up on his side, arm tucked under his head and was sleeping soundly. As he looked down at the dark mass of hair he couldn't help but wonder why they'd hated one another for so long. Had it really been hate? Shaking his head, he reached over and gently pulled the throw blanket over Harry's legs, before climbing into his own bed, pounding the pillows into submission and curling up to sleep.
~0~
"I don't really think I can do this," Draco's voice trembled as he looked down between his knees at the snowy ground passing by.
Harry was shuddering just as badly beside him. Whether it was because of the cold, or the fact that they were going to be 'skiing' down a mountainside with barely any lessons. It had been three days since they'd arrived in Switzerland. The second day they'd gone and explored and even looked into some lessons. There were only going down the beginner slopes and even though it made Draco feel silly considering how old he was, one look at the advanced slopes had his stomach dropping into his shoes.
"Well let's try and get down one slope then we can at least say we've done it," Harry managed through chattering teeth.
Draco wrinkled his nose but didn't say anything as the reached the summit and climbed off the chair lift. The snow was soft under foot as they crunched their way to the top of the gentle slope that led to the start of the beginners trail. Draco barely listened to what Harry's plan of action was as he trembled in his skis. He knew he was going to make a fool of himself. It was inevitable. Harry would no doubt be perfect without even trying. He always seemed to have that sort of luck, regardless of what it was they were doing.
"You know what, I've changed my mind," Draco stated through clenched teeth, his fingers quaking as he shifted further away from the precipice. The wind whipped at his cheeks and chapped his lips. It somehow rushed down his collar and chilled his insides.
"Draco stop being such a chicken. I haven't done this either."
"Yes but somehow you'll excel at it without even trying!" ground out the blond, the bitterness edging his words.
Harry stopped and turned to look up at him. Despite the goggles, scarf and thick knitted hat, Draco could still see the heavy frown marring his features. "You don't need to go down if you really don't want to. I just thought that it'd make a fun memory to show your mother." He shrugged heavily before turning his attention to the slope just below his skis.
"It would it's just ... unnerving," he managed.
Casting a glance around them to make sure that no muggles were listening in on them -not that they could hear above the whistling of the cold wind -before murmuring into Draco's ear. "Well we've not done this before. Just think of it like the first time you rode a broomstick or ... a horse ... or something." He trailed off lamely but Draco couldn't help the smile that stretched over his face. He was grateful he was wearing a scarf to hide behind. "On the count of three?" Harry asked brightly, his skis teetering over the edge.
Draco felt his muscles turn to stone as he shuffled a few steps closer. "One ... Two ... Three!"
With one final push, they'd left the ledge behind them.
Draco felt his stomach crash down into his ski boots at he tried to keep his balance, knees bent and the wind smacking his cheeks raw. He tipped himself at a slight angle and watched as Harry's figure rushed on ahead a little. He tried not to roll his eyes as he focused on his balance and breathing. He couldn't smell anything through his high collar and thick scarf.
The air was like ice in his lungs.
The adrenaline was rushing inside him, burning him up like an inferno that he couldn't control. It was better than when he'd learned to ride a broom. He felt great! He didn't realise he could have this much excitement and fun with two feet more or less firmly on the ground. People rushed by him just as easily, some wobbled about, almost doing the splits and he couldn't help but feel pride swell inside him.
So far his skiing had been flawless.
The end of the slope was drawing ever closer and he couldn't help but wish for more ground to cover. Perhaps they could go again? Over the last small bump along the slope, Harry came up alongside him, leaning into the wind breaking around them before it happened.
Harry's knees locked and his skis went out from under his leg.
He tumbled and fell headfirst into the snow, rolling awkwardly with the skis spiraling like a propeller towards the end of the slope. Draco winced and came to a stop at the end of the slope. He quickly unfastened his skis from his boots and hurried back up the slope, despite yells coming from behind him. It was awkward to run, sinking into the snow just below his knees.
"HARRY!" he called out as he rolled Harry over onto his back and unwound the scarf from his neck and tried to check him over. Goddamn the thick puffa jacket! "Are you alright? Goddamn it Potter what's wrong with you?"
To his surprise, Harry was laughing.
Punching his arm through the numerous layers, Draco glared down at him having snatched his fogged goggles off his head. "What the hell are you laughing at, you idiot? You could've broken something!"
"I think I'm alright!" Harry finally gasped out, his laughter dying down as he struggled to sit up and shake the snow from his hair. "Can you help me up? We need to get off the slope."
"Yeah wouldn't want someone skiing over you now, would we?" Draco ground out as he roughly yanked the brunette to his feet. The skis slipped awkwardly underneath as he rose to his full height, latching onto the blonde's shoulders for balance.
Once they'd gotten to the end of the slope and Harry had unlatched his skis from his boots and sank into the snow, he turned to Draco with a pink-faced grin. "That was so much fun! Did you enjoy it?"
"Can we just focus on getting you back to the room in one piece, please?" Draco snapped as Harry clumsily wrapped an arm around his shoulders and stumbled alongside him, the snow making it awkward to walk properly.
Harry heaved a heavy sigh, dropped his chin but didn't say anymore for the rest of the walk back to the chair lifts. By the time they returned to their room the air was thick and stiff between them, like trying to breathe through smoke.
Their room was pleasantly warm by the time they staggered in through the door.
With a grunt, Draco eased Harry down onto his bed and quickly shuffled out of his stifling skiing gear before running a hand through his sweaty blonde hair. "Alright let's get you out of all this and see if there's any bruises."
"I'm fine," Harry replied shortly, as he started to fumble with his zip with trembling hands.
Draco froze as he was getting a fresh shirt out of his drawer and looked over his shoulder. Harry was half-way out of his thick skiing gear and his jaw was set firm. Tense and a little on edge, Draco turned his attention back to changing and getting his blood circulating again. The snow that had seeped into his collar had chilled him right through to his skin. It was a horrible feeling but he knew that a hot shower would only make him feel worse. With a sigh he turned and crouched down at the foot of Harry's bed. "Let me," he calmly took Harry's damp foot in his hand and peeled the wet sock off before tossing he sodden clump into the corner of the room. Once the socks were off, the heavy trousers followed.
Luckily, the boxer shorts were still dry.
Harry shivered on the bed as Draco left him to retrieve some warm clothes to dress the brunette. He relaxed a little as he let Draco dress him and soon the wet clothes were charmed dry and packed away out of sight. Dragging a throw blanket over from his bed, Draco curled up beside Harry without speaking and wrapped themselves in the blanket.
"Sorry I was short with you," Harry murmured.
"You can't help your stunted growth, Potter," Draco chided softly. He grunted as an elbow dug into his stomach.
"You know what I mean. You were just looking out for me, I'm sorry I got moody."
Draco curled in closer around the brunette and smiled softly as he burrowed into the pillows. "It's alright, we're not used to each other yet. I get it. Miracles can't happen over night, you know."
Harry turned so that they were facing one another, almost nose-to-nose. "We're friends Draco. I am used to you. It's just ... I thought we were having fun and all of a sudden you're looking angry. I thought I'd pissed you off."
Draco couldn't help but snort. "I was worried about you, Scarhead."
"Aw really?" Harry smirked.
The blonde rolled his eyes, "Tell anyone and I'll hex your ball off."
"Charming as ever."
The following morning they woke up and had their last breakfast in the hotel before they set off in the taxi for the train station, having packed everything before bed the night before. Both were tired and barely spoke for the majority of the journey to the station. Once they'd paid the driver, they dragged their trunks through the ticket barriers and sank down onto a metal bench to wait for their train.
Draco let out a loud yawn and failed to stifle it as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't think I'd be so unused to early morning after living at Hogwarts for seven years."
Harry grunted in agreement. "It's true. I normally think that sleeping until 9AM is a lay-in."
Draco snorted. "I think when we get to the next place this afternoon, I want to write a letter to mother. Let her know how everything is going. Maybe send her a memory?" he added as an afterthought.
Harry nodded, "You could, although wouldn't you rather wait so that you can send her a few at the same time?"
He shrugged, "I suppose. But then what else am I suppose to send her other than a silly little letter?"
"How about a postcard?"
"Excuse me?" the blonde turned to look at him with a perplexed expression on his face and his fringe falling into his eyes. Harry had to resist the urge to brush the soft, golden hair away.
"They have some over at the kiosk," Harry pointed at the small tuck shop off to the side. Down one end of the counter-top there was a series of still images of the skiing resort they'd stayed at, along with some lakes and other sites in Switzerland. "Want me to get you one? It'll give you something to do on the train."
Draco shrugged, "Sure. Couldn't hurt."
Harry went over to the kiosk and purchased a couple of the printed cards. He wanted to send a couple to the Weasley's and Hermione to let them know how he was doing. He wouldn't go into any great detail, because he knew how annoyed they'd get. He bought the small ones for himself, and a couple of the longer ones for Draco. He knew how the blonde loved to write. "There you go," he grinned as he dropped the postcards into Draco's lap.
"They do look pretty. It's a pity they don't move though."
"Well maybe when we get back at Christmas we can create photos of your memories," Harry suggested as he glanced up at the board. Their train was due any minute now.
"Can you do that?" the blonde asked, shocked.
Harry shrugged, "I have no idea. But there must be a way, right? Magic and all that."
Draco stared as the early morning sun caught a couple of freckles on Harry's nose he hadn't noticed before. He felt his stomach squirm but he told himself he was just hungry. Soon the chugging of a train filled the air as their transport arrived at the platform. They lugged their trunks onto the train and settled down, allowing themselves to travel from paradise to paradise.
A/N: Let me know what you think! x
