Draco waited until the students were summoned to be taken to Hogsmeade by pacing the floors of his dormitory, trying to focus on his steps rather than explaining everything to Harry while trying to avoid his father. Blaise was sprawled out on his bed, his eyes lazily following Draco as he glanced between his friend and the book he was supposed to be reading.
"Nervous for your date, Malfoy?" He inquired, apparently giving up on the book, because Draco heard a loud thump and turned to see it laying on the floor.
"Of course not," he muttered, walking over to the cracked mirror in their dormitory and fixing his hair carefully. He smirked at himself, glad he had finally stopped using buckets of gel in his hair after second year. He looked very different than he had back then, but he was pleased with himself now.
"Well the whole school's about to leave anyway, shouldn't we get going?" Blaise stood up, accidentally treading on his book, and wincing as the spine cracked. "Ooops." He gingerly picked it up off the floor, repaired it with his wand, and tossed it recklessly on his bed.
"Yeah, just a minute." Draco reached into his trunk and pulled out the cologne his mother had gotten him for his 15th birthday, spritzing a little bit of it on. "There, let's go." He turned and headed with Blaise through the corridors to the Great Hall, accidentally catching Harry's eye as he passed him. He offered him the tiniest of smiles, before making his way to the rest of the Slytherins.
After a brief trip they had arrived at Hogsmeade, and the students ran in every direction, meeting up with their friends or rushing to get a look at the new sweets in Honeydukes. Draco followed these students, standing outside of the shop and shifting his weight between his feet as he looked around for Harry. Blaise followed him at first, but Draco gave him a meaningful look. "What? Oh, right, your date..." He smirked and scurried off into another shop, but Draco saw him sneaking occasional peeks out the window.
Finally after an eternity, Harry showed up, shivering in the chilly fall air. "Sorry, I had to get away from Ron and Hermione." He explained, straightening his robes.
"It's alright, let's get inside. It's cold for September, isn't it?" Draco asked, leading Harry inside to the store. Their hands touched briefly and he shivered (though not because of the weather,) but knew this wasn't the time. "Okay, I think we should buy loads of sweets, then I've got somewhere private we can go." He said, watching as Harry started looking around at all of the sweets.
"Can we do this?" Harry held up a bag to Draco, laughing. It was Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans. Draco looked at them carefully, knowing that he and Harry were about to have a very serious conversation, but the look on the other boy's face was far too convincing.
"Oh alright, fine," Draco sighed, smiling at Harry, who was already running off to grab something else. Finally, he returned to Draco, his arms laden with treats of all kinds.
"Are you not getting anything?" Harry asked, looking at Draco's empty hands suspiciously.
"Of course I am," Draco pushed Harry up to the counter, reaching into his pockets and pulling out the money necessary to pay for Harry's sweets.
"What? No don't pay for that—" Harry tried to stop him but Draco had already finished paying.
"You're welcome," Draco laughed as he walked out of the shop, Harry staring at him with an open mouth before trotting along behind him.
"You didn't have to do that, y'know," Harry muttered, blushing with embarrassment as he stared at the ground. "So where is this secret spot?"
"Follow me," Draco said, and with that he turned and headed down the street at a brisk pace. Harry rushed after him and the two made their way to a store that looked pretty abandoned.
"Draco, this part of Hogsmeade is off-limits to Hogwarts students..." Harry looked at the dingy storefront. Draco just shot him a look and led him around to the back, where all the windows were cracked and boarded up.
"You're not the only rule breaker at this school, Potter, Believe it or not." Draco smirked and carefully pulled back the boards on a window, a movement Draco had done many times before. He often came here during the school's Hogsmeade visits (and a few times by himself) Just to get some peace and quiet and privacy. He slid through the window and helped Harry through with the sweets.
"This place is so..." Harry said, but didn't finish his sentence. Instead Draco just watched as he looked around, taking in the cobweb lined walls, the rundown furniture, and the scratched hardwood floors.
"My father's friend used to own this place, but he moved to Bulgaria. He didn't want anyone else to have his shop, so he technically still owns the property, but I consider it mine now." Draco explained, taking Harry's hand and leading him upstairs.
Harry stared at all the details in the little store, taking in the abandoned picture frames on the wall and the broken glass on the floor. What kind of shop had this been? Too scared to ask Draco, he just followed the other boy up the stairs without question. To his surprise, the upper floor seemed to be the opposite of its counterpart downstairs. There was a bed already made up that was pushed into one corner of the room, a comfortable looking chair by a small fireplace, and a table in the center of the room, with two chairs.
"I starting fixing it up when I began coming here, I used to plan that if I ever ran away I would come here," Draco chuckled, settling himself comfortably into the armchair and lighting the fire with his wand.
"Won't people see the smoke?" Harry glanced at the chimney reproachfully.
"'Course not, didn't you pay attention in fourth year charms? It's a smokeless fire." Draco explained, making Harry feel rather stupid. Of course Draco would have thought through everything before hiding out here. "Anyways, let's get on with those Every Flavored Beans, yeah?" Draco pulled out the bag he had been carrying for Harry.
"Okay, but you have to go first," Harry teased, opening the bag and handing out a nasty green one to Draco.
"Fine, you're the worst though. And since you're going second you have to eat two." Draco glared at him, before cautiously taking the bean and chewing it. "Hmm...it's celery! That's not too bad," He winced and swallowed, then looked into the bag and pulled out a bright orange one and a brown one for harry.
"Oh no, c'mon Drake..." Harry closed his eyes but took the beans, first trying his luck with the orange one. "Pumpkin Juice," He smiled with satisfaction, then ate the brown one with a little more confidence. It took all his willpower not to spit it out as a horrible taste filled his mouth. "Ugh, what WAS THAT?!" He quickly conjured up a glass of water and gulped it down, as Draco fell onto the floor laughing.
"I don't know, Harry, you tell me." He laughed harder, clutching his sides.
"It tasted like...swamp water or something..." Harry winced as he tried to clear the taste from his mouth.
"Here," Draco said, offering him a Chocolate Frog. "This'll help." Harry smiled at him gratefully and took it, wolfing it down and smiling as he finished it.
"Thanks," He said as he took a final sip of water from the glass, and then sat quietly and looked up to see Draco smiling at him.
"What are you smiling at?" Harry asked, unable to stop himself from grinning at the sight of Draco's smile.
"I'm just happy here," Draco explained, stretching out on the floor in front of the fire with his arms behind his head, listening to the logs crackling quietly.
"Oh c'mon, that can't be comfortable," Harry grinned and stood up, suddenly scooping Draco up in his arms and carrying him over to the bed. He set him down gently and laid next to him, suddenly feeling quite nervous.
"This is better," Draco turned to look at him, propping his head up on one hand and laying on his side. Harry was a mirror Image of Draco, facing him, and once again their eyes inevitably met. Grey met green and they just gazed into each other's eyes, trying to figure each other out.
"Your eyes look like the moon," Harry spoke suddenly, the sound of voice shocking himself after the peaceful quiet of the crackling logs of the fire.
"Your eyes look like a lake," Draco said simply, and Harry let out a little laugh. However, something inside of him was telling him to look closer at Draco, something seemed to be off.
"Your eyes..." He started, then stopped. "They're the moon, but they usually have the stars in them too." He finished. "They're not sparkling like they usually do, Drake, something's wrong. What's wrong?" Suddenly Harry realized that Draco had seemed like this for a few days, not quite his usual self. Something was definitely wrong, and he was now desperate to find out what it was.
"Oh Harry, this might take a while to explain..." Draco sat up and sighed, and Harry sat up and was ready to listen.
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