Change In A Star's Alignment

Chapter 29:

Eventually, the two boys moved out of the comfortable embrace when they remembered that they had to get to their classes for that day. As they went through their daily routines, both boys could feel that there had been a dramatic change between them. Now, the casual touches or brushes of skin no longer felt so casual. Harry couldn't help but deliberately brush his hand against the blonde's at any given opportunity and he quickly noticed the blonde doing the same.

As their hands connected for the fourth time that morning, Harry boldly grabbed Draco's hand and squeezed lightly before letting go and walking out of the bedroom. Before he was gone however, he got to see the blonde smiling shyly after him.

Their classes went by extremely slowly that day as both boys wanted nothing more than to be back in their room. If asked what the professors had been teaching that day, they would definitely not have been able to answer, as all they could think about was the casual brushes of fingers or the way it had felt to be embraced by the other. Their whole day was a blur to them as they, very impatiently, waited for the day to be done.

Finally, their classes were finished and they escaped into their apartment as quickly as they could. Once there however, they were both unsure of what to do next. They simply stared at each other from across the room for a while, Harry starting to doubt and Draco just being plain nervous.

Eventually, Draco made his way slowly across the room towards Harry and took him by the hand gently. Then he gently pulled the other boy towards him, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist and resting his head against Harry's shoulder. Slowly, the raven-haired boy responded by wrapping his arms around the blonde's neck and leaning his head against Draco's shoulder. There they stood for a long time, until their legs became too tired and they were forced to move towards the couch by their window.

Draco sat down on the couch and pulled Harry down with him so that the raven-haired teen was lying between the blonde's legs, resting his back against Draco's chest. They stayed like this for a while, simply enjoying the feeling of cuddling one another. They stayed this way as they watched the sunset out their window, Draco playing with Harry's eternally messy hair.

Both boys felt like they were in heaven. They hadn't realised how much they had wanted this until recently and they couldn't really believe that this was truly happening. Each cared so deeply for the other and wished they could stay in this moment forever.

They spoke very little to each other, having already told each other their deepest scars and finding they only loved the other more for them. They felt as if they had spoken enough and hadn't felt enough. So they did just that. They lay there until the sun had set and the stars were shining brightly through the few clouds that were in the sky.

Both felt no need to move from their position until Harry yawned. Draco then decided that it was time for them to go to bed and so they untangled themselves and got ready for bed. Once in their nightclothes, they moved over to the bed.

Draco got in first, lying flat on his back while Harry climbed in after him, lying on his side next to the blonde and resting his head on Draco's chest. There, Harry listened to the beating of Draco's heart, content for the moment, to lay like that for the rest of his life.

Suddenly, Harry noticed that Draco's heart seemed to beat a little bit faster. Curious, Harry looked up, finding that the blonde was looking down at Harry with a slight blush to his cheeks. Harry stopped before he said anything as he watched, transfixed, as Draco leaned towards Harry. Draco leaned closer and closer until their lips met, causing both boys' hearts to leap and skip a beat. They kissed for no longer than a minute, but both boys came up breathless. As their lips unlocked and they brought their heads away from each other slightly, neither could help the smile of absolute joy that appeared.

Both boys went back to their original positions, each with a huge smile on their faces. Draco began running his hands through Harry's hair once again; Harry began to lightly trail his fingers across Draco's bare chest, making the blonde shiver slightly at the contact.

So full of emotion were the two boys, that Draco couldn't help but say, "I love you" as he lightly kissed the top of Harry's head.

Taken completely by surprise, Harry froze. He couldn't help but revert to how he always handled these sorts of situations. He just didn't understand how anyone, especially someone as amazing as Draco, could love him. While Harry's self-image had gotten slightly better due to the lack of scars and Draco being so supportive, he still was unable to wrap his head around the idea of someone being able to love him.

His freezing caused the blonde to come to the absolute wrong conclusion, as Draco suddenly froze as well and sucked in a shallow breath. "Oh… Right, well." Draco said, obviously in pain at believing he'd been rejected. "I get it… I mean, I'm a Malfoy and… Too soon… yeah…"

Before Harry could come back to his senses and say something to stop the blonde, Draco had gotten his shirt from the floor and fled the room. Once Harry came back to his right mind, he rushed from his bed, only to be met by the front door to the flat closing. He swung the door open, racing down the stairs in the hopes of stopping Draco from leaving. He was too late however, as the blonde had already left.

Harry sunk to the floor in front of the Common Room door, too upset to care about the others who were watching him. He felt tears start to form in his eyes as he realised what he had just done. He now became highly aware of the idea of losing Draco. He couldn't help but think of how Draco would come back and have realised that he hadn't actually loved Harry at all and how he had made a huge mistake with thinking he even liked Harry.

Eventually, Harry forced himself up from the floor, realising that Draco wouldn't be back anytime soon. If ever… he thought bitterly. He forced himself up all the stairs back to his apartment which felt extremely empty without the blonde there. Once inside the apartment, he went straight to his and Draco's room, lying back down on Draco's bed and cuddling the blonde's pillow tightly to him while he silently cried himself to sleep…

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Harry didn't quite understand what was going on. His perspective seemed to be completely off. It almost seemed as if he was seeing everything while lying on his stomach on the floor, but that couldn't possibly be right… I mean, how would he be able to move so quickly if he was lying on his stomach? But nonetheless, there he was, moving quickly down the Hogwarts hallways while from the perspective of being on the floor.

Suddenly, Harry could hear people speaking in the hallway. He wanted nothing more than to look over and see who it was, but for some reason he was unable to turn his head and see. It was as if someone else was controlling his body and what he was able to see. Harry didn't like feeling so powerless.

Instead of trying to figure out who it was that was speaking, he listened into what they were actually saying. However, he quickly wished this was all just some crazy dream as he realised exactly what was going on.

"Who knew it would be so easy to get into Hogwarts?" a man with a deep, gravelly voice said.

"Yes well, a lot of doors open when Severus Snape is behind them." Another man, whose voice sounded extremely familiar, said.

Harry watched as someone turned the corner up ahead, surprised to find that it was Severus. Everything seemed to click into place in Harry's mind as Snape said exactly who the second man was.

"Ah, Lucius, nice to see you." Snape had said.

"Yes yes, now… Where is my… son…" Lucius spat.

"I last saw him wandering around the castle." Severus said emotionlessly.

Though to the others Severus seemed completely indifferent, Harry knew that Sev wished he hadn't had to divulge such information at all. To Harry, it was obvious that the other man was completely uncomfortable with whatever was happening.

"Well then, let's find him, shall we?" Lucius asked.

"What is your plan exactly?" Severus asked.

"I'm going to kill him."

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Harry awoke in a complete panic. Right away he knew that this was no ordinary dream. He quickly realised that he had been in that particular perspective because he was seeing everything through Nagini. Though he had always despised these dreams, Harry couldn't be more thankful for them in this moment.

He immediately ran to his trunk where he grabbed the Marauder's map and quickly said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The whole castle unfolded before him and he quickly spotted Lucius' name on the map along with Nagini, Severus, and Fenrir's names. Harry immediately went looking for Draco's name, only to find it much sooner than he had hoped; he was right across the hallway from them. The Death Eater's names started moving closer towards Draco's and it was obvious to Harry that they were dueling already.

Harry grabbed his wand and didn't even bother to put shoes on as he rushed down the stairs and out the doors of the Common Room. He just hoped he would get there in time…