By: PepperjackCandy
Rating: PG13 (up to "second base" explicit, beyond that implied)
Disclaimer: All characters in this chapter belong to J.K. Rowling
Warning: I guess now I can say "This is a" slash story (Harry/Draco), though romantically-slashy, rather than erotically-slashy. Hence the PG-13 rating.
A/N: For anyone who wants to know why Draco kissed Harry just as Harry was talking about his Arithmancy class, well, that question will be answered - in Chapter 17 - "Plans"!
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Harry sat there for several minutes after Draco's sudden departure, waiting for his body to adjust to Draco's sudden absence. Once his pulse and body temperature had adjusted to their new status, he sighed, picked up his things, and left the room.
He took his school things back to the room he shared with Ron, Seamus and Neville, but neither his emotions nor his hormones would let him go back to sleep. So, he opened his trunk, took out the invisibility cloak, and went for a walk.
Inevitably, his path took him to Hagrid's cottage. It wasn't quite dawn yet, but he could see a light in the window, and smoke coming from the chimney, so he knocked on the door.
The half-giant opened the door, and, upon seeing no-one standing on his doorstep, said, "Hello, Harry! You haven't come to visit me for quite some time."
Harry stepped into Hagrid's hut and took off the cloak. "Hi, Hagrid. I know I've been keeping to myself quite a bit lately, but something's come up . . ."
"Doesn't it always?" Hagrid asked as he and Harry sat. "Now, unless I miss my guess, it's something to do with Professor Dumbledore, eh?"
Harry looked down at his feet. "Well, yes."
"Good. So long as Professor Dumbledore's watching out for you, you'll do just fine."
"Actually, I have a . . . personal question I wanted to ask you about."
"A personal question? Well, what is it?"
"How can you tell why someone rejects you?"
"Rejects you? Like in love?"
Harry nodded. "Yes. Like, is there a way to tell if they rejected you because they just don't love you or something?"
"Is this about Hermione? 'Cause if it is, I can tell you that she really loves Ron."
Harry shook his head. "It's not about Hermione."
"Ginny?"
"No."
"Well, then . . ." Hagrid scratched his head.
"It doesn't matter who the other person is. What matters is that I feel a certain way about this person but I don't think that this person feels the same way I do."
"Hmm. Seems to me that the best way to find out how this person feels about you is to ask 'em."
Harry snorted. "I'd do that, if the person hadn't just walked away from me stammering apologies."
"Oh. Does . . . this person . . . know how you feel about them?"
"I think so."
"Harry, it's not Ron, is it?"
Harry started laughing. "Sorry, Hagrid. I'm not laughing at you. Really. No, it's not Ron."
Just then, they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Hagrid stood to answer it. "We'll finish this as soon as I get rid of whoever this is." Hagrid opened the door.
"You? What're you doing here?" Hagrid demanded.
Hagrid blocked Harry's view of his visitor, but the voice was unmistakable. "I know that Harry and his friends talk to you sometimes. And I really need someone to talk to now." It was Draco. Harry slipped on the invisibility cloak.
"Look, Malfoy. I don't have any time for your games." Hagrid said testily. "I've got," he gestured to indicate Harry, but only saw an empty room. "It doesn't matter what I've got. You just get out of here."
"Please, Hagrid. I'm desperate."
This stopped the gamekeeper short. Draco Malfoy had never said 'please' to him, or anything else that smacked even vaguely of politeness.
"All right. You can come in for a minute. But if you try anything funny, I'll have you to Dumbledore so fast it'll make your head spin. And I'll carry you there bodily myself." He finished menacingly.
"Thank you, Hagrid." Draco said in the same tone a man lost in the desert would use with someone who'd just given him a glass of water.
As Draco sat down in the chair that Harry had only recently vacated, he began to talk. "I have a friend who is starting to mean more to me than just friendship. I don't know if I want to risk this person's friendship, though, over romantic feelings that might not last."
"*This person's* friendship must mean a lot to you." Hagrid said, looking around for Harry, who was standing behind Fang and obligingly rattled the andirons.
"It does. It means everything to me." Draco responded.
"Could you excuse me for a second, Malfoy? I've got to let Fang out." Hagrid walked to the door and opened it. "Go on, boy!" He said in Fang's general direction. The boarhound merely lifted his head, wagged his tail twice, then put his head back down. Harry, on the other hand, took the opportunity to get out of the hut, touching Hagrid on the arm as he walked past, to let him know that he'd gotten outside. "Eh, you're not interested in going outside. Lazy brute!" Hagrid chided his dog as he closed the door behind Harry.
Harry walked away from Hagrid's hut, his mind whirling, and his heart palpitating. Why would Draco go to Hagrid? Why wouldn't he just ask Snape about it?
That thought only needed to be formed before Harry had an answer. Why did *you* go to Hagrid? Why not McGonagall? The answer? Because Hagrid's just a guy. Not Head of House, not Professor with a capital 'P.' Just someone that I can talk to about things. And if I can talk to him, then others can, too.
His heart lighter than it had been in several hours, Harry returned to his room. He put his invisibility cloak back into his trunk, which dropped closed a little too loudly and woke Ron up.
"What're you doing up?" Ron asked sleepily. "Not more insomnia?" He groaned.
"Actually, it is insomnia, and I don't think I'm ever going to sleep again." Harry was feeling a bit giddy with hope and sleep deprivation at this point. "Well, I'm going back to the library to get some more homework done." And with that, he left two roommates snoring, and the third one very, very confused.
By the time breakfast started, Harry had finished his paper on the Chupacabras of Puerto Rico for Care of Magical Creatures. The Chupacabras they'd brought in as an example hadn't gone over very well with either the livestock or the female students, most of whom thought its eating habits disgusting. Hermione thought them interesting.
As Harry walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, he caught Draco's eye, and the Slytherin gave him a tentative half-smile. One corner of Harry's mouth crooked upwards in response, and he went to the Gryffindor table.
"Harry?" Hermione asked. "Did I just see you *smiling* at Draco Malfoy?"
Harry's eyes widened in panic as any thought of what he might say fled his mind.
Ginny came to his rescue. "Of course he wasn't smiling *at* Malfoy, Hermione. He was smiling about a conversation he and I had last night, after everyone went to bed. I'd had a nightmare, and he and I got to talking. I told him that Malfoy scares me and he suggested that I use the riddikulus charm against him the next time I see him. He was smiling because I obviously hadn't given in to the temptation to dress him in a metermaid's hat and suspenders."
The other Gryffindors laughed, letting Harry off the hook. He gave Ginny a grateful smile and took his place at the table. The butterflies in his stomach from seeing Draco nearly took the edge off his appetite, but everything that had happened since supper the previous night left him very hungry, so he ended up eating an omelette, bacon, toast, and two glasses of pumpkin juice.
Finally, stomach distended, he pushed himself away from the table and headed up toward the Gryffindor Tower. Halfway along a deserted corridor, he was intercepted by Draco, who tried a risky opening gambit. "Hi."
"Hi." Harry said a little shortly. He looked up into Draco's gray eyes, then down again immediately.
"Look, Harry. I'm sorry."
"Sorry about what?" The last part of his question, the kiss, or running away? remained unspoken.
"About leaving you last night. I should have stayed to explain."
Harry pulled Draco into an unused classroom. "All right. Explain."
"You're quite possibly the very best friend I've ever had." Draco said with simple honesty. "And I'm afraid that if we get involved, that I'll lose that friendship."
"Draco," Harry whispered, reaching a hand out and resting it lightly on Draco's cheek.
Draco turned his head slightly, kissing Harry's palm.
"I don't know what might come of this. But I do know that I'm," in love with you "strongly attracted to you. And not in a 'just friends' kind of way." Harry assured him, smiling.
Draco leaned forward, kissing Harry gently, then sat back up, his silver eyes looking into Harry's green ones. "God, I wish we could be seen together in public. Even as just friends, it'd be better than all of this sneaking around."
Draco walked around Harry and put his arms around him, resting his chin on his head. They stood there for a few minutes, just holding each other and enjoying being close, watching the world outside through the window.
Eventually, reluctantly, Draco let go of Harry. "I've got to go." He said, kissing Harry on the cheek. "*They* will be looking for me." He rolled his eyes.
Harry sighed. "Meet you tonight?"
"Of course." Draco kissed Harry on the lips once, then came back for another, longer, kiss. "See you."
"Bye." Harry heard the door open, then close again. He watched out the window a while longer, savoring the memory of Draco's arms around him, when he heard the door open and close again.
"Back so soon?" He asked, smiling. When he saw who was standing there, he exclaimed, "Ginny!"
"I assume you were expecting someone else?" She asked with a knowing smile. "Draco Malfoy, perhaps?"
"Umm . . ." Harry felt himself starting to blush.
"That's all right." Her smile grew wider. "I saw him leaving. That's how I knew where you were. Anyone who didn't know that the two of you are really friends wouldn't put two and two together. If you're just friends, that is."
"We're mostly just friends?" Harry asked hopefully.
"'Mostly just friends'?"
"Well, would you buy just friends possibly on the way to something more?"
"Oh, really? Do tell." Ginny sat cross-legged on the table in the front of the room.
"I think I'm falling in love with him, and I think that he might be falling in love with me. But we're both a little leery of taking that next step and becoming an actual couple."
"Well." Ginny smiled at him warmly. "You'll make the right decision about this. You always do. Well, nearly always."
All of the emotions and homework of the previous day had Harry exhausted, so he spent a good portion of the day reading his novel by the lake. Being November, it was one of the last good days of the year, which meant that it was neither raining nor *quite* freezing.
I'll just close my eyes for a second, Harry thought, resting his book on his chest and lying back on the grass.
When Harry opened his eyes, it was fully-dark outside. At least, it looked dark around Draco, who was nudging him with his foot, saying loudly, "Hey, Potter! Wake up, would you?"
Harry sat up. "What time's it?"
"Suppertime." Draco whispered. "See you tonight." And with that, Draco headed for the castle, leaving Harry out on the lawn, where it was just beginning to rain.
After he'd picked up his novel, Harry took off running for the castle, but was still drenched by the time he got in the front door. Draco was nowhere to be found. Did I imagine him? Harry wondered, but he could smell supper coming from the Great Hall and, casting a drying charm on himself, went in to dinner.
Later that night, after they'd finished their homework, Harry and Draco lay on the floor of their room in the Astronomy Tower, looking out at the stars. "After all," Draco whispered in Harry's ear, "that's why they call it an Astronomy Tower." Draco lifted Harry's hand to his lips, kissing it softly.
"Erk!" Harry sat bolt upright, clutching his head.
"What is it?" Draco sat up and put a gentle hand on Harry's arm.
"It's my scar. It hurts . . . sometimes."
"Sometimes like when?"
"Sometimes like when Voldemort's planning something."