Draco Malfoy and His Happily Ever After:
Author's Notes: Sorry about the fact it took so long to update - I had a bit of writer's block and RL stuff to do. Anyway, at least it's out now, right? This chapter's short, but the next one should be coming soon.
Warnings for this chapter: Language.
Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm merely borrowing them for the time being. This is slash. Don't like it? Don't read it. Otherwise, enjoy.
After dinner, which was delicious despite the fact everyone was more than a little uncomfortable, they all moved to the living room. Mrs. Weasley charmed the dishes to clean themselves and shooed everyone out of the kitchen. Draco found himself, through some odd twist of fate, sandwiched between Harry and the Weasel. Draco almost wished he was back in the kitchen.
The redhead gave him a long suspicious look that Draco was more than happy to return. They eyed each other warily with mutual distaste. Up close, Weasley appeared to be one big freckle and Draco opened his mouth to say as much when, fortunately for everyone involved, he was interrupted. "Stop that right now, you two." Granger said bossily, planting herself on Ron's other side. "Just try to get along for a bit, for Harry's sake."
Draco didn't bother to reply, but he did stop sneering at the other boy.
Suddenly, the lights went out and Mrs. Weasley stepped out of the kitchen, levitating a huge, white birthday cake with seventeen candles stuck in it in front of her. The cake was a tad lopsided, but otherwise looked fine. Harry was so excited he was practically thrumming with energy. Everyone was smiling at the dark haired Gryffindor and nudging each other at his obvious delight. Draco couldn't help but be charmed at Harry's childlike enthusiasm.
The singing was as awful as Draco expected, but the way Harry's eyes were shining more than made up for it. "Now, everyone be careful with the cake! If anyone spills they'll be sleeping out in the shed. That means you, Miss Messy." She said pointedly to Ginny who turned a violent shade of red sunk down in her seat, humiliated.
"Mum!" She wailed, making everyone laugh good-naturedly at her expense.
"Oh, don't worry Gin. Mum's too soft a touch to really throw you out into the shed. She'd just make you sleep in the attic with the ghoul." Bill said jokingly, winking at his little sister.
"Now, now. Enough of that." Arthur Weasley said cheerily. "Let's eat that cake, hmm? Doesn't it smell scrumptious? You've done a bang-up job, Molly-love!"
"Why, thank you Arthur. Now, blow out the candles Harry and make a wish."
Harry thought for a moment then smiled and leaned forward to extinguish the candles. They went out, smoking lightly in the room. Someone turned the lights back on while everyone clapped and whooped.
"Do we get to eat now?" Charlie said, looking at the cake longingly. He wasn't the only one; the twins were practically salivating from where they were perched on the arms of Bill's overstuffed armchair.
"Yes, dear. Here, Sirius, why don't help me cut the cake?"
"Of course."
For a while, pandemonium reigned as the clatter of plates, conversation, and moved furniture filled the sitting room. Draco found himself exchanging a grin with Harry. "What did you wish for?"
"I can't tell you or it won't come true." Harry said with a grin, looking down at his plate. Mrs. Weasley had given him a huge slice and it was threatening to slide right off if he wasn't careful.
Draco sighed, rolling his eyes. "Alright, then. If you insist on being mysterious I suppose there's nothing I can do about it." He took a bite of his own cake, which was every bit as yummy as it looked. Conversation lulled as everyone took the time to enjoy Mrs. Weasley's superb baking skills. Even Peter Weasley or whatever his name was had stopped talking about his job at the Ministry long enough to primly nibble at his piece of cake. Sirius was practically shoveling it down and even Granger was looking delighted, despite her dislike of all things cavity-inducing.
Then Granger started shoving presents Harry's way and the flurry of ripped wrapping paper and ribbons kept Draco's lover occupied for quite some time. Granger gifted him with new spectacles, ones with a nicer frame that had an unbreakable charm on them as well as something to prevent fogging. Percy Weasley (Draco was surprised to note that his name wasn't actually Peter) gave Harry a book entitled, How to Defeat a Dark Lord in Twelve Easy Steps by Humphrey Hastings while Charlie presented him with a nice pair of dragonhide boots. Bill, the gay Weasley, as Draco had come to think of him, had given the Boy Who Lived the Revised Edition of Quidditch Through the Ages with a ton of signed autographs in it from all the current famous Quidditch players. Sirius' present was too bulky to move to the Weasleys, but Harry was pleased all the same when he heard what it was. Sirius was gifting him with an old motorcycle that they immediately decided to fix up together. It was terribly cute, in a father-son sort of way and Harry was so excited he was almost bouncing in his seat.
Remus gave Harry a red Gryffindor jersey that seemed as if it would fit him well, which he informed everyone had been James Potter's lucky shirt, while the twins handed Harry a basket of some of their jokes. Ginny gave him a Many Magical Disguises Kit that came with tons of things to change the average wizard's appearance from stick-on warts to fake noses. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ron were beaming with pride at their own cleverness when Harry came to their joint present.
"Open it up, Harry!" Ron urged enthusiastically.
Mrs. Weasley twittered her agreement. "Oh yes dear, you'll just love it!"
"Okay. Um." The Gryffindor, smiling slightly to himself, pried open the small box they'd shoved in his hands. "Wow! Tickets to the next Puddlemere United match! There's so many!"
"Yeah, Dad won a lottery at the office." The Weasel explained, grinning merrily. "There's enough there for everyone to go, even Malfoy." The last was said with a dirty look in Draco's direction that Slytherin ignored with dignified silence.
Harry hugged Mrs. Weasley and even clasped an arm around Ron for a second or two, clapping the other boy on the back as he did so before moving away. Draco felt a twinge of irrational jealousy that he managed to ignore. "This is brilliant, you guys! I've never had a birthday this nice. Thanks so much! Wow! When's the match?"
"This Wednesday. It's why we invited you to stay the week, really, though we'd insist on having you over anyway." Mr. Weasley chimed in, putting his arm around his wife who looked as if she was barely restraining herself from pinching poor Harry's cheeks.
"Oh, you precious child!"
"Molly, love, leave off. Harry still has a few more presents to open, isn't that right?"
Harry peered at his pile of wrappings and demolished boxes where a gold wrapped box peeked out from under it all. "Only one, Mr. Weasley." He turned to grin at Draco, his green eyes dancing with amusement. "It's yours, right? I can tell, with all that fancy wrapping." Harry fingered the ruby colored silk ribbon, still grinning.
"Yes, it's my present for you. Go on and open it, already." Draco pretended to be nonchalant, but in all honesty he was nervous. After all, it was his first present to Harry and it was awfully personal, but at the time it had seemed like the perfect gift. He darted a glance towards Remus who smiled reassuringly as Harry carefully pulled away the ribbon and removed the wrapping paper.
The dark haired boy looked at the stack of journals, slightly bewildered. "Books? Don't tell me you're turning into Hermione." He teased, shooting Draco a curious glance.
"Just look at them. What do you think?" He asked anxiously, waiting apprehensively to see how Harry would react.
The Gryffindor picked one up and flipped it open to reveal the first page. Neat handwriting covered it, getting progressively smaller after the first two lines, which took up quite a bit of space.
Lily Evan's Diary
DO NOT READ THIS!!!
(This means you, Petunia.)
(No really, I mean it! Leave my diary alone.)
(If you don't put it down right now I'll hex off your nose!)
Harry simply stared, the journal clasped tightly in his hand. He was pale with shock and his eyes were wide behind his new glasses. Draco was uneasy and slightly disappointed at his lover's reaction. He hadn't expected a kiss or anything, but a thank you would have been nice. He found himself explaining to Harry, though really there was no need for it. "Remus helped me find them. There's six in all, I couldn't find the first year. I bought them from a pawn shop in Kent. Are they… do you like them?"
"Oh, Harry!" Hermione cried, obviously excited. Her brown eyes were bright. "You've always wanted to know about your mum! And now you can read all about her life at Hogwarts!"
"I-" Harry's voice was choked with emotion and he kept his face down so no one could see his expression. "Thanks Draco. It's great. I've um. I've got to use the loo." Harry stood up and rushed out of the room, leaving everyone to gape at his back.
Draco stared after him, stricken. "Oh Merlin. He hated it, didn't he?"
"No, no! It was a wonderful gift. Really, it was a lovely thought. Harry just doesn't like to get emotional in front of people." Hermoine said sympathetically. "See, Ron. I told you he wasn't going to give Harry anything likely to kill him." She said, sending a superior look Weasley's way. The red-haired boy rolled his eyes, obviously fed up with her know-it-all attitude.
"Oh, shut up, Hermione."
"Don't you tell me to shut up!" She replied fiercely, looking like she was about to eviscerate her boyfriend. Fred and George were chortling at them both while Remus politely pretended they weren't causing a fuss.
"I think I'm going to go check on Harry. I'll be right back." Draco hastily made his exit before things became too heated. He quickly darted up the stairs, skipping over one step almost completely covered with pink goo. Ginny craned her neck to watch him leave, but he paid her little mind. There were more important things to deal with.
He followed Harry up the stairs and quickly checked the bathroom which was empty before hesitantly opening the door to Ron's room. Harry was perched on the bed, his elbows braced on his knees and his hands covering his face. Draco shut the door quietly, moving swiftly to his lover's side. "Alright, Harry?" There was a wet sniffle and then Harry nodded, though his face was still buried in his hands. "I didn't mean to upset you. I can take them back if you -"
"NO!" Harry shouted, whipping around quickly before realizing his wet face was visible and then he hurriedly wiped at his cheeks. "No," He repeated more calmly, though his voice was still a little rough with suppressed emotion. "I love your present, I just… It was too much you know? Dad's jersey and Mum's diaries and a real birthday party with actual presents instead of a bent paperclip and everyone was looking at me and smiling and I was so happy. It - it sort of sprung up on me and then I was crying and I couldn't stop and I just had to get out of there."
"Sshh. It's alright Harry. I understand. It was probably overwhelming and I'm sure the Weasleys understand too. I've never met a more touchy feely group of people." Draco wrinkled his nose at that though before continuing on. "I'm sure they don't care one way or the other. You can do no wrong in their eyes. You could probably burn their house down and they'd still love you."
Harry gave him a wry, if slightly watery, grin. "And you're probably this close to asking me to do it, aren't you?"
"Possibly." He admitted and was reassured to hear the Gryffindor laugh. Draco took advantage of his returning good mood to sit next to him on the bed and slip an arm around him. The other boy rested his head against Draco's shoulder, sighing deeply from what must have been the bottom of his soul. There was a moment of silence and exchanged comfort while Draco placed a kiss against Harry's forehead and pulled him closer to his side. "Finished being a Hufflepouf yet?"
"Fuck off." Harry said mildly, wrapping an arm around Draco's waist and catching one of the blonde's belt loops with his fingers.
"Really, Harry, how scandalous! And in your best friend's bedroom too? Tsk, tsk." Draco pretended to be offended, which only made Harry roll his eyes.
Draco glanced at the other boy's face and was glad to see he was starting to cheer up a little. Harry really had been overwhelmed, by his own feelings and also by so much open affection aimed directly at him. The Slytherin knew enough about his lover to guess that loosing control of his own emotions in front of so many people had only made the situation worse for Harry. "Better now, love?" He asked in a quieter voice, the one usually saved for when they were both naked. Harry sighed again, but this time there was a small smile on his lips.
"Yeah, I'm better now."
"Good." Draco said, supremely satisfied that he'd managed to help the situation. There was another moment of silence, a comfortable one that Draco broke only a few seconds later. "I don't suppose the Weasleys will let us share a bed, hmm? I mean, with a nice silencing charm we could probably get away with murder. Ouch!" Draco made a show of nursing his side where Harry had pinched him. "You're obviously better now if you're up to abusing me."
"Stop whining, Draco." Harry chided him, obviously amused at his boyfriend's antics. He stood up, pulling Draco to his feet by their joined hands. "Let's go back downstairs and see if there's anymore cake left."
"Fine." Draco said huffily, letting the other boy tote him out of the room. "But don't think I'm going to stop trying to figure out how to get you into bed with me." He said sulkily, more in the spirit of teasing than anything else.
Harry shot him a brilliant grin over his shoulder, his previous mood blown away like so much dust in the wind. "I'd be disappointed in you if you didn't." And with a challenge like that, Draco knew he couldn't possibly refuse.
It would, at least, make for an interesting visit if nothing else.
To Be Continued…
Constructive criticism and comments are more than welcome.
