A/N:For perhaps the first time in my life, I've moved up my posting schedule! I got done with the next chapters earlier than expected, so I'm posting this four days early. Enjoy!

When Draco arrived at the Quidditch pitch, Harry was already there, inspecting the school's stock of equipment. Neither of them owned a broom anymore, and Harry was critically examining an old Nimbus 2000 when Draco entered the broom shack.

'Hey', Harry greeted. Draco nodded.

'Do you think these will do?', Harry asked, holding up a second Nimbus. 'They're not in the best of conditions, but they look airworthy. What do you say, we risk it?'

Draco had flown the school brooms a few times himself the past year, although flying circles on his own hadn't been nearly as much fun as this seeker duel with Harry promised to be.

He shrugged. 'As long as nobody buys the opposing team a better model.'

Harry cracked a smile. 'Let's hope not.' He picked up the case with the balls inside and strode onto the pitch, Draco in tow, where he snapped the case open.

'I thought we'd just play seeker against seeker. I've got permission to use the bludgers if we want to, but Professor McGonagall made it very clear she doesn't want to see either of us at Madam Pomfrey's tonight.'

Draco nodded and eyed the bludgers, struggling against their restraints. 'I'm fine with them. Unless you…?'

Harry nodded. 'With bludgers it is.'

They mounted their brooms and despite the warm evening air, Draco shivered in anticipation. Harry, wiping some sweat off his forehead, was just as eager. He kicked the lock, and the bludgers shot out, taking position about 20 yards above their heads.

'Ready?'

'You bet.'

Harry released the golden snitch, and after loudly counting to ten, both of them launched off the ground. Draco immediately headed for the referee's tower, assuming a high position to survey the pitch, while Harry leisurely circled the ranks. A bludger took aim at him and he dashed forward to escape it, and just like that, the game was on.

Another bludger forced Draco from his lookout, and after dodging the other, he found himself almost next to Harry, catching a breath after the bludgers had left him to pursue Draco. He flashed Draco a playful grin and dove down towards the pitch as one of the bludgers took aim at him again.

Diving under the goalposts, he briefly lost sight of Draco, and when he emerged, he saw him racing towards the far end of the pitch, presumably after the snitch. Sidestepping a bludger, Harry followed suit, and indeed something golden caught his eye as he dashed after Draco.

He was perhaps a dozen yards away when Draco leaned forward and shouted 'ONE!' upon closing his fist around the winged ball.

A rush of adrenaline shot through Draco's body, and Harry's face—competitive disappointment, mixed with pure joy about their game—made it all the more worthwhile. Draco hurled the snitch back into the sky, where it zig-zagged away, and turned to Harry.

'One', he repeated. 'Cat got your broomstick, Potter?'

Harry choked out a 'you wish' between laughter before whipping his Nimbus around to follow the snitch to wherever it had vanished to, Draco being the pursuer this time. A quick looping to evade a frontal bludger shook him off, and a few minutes later, it was Harry's turn to capture the snitch.

Both of them would later blame losing themselves in their long-lost hobby for the passage of time. Barrel rolls, bold dives, last-second evasive manoeuvres and near-crashes… Draco caught the snitch again, then Harry, then Draco, twice, and then a lucky streak for Harry. Draco almost broke the school broom with a half-arsed Wronski Bluff, and Harry barely avoided crashing face-first into a goalpost while flipping Draco the finger after the latter had snatched a snitch from right in front of Harry.

By the time Harry started to notice he was out of breath, the sun had almost set, and he signalled Draco to touch down.

'Ten to eight', Draco panted, similarly out of breath. He couldn't help but beam at Harry. 'Finally got you beat, Potter.'

'Shove it', Harry teased back. 'Don't get used to it.' But he, too, couldn't help the grin on his face. 'See? Told you it'd be fun.'

He offered a fistbump, but Draco, still riding the high, impulsively pulled him into a hug instead.

Holding Harry this close wasn't helping at all with his feelings, and Draco thought his rapid heartbeat might tip Harry off, but Harry, having similar thoughts, made no attempt to pull away.

'Should we pack this up?', Harry panted as they finally separated. 'Accio bludger!'

Draco shouldered both their brooms while Harry wrestled the balls back into their case. They locked up the shack and Harry headed towards the nearest bench.

He was just pulling two sodas from his bag when Draco piped up from behind him.

'So, maybe now you'll tell me what's up with all this?'

Harry froze.

'I'm not blind', Draco continued, and the way Harry stiffened and looked light he might have a heart attack only confirmed his suspicions. What the plan was, Draco could only speculate, but his best guess was, this was supposed to be some kind of going-away party.

'You arrange the pitch for us', he listed, 'you bring me here to play my favourite sport I haven't played in years, you lost and seemed happy about it, and now', he glanced at the bottles in Harry's hand, 'you've even brought drinks for us. There's something going on.'

Harry put down the sodas and nodded. Deep breaths, he reminded himself. Don't panic. He breathed in, out, and tried to get his frantic heartbeat under control.

'Ok', he started, 'you're right, something's up.'

Draco nodded. Figures.

'Just', Harry closed his eyes and sent a brief prayer to whoever might be listening, 'please… promise me you won't get angry.'

'What?' Draco couldn't imagine what Harry could possibly have done that would upset him. Was this some sort of apology—but if so, what for? What—

'I can't promise that if I don't know what's up, can I?', he cautioned.

'Fair enough. Ok, it's… it's nothing illegal, I haven't messed anything up', yet, Harry thought, yet, 'so… if this doesn't… you know?'

'I do not', Draco declared. 'But fine, whatever this is, don't worry. I'm not gonna blow up in your face.'

How could I, he thought, after the evening you just gave me?

But his curiosity was piqued. He needed to know what Harry was on about.

'Okay. Here goes. Uhm.'

Harry swallowed hard. 'I… I really like you. Never thought I'd say… but anyway… over the last few months, I…'

Draco thought his legs might give out. Certainly Harry couldn't…?

'It's ok if you don't', Harry hurried to say, 'I mean, that's fine, I just… I figured you don't mind this… thing like in general, but…'

No no no, no way. Potter and—Harry, him, he wouldn't—

'We're leaving in a month', Harry finally sought Draco's eyes, hoping he wasn't shaking as much as he felt shaky. 'You might be leaving entirely. I just wanted to tell you.'

When Draco didn't shoot him down, Harry took a tiny step forward. 'I like you, Draco. As in…', Godric why were words so hard—

'Me too', Draco choked out, and relief so strong washed over him that he thought there was a tear or two in his eyes. 'Merlin, I never thought—me too.'

Neither of them would remember who first dashed forwards to hug the other, but either way, the ended up clinging to each other, Harry's arms around Draco's midriff and Draco's head on Harry's shoulder.

'I've wanted… I've hoped for you for months', Draco admitted, glad their embrace hid his teary eyes. Harry felt his heart skip a beat and encouragingly squeezed Draco in response.

'How long did you, well…?' Draco asked once they had sat down side by side.

'I don't know', Harry admitted. 'Few weeks, I suppose? I, uh, didn't really realise at first that… well I've never been with. Well. A bloke.' Thinking back, he amended, 'I suppose longer and I didn't figure it out.'

'Neither. Been with, I mean.' Draco cringed as he remembered. 'Figured it out a few years back, but… well.'

'Sixth?' Harry vaguely remembered there having been some gossip about Draco and Pansy, but he had been too obsessed with—oh. With Draco. Well, with his supposed evil schemes, but oh Merlin how did I not see it?

Draco nodded. 'Yeah. You can imagine why that never went anywhere. And then… the Dark Lord didn't approve of people like us.'

As he shivered, his shoulder brushed against Harry's and Harry's hand found his; a silent gesture of comfort.

'And you mean this?' Draco whispered, staring intently at the grass instead of facing Harry. 'You really… feel, like that, for me?'

Harry squeezed his hand. 'I do. I never thought I would, but hell, I do. Really.'

He more felt than saw Draco's tears finally break through, and after a quiet 'may I?', he pulled him into another hug. Draco's dam broke, and Harry held him as he cried into his robes, sobs wracking his body.

'Sorry', he eventually sniffed as he pulled out of Harry's embrace. 'It's just… a lot. Of all the things, this isn't what I expected.'

'It's alright', Harry reassured him, and the tortured look on Draco's face made him want to hug him all over again. 'Can I help?'

Draco shook his head. 'Why?' he asked instead. 'Don't get me wrong, I'm the happiest person in the world right now, but… why me? I've done so many horriblee things, I've been a thorn in you and your friends' sides for so long… what could you possibly see in me? Because I don't see it.'

Harry shrugged. 'I don't know. It's not like I sat down and decided who to', he coughed, 'whotofallinlovewith.

'All I know is… you're smart. You're amazing when you get excited about something. You're sassy and witty and that's actually really cool when you don't use it to bully my friends. You're a great sparring partner and gifted flyer, you're handsome, you give good hugs, you have lovely eyes, you…

'You're you', he lamely finished, feeling his face flush at exposing his feelings like that. 'That's all you have to be. You're Draco, that's all I could want from you.'

Draco stared at him. 'You're serious.'

Harry nodded. 'I am.'

'So', Draco hoarsely asked, 'where do we go from here?'

Harry sought his eyes. 'Where do you want it to go?'

'I've never done this, but… let's find out together?'

Harry felt the tension leave his shoulders. 'Yes. Please.'

Draco held out his hand and both of them were reminded of that first time, eight years ago, that Draco had first offered his 'friendship' to Harry.

'Boyfriends?'

The word felt foreign on his tongue when applied to Harry. This was terra incognito.

Harry took his hand and the worries left Draco's head.

'Boyfriends.'

Draco inched closer and Harry thought his heart was doing somersaults. Draco's arm around Harry, Harry's head on Draco's shoulder, they sat there for a while, Harry's hand finding its way to Draco's, stroking it with his thumb.

The sun had long sunk beneath the horizon when they got cold enough to go back inside. Before they got within sight of castle, Harry stopped Draco.

'This sounds silly', he mumbled, 'but… will this still be real tomorrow?'

'It will', Draco reassured him. 'I'm not going to change my mind, if that's what you're afraid of.'

He brushed his hand over Harry's cheek, and Harry, wordlessly seeking permission, leaned in at the same time as Draco did.

Had either of them had any thoughts to spare, they would have described the kiss as 'electric' (Harry) or 'magical' (Draco). As it were thought, Harry all but melted into Draco's embrace, and the pair stumbled a few steps backwards until Draco stood against a tree.

Feeling Draco's stubble against his face was an alien experience to Harry, and Draco felt much the same about Harry's beard. Harry's lips were rougher, more chapped than his own, Draco learned, and Harry found Draco's embrace much stronger and more supporting than he was used to.

'We should go inside', Draco breathed as they separated. 'It's got to be past curfew.'

'Yeah.'

They held hands until they got within eyesight of the dorms and separated inside to head to their own common rooms.

Draco pressed a quick kiss to Harry's cheek.

'Goodnight, Harry.'

'Sleep well, Draco.'

A/N: I'm just giving the last bits an editing pass, so I am incredibly happy to announce that the next chapter, barring declarations of war and acts of god, will be posted in two weeks. Expect "Time Spent" on 24 July 2023.