Title: Midnight Snack
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Rating: G
Summary: Food always taste better when you share it with someone else
A/N: I haven’t been involved in the Harry Potter fandom in ages, so I have no idea where this came from. It just popped in my head and demanded to be written. *shrugs*
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Harry can’t remember when exactly he first started sneaking down to the kitchens for a midnight snack. But he does remember the exact time and place he ran into Draco Malfoy while walking back to the dormitory while carrying a plate of his favorite chocolate éclairs.
It was the 24th of September and Mrs. Norris was being extra vigilant that night. In order to avoid her, Harry had decided to bypass his usual route down the Charms corridor and instead cut across one of the outdoor quads. There was a large fountain in the middle of the quad and Malfoy was sitting on the wall of the fountain, his white blonde head bent over a book.
Harry hadn’t expected to see anyone so he hadn’t been particularly quiet, his feet crunching through the fall leaves. But Malfoy must have been pretty absorbed by his book because he never looked up. There was a full moon out and the light from it seemed to make Malfoy’s hair glow. Harry doesn’t remember why he stopped walking, but he does remember staring at Malfoy for a long while before a breeze came up causing Harry to shiver and head back to his warm bed.
For some reason, Harry decided to take the same route back from the kitchens the next night. Malfoy was seated in the exact same spot, reading once again. This time Harry walked over to the fountain, being careful not to make too much noise and alert Malfoy.
Harry was thinking it would be really funny to take advantage of is invisibility cloak and push Malfoy into the water, when he noticed what Malfoy was reading. One page was completely taken up by a picture of a girl with long hair looking up into a tree with a grinning cat on one of the branches. Harry recognized from when his class had had to read Alice in Wonderland back in primary school.
Harry was so startled to realize Malfoy was reading a Muggle book that he forgot about pushing Malfoy in the water and instead headed back to bed without carrying out his plan.
This went on for some time; Harry would walk through the outdoor quad on his way back from the kitchens at around midnight and most nights, Malfoy would be reading by the fountain. Harry would set by him and watch him read for a while and more often than not he would recognize a passage from whatever book Malfoy was reading at the time as Muggle.
As the nights got colder, Harry was surprised to continue seeing Malfoy outside. Malfoy started wearing heavy cloaks, but he never wore gloves. Harry assumed this was because it would be too hard for Malfoy to turn the pages if he wore them. Still, for a reason Harry didn’t really understand, he didn’t like the sight of Malfoy’s hands all red and chapped.
Then one night Harry went down to the kitchens for a snack and grabbed two mugs of hot choco without thinking about it. When he went through the quad there was Malfoy, still reading even in this beastly cold.
Being extra careful not to alert Malfoy to his presence, Harry placed the second mug on the fountain wall next to Malfoy and pulled back the invisibility cloak, leaving the mug in plain sight. Malfoy didn’t notice the mug at first. Not until he turned the page did it catch his eye.
Malfoy glanced around before reaching out hesitantly for the mug. Harry could tell right away the relief Malfoy felt at the warmth in his hands. Malfoy took a careful sip and sighed in contentment.
“Thank you,” he said, to what he thought was the empty night.
Harry went back to the dormitory that night with his chest feeling unusually tight and warm. Maybe tomorrow night he would bring Malfoy some hot apple pie.