FIC: Rainy Days Are Here to Stay [Harry/Draco]
Title: Rainy Days Are Here to Stay
Author: HD_FANGIRL
Prompt: # S34 by eijineko
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Word Count: 7323
Rating: PG13
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: To the prompter: I think I touched on a few things from your prompt, but in the end, I strayed away from everything you probably wanted. I'm sure it's not even close to what you were expecting, but I hope you like it anyway.
Summary: Draco hasn’t seen Harry Potter in years, but he bumps into in the rain one day.
Draco stepped out of Gringotts and right into the rain. It had been perfectly sunny half an hour ago when he’d gone into the bank, and now it was pouring like there was no tomorrow. It might have been of some use to him to cast an Impervius charm, but Impervius only worked so much. It was far more suitable for a bit of a drizzle and a more moderate downpour, but in torrential rains like this one? The water would break through his charm eventually.
Draco huddled himself as far under the entrance of Gringotts as he could. He could make a run for an apparition point, but he had on one of his more expensive leather jackets, and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin it. And of course he still had a few more errands he needed to run. He sighed. He supposed it would be better to just wait this one out.
A few minutes passed, and the rain showed no sign of letting up. Draco was quickly losing his patience. He’d give it just a few more minutes before he’d take his chances and dash into the rain, jacket be damned. Unfortunately for him, whilst he was standing under the bank entrance, one of the doors opened swiftly and knocked him off balance.
"Oh, excuse me," he heard a deep voice say. "Are you alright?"
Draco stood up properly, about to tell the person that yes, he was indeed fine and it was his fault really for standing in front of the doors, but when he looked up, he was met with none other than Harry Potter. A man he hadn’t seen in at least ten years- had actually carefully avoided for at least ten years- staring him straight in the face, looking quite apologetic.
"Please watch where you’re going," Draco said curtly.
"I’m sorry," Potter responded. "I wasn’t paying attention." Potter crossed his arms over his chest. "But this is your fault. You shouldn’t be standing in front of the exit, blocking customers from leaving."
Potter was right of course, but Draco wasn’t going to admit to that.
"I don’t know if you’ve noticed Potter, but it’s raining."
Potter looked past Draco and examined the scene behind him. "It definitely is," he said.
He stared back at Draco and Draco stared back at him. A few seconds passed and they both still stared.
Uncomfortable with the staring contest taking place, Draco looked away first. He cleared his throat. "I guess the rain’s not going anywhere. I’ll just have to make a run for it."
He nearly stepped out into the pour, but Potter grabbed the material at his elbow and pulled him back. Potter pulled his bag off his back, reached in and pulled out an umbrella.
"Take this," he said as he gestured it in Draco’s direction.
"No thank you Potter. I’ll be fine."
"No, take it," he replied. He opened it up over Draco’s head and held it out for him to take. "Ron and Hermione always forget to bring one, so I always have an extra. You can borrow it."
Draco felt a pang of jealousy in his chest at the mention of Potter’s childhood turned adulthood friends. He hadn’t managed to stay friends with any of the people he’d once felt close to at Hogwarts.
He reluctantly took the umbrella from Potter. He didn’t want to stay any longer should Potter get the idea to try and "catch up" with him or some other nonsense.
"Thank you," Draco said as he nodded towards Potter in goodbye.
He quickly descended Gringott’s stairs as a faint "No problem," followed him.
*****
Draco spotted his favorite café just up ahead. It was still raining hard outside and fortunately for him, the café didn’t look crowded. It was the perfect place for him to duck into to wait it out and drink a cup of hot chocolate.
He reached the doorway and let down the umbrella Potter had given him. He reached for the door and held it open as an older woman exited. He waited behind the door as she passed and just when Draco was about to enter, someone behind him let down their umbrella, sending water droplets flying into the back of his neck.
Draco spun around to see who had been so rude. It was probably a coincidence that lightning struck and thunder rolled at the exact moment Draco looked up and found himself faced once again with Harry Potter, but Draco couldn’t be sure. He sighed. Twice in one day he’d seen Potter. How could he be so lucky?
Potter reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a crumpled up tissue. He reached out like he was going to personally wipe the water from Draco’s neck, but Draco caught his wrist before he could. Draco pushed Potter’s arm down and reached into his own pocket for his handkerchief. He cleaned his neck thoroughly before folding the cloth back into a neat square and shoving it back into his pocket.
Draco glared at Potter.
"I’m sorry," Potter said, a sheepish grin on his face. "That one really was my fault."
Draco smiled tightly. "You’re forgiven Potter." He turned to enter the café. "Now if you’ll excuse me."
Draco found himself being grabbed at the elbow before he could leave Potter’s presence. He looked down at Potter’s hand wrapped firmly around his arm and glared down at it. Twice he’d met Potter, and twice Potter had grabbed him to stop him from leaving. Draco was already annoyed, but he was sure he’d be infuriated within the next few minutes.
Draco took a deep breath and looked up at Potter. "Excuse you," he said glancing at Potter and then back to Potter’s hand around him.
Potter at least had the decency to blush and let go of Draco. "Sorry. Again." He glanced down the road before he looked back and asked, "Would you like to have lunch with me?"
Draco looked at Potter. Had he heard him correctly? Had Potter just asked if he wanted to have lunch with him? What on earth would possess Potter to ask him to lunch? What was Potter thinking? Probably the same thing Potter was thinking when he presumed he could grab Draco not once, but twice as he saw fit.
"I don’t think so," Draco replied and walked into the café.
He walked up to the counter and ordered a tall hot chocolate. Before he could get his wallet out to pay for it, Potter sidled up beside him. He ordered two cinnamon rolls and an iced coffee, before whipping out his wallet and paying for both his and Draco’s orders.
"You didn’t have to do that."
"I know," Potter replied. "Consider it payment for earlier. You know the door thing, and the umbrella thing. Although the door thing wasn’t really my fau-"
"Thanks Potter," Draco said cutting him off. He grabbed his hot chocolate from the counter and walked past him.
"You’re going back out in that?" Potter asked.
Anything to get away from you, Draco thought, but he said, "Things to do Potter. No time to waste. Perhaps we’ll run into each other again sometime." Draco really really hoped they wouldn’t.
"We’ll have lunch then?" Potter asked.
Draco hesitated. "…Sure." He didn’t want to agree, but he had a feeling Potter had no plans of letting him leave until he did. "I’ll be seeing you," he said and quickly left the café.
Draco hit the button that pushed up the umbrella and hurriedly walked out into the rain and towards an apparition point. He really shouldn’t have agreed to lunch with Potter when that was absolutely the last thing he actually wanted, but he wanted to get away from the man. Agreeing was his quickest option. Draco shook his head. He supposed it didn’t matter anyway. Today was just a fluke. He hadn’t run into Potter in ten years. What were the odds that he’d run back into him a third time?
*****
The odds were very high it seemed. A few days later, Draco had gone out to pick up a book that had just been released and afterward, he’d decided to stop by the café. Potter was there once again. Draco had spotted him as soon as he walked in. Thankfully, Potter hadn’t noticed him. He’d seemed very preoccupied with whatever magazine he was flipping through the pages of.
Draco ducked his head and made his way up to the counter, quickly hoping he could order and run out before Potter even noticed he was ever there. There was only one other person ahead of him so Draco was sure he could make it out the door in time, but Luck, being the bastard that he was lately, decided that that just wasn’t going to happen.
"Malfoy?"
Draco plastered on the fakest smile he was capable of and turned around to greet Potter.
"Potter? Hello. I didn’t know you were here."
"Yeah, I just got here about ten minutes ago. You’re not busy are you? We could have that lunch you promised."
Draco certainly didn’t remember promising Potter anything. Sure he’d agreed to have lunch, but he had definitely not promised. A promise was something one had to keep and Draco most certainly didn’t want to keep anything with Potter. He contemplated lying, saying he was extremely busy, leaving Potter on his own, telling him they’d meet next time, and make damn sure he never set foot in this café again, but then Draco would have to find another café to frequent. One that had good hot chocolate, and good scones, and good raspberry tea-pretty much good everything. Draco didn’t want to do that. It had been hard enough finding this place.
"No, I’m not busy," Draco said reluctantly, but apparently not reluctantly enough that Potter noticed since Potter just smiled and grabbed one of the little paper menus from the counter.
Potter handed Draco the menu. "Order something. Everything here is pretty good. I’ve already ordered, so when you’re done, just come on over. I’m sitting just over there by the window," he pointed.
Draco nodded and watched him go.
After placing his order, Draco found Potter and sat down across from him. Potter closed his magazine, which upon further inspection, wasn’t a magazine at all, but appeared to be a superhero comic of some sort. Potter picked it from the table and placed it in his bag.
"So how are you?" Potter asked.
"I’m fine. You?"
"I’m great actually. I’m glad I caught you today. I’ve been wanting to talk to you since we bumped into each other the other day."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did you want to talk to me?"
Potter shrugged. "No reason. I just thought it was nice to see you. I was wondering how you’ve been and what you’ve been up to. I just wanted to catch up."
Draco crossed his arms over his chest. "Why would you want to catch up Potter? We were never friends."
"No, but… I think we could be. It’s been ten years. The war’s over. School’s over. Can’t we start over from here?"
"But why would you want to?" Draco asked.
"I don’t know," Potter replied. "Just because. Is there a reason why we shouldn’t?"
Draco could probably come up with a few good reasons, but he guessed Potter was right. The war was long over and so was school. The last thing Draco wanted to do was drag up any of the terribly stupid and stupidly terrible things he’d done while he was a teenager.
"No, I suppose there isn’t." If Potter wanted to move on, Draco could too.
"Good. We can be friends then?" Potter asked.
Draco almost scoffed. Friends was probably pushing it a whole hell of a lot, but why not? "Sure Potter. We can be friends."
"Great. Now, if we’re going to be friends we should probably stop calling each other by our last names, don’t you think?"
No, Draco really didn’t think that, but he agreed anyway. "Sure, Pot-, I mean Harry," Draco almost cringed. "We can do that."
Harry smiled. "So what do you do? You know for a living?"
"I’m a personal accountant," Draco replied. "I keep track of people’s finances, both business and personal, that kind of thing. Nothing too exciting. What about you?"
"Real Estate."
Draco hummed. "I expected you’d be an auror, or teaching back at Hogwarts or perhaps something similar."
Harry shrugged. "I thought about those things for a while, but they weren’t what I wanted at the end of the day."
"And Real Estate was?"
Harry chuckled. "Not really. I just kind of fell into it. I got a job a while back working as assistant to a Real Estate agent. I liked it well enough, so I decided to do it for a living. It’s fairly easy too. A whole bunch of people still fall all over themselves to buy a house from Harry Potter."
Draco shook his head. "You’d think people wouldn’t still be so star struck after ten years."
"It has died down a lot. Give it a few years and people will forget all about me."
"I know I tried to," Draco joked.
Harry laughed with him.
Their orders had come and the two of them drifted into easy conversation over tea and sandwiches. Harry asked Draco about his hobbies and other things people usually talked about when meeting after a long time. Nothing too invasive or personal. After a while, Draco found that he didn’t mind talking to Harry that much. It probably wasn’t something he’d like to do on a daily basis, but small talk with Harry, if he happened to bump into him another day, probably wouldn’t be entirely unbearable.
When they hit a lull in the conversation, Harry surprised Draco.
"You look good," Harry said.
"Well I would hope so, seeing as the last time you saw me was at my trial."
Harry shook his head. "No, that’s not what I mean. I mean, you look good, as in handsome good."
Draco’s ears warmed. He really hoped they weren’t as red as they felt. "Thank you Harry. You… look good too." And that was certainly the truth. Draco had noticed when they’d first bumped into each other that Harry had gotten a little taller, a little tanner, and thankfully had replaced his glasses with a more stylish pair. He was still on the thin side, and he still looked like he didn’t even know what a comb was, much less own one, but Draco had to admit that the man’s looks had improved since their school days. Draco had never really looked at Harry that way, but a few years had passed-and honestly-the man was attractive. Not that that meant anything.
It had gotten awkward after the passing of compliments and Draco thought about excusing himself, but before he could, one of the café workers came to the table and set down a plate with two steaming cinnamon rolls covered in icing. Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry.
"I order these every time I come here. They’re delicious. Have one."
Draco was never one to turn down sweets, so he picked up one of the rolls and took a nice sized bite. He nearly closed his eyes in delight, the thing was so good. "I come here all the time. Why have I not tried one of these?"
Harry laughed. "I’m glad I could introduce them to you. They’re the best, aren’t they?"
Draco only nodded since his mouth was full of dessert. After he finished, Draco wanted to lick the residual icing from his fingers, but that was far too uncouth out in public, so he used a napkin instead. He noticed that Harry hadn’t even hesitated in licking his fingers and the corners of his mouth clean.
Draco set his napkin neatly on the table. "I guess I should get going now. I had a good time," Draco said. He smiled at Harry. He was amused that he actually meant it.
"I had a good time too." Draco watched as Harry fingered his napkin. "We should do it again some time. But maybe next time… it could be… more of a… date?"
"A date?" Draco asked surprised. "Like me and you meeting each other with romantic connotations?"
Harry nodded. "That’s usually how it goes."
Draco chuckled. "Definitely not, Potter."
"Harry," Harry corrected.
"Harry," Draco said. "Still, I don’t think so."
"You’re not interested?"
"It’s not that I’m not interested," Draco was indeed interested in Harry in some manner. It had been fun chatting with the man after a long time and really attempting to get to know him, but dating him was another story. Dating Harry Potter was a little too much. "I just don’t think we should. Let’s just be friends. At least for now."
"And later?" Harry asked.
"Later, we…" Draco hesitated. "I don’t know. Friendship is all I can offer you right now. Take it or leave it."
*****
And take it he had. Harry agreed to Draco’s offer of only friendship. In fact, Harry had suggested- and Draco had accepted- that they quickly made plans to meet up again. As friends, of course.
The two of them met at an apparition point in Diagon Alley. They hadn’t taken two steps before the dark clouds above them decided that it was a fine time to drench the both of them.
Harry, seemingly always prepared, reached into his bag and pulled out an umbrella. He huddled next to Draco and said, "Shall we?" as he gestured in the direction they were going.
They walked at a quick pace, carefully avoiding puddles and the other occupants of Diagon Alley. Eventually, they made their way to a small bookstore and went in.
"Are we going to stay here until the rain dies down?" Draco asked.
Harry put his umbrella down and shook his head. "No. This is where we’re going."
Draco cast a quick drying spell on Harry’s umbrella before Harry could stuff it back into his bag.
"Thanks. I always forget."
"Of course you do," Draco replied. "I didn’t take you for much of reader," Draco changed the subject.
"I read all the time. I love it actually."
Draco nodded, remembering the comic he’d seen Harry reading when they’d met in the café. "Is it just comics or…?"
"No, I read lots of things. Comics, romance, comedies, nonfiction, whatever I’m in the mood for that day. What about you?"
"I haven’t particularly had much time to read lately, but I love a good mystery when I get the chance."
"I haven’t read a lot of mysteries, but I’d love to read more. Which ones are your favourites?"
Draco led the way to the mystery section and Harry followed right behind him. Many of Draco’s favourite authors and titles were in stock, even some of the more obscure ones to his surprise. He showed a few of his top reads to Harry and Harry showed extreme interest in every single one of them. He asked Draco what each of them was about and why he loved them. Draco had never felt more insightful while sharing his thoughts about each of them.
Draco let Harry show him some of his favorite titles too. Lots of comics, contemporary reads, and to Draco’s surprise, Harry even showed him a few books from foreign countries that had been translated into English. Draco had never pegged Harry for the cultural type. The man was getting more interesting by the minute.
They spent at least an hour in the bookstore, perusing the aisles from genre to genre. Harry suggested that they choose books for each other. Harry picked out books he hoped Draco might like and Draco did the same for Harry. By the end of the hour, they both had several books in hand, specially picked out by the other. Draco couldn’t wait to get home and crack open the books Harry had given him.
After they paid for their books, they left the shop and Harry walked Draco back to the apparition point they had met at earlier.
"Let’s go out again," Harry said. "Maybe next week?"
There was no need to hesitate. Draco had had such a good time, he agreed immediately. "I’d love to."
*****
Draco and Harry met several times over the next few weeks. Draco was getting used to Harry’s presence and the time they spent together as friends. They usually met at least three times a week when the other wasn’t busy and Draco enjoyed every minute of it. It turned out that Harry was very good company. The whole friendship thing was actually working out.
Today, Draco met Harry at their designated apparition point. Harry said he had a surprise for Draco and side-alonged him to a park.. A muggle park, much to Draco’s surprise. A muggle park with lots of muggles and lots of extremely loud children.
"What are we doing here?" Draco asked while attempting to dodge a child that had nearly run into him while chasing another.
"We’re here to have fun."
"Playing on the swings isn’t exactly my idea of fun."
Harry waved him off. "We’re not here for the playground equipment. Follow me."
Draco followed Harry past the playground and towards a large grassy field. There were about ten other adults standing in the center. A few of them passed around a red ball.
"Kickball," Harry said to him.
"What?"
"Kickball," Harry said again. "It’s essentially a game where a player kicks the ball and runs those little white bases," he said pointing. "If the team in the field catches the ball or touches the kicker with the ball before they touch a base, the kicker is out."
"So it’s like baseball then?"
Harry looked surprised. "You’ve heard of baseball?"
"I used to play a magical version of it when I was in grade school. I’m not completely unaware of all things muggle, Harry."
Harry smiled. "That’s good. This should be fairly easy for you then."
They both joined the same team and the kickball game started. Draco was a little embarrassed when it came time for him to kick the ball. His foot-eye coordination was off and he missed the ball a couple of times before he managed to kick it. Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t kicked the ball very well and was ousted before he got anywhere near first base.
Once Draco’s and Harry’s teams switched to the field, Draco only managed to further embarrass himself when he got hit in the head with the bright red ball after one of the bigger guys on the opposing team kicked it into the field. His teammates and Harry were helpful, asking him if he was okay and if he needed a seat, but he waved them off, determined to keep playing and show everyone he wasn’t completely incompetent.
Except he was. Draco managed to get himself relegated to a corner of the field where the ball rarely ever flew to after he’d fumbled the ball a time too many and managed to let the other team score several home runs.
It was time to switch again and Draco had plans to make sure he was the last kicker to hopefully spare himself the chuckles he’d surely receive after he missed the ball again, but fortunately for Draco, it started to drizzle right when their team’s first kicker went up. They attempted to play through it, but a few minutes later, the rain started to pour.
Harry ran to Draco and the both of them shuffled to a tree not too far away to take shelter. The tree didn’t offer much protection from the rain, but neither of them noticed or even thought to cast any sort of charm.
"That was fun, yeah?" Harry asked.
"Mostly," Draco replied.
"Mostly?"
"I guess you missed the parts where I dropped the ball multiple times or when I missed it several times, and were you there when I got smacked in the head with the ball?"
Harry smiled. "I was there. That was funny."
Draco scoffed. "I could’ve gotten hurt."
"The odds of that are slim. I know. I’ve been smacked with quite a few kickballs. I even had to get new glasses once."
"That explains the upgrade then," Draco said pointing to Harry’s glasses.
"It does," Harry replied.
It was silent for a moment as the two of them watched the rain. Draco was startled when Harry pushed his hair off of his forehead and leaned in close. "Your forehead is kind of red." He gently rubbed the skin. "It doesn’t hurt does it?"
Draco shook his head and shivered as Harry moved his hand from Draco’s forehead and cupped his cheek. Draco shivered and his heart sped up. He and Harry would probably have to get home soon. Clearly the weather was bad for his health.
"I really like you Draco," Harry said suddenly.
"You do?" Draco asked feeling a bit dazed.
Harry nodded. "I do. I’ve had a lot of fun with you over these past few weeks."
"Me too."
"Are we really just friends? Or is this more than that?"
If he was honest with himself, he was having the time of his life right now. He hadn’t been this happy in a long time. It was great spending so much time with Harry. Draco didn’t want it to end, but was it more than friendship? Did Draco want it to be more than friendship? He couldn’t answer that. So he didn’t.
Draco didn’t know what he expected after he didn’t reply, but it certainly wasn’t Harry’s lips pressed to his. Harry kissed him gently and pulled back. He looked at Draco, his eyes seemingly searching for something. Draco knew what it was he was searching for. Perhaps an acknowledgement of some sort that Draco wanted this too. Draco bit his lip and realized that yes, he did want this. At least the physical part of this. The this that was happening right at this moment. He wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck and dragged him down into a searing kiss. Their lips crashed together and their tongues met. It was quick and messy, and neither of them was properly leading the other, but it was brilliant.
"Do you want to come back to mine?" Harry asked.
Draco nodded.
*****
Neither of them had bothered to move in the past five minutes. Draco had been feeling a bit gross and sticky so he had cast a quick scourgify over the both of them. A shower could wait until later. He smiled to himself. A shower with Harry for round two didn’t sound like a bad idea either, but still it could wait.
Draco leaned back into Harry’s chest. He felt warm and sated as Harry wrapped him tightly in his arms. The sex had been good, amazing even, but this was far more pleasurable to Draco. He placed his hand over Harry’s and caressed his skin. He could feel Harry breathing lightly behind him and nuzzling the hair at the nape of his neck.
"This is nice," Draco said softly.
Harry hummed. "It is. I could really get used to this."
"Me too."
"I could really see myself falling in love with you," Harry said into Draco’s neck.
Draco tensed as Harry whispered the words against his skin. Love? That was far too much for Draco. He and Harry had barely started dating, they hadn’t even technically been dating, and now Harry was talking about love? Draco jumped up and started to put his clothes back on.
Harry got up too and caught him by the wrist. "Where are you going? What happened?"
Draco shook his head rapidly as he pulled up his trousers. "Nothing. Nothing. I just realized I have to be somewhere."
"Right now?"
"I just remembered. I have to go. Sorry"
Draco rushed out of the room, down the stairs, and out of Harry’s flat. It was pouring down outside, just like it always seemed to be these days.
"Draco," Harry placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Why don’t you come back inside and take the floo?"
"It’s fine. It’s not that bad out. I can apparate."
"You can’t just apparate. There’s way too many muggles around. Come back inside and floo back home."
Harry took Draco’s hand, but Draco quickly snatched it back.
Harry looked at him questioningly. "What’s wrong?"
Draco said nothing. He looked out into the street at all the muggles passing by. Some under umbrellas, some with their bags or newspapers over their heads in a feeble attempt to dodge the rain. Regardless of their chosen shield, they all moved fairly quickly, clearly wanting to get out of the downpour. Draco had never been fond of the rain, but more than anything, he wanted to be out there bustling along getting soaking wet just like everyone else, because he surely didn’t want to be here, on Harry’s doorstep, about to have the conversation they were about to have.
"You don’t really have to be somewhere. Do you?" It was more of a statement than a question.
Draco shook his head. "I don’t."
"Then what’s the problem? Why are you rushing off?"
"I think this was a mistake Harry."
"What was a mistake?"
"This," Draco gestured between the two of them. "Us."
"The sex? Or everything?"
"Everything."
"I don’t get it. I thought we were having a good time? We’re friends aren’t we?"
"We were. We are," Draco corrected. "But, clearly you want more than that."
"You don’t want more than that?"
"I don’t know. I just think this whole thing is moving too fast, too soon. It’s too much… I’m not sure I want to do it anymore. I should go," Draco said turning around. He descended a few steps before Harry stopped him from leaving.
Harry quickly shuffled in front of him. They were both standing in the rain now after moving away from the shelter of Harry’s roof.
"Come back in please? Let’s talk about this properly." Harry said.
"No. I don’t think it’s going to work out Harry. I’d rather not waste anymore of my time."
Harry crossed his arms over his chest and pushed his rain slicked hair back off of his forehead. "So I’m a waste of time now? You’re just suddenly regretting everything?"
Draco pushed past Harry.
"Stay Draco," Harry said. "Talk to me. Whatever it is, we can fix it."
Draco kept walking.
"You’re coming back right?" Harry asked him, sounding defeated.
Draco stopped and looked back at Harry. A pang of regret rose in his chest, but Draco ignored it. "I don’t know," he said before running away, the rain dripping down his face alongside his tears.
*****
Over the next few days, Harry had tried contacting him several times. He’d owled him repeatedly and he’d even shown up on his doorstep once, but Draco pretended he wasn’t home. A few more days passed and Harry had stopped attempting to reach him.
Draco missed him. A lot. He hadn’t realized just how much of an impact the man had made in his life over such a short period of time. If only he hadn’t been so scared of where his relationship with Harry had been going. If only he had told him how he was feeling instead of running off and avoiding the issue. Perhaps Harry would have understood. Perhaps he would have allowed Draco to take things as slowly as he wanted to.
He’d wanted to contact Harry several times, but each time he attempted to owl him, or go over to his house, something told him to stop, and he never did. Draco wanted to explain, but he wasn’t brave enough to do so. He forced himself into thinking that it was for the best. He and Harry would have never worked out in the end anyway.
The days turned into weeks and Draco’s sadness and regret had turned into bitter resentment. He thought about Harry every day. What he was doing, where he was, and who he was with. He wondered if Harry thought about him too, but there was no indication that he had. Maybe the whole relationship had been a fluke. Harry had said he could see himself falling for Draco, but apparently not enough to worry about him after they’d broken it off.
Funnily enough, in the passing weeks since they’d seen each other, it hadn’t rained one bit. Not even a drizzle. Draco had never even noticed a single grey cloud in the sky. It seemed Mother Nature had been overjoyed that Draco and Harry hadn’t worked out.
Draco sighed. He really had to stop thinking about it. It was him who’d ended it after all. Two weeks was enough to time to grieve; now it was time to move on. That was why he was going to go back to his favorite café today. He hadn’t been there since the last time he’d gone with Harry. He hadn’t wanted to bump into him so he’d avoided it at all costs, but now he felt it was time to hold his head high. He couldn’t let Harry potentially turn him away from his favorite lunch spot.
Draco entered the café, went up to the counter and ordered an iced coffee. At the last minute he added on one of the cinnamon rolls Harry had introduced him to. He hadn’t had one in what felt like ages, and memories of Harry weren’t nearly enough to make him pass up on such a delicious treat. After he received his order, he made his way to the back of the café and pulled out his newspaper.
He placed the newspaper on the table and scanned the café. Then he quickly picked his paper back up so he could hide behind it and still peek out enough to get a good glimpse. It was just his luck that Harry was standing at the front counter ordering. And he wasn’t by himself, Draco noticed. He watched as Harry ordered and then gestured for the blond beside him to order as well. Draco clenched his paper as the man patted Harry on the back. Harry smiled back brightly.
Draco hid completely as Harry and the man went and took a seat near a window. Draco watched the entire encounter. They sat, and ate and drank like they were the best of friends. They were friends right? There was no way this was a date. No way Harry had moved on and gotten over him so quickly. Right?
Eventually, the two men got up and left the café. Draco realized he hadn’t even touched his cinnamon roll or finished the rest of his coffee. He’d spent the whole time watching Harry and his companion. Draco watched them through the window. He could see Harry and the man pass by, acting just as jovial as they had been in the café. Draco watched them until they were out of sight. He sat for a few seconds debating what he was about to do, before he abruptly stood up and left the café.
He looked down the street in the direction the two men had gone. Draco caught up to them and kept his distance. He realized he was being ridiculous right now. He was practically stalking Harry, but he didn’t care.
Draco followed them all the way to a bookstore and noticed that it was the exact same bookstore Harry had taken him to. He didn’t follow them into the store, but he tried subtly peeking at them through the window. They hadn’t gone too deep into the store, so Draco could see them from his vantage point. He watched as Harry pointed out and picked up some books before shoving them in the man’s hands. They looked over them together, clearly having a good time.
It clicked for Draco then. Harry was on a date with this man. He’d even done the same things with him he’d done with Draco. It must’ve been Harry’s ritual. Chat with them over lunch in the café then take them to the bookstore. Draco could guess that Harry would take this new guy to the park for a game of kickball if he hadn’t already. The next step was the bedroom. Draco didn’t know how to feel. Maybe it was a good thing he’d left Harry when he did. Harry was probably going to ditch him anyway before too long. The whole love thing was probably just a ploy to get him into bed a few more times before he dropped him for good. Maybe Draco had dodged a bullet.
Draco hid as the two men stepped out of the building. They walked further along until they disappeared around the corner. Draco thought about following them some more, but he’d seen enough for one day.
*****
A whole day later, and Draco was still smarting at how quickly Harry had gone and replaced him. He had thought that Harry was a fairly decent person, but clearly he had thought wrong.
Despite being utterly angry at Harry, Draco had found himself in the muggle park Harry had taken him to. He really wanted to put Harry Potter behind him, but a part of him, the part that just wanted to make life harder for himself, wanted to see if Harry was there with the guy he’d seen him with yesterday.
It was highly unlikely that Harry would be there, but Draco had to find out for himself. He walked over to the field they’d played kickball in and no one was there. Not that he was surprised. Draco breathed a deep sigh of relief, at least for today he hadn’t seen Harry with his new plaything.
He walked over to the tree Harry had kissed him underneath. He crossed his arms and leant up against it. Draco squinted against the sun’s rays and looked out into the distance. He stood up a little straighter when he thought he saw someone who looked like Harry. He squinted a little more, but he couldn’t quite tell whether it was him or not, but he no longer needed to question when seconds later, the man from yesterday went jogging up to Harry, calling out his name in the process.
Draco stood up completely. That pretty much confirmed it. Harry had been playing him the entire time. Draco was upset and embarrassed that he’d ever had feelings for him. He was even more upset and embarrassed that he still had feelings for him. How dare Harry treat him like that?
Draco huffed and stomped his way over to Harry. Harry had been right in the middle of hugging the other guy when Draco pulled Harry away from him.
"Draco? What are y-"
"What the hell is this?" Draco yelled. "Who is he? Didn’t you tell me you loved me two weeks ago?" Draco knew he sounded whiny, childish, and pathetic as hell, but he continued. "Now you’re out here with him, doing all the things you did with me. Lunch at the café, a date at the bookstore, and now a date at the park. What is this? You’re supposed to do those things with me."
Harry tilted his head and looked at Draco. He stared for a few seconds more before he smiled and broke out in laughter.
Draco was shocked. "How dare you? You think this is funny? Am I a joke to you? This was all a game to you wasn’t it? You never actually liked me. You just wanted to humiliate me didn’t you? I’m glad I called it off. At least I stopped you from humiliating me any further."
Draco breathed heavily. He looked away from Harry and saw a bunch of faces staring in his direction. Just great. Harry didn’t need to humiliate him. He’d done a fine job of that on his own.
Draco’s eyes watered. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop from crying, but it was to no avail. Just as the first tear slid down his face, the first droplets of rain fell from the sky.
"Draco," Harry said as he wiped a tear from Draco’s cheek. "It’s not like that at all. He owns the café, so we eat there from time to time. We went to the bookstore so I could help him find a cookbook ‘cause he wanted a recipe for a cake, and we’re here now for a birthday party for Ron and Hermione’s son. See?" Harry pointed over Draco’s shoulder.
Draco looked, and just behind him was a whole gaggle of red-headed Weasley’s, their kids and presumably their spouses. Draco could spot Weasley and Granger (or was it Weasley too now?) at a table covered in food, casting spells in an attempt to save it from the rain. How on earth had he not noticed them before?
Draco’s cheeks warmed. He turned back around. "Who’s this then?" He nodded in the blond’s direction.
Harry introduced him "This is one of Ron’s brothers, Charlie."
"Aren’t you supposed to be a ginger?" Draco asked.
Charlie chuckled. "It’s bleach mate. I’d think you’d know all about it."
Draco scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. "This is natural I’ll have you know."
Charlie shrugged. "I’ll leave you to it Harry," he said and ran over to the rest of the Weasley’s.
Left all alone with Harry, Draco didn’t know what to say. He was getting more wet by the minute and he was thoroughly embarrassed on top of that. He’d reacted like a child and how ridiculous was that? "I…" he started. "I don’t know what to say."
"Did you mean what you said?"
"What?" Draco asked.
"Did you mean it when you said it should be you I was with?"
Draco cleared his throat and nodded. "I did."
"Then why’d you run away?"
"I don’t know," Draco shrugged. "I was scared I think. We’d just barely started seeing each other. Only as friends at that, and you were telling me you loved me. You were moving entirely too fast."
Harry smiled. "You should know me by now Draco. I just like jumping in. Unprepared most of the time." Harry reached out and held Draco’s hand. "I never said I loved you anyway though. I said I think I could."
Draco rolled his eyes before he rubbed his thumb over Harry’s. "That’s practically the same thing and you know it...but.. I overreacted. I heard what you said, but the word love made me panic. I wasn’t ready to even think about that yet."
"Are you now?" Harry asked.
Draco pulled Harry into a hug. He wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck and whispered into his ear. "I’m not ready now either," Draco said. He felt Harry tense. "But I think I will be soon, so let’s leave love, in any iteration, out of the equation for now and start out slow, okay?"
"Okay,"
"Give me some time. Not now, but eventually…" Draco trailed off.
Harry pulled back, "That’s good enough for me."
The clouds had opened up completely at some point. The light drizzle had turned into a much heavier rain. Draco’s face was covered with raindrops and he couldn’t tell if the taste of salt on his lips was from his tears or the rain, but it didn’t matter. He and Harry were giving it another go and Draco could be happy again. Mother Nature was apparently displeased once more, but she could shove it for all Draco cared. He was back with Harry and he was going to make the most of it this time. Harry smiled at him as the rain dripped down his face and speckled his glasses. Draco smiled back.
Author: HD_FANGIRL
Prompt: # S34 by eijineko
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Word Count: 7323
Rating: PG13
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: To the prompter: I think I touched on a few things from your prompt, but in the end, I strayed away from everything you probably wanted. I'm sure it's not even close to what you were expecting, but I hope you like it anyway.
Summary: Draco hasn’t seen Harry Potter in years, but he bumps into in the rain one day.
Draco stepped out of Gringotts and right into the rain. It had been perfectly sunny half an hour ago when he’d gone into the bank, and now it was pouring like there was no tomorrow. It might have been of some use to him to cast an Impervius charm, but Impervius only worked so much. It was far more suitable for a bit of a drizzle and a more moderate downpour, but in torrential rains like this one? The water would break through his charm eventually.
Draco huddled himself as far under the entrance of Gringotts as he could. He could make a run for an apparition point, but he had on one of his more expensive leather jackets, and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin it. And of course he still had a few more errands he needed to run. He sighed. He supposed it would be better to just wait this one out.
A few minutes passed, and the rain showed no sign of letting up. Draco was quickly losing his patience. He’d give it just a few more minutes before he’d take his chances and dash into the rain, jacket be damned. Unfortunately for him, whilst he was standing under the bank entrance, one of the doors opened swiftly and knocked him off balance.
"Oh, excuse me," he heard a deep voice say. "Are you alright?"
Draco stood up properly, about to tell the person that yes, he was indeed fine and it was his fault really for standing in front of the doors, but when he looked up, he was met with none other than Harry Potter. A man he hadn’t seen in at least ten years- had actually carefully avoided for at least ten years- staring him straight in the face, looking quite apologetic.
"Please watch where you’re going," Draco said curtly.
"I’m sorry," Potter responded. "I wasn’t paying attention." Potter crossed his arms over his chest. "But this is your fault. You shouldn’t be standing in front of the exit, blocking customers from leaving."
Potter was right of course, but Draco wasn’t going to admit to that.
"I don’t know if you’ve noticed Potter, but it’s raining."
Potter looked past Draco and examined the scene behind him. "It definitely is," he said.
He stared back at Draco and Draco stared back at him. A few seconds passed and they both still stared.
Uncomfortable with the staring contest taking place, Draco looked away first. He cleared his throat. "I guess the rain’s not going anywhere. I’ll just have to make a run for it."
He nearly stepped out into the pour, but Potter grabbed the material at his elbow and pulled him back. Potter pulled his bag off his back, reached in and pulled out an umbrella.
"Take this," he said as he gestured it in Draco’s direction.
"No thank you Potter. I’ll be fine."
"No, take it," he replied. He opened it up over Draco’s head and held it out for him to take. "Ron and Hermione always forget to bring one, so I always have an extra. You can borrow it."
Draco felt a pang of jealousy in his chest at the mention of Potter’s childhood turned adulthood friends. He hadn’t managed to stay friends with any of the people he’d once felt close to at Hogwarts.
He reluctantly took the umbrella from Potter. He didn’t want to stay any longer should Potter get the idea to try and "catch up" with him or some other nonsense.
"Thank you," Draco said as he nodded towards Potter in goodbye.
He quickly descended Gringott’s stairs as a faint "No problem," followed him.
*****
Draco spotted his favorite café just up ahead. It was still raining hard outside and fortunately for him, the café didn’t look crowded. It was the perfect place for him to duck into to wait it out and drink a cup of hot chocolate.
He reached the doorway and let down the umbrella Potter had given him. He reached for the door and held it open as an older woman exited. He waited behind the door as she passed and just when Draco was about to enter, someone behind him let down their umbrella, sending water droplets flying into the back of his neck.
Draco spun around to see who had been so rude. It was probably a coincidence that lightning struck and thunder rolled at the exact moment Draco looked up and found himself faced once again with Harry Potter, but Draco couldn’t be sure. He sighed. Twice in one day he’d seen Potter. How could he be so lucky?
Potter reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a crumpled up tissue. He reached out like he was going to personally wipe the water from Draco’s neck, but Draco caught his wrist before he could. Draco pushed Potter’s arm down and reached into his own pocket for his handkerchief. He cleaned his neck thoroughly before folding the cloth back into a neat square and shoving it back into his pocket.
Draco glared at Potter.
"I’m sorry," Potter said, a sheepish grin on his face. "That one really was my fault."
Draco smiled tightly. "You’re forgiven Potter." He turned to enter the café. "Now if you’ll excuse me."
Draco found himself being grabbed at the elbow before he could leave Potter’s presence. He looked down at Potter’s hand wrapped firmly around his arm and glared down at it. Twice he’d met Potter, and twice Potter had grabbed him to stop him from leaving. Draco was already annoyed, but he was sure he’d be infuriated within the next few minutes.
Draco took a deep breath and looked up at Potter. "Excuse you," he said glancing at Potter and then back to Potter’s hand around him.
Potter at least had the decency to blush and let go of Draco. "Sorry. Again." He glanced down the road before he looked back and asked, "Would you like to have lunch with me?"
Draco looked at Potter. Had he heard him correctly? Had Potter just asked if he wanted to have lunch with him? What on earth would possess Potter to ask him to lunch? What was Potter thinking? Probably the same thing Potter was thinking when he presumed he could grab Draco not once, but twice as he saw fit.
"I don’t think so," Draco replied and walked into the café.
He walked up to the counter and ordered a tall hot chocolate. Before he could get his wallet out to pay for it, Potter sidled up beside him. He ordered two cinnamon rolls and an iced coffee, before whipping out his wallet and paying for both his and Draco’s orders.
"You didn’t have to do that."
"I know," Potter replied. "Consider it payment for earlier. You know the door thing, and the umbrella thing. Although the door thing wasn’t really my fau-"
"Thanks Potter," Draco said cutting him off. He grabbed his hot chocolate from the counter and walked past him.
"You’re going back out in that?" Potter asked.
Anything to get away from you, Draco thought, but he said, "Things to do Potter. No time to waste. Perhaps we’ll run into each other again sometime." Draco really really hoped they wouldn’t.
"We’ll have lunch then?" Potter asked.
Draco hesitated. "…Sure." He didn’t want to agree, but he had a feeling Potter had no plans of letting him leave until he did. "I’ll be seeing you," he said and quickly left the café.
Draco hit the button that pushed up the umbrella and hurriedly walked out into the rain and towards an apparition point. He really shouldn’t have agreed to lunch with Potter when that was absolutely the last thing he actually wanted, but he wanted to get away from the man. Agreeing was his quickest option. Draco shook his head. He supposed it didn’t matter anyway. Today was just a fluke. He hadn’t run into Potter in ten years. What were the odds that he’d run back into him a third time?
*****
The odds were very high it seemed. A few days later, Draco had gone out to pick up a book that had just been released and afterward, he’d decided to stop by the café. Potter was there once again. Draco had spotted him as soon as he walked in. Thankfully, Potter hadn’t noticed him. He’d seemed very preoccupied with whatever magazine he was flipping through the pages of.
Draco ducked his head and made his way up to the counter, quickly hoping he could order and run out before Potter even noticed he was ever there. There was only one other person ahead of him so Draco was sure he could make it out the door in time, but Luck, being the bastard that he was lately, decided that that just wasn’t going to happen.
"Malfoy?"
Draco plastered on the fakest smile he was capable of and turned around to greet Potter.
"Potter? Hello. I didn’t know you were here."
"Yeah, I just got here about ten minutes ago. You’re not busy are you? We could have that lunch you promised."
Draco certainly didn’t remember promising Potter anything. Sure he’d agreed to have lunch, but he had definitely not promised. A promise was something one had to keep and Draco most certainly didn’t want to keep anything with Potter. He contemplated lying, saying he was extremely busy, leaving Potter on his own, telling him they’d meet next time, and make damn sure he never set foot in this café again, but then Draco would have to find another café to frequent. One that had good hot chocolate, and good scones, and good raspberry tea-pretty much good everything. Draco didn’t want to do that. It had been hard enough finding this place.
"No, I’m not busy," Draco said reluctantly, but apparently not reluctantly enough that Potter noticed since Potter just smiled and grabbed one of the little paper menus from the counter.
Potter handed Draco the menu. "Order something. Everything here is pretty good. I’ve already ordered, so when you’re done, just come on over. I’m sitting just over there by the window," he pointed.
Draco nodded and watched him go.
After placing his order, Draco found Potter and sat down across from him. Potter closed his magazine, which upon further inspection, wasn’t a magazine at all, but appeared to be a superhero comic of some sort. Potter picked it from the table and placed it in his bag.
"So how are you?" Potter asked.
"I’m fine. You?"
"I’m great actually. I’m glad I caught you today. I’ve been wanting to talk to you since we bumped into each other the other day."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did you want to talk to me?"
Potter shrugged. "No reason. I just thought it was nice to see you. I was wondering how you’ve been and what you’ve been up to. I just wanted to catch up."
Draco crossed his arms over his chest. "Why would you want to catch up Potter? We were never friends."
"No, but… I think we could be. It’s been ten years. The war’s over. School’s over. Can’t we start over from here?"
"But why would you want to?" Draco asked.
"I don’t know," Potter replied. "Just because. Is there a reason why we shouldn’t?"
Draco could probably come up with a few good reasons, but he guessed Potter was right. The war was long over and so was school. The last thing Draco wanted to do was drag up any of the terribly stupid and stupidly terrible things he’d done while he was a teenager.
"No, I suppose there isn’t." If Potter wanted to move on, Draco could too.
"Good. We can be friends then?" Potter asked.
Draco almost scoffed. Friends was probably pushing it a whole hell of a lot, but why not? "Sure Potter. We can be friends."
"Great. Now, if we’re going to be friends we should probably stop calling each other by our last names, don’t you think?"
No, Draco really didn’t think that, but he agreed anyway. "Sure, Pot-, I mean Harry," Draco almost cringed. "We can do that."
Harry smiled. "So what do you do? You know for a living?"
"I’m a personal accountant," Draco replied. "I keep track of people’s finances, both business and personal, that kind of thing. Nothing too exciting. What about you?"
"Real Estate."
Draco hummed. "I expected you’d be an auror, or teaching back at Hogwarts or perhaps something similar."
Harry shrugged. "I thought about those things for a while, but they weren’t what I wanted at the end of the day."
"And Real Estate was?"
Harry chuckled. "Not really. I just kind of fell into it. I got a job a while back working as assistant to a Real Estate agent. I liked it well enough, so I decided to do it for a living. It’s fairly easy too. A whole bunch of people still fall all over themselves to buy a house from Harry Potter."
Draco shook his head. "You’d think people wouldn’t still be so star struck after ten years."
"It has died down a lot. Give it a few years and people will forget all about me."
"I know I tried to," Draco joked.
Harry laughed with him.
Their orders had come and the two of them drifted into easy conversation over tea and sandwiches. Harry asked Draco about his hobbies and other things people usually talked about when meeting after a long time. Nothing too invasive or personal. After a while, Draco found that he didn’t mind talking to Harry that much. It probably wasn’t something he’d like to do on a daily basis, but small talk with Harry, if he happened to bump into him another day, probably wouldn’t be entirely unbearable.
When they hit a lull in the conversation, Harry surprised Draco.
"You look good," Harry said.
"Well I would hope so, seeing as the last time you saw me was at my trial."
Harry shook his head. "No, that’s not what I mean. I mean, you look good, as in handsome good."
Draco’s ears warmed. He really hoped they weren’t as red as they felt. "Thank you Harry. You… look good too." And that was certainly the truth. Draco had noticed when they’d first bumped into each other that Harry had gotten a little taller, a little tanner, and thankfully had replaced his glasses with a more stylish pair. He was still on the thin side, and he still looked like he didn’t even know what a comb was, much less own one, but Draco had to admit that the man’s looks had improved since their school days. Draco had never really looked at Harry that way, but a few years had passed-and honestly-the man was attractive. Not that that meant anything.
It had gotten awkward after the passing of compliments and Draco thought about excusing himself, but before he could, one of the café workers came to the table and set down a plate with two steaming cinnamon rolls covered in icing. Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry.
"I order these every time I come here. They’re delicious. Have one."
Draco was never one to turn down sweets, so he picked up one of the rolls and took a nice sized bite. He nearly closed his eyes in delight, the thing was so good. "I come here all the time. Why have I not tried one of these?"
Harry laughed. "I’m glad I could introduce them to you. They’re the best, aren’t they?"
Draco only nodded since his mouth was full of dessert. After he finished, Draco wanted to lick the residual icing from his fingers, but that was far too uncouth out in public, so he used a napkin instead. He noticed that Harry hadn’t even hesitated in licking his fingers and the corners of his mouth clean.
Draco set his napkin neatly on the table. "I guess I should get going now. I had a good time," Draco said. He smiled at Harry. He was amused that he actually meant it.
"I had a good time too." Draco watched as Harry fingered his napkin. "We should do it again some time. But maybe next time… it could be… more of a… date?"
"A date?" Draco asked surprised. "Like me and you meeting each other with romantic connotations?"
Harry nodded. "That’s usually how it goes."
Draco chuckled. "Definitely not, Potter."
"Harry," Harry corrected.
"Harry," Draco said. "Still, I don’t think so."
"You’re not interested?"
"It’s not that I’m not interested," Draco was indeed interested in Harry in some manner. It had been fun chatting with the man after a long time and really attempting to get to know him, but dating him was another story. Dating Harry Potter was a little too much. "I just don’t think we should. Let’s just be friends. At least for now."
"And later?" Harry asked.
"Later, we…" Draco hesitated. "I don’t know. Friendship is all I can offer you right now. Take it or leave it."
*****
And take it he had. Harry agreed to Draco’s offer of only friendship. In fact, Harry had suggested- and Draco had accepted- that they quickly made plans to meet up again. As friends, of course.
The two of them met at an apparition point in Diagon Alley. They hadn’t taken two steps before the dark clouds above them decided that it was a fine time to drench the both of them.
Harry, seemingly always prepared, reached into his bag and pulled out an umbrella. He huddled next to Draco and said, "Shall we?" as he gestured in the direction they were going.
They walked at a quick pace, carefully avoiding puddles and the other occupants of Diagon Alley. Eventually, they made their way to a small bookstore and went in.
"Are we going to stay here until the rain dies down?" Draco asked.
Harry put his umbrella down and shook his head. "No. This is where we’re going."
Draco cast a quick drying spell on Harry’s umbrella before Harry could stuff it back into his bag.
"Thanks. I always forget."
"Of course you do," Draco replied. "I didn’t take you for much of reader," Draco changed the subject.
"I read all the time. I love it actually."
Draco nodded, remembering the comic he’d seen Harry reading when they’d met in the café. "Is it just comics or…?"
"No, I read lots of things. Comics, romance, comedies, nonfiction, whatever I’m in the mood for that day. What about you?"
"I haven’t particularly had much time to read lately, but I love a good mystery when I get the chance."
"I haven’t read a lot of mysteries, but I’d love to read more. Which ones are your favourites?"
Draco led the way to the mystery section and Harry followed right behind him. Many of Draco’s favourite authors and titles were in stock, even some of the more obscure ones to his surprise. He showed a few of his top reads to Harry and Harry showed extreme interest in every single one of them. He asked Draco what each of them was about and why he loved them. Draco had never felt more insightful while sharing his thoughts about each of them.
Draco let Harry show him some of his favorite titles too. Lots of comics, contemporary reads, and to Draco’s surprise, Harry even showed him a few books from foreign countries that had been translated into English. Draco had never pegged Harry for the cultural type. The man was getting more interesting by the minute.
They spent at least an hour in the bookstore, perusing the aisles from genre to genre. Harry suggested that they choose books for each other. Harry picked out books he hoped Draco might like and Draco did the same for Harry. By the end of the hour, they both had several books in hand, specially picked out by the other. Draco couldn’t wait to get home and crack open the books Harry had given him.
After they paid for their books, they left the shop and Harry walked Draco back to the apparition point they had met at earlier.
"Let’s go out again," Harry said. "Maybe next week?"
There was no need to hesitate. Draco had had such a good time, he agreed immediately. "I’d love to."
*****
Draco and Harry met several times over the next few weeks. Draco was getting used to Harry’s presence and the time they spent together as friends. They usually met at least three times a week when the other wasn’t busy and Draco enjoyed every minute of it. It turned out that Harry was very good company. The whole friendship thing was actually working out.
Today, Draco met Harry at their designated apparition point. Harry said he had a surprise for Draco and side-alonged him to a park.. A muggle park, much to Draco’s surprise. A muggle park with lots of muggles and lots of extremely loud children.
"What are we doing here?" Draco asked while attempting to dodge a child that had nearly run into him while chasing another.
"We’re here to have fun."
"Playing on the swings isn’t exactly my idea of fun."
Harry waved him off. "We’re not here for the playground equipment. Follow me."
Draco followed Harry past the playground and towards a large grassy field. There were about ten other adults standing in the center. A few of them passed around a red ball.
"Kickball," Harry said to him.
"What?"
"Kickball," Harry said again. "It’s essentially a game where a player kicks the ball and runs those little white bases," he said pointing. "If the team in the field catches the ball or touches the kicker with the ball before they touch a base, the kicker is out."
"So it’s like baseball then?"
Harry looked surprised. "You’ve heard of baseball?"
"I used to play a magical version of it when I was in grade school. I’m not completely unaware of all things muggle, Harry."
Harry smiled. "That’s good. This should be fairly easy for you then."
They both joined the same team and the kickball game started. Draco was a little embarrassed when it came time for him to kick the ball. His foot-eye coordination was off and he missed the ball a couple of times before he managed to kick it. Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t kicked the ball very well and was ousted before he got anywhere near first base.
Once Draco’s and Harry’s teams switched to the field, Draco only managed to further embarrass himself when he got hit in the head with the bright red ball after one of the bigger guys on the opposing team kicked it into the field. His teammates and Harry were helpful, asking him if he was okay and if he needed a seat, but he waved them off, determined to keep playing and show everyone he wasn’t completely incompetent.
Except he was. Draco managed to get himself relegated to a corner of the field where the ball rarely ever flew to after he’d fumbled the ball a time too many and managed to let the other team score several home runs.
It was time to switch again and Draco had plans to make sure he was the last kicker to hopefully spare himself the chuckles he’d surely receive after he missed the ball again, but fortunately for Draco, it started to drizzle right when their team’s first kicker went up. They attempted to play through it, but a few minutes later, the rain started to pour.
Harry ran to Draco and the both of them shuffled to a tree not too far away to take shelter. The tree didn’t offer much protection from the rain, but neither of them noticed or even thought to cast any sort of charm.
"That was fun, yeah?" Harry asked.
"Mostly," Draco replied.
"Mostly?"
"I guess you missed the parts where I dropped the ball multiple times or when I missed it several times, and were you there when I got smacked in the head with the ball?"
Harry smiled. "I was there. That was funny."
Draco scoffed. "I could’ve gotten hurt."
"The odds of that are slim. I know. I’ve been smacked with quite a few kickballs. I even had to get new glasses once."
"That explains the upgrade then," Draco said pointing to Harry’s glasses.
"It does," Harry replied.
It was silent for a moment as the two of them watched the rain. Draco was startled when Harry pushed his hair off of his forehead and leaned in close. "Your forehead is kind of red." He gently rubbed the skin. "It doesn’t hurt does it?"
Draco shook his head and shivered as Harry moved his hand from Draco’s forehead and cupped his cheek. Draco shivered and his heart sped up. He and Harry would probably have to get home soon. Clearly the weather was bad for his health.
"I really like you Draco," Harry said suddenly.
"You do?" Draco asked feeling a bit dazed.
Harry nodded. "I do. I’ve had a lot of fun with you over these past few weeks."
"Me too."
"Are we really just friends? Or is this more than that?"
If he was honest with himself, he was having the time of his life right now. He hadn’t been this happy in a long time. It was great spending so much time with Harry. Draco didn’t want it to end, but was it more than friendship? Did Draco want it to be more than friendship? He couldn’t answer that. So he didn’t.
Draco didn’t know what he expected after he didn’t reply, but it certainly wasn’t Harry’s lips pressed to his. Harry kissed him gently and pulled back. He looked at Draco, his eyes seemingly searching for something. Draco knew what it was he was searching for. Perhaps an acknowledgement of some sort that Draco wanted this too. Draco bit his lip and realized that yes, he did want this. At least the physical part of this. The this that was happening right at this moment. He wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck and dragged him down into a searing kiss. Their lips crashed together and their tongues met. It was quick and messy, and neither of them was properly leading the other, but it was brilliant.
"Do you want to come back to mine?" Harry asked.
Draco nodded.
*****
Neither of them had bothered to move in the past five minutes. Draco had been feeling a bit gross and sticky so he had cast a quick scourgify over the both of them. A shower could wait until later. He smiled to himself. A shower with Harry for round two didn’t sound like a bad idea either, but still it could wait.
Draco leaned back into Harry’s chest. He felt warm and sated as Harry wrapped him tightly in his arms. The sex had been good, amazing even, but this was far more pleasurable to Draco. He placed his hand over Harry’s and caressed his skin. He could feel Harry breathing lightly behind him and nuzzling the hair at the nape of his neck.
"This is nice," Draco said softly.
Harry hummed. "It is. I could really get used to this."
"Me too."
"I could really see myself falling in love with you," Harry said into Draco’s neck.
Draco tensed as Harry whispered the words against his skin. Love? That was far too much for Draco. He and Harry had barely started dating, they hadn’t even technically been dating, and now Harry was talking about love? Draco jumped up and started to put his clothes back on.
Harry got up too and caught him by the wrist. "Where are you going? What happened?"
Draco shook his head rapidly as he pulled up his trousers. "Nothing. Nothing. I just realized I have to be somewhere."
"Right now?"
"I just remembered. I have to go. Sorry"
Draco rushed out of the room, down the stairs, and out of Harry’s flat. It was pouring down outside, just like it always seemed to be these days.
"Draco," Harry placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Why don’t you come back inside and take the floo?"
"It’s fine. It’s not that bad out. I can apparate."
"You can’t just apparate. There’s way too many muggles around. Come back inside and floo back home."
Harry took Draco’s hand, but Draco quickly snatched it back.
Harry looked at him questioningly. "What’s wrong?"
Draco said nothing. He looked out into the street at all the muggles passing by. Some under umbrellas, some with their bags or newspapers over their heads in a feeble attempt to dodge the rain. Regardless of their chosen shield, they all moved fairly quickly, clearly wanting to get out of the downpour. Draco had never been fond of the rain, but more than anything, he wanted to be out there bustling along getting soaking wet just like everyone else, because he surely didn’t want to be here, on Harry’s doorstep, about to have the conversation they were about to have.
"You don’t really have to be somewhere. Do you?" It was more of a statement than a question.
Draco shook his head. "I don’t."
"Then what’s the problem? Why are you rushing off?"
"I think this was a mistake Harry."
"What was a mistake?"
"This," Draco gestured between the two of them. "Us."
"The sex? Or everything?"
"Everything."
"I don’t get it. I thought we were having a good time? We’re friends aren’t we?"
"We were. We are," Draco corrected. "But, clearly you want more than that."
"You don’t want more than that?"
"I don’t know. I just think this whole thing is moving too fast, too soon. It’s too much… I’m not sure I want to do it anymore. I should go," Draco said turning around. He descended a few steps before Harry stopped him from leaving.
Harry quickly shuffled in front of him. They were both standing in the rain now after moving away from the shelter of Harry’s roof.
"Come back in please? Let’s talk about this properly." Harry said.
"No. I don’t think it’s going to work out Harry. I’d rather not waste anymore of my time."
Harry crossed his arms over his chest and pushed his rain slicked hair back off of his forehead. "So I’m a waste of time now? You’re just suddenly regretting everything?"
Draco pushed past Harry.
"Stay Draco," Harry said. "Talk to me. Whatever it is, we can fix it."
Draco kept walking.
"You’re coming back right?" Harry asked him, sounding defeated.
Draco stopped and looked back at Harry. A pang of regret rose in his chest, but Draco ignored it. "I don’t know," he said before running away, the rain dripping down his face alongside his tears.
*****
Over the next few days, Harry had tried contacting him several times. He’d owled him repeatedly and he’d even shown up on his doorstep once, but Draco pretended he wasn’t home. A few more days passed and Harry had stopped attempting to reach him.
Draco missed him. A lot. He hadn’t realized just how much of an impact the man had made in his life over such a short period of time. If only he hadn’t been so scared of where his relationship with Harry had been going. If only he had told him how he was feeling instead of running off and avoiding the issue. Perhaps Harry would have understood. Perhaps he would have allowed Draco to take things as slowly as he wanted to.
He’d wanted to contact Harry several times, but each time he attempted to owl him, or go over to his house, something told him to stop, and he never did. Draco wanted to explain, but he wasn’t brave enough to do so. He forced himself into thinking that it was for the best. He and Harry would have never worked out in the end anyway.
The days turned into weeks and Draco’s sadness and regret had turned into bitter resentment. He thought about Harry every day. What he was doing, where he was, and who he was with. He wondered if Harry thought about him too, but there was no indication that he had. Maybe the whole relationship had been a fluke. Harry had said he could see himself falling for Draco, but apparently not enough to worry about him after they’d broken it off.
Funnily enough, in the passing weeks since they’d seen each other, it hadn’t rained one bit. Not even a drizzle. Draco had never even noticed a single grey cloud in the sky. It seemed Mother Nature had been overjoyed that Draco and Harry hadn’t worked out.
Draco sighed. He really had to stop thinking about it. It was him who’d ended it after all. Two weeks was enough to time to grieve; now it was time to move on. That was why he was going to go back to his favorite café today. He hadn’t been there since the last time he’d gone with Harry. He hadn’t wanted to bump into him so he’d avoided it at all costs, but now he felt it was time to hold his head high. He couldn’t let Harry potentially turn him away from his favorite lunch spot.
Draco entered the café, went up to the counter and ordered an iced coffee. At the last minute he added on one of the cinnamon rolls Harry had introduced him to. He hadn’t had one in what felt like ages, and memories of Harry weren’t nearly enough to make him pass up on such a delicious treat. After he received his order, he made his way to the back of the café and pulled out his newspaper.
He placed the newspaper on the table and scanned the café. Then he quickly picked his paper back up so he could hide behind it and still peek out enough to get a good glimpse. It was just his luck that Harry was standing at the front counter ordering. And he wasn’t by himself, Draco noticed. He watched as Harry ordered and then gestured for the blond beside him to order as well. Draco clenched his paper as the man patted Harry on the back. Harry smiled back brightly.
Draco hid completely as Harry and the man went and took a seat near a window. Draco watched the entire encounter. They sat, and ate and drank like they were the best of friends. They were friends right? There was no way this was a date. No way Harry had moved on and gotten over him so quickly. Right?
Eventually, the two men got up and left the café. Draco realized he hadn’t even touched his cinnamon roll or finished the rest of his coffee. He’d spent the whole time watching Harry and his companion. Draco watched them through the window. He could see Harry and the man pass by, acting just as jovial as they had been in the café. Draco watched them until they were out of sight. He sat for a few seconds debating what he was about to do, before he abruptly stood up and left the café.
He looked down the street in the direction the two men had gone. Draco caught up to them and kept his distance. He realized he was being ridiculous right now. He was practically stalking Harry, but he didn’t care.
Draco followed them all the way to a bookstore and noticed that it was the exact same bookstore Harry had taken him to. He didn’t follow them into the store, but he tried subtly peeking at them through the window. They hadn’t gone too deep into the store, so Draco could see them from his vantage point. He watched as Harry pointed out and picked up some books before shoving them in the man’s hands. They looked over them together, clearly having a good time.
It clicked for Draco then. Harry was on a date with this man. He’d even done the same things with him he’d done with Draco. It must’ve been Harry’s ritual. Chat with them over lunch in the café then take them to the bookstore. Draco could guess that Harry would take this new guy to the park for a game of kickball if he hadn’t already. The next step was the bedroom. Draco didn’t know how to feel. Maybe it was a good thing he’d left Harry when he did. Harry was probably going to ditch him anyway before too long. The whole love thing was probably just a ploy to get him into bed a few more times before he dropped him for good. Maybe Draco had dodged a bullet.
Draco hid as the two men stepped out of the building. They walked further along until they disappeared around the corner. Draco thought about following them some more, but he’d seen enough for one day.
*****
A whole day later, and Draco was still smarting at how quickly Harry had gone and replaced him. He had thought that Harry was a fairly decent person, but clearly he had thought wrong.
Despite being utterly angry at Harry, Draco had found himself in the muggle park Harry had taken him to. He really wanted to put Harry Potter behind him, but a part of him, the part that just wanted to make life harder for himself, wanted to see if Harry was there with the guy he’d seen him with yesterday.
It was highly unlikely that Harry would be there, but Draco had to find out for himself. He walked over to the field they’d played kickball in and no one was there. Not that he was surprised. Draco breathed a deep sigh of relief, at least for today he hadn’t seen Harry with his new plaything.
He walked over to the tree Harry had kissed him underneath. He crossed his arms and leant up against it. Draco squinted against the sun’s rays and looked out into the distance. He stood up a little straighter when he thought he saw someone who looked like Harry. He squinted a little more, but he couldn’t quite tell whether it was him or not, but he no longer needed to question when seconds later, the man from yesterday went jogging up to Harry, calling out his name in the process.
Draco stood up completely. That pretty much confirmed it. Harry had been playing him the entire time. Draco was upset and embarrassed that he’d ever had feelings for him. He was even more upset and embarrassed that he still had feelings for him. How dare Harry treat him like that?
Draco huffed and stomped his way over to Harry. Harry had been right in the middle of hugging the other guy when Draco pulled Harry away from him.
"Draco? What are y-"
"What the hell is this?" Draco yelled. "Who is he? Didn’t you tell me you loved me two weeks ago?" Draco knew he sounded whiny, childish, and pathetic as hell, but he continued. "Now you’re out here with him, doing all the things you did with me. Lunch at the café, a date at the bookstore, and now a date at the park. What is this? You’re supposed to do those things with me."
Harry tilted his head and looked at Draco. He stared for a few seconds more before he smiled and broke out in laughter.
Draco was shocked. "How dare you? You think this is funny? Am I a joke to you? This was all a game to you wasn’t it? You never actually liked me. You just wanted to humiliate me didn’t you? I’m glad I called it off. At least I stopped you from humiliating me any further."
Draco breathed heavily. He looked away from Harry and saw a bunch of faces staring in his direction. Just great. Harry didn’t need to humiliate him. He’d done a fine job of that on his own.
Draco’s eyes watered. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop from crying, but it was to no avail. Just as the first tear slid down his face, the first droplets of rain fell from the sky.
"Draco," Harry said as he wiped a tear from Draco’s cheek. "It’s not like that at all. He owns the café, so we eat there from time to time. We went to the bookstore so I could help him find a cookbook ‘cause he wanted a recipe for a cake, and we’re here now for a birthday party for Ron and Hermione’s son. See?" Harry pointed over Draco’s shoulder.
Draco looked, and just behind him was a whole gaggle of red-headed Weasley’s, their kids and presumably their spouses. Draco could spot Weasley and Granger (or was it Weasley too now?) at a table covered in food, casting spells in an attempt to save it from the rain. How on earth had he not noticed them before?
Draco’s cheeks warmed. He turned back around. "Who’s this then?" He nodded in the blond’s direction.
Harry introduced him "This is one of Ron’s brothers, Charlie."
"Aren’t you supposed to be a ginger?" Draco asked.
Charlie chuckled. "It’s bleach mate. I’d think you’d know all about it."
Draco scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. "This is natural I’ll have you know."
Charlie shrugged. "I’ll leave you to it Harry," he said and ran over to the rest of the Weasley’s.
Left all alone with Harry, Draco didn’t know what to say. He was getting more wet by the minute and he was thoroughly embarrassed on top of that. He’d reacted like a child and how ridiculous was that? "I…" he started. "I don’t know what to say."
"Did you mean what you said?"
"What?" Draco asked.
"Did you mean it when you said it should be you I was with?"
Draco cleared his throat and nodded. "I did."
"Then why’d you run away?"
"I don’t know," Draco shrugged. "I was scared I think. We’d just barely started seeing each other. Only as friends at that, and you were telling me you loved me. You were moving entirely too fast."
Harry smiled. "You should know me by now Draco. I just like jumping in. Unprepared most of the time." Harry reached out and held Draco’s hand. "I never said I loved you anyway though. I said I think I could."
Draco rolled his eyes before he rubbed his thumb over Harry’s. "That’s practically the same thing and you know it...but.. I overreacted. I heard what you said, but the word love made me panic. I wasn’t ready to even think about that yet."
"Are you now?" Harry asked.
Draco pulled Harry into a hug. He wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck and whispered into his ear. "I’m not ready now either," Draco said. He felt Harry tense. "But I think I will be soon, so let’s leave love, in any iteration, out of the equation for now and start out slow, okay?"
"Okay,"
"Give me some time. Not now, but eventually…" Draco trailed off.
Harry pulled back, "That’s good enough for me."
The clouds had opened up completely at some point. The light drizzle had turned into a much heavier rain. Draco’s face was covered with raindrops and he couldn’t tell if the taste of salt on his lips was from his tears or the rain, but it didn’t matter. He and Harry were giving it another go and Draco could be happy again. Mother Nature was apparently displeased once more, but she could shove it for all Draco cared. He was back with Harry and he was going to make the most of it this time. Harry smiled at him as the rain dripped down his face and speckled his glasses. Draco smiled back.