#21: Forgive and Forget (PG-13; April 30th)

[sugareey]

The spicy red pepper fortune cookie from breakfast DID NOT lift Harry's mood this morning:





It was a gorgeous day to go to Hogsmeade, with the sun shining brightly and a nice breeze blowing by. Most of the students were lined up in the entrance hall, waiting for Filch to let them pass through the small village. Harry wasn’t amongst them.

Instead, he was sitting under his favourite tree, looking out at the lake. Harry found him doing this a lot lately, as this was the best place to clear his mind. He could lose himself here for hours, until dusk forced him to go back inside. And with their N.E.W.T.s coming up, many students stayed in the castle to study or finish their homework. Thus, Harry was able to enjoy the outdoors to catch up on his reading. And think. And day-dream.

Harry sighed as he leaned back against the tree. Ron and Hermione were probably looking for him now. He’d done a pretty good job evading their questions lately. They’d tried to catch him off guard multiple times, but he hadn’t been fooled. Harry knew they were trying to figure out what was bothering him. It wasn’t like anything was particularly wrong, but nothing was right either. Not for these past few months. He wasn’t going to admit that to his friends, so every time they’d ask about his welfare, Harry would change the subject. It was the only thing he could do. He just didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up.

Picking up a large stone from the ground, Harry threw it across the lake. The stone skipped long the water’s surface, bouncing three times before sinking. That was exactly how his life was right now: filled with hopes and dreams that were bound to sink because they would never come true. Harry didn’t want much, but even the simple wish to find some who liked him had been denied. What more did people want? He had given everything they’d asked for, and all they could do was take, take, take. When would someone give something back to him? How long did he have to wait to finally be happy?

Maybe his happy ending was never going to come. After all, the person Harry wanted most couldn’t give a damn about him. He had definitely expected too much, thinking that things could ever work out with Draco Malfoy. Draco was still the same bastard he’d always been, using people for his own personal gain. Their complicated history did nothing to help the situation, and it made Harry wonder how he had fallen so hard for someone he used to hate. Someone who now meant so much more to him than he could ever imagine. But how much had he really meant to Draco?

That was why Harry had sent each of Draco’s owls back and stopped talking to him altogether. Ever since then, there had been nothing but stony silence between them. Most of their classes they had made it an easy task to avoid each other.

Defence was a different story.

Each lesson meant an hour’s worth of sitting next to Draco, all because Godwin refused to accept Harry’s request to change seats. It was cruel punishment, focusing on Godwin’s lectures on Patronuses distractedly while knowing that Draco was only a few inches away taking notes. More than often, Harry would find himself studying Draco’s hands, wondering how they could look so graceful when they were quite strong. Or he’d look at Draco’s face, appreciating his sharp jaw line or his pink lips. If Draco knew that Harry had been staring at him, he didn’t acknowledge it. That made it a little harder to face each day because no matter how much Harry wished for things to be fixed, he knew it was hopeless.

The message was loud and clear: Draco never needed him. But Harry needed Draco.

With Draco, Harry had always felt like himself. He’d never thought about how to act or what to say; it had all came to him naturally. And not once had Draco expected anything else. Draco had never cared that Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived. They had always been equals, and they’d treated each other like so. Sarcasm and playful insults had been part of what they had. Or had it all just been an act?

Harry sadly thought back to the holidays and their meetings. It was amazing that someone so charming could easily become so cold and ruthless again. The Draco that Harry had gotten to know this year had been someone he genuinely liked. If they were going back into old habits…if Draco really wanted to hurt Harry, he could have easily blackmailed him. Or fucked him over. Literally.

There were so many things Draco could have done, yet he had kept quiet. If Harry was mistaken, Draco also looked just as bad as he did. Dark circles were present under his dull grey eyes, and he looked thinner than ever. In fact, Harry was unpleasantly reminded of sixth year. His rapid obsession with Draco then had quickly taught him all that he needed to know. Which meant that Draco was not faring too well. Could that mean that Harry had been wrong about him this whole time? Did Draco possibly-

Before Harry could dwell on his thoughts further, a large barn owl swooped down towards him. Settling down on Harry’s lap, the owl stuck its leg out. Harry frowned. Post was supposed to come at breakfast. Who was sending him something now? The owl hooted impatiently and glared at Harry.

“All right, no need to be so pushy,” he told it, taking the envelope from the owl. He blinked. Wait…an envelope?



The owl flew away immediately as Harry turned the red envelope in his hands. It began to smoke, so he ripped the flap open and drop it quickly. He closed his eyes and waited. And winced when Hermione’s furious voice rang across the grounds.



The message burst into flame and turned to ashes. Harry could only stare at the pile of ashes before everything caught up with him.

Hermione knew more about his situation than anyone else. While he had cautiously come out to Dean, it was Hermione who knew about Draco because of Parkinson and Zabini. Hermione had eventually got Harry to confess more than he wanted to, and she had tried to rationalise with him to do something about it, such as talking to Draco. Harry had refused, because this was his mess alone. But if he knew Hermione well, she was very good at following through with her promises. So, if she was implying what Harry thought she was, there was no way he was letting Hermione talk to Draco for him. Absolutely not.

Harry jumped up, grabbed his bag and practically ran through the gates towards Hogsmeade. He could care less if Filch found out he’d gone to the village without being checked off. Right now, he needed to find Hermione to stop her. He unfortunately got stuck walking behind a group of giggling sixth year girls, all who kept glancing back at him before talking to each other in excited whispers. Rolling his eyes, Harry impatiently made his way past them, desperate to get to High Street.

Glancing around, he tried to search for familiar bushy hair, but to no avail. Harry walked further, passing by the Three Broomsticks and a few small shops that must have recently opened up.

“Harry!”

He turned to find Hermione waving at him from the post office, where she had just exited. Harry grinned and made his way around a few people to get to her.

“Hermione! Um, hi. I got your message. Look, I just-” he started but abruptly stopped when he saw two people emerge from the post office. They stood behind Hermione.

“Oh. Hello, Potter,” acknowledged Greengrass, giving him a smirk. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Potter,” said Draco, nodding his head curtly. He shoved his hands in his pockets and averted his eyes to the ground.

Harry had no idea what to say. His heart skipped a beat, taking in the handsome yet forlorn man before him. All he knew was that Draco was standing right in front of him when he least expected it. He looked terrible, and it made Harry want to reach out to hold him, hug him, even lo-

“I might have forgotten to mention that I was meeting Daphne and Draco here,” said Hermione sheepishly, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

“What about Ron?” asked Harry, finally finding his voice.

“I said I’ll meet him at the Three Broomsticks later. He’s with Parkinson and Blaise right now. They might be with Seamus, Dean, Ginny, Neville and that whole lot.”

“Err...what?”

“Problem?”

“Um, no. Right then.”

“Shall we go?” inquired Greengrass happily, clasping her hands together. “Did you want to visit Scrivenshaft’s or Honeydukes, Granger?”

“I think Honeydukes should be fine,” replied Hermione innocently before winking at Harry. We’ve got plenty of time to spend in there.”

“Indeed. Let’s go.”

Without a backwards glance, Hermione and Daphne made their way to Honeydukes, leaving Harry and Draco behind. Fucking hell. Hermione was too clever for her own good. Harry wasn’t sure if he should kill her or not. It wasn’t until Draco began to follow them that Harry found himself grabbing his arm.

“Draco, wait.”

“What do you want, Potter?”

“I-can I have a word with you? Alone?” asked Harry nervously. “We could…what about there?”

“Only you would choose a small alley to have a conversation,” grumbled Draco, sighing deeply. “Fine. Only for a few minutes. And then I’m going to Honeydukes for their new peppermints.”

They carefully walked towards the narrow walkway between the tiny tarot reading shop and Dogweed and Deathcap. Once they were out of earshot, Draco narrowed his eyes and pushed Harry against the wall.

“Granger put you up to this, didn’t she?”

“No, she didn’t,” admitted Harry honestly, surprised by the hand that was now pressed against his chest. “I swear, I had no idea.”

“Well, fuck,” muttered Draco bitterly. “Seems like Daphne was part of this then. You do realise she and Granger set us up, don’t you?”

“Obviously. I didn’t expect to see you or-”

“Neither did I. Especially since you’ve taken to pretending I don’t exist.”

“So have you!”

“You’re the one who decided to be a pillock! You’re the one who decided to cut things off and-”

“Well, I couldn’t exactly apologise, could I? I wasn’t going to force you to talk to me when you didn’t want to!”

“You wanted to apologise?” repeated Draco with a puzzled expression.

“Yes,” answered Harry, wiping his clammy hands on his trousers. There was a reason he hadn’t wanted to talk to Draco because he was terrified of what would happen. But now that Harry had his attention, there was no going back. It was now or never, and Harry needed to tell him the truth. “Look, I’m no good at this. But I realised I might have made a mistake, and maybe if we can talk, then we can work things out. Or something. What do you say?”

They stared at each other for a good moment. Harry couldn’t help but lose himself into those deep grey eyes, eyes that were really looking at him for the first time in months. Merlin, he had missed Draco so much.

“Draco?” Harry persisted when Draco didn't answer. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Maybe Draco didn't want him. Maybe Harry was wasting his time. “Are you all-”

But Harry never had time to finish his sentence, because the next thing he knew, lips were pressed against his own. He gasped, banging his head on the wall in the process. But that didn’t seem to bother either of them as they held onto each other desperately. This was what Harry had been waiting for…this rough and passionate kiss. It wasn’t perfect, but he had never expected it to be, not when he finally had Draco back. Fucking hell, he had forgotten what an excellent kisser Draco was, despite the occasional clacking of teeth and the brushing of their noses. Harry could feel Draco smirk as he nipped at Harry’s bottom lip and proceeded to tease him with some tongue.

This was so damn good. How he'd lived without snogging Draco for these last few months, Harry had no idea.

He groaned, letting Draco's tongue brush against his own before their tongues began a sort of duel. Harry pulled at Draco’s cloak to bring him closer, wanting so much more. Draco seemed to want just as much since his hands gripped Harry’s shoulders tightly. Harry eventually trailed kisses along Draco’s face and then left love bites on his neck. He was quite pleased to hear soft moan escape from Draco.

They resumed kissing again for what seemed live forever. This was right. This was what was missing from Harry's life all long. Draco.

When they broke apart, everything seemed so much better.

Breathless, Harry reached out to brush the hair from Draco’s eyes. “All right there?”

Draco smiled genuinely at him, his arm slipping around Harry’s waist. “Never been better.”

Well, there you go. I've been itching to get this posted ages ago but yes. Freaking finally! So glad that Hermione and Daphne make a great team, and that Harry and Draco finally made up! It's about time! Though they have much to discuss, hopefully see what the outcome is very soon. Stay tuned for more!

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