Winter Weather Woes (H/D, PG)
Title: Winter Weather Woes
Author:
sesheta_66
Rating: PG
Genre: Fluffy romance, pre-slash
Word Count: 1488
Challenge: Monday Fun Tag from
pepper202: “Buried By The Blizzard”
Warnings: No beta. Fluff alert!
Summary: Harry convinces Draco to go tobogganing.
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.
"Are you out of your mind, Potter?"
"What? I think we should go tobogganing."
"You think we should - how did you describe it to me? - ride on a small piece of wood down a snow and ice covered hill? Right. You would. But I don't see why I would want to do that, only to end up all cold and wet, when I'm perfectly warm, dry and comfortable in here."
"Well, here's what I think. We are both stuck here, right?"
"You are a master of stating the obvious, Potter. Carry on."
"Gee, thanks, Malfoy," he said as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, everyone else has deserted us this week, for one reason or another."
"Again. Obvious."
"Well, we don't exactly get along."
"Understatement. Do wake me up when you get to the point, Potter. That is, of course, presuming you HAVE a point?"
"Well, yes, I do." Draco was pleased to see that Potter seemed to have lost his stride, seemed a bit uncomfortable now. Good. "Here's my point," Harry continued. "We're stuck here, together, cooped up, and we don't get along. So what else are we going to do? Sit here all week and ignore each other?"
"That thought had crossed my mind, yes."
"Or maybe we'll just get on each other's nerves, be at each other's throats, and end up fighting."
"Juvenile, perhaps, but the idea has merit."
Harry rolled his eyes again. "Well, I don't want to fight, and I don't want to sit here ignoring you all week, bored out of my mind."
"Honestly, Potter, you're whining like a child." In response, Potter pushed out his lower lip in a pout worthy of a petulant child, and despite himself, Draco laughed out loud. "Okay, okay, we'll go ruddy tobogganing, if it means you'll stop whining and pouting and generally being annoying."
Harry's face lit up with a smile that, if Draco weren't careful, could certainly grow on him. In fact, when he smiled like that, Harry - er, Potter - looked almost delectable. I did NOT just think that. Oh, this was a bad idea.
As it turned out, tobogganing had actually been a great idea. They had spent a couple of hours practically flying down the hills, with none of that muggle nonsense of pulling the sled back up the hill. Magic truly was wonderful. Draco was aghast when Potter had told him how he had pulled sleds up hills as a child. Of course, Harry did point out that he had only ever gone tobogganing twice when he was a boy, because those had been class trips with school.
He didn't actually have friends as a child, he had explained, and his aunt and uncle certainly had never bought HIM a sled. Well, who knew? Draco had always imagined Harry's childhood (courtesy of his father's stories) to have been a charmed one, what with all that 'Boy who Lived' nonsense. Harry relieved Draco of that notion rather quickly as he gave him the abridged version of his childhood.
"Why those ungrateful muggles! How dare they treat you - the bloody Saviour of the Wizarding World - like that!" Harry's laughter cut Draco's rant short. "What?!?"
"Well," he explained as his laughter subsided somewhat. "I find it rather amusing that you, of all people, should be indignant on my behalf." He chuckled again, and his eyes twinkled behind his glasses as he looked at Draco.
"Well," Draco responded, trying to regain his composure. "Not so much YOU as wizards in general. You know, my father -- "
"Oh no, you don't. You can't get out of this that easily," he said, beginning to laugh again. Draco looked at him incredulously. "You just called me the Saviour of the Wizarding World," he sniggered. "It's okay," he said in a conspiratorial whisper, as he leaned in to speak into Draco's ear, his breath brushing Draco's skin. "Your secret is safe with me. I won't tell a soul." And with that, he got up and went chuckling into the kitchen to prepare dinner, leaving Draco wondering what had just happened.
The rest of the evening passed with them chatting companionably over dinner, then having a game of chess, which Draco won, of course. They both retired early, exhausted from the fresh air, having planned to do some more tobogganing the next day.
After breakfast, they decided to make their way to the opposite side of the property, where there was a much larger hill. It started to snow about an hour into their fun, but neither of them took much notice until the wind picked up and started blowing the snow all around them. It quickly escalated, creating clouds of white, blocking their view of everything.
"That came up all of a sudden," Harry mused.
"If we get buried by the blizzard, Potter, you do know that it's entirely your fault," Draco said, but without his usual malice.
"Yeah, yeah," Harry replied, as the wind picked up its pace.
Draco grabbed hold of Harry's cloak and called into his ear over the wind. "We'd better find some cover now. I think I saw a storage shed on our way out here. We can't apparate in this weather, and I'm not walking all the way back to the house."
When they arrived at the shed, it was to discover that it wasn't a shed at all. It looked like a small one-room cottage. "Well, this looks comfortable," observed Potter.
"I wonder what this is doing out here," Draco pondered, not really caring, just grateful that it was there. Harry shrugged his shoulders in response, not seeming to care any more than Draco. They entered the single room and lit the fire right away. "Hmm ... no floo powder," Draco muttered to himself. They settled themselves on the sofa by the fire, to await the end of the storm.
"So, I spilled all about my childhood yesterday. Today it's your turn," Harry said to Draco.
He actually looks interested, Draco thought as he observed Harry. It was Harry now, wasn't it? How did this happen? How did we become such fast friends after years of loathing each other? And why am I just now noticing how good he looks? God, his eyes are so green.
"Draco, you okay?" Harry interrupted his thoughts by waving a hand in front of his face. "Anybody in there?" he asked.
"What? Oh, sorry," Draco replied. "What was that?" he asked.
"I said that it's your turn to tell me about your childhood. What was it like growing up at Malfoy Manor, as the heir of Lucius Malfoy?"
Was he imagining things, or did Harry just say his father's name without a hint of malevolence?
"Did you have a lot of pets? Did you travel all over the world? What was it like?"
Wow, Harry really wants to know. He sounds interested. He wants me to tell him about, well, myself. So he did. They spent the entire afternoon talking, first about Draco's childhood, which wasn't nearly as interesting as Harry made it out to be. Then they talked about Hogwarts, how nervous they both were starting there, how boring Binns' classes were, and how useless Trelawny was. They surprisingly had a lot in common, despite their varied upbringings.
Eventually, they just sat by the fire in companionable silence, both seemingly deep in thought. At least Draco was. When he turned to look at Harry, he noticed that the Gryffindor was fast asleep. He got up to look out the window, saw that the storm was still raging outside, returned to the sofa, and covered Harry with a blanket.
Draco's eyes fluttered open as he awoke to find himself with his arms around Harry's waist, and his body pressed up against his. Draco stiffened. When did he fall asleep? And how did he get himself all wrapped around Harry?
"Hey, sleepyhead," Harry said, sounding far too amused.
Draco shot up, causing his head to spin. "Sorry," he muttered as his hand flew to the side of his head to stop the movement.
"It's alright," Harry yawned. "It was comfortable. Besides, you're warm." Draco looked Harry in the eyes, to see if he was teasing him, but he looked sincere.
"Mmm ... who knew you'd make such a good pillow," he agreed with a smile.
"I still can be, you know." At Draco's confused look, he motioned towards the window. "It's still snowing out there. No sign of it letting up any time soon." Draco was inexplicably pleased with that idea. When he turned to look at Harry, he was met with a gaze that he couldn't explain, but that warmed him inside.
"Okay," he said as he lied back down, Harry's arm draping over his back, and his arm curling back around Harry's stomach. If this is what being buried by a blizzard was like, Draco was fine with that.
Sequel (First Kiss) here ...