Fic: Turbulences [Harry/Draco]
Title: Turbulences
Author: lyonessheart
Prompt: S41 by digthewriter
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Word Count: 2566
Rating: PG
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: Dear Prompter, I doubt this is exactly what you had in mind with your prompt, but I hope you like it.
Summary: Draco just wants the picnic that his Ex messed up, but every time he tries to have one, it starts to rain.
The first time could have been a coincidence.
Draco had been moping around the Manor for more than six months before Blaise had convinced him to step out again and enjoy life after his spectacular breakup with Potter.
So when the day of the picnic with his best friend came around and their lovely afternoon was interrupted rudely by a hailstorm, he didn’t think too much of it. The weather had been erratic for the last two weeks anyhow. Draco and Blaise sprinted back to the house and had laughed it off, once they were dried off and enjoyed a cup of tea together.
Draco smiled for the first time in months when Blaise had pointed out that with his hair stuck up in all directions like it was, he almost resembled a bird's nest, like a former Gryffindor they both knew, before he cheerfully hexed his best friend.
The second time was annoying
Narcissa Malfoy had been more than persistent in getting Draco out and about with "another respectable young pureblood" and so Draco had agreed to go on a date with Theo just to get her off his case. Surprisingly they had gotten along very well and if it hadn’t started to rain in torrents after an hour, which caused Theo to screech about his silk shirt, Draco might have considered another date with him. But as it was he would not go out with a man who put his clothes above his well-being. So he cast a silent impervious at his own clothes and stalked back to the house. When his mother asked him about it, he simply glared at her and went to his room, where he ordered a hot tea and stared at the green shirt, that he still had not thrown away, even though it was frayed at the cuffs. He simply liked the colour thank you very much. And if his thoughts strayed to a man whose eyes were the exact colour of that shirt, well that was only for him to know.
The third time was ridiculous
When Victor Krum had asked Draco out for a romantic picnic and it had been splashed widely across the front page of the Daily Prophet, Draco had had an inkling that this picnic would suffer the same fate as the last two attempts. And sure enough, even though they had started out on a dry day, although it was grey and overcast, a few minutes after settling on the blanket and Victor trying to feed Draco a chocolate covered strawberry, he found himself subjected to a stretch of rain which centred only above Victor. Draco had thrown his hands up and decided that this picnic was a lost cause as well and shouted:
"Ok, I give up. No picnic with Victor either." He had apparated back to the Manor and sulked in his room, right through the apologetic note that Victor sent, explaining that he had caught a very bad cold and that they would probably be better off as friends.
***
Harry couldn’t help it. It wasn’t as if he meant to sabotage Draco’s outings. But when the anonymous owl reached him, informing him about Draco’s progress in getting over their break up it brought everything up again and he spent the day pondering where they had gone wrong.
In the end, it was easy. He had not been there often enough, and he had hidden behind his work and friends. No wonder that Draco who had been used to being put first by his parents, and who just wanted to be loved and cherished couldn't put up with his antics. Instead of opening up about his fears and insecurities he had driven the one good thing in his life away.
The last fight had not even been a loud one. Draco had simply given up.
How could he fix this? Or was it too late?
***
"You never have time for me. It is always work or your friends." Draco didn't scream at him, he never did. But his voice was like ice and it froze Harry on the inside.
"That is not true!" He protested, only to be pinned under the furious stare of his boyfriend.
"So, I am a liar now on top of everything else?" Draco almost whispered. "If I am so wrong, then tell me, when was the last time that you put everything aside and took time for me?"
Harry thought a little and threw out "Last Weekend."
"You mean the weekend that we spend with your friends, where I felt under interrogation from Granger for the entire time?" Draco sounded tired and Harry realised that this was more serious than he believed it to be.
"It is obvious, that we both have very different expectations from a relationship. So I will make this easy on you." Draco stood up and made for the door.
"Draco No!" He couldn't just leave him like this.
"Goodbye Harry." Draco was gone, just like that.
And the rain started to fall.
***
Ginny watched the weather for several weeks before she made the connection. And when she did she was not happy. Winter in England was rarely pleasant, but when one threw a lovesick wizard, of the calibre of Harry Potter into the mix, then it was a guarantee for disaster.
She knew her brother and Hermione, didn't see what they had caused. Spouting off about Harry being better off without Draco, but they didn't see the emptiness in his eyes. Frankly Ginny doubted that they saw much until she told them in no uncertain terms that they were rotten friends. Ron was quiet for long after her explosion and Hermione still stayed away from the Burrow. But the rain didn't let up and Ginny realised that she needed to stage an intervention with Harry himself.
Which is why she stood in front of the small cottage that Harry inhabited. The downpour was even harder here. Harry didn't open the door, but Ginny didn't let that deter her.
The interior was dark, and it didn't look like Harry had put much stock in cleaning, it smelled stale and unwashed. When she stepped into the living area, she saw the slumped form on the couch, and a hot wave of pity rose in her, but she knew that this wasn't what Harry needed right now.
With a decisive motion she opened the drawn shutters, and light flooded the room.
"Get up Harry, you have moped long enough!"
"What." he blearily looked at her, his bloodshot eyes, having trouble focusing. "Gin, how did you get in?"
"You left the key outside, under a flowerpot." She held it up and he shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, then you know how to get out too." He turned his back to her and she had enough.
"Harry James Potter! I tried nice, but obviously, you are determined to be an arse! Bad enough that you messed your relationship up, are you trying to mess up your friendships as well?"
"My friendships have not proven very valuable when it comes to my love-life."
She had never known him to be cynical, and her heart ached at the thought.
"You are right. The two of them are not very good friends. Not right now. But why are you putting up with this? Why are you not out there fighting for your love? Or did you not love him..." It was cruel to throw this at him, but somehow she knew he needed this.
"I did. But I couldn't even treat him right when he loved me, so how am I supposed to make this right again, now that he hates me again?"
"I might have an idea." She smiled at him, sure that he would finally start to listen.
"But first - you need a shower."
***
Draco gave in to his mother's nagging to get out of the house. She all but ordered him to take a stroll in the park and not to come back until he had at least been to his favourite picnic spot.
"As if I will ever have a picnic when you keep telling Potter about it, and he rains on my parade then!" Draco quietly talked to himself. It was kind of ironic when he thought about it. They broke up because of a missed picnic, and now Potter is inadvertently making sure that no one else can have a picnic with Draco either.
Although he wondered, why it always rained. No hailstorms or gusts of wind. No signs of jealous fury that he had half expected from the weather magic. Just torrents of rain as if the heavens were crying.
He continued to walk on, thinking back to his time with Harry, and Ginny's insistence that Harry had not always been this difficult.
"I know, he has treated you badly."
"No." It was a more instinctive habit to defend Harry than a conscious thought.
"No? Then why did you break up?" Ginny sat next to him on the floor, in front of the fireplace and he stared at the flames.
"I was tired of fighting for his attention." Draco hadn't voiced that thought before. "I felt like something else was always more important, his work, his friends..."
"Have you ever really spoken about that?" She looked at him and there was no judgement, just a calm acceptance.
"Not really, it was like he was never really there..." It was hard to put in words but Ginny finished his struggle "As if he didn't quite believe that you did love him."
"Yes!"
"What do you know about his childhood?" She now also stared into the fire as if it held all of the answers.
"Not much, his relatives did not like him much. He never talked about it." it hurt to think about it.
"I am not trying to make you understand him, and I don't know if your love is strong enough to take him back, but please think about this. Harry has never been loved unconditionally, apart from his mother, who died to protect him. He has always made the experience that love and acceptance come at a cost."
"He tried to keep me at a distance so he would not have to pay the price for my love?" it sounded absurd, but at the same time, it made a horrible sense. He thought back to Harry's failed attempts at dating, at a number of headlines he made, and the horrible tell all stories of former lovers. He himself had not gone to the press because it simply never occurred to him.
"Do you think, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop for the entire time?" It came out more as a whisper.
"I think so." Ginny sounded sad. "I think he only realised what he had with you, was when you were gone."
They sat in silence for a long time, before Draco could voice another thought.
"But would that have changed by now? Would he still be waiting, for me to extract a price? How can he not know that I love - loved him unconditionally." he tried to cover his slip-up, but her smile told him she had heard it.
"You'd be surprised what he would be willing to pay for another chance. And I am not talking about money."
She stood up, and Draco followed automatically. "You are a good friend, Ginny. I am sorry I was so harsh to your family."
"Make him smile again Draco and all is forgiven." Her brown eyes pierced his soul. "When you left, it didn't stop raining for three months straight."
And she left him to ponder how far he was willing to risk his heart again when in reality he already knew the answer.
He kept walking for a bit further when a subtle smell filled his nostrils. Woodsy, and a bit of fresh cut grass, it was the smell he always associated with Harry, who loved to be outside. He missed Potter and maybe it was time to reach out. When he finally reached his favourite picnic spot, the sight that greeted him, caught him between laughter and incredulity.
The very man he had just thought about, was waiting for him on a picnic blanket.
***
"I owe you a picnic." Draco didn't want to forgive Potter immediately, not when he had made his life so miserable for the last couple months. First by being an inconsiderate arse and then by leaving a Harry shaped hole in his heart that nobody could quite fill. But now that he stood in front of the man, who ducked his head shyly, his resolve crumbled. It was not entirely clear to him, why, if it was the strain around Harry's eyes, the reluctance to look him into the eyes, as if afraid of possible rejection, or the fact that Harry looked wrecked from months without him. Part of his heart that he tried to harden against selfish saviours, melted. Simple as that. He felt as if that specific hole had been filled and he breathed easier for the first time, since the day he walked out on Harry Potter.
"You owe me a picnic?" his eyebrow was raised perfectly, and his voice sounded haughty enough to send others running for the hills. But Harry Potter had never been others, and a small hesitant smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, I owe you a picnic, one where you have me all to yourself, and where I am entirely at your beck and call."
"Ok, and what after that picnic?" Draco felt suddenly tired, but also a tiny sliver of hope ignited itself in his chest.
Harry looked up at that, straight into his eyes, and Draco swallowed at the blaze that he encountered. "I owe you, not only a picnic but kisses each morning, cuddles at night, time for just you and me. I owe you conversations over dinner and going out with your friends as well, I owe you respect, and the most important thing, the one thing I can continue to give you in abundance and with interest, if you want to try with me again, I owe you love."
Harry took a deep breath. "I know I messed up, I am not used to being loved for myself and my instinctive reaction was to draw back, to question everything because I don't have luck in love. And..."
"You are a prat." it just broke out of him, but when Harry's eyes dimmed, he grabbed his hand, lest the man did something rash again and disappeared. "But you are my prat. And trust me when I say, that you will spend the rest of your life making up for the misery that you have put me through. I will collect on each thing that you admitted to owing me. AND I reserve the right to hex Hermione silent if she goes off on me again,"
"She won't." Harry looked at him and the tentative hope that shone in those expressive green eyes was too much. Draco stepped closer and looked straight at him "You said you owe me kisses."
"Yes." Harry sounded hoarse.
"Then what are you waiting for?"
And while they got reacquainted under the weather shield charm on that picnic blanket, the sun broke through.
Author: lyonessheart
Prompt: S41 by digthewriter
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Word Count: 2566
Rating: PG
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: Dear Prompter, I doubt this is exactly what you had in mind with your prompt, but I hope you like it.
Summary: Draco just wants the picnic that his Ex messed up, but every time he tries to have one, it starts to rain.
The first time could have been a coincidence.
Draco had been moping around the Manor for more than six months before Blaise had convinced him to step out again and enjoy life after his spectacular breakup with Potter.
So when the day of the picnic with his best friend came around and their lovely afternoon was interrupted rudely by a hailstorm, he didn’t think too much of it. The weather had been erratic for the last two weeks anyhow. Draco and Blaise sprinted back to the house and had laughed it off, once they were dried off and enjoyed a cup of tea together.
Draco smiled for the first time in months when Blaise had pointed out that with his hair stuck up in all directions like it was, he almost resembled a bird's nest, like a former Gryffindor they both knew, before he cheerfully hexed his best friend.
The second time was annoying
Narcissa Malfoy had been more than persistent in getting Draco out and about with "another respectable young pureblood" and so Draco had agreed to go on a date with Theo just to get her off his case. Surprisingly they had gotten along very well and if it hadn’t started to rain in torrents after an hour, which caused Theo to screech about his silk shirt, Draco might have considered another date with him. But as it was he would not go out with a man who put his clothes above his well-being. So he cast a silent impervious at his own clothes and stalked back to the house. When his mother asked him about it, he simply glared at her and went to his room, where he ordered a hot tea and stared at the green shirt, that he still had not thrown away, even though it was frayed at the cuffs. He simply liked the colour thank you very much. And if his thoughts strayed to a man whose eyes were the exact colour of that shirt, well that was only for him to know.
The third time was ridiculous
When Victor Krum had asked Draco out for a romantic picnic and it had been splashed widely across the front page of the Daily Prophet, Draco had had an inkling that this picnic would suffer the same fate as the last two attempts. And sure enough, even though they had started out on a dry day, although it was grey and overcast, a few minutes after settling on the blanket and Victor trying to feed Draco a chocolate covered strawberry, he found himself subjected to a stretch of rain which centred only above Victor. Draco had thrown his hands up and decided that this picnic was a lost cause as well and shouted:
"Ok, I give up. No picnic with Victor either." He had apparated back to the Manor and sulked in his room, right through the apologetic note that Victor sent, explaining that he had caught a very bad cold and that they would probably be better off as friends.
***
Harry couldn’t help it. It wasn’t as if he meant to sabotage Draco’s outings. But when the anonymous owl reached him, informing him about Draco’s progress in getting over their break up it brought everything up again and he spent the day pondering where they had gone wrong.
In the end, it was easy. He had not been there often enough, and he had hidden behind his work and friends. No wonder that Draco who had been used to being put first by his parents, and who just wanted to be loved and cherished couldn't put up with his antics. Instead of opening up about his fears and insecurities he had driven the one good thing in his life away.
The last fight had not even been a loud one. Draco had simply given up.
How could he fix this? Or was it too late?
***
"You never have time for me. It is always work or your friends." Draco didn't scream at him, he never did. But his voice was like ice and it froze Harry on the inside.
"That is not true!" He protested, only to be pinned under the furious stare of his boyfriend.
"So, I am a liar now on top of everything else?" Draco almost whispered. "If I am so wrong, then tell me, when was the last time that you put everything aside and took time for me?"
Harry thought a little and threw out "Last Weekend."
"You mean the weekend that we spend with your friends, where I felt under interrogation from Granger for the entire time?" Draco sounded tired and Harry realised that this was more serious than he believed it to be.
"It is obvious, that we both have very different expectations from a relationship. So I will make this easy on you." Draco stood up and made for the door.
"Draco No!" He couldn't just leave him like this.
"Goodbye Harry." Draco was gone, just like that.
And the rain started to fall.
***
Ginny watched the weather for several weeks before she made the connection. And when she did she was not happy. Winter in England was rarely pleasant, but when one threw a lovesick wizard, of the calibre of Harry Potter into the mix, then it was a guarantee for disaster.
She knew her brother and Hermione, didn't see what they had caused. Spouting off about Harry being better off without Draco, but they didn't see the emptiness in his eyes. Frankly Ginny doubted that they saw much until she told them in no uncertain terms that they were rotten friends. Ron was quiet for long after her explosion and Hermione still stayed away from the Burrow. But the rain didn't let up and Ginny realised that she needed to stage an intervention with Harry himself.
Which is why she stood in front of the small cottage that Harry inhabited. The downpour was even harder here. Harry didn't open the door, but Ginny didn't let that deter her.
The interior was dark, and it didn't look like Harry had put much stock in cleaning, it smelled stale and unwashed. When she stepped into the living area, she saw the slumped form on the couch, and a hot wave of pity rose in her, but she knew that this wasn't what Harry needed right now.
With a decisive motion she opened the drawn shutters, and light flooded the room.
"Get up Harry, you have moped long enough!"
"What." he blearily looked at her, his bloodshot eyes, having trouble focusing. "Gin, how did you get in?"
"You left the key outside, under a flowerpot." She held it up and he shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, then you know how to get out too." He turned his back to her and she had enough.
"Harry James Potter! I tried nice, but obviously, you are determined to be an arse! Bad enough that you messed your relationship up, are you trying to mess up your friendships as well?"
"My friendships have not proven very valuable when it comes to my love-life."
She had never known him to be cynical, and her heart ached at the thought.
"You are right. The two of them are not very good friends. Not right now. But why are you putting up with this? Why are you not out there fighting for your love? Or did you not love him..." It was cruel to throw this at him, but somehow she knew he needed this.
"I did. But I couldn't even treat him right when he loved me, so how am I supposed to make this right again, now that he hates me again?"
"I might have an idea." She smiled at him, sure that he would finally start to listen.
"But first - you need a shower."
***
Draco gave in to his mother's nagging to get out of the house. She all but ordered him to take a stroll in the park and not to come back until he had at least been to his favourite picnic spot.
"As if I will ever have a picnic when you keep telling Potter about it, and he rains on my parade then!" Draco quietly talked to himself. It was kind of ironic when he thought about it. They broke up because of a missed picnic, and now Potter is inadvertently making sure that no one else can have a picnic with Draco either.
Although he wondered, why it always rained. No hailstorms or gusts of wind. No signs of jealous fury that he had half expected from the weather magic. Just torrents of rain as if the heavens were crying.
He continued to walk on, thinking back to his time with Harry, and Ginny's insistence that Harry had not always been this difficult.
"I know, he has treated you badly."
"No." It was a more instinctive habit to defend Harry than a conscious thought.
"No? Then why did you break up?" Ginny sat next to him on the floor, in front of the fireplace and he stared at the flames.
"I was tired of fighting for his attention." Draco hadn't voiced that thought before. "I felt like something else was always more important, his work, his friends..."
"Have you ever really spoken about that?" She looked at him and there was no judgement, just a calm acceptance.
"Not really, it was like he was never really there..." It was hard to put in words but Ginny finished his struggle "As if he didn't quite believe that you did love him."
"Yes!"
"What do you know about his childhood?" She now also stared into the fire as if it held all of the answers.
"Not much, his relatives did not like him much. He never talked about it." it hurt to think about it.
"I am not trying to make you understand him, and I don't know if your love is strong enough to take him back, but please think about this. Harry has never been loved unconditionally, apart from his mother, who died to protect him. He has always made the experience that love and acceptance come at a cost."
"He tried to keep me at a distance so he would not have to pay the price for my love?" it sounded absurd, but at the same time, it made a horrible sense. He thought back to Harry's failed attempts at dating, at a number of headlines he made, and the horrible tell all stories of former lovers. He himself had not gone to the press because it simply never occurred to him.
"Do you think, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop for the entire time?" It came out more as a whisper.
"I think so." Ginny sounded sad. "I think he only realised what he had with you, was when you were gone."
They sat in silence for a long time, before Draco could voice another thought.
"But would that have changed by now? Would he still be waiting, for me to extract a price? How can he not know that I love - loved him unconditionally." he tried to cover his slip-up, but her smile told him she had heard it.
"You'd be surprised what he would be willing to pay for another chance. And I am not talking about money."
She stood up, and Draco followed automatically. "You are a good friend, Ginny. I am sorry I was so harsh to your family."
"Make him smile again Draco and all is forgiven." Her brown eyes pierced his soul. "When you left, it didn't stop raining for three months straight."
And she left him to ponder how far he was willing to risk his heart again when in reality he already knew the answer.
He kept walking for a bit further when a subtle smell filled his nostrils. Woodsy, and a bit of fresh cut grass, it was the smell he always associated with Harry, who loved to be outside. He missed Potter and maybe it was time to reach out. When he finally reached his favourite picnic spot, the sight that greeted him, caught him between laughter and incredulity.
The very man he had just thought about, was waiting for him on a picnic blanket.
***
"I owe you a picnic." Draco didn't want to forgive Potter immediately, not when he had made his life so miserable for the last couple months. First by being an inconsiderate arse and then by leaving a Harry shaped hole in his heart that nobody could quite fill. But now that he stood in front of the man, who ducked his head shyly, his resolve crumbled. It was not entirely clear to him, why, if it was the strain around Harry's eyes, the reluctance to look him into the eyes, as if afraid of possible rejection, or the fact that Harry looked wrecked from months without him. Part of his heart that he tried to harden against selfish saviours, melted. Simple as that. He felt as if that specific hole had been filled and he breathed easier for the first time, since the day he walked out on Harry Potter.
"You owe me a picnic?" his eyebrow was raised perfectly, and his voice sounded haughty enough to send others running for the hills. But Harry Potter had never been others, and a small hesitant smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, I owe you a picnic, one where you have me all to yourself, and where I am entirely at your beck and call."
"Ok, and what after that picnic?" Draco felt suddenly tired, but also a tiny sliver of hope ignited itself in his chest.
Harry looked up at that, straight into his eyes, and Draco swallowed at the blaze that he encountered. "I owe you, not only a picnic but kisses each morning, cuddles at night, time for just you and me. I owe you conversations over dinner and going out with your friends as well, I owe you respect, and the most important thing, the one thing I can continue to give you in abundance and with interest, if you want to try with me again, I owe you love."
Harry took a deep breath. "I know I messed up, I am not used to being loved for myself and my instinctive reaction was to draw back, to question everything because I don't have luck in love. And..."
"You are a prat." it just broke out of him, but when Harry's eyes dimmed, he grabbed his hand, lest the man did something rash again and disappeared. "But you are my prat. And trust me when I say, that you will spend the rest of your life making up for the misery that you have put me through. I will collect on each thing that you admitted to owing me. AND I reserve the right to hex Hermione silent if she goes off on me again,"
"She won't." Harry looked at him and the tentative hope that shone in those expressive green eyes was too much. Draco stepped closer and looked straight at him "You said you owe me kisses."
"Yes." Harry sounded hoarse.
"Then what are you waiting for?"
And while they got reacquainted under the weather shield charm on that picnic blanket, the sun broke through.