Title: First Day of Spring (The "Looking Ahead to the Summer" Remix)
Author:
sesheta_66 Rating: PG
Word Count: 765
Challenge:
slythindor100 challenge #50 - Remix. Original fic
here, by
kcstories. It also fits my
100quills prompt 021 "Resolution"
Warnings: No beta.
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only. Also, since this is a remix, the original story is
kcstories' as is the dialogue between Harry and Draco, which was directly quoted from the original. This is a re-telling from Draco's pov.
On the first day of spring, Draco knows he should be happy.
After all, it's a lovely day, the sun is shining, and the breeze in the air is carrying the smell of freshly blooming flowers.
But happy is not the word he would use to describe himself.
At least Voldemort is dead. There's always that.
The Dark Lord's end of days had come late last summer, and now everyone is free to get on with their lives. The only problem is that Draco isn't quite sure how to do that. So for now he bides his time at Hogwarts, finishing his seventh year.
He takes a deep breath of spring air, and decides to take a solitary walk down by the lake. There's nothing like a walk to clear one's head.
Not that he's ever able to really clear his head these days.
When he is not completely immersed in his school work, his thoughts keep drifting back to last summer, and to a particular person. A person that he really ought not to be thinking about all the time.
Harry Potter.
Last summer, Snape had dragged Draco to Grimmauld Place, where he had been met by a decidedly less-than-pleased Boy Who Lived to Get on His Nerves.
They had managed a few tense days before they finally had it out. It had felt so good, like a weight had lifted, and they were finally able to get past whatever animosity they had felt towards one another.
At the end of it all, they had decided to call a temporary truce. One that would last until the war was over. It was as much for everyone else as it was for them.
Somehow, what had started as a truce ended up as a friendship.
They had spent many sleepless nights talking together, and most days working together to find the Horcruxes. Draco found himself a valuable member of the team that was fighting Voldemort, and it had felt good.
But it seems that the temporary truce turned out to be just that - temporary. Since he and Harry had returned to Hogwarts, they haven't spoken. It isn't the same as it had been before the war, but some of it is eerily familiar. And Draco hates it.
He had thought -- hoped even -- that everything had changed last summer, but apparently he was wrong. Clearly it hasn't had as big an impact on Harry.
As far as Draco is concerned, everything had changed. He had never felt so important as he did last summer. And not just because of the work he did for the Order, but because of Harry.
Pansy's voice keeps echoing in his head - "Why not tell him? If you fancy him, what do you have to lose?"
Draco takes another deep breath, knowing she has a point, but not knowing what to do when Harry is clearly avoiding him. It all seems rather hopeless.
He is so caught up in his own thoughts that he only notices the figure by the lake when he's nearly upon it. It's Harry. "Hiding from the world again, Potter? Or just from me?" he asks, and takes a seat next to Harry.
Draco smiles, and Harry shrugs. “No. I just came out here to read."
"Ah," Draco says, knowing full well that Harry doesn't spend much leisure time reading.
"Unless there's something you want to talk about?" he asks.
Well, there's nothing else for it. It's now or never. "Actually, there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up and I was wondering … well, the two of us don't seem to talk much anymore these days and at the risk of sounding sappy ... I think that's rather a pity."
"Me too," Harry says. Then he says something that nearly knocks the wind out of Draco. "I really miss you. Um, I mean…"
Draco works hard to stifle the grin that is threatening to shine through. Truth be told, he would love nothing more than to take Harry in his arms and hug him right now. "That's a date, then,” he says instead.
Well, in for a penny, Draco thinks and adds, “Meet you here tomorrow morning at ten?"
“Yeah. Okay.”
“Right, then. See you later, Potter.”
“Later, Malfoy,” Harry says and turns back to reading, but not before Draco sees the big grin on the Gryffindor's face.
Relief washes over Draco, and as he heads back up to the castle, he smiles for the first time in days. He really ought to have listened to Pansy sooner.
Ah, yes, the summer looks promising.