Drarry - The Boggart

THIRTY SEVEN

Waking up was a pain. More than usual this time.

Everyone kind of knew already that Harry hated mornings, but today getting out of bed was extra hard considering that Draco was still a sleep, curled into a ball in Harrys arms and his hair was all messy and sticking up. Harry never wanted to get out of bed. He smiled, looking at Draco's lips, slightly parted from sleep, and his soft pale skin.

Finally, after much debate in his mind, Harry lifted himself up just enough to prop himself up on his elbows. Draco's hand, which had been splayed across Harry's chest, slid off onto the mattress. He stirred for a moment, in confusion, but Harry quickly put his hand atop Draco's. So he'd know he was there without having to wake up. His features fell slack again as sleep overtook hime once more.

The first thing Harry realized, after blinking quite a few times so that his eyes could a adjust to the light on Draco's bed-side table brightening the room, was that Pansy and Blaise were no longer in the bed. The sheets were pushed aside where they had been, but they were no where to be seen. Pansy's heels sat in the corner, and Blaise's tie on the ground next to it, along with his jacket on a hook on the door. So they were still in the manor, just not in the bedroom.

Harry wished he could leave it at that and just lay in bed for hours with Draco next to him. Maybe he could close his eyes and imagine that they were in a flat that they owned together, sleeping in. And that Draco had escaped the curse of this bloody manor and his stupid family. But it was too early to venture into thought of being upset. It'd ruin his day.

And also, he had to get back to Hogwarts before someone in the manor - maybe a distant relative that drank a little too much and passed out in the hall outside Draco's room, or a house elf had grown suspicious and wandered in and decided to tell Lucius what he saw. - caught them.

Besides, he had something important to plan back at Hogwarts. Something he'd thought of last night after what Blaise and Pansy had told him... something he'd planned while waiting alone in that room for hours. A perfect amount of time to think of the most fitting birthday present ever.

After going back and forth with himself for about half an hour about whether he should wake Draco to say goodbye or just leave him a note, Harry decided on waking him up. He knew that Draco would want to see him before he left, no matter how tired he was from the previous night.

"Hey" He whispered, grabbing hold of Draco's hand. The boy stirred in his sleep, but still didn't wake.

"Draco, wake up." Harry whined, shaking Draco's shoulder gently.

"Huh? Go away." The boy murmured. Harry chuckled, nudging Draco's shoulder again.

"Come on, I've got to go now." That woke him up. Draco opened his eyes and groggily sat up straight.

"Don't go" He whined sleepily, pulling Harry towards him by his robes. Harry leaned in and kissed him, but Draco was still half-asleep.

"I have to. School." He replied, even though he didn't want to go either.

"School is stupid, stay. Besides, you're Harry Potter, you don't need school, anyone will hire you whether you have any brains or not." Draco grumbled.

"I have to go now, but I'll see you at school later, ok?" Harry rolled off the bed to throw on his fancy, new, Hufflepuff-made jacket and leave.

"Waaaaait" Draco fussed, dropping out of bed and (just barely)onto his feet. He walked lazily over to Harry and caught him in an embrace, burying his head in Harrys shoulder. "Thanks for coming." His voice was muffled through Harrys dress robes. Harrys heart swelled. He was just glad he got to be there when Draco turned eighteen.

Draco looked up and kissed Harry. A real kiss this time, not a half-asleep kiss.

~Draco's POV~

"I love you." Draco said just as Harry reached for his broom to leave. Harry looked back with a tired smile and Draco instantly felt bad that he was going to have to fly for miles now just to get back to Hogwarts when Draco himself was just going to crawl back into bed.

"I love you too. See you later." 

As soon as he was out the window Draco jumped into bed, the mattress welcoming him with soft pillows and a warm comforter. He rolled over to where Harry had slept. It still smelled like the cologne he'd worn last night. It was new but it still smelled like Harry.

Only moments after he'd gotten into bed, Pansy and Blaise came traipsing in, talking loudly and turning on the main light. Draco buried his head into his pillow.

"Shut up!" He yelled into the bed.

"Huh?" He heard Blaise through the pillow, which was clearly not good enough at blocking sound.

"I said shut up you git, I'm sleeping." Draco said, lifting his head. But now, after his senses had already adjusted to the lighting and noise without his consent, he got a feeling he wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon.

"Harrys gone." Pansy stated. Draco sat up and rolled his eyes.

"Great observation, Pans! You know, they always said you were smarter than Blaise and I." He nodded sarcastically, annoyed that sleep was no longer in sight and that Harry wasn't there to laugh at his jokes.

"Someones in a bad mood. I guess you won't want to see this present Harry left for you then..." Blaise trailed off, holding up and examining a medium sized box with horrible wrapping paper and a sloppy bow. Definitely Harrys work. Draco felt a jolt go through his heart and to his stomach. He still got butterflies and Harry wasn't even in the room. What a mess.

"No! I'm sorry Pansy, you really are much smarter than Blaise and I, now hand me the gift!" He ran towards Blaise, trying to grab the present from Blaise's high reach. Finally he snatched it down and ripped off the quickly scrawled note.

"Draco, I assume you're reading this the morning after your birthday - if Pansy and Blaise were co-operative, that is. Well, you see, I wanted to get you the perfect birthday present. This took a really long time for many reasons. The first being that Ron and 'Mione stressed me out with all their arguing. Ron was saying that all the stuff I was planning was a present enough, but Hermione said I should get you something small, a gift to remind you of the night other than just the memories. I sided with Hermione, but then I realized that it had to be just right. It really hard to buy an eighteenth birthday present for someone who's so particular (And, lets be honest, picky). I took a long time in deciding what the present should be. It took me so long, actually, that I'm writing this the night of your birthday. Just hours before you're heading upstairs to see me, to be exact."

Draco paused his reading to chuckle and think to himself "Typical Harry".

"But now I have orchestrated the perfect plan, so don't worry, you're in good hands. Open this box - which took took me thirty minutes just to figure out how to wrap, by the way -"

By the looks of it, he'd never actually figured out how to wrap it.

"and inside you will find the first  object you will need for this present to be completed. You'll also find a set of instructions that you'll have to follow carefully. Blaise and Pansy don't know anything other than what I told them, which was just 'Give this to Draco when I leave', so don't try to get anything out of them, it'll be fruitless. Happy birthday love, I hope we had a nice time!" 

We did, Draco thought. He carefully popped the top off and found a quill inside of the box. It was the one Harry  had been using all year. Draco knew because he'd seen it some many times when Harry would write him notes in class. Or when Harry followed his strange habit of writing reminders on his hand with his quill. Draco always thought it must've hurt a little, but it didn't seem to bother Harry so he never really questioned it.

He looked up at Pansy and Blaise with an expression that read "Do you know what this is for?" they both shook their heads, looking into the box.

"Read the note inside though, I'm curious!" Pansy encouraged.

The following note read a strange assortment of directions on how he must enter Hogwarts and where to avoid looking as he flew in and where he must go when he gets there. It all seemed kind of sketchy but he was excited to follow through with the plan.