Together, We Can Soar (A Drarry FanFiction/"Falling" 2 of 3)

Chapter Twelve

   That next morning, Draco stayed and used Harry's bathroom. He conjured his own toothbrush, but deigned to use Harry's cheap shampoo, and even allowed Harry to augment a shirt and some underwear so he would have something new and clean to wear for the day ahead. 

He automatically reached for the Marauder's Map to scan the corridor for anyone else before they stepped out, but at the last moment snatched his hand back from his bedside drawer. He didn't care who saw them, they were free now. People could gossip to their heart's content. The realisation made him feel like he floated into the Eighth Year common room.

He and Draco held hands the whole way – they may had been stupidly happy, and perhaps a little drunk on confidence, but when it came to the crunch, Harry needed to feel Draco solid and real against him, just as he knew Draco would from him. "Ready?" he asked, pausing before they stepped over the threshold.

Draco nodded. "Yes," he said, his face pinched with anxiety and determination. "Let's go."

Harry was used to being stared at after all his years of fame, but this was different, knowing that he and Draco were under equal scrutiny, and that Draco would undoubtedly be the subject of far unkinder treatment than himself. He would just have to make them see how happy they were, how much he needed Draco in his life, and then hopefully people might start to leave them be.

He couldn't really blame the shocked faces that greeted them as they strode amongst their peers. Eyes widened and brows raised as Harry headed towards the doorway, not hurrying exactly, but not dawdling either. "Morning," he said to Neville, who's jaw had dropped comically.

"Morning," Parvati and her twin sister Padma chorused in lieu of his reply, and Harry could practically see the gossip churning behind their eyes. That was fine though, he'd rather have everyone know sooner rather than later, that way they could get over it all that much quicker.

Seamus was sitting with Dean on a couch not far from the door, and Ron and Hermione were opposite them. As Harry and Draco approached, Dean nodded to them, and all four got to their feet.

For a second, fear irrationally flooded Harry's system, thinking they were going to confront them, but instead they just picked up their school bags and moved away from the sofas. "Going to breakfast?" Hermione asked casually, as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and Harry beamed at her in relief.

"Um, yeah," he said.

"Marvellous," Dean announced, clapping Draco on the back. "We'll join you."

Draco's face was blank, or so it would seem. Harry could read the flurry of emotions playing out behind his eyes as he tried to make sense of what he surely considered to be this bizarre Gryffindor behaviour. The six of them made their way out into the corridor, leaving the slowly building murmur of chatter behind them as the door closed.

"Um," said Draco, pulling Harry to a stop once they were clear. The other four turned to look at him. "You, you don't have to do this for me. I mean," he stumbled on. "I appreciate you doing it for Harry, but you don't owe me anything, I don't want, um..." he faltered and looked to Harry for help.

Surprisingly, it was Ron that came to the rescue.

"Look Malfoy," he said, stepping away from Hermione's side. His face was unexpectedly relaxed, and Harry braced himself for what was to come. But Ron went a step further and managed a little smile. "We've not been friends, and I can't promise we ever will be, but we can see you've changed, that you've been trying. And, well, Harry mate you seemed like you were on cloud nine these past few weeks. Hermione reckons it's because you're, well, you know?" He gestured between Harry and Draco, where their hands were still firmly grasped together.

"Yeah," said Harry warmly, looking at Draco's worried face, hoping to calm him. "I thought I was hiding it, but I guess some things just can't help but be obvious."

"Like that you're smitten," Seamus said, cracking a grin and folding his arms. "Come on Harry lad," he said cheerfully. "All those questions about gay sex? You're about as subtle as a pig in a hat."

Harry felt like his face lit on fire with mortification. "You didn't?" Draco cried, appalled, but Seamus just laughed harder.

"It was adorable," he assured Draco in a friendly way. "He thought he was all manner of discretion, talking like any straight fellow who just happened to be interested in-"

"Okay!" said Ron loudly, for which Harry was grateful, as his humiliation had apparently rendered him mute. "The point is, it may be a bit of a shock that this is who makes you happy, but if that's how it is, then, well..." He shoved his hand out in front of Draco, his cheeks probably not as flushed as Harry's but not far off. "That's how it is."

Hermione rubbed his back, a clear look of pride on her face. Harry had to say he was impressed. If he had expected fireworks from any of his friends, he would have thought Ron would have been the most objectionable about his new choice in partner. Draco blinked and looked down at the proffered hand, as if unsure what to do with it. Eventually, just as the silence had lingered a fraction too long, he shot out his own hand to reciprocate the gesture and shook it firmly.

"Thank you," he said humbly.

"Excellent," Dean announced to the group at large. "Shall we head to the hall then, I'm starving?"

"It's a triple date," Seamus crowed jovially, taking his boyfriend's hand, just as Hermione took Ron's.

Harry couldn't think of anything to say as they were escorted down to the Great Hall; their first excursion as an official couple. He kept up a steady rub back and forth of his thumb over Draco's knuckles, feeling a little bit better about stepping into the gathered mass of students now that they had their entourage flanking them.

"That was pretty cool," Draco murmured in his ear, indicating the Gryffindors around them, chatting away happily.

Harry smiled, feeling glowingly warm with love and happiness. "They are pretty cool," he said proudly.

As predicted, there was a bit of a reaction when they entered, with people spotting three pairs of entwined hands instead of the expected two. But Harry's friends just carried on as if there was nothing out of the ordinary, and within a minute they were all sat at the Eighth Year table, pouring tea and fishing out toast from the racks.

For the first time all year, Draco Malfoy did not sit alone. And he did not poke at his food like it was a form of punishment, instead he ate heartily, his body pressed pleasantly up to Harry's as he smiled tentatively between bites. At one point, Harry spontaneously offered up a scrap of chocolate croissant for him, and Draco automatically ate it from his fingers with a shy grin.

"Urgh, get a room," Seamus teased, but that just made both Harry and Draco beam even more.

They were together, officially, and Harry couldn't help but hope that it was the start of a very long journey between them. One they would walk side by side, arm in arm, with their hearts entrusted in each others' hands.

He couldn't think of anything in the world he wanted more.

End

(Be sure and read the final part in the trilogy "Tomorrow, We Will Shine"!)

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