The Road to Recovery (Drarry)

~*~Chapter Five~*~

If any of you have anything you wish for me to write about, like a certain scene you have in mind or a certain ship you would like me to incorporate, make sure to comment and I'll see what I can do :) xox

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The overall mood of the Gryffindor common room lightened nearing October.  Though they were still suffering in their own ways, they started to joke and even laugh a little bit without feeling guilty for doing so.  They had come to realize that getting over it and facing their problems together was a hell of a lot easier than doing so alone.

"Luna, want to go on a walk later today? We could go see the Thestrals," Neville offered as they both had a free period later that afternoon.  Dr. Saturn said that doing small, usual things can help your brain adjust back to normality, so he decided to kill two birds with one spell and ask Luna on a kind-of date

Luna looked back with a small mystical smile and a nod.  "Sounds lovely, Neville."  At that, Neville couldn't help but smile.  The rest of his friends shared a knowing look and suppressed their chuckles.

"Harry," Dean said looking around Seamus to be able to see him.  "I just want you to know that you're always welcome back on the team if you decided you want to rejoin.  It doesn't feel like proper Quidditch without you, mate."

"Because I'm such a shit seeker, is tha' it?" Seamus asked jokingly, nudging Dean, who rolled his eyes and sniggered, resting his hand on Seamus' leg.

"Thanks, but I don't really feel up to Quidditch, not right now at least."  Dean nodded and continued his lunch.

Hermione and Ron sat close together, enjoying each other's presence and stealing loving looks at each other throughout the meal.  All of this was absolutely fine, except for the fact that it made Harry and Ginny (who were sitting facing each other) feel awkward as all hell.  A lot had happened between the two of them, and even though they had gotten over each other and their break up, being surrounded by two couples and a pair of crushing friends, brought back those memories against their wills, making them both blush and look away from each other.  Harry looked away from Ginny's eyes and directly into the eyes of a certain blue-haired Slytherin across the room.  The look in his eyes as Harry, whose cheeks had flushed due to the remembrance of him and Ginny and everything that entailed, was unreadable.  Harry had realized that Draco could think that he was blushing because they had locked eyes, looked away hurriedly.

What if Malfoy thought that I was blushing because I was looking at him? What king of message would that send? Would he think that I like him? I'm not sending those kind of vibes, am I? I mean, yes I like guys as well, but Malfoy is a completely different story, I mean... It's Malfoy...

It's not that Harry was afraid that Draco would see him and suspect him of being queer, because he was.  He wasn't yelling about it to everyone at Hogwarts, but he wasn't quite in the closet either.  What made Harry the most afraid was the possibility of Draco thinking that Harry was crushing on him.  Harry had to admit that he was pretty fit, yes, he'd always thought that, but this is Draco Malfoy, and thinking that someone was fit and actually fantasizing about them are two different things entirely.  He had to make sure that Draco knew that.

Draco had seen Harry look over at the "female weasel" as he called her, and blush before looking up at him, face still flushed, and looking away.  He didn't know what had passed between them, but when Harry's emerald eyes met his for the fraction of a second that they did, he felt himself constantly looking over at the Gryffindor table, subconsciously wishing to meet eyes once again.  He didn't know if it was because of what happened during the war or what had happened between them in the hall, but he, Harry and Ron hadn't quarreled as much as they had in their previous years.  Of course they still got into petty arguments and name-called during and after classes, but it seemed more out of habit than anything.  It was what felt normal to them, and if that was the only piece of pre-war normality that they could get, they were going to savor it.

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"Dammit, Malfoy, you did that on purpose, you little ferret!" Ron yelled as Malfoy had walked passed his table during potions on his way from the storage cupboard, purposefully knocking over his vial of armadillo bile he had just finished perfectly measuring for his Wit-Sharpening Potion Hermione had done half the work on.

"So sue me," Draco sneered.  "Oh wait, your family is probably too poor to sue, aren't they, weasel? He said, enunciating the word, making Ron's ear turn red in fury.

"Listen here, you mother f-"

"Boys!" Professor Slughorn said, raising his voice and shaking his head.  "Potions"

Ron mumbled under his breath, remeasuring his armadillo bile and Draco smirked as he turned to go back to his seat, catching Harry's eye as he did so.  Harry glared at him and Draco felt a tug below his navel.  He glared back, not knowing what else to do and sat back down next to Zabini.  Both he and Harry felt something odd when they locked eyes for the second time that day, unaware of what it meant, both passing it off as being ill, or hatred.  Hermione had noticed how Harry's eyes had been lingering on Draco for a fraction of a second as they swept across the room, and how his face reddened even more when he looked over at Draco at lunch, as well as how his eyes flicked from side to side when looking at Malfoy, subconsciously taking in all details of his face when doing so.  Of course, she didn't say anything, but observed and took mental notes, waiting for Harry to speak first.  She doubted even he realized what feelings were taking root, boys hardly ever did (it usually took until they were actually dating someone to realize that they had a crush in the first place, it seemed), but she noticed them.  Looking away so as to hide a small smile creeping onto her lips, she shook her head and rolled her eyes.  Boys.

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As Draco was leaving the Potions classroom, his last class of the day, he felt someone yank at his cloak sleeve causing him the stumble back.  "What the-" He yanked his arm free and turned to see and angry looking Harry Potter.

"You just can't leave good enough alone, can you, Malfoy?  We've done the best the can to stay away from trouble, but here you are lusting after it?  You can't see who Ron is past his family's wealth and you can't see who Hermione is past her blood, can you?  If I -we- can try to see the actual you behind the whole 'tough little shit' act you're always hiding behind, you can do the same thing for us."

"You want us to, what, be friends? Hold hands and braid each others hair while we tell scary stories by the fireside?" Draco, without even knowing himself, wanted that desperately.  Nobody in Slytherin could understand what he was going through, nobody was affected as much as him.  He wanted someone to turn to besides Dr. Saturn, but his own pride forbade him from turning to anyone else.

"What I want is for you to leave us alone"

"Make me"

Harry cursed his own brain for the images of him and Draco those two words made him think of and groaned.  "You just can't put aside your arrogance can you?"

"You just can't put aside your believe of superiority, can you?"

"I don't-!" Harry was't able to finish the sentence as someone had tripped on their shoelace, falling on top of Draco, making Draco fall on top of Harry.  Their faces were only centimeters apart and both boys stared at each other with wide eyes and flushed faces.