Blue Moon [completed]

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Harry's POV

I followed Ron and Hermione to our Transfiguration lesson, reluctantly stepping into the classroom on such a beautiful day. It was the beginning of May, and the sun was shining, the flowers were blooming and there was a slight breeze, just enough to freshen the air.

I took my usual seat next to Dean towards the middle of the classroom, and put my textbook and a fresh roll of parchment on the table. I listened to Professor McGonagall explain how to transfigure ourselves into another creature, and jotted down a few essential notes. It was an extremely tricky manoeuvre, and I didn't suspect I would ever really get the hang of it. The professor told us at the end of the lesson that we would attempt practical work next time, which I was already dreading.

Lunch couldn't have rolled around any sooner, and I took a seat on the bench next to Ron, with Ginny opposite me. She gave me a friendly smile, which I returned. I was glad that her and I had managed to put our past aside and become real friends. She was a rather incredible person, and a magnificent Quidditch player.

Only a couple of minutes later, Draco sat down beside me and gave me a soft peck on the cheek. I smiled at him and helped myself to a plateful of food. We all chatted happily while eating, and then went our separate ways to our classes. Hermione and Draco trotted off to Ancient Runes while Ron and I dragged ourselves up the stairs to Divination.

At the end of the day, I went to the library to meet Draco, just like we had been doing for the past few weeks. We sat in silence, doing our assigned homework, Draco clearly succeeding much faster than me. He looked over at me every now and again, and when he noticed my disgruntled expression, turned my parchment to face him and wrote down the answer. It was sometimes intimidating to be with such a clever person, and I soon realised how Ron must have felt every day.

In fact, Ron and Hermione were sitting at their own desk not too far away from us, bickering about our Potions assignment. I chuckled to myself, knowing it wasn't a serious argument; they often quarrelled over nothing. To be honest, Draco and I had our fair share of disagreements over subjects that, looking back on them, were pretty ridiculous.

Ever since Draco had been released from the Ministry, we had decided to be more public about our relationship. It was so near the end of the school year anyway, and we couldn't be bothered to keep the efforts up to hide ourselves from everyone. I had eased Ginny into it early on, when he had left. She had very obviously noticed something was wrong, as had most people, and I decided to let her know. She actually took it much better than I had expected, and appeared very graceful about it. I was glad that we could be good friends again; she was such a great person. And I could only imagine my visits to The Burrow with that kind of tension between us.

That afternoon, Draco and I were strolling around the grounds. The Seventh Years were sitting their O.W.L. exams, so we had the afternoon off. We wandered along the bank of the Black Lake, running into Ron and Hermione halfway down. We smiled at each other politely, not stopping to chat. A bit further down, we ran into Seamus and Dean, sitting on the bank, and appearing to be in deep conversation. Seamus was chucking pebbles into the water and picking blades of grass, seeming somewhat grumpy. I worried about what was going on between the two. They barely noticed us walk past, and none of us attempted to make contact. So we left them to it and continued on our promenade.

Draco's POV

A couple of weeks from the end of the school year, Harry and I were in the Room of Requirement, as per usual, lounging on an armchair each. In the last month or so, the Room had altered itself to fit the weather changes. We no longer had a fireplace, but there were large windows on one wall, that had a glorious view of the grounds. We would often sit on the plush armchairs in front of them, feeling the fresh breeze come through, blowing the long sheer curtains around. It was such a peaceful, delightful, feeling and I often felt as though I could stay right there for days on end.