Pages

Chapter 2

Draco fiddled with his cufflinks. Why was it that no matter what, they looked weird? He huffed and gave up, deciding that they looked good enough and hoped Harry wouldn't notice.

He stood out side a nice bistro only a few minutes away from Phoenix Books. Draco was wearing a white dress shirt, green blazer, and grey slacks. Internally, he panicked over how his wardrobe looked. Was it too dressy? Did he look like he was trying to hard? Oh no, now Harry's going to think he's desperate. He contemplated fleeing back to the safety of his penthouse when his escape planning was interrupted by his date. Harry looked stunning, even with his wavy hair wild in a crazy halo around his head. He had a cheery smile, a simple red button down and a pair of black trousers. Draco could feel the heat that rose in his cheeks at the sight of him.

"Hello Draco!" Harry greeted.

Draco managed to stutter out and awkward 'Hi' and they were seated at a table. They both sat in an uncomfortable silence before Harry spoke up. "So, did you decide what you were going to do about your fathers business yet?" He asked.

Draco nodded. "Yes, I plan to sell it and get a job that I want."

Harry beamed. "That's wonderful! What kind of job do you want to get?" Harry inquired excitedly.

"I, um, want to be an author..." Draco replies awkwardly. "Fantasy, to be specific."

"Sounds exciting!"

"What kind of job do you want to get if Phoenix closes?"

Harry sighed. "I kind of wanted to be a social worker at one point. I'm not so sure now."

"Why a social worker?" Draco asked. It sounded like a rather bland choice of profession if you asked him.

"Well... when I was in the system, my social worker wasn't very good. She really just ignored me when I needed help."

This caught Draco off guard. He hadn't expected Harry to have this kind of background. "May I ask why you were in the system?" Draco continued warily.

Harry smiled a sad smile. "Yeah, it's fine. I don't mind talking about it. My parents died in a car accident when I was a baby, so I had to live with my aunt and uncle. They weren't very good people so that's why I needed my social worker to get me out of there.

"After that, they assigned me a new family, the Weasleys. They were wonderful, and I wanted to be able to put kids with families like the Weasleys, instead of people like my aunt and uncle, who just liked the payout."

Draco regarded Harry in a new light. He'd had a rough past, but he was somehow still so cheerful. How on earth did someone do that? Draco couldn't help but feel how wonderful Harry was.

"I've rambled about me for too long. Tell me about you." Harry said.

Draco took a deep breath. "There isn't much to it. I grew up a spoiled little daddy's boy until I realized what an arse I was. Then when I was 21, my father retired and essentially forced me into his business."

Harry smiled. "At least you were able to self correct! Many people can't do that."

They ate their dinner as they had a friendly conversation. Draco discovered Harry had two best friends that he spent every weekend with, Ron Weasley, his foster brother, and Hermione Granger, a girl he'd gone to school with for a very long time who also happened to be married to Ron. He also happened to be an excellent football player, team captain in school.

After they'd finished, Draco offered to walk Harry home. They walked along the once again damp sidewalk to Harry's flat. At the exact moment that Draco was about to turn to leave, the gods answered Draco's prayer and it began to pour. "Oh dear, it's raining again. You should stay here until it lets up a little more." Harry commented.

Draco was more than happy to have a cup of tea with Harry. He sat on the couch in Harry's living room as he surveyed the photographs on the walls. Several depicted Harry with a large, red headed family that Draco assumed was the Weasley family that Harry spoke of fondly during dinner. Another with a tall red headed boy (who Draco guessed was Ron) and a pregnant lady with big bushy hair (he suspected it was Hermione). He noticed one picture that stood apart from the rest: a picture of Harry with his arm around the waist of a handsome brown haired boy. When Harry walked back in with the tea, Draco decided to ask. "Who's that in that picture over there?"

Harry's expression darkened. "That was my boyfriend, Cedric. He was killed by a madman last year." He replied darkly.

Draco immediately regretted asking. "S-Sorry."

The tension was so thick, Draco swore you couldn't cut it even with the sharpest of swords. "Um. I should go..." Draco said, as he stood up to leave.

Harry leapt up. "No! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make this depressing." He exclaimed.

"Okay, I'll stay."

Harry fidgeted. "Sorry, it's still kind of hard to talk about Cedric. I cared about him a lot."

"It's okay, that's what it is to fall in love." Draco commented. He smiled a warm smile at Harry, in hopes to raise his spirits.

Harry took a deep breath. "Do you want to do this again sometime?" He asked, nerves creeping into his voice.

Draco nodded. He bent down to plant a kiss on Harry's cheek. "How about tomorrow, I'll pick you up at Phoenix's?"

Harry blushed crimson. "I'd like that very much."

The moment Draco hap stepped out of Harry's flat, the actuality of the situation hit him. He kissed him? He talked to him about love? He would've had a damn panic attack in the middle of the street if it wasn't for the high he felt from kissing Harry on the cheek. His hands wandered to his lips. He smiled to himself as he walked home along the soaked sidewalk.