A/N: So, in order to cover what I want to and also (hopefully) wrap things up during October, the next few chapters will be structured as a series of snapshots that take place over several days (or weeks). Pay attention to the dates at the top of each section, and refer to the calendar if you get lost. Please let me know if this is confusing.
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Saturday, December 16, 2017
"Harry?" Hermione asked, "What's going on with Draco?"
He reluctantly tore his eyes away from Draco's back. "Damned if I know, 'Mione."
"Well, what happened after we left him to help you back to your room?" Ginny asked. "You seemed to be getting on just fine before that."
Harry closed his eyes, remembering warm hands on his back, gently rubbing soothing circles into his aching muscles.
Then he remembered that haughty voice, dripping with scorn, calling him the 'Savior of the Wizarding World' as if it was the most repulsive thing he could possibly be, and hunched his shoulders, retreating into himself. Those words had hurt more than any of the harsh words they'd traded before. He'd thought they were past all that.
"Nothing." He shrugged, trying for nonchalant. "Where's that script you wanted me to look at, Gin? I'm more tired than I thought - think I'll head back. I'll see you girls later." He faked a yawn and was met with five pairs of disbelieving eyes. Astoria wordlessly handed him the scrip; he nodded his thanks, feet already propelling him toward the door. He felt their eyes on him long after he left. He didn't look back.
---
Monday, December 18, 2017
"Avoiding him isn't going to make this go away, Harry."
Harry turned slowly in his chair to see Luna perched comfortably on one of the desks. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Hullo to you, too, Luna. I don't know what you're talking about. Now, if you don't mind, I'm rather busy today, so -"
"Oh, no. You're not getting out of it that easily." Her face was set in stubborn lines, and Harry sighed.
"Listen, Luna, I appreciate what you guys are trying to do - really, I do - but it isn't going to work. We're just too different."
Luna cocked her head, regarding him steadily. Her quicksilver eyes were impossibly bright. "You're not. He's more like you than either of you realize."
Harry set down the paper he'd been trying to read, massaging his temples wearily. "Luna..."
"You're remarkably stubborn, Harry, but that doesn't mean you're right. Honestly. It's like you didn't even hear the things he told you."
Harry jerked around to face her, knocking the glass tank off the edge of his desk.
Luna caught it with a negligent flick of her wand, setting it neatly back on the desktop, unharmed. Harry breathed a soft sigh of relief. He did not have the patience to deal with an angry grindylow just now. "Thanks."
She nodded, setting the constellation of tiny bells that were woven through her rainbow-streaked hair chiming.
Harry forgot what he'd been going to say. "You've, er, got bells in your hair."
"Hmmm?"
"Bells? Y'know? Small, brass, make noise - y'know what? Never mind. What were you saying about not listening to what he said?"
She frowned at him. "You know, Harry. In the hospital wing. After the duel? He told Astoria that the pain potions made him talk; that he told you every - Oh. You didn't hear, did you?"
Understanding and pity dawned in her eyes, and he hated her for it, just a little. "Er. I put up a muffliato. I thought - it didn't seem right to eavesdrop like that." He glared at the desktop, voice small and hurt. "He told Astoria."
Luna hesitated. "Well, not everything, certainly, but -"
"Great. Wonderful. But he still won't tell me." He heard the bitterness creeping into his tone, but didn't bother trying to stop it.
"Harry..." Luna frowned. "He thinks he did tell you. He doesn't know you didn't hear."
Harry scowled, kicking at the floor moodily. "The one time I try to do something right..."
Luna sighed, rising to her feet in a chorus of tinkling bells. "We're meeting tonight, for dinner, to work on the play. We'll see you at six."
"Will Malfoy be there?'
She ignored him. "Bring your script with you."
"Maybe I just won't show up."
There was no answer - Luna had already breezed out. Sighing, Harry tried to go back to grading, but quickly gave it up as useless. He yanked the script from under the pile of papers, stuck his tongue out at the grindylow, and started to read. If he was going to suffer through the girls' peculiar torture, he was at least going to make sure he didn't make a fool of himself. Anyway, Draco probably already had the damn thing memorized.
---
Saturday, December 23, 2017
"O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do." Harry wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"It's not an innuendo, you absolute imbecile!"
Draco's face had gone an interesting - and quite distracting - shade of pink, and Harry was having trouble keeping a straight face. Baiting Draco was such fun. He'd forgotten how much he'd enjoyed it, back in school. He shoved the distracting images of a younger Draco - flushed for a very different reason - aside. He didn't know if they were true memories or not, but it didn't matter.
Draco still refused to tell him what had happened between them, but working together on the play every night for the past week had proved Draco to be a pleasant - if easily flustered - companion. Harry was trying to let the past go and accept what Draco was offering: friendship, of a sort. It was a spikier friendship than Harry shared with anyone else, but, somehow, he didn't really mind. It was Malfoy. Of course their relationship - friendship - would be spiky.
"Well?" Draco said impatiently, and Harry wrenched himself back to the present, and the flushed, annoyed, Draco in front of him.
He shrugged. "Well, what?"
Draco spluttered, and Harry laughed.
---
Monday, December 25, 2017
Christmas brunch at the Burrow was surprisingly fun. Al invited Scorpius, of course, and also Ivan and Sasha and Tilly. Ginny invited Astoria, Hermione, Pansy and Luna. Harry, after several not-so-subtle hints from Ginny, gave in and invited Draco. Molly Weasley, to her credit, didn't bat an eye at all the extra guests; she simply sent her boys off to scrounge chairs and dishes for all of them.
George pulled Harry and Draco aside during the mad scramble of "where did I put my coat" and "sod the coat - where did I put my kids" once brunch had been stretched as late into the evening as they could manage. He looked furtively around, then dragged them into the broom closet and pressed something into Harry's palm.
"What's this?" Harry asked, frowning down at it.
"Shh!" George hissed, curling his fingers back over it. "It's something Fred and I were working on, before... Anyway. I've been tinkering with it lately, and I think I've got it."
"That's great!" Harry said, glad that George was finally moving forward. "Er. What do you want me to do with it?"
"Need a test subject, don't I?" George asked, rolling his eyes. "Figured you two would have the easiest time getting into Teddy's room. Hurry, now - I"ll distract him."
George winked and slipped out of the closet. Harry immediately realized just how small it actually was, and that the wall he'd assumed his back was pressed against was actually Draco. His face heated and his breath caught. He had almost worked up the courage to lean further against him - deliberately! - when Draco said "come on," and pushed past him and through the door. Harry wondered, as he struggled to regain his composure, if he'd imagined that Draco's voice was slightly strangled.
---
Harry was re-locking Teddy's door when Draco hissed "McGonagall's coming!" and melted into the shadows.
"Mister Potter!"
Harry turned, stuffing his hands behind his back guiltily. "Hullo, Professor."
McGonagall studied him over the rim of her glasses, frowning. "Mister Potter," she said, "what in Godric's name has gotten into you?
Harry squirmed under her steely gaze. "I...Malfoy... that is..."
McGonagall massaged her temples. "Of course Mister Malfoy is tied up in this," she said wearily, "shall I go and fetch him, then?"
"There's no need," Draco drawled, stepping out of the shadows by the door.
McGonagall frowned. "What - "
A crash sounded from a neighboring corridor, and Peeves zoomed past them, cackling madly. McGonagall closed her eyes. "I'll deal with you two later. Just... stop skulking about the corridors."
Harry stuck his tongue out at her retreating back. "Someone might think you're up to something," he muttered.
"I heard that, Mister Potter..."
Harry and Draco collapsed against the door, trying to muffle their laughter.
"I can't believe you said that!" Draco said, snickering and dropping his head to Harry's shoulder.
"Hang on!" Harry drew back to look at him suspiciously. "How did you know about that?"
Draco's embarrassed flush was quickly becoming one of Harry's favorite things. "I, uh, might have been following you. Sort of."
"Awww, did ickle Draco have a crush?"
Draco flushed deeper. "Shut it, Potter. Need I remind you that you admitted to stalking me, not so long ago? Now, lets get out of here before Teddy gets back."
---
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
After the surprisingly fun, incredibly chaotic brunch at the Burrow, they'd all needed some time to recover. The next night, the girls held their own, smaller Christmas party.
Harry, as usual, spent it arguing with Draco,
"But why won't you tell me? C'mon, Malfoy. What do you have to lose?"
Draco sighed. "I've told you, Potter, I - Blaise!"
Harry turned, frowning, to see a dark-skinned man in flamboyant clothing dash across the room and into Draco's arms.
"But," Draco was saying, still wrapped in the over-enthusiastic hug, "what are you doing here? Where's Rachel?"
Blaise grimaced. "Gone. Good riddance. She left me for fucking Chris. Her secretary." He huffed. "Anyway, that's done - I'm here now. Potter." He nodded stiffly as Harry approached.
"Potter," Draco said quickly, "you remember Blaise Zabini?"
Harry nodded. "Zabini," he said evenly. Then he walked as nonchalantly as possible over to Luna and smiled at her as he leaned in to hiss in her ear. "We need to talk."
She turned her sunny smile on him, and he took her arm, leading her out of earshot. "Right," he said, glaring at her. "What the fuck is he doing here?"
"Blaise?" Luna looked puzzled. "He needed somewhere to go, to get away for a bit. It's horrible about his wife - she wasn't very good for him, and -"
"Yes, all right, fine. But why is he here?"
She frowned at him. "Because he's helping with the play of course. Ivan needed a contact and assistance with the costumes, and Blaise knows how to handle fabric."
Harry glared across the room, to where Blaise and Draco were huddled together, talking animatedly. "I'll just bet he does."
"Harry - " Luna plucked at his sleeve, but he ignored her.
"I don't trust him," he said abruptly. "And I don't like him."
"Well, all right, I suppose, that's your prerogative, but -"
"I don't want him around Draco."
Luna rolled her eyes. "If you haven't noticed, Harry, I'm not Draco's keeper. He's his own man - if he wants to spend time with Blaise, his very good friend that he's not seen in years, then I don't see any problem with it. If you're going to be a prat about it, I suggest you leave."
Harry left.
---
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
"Luna?" Harry opened the door cautiously, but no one seemed to be up. It was early, but Luna had always been an early riser, even after late nights. Not that he knew if it had been a late night... He winced. Well, that's what he was here for: to apologize for his rudeness at the party the night before. He peeked into the living room, frowning at the blankets and pillows strewn on the couch, and then wandered into the kitchen, expecting to see Luna curled around her customary cup of fragrant tea.
Instead, he found Blaise Zabini, hunched over a cup of coffee and plate of pastries at the kitchen table, wearing only slytherin green silk boxers. He grunted a response that Harry couldn't make out. He was about to ask him to repeat it when Draco walked in, wearing what looked like identical boxers and an indecently short and ratty bathrobe that he must have borrowed from one of the girls. He dropped into the chair next to Blaise, greeting him fondly as he snagged a pastry, poured himself a cup of tea, and snapped open the day's Prophet.
Harry turned on his heel and walked out.
Fucking Zabini.
---
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Harry had been avoiding Draco all night. Of course he would be at the girls' New Years Eve party. Of course he would be practically glued to Blaise's side. Harry had successfully avoided him since the disastrous Christmas party, and he'd hoped to continue avoiding him for the rest of the school year. It's just my luck that I couldn't even make it to the end of the calendar year, he thought bitterly, as soon as he spotted the familiar pale hair across the room. He spent the next few hours dodging and weaving through the crowd, downing countless glasses of punch, and trying not to to look miserable. Midnight was fast approaching when he was unwittingly drawn into a conversation with Ginny and Pansy about adapting the play's dialogue to make it more modern.
---
Draco stumbled slightly as he stepped unsteadily from Blaise's side and approached Harry, sweeping his wineglass in a wide arc. "Wherefore does not mean where, you uncultured heathen. Honestly, Potter. Don't you know anything?"
Harry set his own glass down just a bit too hard, slopping punch over the rim. It pooled on the snow-white linen, the blood-red stain creeping over the fabric. Harry stared, transfixed. "Yes, Malfoy," he said quietly, refusing to look at him, "I do. I know what it's like to spend a year on the run, sharing the toxic burden of a horcrux, eating nothing but mushrooms and berries scrounged in the forest, worrying every night that you'll just fail to wake up, and everyone you know and love will die."
Harry raised his voice. "I know what it's like to grow up without parents, without love, living in a cupboard and being treated more harshly than any house-elf. I know what it's like to realize that the man you looked up to and trusted - the first person that you thought loved you - was actually just using you as a pawn in his war, keeping you safe so you could die at the proper moment."
He looked up, eyes wild and distant. "I know what it's like to die, Malfoy, then to be denied even that peace, to kill and then be adored by people who know nothing about what your so called 'heroism' was actually like. But no, I don't know that wherefore doesn't mean where. I suppose my education was somewhat lacking." He stared around at them, panting, chest heaving, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.
Ginny squeaked, Astoria had her hand clapped over her mouth, eyes over-bright; Hermione was crying softly into a subdued Pansy's shoulder. Only Luna looked at him as she always had: with quiet acceptance and understanding tinged with sadness. He didn't look at Draco.
Harry turned in a slow circle, pinning them all in place with his glare. "I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry for letting you all down - again, but you'll just have to find someone else to help you with your stupid play. Actually, you've already got someone, haven't you? I'm sure Blaise can stand in for Romeo just as well as I can. I hope you have a bloody good New Year."
He stalked away from them, back toward Hogwarts, as the fireworks started to go off, painting the sky in brilliant reds and yellows that . He stared at the ground as he walked back. the vibrant colors dancing and sparking at the edges of his vision.