thirty one
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they returned back from their lively trip to hogsmeade, and harry was flushed and tingley, heated blood thrumming through his veins and filling him with a strange warmth.
he felt alive.
it had been so long since he'd had such a genuinely good day, and he could barely keep the grin off his face.
as they were walking back to the castle, draco finally remembered to give harry his gloves back. unfortunately for him, it was only a minute later when pansy decided to lob a clump of snow at the back of his head. the snowball fight almost escalated into a full-out war, but hermione took on her final form and coerced them into stopping.
draco (now with frigid fingers and chattering teeth) started to complain again, whining endlessly about how his fingers really would fall off this time. finally, harry rolled his eyes and took draco's hand, stuffing them both into the pocket of his jacket, and effectively shut him up.
the blond had blushed to the tips of his ears, leaving their friends speechless and harry with a triumphant smile.
the group engaged in quiet conversation the rest of the way, harry and draco stealing fond glances at each other when the other wasn't looking.
now they were back in the gryffindor common room, changed out of their thick coats, and were sitting in a circle of armchairs in the corner.
hermione and ron were glancing at each other, and then back at him with the weirdest expressions on their faces.
"okay, what?" harry asked. "why are you looking at me like that?"
neither of them met his eyes.
ron sighed. "fine, i'm just gonna go ahead and say it. what the bloody hell was that?"
harry blinked. "um...what was what?"
"that whole trip?" he looked pained. "y-you and malfoy...being all..."
he cringed.
"you and malfoy were acting like a couple." hermione finished for him.
harry blushed almost as red as the armchair.
"what?" he scoffed, shoulders tensing in embarrassed defense. "no we weren't. what are you on about?"
they exchanged a look.
"we're not accusing you of anything," she reassured him, although the corner of the
her lips twitched, giving away her hidden amusement. "you just seemed a bit...infatuated with him."
ron laughed. "a bit?"
as dramatically as possible, he began to flop onto hermione's lap and give a horrible impression of harry and draco's behavior.
"oh harry, you have chocolate on your face! let me lick it off for you!"
"draco darling are your hands cold? here have my gloves!"
"but harry! don't you need them?"
"i would gladly sacrifice my fingers for the sake of our love!"
by this point, all three of them were cackling loudly, drawing attention from the others in the room.
harry, still rosy cheeked from both embarrassment and laughter, grabbed a pillow and started whacking ron with it.
"shut up! that is so not what happened!" his words were interrupted by giggles and snorts.
once they finally stopped laughing, hermione got to the point, yet was still unable to suppress the residual smile.
"what we were trying to ask is-"
she was interrupted by ron's snicker, but with a glare he silenced himself.
"we have reason to believe that you like draco."
he pursed his lips. "well, of course i like him, he's my friend—"
hermione exhaled. "you know we don't mean it like that. you like him harry. you're practically in love with him, and you look at him like he hung the stars in the sky."
ron grimaced. "it's quite disgusting."
"harry, you can't possibly deny it. can you look me in the eyes right now and tell me you have no romantic feelings for draco?"
harry blushed, meticulously avoiding her calculating gaze. "define romantic—"
"merlin," ron sighed, exasperated. "do you wanna hold hands with him, take him out on dates, snog him senseless...or have him snog you senseless, i don't know...it's not that bloody hard. do you want to be with draco malfoy?"
harry looked at his hands and thought.
did he want to be with draco malfoy?
"...yes," he said softly.
"i think...i think i do. i...like him. bloody hell, i like him, i really, really like him. i like draco malfoy." saying it out loud filled him with a giddy sense of excitement, and he smiled a little.
hermione smiled at him softly, an almost maternal tenderness in her eyes. "see? was that so hard?"
"took you long enough." ron huffed, scrunching his nose in feigned annoyance, though the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards in the face of harry's confused ecstasy.
"this is mad." harry whispered to himself, shaking his head a bit. the thought of liking draco so very much after years of mutual resentment and disdain was insane, truly insane. and yet, the idea wasn't so strange to him when he thought of draco, really thought of him. as he was now, and as he had perhaps always been, though he hadn't known it himself. and he thought that draco was really so easy to fall in love with. it only made sense that this would happen.
he turned to hermione again, happy and frightened. "what do i do? i don't think i've ever felt this way before, not for anyone else..."
hermione shook her head, her smile growing. "for now? you don't need to do anything, not yet. just...bask in your feelings for a while. discover them and enjoy them, because love is a truly beautiful thing. and when you're ready, act on them. tell draco how you feel. i can tell you right now, i'm certain he feels the same way."
harry frowned, heart momentarily seizing. "and if he doesn't? what do i do then hermione?"
"i highly doubt that will happen," hermione said, covering his hand lightly with her own. her palm was soft and familiar against his, always there, providing comfort. "but if it does..."
"well, you have us, right mate?" ron began, words slightly stilted. harry turned to him with unobscured awe in his eyes, meeting ron's awkward, yet painfully sincere stare. soft and familiar, like they'd always been. "we'll get through it together."
harry sniffled against the sudden burn of touched emotion in his nose and throat. he mustered a soft grin and squeezed hermione's hand.
"thank you." he whispered.
"always." they replied.
merlin, harry thought. i really love my best friends.
a/n:
PSA: PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT TOO!!!
how was that? harry has finally realized his feelings for draco, and their relationship is progressing.
i know i said this chapter would be angst, but it ended up falling into next chapter. so this is the calm before the storm, my friends.
it's thanksgiving break this week for me, so i'll do my best to get out at least one, maybe more, chapters by the end of it.
love you! see you soon! ʕ'• ᴥ •'ʔ