Harry and Draco sat on their beds in an awkward silence.
It was comfortable before, but now it felt weird. Harry was sketching in his book as Draco just stared at the ceiling.
Draco glanced over at Harry, who was deeply focused on his drawing. Draco groaned.
"Okay, this is getting annoying. I'm bored." Draco finally said.
The two had quickly finished their assignments when they got back, only sharing a few words. What caused such a change in the atmosphere? It was a mystery to both.
Harry sighed loudly and closed his notebook. "Okay, what should we do?"
"Well, we could go back down. I have a place that I used to go to a lot as a kid during the summer, we could apparate there." Draco suggested.
"But didn't our professor say to be back before sundown? It's almost 8 at night." Harry questioned.
Draco smirked mischievously with a shrug. "How will she know if we apparate?"
Harry sat for a moment, thinking. He nodded. "Okay, why not. Let's go."
Draco stood up with a hidden smile, and they put their shoes and jackets on.
"Where is it?" Harry asked, approaching Draco with his arm raised.
"You'll see." was all Draco said before linking his arm with Harry's and apparating to his secret location.
They hit the ground with a thud, and Harry realized he was touching dirt and grass; a forest floor.
"Where are... wow." Harry stood up; his eyes darting around and observing the setting they were in.
They were in a large forest of tall trees, nothing else as far as he could see. He tilted his head upwards, and a canopy of leaves bristling in the silent wind was hanging over them and blocking the night sky.
"Come on, there's something over here." Draco exclaimed, taking Harry's wrist and pulling them to the right.
Harry looked at Draco, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Draco looked excited, happy even. His grey eyes were shining brighter, even in the night. It was different; they held emotion. Secretly, Harry hoped it would last—but he knew it wouldn't.
Harry hadn't even realized they had come to a stop. Draco nudged him in the shoulder and pointed up, and Harry noticed there was an old, abandoned tree house attached to a tree right in front of them.
"Come on, climb up!" Draco told Harry, as he grabbed the ladder and started climbing up. Harry followed cautiously, trying not to fall.
Eventually, Draco and Harry made it, and they stepped onto the creaky wood platform.
Harry smiled. "This is cool. How did you come here when you were younger?"
Draco sat down against one of the wooden railings, and Harry sat down next to him.
"The Manor is back that way," Draco pointing behind them. "a 10 minute walk from this point."
"Wow," Harry said, surprised. "So you would walk out here and hangout by yourself?"
Draco leaned back slightly, causing another creaky noise in the wood.
"Yes, almost every night in the summer. I would..." Draco paused. "Nevermind, it's stupid."
Harry frowned, his eyes narrowing. "Tell me. I won't judge."
"Okay, fine." Draco gave in. "I would take some food from the back kitchen, bring it here, and feed the birds. It would make them stay."
Harry furrowed his brows again. "Stay?"
"I never got any company when I was young, I still don't. I never had anyone to talk to. This sounds incredibly stupid, but, I would talk to them. I would vent out my feelings, like I was talking to a best friend. Even though birds cant respond or understand, it felt nice to talk to someone, or something more specifically. They didn't have that judgmental, disappointed look written on their face when I talked to them, unlike... everyone else."
Harry was stunned. He could imagine a younger Draco sneaking out here and speaking to the birds as if they were people. Suddenly, a wave of sadness washed over Harry. Malfoy was lonely, and misunderstood. He knew this, but it was now apparent to him more than ever.
"What would you talk to them about?" Harry asked quietly.
Draco laughed. "Remember first year? When you rejected my friendship?" Draco asked. Harry nodded with a wince, feeling slightly guilty. "Well, I kind of...I would tell them how much it hurt my feelings and how badly I wanted you to accept my friendship. Anyways, I was young, and ignorant, and—"
"Malfoy." Harry stopped him. "I'm really sorry. I should've opened my eyes more in first year."
Draco sighed. "It's okay, Potter. I was extremely rude, I just never knew that things I said were wrong. You were being smart when you rejected me."
With no hesitation, Harry held his hand out in front of Draco.
"I'm Harry Potter. Would you like to be my friend?"
Draco stared at Harry's hand in shock. He slowly lifted his hand to meet Harry's, and shook it slowly.
"You're such an idiot." Draco chuckled. "Harry Potter, I accept your friendship."
~
harry pov change
"What are you drawing, Harry?" Draco asked me.
I looked up and smiled. "You."
Draco took the notebook out of my hands, and a grin grew on his face. "This is beautiful. You're so talented."
I blushed. "Thank you."
He leaned in, eyes fluttering closed, and placed his lips on mine. I responded eagerly by running my right hand through his hair and using my other one to hold his face.
He deepened the kiss, placing his hands on my shoulders to push me down on my bed.
My breathing grew uneven as his hands traveled down my sides, our lips still attached.
I smiled against his lips. "Draco." I whispered into the kiss.
My eyes shot open and I was shaking in a sweat.
What the fuck was that dream?
And why the fuck did I even have it in the first place? I don't think of Malfoy like that.
We had apparated back to the hotel around an hour after staying in Draco's hideout. We talked about basic and random things, like school and friends. Eventually, we both grew tired, so we came back and fell asleep immediately.
"Potter?" Draco's groggy voice shook me out of my thoughts. My head turned to Draco quickly, my chest still falling quickly from my heavy breathing.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "You had a nightmare, didn't you?"
"Yes, I'm fine now though. Go to bed." I managed to say. Without protesting, Draco fell back on his pillow and was asleep in seconds.
I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. What did that nightmare mean?
a/n: this chapter was kind of a lot
tomorrow is their fourth day in london! very excited to get the story moving along because DRARRY hehe
also, i'm not going to be writing any major angst plot points, so apologies if that's what you came here for. there will be pretty sad moments here and there but that's it. i prefer writing fluff tbh so i hope that's okay with you guys
also i wrote this while being super tired and sleep deprived so sorry if there's any grammar, spelling or punctuation mistakes. i'll try to fix them all