Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Second Chance Year	By : Spacefille Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 2925 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money off of the following work of fiction.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
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4. Silence

...

Harry tried to hang out with Hermione and Ron during the next couple weeks, tried being the operative word. Again, with Hermione insisting on taking far too many classes along with the class she had to teach herself, so he barely saw her. And when he did see her, she was busy snogging Ron on one of the couches in the Gryffindor common room while Harry tried his best not to be extraordinarily uncomfortable. Finally, when he overheard them discussing what colors they should have at the wedding (or rather Hermione was, Ron looked and sounded clueless) Harry had had enough. He shut his text book and left.

He knew he was going to go see Draco before he even got to the Potions classroom. When he got there he found Draco sitting on a desk with his legs propped up on another one. He looked completely uninterested as he wrote up a class assignment on the board with his wand.

Harry plopped down on the desk beside Draco with a sigh.

Draco glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, his eyebrow raised before continuing with the assignment.

“Ron and Hermione,” Harry began.

Draco made a cutting gesture with his free hand. “I don’t want to know, Potter,” he said.

“Might be getting married,” Harry finished.

Draco looked up then, horror on his face. “That’s disgusting,” he said, his lip curling. “Ugh,” he hopped down off the desks, and went over to the caldron to start to set out ingredients.

Harry actually smiled. “That’s it?” he asked. He had expected a long tirade of how his best friends were going to make abominable half-blooded, red haired, poor children. Or something to that effect. And perhaps a couple cracks about how ugly they’d look based on Ron’s mum’s genes. Though to be fair he hadn’t heard Draco make any comments about anyone’s mother in nearly three years…

Draco barely afforded him a glance. “You know what I think about it,” he said dismissively as he picked up a knife and set it to work chopping. “I don’t feel it’s necessary to repeat myself to a dim witted half-blood muggle lover like yourself.”

Oh there we go, Harry thought. Draco’s expected comments ended up aimed at him instead of his friends. Harry glared, then shrugged and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his robe, refusing to be baited with great effort. Instead he stood and watched Draco cut and mix for a few minutes. “What potion are you making?” he asked finally, trying to strike up a conversation.

That got him another irritated look. “There’s the board, Potter,” Draco said, pointing. “Or did the disgusting muggles that raised you forget to teach you how to read? Not surprising,” he added.

Harry flushed despite himself and bit down yet another retort. Instead he dutifully turned and looked at the board. It was a couple healing potions, Burn-healing paste and cough solution. Harry smiled a bit despite himself. He remembered those classes, about half of the potions were good enough to take down to Madam Pomfrey’s when they were done. The other half, of course, were not, and Snape had been sure to tell those students exactly how he felt about their failed potions…

Harry smiled wider. “Remember when Snape…” he began as he turned back around. He was just in time to see Draco’s head snap up.

The fleeting look of remorse on Draco’s face wasn’t lost on Harry. “I’m sorry,” Harry said contritely after a moment. “I didn’t mean to bring him up.”

Draco shook his head, frowned, and returned to his potion. “Why should I care about him?” he said with distain, but Harry could also hear a slight tremble to his voice.

Harry was silent for a moment, considering. “He cared about you,” he pointed out.

“Right,” Draco turned around so that his back was facing him.

Harry watched him. “He’d have been glad you lived through the war,” he said and then he stopped, considered and pushed on. “I’m glad you didn’t die as well,” he told Draco’s backside.

Draco swung back around to glare at him, and a world of emotions crossed his face. Shock, anger, confusion, sadness, and this very lost look he had seen only once before. Draco quickly schooled himself back to a carefully neutral expression.

Harry didn’t smile, or make any indication that he was joking. He wasn’t. Not about this. He was honestly and a bit surprisingly glad that Malfoy was alive and well and here. And maybe that’s what he needed to do to convince him… he steeled himself and bravely took a risk. “Draco,” he began, taking a step towards him.

Draco drew back quickly, a deeply suspicious look on his face. “What are you playing at, Potter?” he eyed him. “What do you want?”

Harry gave him a serious look. “It would be nice if we could be friends,” he said politely.

Now Draco was giving him a look like he was absolutely daft. “Friends?” he spat. “You are mad, Potter. Why would I ever want to be friends with you?”

That was not the response Harry had hoped for, though he supposed it wasn’t unexpected. Harry flushed despite himself and sighed. “Well,” he had to think about what he could say without upsetting Draco. More. “We’re both still alive…” he began carefully.

Draco cut him off. “Oh, oh that’s brilliant. That’s rich! We should be friends, because we’re both alive. By that reasoning, you want to be friends with every wizard left on the planet! Good luck with that, Potter,” Draco went to turn away again.

“I just meant you,” Harry replied stubbornly.

Draco’s jaw dropped. He actually came around the side of the desk to approach Harry. He stopped and leaned forwards to study Harry’s face, his eyes narrowed. Harry forced himself to stay still, and tried his best to look as sincere as possible.

Draco seemed to decide something and took a step back. “No,” he said.

“No?” Harry repeated.

“The answer, Potter,” Draco turned back around and waved a hand in the air dismissively. “Is no. I have better things to do with my time than to hang out with the likes of you.”

Harry couldn’t hold his tongue this time. “Like what?” he returned angrily. “Brewing potions and teaching children? Sitting by a lake? Getting attacked by your own house? You have no friends, Malfoy, you don’t even--”

"Shut up!" Draco snarled, whipping back around to face him. Draco had his wand pointed right at him, his eyes flashing with rage. Harry obediently shut up and berated himself silently for not getting his wand out before hurtling insults at Malfoy. Stupid quick fire temper... "Do you EVER love to hear yourself speak, Potter," Draco snapped at him. “Stupi-“

Harry dodged before Draco could complete the curse, allowing it to rebound harmlessly past him. “Protego!” he said quickly, deflecting another curse. This was nuts, they were in a classroom full of breakable objects… “Draco, stop-“

Another curse hit above Harry’s head and he ducked, then shot a couple curses of his own towards Draco. The last thing he had wanted to do tonight was to get into a duel. He heard something shatter as it was hit and winced despite himself, turning his head towards the sound. Oh great. Professor Slughorn was not going to be happy…

In the small moment that he was distracted, one of Draco’s curses landed. Harry found himself hurtling through the air. He crashed against a wall, bringing down a couple shelves and slumped to the floor, groaning. He managed to raise his head to see that Draco was advancing on him quickly… he winced and reached for his wand…

Draco broke into a run and a black shoe kicked his wand away before he could grab it. Harry looked up. Draco was gazing down at him with an impassive expression on his face, his own wand pointed right at him.

“Incarcerous!” Draco said. Thick ropes closed in over Harry’s torso, tying his arms to his sides.

“What—“ Harry began angrily, and with another flick of his wand Harry found himself quite unable to speak, gagged by invisible magic. Now he just glared, unable to do anything else except struggle silently against the ropes. This was not funny, and if any Professors came in here Draco would be in a lot of trouble. In fact he silently hoped Professor Slughorn or McGonagall would come in right now and find him…

Draco crouched down next to his prone body and Harry jerked away... or tried to. He was really regretting giving Malfoy back his wand right about now…

“It’s a wonder you ever managed to defeat anyone, let alone him,” Draco said in an incredulous voice as he watched Harry struggle. Instead of doing anything to hurt him however, Draco inspected him closely, his expression turning thoughtful. Harry stilled, his brow knitting.

Draco switched his wand into his other hand and reached out towards him. Harry startled as cool fingers touched his forehead. His eyes widened and Draco smoothed a couple locks of Harry’s hair back from his forehead, then ran a thumb up and down the lightening bolt shaped scar.

It didn’t hurt. Well, Harry knew it wouldn’t hurt, it hadn’t since Voldemort died permanently, but after eight years he half expected it to burn. He considered that, then frowned, distracted back to the present. Now what was he doing? Draco’s fingers had left his forehead to trace down the side of his cheek, smoothing over his cheek bones and along the side of his jaw.

Harry stared at him. It wasn’t unpleasant, just unexpected... DRACO was touching him. Not hitting him, but touching him somewhat gently and it was odd to say the least. For some reason Harry’s heart began to speed up and his breathing did as well, but he stubbornly refused to move or try to pull away. Before he could get too worked up, however, Draco pulled away instead, dropping his hand. Harry sagged a bit in relief.

The other boy let out a little sigh, his grey eyes sliding from Harry to look around the room. He crouched there for a moment or two more, head bowed slightly.

He looked tired, Harry realized. Exhausted, really and he felt a tiny flash of guilt.

The other young man finally stood. He looked around, then with a flick of his wand he muttered “reparo”. Items around Harry began to lift and knit back together. Only Harry remained, bound and gagged on the floor. Draco stepped away from him and for a moment Harry was afraid Draco was going to walk away and just leave him there. Instead Draco went over to where Harry’s wand had ended up and picked it up again. He walked back over to Harry and crouched down again.

“I don’t know what you’re up to, or who put you up to this. I don’t really care either,” Draco said slowly, his eyes narrowed. “All I want you to do is leave me alone. I’m going to let you go, I’m going to give you your wand back, and I want you to leave. Can you do something as simple as that, Potter?”

Harry didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. But he could nod and did so reluctantly. Draco waited a few moments more, then stood, pointing his wand down. The ropes came undone from around Harry and at the same time Harry felt the gag lift. As Harry moved, Draco dropped Harry’s wand near his head with a clatter, turned, and walked away.

Harry grabbed for it and stood quickly, breathing heavily and wincing a bit as his back decided to remind him it had just hit a wall with things on it. He watched as Draco silently went about cleaning up his potion. Finally Harry relaxed and sighed, feeling equal parts angry and resigned. Okay, so that failed. But he had given it an honest attempt… what the hell was wrong with Malfoy anyway?

But really, what had he expected, he thought as he turned and reluctantly left the classroom.

.

The fight in the classroom didn’t shake Harry’s resolve to try to spend more time around Draco. He just accepted that he’d probably have to be a bit more on his guard if he did. He wasn’t ‘up to’ anything and he was determined to show Draco that.

Unfortunately Draco had apparently decided the best way to get rid of Harry was to ignore him completely.

Draco ignored Harry in class, ignored him in the halls, and whenever Harry said “hi”. He even ignored Harry when he dropped by the potions classroom to stand in the doorway, watching Draco prep for classes the next day. Draco blatantly refused to acknowledge him at all or only offered frosty one word replies to Harry’s questions, even when it was about the classes they taught.

It was going to drive him nuts, he decided, after a couple weeks had passed. He had to talk to him again, and really talk, not just exchange in one word answers. Sarcastic mean spirited Draco was better than sullenly silent Draco. Draco was also starting to seriously remind him of how he’d been in their sixth year, and he knew exactly how well that year had turned out.

It was nearly Halloween when he got his chance. He had been sitting in the window seat in the dorms, looking over the grounds. Twilight had just fallen but even so, Draco’s blond hair was fairly distinctive in the waning light. Harry wondered briefly what he was doing out and about, then noticed the stack of scrolls he had under his arm. Probably off to hand reports in to McGonagall. Harry hopped down from the window seat and made his way down the stairs.

Sure enough Draco was walking in the opposite direction of where he was heading when Harry got there, scrolls gone. As he approached Draco whirled on a dime, his wand out and pointed it right at Harry. Harry actually put his hands in the air, a bit surprised at how fast Draco had moved. Though in retrospect he supposed it made sense how defensive Draco was, what with the attack a few weeks before...

“Oh,” Draco said once he saw who it was. “It’s you.” He stuffed his wand back into his robes and kept on walking.

Harry fell into step beside the other boy. “We need to talk,” he said firmly.

“I don’t have to do anything, Potter,” Draco replied. “Least of all talk to you.”

“Fine,” Harry retorted, and stubbornly continued to follow Draco.

Draco didn’t look happy but he continued to walk along without saying anything to Harry. Harry half expected him to head back to Slytherin, but instead Draco looped down along the edge of the grounds, along the forest and towards the lake. Harry, of course, followed him.

They, or rather Draco stopped at the shore, far enough back that nothing would grab them from the depths. Draco settled down under a tree, leaning his head back against it. Harry hesitated a moment, then sat under the tree as well, deliberately close to the other boy. Draco still didn’t say anything, or shift away for that matter. Mentally shrugging Harry settled back as well, turning his gaze onto the water or whatever Draco was looking at.

It didn’t take Harry very long to realize why Draco was there. It was to watch the moon rise. It was a full moon tonight, and was just starting to peek over the trees of the forbidden forest. As the shadows deepened the light filtered down from between the trees, reflecting off of the dark water and gently lapping waves.

It was very relaxing, Harry thought. He let his head fall back against the tree, suddenly feeling very tired. It had been a long week. Well, month… year, life. Whatever. He could fall asleep right here.

Draco shifted beside him and Harry turned his head to look at him.

Draco’s head was only inches away from his own. Harry blinked in surprise as their eyes met, then froze absolutely still as Draco reached up and touched the side of his face, thumb brushing against his cheekbone. Harry tried desperately to process that, that Draco was touching him again, gently, like back in the classroom, and now his heart started to pound again and…

And then something else happened that threatened to shut down his brain altogether.

Draco leaned over and kissed him.

It wasn’t just a short kiss either. Harry went to jerk away, more out of surprise than anything, but Draco held his head in place, drawing the kiss out for a second, then two and three and finally pulling away again and letting him go.

Harry had absolutely no idea what to say. He sat there, in shock, his mouth hanging open, as Draco inspected him. He could see in the dim light how Draco’s mouth curved up into a smirk as he looked away to resume gazing at the water.

“Shut your mouth, Potter, you look like a dying fish,” Draco said, amusement in his voice.

Harry shut his mouth obediently, but it didn’t last. “You… you just,” he stammered and fell silent again.

“Spit it out,” Malfoy drawled after a moment of Harry not saying anything. “We haven’t got all night.”

Indignation threatened to rise in Harry and push the shock aside. “Why did you do that?” he demanded to know.

“’Why did you do that?’” Draco mimicked back. “Figure it out yourself, Potter,” he said in his smug voice.

Harry absolutely could not figure it out himself. A thousand different reasons crashed through his head, each and every one returning to one single thought. Malfoy liked him? MALFOY? That way? What? But he just ignored him for weeks after telling him that he had absolutely no interest in being near Harry ever… and… but he kissed him so…

“You like me,” Harry said finally, with conviction. “I’m a bit surprised, I’ll admit, I—“ he stopped when Draco suddenly threw back his head and laughed.

“Hardly,” Draco gave him a cold look. “I would like to be left alone Potter, something you have continuously refused to understand,” Harry frowned and Draco ran a hand through his hair, clenching it briefly before elaborating, frustration evident in his voice. “You’re supposed to be repulsed, you stupid git, and run back to Gryffindor where you belong.”

Harry considered that. “It wasn’t that bad,” he said finally.

Now it was Draco’s turn to look at him with shock, his mouth open a bit as he stared. Then a change came over his face. He let out a low growl and lunged at Harry.

Harry didn’t even have time to block the attack before Malfoy was on him again, knocking him to the ground and holding him there as he kissed him, hard. When he was done he pulled away again, his eyes narrowed as he glared down at Harry.

Harry decided, in that moment, that that wasn’t so bad either. His glasses had been knocked off when Malfoy shoved him back, but since he didn’t feel them being crushed under him he figured they were in reaching distance. He could still see close up and frowned thoughtfully as he looked up at Draco.

Well, it wasn’t being friends, not exactly, but it was something. Harry reached up, not to throw Malfoy off of him but to touch the side of his face, and Draco’s eyes widened. Harry grinned at that, reached up with his other hand and pulled Draco’s head back down towards him. Draco tried to jerk away at the last second, but Harry held on, brought his head off of the ground and pressed his lips to Draco’s. Draco’s resistance didn’t last very long before he kissed him back.

Now it was a competition. One that Harry probably just won, if the odd groaning sound that Draco just made in the back of his throat was any indication. Draco was suddenly alive on top of him, squirming, his mouth opening up to Harry’s as he thrust his tongue inside. Draco kissed him savagely, licking and biting, demanding more. When he pulled away again, they were both breathing hard and there was an expression of dawning realization on Draco’s face.

Harry supposed Draco was going to be upset any second now about how his plan had backfired. He decided that, since he liked what they had just been doing, that he’d head that thought off at the pass. It wasn’t like he could do much more to piss Draco off anyway. And goodness knows he hadn’t gotten any action whatsoever in months, since Ginny had decided to start ignoring him.

Kissing Draco wasn’t anything like kissing her, he decided. He leaned up, pressing his lips to Draco’s jaw, feeling the scratch of closely shaved facial hair against his lips. He was a bit surprised, Draco was so pale he had never noticed he had even needed to shave before. Harry pulled back again just in time to see Draco’s brow knit in either dislike or concentration, then continued, kissing and licking his way down to Draco’s neck. He worried a small bit of skin between his teeth when he got there, before heading up towards his ear.

It was then that Draco made another strangled sound in the back of his throat and jerked his head away. This time he pulled away completely, sitting back on his heels, letting Harry move. Harry sat up, trying to fight off resigned disappointment as he fumbled around for his glasses. Draco, who was studying him wordlessly, seemed to pick up on the action suddenly and leaned forwards, scooping up the glasses and holding them out to Harry. “Here,” he said, his voice hoarse.

“I guess that plan failed, Malfoy,” Harry said as he replaced his glasses on his nose.

Draco just sat there and gave him an incredulous look. “Only a bloody Gryffindor would see kissing as a competition,” he complained, drawing his hand across the back of his mouth.

“Is it?” Harry said mildly. “We should compete more often then,” he said, feeling more than a bit brave.

Malfoy’s face changed in the dim light. He lowered his chin and smirked up at Harry. “Need to get off, Potter?” he said, posing it as a question and a challenge at the same time.

Harry’s stomach turned and he felt a bit like he was about to jump off a cliff into an especially icy lake. That… he hadn’t quite expected. Kissing was one thing… but… Draco… he couldn’t possibly… he drew in a deep breath. “Do you?” he replied, setting his jaw stubbornly.

That got a flash of a grin. Harry drew in a small breath and sat absolutely still as Draco pushed up and moved back towards him, coming up so he was on his knees. Harry blinked up at him owlishly, eyes wide, not quite sure what to expect. All he knew was that he had never… never got beyond snogging before in his life… but right now certain parts of him were definitely interested at the mere thought of doing something more. Draco reached out and plucked his glasses from his face and Harry found the world reduced to blurry nothing for the second time in as many minutes. He could see Draco and that was about all he could see. He watched with anticipation and a bit of trepidation as Draco tilted his head and leaned down. Their lips met and held for a moment, then Harry tentatively kissed him back.

He had expected something passionate, or violent, seeing as Draco didn’t like him at all, but instead Draco kissed him slowly. His cold thin fingers clasped the side of his face as he tilted Harry’s head back further, deepening the kiss and exploring his mouth gently. Harry realized, with a bit of a sickening jolt, that Draco was kissing him like how he’d kiss a girl he really liked, not how he should be kissing Harry now, and… What was he doing? This was insane, he was nuts, this was DRACO and not only was Draco another boy, abit a pretty one, he was DRACO, a former Death Eater, someone who had threatened his friends, someone who had broken his nose once and made his life a living hell for how many years and ohgod… what the hell was he doing with his tongue?

It wasn’t bad, the way Draco’s tongue ran against his own, in fact it was good, too good and Harry let out a strangled whimpering sound in the back of his throat. The panicked voice in the back of his head be damned, he wanted this. He reared up suddenly, moving Draco back so the other boy sat on his heels. Harry looped an arm around his shoulders and pushed, backing Draco into the tree. They broke away to readjust, Draco against the tree and Harry kneeling between his legs, pressing him back against the rough bark as he kissed him back, passionately and firmly, his fingers entwining in the soft blond hair. At the same time Draco’s hands ghosted up, slipping up under his robes and Harry schooled a jolt. He kept on kissing back with determination as the hands soon found the hem of his shirt and plucked it from where it was tucked into his pants, just enough that fingers could slip underneath and play against the soft skin of his stomach. Harry did startle then, Draco’s hands were COLD, and he jerked away with a little gasp. His head was now far enough away to see that Draco was studying him calmly. Harry stared back, confused, then shuddered again as Draco drew his hands higher. “Cold,” he managed to get out between puffs of breath. That got a soft unexpected laugh and Harry watched as Draco smiled, shut his eyes and leaned forwards to kiss him again, teeth catching his lip as he gently nipped at Harry’s mouth. Sudden heat flew through Harry as Draco’s rapidly warming fingers were forgotten. Harry groaned. Now he was reaching out himself, tugging on Draco’s very buttoned shirt with a bit of desperation. It was only when he found he couldn’t open the shirt without looking at it that Harry had to pull away again and Draco’s hands stilled as well. Harry let out a noise of frustration as he tried to peer down in the dark to see the buttons that, in the moonlight, were barely visible.

Draco laughed, again, at his efforts. Harry looked up at him, a bit worried at why he was being laughed at, and more worried when Draco removed one of his hands from under Harry’s shirt. Was he going to end this now that it had just become a little bit more interesting? But no, Draco brought up his free hand to wave it in front of his shirt, muttering an incantation under his breath and the buttons gave way like they hadn’t been there at all. The fabric split, to Harry delight. He grinned and grasped the side of the shirt, pulling it away from Draco’s torso.

Draco pushed away from the tree a little bit, twisting his head to dip it toward Harry’s neck, nipping at the underside of his jaw then pausing to suck at it and Harry’s eyes fluttered closed, his hands faltering from where they were trying to get at Draco’s bare skin. At the same time Draco’s hands returned to under his shirt, running up and then down Harry’s ribs, pausing briefly to skim along the hardened muscles of his stomach and then to slip behind him. Harry let out a little squeak as he reached his arse and gripped it, causing Harry to jerk forwards. Malfoy pulled away from his neck and looked up at him, languid smirk on his face.

Not to be outdone Harry leaned down and kissed him right in the middle of his stupid smirk as he went to work, finally able to lay questing fingers against the heated flesh…

And then he paused, pulling away from Draco to look down at him with wide eyes. His hand had fallen against the raised flesh of a puckered scar. Draco stiffened, then sucked in a sharp breath as Harry ran his hand higher, further up his chest, encountering a couple more - though a bit thinner - lines of raised flesh. Harry frowned and withdrew to reach back and fumble a hand into his robes.

“Potter?” Draco voice sounded raspy, then alarmed. “No, don’t!” But Harry already had his wand out and had uttered “lumos.”

Draco flinched back from the light, his arms going protectively around his chest, drawing his shirt closed.

Harry put down the wand, still glowing, and grasped Draco’s arms. “Let me see,” Harry said firmly. Draco clenched his jaw and fought for a moment, before finally turning his head to the side and letting his arms fall away. He wouldn’t look at Harry as Harry pulled back the fabric.

There were several, and that was several more then he expected. Four or five looked fairly uniform and were almost faded completely, which he expected were from his curse. But there were a few that were still livid and new enough to be purple or just starting to fade. There was a set of four of them in particular… four short deep scars on his upper chest towards the left side… they looked like they could have been caused by… claws? Harry reached out to touch them gently. “How?” he began, in a horrified whisper as he looked up at Draco.

Draco looked back at him, an unreadable expression on his face. “Death Eaters are not the kindest company one can keep,” he replied finally with a bit of a sigh. He went to move, seem to think better of it and stayed still instead, letting Harry continue his exploration. “You do know how to ruin the mood, Potter,” he said in a dry voice after a few more moments of being poked and prodded.

Harry jerked back to the present with a bit of a start, remembering what, exactly, he had been doing a minute ago before finding Draco’s chest the most fascinating thing in the world. Which it was. He had never thought about men's chests like this before but Draco was slender and beautiful pale skin slid easily over lean muscles. He had no visible chest hair, at least not that he could see in the low light from his wand, though that was probably due to his very fair genetics, whereas Harry knew that he had more than enough to go around. All around it was a lovely chest indeed and he…

He jerked his hand away as Draco’s words sunk in completely. He had ruined the mood, hadn’t he? Even certain parts of his anatomy that had been very interested only moments ago had subsided the moment he had been confronted with the physical evidence of abuse that Draco had suffered, both at his hand and others. “Sorry,” Harry mumbled. “I didn’t mean… I mean I didn’t think…”

“Yes, I’m aware of that, Potter,” Draco drawled, drawing his shirt closed and buttoning it this time instead of using magic. “You’re not much on the thinking department.”

Harry flushed again and glared, but Draco ignored him as he got to his feet stiffly and brushed himself off.

He then leaned down, and for a desperately happy moment Harry thought Draco was going to kiss him again but no, instead he picked up Harry’s glasses and handed them to him for the second time that night. Harry took them with a muttered thank you, to which Draco didn’t reply before turning to walk away. Harry felt an incredible sense of loss as he sat there. He had just been doing something wonderful and he had ruined it and he couldn’t even try to get it back again without sounding like a cad…

Draco stopped about ten feet away and turned back again. Harry looked up at him from where he sat.

Draco raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, Potter?” he asked. “Are you coming back to the school or are you going to just sit there all night like a lump?”

Harry blinked, but was on his feet in an instant, feeling an incredible well of hope rising up inside of him.

The rest of the way to the school was done in amicable silence, which was a welcome change. Harry took the opportunity to study Draco out of the corner of his eye. Draco for his part didn’t even glance at him, which gave Harry a chance to look at him while he was doing something as simple as walking. He wondered what Draco was thinking. They had just… kissed, passionately, for an extended period of time and Draco currently looked completely calm, unaffected… it was like nothing had happened. It was a stark contrast to how he had reacted back in the potions classroom when Harry had just tried to talk to him. To be honest Harry didn’t know what to make of it. His mind was a whirlwind of activity, that grew more and more distressed as they continued to walk in silence, Draco with his hands in his pockets and Harry a half a step behind. Was Draco experienced? Well obviously he was, he got that much from the kissing, but experienced in kissing boys? Did Draco like boys? He hadn’t shown any sign of it, but then he had only ever seen him with Pansy and he hadn’t seen them do much outside of a bit of cuddling, and that had been Pansy cuddling Draco come to think of it, not the other way around…

The more important question was, did he himself like boys? He loved Ginny, he had always found girls attractive, hadn’t even thought about blokes before… not really, though Draco was nice looking for a guy, always had been with refined mannerisms and a delicate build, but it had been hard to notice before, since whenever Draco opened his mouth Harry had had an urge to punch him. And Draco… more importantly if Draco didn’t want anything to do with him why was he okay kissing him? That was the part that puzzled Harry most of all.

They had reached the school, to the point at where they’d have to split off so that Draco could go back to the Slytherin dungeons and Harry to Gryffindor tower, when Draco finally stopped, turned around to look at him.

Draco took one look at his face… then burst out laughing. Harry just stood there, staring as Draco half doubled up on himself, holding his sides. Harry finally allowed himself a bit of a smile, hoping a bit desperately that Draco would at least let him in on it, even if it was in the form of a couple mean comments directed towards his intellect.

“Oh, oh!” Draco managed to get out. He finally straightened a bit, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, though Harry wasn’t sure if they were real tears or if he was being put on. “You should see the look on your face, Potter. Ha ha!” and he laughed some more.

“It’s not funny,” Harry finally pointed out, a bit hurt despite himself.

Draco looked at him, still smiling, but at least the laughter was gone. For the most part. “You look like you have no idea what you’re doing,” he said a bit unkindly.

“That’s because I don’t,” Harry snapped back, irritated now. He made a violent hand gesture down towards the lake. “What the hell was that, Malfoy?”

Draco gave him a superior look. “It’s called snogging, Potter. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Goodness knows your horrible Weasley friend does it enough with the mudblood. You must have picked something up from those two.”

“I know what snogging is,” Harry returned indignantly. “And don’t call Herm—“

He was cut off when Draco stepped forwards and kissed him again, quick, hard, and very deliberately. Harry froze and almost pushed him away when Draco stepped back again on his own, turned heel and started off for Slytherin, leaving Harry to stare after him with his mouth hanging open. “See you in class tomorrow, Potter,” Draco called back over his shoulder with a dismissive wave. “Try not to think too much.”

Harry stared after him until he had disappeared from sight. “… easier said than done,” he muttered.

.

Sure enough, Harry barely got any sleep that night.

…
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Second Chance Year