Chapter Text
Harry had spent the rest of the evening with his little ferret friend, even convincing Ron and Hermione to bring him up some food from the dining hall so he could stay in his room with his furry pal. They had shared a concerned look, but ended up conceding. Harry had been through way more than anybody ever should and although they had been able to take a year off to recover after the war before returning for their eighth year, a year was hardly enough time to fully recover from a lifetime of trauma. They were just happy to see something make him smile, it had been far too long and they had been getting worried.
He had decided to call his new friend Lilo, short for little lover. Lilo seemed content enough, though he seemed to perk up the few times Harry would jokingly call him Draco. He had learned that Lilo quite enjoyed play time, his favorite game being a variation of pop goes the weasel, in which he’d hide under Harry’s duvet and slink around before popping up, creating a little tent in the covers, then scurrying away before Harry could catch him. Once, he even managed to sneakily climb down the side of the bed, onto the ground, and back up the bed post connected to the headboard, leaping onto Harry, who had been completely focused on trying to find Lilo under the duvet. He had screamed so loudly that Ron and Hermione came bursting in. That was how Harry learned that ferrets could giggle.
Around bedtime, Harry had left a very drowsy Lilo tucked into bed while he went to go take a shower. When he stepped out of the steamy bathroom a little later, towel slung low around his hips, he found Lilo snoring away. He put on a pair of briefs and crawled into bed. Lilo began to stir, then let out a screech upon opening his eyes. Harry had laughed, thinking his presence spooked the sleepy little guy, and made himself comfortable under the duvet before picking up Lilo and placing him on his chest. Lilo began marching his little paws against Harry’s skin, almost nervously, making little chittering squeaks and looking around like he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. But eventually he mellowed out and curled up in a ball right over Harry’s heart, letting the low thrum of his pulse lull him into sleep.
Draco blinked his eyes open blearily at the sensation of warm lips pressed against his head. He cooed softly at the sight of Harry smiling down at him and stretched his little body. He opened his mouth wide in a yawn, but half way through it turned into a high pitch screech when he remembered his situation.
“Woah, easy there Lilo, it’s just me, remember?”
Why yes, Harry, I do remember. In fact, that seems to be exactly the problem!
“Yes, squeak, squeak, squeak little buddy! You’re so cute.”
Must you patronize me, Potter? It’s your fault I’m in this situation anyways. You and your dopey sad eyes.
“Someone’s awfully chatty this morning! Are you hungry?”
In fact, he was. Harry had tried sharing the lettuce from his sandwich last night, but determined that Lilo did not like leafy greens after having it spat back at him. He then tore off a piece of turkey and Lilo practically bit off his finger gobbling it up. He had gone to tear off another piece for the eager little guy, but Lilo beat him to it, grabbing a loosely hanging piece from the edge of the sandwich and pulling the whole slice out. It was delicious, but only had been just enough to quell his appetite.
Now, Lilo’s stomach growled.
“I’ll take that as a yes!” Harry chuckled. “Right then. Normally we’re not allowed to bring pets to the dining hall, but…”
Lilo let out an annoyed hiss.
“As I was going to say! I don’t think you’d much like being considered a pet. I’m merely bringing a friend to breakfast with me! So you need to be on your best behavior so we don’t get in trouble, got it? Hey, stop rolling your eyes at me!”
Harry quickly got dressed in some comfortable sweats and a tshirt, not bothering for anything formal on a lazy Saturday. Then, thinking for a moment, he dug through his trunk and pulled out a thin scarf Mrs. Weasley had knitted him and wrapped it securely around his waist, tucking Lilo into the makeshift pouch, then threw on an oversized jumper on top.
“There!” He beamed, glancing in the mirror.
He earned a muffled chitter in reply.
“Alright, off we go! I’ll have to give Draco a proper thanks when we get down there since he disappeared before I could last night. Maybe I’ll give him a big ol’ kiss on the lips.”
Lilo screeched from inside his pouch where he had just begun to grow drowsy.
Wait what?!
“Just kidding, as if I’d have the nerve to do that. He’d probably deck me in the face if I tried.” Harry sighed sadly.
Well I don’t know about that.
As they headed down to the dining hall, Lilo bouncing slightly in his pouch with each heavy step Harry took trudging down the stairs, he contemplated how he was going to make his escape so he could turn back to his human form.
I’ve really done it this time. He’s already too attached. What am I supposed to do, keep this up for the rest of my life?? Well… No, no I can’t do that! That’s absurd. It does feel really nice though… life is so much easier like this, plus I get to be the object of Harry’s affections and be in his arms and… but of course NOW I find out he likes me too? Literally how could I have known the way he’s been acting around me?! He’s been so distant, I thought he wanted nothing to do with me! I was making peace with that and now– now I find out I actually do have a chance and I get stuck in this whole mess?! Damn you, Potter… you can never make things easy on me, can you?
“Ow!” Harry yelped, feeling a slight nip against his belly.
“You okay, Harry?” Hermione asked, concerned.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Harry grumbled, giving a sharp pat against his belly.
Lilo barked at him from within his cocoon.
Hermione stared pointedly down at Harry’s jumper.
“Harry… did you–?”
“He promised he’d behave like a perfect gentleman!” Harry swore, raising a hand pledgingly.
“Right…” She replied, sharing a look with Ron.
“So anyways… as I was saying…” Ron drolled on, giving Harry a sideways glance as he continued telling whatever story had been interrupted. “Seamus then turned to Finnegan and said ‘Come on man, I really need to practice for my entry exams, you know how bad I want to become a healer, you know what it means to me!’ and Finnegan just–”
He paused mid sentence to look over at Harry who had surreptitiously pulled up his jumper and was allowing Lilo to browse through the selection of food options that had been carefully laid out on his plate, watching as he sniffed at each option, contemplating each one.
“He… uh… he just…” Ron cleared his throat, attempting to recollect his thoughts. “So he was like ‘Oh come on man, are you really pulling that card on me? Alright fine, but if you don’t fix me right afterwards I’m gonna be PISSED.’ And then Seamus decked him as hard as he could across the face, cracking his–”
He stopped abruptly, glancing over at Harry who was now alternating between feeding himself and feeding Lilo eggs and tiny cut up pieces of sausage.
“Are you even listening?”
“Huh?” Harry voiced, not looking up from Lilo who was anxiously grabbing at the small piece of meat with his tiny little hands and gnawing at it with teeth so little they merely left toothpick sized punctures in the patty before finally biting it off successfully. Harry thought he might die right there. “Yeah, yeah, I’m listening.”
“Right… okay…” Ron’s eyes swiveled back over to Hermione, hooded with mild annoyance. “Uhh… where was I? Oh yeah, yeah so Finnegan is standing there with a cracked nose, I mean it was gnarly–”
He trailed off, his laugh dying in his throat as he watched Hermione’s eyes slide over to Harry with growing concern. He had taken Lilo out of his makeshift pouch and had him thrown daintily over his shoulder, head resting sleepily between his paws, his long body hung relaxed down the front of Harry’s chest as he patted the ferret’s back gently.
“Umm… Harry…?” Hermione tried, tapering off evidently at a loss for words.
“He has a tummy ache. That’s what happens when you eat too fast.” He admonished, looking pointedly at Lilo, who Ron could have sworn rolled his eyes.
“Err… yeah… so, like I was saying…” Ron attempted again after a moment of awkward silence, interrupted by a tiny burp from Lilo . “So his face is like a damn faucet, people are screaming, and Seamus goes ‘Oh fuck, I think I forgot my wand!’ and–”
“Have you guys seen Draco at all today?” Harry interrupted, finally looking up from where he held a heavily contented Lilo cradled in his arms, rubbing circles around his belly.
“No, I haven’t.” Ron grumbled in obvious irritation.
Hermione shook her head.
“Huh, I wonder where he is.” Harry hummed, peering around the Great Hall.
“Okay, Ron, keep telling the story.” Hermione urged, gazing up at him with big eyes, eager to hear the chaos unfold.
“Right… so I can practically see the smoke fuming out of Finnegan’s ears as he tackles Seamus to the ground, and we weren’t even in the fields, we were just out on the courtyard where it’s all brick and stones, and he just starts wailing on him—”
“I’m going to go look for him.” Harry announced suddenly, standing up from his half eaten breakfast and pulling his jumper back down, obscuring Lilo from sight.
“Uhh, okay mate, see you later… I guess…” Ron uttered out, looking warily at him then sharing a look of confusion and mild concern with Hermione.
Harry strolled through the library, only seeing a few students spaced out across the many tables in the main area of the library, and none back in the more obscure seating behind the bookshelves. It was mid morning on a Saturday, not many people came to the library at this time, but Harry had thought that maybe Draco would’ve since he’s been spending most of his time there. He had been going to the library much more this year too, if only to try to catch Draco’s eye and get him to talk to him. But he would always stare resolutely anywhere BUT at Harry. He had tried to work up the nerve several times to just get up and sit next to him, ask him to study, even just pass him a note, but he chickened out everytime. His resilience against fear only extended as far as defeating Dark Lords, and not to asking out his apparently several year long crush who he just came to terms with, realizing they were in fact not two enemies on opposing sides but just two very scared kids trying to do whatever they could to survive and protect people. He supposed.
He dropped down heavily onto a chair at an empty desk in the corner, earning him an alarmed squeak from a disgruntled Lilo who had just been jolted awake from his mid morning nap. Harry sighed loudly dropping his head in his hands.
“What am I going to do?” He moaned. “I’m so bloody in love with that dumb git and he doesn’t even want anything to do with me. How could I be so stupid to have any hope that he’d want me like I want him. He probably doesn’t even want to be my friend, after all the dumb shit we pulled against each other for so long… I can’t even imagine what he’d think if he knew I was gay… God, I really fucked up.”
He let out a shuddering breath, then patted Lilo over his jumper lightly.
“I’m just glad I have you, little buddy.” He sighed.
Suddenly, Lilo dug his claws into Harry’s shirt and climbed his way out of the pouch, pulling himself upwards until his head popped out of Harry’s collar. They stared shocked at each other for a moment before Lilo let out a screech, noticing a stray tear dripping down the boy’s chin. He licked at it fervently, resting his paws on Harry’s jaw. Then he let out a whimper and ran the rest of the way out of the jumper, down the back of Harry’s shoulder, and hopped down to the ground where he scurried off behind a row of bookshelves.
“Lilo, wait! What has gotten into you, young man!? Lilo D. Potter, you promised me you would behave!”
He chased after the ferret, rounding the corner between two bookshelves, then skidded to a stop smacking right into Draco Malfoy.
“Draco! Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I was actually just looking for you, or well I was looking for my ferret just now actually, he ran away again, and I– oh god, I gotta find him, oh no where could he have gone?” He groaned, chest feeling tight.
“Harry–” Draco placed his hands gently on the slightly shorter boy’s shoulders.
“Oh fuck, I’m sorry, Draco, I probably look like such a mess…” He moaned, feeling completely out of his element and almost wishing they could go back to being jerks to each other because at least he knew how to do that.
“Harry, it’s fine. I don’t think you’re a mess. Here, why don’t we go sit down, I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Oh. Oh! Oh god, I–” He looked frantically back and forth between Draco and the general direction that Lilo had ran. “I’m so sorry, Draco, I really, like really , want to talk to you but I’m just so worried about Lilo– my ferret– and he–”
“Harry!” Draco sighed, shutting his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them again, Harry was staring at him with big watery eyes that made his heart break in two.
“Harry…” He tried again, his voice wavering. “I’m so sorry. Like so unbelievably sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go this far, I didn’t mean for any of this at all, but then you were asking for my help and I have been agonizing over how I could possibly help you for so long now and you just looked so sad and I just wanted to make you smile and laugh again like you had when I was like that and I—”
Harry stared at him incredibly shocked by the sudden outburst and also extremely confused by what any of it meant.
“Shit.” Draco mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Okay, uhh, here, let me just…”
In a quick poof , Draco disappeared. Harry gaped at the open space in front of him.
Did he just apparate out of the conversation??? Wait… you can’t apparate within Hogwarts…
A familiar squeak snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked down to see Lilo staring up at him timidly. Slowly, Harry bent down and picked up the ferret, holding him by the waist.
“Wait… are you…?” Harry’s eyes grew even bigger as his brain began making rapid connections, putting everything that Draco had said together.
With another poof , Draco appeared once again in front of Harry, whose hands were still placed gently around his waist.
“Harry, I-I’m so unbelievably sorry. I know that was a huge invasion of trust and I didn’t mean to hear those personal things you told me without knowing it was me. I-I didn’t even know you felt that way, I thought you hated my guts, I mean I was so awful, I didn’t even blame you, I just thought you wanted nothing to do with me and I tried to just stay out of your way, but then—”
Harry stepped forward, til they were close enough that their noses lightly grazed each other’s cheeks, causing Draco’s words to die in his throat with a barely audible squeak. Then Harry tenderly pressed his lips against Draco’s, tip toeing slightly as he did so. He pulled away after a few seconds, staring into searching grey eyes.
“Thank you, Draco. For caring.”
Draco inhaled deeply, swallowing the pang in his chest, wondering what he did to possibly deserve this boy. Then, gently, he wrapped his arms around Harry, burying his head in the crook of his neck. It only took Harry a moment to break out of his frozen state and wrap his arms around the waist of the taller boy, shivering when he felt a soft kiss pressed against his neck.
“You know… I really do like you… as Draco and Lilo. I think that’s what drew me to Lilo, he’s so sassy but under it all he’s sweet as can be.”
Draco groaned at that, but couldn’t quite hide his chuckle. He was just glad his face was still buried against Harry’s neck so he couldn’t see the blush that was creeping across his cheeks.
“So, just to clarify, is the ‘D’ in Lilo D. Potter for Draco?” Draco asked smugly.
Harry turned bright red, clinging tighter to Draco’s slender frame and promptly burying his face into his shoulder.
“Ohhh god, you heard that?” Harry groaned in endless embarrassment.
“Ooohhhh yeah I did. And we’re keeping it.”
Harry groaned deeply, but then began shaking with laughter.
“You idiot!” He grumbled affectionately, feeling more at ease than he had in a long time.