Chapter Text
Harry was looking at Draco—not with anger, but with pity.
Draco, on the other hand, could not hold his sadness anymore. Thick drops of tears rolled down his cheeks, and Draco started staring at the ground in embarrassment.
Both of them stood there without speaking a single word for some moments. Harry was processing all the conversation and dialogues Draco had just presented.
Harry could not understand why Draco was behaving like this today or what he should do now.
Suddenly, Draco broke the silence.
“You don’t need to stand here anymore. You can leave. Do whatever you want.”
Harry stood there for some time, thinking about what he should say. Should he leave Draco like this, or should he console him? Harry realized that he couldn’t leave him there like that.
Harry stepped forward toward Draco and placed his right palm on Draco’s shoulder comfortingly.
“Never thought you were sensitive, Malfoy, but whatever the case, I just want to tell you that I am hungry right now.”
Draco suddenly looked Harry in the eye. Draco thought that Harry would leave him and go away; instead, Harry was behaving so normal and friendly all of a sudden.
Draco paused for a moment and replied, “But where would you go? How will you get something to eat? What if someone sees you—then what?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay now.
We can do one thing—help me find Ron. In the meantime, we can both eat something together. I mean, you can buy something. I’ll pay; don’t worry.”
“I don’t need your money, Potter. I have more money than you can ever imagine.”
“Stop showing off, Malfoy.”
Having conversations with each other, both of them started walking toward the main market. Draco told Harry to pick up and wear his cloak again so that no one could see him.
After reaching the main market, Malfoy stopped talking; he didn’t want to look like a maniac talking to thin air. They passed Zonko’s Joke Shop on the way.
Suddenly, Malfoy grabbed Harry’s hand again and entered Honeydukes.
Nothing was more exciting than seeing a place full of chocolates.
Malfoy reached the counter. The place was stacked with loads of children, and it made Malfoy nervous.
But Harry was relaxed. Harry knew that in such a crowd, nobody would care if they collided with an invisible entity.
Harry rushed toward the counter, cautiously looking at all those delicious chocolates.
He suddenly whispered in Draco’s ear,
“I would like to have some Choco Loco, chocolate wands, crystallized pineapple, and no-melt ice cream.”
“You have quite a sweet tooth, Harry,” Draco replied in a whisper.
After buying the chocolates Harry demanded, Draco and Harry headed toward a bench away from the crowd.
Draco passed some sweets to Harry under his cloak.
“You know what, I feel so weird right now—eating so many chocolates by myself and talking to air,” Draco said, whispering through the cloak.
Harry looked at Draco and realized that he did look weird eating chocolate like that.
Harry didn’t reply for a moment.
“Potter, are you still there, right?”
Harry still didn’t say anything. There weren’t many people on the street at that time. Suddenly, when no one was looking at them, Harry took his cloak off himself and put it on again, but this time he put it over both of them.
Now both of them were invisible. For the first time, Draco felt what it was like to be inside the cloak.
Harry had never used the cloak with anyone except Ron, but now he was sharing it with Draco—someone he had never even thought he would talk to.
“Are we really invisible? If someone sees us like this, are my legs invisible too? I mean, my head should be… I think…” Draco murmured.
Harry interrupted Draco.
“Don’t be paranoid. We’re invisible now. No one will think you’re weird.”
“Well, Potter, I’m not going to say thank you or anything.”
“Now let’s eat these chocolates and find Ron.”
“You still want to be with Ron, don’t you?”
Draco gave a sad smile.
“Well, I was supposed to meet him. He’s my best friend,” Harry replied in a hurry.
“Well, it’s okay, Potter. I understand. I’m nothing to you, so you don’t need to justify yourself.”
“Well, you are something to me… from today, I guess,” Harry replied.
Draco started blushing and looked right into Harry’s eyes. Seeing Draco’s red face, Harry started blushing too.
Harry thought to himself about what he had just said. He wanted to explain that he was talking about being friends, but he couldn’t—because he knew he wasn’t feeling just friendly toward Draco, but something more. Something he had never felt for anyone.
Draco broke the silence. “What do you mean by ‘something,’ Potter?”
Harry stuttered, “I… I mean a fri—”
Suddenly, Draco cupped Harry’s face in his palms and carefully touched his lips with his own.
Harry was surprised and felt a tickling sensation in his stomach. He didn’t know how to react, but he could feel the warmth of Draco’s hands on his cheeks.
Harry slowly wrapped his arms around Draco.
After some moments, Draco slowly pulled away. He looked into Harry’s beautiful green eyes, which were glowing now in the darkness inside the cloak.
They realized it was almost evening and getting dark.
In the cold, both of them felt very warm. Harry felt different—something he had never felt before—and it was a good feeling. They didn’t say anything to each other for some time.
There weren’t many students left on the street; everyone was returning to school.
“I think we should go back to school, Potter. It’s too late now,” Draco broke the silence.
Harry nodded.
“There’s no one now. You can get out of the cloak,” Harry whispered.
Draco moved the cloak away from himself without removing it from Harry.
“Potter, take care and be safe. You know Black is out there, so take care of yourself and reach the castle as soon as possible,” Draco said, then started walking away.
Harry looked at him and suddenly said, “So, will your father hear about this?”
Draco suddenly looked at the space where Harry was supposed to be standing.
“No, my father will never hear about this,” Draco replied with a smirk on his face.
Draco ran toward the Three Broomsticks without looking back. Harry watched him until he vanished around the corner of the road.
Harry then headed for the secret passage. He ran as fast as he could because he had to reach there before Ron got suspicious. If he reached early, he could lie and say he was in the library.
If Ron knew he had been in Hogsmeade, he would ask too many questions and get angry that Harry hadn’t met him there.
Harry left Hogsmeade.
After reaching the Three Broomsticks, Draco saw Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy sitting there.
“It’s late. Why are you still here?” Draco said loudly.
“We were waiting for you. Where the hell were you?” Pansy shouted.
“Well, I was busy,” Draco replied.
“It’s so late, Draco. You know we’ll get scolded because of you,” said Crabbe.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. Let’s go,” Pansy replied.
All of them left for Hogwarts.
Draco was lucky enough to reach the school by night.
They got scolded for coming late, and Professor Flitwick took ten points from Slytherin.
It was dinnertime, and everyone assembled in the Great Hall.
The feast was ready, but Draco didn’t feel like eating since he had already eaten too many chocolates with Harry. He glanced at the Gryffindor table and saw that Harry wasn’t eating either; he was talking to Hermione and laughing.
“Why aren’t you eating?” Pansy asked.
“Well, I’m not hungry,” Draco replied.
“Well, you still didn’t tell me where you were busy in Hogsmeade,” Pansy asked again.
“Well…” Draco paused.
“I was busy eating chocolates—too many chocolates,” Draco laughed.
“Alone?” Pansy asked.
Draco looked at Harry and replied with a smile, “Yes, alone.”
At the same time, Harry looked at Draco.
They met each other’s eyes. They knew what they were thinking—both of them remembering the time they had spent together, beautiful moments they would never forget.