Chapter Text
Their laughter mocked him.
Harry watched as Draco and Neville laughed merrily, unaware of the death-glares Harry was sending their way as they made their way down to the greenhouse, as per usual. It wasn’t that Harry hated either of them- not any more- but rather, he wished that he were there in Neville’s place instead, laughing with Draco and being on the receiving end of all his bright smiles.
After the war, Draco had done everything he could to apologize and make it up to anyone he had hurt during the war. Harry, like most others, were very weary when they accepted this fact and tried to accommodate Draco’s new behavior, but eventually realized that he really was trying. For a start, he rarely said no when people asked him for favors, no matter how much he clearly disliked the task.
Neville, for a start, was one of the first few people that let go of his grudge pretty easily when Draco started trying to help him. He was the one who willingly spent time with him outside of asking for favors without Draco going up to him for company, and he was the first to declare that he genuinely likes Draco as a person.
And once Harry had begun to warm up to Draco’s new personality, he had established such a close friendship with Neville that those two were almost always found together now. To make matters worse, once Harry started developing his crush on Draco, it was near impossible to get him alone so Harry could get to know him for himself.
So here they were, rebuilding Hogwarts and trying to make it in time before the school year was set to start. The only times Harry was able to get Draco alone when they were rebuilding was when they were assigned to work on the same area. It wasn’t that he and Draco weren’t quite speaking to each other, because the times they spent together were all fun. Draco had a decent relationship with most students in their year now. It was just that Draco spent most of his free time with Neville, and when he was with other people, about 65% of the time Neville was also present. For the rest of the time, Draco was with the other Slytherins that chose to come back and help out.
“Mate, just go down there and offer to help them out,” Ron sighed, tired of watching Harry sulk as they rebuilt a pillar.
“What good will that do me,” Harry groaned. “He’ll be too busy keeping his conversation up with Neville anyway. They won’t even remember I’m there.”
“Nonsense, Harry,” Hermione huffed, joining the pair of them. Aside from helping rebuild, she was also in charge of scheduling and checking on everyone, which meant she could visit them often. Of course, she never stayed too long because she refuses to slack off and waste time. “They’ll try to include you into the conversation. Draco and Neville aren’t like that.”
Hermione and Draco had gotten on surprisingly well, but Hermione and Ron were one of the few who took much longer to warm up to him. Ron still calls him ‘Malfoy,’ until now, but they’ve become relatively civil at least. Hermione, on the other hand, is glad to finally have someone who can keep up with her rants, arguments, and academic quests and Draco, who probably feels that he owes a lot more to her, is always willing to indulge her.
“Do you even know what they talk about sometimes?” Harry practically whinged. It didn’t matter how old he was, he just finished a war he’s been fighting since he was a baby. He was allowed this. “Plants! And potions, and school.”
“All the better,” she smiled teasingly at him. “Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two from them.”
“Ha ha, you’re so hilarious,” he deadpanned, looking at her like it was the worst idea she’s ever thought of. And to think, she was supposed to be the one that had good ideas. It’s a sign that there’s no hope for Harry.
“Come off it, mate,” Ron joined in on her teasing. “You’ll probably be too busy staring at him to even get a word out.”
“I am not that hopeless,” Harry groaned, flicking his wand to set another brick in place.
“Sure,” his friends looked at him with some pity, but mostly amusement. “Promise me one thing, then,” Hermoine resolved. “You’ll do something about that crush of yours when the year starts. I don’t think you’ll be able to focus on your NEWTs like this.”
“Hey!” Harry protested, dropping another brick he was levitating.
“Yeah, ‘Mione,” Ron nodded, agreeing with Harry. “I doubt he’d be able to focus even more if he and Draco are dating by that point.’
“You’re both awful,” Harry sighed, hanging his head low.
“Hey, if it makes you feel any better I could set you and Draco to work on the Charms classroom and the other rooms in the second floor for the rest of the week,” Hermione suggested. “I would have made it the library instead, which would make it longer since you’d have to get through a bunch of books, but Madam Pince doesn’t want anyone touching them. Too delicate, she says.”
There wasn’t too much rebuilding left to do at this point. The pillars that Harry and Ron are working on weren’t too damaged and are among just a few that were left standing. Everyone focussed on rebuilding rooms first and restoring the spell work in the structures. Now, they were focusing on the parts with minimal damage that could wait until later and organizing the furniture and whatnot inside every room.
“Thanks, Hermoine,” he smiles gratefully at his friend, feeling his cheeks flush a bit with excitement.
“You boys are adorable,” she gave him a small smile. “Now, I have to check on Seamus and Dean in the Great Hall.”
“Adorable,” Ron teased once his girlfriend was out of sight. “You could go join them, if you like. We’re almost done with this pillar and that should be it for the day.”
Harry declined, helping Ron finish the pillar quickly instead. However, rather than going straight back home to Grimmauld Place, he hung back and slowly made his way to the Greenhouse where Draco and Neville were attending to the plants. They did their fair share of work around and replanted everything necessary already but volunteered to check on them daily and take care of them until the school started and Professor Sprout wouldn’t be as busy.
“You guys are still here?” Harry asked, making his way to where they were bent over a set of plants.
“Harry!” Neville called over, “We got a batch of Alihotsy and decided to plant them. Check it out.”
Harry situated himself beside Draco and looked over at the strange, pinkish plants that were peeking out of the dirt.
“Okay..?” Harry wasn’t quite sure of what was so spectacular about them, but from the looks of Draco’s face as he gave a small smile in the direction of the plants, Harry knew he wanted Draco to look at him instead.
“They’re quite hard to obtain but Draco was able to reach out to an old family friend to get some for us,” Neville grinned, placing a hand on Draco’s shoulder while the blond simply turned his head and grinned back at his friend. “Now we could grow more here and multiply them.”
Draco, who probably noticed the still-quite-confused expression on his face, must have took pity on him and grabbed a knife. To end his life right there and thereby end his suffering? Perhaps. But no, instead he turned towards the plant and started scraping the surface of its leaves delicately.
“Their leaves are used in laughing potions, which causes hysterical and uncontrollable laughter,” Draco explained, and Harry listened intently. “If you eat their leaves alone, that can also trigger it but it would be much more potent.”
A small fluff of fuzz gathered on his pale hand and he took a pinch of them, taking about half, and blew it in Harry’s direction. Suddenly, Harry felt as if something was tickling his insides and let out a sudden laugh before abruptly stopping himself, the tickling sensation fading.
“Their fuzz, or fine hairs, are practically harmless but can tickle a bit,” Draco explained. Suddenly, another pinch of the final half was taken from his outstretched hand, this time by Neville, and blown into Draco’s face.
At that moment, Harry wasn’t sure if he wanted to hit Neville because how could he touch the other man so casually and tell him to stop smiling at Draco like that, or thank him because Draco let out the most adorable giggle, causing his cheeks to pinken.
Harry felt blessed.
“Do not do that,” Draco huffed, slapping Neville’s shoulder jokingly. “Thank Merlin it’s just you two, or that would have been embarrassing.”
Just. Harry resisted the urge to frown. He didn’t want to be Just Harry to Draco, but at the same time he was glad that the other man felt comfortable enough around him to not be too embarrassed by possibly the best sound that could come out of him.
“Hey, Harry,” Neville piped up, pulling him out of his lone sulking. “Draco and I were wondering if it would be a good idea to have a party for everyone that helped out with the rebuilding. What do you think?”
“A party?” Harry asked. “Like with the Professors and everything?” He felt rather skeptical about how a bunch of teenagers and alcohol would mix with having their professors around. Not well, he surmised.
“Well, not really,” Draco rubbed at his nape. “We were thinking of having a feast together at the Great Hall with the professors and the younger students, since they can’t drink yet, then move over to the Longbottom Manor. Neville’s aunt said she wouldn’t mind.”
“Oh, that sounds pretty fun,” Harry agreed. “So it would basically be a party for our year?”
“Yeah, essentially,” Neville smiled guiltily. “Since you know most of the people in our year because of the DA, I was hoping you could spread the word?”
“Sure,” Harry agreed. If Draco was helping host, then he most definitely was planning on going, and he was going to make sure it was a success no matter what.
“I’ll be in charge of gathering the Slytherins,” Draco stated before straightening himself. “But for now, I must get going. My mother is expecting me for supper.”
Harry hadn’t even realized how dark it had gotten out and agreed. He wanted to work on renovating Grimmauld Place a bit before going to bed. He already hired some people to redesign it while he was helping out at Hogwarts, but he left the finer details to himself.
“Alright then,” Neville nodded, and the three of them made their way out of the greenhouse. “I’ll take off first.”
And with that, he Disapperated with a pop, leaving Harry and Draco to stand alone together in the dark.
“So…” Harry trailed off awkwardly, already planning on hitting himself later.
“Thanks for agreeing to help out, Harry,” Draco said sincerely, flushing a bit and casting his glance down to the ground.
“It’s no problem,” Harry said as nonchalantly as possible, wanting Draco to just look at him instead. “You’re doing most of the work, anyway. What with the planning and all.”
“Me and Neville, you mean,” Draco mumbled, his cheeks flushing a bit. Although that could be because of the cold air that surrounded them.
“Right…” No, Harry would much rather think about just Draco. “So, we should get going.”
“Right,” Draco nodded. “By the way, I’m glad that I’m allowed to come back this year. That I finally get a chance to know you, and everyone.”
And with that, he Disapparated into the night as Neville had done a few moments ago, leaving Harry alone by the greenhouse smiling like a madman.
Yes, he was excited for this school year as well.