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“You still think he’s up to something?” Ron asks, when he notices Harry looking over his shoulder for the dozenth of time since they had sat down for dinner.
“He sneaks out every night after he’s done eating,” Harry whispers, making sure no one but his friends can hear. “I don’t trust him.”
“Maybe he has a girlfriend?” Hermione suggests. “Maybe they’re meeting up in secret?”
“Malfoy? A girlfriend? Yeah, right,” Harry scoffs, but when he looks over his shoulder again, and he sees Draco getting up from the table, he realises that Hermione could actually be right. The thought hadn’t even crossed his mind. He had simply assumed that he was up to something.
“Where do you think he’s going?” Ron asks, trying his best to be subtle as he looks over to Draco. But there’s nothing subtle about it, and Harry quickly grabs his arm to make him look away. “What? I thought we were trying to find out what he’s up to!”
“Look, I’m not exactly the biggest Malfoy fan,” Hermione says, the look of disgust showing on her face. “But this could be nothing, Harry.”
“Oh, yeah. Because every time something suspicious happens around here, it always turns out to be absolutely nothing,” Ron sarcastically adds.
Hermione rolls her eyes at him, and Harry can tell that all she wants to do is go against him, but she somehow manages to keep her words in.
“Trust me,” he sighs. “Malfoy is up to something. And I’m going to find out what it is.”
Harry had tried to sneak out after Draco last night, but Snape had caught him and stopped him. So tonight he had come prepared.
As soon as he leaves the Great Hall, he uses his Invisibility Cloak, and when he hears Snape’s footsteps behind him, he holds his breath, nervous that he’ll still be caught. Snape looks around, and he stands there for what feels like hours, before turning back around, a troubled look on his face.
Harry breathes a sigh of relief, before following Draco out of the castle. He’s glad that it has been snowing all day, and that he can follow Draco by the footprints he has left behind in the snow. But when he realises where the footprints lead, he almost wishes he had decided to stay inside instead.
He doesn’t exactly have the best experiences with the Whomping Willow, and he’d prefer to stay as far away from it as possible after what had happened last year.
But he needs to know what Draco is hiding. So he quietly keeps walking, hoping to find the footprints leading somewhere, anywhere else. But he quickly realises that his first instinct had been right.
He half expects to find a wounded – or worse – Draco lying somewhere in the snow, but Draco is nowhere to be found. There are also no more footprints to be seen, which can only mean one thing.
Harry still remembers how to open the Whomping Willow passageway, but it still makes him nervous, and he is seriously starting to doubt whether any of this is worth the risk. What if he simply finds Draco in the Shack, having a wank? Is he seriously going to risk his life for that?
He has come too far to turn back now, and he is too curious to know why Draco is coming here. So he makes his way through the passageway, holding his breath, nervous as to what he’s about to walk into.
But as soon as he steps into the Shack, he finds Draco sitting with his back against the wall, a bottle brought up to his mouth.
Harry removes the cloak, and Draco lets out a high-pitched shriek when he sees Harry. He almost drops the bottle, as he jumps up, a horrified look on his face.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Harry says. “How did you know how about the passageway?”
“You’re not the only one who knows things around here, Potter,” Draco scoffs, but Harry can tell that it has thrown him, having been caught here.
“Why are you here?”
“What does it look like?” Draco asks, as he looks down at the bottle in his hand.
“Is that it? You come here to drink?” Harry asks, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. He was expecting to finally find out Draco’s big secret, and truth be told, he was expecting something a lot more exciting than this.
“What?” Draco laughs. “What did you think I came here for?”
Harry shrugs, too embarrassed to admit to any of the thoughts that had crossed his mind over the last weeks. They all seem absurd now.
Draco rolls his eyes, letting out an irritated sigh as he lets himself slide down to the floor again.
“Just leave, Potter.”
For a split-second Harry considers it, because he found out what Draco came here for, so he has no reason to stay here any longer. But instead of leaving, he sits down next to Draco, and he takes the bottle from his hand, before taking a swig of the spiced rum.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Shut up, Malfoy,” Harry spits out, and he half expects Draco to punch him in the face right then and there. Instead, Draco stares at him for a moment, a look of shock on his face, before he starts laughing.
“Why come here? Why not drink with your friends?”
“Because they’re idiots,” Draco sighs.
“So you come here and you get drunk? By yourself?”
“I guess so.” Draco shrugs, as he grabs the bottle from Harry’s hand, before bringing it up to his lips.
Harry wasn’t planning on staying for more than a minute or two, but somehow he had found himself staying and drinking with Draco until the bottle of rum was halfway empty. It had left him feeling lightheaded, slightly queasy, and a little giddy.
He can’t help but laugh to himself at the absurdity of sitting here in the Shrieking Shack right now, where just last year he thought he was going to be killed by Sirius Black, before the truth had come out. To be here, with Draco Malfoy of all people, it seems like a bad joke.
“What’s so funny, Potter?”
“You,” Harry laughs. “This,” he adds, looking around the room.
“Are you drunk?”
“No!”
“Yes, you are,” Draco laughs, grabbing the bottle from Harry’s hand. “Lightweight!”
“Fuck you!”
“Fuck me?” Draco laughs, Harry’s cheeks flushing dark as he catches himself taking these words a little too seriously. But when he tries to take back the bottle, Draco raises it up high, and he finds himself reaching for it, but failing to grab it. He only falls into Draco, their faces almost colliding.
“Sorry,” Harry quickly mumbles, but the smirk on Draco’s face only grows bigger. Only now does Harry notice the daring look in his eyes, and it makes him wonder what he is thinking.
“I’m not.”
Maybe it’s the rum, or maybe it’s the absurdity of the whole situation, but Harry finds himself crashing his mouth into Draco’s. And only when he tastes the spicy sweetness on his tongue, when he feels his hand roughly grabbing onto the back of his neck, does it truly hit him just what is happening.
“I think I might be a little drunk,” he chuckles nervously. “Sorry.”
“Shut up, Potter.” Draco rolls his eyes, before pulling him back in for another kiss.
Harry knows they shouldn’t. That they wouldn’t, under any other circumstances, but there is something about Draco’s kiss that warms him all the way through. That makes him forget about the could-nots and should-nots.
“Fuck, you taste good,” Draco groans, before bringing his mouth down to Harry’s neck, his kisses warm. Fiery. Hungry.
“I suppose you’re going to tell the others about this?” Draco asks, as he zips up his trousers.
“About this?” Harry asks, fully aware that he is still a little out of breath. “No.”
“About me coming here.”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
“Why?” Draco asks. “I know you only followed me so you could catch me… doing whatever.”
“I did.” Harry nods, but when he sees Draco staring at him, he quickly looks down at his hands, which are shaking so bad that he struggles to button up his shirt. “But I don’t care if you’re here, drinking.”
“Thanks,” Draco mumbles. “I think.”
Any giddiness or excitement that had been between them has now been replaced by an awkwardness that makes them unable to look each other in the eye. And it’s obvious that they can’t wait to get out of here, to get away from each other.
But when Harry turns to leave, Draco grabs his arm.
“I ehm…”
“What?” Harry spits out, but he sighs, and adds, “I’m not going to tell anyone about what we did. Don’t worry.”
“That’s not it. I just wanted to say… I’m out here most nights.”
“I know,” Harry says, only realising what Draco was trying to say, when he sees the hurt look on his face. “Oh!”
“I’ll see you around, Potter.”
Harry gives a nervous nod, before putting his cloak back on. He stomps off out of the room, but then he very quietly walks back, and he watches Draco from the doorway.
“Holy… shit!” Draco laughs to himself, completely oblivious to the fact that Harry is standing in the doorway. He keeps laughing for a moment, but then he shakes his head, the biggest smile on his face. A genuine smile Harry hadn’t seen before tonight.
He sits back down on the floor, and he grabs the bottle, more laughter bursting out of him.
“Harry… fucking… Potter.”
Harry had had his doubts about following Draco here tonight, a little nervous as to what he was going to find. Even as he was getting dressed again, he was starting to get doubts about the whole thing again. This was Draco Malfoy we’re talking about. He can’t be trusted. It had to all have been a trick.
But as he watches the Slytherin student sitting there, a grin from ear to ear, his doubts fade away.
His heart skips a beat, as he hears Draco say his name, over and over again, before he touches his lips, as though he can still feel his kisses lingering there. It almost makes him want to take off the cloak and reveal he hadn’t left at all. It makes him want to crash into him and start all over again.