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People were dancing and singing on the streets below, the orange-yellow hue of the streetlights making everything look ethereal. It was Harry’s favourite time of the day. He had just eaten a delicious home-cooked meal and was now relaxing with a glass of wine on the balcony, enjoying the slightly off-key French songs filtering up from the crowds below. The iron railing of the balcony was adorned with wisteria, the sweet smell filling his nose.
Yes, moving to France was definitely one of the best decisions he had made. Well, he and Draco had made the decision together.
Draco had come up with the idea, one day. They had been standing on their balcony back in London, quite the same way as Harry was doing now, with expensive glasses of wine in their hands and lit cigarettes between their fingers.
Draco had blurted it out, apropos of nothing, just at the moment Harry had taken a sip from his wine. “I think we should move to France.”
Harry had choked, Draco actually having to pat him on the back as he was gasping for air. “Moving?” he had managed to squeak between coughs. “To France?”
Still patting Harry’s back, Draco nodded. “Yeah,” he said, “I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, you know.”
“Then what…” Harry had coughed again “What brought this up now?”
“I don’t know… I just — I just imagined us standing on a balcony like this, in a small village in the south of France. It would be so much better than living in this disgustingly busy city.”
Harry had straightened again, taking a small sip of his wine to clear his throat. “Well…”
“You don’t have to decide right now” , Draco had said quickly, taking a drag from a freshly lit cigarette, “I know it’s not an easy decision…”
Smiling softly, Harry had shaken his head, entwining his fingers with Draco’s. “I’ll think about it.” He had brought Draco’s knuckles up to his mouth and placed a loving kiss on top of them.
It had taken Harry 3 months to think it over, eventually deciding that, yes, moving to France wasn’t that bad of an idea.
Draco had been delighted when Harry told him, rambling on and on about a cosy apartment he had found in a small village. He had wanted to move as soon as possible.
And so they had.
Taking a deep breath, Harry took another sip of his wine, swirling the liquid in his mouth before swallowing. It had been two years now. Two years of them living in that cosy apartment Draco had talked to about. And two years of Harry very slowly learning how to communicate with the locals. Though he would never be as fluent as Draco, his French had improved immensely. At least now, he could ask for the right bread at the bakery.
“Je voudrais un pain complet, s’il vous plaît.”
Draco had taught him the little phrase. And it was only after rehearsing for what felt like a thousand times, that Harry could finally pronounce it the correct way.
“Honestly, Draco,” he had complained, one day, after he had repeated the phrase for the tenth time, “whose idea was it to just throw every weird sound you can make with your mouth together and call it a language?”
Draco had only laughed, shaking his head as he muttered something under his breath Harry couldn’t quite catch. They practiced almost every day after that. Seeing as almost no one in the village spoke English, Draco had deemed it absolutely necessary for Harry to learn French. Even if Draco had concluded Harry was a completely useless student.
How Harry had survived seven years in Hogwarts, Draco didn’t know.
“What are you thinking about, darling?” Arms wound themselves around Harry’s waist, a pointy chin resting on his shoulder.
Harry leaned back against a sturdy chest. “Hmmm… just thinking about our French lessons.”
Draco snorted next to Harry’s ear. “I don’t understand how you’re so bad at learning the language.”
“Well, not everyone had the privilege of speaking more than one language while growing up.”
Another group of people passed on the street below, their drunken giggles filling the warm evening air. Harry closed his eyes, letting his head fall back on Draco’s shoulder. “I could go for a little walk, right now.”
“Of course you could,” Draco’s lips brushed the side of Harry’s neck, “you and your strange midnight walks.”
Harry rolled his eyes, turning around in Draco’s embrace. “You love going on midnight walks with me.” He wiggled his eyebrows as he leaned closer. “It’s romantic.”
Grimacing, Draco shook his head. “You’re an absolute sap.” He ignored Harry’s lips curling into one of those far too smug smiles. “It’s disgusting.”
“Mhm”, Harry turned to place his empty glass on the small table, “let’s go for that walk then.”
He stepped out of Draco’s embrace. But before he could go inside Draco stopped him. “Wait! Harry, I…”
Harry turned back, a frown crossing his face. “Draco…?”
Draco was still standing on the balcony, his silvery blond hair gleaming in the light of the street below. He was staring at Harry, a look in his eyes that hadn’t been there in months. His hands were clasped in front of him, though Harry thought he could see them shaking slightly.
“Draco, what’s going on?” Harry took a step closer, one of his hands reaching out to Draco.
But Draco shook his head. “Nothing is going on”, he said softly, “I just…I need to tell you something.”
Harry’s frown deepened as he watched Draco run a shaking hand through his hair. This wasn’t about what he thought, right? Not after the lovely evening they had had so far? Harry had cooked them a delicious meal and Draco had brought home a fine French wine. They had had a comfortable candle-lit dinner, talking about their days, making plans for the weekend.
Surely, this couldn’t be the moment Draco decided he had enough of their relationship…
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while”, Draco began. He wasn’t looking at Harry now. “I — oh, I don’t know how to say this.”
“Draco,” Harry closed the distance between them, ignoring the slight tremble in his hands as he cupped Draco’s face between them, “you know you can tell me everything. We’re a team, remember?”
Draco nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He smiled softly when Harry’s thumb started stroking his cheekbone. “I just… I repeated this so many times in my head. I don’t want to mess this up.”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that!”
Harry raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, okay.” Taking a deep breath, Draco met Harry’s gaze. “There’s something about the way you make me feel”, he took another deep breath.
“All of those feelings I’ve got, I can’t explain it. I know I sometimes second guess your intentions, even after all these years we’ve been together. But we’ve come so far and I sometimes find myself wondering if this…” Draco gestured around him, “if this whole life isn’t some kind of joke, some kind of dream. I’m scared I’ll wake up one day and everything will be gone.”
Shaking his head, Harry opened his mouth to protest but Draco put a finger against his lips, silencing him.
“I’m not done quite yet”, he smiled. “As I was saying, you make me feel powerful, Harry. Whenever you’re by my side, I feel like I can take on the whole world. So that’s why…”, Draco fumbled for something in one of his trouser pockets, “that’s why… hold on a moment, I can’t find what I’m looking for.”
A frown had appeared between his eyebrows as he frantically patted his pockets. “Oh Merlin, where the hell is it?”
“What are you looking for?” Harry asked. He had taken a few steps backwards to give Draco some space whilst he searched for whatever it was he was looking for.
“The whole point of what I’m trying to say!” Draco exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “I think I’ve lost it… oh Merlin, I’ve actually lost it!” He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the blond locks. “I can’t believe I managed to fuck things up — ”
“You didn’t fuck anything up, Draco.”
“ — Normally, you’re the one to lose things or screw everything up — ”
“Hey!”
“ — What am I going to do now?”
Harry stepped forward again, taking Draco's hands out of his hair and entwining their fingers together. “Calm down, love”, he said gently, “everything’s fine. You didn’t mess anything up.”
“Yes, I did!” Draco exclaimed. “I messed up the perfect opportunity to bloody propose to you! And it’s all my fault! How could I be so stupid?”
“Wait”, Harry put up a hand to stop Draco from talking, his eyes as wide as saucers, “you were going to propose?”
Draco stared at Harry, a muscle in his jaw twitching and then…
“Bloody, fucking hell!” Draco exclaimed loudly, throwing his hands in the air before letting his head fall into his hands. “I can’t actually believe myself! Could this get any worse?!”
Still slightly baffled, Harry answered, “I could always say no.”
Draco peeked out from between his fingers. “ Not helping, Potter.”
Harry chuckled then, peeling Draco’s hands away from his face and leaning in to place a soft kiss on his lips. “If it helps you at all,” he whispered, “I would gladly marry you.”
“But I didn’t give you a ring…”
“I don’t care about the ring, Draco. All I care about is that you actually want to marry me .”
“You do?”
“Yes, of course!” Harry placed a kiss on the palm of Draco’s hand. “The most important thing is that I love my sappy boyfriend enough to marry him, don’t you think?”
“Don’t call me that”, Draco said, rolling his eyes, though Harry could see a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “I can’t believe this actually didn’t go the way I intended.”
Harry shrugged, pulling Draco closer so they were standing chest to chest. “You got what you wanted, right?”
The smile now fully spread across Draco’s face. “Well, yes. Yes, I did.”
“Good”, Harry said, and closed the small distance between them, his lips lovingly caressing Draco’s.
Draco wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck, making a satisfied noise in the back of his throat.
When Harry pulled back eventually, he was smiling broadly. “How about that walk now?” he asked. “A little midnight walk with your fiancé.”