Work Text:
-First Year-
It was the very first day of Harry’s first year at Hogwarts. It was all he’d been waiting for since he was 6 years old and begging his parents for stories of their own days at Hogwarts. His dad, the golden Gryffindor who’d been the star Chaser and Captain of the Quidditch team. His papa, the calculated Ravenclaw who had set the record for most Snitch catches throughout his entire career at Hogwarts.
He’d grown up on stories of their individual adventures, their interactions with professors and students alike. He’d grown up listening to his dad and Uncle Padfoot tell stories of their legendary pranks. And he’d grown up listening to how his dad and papa had gotten together in their seventh year.
So Harry was equally as determined to find the love of his life in his first year. He would find them and convince them to marry him and they would have plenty of beautiful children, enough to make a whole Quidditch team in fact.
“Come along, Harry, you don’t want to be late for the train,” Regulus called, drawing the boy’s attention. They were currently making their way through King’s Cross, all of his belongings shrunk down and tucked safely away in his papa’s pocket. Except Hedwig, of course, she was sat in her cage and being carried by his dad.
The young wizard nodded his head and jogged to catch up with his parents, gently taking his papa’s hand as they continued through the crowd of muggles in the station. They finally came to a halt on the platform between 9 and 10 and both of his parents looked at him expectantly. He frowned as he looked around.
“I don’t understand,” he told his papa.
“Just think about it, my darling, you will,” Regulus replied, sharing a secret smile with James. Harry groaned softly but continued to look around. He eyed the signs that said ‘9’ and ‘10’ on either side of the brick pillar and then pulled away from his parents. The dark-haired boy put his hand on the wall and gasped softly when it disappeared into the brick.
Without looking back at his parents, he walked through and gaped at the sight of the Hogwarts Express on the other side. His parents followed behind him a moment later and laughed at the shock on his face.
“I’m pretty sure that’s what my face looked like my first time too,” James said with a chuckle, ruffling his son’s messy curls.
“There’s my little fawn! So grown up!” Sirius cried, dropping to his knees next to the boy and pressing kisses all over the boy’s face.
“Padfoot, stop! You’re going to embarrass me!” Harry exclaimed, pushing his hands against his godfather’s face to get him off. Sirius squawked indignantly and pushed forward again.
“Come on now, Sirius, leave the lad alone. He’s a big boy now,” Remus scolded, hauling his husband away from their beloved godson.
“He’s just a baby, Moony, he’s our baby!”
“He has two perfectly good fathers right here, you know,” Regulus commented dryly, rolling his eyes at his twin brother’s dramatics. He pulled Harry’s trunk and suitcase out of his pocket and unshrunk them with a wave of his hand, pulling off flawless, wandless magic.
“Show off,” James murmured fondly, pressing a kiss to his husband’s cheek.
“I’m gonna learn to do that,” Harry told them proudly, puffing out his chest.
“That’s right, my star, you will,” Regulus said with a small laugh. He ran a hand through the boy’s unruly curls. “You’re going to have so much fun at Hogwarts, you’ll be the smartest Ravenclaw there ever was.”
“Or the bravest Gryffindor!” Sirius protested.
“Or he’ll be entirely his own person,” Remus commented with a roll of his eyes. The warning bell for the train interrupted them, drawing everyone’s attention. Harry bit his lip nervously and looked towards the train.
“It’ll be alright, Haz. You can write to us every day and you have the mirror if you need us in a pinch,” James told him, kneeling down to be at eye level with his son. “And it doesn’t matter where you’re sorted. We’ll be proud no matter what.”
“Okay, dad,” Harry murmured. He hugged his parents one last time and then turned to run off towards the train, trusting his papa to get his trunk where it needed to go. As he was approaching one of the doors, he ran into another boy with white-blonde hair.
“Watch where you’re going, you clumsy fool,” the other boy exclaimed, scowling at Harry. He shoved passed the black-haired boy and climbed into the train, throwing a sneer over his shoulder before disappearing inside. And like that, it was like Harry’s heart had stuttered to a stop and then restarted at double the speed.
He turned back to look at his parents and godparents and found them all laughing their heads off, clearly having heard the exchange and Harry’s reaction to it. With red cheeks, he turned back and climbed onto the train just as the final whistle blew. The train started to pull away from the station as he made his way through the cars, trying to find a compartment that wasn’t already full.
. . .
The hat had barely touched the other boy’s - Draco’s - head before it was shouting ‘Slytherin!’ and Harry watched in awe as he preened from his spot on the stool. Professor McGonagall removed the Sorting Hat from Draco’s head and the boy’s black robes changed to those with green accents to match his new house.
Harry thought the other boy was stunning. From the moment he’d uttered those mean words to him earlier that day, his thoughts had been stuck on him. He watched as Draco moved down from the platform and strutted towards the Slytherin table, being greeted by his new housemates.
There were several more people to go before it was Harry’s turn to be sorted. Some of the others he’d met on the train had been sorted already - Hermione into Ravenclaw and Neville into Hufflepuff. He’d been excited for them, already starting to consider them his friends. Ron would be sorted after him.
“Potter-Black, Harry,” McGonagall called and Harry startled slightly. He took a deep breath and made his way up the steps to the stool, sitting on it and letting the older witch place the hat on his head.
“Hmm, a Potter and a Black, eh? So much legacy all in one boy,” the hat muttered, startling Harry. No one told him the thing could speak! Could it read his mind? Could it sense his innermost feelings and thoughts??
“So many worries in one head. I am just here to determine your House, nothing more or less,” the hat told him. “Now where to put you. There is a long line of Gryffindors behind you… ah, but there’s also the Slytherin. Not to mention the Ravenclaw but somehow I doubt you have your father’s bookworm habits.”
Okay, that was fair. He was smart but nowhere near as smart as papa.
“Which brings us back to Gryffindor or Slytherin… Yes, you have ambition, a desire to find something and make it yours…but there’s also the recklessness that goes hand-in-hand with such a plan…” the hat trailed off, clearly thinking carefully about this. “Perhaps you have a preference?”
Well… Maybe Slytherin to be closer to Draco? But his dad wasn’t in the same house as his papa and he still made it work… So maybe Gryffindor then. His father was Gryffindor personified, so brave and, admittedly, reckless but he hadn’t let years and years of rejection stop him. He could be brave too, just like his dad.
“I see… Well then it better be GRYFFINDOR!,” the hat called, announcing the sorting to the rest of the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall removed the Sorting Hat from Harry’s head and he stood up, watching as his robes became accented with red.
. . .
“I’m so proud of you, my star,” Regulus murmured through the mirror, the proudest smile on his face. Harry was sitting on his new bed in his new dorm, the curtains shut and a silencing charm in place so he could talk to his parents in private.
“I just knew you’d be a Gryffindor. Now if you make chaser next year, you’ll be the perfect mini-me,” James joked, a wide grin on his face. Regulus simply rolled his eyes and elbowed his husband.
“I think you meant seeker, my darling. He’ll take after his papa.”
Harry simply rolled his eyes as his parents started to bicker over his hypothetical Quidditch position. Nevermind that he wouldn’t be able to try out for the team until next year but he’d learned long ago to stay out of this particular argument. Eventually Regulus rolled his eyes and left the mirror’s view, evidently done with the conversation.
“Hey dad, can I ask you a question?” Harry asked, drawing James’s attention.
“Of course, Haz, what’s up?”
“When did you know papa was the one?”
“From the moment I laid eyes on him on the train,” James answered promptly, no hesitation. “Does this have anything to do with the blond boy you met?”
“Maybe,” the younger replied, his cheeks heating up. “What did you do?”
“I declared my undying love for him at the Halloween Feast, rather shamelessly too.”
“And that… worked?”
“Well, no. But I did it every year and eventually… well, he fell in love with me too,” James told him, shrugging helplessly but there was a fond smile on his face. “I’m not saying to disrespect a firm ‘no’, Harry. But you’ll be able to tell, just like I did with papa.”
“Okay. Okay, I got it,” Harry said, nodding to himself. “Thanks, dad.”
“You’re welcome, fawn. Now go to sleep, you’ve got a long day of classes tomorrow.”
. . .
“You realize you’re insane, right? That this is a stupid thing to do?” Ron asked as he piled his plate with food.
“You may think so but I think I’m carrying on a Potter tradition,” Harry told him, waiting for the perfect moment as he looked at Draco across the hall.
“Can it be a tradition if only your dad has done it?” Neville asked curiously. He was visiting from the Hufflepuff table.
“Nope,” Hermione confirmed, also visiting from the Ravenclaw table.
“Well maybe my children will continue it. Then it’ll be a tradition.”
“Whatever you say, mate. Depending on the reaction, I may have to pretend I don’t know you for the rest of our time here,” Ron told him with a shrug. Harry rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. Finally there was a lull and he stood up and climbed on top of the table. From the corner of his eye, he could see Professor McGonagall pull a flask from the sleeve of her robes and take a quick swig.
“ATTENTION HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY. I STAND BEFORE YOU TODAY TO DECLARE MY COMPLETE AND UNDYING LOVE FOR DRACO MALFOY,” Harry announced, having cast a Sonorous on himself so everyone could hear him. He turned to the Slytherin table and located the blond boy.
“DRACO MALFOY, I DECLARE THAT BY OUR SEVENTH YEAR, I WILL MAKE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH ME,” Harry continued, a wide grin on his face. “OTHERWISE I WILL DIE OF SHAME RIGHT HERE IN THE GREAT HALL!”
Harry was very confident that this would work. Draco would absolutely be impressed by his display and declare his love back for him and they would grow up and get married and have lots of bab-
“Harry Potter-Black, if you even so much as look at me ever again, I will hex you so hard your grandchildren will feel it,” Draco announced, entirely unimpressed and very red in the face. His fellow Slytherins were snickering amongst each other.
“Mr. Potter-Black,” Professor McGonagall said as she approached the Gryffindor table. “Detention this evening.”
-
-Second Year-
It was a quiet day. The term had just started back up a few weeks ago, students were still trying to get into their routines for the year.
And Harry and Ron were still trying to recover from the endless detentions they’d received from crashing the Weasley’s flying car into the Whomping Willow. Not their most shining moment and his parents had never been more disappointed in him in his whole life.
But none of this was going to deter him. He’d spent a fair amount of the last year trying to get into Draco’s good graces. To no success.
With that in mind, Harry looked around the hall before standing up and climbing onto the table. Ron and Hermione both looked up at him, one in exasperation and the other in resignation. He cleared his throat and cast a Sonorous on himself.
“DRACO MALFOY,” Harry shouted, drawing the attention of the student body and all of the teachers. Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table, flanked on either side by Pansy Parkinson and Theo Nott who were already snickering.
“Don’t. Even. Think about it,” Draco hissed, his cheeks already flushing an angry red.
“IT HAS BEEN ONE YEAR AND I AM ASKING YOU HERE AND NOW: ARE YOU IN LOVE WITH ME YET?”
The blond quickly stood up from the table and cast a Jelly Legs jinx at him, causing the bespectacled boy to fall off of the table and onto the floor. This caused the entire hall to burst out into laughs and giggles.
“I WILL NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU, POTTER-BLACK!” Draco yelled before storming out.
“I REPEAT, YOU WILL LOVE ME BY OUR SEVENTH YEAR!” Harry called from the ground.
“I think that’s enough for the day, don’t you, Mr. Potter-Black?” McGonagall asked sympathetically, looking down at the poor boy.
-
-Third Year-
“STUDENTS AND FACULTY OF HOGWARTS,” Harry called, utilizing the microphone he’d stolen from the Quidditch commentator. They had just wrapped up a match, Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, and Harry was still holding the Snitch in between his fingers while hovering above the announcer’s stand of the pitch.
All of the students and teachers, including those who were still on their brooms, turned towards him immediately. All were amused and knew exactly what was going to happen, save for the first years who would be witnessing it for the first time.
“I FLY BEFORE YOU TODAY-”
Draco’s groan could be heard all around the pitch, which was incredibly impressive considering how large it was.
“TO ASK ONCE MORE-”
“Weasley, do something about this, please!” Draco pleaded, looking towards the group of Gryffindors sitting a short ways away.
“Harry, mate,” Ron started, scratching the back of his head nervously.
“QUIET, RON,” Harry scolded before turning back to Draco. “TO ASK ONCE MORE IF YOU, DRACO MALFOY, LOVE ME YET?”
“Harry, this is starting to get a bit ridiculous,” Hermione told him. She was looking at him very disapprovingly. Neville was sitting with them as well, quietly munching on a chocolate frog as he watched the whole scene unfold.
“No, Potter-Black, I don’t!” Draco shouted, rising from the stands and glaring at Harry. “You’re such an arrogant toad, no one would ever love you!”
And then he left the stands, dragging Blaise Zabini behind him. The dark-skinned boy was grinning broadly as he was hauled away, clearing amused by the entire scene.
The entire pitch was silent and then, all at once, everyone started to get up and leave. Neville was quietly laughing and Ron and Hermione simply looked embarrassed to be friends with Harry.
“Detention, Mr. Potter-Black,” McGonagall announced, watching as the teen descended to the grass looking rather dejected.
-
-Fourth Year-
Another year, another declaration of undying love. One would think that Harry would’ve gotten over his puppy love but, if anything, it had only been reinforced over the years. He was, without a singular doubt, in love with Draco Malfoy and he was determined to make the other boy love him just as much.
He walked into the Great Hall with Hermione, Ron, and Neville and very quickly broke away from the group. It was a different move but his papa had told him about this moment over the summer holidays so he was determined to replicate it.
He marched over to the Slytherin table and right up to Draco, who turned to look at him with an arched brow. Harry bowed deeply to the blond boy before stepping up onto the Slytherin table. He knocked over a few dishes but he didn’t care about that so much.
“ATTENTION PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY,” Harry shouted confidently.
“A week’s worth of detention should suffice,” McGonagall interjected quickly, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.
“I STAND BEFORE YOU TODAY TO ASK YOU ALL TO WITNESS THE MAGNIFICENT DEVELOPMENT IN MY AND MALFOY’S RELATIONSHIP,” the bespectacled boy continued.
“There isn’t one,” Draco replied, sipping at his tea and eyeing the plate of pumpkin pastries with interest.
“DRACO MALFOY, ARE YOU IN LOVE WITH ME YET?”
“Just say yes and put us out of our misery already,” Ron pleaded from across the hall.
“No, Potter-Black, I am not,” the blond told him. He reached over to the pastries and snagged one.
“We should get to Potions,” Theo told him. Draco nodded his head and both boys got up from the table to head to class. Harry watched them go before stepping down from the table and sitting down next to Hermione at the Ravenclaw table.
“Oh, Harry,” the brunette witch sighed, shaking her head.
“He will love me, ‘Mione, don’t sigh at me,” Harry grouched, pouting as he made himself a cup of tea.
“Whatever you say,” Hermione replied.
-
-Fifth Year-
“Please don’t,” Ron begged quietly.
“You know I must,” Harry replied. It was lunch time and the hall was filled to the brim with students. They should be spending as much time as possible studying for their O.W.L.s like Hermione was but this was a longstanding routine now.
“Must you? It’s imperative?” Neville asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
“What is it, what’s he gonna do?” A nearby firsty was practically vibrating out of his skin at the prospect of Harry Potter doing something amazing. He was just as popular as his father had been but with all (most) of the good sense of his papa.
“You’ll see,” Ron answered with a tired huff.
“Get it over with then,” Neville told him as he turned to look at the Slytherin table.
With that unneeded permission granted, Harry all but threw himself up onto the Gryffindor table which flung food and drink absolutely everywhere.
“DRACOMALFOYDOYOULOVEMEYET!?”
“Nope,” Draco replied, popping the ‘p’ and turning a page in his textbook. Harry groaned softly and climbed down from the table, dropping his head onto the hardwood.
“Two more years.”
-
-Sixth Year-
“This is it. I can feel it,” Harry announced as he plopped down at the breakfast table.
“That time of year already?” Neville asked as he stirred a couple cubes of sugar into his morning tea. Hermione and Ron were across the table, sitting as close as physically possible and eating from each other’s plates. It was a recent development but Harry was very supportive of the relationship.
“Okay, I’m going to put my cloak on and wait for him to enter the room,” the bespectacled boy told them, standing up and putting his invisibility cloak on. It had taken him ages to convince his papa to let him bring it to Hogwarts, promising he wouldn’t use it for mischief.
This was not mischief, so he hadn’t lied at all.
It wasn’t long before Draco came into the Great Hall and made his way over to the Gryffindor table. The blond looked to be in a relatively good mood that morning.
“Good morning Weasley, Granger, Longbottom,” the tall boy greeted. “No Potter-Black this morning?”
“He says he ‘feels something,’” Neville told him. Ron and Hermione snorted softly.
“So he’s ill then,” Draco guessed, moving to take the seat next to Neville.
“In the head, maybe,” Ron muttered under his breath but Draco heard it all the same. He cast the redhead a confused look but decided to ignore it for the moment. Instead he tried to reach forward towards a pitcher of pumpkin juice but was met with an invisible wall.
“DRACO MALFOY,” Harry shouted, shucking off the cloak and startling Draco. “I MUST KNOW HOW DEEPLY AND TRULY YOU LOVE ME! DON’T BE AFRAID, DARLING, WE ALL KNOW YOU LOVE ME!”
“Your fly is down,” Draco responded, moving his hand to grab the pitcher he’d wanted. The entire hall was silent, save for a few snickers here and there. Harry was a little mortified, his cheeks turning a bright shade of pink and left entirely speechless. After a few more moments of silence, Draco stood up to make his way over to the Slytherin table, his pumpkin juice in hand.
“WAIT! DRACO, IS THAT A DENIAL OR A CONFESSION?” Harry shouted after him. “MALFOY, YOU LOOK REALLY NICE TODAY, DOES THAT CHANGE ANYTHING?”
Draco didn’t bother to reply and simply sat at the table with his friends. This left Harry still on the table with everyone’s attention still focused on him.
“Mr. Potter-Black,” McGonagall called as she approached, eyeing his stance on the table.
“Yeah, yeah, detention, I know,” Harry sighed, getting down from the table with a disappointed look on his face.
-
-Seventh Year-
Just like every year before, he’d chosen a quiet day. It was a good routine and it livened up what would’ve otherwise been a very boring day of revision. They had just returned from the winter holidays and it wouldn’t be long before they had to suffer through their N.E.W.T.s. So it was important to break up the monotony of studying every once in a while.
And just like every year before, nothing was going to deter Harry. It was their seventh year. It was now or never, there was no more time. It was also incredibly dramatic but was he James Potter’s son or was he James Potter’s son? For all that his papa had tried to dilute his dad’s less charming quirks, he had failed.
“Haz, please,” Ron groaned, recognizing the look in his grey eyes.
“It’s a little ridiculous at this point, Harry, surely you don’t need to do this,” Hermione agreed.
“It is 100% necessary. I made a promise and it is a promise I will see through to the end,” Harry told them.
“Here he comes, mate,” Neville announced, watching Draco enter the Great Hall. The blond wizard made for them immediately, a bright smile on his face as he sat down next to Harry. Harry proceeded to clear his throat, which drew the attention of nearby students, and stepped up onto the table.
“Oh, Circe, please don’t,” Draco pleaded, immediately standing back up from his seat and trying to flee the room.
“DRACO MALFOY,” Harry called before he could escape, stopping him in his tracks. “IN OUR FIRST YEAR, I DECLARED TO HOGWARTS THAT I WOULD MAKE YOU LOVE ME BY THIS YEAR.”
The entire hall was silent and McGonagall could be seen at the table writing a detention slip.
“IT’S NOW OR NEVER, DRACO! YOU EITHER ANNOUNCE TO EVERYONE THAT YOU LOVE ME OR I WILL RUN AWAY WITH NEVILLE.”
“I never consented to this,” Neville joked.
Draco glared at Harry, his cheeks turning bright red and his fists clenched into tight balls. He looked between Harry and the table he was standing on, considering for a brief moment, before he, too, stepped up onto the table and got in Harry’s face.
“I, DRACO MALFOY, AM IN LOVE WITH THE ARROGANT TOAD KNOWN AS HARRY POTTER-BLACK!” Draco shouted at him. He was breathing heavily and his blush had spread all the way to the tips of his ears and down his pale neck. Harry couldn’t help but stare at the other teen, amazed that he’d managed to push him over the edge and get him up onto the table with him.
The entire hall burst out into cheers, most of them having witnessed this interaction for years now and wondering how it would end. As the pair of teenagers stepped off of the table and accepted their detention slips from Professor McGonagall, it was clear to see that no one was disappointed with this ending.
-
-Bonus-
“I see you gave in as well,” Regulus commented as he sat down by Draco’s side. It was the winter holidays and both Harry and Draco would be returning for the second half of their seventh year in the next week.
“He was very persistent,” Draco replied dryly, looking across the room at Harry and James who were playing Exploding Snap at the dining table. “And he is rather sweet when he isn’t embarrassing me in the Great Hall.”
“Yes, that was my thought exactly,” the older wizard agreed. He had a small smile on his face as he looked at his husband and son. “They can be very persuasive and charming when they want to be.”
“It helps that I can see how well he’s going to age,” the blond told him, eyeing James appreciatively for a moment. Regulus snorted so hard that both James and Harry turned to look at him with concern but he waved them off.
“Just wait until you meet Monty, that man is fit,” the dark-haired man told him quietly. “These Potter’s age very well, no doubt about it.”
“Lucky us,” Draco replied with a laugh.