Work Text:
"Ron, the internet isn't something physical you can see—it's virtual," Hermione sighed as she explained it to her boyfriend again, who was bent over their Muggle Studies homework.
"How can we use something that doesn't exist?" Ron asked tiredly.
Harry does not want to get involved in this debate again. The last time he tried explaining the internet to his best mate, it ended with him flipping the table and ignoring Ron for the rest of the day. Even the Slytherins didn't have this hard a time understanding the Muggle topics.
Speaking of the Slytherins, Harry glanced up from his breakfast to check for their arrival. All Eighth Years shared the same table since they were a temporary class—it wouldn't make sense to create separate dining and living spaces for the small group who had returned.
Harry watched as the Slytherins entered with their characteristic poise, Blaise at the front of the group. Behind him, he spotted Malfoy deep in conversation with Theo, who was tugging playfully at Draco's sleeve with a teasing smile.
"Mate, you're putting me off my food with that stare. Please, just stop," Ron groaned from across the table. Harry merely hummed in response, barely registering his friend's words.
As the four Slytherins reached the table and settled around the Golden Trio, Harry smiled at Draco, who sat beside Ron with Theo on his other side. He noticed the blonde was wearing a white hoodie and looked up with raised eyebrows. Before he could say anything, Blaise put an arm around him and pulled his attention away.
"Potter, the breakfast can't possibly be this delicious for you to be drooling this much," Blaise murmured from beside Harry, keeping his voice low enough that only Harry could hear.
Harry whipped around to look at him, finding Blaise smirking with his cheek resting on his palm. Harry felt his face grow warm as the Slytherin prat raised a knowing eyebrow. Unable to think of a response that wouldn't further embarrass himself, Harry turned back to his breakfast.
He kept his eyes down, barely following the conversation around him, until he heard Theo mention the words "Draco" and "hoodie" in the same sentence. Since the blonde had repeatedly given Harry a hard time about his hoodies, Harry wasn't about to let him wear one without comment. He looked up, but whatever retort he'd planned died on his tongue when he actually saw what Draco was wearing.
It looked like a plain white hoodie on first the glance, and Harry wouldn’t have given it much thought had Theo not managed to pull the hood up on Draco’s head. The latter was trying to push it down, while Theo insisted on pushing it back up. While the two continued messing around, Harry tried to come up with words to describe what he was seeing.
The inside of the hood was littered with a variety of red marks, from light to dark. Draco’s blonde hair only highlighted the marks more. Harry’s brain can’t seem to function anymore as he realized what those marks were. Kiss marks. Harry doesn’t know whether he wants to kill the person who gave Malfoy the hoodie or himself more.
Those lip imprints surrounded Draco’s head looking like a halo around his head and Harry wants to smash his own head on the table. Draco caught his eye and raised an eyebrow.
“Something to say Potter?”
“You- I mean… uhm, that hoodie, it’s ..um,” By Merlin, it just wasn’t his day today.
“Don’t rush. I’m sure that sentence was going somewhere eventually,” Draco deadpanned, as he reached for his glass of pumpkin juice.
As Harry saw him bring the glass to his mouth, he noticed another detail about the hoodie that made him wish he had never come back from the dead. On the left side, right above his heart was a small white square with a perfect kiss mark on top of it. To make matters worse, the person who gave the atrocious gift to Malfoy seemed to have embroidered his initials beneath the kiss mark. The whole thing seemed to have been made as a personal attack to Harry's existence.
“Why are you wearing that?” he asked, glaring at him.
The entire table quietened down when they heard his tone. He couldn’t care less. He had other important matters at hand.
“Thought I would try one out since you seem to wear them all the time. You know, see for myself what’s so good about it,” Draco smirked obnoxiously, knowing that isn’t the answer Harry is looking for.
“You know that’s not what I am asking. Why are you wearing that? Who gave it to you?”
“And why, pray tell, are you so concerned about it?” Draco’s smile was all teeth now. The arse was absolutely enjoying this. Harry would have smashed his face in if he wasn’t so… never mind. More important matters.
“Yes, Potter. I, too, would like to know what’s got you in such a state. It’s just a hoodie,” Pansy said from beside Hermione, who had a knowing smile on her face.
Harry turned back to look at Draco, who was still smiling and still wearing that hoodie. Deciding he couldn’t look at the sight anymore, he got up all the while glaring at the blonde, and left the Great Hall. Hermione shouted after him, reminding him of their plans to go to Hogsmeade after breakfast.
How could Malfoy do this? Harry didn’t even realize he was involved with someone. Why hadn’t he ever mentioned that person to Harry? They were good friends now, weren’t they? He even thought they were heading towards something more as they practically spent their entire day in each other’s company. When did the prat even get the time to see other people?
Harry stopped in his tracks. What if it was someone they already knew and was around them all the time? Malfoy wouldn’t need to excuse himself to go spend time with them.
As Harry heard his friends voices come around the hallway, he looked back to see them coming over to where he was standing. He looked around, trying to spot Draco. He was walking beside Hermione, no doubt discussing some nerdy and wordy topic. Harry focused on the person on his other side, who had an arm around Draco’s shoulder and was practically leaning all over him.
Theo. Harry scowled, looking right where the bastard's hand rested around Draco's neck. The blonde caught his eye and raised an eyebrow as they passed by him, but didn't ask him about it.
Ron stopped beside him, asking him why he is making that face and Harry doesn’t know how to answer him. As his mate urged him to continue walking, his gaze went to the Slytherin duo again. Theo was still walking with his arm around Draco. The latter was slightly taller, so he bent his head down a bit to listen to what was being whispered in his ear by his dark-haired friend.
Harry fastened his pace and pushed his way between the two. Theo finally let go of Draco’s shoulder and both of them stopped walking for a moment, thrown off by what Harry did.
The churning in Harry’s stomach was relieved a little but not completely. He glared up at the blonde, not having actual words to say but hoping his glare was fierce enough to make the prat understand how upset he was with him.
Theo continued walking on ahead of them, muttering to himself about oblivious Gryffindors and their brute strength. Draco, meanwhile, was looking at Harry, eyes darting all over his face with an amused glint in them. His hand came up to ruffle Harry’s hair, as it did quite often these days, before using the hold to bring him closer into his side.
As they continued to walk behind their friends, his hand came to rest on his shoulder, often touching the side of his neck. Malfoy’s thumb occasionally stroked Harry's neck from where it rested, raising goosebumps all over his body and he didn’t know if he was doing it on purpose or not.
“So feel like telling me what’s got you huffing and puffing like a bull this morning? Not that I don’t enjoy seeing you like this,” he had the audacity to wink as he said it.
Harry glared up at him again, before saying, “I thought we are friends.”
Draco blinked, looking thrown back, “Of course we are Potter. Unless the soul of your stupid 11 year old self managed to take over your body and decided to hate me all over again.”
“You were a bigoted piece of shit and I had every right to call you out on it.”
“Fair, but all that’s in the past,” he said, waving his other hand like swatting away a stray fly, “You can’t possibly be mad about all that now after everything, so again I ask, what is wrong with you, other than the obvious lack of certain important brain functions?”
Reminded again of the offending object that ruined his morning, Harry looked down to glare at it, not wanting to say anything out loud. The Slytherin’s gaze followed his eyes and he let out a chuckle. Harry’s eyes snapped up to his, and he was embarrassed immediately. He tried to get out of his hold and walk faster but was instantly pulled back by the back of his neck.
"A hoodie can’t possibly be the reason you are so moody today. I admit I was too quick to judge you. I think I look good in this and Theo agreed. Don’t you think so too?” he asked, grinning and spreading his arms.
“Of course Theo thinks you look good,” Harry muttered.
“Well, I want to hear what you think? Do you like it?” Draco asked excitedly.
“Yeah it looks good,” he admitted begrudgingly, “everything looks good on you. Always walking around looking good, even in early morning when absolutely no one should be looking that put together and perf-” Harry immediately cut his rambling off, cheeks reddening, realizing what he had just said.
He looked over at the blonde, who looked like a cat that had caught a big canary. “Perfect, am I? Why Harry, I didn’t know you thought so highly of me,” he practically purred, head bent down so near to his ear, he could feel Draco’s lips touching the shell of his ear.
“Stop this. I am sure your precious Theo won’t like this,” Harry said, scowling at Theo’s back, who was walking a few feet ahead of them.
Draco pulled back to look at him, a frown on his face. “Why do you keep bringing him up? I thought you two worked your differences out as well. You have been looking at him like he killed your cat. Did he steal from your secret stash of sweets again?”
“Don’t even joke about that. I think he learned his lesson after last time,” he said, looking down at his shoes as they continued walking. They were almost at their destination. Harry didn’t know how much embarrassment he could take anymore and he wanted to end this conversation.
“Wait, are you jealous?” Draco stopped right outside the their first stop, Honeydukes. Their friends had already gone in. Harry could see them through the glass door, Ron already at the free samples table.
“Why would I be jealous?” he asked moodily, kicking a stone on the side of the road.
Draco pulled at his elbow, making him turn around. “Do you like him?” he accused, a scowl look on his face, “is that why you are so prickly today? Seeing him around me must put a wrench in your plans to woo him, is that it?”
Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Anger rose in him and he wanted to punch something real bad. He could feel his magic at the tip of his fingers and ready to lash out. He took a deep breath to try to calm himself down, “What the fuck are you saying?”
“I am saying it exactly as I am seeing it,” Draco replied, folding his arms across his chest, “you start scowling the moment you see us together at breakfast, you get in between in us so he can’t be close to me and you keep looking at his back! How else am I supposed to interpret all this?”
“It’s not him I like, you fucking arse!” Harry yelled, before entering the candy shop and slamming the door on his way in. He got looks from all the customers inside, including his friends. He walked over with his head down to where Ron and Hermione were standing.
“Hey mate. Quite a row you seemed to be having out there," Ron remarked, looking over at the door where the rest of the Slytherins were exiting. Hermione pinched his biceps to shut him up before turning to Harry with a sympathetic look on her face. "What happened out there?” she asked.
“Nothing. He was being a mean prat, like always. What else is new?” he said miserably.
Hermione’s hand came up to pat him on his back, lips pursing.
“You do realize you just kinda confessed to him out there, don’t you?” Hermione asked.
Harry shrugged, not really wanting to talk about all of this anymore. Thankfully, his two best friends knew him well enough to realize that and stopped asking him about it. He even managed to give them a small smile when Ron bought him a box of new sweets. He had spotted the Slytherins outside the shop, when they were waiting at the cash counter. They seemed to be in deep conversation, Pansy seemingly scolding Draco, even hitting him on his head repeatedly. He turned his head back, focusing back on his friends.
As they were heading out of the shop, he saw Draco standing alone outside, resting against the wall. The rest of them seemed to have moved on to their second stop of the day. Harry tried to hide behind Ron’s tall frame, so as to avoid talking to the blonde altogether. All the attempts were for nothing when Draco pulled him back by the hood of his jacket.
Ron and Hermione turned back to see Draco having a firm grip on the hood while Harry tried his best to get out it. He seemed to be struggling and Ron, bless him, tried to intervene, when one look from Draco made him stop in his attempts. While he wasn’t afraid of the ferret, he wanted his best mate to solve this thing between them as soon as possible. He loved Harry, but he was tired of the pining and whining his mate did when it came to the Slytherin.
He sighed, nodded at Malfoy before turning and walking back to his girlfriend. Hermione gave Harry an encouraging smile before taking her boyfriend’s hand, both of them walking away.
The Boy Wonder finally stopped struggling, panting and out of breath, as he glared up at Malfoy. The latter glared back just as hard, reminding Harry of their old days. Seeing that look on his face, he felt worse and just wanted the whole day to end. Draco finally let go of his hoodie and grabbed his wrist instead. He tugged Harry to a quiet corner in the alley, putting him against a wall before pacing in front of him. The limited space didn’t offer him much room but he still managed to walk back and forth, a frown on his face. Harry won’t be the first one to start talking so he was more than happy to stay there and watch the blonde spiral.
Finally, he stopped and turned back to face Harry. “What is your deal?”
“I don’t have a deal, Malfoy,” he replied while rolling his eyes and crossing his arms across his chest.
“Do you think me a fool, Potter?” he spit back, “you make it sound like you like me and then slam a door in my face, not even looking back and then you try to hide so as to avoid me. If this is all just a game to you, then you might actually be the worst person I have ever met. And to put it into perspective, the evilest wizard lived in my house.” Draco was all pink in the face now. Even in anger he looks so lovely, Harry couldn’t help but think to himself.
“Oh that’s rich coming from you,” mocked back Harry, “you spend almost every minute of your day with me, smile and touch me so gently, pull me into your side all the damn time, tell me about your nightmares and future dreams, but somehow fail to mention you have managed to acquire a fucking boyfriend?”
“How did you even come to this conclusion, you brainless buffoon?” he was almost yelling now, “are you listening to yourself? Why would I go get a boyfriend when there is no one I would rather spend my time with than you?”
“Oh really? Because that fucking hoodie you are wearing is screaming ‘Hi, I am Draco Malfoy. Look, my idiot boyfriend gave me a hoodie full of kisses. Isn’t it just abso-fucking-lutely fantastic?’” Harry shouted, throwing his hands up in frustration.
“Well, call me an idiot then because this is your hoodie I stole and spent the last two nights making into something I thought your undeserving arse would like,” he retorted.
“Yeah, that’s righ- wait what?” Harry thought he misheard. It can’t possibly be true.
“That’s right, Potter. This is one of your hoodies. I am not surprised you didn’t notice it missing from the your closet full of same things. Pansy saw this stupid thing on her muggle device and told me about it. Me, being the idiot that you said I am, thought you would like to wear something like this. It would have been a sort of ‘would you like to go out with me’ present but I guess that’s out of the question now,” he finished with a scowl on his face.
Harry needed a moment to process it all. He leaned back against the wall and looked up at the sky. He pinched the inside of his wrist and realized this was really happening. He looked back down with a large, brilliant smile on his face and immediately pounced on Draco. He hugged him, arms around his neck and nuzzling into his jaw. Draco, momentarily thrown off, found his balance and put his arms tentatively around Harry’s waist.
He saw the kiss littered hood over Draco’s shoulder and couldn’t stop grinning. He pulled back a bit to look at his face and asked, “Why didn’t you just give it to me?”
“Blaise said I should try it on to see how it looks and it was comfortable enough so I wore it to the Great Hall. I was planning on giving it to you after breakfast so you could wear it to Hogsmeade,” he answered in a soft tone.
Harry immediately let go of him and started pulling the hoodie off of Draco. As he was tagging his hand out of a sleeve, Draco asked him what exactly was he trying to do.
“I want to wear it, isn’t it obvious,” Harry was practically levitating off the ground.
“No, you don’t get to wear it. After the tantrums you threw and mixed signals that hurt worse than that curse back in Sixth Year, you don’t get this,” Draco huffed.
“Malfoy, of course I want to go out with you. Have you looked at yourself? I would be a fool to say no. Now, can I please have my hoodie back?” Harry batted his eyelashes for extra effects.
The response was immediate. Draco blushed prettily at the confession, and went to remove the hoodie completely. Harry hurriedly put it on, sliding his hands through the sleeves and pulling the hood up. He walked to a nearby store window to see his reflection and was quite happy with how he looked. He turned back around to say as much to Draco, when he spotted the blonde looking over at him with wide eyes. His gaze darted all over him, his head his face, the left side of his chest.
Harry smiled as he walked over to him, spreading his arms widely, “What do you think? I think I look quite dashing, don’t you agre-” his sentence was cut off by another pair of lips on his. Draco had bought one hand up to his jaw to hold his face in place as he kissed him. Stunned, Harry slowly closed his eyes and kissed him back.
He was wrong before. This was the best day of his life and he never wanted it to end.
The kiss was soft and sweet, unlike everything about them. But Harry wanted it more than he would ever admit out loud. Draco had made this for him. One of the first presents Harry ever got was a sweater, specially made for him by Molly and now Draco had given him another, adding a close personalized touch to it. Harry could weep for days.
They slowly pulled back, hands resting around each other’s waists. “You look really pretty. You always do, with those big green eyes and bright smile. And now, surrounded by my lip marks, you look pretty and mine.” Draco pecked his lips again, a big smile on his face.
“I love it. Thank you for making this. And I am sorry for everything that happened today,” he smiled apologetically.
“It’s my fault. I should have known your limited brain capacity would have reached to the worst possible conclusions all by it's own,” Draco twined his fingers through Harry’s as he led him out of the alley.
“Says the one that was accusing me of liking Theo,” Harry rolled his eyes, looking down at their joined hands and looking up with a stupid grin on his face. Draco shook his head and squeezed his fingers tightly. As they walked around with no particular destination in mind, they spotted their friends outside Zonko’s.
Harry was walking in their direction when suddenly Draco pulled him into the coffee shop that had opened during the post-war restoration. Harry liked the eclairs they made and Draco knew it was his weak spot. As they were entering, Harry heard Blaise shout “Looking good in your new clothes Potter, congratulations!” and as he turned back, he saw the rest of them laughing and waving. He turned back to Draco with a heart full of happiness, and soon a belly full of sweets, leading him to the display.
“So, is this our first date?” he asked, looking at the variety of sweets.
“Don’t be daft, Harry,” Draco scoffed, “this is just a sweet treat stop since you had a pretty bad time today. Select whatever you want, I will buy it for you.”
“You, Draco Malfoy, are going to be an excellent boyfriend for me. I mean, you certainly know how to woo and win me over,” Harry said, putting his hands around his neck and kissing his cheeks repeatedly before going over to the counter to order.
Draco stood behind him, ordering only a coffee for himself, before paying for everything. As they waited for their order, Harry told Draco that they should buy a camera so they can click pictures of Harry in the hoodie. Draco suggested just using Pansy’s new muggle device but insisted on getting a camera as there were many more things he wanted to click pictures of. He didn’t need a phone, not yet anyway, and it would be a migraine-inducing task to explain all of its functions to both Ron and Draco, so camera would be the lesser of the two evils.
As they picked up their order and exited the shop, Draco balanced both of their coffees in one hand and a to-go bag in other, while Harry ate his eclair. “Honestly Potter, why do you need two eclairs and a slice of tiramisu cake?”
“The cake is for later. I get sweet cravings in the middle of the night sometimes and this is the perfect treat at such times.” Harry took a sip out of the straw in his coffee cup, held up to his mouth by Draco. He let out a content sigh as they happily made their way back to the castle.
As they shared the food and coffee while climbing up the hill, Draco would sometimes stop Harry to lick him around his lips in the name of wiping of excess chocolate from around his mouth, which would ultimately lead to them stopping for a few minutes so they could make out. Harry would blush prettily every time and Draco realized he needed to buy that camera by tonight, as there is no way he can afford to let these moments go by, without capturing and preserving them forever.