Fic: Draco Smiles
This is a songfic for molnou because of the request she made.
Title: Draco Smiles
Author: bemygoodday
Rating: R
Length: 2,800
Summary: When Malfoy's lips break into a smile, Harry can't think of anything to say anymore but "Yes."
Warnings: Gets kinda angsty. Betad by my room mate :/
Disclaimer: I own no characters found within, nor do I gain profit from them in any way.
Note: Hey! This is my first epilogue compliant fic! Also, if anyone wants to do a real beta on this, let me know.~
When Harry sees Draco Malfoy in Diagon Alley, after not seeing him in the five years since the war, his heart stops for a moment and he stands still and stares. He'd heard rumors about Malfoy going to France, he thinks he probably would have run away too if he'd been given the chance. He isn't sure why Malfoy would come back. When his heart finally beats again he realizes that Malfoy has noticed him staring. Harry gives him a curt nod before turning and heading out of sight.
----
A week later, Harry is in Madam Malkin's. Ron and Hermione are getting married in a few days and he still hasn't been fitted for his robes. He's been putting it off, as if not buying the robes will mean they aren't getting married. He feels like a right bastard for wishing they would just wait for him. Wait for him to find someone so that he wouldn't be left alone, because they all know that the on again, off again relationship he has with Ginny is little more than a convenient farce.
No one seems to be attending the counter so Harry goes in search of Madam Malkin in the fitting rooms. Standing on a pedestal in the center of the room is Malfoy. He's toying with his sleeve, wearing a robe that has pins holding up a temporary hem. Harry was too stunned last time he'd seen Malfoy to notice the new broadness of his shoulders, the softness of his facial features. He isn't scowling, he's just standing there, inspecting the sleeve of his robe and Harry suddenly feels like the air is too thick. He turns to leave, but is stopped by the sound of Malfoy's voice.
"Leaving without a 'hello' again, Potter?" He doesn't sound the same. He sounds older, which he is, Harry's mind supplies, it just isn't what he expected.
Harry turns around and faces Malfoy, a small blush heating his cheeks. He's embarrassed to be caught-out running from Malfoy, but he isn't sure what the proper thing to say would be. He hasn't known Malfoy for five years, and ever since the end of the war he's had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't know him as well as he thought in school either. Where is Madam Malkin?
"Hello" Harry says. It's the safest thing he can think to say, and it sounds a lot better than 'You look smart.'
Malfoy smiles and the air is definitely too thick in here. "You look smart," Malfoy says. Definitely-- too thick.
He's saved from having to reply when Madam Malkin walks in with a book of swatches. "Stop messing with that, you!" She says, swatting Draco's hand from his sleeve.
She turns to Harry. "Ms. Granger has already been here and supplied your measurements. Good thing too, because I wouldn't have been able to finish them in time if you were just planning on showing up today! Go out to the counter dear, I'll be done here in a moment, then I'll come so we can settle your bill." She turns back to Draco and begins showing him the fabrics in her book.
After leaving, Harry hangs around outside the shop, waiting for Malfoy. He isn't sure what he'll say, but he just knows he doesn't want to go home to Ginny yet. Draco comes out five minutes later and stops in front of Harry.
"Hello," Harry says again, still not knowing the right way to go about these things.
Draco sticks his hand out to Harry with a strange tilt to his mouth. "It's been a while," he says. And it has.
Harry takes Malfoy's hand and the way Malfoy squeezes slightly is like a kiss on his palm. He blushes again, pulling his hand back. "Yeah," is all he can manage.
He can't remember the last time he's felt like this, maybe with Ginny, back in 6th year, but certainly no time recently. It's irrational to be giddy over a handshake just because the bloke who gave it was fit. It's even more irrational when it's Draco Malfoy.
"Dinner?" Malfoy asks, and Harry isn't sure if he should say yes or not. He's promised Ginny that he would have dinner with her tonight, he has a feeling that if he doesn't, their on again, off again will become off again, and in the face of feeling the way he does right now, with Malfoy standing there looking like a place to start, he doesn't think he could handle sleeping alone. He's about to tell Malfoy that a rain check is in order when Malfoy's lips break into a smile and Harry can't think of anything to say anymore but "Yes."
They go to a Muggle restaurant, by Malfoy's request. Harry isn't good at hiding his surprise and Malfoy informs him that he likes to have the best and if the best is Muggle, then that's what he'll have. When Harry takes the first bite of his ravioli, he can see how it might change someone like Malfoy's mind about Muggles and whether or not they can do anything the best.
Through conversation that he stumbles around he learns that Malfoy did go to France. Then Greece, then Italy, then Spain, before finally coming home a month ago. He says that he missed hearing people speak the way he did. Malfoy also tells him that he doesn't believe in apologizing for things that you can't change, but if he did, he'd say he was sorry for the things he did back in school. Harry says he feels the same way and when Draco smiles, Harry thinks it's better than any apology.
----
He and Draco have been having dinner at least once a week for a few months now. He and Ginny are off again, and while he thought at first that he wouldn't want to be alone at night, he's happy he has the bed to himself because that way he wont have to hold back from saying Draco's name when he comes.
Save for that first time they spoke in Madam Malkin's, Draco has given no indication that he is interested in anything more than the occasional dinner. Harry wants to see Draco smile other than from across the table. He invites Draco back to his flat for some wine. He doesn't have any wine, but he hopes it wont matter.
When they get there, Draco sits on the chair that Ginny picked out and for the first time, Harry doesn't hate it. When he comes from the kitchen and hands Draco a lager instead of a glass of wine, Draco raises an eyebrow. Harry thinks this was stupid. He shouldn't have invited Draco back here, it's clear he isn't what Draco wants, because Draco wants the best, and it isn't Harry.
He mumbles an apology and suggests that Draco leave, it's getting late, they both have things to do tomorrow. If Draco is offended, he doesn't show it. He hands Harry back his unopened drink and Harry walks him to the door. Harry thinks about how long he'll be able to hold off from wanking once Draco Disapparates. He wonders if he'll be able to wait long enough to get to his bedroom, or maybe he should do it on the chair Ginny picked out. The thought of doing it there, where Draco just sat, makes his cock twitch in his pants and a blush rise on his cheeks.
For the first time since they've been reacquainted, Draco leans in to give Harry a hug goodnight and the timing couldn't be more thrilling or more embarrassing. Seemingly unaware of the situation getting increasingly more dire in Harry's pants, Draco squeezes Harry around the shoulders and whispers in his ear that he'll see him again next Friday. Harry closes his eyes and counts backward from ten in an attempt to calm his hormones. He never makes it to one because somewhere around five he shoves Draco up against the door and kisses him.
He lacks finesse and his mouth probably tastes like the Thai food they had for dinner, but Draco must not mind, because he's kissing Harry back and Harry begins counting upward from one. At thirty, they break away for breath and Draco's smile is so perfect that Harry thinks it's possible that Heaven is just a picture of this.
They have sex on Ginny's chair and from that moment it becomes Draco’s chair and Harry's new favorite piece of furniture.
----
It's been six months since their first dinner and three months since their first shag and Harry is ready to tell his friends whom he's been seeing. He wants Draco to move in with him, but knows it can't happen until the relationship is out in the open. He also hopes that once they all know, Ginny will stop calling.
There's a whole lot of confusion and questions but after the initial shock everyone quiets down and they continue to have an awkward dinner. At one point, Hermione asks Draco to pass her the dinner rolls and he passes them with the smile that Harry would die for and the whole table seems to relax.
Later, Ron pulls Harry into the hallway and asks Harry if he's gay. Before that moment, he had never given it much thought. He liked Cho well enough, and Ginny too. He may have thought a few blokes were fit, but never really had time to figure it all out he reckons. He glances into the kitchen to see Hermione and Draco's heads bowed toward each other conspiratorially. Draco's eyes snap over to Harry's and he grins before saying something to Hermione that looks like 'I think so', Harry thinks so too, and gives Ron his answer.
----
They've been together for a year now and every time Draco smiles Harry can't begin to fathom how lucky he is. He'll give Draco anything he wants, so long as he'll always smile for Harry. So when Draco comes home one day, looking somber because he'll have to go to France for a few months to straighten out some accounts, Harry doesn't even have to think before he calls Kingsley and tells him he's quitting, so he can go with Draco. Harry feels impulsive and crazy and his heart is beating faster than a snitch's wings because he's just quit his bloody job! But Draco smiles at him and hugs him and thanks him and he never really liked his job that much anyway.
----
They've only been home from France for a few months when Harry comes home from work and Draco is sitting on the couch, clearly upset. Harry asks what's wrong and is shattered to hear that Draco can't do this, that it's just too much, that his mother wants grandchildren and Draco isn't sure what to do but he thinks he needs some time alone to think. Harry can't stand to see Draco so upset so he sits next to him on the couch and presses Draco's head to his shoulder. He says he can have all the time he needs, that it's okay, that Harry will be there no matter what. Draco smiles sadly and at least it's better than the tears and thanks Harry for understanding.
Harry spends the next few nights sleeping in Draco’s chair and praying for Draco's smile.
----
They still talk but Draco hasn’t mentioned getting back together and Harry doesn’t want to push. He consoles himself with the fact that he can still make Draco smile.
----
When Draco tells him he’s begun to date Astoria Greengrass, he can tell that Draco just wants Harry to be happy for him, so he smiles, and Draco smiles back, but it doesn’t make him feel as good as it used to.
----
When he gets the invitation, he drinks too much and sets fire to Draco’s chair, nearly burning down his flat. In the morning, when he wakes up at Ginny’s and she tells him what he did, he asks her if she’ll be his date. When she says yes, he’s glad for the first time that she never stopped calling.
----
Twelve years later finds Harry dropping off his children at King’s Cross. He hasn’t spoken to Draco in nearly 11 years, because while he never dared to calculate just how much he paid to see some of Draco’s smiles, he knew he couldn’t afford the luxury any longer. Draco is there, along with Astoria, dropping off his son, Scorpius. Harry meets Draco’s eyes across the platform and they exchange nods. Draco doesn’t smile for Harry anymore.
----
Astoria dies from complications during the birth of Draco’s second child. The children are all away to school and Ginny is already in bed, when Harry opens his door to see Draco standing there, looking lost and broken. Harry thinks he would give anything, anything, to remember how to make him smile. He leaves Ginny a note and goes back to the Manor with Draco.
Harry is too distracted, too busy, rocking Draco and shushing Draco and telling him it will be okay to notice at first; but once Draco has cried himself to sleep in Harry’s arms, and Harry looks at his surroundings in Draco’s study, he sees the chair. It’s identical to the chair Harry used to have and the seat is indented from obvious frequent use. Harry cries himself to sleep, clutching Draco close.
When he wakes up, he’s alone in the study, so he finds a Floo and goes home.
----
He and Ginny are off again. She says she’s tried, but she can’t compete. She isn’t angry, she says, she can’t fault Harry; she knows what it’s like, seeing as how she feels the same way about him that he does about Draco. She doesn’t yell, she just tells him that she’ll be staying at The Burrow, and that if Ron asks, she’ll say she was the one who left. It’s true, she was the one who left, because Harry was never really there in the first place.
----
Harry needs to get new dress robes. Ginny is getting re-married and she seems happy. Neville is good for her, he’s good to the kids, and he loves her, really loves her. He’s being fitted when he sees a familiar blond headed man walk into the fitting room.
“Oh,” Draco says, and begins to turn away.
“Leaving without a ‘hello’?” Harry asks. He’s nervous in a way he hasn’t been in a long time. He feels silly standing up on this pedestal with all of these pins sticking out of his robe. The irony of the situation almost makes him laugh, but he’s too busy holding his breath to do so.
Draco looks uncomfortable. “Hello,” he says, looking anywhere but at Harry.
“Dinner?” Harry asks, though he’s not sure how, and maybe he didn’t really say it, because Draco is just standing there looking at the floor awkwardly. He wants to say it again, because if this can’t be the start again, it isn’t going to be because he wasn’t heard, but he’s almost too terrified to try.
Madam Malkin enters the room, holding her book of swatches and shoos Draco back out into the main area of the shop.
When Harry leaves, he half expects and fully hopes that Draco will be waiting for him, but he isn’t. He feels stupid for getting his hopes up and goes back to his flat.
----
The next day, an eagle owl brings him a letter from Draco.
Harry is nervous. He’s never been more aware of the grey hair at his temples, or the crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes. He’s changed his tie at least a dozen times but none of them seem right. Lily tells him to wear the green one and helps him tie it, because his hands are shaking.
“It’s alright dad,” she says, rolling her eyes. “You look fantastic.”
She’s beautiful, really she is. She kisses him on the cheek for good luck and he thinks that maybe this is something he should thank Draco for.
Draco is waiting for him when he arrives, and the first few minutes of conversation are strained and awkward. Harry isn’t sure what to think. He isn’t sure why Draco has asked him to come here, because while he would love to believe that he’s finally getting this, he can’t afford to hope. During dessert, Draco tells him that he doesn't believe in apologizing for things that you can't change, but if he did, he'd say he was sorry for the way things ended with them and that he hopes Harry will allow them another beginning. Harry tells him how much he loves his children and when Draco smiles, Harry thinks it's the best beginning yet.
~*~*~*~~*~*~*~
I hope it was enjoyable!
Title: Draco Smiles
Author: bemygoodday
Rating: R
Length: 2,800
Summary: When Malfoy's lips break into a smile, Harry can't think of anything to say anymore but "Yes."
Warnings: Gets kinda angsty. Betad by my room mate :/
Disclaimer: I own no characters found within, nor do I gain profit from them in any way.
Note: Hey! This is my first epilogue compliant fic! Also, if anyone wants to do a real beta on this, let me know.~
When Harry sees Draco Malfoy in Diagon Alley, after not seeing him in the five years since the war, his heart stops for a moment and he stands still and stares. He'd heard rumors about Malfoy going to France, he thinks he probably would have run away too if he'd been given the chance. He isn't sure why Malfoy would come back. When his heart finally beats again he realizes that Malfoy has noticed him staring. Harry gives him a curt nod before turning and heading out of sight.
----
A week later, Harry is in Madam Malkin's. Ron and Hermione are getting married in a few days and he still hasn't been fitted for his robes. He's been putting it off, as if not buying the robes will mean they aren't getting married. He feels like a right bastard for wishing they would just wait for him. Wait for him to find someone so that he wouldn't be left alone, because they all know that the on again, off again relationship he has with Ginny is little more than a convenient farce.
No one seems to be attending the counter so Harry goes in search of Madam Malkin in the fitting rooms. Standing on a pedestal in the center of the room is Malfoy. He's toying with his sleeve, wearing a robe that has pins holding up a temporary hem. Harry was too stunned last time he'd seen Malfoy to notice the new broadness of his shoulders, the softness of his facial features. He isn't scowling, he's just standing there, inspecting the sleeve of his robe and Harry suddenly feels like the air is too thick. He turns to leave, but is stopped by the sound of Malfoy's voice.
"Leaving without a 'hello' again, Potter?" He doesn't sound the same. He sounds older, which he is, Harry's mind supplies, it just isn't what he expected.
Harry turns around and faces Malfoy, a small blush heating his cheeks. He's embarrassed to be caught-out running from Malfoy, but he isn't sure what the proper thing to say would be. He hasn't known Malfoy for five years, and ever since the end of the war he's had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't know him as well as he thought in school either. Where is Madam Malkin?
"Hello" Harry says. It's the safest thing he can think to say, and it sounds a lot better than 'You look smart.'
Malfoy smiles and the air is definitely too thick in here. "You look smart," Malfoy says. Definitely-- too thick.
He's saved from having to reply when Madam Malkin walks in with a book of swatches. "Stop messing with that, you!" She says, swatting Draco's hand from his sleeve.
She turns to Harry. "Ms. Granger has already been here and supplied your measurements. Good thing too, because I wouldn't have been able to finish them in time if you were just planning on showing up today! Go out to the counter dear, I'll be done here in a moment, then I'll come so we can settle your bill." She turns back to Draco and begins showing him the fabrics in her book.
After leaving, Harry hangs around outside the shop, waiting for Malfoy. He isn't sure what he'll say, but he just knows he doesn't want to go home to Ginny yet. Draco comes out five minutes later and stops in front of Harry.
"Hello," Harry says again, still not knowing the right way to go about these things.
Draco sticks his hand out to Harry with a strange tilt to his mouth. "It's been a while," he says. And it has.
Harry takes Malfoy's hand and the way Malfoy squeezes slightly is like a kiss on his palm. He blushes again, pulling his hand back. "Yeah," is all he can manage.
He can't remember the last time he's felt like this, maybe with Ginny, back in 6th year, but certainly no time recently. It's irrational to be giddy over a handshake just because the bloke who gave it was fit. It's even more irrational when it's Draco Malfoy.
"Dinner?" Malfoy asks, and Harry isn't sure if he should say yes or not. He's promised Ginny that he would have dinner with her tonight, he has a feeling that if he doesn't, their on again, off again will become off again, and in the face of feeling the way he does right now, with Malfoy standing there looking like a place to start, he doesn't think he could handle sleeping alone. He's about to tell Malfoy that a rain check is in order when Malfoy's lips break into a smile and Harry can't think of anything to say anymore but "Yes."
They go to a Muggle restaurant, by Malfoy's request. Harry isn't good at hiding his surprise and Malfoy informs him that he likes to have the best and if the best is Muggle, then that's what he'll have. When Harry takes the first bite of his ravioli, he can see how it might change someone like Malfoy's mind about Muggles and whether or not they can do anything the best.
Through conversation that he stumbles around he learns that Malfoy did go to France. Then Greece, then Italy, then Spain, before finally coming home a month ago. He says that he missed hearing people speak the way he did. Malfoy also tells him that he doesn't believe in apologizing for things that you can't change, but if he did, he'd say he was sorry for the things he did back in school. Harry says he feels the same way and when Draco smiles, Harry thinks it's better than any apology.
----
He and Draco have been having dinner at least once a week for a few months now. He and Ginny are off again, and while he thought at first that he wouldn't want to be alone at night, he's happy he has the bed to himself because that way he wont have to hold back from saying Draco's name when he comes.
Save for that first time they spoke in Madam Malkin's, Draco has given no indication that he is interested in anything more than the occasional dinner. Harry wants to see Draco smile other than from across the table. He invites Draco back to his flat for some wine. He doesn't have any wine, but he hopes it wont matter.
When they get there, Draco sits on the chair that Ginny picked out and for the first time, Harry doesn't hate it. When he comes from the kitchen and hands Draco a lager instead of a glass of wine, Draco raises an eyebrow. Harry thinks this was stupid. He shouldn't have invited Draco back here, it's clear he isn't what Draco wants, because Draco wants the best, and it isn't Harry.
He mumbles an apology and suggests that Draco leave, it's getting late, they both have things to do tomorrow. If Draco is offended, he doesn't show it. He hands Harry back his unopened drink and Harry walks him to the door. Harry thinks about how long he'll be able to hold off from wanking once Draco Disapparates. He wonders if he'll be able to wait long enough to get to his bedroom, or maybe he should do it on the chair Ginny picked out. The thought of doing it there, where Draco just sat, makes his cock twitch in his pants and a blush rise on his cheeks.
For the first time since they've been reacquainted, Draco leans in to give Harry a hug goodnight and the timing couldn't be more thrilling or more embarrassing. Seemingly unaware of the situation getting increasingly more dire in Harry's pants, Draco squeezes Harry around the shoulders and whispers in his ear that he'll see him again next Friday. Harry closes his eyes and counts backward from ten in an attempt to calm his hormones. He never makes it to one because somewhere around five he shoves Draco up against the door and kisses him.
He lacks finesse and his mouth probably tastes like the Thai food they had for dinner, but Draco must not mind, because he's kissing Harry back and Harry begins counting upward from one. At thirty, they break away for breath and Draco's smile is so perfect that Harry thinks it's possible that Heaven is just a picture of this.
They have sex on Ginny's chair and from that moment it becomes Draco’s chair and Harry's new favorite piece of furniture.
----
It's been six months since their first dinner and three months since their first shag and Harry is ready to tell his friends whom he's been seeing. He wants Draco to move in with him, but knows it can't happen until the relationship is out in the open. He also hopes that once they all know, Ginny will stop calling.
There's a whole lot of confusion and questions but after the initial shock everyone quiets down and they continue to have an awkward dinner. At one point, Hermione asks Draco to pass her the dinner rolls and he passes them with the smile that Harry would die for and the whole table seems to relax.
Later, Ron pulls Harry into the hallway and asks Harry if he's gay. Before that moment, he had never given it much thought. He liked Cho well enough, and Ginny too. He may have thought a few blokes were fit, but never really had time to figure it all out he reckons. He glances into the kitchen to see Hermione and Draco's heads bowed toward each other conspiratorially. Draco's eyes snap over to Harry's and he grins before saying something to Hermione that looks like 'I think so', Harry thinks so too, and gives Ron his answer.
----
They've been together for a year now and every time Draco smiles Harry can't begin to fathom how lucky he is. He'll give Draco anything he wants, so long as he'll always smile for Harry. So when Draco comes home one day, looking somber because he'll have to go to France for a few months to straighten out some accounts, Harry doesn't even have to think before he calls Kingsley and tells him he's quitting, so he can go with Draco. Harry feels impulsive and crazy and his heart is beating faster than a snitch's wings because he's just quit his bloody job! But Draco smiles at him and hugs him and thanks him and he never really liked his job that much anyway.
----
They've only been home from France for a few months when Harry comes home from work and Draco is sitting on the couch, clearly upset. Harry asks what's wrong and is shattered to hear that Draco can't do this, that it's just too much, that his mother wants grandchildren and Draco isn't sure what to do but he thinks he needs some time alone to think. Harry can't stand to see Draco so upset so he sits next to him on the couch and presses Draco's head to his shoulder. He says he can have all the time he needs, that it's okay, that Harry will be there no matter what. Draco smiles sadly and at least it's better than the tears and thanks Harry for understanding.
Harry spends the next few nights sleeping in Draco’s chair and praying for Draco's smile.
----
They still talk but Draco hasn’t mentioned getting back together and Harry doesn’t want to push. He consoles himself with the fact that he can still make Draco smile.
----
When Draco tells him he’s begun to date Astoria Greengrass, he can tell that Draco just wants Harry to be happy for him, so he smiles, and Draco smiles back, but it doesn’t make him feel as good as it used to.
----
When he gets the invitation, he drinks too much and sets fire to Draco’s chair, nearly burning down his flat. In the morning, when he wakes up at Ginny’s and she tells him what he did, he asks her if she’ll be his date. When she says yes, he’s glad for the first time that she never stopped calling.
----
Twelve years later finds Harry dropping off his children at King’s Cross. He hasn’t spoken to Draco in nearly 11 years, because while he never dared to calculate just how much he paid to see some of Draco’s smiles, he knew he couldn’t afford the luxury any longer. Draco is there, along with Astoria, dropping off his son, Scorpius. Harry meets Draco’s eyes across the platform and they exchange nods. Draco doesn’t smile for Harry anymore.
----
Astoria dies from complications during the birth of Draco’s second child. The children are all away to school and Ginny is already in bed, when Harry opens his door to see Draco standing there, looking lost and broken. Harry thinks he would give anything, anything, to remember how to make him smile. He leaves Ginny a note and goes back to the Manor with Draco.
Harry is too distracted, too busy, rocking Draco and shushing Draco and telling him it will be okay to notice at first; but once Draco has cried himself to sleep in Harry’s arms, and Harry looks at his surroundings in Draco’s study, he sees the chair. It’s identical to the chair Harry used to have and the seat is indented from obvious frequent use. Harry cries himself to sleep, clutching Draco close.
When he wakes up, he’s alone in the study, so he finds a Floo and goes home.
----
He and Ginny are off again. She says she’s tried, but she can’t compete. She isn’t angry, she says, she can’t fault Harry; she knows what it’s like, seeing as how she feels the same way about him that he does about Draco. She doesn’t yell, she just tells him that she’ll be staying at The Burrow, and that if Ron asks, she’ll say she was the one who left. It’s true, she was the one who left, because Harry was never really there in the first place.
----
Harry needs to get new dress robes. Ginny is getting re-married and she seems happy. Neville is good for her, he’s good to the kids, and he loves her, really loves her. He’s being fitted when he sees a familiar blond headed man walk into the fitting room.
“Oh,” Draco says, and begins to turn away.
“Leaving without a ‘hello’?” Harry asks. He’s nervous in a way he hasn’t been in a long time. He feels silly standing up on this pedestal with all of these pins sticking out of his robe. The irony of the situation almost makes him laugh, but he’s too busy holding his breath to do so.
Draco looks uncomfortable. “Hello,” he says, looking anywhere but at Harry.
“Dinner?” Harry asks, though he’s not sure how, and maybe he didn’t really say it, because Draco is just standing there looking at the floor awkwardly. He wants to say it again, because if this can’t be the start again, it isn’t going to be because he wasn’t heard, but he’s almost too terrified to try.
Madam Malkin enters the room, holding her book of swatches and shoos Draco back out into the main area of the shop.
When Harry leaves, he half expects and fully hopes that Draco will be waiting for him, but he isn’t. He feels stupid for getting his hopes up and goes back to his flat.
----
The next day, an eagle owl brings him a letter from Draco.
Harry is nervous. He’s never been more aware of the grey hair at his temples, or the crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes. He’s changed his tie at least a dozen times but none of them seem right. Lily tells him to wear the green one and helps him tie it, because his hands are shaking.
“It’s alright dad,” she says, rolling her eyes. “You look fantastic.”
She’s beautiful, really she is. She kisses him on the cheek for good luck and he thinks that maybe this is something he should thank Draco for.
Draco is waiting for him when he arrives, and the first few minutes of conversation are strained and awkward. Harry isn’t sure what to think. He isn’t sure why Draco has asked him to come here, because while he would love to believe that he’s finally getting this, he can’t afford to hope. During dessert, Draco tells him that he doesn't believe in apologizing for things that you can't change, but if he did, he'd say he was sorry for the way things ended with them and that he hopes Harry will allow them another beginning. Harry tells him how much he loves his children and when Draco smiles, Harry thinks it's the best beginning yet.
~*~*~*~~*~*~*~
I hope it was enjoyable!