Timer (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Harry blinked, watching him go in utter bewilderment, before turning back to Ron and Hermione. Ron wore an expression that was probably a match for Harry's, but Hermione had gone slack with shock. "What?" Harry asked.

Her mouth opened and closed as she glanced between Draco's retreating form, and Harry.

"What Hermione?" Harry demanded again with a little more insistence. "Use your words," he added with a laugh, but she was perfectly serious. That was until she seemed to snap back to reality, and a delighted twinkle appeared in her eye.

"Harry," she said grinning. "Who else did you meet that day?"

Harry gave an exasperated grunt. "I told you," he began, but she shook her head, cutting him off.

"Think!" she urged, practically bouncing in her seat. "You meet another student, you spoke to them, you told us!"

Ron was frowning at her like she'd lost the plot, but suddenly, like a lightning bolt, Harry was struck down with what she was trying to tell him. "Madam Malkin's," he said numbly. Maybe they did, Draco had said. And you didn't notice? "Bloody hell."

"What," said Ron his head jerking between the two of them. "What!"

Hermione though was shooing Harry away from the table. "What are you waiting for?" she demanded. "Go get him!"

Harry jumped to his feet and took off at a run, not caring how many people were watching, he just knew he had to get to Draco. He didn't want to waste a single minute more.

The entrance hallway was empty, but Harry's instinct told him to carry on running out into the fresh spring evening, and sure enough, there heading towards the lake was a familiar lithe figure, hands in his pockets, head downcast as he scuffed his feet along the grass.

Draco. Harry's heart contracted. All those fights they'd had, the way they'd always been drawn to each other. And now, their friendship, the friction Harry always felt when they were near each other.

He'd been such a fool.

He set off at a run again, sprinting across the grounds with a lightness in his heart he'd never felt before. Draco didn't even see him coming until he seized him around his shoulders, spinning him around to face him. "You knew," he breathed with a mixture of happiness and disbelief. "This whole time – you knew it was me."

Draco stood still, his eyes wide and shining. "And you had no idea?" he said, his voice small.

Harry calmed, searching Draco's face, seeing him with fresh eyes. "You thought I did, you thought I knew when my timer had stopped?"

Draco looked down at their shoes, sagging a little under Harry's grip. "I thought you didn't want me," he said, his voice cracking.

Harry closed his eyes, the past seven years flitting past his mind's eye. "That's why you were so mean to me," he said with certainty. "All those times you provoked me, you thought I'd rejected you."

Draco shook his head, a single tear tracing down his cheek and his eyes still on the grass. "I didn't know what else to do."

Without squandering any more time, Harry pulled him into a hug, wanting to make up for so much lost time between them. Warm relief swept over him as Draco reciprocated immediately, squeezing Harry as close as he could against his body. "I'm so sorry," Harry said into his neck, his body tingling as the scent that was so distinctly Draco engulfed him, their skin almost burning where they now finally touched. One of Draco's hands was tangled in Harry's hair, the other stroked possessively up and down his back. Harry just clung on tight, his fingers digging into Draco's clothes.

"No," said Draco. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have just asked you, instead I just assumed you didn't want me, and all I could think to deal with that was to be cruel. I don't know, can you ever-"

"I forgive you," Harry hastily interrupted. He pulled back to look at Draco's eyes, mere inches from his own. It was the most natural thing in the world to bring his hand around and cup his face, to rub his thumb along that sharp cheekbone. "I don't want to think about what we could have done, how things could have been. That's gone, it's over. But now – now we have our whole lives together."

Finally, and much to Harry's pleasure, Draco face split into a wide and unabashed grin that within seconds became a laugh despite the tears tumbling from his eyes. He took Harry's face between both his hands, his manner urgent but his touch soft. "I've wanted this for so long," he said, the huge burden that had been lifted from him clear even in the dim twilight.

Harry wanted to tell him he was sorry again, that things would be okay now, that they could both stop wondering, stop searching. But words didn't seem enough. So Harry leaned forward instead, his heart hammering in his chest, and gently pressed his lips against Draco's.

This. This was what he had been missing before. He knew it hadn't been right with Ginny or with Cho, but this was everything he never knew he'd been wanting, yearning for.

Impossibly, their bodies came even closer, entwining in a tight knot of limbs as the kiss deepened. Happiness and contentment like Harry had never known poured through his veins until he felt like he was swimming in it.

He broke the kiss off, wanting to assure himself that this was really happening, staring at Draco with unworthy disbelief. "I found you," he whispered.

Draco nodded. "And now I'm never letting you go."

The End

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