Beautiful World ~ 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑹𝑹𝒀

Chapter 4

The heat cracked into a massive storm late that night, the first breaking of thunder waking Harry from what had been a restless, dreamless sleep. At first, he wasn't sure what had awakened him, and he stared at his ceiling in confusion. A flash of lightning lit the room and he was up and out of bed in a heartbeat. Harry loved storms.

Grabbing his glasses, he raced to the window and threw himself onto the sill, slamming his glasses on, his mouth falling open a little bit in awe. The sky was rolling with thick clouds of various shades of purple, with veins of lightning snaking through, like forked fingers. Rain fell in gray sheets, pounding the window and flattening the grass. Wind was howling and tearing at the trees, breaking branches and tossing them easily through the air.

It was wicked and wild and Harry loved every second of it.

Dawn was anticlimactic and didn't ease the storm at all. The clouds were so thick that the sun barely even made a difference, except that it signaled that Harry had to start getting ready for class. It was Friday and the weekend looming before him was a relief for his weary body and exhausted mind.

He showered quickly and hurried into the common room to sit at the window and watch the storm until it was time to go to breakfast.

Ron and Hermione went ahead and Harry followed behind, more slowly because he kept pausing at every window to watch the storm. Used to his fascination with storms, they didn't bother to wait, and soon enough, Harry was walking alone, mouth hanging open the tiniest bit, heart beating faster than it had in weeks.

"Oh bloody ever lasting hell."

He glanced away from the window and over his shoulder. Draco had been walking in the opposite direction and he had paused when he'd seen Harry, his face going a little pale. "Malfoy," Harry greeted, his voice thick and shaking, though distracted. He'd barely even registered Draco's presence, as enraptured with the storm as he was.

Draco was glancing about warily, as if looking for potential threats, unable to decide if turning and going the way he'd come was the best option, or hurrying on his way. There was a broken window in the hall about midway between them and rain was leaking through, but it looked safe enough. He took a deep breath and started walking forward carefully. Deciding he'd stood at that window long enough, Harry did the same, almost smiling when he heard Draco audibly hold his breath when they passed in the hallway.

And then, right when they were shoulder to shoulder in front of the broken window, Harry slipped in the puddle that had formed there, crashing into Draco and knocking him to the floor where his robes were quickly soaked through with water.

"Why is this happening to me?" Draco howled, furious.

Harry could only stare at him, his face lit up with amusement. Had anyone noticed, they would have realized it was the first time his face had been lit up with anything in months. "Alright, Malfoy?"

"Get away from me! You're cursed! Don't touch me!"

Harry was laughing so hard that he almost couldn't catch his breath as he hurried away down the hall. If this was a curse, he almost rather liked it.

Draco Malfoy had never met a knight in shining armor and, he always liked to think, if he ever did, he wouldn't be that impressed. Really, what's a stupid sod in a metal suit good for, in the grand scheme of things? He thought girls who dreamed of such things were sentimental and dull; surely their imaginations could come up with a more fitting hero. Which was why, when he found himself somehow cast into the role of Harry Potter's Personal Knight In Shining Armor, he was Not Impressed. In the least.

It wasn't like he was having that great of a week to begin with. Draco rarely did have a week that was completely Good, without a single hint of Bad in it. Then again, he was a Malfoy, and Malfoys were supposed to think that Bad was Good and Good was Bad, black was white and white was black and Voldemort help the wizard who fancied gray. Draco, despite popular opinion, quite fancied it; he felt it brought out the silver in his eyes.