𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 // 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺

five

The grass glistened with morning dew and sun shined brightly. The wind blew softly, rustling the blond hair of the boy sat beneath a tree near a lake.

It was a beautiful October morning and Draco was hunched over a piece of parchment, scraping his quill against it in strong, fluid strokes. The only sound that could be heard was the rippling of the water and the distant laughter of students basking in the afternoon sun.

Harry walked around the grounds of Hogwarts, feeling empty as ever. He had been going to the Mirror of Erised daily, for the past one week but was reprimanded when Hermione got to know about it.

"People can go crazy over that mirror, Harry," She had sighed, "You have to control yourself, I'm requesting you! Please! Don't go there again. I don't want to loose my best friend to a bloody mirror," To which Harry had nodded silently and hugged her as she was almost close to tears.

Ron had glared at him and smacked the back of his neck, making him wince, "I don't want to loose another brother. So make sure you keep yourself in check, mate." Then Ron proceeded to give him a hug which Hermione joined and then they were having a group hug in the middle of the night.

Harry smiled, he will always have his best friends for him. He was grateful.

He ran his green eyes over the blue sky and over to the Black lake, where he spotted the most beautiful person he could ever lay his eyes on.

Draco Malfoy.

Godric! Could he get more pretty? He thought with a sigh. It was quite clear Harry had taken a fancy to the blond. If only the blond saw that.

He started walking towards Draco, curious as to why he was sitting all alone out here. But before he could reach there, someone else, or rather a certain Theodore Nott reached there and plopped next to Draco. Harry narrowed his eyes.

They were friends, right? So why did Harry feel a flare of burning anger in his chest. He saw them talking, laughing and flirting. Harry didn't like that, at all. With anger surging in him, he made his way towards them, all the while glaring at the brunette who was sitting way too close to Draco.

◆

Draco, on the other hand, had no idea of the angry Gryffindor marching slowly towards him and Theo.

Draco liked Theo. As in, more than friends. He was kind, clever, sweet and absolute flirt. They have been friends for as long as Draco could remember. Theo had always been there for the blond. They had gone through so much together.

Theo's thigh brushed against Draco's, making him blush slightly. He leaned against him to look onto the parchment he was scribbling on.

The parchment had a sketch. A most precise and beautiful sketch of Hogwarts.

"It looks great, mate!" Theo exclaimed once he took a good look over it. His steel grey eyes sparkled under the sun as his brown hair fell over his face slightly. Draco made a movement to brush it back but reprimanded himself.

Theo smiled at him and his heart fluttered softly.

I am so whipped! He thought.

They just sat together, laughing and flirting as usual for some time before Theo had to go and meet up with Milicent to complete their classwork.

Just as he left, Potter came up and sat accross him, smiling. Harry was just glad Nott had left, he just wanted to be alone with Draco.

"Hey, blondie," He greeted, to which Draco narrowed his eyes at him and aimed a quill at his head which Harry dodged easily.

The quill landed into the Black Lake and then floated towards the bottom.

Harry smiled cheekily at him. "What are you doing on that parchment?"

"Sketching," Draco muttered and pulled another spare quill to continue finishing up the drawing.

"You sketch? Can I see?"

"Sure," Draco nodded, "It's not complete yet," The blond handed over the sketch to him, somewhat nervous as to how he would react.

Their hands brushed slightly, making Harry fluster slightly.

Harry's eyes widened and he cleared his throat, "Wow," He breathed out in shock, "This looks brilliant!"

Draco's cheeks tinted pink slightly, "Is that the only word in your vocabulary, Potter?"
Harry blushed too and handed him back the drawing.

The blush on Draco's cheek made Harry want to hold his face and snog the life out of him. But Harry didn't do that, unfortunately.

As Harry was about to start another conversation after a long silence filled with the quill scraping against the paper, he was cut off by a loud screech.

An Eagle owl, Draco's owl, to be precise, was flying towards them with a letter tied to it's leg. Draco looked up, surprised, "Mother doesn't usually write at this time, I wonder if everything is alright."

As soon as the owl landed, Draco untied the letter, his fingers fumbling slightly. The letter was a dark blue color with the initials- 𝐒.𝐌. on it's seal.

Draco gasped, the movement of his hands quickened at the eyes of the seal, he ripped it open and pulled out the letter.

"Is everything alright, Draco?" Harry asked with a concerned frown.

Draco ignored him, his eyes furiously scanned the contents of the letter and his face dropped into a mixture of fear and desolation.

"Mum is in the hospital," came out the meek whisper from his dry lips.

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