Cicatrices- Marks That Remain

A New Hope

Harry was quite determined to find a way to watch a movie with Draco. He'd be damned if they spent another evening hissing at each other like feral cats in rival territories. So, Harry did what any sane person would do and left to the nearest store for a disc player and a movie recommended by the employee who helped him.

"Do you need to go?"

"I'll only be a bit."

Draco opened his mouth as though to say something, but ultimately decided not to. The sound of repeated locking and unlocking was not lost on Harry as he left the flat.

As he walked the store in search of an employee to help, Harry couldn't help but think about the strange dynamic between him and Draco. He never would have thought that they would be living together, let alone attempting to have a movie night. But something about the way Draco had looked at him earlier, the way he had laughed, had made Harry feel a sense of hope. Maybe they could move past their history and form some sort of friendship.

When he returned to the flat, Harry found Draco sitting in the living room, staring at the walls. A quick glance around the flat showed that it had been tidied up again.

"I got a disc player and a movie," Harry said, holding up the bag.

Draco looked up, his expression blank. "Great," he said monotonously.

Harry huffed a berath, trying not to feel put off by Draco's change in demeanour. "Come on, let's set it up."

Harry put the shopping bags down and went to the telly, repeating the directions of the store employee over in his head in preparation to set up the player. He pushed the furniture that held the telly away from the wall and shoved himself between the wall and the cabinet in search of connections. He could distantly hear Draco searching the bags.

"Potter, you complete dolt."

Harry removed himself from the gap between the telly and the wall, turning to face Draco. He was holding the three DVD boxes and reading.

"These movies say, and I quote, 'episode four, episode five, and episode six' respectively."

"-I know," Harry cut in, but Draco continued.

"How am I meant to watch a fourth, fifth, and sixth installation of a muggle film I've never heard of?"

"Well, the man at the store originally recommended the first one, it had recently been released and is apparently very popular- I asked him what good, popular film I could watch- until I made it apparent that I'd never heard of it. He took the film out of my hands and thrust those three into them, insisting I watch those first."

"And you actually took his word for it? This is clearly-"

"I asked him, and he said that those came out first. Before we were born, to be exact." Harry felt the need to prove his competence to Draco. He didn't feel like being talked down to over something so simple. "The movies were made- are being made- out of order. The employee told me that these came out first. Hell, he even said that they weren't called four, five, and six until almost ten years after they came out."

Draco stared down at the DVD cases sceptically before sighing and tossing them onto the couch. "Fine. Just... get it set up, will you?"

Harry quickly went back to work, unboxing the brand-new disc player and connecting it to the telly so he could insert the first DVD. After a few minutes of fumbling with the remote control, they were able to get the movie started.

They settled onto the couch, each trying to get comfortable whilst staying as far from each other as possible, ensuring that they didn't touch, which was rather difficult on the small sofa, but they managed.

Soon enough, the opening credits of the first movie, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, began to roll.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Harry unsure of what to say and Draco seemingly lost in his own thoughts. But as the movie progressed, Harry noticed that Draco was becoming more and more engrossed in the story. He leaned forward, his eyes glued to the screen.

It filled Harry with a sort of warmth, similar to when he watched Draco at church- happy, enjoying himself. He looked solid and confident, an expression almost like the life was not being wrung from him by millions of thoughts constantly.

The movie ended and they both sat in silence for a few minutes before Harry finally spoke.

"That was really good," he said. "I liked it."

Draco didn't immediately respond, caught off guard, as though he'd forgotten that he was sharing this experience with Harry, of all people. "Yeah, me too." Draco nodded, his expression softening.

Harry felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth, feeling oddly satisfied. Maybe, just maybe things were finally starting to look up.

"These are the next two movies, right?"

Harry snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards Draco, who was now standing and picking up the other two movies Harry had gotten.

"Yeah."

Draco made a curious face, before putting one of the movies back down on the coffee table and went towards the disc player.

"Tell me how to work this contraption, then."

—-----

Draco's eyes went glossy just around the time that Darth Vader revealed he was Luke Skywalker's father. At the end of the movie, he was rushing to put the next disc in. Harry decided against commenting. He didn't want to disrupt how candid Draco's behaviour was. He simply went on with Draco as he declared "This stupid player hasn't spit out the disc yet. What do I do?"

"You aren't pressing the right button, Draco."

They spent the entire day watching the Star Wars trilogy and only got up occasionally for snacks or the loo. Overall, it was the most relaxed Harry had felt in years. He couldn't believe that he was actually doing something that he wanted to do (without necessarily blowing off work or drowning himself in said work). And the fact that he was doing it with Draco Malfoy, of all people, was something that Harry didn't even want to begin to think about.

Harry pretended not to notice Draco crying when Darth Vader died. He simply kept his head forward and continued to watch the movie, ignoring the occasional sniffles followed by a weak-sounding "something is tickling my nose"

When the movie was over, Harry stood up to stretch his arms out. It had become dark already, as they'd spent the whole day watching a movie trilogy.

"I think I'll head to bed now."

"All right," Draco replied. He stood up too, and for a moment their eyes met, and something formed between the two of them- something that neither of them could describe. Only one thing was clear; they had well passed the threshold between hatred and tolerance. And whatever was going on, it was in new territory. Neither of them spoke, though.

Draco broke the eye contact first, turning to go to his bedroom without any words. Harry had entirely stopped thinking, frozen in his place by this changed atmosphere. He went to bed silently, choosing not to think about the things that were nagging at his mind, now.

—-------

Harry stirred in the darkness at the sound of a creaking door and soft footsteps padding across the floor. He opened his eyes, curious as to what was making that sound.

"I think that I want to hear about how father died."

A/N: Happy Sunday, Readers! Here is today's chapter.

Despite Halloween being soon, I'm afraid this chapter is the opposite of spooky. Draco and Harry are finally going to watch their movie!

(There will be an in-universe Halloween chapter, I'm just kicking myself for it not taking place around real-life Halloween. The story is roughly in late August right now)

Let me know what y'all think, and...

Enjoy!

Side Note: Should I start writing notes similar to this down here? Would you all like to interact with them?