~Stars~

Time Flies

Draco's eyes drifted slowly open as he yawned. Warm, yellow sunlight streaming in through the window illuminated the sleeping brunett beside him. Draco smiled softly at the peaceful look on his face, wanting nothing more than to stay there for the rest of the day. 

Casting a Tempus charm, he extracted himself gently from Harry's arms and moved to start getting dressed. Just as he was about to step into the bathroom to style his hair, he heard Harry stir.

A sleepy brown head of hair rose from the pillow yawning.

"What time is it?" Harry asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Almost time for breakfast. You need to go get ready," Draco replied and slipped through the doorway, easing the door shut behind him.

Harry padded drowsily across the carpet and into the hardwood hallway. Grabbing his robes and a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, he went into his bathroom for a brisk shower.

As he Accioed his bag and began to collect his things for the day, Draco stood in his own bathroom, staring at his reflection. He was so pale and he hated it. He wore concealer sometimes when the nightmares were really bad. They would wake him up in the middle of the night, sometimes his screaming, jolting him awake. 

Then he couldn't sleep, never after the nightmares, but... last night, with Harry, was the best sleep he'd had since he was young.

He swept his hair to the side without gelling it and left his room. He hadn't gelled his hair in a few years since Harry told him it looked better without it. 

He strode into the small living room, adjusting his school bag, slung cross cross-body around his torso.

"Harry, let's go! We're going to be late!" He yelled into the other bedroom.

Harry looked up from his bag to register Draco Malfoy, calling him by his first name before calling back,

"I'm hurrying!"

Harry ambled out of his room, fussing with his hair. Draco watched as he failed miserably and reached out to help.

"My god, Harry. Here, let me do it." He said as he tugged the brunett closer. He laced his hands through Harry's hair once, twice, three times, before sweeping it gently to the side.

Harry stood perfectly still, feeling a small blush creep up his neck toward his cheeks. He barely managed to stifle a small moan as Draco's gentle fingers pulled and tugged his hair.

'Alright, all done. Let's go." And his hands were gone. Just like that. The blonde spun around gracefully and walked to the door. Harry followed, taking deep breaths and forcing the butterflies flitting around his stomach back down.

The other eighth years were beginning to make their way down the flight of stairs towards the common room. Draco glanced back and saw Harry cast a longing stare up towards the garden at the top of the tower, sunlight streaming in through the glass dome, reflecting against the cascading waterfalls strewn throughout Nightsade Tower.

"We can go up there some time, if you want," Draco said, still walking.

"What?" 

"Up to the garden. We can look at the stars, just sit on the grass. Oh, and we can get the House Elves to make us food, and we can have a picnic!" Draco exclaimed with a glimmer in his eyes.

Harry laughed at the taller boy's excitement. 

"Sure, that sounds fun." He said with a grin.

                                                   §§§§§§§§§§

The next two weeks were a blur. Everyone fell into the familiar routine of eat, classes, eat, classes, eat, study, sleep, and occasionally...party. 

Now, one of the many things about Pansy that gave Draco headaches, was her inability to to commit. Before school had started that year she had made a promise to Draco that she would "get her shit together and focus," to quote her directly.

However, in Pansy fashion, she became bored and tried to tip-toe around him and plan a party. Of course, this is Draco Malfoy, he had eyes and ears everywhere and caught wind of the party pretty quickly. Upon confronting her, she invited him to the party instead of trying to make an excuse.

"C'mon Dray. Everyone will be there! Blaise, Ron, Hermione even. And...Potter. Please come, I promise you'll have fun!" She pleaded, throwing a secret, knowing smile to Blaise who was standing a few feet behind her with an arm around Ron's waist.

Draco let out a weary sigh and finally relented.

"You owe me drinks though. " He said with a glare.

"Of course! There'll be tons of drinks! Vodka, wines, beer, I even got some Fire Whiskey!" Pansy replied, absolutely ecstatic.

Draco rolled his eyes and walked briskly back to the tower where he dumped his book and then proceeded to read by the fireplace in the common room for the duration of the afternoon.

                                               §§§§§§§§§§

Harry and Draco skipped dinner that night and instead studied together in Draco's bedroom. They were still studying around 10:30 at night, lounging on the bed. Draco asked a question and when Harry didn't reply, he looked up to see that the brunet had fallen asleep. He was curled up at the head of the bed, wavy dark hair splaying out on the pillow below him.

Draco got up, careful not to wake up the sleeping boy, and removed the books and parchment from the bed. He gently removed Harry's glasses and placed them on the nightstand. Lifting him slightly, Draco pulled the covers up and tucked Harry under them.

The room was warm, and the moon was shining pale light in through the clear panes. Draco slid under the covers, pulling Harry close. Closing his eyes and breathing deeply, Draco Malfoy fell asleep knowing he'd sleep all night with The Boy Who Lived by his side.

{Have a great day/night girls/gals/non-binary pals}

Word Count: 950