The Ugly Truth 〚drarry〛

truth #11

December 19

Truth #11: "I'm sorry, Harry."

It was 7:00 in the morning, an hour before school started. Draco was on his way to his classroom, his legs dragging themselves against the floor. He was still groggy with sleep despite having woken up an hour ago, and he wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed.

He walked into his classroom and flicked on the lights. He threw his bag onto his desk and sat down in his chair. Almost immediately, he heard nearly thundering footsteps, and his curiosity was sparked. Suddenly, his door flew open, and he looked up instantly only to see Harry Potter wearing an expression he could only describe as desperation.

Potter quickly walked up to Draco's desk and leaned over it, looking at him with eyes filled to the brim with emotion. Draco stared, beyond confused. "Yes...?" He questioned, slowly raising his eyebrow at Potter.

"Draco, can you take first period off? Please?"

The request and use of his first name shocked him. They've only ever used each other's first names during serious or emotional moments. The request he's made was also unusual at best and completely stunned Draco.

"It can't wait until lunch?" He asked, but he already knew the answer. Sighing, he pulled out his cellphone and called the school, which was kind of odd considering he was currently inside the school. It instantly went to the answering machine, as he knew it would. "Hello, Draco Malfoy speaking. Family problems have come up and I won't be able to come in first period. I'll be back in for second period. Please find a replacement for my first class."

He hung up, and looked at Potter, thoroughly confused. "Is everything okay?" He asked, and realized he was full of stupid questions today. Obviously everything wasn't okay; there had to be a reason why Potter made that specific request.

"Thank you," he mumbled, looking down. Draco stood up from his desk and grabbed his bag, slinging it back onto his shoulder.

"Hey, at least I can buy you one of the few coffees I owe you," Draco managed to joke as the two walked out of the classroom together. Draco shut the lights and closed the door behind him, hoping no one would know he actually came to school in the morning before second period. The two walked through the halls. It was mostly silent. Potter was looking down at the ground instead of ahead of him and had noticeable bags under his eyes behind his glasses. Draco felt concerned although this wasn't the first time he'd come to school feeling off.

"Were you waiting until I got here?" Draco asked, just now processing how quickly Potter ran to his room after he got there.

"Uh, yeah, kinda..." Potter answered.

"You could've just called, you know. I would've came as soon as possible."

No other words were exchanged. The car ride to the cafe was silent as well. Draco didn't mind it, though. Harry was feeling off and he understood that; it wasn't like he expected him to suddenly begin joking around about everything and anything.

They got to Tim Horton's quick enough, and Draco ordered for them while he told Harry to grab a seat. Their coffees were done quickly and Draco turned around only to be pleased to find Harry sitting at the table in the corner, which they'd sat at the last time they'd been here.

He went up to the table and sat their coffees down. Harry quickly grabbed his and pressed his hands to the cup, most likely craving the warmth. He sat down, and much to his surprise, Potter started talking immediately.

"I was thinking about what you said that one time around two months ago..." He said. His voice was quiet and almost sounded shy. "And I realized, maybe a few days ago..."

He looked up, and his gaze was so unexpectedly intense that it was a wonder Draco didn't fall out of his chair. It really was a mystery why he was looking at Draco like that.

"I'm not in love with her," he said, and Draco felt blood rushing to his head upon hearing the confession—what was he supposed to make of it? "Ginny, I mean. I'm not in love with her. I'm sure of it."

"I-I..." Draco stuttered softly, not knowing what to say. "I'm sorry, Harry," he finally managed to say. He hadn't taken a sip of his coffee yet, but somehow he felt like now wasn't the time.

Harry laughed softly, although Draco didn't know what was funny. "No, no it's fine. I think I've known it all along in the back of my head... it was arranged, after all. It just really hit me this morning when I woke up."

Draco stared down at his cup of coffee for a few moments. "Well... that sucks," he finally said, unsure of what to say. He didn't think he could make this better.

Potter laughed bitterly. "Yeah, tell me about it..."

Silence settled on them further before Draco realized they had at least 50 minutes left before second period. "Wanna ditch this depressing shit and go do something stupid? No marriage bullshit and childhood trauma. Just us, a pack of gummy bears, and cheap dollar store Wacky String. Or, if you want, we could be a pair of science geeks and go to the forest and make some shit explode?" Draco suggested, hoping his ideas weren't too stupid. He just wanted to distract Harry and see him smiling again.

Thankfully, Harry laughed, and this time it didn't sound bitter. "Well, what're we still doing here, then? Let's grab gummy bears and make shit explode!"

He seemed more content and excited. His eyes seemed brighter, and there wasn't a shadow hanging over him like there had previously been. He already looked better, and they hadn't done anything probably illegal yet.

The two got up from their tables and threw out their barely-drank coffee, which was a complete waste but they couldn't really bring themselves to care. They got into Draco's car and drove to Walmart in search of chemicals and candy.

Afterwards in the car, Draco took a quick second to glance at Potter, who was sitting in the passenger's seat and munching happily on gummy bears. The sunlight streamed through the window and hit his face at all the right angles, leading to him looking less human and more angel-like.

Driving in the car with their only destination being the forest, Draco looked at Harry, who seemed happy, and realized that he was completely fucked in the best way possible.

He'd fallen for a married man, and although it could only lead to disaster, he found he wouldn't ever want to trade a second of it.