One Taste Was All It Took - Drarry

32

(Published: 5/28/17)

Harry's POV:

I stepped into the classroom where this whole mess started, and, just as I thought, I found Draco there, sitting on an empty desk. Glad that no one else was here, I walked up and sat on the desk next to Draco's.
He seemed surprised to see me at first, but soon relaxed, and we fell into a comfortable silence.
"I'm sorry." He said, after a long pause.
"You don't have to say that."
"Yeah, I kind of do." He replied stubbornly. "I did so many awful things to you... and I'm not just talking about this year. Every year, since we were eleven I've been rude and obnoxious, and I've been relentless too. Anything I thought could offend or embarrass you, I did it.
"And no matter how many times I provoked you, you never really gave in. You never really fought back. I mean, you didn't try your hardest. You were defending yourself, not attacking me, so.... I'm sorry. I know it's late, but I really am so sorry."
I turned my body on the desk so that I could face him better. "You tried to break it. The potion's hold, that is. You tried to right your wrongs. That's all I could ask of you. You didn't just walk away, like you could have. You didn't leave me, or join Voldemort and his Death Eaters. You put my wellbeing before your own in the end. So, thank you."
"You're not mad at me?" He asked, finally looking me in the eye.
I shook my head. "No. Like I said, you tried to make things right, which is a lot more than you could say about most Death Eaters."
"I'm not a Death Eater."
"I never said you were."
"You implied it." He was now looking at the floor, as though ashamed.
"Hey," i said, reaching over and gently grabbing his chin to make him look at me. "You didn't do anything wrong. Not when it counted. You stood by me, whether late or not, and fixed your mistakes. How many times am I going to have to say it?"
Finally, he cracked a small smile. "Thank you." He said.
I nodded, and looked back out the window. It feels like just yesterday we were meeting here in the night, sharing stories and jokes, even if it was caused by the Amortentia, it turned into something more...
Just as I worked up the courage to ask Draco out, he spoke.
"Hey, Harry..." he asked.
"Yeah?"
"Do you - I mean, would you like to, like, maybe, go out sometime? Like, on a date? A real one this time?"
I grinned broadly as I processed what he was asking me.
"...You want to go on a date with me?" I asked.
He nodded shyly, then mumbled something about this being a bad idea.
"No!" I said, quickly. "I mean, it's not a bad idea! I'd love to go on a date with you."
Draco looked up hopefully. "Really?" He asked, as though he couldn't believe what I'd just said. "You're serious?"
I nodded, still grinning.
"When?" He asked, still sounding a bit unsure.
"How about now?" I asked, leaning closer so that our faces were barely an inch away...
"Now's great.." He replied, his voice hardly above a whisper...
I smiled again, and closed the distance between our lips. The kiss probably lasted for about a minute or so, but it felt like seconds. I'd missed him so much, much more than I cared to admit, even to myself, and especially not to Ron. We'd been through that before.
When we finally broke apart, we started talking, and we laughed and shared jokes, and acted as if out last date had been yesterday, and not weeks ago. Like none of the bad things had happened yet... Like everything was normal again...
Well, I guess nothing was ever really normal. But hey, at least we were happy, right?
Soon, Draco and I found ourselves walking along the half-empty corridors, not really caring where we were going or who saw us. And it felt so good to be with him in public and not worry about what others thought. Even when I was under the potion, we didn't exactly advertise that we were together. We just sort of...were.
I was still worried about what might happen next, but at least I new one thing for sure.
Draco and I would go through this together.
And nothing on this earth could possibly change that.