all the wrong choices // drarry

agreed

In the weeks leading up to the Easter holidays, Harry and Draco succeeded in meeting up in secluded corners of the castle without attracting any unwanted attention. The fact that Pansy knew about them actually turned out to be helpful to Harry's and Draco's sneaking around, as it meant they could use Draco's room when they wanted to hang out with each other (or snog, of course) without sitting in a room full of other people.

A few days before the end of term, Ron, Harry and Hermione were doing homework by the window.

"Hey, Harry, you're coming home for the holidays, right?" Ron asked, giving up on his Transfiguration essay. "Mum was asking."

"Er-" Harry looked up from his own essay. "I don't know."

"Well, you're obviously welcome to come with me and Ginny, if you want to. But - um - well, Mum's asking if you could get back to her by dinner tomorrow night..."

"That's fine," Harry smiled. "Should I go back? I've - me and Draco have been - er - hanging out a lot more and we're pretty good friends now, so I feel a bit guilty about leaving him-"

"He can come," said Ron at once. His tone was surprisingly casual. "Mum sent me an owl this morning asking if you were coming, and she also said that if you wanted Malfoy to come, he could. And if he wants to, of course."

Harry stared at him. "That's very kind of her. Are - uh - are you okay with it?"

Ron shrugged. "He's alright."

Harry grinned at him and, for one fleeting moment, wanted to tell him about him and Draco, but then realised that Ron accepting Draco as a friend was more than enough for now. Harry turned to Hermione, who was pouring over an enormous book, her eyes moving rapidly from left to right as she scanned the text on the page.

"You're going to the Burrow for the holidays, aren't you?" he asked her.

"Hm?" she replied absently, not looking up. Harry repeated himself, and Ron eventually pulled the book out from where it sat on the desk, inches from her nose. Hermione looked around in alarm, glaring at Ron for interrupting her from her reading.

"What?" she snapped.

"Are you going to the Burrow for Easter?" Harry asked patiently.

"Oh," she ran a hand through her hair, seeming to deflate a little. "Yes, I'd like to. Is that alright?" she added to Ron.

Ron scoffed. "Of course it is!"

"Right," she nodded and tugged her book back. "Well then, yes, Harry, I am."

"And are you alright with Draco now, too?"

Hermione furrowed her brow at Harry, idly tapping the page of her book. "What? Yes! We're quite good friends now, actually. He's brilliant at Runes..."

"Harry's not asking you to declare your love for Malfoy-" Ron teased, trailing off nervously as she shot him a glowering look.

"So you'd be okay with it if he came with us?" Harry confirmed, and she nodded.

"Yes, I think that it would be quite lovely. We could do our homework in the garden-"

"Stop planning everything, 'Mione," Ron laughed. "Just live in the moment!"

Harry grinned at his friends, his heart positively glowing with excitement. He could hardly wait to tell Draco that he had the opportunity to go with him, Harry, to a place where people would treat him as one of the family. Harry forced himself to continue with his essay and became so immersed in it that he did not notice Draco had come back from the library until he had read through the roll of parchment three times. He capped his bottle of ink and bent over to pull his bag towards him, finally noticing Draco's finely-polished Oxford shoes.