What If? -Drarry

Part Three: Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

"What's wrong?" Blaise asked Draco as they sat in the great hall. Draco stabbed at his vegetables with his fork.

"Two things," He said, mouth full of food. He swallowed and continued in a low voice. "One - the worried looks Harry keeps giving me. Two - I still haven't decided what to get him for Valentine's day, and I only have tomorrow."

"Get him chocolate," Blaise shrugged. "Everyone likes chocolate."

"Maybe, but getting his something as simple of chocolate is like saying 'fuck you', you know? It's such a normal gift, there's no thoughtfulness."

"You'll think of something. It's a Hogsmeade weekend, we'll go window shopping while he's with Chang." Blaise sipped his tea. He always had tea after dinner, never dessert. "On the subject of her, why are you okay with your man going on a date with someone else? A girl, at that."

"Because it's going to be incredibly awkward, and she won't want another date. It solves the problem."

"Did he come up with that?"

"No, me. Why?"

"It's very Slytherin, I would have been surprised if it had been him." Blaise looked over at the Gryffindor table, where Harry was chatting earnestly with Ron. "Why do you think he's giving you funny looks?"

Draco sighed. "We were hanging out the other day and I dozed off. Had a bad dream."

"About your..?" Blaise gestured.

"Yeah." Draco nodded. Then sighed. "He thinks that love solves all the problems, that he can make it go away. And I wish he could. But that's not how life works." They shared a look, Blaise's normally cool face betraying worry. "He's a Gryffindor. He wants to burst in, sweep me off my feet, and slay the dragon before riding off into the sunset. And it hurts him that there's nothing he can do." Draco looked around, realising where they were. "Look, we should talk about this later, not here."

"Okay." Blaise nodded and changed the subject. "So, did I tell you what Vincent asked me earlier?"

"What?"

"Whether a cucumber was a fruit or... 'that other thing'." They both started to laugh, and the tension dissipated.

Later, they sat together in their favourite spot by the fire, the other Slytherins having eventually retreated to their respective dorms.

"About... what we were saying earlier," Blaise began as the last first years trickled out of the common room. "It came as a shock to me too when I realised just how bad it was. Maybe he just needs some time to get used to it."

Draco nodded. "It'll get better. I just wish that he wouldn't talk about things the way he does. It just makes me sadder when he tries to be all optimistic."

"Why?"

Draco shook his head. "It's hard to put into words. It's just that..." He thought. "It makes me sad when he's optimistic because it will hurt him more when he realises that he can't save me. And it makes me sad because it makes me think about my future. We can't afford optimism - it just makes the truth hurt more."