New Beginnings

Chapter 31

Christmas eve came quickly.

Harry wasn't sure if it had actually snowed or if one of the adults had made the stuff blanket the grounds, what with some rooms having a thin layer of snow as well as the corridors (Not enough to hinder anyone though).

In the morning Pansy, Blaise and Theo came over each bearing gifts that were added to the growing pile. For a few hours Pansy managed to convince them to have a snowball fight in the ballroom, after the shock of Harry talking had worn off.

Barty and Severus had been trying to find Tom when they walked past the open door, both smiling softly at the laughing children. For a split second Harry held eye contact, mirroring their smiles, before Blaise hit the side of his face with snow. When Harry turned back (after getting revenge) they were gone.

Snow started falling from ceiling (courtesy of Barty), which only fueled their snowball fight even as Theo opted out to instead just mess around with the artificial snow. 

Eventually Blaise and Draco teamed up against Pansy and Harry, but it dissolved from flinging actual balls of snow into just throwing around snow like one would splash water. Pansy and Blaise got into a fierce fight where they built actual forts and everything, whilst Harry and Draco didn't take their fight that seriously.

He honestly didn't know what happened leading up to it, but somehow Draco tackled Harry and both landed in thick piles of snow.

Draco was insanely warm above him, his hair half disappearing into the snow clouds above but silver eyes turning molten as the seconds ticked by. This was the second time they ended up in a position where Harry had an overwhelming urge to kiss Draco, only they weren't in the Chamber of Secrets and most definitely weren't alone.

Whilst Draco was so close to just closing the gap between them, it wasn't like he was scared of doing so, he just hoped that Harry wouldn't react nervously. He was about to finally kiss Harry when he got interrupted again.

"Blaise?"

Draco rolled off Harry to lie next to him with a disappointed sigh, unnoticed by the others. Harry mirrored his sigh unconsciously, sitting up in time to say a quick goodbye to Blaise as the Italian had to leave, followed by a Pansy and Theo a few minutes later. 

After they returned to their families, Harry plopped back down in the snow, making a bunch of snow fly up in the commotion. Draco giggled at him.

Eventually the snow stopped falling, but an artificial sky was left, slow swirling white clouds dominating their vision.

"How long do think it'll last?" Harry mumbled, blinding feeling through several layers of snow to brush against Draco's fingers. He wanted to hold Draco's hands but was also weirdly nervous, instead he just used it to get a general bearing on where the blonde was.

"Maybe it's like the Hogwarts sky." Draco suggested softly.

Their fingers kept brushing, but neither took initiative, waiting for the other to move.

"Do you think the Hogwarts sky will ever just...stop?"

"Who knows."

Harry wanted to turn his head to see Draco but the entire room had over 3 inches of snow blanketing it and there was a sizeable snow wall between them, only their hands were connected, even if they weren't touching. It would useless to try to see him unless Harry moved closer.