Draw The Line

Unlikely Friends: Chapter 15

It had been four days since the kiss and things were still awkward between Harry and Draco. Harry hates how Draco ignored him constantly, and how awkward each one of their punishments were. Every time he thought about how far he'd gotten in terms of becoming friends with Draco and compared it to how messed up it all was now, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

On the other hand, he and Ginny were back to being friends. Harry was sort of surprised to find out Ginny and Luna were dating at first, but now that he knew, he thought it quite obvious. He, Luna, and Ginny has taken to hanging out more often too, Luna had told him she was panromantic and asexual (he had to ask what that meant) while Ginny came out as bisexual to him. Harry found he rather liked hanging out with them together, but sometimes he felt a bit like an awkward third wheel.

He wished he was hanging out with them now as he looked up from his textbook to observe the way Draco's hair fell across his face as he had taken to doing lately. He had decided in the last few days that Draco was one of the best looking boys in the whole school, and that he definitely had a massive crush on him.

Draco let out a sigh as he turned the page of his own textbook and jotted down a couple notes Harry's stomach flipped a bit and had trouble trying to focus back on his work.

The hour passed very slowly for Draco, he could feel Harry's eyes on him and he tried to keep his face neutral. He felt horribly embarrassed about what happened at the party, and knew that given the chance, there was no way Harry would ever let him forget it. So, he ignored him.

He had found that ignoring him didn't work very well through and could always feel Harry's eyes trained on him: in the hall, at meals, in class, in their own room even. Draco was slowly going mad. He was just waiting for Harry to strike and tell everyone about how much he seemed to enjoy the kiss (even though he didn't, he told himself), or even for Ron to tell everyone. God knows, Ron hates him. Draco had enough trouble already with being an ex-death eater and all, he didn't want to imagine what it'd be like if it got around that he was supposedly gay (even if it wasn't true, he reminded himself). If that got back to his parents, well, he had no idea what'd they'd do, but it wouldn't be pretty. Harry had managed to save him and his mother from Azkaban, and the wizengamot had miraculously let his father stay out of Azkaban under house arrest, which meant that his dad would definitely find out if it became common knowledge.

Draco glanced over at Harry, he was a lot better at sneaking glances than he was and hadn't been caught yet. What would my mom say about this if she knew, Draco thought to himself. He wondered if she'd care, or if she'd lose her mind over it, like his father would be sure to do. He figured it'd be the latter.

Draco casted a tempus charm and, realizing it had been a little over an hour, started gathering his things.

"We're done?" Harry asked, looking mildly put out.

"Yes," Draco responded and turned to walk up the stairs without saying another word.

Harry bristled.

"Malfoy!" Harry shouted as he stormed after him up the stairs, barely pausing to round up his things on the table. Everyone in the common room shared a look and watched as Harry's back disappeared around the corner. Hermione felt a little worried.

Malfoy didn't stop until he reached the room, Harry right on his heels, looking a bit more than peeved.

"What do you want?" Draco said sharply, rounding on Harry as soon as the door closed.

"You've been ignoring me."

"I haven't."

"You have. Why?"

"We aren't friends, I don't need to talk to you every moment of the day." Harry felt his stomach drop a little at Draco's words.

"Why not? We room together, are stuck together everyday-"

"Not willingly," Draco cut in.

"We're still stuck together," Harry replied, "friends? I'm sick of dancing around one another," Harry stuck out his hand.

Draco felt a bit of déjá vu as he looked down at Harry's hand.

"I feel like I made a mistake first year and don't want to remake it," Harry explained.

Draco let out a soft sigh and grabbed Harry's giving it a shake. Harry felt his hand tingle at the feeling of Draco's hand in his.

"First it's a truce, now it's friends, what's next?" Draco said and Harry turned suddenly very red. They stared at each other for a moment too long and Draco quickly let go of Harry's hand. "I'm - I'm going to shower," Draco stuttered a bit, hurring over to his trunk to get his nightclothes out and rush to the bathroom. Harry watched him rush about with a small smile on his face.

When the shower turned on, Harry walked over to his bedside table and picked up the framed picture he had of his parents and the rest of the order. He smiled ruefully down at the image, he wondered what his parents would have thought about him liking Draco. Same-sex relationships weren't exactly widely accepted. Granted, they weren't illegal and could get married (unlike muggles), but many still didn't approve. Dean and Seamus had already gotten several disapproving looks since coming out as a couple, but they mostly just took it all with a grain of salt. He hoped that his parents would have been happy for him.

Harry set the picture frame back down and reached over to grab his transfiguration homework from his book bag that he set on his bed. He'd been having a hard time focusing while him and Draco studied lately and he now needed to finish his transfiguration essay, quickly, before Draco got out of the shower and stole all his attention away from homework again.

By the time Draco got out of the shower, Harry was on his last sentence of the essay and felt quite proud of himself.

The feeling of pride quickly fled as he noticed Draco walking out of the bathroom: face slightly red and the towel wrapped around his upper chest. Harry's attention was immediately stolen by Draco and he felt slightly disappointed that Draco had the towel so high. Harry followed Draco with his eyes as Draco went over to his bed and quickly rounded up his night clothes and returned to the bathroom.

A few moments later Draco returned. His pants hung low on his hips and his arms were up, causing his shirt to inch up his stomach as he towel-dried his hair. This was a nightly occurrence that Harry didn't think he'd ever be able to forget or stop enjoying. He especially liked how Draco's hair looked after a shower: messy and wet and Harry longed to run his fingers through it.

Harry looked away before Draco could notice him staring.

*The image is not mine, it belongs to vikconder on Twitter*