I Understand

A Midnight Walk

Midnight quickly approached the two boys as they sat in the hospital wing. Harry had completely exhausted the topic of homework and quidditch and the conversation threatened to die. Not that Harry wasn't okay with the silence, just Harry didn't want to leave Draco alone with his thoughts at the moment. Harry understood the way your mind always tended to betray you with unwanted thoughts and feelings. But Harry had ran out of topics that he wanted to talk about, topics that were safe from bad memories. 

"Do you want to go for a walk around the castle?" Harry suggested before he really thought about it. A midnight walk around the castle would clear Draco's head, and Harry's, and would get them some fresh air. But a midnight walk around the castle alone with Draco invited the thoughts Harry wanted to clear from his mind. But there was no taking it back, he had already said it.

"Sure, I could use a walk around the castle. Not like I have anything better to do anyway." Draco said placing his sketch pad down next to him. Over the hours, he had finished a few drawings, and he had just started a new one. Harry still hadn't asked what he was drawing, but he suspected it was him. Every now and again Draco, when looking up, would look at another part of Harry, like his hair or robes, then sketch again. 

"Great. If we want to, we can both fit under the Cloak, but I can use the Map and we probably won't have to." Harry said standing up. Him and Draco under the Cloak together. These were the thoughts he wanted out of his head. Harry did not like Draco. Period. It was only friendship. That's all there is. Friendship. Harry really didn't want more, it was just his sleep deprivation  acting up. 

"As long as we got get caught, I don't care. Honestly, I don't want detention this early on in the year." Draco said as he got off the bed and ran his hand through his hair again. He'd been doing that all night, and it made Harry angry. Right after it made his heart flutter, he really wished Draco would stop doing that.

"But later in the year is fine?" Harry ask jokingly. He pulled out the Map and grabbed the Cloak, just in case. 

"I don't want detention at all. But if I had to have it, I'd want it later in the year." Draco said, not offering farther explanation. They both started to walk to the door.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Harry said, tapping his wand to the blank Map he held in his hands. Draco peered over his shoulder and watched the Map come to life. Even though Draco was only a little taller than Harry, he seemed to tower over him.

"Does it only open to that? Or can you just say something along those lines?" Draco asked as Harry searched for Filtch's name. 

"It has to be that specifically. If you get it wrong Misters Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs will tell you off." Harry said finding Filtch in the dungeons near the Slytherin common rooms. "He's near the dungeons, and no one's on this floor, we should be fine for a while."

"Then, lets go." Draco said walking out of the Hospital Wing. Harry quickly followed after him, matching his pace.

"Do you often take walks around the castle at night?" Draco asked, slowing down so the walk wouldn't go by so quickly. They could see a moon rising above them from the windows, and a vast scattering of stars that illuminated the night.

"Not really, unless I have a reason, I never really had the time. Between sleeping and foiling plans of the people who wanted me dead, I didn't have time to take a stroll though the castle." Harry said checking the Map again, to see if they were in the clear, but mostly so he could stop himself from starring at Draco. The soft moon light seemed to make his hair glow a dull white light, and Harry wanted to touch it. But he wouldn't, that would be weird, and they had just started to become friends. Harry didn't really want to ruin that.

"I guess you never really had time to yourself, you never really had a normal teenage life. With parties and games and drinking." Draco gave a small laugh. "Who knew the Chosen One was a shut in." He joked, but he was right. Harry had never had a normal childhood, and his teenage years weren't much better.

"Eh, it doesn't matter in the end anyway. I'll just have less stories to tell my grandchildren." Harry said trying to cover up the fact that he wanted to experience what normal teens experience. For one day he wanted to not be the Chosen One, to party and play games and drink. Have fun and play pranks, to laugh without doom looming over him.

"You'll have plenty of stories to tell your grandchildren Golden Boy. Those things though, would be for you." Draco said as they turned a corner into a corridor with no windows. The sudden change in light made both of them pull out their wands and use Lumos. Where moon light gave Draco's hair a pure dull light, the light coming from his wand made and eerie dull light glow from his white blonde hair. But were, in different way, strikingly beautiful. "We should do it." 

"Do what?" Harry asked, he had almost forgotten what they were talking about when he had to chastise his mind for calling any part of Draco beautiful, even if it was true.

"Give you a normal teenage year." Draco said thoughtfully, running his hand through his hair, again. Harry was confused enough as it was, he didn't need his heart to betray him like his mind.

"With parties and games and drinking?" Harry asked raising and eyebrow. He checked the Map again, but Filtch's name had moved, he looked for it, then checked the floor they were on. There was Filtch's name, walking along a corridor ahead of them. He was just turning down the hall they were in when Harry pulled Draco into an empty classroom and closed the door gently. He held a finger to his lips and watched as Filtch's name passed by the door.

Draco had come up next to him and looked as Filtch left the hall they were just in. "Yes, filled to the brim with parties and games and drinking." He said in a whisper. Draco was really close to Harry, and his words sent a shiver down his spine. He could feel the warmth radiating off of Draco and he was internally screaming. He was so close. His face was close to Harry's. He had whispered something in the dark to Harry. Something Harry couldn't understand at the moment because he was trying to calm down his heart, which wanted to beat out of his chest.

This was a challenge, and the Gryffindor inside of him came to life. He decided to meet it head on. So he turned toward Draco, their faces close, and responded in a whisper, "That would be nice." Sure, his feeling were a mess, and he was still internally screaming, but he locked eyes with Draco's grey irises that seemed to swirl with different shades of beautiful pure silver. "Let's do it."

Sorry for not adding Draco's POV, but it will come soon, I promise. Glad Harry excepted the challenge and didn't run, that wouldn't be as much fun the write.

Stay safe darlings.