Thank you - Drarry

Chapter 11

When Harry woke up the next day, he noticed the presents at the end of the bed first. When he turned towards Ron's bed to check with his best friend if he was up and found the bed next to him empty, he realized that he was alone. A frown grazed his face as he realized that it had been 7 years since he had celebrated Christmas alone, and it felt strange. But, he reminded himself, it was he who had made the decision to stay behind at school instead of going to the Burrow with them. His frown was quickly replaced by a small smile when he saw that his Weasley Christmas sweater sat at the top of the pile as usual. He quickly put it on and ate a bit of the fudge Mrs. Weasley had sent with, before starting to open his other presents. There were a few things from Weasleys Wizards Wheezes from George, a book from Hermione and ­­­maroon t-shirt with a Quidditch print on it from Ron, as well as Hagrid's usually rock cakes, amongst other things. Harry smiled a bit at the quill from Luna where the feather would allegedly change color based on how many evil spirits were close by.

When all the gifts were opened, he slid off the bed and took a quick shower before putting on a pair of jeans and slipping his sweater back on. With his gifts for Hagrid and Draco in hand, he went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Normally on Christmas there would just be one table in the Great Hall for everyone to share. Unfortunately, this year there were too many students staying for them all to fit around only one small table. The war had affected them in many ways, but one of the biggest tells was how many families had been ripped apart. There were more than a few students who had lost their parents in the war and therefore didn't have anyone to go home too.

Noticing Hagrid at the teachers table, Harry made his way over to wish him a Merry Christmas and to give him his present. After the war ended, Hagrid had moved back to his little hut and resumed his position as groundskeeper and professor. Even Fang had survived and were now, as a small Christmas treat, laying under the teachers table, happily chewing on a bone. The two talked for a while after Harry had handed Hagrid his present and before he walked back to his own table, Hagrid stood up and gave him a bone crushing hug.

Leaving the teachers table, he made his way over to the middle of Gryffindor table. None of Harrys friends in Gryffindor had stayed for the holiday, so he sat down alone and poured himself some cereal and began eating while reading the Daily Prophet. After only one article he heard someone sit down across the table from him and he looked up only find a pair of silver eyes looking back at him with a mischievous glint to them.

"This seat taken?" Draco asked with a smile. Harry quickly reciprocated the smile and shook his head. He was glad that Draco had taken the initiative to sit down with Harry this time.

Harry's smile caused Draco to start loading up on porridge, pick up another copy of the Prophet from the Gryffindor table, and beginning to eat. Harry felt his heart beating faster in his chest and he smiled fondly at the blonde. "What if it would have been like this since the start!" he thought. The two of them being friends. Draco eating breakfast at Harrys table, feeling happy and at home.

Draco was too engulfed in his paper to notice Harry looking at him, which left Harry with no reason to look away. So, as they sat there, Harry really took his time to study the boy. He watched how he furrowed his eyebrows together when he read, eyes moving quickly across the page. When he came to a section he found really interesting he started biting on his lower lip, which Harry found extremely distracting. He also noticed how light pink his lips were. The only part with a deeper color was the part of his bottom lip that he bit into.

A sigh from Draco snapped Harry out of his thoughts and he watched the blond put down his paper on top of Harrys forgotten copy. Harry quickly went back to his own food, pretending like he didn't just spend the last ten minutes staring at Draco. The two sat in silence for a few minutes. Neither boy feeling a need to say anything. Just as Harry swallowed the last piece of his now soggy cereal, Draco pushed a small wrapped box towards Harry. He looked up, only to be met by a slightly nervous looking Draco.

"We didn't talk about whether or not we were going to give each other gifts, and it's totally fine that you haven't gotten me anything-" Draco started rambling, his eyes looking at anything but Harry "-but I saw this and I thought of you and..."

As Harry looked at the present, he got a warm feeling in his chest and he reached for the wrapped book in his lap, interrupting Draco's rambling by putting it on the table and sliding it towards him in the same manner his gift had been pushed over. For a second Draco simply looked at the present, the stars on the wrapping paper magically twinkling and dancing around, before sending Harry the biggest smile and picking it up. Harry picked up his own present and started to open it. On the other side of the table the Slytherin was carefully unwrapping his own gift. As Harry ripped of the wrapping, he was met with a dark grey box with some silver writing in cursive. Curious, but not wanting to rush, he looked over to find that Draco was now holding the green and gold book in his hands with a confused look on his face.

"You got me a book?"

Harry laughed and explained what it was.

"I usually find that it helps to write things down when I have something I need to work through, but I figured that you wouldn't want anyone else to be able to read through your most private thoughts."

For a moment Draco just looked at Harry, before turning his attention to the book in his hands, a smile grazing his lips. "Thank you" he whispered softly as he looked up again, meeting Harrys piercing green eyes. Harry smiled. Feeling happy that Draco had liked his gift. He then turned his attention back to the box in his hands. Carefully he removed the lid of the box only to find a beautiful silver ring inside, its sleek surface reflecting the light from the Great Hall.

"A ring...?" was all Harry could find himself to say before looking questioning at Draco. The boy simply smiled before explaining.

"It's a calming ring "he explained, his silver eyes meeting Harry's. "When you wear it, it will notice if you get scared or stressed or something like that and it will help calm you down." He paused for a few seconds, as if to decide if he should continue or not. His silver eyes traveling down to rest on the box and the ring laying inside it. After a second or two he looked back to Harry. "It can help with nightmares".

Harry remembered how he had told Draco one morning in early October that he sometimes got nightmares. Harry had woken up in the middle of the night from one and hadn't been able to fall back asleep for hours. This had left him exhausted and made him miss his alarm and arrive late for class. Draco had of course asked him why he was late and he had told him about his nightmares. It warmed Harry's heart that Draco had remembered a small detail that he had told him in passing three months prior. Draco's hand was resting on the table and Harry took it and gave it a light, affectionate squeeze before using both hands to take out the ring and putting it on. The small silver band fitting perfectly on Harrys right ring finger.

"Thank you" He added, and the smile that lit up on Draco's face was a gift as great as the one now wrapped around his finger. Once again, it struck Harry just how happy he felt and how every time he got this feeling of overflowing happiness lately, he was always with Draco.