I'm not Allowed to Love You

Seventeen Years Later

 "I'm not an innocent man, Potter," Draco pointed out. It had been seventeen years since the war. Draco had gotten the job as Potions Master at Hogwarts, after Harry had helped clear his name to the Wizengamot. Harry had resigned from an Auror, divorced Ginny, and was now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It was nearing the end of summer, and the two had just met in the hallways as they were prepping their classes coming September. Harry had just reminded Draco of his promise from many years ago.

"Few people come out of wars innocent, Malfoy," Harry pointed out. "I know I'm not. I've hurt too many people, hidden behind too many human shields."

"You never liked me, Potter! I don't want to simply be a last resort!"

"Is that what you think, Malfoy? Why do you think I couldn't look you in the eyes when I was caught by Snatchers and brought to your mansion?" Harry countered.

"I-" Draco paused, and cocked his head to the side, thinking.

"What I'm saying, Malfoy, is that I would like to take up the offer of at least being able to get to know each other more, considering we are coworkers now," Potter said, in a calmer voice.

"Get to know each other how, Potter?" Draco asked in a subjective voice, tilting his head back and looking at Harry with a smirk.

"Oh come- you- Stop that!" Harry exclaims, stumbling over his words.

"Oh, you're no fun," Draco pouts.

"Just... shut up and get back to work," Harry commands, grumpily.

"You're the boss... for now," Draco mocks as they both walk the opposite way of each other. Harry scoffs loudly over his shoulder, something which results in a cackle of laughter from Draco.

But throughout that year, Draco and Harry dated each other, secretly. Teddy Lupin knew of course, with Harry being his godfather, and Draco being his second cousin, but he was not about to break his oath to silence.

"Honestly, babe, we need to come out to the school! I'm tired of hiding how much I hate that I love you," Draco sighs one afternoon. They had nearly just been caught snogging by a sixth year who had walked into Harry's classroom.

"We've talked about this, Malfoy!" Harry growled. "I just don't know how we would do it!"

"And I've given you plenty of ideas! We could just kiss in front of Great Hall-"

"Which would result in possible sacking from Minerva-" Harry interrupted.

"-We could send a letter to the Daily Prophet-" Draco continued, as if he had not been cut off.

"-Which will make up something terrible, as always-" Harry interjected again.

"-Or we could simply start saying 'I love you' in passing until word gets around," Draco finished, his voice rising so as to override Harry's.

"Which... no. It would be... it would make people uncomfortable," Harry said, clearly thinking of a reason to not come out.

"Honestly Potter! What are you so afraid of?" Draco asked, exasperated.

"I mean, I'm the hero of the whole entire magical world, it's not like you'll lose any fans if you aren't perfect!" Harry said, going red with either anger or embarrassment.

"Well you do want to stop having to hide it, don't you?"

Harry sighed. "Yes. I mean, no. Well, I want to stop hiding it but I don't want people to... know," He said painstakingly.

"Well you do know that if you want to stop hiding it, people will know, right?"

"Yes, yes," Harry said distractedly running his fingers through Draco's hair.

"Which would you rather have if you could only choose one?"

"Not having to hide I think.... Would it be okay if we just come out on your terms? You figure out how and then you do it?" Harry pleaded.

"Okay, fine. But they will need your word to believe it," Draco said confidently.

Harry hid his head in his robes. In a muffled voice he asked, "Why are Slytheirns always bursting with confidence?"

Draco stood up, patting Harry's back on the way out of the classroom, "We aren't. We're just actors."

The next morning, Harry and Draco walked out onto the grounds together. Hundreds of students were sitting in the grass, relaxing after the hard studying they had undergone. Draco looked out across the lawns, and a smirk crossed his face. He leaned in towards Harry and put his mouth near Harry's right ear.

"Maybe I should express my love to you like I did in second year?" Draco asked innocently, the whisper taking Harry a few seconds to comprehend. But quickly, Harry's face of confusion had changed to horror.

"You wouldn't!" Harry gasped.

"I would. Better start running," Draco said, his smirk larger than ever. And Harry did start running, leaping down the stairs and sprinting away from the tall, pale Professor. Draco waited a few seconds before he began following his prey with a casual walk, and he took in a deep breath.

"HIS EYES ARE AS GREEN AS A FRESH PICKLED TOAD!" Draco shout-sang across the grounds. Several students looked around in alarm. Harry continued his great escape.

"HIS HAIR IS AS DARK AS A BLACKBOARD!" The song continued as Draco continued to walk towards Harry, who was nearing the center of the grounds now. More students had looked around, and several were snickering.

"HE'S REALLY DIVINE-" Draco had cast a hex making Harry's efforts to run away pointless, though he was still furiously pounding the ground with his feet, making no process other than exhausting himself. "SO GLAD HE IS MINE-" Everyone was watching at this time, and Draco had nearly caught up with Harry, who was beginning to slow down in his attempts to run, panting and sweating. "THE HERO WHO CONQUERED THE DARK LORD!!"

Draco finished his song by launching himself at Harry, causing them both to topple onto the ground. Many students clapped, laughing at the grand finale. Teddy was looking insanely happy, and the students were already sharing this new gossip, quickly as wildfire. Harry was flushed and was trying hard to ignore Draco, who was clinging to him.

"This is not what I meant when I said your terms," Harry growled, although his face couldn't stay a scowl for long.

"If I didn't know better, I'd have thought that Saint Potter was scared of a few kids," Draco whispered maliciously. This set Harry off, and he rolled around to face Draco once again. Harry began to savagely tickle Draco, who was instantly gasping for air through his laughter, his legs kicking up toward the sky.

"Twitchy little ferret aren't you, Malfoy?" Harry said with relish, before pulling up the blonde by his robes and kissing him as if there was no tomorrow.