the chariot 12-20

17

Yes definitely – as soon as possible he would go to Harry.

Now in fact. How?
Slight dilemma.

He didn't have an invisibility cloak or anything like it. What time was it?

He looked over to his clock. Shit, it was barely seven am! It was Saturday.

Yeah, Harry is really going to be conveniently wandering around for me at this time of morning isn't he?

He walked over to the window and peered out of it. The sky was dark and ominous, and there was a huge foreboding, thunderous cloud suspended over the grounds and building. It was threatening a torrential downpour and Draco puffed out his breath.

Well he could shower and get dressed and wait to see if he could manage to waylay Harry before breakfast, or just after perhaps.

He showered and did indeed dress, and realised that it hadn't taken all that long. Draco nervously watched the minutes. He had folded his clothes meticulously and put them away. What else could he do?

Vincent snorted and murmured something inaudibly as he turned over in his sleep. Draco made his bed and put his jumper he had slept with last night under his pillow, taking a quick sniff before he did so. He sat back on his bed and drummed his fingers on the mattress. He could tidy his trunk. That had to kill some time didn't it?

He moved to his trunk and noiselessly lifted the heavy lid. He began to pile up his books tidily against the corner of the chest. He placed the odd trinkets and items in a keep safe box when his fingers brushed across a parchment. He lifted it out carefully and opened it up and smiled softly. It was the picture that Harry had given to him before they had got together.

He was never going to throw it away.

It was important to keep it, it meant a lot to him. He looked at it fondly and his heart squeezed as he pictured Harry's face the first day they had kissed. That smile of his – it was lovely. He remembered how Harry had felt in his arms the first night they had slept together. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid as to nearly throw away such joyful completeness, one that had first made him realise exactly how far he had begun to fall for Harry.

His heart had known all along what it had felt and craved and wanted – it had just taken his brain a lot longer to catch up with it. He shook his head and gently folded the parchment back into its folds and put it back into the trunk. He shuffled a few more things around and then closed the lid.

That was ten minutes done.

He got up and mooched around the window area for a bit, listening to the snores of Gregory and Vincent. He then went to the common room and sat in an armchair, eyeing the hung lanterns overhead. He was the only one there. Lazy gits or what? He thought, but actually he was thankful for the solitude.

The sky suddenly rumbled and cracked open as a huge thunderbolt tore through the clouds. The echo fell around the building with a slight tremor and a few minutes later there was more thunder.

Then came the rain.

A deluge of water beating against the windows, like the sound of a thousand pebbles being hurtled from a great height. The common room was usually dark enough and the small windows high up did not offer much light. On a day like this, you could easily mistake it for being night time still.

Draco listened to the downpour and looked thoughtfully at the orange and red flames in the fireplace, licking into one another. He hadn't even wanted to break up with Harry. '' Break up'', that is exactly what he had done. And he had been dreading it and kept putting it off. You didn't want to break up with him at all. Hindsight is an evil in itself. Typically you realise your mistakes always too late.