the hermit (the chariot pt2)

18

The Christmas holidays had passed much too quickly as usual. Harry and Remus had joined the Weasleys for Christmas dinner about four o' clock in the afternoon. As Harry had predicted, he raised many brows with his orange t-shirt. Remus tried not to smirk too often and Hermione merely looked at Harry when he had first walked in and commented, 'nice t-shirt' and left it at that. Ron, on the other hand, had snorted juice out through his nose and had a good laugh and Ginny had blushed, surprisingly.

Most noticeably, Harry could tell that everyone was slightly taken aback by his rather good mood. He had overheard Mr Weasley talking to Tonks about how Harry seemed cheerful and that it was really nice seeing him that way. Harry had smiled happily and realised that he was actually enjoying himself and he hadn't enjoyed being in a large crowd for quite sometime.

He and Remus had gone back to Grimmauld Place later in the night and spent the rest of the days talking and playing board games together. As they travelled into Kings Cross this morning, he had been a little sad to part with Remus. Parting meant the end of the holidays, but he consoled himself that he would be seeing Remus during the summer holidays.

Harry looked about his room now, making sure he had unpacked everything before going downstairs.

He had only been back at school for a short time and was itching to see Draco. He had thought a lot about Draco over the holidays and felt a tingling sensation in his stomach every time he pictured the blond boy's face in his mind. Draco was quite clearly more than a friend to him and he kept remembering what Remus had told him on Christmas Eve, ''you live your life, Harry, and make yourself happy''. Draco made him happy.

On his way downstairs, he caught up with a few of the Gryffindors and then hurried down to the Entrance Hall waiting for Draco to come up the stairs from the Slytherin house. In his hand he was clutching Draco's birthday present and then, as an after thought, he shrunk it and tucked it into his pocket. He hadn't owled Draco to meet him at any given point but knew instinctively that Draco would come up here as soon as he had unpacked.

He hadn't had to wait long as Draco came up the stairs ten minutes later.

'Hey,' Draco greeted, a grin across his face.

'Hey,' Harry replied, feeling a little queasy, in a good way, at seeing Draco face to face. 'You all right?' he asked, standing up, his whole face lighting up with a wide smile.

Draco nodded, still grinning as he came closer. 'Yeah, you?' His grey eyes ran slowly over Harry's form, something which Harry noted Draco did often.

'Yeah, good,' Harry answered. He bounced lightly on his heels as he stood opposite Draco by the stairs. 'So, um, thanks again for the presents. I, umm, wore the t- shirt like I said.' He broke out in a mischievous smile and Draco chuckled pleasantly, leaning against the railing of the staircase. Harry caught the faint smell of aftershave coming from Draco and sniffed appreciatively with discretion.

'Good, well glad you liked it.'

'How the hell did you get it?' Harry asked, feeling curious as to how Draco had acquired Muggle clothing. 'I mean it was the exact one I saw.'

Draco smiled easily and tapped the end of his nose, 'I'll tell you one day.'

His eyes locked with Harry's and Harry forgot words for a few seconds before remembering that he was standing in the hall. Students and teachers were walking past to and fro and Harry nodded towards the little side room.

'You want to go next door?' Draco mm'ed in agreement and followed him into the room and closed the door behind him.

'Here,' Harry said turning back to face Draco as he took out the small package from his cloak pocket. He enlarged it with a small tap of his wand and handed it to Draco. 'Happy birthday,' he said, feeling a tad nervous. He hoped Draco liked his present.