studies ❦ drarry

𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵

tw: panic attack

"An aquarium? What kind of bullshit lesson is that? What even is  an aquarium?"

"Malfoy, calm down. It's like a zoo, but for underwater animals. Haven't you ever been to one?"

Harry and Draco had been informed that their lesson was to visit an aquarium and learn about sea life. They were now throwing on jackets and slipping on shoes in a hurry, due to them waking up late in the same position they fell asleep in. Neither of them said a word about it when they awoke; they just got up and silence dawned upon them again, like it had been doing many times during this trip.

"No, I never did anything like that as a child. How does this even relate to muggles?" Draco complained.

"Well, I mean, it's a tourist thing. That's basically what we are right now." Harry sighed, opening up the door for them both. "It'll be fun, and like you said, you've never been to one. This can be a learning experience."

Draco rolled his eyes and walked out of the door, Harry following after him.

~

They arrived at the building, navigating their way through large crowds to the entrance. Draco sneered at the muggles as he walked by, but Harry pulled his sleeve and they continued walking through the doors.

After sitting in a line that took an excruciating long time to get through, Harry and Draco were finally at the desk to get their tickets.

Harry recited the instructions from the letter. "Hi, we have two reservation tickets under Cynthia."

The girl sitting behind the desk typed in her computer, then smiled. "Okay, you two may go on in."

"Thank you." Harry said to her, then took Draco with him as he walked through another set of doors.

"Whoa," Draco muttered. He looked around the glowing room, walls made of glass to see the creatures in the water.

They stopped on the left side first, which seemed to hold more sharks than fish. A wide variety of different sized sharks were swimming lazily in their designated area. Draco pointed to the largest one, who was swimming slowly towards the glass.

Harry turned to look at Draco. A warmth bloomed in his chest. He was smiling, and telling Harry to look at the shark. Harry couldn't help but stare, and notice how the blue haze washed over Draco's features perfectly, causing his eyes to glisten and his smile to look a little brighter.

Draco looked at Harry, his smile softening as he got lost in Harry's gaze. Harry tore his eyes away and looked back at the water, silently thanking the blue glow for covering the pink that dusted his cheeks.

~

"We have to touch what?!"

Harry and Draco were now standing above of the touching pools. It was part of today's lesson, to Draco's dismay of course.

"You'll be fine, Malfoy." Harry assured him. "I don't think a starfish can hurt you."

Draco muttered under his breath, something along the lines of weird ass muggles and their weird ass activities,  but Harry decided to ignore it.

"So, what do we do?" Draco asked, staring down into the water that held all sorts of different marine life.

Harry rolled up is right sleeve. "Just do what I do, it's easy."

Draco proceeded to watch Harry, who was slowly dipping his hand into the cold water and further down towards a tiny starfish. "See? Not so bad."

Draco gulped, but inched his hand cautiously towards the water. He yelped as the water met his fingers, retracting his hand slightly. "This is disgusting, Potter. What kind of idiot would willingly want to touch something like that?"

"Quit being a baby," Harry groaned as he grabbed Malfoy's wrist and put it in the water. Draco drew in a sharp breath through his teeth as his hand, along with Harry's, went below the cold surface. He ignored the goosebumps he got just from Harry's touch.

Draco let Harry guide his hand down toward the starfish, and winced when he felt his fingers meet something bumpy and squishy.

"This is extremely unsanitary." Draco tried holding in a gag. Harry laughed faintly.

"Almost done, then we can go do something else." Harry whispered, and due to being in close proximity, Draco could feel Harry's warm breath ghost his neck from behind him. Draco shuddered.

"What are...what are we doing next?" Draco asked quietly.

"What would you like to do?" Harry asked, guiding Draco's hand to the other star fish.

"Uh...well, I saw that there was a water tunnel. We could go there next." Draco said, staring at Harry's hand that was practically holding his. He completely forgot about everything else; the cold water, the star fish, the aquarium. He was only hyperaware of Harry's touch.

Using everything he had in him, he shook away his thoughts and pulled his hand out.

Harry stepped away as well. "Lead the way?"

Draco turned on his foot with a nod, leading them out of the room.

~

They made their way back to their hotel a few hours later.

Harry jumped on his bed and immediately fell asleep. Being just as exhausted, Draco decided to do the same.

Harry woke up with a jump. A wave of panic came over him as he heard panting and cries coming from the bed next to his.

He kicked off the covers quickly and ran to Draco's side. Tears were streaming down Draco's face as he looked up at Harry.

"H-Harry I cant breathe." he said.

Panic attack, Harry thought immediately.

Harry ran to the other side of the bed and climbed in next to Draco. He grabbed Draco's shoulders and pulled him to his chest, holding him tightly.

"Do you feel my chest falling up and down? Match it- match my breathing. Okay? You've got this. One...two..." Harry whispered as Draco leaned into Harry.

Draco's breathing started to get even with Harry's, their chests beginning to fall at the same rate.

"I'm sorry." Draco said quietly into Harry's shoulder.

"Don't be sorry. I'm here now." Harry replied, holding a little tighter to show him that he wasn't leaving. Draco relaxed under Harry's touch. 

"How did you... know what to do?" Draco asked quietly after a few minutes; still holding each other tightly as if the other would fade away if they let go.

"I've dealt with panic attacks before." Harry pulled away and looked into Draco's eyes.

Without thinking, Harry reached up slowly and brushed away one of Draco's tears. Draco looked down at Harry's hand that lingered ever so softly on his cheek.

Draco unconsciously leaned forward, looking down at Harry's lips.

"Draco..."

Draco looked up into Harry's eyes, their noses practically touching. It felt as if everything around them stilled. Time had stopped, and in this proximity, it was inevitable.

The moonlight that peaked through their hotel curtains hit Harry's green, glossy eyes perfectly. Harry was staring intently into his eyes, his pupils dilating at the slightest under Draco's gaze.

Then, he leaned forward.