A SUMMER WITH THE MALFOYS

ᑕᕼᗩᑭ丅ᗴᖇ 2

The next two days seemed like two years. It was like one day lasted 70 hours instead of 24. The sun took longer to rise and even longer to set. And the nights? Ohh boy, the mosquitos just had to make the supposedly peaceful time just that much worse. But nonetheless, time never stops ticking, and finally, after the long, horrible wait, Draco and Harry were boarding the Hogwarts express to go back to London. They carried their luggage in and set it on the shelf above them before sitting down in their compartment. Seemed like everyone else already had a seat and no one was going to join them. Ah wait, my apologies, I think I'm rushing the story. Looks like Matthew Gold didn't find a place to sit. The shy Hufflepuff stood in the hallway of the train, awkwardly lifting and setting his luggage down again. Harry got up and slid the door to their compartment open, leaning on the glass. "Can't find a place, Budd?"

The boy nodded, blushing lightly. Draco's friendly smile turned into a stiff look of despise as he noticed the color on the boy's cheeks. The fellow 4th year slowly walked in, sitting down opposite Harry's seat. Harry closed the door, sitting back down as he extended a hand out to the other male. "Harry Potter. And you are?" He said, looking the boy in the eyes which made him blush even more. The other extended his shaky hand toward Harry's, gripping it in an excited handshake. "M-Matthew... Matthew Gold.... From Hufflepuff! Fourth-year! W-Well, you probably know that a-as we are in the same train s-section but..." His voice died off as he saw the hatred and what seemed like jealousy in Draco's eyes, pulling his hand back and sinking into his seat. The blonde made an annoyed sound and turned away, looking out of the window at the open scapes the train passed.

"That's Draco Malfoy. We're from Slytherin." Harry leaned back in his seat, looking over at his friend. He seemed tense. That made Matthew tense... Damn the boy knew how to make an awkward atmosphere. "Pleasure.." Draco hissed, shifting a bit in his seat. Harry sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. A gesture he picked up from Draco when he used to do that in first year. Now he didn't do it anymore, but Harry couldn't seem to do anything else when he was nervous or uncomfortable. "Well then, Mr moody, we'll leave you be."

Harry looked up at the short boy sitting in front of him, his eyes traveling up and down the male. He had auburn hair with dyed streaks of gold. He had hazel eyes, pretty eyelashes, smooth skin, and thin pink lips which had a soft, kissable look to them. He had a dark orange T-shirt on and black jeans, a lucky charm around his neck. Small, cute, sweet, and easily flustered. Harry kept looking over him until his eyes settled on a silver engagement ring with purple crystals on it shining on the male's ring finger. Well, that's one way to ruin the mood...

"An engagement ring?" He asked, leaning in to take a better look at the piece of jewelry. Matthew smiled shyly, nodding. "Yeah... Following the family tradition, I was assigned a bride before I was even born. A- A pretty girl, I must say... and from a wealthy family, but... I think I play for the other team" He looked up at Harry with the blush still on his cheeks, half shy half embarrassed. The other fixed his glasses, blinking "Oh?... Oh, I see" He took a moment to realize "Well that must be confusing, no? Having to contain your true feelings inside you for the rest of your life while you're forced to spend a life with some woman that was chosen for you without your consent. I bet your parents want grandkids as well, no?"

The brunette giggled, showing off the ring "Yeah, precisely. Mother keeps rushing it, saying she wants someone to take care of and visit once I leave the house. But don't get me wrong, she is no stranger. She is kind, sweet, beautiful, and we're friends since early childhood. She will make a great wife but... yeah, hiding true feelings will probably be my greatest obstacle." Harry nodded, maintaining the polite smile. Yet his heart ached to even think of ever being tied down to one specific person for the rest of your life and not having a say in the choices made regarding your love life, and overall, future.

Harry leaned his head on Draco's shoulder, rubbing his arm in an attempt to relax him a little. Draco turned to him, pressing a kiss to his forehead and wrapping an arm around him in reply. Seeing as he got higher-level attention from Harry, he found himself smiling at the Hufflepuff sitting in front of them. Matthew's face went entirely red and his eyes widened as he covered a hand over his mouth. "W-Wait, are you two like, a.... thing?... Oh! I- I'm sorry, I didn't think-" Draco grinned at the look of defeat in the other's eyes but the usual neutral look soon returned to his face as Harry hurried to object. "No no no, we're just... friends. Friends with benefits. Not more than that. Sorry if we're making you uncomfortable, we'll stop-" "Oh no, no," Matthew interrupted. "You do what you do, I don't mind. It's kind of cute actually when you think about it... friends with benefits... heh"

They spent the next few hours just chatting about random little things. Draco kept his arms wrapped tightly around his friend, feeling like he was an advanced version of "the chosen one" or something. Chosen by Harry to be his pillow, apparently. The train departed from Hogwarts at around 8 pm. The ride took quite a few hours, so everyone was tired. Matthew passed out at around midnight, taking up both seats on his side. His luggage was sliding around the floor so Harry lazily got up and put it on the top shelf next to Draco's and his. 

He sat down and rested his head on Draco's shoulder again, falling asleep a few minutes later. Draco carefully placed Harry's head in his lap and his legs on the seat, playing with his hair. He ran his fingers through the soft black strands, smiling. Harry was so cute, especially when asleep in his lap. "Rest, mate... we've got a whole night ahead of us." He spent another hour or so fiddling with Harry's hair and reading magazines before finally turning the lights out in their compartment and falling asleep with his head pressed against the window.

Around 4 am, one of the train assistants walked around the compartments, waking students up and making sure everyone had their luggage. Draco woke up to an old lady's voice somewhere in the room. "Malfoy... Mister Malfoy..." He opens his eyes, turning his head to look at the woman. His neck was sore from being in one position for the past couple of hours and he groaned quietly. "You're awake. Could you wake up the other two? Make sure you all have your stuff at the ready, and don't fall asleep again. If you fall asleep again now, make sure your friends wake you up because I will not be checking the train again. We will be arriving in London at 6 am, so take your time getting ready, alright? Have a great summer." 

The woman smiled and slid the glass door closed, moving on to the next compartment to wake the following set of students.

Draco blinked, confused. "Six.... am?..." He yawned, looking around. The lights were on, but they were really dim so it wouldn't hurt his eyes. He stretched his sore muscles, running his hand through Harry's hair once again. "Harry... Haaaaarry... Wake up buddy" The other mumbled something that sounded like "five more minutes," making Draco laugh. "Well we have two hours, but you took some stuff out of your luggage so just put it back and you can go back to sleep again. Alright?" Harry stayed still for a few more minutes before slowly sitting up, looking around. He noticed his glasses were gone, and Draco hurried to give them back to him. He took them off Harry before he went to sleep so they wouldn't fall and smash if he was to move in sleep. "Thanks."

Harry stretched and started putting stuff back in his trunk, causing Matthew to wake up. They both put their stuff away and set their luggage beside their legs so they wouldn't forget them when they headed out onto the platform. Matthew mumbled a few random things, had a drink of water, and went back to sleep, hugging his trunk. Draco patted his shoulder, offering it to him in case he wanted to go back to sleep. Harry winced and shook his head "Nah... don't feel like it." The two just sat there in silence for the next two hours, occasionally sparking conversation. But they were both tired and it was still too damn early so they took turns sleeping, waking each other up every 20 minutes. They would soon be in London, away from the school and the school mates. Draco smiled at the thought, taking his turn to rest his head for the next 20 minutes.. well, maybe 30, if Harry allowed.