A Walk In The Park (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Two

   The sun slowly started edging down behind the trees as they took turns on the board. Even Pansy deigned to have a go once she'd taken her heeled boots off, boasting she was going to be better than any of them, and actually, for a beginner, she wasn't half bad. But they were just playing, going back and forth not even half way up the sides of the semi-circular ramp. Draco on the other hand was getting more and more bold with each turn he took, flying up and down the half pipe as he remembered how it used to feel when he was younger, steeling himself to make a proper jump.

The other three were cheering him on, several cans into the box of cider and halfway down the vodka bottle, wolf whistling and clapping as he geared up to launch himself into the air. A thrill of elation swooped through his stomach as he powered up the ramp, his body turning upside down as he grabbed the lip with his hand, pulling him and the board back to sail down the half pipe again.

A blur of movement to his right threw him off though, and his friends' rowdy cheers turned to gasps as a flash of brown and black fur struck just as he hit the centre of the pipe. Draco gave a strangled cry as he swerved the board, only just avoiding clipping whatever it was and sending himself sprawling, crashing painfully into the stone slabs. He rolled head over heels, his board scattering away from him as he grunted and tumbled to a halt.

Pans, Theo and Blaise were scrambling to their feet, but another figure reached Draco first, a silhouette dashing over to him in the twilight. "I'm so sorry!" the guy cried as Draco gingerly touched his scraped knee and blinked. "Are you alright?"

He felt Pansy's hands on his back, gently helping him to sit up, and the stranger stepped to the side, his features becoming visible. "Oh," said Draco without thinking. "I, um..."

He was about their age, with a dark tousle of hair and glasses that framed his green eyes perfectly. His clothes were casual – jeans, trainers, t-shit and flannel shirt – but Draco could see his body was slender yet solid beneath the fabric, muscles moving under tanned skin as he looked guiltily at Draco's friends then back to him.

"Are you hurt?" he asked as Pansy scowled protectively over to him. Concern lined his features as he crouched in front of Draco, trying to inspect the damage as Draco just gawped at his handsome face. Get a grip, his brain hissed.

"Come on," grumbled Theo, heaving him back up to his feet and looking into his eyes for concussion. But Draco batted him away.

"I didn't even hit my head," he said, inspecting his bloody knee and elbows. Yep, Pans would definitely never let him ride without pads again. "What happened, there was something-?"

"Err," said the stranger guilty, standing along with Pansy. "I believe that was Snuffles," he said, pointing towards Draco's skateboard, where a ball off fluff with fangs was currently gnawing on one of the blue wheels. "Sorry."

Draco laughed, forgetting his scrapes and dropping to the ground, ruffling the Alsatian puppy over the head. "You terror," he admonished. "You almost killed me." The puppy was delighted to have some attention, and hoped and skipped around Draco, yapping and lolling his tongue.

"Shh!" Harry scolded, but there wasn't really any malice behind it. He beamed down at Draco as he talked nonsense to the dog, berating him for trying to break his neck. Blaise merely raising a weary eyebrow, but Pansy and Theo were laughing again, presumably at how ridiculous Draco was as a human being.

"I'm dog sitting," the guy said. "He's not very well trained yet and he likes to chase bikes, and cars, and runners, and apparently now skateboarders too." Draco looked up at him as he ran his hand through his black hair and rolled his eyes. "Which is a real shame as it looked like you were making a nice jump there."

Draco forgot about his stinging knee and smiled goofily up at the guy, enjoying Snuffles' little growls and nips at his hand. "You saw?"

He shrugged. "As I was running after that monster there."

Theo picked up the board and inspected it. "Look like it's still in one piece, unlike Draco here," he laughed, winking at the stranger. The guy bit his lip and looked stricken, and Draco scowled at Theo.

"I'm fine," he insisted. "I once broke my arm and dislocated my knee – that was a bad fall."

Instead of reassuring the dog sitter, his face dropped even further. "Perhaps I should take you to the hospital?" he suggested.

Pansy snorted. "I told him I wouldn't if he refused to wear a helmet."

"Alright, alright," said Draco, standing and letting Snuffles inspect his other friends' shoes. "Look, I'm just banged up, no harm." He fondled the puppy's ear. "We don't want Snuffles getting a complex now, do we?"

The man rubbed the back of his neck, looking Draco over, and he felt a warm sensation flicker along his skin that had nothing to do with the fall. "Okay," he said, blowing out a lungful of air. "Well, how about I buy you a drink?"