A Walk In The Park (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Three

   Had Draco heard correctly? A drink? "We were just meeting Snuffles' parents at the pub over the green."

"Nah," said Blaise with a shrug, making Draco raise both eyebrows in scorn, as he was pretty sure the gorgeous guy had been talking to him. "We've got plenty here thanks."

"Hmph!" said Pansy, crossing her arms. "You can stay here and drink warm tinnies if you like." She smiled at the dark haired man. "Does this place do chips?"

He smiled back, eyes glancing at Draco then back to her. "It even does fish to go with them."

"Excellent," she beamed, and began clearing up her stuff, and Draco felt a rush of gratitude towards her. The guy might not have meant to invite all of them, but Draco doubted he would have been brave enough to go alone. He didn't seem put out though, so Draco assumed it was okay.

Theo shrugged. "Sounds good to me mate," he said, handing Draco back his skateboard and daring to give Snuffles a stroke, getting slobbered on for his trouble.

Blaise sighed and turned off his speakers, and in the sudden quiet Draco looked shyly at the man. He was busy rounding up the puppy and putting him on a lead, so Draco was able to appreciate him unabashed. He hadn't had much luck with guys since moving to uni, and his home town had had a limited supply of eligible bachelors. But there was something about this stranger that had his heart racing, even though the adrenaline from his accident was abating. Could it be possible he held the same inclinations as Draco? It was so hard to tell, it made Draco anxious under most circumstances to the point where he daren't risk trying any advances for fear of unpleasant repercussions.

You only needed to get the shit kicked out of you once or twice before you learnt that.

But the guy smiled openly at him again once Snuffles was secured, and held out a hand. "I'm Harry by the way," he said as Draco shook it.

Harry. He liked the way that sounded. "Draco," he replied. "And this is Pansy, Theodore and Blaise."

Harry shook their hands too before starting to lead the way back across the grassy expanse, towards a pub that sat on the corner of a series of new build housing. "You want to hold him?" he offered to Draco, reaching over with the dog's lead.

Draco hesitated, but only for a moment. "Sure," he said, looping his hand through the leather handle, and Snuffles galloped along by his feet.

"Please don't try and kill Draco again," Harry begged the dog, making Draco laugh. "At least let me buy him a drink first okay?"

Draco was glad the other three were trailing behind, because he was worried a little blush had crept onto his pale face. He's just being polite, Draco told himself. Maybe he should feel embarrassed that Pansy had crashed the invite – Harry probably just wanted to meet his mates on a Saturday night, not have a bunch of students tag along. But he couldn't quite summon the energy to feel bad. Harry and he were walking side by side as they approached the pub, and it felt nice. It didn't have to be anything more than that. Nice wasn't always easy to come by.

"So you guys are at the uni?" Harry asked as they wound their way around the beer garden towards a couple that were waving enthusiastically at Harry. Draco nodded as they navigated around the tables and chairs, dusk in full swing now but the air was still warm enough.

The girl had light brown skin and a riot of curly hair that reminded Draco of a soft cloud of black smoke. The guy was ginger, freckled and sitting a good head above the girl, and wasted no time dropping to his knees to greet Snuffles as he strained in Draco's hand to get back to his owner.

"Hello trouble, hello!" he cooed, play fighting with the puppy, before glancing up at Harry. "Made some friends mate?"

Harry sighed and looked sheepishly at Draco as the other three came up behind them. "Actually your dog was making friends with Draco's skateboard," he said, raising an eyebrow. "It didn't end too well for Draco's extremities." He pointed at his bloody knee and elbows.

"I'm fine," said Draco, again, but the girl was already on her feet, horror on her face.

"Oh gosh I'm so sorry, let me see!"

Draco tried to protest but Harry shook his head as she swooped down to his injured leg. "Hermione's training to be a doctor," he said matter-of-factly. "You better just let her look."

"Beer and medical attention," said Pansy over Draco's shoulder to Harry. "I approve of your deceptive ways."

Harry smirked at her as Hermione stood from inspecting Draco's scraped knee. Her boyfriend was still on the floor, rather undignified with his puppy, but he didn't seem to care as he watched everyone else above him.

"I'll get some water and give it a quick wash." Draco opened his mouth but she jabbed a finger in his face. "No arguing. My dog did this, I will fix it."

"And I'm going to get a round in," Harry announced. "What does everyone want?"

He took their orders and wouldn't let any of them give him any money, which Draco felt bad about, but maybe he'd let them buy a round next time. Next time. He was pushing it, they were gate crashing their evening, surely Hermione and her boyfriend were annoyed?

In fact, they seemed quite the contrary. The ginger, Ron, was left in charge of finding a couple more seats for them to throw around the table they'd nabbed under one of the outdoor heaters, and he jabbered on about how naughty Snuffles was but he thought it was quite funny really. The dog in question seemed to have grown quite attached to Draco, and stayed by his heel as they all settled themselves down.

It wasn't long before Harry and Hermione were back with a tray of drinks and Draco had to suffer Hermione dabbing at his grazes with cold, wet kitchen towel before pulling out some antiseptic cream she just happened to have in her hand bag.

"Med students," Ron had whispered dramatically, rolling his eyes and making the group laugh.