Get Your Skates On (A Christmas Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Two

   So, despite the aftermath of the war, and the fact that everyone else seemed to be hooking up around him, Harry had to say he was approaching the end of the year with more hope and goodwill than he ever could have dreamed of.

And then, the great lake had frozen over.

It normally got pretty icy, but it was always only a matter of time before the giant squid got irritable and bashed several holes in the surface. But not this year. This year, it obviously had decided the people on the land had caused enough trouble, and it quite fancied some peace and quiet.

After the first couple of weeks without so much as a crack, Hagrid had done a thorough inspection and declared the lake perfectly safe, and after a few reinforcing and safety spells from other members of staff, the skates had come out.

Whenever Harry had gone skating at the pond near the Burrow during the Christmases he spent with the Weasleys, he had always used a battered old pair of boots one of the brothers had lent him. But this year, as soon as he saw people stepping out onto the ice, he had excitedly transfigured one of his pairs of flip-flops into a sleek, shining pair of skates, and dashed out to join them.

Ice skating was sort of like flying, he felt. Obviously, you didn't go quite so fast, but there was far more chance of slipping over, and the danger made his heart race in a safe way. It was also rather pleasant to do by yourself, just lost in your thoughts, enjoying the shrieks and hoots of other people having fun around you.

But he began to realise, not everyone was joining in the fun.

It seemed most of the school was out on the lake every chance they got; before, during and after school, and the evenings as well for the older students who were allowed a later curfew. So naturally, not everyone could skate at the same time when it was especially busy, leaving some to sit on the side-lines, and some people just seemed to just enjoy watching.

Harry though, inevitably, was drawn to one head of blond hair from the edge that always seemed to be bowed and accompanied by a scowl as everyone else had a good time, and that person never seemed to be having any fun at all.

Draco Malfoy had been sent back to school on probation after his trial, under no illusion that he had to complete the year without causing any trouble, or he would be straight on his way to Azkaban to join his father. Harry knew all this, because he had taken it upon himself to speak for both Malfoy and his mother at their hearings, and had argued for leniency given the great personal jeopardy they had both risked on his behalf. After all their foolish schoolboy altercations, Harry couldn't find it in him to hate his former rival any more.

Which is why maybe he was concerned that he looked so unhappy. There was so much love and forgiveness in the air, that try as he might, he couldn't seem to just let Malfoy suffer when he was obviously lonely and looking for company.

"You coming Malfoy?" he asked casually one bright day in early December when the snow had finally stopped falling. The Slytherin had been sitting on the bank once again, moodily reading and warming himself with regular flicks of his wand. As Harry had made yet another circuit of the lake, he hadn't paused to think, just scraped to a halt in front of him.

Malfoy slowly looked up in apprehension and no small amount of horror. "What?" he rasped.

"On the ice, fancy a spin?" Harry enquired in the same convivial tone, even though his heart had starting thumping loudly in his chest. Which was ridiculous, given all the terrible things he had faced over the years. Why on Earth was he losing his cool over talking to Malfoy of all things?

Malfoy gaped at him for a moment, his smoky breath hanging in the air, before he apparently regained his senses. "If I did, I would be doing it already," he replied frostily. "Do you imagine I sit around waiting for Gryffindors to invite me to social gatherings? I shudder to think what sort of plebeian activities that might entail if I did."

Harry scoffed. "Oh suit yourself you bloody snob," he snapped back, and took off again.

The next time he went around, Draco was gone.