Living In My Head (Drarry)

Chapter 10: Hard to Explain

Chapter song: Hanging By A Moment by Lifehouse

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When we get on the main road, he suddenly stops talking, as if something caught his attention. Still holding on, I peer over his shoulder and see the shore.

"Woah..." I say breathlessly.

"Great view, isn't it?" he says softly, slowing down so we can get a better look.

The sun is just beginning to rise, tinting the glass-like water a light shade of lavender and the sky itself is the shade of pink pearls. The beauty of the sight completely knocks the wind out of me. I have never seen something so wonderful in my entire life. He looks at me from the corner of his eye and his eyes look soft, kind, and content. I turn my face back into the side, away from him and he speeds up again, taking a few backroads.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

He laughs, "It seems that you don't know the meaning of the word surprise."

I roll my eyes, snapping, "You never said the place was a surprise, Malfoy."

"Or the meaning of patience, apparently. Hold on, we'll be there in a couple minutes."

I grumble an okay and am suddenly aware of where we're heading. A small smile crosses my face as it dawns on me. We're going towards the shore.

We finally get there after at least 10 minutes of only-downhill roads, which, honestly, scared the crap out of me. He gets off, and I do too, setting our helmets on the bike and heading over into a small field with a large oak tree in the corner, looking rotted and void of leaves.

"What's up with the tree?"

He shrugs, "Not too sure. I assume that it died a long time ago so no more leaves can grow. It's still really sturdy, though."

He reaches in a gap in the roots and pulls out a soccer ball which reminds me this is probably why we didn't bring one with us. That would've been an issue if we didn't have one. What else would we have done in a abandoned field in the middle of nowhere? He tosses the ball on the ground and kicks it back and forth between his feet before sending a disapproving look at me.

"I must not have noticed because it was dark but how do you plan on playing soccer in that?"

I look at my jeans and long-sleeved shirt and shrug, I guess I didn't really think about it when getting ready. He heads to the bike, gets some clothes from under the seat and tosses them at me.

"You better hope they're around the right size, dude."

I nod and take off my shirt off and as if sensing my discomfort, Draco heads over to the ball and practices juggling it. I put my clothes under the seat, pulling on the plain white shirt and red basketball shorts. I tie the shorts until it fits on my hips and move over towards him. I watch him closely as I walk over, studying his movements. Will I actually be able to beat him? Sure, I studied all his moves but can I actually re-create them?

He stops, putting his foot on the ball, holding it in it's place on the grass. He was wearing pretty much the same thing as me except his shirt was a green V-neck and his shorts were black. This boy has an unhealthy obsession with those colors, I joke to myself. We step a foot apart from each other, the ball between us. Then, the game starts. We never designated goals. We didn't keep count. It was just like a constant game of keep-away. It's one of the most fun things I've ever done.

At one point, I accidentally trip over the ball. With Draco being in front of me, I fall face-first onto his back and make him faceplant into the grass. We laugh and I help him up. We're both dripping in sweat and probably reek but he throws an arm around me and laughs like we're best pals. We hadn't talked the entire game, but I didn't care. I felt closer to him, somehow. He smiles, looking over at the sun which is already starting to set.

"Damn, we were out here a long time."

I shrug as we get on the bike, "It didn't seem like it."

We drive off and he heads over to a nearby fast food joint and gets us a couple cheeseburgers and fries. He ordered a Coke while I got a Sprite, he said he needed some caffeine or he would have gotten the same. I let out a laugh which, embarrassingly, sounded more like a giggle.

"Surprise, surprise."

He looks at me with a scrunched, child-like face, "What's that supposed to mean?"

I shake my head dismissively, "Nothing, I just find your obsession with green and black things funny."

He rolls his eyes, "Sprite is clear, genius, it just comes in a green bottle."

I laugh harder, "Still!"

His face softens and he smiles, laughing too.

"Come on, we should head back. We need to make it back before they close the grounds gate."

We finish and get back to the campus parking lot.

"That was really fun, Harry, we should do that again sometime."

I tried not to smile, but failed, "Yeah, we should."

He gave me a look-over then shrugged, "You can keep the clothes, by the way."

He handed me my clothes from under the seat and I quickly but quietly made my way to the Lion quarters. I walked in to find Neville sitting in a chair, waiting up for me.

"God, Harry. Do you know how late it is? It's past curfew! Where were you?"

I looked at my feet, ashamed and he sighs.

"Just don't let it happen again. I can only cover for you so many times before people get suspicious. Anyway, we need to talk. From what I can tell, there's something you don't know and I think you are entitled to know what is going on."

He leads me over to the window seat and we each pick a side.

He sighs, looking out the window, "This may take a while to explain. It's hard to explain."

I feel my gut wrench, as if deep down I know what is going on.

Give you three guesses, Harry. What could this Nerd know that you don't? Come on, Harry, be a sport... Figure it out.

"Start from the beginning," I say hoarsely and he nods.

"Well, it involves both Hermione and I, as well as you."

Suddenly, I felt as if something had switched on in my brain. I knew what he was about to say.

"It's about your parents."