Potter!

Resentful return

Draco was almost resentful when he boarded the Hogwarts express when January came. The past week had been the best week of his entire miserable life, and all because of Harry Potter, his sworn enemy for 7 years. It was surreal, and felt like one of those dreams he'd had back in 6th year where he imagined what life would've been like if Harry had taken his hand in 1st year and Voldemort never returned.

Returning to Hogwarts meant they would have to be more discreet. And they wouldn't be alone. The quiet seclusion of Grimmauld Place was what he would miss the most. Although when he thought about it, he wondered if he would miss sleeping with Harry between his arms more when the evening came.

Harry sat beside him in their compartment, which also contained Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville and Ginny, squashed in together and busy muttering amongst themselves.

"You okay?" Harry squeezed Draco's hand to catch his attention. He had been staring out of the window at the blur of tower blocks which turned into green fields and then mountains.

Draco nodded, gazing fondly at Harry as if it was the last time he'd ever see him.

He felt more eyes upon them from the rest of the compartment, and when he turned, Harry's clique were all staring straight at their hands and a silence had fallen.

Harry chucked nervously, "So how was everyone's Christmas?"

Draco snorted at his obvious swerve around the many questions their eyes were throwing at him.

Luna was the only one that spoke, "It was very good. I missed being at home. But it seems that yours was even better, Harry. I'm happy for you both."

Luna was always the accepting friend. She was odd herself so he suspected that she had no qualms with accepting everyone else's choices, no matter how monstrous they seemed to the others. Her casual but caring attitude was one of the reasons Harry loved her.

"Thank you Luna." Harry grinned at her, which she returned before opening the Quibbler and leaving the rest of them to gape at him once again.

It didn't take a lot of explaining, partly because they reached Hogwarts soon after. Ginny had asked if he'd loved him after all, but still was a little heartbroken, though she refused to show it which Harry admired. Ron wasn't best pleased as expected but Hermione and Neville were quick to glare at him before he started anything.

And then they were entering the great hall and Draco was ushered away from Harry and his friends to the slytherin table where Pansy waved at him.

"Good Christmas Draco?" she purred.

"Great." He beamed, his eyes finding a certain someone at the Gryffindor table as he had done so many times before. Only this time he didn't have to look away when he met green eyes gazing back at him.

Harry's eyes locked with his and a smirk played on his lips. Draco rolled his eyes, turning back to Pansy who was dramatically gaping at him after following his eyes.

"You and Potter best friends now?" She asked, not maliciously but in a slightly sarcastic way.

"You could say that." Draco pondered, trying to seem mysterious. He had to keep up appearances, after all.

Soon after, the great hall emptied and Draco jumped up to coincidentally meet Harry at the door.

"Fancy seeing you here." Harry whispered, his eyes bright once he spotted him.

Draco laughed, earning a few suspicious looks from surrounding Gryffindors.

"Astronomy Tower at 8:30? Bring your cloak" He mumbled in Harry's direction, when all the others were out of earshot.

Harry smirked and nodded, catching up with Ron and Hermione on their way to the common room.

A few hours later he was making pitiful excuses and climbing through the portrait hole and up to the tower, where he found Draco with his legs crossed, staring out over the twinkling lights of Hogsmeade.

Throwing the invisibility clock over him, he crept up behind him, placed his hands on his shoulders, and kissed his neck wetly.

"Harrrryy." Draco moaned softly, turning and finding himself alone. "Where are you?" He giggled.

Harry simply lifted up the cloak and draped it over him, climbing onto his lap and getting comfortable. Draco rolled his eyes, "You're such an ass."

"My ass is nice though. You said so yourself." Harry muttered causing Draco to chuckle in agreement, moving his hands to squeeze his as roughly.

For what seemed like hours, the two just cuddled up to each other in silence, until Draco's legs went to sleep and he had to lift Harry off him, much to his dismay.

"Draco?" Harry's voice was a little raspy from the cold. He found himself wondering that perhaps if Harry had always said his name like that he would've fallen in love with him quicker. Just hearing the way it rolled off his tongue, the way he pronounced it, gave him butterflies.

"Hm." He replied in a daze.

"Do you ever wonder how on earth this happened?" Harry asked as lovesick smile etched onto his face.

"What? Us? Everyday." Draco gazed at the ravenette, taking in every detail on his face to the outline of his messy hair for later, so he could sleep peacefully with him in mind. "Everyday I wonder how the chosen one, who defeated Voldemort, fell in love with a cowardly death eater who tormented him for years."

Harry sighed inwardly, "Don't make me out to be such a hero, Draco. I'm just as much a coward as you are a hero. "

"But you are a true hero. The whole of the wizarding world would back me up on that." Draco found himself pulling Harry towards him and taking him into his arms.

"I don't feel like one." Harry whispered, his shoulders sinking.
Being away from Hogwarts was an escape, a breather, he was able to separate himself from the past for a while, despite being around George, and staying at Sirius's family home.
But now he was back to suffocating under the heavy weight of the past. He wanted Hogwarts to be the same as they left it at the the end of 6th year. But all he could remember now was the image of it in ruins, despite it looking as good as new when he had arrived in September. His first home in ruins before his very eyes would haunt him every day that he walked the halls. The halls that once housed the people who died for him.

"Harry." Draco's fingers found their way into his unkempt locks, soothing him with strokes. He liked his hair played with. "Just because you're not your own hero, doesn't mean there aren't thousands of people who look up to you because you ended their suffering. You ended my suffering too. You're my hero, as cliché as that sounds."

"You never treat me like a hero though. You treat me like just Harry, a normal wizard, living a normal wizard life. That's what I like about us. You don't fangirl over me or expect me to do anymore 'great things' like saving the wizarding world. You don't make me out to be some type of God. Ginny was almost drooling over me from the start." Harry felt his fingers slide over Draco's hips, admiring the warmth of his body radiating against his own.

"That's because you're special to me in a different way, and you always have been. I don't expect you to do anything extraordinary, because you do extraordinary things to my heart every single day." Draco felt Harry's heart quicken at his words and smirked. "And actually, I think they're right about you being a god. Have you looked on the mirror lately?"

Harry cracked a smile, burying his head into the crook of Draco's neck. "How come you always know what to say to make me feel better?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm magic." Draco chuckled as he felt Harry burst out laughing.

"You're a git. Your jokes have never improved." He looked back up at Draco, their eyes meeting again, before he placed a loving kiss to his lips which carried all the words that needed to be said, and let him know that he was never going to be alone again.