A Very Merry Drarry Christmas

23- Cold December Night

day twenty three- harry rejects draco when he asks him to the yule ball, but the night isn't a total loss

"So I guess what I'm trying to say is…" said Malfoy, trailing off a bit, "Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Harry's eyes widened in shock, and his eyebrows raised in surprise. When Malfoy had cornered him after dinner, this certainly wasn't what Harry expected. He had noticed that Malfoy was jittery all of dinner, and kept giving Harry odd glances that he couldn't decipher. So when Harry got up to leave for the common room, he wasn't overly surprised when Malfoy followed him. What did surprise him was the conversation that followed.

He had been expecting Malfoy to taunt or tease him, maybe start a fight of sorts. All with his usual calm, cool expression. So when he was met with a stuttering, anxious Malfoy, to say he was shocked was an understatement. Malfoy's cool mask of indifference was completely shattered. The boy kept fumbling over his words, he didn't seem quite sure as to what to do with his hands, and his blushing cheeks were evident against his pale skin.

It had taken a lot of rambling, and repeating what he was trying to say, but Malfoy finally managed to ask that dreaded question: "Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" 

And Harry should have known that Malfoy was serious about his ask. He should have seen the apprehensive expression on the Slytherin's face. He should have seen the way that the boy carried himself, clearly feeling like he was exposing himself. Harry should have noticed several things that pointed to the fact that Malfoy did really want to go to the Yule Ball with him. But he didn't see any of them, and if he did he didn't pay any attention to them.

So Harry, thinking that Malfoy must have been joking, rejected the blond. Told him that he was hilarious, and that there's no way in hell that he'd ever go to the Ball with Malfoy. Despite the small part of him that seemed to be screaming at him to say yes.

And at that Malfoy's expression broke. He sucked in a deep breath, sniffled a sob, and left without saying a word. Unbeknownst to Harry, when Malfoy left he wasn't going to go and laugh with his friends about the whole thing. He instead walked into the Slytherin common room, collapsed onto the nearest sofa, and started crying. But Harry didn't know any of that. He continued on his way to the Gryffindor common room, and attempted to forget about the whole thing with Malfoy.

Finally, the night of the Yule Ball did come around. Harry ended up going with Pavarti Patil, but ignored her for the majority of the evening. Malfoy went with Parkinson, but looked utterly miserable the entire time. He kept on looking in Harry's direction, a wistful and longing expression on his face. 

Eventually, Draco couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't be in the same room as the boy who unknowingly held his heart, especially when said boy looked as good as he did. So Draco quietly told Pansy that he was going to step outside for a bit. Pansy took one look at Draco, his eyes wide-brimmed from the tears he was holding back, and nodded in understanding.

Draco slipped outside and sat down on the large staircase. He took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm himself down, before shoving his face into his hands, feeling a few tears slip down his cheeks under his finger tips. 

Harry noticed Malfoy's sudden departure and watched the boy as he made his way outside. Immediately, Harry decided that he was going to go and investigate what was going on with Malfoy. He muttered something to Ron about needing fresh air, who just waved Harry off, and headed outside.

Upon exiting the castle Harry saw Malfoy seated on the staircase, his face buried in his hands as he tried to stifle his cries. Slowly and uncertainly, Harry made his way towards the blond. He stopped at Malfoy's side and sat down next to him. 

Malfoy immediately noticed Harry's presence and looked up at the Gryffindor. He sniffed and wiped at his nose and eyes with the sleeve of his perfectly tailored robes. "What do you want?" he asked miserably, "Here to make my night even worse?"

"No," said Harry sternly, "I- uh, I just wanted to see what you were doing out here." 

"Why? It's not like you care about me or anything."

"That's not true," said Harry immediately, without thinking. But upon realizing what he'd said, Harry looked away and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. 

"What?" asked Malfoy in disbelief.

"I- um. I do care about you. I know it may not seem like it, but I really do."

"But why?" 

"Because…" said Harry slowly, "I might kind of like you, and think you're cute." 

Malfoy looked at Harry in shock for a moment, before saying softly, "I like you too, that's why I asked you to the Ball. I've had the biggest crush on you since we first met in Madam Malkins before first year. So when I heard about the Ball, I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to finally tell you how I feel."

"I'm sorry for rejecting you," said Harry quietly in reply, "I thought that you were playing a prank on me or something. If I had known you actually liked me, I would have said yes."

"Really?"

"Yeah," said Harry with a shrug, "I'm sorry for ruining your evening though. I mean, you looked miserable in there." 

"You didn't ruin my evening," replied Draco.

"What do you mean?"

"We're both here now, and the evening's not over yet," said Draco slowly, "So, what do you say? Want to dance with?" he asked, holding out his hand for Harry to take.

Harry let out a small laugh and cracked a smile, "I'd love to," he replied before taking Draco's hand.

The two then made their way inside and immediately took to the dance floor. They ended up spending the rest of the evening dancing together, everyone else forgotten about.