Harry went straight to the greenhouses after classes the next day.

"So," he said, when he found Neville in a thankfully already otherwise empty greenhouse. "Suppose you were right. Maybe. What then?"

Neville looked up from the trowels he was putting away. "About what?"

"About...you know. Draco."

Neville raised his eyebrows, but then he smiled. "You fancy him?"

"I don't— Maybe!" Harry said defensively, his face flushing. "You don't have to say it like that. All I know is my heart did a little flippy over thing and...I dunno. I do like seeing him." He shot a sharp look at Neville. "But saying it like that makes it sound like a silly little schoolyard fling or something. I hate it. This is already undignified enough."

Neville snorted. "Has anything about you ever been dignified?"

Harry scowled. "I didn't say it had, but that doesn't mean I need to make it worse."

"Fair enough. Well, just ask him on a date, what else is there to it?"

"That's impossible!" Harry protested. "He's Draco!"

"So?" Neville said. "He fancies you too. I'm sure of it. You both give each other the same heart eyes — it's embarrassing to watch sometimes."

Harry flushed deeper red. "Of course we don't."

"You do," Neville teased. "Just do it. I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

"But—" Harry pressed his lips together tightly and folded his arms. He wasn't quite sure how to articulate his fears, or whether he even wanted to, for that matter. But if not now, then when? And how else was he to get Neville to understand how impossible this was for him?

"What about our past?" he finally asked. "What would people say? I mean, he's a former Death Eater, they'll be eager to put him under a magnifying glass, or say he must have done something to me to make me like him. And what would Ginny think? And we're both...men. What is she supposed to think about that? What is the Daily Prophet going to have to say about that? I just... I don't know. I don't know how you can feel so sure he's interested in me too either — what, just because he looks at me?"

Neville sighed. "I can't guarantee that some people won't do that, but I'm betting he's willing to take that risk. Do you imagine people have stopped being nasty to him just because the war's in the past? And you've certainly gone through periods of bad public opinion for your choices too, but it never stopped you doing it anyway.

"As for Ginny, why should she be anything but happy for you? She's the one who wanted the divorce, isn't she? And I've already told you, wizards don't care much about people being in queer relationships — I really don't think she'd give it a second thought. It's not like it would affect her anyway.

"And Harry." Neville put his hand on Harry's shoulder and looked directly into his eyes. "I'm telling you, Draco is as interested in you as you are him. He's not just looking at you, it's— it's the expression. And it's the way you talk about each other and act around each other, and it's hard to put into words or put your finger on exactly what little things make it so different from the way you two are with me, for instance, but it is, it really is."

Harry's shoulders slumped. "So I'm really just supposed to...blindly take that and somehow muster up the courage to ask him on a date?"

"Yep!" Neville said cheerfully. "Isn't that what you did with Ginny? You've just got to force yourself to Gryffindor through it and ask."

"No," Harry muttered darkly. "With Ginny my fucking brain decided to vacate the area for a few minutes and I just kissed her. She did most of the sorting out after."

Neville laughed. "Oh yeah, how could I forget about that? Right in the middle of the common room." He tossed up a hand in an apathetic half-shrug. "Well. That works too. I don't think he'd mind that too much."

Harry wasn't too sure how willing he was to bet on that, but he supposed he'd take it under advisement with the rest of Neville's advice.

~*~

Harry failed to muster up the courage every day for over a week. It was now November, and he found himself more drawn to Draco than ever, but also more scared. He really didn't want to mess up their carefully built friendship.

Draco had come into his office right as Harry's last class had ended and was lounging obnoxiously on his desk as usual. Harry flicked his hand at the office door to shut it and walked around to sit on the edge of the desk next to Draco, sighing and letting his shoulders slump.

Draco frowned. "Tough day?"

"Just busy. And all of my classes were so energetic. Haven't been sleeping great and it was a bit much to handle today."

Harry conspicuously did not mention that Draco was the very thing keeping him up at night. After all, what was Draco supposed to do about that? It wasn't exactly his fault Harry couldn't stop thinking about how exactly he was ever supposed to ask him on a date without looking like a massive idiot. Honestly, give him another Dark Lord any day of the week — he had that sort of thing figured out just fine — but social situations, Merlin, sometimes social situations made him feel like he had two left feet.

"Ah," Draco said, leaning against him, shoulder to shoulder, until Harry leaned back, and Draco tried to pretend he didn't notice his heart thudding a little harder in his chest. "See, I don't have that problem because when I want them to shut up I just give them a look that tells them they'd better do it if they know what's good for them."

Harry huffed out a small laugh. "No, I mean I'm glad they're excited, it means they're interested in learning and more likely to remember what I'm teaching them..."

Draco looked over at Harry as he babbled on, looking exhausted and washed out, yet so sincere and caring when he talked about the students, so earnest and passionate about putting their learning above his tiredness, because he may not actually be Saint Potter, but he was something like it. Closer than he seemed to think he was. And it made Draco's heart go a little funny every time he was met with a piece of Harry that was just so strongly him — whether it was being incredibly caring, or his particular sense of humour, or his deep sense of justice, or his own brand of mischief.

Harry pulled away and took off his hat, tossing it back onto his desk chair to run a hand through his messy hair and sighing. He looked over at Draco, letting his hand drop tiredly. "But it was still just a bit hard to manage today," he finished.

Draco was sure he had some sort of mortifyingly soft expression on his face and his heart was still beating a bit funny, and for one of the very few times in his life (though mysteriously they always seemed to happen around Harry fucking Potter), Draco acted completely on impulse.

He leaned in and kissed Harry.

He didn't allow himself to think it through, maybe because then he'd have never done it at all, but then it was done, there for a second and gone, and there was no taking it back.

Harry looked predictably startled, and that was when the embarrassment flooded into Draco belatedly all at once.

Draco awkwardly cleared his throat and nervously fixed his hat, which had gotten knocked a bit askew. "Er, well—" He didn't actually know what to say, but it apparently didn't matter, because Harry immediately interrupted him.

"I can't believe you beat me to that," Harry blurted out. "I'm supposed to be the Gryffindor — Neville's never going to let this go."

Draco just blinked at him for a few moments, processing that, and then burst out laughing.

"Well you weren't making any moves, apparently," Draco finally said.

Harry attempted a pout but it fell short at fond. "I was trying."

"Sure."

Harry looked away. "Did you— er— Did you like it?" he asked, after a few moments.

Draco leaned closer, smiling. "I'm not sure, it was hard to tell. Why don't we try again?"

Harry looked back up at him and rolled his eyes slightly at his teasing, but leaned back in and kissed him anyway. The kiss was longer this time, and he brought a hand up to pluck Draco's hat from his head, dropping it to the desk and then stroking over his hair before burying his hand in it.

It was nice. Harry hadn't kissed someone in a long time, and it had been much longer still since he'd felt this pleasant tingly sensation with it, like his magic was reacting with the feeling.

Draco kissed him again and again, and Harry thought he might like to just do this for the rest of the evening, bugger everything else. But after a few more moments, Draco pulled back.

"I think I did quite like it," he said teasingly. "But I have a fresh stack of essays to mark, so. Perhaps we'll have to continue later."

Harry heaved a sigh and leaned back, fixing his glasses. "Yeah. I have marking to do as well. And some lesson planning."

Draco hopped down off the desk and grabbed his hat, before heading toward the door with a small wave. "I'll see you later, then, Harry."

He paused a few moments later when his hand touched the handle, though, and he turned back slightly. "Are we... Is this... Is this an exclusive relationship now, or..."

"I mean, I was sort of hoping, yeah," Harry said.

Draco nodded and turned back, opening the door. "Alright. Good. See you later."

~*~

As predicted, Neville had taken the piss out of Harry for being shown up by a Slytherin when it came to courage, but had still mostly seemed delighted for them.

It had only been a few days, and Harry wasn't in any particular rush to tell anybody else or shout it from the rooftops. He'd tell them when he talked to them, but for now he and Draco could have some peace.

Probably. Maybe.

The students had calmed a bit from their persistent lurking after the rumour mill had spread around about Neville talking to the second years in the library, but there were often still a lot of eyes on Harry and Draco at mealtimes.

Harry reached for the toast rack and, after grabbing a slice for himself, put two on Draco's plate and put the orange marmalade next to him, since he always had two slices of toast with orange marmalade and it was in Harry's reach. Yet, for some reason such a plebian thing caused a few pointing fingers and whispers amongst the student tables. Ridiculous.

"Draco?" Harry said.

"Yes, love," Draco said absently, tossing a sausage to Saphronia, who greedily gobbled it up.

Aurora, on Harry's other side, dropped her fork on the floor with a clatter, and swore lightly as she took out her wand to summon it back and cast a cleansing charm.

Harry smiled slightly, watching Draco feeding his spoilt, spoilt bird and petting her head as she perched on the arm of his chair as if she belonged there. It made him feel a bit warm and glowy inside when Draco called him love, and he hoped he never stopped.

"I reckon we should just never tell the students. Ever."

Draco snorted lightly. "Oh, absolutely. Serves them right, the nosey little things."

Harry gave a satisfied nod and reached across him to scratch Saphronia's cheek. "You're just spoilt rotten, aren't you?" He looked up at Draco. "Why don't you ever treat Thibaud like this?" he accused. "You play favourites."

"I do treat him like this!" Draco protested. "He's just not as needy. He keeps his distance most of the time. Besides, I'm not the parent who's failing him! You still haven't taught him how to deflect a stunner — don't think I forgot."

Harry laughed.

~*~

"Yeh know," Hagrid said to Harry one evening, "I'd never have thought it when yeh were both here at Hogwarts as students, but I think Malfoy's bin a good thing fer yeh. Never thought a Malfoy could do tha'."

Harry turned a bit sheepish. It was a bit embarrassing to think he'd been that transparent. "Ah, well, yeah, I suppose I haven't said but me and Draco are, er," he cleared his throat, blaming the rock cakes entirely (if a bit unfairly) for the situation, "together now."

"Oh!" Hagrid said. "Is tha' right. Yeh mean like how yeh an' Ginny were?"

"Er... Yeah."

"Oh. Well alrigh'. I never thought it'd be a Malfoy, but he seems alrigh' enough now."

Harry coughed. "Thanks."

Hagrid clapped him on the shoulder and cleared his throat. "Uh. Have I shown yeh wha' I got in fer me classes comin' up? 'S gonna be real special, come on, I'll give yeh a sneak peek."

Well, Harry had no doubt that whatever it was would surely be special. Whether it was safe or legal was up for debate, but he'd gladly seize on a change of subject presented to him.

"Sure. Let's go."

~*~

Harry, Neville, and Draco had begun meeting indoors now that the weather was colder — sometimes in Neville's rooms, sometimes in Harry's, but they tended to avoid Draco's, since the dungeons were a bit chilly. The added benefit of this was that it was easier to bring work along and just mark papers in company, which they often did.

Tonight, they'd all been in Neville's room.

Draco and Harry left, falling into step together, but when they reached the staircases where they would normally part ways, Harry cleared his throat and adjusted his bag on his shoulder.

"Er... Did you— Did you maybe want to stay in my room?" he asked hesitantly.

Draco turned back. "Oh. Well, I mean it's not that I don't want to, just, I'm a bit...tired?"

Harry flushed. "No, no, I meant— Well, er, if you wanted, but I just meant, like...to sleep?"

"Oh," Draco said again, looking a bit flustered himself. "I... Yes, okay. Just let me drop these off in my classroom first." He indicated his bag.

"Right. Sure."

Half an hour later, Draco was knocking on the pillar, and then they were trying to settle in to Harry's bed together, both too keenly aware of each other, and still awkwardly trying to figure out how exactly they fit together. But at long last, Harry gave Draco a shy kiss goodnight and they both went still and silent, both lying there merely pretending to sleep for much too long with the other right beside them before they actually finally succumbed.

In the morning, though, when Harry awoke to Draco stretching beside him, he didn't feel awkward at all, he felt warm and relaxed and more comfortable than he'd been in a while.

Draco looked over at him and smiled slightly. "Hi."

Harry smiled back and wrapped his arm around Draco's waist, pulling him closer. "Hi." He tucked his head down against Draco's shoulder. "We don't have to get up yet. Few more minutes," he mumbled.

Draco ran a hand through Harry's hair and closed his eyes again. "Alright. Just a few."

His hand dropped from Harry's hair to grab his hand, bringing it up to his lips to press a kiss to the inside of his wrist, and Harry's heart fluttered a bit as his stomach warmed with an almost violent contentment.

He thought he could get very used to this.

~*~

Over the weekend, Harry Floo called Dean and Seamus.

"Not that we're not glad to hear from you, but it hasn't been as long as usual since the last time," Dean said. "Has something happened?"

"Er— Well— ...How do you have sex with another bloke?" Harry blurted out, utterly failing at any sort of subtlety or delicacy. He had, however, learnt to deal with his faults over the years, so he was just going to have to sit here and stand by his words as usual, and pretend his face was only burning from the fire.

They both blinked at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

"So—" Seamus finally managed, "So I take it you've had some changes in your life recently?"

"...You could say that," Harry said diplomatically, still mortified, even if he had known going in that there was no way this wouldn't be a painfully embarrassing talk.

"Malfoy, then, is it?" Seamus said.

Dean hit his arm. "You were supposed to let him say it!"

"First the bloody students, then Neville, and now you — why is everybody pretending they knew? How could you possibly, you've never even seen us together! Not since we were all at Hogwarts!"

"Well you were in the paper," Dean said. "I'm not sure what happened in real life, but photo-Malfoy was being a little familiar, and photo-you didn't seem to mind all too much."

"And you did kind of talk about him a lot last time we talked, and last time we talked to Ron and Hermione, they might've had a bit to say about how mopey you were over the summer," Seamus added.

"Oh, and Neville." Dean shook his head and tsk-ed. "He's never been good at hiding things. He talked about spending most of his time with you and Malfoy, but he was real fishy about it; definitely acting like there was something he wasn't saying there."

Harry sighed. "You all gossip like old hens. Are you going to help me or not?"

"Sure. Maybe you'd better come through, though," Dean said.

"And then you can tell us about how exactly you and Malfoy got together," Seamus added.

Harry sighed again. That was fair enough, though. "Yeah, alright. I'll need to ask Minerva to use her Floo, though. Can't travel through this one."

"Right, see you in a bit, then!" Seamus said, and Dean waved as Harry pulled his head back out of the fire.

~*~

Around a week later, Harry, Draco, and Neville were all in Harry's front room on his worn sofa, when the little hummingbird figurine from Septima that Harry had put on his mantle gave a little whistle and a ten etched itself over the side before disappearing again.

"Well," Neville said, standing, "I had better be off. It's getting late."

Harry waved halfheartedly, not picking his head up from Draco's shoulder or opening his eyes. "Right. See you tomorrow."

"I think I'll stay a bit longer," Draco said, still toying with Harry's hair with one hand as he read over an essay in his lap.

Neville waved at them both and headed for the door. "Okay. See you, then."

He stopped to put his shoes back on, and then the pillar shut quietly behind Neville, and Harry gave a small, contented sigh. He enjoyed Neville's company too, and it being the three of them, but he was also still revelling in being able to touch and kiss and cuddle with Draco. It already had to be behind closed doors, and a lot of it felt like a bit much to do in Neville's company too. Or at least to Harry it did, though he had never been very big on PDA with Ginny either, excepting their first kiss. So it was just...nice to be alone with Draco, and feel a bit more relaxed about what he could or couldn't do.

He turned his face up to kiss the side of Draco's neck, and Draco made a small, pleased sound. So Harry kissed it again, and then picked up his head to continue trailing kisses over Draco's shoulder.

"Love," Draco said, sounding mildly exasperated. "Could I at least finish this essay?"

"Am I stopping you?"

"Yes," Draco said firmly.

Harry laughed and pressed a final kiss to his shoulder before lying his head back down. "Okay. You're free to finish the essay."

"Gracious of you," Draco muttered, but went back to reading, making occasional notes with his quill. Harry was irrationally pleased to note it was the self-inking eagle feather one he'd gotten him.

After several quiet minutes, Draco scrawled a large E over it and circled it, and then waved the parchment to dry the ink for a bit, before finally abandoning Harry's hair to use both hands to roll it back up and leaning forward to put it and the quill in the bag on the coffee table.

"Okay." Draco looked over at Harry, who had disgruntledly moved away a bit when he'd leant forward, dumping him off of his shoulder. "I'm done for the night. Do what you will with me."

"Romantic," Harry said dryly.

"I do try."

Harry laughed, and then leaned in and kissed him, plucking his hat off his head to toss onto the coffee table with his own, and then kissing him again.

Draco brought a hand up to cup Harry's face and leaned in closer, kissing him soft and slow and gentle.

After what felt like quite a long while, however, he pulled back again, petting an absent hand over Harry's side. "I should probably go. It really is getting quite late."

"You could...stay," Harry offered. "I, er." He cleared his throat a little and looked away, flushing slightly. "I talked to Dean and Seamus about, er... If you wanted to...keep going."

When Draco didn't respond, Harry looked up to see that he looked like he was trying very badly not to laugh.

"What I wouldn't have given to have been a fly on that wall," Draco finally got out, and Harry punched him lightly on the arm in retribution. "I just want to know how that conversation went," he defended laughingly.

"Horridly embarrassingly," Harry said, scowling. "How do you think?"

Draco laughed at him.

"Okay, okay," he said after a moment, once he'd got himself together. "I'll stay. I'm interested to see these new skills of yours."

"Well now I'm afraid you may be setting your expectations a bit high." Harry stood and held his hand out to help Draco up from the couch.

Draco took it and let Harry help pull him to his feet. "Well you managed to get married, so surely you can't be awful."

"Sure, just don't ask Ginny," Harry joked.

Draco laughed and followed him to the bedroom.

When they got into the room, Harry sat down on the end of the bed, and Draco stepped forward to stand between his legs, tipping his face up and kissing him again.

"Fewer clothes?" he asked.

"Mm," Harry agreed, starting to hitch up Draco's robes. "Fewer clothes would be nice."

Draco helped him pull them over his head, and then tossed them to the floor and stepped close again.

Harry hesitantly slid his hands over Draco's hips. "Okay?" he asked, looking up at him.

Draco nodded, and Harry slid his hands up over his waist and then back down.

"You're so pretty," Harry said admiringly, leaning in to press a kiss to his sternum. "It really is a good thing I don't hate you anymore. You always were a bit distracting."

Draco scoffed, but his cheeks looked a bit red. "Are you saying I could have just bonked your brains out and this whole enmity thing could have been over?"

Harry looked back up at him, his emerald eyes captivatingly intense as always. "Well did you ever try?" he asked seriously, as if Draco should have known to do such a thing.

Draco burst out laughing. "I can— I can only imagine the fucking look on your face— Oh Merlin— Weasley's face if I'd said that."

Harry laughed too. "I wonder what our past selves would think if they could see us right now."

"I'd imagine they'd have much too many questions. Beginning with why I seem to be the only one getting naked here."

Harry grinned and pressed another kiss to Draco's chest. "Don't tell me — is Draco Malfoy getting shy?" he teased.

"Oh do shut up, Potter." Draco took Harry's chin and tilted his face up to give him a kiss, and then dropped his hand to tug at the collar of his robes. "And get rid of these."

Harry smiled and snuck one more quick kiss before he pulled back and took off his glasses, waving them away errantly toward the bedside table and standing to pull off his robes.

Draco watched the glasses float themselves toward the table and then fold themselves neatly, settling down next to a cursebreaking book with what appeared to be a letter half-hanging out of it as a bookmark. Harry, meanwhile, was not paying the slightest bit of attention as he divested himself of his robes.

"It's sexy when you do wandless," Draco couldn't help telling him.

"Really?" Harry tossed his robes aside and looked back at Draco. "I guess I'll have to keep that in mind."

Draco kissed him again, and they quickly lost interest in talking in favour of other, more pleasurable things.

~*~

Afterward, Draco lay in a boneless heap as Harry waved his hand to clean them up.

"That's still hot," he said.

"Oh yeah?" Harry asked him, looking over.

"Mn." Draco made half-hearted grabby hands, hoping Harry would understand what he wanted.

He did not.

Draco sighed and made more emphatic grabby hands. "Get up here."

Harry laughed and complied. "Better?"

"Mn." Draco kissed him deeply, and rolled them so that they faced each other on their sides.

"Glad you stayed?" Harry asked.

"Mhmm," Draco hummed and kissed him again, but was interrupted by a yawn.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted, but I want to keep kissing you. This isn't fair," Draco complained, tucking his head against Harry's chest.

Harry smiled, half-asleep himself. "Maybe we can kiss more in the mornin'," he mumbled out.

Draco pressed a kiss to his chest and mumbled something Harry didn't catch, and was soon snoring lightly.

Harry drifted off before he could even ask Draco what he'd said, but he found himself thinking that he felt quite similar to the way treacle tart tastes: warm and thick and happy.

~*~

The next time Harry got round to Floo calling Andromeda and Teddy, he didn't actually intend to say anything about Draco and their changed relationship, but something about the way Andromeda inquired after him made Harry awkwardly stutter out a confession anyway.

He had to say, he wasn't the biggest fan of how unsurprised she seemed, but as long as she seemed to approve he wasn't going to be the one to tell her that. Andromeda was a very kind — and usually even quite warm — woman, but there was just something about her that made you want to make sure you watched your tongue, and Harry's instincts had led him right this far in life, so he supposed he should probably keep listening to them.

Teddy, on the other hand, had immediately asked, "So are you getting married?" prompting a flurry of flustered denials from Harry, much to Andromeda's amusement.

Harry had been rather relieved to escape that Floo call, but he didn't feel much better the next time he talked to Ron and Hermione either.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well now 'Mione's going to be saying 'I told you so' for the rest of time. Look what you've done."

Hermione gave an amused huff, but elbowed him in the side anyway.

"Why does everybody act like they've known even before I did?" Harry complained.

"Harry," Hermione said, sounding terribly embarrassed for him. "After the moody performance you gave all summer?"

"Yeah, it was pretty obvious, mate," Ron agreed. "Malfoy's all you ever talked about — Hermione just insisted something would have to happen before Christmas, because you two were so bloody pathetic over summer that even you were bound to put those nursery school block-puzzle pieces together."

"I didn't say it like that!" Hermione protested a bit shrilly.

"Yes she did." Ron told Harry.

"Well if it was so obvious, why didn't you say anything?" Harry asked, a bit annoyed, but by this point used to being ragged on.

"Well we didn't want to discourage you!" Hermione said. "You can get a bit...skittish."

"Better than you mooning over my sister still," Ron offered. "Really, though?" he seemingly couldn't help adding after a moment. "I mean I did see it coming, but still. Malfoy? You're sure you don't feel ill?"

"You two are terrible," Harry said, starting to pull his head back from the fire. "I'm leaving. Awful."

They both grinned and waved at him.

"Love you!" they chorused.

"See you in a few weeks!" Hermione said. "Give Neville our love too!"

"And tell Malfoy he better not fuck this up, because I've been studying my hexes!" Ron added, before Harry could leave.

"Yeah, yeah, same, I will. See you," Harry grumbled and took his head out of the fire.

~*~

By the time December hit, Harry realised that Draco had pretty much completely moved into his quarters. Draco's trunk sat next to his own against the wall in the corner of the bedroom, Thibaud's cage hung in one of the windows away from Saphronia's, their robes hung side by side in the wardrobe (which Draco's hat was unfailingly perched neatly on top of at the end of the day, whilst Harry's tended to be tossed about wherever, along with some of the Muggle clothes he wore to relax in the evenings), Draco's toothbrush laid on the top of his bathroom vanity with his own, and the vanity and shower now had about three times the number of grooming and styling potions in them. And, of course, most importantly, Draco himself was always around.

They spent their evenings together, still usually with Neville, and they spent their nights together too, and when they had breakfast together in the Great Hall nobody really had to know they'd been coming from the same place or if they'd just been snogging a few minutes before.

It was an arrangement both of them seemed rather satisfied with. However, much to the dismay of the other staff, it didn't really seem to quell their bickering much at all. In fact, it may well have only gotten worse, and they were both enjoying the increased opportunities to needle each other a little too much.

"See?" Draco mumbled into the pillow one night as Harry waved his hand to get rid of the mess whilst they lay there, still panting slightly. "You've gone and proved it and I didn't even have to do a thing."

"I'd say you did quite a lot," Harry said. "But what did I prove?"

Draco cracked an eye open to peek back up at Harry. "There's no way any of the students are learning a single thing from someone as devastatingly sexy as you."

Harry gave a choked, surprised laugh.

"Clearly," Draco continued, pushing himself up slightly and crawling over Harry, leaning his face in close, "I am the far superior teacher, because there's not a chance in hell a single one of them is listening to a goddamn thing you say instead of just staring at your arse and your pretty eyes and watching you do magic with more ease than they could ever hope to."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mhm," Draco kissed him slow and deep. "Might as well give up and admit I'm right."

"Hmm. But that would be a lie — don't you know I'm not supposed to do that?" Harry held up his scarred hand between them so that the back of it faced Draco, and grinned.

Draco didn't seem to find that nearly as funny as Harry did, and his face was dark as he stared at the inscription I must not tell lies carved into the back of Harry's hand.

Harry sighed and dropped his hand, arching up to kiss him again instead. "You're awfully distracting too — are you sure the students are listening to you?" He trailed his hand down over Draco's arse.

Draco's eyes still looked a bit dark, but he allowed himself to be diverted. "They wouldn't dare do otherwise," he dismissed. "They know I'd have their heads if they didn't get it together and focus."

"And I wouldn't?"

"Of course not. You're much too soft."

Harry laughed again and gave him another kiss. "Well, if you say so. We'll see what their marks have to say about that. They've been doing awfully well so far."

"Oh, shut up and kiss me," Draco hissed, before planting his lips firmly once more on Harry's — just a bit desperately — and ending the conversation.

~*~

Draco yawned and rolled up another marked essay to put it in his bag. It was just the two of them tonight, no Neville, and they were both knee deep in marking.

Draco loved evenings like this, when Harry changed into Muggle clothes to relax and settled in beside him, looking soft and rumpled and sweet. Sometimes Draco stole some of those clothes too ⁠— they were awfully comfortable, even if he'd never let anyone but Harry see him in them ⁠— but not tonight.

He tucked the essay away, but then his hand paused as he saw the letter from his mother still buried on the side, the wax Malfoy crest now broken, but still obvious amidst the simply rolled and occasionally tied essays. She had written to tell him that she had visited Andromeda, and thanked him for helping bridge that gap. Not that he had actually actively done anything, he thought guiltily. He had felt it was too soon and his new relationship with her still too precarious to push for more.

It did remind him of something important, though.

He cleared his throat a little. Harry didn't look up.

Well, nothing for it, then.

"Christmas is coming soon," Draco said, and Harry finally looked up at him. "I thought...maybe we could go out somewhere Christmas Eve together?"

"Oh," Harry said, and suddenly looked quite sheepish. "Well, er, I'm already going to the Burrow. It's just, I've already skipped two years in a row, and Molly's beginning to get a bit hurt over it. Ron said he'd come drag me there Christmas Eve if he had to and he won't be letting me leave 'til Boxing Day."

"Oh." Draco couldn't help being a bit put out. It had been nice to spend last Christmas with Harry, and he had sort of just assumed they would do the same again. Neville was surely going to spend Christmas with his wife, and Draco wasn't sure whether it would be more painful to spend Christmas in the castle in the awkward company of the few other teachers, or to attempt to heed Mother's request to spend the holiday at the manor and hope she may finally actually take his words to heart and stop bringing up Father and the idea of visiting him in that dreaded place.

"I— Well— I was... I was wondering if you'd come with me," Harry stuttered out before Draco could spiral too far. "I dunno how you'd feel about it, but I— I think it'd be nice."

Draco paused, all of the reasons that was a horrible idea running through his head at once. "Are you...sure you've thought that through?" he finally asked. "I don't think they'd be very happy or comfortable to have me there."

"Ah..." Harry ruffled a hand through his hair sheepishly. "Well, I suppose I didn't ask yet, but I'm sure it'll be alright. I mean, I know..." he trailed off for a moment, before attempting again. "They love me, and you're important to me, so they'll be on their best behaviour, even if they don't like you. But I think you're selling yourself short — you've changed a lot, and they'll see that."

Draco looked doubtful. "I'm not sure where you get this optimism sometimes."

Harry smiled at him and reached out to link their pinkies, which Draco of a year ago probably would have scoffed at as something silly that only the most embarrassing of couples did, but now he found kind of cute. "Come on, it'll be fine. They'd never want to hurt someone I love."

"Oh." Draco blinked as he processed that completely. "Wait, you do?"

"Er...yeah? Am I not supposed to?"

"No!" Draco rushed to say. "Wait— No, I meant, that's fine. I ...do too?" For some reason it came out sounding like a question, and Draco put a hand over his face and muttered, "Fuck."

Harry started laughing.

After a second, Draco couldn't help but laugh a little bit too. "Sorry, sorry. I love you too. I don't know what—"

"It's okay," Harry said, still laughing. "I know it sounds awful to say, but I love actually getting to see you panic sometimes. Normally you're so...not."

"Yes, well, savour it. You're one of the dubiously lucky few, I suppose."

Harry brought their hands up, pinkies still entwined, and pressed a kiss to the back of Draco's. "I will." He let their hands drop. "So...you'll come, then?"

Draco paused, and then sighed. "Yes, alright. But only if you ask them about it first and they're fine about it. I don't want to become the holiday-wrecker too."

Harry smiled again and moved to hold his hand completely, giving it a brief squeeze, before letting go and reaching for the essay he had been working on. "Good."