19 Years (HP - Drarry)

Chapter 28: The Library

I added dates at the top of each chapter. I also created an associated Hogwarts calendar (Hogsmeade days, holidays, Quidditch matches, and chapters (number only, so no spoilers)) that I will update as each chapter posts. You can find it on my tumblr, here: http://whimsicaldragonette.tumblr.com/19years

Sunday, October 15, 2017

The next time, Draco didn't even make in through the doors of the Great Hall before Harry caught him.

"Malfoy! Oi! Malfoy!" Harry yelled, bounding up beside him like an overexcite-able puppy with a bright grin and a picnic basket once again slung over one arm.

Draco rolled his eyes and sighed. "Again, Potter?" Secretly, though, he was delighted, and he suspected his face was not quite as standoffish as he might hope.

"I thought we could go to the library today," Harry said, jumping into a conversation Draco wasn't entirely sure he was ready for this early in the morning.

"At least let me grab a coffee, first," he pleaded, gazing longingly at the steaming cup that beckoned from his place at the head table. It was a vile drink, coffee - Astoria had introduced him to it, on one of their jaunts to the continent, and now he couldn't imagine starting his day without it.

Harry rummaged in the basket for a second, then tossed him a thermos. "One sugar. Dash of cream. Will that do?"

Draco opened the lid cautiously, avoiding the puff of fragrant steam that escaped, and then stuck his nose in, breathing in appreciatively. "Mmm. Yes. That's perfect." He looked up, frowning. "Hang on. How did you know how I take my coffee? Actually, how did you know I drink coffee in the morning at all?"

Harry shifted nervously from foot to foot. "Er, observation?"

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Potter. I have heard you called many things in my life - have called you most of them myself, in fact - and observant has never been one of them."

"Hey! I am, sometimes."

"Really? Come now, Potter. Surely you can't expect me to believe that."

"Well... OK... mostly about you. But I really am observant sometimes. It's just that most of the things people expect you to be observant about don't really interest me, I guess."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "And I do?"

"Er." Harry frowned. "Just... come on."

Draco sighed and followed Harry away from the Great Hall, after one last longing glance at the doors. "You do know," he said, after a few moments of walking in silence, "that there's no food allowed in the library?" He eyed the picnic basket hanging - quite conspicuously - over Harry's arm.

Harry turned to grin at him. "Oh, you know me. I like to live dangerously."

Draco snagged a candle from the nearest sconce and hurled it at the back of his head. Of course he caught it. Bloody seeker reflexes.

Harry stuck out his tongue, but the effect was ruined when Draco had to snag his sleeve to yank him back from the suit of armor he was about to crash into.

"Honestly, Potter," he drawled, shaking his head, "you're a bloody menace."

---

Some three-quarters of an hour later found them comfortably ensconced in a secluded table at the back of the library, the early morning light streaming through the narrow window behind them and lighting up the stacks of books that littered their table. Dust motes danced in the air around them, kicked up as they leafed through books and jotted notes. The picnic basket was stashed on the floor beneath their chairs, and they both reached down occasionally to sneak a stealthy bite. It all felt very covert and illicit, and Draco was surprised to find himself loving every minute.