Harry waited for Draco after potions class, pretending he needed to talk to Snape. It was the last class of the day and students rushed out of the day, all except Draco who was the last person done with his potion that day. Harry found that odd, considering Draco usually finished his potion the same time as Hermione.
After hearing Snape rush him to get a move on and leave, Draco walked angrily through the door. He noticed Harry standing by the door way and his anger faded into a tired smile. Harry noticed his hair and clothes were more disheveled then his usually tidy appearance.
"Oh, hello." Draco straightened his tie a bit. "You waited for me."
"Yeah, I wanted to know if you'd like to hang out." Harry pushed up his glasses. He felt awkward, and his face was red.
"...Sure..." Draco hesitated. "But not anywhere where people can see us... I don't want people knowing we're friends."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, of course."
"Was there any place in particular you wanted to go?"
"Hmm, what about that twisty tree by the lake?" Harry suggested. Draco smiled with a nod. No one really went near the tree, as it was in a secluded part of the grounds and not many people knew about it.
"Alright. I'll meet you there. I don't want anyone seeing us walking together in the hallways, because, well you know..." Draco shuffled his feet.
They met by the tree ten minutes later. It was still pretty early in the afternoon, as classes had lasted shorter then expected for some unknown reason. The schedules had been a bit weird this year, and classes went on shorter then expected some days, and longer other day. Harry suspected it was Umbridge's doing.
Harry and Draco sat side by side, leaning on the trunk of the tree looking out at the beautiful water of the lake. Sometimes the squid would pop out from the surface, and Harry would point it out to Draco with a smile. They talked about many different things, from classes to hobbies.
Draco apparently liked to read a lot, which didn't really surprise Harry considering Draco was a very scholarly-type person. He was top of his classes, second to only Hermione. But he also liked the fact that Draco liked to draw.
"I didn't really have much time to draw, with school and all, but when I do, I consider it therapeutic almost; it helps calm me down. I like only focusing on one thing for hours continuously and having something nice to look at come out of it."
Harry couldn't draw for the life of him, and when he tried he always ended up getting frustrated and crumpling his drawings up. He didn't really like anything he made, because whenever he brought projects, crafts, and art to the Dursley's from school, they'd always tell him whatever he made was terrible and throw it out.
Harry was curious to see what Draco drew, though. If someone spends hours on doing something, then it's worth being seen.
"I do have some drawings in my bag... this year I've had much more time to draw because I don't really care about school much anymore." He pulled out a sketch book from his bag, and opened it to show Harry.
The drawings inside were beautiful, but most of them were really sad. Harry was extremely impressed with them, though. All of the drawings moved on the pages. The first few drawings moved only in small, repetitive motions, but the farther in the sketch book Draco went, the more intricate the art's movement seemed to be.
"That's beautiful..." Harry said in awe. Draco gave Harry a slight crooked smile.
"Thank you. I've never shared my art with many people. I don't really trust many people...Now that I think about it, you're one of the only people I trust..." Draco told him. He closed his book and returned it to his bag.
Harry didn't know how to reply to that. Harry had so many people he could trust now, and Draco barely had any. Harry had never really considered that. He felt honoured that he was one of the few people Draco could trust now. He remembered when he used to go to muggle school, he had no friends, because Dudley bullied everyone, and no one wanted to get onto Dudley's bad side, befriending the scraggly boy Dudley didn't like. Harry thought Draco probably felt similarly all his life. Bullied by his father, unable to keep any real friends.
"Do you think it hurts." Draco asked him.
Harry looked up at him. "Do I think what hurts?"
"Dying." Draco replied. His expression wasn't sad. It was more concerned. Harry was taken aback by the question. He'd never really thought about it. He knew why Draco asked him. He was afraid.
"I-I dunno" Harry ran his fingers through his unruly hair. " It depends, I reckon."
"Hmm." Draco looked down. "I think maybe this particular curse makes it seem painful. But I think when I get there, it won't hurt. I think it'd be more of a relief."
"I'll miss you." Harry said. Draco gave a small, sad chuckle.
"Thanks." He said. " I can't believe that out of something so bad formed something so good and unexpected."
"What's that?"
"Well I got a friend out of all of this and I've never had one of those before, so that's quite exciting for me, if I'm being honest. I just wish it could last longer. But no point on lingering on that. Gotta focus on the time I do have. I've gotta live." He stared up at the winding branches of the tree.
"Do you have a bucket list?" Harry asked him.
"A what?" He asked him. It occurred to Harry that bucket lists were probably only popular with Muggles.
"Oh, its a list of things you want to do before you die. You write it down and try to accomplish everything you wrote down while you still can." Harry explained.
"Oh." Draco said thoughtfully, "Interesting. Can you help me write one?"
"Er okay... I'm not sure what I'd be able to help with though, I mean it'd be you're list." Harry told him.
"One moment." He said before grabbing his bag and searching through it. He pulled out a quill, ink, and a note book and flipped to a blank page. He wrote "Bucket List." At the top of it. Harry found himself wishing he could have the ability to write as neatly as he did.
Draco began silently writing into the journal, leaning in close to the page in concentration. Harry sat there awkwardly because he couldn't see what Draco was writing and didn't want to be nosy by looking over his shoulder.
Draco finally finished what he was writing, and rest his quill in the ink jar. Harry was surprised when Draco handed it over to show him the list.
Bucket List
1. Become happy with who I am
2. Learn to love
3. Stand up to my father
4. Apologize to everyone
5. Paint a mural
6. Learn to be kind
7. Do something Brave
8. Learn to Forgive
9.
"I'm not sure what else I want to write..." Draco tapped his thumb on his knee. "I have nothing else major that I want to do with my life that I can do."
"Well, things you write on a bucket list don't have to be big. They can be as small as, say, 'drinking fire whiskey' or 'stargazing'" Harry informed him.
"Oh!" Draco exclaimed and began writing again. After he finished he showed the list to Harry again.
9. Stargaze
10. Pull one prank on each teacher
11. Smuggle alcohol into the Slytherin common room at least once
12. Smuggle a person into the Slytherin Common room at least once
12. See the other house common rooms
13. Earn 150 points for Slytherin in one go
14. Get a tattoo
15. Kiss someone who isn't Pansy Parkinson
16. Pet the Giant Squid
17. Compliment one person from each house
18. Pull the ultimate prank on Umbridge
19. Dress in drag at least once
20. Eat an entire box of Bertie Bot's Every-Flavoured Beans
Harry laughed as he read through the list.
"You've kissed Pansy Parkinson?" He smirked. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Yes and I've regretted it. I mean, you've seen how she acts around me. I've presented no interest in her, yet she clings to me like a bug, even though I clearly am annoyed by it. But, I thought, why not give it a go? Yeah? Well, after that I just need to know if kissing is supposed to feel that gross or if it was just her."
Harry laughed. "I can understand that."
He finished reading the list and ended it back to Draco.
" That's a good list - and if you keep thinking of things to add, keep adding. If you do something on the list, cross it off. And if you end up not achieving some of the things on the list, then that's alright cause not everyone achieve what they want to in life and that's okay."
Draco chuckled. "You know, its so strange talking about my own death like this. Usually people think of it as a solemn thing, death. But here we are, laughing because of a list of things I want to do before I die. I'm going to die." Draco laughed and leaned back into the trunk of the tree.
"I'm going to die and I'm okay with that. I'm just happy I get to go out and live before I do. There's so many wizards who live to be over 100 years old and they end up doing nothing with their lives. Yet here I am, signed up for an unavoidable teenage death, and I'm setting out to do everything. I accept I am going to die, like everyone else will. The only difference is that my date is sooner. And it knowing it makes me finally ready to live."
Harry put his words into consideration. " I think everyone has a chance in their lives to live. I just don't think alot of people take it. Or understand it. People put off things they want to do for so long, until it's too late " Harry replied thoughtfully. " I think of takes understanding that there's no point to putting things off. You just have to do it."
Draco nodded, a smile on his face and looked out into the lake. Harry knew they should head back to the castle as the sun was beginning to set, yet he didn't want to. He just wanted to stay with with Draco. But then he remembered that his invisibility cloak was still in the common room, and it'd be more trouble then what it was worth to try and sneak around the school after curfew.
He and Draco headed back to the school, talking with each other nonstop until they had to part ways. Harry enjoyed Draco's company a lot. He found Draco to be easy to talk to now, and enjoyed the conversations he had with him.
Harry was conflicted on how to feel about the curse now. Because, Draco was going to die because of it. Because of him, and Harry absolutely despised that. He was angry, frustrated, and upset about it. But at the same time, he never would've formed a relationship with Draco if it weren't for the curse. Never would've been able to understand his point of view, his pain.
He didn't want to be glad about the curse. He wasn't. But the questioning of his own morality lingered in his mind. Did it make him a bad person to be glad he was close with Draco now, even though it was the result of a terrible curse?