Sorry this took so long. My life has been so busy and hectic. I switched colleges and am now living at home. I'm still not all moved in yet! I drew art for this story! There's a link to it on my homepage. Thanks so much for all the kind reviews. I really appreciate them! Annnndd I hope you like this chapter.
Chapter Four
Me and You, not "Us"
Harry Potter stood on the outskirts of Hogwarts. He gazed up at the huge school, the place he had grown to call home for many many years. It had been a place of sanctuary for him, a place filled with knowledge and friends… a place where he was adored by many, and hated by few.
The huge amount of emotions swirling around in his head made his stomach feel sick. There was fear, dread, sadness, excitement, anger…but most of all there was a nervous anticipation. Anticipation for what was to come. A new life, a different life, one he had not yet lived or dreamed of living.
He'd left no note, no clue of where he was going or if he was ever coming back. Those things would only make it harder to leave. What he wanted to do was leave without feeling an ounce of guilt. He wanted his heart to grow light, as though he didn't have a care in the world.
Draco was different.
He packed his things into a small bag quickly and slung it over his shoulder without a word. As they exited the school and headed towards the forest, Draco was silent. His pace was quick, and the day-dreaming and confused Harry could not keep up. He dawdled behind, taking more than a few glances behind him to watch as the school slowly faded into the distance.
It was cold outside but Draco liked the sting of the cool breeze on his skin.
"Potter, how good are you at apparating?" He called, glaring at the annoying boy who was some ways behind him.
"Umm pretty good I think." Draco rolled his eyes, "Why do you ask?" Harry ran to close the gap between them. The fact that he looked so energetic and excited was annoying to Draco. He was acting like a child. A very irritating child.
"What better way to put some distance between us and them?" Draco asked playfully and Harry smirked at the idea.
"Sure you want to do this?" Harry quicken his pace so he was ahead of Draco, then he turned and stopped, blocking the blond from walking any further. Draco seemed to grow more irritated.
"I don't see myself as having many other options, seeming as you've pretty much kidnapped me and forced me to do this." Harry almost laughed at that. Leave it to Draco to think asking someone to go somewhere with him was "kidnapping".
"Chin up. Haven't you always wanted ultimate freedom? The chance to do whatever you want?" The huge grin on Harry's face made Draco scowl. Why the fuck was he so happy?
"This is not ultimate freedom. This is running away."
"Oh shut up. Stop being so pessimistic."
"Only when you stop acting so stupid." Draco growled. He looked up at Harry's face and a shudder ran down his spine. The boy was smiling, a conniving grin spread across his face. The wicked look on his face was almost disturbing. He held out his arm.
"Take my arm, I know where we're going." Draco almost didn't trust him. It was hard to trust someone with such a huge grin on their face. He felt like a chicken about to venture into a fox's lair.
Then he was suddenly struck with an overwhelming feeling of remorse and terror. He realized that behind him he had absolutely nothing. As much as he wanted to make up an excuse to stay, there was no reason. No excuse. Nothing to keep him here. The idea of it made him feel sick. All his life his father had pushed him to become great, to own property, items, power, allegiances. And yet after all that pushing he didn't have one thing that could stop him from leaving. He didn't have one thing to be proud of.
When he thought of it like that, putting his trust in Harry Fucking Potter seemed like the only possible thing he could do. Maybe he couldn't have power…but maybe he could have…
His thoughts were interrupted as the world around him began to become shapeless and grotesque. The dark tree limbs in the sky above began to mold together, leaving his vision black. For a moment he could not tell whether or not he had closed his eyes and the world around him was spinning. He felt sick and dizzy.
Then there was a burst of color that left him breathless. The dark world exploded into one of grays, blues, yellows, and whites. The smell of salt bombarded his senses. And the sound of seagulls wailed in his ears.
Then it was over. The wave of confusion and nausea ceased and he was out in the open, smelling the ocean air. He had left a world of darkness and frustration to come to a place that was…beautiful.
The sky was a foggy, light gray color, and white seagulls flew all around, almost looking like little clouds in the gray tapestry. The ground was littered with white, clean sand that stretched for a few yards before fading into the crystal blue water. Dull, blue-gray waves crashed into the beach.
He looked over at Harry, and couldn't help but smile. This place was amazing.
"I love the beach." Harry stated simply. He dropped his bag and began taking off his shoes. Draco gave him a surprised look before doing the same. Even though it was well into the fall season the air felt slightly warm and the sand beneath his feet felt refreshing.
"I'll race you to the water." Harry challenged. Draco smirked.
"That is a bad idea Mr. Potter." And with that they raced forward. They kicked up sand as they ran, smiling and laughing. Harry reached the water's edge seconds before Draco did. Draco, being a sore loser, growled and shoved Harry down, making him crash into the water. He yelped in surprise.
Up to his ankles in water, with his bottom now extremely wet and cold, he looked up at Draco, and couldn't help but laugh.
"You're a bad sport!" He hollered and grabbed for Draco's pant leg in an attempt to trip the boy and make him fall into the water as well. What happened next was far from expected.
Draco didn't fall backwards like Harry had expected. Instead he lost his balance and fell forward, right on top of Harry Potter. For a second neither one of them spoke, both looking into the other's eyes with faces as red as a fire. Their bodies were pressed together, the smaller, thinner, blushing madly. He felt his heart pounding in his chest, and for some reason he couldn't breathe. Then he shook his head before quickly turning to roll off the other boy. Draco sat down in the water, and looked up at the sky. Silence followed.
"It's places like this that make me feel hopeful." Harry spoke, breaking the awkward silence, "They make me feel like there may still be some beauty and peace left in this world."
"Until someone comes along and crushes your precious peace." Draco frowned.
"You mean like when your dad got sentenced to Azkaban?" Harry saw a look of hurt on Draco's face when he mentioned Lucius. The blonde didn't look at him.
"Shut up. You don't know anything about that. You don't know what it's like."
"So what. I think I could come up with a pretty good idea of what it's like." Draco turned and glared at him, eye's filled with sadness. But they weren't the same eyes as Harry had seen before. Those had been filled with hate and agony. This time he just looked…sad. Truly and utterly…sad.
"Do you miss you father?" It was a stupid question. Draco sighed.
"I don't really want to talk about it." With that he sat up and began to walk back to the sandy shore. His feet made small, wet footprints in the white sand. Harry took one more look at the beautiful ocean ahead of him, and then turned to go after Draco.
"You know I'm all you have now. We might as well try to be friends." He stated as he tried his best to wring some of the water out of his pant legs. The cool water felt much worse when he was standing up tall and could feel the autumn air. Obviously upset, Draco bent down and grabbed the bag he had discarded earlier before continuing to walk in the opposite direction of Harry.
"You never said we had to be friends. That wasn't part of the agreement. I wanted to leave and you wanted to leave, so each of us did. There is no we." It was almost unbelievable, how unfriendly and downright rude Draco was. It was also extremely confusing. Just moments ago he had seemed happy, he'd been playful and smiling, and now he was storming off like a child about to throw a temper tantrum.
"Fine, no we. But don't leave." Draco closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was something about this boy that annoyed him to no end. Perhaps it was his undying optimism or the fact that he gave in so easily. Whatever it was, Draco found it hard to tolerate. "please." Draco hated that word so much.
He turned around to face the brunette, his arms folded over his chest and his lower lip in the form of a frown.
"Whatever." He hated giving in. He wanted to leave so badly. But Harry was right, and he didn't want to be alone anymore. Being alone made him feel upset, sad, and distraught, and it was those emotions that made him want to inflict pain on himself. Those were the emotions that he knew he couldn't handle, not without the sweet release of a knife.
But there was something about that stupid, idiot brunette that he couldn't help but like. For once in his life someone was giving him attention, in fact, they were giving him a lot of attention. He blamed his feelings on his unloving parents. They had turned him into some sort of attention whore. And he couldn't walk away from that bubbly amount of affection that Harry was offering.
Harry was light. He was happiness, excitement, energy, compassion, caring, and youth. Everything Draco had had so little experience with. Everything Draco had been told was forbidden. For he was darkness, and death, and those two could not mingle with light.
"I'll stay."
Hours later they were both sprawled out on the sand, looking up at the night's sky. Their bellies with full from the fish that they had caught earlier and the fire they had built crackled warmly between them. The dark sky above with filled with glittering stars. Both boys were content and enjoyed the silence and tranquility of the place.
"Harry, how can some place like this exist? I mean, a place so untouched by any war or violence…" Draco asked as he looked over at the boy who appeared to be asleep. Harry opened his ember-colored eyes and smiled. It was a warm, handsome smile.
"I'm not really sure. But I don't think war can ever ruin everything Draco Malfoy. Evil can't destroy everything, no matter how much it wants to." It was depressing how confident Harry was. Draco had only become a death eater a few months ago and he still wasn't sure of it all. He was a bit jealous that Harry could have so much faith in his side when he doubted if he even wanted to serve Lord Voldemort.
"Goodnight Malfoy." Harry yawned before turning on his side so that he wasn't facing Draco.
For some reason Draco found himself staring at the brunette as he slept. He gazed at his obviously strong, muscular back, and his curly brown hair. For some reason it made his heart hurt a little bit, and he winced. He hated Potter. That boy had caused countless amounts of torture for him. And yet, he was one of the few people that stayed with him…that seemed to care about him…
Annoyed, he rolled over and tried to go to sleep. That night he dreamt of his father rotting in Azkaban, and his mother crying when she learned that he had dropped out of Hogwarts.
He felt guilty.
Forth chapter done c: I hope it was worth the wait. I want to go to the beach so bad haha. And I think with both of them about to spend so much time together, it's inevitable that one will develop feelings for the other, but who will fall for the other first? And what will become of it? Keep reading to find out. I have much more planned for this story! Please review~ I love your reviews.