HP ficlet: A Fresh Start [Draco/Harry, general]
Title: A Fresh Start Author: celandineb Fandom: HP Pairing: Draco/Harry Rating: general Length: 857 words Summary: Harry's asked Draco to meet him. Note: For quill_it, 100.3, prompt 47, "curious". For aome, who wanted Harry/Draco for this prompt.
Harry waited, watching the door of the Leaky Cauldron, a glass of butterbeer on the table before him. He didn't know whether Draco would appear or not. The note he had sent had said merely, We need to meet, and named the time and place. He hoped Draco would be curious enough to come and find out what Harry wanted.
The minutes ticked by. It was now half past the hour and Harry had nearly decided to give up and go browse through the shops in Diagon Alley when Draco came in, glanced around the room, and approached Harry's table.
"You're late," said Harry, blurting the first thing that came to mind. "I thought you weren't coming."
Draco gave him a look that mingled bitterness and exasperation. "I'm under house arrest, Potter. The only reason I'm here is because it was you who asked. My gaolers made me drink truth serum and swear by my family's honour that I would come back before they gave me permission to leave, and even then I was not allowed to Apparate here on my own; I had an escort who brought me by Side-Along."
"I'm sorry," said Harry, startled. "Honestly, I didn't realise it would be so much trouble. Why are you under house arrest?"
"To make sure I don't flee the country before the Wizengamot can interrogate me and decide if I'm to be allowed to go free, or if I have to go to Azkaban." Draco shivered. "The hearing is scheduled for next week. But you didn't bring me here to talk about that, you didn't know... What did you ask me to come here for?"
"This." Harry brought out Draco's wand and placed it on the table between them.
Draco's fingers stretched longingly towards it, but otherwise he remained still. "What do you want for its return?"
"Nothing. It's yours, and I'm giving it back to you."
Slowly Draco reached for the wand, touched it. Some of the tension in his face smoothed out as his fingertips caressed the sleek wood. "It's mine, but it doesn't feel the same. What have you done to it?"
"Used it for a few spells, that's all," said Harry. "Nothing that would harm it, or you, now."
Draco pointed the wand at an empty glass sitting on the table. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The glass lifted up, circled Harry's head, and settled back down on the scarred wood.
"I guess it will still work for me, anyway," said Draco. He took a deep breath and added, "Thanks."
"Of course. Look, if you don't have to return immediately, would you like to stay and have a butterbeer with me? I'll buy; if you're under house arrest, I don't suppose they let you bring any money with you."
Draco hesitated so long that Harry thought he would refuse, but finally he nodded agreement. Harry went up to the bar and brought back two more butterbeers. Settling back down in his seat, he said, "I really didn't know that you weren't able to leave your house, or I would've gone there. I've been avoiding reading the Daily Prophet." He made a face.
"I would too." Draco took a deep gulp of his butterbeer. "Er. I suppose I ought to thank you for saving my life in the Room of Requirement... I never wanted that to happen."
"I didn't think so." Harry looked at Draco, remembering those terrifying moments when he thought the Fiendfyre would catch them. It had been terrifying, but exhilarating in a strange way, and there had been something else, too...
From the faint colour that stained Draco's cheeks, Harry suspected the same memory had crossed his mind as well. "I..." he floundered, not sure how to say what was suddenly on his mind. Instead he mumbled, "If you need to thank me, I need to apologise, for using that Sectumsempra curse on you. I didn't know what it would do, but that's no excuse. I'm sorry."
"It's all right." Draco shrugged. Then the corner of his mouth twitched upward. "Maybe we should call it all even, pretend we've never met before, and start over as if we were strangers? Hello, I'm Draco Malfoy."
"Harry Potter. That's not a bad idea, really." Harry grinned. "Although I was going to offer to be a character witness for you, if you wanted, and if I'd never seen you before that might be a bit difficult."
"True," Draco acknowledged. "But -- you'd speak for me?"
Harry nodded. "If you think it would do any good."
"You can't be that thick." Draco snorted. "Of course it would. So yes, that would be marvellous, and thank you."
"Maybe... maybe afterward, assuming that you're free, we could meet again, talk, get to actually know each other?" Harry felt shy about asking, but he didn't know if he would ever have a better opportunity. "Start from square one, as you suggested. Maybe..."
He couldn't quite articulate his hope that they could become friends, certainly not his feeling of attraction that was potentially more than just friendship.
"I'd like that." Draco lifted grey eyes to meet Harry's. "I'd like that very much."