October 6th: Bubbling
Day Six of the Drarry Halloween Fest @drarry-halloween-fest
Draco apparated into an alleyway before making his way into the restaurant. Steeping through the door, he searched the room for his long-term boyfriend. He quickly found the green-eyes man at a table in the far corner. Quickly, he set out to join him. Harry stood to greet him with a kiss before they sat across from each other. Today was their one-year anniversary and they were celebrating it at the restaurant of their first date.
Draco really liked Harry - loved him, even. Everything about him was perfect. He was in college to get a degree to teach, while Draco had started working for the ministry as a potion master. Not that Harry knew that, however. No, Harry thought Draco was studying medicine.
“Draco,” Harry started after the waiter cleared away their plates. He reached across the table to hold both of Draco’s hands in his own. “I’ve been thinking…”
“You’re not breaking up with me, are you?” Draco asked. He meant it as a joke, but his voice came out shaky anyways.
“God no,” Harry assured and Draco let out a relieved breath. “Our time together is always limited because of school and I was thinking about how we could change that,” Harry continued. Draco nodded to show he was listening and Harry went on, “I think we should move in together.” Draco dropped his hands as he thought about it, not seeing the crestfallen look that passed over Harry’s face. All the spells he uses to prepare tea in the mornings. All the cleaning spells he casts around the house. The spells he uses to do his hair. Could he give all of that up to be with Harry every day? His parents didn’t even know about his relationship. It was bad enough in his parent’s eyes that he was gay, but a gay muggle? They would never approve.
“…I’ll have to think about it,” Draco said at last.
“Oh,” Harry said, moving his hands to his lap. His eyes were cast downwards and Draco got the fear that he was about to start crying. He wished he could explain everything to Harry, but that wasn’t an option. However, that didn’t mean he had to upset Harry like this…
“Yes,” Draco said.
Harry looked up, a hopeful glint in his eyes and asked, “Yeah?” Draco nodded and the brightest smile took over his boyfriend’s face. He stood to share a passionate Draco.
It was great that they were moving forward in their relationship, but how was Draco going to hide his magic now?
It was a few weeks later when problems began to arise, one after the other.
First, his parents found out he was no longer staying in his own apartment. They had stopped by one day after he was supposed to be off work to find he was not there. When they confronted him at his office a couple days after, Draco couldn’t make up a good excuse. Naturally, his parents saw right through him. After pressing for what seemed like five hours, he gave in and told them he was staying with a friend for awhile. When they continued harassing him for more answers, he told them he needed to do some work to get them to leave him alone. His parents always put his work before anything, so they let it slide for the moment. Draco was sure they would bring up again and soon.
Then, Harry grew suspicious of how slowly Draco was moving his stuff. Draco insisted they didn’t move it all at once and instead take a few trips every once in a while. Harry took that to mean they would move it all within a week. However, Draco had only grabbed a few things every time he visited his old place. When Harry found this out (which wasn’t too difficult, considering), it had resulted in a small argument. Harry accused him of not wanting to move in. Draco pushed back, saying he was busy and tired with work. This made Harry offer to help - something Draco hadn’t let him do yet - and Draco refuse. The truth of the matter was that Draco wanted to keep his apartment, because it was the only place he could use his magic.
That brought Draco to his most pressing issue: his magic was being repressed more than at any other time in his life. With work and spending so much time with Harry, there was no time to cast even the simplest of spells. He could only go to his old apartment and scourgify a few things so many times without Harry growing wary. The suppressed magic was causing numerous problems. His anxiety levels were increased, his temperament was low and sometimes he would lose control. For the most part, only minor spells would erupt from these occurrences. He accidentally levitated a small stack of papers at work. Thankfully, no one was in his office at the time. One morning, he actually managed to scourgify the kitchen. Harry had been pleasantly surprised - and confused - by that one.
Draco worried the most about Harry’s presence. Not only would their relationship end if Harry figured him out, but he might be hurt in the process. Tensions were running high between the two of them because of the moving situation, and Draco feared his anger would result in exploding glass or something worse.
Unfortunately, these problems would all be faced at their head sooner than later.
Draco was coming home after a long day at work. He hadn’t been to his old apartment in a few days, which meant he already has a lot of built up magical tension. Work was full of problem after problem. First, the new inventory didn’t have any of the ingredients he ordered. Then, the Minister ordered him to identify a potion and produce the antitdote within two hours. After that, he was expected to finish off all the auror’s reports including potions he had consulted on. Basically, he had to fit a week’s worth of work into one day.
All in all, Draco only wanted to go home, take a shower and go to bed. But, Harry had different plans.
When Draco walked in, Harry immediately asked, “How was work at the hospital?”
“It was… fine,” Draco said while fighting - and failing - to stop his yawn. Harry crossed his arms and a fire grew in his eyes. Draco knew that wasn’t a good sign.
“My afternoon class was cancelled. You know, the one that I take while you’re on your lunch break? So, I thought I would surprise you with lunch. I could tell you’ve been stressed lately and I wanted to make you feel better. Jokes on me, because no one at the hospital has ever heard of you!” By the end of Harry’s tirade, his voice had raised to a yell, making Draco flinch.
“I can explain…” Draco tried to say, but Harry wouldn’t hear it.
“You lied to me!” He exclaimed. “All this time, I thought you were this person and it turns out, that’s not you at all. My entire life, I’ve been treated like shite and you came along and I thought, ‘Hey, this’ll be different,’ but it wasn’t. You’re just like everybody else!” Draco could feel his body start to shake, so he tried to calm his nerves. Now was not a good time to lose control.
“Harry, just listen to me,” Draco pleaded. Looking up, he could see the chandelier in the entrance hall start to move back and forth.
“Why should I listen to you, when all you’ve done is lie to me?” Harry asked. Draco tried to speak but Harry continued, “Where have you been all this time? If you weren’t at the hospital, where were you?”
The chandelier began to move more violently, so Draco moved past Harry to the end of the hall. As Harry followed him, he turned at the end and strode to the kitchen. Once in there, he could see that Harry made tea at one point but he never drank it; The full cup was sitting on the otherwise empty table. Despite the cup, nothing was out of place. The kettle was sitting on the stove, a bowl of fruit was on the island, and the counters were still spotless from Draco’s accidental spell cleaning.
“Harry…” Draco started. He watched the tea, his back to Harry.
“Why should I even listen to you? How do I know you’re not lying?” Harry accused, advancing towards Draco. Draco turned around quickly and took a few steps back. Glancing back at the tea, he saw it was bubbling in the cup.
“Harry it isn’t like that,” Draco said, begging Harry to believe him.
“What was it like, then? Harry asked. His anger was dissipating. Now, he only sounded tired.
“I-I…” Draco trailed off. “I can’t tell you,” he finished. The fire in Harry’s eyes came back as he threw his head back and groaned.
“You can’t tell me?” Harry asked hypothetically. “Unbelievable,” he added as a mumble. The tea began bubbling more violently as Draco’s heart rate increased impossibly more.
“It’s complicated,” Draco said.
“Is… is there someone else?” Harry asked.
“No!” Draco yelled. A look of relief and disbelieve passed over Harry’s face. The teacup was rattling now. Every part of Draco’s body was thrumming with energy and he couldn’t stop it. The light started to flicker. Harry looked up and before they could blink, both the teacup and light exploded. Harry and Draco crouched down and covered their faces as the glass spewed in different directions. Once everything was settled, their eyes met. Draco’s face paled.
“What the hell was that?” Harry asked. Draco shook his head, not meeting Harry’s eyes.
“…There’s something I need to tell you,” Draco nearly whispered.
An hour full of a lot of explanations, questions and some demonstration of his magic and Harry was more confused than ever. They had moved to the living room and were sitting on the couch. As one of his “demonstrations,” Draco had summoned some much needed brandy. After assuring that the magic didn’t poison the liquid, Harry had accepted two glasses.
“So, what do you do for a living again?” Harry repeated for at least the thirtieth time.
Draco sighed and said, “I make potions for the ministry, or the wizard government.” Harry nodded with an ashen look upon his face.
“What about your… family?” Harry asked.
“They’re all wizards. I come from a long line of wizards,” Draco said. Then, he added, “I’m a pureblood. Some people like me do whatever they can to keep the line ‘pure.’“
“Wh-what does that mean?” Harry questioned.
“It means that we tend to marry people with the same blood status. A lot of pureblood believe that magic should be kept between all-magic folk. Even I used to believe that, but not anymore. I learned a lot in the…” Draco trailed off before he finished.
“What about your parents? What do they think about ‘non-magic folk’? People like me?” Harry pushed.
“They’re not the type to let go of old traditions. But-”
“Jesus. My boyfriend of a year is a wizard with a wizard job and wizard parents. Wizard parents that wouldn’t even accept me,” Harry said more to himself than Draco.
“I love you?” Draco offered weakly, hoping with all hope that Harry would feel the same after all of this.
Harry stared at him blankly for a moment before sighing, “Bloody hell.” Draco’s last hope was crushed.
“I can move out, if that’s what you want. We can go on and pretend nothing ever happened,” Draco suggested. He was already standing to leave. Harry stood and grabbed his arms to stop him.
“Wait. I just need a little time to sort this out alright?” Harry said.
Draco nodded and replied, “I’ll give you as much time as you need.” He made to leave again, but Harry continued to hold him. After Draco sent him a questioning glance, Harry sighed.
“I don’t want you to leave. I would rather you stay as I try to understand this,” Harry said. Draco let out a sigh of relief as he nodded. There was a chance for them after all.
“I love you,” Harry said. They shared a sweet chaste kiss before Draco replied.
“I love you too.”
As unconventional as it was, the relationship continued to work and prosper through the prejudices and other obstacles. Love conquered all.
I’m not really sure what this is, but it’s hella late so I’m posting it. It came out longer than expected and I don’t really like the ending :/ Oh well, hopefully I can write up a storm soon and catch up on all of my writing. I’ve been feeling down, so positive comments would help a lot!