"Keep your eyes closed!" Draco hissed, plucking Harry's nose.

"We just apparated! Can I get my bearings before you start beating me around?" Harry whined, only half-heartedly.

"No, we're almost there." Draco sped his pace and approached someone with a voice Harry could vaguely place.

"Oh, great. You made it on time."

"Did you expect us to be tardy?"

"To be honest, I didn't think you were going to show up at all."

Draco rolled his eyes and pulled a still blinded Harry up the stairs and into the back of Flourish and Blotts, before forcing him to take a seat then sitting beside him.

"You can open your eyes now, love." At his request Harry slowly opened his eyes as if he were expecting a big loud affair.

"Why are we in Flourish & Blotts?" He asked while looking around and stopped when he saw a sign that read Harry Potter: Year 1, The Stone. "It's published," he said more than asked in awe.

"I told you it would be done by holiday break. Being that it's about you it may have gotten a bit more press than originally thought," said Draco with slight amusement as wizards and witches of all ages poured through the door and into the store. All of their eyes were on the pair in the front of the room. The face he noticed first was that of Hermione, rushing through the crowd to slam her hands on the table.

"Harry James Potter!" He shrank down in his seat and looked up at her.

"Hey 'Mione..."

"That's all you have to say? It's Christmas and I get 5 different floo calls saying you have an event for a book and everyone is saying its your true unaltered story. It was just released a few days ago and it's already a best seller!"

That seemed like news to Draco who didn't know whether to be proud or terrified.

"Draco wrote it. I'm just here for moral support." Harry tried reasoning to no avail.

"This Draco?" She screeched. "And it's supposed to be the true unaltered version?"

"Wow, and here I thought we were becoming friends, Granger," drawled Draco falling back into his old role.

"Draco, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just- we've known you for awhile- how am I supposed to believe you wouldn't paint yourself to be some victim? Why wouldn't you make yourself seem better to us than you really were?" He looked down at the table after she finished talking. But her gaze on him was stayed rude and unwavering.

"Because I promise I've hated myself more violently than you ever will." He looked into her eyes with a burning glare they hadn't seen in years. "I know what I've done. I have no reason to hide behind falsities. I was a terrible person to a lot of people, I probably still am, but I wouldn't do that to Harry. Not anymore. He deserves better." He stood up and turned away from the table heading back towards the back door.

"Dray? Wait, where are you- Draco?"

"I'm sorry, I can't do this. I'll see you at home, Harry."

"What the hell Hermione?" Harry hissed as people came closer to the table sensing no problems now that Draco had left.

"Harry I- Sorry...I didn't think-"

"That's a first." He crossed his arms while looking up at his best friend with a coldness he couldn't figure out the home of.

"I couldn't have imagined he would respond that way. I just-"

"Hermione," Harry huffed out a breath. "I know everybody is just putting up with him for me or for Scorp, but he is a great guy. He's funny and loving and self sacrificing to a fault- he just- he- I love him." Harry looked down as he spoke quietly. "I proposed."

Hermione gasped. "Harry I had no idea- I-"

"He said yes." he didn't allow himself a break between words. "He wanted me to be here. It was a surprise and I could tell he was nervous. His hands were shaking the entire way here," he chuckled, looking away with tears in his eyes. "I think what you did just proved his suspicions about what people thought of him. That even his friends think that way about him..." Harry looked back at her.

"Harry I didn't know," she pleaded, but he just stared at her unblinking with that angry crease between his brows.

"Do you know he rarely leaves the house? When we go on dates we usually go to muggle places: diners or ice cream parlors. He comes to visit me at work sometimes through the floo, but even that was mostly to finish the book. He just stays cooped up in there, because he doesn't want to disturb anyone else. He knows how they feel about him..." Harry shook his head. "I can't do this either. I have to make sure he's okay..."

"Where the hell did Draco go?" Asked that voice Harry thought was so familiar before.

"Zabini?" He asked looking over towards the handsome dark skinned man in front of him.

Blaise wore an all black Armani suit with a wizard robe thrown loosely over it. He had a gold tie that matched the underlying of his robe and called to the golden specks in his eyes. His hair had grown out over the years and was now a series of black and brown dreadlocks adorned with golden beads which he wore in a half up ponytail.

"Potter, where did your boyfriend go?" Asked Blaise checking his watch. "The signing starts in less than...6 minutes."

"Fiancé," Harry mumbled. "He left."

"What the fuck do you mean he left?"

"He left. Like he went home. Sorry." Harry shrugged sadly then turned on the spot and apparated back to Malfoy Manor.

Draco wasn't in the study or the library or bathroom or the bedroom. The house was too big to just continue to check random rooms so Harry stopped for a minute to think, before heading outside to the garden that stretched about half the entirety of the back yard. It was like a giant maze of flowers and bushes and trees, though they never seem to dwindle with the seasons. Harry did a tracking charm and it led him the the middle of the maze where Draco sat on the steps on the edge of a gazebo covered in roses and fairy lights.

"Romantic isn't it?" Draco asked kicking his feet and sending fallen rose petals into the air.

"I wouldn't know," Harry said sitting next to the blonde and laying his head on his shoulder. "Not really into romance. I prefer blokes with big pricks and bigger attitudes." Draco shoved him in the shoulder.

"I am romantic, you git." They laughed together for a bit before Harry spoke.

"Sorry about 'Mione."

"No, it's fine. I know how she feels now. I can't force her to change her opinions about me- about us." He scoffed. "And here I was thinking I could have friends. That I could have a relationship, a job!" He stood and started to walk away.

"Draco Malfoy don't you dare walk away from me."

"I'm sorry, Harry. I really thought we could get married and have this-" he motioned around them. "this family. It's clear I was wrong. I have enough information to finish the second book. You and Teddy should go back to Number 12. It'd be best if we didn't force this. Okay?" He slid off the new engagement ring and tossed it to Harry whose seeker reflexes stayed in tact.

"Dray, I love you. Doesn't that mean anything?" Harry was standing now with tears running down his face. His grip on the ring was tight as he continued to hold it out for Draco to take back as if he'd just dropped it and not thrown it away.

"It means everything, Harry, but I love you too and that means I have to let you know when you deserve better." After that he really did walk away. "I'll drop Teddy off when he and Scorp get back. You should go."

Harry loved him. So he did.

~~~<~>~~~

Sad chapter
sorry

It was going to be fluffy I swear!

dammit 'mione

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or my book of Drarry One Shots

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hope you enjoyed

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-- angel janeé xoxo 💋