"What's wrong?" Blaise asked Draco as they sat in the great hall. Draco stabbed at his vegetables with his fork.

"Two things," He said, mouth full of food. He swallowed and continued in a low voice. "One - the worried looks Harry keeps giving me. Two - I still haven't decided what to get him for Valentine's day, and I only have tomorrow."

"Get him chocolate," Blaise shrugged. "Everyone likes chocolate."

"Maybe, but getting his something as simple of chocolate is like saying 'fuck you', you know? It's such a normal gift, there's no thoughtfulness."

"You'll think of something. It's a Hogsmeade weekend, we'll go window shopping while he's with Chang." Blaise sipped his tea. He always had tea after dinner, never dessert. "On the subject of her, why are you okay with your man going on a date with someone else? A girl, at that."

"Because it's going to be incredibly awkward, and she won't want another date. It solves the problem."

"Did he come up with that?"

"No, me. Why?"

"It's very Slytherin, I would have been surprised if it had been him." Blaise looked over at the Gryffindor table, where Harry was chatting earnestly with Ron. "Why do you think he's giving you funny looks?"

Draco sighed. "We were hanging out the other day and I dozed off. Had a bad dream."

"About your..?" Blaise gestured.

"Yeah." Draco nodded. Then sighed. "He thinks that love solves all the problems, that he can make it go away. And I wish he could. But that's not how life works." They shared a look, Blaise's normally cool face betraying worry. "He's a Gryffindor. He wants to burst in, sweep me off my feet, and slay the dragon before riding off into the sunset. And it hurts him that there's nothing he can do." Draco looked around, realising where they were. "Look, we should talk about this later, not here."

"Okay." Blaise nodded and changed the subject. "So, did I tell you what Vincent asked me earlier?"

"What?"

"Whether a cucumber was a fruit or... 'that other thing'." They both started to laugh, and the tension dissipated.

Later, they sat together in their favourite spot by the fire, the other Slytherins having eventually retreated to their respective dorms.

"About... what we were saying earlier," Blaise began as the last first years trickled out of the common room. "It came as a shock to me too when I realised just how bad it was. Maybe he just needs some time to get used to it."

Draco nodded. "It'll get better. I just wish that he wouldn't talk about things the way he does. It just makes me sadder when he tries to be all optimistic."

"Why?"

Draco shook his head. "It's hard to put into words. It's just that..." He thought. "It makes me sad when he's optimistic because it will hurt him more when he realises that he can't save me. And it makes me sad because it makes me think about my future. We can't afford optimism - it just makes the truth hurt more."

"What if he's right, though?" Blaise asked, leaning forward in his chair. "He might be able to do something-"

"No!" Draco swiped the air with his hand. "It's useless to think like that. I've accepted what my life will be, it's time that you did too."

Neither spoke for a long time. The fire, tinted green, crackled happily into the awkward silence.

"You know," Blaise eventually started, then paused. Finally, he spoke. "Look. Slytherin isn't the warmest house, and I know that a lot of the time friendships aren't really friendships here." He appeared to search for the right words. "I just want you to know that you're my best friend. And I don't mean that in a Slytherin way. I mean it in a Hufflepuff way."

Draco looked at Blaise in surprise, turning a little red. They never said this sort of stuff. He swallowed. "Thanks for standing by me and being okay with me being who I am, and for being my best friend. I don't know where I'd be without you."

Silence hung between them for a moment. Then Blaise loudly cleared his throat. "...Anyway,"

Draco grinned.

0o0oHarry0o0o

"They get closer to catching us every time!" Harry said as Draco stepped into the Guest Room.

"Well, hello to you too," Draco laughed. "I am trying to stop them, but there's only so much I can do. And did you have to have a DA meeting today? I wanted to see you, not pretend to hate you. And wasn't it awkward with Chang there?"

"She didn't come, I think I upset her a bit on our 'date'," Harry came over to Draco and kissed him. "Hi, by the way,"

"So, you get me something nice?" Draco asked as they sat down together on the sofa.

"No, of course not." Harry said, seriously, "We weren't going to do that."

"...What?" Draco looked abashed. Harry laughed.

"Relax, Draco. 'Course I got you something."

"Why do I bother?" Draco shook his head as Harry pulled a wrapped present out of his bag. He hadn't been sure what to get Draco, but while he and Hermione had window shopped they had come across some things he hoped would do.

"There you go," He said, passing it to Draco. "I tried really hard to wrap it nicely for you."

"Aw, thanks Harry," Draco said smilingly as he carefully picked open the spellotaped parcel. "Brushes!"

"See, I saw all these enchanted brushes in the art shop," Harry explained, "But in the end, I don't think you need enchantments to help you with art, so I just got you nice non-magic ones. The label said they were badger haired. I hope they're good, I don't know much about art..."

"They're lovely!" Draco threw his arms around Harry. "Thank you!"

"There's another one, too," Harry nodded at the parcel. Draco looked inside and found a small white tube.

"I know you like your hands to be nice," Harry smiled. "And this hand cream looked really good. It's meant to have charmed ingredients, though I don't know what difference that makes. I'm not a hand cream kind of guy myself. But I hoped... yeah."

Draco undid the lid on the tube and sniffed. "It smells delicious!" He exclaimed. "Thank you. They're wonderful. And I'll be using them all the time."

"That's what I hoped," Harry smiled, kissing Draco's head.

"Yours now!" Draco exclaimed, diving into his satchel and retrieving Harry's present, which was immaculately wrapped in silver paper.

"How do you make it so neat?" Asked Harry, and Draco leant closer, adopting a conspiratorial whisper.

"The secret is to get the shop assistant to do it for you."

"Ah, of course!" Harry laughed. "Shame it doesn't last." Ripping the present open, he grinned at the contents. "Hey, this is exactly what I was planning to get myself!"

"I'm just a genius," Draco shrugged, "I can't help it."

Draco had got him a beautiful shaving kit - the exact one that Harry had thought about buying while out with Hermione that day. Draco put his head on Harry's shoulder. "So you like it?"

"Love it," Harry grinned at him. "Thank you."

"It was really in my own interest," Draco smiled. "I didn't want to be kissing any sort of stubble."

"How Slytherin of you," Harry laughed. He looked out of the underwater window. The light of the setting sun came through the water of the lake in greenish rays, making the room look ethereal. "You remember the first time we kissed?" He asked, almost without meaning too.

"Yeah," Draco smiled. "God, it's been ages now, hasn't it?"

"A year and a half, give or take?" Harry thought aloud. "I wish we knew the exact date, so we could have an anniversary."

"I don't know when our first kiss was, but I apologised to you on the twenty-seventh of February last year," Draco said. "So it's been thirteen days under a year."

"Wow, you remember that?" Harry gaped. Draco shrugged.

"It was important. I totally forgot to think about our anniversary. But we can do something if you want?"

"You know what I want to do?" Harry asked, then continued without waiting for an answer. "I want for us to walk into Hogsmeade holding hands, and I take you to honeydukes. We splurge on sweets, then head around all the different shops together, in public, without being scared, before heading back to the Hogshead for butterbeer and some proper food. And I kiss you all I want without being scared of someone seeing us, and I'm allowed to be in love with you. That's what I want to do."

Draco looked at him sadly, and Harry sighed. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Draco placed a hand on Harry's face. "I'm happy that I'm here, with you. I don't need anything else."

Covering Draco's hand with his own, Harry closed his eyes and tried to feel the same way. Then he smiled. "Let's not get sad," He grinned, kissing Draco. "We've got all this time to ourselves."

"Oh no," Draco smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Whatever will we do to fill it?"