#drarropoly

~*~*~

~As Venus leaves retrograde, you may find yourself seeing recent events more clearly. Express your gratitude for your friends and family. Put time aside to rejuvenate yourself.~

Harry ripped the paper in half, casting an incendio on the spot. “Like bloody hell.”

Draco looked over from his desk, and Harry scowled at him. Draco merely rolled his eyes. “What is it, Potter? I’m trying to finish the paperwork you left for me to do.”

Harry wanted to shove him for using his surname again. “The bloody horoscope says that I need help and am impatient.”

He watched as an eyebrow rose delicately up Draco’s face. “And you think that is inept, how?” he asked, eyes boring into Harry’s.

Harry ducked his head, rubbing at the back of his neck. “It… isn’t, exactly. I just-- The timing of it is so wild.”

Draco made a tutting sound at him, and Harry listened as the scratching of his quill started up again. “They exist for a reason, Harry. No one would read them if they weren’t accurate.”

“I know. I do. It’s just… we got that new assignment for this afternoon and, I don’t know.” 

“What did the rest of it say, then?” Draco asked, eyes still on his paperwork even as Harry looked over at him. 

“Something or other about being grateful to my friends,” Harry grumbled, pushing his cup around with his quill. 

Draco tried to cover a laugh, smothering it in his elbow. “Well? Where’s my thank you?”

Harry scowled. “Who says you’re getting one?”

“The fact that I’m doing your share of the paperwork, as usual, and you’re sitting on your arse doing nothing,” Draco said, his quill moving over parchment again. 

Harry bit his lip, teeth sinking into the flesh. He sighed. “Thank you, Draco.” A pause. “I guess.”

Draco grinned. “There we go. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

~*~*~

Harry was not feeling it. His brain just couldn’t seem to shut up. Yesterday’s horoscope had said something about today being tough, but Harry hadn’t actually expected it to be true. Not to the extent it was.

Their case had failed. Gone entirely up in smoke. And a hostage had been injured. 

Draco wasn’t much better than Harry, but was of course trying to hide just how affected he was. “It’s okay Harry. They’re still alive, and they’re in the right place to heal. It will only be a few days,” he said, struggling to reassure Harry. 

“I know. But it’s not just that! We lost the lead, Draco. And they know we’re investigating. It’s been months, and now we’re back to square one.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, groaning in frustration. 

Draco nudged his shoulder into Harry’s, and Harry glanced back up at him. His hair was a mess, blond strands flying in every direction. Some were charred, turning black from the explosion. At least his face was unharmed, the grazes limited to his hands. His hands, one of which was holding out a piece of paper for Harry. 

He took it, and unfolded it to find a new entry in Moonstone. ~Today may be challenging, but it is important to remember the positives too. You might want to talk to a friend you find comfort from.~

Harry shook his head. “How does ThePurebloodPrince always know? It feels like he’s actually present in my life, watching from a distance as everything falls apart.”

Draco reached for Harry, his hand landing on his hip. The curl of his fingers against Harry’s waist sent his heart racing, but Harry didn’t move; couldn’t move. He closed the distance between them, pulling Draco into a hug. His head fell into Draco’s shoulder, for once glad of Draco’s slight height advantage. 

After a moment, Draco began rubbing his back. His hands pressed circles and long strokes into his skin, and Harry found himself relaxing despite his overactive brain hurrying to process everything. Like the fact Draco smelled of smoke and cinnamon. 

“We’ll be okay, Harry. There’s always tomorrow.”

~*~*~

It wasn’t long until ThePurebloodPrince struck again, and this time Harry was not having it. 

“How the fuck does he know about that?!” he asked, storming around the joint desks to slam the newspaper onto Draco’s work space. 

Draco sighed, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. “For the hundredth time, Harry, the horoscopes are targeted to everyone and not just you. He doesn’t necessarily know anything.”

Harry shook his head, trying not to think about how close and touchable Draco was. “I know, it’s just… how could a stranger possibly know I stumbled through the Floo drunk last night?”

He watched Draco bite his lip, clearly trying not to laugh and ruin his composure. “Maybe there’s a bug in your room and it was leaked?”

“Okay, that’s a stretch, even for you,” Harry huffed. “How do you even know what a bug is anyway?”

“We’re aurors Harry, it’s literally my job.”

Harry glared, not wanting to admit defeat but unsure how to continue. The words of the new Moonstone horoscope jumped out at him, and he barely restrained himself from Vanishing the paper and the entire desk. 

~So, you drunkenly stumbled through the Floo, and knocked off the only photo you have of your great aunt. Today is the day for wild adventures, confess your love to someone special.~

“Even you have to admit that it’s oddly specific, not to mention stupid, Draco. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were the one to write it! You’re the only one I told about last night.” 

Draco ducked his head, his hand beginning to move across his parchment again. “Don’t be ridiculous Harry. I enjoy reading them, but I wouldn’t betray your trust like that.”

Harry scoffed. “You would if it benefitted you.” As Draco’s face fell, he quickly added, “With all good intentions, of course.” 

He watched Draco carefully place his quill back down, take a breath, and look back at Harry. “And what would I hope to gain from that horoscope?”

“I don’t know, maybe you want me to confess some secret love for you.” 

The moment Harry said it, he felt his blood rushing to his cheeks. Mistake, abort abort abort. He couldn’t ignore how the idea of that warmed him to his soul--how it made his heart race and his arms long to feel Draco inside them; hadn’t for a long time. When he gained the confidence to glance back at Draco, he found him staring at him, jaw slack. 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Draco murmured, and Harry swore there was something hidden underneath those words. 

~*~*~

The next time one of ThePurebloodPrince’s horoscopes landed on Harry’s desk, he didn’t even bother looking at it. He opened the new edition of Moonstone to the usual page, ripped it clean out of the newspaper, and Vanished it. Draco watched him while he did it, his eyes boring into Harry’s back. 

“You didn’t even read it,” he said, surprise evident in the way his gaze didn’t falter from Harry’s. 

“I’ve given up on it. I’m sick of reading things that so closely parallel my own life, and having everyone make fun of me. I don’t need horoscopes written by some stranger to dictate how I live my life.” Okay, that wasn’t exactly true, but Harry didn’t want to admit how void his life felt without ThePurebloodPrince’s knowledgeable insights every day. 

Draco sighed, pushing his chair back and standing up. Harry watched as he crossed the room and perched on the side of Harry’s desk, getting comfortable. “I would have liked to see you read that one.”

It took Harry a second, but when he realised the implication of that statement, he rose an eyebrow. “You know what it says?”

Draco nodded, eyes suddenly looking anywhere but Harry. 

“How?”

Draco ducked his head, his voice as he said, “I wrote it.”

Harry froze. “You what?”

“I wrote it. Just like yesterday’s, and the one before that. I’m ThePurebloodPrince, Harry. I’m sorry,” Draco murmured. His neck was turning red, his eyes on the floor. Tension was written in every line of his body, now sitting stiffly on Harry’s desk. 

When Harry didn’t say anything, unable to process what he was being told, Draco slid down and moved towards their office door. He looked miserable, and the sight of him pressing his mouth into a line is what kicked Harry into action. 

“Draco, wait!” he called, rushing to move after him.

Harry’s hand circled Draco’s wrist, his fingers wrapping the whole way around. When Draco didn’t react, standing stock still before the door, Harry gathered the courage to turn him back around. Heart in his throat, pulse roaring in his ears, Harry met his gaze.

Draco’s normally stunning, icy silver eyes were swimming with doubt and regret. His shoulders were tight, his neck held stiffly in place. Harry swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. 

“There’s nothing to apologise for, Draco.”

“I shouldn’t have-”

“No, listen to me. It’s all right. I don’t care. It makes a lot of sense, actually.” Harry took a second to breathe, relaxing his grip on Draco. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to, I swear! Once I started hiding it though, it became harder to bring it up. I shouldn’t have written the things I did, Harry. It was an invasion of privacy-”

Harry tightened his hold again, pulling Draco towards him. “Those things you wrote… did you mean them?”

Draco scowled. “You’re going to have to be more specific. I’ve written many things for Moonstone.”

“You know what I mean,” Harry all but growled, barely resisting the urge to lean in closer. “The- the love things.”

He felt Draco tense again, every muscle in his body seemingly locking into place. His mouth stayed stubbornly shut. 

“Because I want you to have meant them,” Harry whispered, his fingers tingling with nerves. “I- I like you, Draco.”

Draco gasped, his eyes widening the smallest amount. Then his face shuttered again, his expression closing off. “I don’t need you ridiculing me, Potter. I know perfectly well that you could never feel that way about me.”

“You’ve been flirting with me through horoscopes for months Draco! And I’ve been flirting back! Surely you must know.”

“You were not flirting back, Potter. Let me go.” He accentuated the demand with a swift tug of his wrist. 

Harry glared. “It’s Harry.”

Draco glared right back. 

“I’m being honest, Draco. Remember, back when Venus was going into its shadow period of retrograde? That horoscope mentioned something about a new love interest… was that when you started to like me?”

Draco sighed, his body relaxing infinitesimally. “No. That was when I began feeling brave enough to express it.”

Harry’s heart dropped out of his chest. The pins and needles spread from his fingertips up into his hands. “Serious?”

He nodded, taking a tiny step towards Harry. “Serious.”

Harry swallowed, his tongue darting out to lick his dry lips. “I’ve liked you for so long, Draco.”

“What are you going to do about it, then?”

Harry surged forwards, closing the gap between them in a second. His hand moved from Draco’s wrist to his waist, his other sliding into Draco’s hair as their lips met. The kiss started out soft, lovely, but very quickly heated up. Draco tugged on Harry’s hair, his tongue sliding into Harry’s mouth when his jaw dropped open on a gasp. 

The kiss was messy but perfect, and when he pulled away, gasping for breath, he reveled in the sight of Draco. His hair was a wreck from Harry’s fingers in it, his lips pink and swollen. He looked perfect. 

Just like the horoscopes always were.

~*~*~

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