Silver Seas

"I can't believe you dragged me here," Draco complained, wrapping the dark coat around himself tightly, trying unsuccessfully to expel the cold air surrounding his torso. "It's cold, Potter!"

"I know," Harry replied, making no move whatsoever to stand and escort his lover somewhere warmer.

Battling down the urge to sulk and whine, Draco's lips tightened as he squinted against a strong gust of wind, glaring angrily at Harry. He reminded Draco of a child, sitting on the wall, which had to be numbing certain areas, and kicking his heels lightly against the side. Draco wished he could snap at Harry for causing an annoying thudding sound, but the wind whipped it away so he couldn't actually hear anything other than the wind rushing past his ears. And Harry knew it.

Harry could be such an arrogant bastard, thinking he knew everything.

"Why don't you just cast a charm? You went to Hogwarts, surely you learnt how to take care of yourself."

Draco squinted even harder, wishing Harry would burst into flames and drift down in a dramatic ashy cloud to the raging sea below.

"You," Draco stressed, "woke me up at some ungodly hour and expected me to reply in full sentences. You then dressed me and dragged me down here without giving me time to think, let alone stop and tell you that I've known how to dress myself since the age of three. You also seem to have forgotten that I didn't have chance to find my wand after you threw it somewhere last night when room service arrived, worried that people would wonder what we were up to with 'some strange sticks'."

With an exaggerated roll of his eyes, Harry twisted around on the wall and tumbled off, a sudden gust of wind surprising him and making his descent even more inelegant than usual.

Draco smirked as Harry dusted off his hands, seeing through Harry's act of nonchalance as if it were a pane of glass. He hugged his arms closer around his ribs, wriggling his hands under his arms in an attempt to warm them. Hopefully Harry was going to take him back to the hotel now.

"I have a better idea, come with me."

Before Draco could blink, Harry had a firm grip on his hand again and was pulling him enthusiastically down the slope towards the beach. He tugged on his hand in vain, trying to avoid tripping over Harry's heels as he was held captive and led down the dull grey walkway. With a sharp turn to the right, Draco stifled a startled yelp and scowled, hissing harshly. Unfortunately, Harry didn't hear and he ignored Draco's resistance, tightening his grip each time Draco's hand slipped a little.

Draco's left hand felt icy cold and he realised with a start and a glare that Harry's hand was actually warming his right. That had to be cheating.

Glancing around, Draco looked up and realised that they were running parallel to the wall that they had been standing behind just moments ago. It seemed awfully high up and he promptly looked to his left. Only to find himself staring at another horrible drop down to wet and soggy rocks, with sickly looking lumps of seaweed clinging to them and looking like a bad hair day to beat all others.

Locking his gaze on the back of Harry's head, Draco scowled even harder. He had never had a problem with heights before, but surrounded by all this grey stone and the sound of waves smashing against rocks mere feet away from him, he didn't like his chances of falling. From either level leading down to the sea.

A few seconds later, Harry turned left and promptly stopped. Draco, who had been rubbing his forehead morosely as he felt a headache beginning because of all the scowling he had been doing, bumped into Harry's back. His elbow dug uncomfortably between Harry's spine and shoulder-blade, but Harry didn't seem to care.

With a sigh, Draco found himself pulled around to stand next to his lover. They were standing so close together they were almost sharing Harry's coat, and he felt some heat tickling through to his side. Folding his arms across his chest, Draco scowled at the horizon, determined to ignore the weak throbbing in his head in favour of showing his dislike for the situation.

"Come on, Draco," Harry cajoled, a little disheartened by Draco's vendetta against enjoying the seaside.

Tugging his uncooperative boyfriend in front of him, Harry wrapped his coat around Draco as best as he could and snaked his arms around his chest, ignoring the tense arms in his way as best as he could. Resting his chin on Draco's shoulder, Harry stared resolutely into the distance, watching Draco scowl in his peripheral vision. He knew what annoyed Draco most.

Slowly, Draco relaxed a little in Harry's arms, his body still tense and unyielding, yet swaying slightly with the wind. How could he stay so rigid when Harry's body was so warm against him, even through their layers of clothing? It was like Harry's body was so close to his that it had pushed out all the cold air sitting maliciously between his clothes and his skin, leaving only heat in its place.

Happy to see that Draco was relaxing a little, Harry glanced from the corner of his eye out to sea and saw that the sun had risen high enough in the sky for him to show Draco what all the fuss that morning had been about. Shifting a little on the spot, Harry slipped his hands down to settle around Draco's waist and smiled, his gaze fixed on the fresh blue sitting on the horizon.

"There's a reason I brought you here, you know. I've always wanted to sit by the sea and just," Harry shrugged, at a loss for words, "do what I want, I guess. Take all the time I want to watch the sea and relax. It's so calming. And the different colours are amazing. Every day is different, every wave is different."

Draco snorted, smirking slightly. "Gryffindors are such romantics. How many closets were you hiding in, Harry?"

Harry smiled, his gaze following a seemingly random pattern across the surface of the glistening water stretched out before them. "Too many. But I wanted you to be here with me. I wanted to share this with you. I want to share all the good times with you." He glanced at Draco and grinned. "God knows why. You're such a brat. And you complain about everything."

"But the Muggle way is so tedious," Draco sighed.

"And who says we have anywhere to rush to?" Harry asked, pausing a few seconds to let it sink in before he turned his attention back to the sea. "Anyway, when I was planning this holiday, I remembered a postcard I'd seen when I was younger. There was this gorgeous sunset with a few boats sitting there like shadows on the water."

He shook his head at his own poetic vocabulary. He didn't know where it came from half the time. Maybe Hermione and her passion for reading and the written word had rubbed off on him. "There were only about three left, and I really wanted one. But then I saw this other postcard next to it, with clear blue skies and the sea. Nothing else. Except, if you looked closely, there were these two strips of silver going from the horizon to the bottom of the photo.

"And you know what? It was the exact same colour as your eyes."

Daring to look at Draco again, after being so slushy and poetic about the colour of his lover's eyes, Harry was surprised to find that Draco's eyes were unfocussed and his face was void of any expression. He worried his lower lip, his brow creasing slightly as he wondered if he'd upset Draco with such a direct and romantic sentiment.

Turning his head slowly, as if in a daze, Draco stared at Harry, his eyes finally focussed, and blinked slowly.

"Did I say something wrong?" Harry asked, stuttering slightly.

"No," Draco replied absently.

"Then," Harry trailed off, uncertain.

"No," Draco repeated, his voice stronger. "It's just that no one's ever said anything like that before, that's all."

"Really?"

Draco shook his head a little. "The only time anyone ever looked into my eyes and said something like that, was when that random, sleazy barman said, "I could drown in your eyes"."

Harry blinked, surprised. "You mean no one's ever whispered sweet nothings into your ear?"

Draco shook his head again. "I'm not a romantic, Harry."

"I know, which is why I never say anything like that to you. I want to keep all my teeth 'till I'm old and grey," he said with a wry smile, hoping it would nudge Draco out of his strange mood.

Smiling weakly in return, Draco turned to face Harry, dropping his arms and wrapping them around Harry's waist, squeezing him reassuringly. "Well, it was ... sweet."

Harry laughed as Draco grimaced. "You don't have to say you liked it."

"You surprised me," Draco admitted, a roguish smile fixed firmly in place. "But I suggest you don't make a habit of it. You know how I feel about romance."

"Who needs romance?" Harry asked, still grinning happily. "Anyway, someone's got to keep people like you happy. Without a little bit of love, who knows what you'd do."

"We would probably all become rich and famous."

"Why?" Harry wrinkled his nose, confused. "Because you'd lock yourselves away and spend all day working?"

"Honestly, Harry," Draco corrected, heaving a long suffering sigh. "We'd have no distractions."

Not sure whether he wanted to punch Draco or laugh and let him get away with it, Harry compromised and pinched Draco's backside, laughing when Draco jumped and glared at him. Turning with a twinkle in his eyes and a grin on his face, Harry managed to slide out of Draco's embrace and twist around to run backwards a few paces, daring Draco to chase him.

With a haughty roll of his eyes, Draco huffed, looking to the heavens as if asking for the strength to suffer through Harry's childish playing, before lunging after him and grinning. Delighting in the laugh that escaped Harry's lips and rolled towards him on the wind, Draco took up Harry's dare and chased, a light flush warming his cheeks.

It was going to be a gloriously warm day.