Coming Back To You

"I looked for you in everyone
But they called me on that too
I lived alone but I was only
Coming back to you"

~~Jennifer Warnes, "Coming Back to You"

"It was nice to meet you, Mark."

"You too, Pansy. I'll see you later, right, Draco?"

"Tomorrow."

"Great. Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight."

The door closes and Pansy sighs.

"Draco, just apologize to him already."

I frown. "But I haven't done anything to Mark."

Pansy rolls her eyes. "Not to Mark, you prat. Apologize to Harry."

Immediately, my face loses all emotion and my voice deadpans. "I don't want to talk about him."

"Oh, honestly, Draco. Do you think I can't see what you're doing? Do you think anybody else missed it?"

"What?" I really wish she would leave.

She gives a very unladylike snort and puts her hands on her hips. Typical time-to-lecture-Draco posture. It's much too late for this. Lectures should be reserved for daytime, not midnight.

"Mark is the sixth boyfriend you've introduced me to since Harry."

"So?"

"Draco!" Pansy sounds exasperated now. "Haven't you noticed the similarities?"

I shrug my shoulders in a non-committal way. I don't think I like where she's going with this.

"Have you taken a good look at Mark, Draco?"

"No. I've shagged the man, but I haven't looked at him," I say sarcastically.

Pansy ignores my tone, as usual, and continues as if I'd answered the way she wanted. "Then, you must've noticed his hair."

"Of course, I have. His hair was one of the first things that attracted me."

Pansy smirks. Not for the first time, I decided I don't like the expression on her. It's distinctly evil. "And what is his hair like, Draco?"

I do not appreciated being talked to as if I'm a child, so I snap back at her. "Clearly, you can see it's black and unruly, Pansy. You have eyes."

"And who else has unruly black hair, Draco?" she asks, still not dropping the condescension.

My response catches in my throat. I know who she means.

"Who, Draco?" she repeats, as it becomes apparent that I'm not answering.

"Harry," I mumble.

"That's right," she says smugly. "And what about Rob? Or Andrew? Or Daniel? Or Alex? Or Richard? Can you think of anything all your previous boyfriends have in common with everyone's favourite hero?"

I scowl at her. I hate it when she tells me things I don't want to hear.

"That's right," she says, as if I answered. "They all had black hair, or had green eyes, or played Quidditch, or had similar mannerisms."

I keep my gaze fixed to the ground. "I really don't want to talk about this," I say through gritted teeth.

"Draco." Her voice is softer now. I look up and see an expression horribly close to pity on her face. "Stop trying to find someone like him. You'll never do it."

Her well meaning reality check breaks my defences.

"What else can I do?" My voice sounds small and vulnerable to my ears.

"Go find him."

~*~

The next day, I meet Mark at a restaurant near his work. I'm not ready for this. I hate breaking up with people. It's so awkward and uncomfortable.

He is already there and sipping his drink. I sit down, say hello and look over the menu thoroughly. I'm stalling.

"Draco, I-"

"Wait a minute," I say, cutting him off. "At least let me order my drink first, Harry."

The name slips out before I have time to think about it.

"That's the second time you've called me Harry in the past two weeks we've been dating," he says in a calm, but clearly insulted voice.

I open my mouth to play the 'It's Not You, It's Me' card, when he cuts me off.

"Look, Draco," I'm not sure I like this. Anything starting with 'Look, Draco' can't be good.

"I don't think we should see each other any more," he finishes.

"What? Are you dumping me?" He can't be. I'm supposed to do the dumping.

Mark looks uncomfortable. "I think you have some unresolved, er, issues. At first, I thought that you having Harry Potter as an ex didn't really matter, but I was wrong. Clearly, you're still hung up on him and I really don't want to get dragged into whatever emotional problems the two of you have, so I think we should end this. I'm really sorry, Draco."

With that, he gets up and walks calmly away from the table. Obviously, he got the memo about dumping Malfoys. It's not allowed. We always have to have the last say.

"Yeah, well, it's not me, Mark! It's you! So there!"

Okay, so that wasn't as mature and suave as I'd hoped it would be.

~*~

It's purely coincidence that he's shopping for dress robes at the same time as I am, but the irony of it is not lost on me. Madam Malkin's is really the last place I expected to see him. On second thought, though, I really should have expected him to be going to the Minister of Magic's election party. After all, he is the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-The-Most-Influential-Man-In-Britain.

Madam Malkin leads him to the space beside me and I can see the same shock that I feel on his face. However, I pull myself together quickly. This is my second chance, and Pansy will slap me if I don't grab it.

"Hullo," I say, "Election party too?" The deja-vu is astounding.

A smile tugs at the corners of Harry's mouth but he says 'yes' with a straight face.

"I'm here alone, as you can see. Are you by yourself as well?" The underlying question 'Are you single' practically hangs visibly in the air.

"Yes," he says again. A little bit of the tension leaves me. I decide to drop the never-met-before act.

"It's nice to see you again, Harry."

Now, he gives me a little smile and I fully grasp how much I've missed it.

"It's nice to see you too, Draco."

"Harry," I ask, looking straight into his bright green eyes. "Do you believe in second chances?"

"Yes."

I take a deep breath, gathering my courage. "Could you possibly consider giving me one?"

Harry smiles fully, one of the big Harry-smiles that I see in my dreams at night.

"Yes, of course I can. And third chances too."