Having spent almost a year missing him, there was still so much of Harry that ached for Draco’s touch; the long line Draco drew all the way up Harry’s arms felt like warm water, pooling around his heart and irrationally similar to the feeling of Draco’s magic under his skin.
It was the easiest thing in the world to tip his chin into the kiss, meeting it halfway. Indulging in it for a moment, Harry then turned his head far enough to press a kiss to Draco’s jaw, wrapping his arms closer around the small of Draco’s back.
“That’s quite presumptuous to assume’ we talk about you,” Harry grinned into Draco’s skin, trying to ignore the way Draco’s words and touch made the hair on Harry’s neck stand.

Draco couldn’t help but grin at that, knowing Hermione well enough to know that Harry wouldn’t have to have said anything directly for her to pick up, but also knowing that Harry was absolutely right.
“Maybe I’m just projecting,” he stated as he slid his hands from Harry’s face and into his hair, still getting used to the longer curls and enjoying them so immensely that he was going to take any chance he could to run his fingers through them.
He leant down to place languid, open mouthed kisses to Harry’s jaw and neck, but where that gesture would have formerly been starved and hungry, now it was slow and appreciative. He knew that he and Harry was going to have forever together so he could take his time.
“Because we talked about you a lot.”

_________________

Despite the time he had spent reminiscing of their time together, Harry had forgotten exactly how it felt to be at the centre of Draco’s attention. Even then, Harry recognized Draco’s attention had probably more often been divided between his work or Harry’s illness, but in the quietness of the kitchen, Harry felt the weight of it in its entirety. It washed over him like a tidal wave, and Harry had to blink up at the ceiling, momentarily feeling the world grow fuzzy.
“Yeah?” he said, pitifully earnestly, instinctively turning his head towards Draco’s.
Harry failed to rise to the tease, completely unable to match it when Draco was telling him these things. He didn’t think he had ever actually spoken much about Draco to anyone, making his stomach turn with an odd sense of remorse, suddenly wishing that he had, wanting that version of them, too.
He loosened the hold he had around Draco’s middle, instead letting his hands settle at the front waistband of his pyjama pants; though he took a hold of the fabric, it wasn’t an invitation, just a point for Harry to hold on to him when the room felt like it was starting to spin.
“What did you say?” he added, voice even smaller.

As much as Harry had filled his thoughts when they were together before, Draco knew that his mind had always been somewhere else as well. Now though, Draco could dedicate himself so entirely to Harry that he was drunk on the feeling, wanting to soak him up and make up for all the time they had spent apart.
“I did tell Hermione that I loved you,” he stated as he reached Harry’s clavicle, the angle awkward and straining his back, but he didn’t care.
“They told me stories from when we were younger,” he added, flexing his fingers in Harry’s hair pulling his head back a little, wanting to be able to see him.

_________________

Harry felt the tug of his hair all the way down his spine, though it was the news that Draco had told Hermione that he loved him that made his breath catch in his throat. It was so much wrapped into one; the way it made this feel real, finally, and how neither of them existed in that life any longer.
“Did they tell you how obsessed I was with you?” Harry said, a dazed grin tugging at his lips.
Even if they hadn’t, the admission came easily, finding that nothing had really changed, anyway. He didn’t even feel the need to clarify a time, whether he was speaking of something that had happened a year ago or fifteen. “God, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

Draco grinned at that, knowing for a fact that they hadn’t indulged him in that, but when he looked back, it was abundantly clear that the two of them had always been drawn to each other.
In a way, Draco was grateful that Harry had gotten as sick as he got, because he knew that otherwise the two of them had never found each other the way that they had.
“Yeah?” He prompted, making his way back up Harry’s neck when the strain on his back became too bad, though still not done kissing him.
“They kept that bit to themselves.”

_________________

Harry couldn't help but grin at that, unsure what else they could have possibly told Draco. He so wanted to have been present for it, although he deep down knew he would trade that for this, anytime.
Brushing his hands up Draco's chest, Harry instead grabbed a gentle hold of Draco's jaw to urge him upright and better into view. Eager for Draco to better focus his affections, Harry mindleslly tipped his chin upwards, almost meeting the kiss himself before stopping himself.
"Did you tell them that I love you, too?" he asked with the soft intimacy of someone who wanted Draco to have told them, of wanting Hermione and Ron to know.

Despite how serious it all was, all of it also felt so desperately silly to Draco that he couldn’t stop himself from grinning all the time, feeling giddy with just how unreal it all felt.
“You did, actually,” he said with a soft smile, running both of his hands through Harry’s curls, relishing in the feeling and just trying to take it all in.
“I don’t remember exactly when, but once I took one of our evening phone calls while I was working with Hermione,” he sheepishly admitted, desperately wanting Harry to know that his friends had known their relationship like this as well. “She didn’t say anything about it, but she definitely heard you say that you love me.”

_________________

Being witnessed in a moment like that should have felt intrusive, but instead it felt like a gift to to know that they knew, too, knowing that he wouldn’t need to do any explaining from this point onward. It washed over Harry like relief, or like resolution, finding that it was the last little aspect of their relationship, and suddenly it all felt so real and so allowed; he was happier than he had ever been.
“Good,” Harry replied with a grin tugging at his lips, though the word didn’t even feel like it came close to describing the feeling filling his chest.
Harry let his hands trail from Draco’s jaw to the back of his neck, the narrow distance and tangle of arms only accentuating the giddy urgency of the touch, as he once again pulled Draco closer, almost a kiss. “I want all of them to know.”

Draco felt as if he was going to combust, so filled with love for Harry that he could barely take it. It seemed absolutely unreal that he got to share this life with Harry, that they got to be this to each other and that Harry wanted his friends to know them like that.
“I love you so much,” he said in a soft voice, slightly tightening his grip on Harry’s hair to keep his head still. It seemed silly to be indulgent like that, but Draco desperately needed to soak it all in, feeling so delirious with happiness that it all seemed fake.

_________________

Though Draco’s lips were merely inches from his, Draco’s hands in Harry’s hair kept his head tipped back just enough to keep him from stretching into a kiss. It sent needles down Harry’s spine, readily giving into Draco’s biddings and encouragements, even though his eyes kept favouring Draco’s lips.
“I love you, too,” Harry replied, eyes darting back up to meet Draco’s just as a helpless smile pulled at his lips. The fondness he saw in Draco’s expression was almost too much to bear, and for the first time in years, Harry didn’t feel burdened by the weight of the future.

It felt like the most natural thing in the world for Draco to finally cross the very slight space between them and kiss Harry. He felt so full of happiness that he could barely contain it, barely able to understand that this was simply the beginning of the rest of his life.

_________________