After dinner, which consisted of a pleasant barbecue, Harry decided to venture the surrounding neighborhood. Consequentially, Draco also wanted to explore, and therefore Neville followed along with them. Harry suspected that James had told Neville to go with them, if only to prevent an inevitable fight.

The adventure didn't last real long, however, seeing as the three teenagers were all exhausted from a day's travel across the Atlantic. They made it around the block once before turning around and heading back home. On the walk back, they discovered a white fence much like the one surrounding their backyard, and once Draco stood on his tiptoes, he saw that behind the gate, a cute garden with tropical fish ponds rested, and further back than that, a swimming pool.

"We could go there after a day at the beach! Wash off the sand without having to trek it through Uncle Sirius' house!" Neville exclaimed cheerfully, to which Harry nodded his head.

The sky had reached a twilight color, and he was glad that they only had two more houses to pass before being safely back on their property. He didn't know this place well enough to be venturing around after dark just yet, spite the supposedly friendly residents.

Once inside, the three boys kicked off their shoes on the mat and sat down in the living room with their parents. Severus and Lucius took one love-seat, and Frank and James took the other. Draco sat on one side of the couch then, closer to his parents, and Harry took the other, leaving Neville to sit in the middle. Both sets of parents looked at each other cautiously.

"Seriously, you cannot be expecting us only being here a short few hours and suddenly I'll be begging Potter to marry me. It's gonna take longer than that." Draco snapped, and the Potters flinched.

"Draco, please. Do be respectful, as we are guests in the Potter family's home." Lucius warned, but his son only shook his head.

"I have no respect for anything of this nature." Draco spat, and then stood angrily, storming past Harry and towards the blue room. The adults looked to Harry, seeing if he would follow. He remained seated, and stared into space.

This is going to be a long vacation, he thought, and sat back in his seat. After watching the nightly news, the adults all said goodnight to each other, claiming their day's travels to be exhausting and excused themselves to their respective bedrooms. Harry and Neville remained awkwardly on the couch.

"You do know Dad's mad at you, right?" Neville asked after a moment, lips cast downward as he glanced at his brother. His brown eyes looked heavy, and Harry felt bad for leaving him in the middle of the crossfire.

"He'll get over it." Harry explained, crossing his ankles and biting his lip.

"And what if he doesn't?"

"Then I guess a wedding's never gonna take place then." Harry claimed, and Neville's frown fell even further as he stood up.

"I'm going to bed." He mumbled, and then shuffled quickly down the hallway towards the blue room. This left Harry, who sat awkwardly, staring at the black tv screen.

He hated this. He hated having the knowledge that the whole point of this bloody vacation was to just make he and Draco want to marry each other. Nobody deserved to have to go through that much just for no effect to blossom from it. No effect would blossom from it. Harry did not love Draco, and Draco did not love Harry.

They were practically strangers who'd once had a past together, but now only had awkwardness, and the mutual feelings of pressure and being trapped. He hated it.

~~~

The following morning, Harry awoke to the sun hitting his face directly through the blinds. He sat up groggily, brushing the sleep from his eyes and stretched. The couch really was a tight fit for him, but after everything he'd put his family through, he refused to make Neville take the couch, even though he was shorter.

He made his way from the bedroom quietly, focusing on not waking his brother or the blond boy who slept with his lips slightly parted, allowing tiny puffs of air to escape every time he exhaled a breath. Once in the hallway, he hurriedly shuffled out the door and onto the porch where a white, plastic table sat with white, plastic chairs. He sat down in one of the chairs, wincing at the noise it made against the wood as it was pushed away from the table.

He looked out to the neighborhood surrounding him, smiling at a middle-aged pair of women who jogged by, and then at a lonely boy who looked to be about twelve walking a shih tzu.

Everyone seemed so content, not pressured by the concept of an arranged marriage. They loved wholly and naturally, and therefore they were the luckiest people in the world. Then, the serenity was disrupted by the obnoxious sound of his cellphone going off. He glanced at it to see that his best friend Ron was trying to FaceTime him.

"Hey Ron," he smiled, answering the call.

"Harry! How are you? Where are you?" The redheaded boy asked, frowning at the scenery he must've seen behind him. From the position Harry was sitting, a tall palm tree could be seen behind him just off the edge of the property.

"Florida!" Harry explained, glancing out towards the neighborhood again. He glanced at the time on his phone, seeing it was only seven-thirty in the morning - noon in London.

"You're in America? What the hell!" Ron laughed, and then there was a slight fumble and suddenly Harry saw Ginny, Ron's sister on the other end of the call.

"Harry, what on earth are you doing in Florida?" She asked, looking at him quizzically.

"Family vacation with the Malfoys, remember?" Harry stated, rolling his eyes slightly at the mention of the Malfoys.

"You're vacationing with Mr. Snape-Malfoy, our Chemistry teacher? My, do I feel bad for you." Ginny sighed, feigning sorrow for him.

"Watch it, Ginevra. Mr. Snape-Malfoy's gonna be Harry's father-in-law someday." He heard Ron warn, and Harry's face soured. Then, Ron was back in front of him.

"Speaking of that, how're you and...uh, what's-his-face doing?" Harry asked, and Ron feigned astonishment.

"Viktor! And we're perfect. It's true love, I swear." Ron claimed, frowning at his best friend.

"Ron, you've never even met in person. For all you know, Viktor Krum could be some pedophilic fifty year old who gets off on messing with teenage-boys hearts." Harry explained, and Ron glared at him.

"It's true love, I tell you. True. Love. Something you'll never feel." Ron snapped, and then immediately regretted what he said as he saw Harry's face fall. "Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" the door opened, and Harry noticed Draco walk out onto the porch, eyeing him curiously.

"You know what? Forget it. I can't help my situation, and you know that, so fuck you. Goodbye." And with that, he hung up, crossing his arms as he threw his phone onto the table. Draco continued looking at him quizzically, to which he rose his eyebrows. "Can I help you?"

"Who was that?" He asked, and then the phone started ringing again. Harry hurriedly snatched it, declined the call, and turned the volume down.

"None of your damn business, that's who." Harry stated, glaring at the blond boy who then decided to take a seat across from him.

"Y'know, you don't have to be so hostile towards me, Potter." He explained, and Harry rolled his eyes.

"As opposed to what? Loving you? Marrying you? Yeah right." He rolled hits eyes.

"No, definitely not. But I do have a plan, if you're willing to listen to me for one measly minute." Draco explained, and Harry frowned.

"What?"

"Alright, glad to have gotten your attention. Anyways, y'know how our parents are basically drunk on the idea of us two getting married? How they've become so close just because of this? What if you and I pulled their friendship apart?" The blond asked, and Harry rose an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Face it, Potter. The entire foundation of their friendship is you and I. Somehow, if you and I can throw them off, their foundation will crumble and they'll split ways. You and I won't have to get married, and our families won't have to communicate any longer. Hell, the only time you'll have any contact with my family is because you're in my dad's chemistry class." Draco explained.

"This is where your plan is flawed, Malfoy. Yes, I am in your dad's class, but my dad and your father also work together. Even without us, they have years of work experience together in the government." Harry explains, and Draco sighs, crossing his arms.

"We can do it, Potter. In some way, we can split them apart. We can fix our own misfortunes by piling fresh ones on theirs."

"And how do you recommend we do that?"

"I know, I'll get my father fired." Draco smirked, and Harry's eyes widened.

"No, you can't do that. Start smaller."

"How so?"

"I have an idea. Our parents are already obsessed with the fact that you and I have been showing slightly heterosexual tendencies, so, what if we acted as full-blown Heteros for a while?" Harry prompted, and Draco's eyes lit up brighter than Christmas morning.

"This is brilliant! There's only one problem. Where are we gonna find two girls willing to act Hetero with us for a while?" The blond asked.

"In case you forgot, this is America, where sexuality is a bit more fluid than elsewhere in the world. I'm sure we can find two straight girls somewhere." Harry explained, and Draco had to admit that he did have a point. This was a genius idea, and it had to work.

He did not want, and would not ever want to marry Harry Potter. And he would do anything to prevent that from happening.