Draco woke up the next morning with a sore back, but he felt wonderful. He was snuggled up with Harry on the couch, a blanket wrapped around the both of them, and sighed happily.

"Morning love," Harry whispered. "Sleep okay?"

"Like a rock. My back's a bit stiff, I didn't expect to fall asleep on the couch."

"That's the curse of the Weasley sweater," Harry teased, brushing the hair from Draco's eyes. "Can I take you out today?"

"I'd love that. I should've brought clothing with me."

"I have a drawer cleaned out for you, you know. I think it's time you started filling it."

"I think you need more long sleeve shirts for me to steal. I quite like this one though."

"You can keep it."

"What am I going to do with a shirt with a giant H on it?"

"Change your name?"

"And what do you think I should change it to?," Draco asked, brow perfectly raised.

"Are there any constellations with the letter H?"

"Hercules, Horologium, Hydra, and Hydrus."

"As much as I would love to say Hercules after the Greek god, I think Hydrus would be more fitting since it's a water snake."

"Why would you call me Hercules?," Draco inquired, wrinkling his nose as he got off the couch and cracked his back.

"Because in the movie they called him Hunkules. I think that's very fitting for you love," Harry teased with a wink.

"Make yourself useful and check on my shirt."

Draco could huff all he wanted, but Harry knew that he was pleased with the compliment. Harry couldn't help the surge of affection that he felt towards Draco, especially after last night. He was starting to embrace his feelings and let them show more.

"Where are you taking me? What do I wear?"

"Comfortable shoes for the love of Merlin. Take whatever you want from my closet. Check the top right drawer, I think you left some trousers here and I put them in there."

Harry grabbed his own set of clothing and changed in the bathroom down the hall before he started on breakfast. Without even asking, Draco grabbed some fruit from the fridge, washed it, and began chopping it.

"Do pancakes sound good?"

"Anything sounds good right about now. We ate so early and then slept straight through the night."

"That's the power of good food, what can I say?"

"Have you ever thought about opening a restaurant?," Draco asked suddenly.

"Maybe in another life."

"I think you'd be really good at it."

"Cooking for others is a very intimate thing for me. I had no choice in cooking growing up, but now I do. I think any harsh feedback and critiques may just send me back with my family, and I won't be able to handle that."

"You told me that you were forced to be good at it, or else," Draco said gently.

"My family, the people I was forced to live with," Harry corrected, "hated me. It was clear that I wasn't family. They were physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive. I was the equivalent of a house elf to them. I wouldn't always get to eat but I had to cook for them. They would lock me into my cupboard under the stairs. They called me a freak, and I didn't know why. Growing up was hard, I have the scars to prove it."

"Come here darling," Draco said with a frown.

He accepted Harry's weight pressed against him and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

"I hope you didn't feel forced to tell me Harry. That wasn't my intention."

"It was going to come up again at some point or another. I trust you Draco."

"Thank you for sharing that with me. Even if you don't know the proper amount of chocolate chips to add to your dishes."

Laughing quietly, Harry enjoyed leaning against Draco for a few more moments.

"Guess that means you'll be on chocolate chip duty then?"

"Obviously Potter. Watch and learn from the expert."

"I think you may have a slight chocolate problem," Harry announced as he was washing the dishes.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Draco retorted, grabbing the towel for drying.

"I'm going to pick you up some muggle sweets while we're out."

"What do they do?"

"Taste good?," Harry offered.

"Interesting."

"Ready to go then?"

"I don't know where we're going, but yes."

After walking outside, Harry offered Draco an arm, and he gladly took it. They had arrived to another mall, and Draco was very excited.

"You've brought me shopping?!"

"You mentioned once when we couldn't sleep how much you loved Christmas. It's December now, so I thought we could do some Christmas shopping and look at all of the lights?"

With a grin brighter than any Christmas light strand, Draco pulled Harry into a bone crushing hug, and grabbed his hand to lead him around the mall. Harry honestly wasn't much for shopping as he would be forced to carry all of the bags and wasn't allowed to get anything, but Draco was so excited that Harry couldn't help but get excited too.

"Can I pick out more outfits for you? Please?"

"I suppose so," Harry conceded with a sigh.

This was one of the only times Draco would drop Harry's hand. He left Draco to it, and he started to get an idea for a way to surprise the other man. With a smile on his face, he walked a few aisles over and began adding things to his shopping bag.

"Harry darling are you ready?," Draco called.

"Do I have to try more things on?"

"That's half of the fun."

"We have very different ideas of what the word fun means."

"For me?," Draco asked hopefully.

Harry was gone and he knew it. With a dramatic sigh, he grabbed the clothing from Draco's arms.

"Budge up in the dressing room. You always ruin my vision."

"I am not undressing in front of you," Harry deadpanned.

"I'll turn around. This outfit first."

The space was small and very... intimate. Harry could barely move around without someone part of him brushing up against Draco. He couldn't get out of there soon enough.

"Are we still going to see my mother later today?"

"Of course we can."

"I need to pick up a few things for her while I'm out."

"That's fine. As long as I don't have to try anything else on."

"We really are two vastly different people in certain ways."

"It keeps the relationship more interesting I think. Did you need more bath bombs? The store is just down that way."

"Oooh yes! Would you mind checking out here and meeting me there? They're having a sale!"

"Of course Draco."

That was exactly what Harry was hoping he would say. It gave him more time to put his plan into action.

"Thanks darling."

After picking up a few more things for Draco's surprise, Harry found an obscured corner to shrink all of the bags down so that they all fit into one. He found Draco smelling hand soaps and couldn't help but laugh to himself.

"Do you like candy cane or gingerbread better?"

"Candy cane."

"You didn't smell either of them," Draco retorted, eyebrow raised.

"I like the smell of mint."

"Candy cane it is. What else do you like?"

"Apples are nice. Pumpkin reminds me of Hogwarts but it has to actually smell like pumpkin. I swear half of these people have never smelled anything they use to scent things."

"I didn't know this would be such a heated point of contention. Smell this one."

"Of bugger off, you did not just make me smell lavender!"

Giggling, Draco continued to peruse the scents.

"You're so easy to rile up," he teased.

"As if you're not the same way. I'm running out of conditioner, where did you get it from?"

"It was a special order, I'll place another. Let's look for an alternative."

Anything that caused Draco to run his hands through Harry's hair wouldn't be denied.

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry any of the bags?"

"Hmm? No, I'm alright."

"You really enjoyed that didn't you?"

"I did. It was nice."

"Felix really is your son," Draco teased.

"There's nothing wrong with head scratches," Harry said defensively.

"You're just special, darling."

"I think that's been made pretty apparent my whole life," Harry retorted with a snort. "I want to stop at a plant store since we're done here. You can stay at home if you'd like, I want to drop this stuff off first."

"Leave you all alone to get picked up? I would never. Besides, I like hearing you talk about plants. And we can get ideas for our project! We start that on Monday you know."

"Please don't remind me."

"That means we get to spend more time together."

"We're already practically attached at the hip love," Harry teased with a laugh, wrapping his arm around Draco. "I can't think of many ways we could even get closer."

"I can think of a few."

"Care to share with the class Mr. Malfoy?"

"Maybe another time Mr. Potter."

"Back home we go."

Kreacher was there to greet them and take all of the bags.

"So, what are we going to this garden store for?"

"A bit of Christmas shopping. I want to get some new herbs for the winter to grow in our room. Maybe something for the common room to liven it up."

"I love the scent of pine," Draco said dreamily.

"Christmas looks good on you," Harry said softly, apparating them as close to the store as he could.

Harry cherished Draco's reaction walking through the garden center. There were garlands and lights everywhere.

"Harry, I need to give you my card immediately before I purchase the whole entire building," he said in awe.

"I would buy you the whole building if it would make you happy. Tell me about Christmas at the Manor."

"Oh it was wonderful when I was a child. The elves would decorate the grounds and it was absolutely breathtaking. Father hated it, but Mother and I would decorate inside the house. Every room would be done up in Christmas colors and there would be ribbon and bows everywhere. Mother would even have fake snow falling from the ceiling in my bedroom. I just loved curling up in front of the fireplace and reading books for hours with hot chocolate."

"That does sound wonderful," Harry said wistfully.

"What about you?"

"Cooking all of the food and hiding from guests. The first Christmas gift I ever received was a sweater from Mrs. Weasley you know. It's barely even a sweater anymore because it's so well-loved, but it means everything to me. Sirius absolutely spoiled me before... Anyway, Christmas was never a big thing for me. I never let myself hope. If you expect disappointment you'll never be disappointed."

It was then that Draco vowed to give Harry the best Christmas ever.

"You know, there's one thing that I've always wanted."

"And what's that?"

"A live Christmas tree. We could never have one. Father hated live trees and never wanted to be near the sap."

"You need a pine air freshener."

"A what?"

"Oh you have a lot to learn. Let's pick out a Christmas wreath shall we?"

One turned into four, and Draco was positively giddy. He was skipping down the aisles, and Harry couldn't help but snap a few photos before looking at the flower case.

"Can I help you find something?," the worker asked.

"You don't have any gardenias do you?"

"Ah, a true romantic then?"

"You could say that," Harry replied, watching Draco run his fingers through the rainbow garland.

"Secret love then?," she guessed again.

"That obvious huh?"

"Some things just need a little nudge."

"I'm hoping this will be it."

"Harry, look at this nutcracker!"

"I think I should just cover you in tinsel at this rate," Harry teased, collapsing on the floor once they made it back home.

"Oh my father would hate that. Maybe I'll send him a picture in Azkaban. That's the way he can remember me. Shiny and gay, in more ways than one," Draco retorted, laughing at the image he conjured up in his mind.

"They do say to be gay at this time in all of those Christmas songs."

"I was ahead of the trend, clearly. We do need to get to seeing my mother though. She'll have tea and those little sandwiches you like waiting. Plus I can bring her the wreaths for the front doors at least. I'm sure she could use some Christmas cheer. We've been severely lacking it for years."

"Don't make plans next weekend."

"I never make plans without you," Draco said with a snort. "If you haven't realized, you're one of two of my friends. One of which is my cousin."

"I have a Weasley dinner on Sunday. Maybe we can see your mum on Saturday?"

"Just what do you have planned exactly?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?," Harry teased with a goofy grin.

"You and your secrets," Draco muttered, grabbing a handful of floo powder. "Come on Felix, let's go see Mother shall we?"