#expect a bit of repetition when the sappy post arrives

[goatsandgangsters]

Favorites of 2022

I was tagged by @inkdrawndreamer (thank you!) 

there’s no rules, but I’ve decided to give myself parameters of “read/seen for the first time this year / had a new season” for books/movies/shows to narrow the scope and not drive myself bonkers with indecision. songs is a free-for-all of whatever I was boppin to 

Favorite books: A Marvellous Light and A Restless Truth, both by Freya Marske

I read AML in the spring and it’s single-handedly responsible for me not meeting my goodreads goal, because I loved it sO MUCH that I wanted to bask in it until the sequel came out instead of reading anything new 

Favorite movies: the new West Side Story (SO well done), Glass Onion (accidentally saw it in theaters despite not knowing when it came out or that it was a limited release), The Sea Beasts, Fire Island 

Favorites songs: MCR’s entire discography because this was The Year of MCR, Finally. the overwhelming majority of which is not New or even New To Me, but shoutout to Foundations of Decay for dropping out of nowhere and being an absolute banger. and to the b-sides I didn’t previously know but immediately put on repeat in the pre-concert lead up

Favorite shows: Interview with the Vampire, Gentleman Jack, A League of Their Own (good year for gay period TV) 

Favorite Memories: a mostly chronological recap: getting my boobs gone, seeing the Into the Woods revival, going to the MET a bunch of times,  refreshing and updating some of my wardrobe for the first time in a while (I’m excited about it tbh), getting new blorbos to obsess over (see above: favorite books), going to a museum by myself for a particular exhibit and spending 2+ hours just in the exhibit because I decided to read Every Single Plaque, a friend from Australia visited for a month and it was nice to do activities with her and show her the sights, enjoying summer with No Boobs and sitting around my sweltering apartment in an open bathrobe, feeling newly at home in my body and really just reveling in that in all kinds of ways both big and small, getting new glasses for the first time in ages, going to botanical gardens, exploring new places because my partner moved to [redacted], ogling architecture, seeing MCR, seeing MCR again, seeing MCR some more, going to an emo night, taking time off for a birthday staycation in november, and capping it all off with some chill time with my family for christmas and a fun new year’s eve with friends 

tagging: @meyerlansky, @adriansfrombrooklyn, @notgrungybitchin, @opheliaintherushes, @platoapproved, @holy-muffins, @esssteee, @darkolaism, @louisdelac and any of you lovely followers who feel like doing this (you can use whatever parameters you choose—I just picked Mostly New To Me for my own ease) 

[halfbluemoons]

The link to the post is here <-- 

This post gave me a lot of inspiration so I wrote a Drarry Valentine’s Day in 4 Shorts: 

Guess what, Draco?

The Great Hall was alive with excited chatter as Valentine’s Day approached. Draco noticed that even Pansy and Blaise seemed to have perked up, sharing looks with each other and no doubt gossiping about who would be getting together come the 14th. It all seemed far too repetitive for Draco to take notice in, he had his assumptions also but it was futile to share those thoughts with his friends. That would encourage them to talk to him about their gossip, and he was far too above that.

           ‘What about you, Draco?’ Asked Blaise, the Slytherin Prince hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation in the slightest. He had been catching up on homework mostly, and attempting not to glance at a well-known Gryffindor while musing to himself.

           ‘Repeat,’ Draco replied, giving them eye-contact.

           ‘Is there anyone you’re going to declare your love to?’ Pansy asked, a broad grin spread across her face. Draco was surprised to see her ask with such excitement instead of the previous years of blushing and stumbling over her words. His sexuality had never deferred her affections but perhaps this was the year she realised he would never be interested. Draco shook his head.

           ‘No,’ he told his friends. Pansy and Blaise shared an obvious look which made Draco narrow his eyes. ‘Unless, of course, there’s something you know that I don’t.’

           ‘Well, we overheard something that someone might be sending you a valentine’s day card,’ Pansy said, Draco made sure he fully understood what she was saying before sitting forward.

           ‘Go on,’ he ordered.

           ‘We can’t say,’ Blaise said, his eyes fixed on Pansy. Draco narrowed his eyes at the two of them and turned his attention back to his school work. ‘Wait,’ Blaise said, ensuring he looked up once more, ‘that’s it?’

           ‘I’m assuming you’re under the impression you can goad me with this information to make a mockery out of me,’ Draco told him, ‘and if that’s the case, I’d rather spend my time more wisely until Pansy can no longer keep the secret anymore.’

           ‘Why would we be mocking you?’ Blaise asked.

           ‘Salazar’s snake, Draco, you take the fun out of everything, don’t you?’ Pansy asked with a sour disappointment. Draco flashed her a smile and wrote down the answer to his Potions question. The group were silent for a few minutes before Pansy made a whining sound and Draco set his quill down. ‘Fine,’ she huffed. ‘We overheard Longbottom say Potter was- ‘

           ‘What did you actually hear?’ Draco asked, his chest tightened. Pansy’s eyebrows flew up in surprise at the quick interruption and she looked to Blaise.

           ‘Well, Longbottom and Granger were whispering so we didn’t hear much but then Longbottom said your name really loudly and Granger reprimanded him,’ Blaise explained. Draco rolled his eyes for his friends to see. ‘Pansy did a bit more digging, so to speak,’ Blaise added.

           ‘I spoke to a friend in Hufflepuff who sometimes talks to Luna Lovegood, and Luna was told by Ginny that she’d noticed Harry had been very secretive about his crush since they found out he had one in the summer.’

           ‘Pansy, I have no time for your gossiping.’ Draco grumbled, he picked up his quill once more and glanced over to the Gryffindor table. Draco was surprised to see trio were staring over at him and his friends, no doubt trying to discover their Slytherin conspiracy.

           ‘You have to listen, Draco. It’s- just, she told Luna who told May who told me that when they were guessing, Harry got very flushed at the mention of your name,’ Pansy continued. Lost in a moment of locking eye contact with Potter, who looked away immediately, Draco turned to his friends with a blank expression.

           ‘What?’ He asked, having not heard the meaning behind her rambling.

           ‘Merlin’s sake,’ Blaise grumbled. ‘Potter blushed when they mentioned you as a possible crush.’ He did? Draco wasn’t sure what to do with that supposed bit of information. It was no secret between himself and his friends that he fancied Potter, they were intelligent individuals who knew exactly how to extort information out of him. He also knew that Pansy was the type of girl who would jump to conclusions and fill in the blanks herself, Blaise however…he was more sensible than that. The possibility that Potter returned his feelings was unheard of, Draco never considered the possibility. He had often heard Potter’s friends refer to himself as the enemy. He supposed, in a way; he was.

           ‘Well?’ Pansy asked, anticipation in her voice.

           ‘Well, what?’ Draco asked. ‘If you’re expecting me to send Potter love notes, you are completely beside yourselves. There is no proper evidence, and I will not out myself to the school on whims you think you know.’ Pansy’s face fell and Blaise looked stoic.

           ‘We were just passing it along,’ Blaise muttered. Draco tried to return to his work in the silence of his friends but he was far too distracted. The what ifs were bubbling in his chest, what was he supposed to do? He needed proof.

 Primary Research:

Draco fastened his pace on the way from potions; he wanted his friends to understand he was to be left alone for the afternoon. After he put away his books in his dorm, he made his way to the library. After much thought, Draco deducted that the only way to get reliable proof was to extract it from a source close to the root. Potter’s close friends would laugh at him if they heard the question, that was if they didn’t hex him at first sight. So, Draco had to go for the weakest member of the pack.

In the corner alcove of the library, behind many shelves, sat Neville Longbottom with his nose in a book. Draco made sure to make his arrival noisy so that he didn’t startle the Gryffindor but his presence did that for him.

           ‘I’ll tell Madam Pince,’ Neville stammered as he seized his wand.

           ‘Calm down, Longbottom,’ Draco sighed. ‘I’m here alone, aren’t I?’ He pulled the chair out opposite and sat down, he crossed his legs and waited in silence until Longbottom released his grip on his wand.

           ‘What do you want?’ He asked.

           ‘Something has come to my attention,’ Draco started, he made sure to give Longbottom eye-contact but the Gryffindor tried his best to look anywhere else. ‘I need you to tell me something.’

           ‘Anything if you’ll leave me alone.’

           ‘Something about Potter,’ Draco continued. Neville’s eyes shot to him and his face screwed up in confusion, with a hint of determination. Draco knew immediately that this was going to be more difficult than it needed to be. Perhaps he should have let his friends in on his plans, Blaise would no doubt be able to charm Longbottom into revealing all secrets he held.

           ‘No, whatever it is, I’m not telling you,’ Neville said, and he began to collect his things but dropped both his wand and his quill. Draco exhaled loudly.

           ‘It’s nothing that important,’ he said, and hoped his downplayed performance would at least be curious for the red and gold tyke. Neville continued to pack his things away in haste. ‘I want to know who Potter fancies,’ Draco said, and Neville stopped.

           ‘Why would you want to know that?’ He asked, his mind no doubt ran a mile a minute. Draco knew he should have planned this all better. Now Longbottom would run straight back to Potter and tell him, and there would no doubt be an evil reason made behind his actions.

           ‘I’ve been told some information and I want to confirm it’s true.’ Neville looked dazed for a second and then shook his head again, he put his bag over his shoulder and walked around the table. Draco got to his feet quickly to block his path. ‘Who?’ He asked.

           ‘It’s not my place to tell you,’ Neville replied, his cheeks flushed and his eyes averted Draco’s at all cost. ‘Just let me leave.’ Draco inwardly seethed, he was going to have to do something he hated.

           ‘If you do this for me, I’ll do something for you,’ Draco muttered through his teeth. Neville hesitated as he considered the offer.

           ‘Anything?’ He asked. Draco nodded slowly. Neville took a step back and Draco sighed in relief. He hoped he wasn’t going to regret this.

  The Perfect Card:

Pansy frowned at Draco’s reaction. She had dragged him to every shop in Hogsmeade that sold Valentine’s Day Cards but Draco wasn’t taken with any of them. He couldn’t get his head around all the sappy love poems. He would never say half of these things so why would he send them in a card? He picked up another red card with hearts on the front and grimaced at the cartoon couple.

           ‘It’s no use, Panz,’ Draco grumbled. ‘Half these cards have heterosexual relationship material and the rest make me nauseous.’

           ‘We could always make him one?’ Pansy asked, she eyed the card making tools at the back, aware that Draco could afford them if he so wished. Draco had already considered it but then he had no idea of what he would write either. This entire ordeal was ridiculous.

           ‘Or I could not bother,’ Draco replied. Pansy glared at her blond friend and thumped him on the arm.

           ‘We have spent hours looking at cards,’ she told him, ‘don’t you dare.’ Draco grinded his teeth and continued to look around. He had no idea what Potter even liked. In fact, there wasn’t much about Potter’s personality he knew of except his hatred.

           ‘I’ve had no luck,’ Blaise said as he approached Draco. ‘If only we could go to Diagon Alley. I’m sure there would be better cards there.’

           ‘We don’t have time,’ Pansy chimed. ‘Valentine’s Day is in three days. That barely gives us any time to buy a card, write in it and dress appropriately.’

           ‘Pansy, you do know that Draco will be writing in the card, right?’ Blaise asked. ‘I’m all for being a good friend but I didn’t sign up to asking Potter out too.’ Draco scoffed and led himself away from the duo. Their help was invaluable. Merlin knows he’d have given up before now, but Pansy was right. The cards here weren’t fitting, there wasn’t enough of them. He needed a better selection. He was going to have to ask Mother.

           ‘We’re leaving,’ he said loud enough for his friends to hear.

           ‘What?’ Pansy shrieked. He didn’t wait to explain as he left the shop. Pansy and Blaise had to hurry to catch up with him on the way back. ‘Excuse me but I gave up my weekend for you.’

           ‘I’m going to write to my Mother,’ he told her. ‘She can buy cards from Diagon Alley and send them to me. I trust her taste and subtly.’

           ‘So…’ Blaise started, ‘you’re going to come out to her?’ Draco sighed.

           ‘I’m going to have to.’

 Draco was woken early by the sound of claws scraping against the window, in his daze, he was quite angry at being disturbed until his saw his Mother’s owl. What was it doing? He couldn’t open the window to let it in, it would have to go to the owlry like every other.

           ‘Idiotic bird,’ Draco grumbled as he got dressed. He shooed it away from the window and left quietly. He made it up to the owlry without being seen and was relieved to see the owl had made its way there too. He took the parcel and gave the bird an affectionate stroke before it flew away. Draco didn’t want to chance being caught on the way back, he would no doubt have to show any teacher or Filch what was inside the parcel and that was an embarrassment he could live without.

 He took a seat by the door to the owlry and opened the brown paper packaging. Inside were two envelopes, one blank and one with his Mother’s handwriting on, addressing it to him. He opened it quickly and scanned over her words.

             My Dragon, there is so much we must discuss and far few parchment for me to express how proud I am of you. I only wish you to remain strong in your convictions and remember how much I love you. As per your request, I found but one card I recommend. I hope it pleases you. Love, always, your Mother.

 Draco opened the other envelope and gazed at the card his Mother had chosen. It was perfect.

 Valentine’s Day

Harry sat down at the table with Ron and Hermione, he laughed as Ron rolled his eyes at what Hermione was saying. Their usual morning banter left him in a good mood and he sat in silence as butterflies attacked his insides. Hermione continued to talk about their Charms lesson, and the two boys continued to tune her out. Hermione only silenced when Ginny sat down beside her and leaned closer to Harry.

           ‘So?’ She asked in a hushed voice, ‘Did you send it?’ Harry’s cheeks flushed and he shook his head, he patted his robe where the Valentine’s Day card sat on the inside. Hermione and Ginny both looked disappointed.

           ‘Good call, mate,’ Ron said. ‘I don’t reckon he needs any more ego.’

           ‘Ronald,’ Hermione huffed as she hit his arm. ‘Don’t listen to him, Harry.’

           ‘Yeah, what would Ron know about romance?’ Ginny asked and widened her eyes in emphasis. Ron huffed but continued to eat.

           ‘Harry, you should tell him,’ Hermione said, and Harry knew he was in for one of her long lectures.

           ‘I will, just not today,’ Harry replied. ‘I’m not ready.’

           ‘You’ve been ready for months,’ Ginny muttered, Harry began to chew on his bottom lip, he wanted to disappear and not have to deal with the situation right now. There were so many possibilities of what would happen next. What if Draco laughed at him? What if the entire school laughed at him?

           ‘Can we just drop it?’ He asked, ‘I don’t need anyone pressuring me.’ Ginny and Hermione leaned away and the group ate in silence. Harry was aware as soon as Draco had entered the hall, if not because he was waiting for the blonde but his friends all staring was a pretty obvious tell too. Dumbledore gave a small speech once everyone was settled, and then the post began to arrive. Harry’s stomach was in knots, his chest tight.

           ‘Merlin, that’s scary,’ Ron said, his neck craned so he could stare across the hall behind him. ‘Malfoy never smiles.’ Harry couldn’t help but stare too.

           ‘What’re you talking about?’ He asked, ‘Draco smiles all the time.’ His response earned big smiles from Hermione and Ginny who he could imagine were already internally planning a wedding.

 Unsurprisingly to his friends, Harry received quite a few cards. All of which evoked a queasy feeling, hope wrapped in dread, wrapped in excitement. He opened them in the order they were dropped until he looked them all over and was distracted by a silver envelope. It was elegant, the paper felt smooth under his fingers as he studied the perfect scribe of his name.

           ‘Who’s it from, Harry?’ Ginny asked, her attention pulled away from her own card that Ron was desperately trying to study from the other side of the table. Hermione was waiting, and Neville had turned to watch too. Harry supposed he couldn’t blame them for taking such an interest, he had turned to them for a lot of advice in the past week. Harry opened the envelope and pulled out the card. It was a cream colour with gold lace around the border. In the centre, there was a ruby gem, holding a golden bow in place upon a red mosaic background. In the bottom right-hand corner, the word love was written in red. Harry opened the card to a simple verse:

 Here is my heart, guard it well.

 The bottom of the card was signed with initials D and M. Harry couldn’t breathe. Draco liked him back? That was insane. Would it be a bad reaction if he threw up? Because the butterflies in his stomach were about to force a very manic smile onto his face and he couldn’t see through his thoughts.

           ‘Harry,’ Ginny nudged.

           ‘What?’ Harry asked, his head snapped towards her.

           ‘Malfoy left,’ she told him, she nodded forward and the group of Gryffindors all looked to the now vacant seat. Next to where Draco had been sitting sat Pansy who was nodding her head quite violently in the direction of the Great Hall doors. Harry didn’t need to be told twice. He got to his feet and hurried out of the hall, the card still in gripped in his hands. He had to run down the corridor but caught sight of Draco before he reached the staircase down to the dungeons.

           ‘Draco,’ he shouted once he started to get out of breath. The blond stopped and turned back, his face masked the chaos of emotions running through him.

           ‘What do you want, Potter?’ Draco asked, Harry managed to approach him while he sought his breath back. He pulled the red enveloped card from the inside of his robe and held it out to the Slytherin.

           ‘Happy Valentine’s Day,’ he wheezed. Draco stared at the card, his expression a cross between amazement and uncertainty. Harry pushed the card toward him so Draco took it and held it close to his chest.

           ‘Thank you,’ he said, unsure of what he was supposed to say in this situation. Harry grinned at him and took another step closer. He used his free hand to pull Draco forward by the Slytherin’s school jumper. Draco barely registered what was going to happen until Harry’s lips were on his, Draco let his eyes close as he leaned into the kiss. Soft and warm, Harry tasted like mint and pumpkin juice. It was pure bliss. As he broke away, Draco moved with him until they were only centimetres apart.

           ‘You’re welcome,’ Harry breathed.