Nothing Gold Can Stay
By Alba

RATING: PG-13

FANDOM: Harry Potter

SPOILERS: None, really.

SUMMARY: Slash (Harry/Draco). A short piece about relationships.

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The poem used is Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay".

DEDICATION: Kris, who wants more Harry/Draco.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many, many thanks to my wonderful betas Edge and Andrea. Without them, I wouldn't like this story as much as I do! Normally, I hate song/poem fics and won't even *read* them, but I wanted to see if I could do one that fit the poem. Thus, came this story.

*****

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold.

Green eyes studied the pale golden locks of the boy lying beside him. It always amazed Harry that Draco's hair looked like spun gold under certain lights. Of course, Draco hit him every time he said it out loud, but it was worth it. Smiling to himself, Harry curled up around his lover's body again. They had a few more hours yet.

Her hardest hue to hold.

In the harsh light of day, Draco's hair faded from the gold of the morning hours into a paler blond, one that matched the of his gray eyes. In the harsh light of day, Draco himself faded back into his Slytherin attitude, condescending and almost cruel. Harry loved him anyway. These were merely the roles they had to play, for the sake of the lie they lived. After all, the son of a Death Eater and the Boy Who Lived were supposed to hate each other. They couldn't exactly admit to the world they were sleeping with each other.

Pretenses must be kept.

Her early leaf's a flower.

Draco and Harry sat at opposite sides of the Great Hall. But somehow, Draco managed to meet his lover's eyes. A private look passed between them, gray eyes challenging, green eyes eagerly accepting. A smile crossed Harry's face, and he caught the ghost of answering smile on Draco's. Ignoring Ron's queries about what was so funny, Harry slipped out of the Hall to meet Draco in their appointed spot. Happiness flowed through him and he nearly bounced off the walls. Life couldn't get any better.

But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.

A week passed where Draco didn't look at Harry, even in passing. In fact, if they happened to glance at each other, Draco would quickly look away. Harry was confused. His lover had seemed happy enough just a week ago, and now he wouldn’t even spare Harry the time of day. What had changed, in that short period of time? Harry wracked his brain, wondering what it was he could possibly have done to annoy Draco. Nothing came to mind.

Harry was left wondering.

So Eden sank to grief.

Harry watched Draco across the Great Hall, laughing with his Slytherin friends. He was currently imitating Neville, whose accident in Potions earlier had nearly blown up the entire dungeon and had prompted Professor Snape to take thirty points from Gryffindor and also give Neville two weeks' worth of detentions. All this had come after Professor Snape managed to cure Neville of the boils and burns he'd managed to give himself in the meantime. Not once did his lover look up. Not once did Draco even attempt to meet Harry's eyes, as he used to.

No more secret glances, no more private looks. Just silence and distance. And grief.

So dawn goes down to day.

"It's over. I don't love you." Harsh words spoken with cruel glints in those grey eyes Harry had once loved. "I never loved you." With that, Draco turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, never once looking back. Harry just watched him go, eyes filling with tears he would never let fall.

And as the light faded from the gold of dawn to the harshness of day, Harry was left alone.

Nothing gold can stay.

/END