Chapter 9 JALS

[minervaalistor.livejournal.com]

Title: Just Another Love Story
Summary: Harry helps Draco through some issues...or does he?
Rating: NC-17
Author: minerva alistor
Where: skyehawke
livejournal



Draco was nothing if not conniving. He was tired and between his father’s and Harry’s warnings, he couldn’t concentrate in class. So, he faked illness and was excused to his dorm.

He spent more than an hour analyzing what was happening. He had been more than willing to disregard any blabbing by his father as nonsense since Lucius was a little loopy these days. There was no way he should know about any sort of Death Eater activity as Draco and Narcissa were the only people allowed to visit him. But, after Harry’s warning, which was the complete opposite of his father’s, Draco couldn’t help but realize that his father must know something.

Narcissa had seen Lucius on Tuesday. Harry’s meeting was on Wednesday. Wednesday morning, Narcissa sent Draco a letter saying that Lucius said to never cover his hair since it was an identifying feature. This much was true. There was no other wizarding family that had the Malfoy hair. Like Draco, Lucius had been an only child and Narcissa had been a freak in a family of raven-haired people. Then, Thursday morning, Harry tells him to make sure he covers his hair and not to wander around alone. Something was definitely afoot.

Draco was horribly confused. If his father had some information that later leaked to Harry’s meeting, it had to involve Death Eaters. But how was Lucius getting information about going ons outside the prison?

Then there was the opposite nature of the two warnings. He believed that his father would never tell him to do anything that would endanger him. He also believed that Harry would never tell him to do anything that would endanger him. Which left him unsure exactly whose advice he should follow.

By the time Draco finally fell asleep, he had a splitting headache from trying to sort it all out. He slept through dinner and only made Quidditch practice because Pansy woke him just in time. When he made his way to the pitch, Harry’s cloak was packed neatly in with his change of clothes and he wore the hood of his school cloak over his head.

Draco used his fake illness to cut Quidditch practice thirty minutes short so that he could get to Hagrid’s as quickly as possible. All of the houses had received their game schedules that morning and Slytherin’s first game was against Hufflepuff. Thus, Draco didn’t think that much would be lost by cutting practice short. He was dying to talk to Harry. He and Blaise Zabini left side by side, Draco once again covering his head.

“Malfoy, why are you wearing your hood? You look like an knob,” Blaise pointed out.

“Sod off. I’m sick. I’m trying to make sure it doesn’t get worse. Shit,” Draco said, coming to a halt.

“What?”

“I forgot to lock up the changing rooms. You go on. I’ll see you later.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you later.”

Blaise strolled off. Once he was out of sight, Draco turned and went back to the locker rooms. He made sure no one was around, covered himself with the Invisibility Cloak and nearly ran to Hagrid’s.

He rapped lightly on the door.

“Harry!” he stage whispered.

He barely heard Harry’s voice from inside the cabin. The door floated open from a spell. Draco stepped inside and took off the cloak.

Harry was sitting at Hagrid’s overlarge dining table, his hands flat on the tabletop. There was a fire roaring in the grate and the inside of the hut was sweltering. Harry seemed not to notice at all. He just sat, staring at the backs of his hands.

“Harry?” Draco said, taking a few steps closer.

“Have I ever shown you this?” Harry asked, holding up his right hand, palm facing inward.

“Shown me what?” Draco moved forward and took Harry’s proffered hand.

In the dim firelight, the scar across the back of Harry’s hand wasn’t immediately obvious. Draco squinted and held Harry’s hands to his eyes. He could make out that the scar was writing, but that was all.

“What does it say?” he asked, running his fingertip across it.

“It says ‘I must not tell lies.’ I got it from Umbridge after I said that Voldemort had come back fifth year. Remember?”

Draco’s stomach turned to lead.

“How did you get this from Umbridge?”

“She had this quill. Looked like nothing more than an especially pointy, black quill. But every time you wrote something with it, it carved the words in the back of your hand. Each time you wrote, it got deeper and deeper.”

Draco ran his finger over the scar again. It was thick and raised.

“How many times did you have to write it?” he whispered to Harry.

“Don’t know. Lost count over the two sessions.”

“She made you do it more than once?” Draco felt nauseated.

“Yeah. I was really angry with her for a while. But it’s a nice reminder. Keeps me honest. That’s the problem now. How to be honest without possibly hurting a lot of people.”

Draco sat down in the chair next to Harry, still holding his hand.

“Harry this is horrible. I never knew she was so….”

“What? You thought the worst thing she ever did was kick me off the Quidditch team?”

Draco didn’t have anything to say. Harry touched his face, then withdrew his hand. He slouched back over the table, head down.

“For the first time ever, I wish that Hagrid hadn’t shown up on my eleventh birthday. I wish I were still locked under the bloody cupboard, thinking my parents had died in a car crash and that I was just a regular bloke. For once, I wish I’d never been brought into this world.”

“Harry, what is wrong?” Draco placed a hand on Harry’s back. He knew how to deal with Pansy crying, he knew how to deal with outbursts of temper, but in the face of this, he was at a complete loss.

Harry turned his head sideways and looked out at Draco between two fingers.

“What’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong.” Harry dropped his head again. “I’m a seventeen year old fucking nobody who is suppose to kill a, a, …who knows what he is by now- he’s certainly not human- then save the entire fucking world and avenge my parents death. I’m scared. I’m tired. And I’m in a fucked up position because someone I care about is in danger and if I tell him everything, I’ll put other people in danger and if I don’t tell him, he’s arrogant enough to think that because he’s a fucking Malfoy that nothing will happen to him.”

Harry leaned back in the chair, pushed his glasses up on his head and rubbed his eyes.

“And mostly I’m just bloody fucking tired.”

Draco stared at Harry for a long time before he jumped to his feet.

“Get up,” he said.

“I’m fine here.”

Draco wrapped his arms underneath Harry’s and yanked him up.

“I said get up!”

Harry stood and tried to swivel his head around to see Draco, but the blonde had his arms around Harry’s waist and was pushing him towards Hagrid’s bed. When they got there, Draco spun him around and pushed him down on his back.

“Get comfortable,” he commanded.

Harry wriggled around so that he was lying on his back. He was regarding Draco warily.

Draco moved to the foot of the bed, crawled up and grabbed each of Harry’s shoes in turn, tugging them off and throwing them to the floor. He pulled off his socks and tugged at his trouser legs.

“Lift your bum.”

Harry did and Draco pulled off his trousers. He crawled up, straddling Harry’s waist and tugged his jumper.

“Lift up.”

Harry did again. Draco removed his glasses, his jumper, tie and shirt. When he was done, he forced Harry under the blankets and tucked him in. He stood from the bed and kissed his forehead.

“Now go to sleep for a while. You’re scaring the piss out of me.”

Harry sighed heavily and threw the covers back.

“As much as I’d like to, I can’t. I am behind on lessons. I thought you were getting me all prepared to snog.”

Draco pushed him back down.

“I said go to sleep. I’ll get you up in an hour and you can do lessons then. You’re bloody exhausted. Do not argue with me. I mean it. I’ll hex you if I must.”

Harry plopped back down. “Are you sure? You’ll get me up?”

“Yes.”

“No snogging?”

“Not now.”

“Alright then, if you’re going to be like that. But remember, if you have to leave for anything, even if it’s just to let Fang out the door, be sure to wear my cloak. They’ve noticed that you and I are getting on.”

Draco swallowed. He was pretty sure who ‘they’ were.

“Just sleep now, okay?”

“Don’t forget to wake me.”

“I won’t,” Draco said. He leaned over and gave Harry a gentle kiss.

Harry was asleep in what seemed like seconds. Draco watched him for a minute, worry etching his brow.

“You nutter,” he whispered affectionately.

He silently moved to the table and got his lessons out. After he had arranged his things, he pulled Harry’s lessons out of his bag. It took him nearly a half an hour to decipher Harry’s notes and figure out where the Gryffindor was behind, but he finally managed.

He and Harry shared most of the same classes, just took them at different times. Potions they had together, but they were in different period Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms. Harry was taking Divination and Ancient Runes, while Draco had opted for Arithmancy and Astronomy.

Luckily for Harry, and perhaps predictably, he was most behind in Potions and Transfiguration, two subjects in which he shared homework with Draco. True to Harry’s nature, he was a little ahead in Defense Against the Dark Arts, only slightly behind in Ancient Runes and Charms, and completely caught up in Divination, since all he really had to do was make things up.

Draco laid their lessons out on the table, starting with Potions. He arranged Harry’s parchment, then dug Harry’s quill out of his bag. He pulled out his wand, said a Dictation and Duplication Charm, worked in a Binding Charm, and grinned. Harry’s quill stood erect and ready to go.

“I’ll have you caught up in no time, Potter,” he muttered.

Soon the sound of two scratching quills filled the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry awoke with a start to the sound of freezing rain and tree branches scraping against the windows. For a second, he had no idea where he was. The fire had gone out and the room was pitch black, yet he was oddly warm. He felt around him for his wand, or his glasses, or anything that might remind him where he had fallen asleep.

“Harry…” Draco mumbled from behind him.

Draco’s voice brought everything back for Harry. They were in Hagrid’s hut. But it was black, and he was only supposed to have slept for an hour, which meant the sun should still be up.

“Draco, what time is it?”

Draco rose up on his elbow, reached over Harry and took his watch off the nightstand. Harry couldn’t help but notice that Draco was stripped down to his pants. On the other side of the blonde, Harry could make out the faint outline of Fang in the bed. Draco’s watch, which did everything but tie his shoes for him, lit up, sending out a faint beacon of light in the dark room. Harry couldn’t help but smile. Draco’s hair was totally lopsided from sleep.

“Ummm..it’s half two,” Draco mumbled. “I suppose we’d better get back to the castle.”

“It’s half two? In the morning? Draco! I told you, I’m incredibly behind in my lessons! I’m two papers behind in Potions, an essay down in Transf---“

“—figuration, twenty characters shy of being caught up in Ancient Runes, which is a fascinating subject, I must say, and just fifteen questions short of being up to par in Charms. You weren’t that behind really. I finished everything in time to do my Prefect rounds.” Draco sat up in the bed and stretched, then turned and started giving Fang a full body rub down.

Harry stood from the bed and went over to the table, rubbing the backs of his arms with his hands for warmth. On top of his closed Potions book were the two papers he needed to be caught up. Tucked into his Transfiguration text was his essay. He opened his practice binder for Ancient Runes to find that all the characters had been identified all the way through to the current chapter. The same was true in his Charms binder.

“Draco. They’re going to know I didn’t do this,” Harry said. “You’re probably far more thorough than I would have been. Still, it’s very sweet of you.”

Draco snorted and looked over his shoulder at Harry, never ceasing his rubbing of Fang.

“You give me too little credit, Potter. Pansy and I have been doing each other’s homework since second year without incident. I daresay if I can go this long without being caught, there’s no reason I should do now.”

Harry picked up one of the Potions papers and examined it. His eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped.

“But, how did you..?”

“It’s a combination of spells and charms. I bound my quill to yours and whatever I wrote, yours wrote as well. Only, since it’s your quill, it wrote as you would have. So there are the appropriate number of misspelled words, your awful penmanship, your chunky syntax. But the information is correct. Don’t worry.”

Harry sat down hard in a chair, looking at Draco in awe.

“That’s amazing.”

“I’m a Slytherin. Mixing and matching spells to our tastes is what we do.”

“And did I hear you say that you went up to the castle for your rounds?”

“Yes you did. And don’t worry, I told Granger where you were and what was going on. She said as long as I had you home by morning, she would turn a blind eye. She’s quite worried about you, I think.”

“You talked to Hermione?”

Harry stood and walked back to the bed. Still staring all amazement at Draco, he crawled back in next to the blonde.

“Yes I did. I think you should take some time to talk to her yourself, though. Impressed?” Draco asked smugly.

“Yes. Very.”

“Good. Now tell me what the hell you were on about earlier. If I’ve been walking around with my hood up all day for nothing, you are in trouble indeed.”

Harry sighed. “I have to be careful what I say. I can’t reveal too much. People’s lives are at stake. Literally.”

“Oh, what, are you afraid the Death Eaters might kidnap me and torture me for information, then go on a killing spree?”

“Something very much like that, yes.”

Draco laughed. “Harry, if they catch me, which is doubtful, they’d torture me whether I had information for them or not.”

Harry didn’t laugh, only looked up at the ceiling.

“Yes, they would, but if I don’t tell you anything, there won’t be anything to torture out of you. At least no one else would get hurt.” He flinched when he said the word torture and squeezed Draco’s hand. “Now, please, give me a second to sort it out. I don’t want to talk about you being tortured anymore. I don’t even want to think about it.”

They sat in silence and darkness, simply holding hands. At last, Harry spoke.

“We have spies. I’m sure you figured that out long ago. There was a small group of known Death Eaters spotted in Hogsmeade several times in the past few weeks. Our spy approached them and was taken to a small compound, deep in the woods that surround the town. They didn’t give him details about what they were doing, but he saw plans of Hogwarts, complete with drawing of underground tunnels, and a list of targets. They asked him lots of questions about the school schedule and what not.”

Draco sat more upright in the bed.

“So let me get this straight. There have been Death Eaters doing recon work around Hogsmeade. They took this spy to their hide out, where he saw plans of the school and a list of targets. So it would appear that they are planning to attack the school. Well, I’m not scared. We’ve got our secret weapon here!”

Draco patted Harry’s stomach. He had been talking in a fake and rather bad American accent, trying to sound like the men he had seen in American military movies. He was trying desperately to make Harry laugh, but his own stomach was rolling with fear.

“Your name was on the list, Draco,” Harry said quietly.

Draco’s eyes closed in the dark. He took a deep breath.

“How did your spy know it was a list of targets? Seriously. Was there a big banner across the top that said ‘Targets: Kill, Kill, Kill!’?”

“No. But my name was on it. So was Dumbledore’s. And they wanted to know why you and I had been spending so much time together. And if we always came out here to Hagrid’s. And if there were any open patches in the barriers around the Forbidden Forest.”

The spit dried up in Draco’s mouth. He couldn’t speak or move. Harry wrapped his arms around him and pulled him next to him.

“We can’t be seen together anymore. I want you to keep my cloak so you can wear it when you come down here to meet me. In the halls, we have to act like we’ve had a falling out. Like we hate each other again. And you can’t go anywhere alone, okay? Nowhere. Cover up your hair when you’re outside and don’t leave the grounds.”

Draco’s heart was pounding in his chest.

“Harry. There’s something I have to tell you.”

“What?”

“My mother…she went to see my father on Tuesday. In Azkaban. He told her to tell me that I always made sure my hair was showing so that I could always be identified as a Malfoy. Do you think…do you think he knew?”

Draco could feel the weight of Harry’s stare even in the dark.

“Did she say anything else?” Harry asked. His tone was cautious, distant.

“No, nothing.”

Harry rolled over on his back and was quiet for many minutes. He rolled back towards Draco.

“If she tells you anything else, you have to tell me immediately. There must be someone on the inside at Azkaban. Your dad can’t have visitors, right?”

“Just me and my mum.”

“Could your mum be a Death Eater?”

“Harry!”

“No, of course not. Sorry. Just thinking out loud. No, it’s got to be someone at the jail.”

“Harry?”

“Hmmm?”

“Do you think he’s trying to get me killed?” Draco asked in a small voice.

Harry hugged him tightly. “I don’t know, love. I won’t know anything until we find out what’s going on at Azkaban. You have to tell me anything else your mother says about your dad, though, okay?”

Draco nodded his head against Harry’s neck.

“Good. Can I kiss you?”

Draco tilted his face up. They kissed until neither of them could hold their breath any longer.

“Harry?”

“Yes?”

“You will be careful?”

“Aren’t I always?”

Draco didn’t answer. It was a long time before he spoke again.

“Did you get your Quidditch schedule?”

“Yes. I can’t believe you get Hufflepuff right off the bat and we get Ravenclaw. Hardly seems fair. Did you see the notice about the Halloween Ball?”

“Yeah. Are you going to go?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“I tried the finger thing last night.”

Harry fumbled around the floor until he found his wand. When he did, he lit it and held it to Draco’s face.

“Did you really?”

“Yes.”

“Well?”

“It was….good. But then I forgot to take the potion for my nightmares and had a hellish one.”

“What are these nightmares about, exactly?”

Draco squirmed uncomfortably. “Just that my father finds out about, you know, us. He’s not happy, to say the least.”

Harry’s face went hard in the dim light of his wand.

“You have nightmares because of us?”

“No, Harry, no. Just because I know my dad would go mental if he knew. I told you, I wasn’t brought up to feel good about this, exactly.”

“Nox,” Harry whispered. His wand went out. His lips met Draco’s in a very tender kiss. His hands reached up to cup Draco’s face as he gently pushed him down on his back.

“You don’t feel good about this?” Harry whispered, ghosting the words down Draco’s chest. He brushed his lips over Draco’s nipples, doing figure eights around each one.

“Harry, I do, you know I do. Mmmmm,” Draco panted back.

Harry’s lips became more insistent. He flickered his tongue over Draco’s nipples, then breathed his way down Draco’s stomach to the slit in his pants. Hot breath made its way inside, teasing against Draco’s cock.

“Harry…”he whined.

“I don’t want you to feel guilty about us, Draco. It makes me sad,” Harry whispered against the waistband of Draco’s pants. “You don’t feel guilty, do you?”

“No, Harry, I don’t,” Draco said, feeling a little like a liar. He didn’t feel guilty when he was with Harry, but when they were apart, his subconscious went to work on him and guilty was the only way to describe how he felt. Guilty that he was disappointing his family, guilty that he was lying to everyone, guilty that he was dirtying the Malfoy name.

His hips arched up to meet Harry’s lips. Harry mouthed through the fabric of his pants, leaving a warm wet spot and bringing Draco to full attention. Without a word, he slowly divested Draco of his boxers.

“Can I try the finger thing on you?” Harry asked. He ran his tongue under Draco’s foreskin.

“Do you know that slicking charm?” Draco asked, tangling his fingers in Harry’s hair.

Harry looked up and rolled his eyes. “Every male wizard over the age of eleven knows that charm.”

“Fine. Then, yes. Just, you know, surprise me. I’ll get too tense if you make a big production out of it.”

“I can’t very well surprise you if I have to do a lube charm first, now can I?”

“Then do the charm now and surprise me in a bit.”

Draco handed Harry his wand and Harry did the spell. Draco gasped.

“Potter!”

“Surprised?” Harry asked, moving his finger very gently in and out of Draco.

“Shhh….” Harry kissed Draco’s shaft from bottom to top, soft pecks that teased and promised. “You okay?”

Draco opened his eyes and looked down at Harry, hovering just above his erection, nothing more than a silhouette with crazy hair. He hissed as Harry twisted his finger around the ring of muscle, pressing in a complete circle that shot up Draco’s spine.

“Just shut it already,” he answered.

It was nearly dawn when they snuck back to the castle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco snuck up the stairs to the girl’s dormitory, which was quite easy underneath Harry’s cloak. He carefully crawled in bed beside Pansy. She stirred as is weight shifted the bed, but did not wake.

Draco sniggered and cast a sound proofing charm and sealed the hangings. He pressed himself behind her, still under Harry’s cloak. He reached around her front and cupped one of her breasts and started kneading it very gently. Pansy moaned in her sleep and pushed back against him.

“Pansy,” he whispered in her ear.

“Mmmmmm?”

“It’s me. Longbottom, come to fuck you,” he whispered, giving her breast another squeeze.

Pansy arched into Draco’s touch for a second before sitting upright with a yelp. Draco had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing as he watched Pansy’s eyes widen in horror. She placed her hands over her chest in a protective manner.

“No!” she whispered.

Draco finally lost it and burst out laughing. He swept the cloak off.

“You bastard!” Pansy yelled, punching his arm.

“I couldn’t resist! Isn’t this cloak lovely? It’s Harry’s.”

“You fucker! For one horrible moment, I actually thought I was dreaming that Longbottom was feeling me up and I was enjoying it. I will never forgive you!”

“Oh my god, the look on your face. Wonderful!”

“Yes, well, the look on Harry’s face when I tell him you crawled in here and felt me up might not be so wonderful. Arse. What do you want? I was asleep you know!”

“Something weird is happening. I want your opinion.”

Pansy settled beside Draco and tucked in under his arm. He told her everything about the events of the last evening.

“I’d go with whatever Harry says. That is bloody sick about what Umbridge did to him. I wonder where we could get one of those quills…”

“It is sick, isn’t it? I can’t believe we were on that stupid squad of hers. I wish I knew what to do now. For Harry I mean.”

Pansy propped herself on one elbow. “You could shag him silly.”

“Pansy! We’ve only just got around to blowjobs. Give it time.”

“Just trying to help. Now will you please go away. Unless you really would like to stay and do me. It’s been since summer, you know.”

“You cow!”

“I’m sorry, Draco, but you’re very beautiful. And you’re in my bed, touching my tits. What can you expect?”

Draco practically fell out of the bed he moved so quickly.

“I’m going. I can’t believe you. Honestly.”

“Good night, dear. Or should I say morning?”

“Bugger off!” Draco gave her one last disgusted look before he disappeared under Harry’s cloak. Pansy saw the hangings rustle, then Draco’s head appeared again.

“Who’d you shag this summer?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Draco sneered at her. “Never mind.”

“Later!”

Draco slipped out without a word.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry crept into the common room, the portrait creaking shut behind him.

“Harry?” someone whispered. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

It was Hermione, curled up on the couch underneath a stack of blankets.

“Bloody hell, Hermione. What are you doing down here?”

“I was worried about you. The last time I saw you, you looked like hell, seemed very depressed and wouldn’t talk to me. Then Malfoy shows up to tell me that you’re sleeping down at Hagrid’s and that he would have you back later. What is going on?”

Harry sat down next to her with a sigh.

“Professor Snape saw a list with a bunch of names on it – mine, Dumbledore’s, McGonagall’s, some of the other teachers. And Draco’s. I think they want to kill him as punishment for his mum turning away from Voldemort.”

Hermione’s stomach clenched with fear. She had visions of Harry running off in the middle of the night to save Sirius all over again.

“Harry, you can’t be responsible for Malfoy and everyone else. He’ll be fine.”

Harry picked at the cuticle on his index finger.

“I have to be responsible for him. I’m…I’m in love with him.”

Hermione pulled Harry into her arms.

“What am I going to do with you?” she asked miserably.

Neither of them had an answer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

The next two weeks were rather uneventful and the boys fell into something of a routine. During the day, they reverted to their old back biting and spitting at one another. Sometimes, for dramatic effect, they would push one another and then get in each other’s faces, as if they were about to exchange blows. The whole act was really an excuse to get close to one another throughout the day.

Monday and Tuesday nights they spent studying at Hagrid’s after Draco snuck down under Harry’s cloak. To help with the situation, Pansy disappeared as well and she and Draco would meet up and return to the Slytherin common room as if they had been off somewhere together. Pansy would not reveal what she did to Draco during her time away so he was convinced she hid out in a cave near the lake or something equally as boring.

Wednesday was Quidditch practice and meetings for Harry, so Draco and Pansy really did disappear together, usually to a remote part of the dungeon where no one ever went. They spent their time catching up on gossip about other Slytherins, revising and doing lessons, and customizing horrible spells to put on people. Thursday was DA, where Harry and Draco took the opportunity to pretend to hate one another again. Their snogging sessions were usually more like wrestling matches on those nights as sometimes they carried their comments just a little too far during the meetings.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday they spent time together as they could do without raising suspicion. Sometimes they couldn’t manage, but most of the time they did. They became experts on oral sex and digital stimulation in no time at all. The rest of the time they spent revising, or going over the letters Narcissa sent to Draco, checking for any clues that Lucius might have inadvertently dropped. Draco regularly tried to pry information from Harry about his meetings. He was unsuccessful.

Two nights before the Halloween ball, Draco found himself once again on his back in the enviable position of having to decide which felt better, Harry’s mouth around his cock or Harry’s fingers working in and out and all around his bum. Before he could figure it out, he came and the need to make the decision was removed.

Harry, having already gotten off that evening, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and slithered up to kiss Draco.

“Do you like the way that tastes?” Draco asked him after they’d finished kissing.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like it,” Harry replied thoughtfully. “I like that you’re getting off. I like that I’m doing that to you. But the taste? Not so much. It’s sort of like mushrooms that have been soaked in bleach, you know?”

Draco punched his shoulder. “Yeah, well, you taste like moldy old cheese and dirt. So there.”

“I’ll be sure to eat a lot of runny goat cheese before we get together next time, then.”

They rolled around in the bed for a while after that, tickling and tackling one another. Harry finally won by pinning Draco on his back, arms held down and legs immobile underneath Harry’s own.

“Got you, Malfoy,” he panted.

“I’m taller than you,” Draco replied just as breathlessly.

“Oh, what, by a half an inch?”

“It matters.”

“Whatever,” Harry said with a roll of his eyes. He fell flat on top of Draco and nuzzled into his neck.

“Harry, do you ever think about, um, you know, doing more than what we do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Er. Sexually.”

Harry’s head popped up. His eyes were sparkling with mischief.

“Draco Malfoy. Are you talking about anal sex?”

“Bloody hell.”

Harry laughed. “Of course I think about it. I’m a guy. We’re sort of brought up believing it’s not really sex unless we’ve stuck it in something, aren’t we?”

Draco pulled a face.

“You are utterly gross sometimes. Really.”

Harry laughed again and kissed Draco’s chin. “Why do you ask? Want to shag me?”

“Um. Not exactly.”

“Want me to shag you?”

Draco’s silence was all Harry needed. The air grew very thick in a flash.

“Oh,” Harry finally said.

“Not right now, I mean. It sort of scares me. I mean, when I put my fingers in there, there doesn’t really seem like there is room for much else. Know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve got an arsehole too.”

“Harry! I’m trying to be serious. What I’m trying to say is, I’m not really ready. But when I am, I want it to be with you.”

Harry knitted his eyebrows. “Are there others I should worry about?”

“No, idiot. I just wanted you to know that I’ve thought about it, that’s all. And I want to. Just. Not anytime soon. Probably.”

Harry pushed Draco’s hair back from his face. He kissed his forehead, his eyelids, his cheeks and finally his lips.

“You just let me know, okay?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “You’ll be the first.”

“Good. We should do some homework. You’ll have to get back up to the castle in a bit. I’ll get it.”

Harry got up and tossed his things onto the bed. He opened Draco’s satchel. Instead of pulling out a book, though, he pulled out a thick stack of parchment, dog-eared, marked up and held together with two rubber bands.

“What is this?” he asked Draco.

Draco, who had been lying with his eyes closed, lifted his head. He took a quick look and lay back down.

“It’s the guest list for my and Pansy’s wedding.”

Harry flipped through the first several pages.

“This is a guest list. For your wedding.”

“Yes.”

“Who made it?”

“My mum. She’s planning the whole thing.”

“Your mother is planning a wedding for you and Pansy.”

“Yes, Potter. For next June.”

Harry laid the list on the table. He strolled over to the bed, picked up his trouser and yanked them on. He ripped his jumper from the floor and pulled it over his head.

Draco propped up on one elbow and watched him curiously.

“What are you doing?”

“Fuck off.”

Harry stormed to the back door, threw his cloak on, and went out. He slammed the door so hard that the dishes on the little shelf next to it rattled against one another.

Fifteen minutes later, he stormed back in. Draco was sitting in a chair by the table, wrapped in a blanket, reading his Potions homework. He didn’t even look up when Harry came in.

“When were you planning on telling me?” Harry yelled.

Draco calmly closed his book. He gave Harry a scathing glare.

“How dare you walk out on me when you know I have to get up and fumble with that cloak of yours to go outside?”

“When were you going to tell me about your fucking wedding, Malfoy? Or were you?”

“Really, Potter. Everyone knows that Pansy and I are betrothed. It’s tradition. Where the hell have you been?”

“I didn’t know that you were getting married next fucking summer!”

“It’s tradition, you stupid idiot! Betrothed couples get married as soon as they’re out of the first phase of their schooling.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not some pureblood snot who lives his life by bloody stupid traditions like marrying someone he doesn’t love! So I wouldn’t know!”

“Will you calm down and stop fucking shouting at me?” Draco shouted.

Harry glared hatefully at Draco for a moment then started shoving his books in his bag.

“Get dressed. We’re going back to the castle. You can return my cloak to me in the morning. And I swear, if you do anything to it, I’ll rip your minerals off with my bare hands.”

“Potter, what has gotten into you? One minute we’re talking about having sex and the next you’ve lost your mind.”

Harry rounded on him.

“I am not going to keep letting this go on so you can come to me next year after we graduate and say ‘Oh, sorry Harry, I can’t see you anymore. Married, you know. It was just a fling.’ Or better yet end up spending half my life meeting you in some cheap motel in London or wherever for a quick shag then watching you go back and live your little life with Pansy and your traditional fucking family!”

“You moron. We are going to call it off. I just haven’t figured out how to tell my mother yet. I’ve told you a million times, this is a very touchy situation with my parents. So what the hell is your problem?”

“What’s my problem? In case you haven’t spotted it, Malfoy, I’m madly fucking in love with you. And, silly me, because I love you, I have this weird fantasy about being with you after we get out of school, about maybe living together, and, oh I don’t know, going out together on occasion, spending holidays together and such. What the fuck was I thinking? You won’t have time for that, will you, what with your wedding and all!”

Draco’s mouth hit the floor.

“Harry, stop it. It’s not going to happen. I tell you, Pansy and I have already discussed it –“

“Oh? Then why are there names crossed off this list? It looks to me like you’ve been editing it!”

“Because I have to send something to my mother. She keeps asking – Harry, wait!!!”

Harry was standing with one hand on the doorknob, his book bag over his shoulder, eyes blazing.

“Get back to me when you’ve cancelled it then.”

“Harry, I can’t tell my mother I’m gay in a fucking letter.”

“Work it out somehow, Malfoy. I won’t be with you as long as there is a fucking wedding on. Give me my cloak back in the morning.”

“Harry!”

Harry slammed the door and was gone. Draco could see him stomping through the snow out the front window. He didn’t look back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco felt like he had been hit by a train. He quickly got dressed, fed Fang and ran back to the castle underneath Harry’s cloak. He didn’t take it off until he was safely inside the castle doors.

It was Friday, so Pansy was in the library with Millicent and Susan studying Transfiguration. Draco didn’t even hear Madame Pince shushing him as he ran through the aisles, looking for the group. He finally found them revising in a carrel in the back corner of the library.

“Pansy, come with me. I have to talk to you. Right now” he whispered, grabbing a shocked Pansy by her arm.

Pansy was shocked, but she did not hesitate. She gathered her things and said her good-byes. They hurried into the hall, where they wedged themselves behind a suit of armor.

“I think Harry just broke up with me,” Draco said, grasping the front of Pansy’s robe.

“What?!”

“He found our guest list and totally freaked out. He said he wouldn’t be with me until I called it off.”

“You didn’t tell him about our wedding?”

“No. Why would I? It’s not going to happen.”

“Oh, Draco.”

“What?”

“I don’t blame him for freaking out. What did he say?”

“He said he wouldn’t be with me while there was a wedding on. Something about me blowing him off next year or shagging him cheap hotels. As if I’d take him somewhere cheap. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. He said he won’t be with me until I call it off. What do I do?”

“You write Narcissa and tell her there won’t be a fucking wedding, that’s what. Sort the rest out later.”

“I can’t believe you’re on his side. Don’t you think he was over reacting just a little?”

“No, Draco, I don’t. How would you feel if you suddenly found out he was planning to marry someone next year?”

Draco drew back from Pansy and slumped his shoulders.

“Not very good, I suppose.”

“No, I suppose not. Now get up to your room and write your mother. Then go to the Owlery and send the letter. Then go find Potter and tell him you’re a sorry sack of shite and beg his forgiveness. I can’t believe I even have to tell you this.”

“Oh, alright, don’t rub it in. Bitch.”

“I’m your bitch. Now go.”

Draco kissed her cheek and hurried back to his dorm.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco was walking back from the Owlery catching snowflakes on his tongue. He didn’t wear Harry’s cloak, but he did have his hood pulled over his head, cutting a very dark figure that blended well with his surroundings.

He took his time walking. What he had just done was bound to start a war between him and his mother. She would want to know why he was calling off the wedding. She would demand to know. He wouldn’t be surprised if she showed up here at Hogwarts. And then he would have to tell her.

And then things would really explode.

Draco stalled, staring off into the clear winter’s night, watching the snow swirl into little spirals that sparkled in the moonlight.

I do love him, he thought to himself.

A small smile appeared on his lips. Yes, he did love Harry. And even if things didn’t last between the two of them, he would always be grateful that he had been forced to tell the truth about whom he was. No matter what happened with his parents, it had to be better than living a life full of falsehoods and deceit. Without even trying, Harry had set him free.

“Mr. Malfoy, is that you?”

Draco’s head snapped up as Professor Vector’s voice brought him out of his reverie.

“Yes Professor. I was just posting a letter to my mother.”

“Pansy said we’d find you out here. We need to get inside immediately. Something horrible has happened. Have you seen anyone else out here?”

“No Professor. What’s wrong?”

“Just follow me. There is a school wide meeting in the Great Hall in half hour. Come on now. We’ve no time to waste.”

Draco’s heart started to pound and his stomach dropped to his toes. Something was wrong with Harry. He just knew it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Even though the meeting wasn’t starting for another twenty minutes, it appeared that everyone was gathered in the hall. Draco looked around frantically until he found Pansy sitting at the Slytherin table, waving her hand at him.

“Do you know what’s happened?” he asked, taking a seat beside her.

“No, I don’t. But Draco, Harry’s not at the Gryffindor table. And I’ve seen all the Professor running around trying to gather their students, but I haven’t seen Professor Snape anywhere.” Pansy’s eyes were wide with fear.

Draco looked over at the Gryffindor table. She was right, Harry wasn’t there, but Granger and the Weasley were. She was crying into his chest and he looked sick.

“I’ll be right back,” he said to Pansy.

Draco stood, intent on speaking to Harry’s friends, but Professor Vector would not let him leave the Slytherin table. He argued with professor briefly, but to no avail. Defeated, he sat back down next to Pansy. She took his hand and they waited silently for the meeting to begin. His heart was pounding against his ribs.

Down the table, several of the Black Slytherins were laughing and talking loudly.

“What do you think’s wrong? I don’t see Potter anywhere” one of them said.

“Well that’s all right, isn’t it?” The group broke out in laughter.

“Maybe this is it. Maybe it will all be over tonight.” Everyone at the table, Black or White, fell silent at that.

“Ow, Draco, you’re breaking my fingers,” Pansy whispered.

Draco’s head was spinning and he wondered for a second if he was having one of his nightmares. If Lucius Malfoy had appeared with Harry bound and gagged and started making embarrassing comment about Draco and Harry’s sexuality, he would not have been surprised.

“Draco, you’re hurting me,” Pansy said, more loudly this time.

Draco snapped out of it.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. He let go of Pansy’s hand and hugged himself.

Professor McGonagall swept into the room and took what was usually Headmaster Dumbldore’s place at the head of the room.

“Everyone, please listen to me! We have an emergency on our hands!” she said in a booming voice. “Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Severus Snape and student Harry Potter have disappeared.”

Draco couldn’t hear what McGonagall said after that. It sounded as if the entirety of the ocean was pouring into his ears in loud, roaring waves. He closed his eyes and battled a wave of nausea. From what seemed like a million miles away, he heard what sounded like someone laughing and someone sobbing. He grasped the edge of the table, willing himself not to pass out. The world faded back in slowly.

“…find out where they are, there will be no classes. The Halloween Ball is cancelled. No one is allowed to leave the school. If you have letters to send to your parents, give them to one of the professors and they will see to it that it is sent. We have informed the Ministry of the disappearances and we are under lock down conditions here at Hogwarts. Aurors and Ministry police are patrolling the perimeter. Are there any questions?”

No one said a word.

“Then each of you follow your Head of House back to your dormitories. Gryffindors, please follow Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger. Slytherins, Professor Vector will lead you to the dungeons.”

Everyone shuffled up to a stand. Draco had the strange sensation that world had stopped, that each of his movements took hours to complete. This had to be a nightmare, it had to be.

“Draco?” Pansy said. “Are you okay?”

Draco drew himself up straight. He squared his shoulders. Across the Great Hall, he and Ron Weasley’s eyes locked. It only took seconds for these things to happen, but to Draco, time had stopped.

Harry was gone.

“Yes, Pansy, I’m fine. Let’s go back to the dungeons, shall we?”

He held out his hand and Pansy took it. Across the room, Ron was holding Hermione’s hand, quietly leading the Gryffindors while she sobbed. Except for the Black Slytherins, it was a somber crowd that left the Great Hall.